Flaming Hearts ~Dying Spark ~Book1 {OLDER VERSION}

CH34 - The Scarves From the Past

I opened my eyes with a start. I was lying on the soft green grass as the ray of sunshine stroked the edge of my cheeks with its warmth. I rose from the ground and look around my surroundings. The place looked familiar, but my team was nowhere near the area I was in. Or should I say where we all just placed a camp spot? However, I did find someone. Perfectly snow-white hair, wearing his ninja-like outfit along with that white cape that held the familiar sapphire phoenix embroider.

"Glad to see you too Jack Frost." I greeted him blankly as I got up on my feet and walked up to Akio who was sitting on a small boulder and admired the. . . Kingdom that was before him.

"I have a name you know." Jack Frost replied with a joking tone.

"Oh, I know." I replied with a small shrug. "But I love Jack Frost better." At that Akio chuckled to himself with a look of amusement along with a playful eye roll which made me chuckle along.

It is weird. You know. Talking with your past life. I mean no one will ever get a chance like this.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked him curiously as I took a seat beside him.

"Nothing much. Just admire the memory of the Fire Kingdom here." Replied the white-haired young adult with a sad sigh. "The place where I was born." I feel my eyes go round while my eyebrows also lifted themselves up high. 

So he lived here?

"Things were so different back then. . ." Akio began with a sad and solemn tone that matched his whole posture and aura. It was so strong that it also started the spread in the air, so much so that I was able to feel it. "Everything in order and balance, and people managed to live in peace. Happily." The young-adult warrior's face was blank, but his eyes. . . . They reflected so much pain and agony.

"But then Zankoku took his place on the throne and messed up everything." Akio started sadly. 

"Back then I looked just like any other people from the Kingdom. An ordinary child with loving parents, a trustworthy friend, and a small farmhouse where we could play or train with our bending abilities. But then it was all taken away by the King of Nightmares."

"Sounds. . . awful . . ." Was all I managed to breathe out while my brain tried to process all the information in.

"It was. . ." Akio reassured with pure sadness in his eyes. " I was only like. . . ten or nine when it happened. . . My parents and I tried to ran away, but in the very last second one of Zankoku's evil creatures took me away. Fortunately, I managed to get away with the help of my fire-bending. Sadly though I slipped into the Demon World by accident."

"Really?" I asked him a little shocked. "How did you get there?"

"The realms were separated by barriers that King Enma had placed on each worlds' boundaries." Jack Frost explained. "However there were some holes where you can easily slip through." His hand then suddenly went up to the back of his hair and began to rub it with an awkward smile. "To my luck, I fell into one of them. I successfully got away, but. . . I lost sight of my parents. . . Permanently. . . And probably the same thing happened to Mana. . ."

"I'm so sorry. . . ." I breathed out to him as I feel my expression soften up. It must have been so awful to just lose everything in that very day. . . not to mention get lost in a foreigner place at the same time. . .

"It's okay Miyuki. It's not like it's your fault. . ." The young adult man said with a sad smile." On the bright side, however, if it wasn't for that accident, I wouldn't have met Frosty and the others. . . " Akio continued on with his story.