One strike won't end it all.

At least, that was what went on inside the teen's mind when he confronted a Ghostring. "I finally got you..." He thought, when he actually said it to himself. Right now, adrenaline pumped his body, pushing him far beyond his limit. Sweat trickled down his cheek from the border of his short, but hidden, black hair. The day wasn't hot. Nor was it daylight. It was dark, and night; the moon shining down upon the land of Rune-Midgard with an easy breeze.

The ghost creature was floating side to side, emotionlessly, as its enemy was the young assassin teen, standing a few feet away. It may not look hostile, but the teen knows much about monsters that roams here. This type of creature attacks any human that comes nearby. Pretty aggressive, won't you think?

Here I come!

With one deep breath, the assassin raised his weapon, a chokuto sword, to eye level – and dashed forward. The ghost seemed to move, too, the moment it saw the assassin dash. With a swift motion, Naeel brought down the sword silently as the night was. Behind the young assassin, a blue, yet pale, sheet of what was left over of the ghost; slowly fell to the dirt ground. If that priest didn't enchant my weapon, I'd have trouble killing it...

A heavy sigh escaped through his lips as Naeel, the young assassin, prevented him from falling with the support of his sword, which he stabbed the ground with to keep steady. "Damn... I'm already lacking behind with my training?" He wiped the sweat from his face, using the black scarf that covered his neck. "?"

Something caught his eye. Just as he passed by the pale sheet on the dirt, a golden, but small, corner of an item, shined. "Well, what do you know...?"

The assassin crouched down beside the pale sheet – and picked up, to what seem to be, a card that was just about the size of his palm, or smaller. One side was blank, and the other contained a picture of the Ghostring he had destroyed. The golden frame covered the edges of the card, carving a smirk on the teen's face. But only momentarily did his finding of a Ghostring card struck his heart with joy.

Something, more of a noise, had been picked up by his ears. Just as soon as heard the noise, the teen turned swiftly without a sound. It was someone coming towards him. Who, he did not know of, but Naeel had to hide. If only his legs would move, he would. But his side had ached, throbbing and bleeding, from a powerful blow. "!" He could feel his ribs gnawing at him in pain, which caused him to become immobilized. Shoot...! C'mon, move! The teen had a knee on the ground, a clutched hand placed around his right ribs, and breathing heavily.

Not a moment later, there was a figure who stepped forward. Naeel didn't see the person's face since he lowered his head, having the bangs of his black hair covering his facial identity.

"Aw, shoot... Seems like you got to it first..."

To his surprise, the figure that stood in front of him was a female. "...?" The teen raised his eyes a bit – and saw a pair of black uniform-like shoes (high heels?) that covered the base of the female's legs. Her legs were, surprisingly to him, quite nice – Err...

Shaking his head slightly, Naeel raised his head fully to see who this person was.

"Hey... You don't look alright..." Her innocent voice crawled through his ears again. Naeel kept his stare towards the female that stood in front of him. She had a red ribbon that tied her long, brown hair that nearly reached her waist. The female wore a long dress, but at her lower torso, there were two slits that revealed a bit of her thighs. In the middle of those slits was a huge cross. She had blue eyes that fitted the moonlight sky.

"A priest...?" Naeel mumbled, slowly watching her come closer to the teen – everything was blurry to him.

"Not just any priest, silly" The female giggled shortly, bending down to a knee just to reach his lowered height. Naeel was nearly several inches shorter than her, he could tell, but he had important things to do besides dreaming about what would be under that dre-

"I'm a High Priest! Don't you see?" He could see her sweet smile etching on her face. "You don't look okay... Are you alright?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, which made him react slightly.

"Yeah, I am. Don't worry 'bout it," the teen replied. He, forcing himself to, stood up, pushing her arm away with a motion of his shoulder as he took a step forward – and the next thing he knew, his body stopped functioning. Both of his knees had dropped to the ground, followed by his whole body.

The priest had shouted a bit to him, "oh my God! Are you okay?"

But her voice seemed to become muffled by the passing second. He could hear her yelling out questions and statements, but they were becoming dull. Soon, all he could see was darkness closing in – and his eyelids shut.

"... Heal...!"

---------------------------------------

"... Nrgh...?"

Sunlight. Light. His eyes become bright. Sunlight...?

Slowly, Naeel opened his eyes, blinking a few times before he saw an opened window with its curtains pushed neatly to the side. The sun wasn't that bright today, but it shine upon him. Outside, he recognized the town that was built around this building. Prontera City.

It took him about a few minutes of thinking, until he sat up – but the gnawing pain on his ribs prevented him to do so. Lying down on the bed, where am I? He looked to the left, seeing that the bed was surrounded in a room filled with what a normal apartment room would be; mirror, chairs, closet, a door, bathroom, some books. He looked to the side, seeing that the closet had its doors open.

Scarves, gloves, shoes, dresses – wait. ... Panties...?

With that thought in mind, his eyes opened wide, finally realizing that he was in a room he didn't know where, or who it belonged to. "Where the hell am I...?"

"Oh, you're already awake?" A feminine voice called out from the bathroom. There was a noise of silk being released that entered the teen's ears. Foot steps came afterwards. The door opened and closed – and there she was, standing in a white dress. Her brown hair wasn't tied anymore, so it was longer than her waist. Her blue eyes were staring towards Naeel's dark eyes, a smile forming on her face.

"... You're that priest..." Naeel said as he looked at her from the bed he laid on. She nodded in response, walking towards him. She took a seat that was next to the bed. Naeel took in a bit of a deep breath as the teen struggled to sit up, trying to ignore the pain.

"Yup! I am. Oh, don't try to sit yet," the priest said, gently pushing Naeel back to lie flat on the bed. "You're still hurt. You shouldn't move at all, yet."

"Huh?" Naeel looked down upon his naked, upper-torso, filled with patches and bandages. Mainly, his ribs were covered in thick layers of bandage. "..." The teen fell silent as he thought about that night when he found the Ghostring. He must have fallen unconscious after that fight. After all, he did manage to kill it when he was already injured.

"When you fell down, I thought you were dead. But I didn't think assassins would die easily, so I took you in here, and patched you up!" The priest smiled again as she watched the young teen look out towards the sky from the opened window. "You know... I don't mean to get personal, but..."

"Hmm?"

"When I brought you in here, I... I managed to carry you."

There was a dull silence that pierced the atmosphere for a moment. Naeel had turned his head towards the priest with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm surprised..."

"Oh? At what?"

"You're..." she started to say, placing her elbow on her thigh. Her hand was up, supporting her resting head. "You were pretty light."

"Eh..." Naeel kept his silence once again, but it was shorter this time. He laughed. And smiled. "Really?" he asked.

The priest nodded with a slight smile. "I mean, I don't do weights or anything, but... It's just that I'm surprised that a person like you is that light. Although... Your sword was the heaviest to carry... How do you manage to use that?" She said, pointing towards the sword that was resting against the wall to the girl's side.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It must've been a burden to do that. I've been using it since I was small." Naeel chuckled. "But I do appreciate your help. Thanks."

"I managed to patch you up, but..." She had stopped in her sentence; her eyes were half-closed. Naeel looked at her blue eyes, and saw that she was staring at his arm. "Your arm..."

"..." The teen's right hand moved from its resting place – and ended up being placed over his left arm. His eyes closed for a short moment, but he opened them soon. At least, about half-way. To the priest, she could tell that something horrible had happened to the young boy, involving his left arm. "It's okay," he said, breaking the silence.

The priest broke her stare from the arm, and shifted them to him. "Whatever happened to you, I'm sorry. It must have been really painful." Of course, she was talking about his past, which she has yet to know of. The priest wasn't expecting Naeel to tell her what happened, but at the same time – she wanted to know, and why.

"... Maybe someday I'll tell the story to you."

Indeed, his past was very crucial to him. Whatever he may do, the past will never leave his mind. It haunted him. It scared him. But that was the least of his worries, at the moment. He needed to stay here to rest. Stretching his arms, Naeel sighed deeply, and smiled towards the priest.

To himself, he has this feeling that he never felt before. Usually, he had never laughed, or smiled. Let alone talk with someone this long. This person... Somehow, she changed him. "What's your name?" he asked her.

"I'm Kira," she replied sweetly. "What about you?"

"... My name is..." the teen replied, with a smile. "Naeel."

Author's Note:

I just want to start by simply saying that I do not own Ragnarok, okay? Okay. Second, you might notice that an Assassin class is using a 'sword' in this prologue. I know, but I thought mixing in a bit of twist and reality with Ragnarok would make the story a bit more interesting. Hopefully it will be. The prologue is short, I apologize if it is, but I think they are supposed to be short, no? Read and Review, please? Thanks!

Chokuto – a Japanese sword that is similar to a katana, except the blade and handle are straight. Naeel is pronounced (Naii-eel), and Kira is (Kee-rah). The 'r' in her name sounds a bit like the 'r' in 'Rurouni Kenshin'.