Youth is a fleeting thing. Children play in the rolling hills and grow together. Then, time blows through and shifts the endless desert endlessly.
The first to go was Nora. She was a small Stagamite, with long, silky ears like a rabbit and powerful legs that allowed her to leap over entire houses. She smiled at the world, and the world responded with a deadly blast of untamed, untapped chaos magic. The next to go was Kirai, who was banned from leaving the skylands after his parents discovered he played with "Ground-Dwellers" rather than other Falcinedes. Only Milli and Zafharin remained, but time drove Milli the half-elf into the Elven-Wood, leaving Zaf the lone Aremid all alone with her sketchbook of memories.
Life does not allow time to grieve the loss of friends, really. By the time Milli left, Zaf was too busy learning graphic design. She wanted to go to the city and work for a cutting-edge company with her art skills and show her artistic skill to the world. Well, twenty years later and she is living her adult dream. She has a tiny studio apartment in the heart of Meloarium, working for Holotek as their advertisement designer. She woke up at 4am, worked out, drank her favorite phoenix-iris coffee blend, worked, then came home to make dinner and stare at a wall until 8pm, where she would then simply fall asleep. There was no time for her preferred art medium, there was no time to look for her friends. Just monotonous routine.
That is, until a few seconds ago, when unfamiliar talons gripped her shoulders and lifted her into the skies. Zaf sighed as her coffee spilled to the ground.
I'm going to be so late for work aren't I...
"Zaf, where's Milli?"
"Kirai...?" Zaf looked up at her captor's broad snow-white wings and long lavender hair. It was a wild concept to Zaf that someone that they hadn't seen in so many years was suddenly carrying them through the air.
"Where's Milli?" The Falcinedes' voice was stern. "Also, my name is Kaia now."
"Kaia. Cool." Zaf watched the ground blur beneath them. "The last time I talked to Milli was twenty years ago. Her mother was taking her to the Elven-Wood."
"Cool." Kaia seemed to switch directions, flying directly towards the foothills of their youth.
"Kaia what is this about?"
"Adventure calls!"
