Chapter 1  
Child of Destiny

	“Darkness…. All I ever see nowadays is just pure darkness as if I cannot see my future as brightly as I wanted.” A voice said in a darkened room surrounded by nothing but evil clouds and a small figure sitting in the center of the room.   
	The clouds moved slowly across the room while the figure in the center did not move and did not even react. The darkness around him slowly closed in only to be repelled by his body and continued back into the same pattern as it floated across the room.  
	“What am I truly?” What am….” The voice was cut short as everything turned black and a white ceiling came into view.  
	Culpeo is a young twenty-seven year old who loves art and drawing and is also has a master in art from college. He currently lives in the outskirts of a city called Twifort. He teaches art at a local school to kids who have a passion for drawing as much as he does. His hair goes down to his shoulders and is a light shade of brown. He has a slight beard and mustache and always dresses in a shirt and tie and dress pants. He has brown eyes and is very thin for his age and height.   
	Culpeo was getting ready for his first day back to school to teach a new class about art and for his first lesson he was going to teach them about shading and how the light source affects what parts of a drawing should be shaded and which shouldn’t. Walking out of his house holding his bags and drawing tools, he walked to his car and started it up as he dumped the stuff onto the front passenger seat. Pressing the gas, the car jolted out of the driveway and down the street towards the school which was not very far from where he lives, but he was too lazy to walk to school so he drove.   
	Only about five minutes passed before he got to the front of the school. It was extremely early so there were no kids around yet. Walking up the school steps, he walked in the front door and immediately headed for his classroom to prepare it for the day.  
	“I do hope there will be at least a few kids this year that know how to at least draw a circle.” He mumbled to himself, as he stepped into the classroom and switched on the lights.  
	Settling his things down, he quickly picked up the roster and read over the names of the students in his class. When he was about halfway down the roster he stopped and stared at two names that caused his whole body to go into a cold shiver making him almost drop the roster list on the floor.  
	“There has to be some mistake. These are…” He said out loud.  
	Almost losing his balance he quickly put the roster on the table and sat in the chair next to it. Placing his hands on his head, he quickly looked at the roster again and quietly read the names out loud that were the cause of his panic attack.   
	“Jay Jay and Joshua, why are they here?” He said, looking back up at the clock and noticed that the class will start in ten minutes.   
	Without hesitation, Culpeo picked up the roster and placed it on his desk as he walked over to his bags and began laying everything out onto the empty tables in front of him. Trying not to think of what will happen now that he knows his boyfriend as well as his friend is in his class.  
	Eight o’ clock hit and the kids were beginning to enter the school building. Most kids were in their own groups of friends and some were heading in by themselves. Both Josh and JJ were together talking about how it’s ironic they are in the same school together despite only chatting online or on a video game.   
	“This is going to be awkward for a while that’s for sure.” Josh said.  
	“I got a boner!” JJ responded.  
	Josh face palmed at JJ’s remark, which quickly made him burst out laughing and caused them to get a few weird looks by the people around them. Josh quickly turned his head and wanted to run away from JJ, but decided against it since he was the only person that he knew in the new school.  
	“It’s convenient that we have all the same classes and also that our first class is art. You should help me in that classes since you’re a good artist and all.” JJ said.  
	“I suck at drawing. I just need Culpy to teach me more about back legs and shading and I think I will be able to draw way better than currently.” Josh responded.  
	After a quick laugh from both of them they headed into the school and began to scan out where all their classes were. Back at the art room, Culpeo was trying to get the thought out of his mind, but because it was so important to him that he was able to teach both of them in a class he was both happy and scared.  
	"It will not be easy to hide my relationship status since this will be the first time we see each other as well." Culpeo said, grinning.  
	The clock struck eight-thirty and both JJ and Josh ran to get to their art class. They were both on the third floor and the class was on the first floor so it was a bit of a hassle for them to head to class. Just before the bell had struck to mark the start of class, JJ and Josh jumped into the class and took their seats at the back of the classroom.  
	The classroom had different types of drawings lined up around the walls. Most of the drawings were of everyday objects like a bottle or a shape, while some others were more extensive drawings such as animals or people. There were about ten other people in the classroom with them and each had their sketchpad as well as a pencil sitting on the desk. Pulling out his old sketchbook, Josh quickly placed it on the table and began flipping through it and seeing all of his previous drawings.  
	“Hopefully I can improve these as best as possible. I really want to draw better like those people on FA or even on par with Culpeo.” He said.  
	“Well I won’t be able to draw at all. I can’t even draw a stick figure!” JJ said laughing.  
	Josh slammed his head onto his book and tried to pretend JJ was not there however, that only worked for all of two seconds before Culpeo came out from the back of the classroom and stood in the front of the room next to the blackboard. He quickly noticed JJ and Josh in the back corner of the room however; he tried not to do anything obvious and hoped they did not recognize him.  
	“Good morning class and welcome to art 101. My name is Mr. B and I will be your teacher for this year. Not many people are interested in the art world, but it is a great way to express yourself just like music or even poetry and writing. By the end of this year I will hopefully be able to teach each and every one of you how to draw twice as better as you currently are able to. So to start off let’s all draw something that represents us. I will give you half the class to do that and then you can show them off. Begin!” He said, smiling.  
	“Draw something that represents us? Let’s draw vindictus!” JJ yelled.  
	Josh quickly picked his head up and slammed his sketchpad into JJ’s head and made it do a ninety degree spin.   
	“What was that for?” JJ yelled.  
	“For you being a derpette. I can’t draw anything from vindictus. How about you draw that bitchy snake you love oh so much. Oh lakoria oh eat me baby eat me!” Josh said, in a high pitch voice that made some people give him strange looks.  
	From his desk in the way back, Culpeo could not help but watch Josh secretly so he wouldn’t notice if he happened to turn and look his way. He was very happy to finally see him in person however, he did not want to spook him or make things awkward so in order to hide as best as possible Culpeo will not be able to use derp in his class this year. With a sigh he quickly turned back to his computer to begin placing in the attendance, as well as begin to start the grade marking for when the students hand in their drawings at the end of class.   
	For the next half hour, the class was working peacefully and without trouble. JJ was still struggling to draw a simple shape while, Josh was working on one of his fox drawings that looked like the young vixen, Aelita. The drawing was shaded with purple fur, black eyes and claws, and had a symbol of the triple curved raindrops on her forehead.   
	“Alright class. Let’s see your drawings.” Culpeo said, standing up from his desk and walking over to the front class.   
	One by one he called up various students in the class to come forward and explain what their picture was and how they came to think of it. Josh was sitting there still trying to finish his and just as he signed it the teacher called on him to share what he drew. Standing up, he walked over to the front of the class and held up the drawing.  
	“This is a drawing of the young demon deity Aelita. After explaining a bit of history behind how Aelita was created he sat back down and JJ was the next one to come up and show his drawing.   
	Hesitantly, JJ came up and displayed a drawing of a bunch of curved lines with a round circle at the top and various lines coming out of it. The picture did not even look like anything however, he started to explain anyway.  
	“This is lakoria. She’s a snake and I want her to eat me!” JJ said.  
	The whole class burst into laughter except for Josh who did a face-desk hard enough to actually put a dent in the table while, Culpeo just face-palmed really hard and told JJ to please take his seat. After JJ sat down, Josh quickly said how much of an idiot he was and could of left the eat me part out, but JJ just ignored him and went back to the drawing.  
	The bell rang just as the last person finished and that concluded the art class. As Josh and JJ were preparing to leave, the pendant Josh wears around his neck began to glow as Culpeo walked passed them and this gave Josh a strange feeling as he looked at Culpeo, who did not noticed he was staring.   
	“JJ go on without me for a moment. I have something I want to check out before I head to my next class.” Josh said, gathering his books and walking to the back of the room where the teacher was standing.  
	“Mr. B there is something I want to ask you.” Josh said, standing in front of him.  
	Culpeo froze for a moment and a hint of worry struck across his face as he slowly answered to Josh what he wanted to ask him about.  
	“Josh’s stare was cold, yet warm at the same time as he remained silent and just scanned the teacher trying to figure out what was causing the strange feeling and in doing so was putting Culpeo in a very bad spot that he might find out who he really is.  
	Josh just sighed and apologized for keeping him and turned to walk out the room. Just as he went to walk out he noticed that on Josh’s shoulder where his shirt was slightly falling off was a mark that was slightly covered by the shirt but was partially revealed. The mark looked a lot like the symbol from his drawings and he wondered what it could be.  
	The rest of the day went by pretty fast as JJ and Josh did not do much in their classes except for listen to the boring lectures and chat about what they were going to do on vindictus or outside when school was over. Just as they finished their little chat the bell rang and ended school so they both headed out to the school yard to leave.  
	“Hey snake boy!” A kid yelled out to JJ just as they were about to reach the gate of the school to leave.  
	Turning around JJ noticed a kid who was much bigger then he was and without warning the kid knocked him to the floor and punched him across the face shocking both Josh and himself.   
	“You must be a big faggot to want a snake to eat you. You’re pathetic and I don’t like your kind!” He yelled punching him again, this time hard enough for him to cough up some blood.   
	Leave him alone!” Josh yelled.   
	“Oh and what are you going to do if I don’t!” The kid yelled back, pushing Josh out of the way like he was an old box that was just in the way.   
	As this was going on, Culpeo stepped out of the school to head home when he noticed the fight going on at the gate and quickly noticed Josh and JJ who seemed to be in trouble. Placing his stuff by the door to the school he ran out to see what was going on however, a strange and ominous wind began to blow that stopped everyone in their tracks.   
	“What is this cold chill I am feeling all of a sudden?” Culpeo thought as he looked at Josh.  
	Josh’s hair fell over his eyes so his face became hidden and at that moment a large blast of wind shot from around him and pushed back the kid who was messing with JJ. The ominous feeling grew as the wind gusts became so strong that it was beginning to move people.  
	“Nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it as long as I am here to do something about it!” Josh screamed, lifting his head up and revealing piercing red eyes.  
	JJ was dumbfounded at the transformation and could not believe that all this time Josh was serious about having the ability to use magic and predicted that he was going to use the equilibrium star to kill the kid that was causing the drama.   
	Lifting his hand above his head, Josh began to gather energy from around him into the center of his hand which turned into a black and white orb and quickly expanded into the shape of a star with four points. Josh did not change his facial expression and did not try to feel pity on the kid who was cowering in fear in front of him.   
	Just as he was about to release the star, he stopped in his tracks and dispelled the spell. His eyes went back to normal and the ominous feeling vanished. Without hesitation, Josh quickly snapped his fingers and erased the incident from everyone’s memory.   
	“Let’s go JJ.” Josh said, helping him up from the floor.  
	“Thanks. What just happened? Why was I on the floor?” He asked.  
	“I’ll explain it on the way home. For now let’s just go.” Josh responded.  
	JJ nodded and followed him out the gate. Culpeo was dumbfounded at what just happened. He did not lose his memory of the incident and now he knows that his boyfriend is also not human. Quickly remembering a line from one of his dreams he quickly ran the words over in his head.   
	“The child of destiny has awakened. You are the guardian and must protect him while he forges the sword of life once again.”   
	“It seems that maybe life won’t be so boring after all. It will soon be time to figure out just what my purpose in all of this is.” Culpeo said, smiling.