A Series of Friends

Chapter 6 ~ Raft of Star Heath

Starring:
Mimiko | Flamieh | Hanari | Merai | Celest
Other important characters:
Ollie | Petre | Rwge | Boxy | Julian | Michael | Shiro

Once upon a time, there lived 5 destined to be brave warriors. All having a hard life as a child; growing to find out that a journey awaits them....
"And she wins again!" called out the announcer of the game. The village was hosting another event with people who had great aim. Mimiko taking her prize and heading of back home, ignored the crowd behind her; some annoyed they lost, some amazed by her talent in aiming and throwing. Finally arriving home, Mimiko got into a steamy bath and made herself a pot of stew to eat with her soft fresh bread. Barging in, Hanari tries to grasp back his breath while putting his weight on the door. Open lines of red across his soft face. Mimiko in panic, helped Hanari to a chair grabbing hold of things to heal his wounds immediately. "What happened at training?" enquired Mimiko. "I wasn't going to let them talk bad about you Miko," he replied still grasping for air, "We - we need to get of this place fast..."
Mimiko startled by what she just heard, asked 'why' and only got an answer as a 'they're after us'. After a bit of explanation, Miko headed upstairs to grab what she needed and all of a sudden while scourging through her room she knocked something against her bed which lead to a giant gap in the ceiling to appear. A ladder tumbled down for Miko to explore this mystery. Nothing stood up proud in the room but a black box. Slowly opening the lid, a light shone out of it foreshadowing a long gun made out out of water. Turning to the sound of a footstep, Hanari had seen the weapon and told Miko "It was meant for you," he said displaying his sword glowing with a strange beautiful light. Miko looked at it running her fingers along the weapon before gazing at Hanari and giving him a nod.

"Where are we going to run of to?!" cried a high pitched voice.
"I don't know why would I know; just far away from the village like mother said..." yelled a worn out girl with dark hair and tears streaming out her eyes. The little high pitched voice stopped as she knew the pain that the girl was going through. Eventually finding a cave to safely stop and rest in, the girl and the small creature stayed and rest. Silence broke out for a few hours. In the blink of an eye, the girl stood up clearing her tears and pointed at the creature and spoke loudly "I ,Merai Kayano, will get her vengeance on those horrid wizards for murdering my home, my family, my friends and you Boxy will teach me magic!"
"M-m-me?!" exclaimed Boxy.
"Yup!" smiled Merai.
"I'll try," grinned Boxy.
That night, Merai explained how she wanted to be able to heal things but also attack it. Boxy thought of how she would teach Merai her knowledge while she set up some sleeping bags, and as they went to bed she added extra protection around the cave. Boxy was a small creature about the size of Merai's index finger but even though she was small she had helped Merai a lot and used her magic for good deeds. The next morning, Boxy started her training with Merai getting down the basics.

-3 Years Later-
"How much longer?" enquired a masked man.
"Not too long, I'm sure we'll find safety soon," replied the other man.
"So how do you plan on getting some special people like us joining our group of two?" asked the masked man.
"We just have to watch out," answered the other man.
"Look Celest, they're not just going to appear out of no where honestly!" sighed the masked man.
"They might...? You never know Flamieh...!" exclaimed the so called 'Celest'.
Flamieh just grunted.
Gradually getting deeper into the woods, they heard a voice of a maiden. Getting closer to the sound, both the men found a young maiden throwing magic at lots of different evil spirits. After dealing with them all she announced "That was waaay too easy Box give me something harder!"
The men looked at each other questioning how it was "easy" and decided they needed her on their team. Making themselves visible, they appeared in front of her, the girl startled shot a ball of magic at Flamieh knocking him out and another one at Celest who avoids the ball of magic as he turned into a wild beast of a cat with sharp teeth and an impeccable size using his tail to destroy the ball of magic. "We don't mean no harm! We didn't mean to startle you or anything," Celest explained.
"Oh...my...God! I am so sorry! I haven't seen people in these parts or seen people in general for a few years, I didn't mean to knock your friend out!" gasped the girl immediately healing Flamieh who woke up instantly. After a few hours of explaining between Celest & Flamieh trying to form a team to defeat three evil villains; Merai explained how her village was destroyed and how she was training with magic for the past three years in the woods with Boxy as her coach. Merai gave deep thoughts about joining this team of theirs. She let them stay for the night as it was getting dark and made them a hot meal. That night as Celest and Flamieh had headed off to bed, Merai set to the outside world and climbed her favourite tree. Above all the leaves she saw the view of the moon and the stars and landscape from millions of miles away. Thinking about the advantages of joining the team and any consequences, Merai couldn't make a decision. All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared and a masked boy was gazing into the sky. His eyes were filled with wonder, he spoke "Thinking if you should join the team or not huh? To be honest, I wasn't so sure at first but I want something to do, life is just boring, I want something to fill my time up."
He smiled then gazed up once more and disappeared without a trace.