Gods of Beyblade

Ch1. Dreams

Kurenai Shu gasped as he woke up in his bed, beads of sweat rolling down his ghastly pale face. Shu sighed as he let his hand run through his hair. This was the fourth nightmare he had this week. Shu looked at the plain white clock on his bedroom wall– 4:37 am, the numbers glowed in response.

Until now, his nightmares were about losing in humiliating Beyblade battles with Lui, or he simply didn't have any at all, but this week... They were different.

All he remembered from his nightmares was fire; fire everywhere and the screams of four helpless young men- princes, he corrected himself mentally. He had caught a glimpse of the princes' royal outwear before both the clothes and bodies were burned by the hot, raging flames.

'This is getting out of hand,' Shu thought grimly while rubbing his temples. Shu sighed again as he layed back in bed. As he stared at the ceiling, images from his nightmares flashed across the blank space. He squeezed his eyes shut.

A moment later, Shu opened an eye and peaked at the clock again– 4:42 am, it read. Shu forced himself to close his tired eyes.

A few minutes later, he drifted back to sleep, where nightmares and flashbacks awaited him.

~~~

Shu wasn't himself this morning at school. Usually, it was Valt who liked to sleep and snore through classes and daydream about Beyblade. Today, instead of Valt, Shu was the one who was snoring softly on the cool surface of his desk during an English lesson. The walls of the classroom were painted in dull grey, and that just made the overall atmosphere of the classroom even more boring.

Miss Haru, the young but hot-tempered English teacher began to read a storybook out loud to the bored students. 

She cleared her throat and l glared at the students. "This book is important for your coming literature test. You will be asked to write an essay for the test, so you better pay attention," She hissed.

A vein popped on Miss Haru's forehead when she found her students not caring at all.

"Oi! Pay attention!" She shouted, her grip on the storybook tightened. After, a few coughs from Miss Haru, she started to read the book again.

"Ahem! Students, this book is by the great author Celeste Fate. This is important for your test," Miss Haru repeated.

Everyone else nodded faintly even they didn't know why they were nodding. The emotional English teacher glared at the students once again and continued.

"I'm going to start again from paragraph one, and I want you to listen closely. As I was saying, this book's title is called The Legend Of The Spirits. Do not forget about this book, or you will fail this term's English test..."

"Chapter one... Long, long ago..." Miss Haru read out loud, but no one was paying attention. The classroom was silent, because... Well, because almost everyone was daydreaming and drifting off.

Somehow the woman caught Shu asleep instead on the others. She pulled her signature glare, took a deep, deep breath and yelled with all her might, "KURENAI!" 

Her voice was incredible. The whole classroom shook like it had been affected by supersonic waves. All of the students who were asleep woke up while the daydreaming-students snapped out of their daydreams.

She rubbed his eyes and glanced at the teacher with half-lidded eyes, replying tiredly, "Y-yes, Miss Haru?" 

"DON'T 'YES' ME, KURENAI," Miss Haru yelled. (The others winced at her loud voice.)

"This isn't like you!" The English teacher continued as she slammed her fist on her desk. "You are one of my best students! You have been hard working and you get good grades too! I've thought that the day I catch you sleeping in class is the day when pigs fly, but you have proven me wrong!"

Shu looked ashamed, but he was so tired, he was ready to close his eyes and sleep again on his desk...

"OH NO YOU DON'T, Kurenai," Miss Haru said immediately.  "Stand up and read the last chapter of the story!" She demanded, impatiently tapping her foot.

Shu, too tired to even stand straight, stood up wobbly while holding the corners of his desk for support. He looked at his book and started to read the last chapter.

"The four innocent princes... They... Ah," Shu tried to read. "Uh, they were tied up to four crosses by the horrible villagers. They screamed for their spirit-friends... but the spirits couldn't do anything to help the princes. Then, the princes were burned to death by the villagers. T-the hot flames wrapped around the s-struggling bodies of the four princes, burning them alive..." Shu suddenly stopped and rubbed his forehead with a pained look on his face. 

Miss Haru looked at him questionably and asked with a harsh tone, "What's the matter, Kurenai? Didn't I ask you to read the whole thing?" Shu just shook his hurting head. It had been a while since he had gotten a headache. His last headache was at least a year or two ago.

"N-nothing, Miss Haru," Shu replied shakily Shu tried to shake the pain away but the pain kept coming back.

All of a sudden, Shu's head suddenly felt heavy. So heavy, Shu's body couldn't bear the weight. Shu just wanted to collapse and faint, so he could not feel the pain. He felt weak. He was too weak to even stand.

Then, Shu's wish came true. He collapsed. He loosened his grip on the corner of his desk and slipped, with his tired body hitting the cold, hard floor in the process. Still conscious, Shu heard the cries and shouts of his name from his classmates, Miss Haru and Valt.

"SHU!" Valt shouted in panic.

Using all his available strength, Shu lifted his eyelids in half and saw familiar a pair of bright brown eyes.

"Va...lt..." Shu managed to choke out. His eyelids became a too heavy bear, so he gradually closed them, letting everything turn black.

~~~

Shu was in a strange, unfamiliar place. When he looked around, he was surprised to find himself in a beautiful hallway. Everything in the hallway looked fancy and elegant. The walls of the hall were covered in exclusive golden silk screen-painting wallpapers. Shu raised his head and was surprised to see a huge expensive-looking chandelier that was made from crystals and glass diamonds hanging from the ceiling. Everything looked majestic. This place was too beautiful to be the classroom that Shu fainted in... But wait. Where was he? The last time he checked, he was unconsciously laying on the classroom floor. Was he dead? Was he in heaven? No, Shu decided. He was in a dream. Again. Then, Shu sensed someone was coming, as he heard footsteps. He quickly hid behind a pillar of the hallway.

The footsteps got louder and louder. Then, a person slipped into the hall. Shu was shocked when he looked at that 'person's' face. They were like twins. The same red eyes, the same hair, and even the same scar on their right eyes... Everything about Shu and the mysterious guy looked identical, except for the clothes. Shu's 'twin' was wearing some robes and royal outfits and a crown. Weird.

Then, someone, or rather, something, walked into the hall too. It was a monster like creature; a soul. Shu gasped softly as his eyes widened.

'Spriggan?' He thought. No, it couldn't be Spriggan. Wasn't Spriggan his bey, Storm Spriggan? Why was it a soul with golden horns? No. It had to be Spriggan. Shu could feel it in his heart somehow. Shu felt that he and Spriggan had met, long, long before he got his bey...