"You don't know how much you value something until it's gone." - Jinn Dalton

I woke up by the sound of chirping birds outside my window. I looked at the time and noticed it was the day to leave this island and go to South Greenterra, where I would travel to the other coast and go to North Greenterra. I quickly got ready and woke my parents up.

“Mom, Dad, I’m leaving!” I started walking away, but then I heard them calling my name,

“Jinn, wait!” My mother quickly got up and started asking, “Did you pack up your clothes? Did you brush your teeth? Are you sure you have enough money for the trip?” I smiled at her show of caring.

“Yes, mom. I got everything.” My dad walked up to me and said,

“Be sure to bring back the cure for Yosuke, Jinn.”

“I won’t come back empty-handed,” I said.

“Take care Jinn! Make friends that will help you find a cure for Yosuke!” Said my mother. Friends? I was never good at making them. I always preferred hanging out with my little brother instead, or just be alone, but now that he is sick...

“I’ll try my best!” I started walking away from my peaceful home in the mountain that my father built, ready to venture whatever destiny has for me.

My name is Jinn Dalton, and I live in an archipelago, more known as, ‘Tokiri Islands,’ In the Segondo province.

These islands are said to be blessed by the goddess of comets and stars, Suisei; that is one of the biggest reasons why it didn’t submerge underwater when the apocalypse happened a year ago, it was all defended by the goddess herself. As I was walking through the forest towards the port, I saw many pixies at the side of the forest yelling out my name.

“Jinn! Jinn! Where are you going?!” Said a small pixie as I kept walking.

“I’ll be going straight to North Greenterra! I need to talk to Shizuka Aizawa or someone in the new academy that can help me.”

“Good travels!”

“Thanks!” The Black Ash house resides in Tokiri Islands, so many pixies that wear black dresses live around here.

I finally reached the port. The good ol’ smell of salt enveloped my nose. The usual sound of seagulls flying overhead. And the many people doing trading and exchanges on the port was the cherry at the top of this beautiful scene. At a distance, I heard someone complaining,

“What do you mean pixies are not allowed on board?!”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. If a pixie doesn’t have a permit from the counsel of Tokiri Islands, then they are not allowed to leave the island.”

“But I got exiled! I came back, then realized I will rather be with other people. I’m sick and tired of these other pixies.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help.” I realized that this pixie was talking to the man that was supposed to take me to South Greenterra. She was cute and tiny; she was around 4’5 feet tall with long purple hair and a gorgeous black dress. Her eyes were a calming ocean blue color, just like mine. The 32-year-old man looked at me as I was walking in towards his ship and said,

“Ahoy, Little smurf! I was waiting on you.” He calls me a smurf since I have natural blue hair and blue eyes. This was extremely rare for me, but the priest of this land believes that I was a miracle sent by the goddess, Suisei. But really, that’s all just crazy talk, I’m no miracle.

“Hey, Capt. Edward, how was your day?”

“The same old stuff: fishing, trading, treasure hunting; you know, sailor things.” The pixie looked back at me and said,

“You, what’s your name?”

“J-Jinn, a pleasure to mee-”

“I don’t care, I just want this stupid ship to take me to South Greenterra.” Wow, I ‘ve never seen such a rebellious pixie before, no wonder she was exiled… but she still has her wings for some reason.

“Hey! Don’t insult the white orc!” Said Edward.

“Can’t you just fly over there with your wings?” I asked.

“Are you dumb? No! It’s too far!”

“Well, excuse me- uhm… what’s your name?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter! I just need to leave this stupid island!” I needed to help her. I know that she is just being rude to both me and Edward, but I… want to help her. Pixies have helped me in the past, so I need to repay them back.

“Edward, she is coming with me,” I said.

“But she still doesn’t have a permit.” Said the captain.

“She can use my guest spot in my permit.” If you want to leave Tokiri Islands with a pixie, she can use your guest spot, but since most pixies don’t like humans, it rarely happens.

“Wait… you would do that for me?” Asked the pixie while looking back at me.

“You said you wanted to be with other people, right? I’ll help you get back to them, but after that, I need you to do me a favor and help me with finding something.”

“Hmm… alright.” We both boarded the ship. She quickly flew up to the crow’s nest with her purple wings, while I shook Edward’s hand.

“You said you went treasure hunting. What was it this time?” I asked Edward.

“Aye, same old legends. A fierce lad named “Red Devil” Dominated the seven seas. He used to hide treasures just for fun and make riddles to then bet on other pirates that they wouldn’t find it in less than a week.”

“Wow, that’s some pretty dangerous thing to do.”

“Aye, it was. And yet no one was ever able to find his treasures.”

“Ah! That’s why you’re treasure hunting.”

“Aye, little smurf. Lads, weigh anchor!” We then started sailing off into the horizon on the Terra Ocean.

“Huh…” I walked over to the side of the ship. “How long will it take us to reach South Greenterra?”

“Just a day.”

“Great. So, what happened to Red Devil in the end?” I asked.

“In the end, he just became shark bait.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you poke your nose into dangerous stuff,” I said while looking off into the horizon.

While sailing, I tried talking to the pixie to see if we could become friends… I’m awful at it, so I better start somewhere. It’s hard for me to understand people. She was up in the crow’s nest. I was too scared to climb it up, I might have slipped and hit my head on something, so I didn’t take the chance.

“Hey! Pixie! Can you come down here?” She looked down at me, sighed, and flew down. I can already tell that I’m going to be incredibly awkward.

“What is it?” She asked with an annoyed tone.

“So uhm… how was your day?”

“Huh? It was crap, why?”

“Nah, I just wanted to know.” Three awkward seconds passed…

“So, uh… that’s it?” She asked me. It’s not that I’m nervous or anything! I just, I don’t know what to say! I’m not nervous at all!

“N-no! So, what made you leave the Black Ash House?” She sighed, sat down on the air, and said,

“When I was exiled… I met this person… he changed my life.”

“What person?”

“I… don’t want to say his name, but he changed me into another person, he looked out for me, he came to me when he was sad and told me his problems, and most importantly… I think I fell in love with him.”

“W-what?!” A pixie falling in love with a human has never happened before- A pixie falling in love, in general, has never been a thing! “Fell in love?!”

“Yes, but what I feel, I think humans categorize it as ‘Family love.’ I care about him more than I care about myself… I would sacrifice anything for his wellbeing; I saw him building the same type of love back for me, but sadly I had to leave to this stupid island where the pixies didn’t welcome me at all.”

“Ah, I see. I understand how you feel.”

“I felt more at home the last times I was with him more than I ever did in my entire lifespan… I was never really liked by the pixies back in the Black Ash House, so I was always more of an outsider; with him, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I also miss the calming and secure feeling I get when he holds me close to himself… I love him just as if he were my big brother.” This is the closest thing to love I’ve seen a pixie have so far, it’s quite fascinating thinking about it. And I’ve grown up with pixies since I was a baby.

“That’s the exact way I feel for my little brother. It’s definitely family love.”

“You have a little brother?”

“Yes, he is sick with a deadly virus in the hospital. We had tried every medicine and mages in the continent, but none seem to work; that’s why I’m going to North Greenterra to meet Shizuka Aizawa.”

“Shizuka Aizawa… that name sounds very familiar.”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me, she is extremely popular.”

“Hmm, pixies are known to have bad memories.” Said the pixie.

“By the way, I didn’t get your name.”

“Nightshade.”

“Well, we are going to find your big brother, Nightshade.” We kept sailing for a whole hour. THUMP While in the middle of the ocean, we heard something beating at the side of the ship over and over, making it shake.

“Woah! What is that?!” I yelled.

“Shiver me timbers! Take cover!” Yelled Edward. The sailors, Nightshade, and I all ducked as the boat was almost getting flipped over.

“What the hell?!” I yelled again.

“It’s an Arcana Eater!” Yelled one of the sailors.

“Arcana Eater?! Aren’t those things supposed to be defending the cloud kingdom?!”

“While in the apocalypse, they all got scared and swam away from their ocean. So now they attack every single ship that doesn’t have a cloud banner, and we don’t have any!” Said Nightshade.

“Great…” Think Jinn, think. With your singularity, you could do something… but I need a clear view of the fish. I instantly looked up at the crow’s nest and thought; I can’t climb up there, it’s dangerous… but… If I don’t, people in this ship will be in extreme danger.

While I was thinking of a plan, many people tried throwing spears and shooting the Arcana Eater, then, Edward yelled,

“It’s useless lads! Those things can’t be hurt by any kind of metal!” What?! Then how are they supposed to kill it?... It’s really up to me, huh?” Then, I heard a voice in my head saying,

“Jinn, you can do it! Don’t be afraid. You need to protect them at all costs.” Yes, I know, little voice. I started climbing up the ladder.

“Where are you going?! Have you gone crazy?!” Yelled Nightshade.

“Jinn! Get down!” Yelled Edward.

“It’s fine, I got it,” I said. I felt the adrenaline building up inside of me while I was climbing up. The more I went up, the more of a clear shot I had to this Arcana Eater; he looked like a giant piranha. “Just a little higher…” When I got to the top, I stood up to look at exactly where the Arcana eater was. I was about to use my singularity and take aim, but he charged against the boat once again made me trip off and start falling head first towards the top of the ship where all the people where. Time seemed to slow down while I was upside down in the air… this is over… it ends here. I closed my eyes, there was no chance I would come out of this alive.

“Jinn! Wake up! Believe in your power!” As soon as I heard this feminine voice cheering me on, I opened my eyes, and activated my singularity, creating a crosshair lens on my pupil. A bunch of blue holographic screens started appearing in the air ahead of me, which gave me a lot of information.

“Target Acquired—Loading Stardust Magazine—Enhancing Optics—Magazine Loaded—Smart Optics Operational—Finding Enemy weak spot… … …”

“Hurry up! I’m about to lose sight of it!”

“… … Enemy weak spot found. Middle of the spinal cord—Astral Guardian Ready. Good luck, Jinn.”

“Thank you very much, little voice!” An advanced pistol appeared on my hand. I aimed down sight while holding the pistol with both of my hands, took a deep breath and shot five times. You would think that bullets wouldn’t hurt the Arcana Eater since they are made of metal, but I don’t use bullets. My pistol uses a special type of plasma that I called stardust; this stardust slowly freezes anything it touches, but if you shoot more than four shots, all the shots will combine into one, and they will make an extremely sharp, fine icicle; if this icicle hits the weak spot of a creature, it will 99% kill it, and if not, it will freeze it from the inside.

The stardust combined in mid-air, the icicle was formed, and it pierced right through the Arcana Eater’s Central point of its spinal cord. It suddenly starting flapping around in the water, until it stopped swimming and sank down. But as I noticed, I was still falling headfirst towards the ground. “Welp, I did my best.” I closed my eyes. Saw my life flashing before my eyes until it was interrupted by one of the sailors catching my fall like it was nothing.

“Woah! How did you do that?” He asked me.

“No, forget me, HOW DID YOU do that?”

“My singularity allows me to absorb any type of shockwave or force into my body like it was nothing.”

“Ah, wow, where did you learn how to unlock it and use it?”

“The National Academy of Singularities of course.” Edward ran up to me and said,

“Well, I’ll be damned… little smurf, you are quite strong.”

“Nah, it’s nothing really.” It’s all my little voice in my head guiding me. I’ve been hearing this voice of a woman since I was born. When I’m in danger, or when I need some confidence it comes into play, also when I need information from my singularity, I hear it too. I really appreciate it, but I wish I could directly talk to it.” Suddenly, all the sailors picked me up and started cheering me and throwing me up.

“A good lad!” Yelled one of them.

“THE ARCANA SLAYER!”

“There will be songs about you!” Yelled the other one. Damn… I hate being in the center of attention, but… this ain’t so bad, I guess. I looked to the side and noticed that Nightshade fainted on the floor.

“Nightshade?” A couple of hours later, she woke up. She saw me sitting right next to her and asked me,

“Did I do it again?”

“Huh?”

“A year ago, I started having insomnia… I don’t know why, but after I stopped sleeping with my big brother, I can’t bring myself to fall asleep at nights alone anymore without him.”

“You mean to tell me that you haven’t been able to sleep well for a year?!”

“No… if I wasn’t a pixie you could probably see my eyebags, but we still keep our beauty even if we have bad health… which can be bad sometimes.”

“Did you really feel that much different when you slept with him?” I guess I can see how. Pixie usually can fall asleep only beside the thing they love the most, being their trees, so for her, it would be the black ash tree; but in her context, she will only be able to fall asleep peacefully beside this so-called big brother.

“Yes… being hugged by him while I slept made me feel so safe and relaxed, and probably even loved; something that I never felt before.”

“Ah, ok.” That proves my point.

“And now, I can’t sleep by myself anymore… I… get too anxious for some reason.”

“Well, let’s find him as soon as possible then.”

“Yeah! Let’s-” She crumbled down again like an old building being demolished by construction workers.

“Huh… well, we can’t find him if you’re sleeping all the time.” I then heard that voice again.

“Good battle, Jinn. I’m proud of you.”

“Well, you still haven’t told me who you are, but thank you like always.” And of course, I didn’t get a reply.