Early morning came to Imythess, the dawn driving away night’s shadows and replacing them with a new day. The still waters of Norwood Lake rippled ever so slightly as a few fish began jumping, and a slight breeze swayed the branches of the many overhanging willow trees.
Lacus Clyne lay asleep in a particularly soft bed of grass near the lake. Her pink hair was spread around her, going off in all directions. A staff lay beside her, just inches away from her right hand. Around her neck was a simple golden necklace, with a pink stone as a pendant—a necklace that hadn’t been there before.
The young girl moved slightly in her sleep, groaning slightly as a shaft of sunlight filtered down onto her. She opened her eyes, eyelids drifting open to reveal blue-gray irises. Using the palms of her hands, Lacus pushed herself up, glancing around her in confusion as she tried to recall the events of last night.
She, Kira and Athrun had gone to Cagalli’s house, in order to celebrate Cagalli and Athrun’s engagement. The lights had gone out in the middle of the party, and Kira had been about to leave the room to check the fuse box when a strange light began shining in the middle of the room. Lacus had looked into it, and the next thing she knew, she had blacked out.
And now where was she? Lacus took the time to look around her, taking in the many willow trees that surrounded the lake. The lake itself was a clear blue, and the surface of the water rippled slightly as several fish began playing in it. All in all, it was quiet and peaceful, and ordinarily, Lacus would have liked to be where she was but right now she was starting to feel a little scared. Where was she, and where was everybody?
She stood up, noticing that the dress that she wore was not the same dress she had been wearing before. This one was slightly different from the dresses she was used to wearing. As she pondered on this strange phenomenon, Lacus noticed a staff lying in the grass near her. She picked it up, feeling its smooth wood beneath her fingertips.
“Where am I?” she said softly, looking around.
"Norwood Lake, in Imythess," a calm voice called out, which seemed to belong to a human boy in his late teens, though at his visage one could quickly see that this was not indeed the case.
The owner of the voice appeared by the trees near the edge of the area that housed the lake, and seemed to be a human of 19 years old for the most part. He had snow-white hair that fell around his head at somewhat unruly angles, held up by a dark blue headband that, along with some hair, covered where his right eye would be. He wore black, strapped gloves and boots, the former reaching from halfway up his forearm to the point where it was cut off a few small inches down each finger but the thumb, the latter covering the bottoms of his white pants a few inches above the ankles. On his upper body he wore a white, teal-lined t-shirt with a high collar, open in the front.
This, however, was where the human part of his appearance ended. His left eye, the only one he had remaining, was blood red, and had a certain piercing quality to it. Jutting out of his shoulder blades were a pair of dark, almost dragon-like wings folded against his back, slightly tattered in appearance and making them look more demonic, and a similar-looking tail hung down from the base of his spine, barely touching the ground. Looking at him, one would likely be hard-pressed to tell if he was light or dark, though he was a certain combination of both, while good-hearted.