Leaning on a tree, I sighed. Three more days till the next town, I only left the other one, what? two days ago. The town I left was my own. I looked down at my cloak, pulling it aside I looked at my cloths. My dress was covered in mud and blood.
Good thing I had mud on them, it took some of the bloods effect off. My town was over run by bandits, just a few days ago, I can still hear my family screaming as I tried to protect them. I could not help them. My fathers last words were for me to run, I did. I will never forgive myself for that. Sighing I walked on. My side hurt. I had broken a few of my ribs and had a gash over my left eye. My cloak covered me pretty well. No one really could see who I was.
A day before I got to the town my food had run out, I was starving. When I got there the first thing I did was look for some place I could eat. I found a nice small restaurant.
Walking in I smiled. The smell was wonderful!! Beef stew, sake .... yummy. Good thing I had money on me. Still smiling, I walked to a table and sat down.
"yeah yeah!" screamed the waitress as she walked to the table that was yelling at her. great, just what I need she thought as she walked to them. "what do you want?" Looking up at her, the man smiled. "I would like some more sake and some fish....." he stated as he burped. "ookkk..." she said. As she walked up to the counter, she spotted someone new. hhmmm.... what do we have here? she thought as she looked at the cloaked figure. Giving the man's order to the cook, she walked to the cloaked figure. "can I help you? What can I get for ya?"
Getting pulled from my thoughts, I looked up. there was a waitress standing at my table. "oh uumm" I said as I looked up at her, my cloak slipped from my head. Trying to pull it back up she stopped me.
"hey, you ok?" she asked me as she tilted my head to look at the gash. Smiling I looked back up at her.
"yes thanks. Can you please tell me what very good here. I'm hungry. Please"
"what happened?"
Sighing, I thought she got the point that I did not want to talk about it. "the town that got trashed a few days ago, the one the Devil Bandits raided. That was my town. I'm the only one that got out alive, I think" Looking at me, she must have thought I was a sight.
Looking at her the waitress noted her appearance. The girl was of medium height, probably only 5'5 tops. Her hair was long and almost white blond, almost coming from the dirt that was covering her. her eyes were black and had small wisps of violet in them. She was truly beautiful to look at. She was tough. You could tell. But yet, she was very delicate. she could tell she was very kind, noting that she did not yell at her, saying she did not want to talk about what happened. The girl started to squirm. she realized she had been staring at her.
"gomen. Well the stew is very good. And so is the tea." she looked at her, them put out her hand "the names Luna Inverse. You are?"
Smiling the girl looked up at Luna. "my names Angel Hunter. Nice to meet you Luna-san. I will have what you suggested please" Smiling Luna walked away, yelling over her shoulder she said "I will go get that for you. "
I sat and smiled as I saw Luna-san walk away. AAHH...... food!!
I got my food a few moments later. When Luna brought it, she sat down. I took this opportunity to look her over as I sipped my soup. She was taller than me, maybe 5'8. She had long black hair, I could not tell what her eye's looked like, her bangs were in the way. She was very pretty. She was a tough person.
"so" she asked, "what happened?"
I looked back up at her and smiled "I told you." as I said this I tried to keep from frowning.
"now come on, tell. " She made me feel like I had to tell her. Sighing I pushed my food aside and slowly sipped my tea. "well, like I said, my town was hit by the bandits. There was nothing we could do"
"how did you get hurt?" she asked me. I think she saw me stiffen when she asked that. "how?" she asked again, this time her voice was nice and soft, soothing.
"I don't want to talk about that" I said flatly. She raised an eyebrow. I looked up at her. "gomen" I said as I sat back, then I cursed in pain "Che" I said as I put a hand to my side. She leaned forward. "nani?".
I looked back up at her, "oh yeah .... did I mention I shattered a few ribs?"
"no" she said as she got up and walked to my side of the table. "how long have you been going with out medical help?" she asked me as she started to help me stand.
"for no more than a week" I said. "hey, where are we going."
"to the back room, someone's got to fix you up" I was going to tell her that I would be fine. I knew that was a lie, and, for some odd reason, I did NOT want to piss her off. I knew nothing good would come from it. So she helped me to this small back room. It was furnished with a bed, a dresser, a table and some plants. She helped me over to the bed and sat me down. She was walking to the dresser when she started to ask me questions. "so, Angel-san. How old are you?"
"16, how old are you?" She looked at me and smiled. She wasn't going to say.
"Have you ever wanted to learn magic?" She asked, looking me fully in the face.
I just sat there, slowly I nodded my head. "yeah, I have looked over all the books on magic I could ever find. I've seen a lot of spells in books and things, I've always wanted to learn. But I never could find someone to teach me."
"how would you like it if I taught you?"
"huh?"
"I said "do you want me to teach you?". I sat and looked at her. I smiled.
"anything you say. Sure!!"
She smiled. "tell me about your family" I kind of sat still for a moment.
"ok" I started "there dead, my mother was a cook at a restaurant, my father was a blacksmith. I have no brothers or sisters. No other family. I'm alone I guess, they died when they raided our town. Do you have any family?" She was still for a moment thinking about what I said.
Then she looked up at me. "yes, I have a sister named Lina, she left a week ago to travel around killing things. I have a mother and a father." I sat and smiled, thinking of my own mother and father.
Sitting, luna watched her. She was sad. She may smile, but it's hard to hide sadness from the eyes. Her eye's screamed sadness. She sighed and walked over to Angel.
Looking up I saw Luna walking to me. "here, lay down." I did what she said. "I'm going to heal you "
I smiled "cool, thanks."
"I will teach you magic if you wish" I nodded my head. "but after I have, you must leave."
"huh? why?"
She looked at me. "because, your young, I will only teach you so much, you will have to travel and learn more as you go, clear?" I nodded my head.
"oh and one more thing."
"nani?"
" You have to do everything I say, you have to help me when I ask"
I only smiled and nodded my head "Yes Luna-san."
Then She Healed me.
It was the next morning, I woke up with a start. I had another nightmare. The same one I had since my mother and father had died. Slowly I sat up. I hate bad dreams I thought as I swung my legs over the bed. Luna had talked the owner into letting me stay here at the restraint if I worked for him. The outfit I was going to put on was sitting by the bed on a chair. Slowly I stood. Looking around, I saw a basin of water sitting on the dresser. I walked to it and looked into the mirror. After Luna had left last night, I cleaned up a bit, you know...I washed my hair, all that stuff. Putting the small towel that was sitting next to it in the water, I slowly washed my face. Then, I glanced out the window, I bet it wasn't even 5am yet. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, so I got dressed. After I cleaned up the room a bit, I walked to the door and opened it, then shut it on my way out.
There was no one in the restaurant, it was closed till whenever they open. Slowly I walked around it. Not to shabby. The food was great. I walked to the window and looked out. I started to think of my nightmare. It was just the way it happened. Me and my mother were making dinner, talking about nothing really. When my father stumbled into our house, slamming the door behind him. I turned to see who it was, I didn't know it was my father. His face was a bloody mess. "father" I had cried as I ran to him. My mother had dropped her cutting knife on the floor and ran to him as well. "Justin" my mother had yelled, "what happened?"
My father was trying to get his breath, then when he was ready to start, the door to our house flew off it's hinges. I looked up to see a rather large man standing in the doorway. My father turned to us and whispered "bandits." I had thought that if bandits would come to our town, I would at least be able to save my own family. Then ran into our house, 3 of them. I did the screaming part, then I went for the knife my mother had dropped. I grabbed it and stood in between my mother, father and the bandits. "you think your tough?" asked one of them.
I stood shaking. One ran at me, I was able to jump out of the way in time to miss getting hit by his own knife. The others came at us, one kicked me to the floor, the others ran to my mother and father. One was pinning my mother to the ground while ripping her dress off her. The other was after my father. The one that had kicked me pinned me down and started to rip my own dress off my body, I started to scream. He lifted a knife in the air and slammed the but of it into my unprotected ribs. That stopped me for a moment. I just laid there as he raped me, there was nothing I could do, wait. I still had my mothers knife in my hand. With all I had in me, I broke out of his hold and slammed the knife into his neck, he screamed, not just in pain, but surprised as well. his blood washed over me as I screamed in rage. then he went limp. I shoved his body off me and looked over at my mother. She was dead. The other men were at my father beating him till one of them looked over and saw there fellow bandit dead at my feet. I stood up slowly. "BITCH " one of them yelled. My father slowly got to his feet and limped to the counter pulling a knife out of its holder. While the men came after me, my father took that to his advantage and slammed the blade of the knife into the one that had raped my mother. He screamed then fell to the floor. I ran at the other and slammed my knife into his chest. His eye's popped open as he fell down dead. I dropped my knife and ran to my father.
"father, father" I had said.
"run" was all he told me.
"no, father" I was crying. I heard more of them coming. they were getting closer.
"I" he started ... then he looked at mother and then back at me "We both love you, run"
Slowly I got up and walked to the wall and took my cloak off, putting it on, I took one look behind me and ran.
I shook my head, trying to get ride of the dream. Sighing, I felt my eyes start to water. Slowly I calmed myself down. "have a bad dream?" said someone from behind me.
Turning I looked around, no one was there. "h-hello?" I asked. Walking from the shadows, Luna stepped into the light. "oh, luna-san. Hello, do you always come in early?"
"do you always change the subject?" I smiled at her. "only when I want to. .... "
"What happened to you?"
"I don't want to talk aboutit" I started to walk back to my room, she was there standing in front of me, so fast!
"if I am going to teach you, you WILL tell me what happened." I just stood there, eye's shut. "please tell me ..." I sighed. Pointing to a table to my left, we sat down. I told her the story, about how every night I wake up cold and afraid how my mother and father died, how I was raped. I did not cry, I did not breakdown, I felt better. After I told her I stood up and walked to my room, she had not said a word. She just sat still. When I got to the door of the room, she called out. "Angel-san." Turning to her, I looked up.
"nani?"
"you must be very strong."
"no, not really, but lets never talk about this ever again" And with that, I shut the door to my room, went to the bed and wept.
Never a word about what I said came up. It was like she never knew. After the first day of work, we went out to the woods and started my training. It went on like that for months. When I got back from my training, my body would ache. She was one tough cookie. Never letting, me rest or anything.
Almost eight months from the day I came, Luna came to my room. "Come in" I said as Luna opened the door. I don't know why I ever bother saying 'come in' she comes in anyway. " aahh... angel-san, what's up?".
Ilook up at her. "nothing, just fooling around. Why?". She looked at her feet. "nani" I say as I stand.
"well ... tonight, is the last spell."
I was shocked. "huh?" ... she looked at me.
"you have mastered White Magic, Shamerism. There is one last spell that I will show you. Tomorrow morning you must leave and go on you way. Meet me at our spot in the woods, and I have a secret I must tell you." With that, she left. I was standing still. Slowly I went and got a bag and started to put a few of my things into it.
I met her in the woods where we always meet. A small clearing a mile in. She was already there waiting. "do you have your things packed?" she asked. I slowly nodded my head and laid my bag near my feet. "yes."
"good, now lets start." walking to her. I stood next to her. "I will teach you the Dragon Slave."
I think I peed my pants. I slowly turned my head to her, eye's large and all the whites were showing. "Come Again?" I asked.
"you heard me."
"am I good enough to do it?" she looked at me.
"your past good enough." I smiled. "and ....I'm the knight of Cephied, the dragon King, and Beastmaster is my best friend." ... I just looked at her. I hit my head with my hand.
"your THAT Luna Inverse??" She reached over and hit me in the back of the head.
"You ready?" I nodded my head.
We went through it a few times. Then she told me to do it. Walking to the clearing, I stood still and started to chant:
Darkness beyond twilight
Crimson from blood that flows
Buried in the flow of time
In thy great name
I pledge myself to darkness!
Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed
By the power you and i possess!
Dragon Slave!!!
The Power was amazing, I felt it wash over me. At first it felt odd, then I aimed it at the Forrest. I don't remember much after that. When I woke up, Luna was gone and my things were laid be my side with a note attached to it. I sat up and looked at the note.
Dear Angle,
By the time you wake up I will be gone. I did not want to say goodbye to you in person. You are very good at magic, don't forget that real power comes from the heart. I am giving you a Talisman, it is in the pocket of your bag. It will up your power greatly when you need it to. I hope you have fun while you travel. Don't get lost! You are a dear friend.
L. Inverse
I sat there for a moment, Then I started to laugh. I re-read the part about getting lost. The first day I was going to meet her here, I had gotten lost, I was gone the entire night trying to find my way back. When I did, she was pissed off. I folded the letter up and put it back in my bag. Sighing I stood up. SHOCK.
The entire Forest was gone. Blasted away. "holy Shit." I muttered. I looked up at the sky, I bet it was only 10am now. Luna was back at the restaurant I bet. I was half tempted to go and say thanks and goodbye. Sighing again, I walked away. When I found a path, I smiled and walked down it, I have no clue where it will take me. I reach into my bag and open the pocket looking for the Talisman, it's a small black ring, i put it on. I just smile and leave. Leaving both my pasts behind me. I can't help but wonder who i will meet. Onward I go!