A bright afternoon with the sun shining brightly, Nova was playing alone in the wide park area in front of the shop. His hands were busy collecting small pebbles and arranging them into strange patterns that only he understood the meaning of. Meanwhile, Hana was inside the shop, busy serving several customers who came to enjoy the warm chocolate menu.
Nova's position playing in the park allowed Hana to watch him through the shop's large window. Occasionally, Hana glanced toward Nova while preparing customer orders, making sure the mysterious child wasn't doing anything dangerous or strange.
While Nova was absorbed in his simple game, suddenly his white eyes lifted to look at the bright blue sky. There was something that caught his attention, something unusual among the white clouds moving slowly.
"Uhh...
"Ah, what is that?"
Nova clearly saw something that appeared to be moving at an extraordinarily high speed across the sky. The object left a glittering light trail and fell with a trajectory similar to a meteor heading toward earth. Its light was dark and strange.
Without thinking long or considering the consequences, Nova felt a very strong urge from within himself to find out what that mysterious object really was. His instinct screamed that he had to go to the place where the object would land. Without hesitation, he immediately ran at full speed toward the place where the object seemed to be falling and landing.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Hana shouted loudly from inside the shop when she saw Nova suddenly running away from the park area.
Hana could see Nova playing outside through the large window inside the shop, and she was shocked to see the child suddenly running without a clear direction. Unfortunately, Nova couldn't hear Hana's shout because of the considerable distance and other sounds around that covered Hana's voice. Before Hana could come out to chase him, Nova had already shot away at surprising speed, leaving Hana standing inside the shop with confused and worried feelings.
"That child... where did he go so fast?" Hana muttered while shaking her head, feeling frustrated because she couldn't leave the shop that still had customers.
◇◇◇
*Finally arrived, I think this is the place,* thought Nova while looking around.
Nova's breath was heavily panting when he finally arrived at his destination—a wide vehicle scrapyard on the outskirts of the city. This area looked like a graveyard of old unused machines. Rusty cars with peeling paint and worn-out motorcycles that could no longer run were scattered around in pitiful condition. Some vehicles were even completely destroyed and only left metal frames rusted by time.
In the middle of those sad vehicle ruins, something unusual had created a small crater about two meters in diameter that was emitting thin grayish smoke. The ground around the crater looked charred and blackened, as if it had just been hit by very high heat.
"What is that really?" Nova muttered to himself while carefully stepping closer to the crater that was still emitting smoke.
He walked there and when he finally reached the edge of the crater, he could clearly see what it was. His white eyes widened with a slightly shocked expression seeing what was really inside.
It wasn't a meteor stone as he had imagined. What was in front of him was something completely different and beyond expectations. It was an irregularly shaped energy that kept changing form and emitting a thick black aura. The strange energy moved like living viscous liquid. There was no light reflection at all from its surface, only absolute darkness that seemed to absorb all light around it like a mini black hole.
*What is this really? Why is its shape so strange?* Nova stared at the object with his innocent face.
His fingers slowly reached toward the black energy. As soon as the tip of his index finger touched the surface of the black energy, something completely unexpected and beyond reason happened.
The energy suddenly vibrated violently like a mini earthquake, then began to change shape in a very unnatural way. Like water flowing following gravity, the black energy slowly coiled around Nova's right wrist, spinning to form a beautiful spiral before finally solidifying and transforming into a solid bracelet. The bracelet was pitch black without any ornaments or carvings.
"W-what is this...?" Nova stared at the bracelet now encircling his wrist with a mixture of amazement and slight confusion.
He tried to pull the bracelet with both hands, trying to remove it from his wrist, but the bracelet didn't budge at all, as if it had perfectly fused with his skin.
"Why can't it be removed? Has this bracelet attached permanently?"
Suddenly awareness of time came to Nova when he realized how long he had left the shop.
"Ah, I have to go back now."
With one last curious glance at the crater that was now empty and had nothing left, Nova turned around and ran back toward the Chocolate Shop at full speed.
◇◇◇
"Finally you're back! Where did you go earlier? Why did you leave suddenly like that without saying anything? Next time tell me first if you want to go somewhere, okay?!"
Hana's voice sounded like a mixture of relief and annoyance when she saw Nova.
Nova, with breath still heavily panting from running far, answered with his usual innocent tone.
"That... I went in that direction," his hand pointed backward with a not-too-clear gesture.
"I saw something strange fall from the sky, and that something suddenly turned into this when I touched it."
He proudly raised his right hand, showing the black bracelet now neatly encircling his wrist.
"Hmm, where did you get that black bracelet? How could there suddenly be a bracelet on your hand?" asked Hana while observing the bracelet with a curious and slightly suspicious expression.
"I already told you clearly earlier! I saw something strange fall, then I followed it, and that thing suddenly turned into this bracelet when I touched it!" he explained again.
"Ooh, I see..." Hana responded with a tone that didn't sound completely convinced.
"Alright, whatever it is and however you got it, the important thing is don't go suddenly like that again without telling me, okay?"
Hana looked like she didn't completely believe the fantastic story that Nova had just told.
"Okay, I understand. Next time I'll tell you first,"