In a small island village, a precious child was born. Silky black hair and large watery eyes.

From a very young age, this boy was talented. A child prodigy. Although he wasn't good when it came to mental tasks, he excelled at any physical work.

Adding to that, he was bright and lively. The entire village loved him. Playful with juniors, respectful towards seniors, caring towards the aged, and curious and enthusiastic to learn new tasks.

Although, he wasn't very patient…

During fishing with a village resident, he'd have to wait a long time before he caught a bite. Of course, that wasn't an appealing period of time.

"Ahh~ this is so boring~!"

"It can't be helped, you must be patient and wait for the fish to take the bait, Shin."

"Ah! I know! I'll just go catch them myself!"

"Ah, wait! Shi--!" but he dove in the water without a second thought.

Trying his best, he swam after the marine creatures, but in vain. They were too swift for the little boy to catch. Even if he did manage to touch one, they'd slip right through his palms.

"Fwah!" rising to the surface, he took a breath, "They keep escaping!"

"I already told you! You need to be patient! There's no way you can outrun, or rather, outswim a fish like that!"

"If only I could swim faster! And if I could grip them strong enough on the first try, they wouldn't slip away!"

Similarly, during woodcutting, he'd have to cut pieces of wood individually. A tiresome job, but it was necessary.

"Phew! I really worked up a sweat! This is fun!"

"Hehe! You enjoy lumberjacking, ay Shin?"

"Yeah, I feel really pumped!" he would reply with a big smile, "But wouldn't it be much faster if we could line them all up like this and cut them in one sweep? See, look!"

"Ah, no, Shin! It's not that—" Clop! Gyoin! "—easy."

Shin had already swung the axe, but the collective hardness of the grouped pieces of wood were too much for him. The axe got stuck on the first piece and a shock went up his feeble arms, making him leak a drop from the corner of his eyes.

He lay on the ground as his arms continued to tremble.

"I warned you. Although you're really talented, you're still a child. You don't have enough strength or body mass to do something like that."

And yet again, just like this, during hunting, he'd have to wait until the animals get in their traps.

"Listen closely, Shin. Don't make a single noise. These boars are really cautious. You must wait until the trap springs before you make a single move."

They observed their prey slowly moving towards the bait, a couple of fruits. It sniffed around and moved closer. But the closer it got, the slower it went.

"Yes...good...just a little more…" the man with whom Shin accompanied, anxiously said.

But Shin was getting fed up. He had already done this five times and it was the same routine. He wanted to be active. Waiting was not his greatest point.

Thus, he secretly went up behind the boar and tried pushing it onto the trap.

"Come on, you! Get caught already!" he heaved and shoved with his petite body.

"Idiot! Shin, what are you doing?!"

But it was too late. The boar was taken by surprise and now deemed itself being attacked. But its assailant was but a child. Hence instead of running away, with a loud grunt, it started chasing Shin.

"GYAAAH! MISTER MARCO, PLEASE SAVE ME!!!"

"DUMBASS! I TOLD YOU TO WAIT! WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD TAKE ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

Like this, and several other occurrences, Shin developed the idea that strength was needed to get by with his life. Henceforth, 'I need to get stronger' became his motto. Whether that's swimming, lumberjacking, hunting, running, tree-jumping, climbing, fighting etc., muscle power was needed in all. This was how his obsession over strength was born.

Sadly, his friends did not share such enthusiasm over getting stronger. In fact, his friends weren't even his age. In the entire island, there was only one person being born the same year as him. And miraculously enough, she too was a child prodigy. Loved by all the boys, the beautiful Bianca.

Simply put, any task she took on, she could adapt to very quickly. Not only that, but she seemed to add 'grace' to whatever she did.

From a very early age, she was able to learn the basics of most of the tasks that were assigned to women. Sewing, cooking, cleaning, household management etc. Basically anything which was not rough on the body, but still required great care and diligence to do.

The elders treated these two like gems. They thought so much about them, that they basically put them on a mental pedestal representing future generations. Naturally, the topic for their marriage also came up now and then, even while they were mere children.

But these two didn't get along that great.

"Bianca, wanna go in the forest with me?"

"No way, Shin! It's full of bugs and mud in there! My clothes also get torn every time I go with you! Go by yourself, you brute!"

"You know, it would be nice if we could get along. Even I might get tired of you acting that way."

"Why bother? Is it because our seniors want us to get married? Sorry, but you're not my type. You're way too rough for my tastes. Plus, you're loud. I'd like someone who's more gentle and calm, unlike you."

"No, that's not what I mean! I don't wanna get married either! I'm just five! Why would I bother thinking about unnecessary stuff like that?! It's just… you're the only one who's the same age as me. Being so, I'd like it if we could get along better as friends, you know!"

"Same age? You're ten months older than me, Shin. Might as well add the other two and make that a whole year. Sorry, but you're on your own."

"Tch! Stingy! Blehhh~!" he pulled down an eye and stuck out his tongue, "See if I care!" and left.

Only a month later, after Shin turned six, he heard news that new people were going to shift into their village. Rumours also said that one of them was a child the same age as Shin himself.

Since Bianca was a failure, Shin was very excited about this news. Finally someone he could share his thoughts with. Someone close to his age. He didn't care if it was a boy or a girl, as long as the person was nice, unlike Bianca.

When the ship finally reached the dock, the six year old boy peeked through the crowd and scanned the deck as a few people among them got off. And finally, he spotted a small figure within them.

It was a boy with strangely coloured hair; a gradient of dark silver in the roots and light silver in the tips. His eyes were a pretty blue.

Unable to contain himself, he ran through the dock and greeted him with a hearty handshake.

"Hi! You must be the new kid! I'm Shin! Nice to meet you!"

"U-uh… yeah, same here…" the boy hesitantly replied, holding onto his mother's hand with his free one.

"Well, what's your name?" Shin continued to ask with sparkly eyes.

"Di-Diavolo…"

"I see… Diavolo, huh. That's nice! How old are you? Six?"

"N-no, I'm five."

"Eh? I heard you were the same age as me, though?"

"Well, it's only four months till my next birthday, so I guess you could say that."

"Ah, I see! Four months, huh~! That's pretty close! Say, wanna become friends with me?!" he directly asked with great enthusiasm.

As innocent as Shin was, he too realized that perhaps his continuous pressing would make him feel too uncomfortable. If this boy, Diavolo, was unwilling, he thought he wouldn't bother him anymore. It would be unfortunate, but he would have to try a different approach.

However, after looking up at his mother, and receiving a smiling nod, Diavolo seemed prepared to accept Shin's proposal.

"Okay, sure! I'll be at your care, then!"

Overjoyed, Shin cracked a big smile, showing practically all his teeth.

"Yeah, leave it to me!"

And that was how the two boys first met.

From then on, they would spend most of their time together, regardless of the tasks.

In fishing,

"Ugh, this is so boring~! Can't we just… catch them by force?"

"I know, right?! I thought of that too at first!"

"Let's go grab em!"

"Let's see who catches more first!"

"Ah, wait! You two--!" Fwoosh! Splash!

The two had already jumped in.

And in lumberjacking.

"This is taking so long~! Isn't there a way we can take of this faster?"

"Right, right?! I once tried lining them up and swinging it like this, but couldn't give enough force."

"Hmm… What if we throw the axe? Could the speed add to the force?"

"Whoa, maybe! Let's try it out!"

And with a strong swing, Diavolo threw the axe at the pieces of wood. But he didn't get his grip right and it ended up going in the wrong direction; directly towards the man who they were supposed to help chop the wood.

"Gyaaah!!! Hey, are you trying to kill me?! Stop messing around and get to work!!!"

"Yes, sir! Sorry!" they replied in unison.

Similarly, during hunting.

"You know… can't we like… just throw something at the pig? Maybe it'll get surprised and jump on the trap."

"Oho~! I didn't think of that before! I tried pushing it, but that was a bad idea."

"Don't do that, Diavolo. You'll scar— " but it was too late.

Diavolo had also 'shot' a stone at the boar's behind. Surprised, it grunted and sensed danger. Unable to determine the source, it fled away in the opposite direction.

"Idiot! I told you these guys were cautious! Why can't you be more patient?!"

"S...sorry..." he apologized, slouching.

It was unknown if it was Shin's influence, but Diavolo was also quite impatient. They acted way too similarly. However, by reading a few detective stories that were brought in occasionally, he had learnt the importance of patience. Even if it was mere mimicry, this set him slightly apart from the impulsive Shin.

Shin taught Diavolo the importance of strength in their island, but since their thought processes were not exactly the same, the silver haired boy failed to grasp the idea like his friend did.

In contrast, Diavolo seemed to have the uncanny ability to adapt to situations really quickly. So much, that he didn't quite need the rigorous strength training like Shin did, to perform a certain task. Simply put, ability wise, Diavolo was more talented.

In due time, they both realized this fact, and thus adding to friendship, began a rivalry.

Diavolo might be better in natural talent, but he was not as creative as Shin in coming up with new ideas to deal with situations beforehand.

Conversely, Shin was really hard working and slightly jealous of Diavolo's adaptability.

However, there was no ill-intent between them. Rather than pulling each other down, both of them had the overwhelming desire to improve themselves, and thus, looked up to each other.

Oh, and Bianca had begun to tag along with them more often as time passed by. Initially oblivious to the fact, it seemed Bianca had found her 'type'. Diavolo basically shared all the qualities of Shin, but was not a muscle brain, and although kind of impatient, was calm and collected when needed. As such, she often decided to make lunch and bring them to the woods.

"Hey, why did you suddenly start hanging out with us, Bianca?! Didn't you hate bugs and mud?!"

"Oh my, I don't know what you're talking about, Shin. We're all the same age, so isn't it better if we all got along?"

"Like hell I'll believe that! You're saying exactly what I used to tell you! Get back home with your sewing and what not, brat! We've got important training to do!"

"Divo~! Look, Shin is being mean to me~!" she locked her arms with Diavolo's.

"Ehehe… Well isn't it fine, Shin? She did bring us food. I guess a little break would be okay."

"Yay! Divo, I love you!" and he hugged Diavolo tight. While doing so, she secretly stuck out her tongue at Shin.

"Guh! You brat…" Shin felt like hitting the girl, "Diav… you do realize she's sucking up to you, right? And besides, we've got plenty of food in the woods here!"

"Don't treat Divo like an animal like you, Shin! You can't just force him into doing all the work of finding food, being so exhausted! Don't you care for your friends at all?!"

"Hah~! Now it's my fault??!!"

"Now, now, you two. Don't fight. It's been a long day. Let's just eat, okay?"

Such were the times the children spent together. This lasted for about six years, until a disastrous incident terrorized the whole island.

It was like just another day. Only, it was a bit more special, because it was Diavolo's twelfth birthday.

After a full session of training, the two were resting in the woods under the clear sky. It was Shin's duty to stall for time until the preparations were over. It was also the reason why Bianca hadn't tagged along with them, since she was helping the residences prepare for the surprise.

"You know, it's fine that we're resting, but shouldn't we gather food right about now? I'm kinda hungry."

"Nah, wait up a bit more, Diav. I'm more exhausted today for some reason," Shin made the excuse, "We won't need to get food since we'll be heading home very soon, hehe! You're in for a treat, Diav!"

And suddenly, a huge explosion was heard from the direction of the village.

"Aw, man! Who was the careless one to light up a firework now!" Shin thought. He assumed that a careless mishap had occurred during preparations, but that was not what Diavolo thought. His keen senses felt something was not right and without a warning, he dashed in the direction of his home.

"Ah, wait! Diav!" Shin did not expect him to react like that. Plus, his response in trying to stop Diavolo was diminished because he was trying to think of an excuse to give for the explosion. Turns out, that wasn't necessary anymore.

He followed his silver haired friend, trying to stop him, "Wait up!" but he was too fast.

"Was Diav that fast from the beginning?!" indeed Diavolo was running strangely fast. They were known to have almost equal speed in sprinting, but that was not what Shin was witnessing at the moment. A quiet emotion in the corner of his heart whispered to him, that Diavolo had been holding back during their daily challenges, but he brushed them off for now.

Shin was exhausted and could no longer keep up. That should've been the same case for Diavolo, but he continued to run back without even glancing back at him. Stopping to take a breath, Shin clicked his tongue.

"Tch! Looks like the surprise party was a waste…" but Shin was the one who was surprised. Because at that very moment, even more explosions resounded and there were smoke mushrooms popping up here and there from the village.

"Just what the heck is going on?!" the oddity finally struck his mind.

Upon reaching the village, as fast as his body could allow, he witnessed hell. Houses and stores were destroyed and up in flames, the party preparations were completely abandoned and the people in the village were running for their lives.

Even before he reached the village, he heard the sound of people screaming. But he thought, no, he hoped that those were simply the people panicking to fix a careless mishap. But that was not the case.

The smoke had already darkened the skies and the entire village was dyed in a red and yellow hue. Looking up, he saw numerous black figures, zipping past to and fro. Shin couldn't make out the actual appearance, but the silhouette was somewhat like a human, with wings.

"Shin, what are you doing?! Run!" a man yelled at him.

"But… the party…"

"Forget the party! Can't you see what's happening?! Find your parents and run!!" and the man took off on his own.

Shin's mind was a mess. But amidst all of that, only one thought surfaced to his conscious mind, the person who he was chasing in the first place.

"That's right! Diav! What happened to Diav?!" he thought out loud and instinctively ran towards Diavolo's residence.

And right as he approached about twenty meters from the house, a terrifying scream penetrated his ear…

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

A scream that pierced deep into the brain. A scream that hurt one's own throat just listening to it. A scream so utterly painful, that it must never come out of a 12 year old boy.

Just from its sound, one could feel that the subject discarded any and all care for one's own well being, simply to let out their overflowing emotions. It might even be surprising how one's lungs and throat hadn't bled after executing such a thing.

And receiving such a soul trembling sound, it sent shivers down Shin's spine making him stop in his tracks. He couldn't see very deep into his house, only the kneeling Diavolo just inside the entrance. Focusing further in, he probably saw some dark figures, probably he didn't. It was too bright outside to be sure of it. But one thing's for sure, he couldn't muster up the courage to take a single step closer.

The person to interrupt the scene was but one man. Running at full speed, the man quickly picked up Diavolo under his arm, neared and grabbed Shin's hand, and headed straight back into the woods, no questions asked. This man… was the neighbourhood elder brother they often hung out with, or in other words, Bianca's blood brother, Barron.

Shin's mind was still blank. At the edge of his vision, he could see the soundless limp body while he ran alongside Barron. He couldn't even dare to properly look at him, let alone behind.

Once deep in the woods, a safe enough distance away, he somewhat calmed down. He looked around and found several familiar faces as well. At that time, Barron was probably saying something to them, maybe about their state, whether they were hurt or not, but Shin couldn't hear a thing. His hearing was plagued with a constant ringing noise from the dreadful scream he heard a few moments back.

Hesitantly looking at his friend, he saw the face of a dead man. His face was pale and eyes were lifeless. His figure stood as if a simple breeze could knock him down or even blow him away. If he touched him, even in this heat, his hands would probably feel cold as well.

With tears running down his eyes on his stead, Shin couldn't imagine what scene played out in front of Diavolo that moment, but he prepared his heart for the worst. His naive, innocent heart…

Soon afterwards, the movement of those dark 'creatures' seemed to have disappeared; or basically, they had left. But nobody deemed the village safe to return to just yet. That night, everybody, or at least, everybody alive, slept in the wilderness.

Within the next few days, status reports came in. Among the 1873 residents of Cosmic Island, 54 were reported dead. Most of them had died in the wild actually, the unfortunate untrained individuals, while others perished due to the burning or collapsing buildings.

Children were kept in a safe spot and not allowed to enter the village until all bodies were properly gathered and wrapped up to be buried. They were not allowed to actually see the corpses.

Although the reports stated they died in the wilderness or because of collateral damage, in reality, they were actually killed by those… 'things'. The children might be innocent, but they weren't so naive as to not get it. Some of them actually caught glimpses of the slaughter with their very own eyes. The reason why they weren't allowed to see the bodies, was because of the obvious wounds of murder.

Many of them thought it was unfair since they were being treated as if they were helpless and immature, but deep down, they too felt the real reason why the elders were being so secretive. None of them, nobody, wanted to ever talk about this incident. They didn't want to believe such an occurrence even happened and wanted to forget it as a whole. In this sense… perhaps it was the grown ups who were being immature…

But things only got worse. By the next month, a ship from a very powerful Kingdom arrived. For a child like Shin, he didn't understand much, but in short, apparently there was a recent attack in the Kingdom. And tracing the energy signatures of the assailants, they detected that a large amount of it existed in Cosmic Island. Hence, they believed that the source was from this place as well.

They had no basis in their assumption other than the energy traces. But Cosmic Island had neither the force nor the authority to go against them. As such, they had no choice but to take the blame.

Incidentally, there was a great research facility located on a different island further towards the middle of the ocean Cosmic Island was within. It apparently had a very important research project being done and was nearing completion. But for some reason, the entire lab was also destroyed.

This place, however, did not have any sign of the 'energy' they spoke of lurking within it. But because of the timing of the occurrence, the blame was also dumped onto these island dwellers. Naturally, they had no way to go against them.

Together because of these two incidents, Cosmic Island was to be quarantined and strictly monitored. They would have to give up the peaceful lives they had free from any of the Kingdoms' strife. This place was no longer going to be the same ever again.

But surprisingly, the heroes who saved this island were not the adults in their prime, but the buds of the future.

"How dare you!" an utterly defenseless little girl yelled out, "You can't just take away our freedom like that! You're just making a baseless assumption on just one factor you call 'evidence'! If it's such a big deal to you, point your fingers at someone when you've gathered enough evidence, you jerk! And you still call yourself an adult?!"

Not just Shin, but all children and adults alike, were all speechless at whom the words came out from, Bianca. Nobody had ever seen such a side of her. She was always this bright and cheerful girl; the kind of child everyone would love and adore. She never raised her voice on anyone and seldom cried because she didn't want to cause anybody trouble. But now, this Bianca, had done something unbelievable.

And she herself realised the fact. Finishing her speech with a couple of heavy breaths, the long silence made her realise her standpoint at the moment. Staring straight at the ground, her tension rose as sweat started to pour out. Her ears felt hot and fingers cold.

"Oh no… now I've done it!" she thought to herself. But she did not regret it. She felt that if she hadn't said anything, for better or worse, nobody in the island would ever be happy again.

"Hey, Bianca! Just what are you saying?! Quickly, apologize to the man!" her parents tried pulling her back from the dock.

"We're so sorry for the trouble our daughter has caused! Please forgive us!"

"No, mom! Don't apologize to them! They're the ones who're wrong! Why do we have to--!"

But before any other person could respond, her first supporter stepped in.

"Bianca's right! You have no right to take away our freedom like that!"

And her second.

"That's right! That's right! You're just big bullies!"

And third.

"Leave us alone! You don't decide what happens to us!"

And within moments, basically all the children in the Cosmic Village had banded together as Bianca's support.

The man who led the expedition to quarantine the island giggled. Shoulder length light brown hair, small, almost closed eyes, and a clean face. With his military attire on point, he bent down to the children's level.

"Ufufu! My, if I am suddenly ganged up on like this, it's quite troublesome, isn't it? But children, I am but a messenger. This decision was made by really powerful people, you know? I practically have no power to influence them!" and he pretended to make a face of worry.

"You can't fool us that way, mister," the young Shin emerged from within the group, "I know that badge! I've seen them in books! A two star means you have quite the bit of authority, don't you? Maybe not the highest, but certainly enough to make a difference. If you're really siding with justice, then go do something! Am I right, Diav?" and peeked back.

Having been called, Diavolo smiled and let out a sigh. Looks like he really did have to step in.

"I guess so, huh," he walked up to Shin's side, "If not, we'll have no choice but to fight you guys. Well? Even if you're adults, you're just a scouting group, right? Shouldn't be too much of a problem. If you want to lay your hands on this place, you'll have to go through us!"

As with that, the two took their stances with their wooden swords, standing ahead of group of cheering children.

"My, how scary! If I've been told that, there isn't much I can do, can I? However… you really don't know how the world of adults work, do you?"

At that time, Diavolo flinched for some reason, to which the man raised an eyebrow at him. None of the other children had any reactions.

"Ufufufu! Ah, well. I can't make any promises, but i'll see what I can do," he said standing up again, "I'll just tell the higher ups about the 'frightening forces' that stopped me for making confirmations," and turning around, "Let's go, everyone. We'll examine the surrounding area and leave afterwards," he walked up the ship.

"Yes, sir!"

And thus, Cosmic Island was safe for the time being. The tone of that man was such that he was clearly looking down on the children, and of course he would. Even if he had said that he was a mere messenger, he was able to carefreely call off the objective and leave the island as that; almost as if he did it for his sheer amusement.

This was something, only the adults could comprehend. Amongst the children, they were cheering, but the grown ups were still quite anxious. However, they did not let that show, and continued to praise the little ones as heroes to brighten them up.

This was it. This was fine. Now they could return to how they were living their usual lives, was what Shin thought. But for some reason, Diavolo began acting strange.

Initially, he showed signs of recovering from his trauma, but after the recent incident, he seemed to be very unmindful and lost.

During a usual gathering among him, Shin and Bianca, he wanted to go somewhere alone for some reason. But a few minutes after he left, there was a huge crashing noise.

"W-what was that?!"

"That came from Diav's direction, didn't it? I'll go check it out!"

"I'll come with you!"

And when they reached the place, they saw Diavolo lying on the ground, in front of a boulder that seemed to crash into a tree. The half meter thick tree had terrible cracks at the point of contact.

"Dude, you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, I jumped away at the right time."

"Honestly, be careful! It's been raining quite frequently these days so you don't know what might fall on you!"

"Ehehe! Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

That was supposed to be the end of that event, but, "Wait, can a boulder even fall from this angle? No, could this small thing even crack the tree like that? It's supposed to be pretty tough, right?" Shin thought, "Nah, maybe it weakened a little because of wetness or something!" and disregarded his thoughts.

Continuing on, however, it only got stranger. Diavolo tended to want to be alone more and more frequently as time went on. At times, he even appeared frustrated for some reason. He seemed to converse less and lost his lively spirit, until,

"Hey, Diav! Let's go uphill for today's training, okay!"

"Ah, um… Is it okay if we skip today's training? I kinda have something to do," he even ceased his daily sessions with Shin.

Diavolo had finally isolated himself. His friend, no, his best friend, was ignoring him. And he didn't even know why, neither could he bring the topic up.

Shin, however, would still continue to improve himself like he used to like the times before Diavolo even arrived. It was lonely, but he dealt with it.

The only times when the two went out together were when they had something to do for the village. And it was just during such a time, that they had a rather peculiar encounter.

A boy with brown hair and large eyes. After around a month after the quarantining incident, lying unconscious and stranded on their island shore, the boy named Yukio Hitoshi was found and their trio was completed.

Although he had trouble remembering his name at first, he did succeed in recalling it. Other information such as place of birth, family and friends, and age were all unknown.

"In that case, since you look around the same height as us, you're probably twelve too!" was what Shin had said, "As for your birthday… How about we set it to today!" and selfishly declared.

Diavolo aside, the soft-spoken and gentle Yukio didn't mind it. He was found by nice people and thought it was okay to accept such a thing. Even if he one day remembered his actual birthday, he would still forever treasure this day.

There were no qualms in accepting him into the village and thus he was added into their daily lives. Yukio liked both Shin and Diavolo. At times he would accompany Shin in his training and at others, he would peek at what Diavolo was upto. Nevertheless, he didn't interfere with them nor ask unnecessary questions.

This boy seemed to be weak, but quite skillful. Adding in his gentle personality, many people thought of him as a male version of Bianca. In fact, he was way more gentle than Bianca, who had a feisty side, and thus was often teased as being more girly told to switch places with her. Although the tease was meant for Bianca, it was made to sound like it was directed at Yukio so they wouldn't have to incur her wrath.

Fast forwarding five years, the island chief called upon the three boys for some reason.

"Listen, young Cosmics. You three are our island's treasures. You have great potential. However, that potential is too great for us to provide for your growth. And it pains me to see such young souls unable to live their lives to the fullest.

As such, go! Leave this island and learn about the world! Obtain knowledge! Learn more about yourselves! The three of you have a long future ahead of you!"

Thus were his words. Although he said so, the three knew it had something to do with his foresight abilities too. If that was the case, they had no reason to go against it.

It was said that the man could see the future quite frequently but only spoke when needed. Revealing unnecessary information would only cause problems to the timeline.

And yes, he had also seen the attack that occurred five years prior, however decided to stay mute. Regardless of whether he spoke or not, the deaths would still occur. In fact, revealing the future of the attack would've only caused more deaths than actually occurred. He had no choice.

Hence, the boys obeyed and set out for their first destination, Derdalf of Dimelia, leading to the present day.