CHAPTER -1: JUST LIKE THE HEART

Ryu stared at Tristran for a while and then he spoke.

"I'm not so naïve I'd believe anything you say" he said.

"It doesn't matter now does it Ryuujinn. You will soon discover whether anything I'm about to say is true or not so I might as well begin with something you're quite familiar with. The purpose behind the establishment of the Academy. It is quite amazing that you'd actually establish this Academy at the centre of the cosmos where you yourself dwell" Tristran said.

"I doubt you came all this way to congratulate me" Ryu said seriously.

"As you very well know Ryuujinn, a time is soon to come when all the worlds will converge and form a space of spaces allowing the malignant forces of the various worlds imprisoned within the Great Gate to break free. Sensing the danger to all the worlds, you had the Academy's Director with whom you had already constructed the Academy send out invitations to certain special people from all the worlds. You grafted various aspects of their worlds together to form this Great Educational Complex. What I don't understand though is how you who know everything could have allowed us in" Tristran said.

"I don't have to tell you anything Tristran" Ryu said.

"Another thing I don't understand is why you'd choose to enrol yourself as a student instead of acting as Director of the Academy yourself" Tristran said. "Funnier still is the fact that you could have prevented the attack on Kolmnid Farms but didn't. What are you playing at Ryuujinn?" Tristran asked.

"Like I said Tristran…I don't have to tell you anything" Ryu said as his eyes flared temporarily.

There was an intense clash of wills between the two.

"Do you really not intend to act? Well then I suppose I'll let you in on a secret. Unfortunately for you, you won't find those two students of yours in class. My own students are working to separate yours, to prevent them from gathering around you and Reis Dragonhaärt, the two co-protectors of your legacy" Tristran challenged.

Ryu's eyes slowly assumed the likeness of the dragon's. At the same time, it glowed with many colours like the rainbow. He saw Zan in the Hall Of The Dream Knights. Zan had discovered that Ayumi Kirisawa, his fiancée was missing and had gone off after promising to protect him from the darkness of his homeworld. Ryu could also see Reis Dragonhaärt in Rai's Sanctuary with a student from Ryu and Zan's class whose name was Rai. Rai had discovered that a girl who frequented the Sanctuary was missing and had reported this to Reis. The two teamed up.

Ryu smiled.

"You really put a lot of effort into separating my students…I'm impressed" Ryu said.

"You should be" Tristran said as his image overlapped with that of a gigantic sinister sabre-toothed black Dragon.

"However…a word of caution to you Tristran…though my students may appear separated from one another…they are also one…just like…we are" Ryu said as his image overlapped with that of a magnificent Rainbow Dragon.