Prologue

Prologue: Present Day, Thoraean Plains As Hanna and DJ were walking in the general direction that Ace and Jester had pointed them toward, Hanna asked, “So, you still owe me that story about where Lui and EDJ came from. Since it seems like our ever-so-helpful guides have disappeared…again… now would be a perfect time for you to tell me.” DJ laughed and said, “Hey, you’re right. It’s kind of a long story though…” Hanna smirked. “Look at where we’re going.” They were walking along a grassy plain near the beach that seemed to span endlessly. “We’re not getting to wherever it is we’re going for quite a while. Go for it. I like a long story every once in a while anyway.” DJ looked around at their surroundings and rolled his eyes. “True that. Alright, well it all started about seven years ago.” Hanna nodded politely in acknowledgement. “You know I had been living at the academy since I could remember. Which is like from when I was six years old or so. I never knew who my parents were. The school told me that they probably died, but I’ll never really know for sure. They were both lost in action and presumed killed. I was trained there from the time I got accepted, which is why I’m so amazing with pretty much any weapon.” Hanna laughed out loud and said, “Oh, I’m sure. Some day, we’ll put that to the test. I would be quite interested in putting this mastery to the test.” DJ smiled. “Deal. Anyway, I was one of the top students in the school, let along in my own class. I had access to some of the highest level missions that were available in the academy, and I had near-first pick on anything I wanted. The day before my thirteenth birthday, a top-security mission in Ireland opened up, and Jake, my partner at the time, and I jumped on the chance to go. Ireland was the one place I always wanted to go, but I had never had the chance to until then.” “Your favorite place on your birthday? That’s pretty epic, even if it was for work stuff. What about Ireland made it so intriguing to you?” Hanna asked. As they walked idly, she bent down and picked up a tiny yellow flower, turning it around in her fingers a few times before freezing the petals one by one. DJ watched the flower as it fell to the ground with a soft thud and muttered to himself, “Poor flower…” He picked up another flower and looked at it for a second before answering Hanna’s query. “My mom was part-Irish, from what I was told about her, so I have the blood in me. I wanted to see if I could find any information about her. Sometimes they give us a little free time wherever we go if we get done early. I usually did, haha. But that mission was what started it all…”