• Prologue

    It is said that a man of great courage and wisdom battled his flesh and blood—his evil twin brother. The good brother cared for the fate of the people around him while his brother cared only for himself. They were fighting for the hand of a beautiful forest fairy. The good man defeated his brother.
    In return for the loss of his sibling, the fairy gave him the power over thunder and lightning. And that is how they came to be. But he soon went mad with power, wanting more and more of it. He tried to force his wife to grant him more. When she refused, he cruelly killed her. He became unpredictable, striking down anyone who dared cross his path.
    A prophet foretold that a child would be born of his blood and dethrone him. Once he learned of this, he killed his children mercilessly. But one had been hidden at birth by the fairy deep in the Forest of Gail. A peasant found the baby and brought her into his home. She grew up able to communicate with animals, but never discovered her ability to control lightning. She had one son, whom she named….

    ~chapter 1~

    “Oh, this is so boring,” I groaned, leaning back to lie on the bottom of the boat.
    “Have patience, Rai,” said Hiro, sitting near the bow holding a fishing pole. “If you want to eat, we must fish.”
    “I know, I know,” I sighed. “But I don’t see why they can’t just hop into the boat for us.”
    “Because it’s impossi—“ He stopped abruptly as a shimmering green fish jumped over the edge and landed next to him. “What the--?” We both looked at the fish, then at each other.
    “Now, see?” I said, “That’s what I’m talking about.”
    “Why did the fish jump into the boat?” Hiro asked. He slowly leaned over the side to look into the water. A huge torrent of fish suddenly flew out of the sea at his face. Most of them rained down into the boat. Hiro turned back to me slowly and I saw a fish in his mouth, still flopping around. “Yech!” he gagged, pulling it out by its tail.
    I began to laugh and he glared at me. Then I stopped as a giant sea wolf appeared behind him. “Uh…” I said.
    “What? Is there something on my face?” I shook my head, looking at the monster. Hiro leaned his head back to look up and slimly drool dripped on his face with a squishy noise.
    “Hiro,” I said, slowly, “give him the fish.” Hiro picked one up and held it out to the sea wolf. It leaned down and he threw it. The fish hit the sea wolf on its nose, making it angry.
    “Row!” cried Hiro. “Row for your life!”
    We both grabbed an oar and began to frantically paddle, but we paddled in opposite directions, so we just went in circles. The sea wolf followed us with its head, but then seemed to get bored. It raised its webbed paw and was going to destroy our boat.
    I froze and Hiro grabbed me around my waist, tackling me out of the small wooden boat. It was smashed to smithereens. I saw Hiro get hit on the head with a large plank of wood.
    He was knocked unconscious and began to sink. I swam after him as quickly as I could and grabbed his shirt. I pulled him up to the surface and saw that the sea wolf was gone. I began to tow Hiro to shore.
    I dragged him out of the water, wondering why he was so heavy. I collapsed and laid next to him from exhaustion as Kasumi ran up to us.
    “Hiro!” she cried, running past me. “Wake up, Hiro!”
    “Uh,” I said. “I’m hurt, too, you know.”
    “Shut up, Stupid,” she said. “What did you do?!”
    “Me?!”
    Hiro suddenly sat up, making both me and Kasumi jump. “Aw, man!” he cried. “My grandpa made that boat!”
    “Hiro!” Kasumi cried, throwing her arms around him. “You’re okay!”
    “What about me?” I asked again. “I’m hurt, too!”
    “Kasumi, I’m fine,” Hiro said. “Don’t worry; you’re my sister—I won’t let anything happen to me. I can’t leave you alone.” Kasumi smiled. “Well, I guess we’ll have to go back empty-handed again, huh, Rai?” he chuckled. “Come on, guys.”
    He helped me up and we all began to walk back to the village.