Sparks: Reloaded [One]

Sometimes a past is not meant to be forgotten. Sometimes when you try to run away, the past runs up to catch hold of you again - and at the times when you most don't want to, you have to face it all over again.1

And sometimes, Destiny herself rises to challenge you all over again.2

---3

//Three years had passed since the Earth Alliance had won their war against those who had opposed the coming of the Sparklings - the people who inhabited the planet of Sparks. The Sparklings now shared their world somewhat peacefully with the Earthlings, and schools have even opened their doors to the Sparklings in need of a normal education.//4

Mouse Oak stopped typing, proceeding back to read what she had typed out so far - not much, but more than enough. The seventeen-year-old grinned as she saved the file, switching off the computer and stood up to stretch. "Are you still using this computer?" someone suddenly asked. Whirling around, she met the green eyes of a boy, taller and probably much older than her. He flinched. She waited for a moment as his eyes travel down to her wrist, where a bracelet hung - and waited till his face paled. "I mean, I can wait... I'm no-not in a hurry."5

Mouse resisted the urge to smirk and scare him even more - a nice hobby. "You know, I thought there was supposed to be no discrimination amongst us," she reprimanded lightly, and tapped her bracelet. "This doesn't set me any further from you, does it? I mean, besides the fact my eyes are red?" It wasn't like she hated her eyes, but she did often use them to her advantage, to scare the bullies away.6

The boy was starting to stutter and she knew he was truly afraid of what she was - Sparkling. But Sparklings were humans, she wanted to say, and we know it from our legends. We came from Earth. We were once you.7

"Don't worry, I've finished," she said, tapping her diskette on her nose and then skipping away.8

---9

//Still, the schools did worry, and so they implemented a rule. All Sparklings had to wear bracelets upon which the gems on the bracelet will tell all what elements they wield, and the symbol of their Clan, if any. If one's Clan died in the War, then the symbol of the Goddess, a equal cross within a perfect circle shall replace where the Clan's symbol is.//10

Alec looked through it all, and then he erased everything. The person behind him scowled loudly, but he ignored said person. Said person tried snorting and everything, but all Alec Birch did was to face the computer screen. "ALEC!"11

Immediately, everyone in the library yelled, "Sssssh!"12

Alec sighed. "What is it?"13

"It was okay! You didn't have to erase it and start all over again! This way we'll never be done!" While talking, the person behind him placed a hand on the mouse and clicked the Undo button, making all his hard work come back again. The hand was pulled back, but not before Alec saw the symbol of the Goddess hanging from the bracelet. He smiled grimly, and reached out to start typing again.14

On his hand, he wore a bracelet. He, too, was wearing the symbol of the Goddess.15

---16

"The Sparklings had many legends. One of the most famous and recent would be the Chosen One - supposed seventh son of seventh son from the most ancient days. He was said to have a lot of power and then one day, he would choose either Darkness or Light. What happens if he chose one side, Michelle?"17

Michelle Elm hadn't raised her hand, and she wondered why she was doing here, in Culture of Sparks. She knew almost everything - after all, wasn't that a bracelet around her wrist? Oh, the Chosen One. She knew everything about him. She should. "That side would rule for as long as the Chosen One remains alive," she answered plainly. Plain, and leaving out the harsh reality.18

The Chosen One was always killed by his seventh son, and then the whole process starts again, seven generations after the Chosen. And her generation... Her generation was the seventh.19

"Very good, Michelle," the teacher commented. "I'm sure you know all the answers so you'll stay out of the quiz we're playing later.. Is that fine with you?"20

She rolled her eyes. "Just because my name is Elm doesn't mean I know everything, you know," she muttered bitterly, but nodded anyway and started wondering once again what on earth was she doing here.21

"Thank you," the teacher sounded very relieved. "Nigel-"22

For the rest of the lesson, she doodled and wondered how her friends were in their own schools.23

---24

Violet Phoenix sat on her throne, drumming her fingers. "Where is the Crown Prince? Where is my son"? she asked a passing servant, who shook her head. She spent some time grumbling even more, before she thought of another question. "Where is the Crown Prince's twin brother? I want him here!"25

She noticed how the servants glanced nervously towards each other and she demanded to know the truth. 26

"My Lady, the Crown Princes have left Sparks and gone to Earth," one of the servants answered fearfully. 27

Her answer was a mighty shout of curses that rang and rang and rang - until the servants all retreated back to their rooms. 28

"Why?" she demanded of the silence. "Why have they returned to Earth? The Chosen brat is still here... He should be, and the Winca Prince is here - so my son has no reason to go back down there..."29

She laughed suddenly. "Why didn't you tell me, my dear friend? Destiny?" Wiping a tear from her eye, she stood up and opened her arms wide to welcomed the lady that stood in front of her. "It's so nice of you to pay me a visit, Mooncross."30

---31

'The school does not allow Daemons.' The sentence was spoken in the Auld Language, and known only to people who had Daemons. Not much, seeing how many had died in the Alliance War, Gareth thought sadly, as he walked alongside the black panther - his Daemon.32

"Loophole - not in classes. You can stay in the room or something," he answered almost instantly. 33

'Loopholes, huh?' His Daemon asked. 'That's interesting. You looked for loopholes. You never do. What if your room-mate doesn't like me?'34

"You don't have to be visible, and you can hide somewhere. I'll visit you daily if you do," he replied. He had already thought of this beforehand.35

'You really want me to be with you, don't you?'36

Yes, that was the reason why he had tried to find a school with this loophole, and the reason why he had thought everything beforehand. This was a new school, full of new faces he didn't know and he wanted somebody he knew to talk to, to chat about the old days...37

The old days before the war came, before so many died, before when the land was happy, and people had worshipped the Goddess in peace.38

'I don't like this school.'39

"It's the only one with a loophole," he explained.40

'There's a strange aura around it.'41

Gareth had no reply to that, so all he did was to stand outside the gate, waiting. 42

'The bracelet thing, you don't mind?'43

He closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. 44

'Don't worry. I'll be beside you all the way through.'45

"I know, Shadow," he whispered and then he opened the gate, stepping into the school.46