I woke up early. So early, in fact, that my parents still weren’t awake, and that’s saying something, because my father works as a butcher. He’s gotta get up really early to prepare the shop before any customers show up. At the crack of dawn, or heck, even before dawn arose, I had went to visit my friend and future travel buddy, all the while critiquing the layout of the village.

“The shop is right outside the neighborhood, with the baker right across from it, next to it is the butcher… It’s all the same! When will anything change around here? Well, I guess I should take the scenery in while I’m still here.”

That’s right, I am currently embarking on a grand journey across the world, despite my parents not supporting it. I was quite anxious, who knows if things will go to plan? What if I get lost somewhere where I don’t understand the natural tongue? Or maybe I get eaten by a giant monster? It’s all too possible! Just then, my thoughts where cut short by a peppy, boyish voice.

“Grim! Grim!” He called out to me.

Here comes the only interesting person in town, Edward Saint as it were. He’s about half a head shorter than me, but he definitely has the better looks. His blondish hair accentuates his green eyes, and his gentle, kind, almost naïve way of thinking is a refreshing sight indeed.

I had asked him to prepare for an escape at this time, and we had made countless practice runs to avoid failure, so seeing him here wasn’t a surprise at all. In fact, I’d actually be pretty annoyed if he wasn’t here. Just the thought of failing on the first step is enough to make me wince. Honestly, if we weren’t such good friends I’d leave without him regardless…

“Yo, Ed! Did you complete the preparations on your part of the plan?” I asked expectantly.

“Sure did,” he answered in earnest, “I put the tools in the bag, and the food is in the hideout.”

Good job, fellow adventurer… Soon we shall be free to wander the world just like the great Schnell himself! I wonder if we’ll at least meet his descendants one day on The Archipelago… That’d be an honor!

“Awesome! Off we go then… To adven-!” I was cut off mid-sentence.

“Stop!!!!!”

What is it now? I was just about to start our journey off on a high note!

“Th-The plan! Run it over for me once again, will ya?” he pleaded with all his might.

“Uuugh, what’s so hard to understand, Ed? We’ve planned this out for weeks!” I grumbled as I explained the plan from the top for the nth time now.

If you’re wondering about the plan itself, it goes a little something like this:

Step 1: prepare food, water, and some basic tools

Step 2: run away and explore the world

“Seems simple enough, right?” I finished up my short and sweet explanation.

“Right, right, the whole two step thing, I get it... but…” He retreated into himself.

But what? Don’t get cold feet now! I’m seriously planning on going without you if you keep complaining!

“My parents will be really worried, and we might not make it back… just thinking about that makes me really sad.” He raises a point, “I know it’s not something I should be thinking about, but it’s been on my mind a lot lately.”

Oh for Prylos’ sake, he’s gonna start crying again, isn’t he? It’s not like I don’t get where he’s coming from, but if we dwell on the matter for too long then we’ll end up never leaving this old village in our lifespans. And to me, that sounds like a way scarier fate.

I’m not the best at consoling or empowering people, so how do I go about this? Right, I’ll just say something that Schnell would say!

“Listen, I have a family just like you, and I still chose to follow in Schnell’s footsteps. It’s not a bad idea to experience something new, right? Our eyes are the greatest proof I need to convince you on that.”

To that, his eyes shone a bright green as he looked up at me. Truly, we had both held the green Iro and never converted. The other kids made fun of us, but it only motivated us to go out into the world even more.

Oh, and if you didn’t know, there exists a total of 8 colors of Iro: green, blue, red, yellow, gray, purple, brown and white. Although even with all these colors, I still think green is the most beautiful one. It’s got this feeling of liveliness to it that other colors simply lack.

Coming back to Ed, I think I proved my point since he stopped cowering and instead fixed himself up. He’s a good kid, I’m glad he’s coming with me. But even still, why does he always have to stop me from making a step forward? Doesn’t he realize that it’s worse to stay where you are than to try and move forward, regardless of the outcome?

“Yeah, you’re right Grim. Let’s go! TO ADVENTU-!” This time I cut him off.

“Hold it!”

“What is it, Grim?” He turned to face me again.

“I… nothing. Guess I’m still a bit woozy from waking up this early in the morning.”

“Now that you mention it, the Sun is only now starting to rise.” Ed said as he looked Eastward, “You could argue this is the best view a person can ever see. It signifies a new beginning, and a damn hopeful one at that.”

“Well, I can definitely see the appeal, but I prefer looking up at the starry sky more. I mean, do we even know what stars are?” I asked him after giving my opinion on the matter.

“Hmm, dunno.” He shrugged it off, “Probably something to do with the Gods, if I had to guess. Well, at least that’s what we’re taught by the adults in the village.”

“Let’s make a promise.” I looked at him seriously before raising my pinky finger, “During this journey, let’s make it our goal to discover what stars really are. And not only stars, but everything else we might come across!”

“Aye, let’s do just that!” Ed said as we intertwined our pinkies to finalize the promise and to solidify our resolve to make it happen.

“Alright, on three! One, two… TO ADVENTURE!” I shouted for the world to hear.

“TO ADVENTURE!”