Prologue

In a forgotten time, there was a peaceful village called Heiwa. There lived a young boy, about the age of sixteen, named Nobuto. He was he was well known around the village for his yearning for adventure. He and his brother, Kazuki, had always loved adventure. All of the other cities they could explore and all of the people they would meet. But, those dreams died away as Nobuto got older. Now, he spends time with his friend, Baku, and his lover, Akino. Nobuto and Baku had been mga kaibigan ever since grade school. Just like Kazuki, they would always go on adventures. It was only five years later when Nobuto meet Akino. Nobuto had never seen anything madami beautiful in his life. Nobuto had immediately fallen for Akino, and Akino had much the same when she laid her eyes on Nobuto. They were together ever since. All of the dreams of adventures had disappeared for Nobuto, but not for Kazuki. Nobuto was worried for his brother, never maturing, but he enjoyed seeing his brother smile. And it wasn't long until they had another sibling come into there life. A younger sister named Miko. She had developed a pag-ibig for adventure just like her two brothers. Nobuto knew sooner or later, they would have a sister. It was what there parents had wanted, not that Nobuto and Kazuki weren't special to them. There father, Kadoma, thought that there mother, Risako, did not like to be the only woman of the house, so they had a daughter. For Nobuto, life was wonderful. He had a good friend, a loving girlfriend, a caring family, and a happy life. Everything was perfect... for a time.

1

Today was the araw of the Festival of the Yin. Nobody was madami excited for the festival then Nobuto. The Festival of the Yin was a celebration that occurred once every year. It had many games, attractions, and bright colors. But none of those came close to the Ceremony of Manhood, where boys at the age of sixteen were to walk to the bilog of Yin and gain there spiritual mark, becoming a man. Nobuto's father had done it once and found that his spiritual mark was that of a bear, meaning a caring parent. Nobuto could not wait to see what his spiritual mark. He hoped it would be something that would make him happy. At the Festival of the Yin, many people were celebrating another great year. Kazuki and Miko were enjoying the many attractions and so was Baku. Kadoma could not enjoy this because of work, but he did say he would be there to see Nobuto gain his spiritual mark. Risako was also not there, because she was at tahanan doing house work, but she also sinabi she would be there. Nobuto did not do much, he was so excited about the spiritual mark that it had outclassed everything else. The only other person that seemed to excited to care for the festival was Akino. So, they just sat there and talked. "What do you think your spiritual mark would be" sinabi Akino. Nobuto thought for a moment and said, "Well, I am courageous. so maybe it will be a tiger or something". Akino said, "Well, at least you get a spiritual mark. Women aren't allowed to have them. Thats so unfair". Two hours had passed before the kampanilya for the ceremony had rang. The sun was lower in the sky. The people began to gather around bilog of Yin. Its many spiritual marks surrounded the stone circle. The mayor of the town walked up to the front of the crowd and said, "People of Heiwa, we are here today to celebrate another taon of Yin. We are here to see the people who were once children become men at this very instant. Let us start. All young men of sixteen, please form a line and place your hand into the middle of the circle". All of the sixteen taon olds formed a line. There wasn't many sixteen taon olds. About only six. As the line grew shorter (Which was a lot harder to see then one would think) Nobuto saw Baku earn his mark, which was an owl, meaning wisdom. Nobuto looked into the crowd. There, he saw Risako, Kadoma, Miko, and Akino, but... where was Kazuki. Suddenly, the mayors voice said, "Kazuki. Again"? Nobuto turned to see the mayor standing in front of Kazuki. The mayor said, "Kazuki, I know you want to earn your spiritual mark badly, but I've told you before. You must be sixteen in order to earn it. You are still fourteen. Please, step down". Kazuki stepped down, a little grumpy. Nobuto finally walked up to the circle. Slowly, with pride, he placed his hand onto the circle. He did not look at the mark, but he heard the loud gasp come from the crowd. Nobuto looked toward the crowd. There eyes widened and there mouths fell open. Nobuto was not sure what was going on. Nobuto finally took a look at his mark, which was... a dragon. The mayor stared at this mark for another segundo and said, "The dragon" and he fell to the ground and bowed. Nobuto then noticed that everyone else did the same. Nobuto then said, "What is going on"? The mayor said, "You have the mark of the dragon. You are destined to be a hero".

To Be Continued