Helios Eclipse
| Helios Eclipse | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Helios Eclipse Prologue (2004 Art Square Group). Art by Kaoru. | |
| Genre | |
| Author | Kaoru |
| Publisher |
 Art Square Group |
| Magazine |
Gempak |
| Original run | 2004 – 2009 |
| Collected volumes | 8 (completed) |
| Big Kambingz | |
Helios Eclipse was a manga comic by a Malaysian female cartoonist under the pen name Kaoru. It was serialised in Starz, a magazine by Malaysian publisher Art Square Creation, starting with the magazine's first issue dated 1 June 2004. The serialisation was later switched to the company's flagship magazine Gempak. The manga finished in issue 221 of Gempak. The story was compiled in Graphic Novel form in eight books.
Plot
Two worlds exist: the Realm of Magic and the Human World. All elements in both worlds are controlled by the Sun Ruler, Helios. In the past, Helios was skeptical about protecting the human world, so he and his brother, Luna, visited the human world to see what it was like. Horrified at the human world's modern technology, odd cultures, pollution, and rude manners, Helios could not believe he was protecting it. When Helios tried to destroy a group of brutal and cruel children, he lost most of his elemental powers, which escaped to the human world.
Before darkness can take over both worlds, he must find a savior to help him find his elements so that he may restore peace to both worlds. Unfortunately, a villain from the Shadow Realm tries to interfere, wanting to rule over the Realm of Magic. He sends his henchmen and minions to create chaos and interfere with Helios's plans.
Helios returns to the human world to find the prophesized savior. Fighting enemies with his weak powers, he accidentally meets a human girl, Mineko, who turns out to be the savior.
Human World arc
When Mineko takes in a mysterious, wounded teenage boy who literally falls upon her, she discovers that he is actually Helios, one of the rulers of the Realm of Magic, who came to the human world to find a saviour. Mineko then promises to help him find the savior, all while trying to hide him from her family and friends. However, Tooru and Kazura, Mineko's friends, eventually find out, and though Tooru disapproves, they let Helios stay with Mineko and keep it a secret between them.
The next day, while trying to use magic to find the saviour, Helios' weakened powers create instabilities that terrify Mineko. In fear, she hugs him, and the sun—representing Helios's power—brightens, causing him to realize Mineko is the saviour. Spade, Helios's servant, comes to Mineko's home to "save" Helios. He knocks out Mineko's older brother, but after some explanation from Helios, they find out Spade isn't a killer, and that he actually disappeared mid-battle to get Helios's badge and staff. Soon, the two discover that Mineko's friend Kazura is actually Louis, a Warlock from the Shadow Realm who is trying to foil Helios's mission.
Louis, while still in the form of Kazura, stabs Tooru, and proceeds to battle with Spade, and then Helios. Just when Helios appears to have lost, he hugs Mineko, and goes back to his teenage form, as Mineko has restored some magical energy. When Helios is about to kill Louis, a girl with pale skin in a gothic outfit, Maryvessa, rescues Louis and warns Helios about the Darkross.
In order to save the life of her childhood friend Tooru, Mineko has to make an agreement with Helios and Spade: her existence in the human world would be erased and she would have come with them to magic world. Mineko agrees, and leaves home.
Magic World arc
Mineko discovers that everyone in the Realm of Magic hates humans because of the prophecy. Moragana, another ruler of the Realm of Magic, advises her not to give up, and that Mineko was much more important than Mineko thinks. While exploring the kingdom, Mineko comes across another person much like Spade. He is Club, and his master is Luna, who is Helios's brother, gets his powers from the moon, and comes across to Mineko as a very beautiful person. He also reminds her of Kazura, though he isn't.
Helios, Luna, Spade, Club and herself go on to find another one of the Realm's rulers, Syn II, and his servant Diamond. His forte is illusion, and he holds a hatred towards Helios. Mineko finds out that he and his sister Maryvessa are actually the children of the former ruler, also known as Syn I (the first), and a human witch. Although Helios and Moragana disapproved, Helios grew close to them. Syn says that, however, Helios killed their mother, and in turn makes the former Syn kill himself, and that Syn II himself was cursed to stay at a childlike state. Maryvessa, however, managed to escape, and has wanted to exact revenge on Helios.
Darkross draws nearer; Helios and the others fight them, but it seems useless. Meanwhile, Louis arrives to fetch Syn II, and tells Mineko that his time as Kazura was merely a facade. While Helios and the rest of the group seem to have fallen, Mineko stabs herself as a last resort, and gives Louis a blood-splattered picture of them back in the human world. Pink snow falls, and Helios gains back his powers and grows to his adult form. Maryvessa is defeated and dissolves with the snow, and Syn gets over his hatred for Helios. He then tells Helios that the snow is not his doing, and that it is in fact Mineko's.
Because Helios watched the child Toroya kill a cat in cold blood in the human world, he became prejudiced against humans, despising them. Helios thinks that Mineko is the same—that she is a hypocrite and only wants Helios to thank her because she saved his life. When he rushes back to where Mineko is, she is alive, but dying. He uses a lot of his magic to try and bring her back to life, but can't save her.
Moragana then arrives, using Heart's body. She thens turns into her true form, and sacrifices herself for Mineko, so Mineko could come back to life. The Phoenix residing within Moragana is also transferred to Mineko. Moragana tells Helios that it's never foolish to sacrifice themselves for someone else, and then both Moragana and Heart dies, while Mineko comes back to life.
Element Quest arc
Mineko is upset when she wakes up and learns about Moragana's sacrifice. She apologizes to Helios, and promises to stay by his side and look for the elements. Syn gives her some sort of magic orb that she absorbs, though she has no clue what it was supposed to do.
Helios, Mineko and the others search for the elements, that have apparently taken human form. They register themselves in a new school. Luna poses as a new teacher and befriends other teachers, while Spade and Club stick together and also make new friends. Helios gets closer to a friendly student named Miraa. Lonely and a little jealous, Mineko wanders off alone and helps a little girl who'd just had her teddy bear stolen by other kids, and somehow magically forms a new bear in her hands. Tooru sees this, and Mineko reunites with Tooru, whose memories of Mineko were erased, and she cries, though he has no clue why.
When a girl becomes the victim of a rumoured ghost, they investigate, thinking it could lead to the discovery of an element. Through Luna's abilities, they find visions of a girl with white hair and a red hood. When Miraa tells Mineko that Helios was attacked, she discovers that Miraa had set them up, attacking the victims and then sending them to kill Mineko. Mineko is saved by Helios, Luna, Club, and Spade, as well as the mysterious red-hooded girl. Miraa reveals her true identity: Helios's missing fire element. She is angry at Helios, and says she "doesn't want to be your (his) bootlick anymore."
Miraa then traps them in her border dimension, and they soon start suffocating, unable to breath. Then, Moragana speaks to Mineko, in her head, and rain falls. Miraa is surprised, as to Diamond as well, because both Miraa's border dimension and the Realm of Magic have not had rain in a long, long time.
After a tough battle, Miraa surrenders and acknowledges Helios as her master.
The Gathering (interlude)
Having found Miraa, they all gather and have fun. Meanwhile, Luna gets closer to Mineko, congratulating her on finding the fire element and gaining Mineko's Trust.
Rabbit Man arc
Leaving Mineko reluctantly behind, Helios and the others go to the Magic World to find out what is happening there and monitor the Darkross. Helios asks Louis to take care of Mineko while he is away.
While Tooru tries to cheer up Mineko by buying her some cake at Kaoru's Cake House, a group of weird looking people appear, and Louis looks terrified. These "Dark Wizards" attack them. The heroes are forced to play "games" in the 1/3 Dimension in order to escape. Tooru loses to one of the Dark Wizard's dirty tricks and is turned into a doll. Mineko and Louis are shocked to see Tooru in the form of a doll in Toroya's hands. The Dark Wizards explain that they have absorbed Helios's other elements, telling Louis that if he wants to know how to revive Maryvessa, the answers lies in Mineko's body.
Just after the battle, Helios returns, wounded, explaining that they were ambushed by the Darkross. Louis admits that he knows the three wizards that they just fought. They are the high wizards, used as secret weapons.
In the Dark Castle, the three Dark Wizards, Toroya, Arisu, and Sangatsu return empty-handed. Lucifer is so furious that he attacks Toroya, but Lucifer could not defeat him and is almost killed. They are stopped by their leader, Soileh, Helios's "Shadow".[nb 1]
The Keeper Arc
Mineko finds a weird room at the school. When she enters, two strangers introduce themselves as The Keeper, who can grant any wish, if The Catcher passes a test first. Otherwise, The Keeper will take something valuable away from The Catcher. Mineko tries to run away, but realises that she is in the 1/3 Dimension. She accepts the test in order to escape, but fails the test due to her lack of magic skills. In desperation, she cries out for Helios's help.
Louis saves Mineko, who feels frustrated because Helios wasn't the one who saved her. She slaps Helios and runs away. Later, she realises that it is getting dark even though it is still daytime, and thinks that Helios could be in trouble. She realises that the "Helios" she saw was actually Luna, who disguised himself as Helios so that Mineko would not be worried.
Darkross and Lucifer appear and attack them. Luna traps Mineko in a rock shelter and then defeats Lucifer. Toroya appears, and Luna uses all his might to defeat him. As a last resort, Luna uses the purification element and calls up Kekimuru, the Earth element, to defeat Toroya. The earth element attacks Luna, killing him. The magic field protecting Mineko weakens, freeing her. The Keeper and Loius arrive, but Luna's injuries are too great.
In his last words, Luna asks Louis to take care of Mineko. When Luna dies, Helios, who is being held captive by Soileh, no longer senses his presence. In the dungeon where he is imprisoned, Helios meets a strange Keeper named Eddy, who offers him help.
Mineko, changed by Luna's death, promises to return Luna's spirit to the Magic World and return the element to Helios. She asks The Keeper to take care of the Human World and Louis.
Magic War arc
Alone in the Magic World, Mineko finds a boy, Mika, who guides Mineko to Spade and the other guardian's hometown, Animal World. Like the Magic People in the Magic Kingdom, they also hate humans, believing them dangerous. Mineko is attacked, but when she says she knows Spade, the Animal residents welcome Mineko warmly. Spade's wife, Melly, treats Mineko as family. Mineko continues her journey when she realizes the Dark Wizard is hunting for her, heading to Earth Valley in order to hide the Earth stone.
In the Fire Valley, Helios and Eddy ask for the Fire Kingdom's help to fight Darkross.
Soileh orders his three minions to capture Mineko. Not knowing she is in the Magic World, they are ordered to search for her in the Human World. Toroya tortures a teacher to learn Mineko's whereabouts from Evilina. Toroya and Sangatsu went into the Magic World to search for Mineko. Louis asks Evilina and the others to pursue them, in order to protect Mineko. Louis fights Arisu; as a last resort, Arisu uses an Element Purification which is the Water element that escaped Helios and releases Shinwanara. Louis defeats Arisu using the enhancing pill that Evilina gave him, but Arisu does not give up, ordering Shinwanara to kill Louis. Shinwanara is stopped by Soileh, who orders Arisu to follow Toroya to the Magic World. Louis attacks Soileh as the pill kicks in.
As Mineko travels in the Magic World, she keeps growing and growing without Helios's protection. After a long walk, she faints in the desert, dreaming of Helios. When she wakes up, Toroya is in front of her. She tries to fight Toroya, but it is useless. Evilina appears, and forces Toroya to release Mineko. Evilina had a chance to kill Toroya, but after a tough fight, Toroya traps Mineko. Mineko escapes using her ability to copy others. Toroya is too great for them both, and Evilina is badly wounded. As they becomes nearer to their death, a mysterious group wearing masks helps them, beating Toroya. Mineko and Evilina are taken to a safe place while the leader of the group remains to fight Toroya. The mask is slashed, revealing the leader to be Helios. Using his Element Purification which is the Wood Element, Minchinini, Toroya attacks Helios, who calls up his element Miraa, burning Minchinini's power. Combining Miraa with his sword, Helios produces the Flaming Dragon Sword, defeating Toroya instantly. Toroya is rescued by Soileh before Helios can extract the Wood Element from him.
Royal Conflict arc
Mineko and Helios reveal their feelings to each other just before he leaves to secure an alliance with the Water Valley. The valley's ruler, Princess Countessa, has long loved Helios, and insists that he marry her in order to secure the alliance. Helios reluctantly agrees.
Louis, imprisoned by Diamond when he travelled to the Magic World to warn Mineko about Soileh, grows closer to Mineko when she discovers his imprisonment.
The Dark Minion, together with Soileh and his Dark Wizard, attacks Magic Castle. The hidden power of Phoenix rises from Mineko's body and destroys everything in its path, scaring off the attackers. Mineko faints; Helios, arriving just in time to see this, glares at Louis.
When she recovers, Mineko decides to join Louis in the prison to protest his imprisonment. Louis notes that the Phoenix Wing mark on her back is growing.
After jealous arguments, Mineko faints again, and Helios gives her a gold bracelet. Countessa, jealous and hateful of Mineko, secretly meets with the leaders of Wind and Wood Valleys as well as Soileh and Toroya. They plot to destroy the Magic World, but Countessa asks them to not hurt Helios. Lying, they agree, on the condition that she separate Helios from the others.
While the Magic Kingdom prepares for the Royal Wedding, Mineko locks herself away from the others. Countessa asks Helios to come see her right away. Eddy is suspicious of Countessa, as she seems to want to take over the Magic Kingdom.
Valley Leader's Agenda arc
A mysterious woman that warned Helios about the guardian of Water Valley travels to Magic City in order to save him. Searching for Helios in disguise, she finds the Earth Element Crystal/Stone, and steals it, using it to walk through the prison walls and find Louis.
The three scheming element valley leaders offer their service and loyalty to Helios, but demand that he marries Countessa to gain their trust.
Mineko, trapped in her room by Helios' binding spell, is surprised by the mysterious traveller and Louis, who promises to save her. Helios, hearing talking in the room, knocks on the door. Louis hides in the closet, and the traveler hides under the bed. Helios turns over the bed, finding the traveller, who bolts, dropping the crystal. Before Helios can leave to catch the thief, Mineko asks him again about his decision to marry Countessa; he says that he had no choice, and he doesn't hope that Mineko understands, which saddens her. After everyone else leaves, Louis comes out of the closet and asks Mineko to run away with him. After some thought, she agrees, deciding it is time to leave Helios once and for all.
Helios and Syn chase the traveller. Trapping her in a dead end, Helios warns her to return the crystal, or he will take it by force. Annoyed and angered, the traveller introduces herself as Mokera, and tells Helios he will regret his rudeness toward her. She smashes the ground and disappears. Helios decides not to chase her, sure of himself that she will return for the crystal.
Wedding arc
The wedding was a fake which was to fool the Dark World. Spade disguised himself as Helios, allowing Helios to make a sneak attack on the Dark Kingdom. While Helios navigates the crowds, he passes Mineko; he senses her, but chalks it up to his imagination.
Having escaped the town, Mineko and Louis are in the Illusion Forest when Louis apologises for betraying her. She hears Soileh's voice in her ear, explaining that this was his plan to capture her all along.
Helios, Syn, and the Element Valley leaders are poised to strike the Dark Castle when they discover that their arrival was expected: a protection barrier counters their attacks. Darkross appear and the war begins. As Helios's troop is about to lose, an earthquake destroys all the Darkross. The ruler of Earth Valley, a girl, appears and joins them in the assault on the Dark Castle.
Inside, Helios feels someone is watching them. They are attacked by Darkross, but are saved by The Keepers, led by Eddy. The Keepers strike the Element Valley leaders except for Esmeralda. The ruler of Earth Valley appears; which is in fact Mokera.
King Draven tells Helios that Mineko is in danger, and he immediately leaves to rescue her. Mineko, meanwhile, is unsurprised by her capture, and tells Soileh that she expected it: she is giving herself to him so that she can prevent her dream premonition which she finds out that she will kill Helios. Soileh tries to stab Mineko, but Louis steps in front of the blade to protect her, and is killed. Mineko's anger ignites the power of Phoenix, but Helios arrives in time to rescue her and prevent the world from being destroyed.
Day of The Prophecy arc
Soileh provokes the power of the Phoenix by telling Mineko that her best friend, Tooru, was killed. The full power of the Phoenix is released. Soileh slashes her throat, but she remains alive, a body without a soul. Moragana's soul appears and tells Helios that Mineko is no longer alive; only the Phoenix is in her body now. Helios uses his full power to revive her, and convinces Soileh to help him to stop the Phoenix.
Mineko, resisting the Phoenix, decides to jump off a cliff knowing she is no longer in control of the power. The Phoenix leaves her body.
Eddy, Syn and others arrive and see that Mineko is in grave danger. Helios begs Syn to rewind time back to before he found Mineko. Syn agrees, but before he can use his power, Eddy knuckles him down. Eddy is revealed to be Syn I, Syn's father, when Evilina calls him 'Syn' and he uses his power to stop the Phoenix. The Phoenix is ousted, apparently at the cost of Syn I's life, but then Syn I opens his eye and he and his son embrace. When Mineko wakes up, all of her memories are gone, including her memory of Helios.
Helios pretends nothing happened, and asks Mineko to attend "the festival" that was held to greet her. Mineko says she has to go back to Earth, where her only beloved person lives, saddening Helios.
Syn II demands an explanation from Syn I, but Evilina stops him, as it was the price for saving Syn I from being swallow by the Phoenix by keeping the secret that Helios is holding.
Final arc
Both worlds are at peace again. Jereth replaced Helios as the new ruler of Magic World. The Day of The Element Purification replaces Darkross Day as the public holiday for Magic World. At the day of the "festival" which is to celebrate the victory, Diamond confesses that she is sorry for doubting Mineko. Mineko finds Helios in the library. He tries to chase her out, but his old memories with her are triggered by the way she acts, as if she's meeting him for the first time. Mineko asks why he doesn't smile or laugh when he sees her. Helios puts down the book and says he once smiled and laughed to the one he loved. Although he didn't mention her name, Mineko cries, pitying the fate of Helios's girl.
After the festival ends, Mineko returns to the Human World, living as a human without any memories of her adventure. Helios disappears unnoticed; some claim he is dead because he holds the power of the Phoenix; some say he became human and lives in the Human World.
Eight years later, Mineko is grown up and working. Her colleagues ask her about her golden bracelet. She didn't remember who gave it to her, but she treasures it as her most precious thing. Suddenly, a handsome man passes Mineko and her colleague. Mineko notices there is something familiar about him, especially the wing tattoo on his back, so she follows him, but loses track of him. Her colleague reminds her that their lunchtime almost over, and they go back to work. Up a tree, Helios watches Mineko as she walks away.
Easter's Egg Chapter
This chapter is included only in Helios Eclipse: "Prologue". It happens when the guardians get dumplings from the human world. There were only three dumplings left, but there were four guardians to feed. Spade suggests that the guardians who served their masters the best get the dumplings. Club does not get dumplings, because he just eats and plays everyday.
Graphic Novels
- Kaoru (2005-08-01). Helios Eclipse: Prologue. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28817-3 (English), ISBN 978-983-2985-60-0 (Malay).
- — (2006-04-01). Helios Eclipse: Median. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28824-1 (English), ISBN 978-983-2985-86-0 (Malay).
- — (2007-05-01). Helios Eclipse: Ternion. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28833-3 (English), ISBN 978-983-3882-11-3 (Malay).
- — (2008-03-01). Helios Eclipse: Quaternion. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28837-1 (English), ISBN 978-983-3882-41-0 (Malay).
- — (2008-08-01). Helios Eclipse: Quintet. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28851-7 (English), ISBN 978-983-3882-54-0 (Malay).
- — (2008-12-01). Helios Eclipse: Hexad. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28855-5 (English), ISBN 978-983-3882-80-9 (Malay).
- — (2009-04-01). Helios Eclipse: Septenary. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28856-2 (English), ISBN 978-967-5-28813-5 (Malay).
- — (2009-07-01). Helios Eclipse: Epilogue. Malaysia: Gempak. ISBN 978-967-5-28858-6 (English), ISBN 978-967-5-28846-3 (Malay).
Notes
- ↑ Soileh looks 80 percent like Helios.
See also
- Art Square Group