The Road of Future Kings

Main Characters

 * Kite Colart - A soldier in the ECHO Special Activities Division. He has little memories of his past and because of a hand injury is taken off of infantry tasks and placed into the observations division within the specials.
 * Gwen Stokkart - A member of the terrorist group, One Fine Day. She is a beautiful girl, who infiltrates the ECHO Specials to get close to Kite. She joined the ECHO Specials two years before Kite and is his direct supervisor in the observations division.

Other

 * Lieral Weyard - The leader of One Fine Day, he has unrequited feelings for Gwen and is one of Kite's childhood friends, though Kite has forgotten him.
 * Setia - ("Princess of the Black Cage") is a former Swell Wolf and one of the last members of the Azurite Ethnic group.

Terms

 * The Magic Bullet - A special item created by

Chapter 01: The shooter of the magic bullet
A great city in the sky.

The wind blowing wildly.

Kite lays on the grass, staring up at the sky.

Gwen sits beside him.

"Gwen."

Kite raises his stretched out hand to the sky.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you wish that the days were always this endless?"

Sarcastically.

"Ah, the dream from faraway again?"

She chuckles.

Kite sits up.

"Hey! I was serious you know."

"Alright, alright. I believe you."

She nudges him back down.

He lays back down.

"Kite, you're too carefree, it makes it easy to tease you."

Kite blushes.

Thinking to himself.

"I wished that those kinds of days would last forever."





The soldiers surround them.

Their weapons loaded and aimed.

The captain steps out.

"Kite, if you have any shred of loyalty, kill her. She is a terrorist."

Kite pleads with Gwen.

"It isn't true right?"

"This is all a joke right?"

Gwen raises her gun to his head.

He pleads, a broken look on his face.

"Gwen?"

"Kite, please... Remember."

She shoots him.

Rewrite.

A fragment.

A burning memory.

Long forgotten.

Long lost.

Her voice.

"If you try, it might be possible... If you don't, all will be lost..."

Who was she?

Did I forget?

Her face.

Tears in her eyes.

I'm sorry.

Darkness.

"My stupid son, this is for your own good."

"No, father! Don't!"

I remember.

I screamed.

I didn't want to forget.

The moment that we lost.

Her voice.

"Kite, you have the power. The power of Kings."

I didn't want to lose her.

I was afraid.

What did she see?

The King or Me?

A gale stirs in the sky.

The soldiers back away.

"What is that?"

Gwen looks up.

"Argyle, it is done."

Kite opens his eyes.

The eyes of a King.

The soldiers gasp.

"That's impossible, you were killed."

Chapter 13:
Gwen stares at Kite sleeping.

She thinks to herself.

"I care for Kite...To me, Kite is...No, I have no right to saw such things...I will betray him after this too...I hate it...I don't want to kill anyone anymore...please...Kite...save me."

Kite awakens from his sleep.

He yawns and rubs his eyes.

"Ah...Gwen?..what a nice nap that was..."

Gwen smiles at him.

"Geez Kite...you sleep too much."

He smiles back at her.

[to be continued...]

Chapter 20: Gaktaer
Dripping water.

Stony, damp floors.

Gwen chained in the prison.

A person approaches.

Through the bars.

She can see his face.

"What is "The Hero King"?"

Lieral holds a torch.

Slowly.

He approaches.

"So that was the extent of your knowledge?"

Lieral presses his hands on the bars.

"I knew you were this amazing when we first met."

Gwen looks at him scornfully.

"You know exactly what's happening right now, don't you?"

"Is it for Kite Collart's sake that you act so desperately?"

Lieral's question struck her.

Gwen wanted to apologize.

She knew Lieral loved her.

But Kite had always been on her mind.

She wanted to save him.

Save him from his unfortunate destiny.

Lieral unlocks the gate.

Gwen looks at him, surprised.

He unlocks her handcuffs.

"Lieral......why?"

"A war is starting...Soon the Flavians will make their move...I want you to save Kite before that happens...The mythic he carries will consume him......and it will usher in the end of the world."

"But...Lieral...what do you mean?...end of the world?"

"To save the world...the Hero King will consume the Goddesses...Before Kite Collart is consumed by the Hero King...you must save him...Bring Kite back with you......make sure to come back to me."

Gwen nods at him.

She leaves the prison.

Lieral watches her and coughs up blood.

The blood turns from red to gold.

"And "The Mad Hero" will consume "The Hero King"."

"Are you okay with that?"

A voice echoes in his mind.

Lieral recalls a memory.

An empty room.

A table for two.

Two cups of tea on the table.

Lieral sits at one end.

His hand on his cup.

On the other sits Virgilio.

Virgilio hits the table.

"Are you okay with that?...Are you really okay with that?"

Lieral drinks his cup of tea.

"It's consuming you Lieral...have Gwen save you."

Lieral places his cup down.

"Virgilio...I would...but I'm not the one she loves..."

"But still...you could try...Kite doesn't even want to live...yet you..."

Virgilio places his palm on his head.

"Yet you...have so much to live for...finally...the federation is changing......all because of you....without you....history will repeat itself..."

"Virgilio...only someone who loves me....can save me...I'm not the one Gwen loves..."

Virgilio stands up.

He puts his hat on and leaves.

"I'll keep trying...I won't give up on you...the Mad King won't consume you..."

Virgilio closes the door.

Lieral places his hand over his heart.

"I'm sorry...old friend...but I've already lost..."

Lieral looks down at his blood.

"The golden blood of the Mad King huh?"

Lieral enters a ship.

He sits down.

A dream.

Or is it a reality?

A room of stained glass.

Two thrones.

One coated in red.

One in gray.

Two Lierals.

The same but vastly different.

Lieral points at his red throned, counterpart.

"You tried to doom Kite!"

"Be Silent."

"You be silent!...I'm not like you...I won't give up on Kite."

"Speak not of empty dreams...You are afraid...afraid of choices...afraid of pain...You cannot save anyone......I let Gwen go to prove that......I made a choice...we must move forward..."

"I won't allow it!...I can take her back..."

"Then save Kite from the darkness and take her back!..You can't do it anyway!..If you could...I would've done it long ago..."

"Even so, I can do it."

"Can you really do it?"

"I'll kill him before Gwen can save him...before he can reach the throne...Gaktaer...you can just sleep..." Gaktaer fades.

The red throne stands empty.

Chapter 22: The Empty Throne
Kite opens his eyes.

The sky is clear and endless.

All he can see is a pool of blood, endless as well.

From the pool, white spires protrude endlessly into the sky.

But he notices that the spires up above held something.

That something came closer and closer.

It was a beast of some sort, a monstrosity.

The beast seemed humanoid, but was so horrifying.

"Oh......is this how humans view the demons in their own soul?"

The beast's eyes homed in on Kite.

"In the beginning was the word......"

Kite's head began to ache.

The beast continued.

"The word was with......"

Kite fell on his knees.

He knew the voice.

It was the voice he had always heard.

Kite looked up at the beast.

It's monstrous form disintegrated.

In it's place.

He saw a more corrupt form of himself.

"I am called Genesis......if I devour you the contract will be done......this is the end."

Kite closed his eyes.

He resigned himself to this defeat.

He had always thought his death was forthcoming.

"Kite."

Kite recognized her voice.

His heart began to beat steadier.

"Kite!"

The voice got louder.

"Kite!!"

Kite opened his eyes.

The form of a girl stood before him.

The beast tried to attack Kite.

But a series of chains appeared.

They bound the beast and dragged it into the pool of blood.

The beast yelled.

"Damn you...curse you...a lowly intruder...Argyle's Curse...how dare you!!!"

The female form had no features.

Kite knew her voice.

But he did not know her face.

She held out her arms and hugged him.

"I wanted to meet you again......Argyle......thank you......you kept your promise."

"Again?......Argyle?......Who are you?"

The girl held him tighter.

"I love you, Kite"

Kite recalled a memory.

A classroom.

Students talking.

Their faces unknown.

Kite is sleeping.

A girl nudges him.

"Kite, Kite!......geez you are so hopeless."

He rubs his eyes.

"Gwen?"

The beast began to reform behind them.

"Hurry Kite......the throne......you must hurry and touch the throne."

"The throne?"

"Yes......to protect that which you believe."

The beast fully reforms.

"You lowly intruder......how dare you?"

The beast forms a blade and swings it.

Gwen pushes Kite away.

"I wanted to hold you so much more...to tell you...I loved you...so much more......to be by your side......forever."

Gwen is crushed by the blade.

Her body splatters into a mess of blood.

Kite runs.

The beast follows him.

"I will not allow it......you will not touch the throne."

Kite felt ashamed.

He felt sick.

He left Gwen and ran.

As he ran.

He saw the throne.

It was a white throne.

He could hear the beast still chasing him.

He did not hesitate.

He touched the throne.

In the middle of the world, there was a man in white.

The man held a sword and a crown.

But the whiteness of the man was covered.

Quickly covered in blood.

The man kept killing.

And with each kill the whiteness of the man became covered with blood.

The eyes of that man kept tearing.

But in the eyes of the man was not sadness.

A sense of duty.

A sense of determination.

And a strong will.

The man lifted his sword and killed once more.

But this time it was a woman.

An extremely dazzling woman.

Something almost divine.

A Goddess.

Yes, she was Goddess.

But he killed her.

He wept, but still he killed her.

And as the man wept.

The world turned to darkness.

And he smiled.

Because the world had ended.

He had ended the world, to save it.

But he kept saying something.

"...................."

I could not hear what he was saying.

He was speaking to me.

What was he saying?

"...................."

His voice could not reach me.

"...................."

"...................."

I still could not hear.

The man raised his sword and swung.

But the target was me.

"...I......must......devour......you."

As the blade crushed my head.

Instantly.

I could see it.

His face was mine.

At that moment, the feeling of everyone I had known.

The feeling of those I didn't know.

The feeling of trust.

The feeling of love, hatred, and everything else.

I had lost them.

I was surrounded by the darkness.

But still I could feel.

Inside this darkness.

There was a light.

A child called out.

It was everything I wanted.

It was me.

Terminology

 * Argyle's Curse - A curse that allows a person to use their soul to enter the Mythic Realm.
 * Mythic Realm - A term invented by Gwen Stokkart to describe the spacial conscious where mythic reside within the consciences.