A thin layer of clouds shrouded the sector seven flight docks that morning. Kaito Izanagi took a deep breath. The cold air seeped into his lungs, carrying the scent of metal and burnt engine oil. He stood at the edge of the weathered wooden deck. Beneath his feet, the mainland of Aetheria appeared only as a faint expanse of green, obscured by a dense fog.
Kaito adjusted the large leather bag slung over his shoulder. The bag felt heavy, laden with a stack of rusted iron plates and several defunct gears. He turned toward the pile of debris in the corner of the dock. An old man with a single eye patch was busy clearing combustion residue from a small furnace.
"Master Gendo, is this all I can take today?" Kaito asked while patting his bag.
The old man named Gendo stopped working. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of a soiled hand. His remaining eye stared flatly at Kaito. Gendo then picked up a long object from atop the workbench. The object was wrapped in a burlap cloth that was torn in several places.
"Take this as well. I found it in the lower sector scrap heaps last night," Gendo said as he proffered the object.
Kaito accepted the gift. His hand trembled as he touched the surface of the object beneath the cloth. There was a sensation of warmth creeping from his palm toward his upper arm. Kaito slightly unwrapped the burlap binding. Inside lay a sword hilt crafted from a dull black material. The blade was completely shattered, leaving only about five centimeters of jagged, blunt metal.
"This is just junk, Master Gendo," Kaito said with a frown.
Gendo turned his back on Kaito once more to tend to his furnace. "Junk indeed. But I felt the object was a match for you."
Kaito tucked the broken hilt into his pocket rather than his bag. He walked away from the dock area toward the densely populated residential sector in the interior of Sora-no-Kuni. His footsteps sounded rhythmically upon the stone streets. Along the way, he saw many youths his age wearing pristine white uniforms with winged emblems on their collars. They were the prospective students of the Tenjin Academy.
Several of those youths carried weapons that glistened in the sunlight. Some bore longswords with red gems at their pommels. Others carried wooden staves with intricate carvings that emitted a faint blue glow. Kaito lowered his head and quickened his pace as he passed a group of students who were laughing.
"Look at that. The scavenger from sector seven is still prowling at this hour," one student whispered in a voice loud enough to be heard.
His friend chuckled while glancing at Kaito's heavy bag. "Perhaps he is searching for food scraps for his sister. How pathetic."
Kaito continued walking without looking back. His hand inside his pocket tightly gripped the broken hilt Gendo had given him. The warmth he had felt earlier had now transformed into a pulse that followed the beat of his heart. He did not know why this broken thing felt so alive.
Upon arriving at a small wooden house nestled between two large concrete buildings, Kaito stopped. He knocked on the door three times in a specific pattern. The door opened and a young girl with short black hair appeared from behind the gap.
"You're home late, Brother," the girl said while tugging at the hem of Kaito's shirt.
"Sorry, Hana. I had to stop by Master Gendo's place for a moment," Kaito replied while stroking his sister's head.
Kaito entered the house, which consisted of only one main room. He placed his heavy bag onto the wooden table. The contents of the bag clinked as they hit the table surface. Hana approached and began to help remove the pieces of metal from the bag.
"Is this enough to pay for your exam fees?" Hana asked in a soft voice. Her eyes stared at the pile of dirty iron plates.
Kaito fell silent for a moment. He calculated the amount of metal on the table in his mind. Its value was perhaps not even enough to cover half of the Tenjin Academy registration fee. However, he did not want to show any doubt in front of his sister.
"It will surely be enough. I will sell these at the central market tomorrow morning," Kaito said with a thin smile.
Hana nodded, though her face still appeared anxious. She then returned to the corner of the room to prepare a simple dinner consisting of dry bread and clear soup. Kaito sat in an old wooden chair near the window. He took the broken sword hilt out of his pocket. Under the dim light of the oil lamp, the object looked even more pitiful. There were no signs that this object had ever been a great weapon.
Kaito closed his eyes. He tried to feel the energy within the object as he often did with other antiques. Usually, he felt only emptiness or a very thin residue of energy. But this time was different.
As Kaito focused his mind, he saw swirls of gray color spinning inside the sword hilt. The flow looked like smoke trapped within a glass bottle.
Suddenly, a loud knocking sound echoed from the front door. The knocking was far harsher than the way Kaito usually knocked. Hana started in surprise and dropped her wooden spoon to the floor.
Kaito stood up immediately. He hid the broken sword hilt behind his back. He walked toward the door and opened it slightly. In front of his house stood two adult men wearing long gray robes. On their chests was the emblem of a black circle surrounding an eye. Kaito recognized the emblem as the symbol of the lower sector order officers.
"Kaito Izanagi?" asked one of the men who had a scar on his left cheek.
"Correct. What is it, sir?" Kaito answered with a wary tone.
The man produced a sheet of faded parchment. "We have received a report that you are harboring illegal goods from the forbidden ruins territory. We need to search this house."
Kaito felt a cold sweat run down his back. He knew that taking items from the sector seven docks was sometimes considered a legal gray area, but it had never involved officers in robes like these.
"I am just an ordinary metal scavenger. I have no illegal goods," Kaito said while attempting to close the door.
The man with the scar held the door with his heavy boot. His strength far surpassed Kaito's. The door was thrust open with a single jolt. Kaito was pushed back until he hit the wooden table. The metal items on the table fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
"Brother!" Hana screamed while running toward Kaito.
The second officer entered the house. He looked around the cramped room with a look of disdain. His eyes then fixed upon the sword hilt still held by Kaito. The officer narrowed his eyes and took a short breath.
"That object," the officer muttered. He reached out toward Kaito. "Hand over that sword hilt right now if you want your sister to remain safe."
Kaito pulled Hana into an embrace with one hand. He felt his sister trembling violently. In his other hand, the broken sword hilt began to feel intensely hot. The heat seemed to burn the skin of Kaito's palm, yet he did not let go.
"This is not an illegal item. This is just junk," Kaito said in a low voice.
The scarred officer drew a short dagger from his waist. The dagger's blade was suddenly enveloped by a pulsing, dark purple aura. Kaito realized that the man before him was a trained Aethel user. The small room felt increasingly suffocating from the pressure of the energy emitted by the officer.
"I will not repeat myself, boy," the officer said as he stepped forward.
As the officer swung his dagger toward Kaito, something strange occurred. The sword hilt in Kaito's hand emitted a silver light so bright it filled the entire room. Kaito felt a massive amount of energy forcibly drawn from within his body toward the object.
The broken metal that was once blunt suddenly elongated. Gray energy resembling smoke billowed from the end of the break and formed an unstable, transparent sword blade. The collision between the purple dagger and Kaito's energy sword created a shockwave that shattered the glass windows of their home.
Kaito panted. His vision began to blur as his energy was drained completely in an instant. He stared at his own hand holding a weapon that should have been impossible to function again. The scarred officer jumped back with a face that no longer appeared calm.
"What? How is it possible for you to activate a Saisei without a trigger crystal?" the officer asked in a tone full of ignorance.
Kaito could not answer. He felt his world spinning. At the same time, he heard a cracking sound from the floor beneath his feet. The part of the old building was unable to withstand the energy pressure that had just occurred. The wooden floor beneath Kaito and Hana began to collapse toward the darkness below sector seven.
Kaito only had time to hug Hana tightly before they both fell through the large hole that had just been created. In the midst of his freefall, Kaito saw the officer still standing at the edge of the hole, staring at him with an incredibly sharp gaze.
Kaito would wonder whether he would survive or if this was instead the end of his dream before it had even begun. Yet in the midst of the darkness surrounding him, the broken sword continued to glow faintly.