Welcome Aboard!
Yuuei. A land of magic and wonder. Towns and villages under rule of King Todoroki, or Endeavour as he was called in his youth, and the wilderness run by the Fey who lived there, Elves, Pixies, and Nature Spirits among other things.
Of course. Every world has a dangerous side. In Yueei's case it was the northeastern most portion of the island. On a map, it looked like perhaps a smudge of ink. But really it was like an ugly wart on the face of the beautiful island. The ground was as infertile as could be, charred and always dancing with flames, and the cloud of inky black smoke curling from the perpetually burning fire forming a thick blanket only penetrated by the very top of the tallest mountain in the land. Atop which, though none of the people in the villages near the blackend plains could see it, was a cave. If the people were to see it, the rumors, where the fired were in fact caused by a rampaging dragon, would be proven at least partially true.
Only, the dragon, looking like any stereotypical dragon with eyes like glowing embers and a body covered in mottled deep red and black scales, wasn't rogue.
However, the people had no clue about this. And when, on windy days where the smoke would drift further and tinge the air of the nearby land with a bitter flavor, the people would come to the edge where grass turned into burnt, flame kissed earth, and yell. They would yell to the sky and out into the wasteland, cursing it for ruining the atmosphere. And then, the next day, they would find crops destroyed, singed, but carefully so as none of the soil would be totally ruined and not useable to plant new seeds. And books would be missing, storybooks and alchemy books mostly.
Some feared whatever was wreaking havoc upon the north of the island more than they feared Endeavor himself, or Prince Shoto. With his blank face and piercing mismatched eyes, the left, blue, marred by a scar that disappeared into his hairline, which was half red and half snowy white. He was almost, if not as intimidating as his father, despite only being a teenager.
Yet, despite the danger, this land was home to Izuku Midoria.
"Izuku, you're going to be late for the Market!"
Izuku woke with a start, a mess of green curls obstructing his vision. Looking out the window he can see the sun rising. Based on that, the market starts in an hour. And it takes 45 minutes to walk along the forest path to the village.
He leaps out of bed and dashes to his trunk, on top of it are his clothes for the day. A green vest with gold buttons, a few shades lighter than his hair and eyes, a white button up, and dark blue trousers. Running one hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it out and make it at least minorly presentable Izuku laces up his red leather boots with the other hand. And art he had perfected after years of sleeping in and having to rush out the door.
Tying his cloak, meant to cover his pointed ears and his too-small to be used for flight wings, he grabs a handful of cookies. Shoving four if them into his pocket he rushes out the door with his oversized leather bag and the fifth cookie hanging out of his mouth.
"Bye mom!" He calls over his shoulder,
"See you later sweetie, be home by dark. Have fun!"
Izuku waves and then rummages through his bag, glass jars filled with different ingredients for different purposes clink together. For a moment he debates taking Inventory, before deciding to just do it at the market.
Emerging onto the main path, through the trees that hide his home, Izuku freezes. There is a faint buzz as his small wings flutter in response to his sensitive ears picking up the sound if voices and footsteps. Odd footsteps. It sounds like just two people. Though one set is accompanied by something dragging through the dirt. The other has a hollow metallic clang to each step.
"I told you it was this way, Uraraka." Definitely male, perhaps the one with metal footsteps. If the echo of his voice is anything to go by.
"Shut up Ida." This voice is female, though the quiet mumble makes it a tad difficult to tell. From the direction and increasing volume it seems like 'Uraraka' and 'Ida' are coming his way.
Izuku momentarily panics. He had removed his cloak and wrapped around the jars in his bag to keep them from breaking. He looks around wildly before looking down.
He knows his mother told him to never use his repairing magic, but desperate times call for desperate measures and he sets his bag down.
He unbuttons his vest and takes it off. He flips it around and waves his hand over the back, and the slits cut into the fabric fuse together seamlessly. He pulls it back on, folding his wings tightly and buttoning it back up. He looks over his shoulder and experimentally tries to move his wing. Only an essentially silent shuffle. Satisfied with his work he picks his bag back up and throws it back over his shoulder just as the owners of the voices come around a turn in the path.
Izuku starts walking, pretending not to listen in on their conversation.
"You positive it's this way?" Uraraka asks her companion doubtfully,
"Absolutely."
Uraraka hums skeptically, "How about we go ask him? I'm going to ask him."
The dragging footsteps come rapidly towards Izuku and he turns around just in time for, who he guesses is Uraraka, to almost slam into him.
He flinches, but she doesn't seem to take notice. She's dressed in a simple short, light pink dress with a darker colored hood pushed back. She has rosy cheeks and a round, kind face with brown hair cropped to her chin.
"Hi, can you give us direction to the nearest town?" Still a little stunned, Izuku points the direction he had been heading. "Ha! I told you I was right Ida!" She yells over her shoulder, and Izuku shys away from the noise.
"I-I'm actually headed that way too." He says softly.
"Oh, really? Well how about you walk with us. Perhaps you can tells us some about this area?" Ida, a tall bespectacled boy with dark blue almost black hair in knights armor smiles down at Izuku.
"Uh, I'm, well," the hybrid stammers, before sighing in resignation "alright."
"Perfect!" Uraraka cheers and pumps her fist, the one not holding her staff.
The three if them walk side by side in silence for a while befor Uraraka speaks up, "I'm Ochako Uraraka by the way. This is Tenya Ida." She extended her hand towars Izuku
"Izuku Midoria." Izuku takes it. The second their skin touches he feel his feet lifting off the ground. He looks around and it takes him a moment to realise Uraraka laughing and Ida glaring at her.
"Put him down." Uraraka pouts but steeples her fingers and mutters something. Izuku drops to the ground. Holding his bag protectively against his stomach.
"Sorry. Sometimes it just happens."
"Heh, it's fine."
They chat as they walk, and Izuku learns that Uraraka is a witch. And, like most magic users, she has a tell. A trait that signifies her abilities. She shows Izuku the circular pads on the tips of her fingers, and explains how she can make things lighter or heavier by touching them. He also learns that Ida is in fact a knight, and explains that his mother was a wind spirit, and he has been blessed with incredible movement speed. His duty, is to venture into the land to the north, and Uraraka was assigned to accompany him.
Izuku bites back a plead to let him go with them, knowing that he would only slow them down.
When they reach the market Izuku waves them goodbye and goes to set up his stall. Business is slow. And as he's taking inventory before closing a shadow falls across the wooden table and something heavy is dropped in front of him. It's long and thin and wrapped in dark leather. Izuku looks up.
Standing before him is a figure shrouded in a black hood. They're tall and thin, like a living skeleton, and stringy blonde hair falls from the depths of their cloak.
"I'd like to sell." They say in a deep gravelly voice,
"S-Sorry?"
"I said. I would like to sell."
"Uh, I'm sorry. But I don't-"
"You do now." The figure cut him off, and, in a flash, they vanished. Along with a jar of honey.
"Wait, you left your..." Izukus curiosity got the best of him and he reaches out for the object. Gingerly he unwraps it and yelps in suprise when faced with a sword.
It's a beautiful blade, with a hilt wrapped in sturdy black leather and a red gem set into the end. The blade is almost pure white, and there are symbols carved along the flat on both sides.
Izuku hesitantly reaches out for the sword. And the second his fingers brush the blade a light blinds him from behind his eyes.
When he can see again the sword flatters to the ground in front of his table. Cautiously he walks around his set up and picks it back up. Sitting on the ground with it are two things. A belt with a sheath seemingly made fo the dark leather that had concealed the sword, and mysteriously vanished, and a handful of beads suspended on a black leather cord.
Izuku, not knowing what else to do, secures the sword around his waist with the belt. And puts the necklace on. The second the beads comes to a rest on his skin pain shoots through his back, more specifically his wings.
He grabs the already packed bag of remaining jars, mostly herbs used in spellcasting, and his cloak and runs into the woods.
Once he's safe in the trees, the sun already starting to set and casting dark shadows across the forest path, he pulls off his vest. He's met by a shower of fine, glittering green powder. And he can't believe what he's seeing. His wings, once tiny and easy to hide, are now large and shimmering in all the colors of the rainbow. He looks down at the necklace, which sits unmoving around his neck. It doesn't look like anything special, except when he looks closer he can see shimmering symbols, like the ones on the sword, carved into the uneven wood of each bead. They're also all different sizes and shapes. One is round, with lines of script like stripes horizontally in line with the cord, one is long and thin with the symbols forming a tight spiral along it, one is square shaped with words on each face in increasingly smaller circles inside each other.
Not knowing what else to do Izuku picks up his discarded vest and waves his hand over it like he did earlier, to replace the slits. Only that isnt all that happens. The vest changes, until the buttons have more weight to them, 'real gold' his mind says, and there are no signs of previous barely there stains and patches. It looks better than new.
Now thoroughly confused, Izuku puts the best on. It's a perfect fit. Better than before. And he's a little terrified. He grabs his bag and starts walking. Occasionally catching a glimpse of his newly resized wings out of the corner of his eye, and startling himself when he feels them droop against his back brushing his hand.
He's only been walking for about fifteen minutes when hears a rather arrogant sounding voice, "Well well well, look what we have here. A Pixie, out all alone at night? Looks like it's our lucky day."
A weasley looking boy with blonde hair and grey blue eyes steps from the trees in front of Izuku. He looks human, only his pointed ears are a giveaway to elven heritage.
From the trees Izuku can see more people, both elves and humans, surrounding him.
"Wait. You're not just a Pixie. Your one of those half breeds. Half Pixie half Elf. Both weak and against the rules seeing as Pixies and Elves aren't particularly fond of each other. Whattaya say boys? Should we harvest ourselves a set of little Pixie wings?" The jeering from the trees sends ice water down Izukus spine and his whole body goes rigid.
The boy pulls put a hunting knife and sneers, "You're gonna remember the name Neito Monoma until the day that you die, Pixie, because I'm gonna carve into your skin after I take those pretty little wings of yours."
The boy lunges. Only he can't move. Something shiny covers the ground around his feet, and its quickly creeping up his legs. Monoma cries out for his friends, and the scramble to help him. Emerging from the brush and dropping from the trees. The only figure that doesn't move is to Monomas left. And when Izuku makes eye contact with them they wave, and orange glow, what looks like fire, comes alight in their palm. Showing a face with two toned eyes and hair half white half red. Izuku hears cracking and panics as Monomas posse begins to free their leader. He mouths a 'thank you' to the stranger and bolts. Running toward home.
He could see the path through the trees, he could see-
Thump
"Ow"
Izuku landed hard on the ground, his earnings of the day spilling the ground around him.
"Midoria?" A familiar voice called down at the same time as an angered yell from behind him scared the birds firm the trees,
"Fucking Pixie, I'm gonna kill him!" The shout sent Izuku scrambling to his feet,
"Sorry, sorry, sorry" he chanted over and over as he scrambled to gather his things, wings trembling.
"Hey, it's alright." Uraraka sets her hand on his shoulder
"What happened back there?" Ida is standing next to her. Izuku explains briefly, leaving out the part about the sword and magic necklace, but telling them about his mysterious rescuer.
The two of them look at each other with wide eyes,
"And your sure that's what he looked like?" Ida frowned at Izuku, who nodded, getting to his feet and accepting a coin from Uraraka.
"So. What you're saying is, you were attacked by a group of elves and humans, and Prince Shoto rescued you." Uraraka looked suprised.
"Ye-"
"I found him!" And elf with scruffy sand colored hair that reminded Izuku of a skeleton in the way the shadows fell across his face emerged from the trees. In seconds, the rest of Izukus attacker were upon them.
"Run!" Izuku swung his bag over his shoulder and broke into a sprint, wings buzzing helping him go faster.
He knew he couldn't take the elves to his home, his mom was there. And she too was a Pixie. So, he kept going. Kept flying with the sounds of elves and his new friends racing behind him. He went tumbling to a stop when he saw a horse, white, with a saddle. He slid through the grass and rolled right back onto his feet, where he made a u-turn and skidded behind a bush. Uraraka and Ida joined him moments later, and they watched the elves look around. The weasel looking guy stomped around, yelled at his buddies, then they all went trudging into the woods.
Exaughsted, yet still wary, they waited. Until there was a faint whistle, seemingly heard only by Izuku, and the horse went galloping off into the woods.
"That was close." Uraraka panted,
"Too close." Izuku agreed. He couldn't go home, not yet, not when the elves were still in the woods. So he opened his bag and pulled out his cloak and a bed roll. He lay both out beside the bush and Ida and Uraraka did the same with their own portable beds.
Then, an idea formed in Izukus mind.
"I was going to ask earlier, before I realized I'd only slow you down, but would you let me come with you? To the north, I mean. I've always wanted to leave this area. And this might be my only chance."
Uraraka and Ida have a silent conversation that seems to last forever, until they both smile and Uraraka says,
"Welcome aboard Izuku!"