Author's note:

So here's the promised prologue :) Hope you enjoy it and learn a few new things about Kirin.

Also to celebrate the beginning of a third arc and the return of my internet I decided to share a picture my best friend had drawn for me. It's Ace at the beginning of the game so be sure to check it out and say wherever you imagined him this way or not

Link Here

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Dark clouds. They were obstructing the sun's view. Only a few rays managed to get past the blockade and burst out basking the world in their light.

One of them landed on a boy. He was hugging his legs, eyes directed at the play ground below. It was empty at the moment, everyone spending time with their computers. It was rare to see any life here. Only bored wind would move the swings from time to time, reminding them of the times gone.

But the kid wasn't seeing that. His eyes locked on the swings were misty, lost in a different world. They saw a bright sun shining happily on the world. Kids of different ages were laughing and playing together as their parents watched from the benches. Smiles were everywhere and a blonde haired kid with bright blue eyes had the biggest one.

He was sitting on the swings and bending his legs to get higher and higher. The start alone was hard but he was on a roll now. Higher and higher, right to the sky! He rose and fell still reaching up. Other kids looked at him in wonder as he passed their height long ago and was still going up. Fear? Who cared about that! There was heaven almost in his reach!

When he was at the peak from where you couldn't go any higher, he jumped off spreading his arms. Air hit him with a strong force making his eyes water. He flapped his hands pretending to be a bird soaring into the sun but the sky wasn't coming closer.

The earth was.

Hands started to move in wild motions along the legs as time slowed down for a moment. He saw mother starting to sprint and terrified gazes watching his flight. An even brighter smile blossomed on his face at the same moment that he hit the ground.

Blackness. It was his only companion for a few very long moments. He could hear and feel but there was no sight. Darkness all around. His heart started to race as fear began to consume him. Had he gone blind?

Slowly colours started to return. Pieces of mother's face and blue sea behind her. Soon it was over but it was then that the pain hit him.

"Owowow! It hurts!" he screamed with tears in his eyes, clutching his left hand to himself.

Mother kissed on the head as she raised him from the ground. "Let me look at it, please?" she asked looking him in the eyes.

"It hurts!" he had said shaking his head and clutching the arm closer. The pain was unbearable; he couldn't even move it slightly without a searing heat passing through it.

"Can you stand up, Kirin?" she asked.

He had nodded and stood up on shaky legs. Shorts were torn, bruised and bloody knees showing. But he felt nothing of that. Arm didn't allow any attention to go to other parts of the body that had been hurt by the flight.

"Let's go to the doctor then, okay?" his mother asked, unwrapping her scarf and fastening his arm to chest.. That freed his right hand so she took it and together they left the playground.

He hadn't seen it back then but he could imagine how shocked other parents were. His mother not only didn't call him by sweet names, but didn't carry him either. He was still very small and thin so it should have been no problem. There undoubtedly were disgust in their eyes. Would there have been in his too if she hadn't been his mother and he the victim of his own foolishness?

But she was tired. And the break short. She didn't have time to care for his stupidity. It was hard and without it. Money didn't grow on trees. Sadly. Life might have been so much better otherwise.

They silently walked to the doctor.

"What happened?" the man asked, writing something. He didn’t pay any attention to them as they came in.

"I fell from the swings" he had said, looking at the man as if daring him to disagree. The doctor didn’t raise his head. He took the hand and against the screams gently examined it.

"It's swollen and turning blue. You'll have to take an X-ray."

After that they got the photo and it was decided that he had slightly fractured the bone. Luckily, it was still in place and a cast was enough. Everything was done in half an hour. Still some time left.

As they went home mother glanced at his hand and asked. "Why did you jump off?"

"I wanted to fly!" he had said, searching for understanding in her eyes. What he found was simple tiredness. There was hardly any place left for anything else.

"Why don't you like it down here, Kirin?"

"I want to fly to the sun like Icarus had!" he had said with admiration in his voice.

"You know, he never reached it" mother said with a sigh, her shoulders down.

"But I would! I would fly right to the sun and see how it shines so brightly! Then I would bring her warmth down here and everyone would be happy forever! Isn't that right? No one is ever sad when the sun is shining!" he had said raising their entwined hands to the sun. A stupid childish smile brightening his face.

There was a tired one on his mother's too. "My little hero" she murmured opening the doors and taking him to the kitchen where father was already sitting.

"What happened?" he asked, noticing his cast.

"I flew towards the sun but it was out of reach..." he said, sadness evident. His father shook his head, curls dancing around it. There were dark circles around his eyes. "You've been lonely again, haven't you?"

"Samantha didn't come today" he said shrugging and climbed onto his father's legs. "How's work? Did the big bad monster shout at you again?"

"Yes, he did" father said, throwing mother a helpless smile. She laughed and threw him an apple. He always ate them while she warmed the pizza up. "But let's forget it for now. Why don't you become friends with other kids?" he asked seriously.

"I don't like them" he had answered with a solemn face. "All they care about are newest computer games and the progression of virtual reality. They don’t even know a single tale and care nothing for princesses. Neither of them would even put on armour to save them! They'd say it's too heavy! I don't like them."

"Were we wrong to teach you it all?" father asked tiredly, looking at mother who just shook her head. "We were trying to pass the exams. It was tell him those stories or never even see him. We made our choice."

"But to tell him history for bed time stories? And math formulas? Or theory behind creating good advertisements? Wasn't that too much?" father asked hugging him closer. He never intruded on their private conversations. They rarely had any time together so he'd learnt to pretend like he wasn't there. He never asked questions and acted as if he knew nothing of what had been talked about. Because of it he was allowed to hear all the horrors that a young family had to face.

"He's the best student now because of it. I'm sure if he tried harder, he could have many friends. Even among people his age he's quite popular when he wants to be. Do you remember their admiration filled eyes when he acted out a knight’s role in the school's play? For the whole evening he was a hero until he got tired of it and started to ignore everyone" mother said and he wanted to hide behind father's hands.

It wasn't his fault that they decided to follow him all around and he couldn't take it anymore. How could one live being surrounded by so many people watching his every step? It was too suffocating.

"Kirin?" father asked and he raised his head. There was fire in his father's eyes. "Can you trust me and become friends with them?"

"Why?" he had whined. "I don't like them..."

"Friends are what will keep you up when you hit rock bottom. You can't make it through the life without them. Trust me. If not the help of all the friends, we wouldn't be sitting here all together. Do you understand that?" he asked, taking his shoulders with his hands. The left one hurt but he kept quiet and nodded unhappily.

"Promise me it! Promise that you'll have friends no matter where you are! Even if you don't like them at first, it doesn't matter! No one starts to trust others without a cause, especially you, so wait. One day they'll prove you, it was worth it all along! So promise me!" he said, eyes drilling right into his soul.

"I promise" he had said and never forgotten it.

Years passed, things changed but he kept it. No matter what, he always had a bunch of people to rely on if a disaster stuck. It might have been selfish of him but he made a promise to his father.

Soon after that a true disaster struck and he became what he is now. A creature frozen in time. Life changed then, taking all he had with it and leaving horror in its place. He had thought that evening was suffocating... What stupidity! And naivety! But how was he supposed to know it was going to become so much worse?