Today was another regular day for Regius. It was the year 2999 AF, and the 14-year-old boy was heading to school. He had brown hair and brown eyes, though his eyes were a shade darker. The school’s uniform consisted of dark gray trousers and a short sleeved white polo shirt, as well as an optional gray jacket.
Regius slung his checkered teal and black backpack over one shoulder as he made his way onto the bus.
“Regius, over here!” The student noticed his friend, Kade, waving from one of the back seats. Kade had messy black hair, a similarly messy uniform, and a plain brown bag. The student patted the seat next to him.
“Thanks, Kade,” Regius nodded, placing his bag on his lap as he sat down. Kade had his phone out, and was playing the recent hot game, Minecraft 3rd Edition. “I won’t be catching this bus this afternoon, got detention for forgetting my PE uniform again.”
Regius laughed. “Sucks to suck.”
“I hate you.”
The bus stopped at Ark Street, where Kade put away his phone and got off the bus with Regius. The school day was uneventful, just a huge dose of school-type suffering that made him want to bang his head on the concrete. After school, as expected, Kade was absent from their usual bus.
Regius was unlucky enough that he needed a 10 minute walk after getting off the bus to reach his home. Once the bus stopped, he scanned his card and got off.
‘What’s that..?’ The boy’s gaze drifted to a small crack in the smooth white pavement. There was no badly funded place in the world, so it made no sense that there would be such a big crack.
Regius let his curiosity get the better of him. He put his bag by the sidewalk and knelt down, inspecting the strange crack. It was a lot deeper than it seemed at first glance, and seemed to lead into a larger cavern. Still, Regius couldn’t see the cavern clearly from outside and there was nowhere to get in.
‘I’d better get home now.’
The brown-haired boy grabbed his bag and hopped over the crack. However, suddenly the pavement beneath him crumbled, and Regius tumbled down.
He rubbed his eyes to get the dirt out of them. The cavern was surprisingly clean, with several stone pillars with white stone bracing supporting the ceiling. The stony terrain seemed to stretch on endlessly.
“Where the heck am I..?” he wondered out loud. He groaned as he tried to get up, noticing he twisted his ankle pretty bad and had a few scratches. Even if he could get up, the crack he fell through that had expanded into a hole was too high up to climb.
“I’m screwed,” Regius sighed, searching his green backpack for his iPhone Fifth Edition 27. He wasn’t sure why it was called Fifth Edition- the oldest model was the Second Edition.
With a small “aha”, the brown haired boy pulled out his phone. In the semitransparent blue case was a small sticker with a fire symbol. The boy went to the white emergency phone call screen and began dialling his parents.
“Stop it this instant!”
Regius jumped, almost dropping his phone at the sudden voice. A girl was walking towards him, holding a huge blazing torch pointed at him.
The girl had black hair tied in a messy ponytail. Her eyes were brown like Regius’, but they had amber flecks in them. She wore a long-sleeved white polo shirt and gray jeans, along with a long hooded cape the exact same color as the surrounding cave.
“Uh- I just wanted to go back home. Leave me alone,” Regius groaned. The girl didn’t seem too scary, since she appeared about a year younger than him. However, she seemed dead serious, pointing her torch at his face until the temperature was skyrocketing. “You’re invading God of Fire Lord Caleo’s territory, upperworlder. You are not welcome.”
Regius was confused, and honestly a bit scared now. He didn’t want to fall into a hole in the sidewalk and get attacked by a short religious arsonist.
“Well, if I’m not welcome, I’ll just go,” he stated bravely. The girl narrowed her eyes. “Come with me. Gran- the Elder will decide what to do with you.”
Regius decided to prioritize his life, dusting his clothes a bit more and stumbling up. He almost fell as he tried to put his weight on the twisted ankle. The girl silently handed him a wooden stick, which the boy gratefully took and leaned on.
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Without another word, the black-haired girl walked off. Regius stumbled after her with his walking stick, struggling to keep up.
About ten minutes later, Regius spotted a village-like area in the distance. The black-haired girl was heading straight towards the largest house, her torch having extinguished itself. The house was brown, made of wood tiles. Its roof was made of red bricks. On the crimson wooden door was a symbol of a flame.
‘What is it with these people and fire?’ Regius wondered as he stumbled after the girl. As the two approached the door, the girl beckoned to Regius to stop as she knocked. “I found an intruder from the Upper World!”
There was the sound of an old man coughing, before the door swung open. Standing at the entrance was a very old man with a neat beard, a walking stick uncomfortably similar to Regius’s own, and tied-up white hair with a few remaining strands of black. The man wore a long turquoise sweater, dark pants and a robe identical to the girl’s.
The old man set his brown eyes on Regius, observing carefully. The brown-haired student nervously fidgeted with his stick.
“My name is Laios,” the man stated. ‘This is my granddaughter Deina. You have intruded upon our land, but I sense no malicious intent. Come inside.”
Faced with a decision between a weird old man and a girl with a torch, Regius chose to go inside. Sadly, Deina followed right along with her torch still burning.
How had she not burned the house down?
The interior of the house was surprisingly comfy, with wooden walls painted chocolate brown and a red and gold carpet covering most of the rectangular room. In the center was a low glass table with a few beanbags and couches, as well as a potted red flower.
At the back, there were two gateways on each side of the room leading to dark hallways. Beside each of the entrances sat a blazing torch. Regius once again wondered how the house hadn’t been set on fire.
“Take a seat, boy,” Laios commanded. His tone was gentle and his posture relaxed, but Regius obeyed just in case he had some crazy powers. The brown-haired boy helped himself to a purple beanbag, almost dropping his stick at the pain of his ankle.
“Deina, heal him,” the old man ordered kindly. The strange girl held her torch and began holding it out towards Regius’s ankle. The student yelled, jerking his leg away. “Do you want to kill me?! Why would you do that?”
Deina narrowed her brown eyes, the amber flecks in them dimming ominously. “You upperworlders are odd indeed. Do your flames not heal?”
Laios patted the girl’s shoulder softly. “Deina, do not frighten him.”
With a mild pout, the black-haired girl stopped talking and sat down on an orange beanbag next to her grandfather, who took a seat on the couch. “Lord Caleo is beneficial to those with no ill intent, so his flames shall heal you. Now, boy, why did you come here?”
Regius didn’t move as Deina once again touched his ankle with the still flaming torch. Miraculously, the fire only tickled him and the pain began fading. The boy turned to the old man. “I-I didn’t want to. I found this crack on the sidewalk so I checked it out, and then fell accidentally and broke my ankle. Then this girl showed up and dragged me away.”
Deina glared at him, but thankfully didn’t poke his now only dully aching ankle.
“Hm, I see,” Laios muttered thoughtfully. “You cannot go back yet, as the Upper World must never know of our existence. They betrayed us, Lord Caleo’s chosen- ah, I’ve said too much.”
Regius tilted his head curiously. “What do you mean? …who even are you guys? I know you’re religious pyromaniacs with magic fire, but…”
“Don’t tell him, Elder!” Deina shouted, before realising she overstepped and quieted. Laios only smiled kindly once more. “I already said so much, I may as well tell you everything. Long ago, what we know as the year 0 AF, the world was about to end due to humans’ pollution.”
Honestly, it sounded like a story to Regius, but he listened carefully. He didn’t know how to go back home, so he needed these people’s help.
“Lord Caleo burned the planet Earth with beneficial fire, ending an era and ‘resetting’ the world for a chance for humans to get another chance,” Laios nodded proudly. Again, Regius didn’t think burning the entire world was very ‘beneficial’, but he decided again to resist the urge to make a snarky comment.
“That was the year 3000 AD- Anno Domini, named after the reigning god of that era. Years after that were known as AF- After Flame,” the old man continued on. Regius had always been a troublemaker who never listened to things he didn’t care about, but he suppressed his instincts and listened on.
“Half of the children born after that were chosen by him, born with a small patch of charred skin. These people were meant to watch over the new world and protect it.” The old man shook his head sadly. “Alas, those not chosen came to the impression that Lord Caleo’s chosen were harbingers of disaster. We were all banished to a lightless underground land- this place.”
Finally, Regius didn’t want to listen to the old man ramble on. Yeah, he felt bad and all but it had nothing to do with him. “What does that have to do with me? How do I get home?”
“Do not interrupt the Elder,” Deina scolded. Regius subtly rolled his eyes, then glanced at Laios to see the man’s reply.
“However, recently, our god has gone silent. Shadeling appearances increased, fires weakened, and we fear for our god.” Regius was officially confused- what the heck were Shadelings? And how were the fires weak?
Thankfully, he didn’t have to voice his questions and get yelled at by Deina, because Laios continued. “We sought out our prophet, Lady Logia, whose prayers were answered. Lord Caleo has been harmed by the Queen of Shadelings, Skia. He has chosen an Upper World mortal to reside in, and in order to return the mortal must be burned away as sacrifice. Hence, we have created many rifts to watch upperworlders from, so it is natural that some may fall in.”
Regius fidgeted uncomfortably in his beanbag, only subconsciously noticing his ankle no longer hurt and Deina had taken a seat. “Burnt away as sacrifice? Why would this Caleo want you to kill people?”
“Our Lord is very beneficial, he does not wish it,” Deina snapped angrily. “He only wants to continue protecting the world, and has no choice. It has happened before in history, and results have always been beneficial for the planet.”
“So, uh, can I go back?” Regius asked Laios. The old man dipped his head in thought. “It is too late to make a trip to Lady Logia, the prophet. I give you my apologies, we will visit her tomorrow to decide on your fate.”
Regius nodded, hoping that didn’t mean he might not go back. Laios gave him a kind smile. “You can stay here for the night, boy. What is your name?”
The brown-haired boy considered lying, but it probably wouldn’t be a good idea considering that these people seemed to have ways of finding out things. “Regius Adusta.”
Deina had been preparing to walk away into one of the rooms, but she halted mid getting up, eyes wide. “Adusta?”
Regius tilted his head, glaring at her eyes, identical in color to his own. “What, something wrong with my last name?”
The black-haired girl took a deep breath, Laios giving her a small nod. “Nowadays, the doctors in the Upper World responsible for birthing know about us, nobody else. If they find a child born with the char mark of Lord Caleo, they dispose of us in this cave world. We are chosen randomly, which often means families are separated.”
The brown-haired boy nodded, mildly annoyed. What was it with these people and giving unnecessarily long stories with every explanation? “Yeah, yeah, so what’s wrong with my last name?”
Deina fixed her eyes on him . Regius once again noticed how familiar those eyes were, completely identical to his own apart from the amber flecks.
“Because my name is Deina Adusta, the only chosen child of Angel and Kyle Adusta.”
