5 Years Ago; January 30th, Sun City

5 years ago, on the hills located in Sun City. Two boys played around, having fun like any other day.

Those boys were Uriel and Alejandro. They were always dressed in strange outfits as they called themselves the “The Super Space Rangers”

Uriel and Alejandro were close friends, they were always close to each other. On January 30th, one day before the fateful events. The boys played outside of Uriel’s backyard, however, fate had other plans for them…

“PIU,PIU, I got you Space Ranger Red.”

Alejandro plays with his toy gun, Uriel fakes his death as he says:

“Oh, I died, no…curse you….Silver Space Ranger…”

“Hahahaha” The boys smile as they begin to throw mud balls.

Uriel Vazquez was an 11 year old boy with brown skin, his hair had a bluish tone, and he had green eyes. Uriel also has a thin body and average height and weight; he likes to play soccer, and videogames.

Alejandro Sanchez at that time was a 11 year old boy who had brownish short hair, his eyes had an orange color, a thin body and his skin color is white. He was always next to Uriel's side and was his best friend since preschool. Alejandro had complete trust in Uriel. The two were close,almost like brothers.

"Hey Uriel, let's go and explore the hills over there…"

Alejandro says, pointing towards the hills.

"I don't know, Alejandro, my mom says it's dangerous…"

"Aww, don't tell me the baby is scared?"

Alejandro begins to make fun of Uriel dancing around. Uriel gets angry and replies:

" I am not a baby…"

"Well then, let's go…"

Uriel and Alejandro decided to walk down a hill to unexplored areas…As they walked, Alejandro decided to ask Uriel a very personal question...

"Hey Uriel, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it Alejandro?"

Alejandro changes his expression to a serious one and asks:

"Do you...like Marjorie?"

Uriel doesn't understand the question and replies:

“Of course I do...she is a great friend, like Victoria and Angela...¨

¨That's not what I meant...¨

Alejandro stops walking and looks at Uriel clarifying on what he meant:

“What I meant was, are you in love with Marjorie?”

“...” Uriel looks at Alejandro without saying a word, he takes a deep breath as he knows that Alejandro has always been in love with Marjorie. Uriel looks at Alejandro and smiles:

“No...I don't…”

Alejandro smiles and replies:

“Good to hear”

He walks slowly passing Uriel, Uriel lowers his head as Alejandro thinks:

“Uriel, you´re a great liar...I know that you are lying only because I told you that I like Marjorie...¨

Alejandro stops and says:

“Hey Uriel, be careful with Aleister...I know that you are a good person but he hates and you know it…”

“I know that...but I think he might be good even though he bullies us a lot…”

“You sure are a fool...you know that?” Alejandro laughs and both of them continue to walk.

It's getting dark, and the mountains create shadows where the sun does not hit...As they walk by a small creek, the boys find out something strange…

"Hey Alejandro, I found something, come quick…"

Uriel waves at Alejandro who was up on a hill. Alejandro quickly runs down towards Uriel's location.

"What is that?" Uriel says as he looks with his eyes wide open,his mouth is also open as he is in shock. Alejandro, who is standing next to him, is also in shock.

Both of the kids look at a graveyard, it is surrounded by a wood fence. There are seven tombs in that place. Six of them are in a position that creates a circle surrounding one that is in the middle.

The graveyard has a gate with a sign that says "CIBOLA"

"That's incredible, let's get close to have a better look." Alejandro begins to walk forward.

"Wait, I think it's a bad idea…" Uriel says with a frightened tone.

"Come on, don't be chicken…" Alejandro begins to make fun of him by making chicken sounds.

"Shut up, I am not a chicken" Uriel walks down with an angry expression.

Alejandro chuckles; "Man, you're so easy to read…"

"Shut up…"

The boys decided to walk closer to the graveyard. Ignoring the warning sign behind them that said:

"Peligro" (Danger)

The boys slowly approach the graveyard, they stand at the entrance of the graveyard.

"There...you saw it up close...now let's go…" Uriel turns around, Alejandro grabs his shoulder saying:

"Wait...do you see that in the center?"

Alejandro points at the tomb in the center, the tomb has seven skulls. Uriel begins to notice that there are skulls on every tomb.

Each tomb has a number of skulls going from 1 to 6. The sun is almost gone creating a twilight in the sky.

The mountains cover the area creating giant shadows covering the area. The cold suddenly hits harder, dropping to a freezing sensation.

"Uriel, I want to go in…"

Alejandro's eyes turn shallow, he begins to walk forward and enters the graveyard.

"Alejandro...wait…"

(BADUMP BADUMP BADUMP)

Uriel begins to feel pain on his chest and on his head. He breathes heavily as he falls into one knee.

"Alejandro...wait...don't go…"

Alejandro reaches the center. He looks at the tomb, beneath it, there is a golden box.

(CAW CAW CAW)

Crows begin to fly around Alejandro; "What's going on?"

One of the crows scratches Alejandro's arm causing him to bleed.

(DRIP DRIP DROP)

Drops of blood fall to the golden box. Suddenly, the golden box begins to shine. The other tombs begin to shine as well, the light begins to connect with each other in the ground creating a symbol.

"Uriel,what's going on?" Alejandro looks frightened, Uriel feels weak thinking:

"Move,move, help him…"

(BBBBBOOOMMMM)

A pillar of golden light shines to the sky…

Meanwhile...

It’s a peaceful afternoon in the Vazquez house...

“Papa...catch us?” A young girl with purple hair plays with a man with blue hair who is carrying a boy with reddish hair. He is Roberto Vazquez, Uriel’s father. He plays with his children, and suddenly, he notices that Uriel and Alejandro are missing.

At that moment, a pillar of golden light shines in the sky.

“Papa, what is that?” The children point at the light. Roberto opens his eyes wider.

"Maria, where is Uriel?" Roberto asks his wife as he looks at the light. A woman with red hair comes out and sees the light.

"Uriel and Alejandro were playing in that direction…"

“It can’t be…” Roberto begins to run as fast as he can towards the light. Meanwhile, a man on top of a horse looks at it and begins to laugh:

"So it finally appeared, the forbidden tomb showed itself and my successor is in that direction as well, fate sure is cruel…"

In the graveyard, the light stopped shining, the two boys are left paralyzed as they do not know what happened. Alejandro looks down and sees that the box has opened. Alejandro sees that inside the box there is a golden key.

“Uriel, come quick, there is something here…”

Uriel begins to run towards Alejandro entering the graveyard. Suddenly, Alejandro opens his eyes wider as he witnesses something horrifying.

“UUURRRIIEELL BEHIND YOUUU….”

Alejandro screams, Uriel feels a presence behind him, he turns around and sees a beast behind him. The beast is a “Sombra” that has the figure of a bat with a black body and orange circle patterns.

(RRRRAAAWWW)

(BBBBBOOOOMMM)

The Sombra flaps its wings and hits Uriel with force. Uriel hits his head with one of the tombs. He begins to bleed with force however he doesn’t lose consciousness.

The Sombra begins to walk slowly towards Alejandro. Alejandro is frozen in fear.

“A...A...Alejandro...you must run away…”

Uriel tries to crawl towards Alejandro. Alejandro doesn’t move, he begins to look up to the Sombra’s eyes. He trembles in fear as he says with a shaky voice:

“U...U...Uriel...help me…”

“BOY I LIKE YOUR SMELL, YOUR MANA IS GOING TO BE DELICIOUS”

The Sombra grabs Alejandro with both of his arms.

“NNNNOOO LEAVE HIM ALONE” Uriel tries to move but he is very weak due to his head injury.

“AAAHHHHHH”

The Sombra bites Alejandro’s neck, and suddenly a silver aura emerges from Alejandro’s body. The Sombra begins to suck away Alejandro’s aura completely. Alejandro's eyes slowly close as he loses consciousness.

The “Sombra” let’s Alejandro go, Alejandro falls to the ground.

“AAAALLLEEEJJJAANNNDDDRROOOO”

Uriel slowly begins to stand, he looks at the Sombra with anger, the Sombra looks at Uriel. The Sombra walks towards Uriel.

Without warning….

(PIU,PIU)

Two bullets hit the Sombra from behind.

“HEY YOU, MONSTRUO, LEAVE THE MUCHACHO ALONE…”

Uriel is in shock as he sees a man on top of a hill. The man is dressed in a Mariachi outfit, he has a sombrero and he is mounting a horse.

(RRRRRAAAAWWWW)

“DAMN YOU...WHY ARE YOU HERE…”

“Why am I here you say? Well, you attacked this muchacho and that pissed me off…” The man lifts his head. Uriel is in shock to see that the man had red eyes.

The Sombra charges towards the man, the man chuckles and draws his sword.

(SSSSLLLLAAASSHHH)

In a blink of an eye, the man cut the Sombra in half. The Sombra slowly disappears, turning into mana. The man puts his sword away and chuckles:

“You are weak, idiot monster.”

Uriel is surprised as he thinks to himself:

“What just happened? That was awesome...”

(COUGH, COUGH)

Alejandro coughs, Uriel notices and goes towards him. He looks at Alejandro, he is barely conscious however, his feet begin to turn into stone.

“Alejandro, stay with me...what happened to him?”

“Muchacho tonto, it’s no use, your friend is going to die…” The man walks towards Uriel and continues to speak; “Unfortunately, your friend’s life force was sucked out of him, without it, he will die in minutes…”

The man stands next to them, he sees the object in the box and smiles:

“So, he was the chosen one… I must say, fate is really interesting…”

“There has to be a way to save him...there has to….” Uriel holds Alejandro and with tears in his eyes he tries to think.

“Well, there is something I can do for him, it’s risky, but I can save him…”

“You can?” Uriel looks at the man, the man chuckles:

“Of course I can, but why should I? I mean I don’t know the boy and to tell you the truth, I am not a good guy…”

Uriel slams his head on the ground, he continues to bleed but he doesn't care.

“PLEASE...PLEASE...HELP MY FRIEND, I BEG YOU...PLEASE…”

“Whoa there muchacho, if you continue to do that...you’re the one who’s going to die…”

“I don’t care, I just need to help him…”

“riel...Uriel…” Alejandro opens his eyes and sees Uriel covered in blood.

“Alejandro don’t speak, I am going to help you okay…”

Alejandro breathing heavily looks at him:

“I’m sorry Uriel, this time, I got you into a mess only because I wanted to explore…”

“That’s not true, I followed you because I wanted to…” Uriel holds his hand tightly.

“Uriel please forgive me for being so stupid...I just wanted have fun with you because I see you like a brother…”

“You idiot, you’re not going to die, I will help you…”

“Uriel...I don’t…” Alejandro closes his eyes, the lower half of his body begins to shine.

“NOOO WAIIITTT….”

“Time is ticking muchacho…” The man says to Uriel. Uriel begs one more time, but this time the man grabs his hair and lifts Uriel saying:

“You idiot, a man must never lower his head...never...now ask me in the eyes…”

He lets Uriel go, Uriel looks at the man’s eyes. He feels fear but he is more worried about his friend. He raises his voice and screams:

“PLEASE HELP HIM…”

“Excellent, now that is how men ask things...sure I can help him, but you need to promise me something…”

“What is it?”

“I will save his life, but you will give me your soul…”

“...” Uriel is left speechless, the man continues to speak:

“I understand that you need time to think, but your friend is dying and my offer is simple, you will become my successor...now then...”

“I accept…”

Uriel interrupts the man, the man chuckles:

“Wow, you only doubted a second...now that’s more like it...you are just like your father…”

The man puts his hand on Uriel’s head. His hand begins to shine and makes Uriel’s bleeding stop and the blood disappear.

“Now then, we have a deal, although you will have to save him with me...are you ready?”

“Yes I am…”

The man draws a circle with a triangle surrounding Alejandro. He looks at Uriel and explains:

“Now then, in order to save him, we must replenish his manna or life force. In order to do that, you must pass some of your life force to him…”

“Okay, so how do I do that?”

“It’s simple, you must have direct contact with his inner self, in other words you must kiss him…”

Uriel is left speechless and wipes his ear asking:

“Did you say kiss him?”

“I’m afraid so...if you want to save him…you just need to do that and I will do the rest...”

“WWWHHHHAATTTT, OH COME ON, ARE YOU SERIOUS!” Uriel exclaims with his face red. The man looks at him with a serious expression and nods in agreement.

Uriel begins to sweat as he looks at Alejandro thinking:

“Aww man, but I like girls, plus I wanted Marjorie to be my first kiss…”

Uriel slowly approaches Alejandro as he takes a deep breath. As soon as he is about to kiss Alejandro, the man bursts into laughter:

“HAHAHA, I’M JUST KIDDING, YOU SURE HAVE BALLS MUCHACHO…”

“WHAT THE HELL, THIS IS A SERIOUS MATTER HERE…” Uriel exclaims with his head boiling in anger. The man begins to say:

“Sure, a kiss is the most effective way but it would take too much time, now then, since he didn't lose blood like you there is another way that’s faster and less embarrassing.”

“Okay, spill it already…”

The man makes a cut on Alejandro’s hand. “Now then, grab his hand…”

Uriel grabs Alejandro’s hand, the man continues to explains:

“Now then, focus your manna, just imagine water passing through a river and when you do that imagine the water going to a lake. The moment you do that, your mana will flow and transfer to Alejandro, I will stimulate it with mine, now do it…”

Uriel closes his eyes and rapidly makes his mana flow to Alejandro.

“Wow, you sure are a gifted manna user…”

The man grabs Uriel’s head and transfers mana to Uriel making the process faster. The circle shines bright, Alejandro also shines and slowly the process begins to revert, turning Alejandro back to normal.

Five Minutes Later...The treatment was over....

Uriel breathes heavily as he looks at the man who smiles:

“Congratulations, your friend is now safe…”

“Thank you, thank you…”

Uriel says with excitement, the man smiles as wind blows in the valley:

“Now then, your soul will be mine…”

“I understand…” Uriel says with a determined face.

“Tomorrow, I will come to you...and we will begin the ceremony…”

“What ceremony?”

“The ceremony for you to become my successor…”

Uriel begins to lose consciousness as the man looks at him with a serious face:

“ENJOY TOMORROW, MY SUCCESSOR, BECAUSE TOMORROW WILL BE YOUR LAST DAY…”

The encounter in the cemetery was the beginning of the end for Uriel Vazquez…

*************************************************************

January 31st; Sun City

(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP)

An alarm goes off as it is six in the morning. The young boy tries to turn it off while reaching his hand to the alarm clock. He turns the alarm off and covers his face with his blue colored blankets. He begins to hear a faint voice that was calling him:

“Big brother, big brother, wake up!”

The boy rises up from his bed to see who's calling and suddenly a soccer ball hits his face.

(BUUUMMM)

“OOOOUUUCCHHHH!!!” The boy screams in pain as he rubs his face.

“Valerie what was that for?”

The boy says it with a tear in his eye and his nose with a drop of blood.

“It's breakfast time Uriel!”

“Come on, hurry or it will get cold!” Valerie says with a smile on her face as she runs outside the door.

“I'll be right there”

Uriel replies as he rises up from his bed. Uriel stands up and walks across his room where there was a large mirror hanging up his wall.

He checked his face to see if there was any damage in it, but he didn’t find any. He begins to think back from yesterday’s events:

“What was that dream? A nightmare I suppose, what happened yesterday?”

Uriel thinks to himself as he scratches his head with confusion.

He closes his eyes and rubs them as he feels them heavy. He opened them again and got frightened of the image he was seeing.

The left part of his face begins to change in the mirror. The cornea of his left eye changes into black and the pupil changes into red color. The left side of his hair also began to change into dark red color.

The mirror begins to crack making a line. He is about to touch it, Uriel´s mother called from the kitchen;

“Uriel, hijo, it's breakfast time okay!”

“Muy bien (very good) Mama be there in a second.”

As soon as Uriel turns to answer, he looks to the mirror and the mirror is surprisingly normal again. He touched his face once again and he felt fear.

After changing into his uniform, Uriel goes down into the kitchen on the first floor, where he meets his mother, she is putting their breakfast on the table, two scrambled eggs, and a piece of white bread with a glass of orange juice.

“Buenos Dias, (good morning) Madre” Uriel greets his mother as he sits at the table.

“Buenos Dias, Hijo” Uriel´s mother greets him with a great smile on her face.

Maria Vazquez is a 32 year old woman who has light brown skin with red hair, she has reddish colored eyes, and she has a well developed body and always has a smile on her face even if things are difficult.

“Good morning, Daniel” Uriel greets his little brother as well.

Daniel Vazquez is 8 years old, he has white skin, reddish hair just like his mother, and green eyes. He is very smart for his age as he can read books and often borrows from Uriel.

“You´re late Uriel, now you owe me your bread!” Valerie tells Uriel as she eats her breakfast as well.

Valerie Vazquez is a young girl that is 10 years old at that time. She has pale colored skin with blue eyes and light purple colored hair. Uriel and Valerie are very close, they like to play around, and study together and they always get into fights like common siblings.

Coming down the stairs is Uriel´s Father.

Roberto Vazquez, who is also 32 years old, is wearing a black colored suit, with a red tie. He has white skin, bluish hair and green eyes just like Uriel. He also has a beard and mustache. Like Uriel´s mother he always has a smile on his face and likes to keep the whole family happy with his funny faces.

The Vazquez family has Mexican and Spanish ethnicity which is why they can speak both English and Spanish and have darker tones of skin. Due to some of their work they now live in Sun City next to Rio Grande City.

“Buenos Dias Familia, Como están?” (Good morning family, how are you?)

Uriel´s father greets everyone with a funny face making everyone laugh.

As the family ate their breakfast they turned on the 18 inch television located in the wall near the table, soon they saw very important news coming out on television, the images show Sun City where there are three people missing as the title of the news said “Attack on the Borderland.” Soon the living room went into silence as they heard the news:

“Yesterday, three people suddenly disappeared, their clothes were found but the bodies were never found…people claim that there was a wild animal...however nothing is certain…”

The news left everyone in shock, Uriel soon begins to have a headache as images of what happened yesterday flow in his mind.

“Are you alright hijo, you look pale?” Maria looks at Roberto with a preoccupied expression, Roberto makes a serious face not knowing what was happening.

Maria turns off the television; “That's too much bad news for a morning breakfast”

Maria looks at Uriel and asks; “Uriel are you okay, I’m beginning to worry about you?”

”...” With no response from Uriel, she reaches to touch his shoulder.

Uriel returns to his senses and replies; “I’m fine mother. I just remember a bad dream I had last night but it's nothing to worry about.” Soon Uriel looks down on the table worried about that dream and suddenly:

(PPPUUUMMM)

Uriel´s dad hits Uriel in the head while laughing and saying; “You had a dirty erotic dream right, hahaha...what’s the matter, was it too erotic to tell?”

(PPUUMM)

Maria grabs the broom and hits Roberto in the head as well. Roberto exclaims:

“OUCH WHAT WAS THAT FOR?”

Maria says with her eyes closed and a fake smile; “Dear, could you please stop saying stupid things in front of the kids?”

Soon everyone begins to laugh and the mood of the kitchen changes once again into a lively environment. As they finished their breakfast Uriel and Valerie run to get their jackets, gloves, and scarf ready.

In the middle of January, even if they live in a desert just like the Sun city it still snows and the temperatures are also freezing.The second semester was about to begin.

(Honk, honk,honk,honk)

The bus was just outside waiting for Uriel and Valerie. Maria begins to scream; “Hurry, hurry you are going to miss the bus”. Uriel and Valerie run outside the door and both of them yelled at the same time; “We're off to go school, bye-bye”

The two of them wave at their parents with a smile on their faces, and in the window, Daniel is waving at them as well.

As the bus starts to leave, Uriel feels that someone is observing him from afar. On the top of a hill near Uriel´s house there was a dark silhouette of a man riding a horse; however the sun only covers his face. Only his red eyes are seen staring down at Uriel as he says:

“The time has come, Muchacho.”

The dark figure begins to fade away with the wind. Uriel looks around, but can’t find who was looking at him and with a worried expression he starts heading to school.

As Uriel Vazquez headed to his school, a new chain of events was beginning to unfold..fate can be cruel and Uriel Vazquez was about to find out…

about to find out…