Planet Zero: A Hero Rises by Aidan Cerna Cortez

Planet Nova is an unknown planet in the Milky Way, but unlike Earth and those other planets it is not found in the solar system. Planet Nova is just like any other planet, an atmosphere and an ecosystem. Planet Nova is similar to Earth the most but it’s atmosphere is smaller, and it’s population is even smaller. Instead of having presidents and governments, we have gatekeepers to keep us safe from any danger. Gatekeeper Ivy, the Gatekeeper of Fairflower. She can use her earthly and grassy powers to block off any danger, with her vines she can trap anything or anyone. Gatekeeper Erena, the Gatekeeper of Oasis Bay. She can use her water-like powers to transform water into anything, like a fist or she can use it to create her water wings. The Gatekeeper of Flaville is Akane, she can use her volcanic and fire-like powers on others to severely burn them and she is known as the living oven because of her amazing cooking. The Gatekeeper of Iceric, Eli and he can use his icy powers to freeze anything. The Gatekeeper of Driftcloud City, Sora, he can use his flight to fly away and use his wind to blow people away. And then there is me, I’m training to become the gatekeeper of Evergreen since no one is. Evergreen had many townspeople and it was peaceful too until it attacked. A shadow named Xeno that was trapped in a triangular crystal was released by an unknown evil force and now the shadow attacked and destroyed Evergreen by swallowing it whole with black liquid. That shadow had become the voice in my head ever since the attack, trying to convince me to betray the Gatekeepers, which will never happen.

As I look blankly into the pyramid shaped crystal I see my reflection. “Well of course I can see my reflection, it’s crystal after all” as I said to myself with a sarcastic expression.

 “I see you are talking to yourself again, don’t be such a loner Zero and join my side so you can never be alone again.” Xeno said trying to convince me

I was annoyed at how right Xeno was, I am a loner but I can’t worry about that right now, I need to find a boat to take me to Elementria Isle so I can get help from the Gatekeepers. I rushed to my cottage to find a map of the Isle and thought to myself  “I really need to keep this place a lot cleaner.” As you can tell I have been stuck in this cottage for about years because I really never went out. There was nothing for me to do in the outside world so I stayed in my cottage and totally not because I was scared to go out or anything. When I found a map of Evergreen I saw a sword next to it. It was the sword that was given to me a while back, so then I grabbed both the map and the sword. I hurried back outside just in time to see the black liquid swallowing Evergreen even more, but before it could reach me, the black liquid formed a shadow figure and before I could even process what just happened it quickly tried to attack me. Of course it missed me since It’s kind of the first Shadow Soldier. I tried attacking it but I got scared and was unconfident in my skills so I ran just like how people run away from their problems. While I was running I looked at the map to see there is a dock filled with boats to take me to Elementria Isle. I quickly rushed to the dock to find a boat to get in but there were none. I looked at the map again to see if there were any other routes I could take and there was a cave in Evergreen that had many boats for some weird reason. I quickly went into the cave and slowly moved the conveniently placed gigantic rock towards the entrance to block it off. I rushed towards the other opening of the cave that was connected to the water and placed the boat in the water. I hopped on to the boat and rowed myself away from what used to be called Evergreen. 

As I started getting further away from Evergreen I started to see the fade of Elementria Isle getting closer and closer. I never really went to Elantra Isle, probably because I was too scared of the social interaction so I just stayed in Evergreen all alone stuck in my cottage. As I got closer to Elementria Isle I started seeing volcanic fire balls being thrown in my direction. “Maybe I came at a bad time” I said to myself. I tried to row myself away from the fireballs but I got hit by one and my boat started sinking. “Welp goodbye cruel world” as I said just remembering I can’t swim. Sinking to the bottom of the ocean I started feeling sleepy then I went unconscious. 

I started waking up to notice a blue haired girl looking at me with her big blue eyes, being confused I had just remembered I drowned at the bottom of the ocean. It looks like she found me in the water and I wonder who she was.

“Agh! Where am I?!?” I said with a panicked expression. 

“You’re at my underwater house” The blue haired girl said. 

“Underwater?” I looked everywhere at my body to see if I got any scratches but when I looked down where my feet were and they weren’t there. There was a mermaid tail attached to me. 

“HUH?” I said surprised, “I didn’t know I was a mermaid the whole time.”

“Well you aren’t a mermaid exactly, I just turned you into one” The blue haired girl said calmingly. 

“Wait, who are you?” I said questioningly, 

“What? You don’t remember me? I’m Erena silly.” 

I completely forgot that it was Erena and I was immediately embarrassed about it. “Oh, I am so sorry Miss Erena, I didn’t know it was you.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about it, anyways what brings you here” she said. 

“Well I need to get to Ivy because she knows what to do with this crystal and because she’s kind of the smartest one out of all of you guys, no offense.” 

“None taken, but if you want to get to Ivy you have to go through my town and Eli’s town first.” “Take 2 rights, then take three lefts, then a right, then a left, climb up icy hills to find Iceric then ask Eli for the next directions” 

“Wait but I never learned my left or right,” I said. 

“Oh, you’ll figure it out once you get there.” She said smiling and waving me goodbye

As I went up to the surface and landed on the sand of Oasis Beach, Erena transformed me back into my normal self and I continued to walk through Oasis Bay. It was hard to walk because I didn’t have my shoes after I transformed into a mermaid, so I went to the shop to buy new shoes. 

“Hello sir or madam, what would you like to buy?” The shopkeeper asked?

“Uh, I would like to buy some shoes that can help me with adventuring”

“Huzzah!” The shopkeeper said. I see you need some special shoes to help you on your journey slash quest. I have some in mind for people like you and I think you’ll like it too. I shall reveal my name first before we start as I am in shock of lock. Greetings, my name is Athena. I come from the majestic sea where I can observe and see.”

“Excuse me?” I said not knowing what she said “Are you even speaking English? Shock of lock? What is that supposed to mean?”

“I was just trying to be fancy ok,” she said angrily. It’s very hard to rhyme you know but since you didn’t appreciate my fancy lines I am not going to give you a discount anymore”

“Look I’m just trying to shop for shoes, I don’t need a whole game dialogue just to waste my time, besides I am on a time limit.”

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, besides what do you even mean you’re on a time limit, is it because of that,” then she pointed at the ocean with me looking and noticing that the black liquid developed in the ocean.”

“Oh shoot!” I said “Just give me the shoes and I’ll pay for them later, I promise.”

“Ok fine, you can take the shoes, you can take the whole shop as a matter of fact, I don’t care” she said sarcastically. “I’m gonna pass on taking your whole shop but I will take the shoes” I grabbed the shoes and put them on “Thank you kind lady” I said in a hurry.

“I was being sarcastic” Athena said, facepalming “Also did he seriously forget my name”

As I rushed forward all that I could hear was “Wow, looks like you were being rude back there” Xeno said “Are you sure you aren’t a villain.”

I started to get annoyed by Xeno trying to call me out on my flaws, but I can’t do anything about it so I rushed to my next stop, Icy hills. As I approached Iceric’s Icy Hills, I started to shiver and freeze. It already feels like I developed an icicle under my nose. I quickly tried to find a shop with warm clothing but to no avail the shops were all closed.

“Oh right, they’re closed on Sundays,” said a person standing right next to me. He suddenly glanced in my direction and said “Oh hey, I never seen you around here, my name is Astrid. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, Hey my name Zero. I’m trying to look for Gatekeeper Eli right now, do you know where he is?”

“Not a clue where Eli is right now, but I know two people who probably know. Come on and follow me”

As I followed Astrid into Iceric, Still being cold I could hear the townspeople playing with the snow and skiing. I remembered that I really wanted to go to Iceric because I wanted to ski but I never really tried because I was too scared. Perhaps Astrid can teach me but I might die if I tried so probably not. Still following him and yet there’s no stop in his tracks, I wonder where he’s taking me right now. We then stopped at a place called Winter Wonder Cafe, which was an odd name as in the matter of fact. Don’t know who came up with these names, they are super uncreative.

“This is the place,” Astrid said.

“This is just a cafe, are you sure they are gonna be here?”

“Of course!” He said. “They come here all the time and besides there is a special drink that just got revealed and I really want to try it. Before I do that I’ll take you to them first.

As he opened the door for me I saw people sitting at the tables, the counter where you order food, and a hot tub. Astrid points to the table where the two girls are sitting saying “There they are, the twins that know everything about Eli.” 

“TWINS?!?, please don’t tell me they are one of those creepy twins that talk at the same time!”

“Probably,” He said “Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen to you trust me, and if something does happen, there will probably be no evidence of it.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WILL PROBABLY BE NO EVIDENCE OF IT. EVIDENCE OF WHAT?!”

Then he started laughing saying “You’re so fun to mess around with.”

I am in shock from what I just heard. I can feel myself shaking with fear but I take small steps towards the table that the twins were sitting in. I then greeted myself and all I could hear was “Hello, you wanna come play with us.” A tear had shedded from my eye because of the inner pain I’m feeling.

“Hello, my name is Christi,” the blonde one said.

“And my name is Christmas,” the other said.

They even have similar names which makes it more creepy. I made a strange noise because I was so scared.

“Don’t be so scared” They both said at the same time “We’re not harmful”

Thinking what they both said wasn’t true, I said in a stutter “Do you know where I can find Eli the Gatekeeper?”

“Stalking him too I see.” They both said. “Well he isn’t here right now, I know where everything is and he’s nowhere to be found, probably because he’s having his lunch with Sora in Cloudense. We can give you directions if you like,  just don’t be so desperate when you try to fall for him.

“I’m not stalking or in love with him, I am just trying to get directions to Fairflower so I can see Ivy. Hey wait, since you know this place so well can you give me directions to Fairflower.”

“I could if we wanted to but that route is blocked off, we can still give you directions to Cloudense if you like, but you will have to do a small favor for us.” They both show off the letters they have. “Give this to Eli when you are there, and if you don’t something might happen, you got that?” They both said at the same time again.

“Ok ok Geez…” I don’t want to die by two girls who look like they are almost half my age. This town is very scary, just please get me out of here already. I grabbed both of the letters they have and I put them into my bag. “It’s going to be a long day isn’t it” I thought to myself. I can hear Xeno agreeing with what I just said. Being frightened by how he can hear my thoughts, he’s probably getting more powerful because the black liquid he put was spreading even more. I looked off the mountain with a telescope I found and I saw the ocean water turning pitch black. “I really hope Erena and her townspeople are ok” I told myself, with Xeno replying “I hope not.” Ignoring him because of his rude comment I glanced in the telescope again and saw from a long distance that Erena, using the leftover water that wasn’t infected, was trying to fight the shadow figures that developed in the ocean with the water. . I tried to go over there but I was trembling once I took a single step. I wanted to help her so badly but I was too afraid, so I picked up my pace and zoomed off. In the middle of me running I saw something glowing in my bag, it was the Triangular Crystal glowing. I never saw the Crystal turn into a different color before, it was always crystal clear but now it has a soft bright shade of blue. I put the crystal back in my bag and I ran towards my next destination, Driftcloud City.

 I always remembered Driftcloud City being noisy all the time, probably because of the wind that flows through the sky. It’s not like the black liquid can touch the skies, they are clouds after all and if it does it will probably go through the cloud. Once I arrived at the gate to Cloudense City I saw a sign with a basket filled with boxes below it saying “Take one of the boxes and open it before entering Driftcloud City.” I took a box then opened it and a cloud came out of it, it seems to be a cloud that I can physically stand and sit on. I hopped on the cloud and went inside Driftcloud. I can’t remember the last time how Cloudense City looked in the last year because each year something different gets added in the city. Usually in each season Cloudense City changes its city color scheme and since it’s almost summer the color is slowly changing from light pink to white. I looked around and found an Aerial Castle floating above the city.

“Oh cloudy with a chance of meatballs, that castle is huge!” Astrid said creeping up behind me

“AGH, Don’t scare me like that, hold up what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be back with those creepy twins.”

“Well they sent me here to check on you because you still have those letters also because I’m bored and I wanted to join in on the fun you’re having with Sora.” Astrid said

“I never even got to Sora and I don’t know how to so can you please help me” 

“Aren’t you on a cloud? I’m pretty sure you can float yourself to the castle you big dum dum.”

I don’t appreciate him calling me a dum dum and he was right, I was on a cloud so after realizing that I was on a cloud that was helping me actually stay in the city I flew the cloud up and of course Astrid had followed me. The castle was pretty high up so a lot of wind hit me in the face, and as more wind hit me I started thinking I was in outer space. After arriving I pressed the large doorbell, Astrid being the kid he is even though he isn’t, he was so excited to meet Sora, on the other hand I was nervous about meeting two king-like figures. What I think of Sora is that he kind of is carefree and cool but I do not want to cross his line. About Eli, he is more of a fancy rich person who can be a little too much into organizing. I can’t see why they both married each other, they are kind of an odd match. 

It felt like hours since I rang the doorbell but I looked at the clock above the door and it only had been 5 minutes, but another minute passed and the door had slammed open. With it almost hitting me in the face, Astrid and I went inside and what we saw was amazing. Sora’s castle was humongous, this was way better than living in a small cottage but the cottage was cozy for me and it felt like my safe spot. Looking around the castle, there seemed to be many rooms, a huge library, an observatory, they even had a golden toilet in the 1st and 2nd bathroom, it was very luxurious. After looking around some more I see Eli and Sora walking down the hall.

“It’s them!” Astrid said, creeping up behind me again.

“Hey look, If it isn’t Zero and uh, who is that other guy Eli” Sora said

“Oh, I believe it’s one of my townspeople. Correct me if I am wrong but, is your name Astrid?

“ You know my name already! Omigosh, does that make me famous?” Astrid said with excitement

“Uh, yea ok.” I said, being embarrassed around Astrid. “So anyways, I am trying to look for Ivy, where is-

Suddenly an explosion cut me off in the middle of my sentence. I hate when you get interrupted in the middle of your sentences, that explosion is so rude. Astrid, Eli, Sora, and I all ran to the explosion and there was a whole in the castle. Sora looked down the whole and said “Are you kidding me Akane! It’s the 3rd time this week that you blew up my wall”  Sora said in a soft but angry tone

“Sorry! Akane answered”

“Are we above Flaville right now?” I exclaimed

“What?” Akane yelling below us

“I wasn’t asking you!” I yelled back at her

“You want me to come up there?”

Akane is quite a handful since she has an exciting personality.I would call her a “sporty person” even though we don’t have sports on this planet but I studied some of Earth’s fun facts. She is known for her dishes because she is an excellent cook. When I cook I always have the fire extinguisher near me because I always burn down my kitchen so there’s that. I tapped Eli and Sora’s shoulder catching their attention and asking the question I have asked before. Apparently this castle moves around Elantra Isle. so this is technically Elantra Isle’s personal cloud. Don’t get me wrong this cloud is huge, I bet you can fit 10 mansions here. I may be exaggerating a bit but a cloud that’s fatter than the shopkeeper is pretty big and that’s saying a lot. “Looks like my plan is in motion now.” Xeno said.

“Oh my goodness you scared me, I thought you got bored in my mind and decided to leave.”

“I was about to but I just wanted to see how my plans are turning out”

“What do y-”

Getting cut off again with another explosion we looked down the hole again. “That wasn’t me that time,” Akane yelled. “Well what was?” Eli exclaimed

What?” Akane yelled again 

Sora then grabs a sign then writes on it saying “Come up where.” Akane squinted her eyes and yelled a reply “What does that say?” Sora is facepalmed and all I see is Astrid writing something. He attached what he wrote on a rock he found and he threw a rock out the window and hit Akane in the face. 

“Ow what the actual heck?” She exclaimed, then she looked at the rock. “OH, you want me to come up here, why didn’t you say so!” 

“Wait, where did you get that rock?” Eli asked. Astrid then shrugged and said “I have no clue” with a suspicious expression.”

After Akane came to the castle, we discussed the explosion that just happened. She suggested a person come to the castle so they can help us. Their name was Erza, she had a big IQ but there was a problem, she explained that there was a special tablet that she used to track down earthquakes or explosions. So called for a big IQ person, bet she was a fraud. She had said that she gave those tablets to two people in Flaville, their names were Cole and Seraphina but she didn’t want to see Seraphina because of drama so she left the castle by jumping through the hole and landed in the cloud. Not going to lie, that was pretty cool but we needed to stay on track. Then we spoke with Cole and Seraphina and they brought out the tablets that Erza left for Cole as a birthday present. Sora confiscated the tablet and checked to see where that explosion was. I started hearing Xeno randomly laughing for no reason but when I saw what was on the tablet, I knew exactly what the reason was.

“Oh gosh, Akane said, this is just terrible”

Oasis Bay had been hit by an explosion and we heard someone trying to open the door. The door is slammed open and we see a girl named Brionne panicking. She then explained what had happened and we were all in shock. I remembered when I looked through the telescope and saw Erena fighting the shadow figure, apparently there were more and Erena couldn’t handle all the battling so not only Evergreen had been swallowed by the black liquid, so has Oasis Bay. Suddenly we heard another explosion and that was located in Iceric, we then panicked along with Brionne. Knowing not all hope is lost, Eli and Sora got ready to fight, I even saw Brionne and Astrid getting ready to help but I gulped in fear and trembled to the corner in tears. Explaining that I wasn’t ready to fight and not strong enough Eli and Sora agreed that I should at least warn Ivy about it so I listened and agreed to their terms. Sora grabs the cloud I was on when I entered Cloudense City and puts me on it.

“Don’t worry Zero, we can hold them back.” Sora said bravely

They all waved goodbye to me wishing me good luck as they handled the situation. In the sky I see the Aerial Castle fading and all I can see is little clouds. Thinking I could’ve done so much with my life before this all happened was making me sad. If I wasn’t so scared and fearful I could’ve enjoyed my life even more, I probably would’ve learned how to use my sword. But I guess fear is a bigger obstacle than the obstacle itself.

 As my hair flowed through the wind, the wind started getting aggressive and the cloud I was on started to lower itself. It seemed that I was going to crash so I was screaming in panic. As I continued crashing down, I noticed a cherry blossom tree that reached the sky and it looked kind of familiar. I had to think about where I had seen that before and it was the cherry blossom tree that was located in FairFlower, I was close to my next location. Suddenly my cloud caught on fire and it was rapidly going fast. I started seeing the ground closer and closer with a fast pace but I was ready to embrace the impact of the damage I was about to take. A vine suddenly appeared and grabbed me just in time before the cloud had crashed but the cloud just poofed away when it hit the ground. The vine put me down on the ground and the person who saved me was none other than Ivy. Ivy is a calm, caring, and loving Gatekeeper, she is very heroic and very intelligent. She also hosts the Blossom Festival to celebrate the tall and big cherry blossom tree. She’s very serious when it comes to taking care of nature and the environment. 

“It’s quite sad they’re hosting the festival now.” Xeno said. “My plan has already gone into motion. It’s already too late for them”

“You’re quite talkative, what’s the occasion?” I said

“Well then if you’re asking then I must answer,” Xeno said. “I’ve tried to attack some of Elantra Isle before I knew Evergreen existed but Ivy had outsmarted my plans many times so I knew Elantra Isle wasn’t the safest bet. So after I knew you guys existed I started my evil plan and trapped myself in a crystal cage where I can observe my plans from inside an townsfolk. 

“Wait, you trapped yourself inside the crystal?!”

“Yes, so I can take over one of Evergreen’s most prized possessions, the townspeople. Once I found out you were going to plan on being a Gatekeeper I took over as a place inside your head. Ivy will never expect what’s in store for her and she’ll definitely be surprised on who actually released me.”

“Thanks for the information Xeno, now I am going to tell Ivy your so and so secret plan.”

“Wait what” said Xeno confused

I go over to Ivy and tell her to meet with me in private for something very important. We talked in private and just like Xeno said she was surprised. She gathered all the information from past encounters with Xeno. 

Ivy stated “Zero you can bring Xeno back into the crystal by returning the crystal to its original location. There must be a podium that is located in some sort of cave but I have no idea where that cave is located.”

“I have no idea either, but it’s quite clear where the cave is located, in Evergreen.” I said

“You’re correct! Since its origin came from your town then it must originate from Evergreen, your quite the smart one” she said with a smile on her face

I blushed a little but that’s beside the point, I am not really that smart because I still don’t know the difference between my left or right. She took me to one of the townspeople’s homes so I could stay in. She introduced me to the home owner named Lillie, and she had nice golden hair with white clothing, with her bright cyan eyes that look like the ocean. She looked amazing and her personality fit her look. She greeted me with a pleasant smile and a hello, she offered tea but I declined of course because I didn’t really like the taste of tea but it was a nice offer. She then showed me the room I was going to stay in and it was quite small but cozy. I loved the way how things were organized and how she kept her house clean, even her flowers had a bright and shining look. I placed my stuff down in the house and the crystal was glowing from my bag again, so I rushed over there to see the crystal changing its color again. The crystal had turned blue to light blue and that light blue turned into a cyan color. Not a minute later the cyan color turned into red which made me realize those were the colors found in the Gatekeepers temples. I never really mentioned the temples before but each gatekeeper has their own temple for important business but they keep an artifact on a podium in the temple so I think that’s what Ivy meant from before. The strange thing is there were no Gatekeepers of Evergreen which made me confused. I put the crystal back in my bag and heard a knock on my door, it was Ivy. She asked if I have gotten any rest since my adventure and of course I said no because it was a really long journey and I didn’t have time to sleep.

Then you go ahead and take a nap before the festival. I can push the time back so you can get some rest.” She said with a pleasant smile, “you don’t want to be all tired during the big festival now do you”

After she left my room and closed the door, I started getting ready to go to sleep but suddenly I heard Xeno saying “goodnight” and I got so scared and was trying to stay but I started closing my eyes and I went into a deep sleep.

I woke up to see a pitch black room that I am in and I see a bright light shining in my face. I suddenly hear lights turning on and I see all the gatekeepers looking down for some reason. In the middle of the gatekeepers I suddenly saw six red eyes open one by one and my eyes widened with fear. The gatekeepers then looked up directly at me and they seemed to have the same shade of red eyes as the monster in front of me. My eyes widened even more when I started seeing the monster looking down at me saying with a familiar voice, “attack him.” The gatekeepers were getting prepared to attack and I noticed their appearance looked different, all black clothing and strange goop covering some of their body. I took a step black and almost tripped on a sword that looked like my sword that I kept. Do I really need to fight them? I thought to myself, then I started panicking in fear. As the Gatekeepers started to attack they said something that confused me a lot. “It’s all your fault” they all said at the same time which made tears come from my eyes because I know that I had done this to them. My fear was the reason that this happened, if I wasn’t too scared and afraid to fight I would’ve helped Erena fight off the shadow figures, I would’ve helped Eli, Sora, and Akane with them too. “It’s time that fear goes away,” I said bravely. I wiped my tears away, then I grabbed my sword, and they all launched their attack at the same time. The attacks were 1 second away from each other so I had plenty of time to dodge it, the attacks were also very slow but I started getting a weird feeling on my feet like something wet. I noticed the black liquid started filling up the room and I panicked even more but when I looked up, I saw the monster’s arms trying to grab me. There were six arms trying to grab me but I kept dodging but the black liquid was slowing me down because of its texture. As the arms kept grabbing me I jumped up in the air and landed on his arm. With all the Gatekeepers’ power attacking me and the arms trying to attack me made it difficult for me to race to the top of the monster’s arm. I felt the black liquid on my feet again as it rises up faster so now it’s a race between time. I had no problem dealing with the Gatekeepers attacking me since they drowned in the liquid but that didn’t work out for me because the podiums had risen up but when I saw who was on the podiums there were people who I met up with besides the Gatekeepers. Lillie, Astrid, Chrsti, Christmas, Erza, and the shopkeeper too and they all said the same thing as the Gatekeepers said. Getting distracted by the people I met up with, I started to feel like I got slower and slower and when I was just about to reach the top, I got splashed by water, then burned by fire. I got cut marks by the ice shards and vines keep hitting. The monster then created a huge shadow ball that was aimed at me and then he shot it. Seeing how it rapidly came towards me, I also felt the black liquid coming towards my arms. It finally hit me and I was weak. I have no idea how long I can handle this pain right now, but I know I can’t give up, I know I can’t lose hope. All of the sudden I dropped to the ground because of how weak I was and the liquid had reached my face. I can’t believe how stupid I am, trying to fight this monster without any training was a stupid idea, I had given up and I started drowning in the liquid. I got deeper and deeper into the ocean but then I heard a knock on a door. 

I got confused on where it is coming from since I am in liquid but I had opened my eyes and I was in my room again. I figured out that I had a nightmare but is that why Xeno said goodnight? Could he be that 6 eyed monster, so many questions. I heard the knock on my door again so I opened it and saw Lillie dressed up in a nice Kimono with a flower on her head. I forgot that the festival was soon but I had no clothing so Lillie was kind enough to lend me one of her Kimonos. I put on the Kimono she had lended me and the flower that came with the kimono and I kind of looked good in this even though it was made for women. She also handed me a nice and pretty umbrella and a floral hand fan so now I am prepared for this festival. When we went outside I saw all the lights set up and all the flower petals on the ground, with everyone dressed nicely and the shops nicely decorated, I already know I’m going to love this festival. Lillie and I looked around with each other, enjoying the decorations, the activities, and the fresh food they have for us. We both climbed up on the roof so we could gaze at the sunset and we suddenly looked at each other with a smile on our faces. For our last stop we went to the big cherry blossom tree, we sat down at a bench near a tree and started talking.

“So, what do you think of this festival” Lily said softly

“I enjoyed it,” I exclaimed. “I never knew how fun festivals can be, all the decorations and hard work they put into this festival, they really outdid themselves.”

“Well I’m happy to hear that” She said while smiling at me. “Hey, do you want to help me make dinner when we get back?”

“Uhhh, no thanks.” I said nervously. “I’m bad at cooking so I’ll probably slow you down. You can go on ahead, I’ll just look around some more.

I nervously laughed and she smiled again so she left to go make dinner. I walked around more and enjoyed the nice fresh air. While I kept looking I noticed a fountain and went to it. I sat down and gazed at the water, looking at my reflection. I looked at it closely and saw someone behind me through the reflection but when I looked behind me, no one was there. I got scared of this fountain so I left but I suddenly stumbled over a rock and tripped. I got caught in mid air and it was a guy who had caught me. His handsome face was looking deeply into me with his bright red hair and his charming eyes. As we kept looking at each other the wind blew and both of our hairs flowed through the wind. My face turned red as we kept staring at each other and asked him to let go of me, we both sat next to each other on the fountain and after we talked for a while. 

“Thanks for not letting me fall,” I nervously said to him.

“No problem” he said “Let me introduce myself. My name is Ren. What is your name?”

“My name is Zero” I said

“Oh, that’s a nice name, it fits you perfectly. That outfit looks good on you by the way it matches your eyes.”

“Thank you, I said, looking away from him because my face turned red again.”

“So” He said with his arms folded behind his head, “I never seen you around here, are you new here or are you just visiting for the festival.”

“Well, I was visiting for the festival but I also came here for some important business.” I exclaimed

“Hmm, I see. Welp it’s getting late outside, want me to walk you to your house?” Ren offered

“Yea that’s fine by me” I nervously replied

I told Ren where I was staying and we both walked back to Lillie’s house. We arrived there but there was no sign of Lillie and all of a sudden Ren and I heard an explosion but it sounded different. Could it be? Did the shadow figures arrive? Ren and I both ran to where the explosion was and it was the walls ascending to cover up Fairflower. The doors began to close but I saw a cloud coming towards the town. It was Sora and Astrid coming down with Sora in tears. They both landed on the ground and Sora began sobbing to Ivy. 

“Where’s Eli?” I asked

Sora then pointed to the sky and it was Eli and Erena. Eli and Erena’s appearance were different but it looked familiar. I tried to remember how Eli and Erena looked like now and it was from my dream, they transformed into a shadow. Erena, with her powers, began to attack the walls by having the ocean impact damage to the walls, and Eli with his Ice powers tried to attack the town by throwing explosive crystal shards. The crystal shards then exploded and began to freeze up the environment of the town. Some of the townspeople were frozen because of that but where was Lillie? I went to Ivy and asked where she was and she said she was outside of the wall. I was in shock, I had to go out there and help her but I got scared again and trembled in fear but I remembered what I told myself in my dream. I rushed back into Lillie’s house to change back into my regular clothes then went back outside to fight. I never really know how to use a sword but I can at least try to. I began telling the unfrozen people to hide in a safe place and then Ivy, Sora, and I began firing back. With the help of Astrid and Ren they begin firing back, with Astrid small ice shards being thrown and Ren’s sword reflecting the attack. 

“Open the gate!” I exclaimed

“But why, we need the gate to stay closed so they can’t get in” Ivy said with a confused expression on her face

“I need to go save Lillie” I said

“How about instead of opening the gate I can use my powers to lift you over the gate.” Sora said

“Oh that’s even smarter” I thought to myself. “Ok lift me up Sora” I said to sora

Sora then began to lift me up with the power of the wind and now I was on the other side of the gate. I saw Lillie but as I was about to go towards her, her hair began to turn into a different color. I was too late, she had already become a shadow. She quickly turned around and started attacking me with vines. I didn’t know Lillie had that kind of power, I always thought she was a regular person. Lillie then grabs me with her vine and throws me up in the air then throws me towards the wall. Hitting the wall, It made a giant whole so the shadow army began barging in. Destroying the town I noticed the black liquid had already reached us and it began flooding the whole town. With Ren and I jumping from roof to roof I saw Sora and Ivy had been captured and started transforming into one of the shadow army. It looks like Ren and I were the only people left in the entire planet that hasn’t been infected by the black goop. The liquid starts to rise up even more but I saw an opportunity to escape this flooded town. Sora had left his cloud that he was on in the air so we had to jump to get to it. Ren jumped towards the cloud and landed on it but he didn’t know how to control it so I had to help. It was a pretty far jump and I was afraid I might fall in. Scared and afraid was all I was, I can’t do anything right.

“Come on, you can do it!” Ren yelled “ I believe in you!”

I nodded and jumped as high as I could but it wasn’t high enough so I fell to my doom. Closing my eyes thinking it was the end Ren had grabbed me by the arm and tried to pull me up. He finally pulled me up to the surface of the cloud, he said “We need to get to the Sky station so we can escape.” 

“Where is that?!?” I exclaimed

“It’s in the middle of this planet.” Ren replied

I looked at the control panel of the cloud but it didn’t look like the one I had before. Luckily it had an autopilot GPS, so I entered the Skystation in the GPS and it started moving. Moving slowly we both noticed that the black liquid is now rising and making its way towards the Skystation too. 

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” I said. I pushed the buttons and the cloud started going haywire. It started going down fasly and we crashed into the Skysation and landed on one of the floors.

“We have to be quick before it comes for us,” Ren said in a panic.

We both quickly ran up the stairs but the station was all the way on the 50th floor and we were on the 22nd. Running as fast as we could, we stopped and took a break on the 35th floor. We started running up the stairs again and made it to the 42nd floor and took a break again. I looked below the stairs and started seeing the black liquid coming up.

“We need to stop taking breaks now, it’s coming up faster!” I said to Ren

We both ran as fast as we could up the stairs and finally made it to the top. There were little spacecraft that could transport us to another planet. I squeezed myself into one and Ren took the other next to me.

“Welp see you on the other side Zero, I hope we can meet again”

“Same here” I said

With the spacecraft taking off we both zoomed off  Planet Nova. It was devastating to see your own home getting destroyed, it was devastating to see your friends getting captured. I just sat there thinking about my home and my friends, but it was too late to look back now, I need to meet back up with Ren and live our new lives on a new planet. My spacecraft started going faster and faster as I began to feel it shake. It felt like I was an asteroid hitting a planet and I started getting scared again. I finally crashed and landed on a planet that didn’t look familiar to me so I began to look around. I started looking around some more, questioning what  planet I am on but I felt a huge headache. I suddenly heard a voice laughing in my head that sounded familiar, I knew exactly who that voice belonged to, it was Xeno. Xeno then said “Welcome to Planet Earth Aiden Cenra.”

To be continued…