Adopted

PROLOGUE: HALVES & FRAGMENTS

Khyber

It is a bright, sunny afternoon; but dark clouds hang low in the eastern sky, all nature holding its breath in anticipation for what is to come. A bolt of lightning slashes down from the bank of dark clouds, cutting the sky in two; the brilliant bursts illuminating the road which leads into the heart of the mountains. To me, that lightning bolt represents the fear I feel as I wait for him, as I wait for my adopted brother Kamlin to recover from the terrible onslaught which he went through.

Before I get into details about what happened to my brother Kamlin and what he went through I will tell you a little about myself. I am Khyber Levitates, a lady from Coa; a pilot and daughter of the de-facto leaders of the Dawns. The Dawns are an organization my parents started, but they are gone, now leaving their legacy to me. Their legacy is my mission, something which most Dawns now embrace as we seek to bring peace to Coa.

Peace is sure hard in coming, as two armies called the Outsiders and Madoka Guardians, rage a massive war for control of politics across Coa. This war is everybody’s fight now as the two armies have plunged the whole Coa into civil war. Personally, for me, it is a fight against my fear and doubts that my brother and supporter Kamlin might never recover. If the war had broken us apart, the Dawns we would have still been unified in spirit. I remember Kamlin reminded me of that fact.

“We stand together, we fight together as one. No matter what we face the morning will always come, even when we walk in darkness.” The war did not scatter us though; instead, it took away my friends. My hopes died with them when they suffered, each of them exposed to the horrors of the two warring forces, all of them accused of some form of treason and never seen again.

Here I sit now, observing the nature around me, feeling the wind whip through the air as the dark clouds approach; the lightning becoming fiercer by the minute.

“Please let Kamlin be okay,” I plead as I sit underneath the ever-darkening sky; fear antagonizing me as I long for things to revert to a better time in the history of Coa when Kamlin was whole.

Kamlin has got to be alright. He knew how to fight, even if it was a freak act of nature, so what is this thing which I cannot understand, something which Kamlin said turned him into half the person he was? I ask this question as the rain starts to fall soaking the prairie around me.

“This war which has raged for the last three-hundred years needs to be stopped, and this I will work towards.” My mantra comes into my mind, sparking the formation of a decision within me. Something will guide my decision, I hope, as I look at all this brokenness before me, planning to remake it, starting with the ashes and the fragments of what it was.

I have faith and this I will use as I take up the leadership of the Dawns once more, following in the footsteps of my parents. There is honor in undoing brokenness, and now I feel it as my goal. Clear as crystal, bright as a gem, this is the course which I will follow until it is put back together. This has to go down. I am ready even in my fear…