July 16, 2069: Day of The Invasion

Ringabell City was frozen all the residents who weren't able to get out in time had turned into ice statues and would immortalize this tragedy for years to come. Overhead the serpentine form of Boreas could be seen flying in the air as he searched throught the ruins for any survivors left to kill, destroying many buildings that stood in his way in the wake of his search.

Amid all this destruction you could be forgiven for not noticing the small figure running for his life just outside the limits of the city. The five years old Oliver Wilden couldn't believe what had just happened. A Dragon had just came out of nowhere and froze his father along with the rest of the city!

This had to be a nightmare right?! At any moments he would be in his bed woken up by his father with his annoyingly cheerful morning voice so he could make him some breakfast before going back to his lab for the rest of the day while his nanny took care of him.

But no, no matter how much time passed he was still there, running for his life as the sudden bitter cold weather started assaulting his exposed skin. Suddenly Oliver stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened in horror.

There just a few meters away from him stood a creature that should really not be standing in the middle of a forest. Floating among the trees was something Oliver could only described as a shark. The creature had a few distinct features that a normal shark didn't have. Surrounding it's body was a thick shell that you would normally only see on sea turtles. The shell had multiple holes for all of it's fins to pass throught.

The creature was not floating entirely of it's own however. Surrounding it's body was a large bubble of water that seemed to move alongside the weird shark/turtle hybrid. Oliver decided he did not want the creature to notice him and tried quietly to retreat behind the many trees of the forest.

Unfortunately luck was not on his side that day. Just before he could make it safely out of the sight of the strange creature. Oliver accidently stepped on a twig laying on the ground. The proceeding snap seemed to echo forever in the silent forest.

It was then that Oliver noticed the strange creature had noticed him and was looking at him with a predatory glint in it's eyes. Abandoning all pretenses of stealth Oliver began to run like his life depended on it, because it was.

It took a while for him to notice it because of his blind panic but the creature was not as fast as he anticipated. Maybe the big shell on it's back made it harder to move. Oliver smiled as he realised he would be able to easily outrun the dangerous looking monster.

But his hope was soon dashed as the creature grew frustrate and stopped moving in the air and instead opened up it's mouth wide. Without any further warning a large stream of water errupted from the giant bubble. Oliver only had a fraction of a second to dodge it. He jumped out of the way so fast he didn't notice where he was going until he hitted his head on the trunk of a tree.

It took a few seconds for the ringing in his head to die down but when he finally regained his bearings he noticed that the shark had gained some ground on him. As he turned around to flee his mouth hung opened as he noticed the damages the creature attack had done.

One of the three had a perfect round hole in the middle of it's trunk and it looked ready to fall down at any moments. As if that wasn't enough a large rock stood behind the trees and the high pressure of water had cutted the rock cleanly in half. Oliver gulped as he realised what it would mean if the water had touched him.

The monster was upon him now and Oliver had to jumped out of the way as the creature slammed on the ground where he stood not even a second ago. Oliver realised he had wasted way too much time and he needed to get out of here now.

Without hesitation Oliver started to sprint as fast as his legs could allow him. he saw the trees around him start to blur as he barrelled throught the forest. Oliver should have been more careful about what he was stepping on especially at the speed he was going. But with the fear of being sliced by high pressure water and eaten by a monster out of a B horror movie he didn't noticed the tree roots coming out of the ground until it was too late.

His foot was caught in it and it made him lose his balance. As if his luck wasn't bad enough he had fallen just in front of a pretty large ravine. Oliver screamed in terror as he lost all control as his body rolled down the ravine. Then he felt a sudden pain stab the back of his head and without any warning the world around him faded to black...

He didn't know for how long he had been unconscious and frankly at the time Oliver didn't know how he was still alive and not in the belly of the monster that had chased him. His best theory nowaday would be that the cold that Boreas created had made the water creature flee before he could be frozen to death by the sudden winter that had sprung up.

Because as he soon found out all around him was a thin layer of snow. Oliver couldn't believe there could be snow in the middle of summer, Orchestralia was a pretty cold region being in the far north of the Amedia continent. But it was still supposed to be between twenty to forty celsius during summer. But then he remembered that he felt cold just before the Dragon appeared, his eyes widden in fear as a realization struck him. What if the Dragon was really close to him?! He didn't know if he could outrun it a second time.

After making sure that nothing else was out there to kill or eat him Oliver sighed in relief but then frowned. Thus far all he had done was running from the monsters that destroyed everything. But now that he wasn't in any immediate danger where could he go? His home was in Ringabell City and there was no way he was going back there.

He was only five years old, how was he supposed to find where to go on his own? The only place he knew was Ringabell and Fluoti Town but he didn't even know how to get there! And even if he did get there what would he do once he reached it? Fluoti Town was the home of his mother but she had died because of breast cancer and now his father was gone too...

Oliver noticed that tears were leaking out of his eyes and he wiped them away before deciding to take a random direction and just walk. Anywhere would be better than here, he thought to himself...

He didn't know for how long he had been walking now, it felt like forever and yet the sun had not come down yet so it must have not been that long in reality. By now Oliver was struggling just to stay conscious. In the brief hours since he had regain consciousness, the gentle snow had made way for a harsh snowstorm.

He could barely see more than a meter in front of himself and the cold made his entire body feel numb. His two arms felt like two ice spikes and he was almost worried they would break in pieces if he hitted them too hard against each other.

''One step Oliver, just one more step. You can go further come on.'' He told himself not even sure if he really believed it. But then a miracle, happened, just in front of him he could see the outline of a small village appearing in his vision and he could see that there was still people as the lights of many houses were turned on.

Oliver smiled in relief glad that his nightmare was finally over. He went to make another step but his foot never touched the ground and he felt his mind slowly go away as his body fell in the thin cover of snow.

- - - - -

Oliver woke up with a gasp, he felt like he had just woken up from a bad dream but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was. As he slowly regained his senses the first thing he immediatly noticed is how warm he was and the second thing he noticed was the sound of breathing beside his own.

As he opened up his eyes he almost jumped out of his skin as he noticed an old lady was intently looking at him. The lady seeing his reaction chuckled before backing away. ''Sorry for scaring you little one. You were asleep for a long time I was worried you wouldn't wake up. So when I saw you tossing in your sleep I wanted to try to wake you up, but you opened you eyes before I could even try.''

Oliver looked around the room in confusion. He could see that it was a pretty large room and there was many beds in the room beside the one he was in. He was laying under a bunk bed and he could see that most of the other beds were the same. The furnitures all around him were almost bursting with clothes of all shape and sizes and there were many pictures of children all over the wall.

One thing that caught his attention was the strange object on the corner of the wall. It was a ring filled with threads that created a strange web-like pattern and hanging under them was a trio of white feathers.

the old lady smiled as she noticed his gaze. ''You notice that huh? Those are called dream catchers. My people believe that if you hang them in your room it will catch bad dreams and will only leave you with pleasants ones.''

''W-where am I?'' Oliver finally got the courage to ask.

''This is the small village of Xilo. We're one of the oldest village in all of Orchestralia. This is a native village that has existed since the end of the Musican War. We're a pretty isolated community so you're one of the first visitor in a while, tell me where are you from?''

''R-Ringabell City.'' Oliver responded in a shaky voice. Just bringing up the name reminded him of all that had happened to him. And what happened to his father.

The old lady nodded her head and frowned. ''Summer has suddenly turned to winter and the hunters of our village all reported seeing angry spirits prowling the woods. I suppose that there's a reason why a lone child like you found his way to our doorsteps. You don't have to tell me right now. For now maybe you should go see the other kids and present yourself.''

''Other kids?'' Oliver asked in confusion.

The lady smiled but this time it did not quite reached her eyes. ''Yes, this is the Xilo orphanage after all... By the way my name is Makawee, I'm the caretaker of this orphanage come see me if you need anything. I will be in the kitchen preparing diner for everyone.''

And with that the old woman left Oliver alone with his thoughts. Eventually he couldn't handle his own thoughts anymore and decided to follow Makawee sugestion and slowly walked out of the room.

As he step outside the room a blast of sound overwhelmed him. All around him he noticed kids of all different ages playing together. Some of them were playing rock paper, scissor, while others were busy searching for hidden children around the room and some of the more lonely one were busy coloring pages of paper.

''Pssst.''

Most children were too busy playing to notice him but a few did and they gave him incredulous stares which instantly made him feel uncomfortable and out of place.

''Psssst!''

Looking outside he noticed that he could see the small village. He could see that snow had fallen everywhere on the ground and on the rooftops of the houses. But the storm had calmed down considerably since he had fallen unconscious.

''Pssssst! Over there!''

Oliver finally noticed that someone was trying to gain his attention. The person in question was a young looking girl around his own age. She had a tan skin like every other kids in the room and long black hairs tied in a pony tail. Beside her stood another girl she looked a bit younger than the first girl but maybe she was just a late bloomer. Her black hair was hanging loose and as soon as she noticed Oliver staring at her she used said hear to hide her blushing face.

''So you finally noticed me, about time! So you're the new kid here huh? You caused quite a bit of commotion when old Awan dragged your limp body here. Almost nothing happen here in this boring little village and then suddenly winter came out of nowhere, spirits started appearing in the woods and a random kid show up at our doorstep.''

As he looked around he noticed that more kids had noticed him and were giving him the same bewildered look as the others. Seeing his discomfort the girl smirked and crossed her arms. ''Don't worry about them. We're really isolated in this small village so you're probably the first white kid they've seen in their entire life. They'll get used to you soon enough.''

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Living in the city he was used to people ignoring each other as if they didn't exist. So to suddenly attract so much attention felt kind of weird to him.

''By the way my name is Maikoh, I'm what people would call this orphanage's troublemaker.'' She said with a proud smile on her lips. Then she turned her gaze to the shy girl who squaked when she noticed the attention was suddenly on her. ''And this is Mika, don't worry about her she act like this with almost everyone. But once she warm up to you, you won't be able to shut her up.'' Maiko said with a chuckle wich drew another embarassed squak from Mika.

''So new kid, I told you my name, what about your?'' She asked eagerly.

Oliver smiled for the first time since his ordeal at Ringabell City and presented himself. ''I'm Oliver, Oliver Wilden.''

- - - - -

Present day

Once upon a time this world we call Earth was the home of mankind. There they told stories, invented things that would change their world forever and in general were thriving as the dominant species on the planet.

But on July 16, 2069 at the cusp of a space travel revolution, humanity met alien life. But it wasn't humanity that found them it was the unknown lifeforms that found humanity. The creatures invaded Earth and replaced their whole ecosystem overnight by killing almost the entirety of all animal's life. Civilisation as we knew it collapse under the weight of human's loss. What should have been humanity next great step turned into their biggest downfall.

These creatures with animal-like appearance and power beyond understanding came to be known as Elementum Bestia or Elestia for short and now this is now their world not ours. Among those creatures were eight dragons with god-like powers that commanded the eight Natures of their species. Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Earth, Mind and Death.

Ten years have passed since these creatures invaded our world. And humanity was losing hope of ever rebuilding what they had lost. But then in a surprising turn of events four individuals confronted Boreas the Winter Dragon. Their name were Xofamai, Justin Jones, Clara Balsam and Oliver Wilden. Justin gave his life for the fight but his sacrifice made it possible for Oliver and Clara to deliver the final blow on the beast and slay it once and for all.

With that victory they showed the world it was possible to win against these terrifying creatures. But the fight was far from over and people would soon learn that even thought the Dragons are one of the biggest threat they ever faced. In the end humanity's greatest foe has always been and always will be itself...

- - - - -

Three figure came toward the gate of New Ringabell they looked beat up from the road and ready to collapse at any moment. Oliver groaned in annoyance. ''Bunterra, why is it always Bunterra? I never want to see these annoying rabbits ever again.''

Clara rolled her eyes at him. ''You think you have it bad? The people of these trading caravans have to deal with them every single day. You only had to endure three days with them.''

Finally a guard took notice of the trio at the gate and smiled once he sa the three of them. ''Well look at that! The three legendary heroes have returned!''

Xofamai grunted in response and replied to the man in his usual dead tone. ''We've come a long way please spare us your theatric.''

''Fine, fine, look like fame hasn't changed you Xofamai. You're just as much a stick in the mud as you always were.'' The guard disappeared behind the wall and the gate suddenly lowered itself to let the trio pass inside of the wall.

Inside they could see that a lot of people were milling about. A lot of them were transporting building materials for all the new buildings they were making. After the ruins of Ringabell City had mostly melted away, the people of the Ding Dong Community had decided to emerge from underground metro and rebuild a new town from scratch. It was a lot of work but thankfully the Earth Elestia had helped them a lot by giving them all the stone and wood they needed to rebuild.

The guard turned to them and then he his eyes widened. ''Oh right I almost forgot! I was told to tell you that General Clementine is waiting for Oliver and Clara as soon as they arrive.''

Oliver and Clara gulped at that, thus far they had managed to escape the wrath of the old General after sneaking off to go kill the Winter Dragon but their time might be finally up. The two of them made their way toward her office. To both of them it almost felt like a death march.

- - - - -

They arrived in front of a much larger cabin than what the General used to have. As they entered inside however they noticed she had decorate the room pretty much the same as it used to be except there was now much more space for other stuff should she need it.

A fireplace sat behind her and photo of many people were still plastered on the walls and on her desk. To most people the General might look like an old and frail lady unfit for the job of general. But Oliver had seen her real strenght and her strong sense of leadership and he could tell that she was anything but unfit for this job.

Olivia Clementine sighed deeply before looking at the two nervous teens. ''You two...I should ban the two of you from the Resistance for doing something as insane as this. Do you realise how close both of you came to death?! From the begining I was relunctant to let two minors join the Resistance and your stunts only prove that I was right.''

Both of them wince as the onslaught of words continued. But finally Olivia calmed herself and lifted herself from her chair before surprising both of them by grabbing them and give them a bone crushing hug. ''But at the same time I want to say thank you. I was beginning to think we were fighting an hopeless fight and that we would always live in the shadow of the dragons. But you proved me wrong.''

Then she collected herself and went to sit back on her chair. ''As I said I'm grateful for what you did and I would be foolish to ban such gifted Chosens from the Resistance when the world clearly need people like the two of you. But you still shouldn't have went against my wishes. So this is your last warning if you do anything like this again I will ban you from this community for your own good, understood?'' The two of them nodded reluctantly. ''Good so we have an understanding. Now there is two other reasons as to why I have called the both of you here.''

Having said that she opened a drawer underneath her desk and presented both of them with a card and a badge fo each of them. ''For having done such a great service for the Resistance and the rest of the world you are hereby given a promotion to the rank of Hunter. You will now be able to do missions of rank B, I know that might not sound impressive given what the two of you arleady acomplished. But I cannot raise your rank to Ranger just yet. Heroes or not we have an exam that everyone in the Resistance must pass before reaching the final rank. If you want that last promotion you will have to pass the exam in the fall, like everyone else.''

The two of them nodded in understanding before taking their new shiny card with glee clear on their face. Oliver looked at his new shining badge, it looked identical to his old one. The big difference was that the word 'Hunter' was emblazoned proudly underneath the symbol of the Resistance. Then Olivia took something else from under her desk and presented it to them. It was a shiny looking key that looked like had just been made. The two teens look at it in confusion before Olivia explained.

''While you were away the members of the Resistance decided the two of you should be the first people to have a house in New Ringabell. I don't know if you wanted separated house or not but judging by the fact you both passed three months together in a tent, I assume you will not have problems sharing a house for the time being.''

The two of them look at the key in awe. ''Is it really okay for us to have one of the first houses?'' Clara asked incrediously.

Olivia nodded with a smile. ''You both deserve it, beside if I tried to give it to anyone else I would have people protesting at my door. They built that house for the two of you after all, it's only fair you accept it.''

Clara gratefully took the key in her hand and with a final goodbye the two of them exited the Olivia's office. ''Let's go see our house.'' Clara said and Oliver nodded in agreement before they quickly made their way toward their new home.

The number of their residence was written on the key but even if it wasn't they wouldn't have had much trouble finding it with how few buildings there still was. As they entered inside they could immediatly smell the scent of new wood in the entire house. The house had everything they needed. A kitchen, a bathroom with running water, a living room and a bedroom for each of them. Their bedrooms had the bare minimum with only a bed and a drawer each but it was more than enough for now.

Oliver and Clara had amassed a pretty good ammount of money after all the missions they have gone throught so they could easily afford to furnish their rooms. Clara sighed happily. ''Finally we won't have to go to a public shower anymore! It was so awkward every time, especially when I showered myself in my true form!''

That night both of them slept like a pair of logs. They hadn't been able to sleep in a real bed in a long time. Oliver felt kind of weird at first of not sleeping close to Clara. But as he heard the sound of her breathing it began to feel kind of similar to when they were sharing a tent. They had always slept far apart from each other in the large tent to avoid awkwarkness in the morning so it wasn't that different. And with heavy eyelids he finally drifted off to sleep, wondering what would come next now that they were Hunter...

- - - - -

A few days passed in peace in the newly formed town of New Ringabell. In that time Oliver and Clara had furnished the house to their heart content and it was beginning to feel more and more like a home to both of them.

Clara had decided to buy a radio. Sure only one station was working right now but it was better than nothing and it played music she hadn't heard in a long time. Unfortunately her music was shortly interupted by a burst of static followed by a familiar booming voice.

''Hello everyone! This is Krazy K-9 coming straight to you from the ruins of Orchestralia! Awooo! In today's news summer have grace our land with it's heat. Elestia are becoming more and more active so be careful out there! And there is another reason I'm talking about this heat! It look like the ruins of Ringabell City have almost completely melted after the death of the Winter Dragon!''

Clara became nervous once he started talking of Ringabell, she really hoped he wouldn't talked about her and Oliver again. She was still coming to term with her newfound popularity and hearing him constantly praise them wasn't helping.

''Well it look like the member of the Ding Dong Community took this opportunity to rebuild the old city from scratches! That's right folks a new community is emerging from the ruins of our once beloved capital and it's name is, get ready for this. New Ringabell! Wow I want to give a trophy to the guy who found the name, such originality!''

Clara rolled her eyes if he was so good with names why didn't he come with one?

''In other news it look like the heroic act of Justin, Xofamai, Clara and Oliver has created a wave of acceptance toward Chosens. More and more people from all over the country are begining to bond with wild Elestia. Unfortunately some people have underestimated the danger of Elestia and got themselves killed trying to tame them. Remember kids just because Elestia can be our friends doesn't mean they're not dangerous. Also remember that just like humans you can't befriend every Elestia out there.''

Clara was happy that more people were giving Elestia a chance. That was what she had wanted from the beginning. But it was unfortunate that some people had met their end trying to befriend them. That's why you needed to have a Draconid Gem before trying to tame an Elestia. It allowed humans to talk with Elestia in all safety. The worst an Elestia can do inside such gems is ejecting the human out of the gem.

''That was the news for today! This was Krazy K-9, Awooo! Bringing you the news, because if i don't who else will?'' With that the voice was interrupted by static and the music that was previously playing resumed at full blast.

Suddenly the door opened and Oliver entered inside the house he looked around and finally his eyes landed on Clara who was still listening to the radio. ''Hey Clara guess what?! We just received a new mission from the General!''

Clara snapped out of her reverie and looked at Oliver with a bit of excitement. ''So? What is it?''

''There's an infestation of Acidermin in the town of Banga, we have been called to deal with it.'' Oliver said.

Clara seemed to deflate at the news. ''That's it? We just got promoted and we have to deal with a bunch of rats? Kind of anticlimatic if you ask me.''

Oliver smirked at that and shook his head. ''Oh but there's a twist, this mission is a test for us. Because for the first time we're going on a mission without the help of Xofamai!''

Clara's eyes widened at this. ''Wow seriously?! I mean the mission still kind of suck but going out without Xofamai feel like such a big deal you know?'' Oliver nodded in agreement. ''So when are we going?''

''She said we should go as soon as we're ready.'' Oliver responded.

Clara smirked at that. ''Perfect then, let me just bring my stuff and we're on our way.''

Oliver felt trepidation as he saw Clara rush back to her room. Him and Clara had not been alone outside of the community since they joined the Resistance. But why did the thought of him and Clara alone against the world made him so nervous all of a sudden?

Oliver also had this sinking feeling for a while, as if something horrible was just on the horizons. And he didn't know why he felt this way, they had slayed Boreas. Orchestralia was now free of it's Dragon overlord and the other ones were all in different countries. They were safe for now, weren't they?