“Huh? W-what? No, of course not! What are you saying, man?” Raikou said, shocked by Morro’s first response.

  “WHY ARE YOUR EYES SUNNY?! And why am I—what is happening? Oh, right—the huge sword in my chest! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” Morro screamed.

  Raikou looked serious and met his eyes. “I can explain. I’m not your enemy, Morro.”

  “Saying that after you chased me with a huge sword?” Morro replied jokingly.

  “I know, I know. I did. But Eryon was watching us,” Raikou said.

  “Who is Eryon? And why is he watching? That still doesn’t explain everything,” Morro said, confused.

  “Eryon is the Air Master — the one with the green hair. He made me chase after you,” Raikou responded.

  “Why would he want me? And what are these elements? I don’t understand,” Morro asked.

  “He needs your blood to open something. He didn’t explain much — just said he needs it. And the elements are powers that choose their owners,” Raikou said.

  “But I still don’t understand where I am, why you’re saving me, and why the others want to kill me but not you,” Morro asked.

  Raikou’s expression changed. His eyes dropped to the ground.

  “They’re all corrupted… and… I couldn’t save any of them…”

  Morro frowned. “Corrupted? What do you mean by that?”

  Raikou looked back at him.

  “To have elemental power, someone in your bloodline must have had it first. And you must also be kind and full of justice. They were all like that. All of them.

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  “One day, we — the Element Masters — met for the first time in a place. A temple… no. It was more like a castle. Huge. We couldn’t even see where it ended.”

  (Morro remembered the castle he saw when he was falling.)

  Raikou continued.

  “We were all brought there by a message from the Air Master. But when we arrived… he wasn’t there. Days passed. We found rooms for each of us and slept there, waiting for him. We grew close.

  “There were nine of us.”

  Morro interrupted. “But I only saw eight of you. And you still haven’t told me where we are.”

  Raikou sighed. “I will. Just let me finish. Then everything will make sense.”

  He continued.

  “There were nine of us. Master of Flames — me. Master of Ice — Erin. He was my best friend. Then there were the Masters of Rock, Water, Sound, and Nature.

  “There were two others. They were siblings. They left early to look after their younger brother — they said he needed someone who understood him. One was the Master of Love — she was a girl. The other was the Master of Stars. Even if their elements sounded powerful… they were actually weak.

  “I didn’t even have time to properly ask for their names. I don’t know where they are now. They had no idea what was coming…”

  Morro tried to process everything.

  “What happened after that, Raikou — or whatever your name is?”

  Raikou ignored the jab.

  “The Air Master finally came. We were all happy. We wanted to know why he gathered us there. But without saying a single word… he killed the Rock Master in front of us. Cut his head from his body.”

  They didn’t understand what had just happened.

  “Then the Master of Air said he would kill us all if we didn’t obey him. We were furious. We charged at him.

  “But in seconds… he killed them. All of them.

  “Everyone… except me and Erin.”

  Raikou’s voice lowered.

  “There was nothing left but the bodies of our friends on the ground.”

  He swallowed.

  “Then he walked toward us and said…”

  ERYON: “Well, well, well. My name is Eryon — Master of Air and Wind. I think you saw what just happened, right? So if you still want to fight… so be it.”

  Raikou clenched his fists.

  “He laughed. I wanted to attack him. But Erin stopped me. He walked forward and said we would obey him.”

  Raikou’s voice cracked.

  “Those words hurt more than anything. I wanted to cry. I couldn’t do anything…”

  He continued.

  “Eryon said how happy he was. Then he walked to the bodies of our friends.

  “And suddenly… they came back.”

  Morro froze.

  “Their wounds were gone. They were alive again. He healed them.”

  Raikou’s hands trembled slightly.

  “Erin and I ran to them. We told them how much we thought we had lost them… how much we were going to miss them…”

  He looked up at Morro.

  “But then…”

  “They looked at us and said—

  ‘Who are you?’”