A new generation of wizards prepared for their graduation from the school of magic in Melodia. All of them have been nurturing their shards for 16 years. To graduate, they must present their shard and use it to link to the grand shard at the edge of town on a cliff. A shard is a small rhombus shaped piece of glass that comes in all colors. As the students wake up from bed, one didn't get any sleep, for his mother is extremely ill and requires constant attention. Zedus and his father spent an entire night of no sleep in fueling the shard of his mother.
A shard can't be allowed to be drained of its magic, as it serves as a life force for all wizards. Once a shard loses all of its magic, it is vulnerable to breaking, resulting in the wizard reaching the brink of death. Each wizard is given only one shard and that shard is embedded into their body. They are free to release it at any time if they wish to link to other shards or in the case of Zedus, to fuel a shard in danger. Zedus and his father finally replenished the shard of his ill mother. She can now stand and attend her son's graduation day.
They exit their house, got on their carriage, and made their way east to reach the city. Zedus lives in a forest with giant trees shadowed by mountains due to the fact that his father was the head of research in shards for the city. Shards grow where there's a lot of nature and little exposure to human aroma. So his father practically lived at his job. After riding for half an hour, they made it to the city gates to split ways.
The city of Melodia was more lively that day than any other day. The castles and buildings all over the place decorated with giant floating shards. Witches flying out cheering on any student they see. Restaurants giving away free breakfast to any student in need. Streets filled with a lot of citizens wearing merchandise from the wizard school. The whole city wanted to let their wizards know that they had their full support. Zedus still disliked coming to the city as it was too packed for his taste.
Zedus took the school train along with the rest of his graduation party, while his parents took a portal that takes them to the stands of VIP members. As the professors wait for their students to arrive, they start preparing the great shard. The cliff serves as a shield as it overshadows the ocean. As the waves rise to the cliff, beams of light start emitting from it making their way into the city. The students can see the phenomenon of the great shard as it finally reveals itself from the ocean. A giant rhombus with all the colors you could think of floating in the sky. Just for a glimpse though, for the train enters a tunnel that will soon end up underneath the stadium where the great shard is.
The stands are packed with parents who are eager to see their children become one with the city. Everything is prepared, the great shard in the air, the city council ready to guide students, and the mayor ready to register in shards. The students arrive at a station where they made their way to their designated post. Finally, the students are transferred through telepathy 100 feet above them, spawning them facing the great shard.
As the mayor gives the order for the students to extract their shard, Zedus begins to feel nauseous and weak. All the students extract their shards, Zedus barely manages to extract his. It's vibrant and as strong as the rest of the graduation party. The mayor starts calling for the students to finally connect to the great shard. The first student is called up and the mayor pulls out a ring. He aims the ring at the great shard and absorbs power from it, only to give it to the presented student's shard. The beam rapidly shoots out of the young girl' shard back into the great shard. It's a success. She is now a full fledged wizard of Melodia.
More and more students meet their shards with the great shard, then comes Zedus. The crowd is clapping and cheering as all their children are blooming with blessings from the great shard. Zedus walks up with his shard and again starts feeling nauseous, but he is determined to get through the graduation. The mayor once again raises his ring to the great shard and the beam comes out. The mayor transfers it onto Zedus' shard and the unexpected happens. Zedus' shard bursts.
Silence fills the entire stadium as everyone stares at Zedus. Zedus begins to feel nauseous again and this time begins to black out. He catches a glimpse of the mayor backing away as a member of the council walked towards him. As Zedus collapses, he feels a hand on his chest, then loses consciousness. He wakes up a few minutes later to the sound of what a whistle would make as if it were being blown with intensity, he is looking up at giant trees passing by. He notices a red orb of light on top of those trees as if it was following him. He loses consciousness yet again.
"Wake up, Zedus!" yells his dad. Zedus wakes up on his carriage watching his dad carry his mom inside. He follows them inside only to see his mom extremely ill and pale. Then his heart sank as he could not sense her shard anymore. "Where's her shard?" Zedus struggles to ask. "Wait here, I'll fetch her a new one" says his dad. His dad hurries out to gather another shard. He'll be able to successfully register it to his wife if he finds a fully bloomed shard. Meaning, one that is ready to be given to a new born wizard.
Zedus can't contain his sorrow, he's thinking of the worst. "I don't want to lose you... not now" he says under his breath. "We'll be okay" clarifies his ill mother. For a quick second, he felt a moment of peace, as if a small window was opened to let some fresh air in. It abruptly ended as he hears the same intense whistling he heard earlier. He knew something was wrong. He then hears an explosion outside followed by a light tremor. He didn't want to leave his mother, but he knew he had to go out to check on his father.
He opens the door only to see his father on the ground missing an arm. He notices the same red orb of light from earlier on top of a tree, it seemed to be the source of the intense whistling. The family house was surrounded by what seemed to be a red wall of energy. Zedus rushed to his father's side, but it was far too late, as he used his final breath to say "head west". Zedus could not think straight as he just lost his father. He didn't know what was going on, or who was attacking them, but he knew one thing though, he could not lose his mother. He rushed back to the house with the shard his father had harvested.
Back home he is met with his ill mother only for her to use a spell that blew him straight back outside. The whistling had stopped, as the red orb shot out a red beam to destroy the house that contained Zedus' mother. The blast was far more powerful than the one he felt earlier. With tears running down his face, Zedus did not know how to process this. With both his mother and father gone, the red light descends from the tree. Zedus could only lay on the ground and watch as the light disappears and takes shape of a man in a dark cloak. The man is walking towards the corpse of his father as he mutters "Leave no evidence".
Zedus shouted to the man to stop as he seemed to be charging another explosive spell. He struggles to get up, but feels a warm feeling on his hand, yet so cold. The shard his father had acquired reacted to Zedus' emotions. It took on an odd pattern of blue and black stripes. Zedus had only heard of single colored shards. The only shard that had multiple colors was the great shard of Melodia. The cloaked man turns his attention and spell towards Zedus as he too is shocked at the unique shard. "I really can't let you live now" he shoots a beam at Zedus, but before he could react, the shard quickly absorbed him. The beam hits with an explosion. "Too close" says the cloaked man.
He turns to the corpse and charges another spell. "If only you had let us keep your son's shard, you would still have your family" mumbles the man. As he aims the spell at the corpse, it's interrupted by another presence. He shoots the spell at the flames where he blew up Zedus. The beam stops in midair as a shadow walks out of the flames. The shadow itself has the same pattern as the shard Zedus had. Before the man could say anything, the odd shadow shoots a dark orb that takes the man's left arm. Followed by an explosion that sent a tremor that made even the trees shake. "I'm still just a new born, so I won't be good at controlling myself yet, hehe" says the shadow in an eerie childish tone.
"You speak as if you will live a long life!" Shouts the man as he shoots more spells with his remaining arm. The spells seem to stray away from the shadow as he moved closer to the man. "That whistling noise you made earlier really annoyed me. Is that how you hide yourself from people?" asks the shadow. The man stays silent as he treats his wound to stop the bleeding. In the blink of an eye, the shadow appears right infront of the man and reaches into his cloak to pull out an amulet. "I told you I'd get better at controlling myself, hehe" playfully says the shadow. Before the man could react, he notices the other hand of the shadow move to his face only to release a spell that wiped him out along with the mountain behind him. "Oops, I guess I still have much to learn, hehe"
"My time seems to be up, I'll return now" says the shadow as he begins to take form into a shard. There emerges Zedus from a blue and black slime. "What in the world just happened?" Zedus asks as he gasps for air. He notices the shard on his left arm embedded into his wrist. "What the.." says Zedus under his breath. "Hi, there!" says a childish voice in Zedus' head. "Who's there?" asks Zedus. "Hold on, let me try something" says the voice. Zedus notices the shard on his wrist starts to shine and out of nowhere, a little blue fairy with dark wings comes out. "It worked! Now you can see me!" says the fairy.
"What are you?" asks Zedus. "I'm your shard! I live inside you!" states the fairy. Zedus had only heard of myths where wizards can communicate with the conscious of a shard. Zedus can only stare at the fairy in wonder. "What's this dark stuff up here?" asks the fairy as he pulls on Zedus' hair. "Ow, it's my hair! Don't pull it" Says Zedus. "Oh, you got more on your face above the eyes. Does it hurt you?" asks the fairy. "No, It's just hair.." says Zedus in confusion. "Oh, well I don't know what that is. Your eyes are the same color though" says the fairy. "How come your face only has a few of them though?" asks the fairy. "Can you just tell me what's going on, please?" asks Zedus in despair.
"I don't know, I was born a few minutes ago. Some guy hurt you, so as your shard, I had to defend you" says the fairy. "Wait, did you eat me earlier?" asks Zedus. "Oh yeah, I took over because you were going to die" "So stop picking on people stronger than you" says the fairy. "I was not, he just attacked out of nowhere and..." Zedus says as he turns to the house he grew up in. What was left of the house was still on fire and the corpse of his father was still on the ground. "Bury him" says the fairy. Zedus goes and pay his final respect to his parents. He buries his father next to the burned down house where his mother met her fate.
"Where are we going now?" asks the fairy. "What's your name?" asks Zedus. "My name is Taayin. I already know your name, Zedus" says the fairy. Zedus pulls out the amulet from his right pocket. "I remember seeing that you took this from him" says Zedus. "This amulet is given to those who are hired by the council of Melodia, it turns to gold when a job is complete" says Zedus. "So we are going to this Melodia place to find those people?" asks Taayin. "No, I am not ready for that. My father said head west, so we are going west" says Zedus. Zedus and Taayin begin their journey and embark on an adventure west of Melodia. "By the way, how do you know my name?" Asks Zedus. "I absorbed all your memories, so I know you like you know yourself" says Taayin. "And you still didn't know what hair was?" asks Zedus. "Your memories didn't show me how weird you humans would look, hehe" says Taayin.