Prologue (1/2)

Mako D. Carson slowly opened his bright green eyes, the sleepy feeling he had had disappearing as he blinked a few times. A stiff neck was the sole reason he had even woken up otherwise he would have just kept on sleeping. He could feel the pain in his neck increasing by the minute, a cramp that hurt him so bad he couldn't sleep through it even if he tried.

Sitting up, Mako closed his eyes again as he rubbed the back of his neck, a loud yawn escaping his lips. "That was a good nights rest. I guess I should go make myself something to eat." He opened his eyes once again, finally looking at his surroundings after a whole minute of being awake.

"What in the five shades of Narnia happened? Where the hell am I?" Mako asked aloud as he swiveled his head back and forth, gazing around the room in confusion.

Despite going to sleep in his room, Mako had woken up on the floor somewhere he had never seen before. Not only that but the room itself made no sense to the point where it belonged in a fantasy novel. If Mako wasn't entirely sure he was awake in reality then he would have assumed he was still dreaming.

The room seemed endless, no walls visible on any side, and didn't even have a ceiling, just a straight shot upwards to the point where all Mako could see was darkness. There was no doors or windows, nothing that could point to a place that lead out. Of course despite how weird the room was, the thing that had Mako doing a double take were the floating cages scattered everywhere. Literal floating cages defying gravity and ever so slowly drifting across the seemingly never ending expanse of the room.

Mako had trouble wrapping his head around it, but he knew what he was seeing was real. He never took medication so he was sure he wasn't hallucinating. He wasn't sleep deprived nor was he dreaming as he could always tell what reality was. Even if he had trouble accepting the truth, Mako knew that this was all too real.

"Heh, this is some trippy shit right here," Mako said as he smiled, something he tended to do when nervous. "Maybe this is a genjutsu or maybe I died in my sleep and this is limbo..It sure as hell doesnt look like heaven. Maybe hell?"

Despite being confused and the tiniest bit afraid, Mako began walking around, his eyes fixated on the floating cages. Each cage was almost a pure cement cube except for one side which had multiple crisscrossing bars which held the obvious purpose of keeping something or someone contained. The inside of the cages wasn't visible no matter what angle Mako looked at it from, but he did manage to locate some numbers on some of the lower ones. It seemed that each cage contained some sort of number such as #7189 or #7890. If the numbers were based on the number of cages then that meant there were over 7800 cages in this infinite room!!

"Geez, talk about a high number," Mako muttered as he flicked his eyes from cage to cage. "I wonder how you get the cages to come down. Do you call out the number or is there some sort of trick? This is all so confusing. Forget how I ended up here, I wanna know how to summon a floating cage. This is some Hogwarts magic right here."

Mako continued walking forward before finally stopping. "Lets try calling out a random number then. See if that works. If not then we'll switch tactics. A good distraction from the fact that I have yet to know where I am and how I got here."

"Number 247, I choose you," Mako yelled as he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Come to me flying cage...please."

There was moment of silence before a sound of humming reached Mako's ears. Akin to a bullet, a flying cage appeared from the darkness and shot towards Mako. He had no time to dodge as he raised his arms and braced for the impact, squeezing his eyes shut. However, when nothing came after a few moments of just standing there, Mako peaked open a single eye. The cage, despite travelling at an enormous speed, had stopped right in front of Mako, the number 247 could clearly be seen at the top of it.

Mako let out a sigh of relief as he opened his other eye and placed a hand on his chest, a smile on his face. "Damn, I thought I was a dead man there for a second. Smashed by an incoming cage.....not the best way to go out. Be calm my rapidly beating heart."

Taking a deep breath, Mako turned his attention to the large cage now in front of him. Now that he had gotten the cage in front of him, he faced another issue and that was getting the door to open. He was unable to see inside the bars, only darkness which wasn't too strange considering he had just witnessed a cage hurtling at him while ignoring the laws of physics and gravity. Mako was at a point where anything could happen and he would just roll with it, his brain accepting things rather then begin melting down from all the major confusion he was receiving.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna assume that thisnis voice command again?" Mako said as he looked at the bars with interest. "Not sure if its really that easy. You'd think this place would have better protection. Doesn't hurt to give it a shot."

Placing his hand on the door, Mako took another breath. "Open sesame.....just open ya damn door."

Against all of Mako's expectations, this worked, the door opening with a small click. Even though he was literally making this sh*t up as he went, Mako was easily achieving his objectives. It was a bit too easy, but Mako didnt really think on it too much as he pulled open the door. The next thing Mako knew, he was being blasted in the face with pure fire, causing him to stumble backwards and fall on his ass.

Flames spewed from the cage as Mako looked on with shock and amazement, the dancing fire quite dazzling despite looking so deadly. Of course, this beautiful flame paled in comparison to the woman who stepped out of cage, completely unaffected by the fire.

The woman was slightly taller then Mako, standing at around 5'7 or 5'8, with long fiery blonde hair, tan skin, and clear blue eyes. She wore a short yellow-orange tank top that stopped in the middle of her stomach and shorts that stopped on her upper thighs. She had on long boots that reached her lower thigh and a yellow bandana tied around her left leg. Perhaps the most notable thing about her besides her flaming hair was how curvaceous her body was and how toned and fit she seemed to be. If he didn't know better, he would swear that this woman was some sort of model or actress, this female being more then good enough. She radiated a certain kind of power that Mako couldn't quite put his finger on and it made her all the more mysterious.

However, the image he had of her being powerful and gorgeous was almost immediately shattered the moment she glanced at him. A cold look formed in her eyes and her lips curled up in disgust as her blue eyes bore into his own. "A human? Just my luck that the first thing I see when I get out is a filthy species that is a human. How disgusting."

Mako blinked and just stared at her for a few seconds before finally saying something. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn't quite make out the crap that just came out of your mouth. Could you say that one more time?" He pushed himself off the floor and onto his feet.

The womans disgust seemed to increase as she held up her hand and pointed the palm towards Mako's face. "I don't feel like talking to trash. Get lost you stupid prick!!"

Without even having the chance to reply, flames shot out from her hand and straight into Mako's face, blinding him with yellow, orange, and red colors. He didn't feel anything from it nor did he even feel afraid, as if someone had reached inside his brain and flicked the "Fear" switch off. All he felt was both frustrated by the way the woman was talking to him and curious about what these flames were that they couldn't even harm him.

After about a minute, the flames disappeared and Mako was once again able to see the woman. However, the fiery females expression had changed from one of disgust to one of confusion upon seeing Mako completely unharmed, her hand lowering as she stared at Mako with a hint of curiosity and tons of bewilderment.

"You're still alive?" The woman asked with disbelief. "Are you not human?"

"Incorrect," Mako said with a shake of his head, a smile on his face. "I'm most definitely human. Why do you suddenly doubt that? Weren't you just saying that I was trash?"

"Your pure of heart then?" The womans eyes had narrowed a little as she stared at the youth in front of her, clearly unsure of how to proceed.

"Bzzzzzt, wrong again," Mako said, making an X by crossing his arms. "As if someone who still watches porn on his laptop could ever be pure of heart. Also, I have no clue about what your going on about. Care to explain???"

The woman stared at him for a good minute, her face now void of any emotion. After about a minute she turned around and began walking away in the direction that Mako had just walked from. Though where she was going was anyone's guess as it was near impossible to tell anything around this seemingly infinite room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Mako asked as he rushed to catch up with her. He wasn't about to just let her walk away without getting his questions answered. He had tons of questions that he wanted to ask like who she was, how could she shoot flames from hwr hand, and how was her hair on fire but not burning away.

"None of your damn business you freaky human trash." The woman picked up her pace, her tone filled with frustration and anger. "Get lost if you know whats good for you. Your lucky I spared your worhtless life in the first place. I dont do that often."

Mako grit his teeth as he ran to catch up with the fiery-haired female, getting more then a bit upset at her for the way she was speaking to him. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you aren't the boss of me. Now stop walking and start talking!!" Mako reached out and grabbed the womans wrist, halting her movements.

The moment Mako touched the womans wrist, a sort of tingle ran up his arm before dispersing completely. The female, who had been walking forward, almost collapsed onto the ground, appearing to go weak in the knees. She managed to prop herself up on her knee but it seemed that that was all she was able manage.

"You damn bastard, what did you do to me," The woman said, her voice faint. It was as if all the strength had gone out of her from Mako's touch.

"It isn't that HE did something," A voice said from behind them. "It's more like I GAVE him the power to do it."

Letting go of the woman, Mako whirled around to face the voice. The voice belonged to a rather old man who was around 5'5 and looked sickly with a red face, a runny nose, and a slightly hunched back. However, even with all of this, the old mans eyes were crystal clear, containing a cold intelligence that Mako had never before seen in his life.

"Good evening young traveller," the old man said as he took off the top hat he was wearing and gave a small bow. "I think you and I should have a little chat."