SYNN: A prologue

It is a quiet night on the dark island of Luelle, located somewhere in the middle of the grand line. Being a dark island means that the sun never shines on the island. During the day, the gray clouds obscure the sky and prevent sunlight from shining through. At night, the clouds clear up and the moon positions itself over Luelle. Thus, the only celestial light seen by the residents of the island are either from the moon at night or the few beams that pierce the clouds several kilometers off the island's coasts during the day.

On the island there is a small village. Despite the gloom of the atmosphere, the buildings are surprisingly modern. The number of buildings is enough to be called a town. On the east end of the island is a harbor where merchant ships dock. The town itself is like any other; restaurants, hotels, places of entertainment, and a town square in the island's center containing shops of all kinds and a large town hall. Luelle is by no means a small town. There is easily 20,000-25,000 people who have taken residence on the island. You may wonder: why would people live on an island that is dark all year long and what merchandise could they possibly trade with merchants?

The answer to this question is easy: The Roses of Luelle.

Luelle's environment is unique in that despite the lack of sunlight, plant life is still able to flourish. Everything from grass to large trees can be found on the island. But there is one more plant that is unique to this island and that is the Rose of Luelle.

These roses were actually discovered by mistake. A long time ago, a sailor washed ashore onto the island after his ship was raided by pirates. He trekked aroud the island and determined that it was uninhabited. When he came to the island's western coast, he found himself looking upward at a castle that sat at the top of a cliff that could not be climbed. Wanting to see if he could live there the sailor proceeded to walk around the cliff and find his way up to the castle. beginning of the cliff was more inland and faced the island's center. At the base of the cliff, the sailor came across a large gate. He tried to open the gate but it was locked. He struck at the gate with stones but only the hollow sound of rock on metal resulted. Unable to break through the gates, the sailor returned to the coast and continued to circle the island.

He found refuge in a cave facing the sea on the island and decided to use the cave as a temporary home. The mouth of the cave was completely dark. With some advanced survival skills, the sailor created a fire using rocks and sticks found on the island. With his new torch, the sailor ventured into the cave.

He walked for what seemed to be many miles. The sailor felt hunger but remembered that above ground, he saw no wild animals and no vegetation that could be eaten as food. Hoping to find something or die trying, the sailor continued further into the depths of the island.

The cave seemed to get darker and darker as he progressed. It was then that he realized that his torch was going out. He kept on walking and walking; and his fire got weaker... and weaker... and finally...nothing.

So there the sailor sat in pure darkness for several hours. He tried to feel the walls for a way out but to his surprise, it seemed like the tunnel had closed and the sailor was trapped. After about an hour, due to his hunger and fatigue, the sailor fell asleep.

He woke up not long after to find something shining light into his face. When he first opened his blurry eyes, he could only make out a ghostly blue light. As his vision returned to him, the sailor identified the object emitting light to be a rose. It was the most beautiful rose he had ever seen mostly because of its ghostly blue light. Looking around him, the sailor saw hundreds and even thousands of these roses lighting up the tunnel. Finally the sailor could see the pathway of the tunnel. He identified the direction he came from but looking further down the tunnel, he could see something strange. There was a vault at the end of the tunnel with strange markings all over it. The sailor obviously could not read the symbols but his eyes focused on something that he did understand. In the center of the vault was something like a lock and the keyhole was shaped like a rose.

The sailor plucked one rose from the cave walls and placed it in the hole. Immediately, the symbols on the vault began to glow blue; the same shade as the light given off by the rose. It stayed like that for a few seconds. Suddenly, the color of the symbols began to change from blue to a sick shade of green. The from green is changed to yellow and then orange. All this time the rose the sailor placed in the hole slowly withered and lost its luster.

After several seconds, the rose completely died. The symbols now shone in a shade of red like that of the fires of hell. The sailor, fearing something might happen, cowered in fear on the ground and closed his eyes. With his eyes closed, the sailor felt the red light disappear but was then replaced by a chill that seemed to spread throughout the cave. When the chill disappeared, everything was silent and the blue glow of the roses in the cave returned. The sailor opened his eyes and stood up to face the vault. The symbols on the vault disappeared and the vault itself was opened slightly. The sailor walked over to the door and opened it up a little. Looking inside, there was a chamber hidden behind the door. In the middle of the chamber was something like a ten foot tall crucifix which stuck out of the ground up-side-down. Also in the chamber were chains; hundreds of chains. There were chains on the ends of the crucifix and chains coming from the walls to the crucifix. Whatever was chained to the crucifix had somehow escaped and was no longer there.

The sailor headed back to the vault door. When he opened it, a great white light shone through the door. The sailor was blinded for a second but when he opened his eyes, he was back on the island's coast. Looking out to the sea, the sailor saw a ship coming toward him. Once he got their attention, the ship dropped anchor and sent several ships to the island to greet him. The sailor however, did not want to leave the island. Crafting several more torches, he led a group of the sailors into the cave and showed them the roses. Amazed at the find, the ship's cargo was filled with these roses and it set off to sell them while many workers stayed behind and began to build houses that would soon become the oldest buildings in Luelle. The workers and the first sailor were the first residents of the island as soon, many shiploads of people would come to the island to live there and admire the calmness and ghostly beauty of the island. In several year's time, the population of the island would hit 2,000 including men, women, and children; and all were there to stay.

When the sailor first exited the vault and found himself on the beach, something else happened that he was not around for. Back at the base of the cliff, the giant gates were opened. Torches shone from inside the castle. Off in the distance, flying several hundred feet above the island, the shadow of a winged human flew circles in the sky, watching as its island was being settled by men from other seas. The thing in the sky watched... and watched... and waited...

End Prologue~