Chapter Text
“Helio” a voice calls out, “Helio wake up” the voice says.
A young boy with slightly pointed ears and a short mess of sun-yellow hair, opens his eyes, they’re a gradient staring sky-blue at the bottom and transitions to a deep violet at the top. Helio is wearing a pale purple nightshirt. As he rubs his tired eyes he sees his father, a man with the same eyes, ears and hair. He’s wearing a pale purple set of pajamas. His father smiles at him.
“Helio,” he says softly, "it's time to get up.”
Helio looks around the room, it’s nearly pitch black inside and he can still see the stars outside his window next to his bed.
“But the sun’s not out.” He yawns
“I know but I just need to show you something ok.” His father replies
“O—k.” Helio groggily says
Helio’s father lifts his son out of bed, opens the window and leaps out of their house. The two fall for a moment as an array of light forms underneath the feet of Helio’s father. A eight-point star with a circle connecting each point and in the center of the star a symbol that looks like a breeze surrounded by wings. The circle disappears and Helio alongside his father start flying. His nightshirt flaps in the wind, as his father carries him over the city.
“Are you awake now?” His chuckles
Helio nods his head slowly. He looks down and he sees a side of the city he’s never seen before. The blue-green walls surrounding the city look so tiny from where he is. The street lamps he’s only seen from his window, show actual people. The ocean reflects the starry night. A world of new sounds fills his ears, the cheers of people at bars, the sounds of trains coming to the station and the sound of hooves as carriages carry people. A look of awe comes across his face and his father smiles at him as well. His father turns to the center of the city. A bronze tower, it stands on five legs and it appears to curve to its apex. Its spire holds a large red orb with a spiral pattern carved into it. As they get closer to the tower it is revealed that the tower terraces upwards. Helio is placed down on a terrace by his father. His father stands and looks nostalgically at the sea.
“Helio, do you know why the city is called Neos Radia?” His father asks
Helio looks at his father confused.
“Well,” his father chuckles, “you’re about to see it.”
His father points towards the sea as it turns a bright red. The rays of the sun start to appear over the horizon. A cascade of colors fill the sky replacing the dark of night and the tower which they are sitting on reflects them brightly making Helio and his father the same.
“Neos Radia, it means New Light and Neos Radia is the city of the rising sun!” His father exclaims
Helio is lifted up by his father.
“Helio one day I’ll be the Champion of the city and I won’t be home as much as I’d like. Can I ask you to protect your mother and sister in my place? Can you be their Champion for me?” His father asks
“Yes!” Helio exclaims.
His father hugs his son as they continue to watch the sunrise.
10 years later
The morning sun illuminates Helio’s room, as the young man stirs underneath his sheets. The rooms walls are a plain beige with dark brown wooden floor. A wardrobe sits in the back of the room. A drawing of a short pink-skinned man wearing an entirely black outfit and domino mask hangs on his door parallel to his bed. The door opens and a girl wearing white pajamas walks in. Her hair is black and stops around her neck, her ears slightly pointed and she has blue-white gradient eyes. She walks over to the bed, the wood creaking with every step. She grabs the sheets and rips them off of the bed. The older Helio moves his arm over his eyes.
“5 more minutes.” He groggily says
“No no no, it’s time to get up, big brother.” The girl says
Helio sighs and sits up in his bed and places a hand on the girl’s head.
“Thank you for waking me up Sunny.” Helio says
“Of course it’s a special duty Papa gave me.” Sunny replies
“I guess so.” He says while giving her a wistful smile, “Now get out of here, I gotta get dressed.”
The girl smiles as she leaves the room. Once the door closes Helio lets out a long sigh.
“Ok let’s go.” He thinks to himself.
Helio gets out of his bed, his pale purple pajamas hang high on his body. He rubs the side of his head as he walks to his wardrobe. The side and back of his hair are now cut low and the top of his hair hangs about messily resembling the flares of the sun. He opens the wardrobe and a cascade of brightly multicolored shirts hang inside alongside them pairs of black pants and black jackets. He grabs a violet, orange, and red shirt, a pair of black pants and a black jacket and he changes his clothes. He bends down and bulls a drawer from the bottom of the wardrobe and pulls out a pair of multicolored socks. He exits his room and walks around the stairs in front of his door and walks directly into the kitchen, where his little sister is sitting at a round table with a white table cloth. He pulls out a chair and sits directly next to her. An apron wearing older woman with shoulder length black hair stands in front of a stove.
“Good Morning Mother.” Helio says
“Good Morning Mama .” Sunny replies
She turns around showing her white-lavender gradient eyes, she holds two bowls full of porridge in her hands and places them on the table.
“Good morning.” She says with her soft and gentle voice.
She walks around the table and kisses both of her children on the forehead and ruffles Helio’s hair a bit.
She heads back to the stove, grabs another bowl and sits at the table with her children. All three bow their heads and close their eyes.
“Thank you Ichor the Wise, for allowing us to see another day. Thank you Ambros the Strong for giving us the strength to continue on.” Their mother says
They all lift their heads and they start to eat.
“So where are you headed, Helio?” His mother asks
Helio swallows the food in his mouth, “I’m just going to walk around the city.”
“Ok but don’t stay out too late. The Knight Academy starts tomorrow.” His mother replies “You wouldn’t want to be late on your first day.”
He gives a slight smile, “Yea.”
Sunny nearly jumps out of her seat
“Mama, we’re going to train today right.” She exclaims
“Yes dear, once we’ve finished eating .” Their mother replies
Sunny grabs her bowl and starts shoveling her porridge. She puts her bowl down and starts to run off.
“Sunny wait.” Her mother says, “I still need to finish my breakfast and afterwards I need to do the dishes.”
“Aww.” Sunny pouts
“I’ll take care of the dishes Mother.” Helio says
“Are you sure?” She asks
“Yea it’s fine.” He says
“Well I don’t want to keep you waiting, Sun-Sun.” Their mother says
She quickly finishes her food and leads her daughter away. Helio quietly finishes his food and exits his house after doing the dishes.
He walks outside to a gray sky and gray city, the buildings all sit next to each other in a uniform pattern and all the people appear as gray blobs. Hello sighs as he lifts his hand a circle of light appears in front of it, he takes his index finger as a dot of light appears on it. He draws a diamond inside the circle and inside the diamond he draws a symbol that looks like a breeze with a pair of wings next to it. The circle disappears as Helio’s feet are surrounded by wind and he jumps on top of his roof. Helio looks over the city. He can see over the city walls into the peaceful grasslands. Multiple long towers connect carrying trolleys up and down and all around the city. These gray on gray sky vehicles are labeled with a stylized ZR on the side. As Helio looks up at the interconnected web of cables and sighs. He jumps again, throwing himself into the air towards the cable. A trolley comes by just as he reaches the apex of his jump and he lands softly on top. Helio lays on his back and relaxes as he is taken to the higher levels of the city.
“What a shitty city.” He says under his breath
“Attention passengers, we are approaching our stop please gather all your personal belongings.” The conductor of the trolley says, “A reminder this shuttle will express to the next level of the city. This shuttle will express to the next level of the city.”
As Helio hears this he stands up, he creates a similar circle of light replacing the wings with a rectangle that surrounds the breeze. He looks down at the buildings below him and sees an empty alley. As the trolley approaches the tower he jumps off holding the circle of light in front of him. As he approaches the ground the circle disappears and a large gust of wind bursts from his hand slowing his fall. Helio lands in the alley gracefully. He holds his nose from all the trash and filth surrounding him. As he makes his way out of the alley a gray blob runs into him. The two of them fall into the trash. Four more gray blobs come from around the corner.
“You got nowhere to run now.” One of the blobs says, “now pay up.”
“Hey there’s someone else there too.” Another blob says
“Let’s get him too.” The first blob says
“Really a shakedown, not how I expected my day to go.” Helio thinks
Helio gets on his feet and raises his hand and a circle of light forms.
“Magic this guy’s a Knight.” One of the blobs says as they make a run for it.
As Helio helps up the gray blob he starts to appear as a person. His pointy hair is multicolored going from a dark brown at its root to a pale cream at the tips, his skin is mostly the same cream color with patches of a light brown around his eyes and on his hands. His hands are webbed and the back of them has spines. His eyes were an almost golden brown. He was wearing a blue jacket with brass buttons and knee high pants.
“So what was up with those bozos?” Helio asks
“Huh?” The boy says
Helio rolls his eyes, “Do you know them or not?”
“No.” The boy sheepishly say
Helio extends his hand, “I’m Helio Realis.”
“Realis like Shiel Realis the Champion of the City?” The boy asks
“Yup he’s… my dad.” Helio says with a tired expression
The boy’s eyes lit up, “That’s so cool, I guess you do look kind of like him.”
Helio sighs, “Thanks… so what’s your name.”
“Zeo,” the boy says, “Zeo Zeres.”
“Zeres as in Zeres Radia Industries, the guys who made the Sky Trams.” Helio asks
“Yup.” Zeo says.
“I understand why those guys were after you. You’re loaded.” Helio laughs, “Let’s get out of wherever we are.”
Helio starts to walk out the alley and as he does Zeo starts to speak.
“We are in the Pleasure District.” Zeo states
As Helio exits the alley the smell of booze and tobacco fills his lungs as he sees groups of men and women splayed about up and down the street.
Helio pinches his nose and looks back at Zeo.
“So what were you doing over here for?” He asks
Zeo looks away from Helio trying to hide his face.
“I-I was just walking through here, then those guys j-just pushed me in the alley.” He shakily says
“HMPF Sure”Helio pulls Zeo close to him, “c’mon Zeo we’re both guys, I’m not going to judge.”
Zeo looks around quickly.
“Do you know about the Masked Crusader?” He asks
“I’m his biggest fan.” Helio says as he starts walking, “I even have the first edition radio drama comics.”
Zeo follows behind, “Well I heard there was an 18+ version of the comic.”
Helio’s right ear twitches, “Really what is 18+ about it?”
Zeo continues, “I heard that all the violence is uncensored, the blood and injuries are shown in full detail and they actually swear in it.”
Helio’s left ear twitches, “Is that all?”
“No.” Zeo grabs Helio’s shoulder and pulls him close as he whispers, “I heard that all of the ladies are actually seen, no bubbles from the bath, no silhouettes.”
A light blush comes across Helio’s face.
Helio clears his throat, “S-so Zeo, where do we find this comic?”
“I heard the comic is at a shop called Honeydew and it’s in the Pleasure District but..” Zeo says.
“But, what?” Helio replies
“I… don’t know where it is.” Zeo says
Helio nods, “Well that’s no problem, we just gotta start looking around.”
Zeo nods, “Ok.”
Zeo keeps walking as Helio stops for a moment. A shadow passes over him and as he looks up he sees a silver flash that quickly flies over the buildings. Helio stares at where the silver flash was for a moment as he catches up with Zeo.
“So what’s the plan?” Zeo ask
Helio smirks, “Simple.”
Helio walks up to a short pink skinned man with large, hairy hands and feet. He creates a circle of light and draws a skinny isosceles triangle and puts lightning bolt in the center. He points the circle at the sleeping man, the circle disappears and a small spark hits the man. The man’s whole body jumps. He rubs his head as groggily sits up.
“Hey where would we find Honeydew?” Helio asks
The man while slurring his speech, “itf right nxt to Rusk,” he points up the block, “tataway.”
Helio gives Zeo the thumbs up and the two run off. The man falls back over and passes out. The two make their way up the block, passing by many closed buildings. Bars, brothels and gambling dens.
“So are you in the Knight Academy?” Zeo asks
“Nah I’m starting tomorrow.” Helio replies
“Huh! But you can use magic!” Zeo exclaims, “I guess being the son of the Champion has its upsides.”
“Not really it’s my mom who taught me. She’s been prepping me for a while.” Helio explains, “My dad spends all his time at the Sunspire making sure the city runs.”
“Your mom sounds pretty cool.” Zeo says
Helio smiles, “The coolest. Are you also going to the Knight Academy?”
Zeo sighs, “Yea, my dad’s forcing me. Says it's to build character or something.”
The duo comes to an intersection and stops running. To their right a building with a large blue marquee. Helio runs ahead a little and turns around, the word DUSK in big bold letters placed on the front of the marquee. Helio smiles and walks right. Zeo follows behind. The two walk under the large marquee, and right next to it is an extremely tall doorway covered by beads. Above the doorway there’s a dingy faded sign that reads H neyd w.
Zeo and Helio look at each other nervously. Helio gulps and enters the room, as he does so his nose is assaulted. It smells like the air had been replaced by tobacco, Helio pinches his nose and continues on. Zeo follows along, also pinching his nose. The room is dimly lit with dark blue light. Blue bulbs holding candles line the walls and a single person stands behind the counter. It’s a busty tiger woman and she’s smoking a pipe.
“What can I do for you two young men?” She says in a sultry voice
Her overall demeanor makes her seem incredibly uninterested in them
Helio with a nasally voice, “We heard that you sold the uncensored issues of the Masked Crusader.”
“That’ll be 40 dina.” She says
Helio reaches into his pocket and pulls out some crumpled up bills.
“Helio, don’t worry about it.” Zeo says
Zeo pulls out 2 bills out of his pocket and places it on the counter. The woman looks at the money.
“Each.” She says, “40 dina each .”
“Huh?” Zeo says
“For two issues of the comic it’s 40 Dina each.” The women says snarkily
The woman places the pipe to her mouth and exhales a large plume of smoke in their faces. Helio and Zeo wave the smoke out of their faces.
“Now you two can either share the issue or you can preferably leave.” The woman says
Zeo reaches into his pocket and pulls out 2 more bills and places them on the counter. The woman sighs and reaches underneath the counter and pulls out two comics with a drawing of a short pink-skinned man wearing an entirely black outfit and domino mask. She picks up the bills and hands back three of them. Zeo looks up slightly confused.
“I’m not in the business of stealing from kids, now get out of here.” She says
The two walk out the building as a group of people wearing armor run past. Helio and Zeo quickly hide the comics behind their backs. A light blush comes across Helio’s face.
“We should get home and hide these. Quickly.” Helio says
Zeo nods. The two walk in opposite directions, before turning to each other.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow right?” Zeo asks
“You know Zeo, if you don’t want to go to the Knight Academy you should tell your dad no.” Helio says
“You don’t understand Helio, my dad won’t let me even speak.” Zeo says
“Then you have to talk anyways and make him listen!” Helio exclaims, “It’s his responsibility as your father to listen.”
“Do you really think it will work?” Zeo asks
“I don’t know but you’ll never know unless you try.” Helio says
Zeo nods, he starts to walk away before he turns around quickly. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a small black box and hands it to Helio. It has three lines on the top half circular button in the middle and ten number buttons on the bottom half.
“Press 111, 222 and 3333.” Zeo says
Helio presses the buttons and a buzzing is heard from Zeo. He pulls a second black box from his pocket and presses the circle button.
“Hello.” He says
Two seconds later a choppy version Zeo’s voice comes out of the black box.
Helio’s eyes widen and his jaw drops.
“It’s a mobile telephone, well it’s a prototype but it should work across the city.” Zeo says, “You can call me when you finish the comic and we can talk about it.”
Helio looks at the comic and phone in his hand and is utterly speechless. A single word escapes from his quivering lips. “Thanks.”
Helio regains his composure, “Zeo if you ever need help with anything I got your back.”
Helio bumps his fist on his chest before he starts walking away.
Zeo waves as he starts to walk. Zeo walks until he reaches a tall glass building, its glass is tinted green and at the top of the building looks like yellow flower petals. He enters the building and is greeted warmly by everyone inside, a man sits at a desk leading to the front door. Zeo walks up to the desk.
“Is my father in a meeting at the moment.” He asks
“No young master.” The man at the desk replies
Zeo nods and walks around the lobby until he reaches the stairwell, he looks up to the stairs, they seem to go forever. Zeo takes the first step and starts climbing the stairs, as he approaches the top his heartbeat quickens. He reaches two large wooden doors with flowers on them. He opens the door to reveal a humble and quaint room, the colors are dull and brown, and the room is barren besides a gray desk and two paintings hanging behind it. At the desk sits a rather large bear man, his hair is black with the tips graying. He looks down at some papers on the desk. The man holds a large cigar in his mouth which he promptly puts out the moment Zeo enters the room.
“Yes son.” He says without looking up.
His voice is gruff and deep. Zeo gulps and takes a deep breath.
With his eyes on the ground Zeo pleads, “I don’t want to be a Knight father, I want to work at this company.”
“Is that so?” His father says
Zeo’s father gets up out of his chair and walks over to Zeo
“Dodge.”
Zeo looks up and sees his father’s looming figure before being launched into the corner of the room. He struggles to stand and tries to catch his breath
“Zeo you are my pride and joy, your mind is a great asset but you cannot be a worker at this company. Your weakness is a stain that must be washed away before you can enter this company.” His father says with a stern expression.
As Zeo lays on the ground a chill runs down his spine, his eyes dull as he staggers to his feet.
His breathing erratic, “So… I just ‘ha’ need to prove I’m strong.”
“Yes. Zeo once you are strong you can do as you please.” His father announces
Zeo stands up straight and walks to the door.
“Fine. I’ll show you how strong I am.”
His eyes glow a dark red for a moment.
“I’ll show everyone.” He thinks to himself