1 Dark Reminders

The morning of September 1st, 2035 started like any other day.

A surprised expression lit on Astrid Growgrass' face as her best friend charges into her room. Careful not to get toppled over, she offered him a forced smile.

"Happy birthday!" Hayden Aquasea shouted, dragging his best friend into the living room of his house.

Just like any other year, her presents were sitting next to the couch. Astrid sat down, grabbed a present and ripped it open. Unsurprisingly, it was the usual present from Hayden.

But for once in a long time, his present wasn't a nasty food that Astrid couldn't recognize. It was a yellow ball that shimmered in the sunlight. Puzzled, she turned to face Hayden.

"What is this ball-shaped thing?" She asked. Based on what she knew about Hayden, it was probably a toy that could do cartwheels, handstands and practically anything in the unordinary.

But the only thing he did was hold the ball at an unusually high angle and watch the sun light blind their eyes.

The next few minutes were probably the longest ones of the day. Nobody said anything, but for different reasons. So when Hayden let out a booming cheer, it easily startled a bewildered Astrid.

"There's nothing like a fine morning to test this out," He grinned, tossing the ball to Astrid. Before she could muster a word, he tapped his finger on words that slowly appeared on the surface.

"Rain at 10:00 am," shouldn't make somebody gasp, but today, it did. Chuckling in satisfaction, Hayden flopped on the couch.

Happy that Hayden was enjoying his time, Astrid picked up another gift. Unlike the last one, it seemed like an old map. It was easy to read, but had cuts and scratches on it. While Astrid straightened it, Hayden glued his eyes to it as well.

"Hey... what's this?" He asked, sounding confused for the first time that day.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything of the sort," Astrid replied.

As they playfully bickered about who was going to read it, they decided to spread it out on the nearest table.

Knowing that Hayden was practically a reading robot, she wasn't surprised to see his expression change. But because he didn't speak, Astrid didn't hesitate to grab the paper.

Within a blink of an eye, everything tumbled into her head.

"I don't know how this map came, but my parents were hired to find this Darkhollow!" She yelled.

For once in her life, she ignored Hayden's pleading. Which was hard, because Hayden knew exactly how Astrid's mind works.

Despite the sad memories that flooded into her mind, Astrid could not let go of the map. That was until Hayden managed to calm her down and convince her to open the rest of her presents.

Judging by the hand writing on her next present, it was from Hayden's parents. Fortunately for her, it wasn't another map. This time, Hayden's parents bought an object that resembled a small tent in many ways.

Almost snorting at her own stupidity, she watched as Hayden looked at the object in awe.

"It's any Elemenatry!" He said, mentally face palming when Astrid raised her eyebrows.

"An Elemenatry is the object that one can use to see their soul element. They are extremely rare, so I didn't expect mother and father to find one," He explained.

Desperately moving the muscles on her face, Astrid lowered her eyes. It was obvious that she was embarassed about something.

Fortunately for her, Hayden seemed to understand her feelings.

"Would you like to go first?" He asked, forming these words in his most sympathetic tone.

"Sure... but it would probably be better if you went first," She whispered, hiding the tears that nearly dropped from her eyes.