There was comfort in the cottage. The warm fire, being wrapped in skins and
furs for the winters were harsh that year. Even with the furs and skins, it
wasn't as warm as I wanted it to be, but my dreams were. A forest that
looked as if it were made of glass. The peaceful pastels of my dream melted
my cold limps and made my cold days so enjoyable. In my dreams I would see
a girl I only wished to be my bride.
"So pretty." The maiden was slender, but not weak. Her hair was like a silk brown crown that flowed down her back. Her eyes were just a green as the emerald stones travelers bring into the village. She ran with the grace of the deer and the elegance of a cat. Her voice was like the soothing sounds of the flute.
"So lovely. like. the buttercup in the rain."
"If she is so pretty, why don't you take her for your wife?" The voice startled me out of my sleep. The furs fell from my limbs and the skin I had over my arms went flying through the room. When I looked over I saw my mother holding her mouth with a giggle.
My mother was a beautiful woman with rosy cheeks when she smiled. Her hair was like mine. Long and thick with a rich brown luster to it. She had me grow out my hair to show off. I didn't mind all that much. It kept the back of my neck warm in the winter. She also had a slender body for a woman that gave birth to three children. She was a very modest woman that kept her arms and legs covered year around. Her eyes were always a wonderful thing to get lost in. It was as if you could fall back into innocent childhood just by looking into the gentle ocean of blue.
She kissed me on the forehead with her soft lips before kneeling a little to look into my eyes. " Get up before your father comes home and gets you up." Sometimes that phrase was just a way to laugh, but other times it was completely serious. My father wasn't as gentle as my porcelain made mother. I tried to avoid him whenever I could.
She left my bedside, along with the heat. I hadn't realized how cold it was till now. I pulled the fur up over my arms and shivered, trying to refrain the warmed I had lost.
There was an even colder breeze of air that ran through the house that made my teeth chatter. After that, the door slammed shut. My father was home and I knew if I didn't get up, he wouldn't only force me to my feet but throw me into the snow to wake me up. That motivation itself made me jump out of bed and struggle with putting on some clothing that would keep the cold from getting to me.
It wasn't long before I walked into a main part of the house and sat at the table. Normally, mother would wake me before father came home. She would pour me some warm soup and I would eat. She would join me and we would talk till the sun was a quarter of the way in the sky and going outside was tolerable.
Then she would get up and pour a bowl for father to cool. I would always do something to it. Put too much pepper in it, or sometimes the same for salt. Once I put dirt into it. Other times I would eat half of it. He knew it wasn't mother doing it, so every morning he would glare at me and I would smile, acting as if I knew nothing about his anger.
Today was different. She wanted to let me sleep for as long as I wanted as long as father didn't beat me up. My days staying in the cottage I grew up were done for. Today she was taking me to the tera. Father wanted me out of the house and mother knew I had little skill except for staff fighting. She hated when I took up lessons on how to fight.
Father was already setting at the table eating his soup when I walked in. He glared at me, as he always did, but resumed to his soup, knowing I didn't get a hold of it this time. I took my place on the other side of the table, eating my bowl as well. He kept looking up from his dish to stare at me with his aggressive brown eyes. I sank in my chair as he did losing the will to eat.
I got up to help mother with the daily chores. She was off doing something else, so I decided to clean a little. Besides, I didn't want to sit and stare at my father any longer then I had to.
Her voice startled me when she called my name. She was smiling as I turned to her. The rosy cheeks invited me to her presence. She placed an arm around me, though it was hard, noting my couple inches taller than she is, and set her head on my lower shoulder. With her gentle fingers she played with the ends of my hair. I smiled as it made my back fill odd.
"You behave. All right? No making mischief while you're there." She smiled knowing good and well I would. It assured her more so when I said nothing in turn for her request. "Just don't make me worry about you." She tapped my cheek gently before letting me go and started to hand me bags with my clothing and belongings. I really didn't have too much.
She quickly moved into the other room, holding her thin fingers over her mouth. This would be the first time I had left home for longer than a week, and with no other surviving children, she seemed to take it hard. I wouldn't be but 15 minutes from the cottage and probably visit often. Well, I hoped as much.
My father took some of the smaller bags, leaving me with the larger ones to pull along myself. He did things like this just to see me struggle. I had wondered, on occasion, if he was a Mazoku seducing my mother for kicks, or if he was a spy from the Mazoku community.
No matter. Father had me out the door before I could tell my mother goodbye. I could hear her saying something from the back room where her and father's room was. It had to be the coldest room in the winter. I'm sure father meant it to be as well.
He said nothing on the way there. I was sure that he was happy to see me go. He never enjoyed my company and never showed me his skills for me to learn so that I might learn and help the family with food and wood. He never played with me as a child. Mother was the one that raised me with not a finger from my father to help.
He always looked angry when I saw him. I never saw a smile, and I never knew why. We didn't talk much unless I was in trouble. I would get my ears boxed in and I was forced to do unnecessary work. After his punishments became annoying to me, I would work twice as hard to get into the trouble I did. He became so frustrated with me that he gave up with my punishments and plotted for my dismissal from the house. This was now my punishment.
We arrived. The tera was large magnificent temple with many ornaments to make it, noticeably, the pride of our small village. This was the only means of our tourism. We believed this to be the farthest north temple for Ceipheid. There was one more northern than this one, but it was for the dark lord, Dynast. Ultimately, all those temples to the dark lord's, or other powerful Mazoku, were for Ruby-eye Shabranigdo. All in all, there were many more temples for him than there were for lord Ceipheid. People feared Ruby-eye Shabranigdo more than they did Ceipheid. They tried to please him with these temples. Mother told me it was an honor to be accepted into priesthood like this. She tried to assure me that things would turn out right, even if I was serving for the losing side.
The high priest was there to meet us at the gate. Father and him talked for a while. I was too busy with all the things I could get into here. Even though I hated the idea of working in such a dull place like this, the surroundings had to be some of the best. The forest covered one of the most marvelous things for miles. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the bitter air and then let it out with a solemn sign. It froze my lungs over and made my inner ears go numb, but the feeling was life, and I dug at it with all I could.
When I opened my eyes again there was a priestess of the tera. She didn't look too happy to see me, and already knew I was going to be trouble. She looked me down well, patting some parts of my loose clothing. I suppose that was to insure I didn't have any weapons on me. To be truthful, I hated sharp objects.
She then took me by the ear and pulled me into the tera. I followed her, helplessly in her grasp. I could hear the dark chuckle of my father as I was carried away. Some of the underling priests came and took my things and followed the girl and myself.
* * * * * Time went by so slow the first few weeks. They wasted no time with my teachings. I wanted to slack off so badly, but they would not let me. Sleeping in was a pleasure only taken by the ones that had been there for years. Me, on the other hand, woke up long before the brake of dawn. The only blessing to that is I ate first. If I eat first, I eat all I want, whether or not the cook gives it to me. Some of the underling priests could deal with not eating some times. The life here has made them fat.
Life seemed less exciting than it was back at home. All they ever wanted to do was show me how to do their stupid rituals for Lord Ceipheid and hit me over the head with a stick to force me to listen. I hated it more the chopping wet wood. After some time, and many numb days to my head, I decided to listen, almost out of malice for the woman that was teaching me. I believe her name was Kera. Excuse me while I correct myself. Kera-san. She wanted a better title, but she compromised that with me.
She was amazed how fast I really did start to learn once; "she got it though my think head." I became an underling priest in less than a year. I got to do more on my own, which meant freedom. I was able to go visit my mother more often too. Well, that always required me taking a note from my sensei as well. Mother feared the reports. Some where good, but most of them showed how much mischief I would get into around the tera. I loved to ring the help bells and the ring bells that were supposedly there to get Ceipheid's resting soul to answer a few requests. I never really understood how that worked. I mean, it was an understanding that I have not mastered yet, I guess, but if you have a creature that is busy trying to destroy the opposing side, would you not think that they would be too busy to answer petty things like, "help my child heal," or "My wheat harvest is sparse this year. Please send rain." I know if I where Ceipheid, I would not. Destroying Ruby eye Shabranigdo was enough trouble as it is.
Let me see. One yes, I loved to sleep in the rafters when I am to be sweeping the foyer. And teasing the girls when they came. The dragons had to be the best. I would always run off though. I never had the guts to face them myself. Mother says I get that from her, being to shy. Shy was far from what Kera-san called it. Everything was bad to her. I eventually ignored the notes, and so did my Mother. Instead of her fretting over the notes when I had my time with her, she would enjoy my company while father went out to chop wood or something. He never stayed in the house when I came to visit. Even though he never sees me I made sure I left him a gift before I left.
Believe me. It is not worth mentioning. Let me say it made him very angry. I would always hear about it a few days after.
* * * * * The years went by as my rank fell far above my superiors. Gray-san was now my teacher. He was the high priest of the tera. The training started to take a whole new light to it. All the previous things I had learned were finally starting to make since. Well, the constant sweeping of the floors and the polishing the golds and silvers (silver is a pain in the neck to clean!) will never make a common mind set with me. He did it to keep me out of trouble, I know.
Tonight was my night of no work and I decided to take advantage of it. There was a cottage out in the forest that had been abandoned for many years. It was rumored that it was cursed. Some went as far to say that it was possessed. The rumors also said that if a man talked upon the wood of the house, he has an evil curse on him and will surely die. I, on the other hand, am not as stupid or superstitious to believe such things. I had fixed it up to where the inside was almost elegant looking. I came here to rest and sleep my days away, even if I was to do work in the tera. Gray-san always gave me a fit about it and doubled my duty the next day, not letting me have a bite to eat till it was all done. He started to remind me of my father; just it seemed he tried to get to know me, while my good for nothing father would rather leave the house than to hear me talk.
I had a girl that I had met not long before now. She was a pretty blonde with blue eyes. She was one of the new interns from another tera to the south where the ground stayed warm. She wanted to spend the evening with me that night, so I pleased her to join me.
My cold scents arises off me in a way though. Something seemed amiss about now. That dream had. The ones Gary-san told me to look out for and tried to pry from my head. If he wouldn't teach me anything other than monk play and light spells, then I would keep my dreams to myself and wish for them.
It is a hard one to explain. It seemed like a cold dampness around me that made my joints paralyzed and my skin numb. I felt strong and able to defeat anything at the same time. The power was overwhelming and laborious to my frail human body. I wasn't exactly the most muscular of the men round here. To be truthful, most of them could probably break me in half like a twig if they wanted to.
But anyhow, I held it within my hand-
"That's it." Gray replied dryly. "At lest that's all he wrote so far."
The woman beside him, with semi long brown black hair looked over his shoulders, but then relaxed with a sigh. "He lied to you."
The high priest sighed, sweeping back some of his stray hairs back behind his ears. "I know. I should punish him too, but then he would know we snooped. I don't want to give up this writing faith that I have in him just yet."
The woman sat on the side of the low placed bad, looking to the floor. The wood of the room sparkled as if it were just waxed. The cleanest part of the whole tera was their young apprentice's room. He kept that up nicer than the rest of all his duties. He would show up late for his lessons, though it would get him in great trouble, just to make sure his single room was clean.
"Then what do you propose we do?" She paused, gathering her thoughts. Gray seemed to know that she was deep in though. So he kept his mouth shut waiting on her. "We are running short with time on him, Gray-san." Her eyes met his when she looked up at him. "You know that just as well as I do."
"They get what they want, Kera. We are only toys. Chances are that they will just kill him like the other priest that wherever half as good as he is and ready to replace me."
The room went into a dead silent as he ended his sentence. It was only a year ago that his priest that was to be his heir to the temple was killed days after he had accepted the honor and placement that was given to him. That's when they had known about this young boy from the lonely cottage on the edge of town. It seemed to be such a pity that he would be the next to arise. Both Gray and Kera knew it would be a mistake to hand him the key to the tera. The townsman seemed to hate him when he came to do ceremonies in town. The boy didn't have a good reputation. His words were like honey when he spoke them to people, manipulating them to his will. Gray had fallen victim to it more than once. There was not one man that was willing to give his daughter up for him to marry. This put many of Gary's plans for him on hold. There was hope though. The young woman that he talked about in his writings. Maybe he could persuade her to abandon her priesthood and become the boy's mate.
That was easier said than done.
"Do you know when that was written?" She asked causally. The man only shook his head, checking the papers once again.
"There are no dates with any of these." He set the papers down on the floor where he found them and walked out of the room. Kera lifted herself off of the bed and followed him. "I would say the last one was written yesterday afternoon. That is when I told him he wouldn't have any work." An irritated sigh slipped from his lips as he passed some of the younger priests-in- training. "And I thought I was giving him too much work. Seems I should give more."
"Caution isn't always a bad thing, Gray-san. If it keeps him out of the clutches of the enemy, then it would be worth it." The silence grew between the two once again when Gray didn't answer her.
He nearly felt responsible for the fall of his pupil. Who would have thought a delinquent child, such as him, would rise in rank so quickly. The timing couldn't be worse either. Fall festivals were coming around. They would need him to carry it out while they attended to the more primate work in the tera. His favor with the people was becoming poorer as time went by and many people came to him asking why such a boy was doing such important work. He didn't have an answer.
"It needs to be." He said, moving away from the woman. She looked to him with concern, but then grew angry. If he couldn't pry something from him, then she would. Besides, the dream he had machined in his writings intrigued her.
* * * * * "You know how much I envy you." The boy looked to a bird that was perched on a golden ball that marked one end of the tera's roof. He would often climb a tree that was settled near the tera and rest on it. It was perfect. Kera or Gray never looked there to try to find him.
The bird gave him an odd look, cocking his head back and forth, like birds do. He gave a small chuckle. His gaze turned from the bird to the blue skies. The days were getting colder. The mid shin length brown robe and vest wasn't doing much for him. His arms remained bare all day, making the relief only in his bed at night.
"If I had wings I would fly far from this retched place and never come back." The bird tilted his head down towards him with a squawk. He just smiled, slipping his eyelids down his eyes till they closed. The warm coming fall sun relaxed him, blocking out all means of the bitter wind, cradling him into a soothing light sleep.
There was a tug on his neck. His lazy eyes open, turning his head to the side. There was the bird desperately trying to pull the locket he had on his neck off. He laughed a little, reaching up to take it, but as he did, the chain around his neck broke. The bird bounced back a little.
He jumped up quickly, looking to the bird. "Come on, now. Give that back to me." The bird jumped back a little more before he remembered his wings and flew off the roof and for the ground. The young priest wasted no time. He jumped from the roof to the ground, running after the bird. Supposedly the bird found this funny and let him chase him into a wheat field that had not been harvested yet.
He ran as fast as he could till it became too hard for him to breathe and run any more. He laid his hands upon his knees and rested, breathing laboriously till he could look up again.
A hand touched his face with a silk gentleness. His name rolled from her lips like ice. When his senses came back to his, he smelled the strong odor of tobacco and wine. His head rose in hesitation. A spotless white dress with an even longer slit up the side. Fair tanned skin with golden strains of hair that curled at the ends, and. gold cat like eyes.
She was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen.
She held his chin, taking it and forced him to his feet. Her other hand held a long elegant stick, and on the very end was a cigarette. On each of her arms were several gold bracelets. She smiled with a dignity he had only seen in travelers that dressed well and were obviously rich, but there was something else about her. Something he could not place. Maybe it was her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, but also had a dangerous element to them.
He wanted to move away from her, but something held him there. Maybe it was his fear. Maybe it was she. No matter. He could feel his heart beat in his throat. His face became hot with anxiety, but he still didn't move.
"Dear. Calm yourself." She said gently. The very sound of her voice nearly made all his muscles collapse, but return so he didn't lose his dignity and fall to the ground. She gave a brief laugh. "Cute priest."
"M.m.maaa. Ma'am?"
"Trust in me, dear priest. I hold something you want." The boy's attention perked up a bit. He had hoped it was his locket. It was his most treasured item he owned. It held the picture of his deeply loved mother and lost sister.
But another word rang through his mind. "Power." His eyes grew wide, looking to the woman with a desire to know more. She chuckled again, taking a drag on her stick, and exhaling the extra smoke. "For a priest, you are quite lustful. You want to control the elements of this world by the motion of your hand, don't you?" He nodded mindlessly. "Come with me then."
She took her hand from his chin and took his hand, opening it up and placed the locket there. He looked to it and then her. She smirked and her eyes grew dark. There was something not right about her. He stepped back, shaking his head.
"Who are you?"
"Why question me now, priest? Can't you see your fate is sealed with me?" She said advancing towards him. He moved back as quickly as he could till the heel of his foot hit a rock in the field, and he fell onto his back, disappearing from normal sight into the vast ocean of wheat.
When he got over the fact of him falling, he had realized the woman stood over him. His face paled with her look that streamed over her face. The complexion of perfect evil. ".Ma.a.zoku.!"
The gasp of the word poured from his mouth. His breath wouldn't let him refill his lungs completely, though he tried.
She bent down to him, putting her long sharp nails to his neck. They tugged at his skin, scraping the first layer off, leaving his skin felling raw. "You realize what I am." She said softly, looking into his large brown/gold eyes. Sweat ran from his face as his gasps for air increased. He feared her more than he had anyone before, and to be truthful, he could not tell why. His mouth lay open, but not a sound came from it, nor did he try to produce one.
"Now." three of her nails dug into his skin where she had made is raw, drawing blood from it. The boy shrieked in the unexpected addition of pain. ".the trick is to." She covered her fingertips in his bright red blood. ".figure out who I am." She showed him his blood before placing her fingers to her lips, enjoying the hard taste of his freshly drawn blood.
He felt his eyes roll back. He felt sick. His sweating increased, but around him, he felt like ice. The cold sweat seemed to amuse the Mazoku. She tapped his face lightly, smearing the blood on his face. "Your joys of this will come soon. You will know how I feel and lust for it as well."
She placed a hand over the left side of his chest, beckoning his heart to come to her hand. The poor young boy widened his eyes, abandoning his feeling of sickness and yelled out in pain. The vivid feeling of arteries and veins being pulled from their place and the pressure on his ribs came to mind. A burning sensation appears in his lungs. Tears flowed down his face as he tried to beg her to stop.
She didn't stop at first, but she did soon after. It felt like an eternity to the priest, but when she did, he moaned in pain with closed eyes. The tears fell from his eyes in a modest manner. The sound of his heart beat against his ribs with a hardness to it that hurt almost as much as her trying to take it from him.
"Remember that the wolves come searching these areas for food about this time of year, young one." She scowled. "There will be a wolf coming for you."
He didn't hear her leave. He can't remember the time he stopped smelling the tobacco. All he could think about was the deep pain in his chest and how he wished it to be gone.
It took a while, but his hearing was cleared from the pounding of his heart. Someone was calling him. With dizziness in his head, he opened his eyes. The blue sky had turn into a red. The warmth of the sun was gone, as night had started to set in. He rose from his place, seeing he was still on the roof of the tera.
Was it all a dream? He felt his chest. The locket was still there and his chest felt fine now. He smiled mischievously. It was all a dream!
"Zeoliet! If you don't show yourself now, I will beat your head in later!" Kera-san. The boy signed bitterly as he rose from his place. With ease, he jumped from the roof to the ground with little sound. His chest reeked with pain. The dream must have put a lot of stress on his heart for it to act like this.
He walked from around the tree holding some clippers. He came out with a smile and a sweatdrop. "It's a good thing you don't know my last name." She turned around to him with a wisp. Her face was red with anger. Of course she wasn't ready for his smart mouth.
"What do you think you where doing? You know today is the day you were to clean the altar till you could see yourself in it!" He could not hold himself back. He covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. "What's so funny?" she yelled.
"You are, Kera-san." She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, narrowing her eyes even more as she marched herself over to him.
She grabbed his arm, shoving his wrist into his face. In his eyes, he only saw a gold blur and his wrist. He looked to her, shutting his mouth quickly, and returning his humored face to a questionable one.
"Stealing?"
"Umm. No."
"Then where did you get it?" She demanded.
"I. don't know." She let go of his arm. He took it away from his face and looked at it. His eyes widened with a gasp, but he turned to the side. The last thing he needed was her asking about it more.
"Whatever. Look, you're slacking on your work again. We will never have this tera in order before fall fest-" she cut herself short. Her eyes focused back on him with paleness in her face. "Zeoliet."
He looked to her. He had zoned out of her lengthy lecture till his name was mentioned. He hoped that she wouldn't have him repeat everything that she just said. He knew he could not.
But she didn't.
"You're bleeding." Without a thought, he placed a hand on his neck and then looked at his hand. His eyes became mindless, and his face grew pale. Wolves.come to hunt here this time of year. There will be a wolf coming for you
Her words rang through his mind loud and clear. He pushed Kera aside and darted into the tera. She looked to him in confusion. She had never seen him so pale and almost sick looking. She questioned her actions. Did she say something wrong?
* * * * * The sick feeling never really left the young priest. One part reason being, the gold ring that was on his hand would not come off. No matter how had he tried to bend it, break it, pull it off, it would not budge. He tried to burn it off once as well, in the utmost part of his desperation, but ended up burning himself instead.
The other part of his sick feeling came from what the lady had told him before she had mysteriously disappeared. Remember that the wolves come searching these areas for food about this time of year, young one. There will be a wolf coming for you. The quote didn't set easily with him. It nearly felt like stabbing pains in his heart when he thought of it. It didn't help that his heart felt weak ever since the ordeal.
He couldn't figure out this small part for him. There was a part of him that asks for what she offered, to receive what she had to offer him. That power from those dreams. Much like the ones where he held the power within this hand. It was an unimaginable power that this place could never offer him. It didn't help that his teachers and masters didn't want him to learn, especially after he lusted for it so much.
And if he took the woman up on her offer, he could have.
No! Taking what a Mazoku had to offer was forbidden, even in his heart. He may have been a very rebellious child, but he wasn't going to stoop that low for anything. More so than anything to stop him was his mother. How it would kill her to find out that her sweet only little boy would die to become something so vile as that. How it would kill her indeed if he were to betray the creature both he and she served. That was one of the only drives that kept his selfish desires at bay. for now.
Gray wasn't too happy that his young pupil had gone to bed without finishing all his duties around the tera. When his trusted assistant had told him her experience with him, his anger was at bay, and turned to concern. A reaction like that from Zeoliet was very strange.
"Did he say anything after that?" Gray asked inquisitively.
"No. But I didn't bother to follow him until he was gone. That is when I found him in his bed, shaking. I tried to whisper his name, but he wouldn't respond, so I figured he was asleep already." Kera's thought was intense. She was trying as hard to figure this out as Gray was. Neither of them knew how to conclude something like this.
Gray started to walk down the hall, stopping a young underling priest. He looked to be the same age, as their sick one now, but still in the ranks of the younger. He told him to see to the jobs that were most importune that his "replacement" had missed. After giving him the half-staff list, he walked away. The boy was anxious to do the jobs of his superior.
"What should we do?" Kera ran up from behind him, looking to his with question, but did not cross ahead of him in his step.
He looked to her without turning his head. "I really do not have an answer for that right now." His focus went back on what was in front of him. His older gray eyes could not fathom the mystery that was set in front of him. None of it made much sense. "I'll see how he is doing in the morning." He looked to her once more. This time his head looked to her straight. The gray eyes seemed to be stern. "I should be the one to check on him in the morning." He wanted to make sure she wouldn't try to pry this from him. It might cause more damage than it was worth.
She nodded in reposes to him and let him walk on. She stood there; asking what she may do now.
Gray spent the rest of the remaining waking hours finishing up from left behind chores. Even he would stoop back into early priesthood to keep a reminder on how he came from where they are now many, many years back. This time, he did it mainly to get the swimming thoughts out of his head. He would worry with it in the morning. It wasn't till he closed the doors to the tera and said his prayers to his Lord Ceipheid that he felt any contentment with the irritating thought of the boy.
It didn't mean he slept easy that night.
Well, neither did the boy.
The nightmare would not let loose from his mind. His sleep didn't come easy either. No matter how hard he tried to get the thought of the beautiful woman from his mind, he could not. The wolves.her taunting eyes and bleeding fingers. The mere innocent laugh persued his ears, even in his sleep.
He woke in a cold sweat. The sun was far gone by now. Work was just not being set away by the newest additions to the tera. His eyes were heavy with sleep, but he refused to sleep anymore, in fear of his pursuing woman.
A soft stroke on the forehead made him turn over onto his back and peer up at the silhouette over him. She, whoever she might be, was setting on the side of his bed, stroking his forehead like his mother would do in his younger years.
But it wasn't her. His mother didn't have long blond hair. The moonlight from the window had shown him her outline. She placed a finger to his lips to tell him to be quiet, even though he had no intention of making a noise. She sang softly to him with a gentleness of a lullaby.
He smiled softly to the figure in thanks to her caring touch. He wanted to know who the woman was. Then he could thank her by name. His eyes grew heavier until they fell. Like a child neglecting to sleep, he jerked his eyes open again. Moments were rare in his life now. The woman acted much like his gentle mother. He wanted nothing more than to take in as much as he could.
Her hand went from his head to his cheek, tilting his lazy head upward. A few of her gold bracelets fell from her mid arm to her wrist, making a soft metallic noise. He could see her smile from where he lay. Beautiful and innocent. With the last of his strength, he gave in. The sweet tone had relaxed his soul and put him to sleep.
She sang a little longer making sure he was sound asleep when she had stopped. Her eyes were the same gold as before with a cat like cut for the pupils. She titled his chin up a bit more so she could see his profile a bit better.
"Over the many years of my searching I have not found a better match." She whispered to him in his sleep. "Here is to my patience in waiting for the right one to come along." She gently let his chin down, lightly stroking his cheek. Everything about him was perfect, even his looks. No, it was more so his easiness on the eyes.
"My wish now is to make sure your transformation doesn't ruin you." Her hand ran down his cheek and to his neck to the upper portion of his chest. Her fingers detailed his collarbone before she pulled her hand away. "Not yet." She scolded herself with a smile.
She bent down her head to his forehead and kissed him lightly. "Goodnight, my young priest." He stirred a little in his sleep, but did not wake. She shook her head mildly before vanishing from the room.
He slept soundly for the remainder of the night.
* * * * * The warm tides hit my feet with the gentleness of a feather. The sands were the soft under my feet. I was running. I could feel the nice warm sea breeze against my face.my entire body. The smell of salt filled my nostrils.
Something was missing though. I can't quite place it, something important.
I looked to my side and there stood that woman I dreamed about in my childhood. It was as if the sun's warmth came from her alone, for it wasn't till I looked on her did I feel it. She laughed with a smile running along side me.
I.
There was no sound to her voice. Though, that seemed so minuet right now. The time was paradise, the woman I dreamed of was now next to me. Her hair, being only a bit shorter than mine, waved behind her like a silk sheet. Her green eyes shimmered in the bright sun with the luster and sweetness more powerful than a gem itself.
We finally came to a stop, looking over the glassy ocean. I couldn't help but look back at her. She was perfect. Everything about her could not go against her.
She didn't notice my admiring stares. She just turned around as if to hear something behind her. She must have for she turned and waved with her gorgeous smile. When I joined her glance, there stood my mother. Something captured my heart and I ran towards her with all that I had.
I could feel the tears run down my face. Why was I crying? What brought me to such tenderness? Was my mother well? She looked well. She looked more than well. She was running towards me as well.
Just as I got to her and placed my arms around her, it was as if she was only a bubble, and burst. I felt my eyes become wide and I mouthed the word "no" but nothing came out. I screamed it as loud as I could, but still, I could not hear myself.
I turned to the woman that had been next to me prior to this. She backed away from me with a fearful look. Her face had become white. The water had started to soak her pants.
That is when I remember looking down at myself. I was covered in blood. Not any blood, but my mother's. I don't know how I knew, I just did. I shook my head rapidly, not believing anything I saw.
I turned the other way and darted towards the sand dunes, but I ran into something and fell to the ground. As my sight came to me, I gazed up at what I ran into. The sand had disappeared from under my feet and the sun's heat vanished from my skin.
And there she stood. The same woman that had tried to take my heart from me. She only smirked with a wolfish grin. I moved back slowly, pushing my feet across the icy floor.
She shook her head lightly with amusement and held a hand out. It was as if fire had come around me, eating me alive. I screamed and screamed, but I could not hear my wants for help and I knew no one could hear me either.
Then it stopped, but I was on my feet. My eyes opened, and into a mirror I looked. What I saw in the mirror was not me, but another man. He seemed a bit older than myself.
He turned from me and looked over a vast piece of air. Power emerged from him like nothing I have ever seen before. There was not a cloud in the sky, but the sun harsh enough to burn a man's skin, but not mine. The pain upon it was.pleasurable. And the fleet of dragons headed my way was almost funny.
The man reached a hand out to one side and moved it across-
"Zeoliet!" The poor young priest nearly fell from his bed at the screams of his teacher. He pulled himself up from his undignified position. He had not realized he had fallen asleep in his dirty work clothes from the day before.
He heard his teacher start yelling at him for the missed chores the night before and sleeping in now, but he tuned most of it out. They should know by now that this does not work on him. Why couldn't this be like the dream where he could not hear anything? Even if it was just him. He would not mind it too much. No, on the contrary, he would enjoy it all the more.
"I am going to start cutting your work in half." This was a change. This is when the boy started to pay attention. Having a cut in work was not something that Gray-san did out of the kindness of his heart. There has to be some kind of catch to it.
"I just think I have been over working you lately. Partly my fault for getting a little stressed over the fall festivals." Gray did not seem like the same priest that the young one had come to know. Something had to be wrong. Something he did not know about yet. Obviously he would pry it out of another. It would not be too hard to do that. He had most of the people in this tera wrapped around his finger.
"Now, get changed so I can give you a list to do. The sooner you're done the sooner you can go visit your mother." Gary nearly scowled. He had never met another priest of any age so close to their parents. He couldn't understand it well, but he was also very old and had long lost his parents to old age.
The boy only nodded and rose from him bed to get a clean pair of clothing from the small stack of clothing that lay on the floor.
Gary turned to the door, but stopped before turning back to his apprentice. "Make sure you go to the healers and get that scratch removed. The last thing we need is blood on the altars." He had nearly forgotten about the gashes on his neck. With a touch from his hand, he was reminded and paled.
"That reminds me, Zeoliet." Gary said strategically, "how did you acquire that?" The boy became bare with words and shook his head.
"I was trimming the pine trees."
He said nothing more, even though Gary stood there waiting for more of an explanation. He guessed he didn't need one and walked off, assuming a branch sideswiped his neck or some pine needles scraped against his neck. It did nothing for his logic, but he let it not bother him.
* * * * * Gray took the time off he gave to the boy to his advantage. He pondered through his things, looking for things that the boy could be keeping from them, but he found nothing. The boy's writings became less and less after the boy's ordeal with the scratches. All it had on the paper was a description of a woman. That could be anything.
His resources were exhausted.
"Gray-san!" A voice called. He set his old fragile body on the boy's bed waiting for Kera to come to him. Sure enough she did. Her radiant smile made her face seem a little red. He wondered what this was all about.
"What do you need, Kera?" He sounded more tired than he did angry. Even if he came across angry, he did not mean it for her.
"No luck, hm?" He sunk his head in desperation, but waited for her question. "Well, I was going to ask for a day or two time off."
"Reasoning?"
"Well. I have a friend that wants to take me traveling for a week. And I was wondering-"
"The fall festivals are near, Kera. The temple isn't nearly ready to show." His voice was soft, but still cut her off.
"I know, but I was hoping-" This time she cut herself off, bowing her head, knowing the answer.
"Listen to this and tell me if this person sounds familiar to you." She nodded as he took up the paper and read the written potion out loud.
How do I even start to explain what I saw? I think I should not expand to say that I saw the most attractive woman today. Her hair was gold locked with the help of the setting sun. Her skin was much darker than mine. I know she was not from these parts, but from somewhere south. Her skin was like the silks that came from the west, like her clothing, and her eyes were like that of an orange cat. No, much more beautiful gold. Her dress was a simple one. It was white with a slit in both sides that went up longer than her legs. I felt it almost a sin to look upon her. But something that marked her face that made her perfection seem imperfect. There were two small scars on each of her cheeks.
She was sweet one minute and then vicious the next. I can't figure out what was with her. Maybe I will never know.
He looked up from the paper and glanced to the woman standing in the doorframe. She thought intensely, trying to place the details together, but could not put a name to the puzzle he had created.
"I might know." Said an unfamiliar voice. A man met the woman at the door as he looked in at Gary on the bed. He was considerably taller than the woman beside him. His skin was pale but his hair was raven black. His eyes were the same shade as the grass is in the early spring. He liked the color blue. That was obvious in the choice of clothing he wore. He wasn't too far off on money either. Gold bracelets set on one of his arms. They were just small enough to where it wouldn't slide off his hand, or be forced off. This came off as suspicious to Gray. It was as if they were the same gold as the one that his apprentice wore now. In the same way, it would not slip off his hand. He tried himself after telling him to take it off. He thought he was being smart when he said he could not.
"Please share with me, then." Gray said shortly, looking to the tall dark man. The man gave a grin that seemed out of place on the handsome face.
"She isn't a woman to be toyed with." Gray already knew he was being choosy with his words. There were moments where he stopped, thought and then spoke again, plucking words and rearranging them artistically. This was one of them. "Sweet lady that always gets her way. I would steer clear of her if I were you."
Gray seemed unsure about this man's words. For one, he was someone Gray knew not of, and he already seemed to be shady.
"And how do you know this?"
"Myths." This rose some eyebrows making the newcomer move into more detail. "Where I come from, off the shores of the great forbidden Black Sea, there is a myth of a beautiful woman that would walk the waters. The youth, as you should know, like to walk the nights on the beaches with new lovers or to find themselves a love. There, she would call them to the water, entrancing the men and boys with her uncanny beauty." He looked to the looks about the room, pleased with his storytelling. The intoxicated looks of his listeners pleased him for the moment. "Once their feet touched the water, she would release her many faithful wolves on them. The bloody mess would litter the water. The only thing remaining of young wretch's would be their blood stained on the sand."
Kera looked horrified while the old high priest seemed unmoved. More so, he seemed not to believe the man, and the man knew it and smirked back. Seemed not to matter to him. The raven-haired man seemed to enjoy the man's disbelief.
"You come across me as being a smarter man than to believe such nonsense." The old man finally said.
"You do not, sir?" The man said craftily. "You believe in a great dragon that can protect you from a Monster like beast."
Gray said nothing to that but darted a glare to the man. It was one thing to make up lies to him, but another to insult the things he knew to be true. Above all, he had seen Lord Ceipheid before. It wasn't a belief, but to know the truth.
"If it makes you feel any batter, I have seen the woman before." He took the woman by the waist looking down at her with a sly expression she didn't meet. She only smiled lightly, looking to her better. Gray did and said nothing. He only looked to the floor. The man suggested them leaving and they did so.
Another week went by before Gray finally let his high priestess leave with the suspicious man. He was either over exaggerating or there was something particularly wrong with the man that none other could see but him. An evil aura about him, he guessed. He tried hard to let it roll off his back.
* * * * * The boy held his hand out for the beautiful young blonde priestess he had expressed once before. She was the one from the south. She found it hard to get used to the cold, even now. Walking across the thin layer of frost was hard enough, but climbing over rocks and logs was even harder. The young boy tried as hard as he could to assist her. Having her fall and hurt herself in the dress she had on would have spoiled the night.
"Be careful." He said light-heartedly. It was far from the first time that he said that. He wondered if going to the cabin was such a good idea now. Maybe they should have run off earlier in the day. Besides, he had an eerie feeling about the forest and it being close to dusk. There wasn't any going back now. He had already promised her that this was their night.
Why had he chosen her was a mystery in itself. She was annoying at some points, but he supposed her beauty made up for that. She was very easy on the eyes, he knew, but far from the beauty of his dreams or the mad woman out for his life.
Once to the cabin, he and his partner settled in for the night. He made a fire as she started a small snack and tea for them before the bed was made. They talked and laughed for a few hours.
While in there, they argued as well. Him and her were like night and day. Opposites attracted, but it seemed him and her were too different. There was not a single fact that tied them together. Just that she found him attractive and he, the same.
* * * * * "I have taken what I wanted from this village, and things are set up for your pursuit." The raven-haired man stood before a darkened thrown room. Nothing else could be seen in there but what seemed to be onyx steps that led to an elegant chair. All else was covered in shadows. Even the man was consumed in it.
"Very good." A familiar female voice commented. "I am glad I could be of some service to you, bother."
"Oh, believe me. You have help change the outcome of the future." A large sneering grin came over his face. "Of course, one that brings us closer to our only goal. Mother will be proud of us." A small chuckle exited his thin pale lips. Out from the side of one lip shown a white fang. Something the Mazoku clans took as prideful as their egos.
* * * * * The young boy could not stand the silence of the cabin any longer. The distant howling of the wolves made his nerves go haywire, yet he still put on his clothing and shoes. He looked into a bucket of water to use as a mirror so he could straighten out his hair. There was no particular reason to look nice before he left to go into the surrounding forest, but he was always self-conscious and always wanted to look the best that he could with what he had.
Once all set, he quietly opened and closed the creaking door so as not to wake his company and made his way down a short trail that he used often to collect wood. The night had a bite to it that was relentless. He rubbed his hands together, blowing his warm breath into them and rubbed his arms to try to stay warm on this late fall night. Nothing seemed to suffice his chill so he tried to let it be. That didn't work either.
He looked up at the bright moon. It wasn't quite full, he could tell, but to one that did not look in depth with small details like this, it looked full. It was just as bright as any full moon, making the sight of the trail not hard to see either.
"Sweet unnamed moon." He muttered as he looked to it till his eyes began to water. "Reminds me of myself." He looked to his bumpy arms and shivering arms. "Unnamed priest." Little did he know that would all change all too quickly.
His silence was broken by an undesirable sound. The poor boy felt nearly cornered by the howls of the wolves that seemed to encircle him. He could tell they were all still a long ways off, but in his heart it was as if they were nipping at his heels. By now he was a good distance from his cabin. A new brisk wind flew over him making himself wrap up as much as he could. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. He turned quickly to head back for the cabin, but stopped dead in his tracks petrified by the stare of a lovely woman with bloodthirsty eyes.
The familiar beautiful face and silver locks were everything but beautiful to the boy now. Fear ran down his spine and back to his brain as he nearly froze in fear. The cold surroundings were no help for him in this case either. The howls of the wolves became increasingly closer to him as she started to take soft steps into the dead leaves below her feet. The noise seemed to wake up his muscles a bit, but only enough to step back at the same pace as she was coming closer. Soon his efforts became futile.
His back hit the trunk of a tree. He was trapped. He thought about moving away from the tree and running back to the cabin, but the petrifying fear came back to him when his eyes met hers. Before he knew what had become of her, much less himself, she had her hand on his face, stroking his soft and delicate skin with the tips of her fingers and the ends of her long nails.
"Dear wolf priest." She smiled him, but her words came out as a chuckle. Her voice might be mistaken as the song of the sirens that could draw men to their deaths, though it was believed to this man that his death was already sealed long before she spoke.
"I.I'm not a wolf priest, M'lady." The young priest said in a small voice with his stomach turned over and again. She smiled to him in an almost motherly way.
"Oh, dear child. Not yet." The words seemed to purr off her lips. The boy seemed not to notice it too badly. He was more concerned with her hand on his face. His poor heart pounded in his chest as her nails stroked his cheek.
His eyes widened as his mind finally processed the shape of her eyes despite his fear controlling thoughts. They were easily seen as cat shaped with gold all around them made it a perfect landmark to what he knew to be true.
She was Mazoku.
What does a Mazoku want with me? He asked himself, but the simple thought vanished as she reached out and started to groom his cheek with her fingers. Her icy hands, like the dead fall around him, were cold against his hot face. They were soft, not clammy from the cold, or oily from treatment from the cold. It had to be her unforgiving blood.
His heart pumped fervently into his body. He could almost swear that he felt it beating rapidly in his throat, if he could think of anything but the beautiful woman with dangerous eyes. He forced the beating down so that he could spare himself some words.
"Wh.who are you?" The poor priest managed. She chuckled coldly a she grasped his face in her hand, forcing his eyes to look deep into hers. He became stiff again, not daring to move from her grasp.
Her lips curled around the words as she formed them carefully in her mouth. The brightening gleam in her eye told him that she was just waiting for him to ask. "Juu-ou, dear child."
Juu-ou. The beast master. She was the third greatest of the Mazoku lords. Well, the exception being their lord and king, Shabranigdo. It was bad enough that he was dealing with a Mazoku, but a lord over them all? He was beginning to wonder how much worse this could get. Soon his mind regarded asking that very question.
His back gave way to an empty space behind him as the tree mysteriously vanished and he fell into a chair. She stood in front of him, preventing him from going anywhere. He looked around in fear, seeing the forest was all still there.
With a gleam in her evil animal like smile, she set an arm down on the chair, looking hard in the eyes. "I have an honorable position for you." Her voice was calm and soothing. One the boy would never forget. "Become my priest."
Something came over the boy like a fire. "NO!" The fire had a cause from his heart that told him the deal he was being offered was not well. Of course, it would not take much for one to see making a deal with the devil as a bad thing. Out of his soul he shouted one word that would altar the events of the night, and his life forever.
"That wasn't a choice," She growled as her free hand laced itself around his neck with a tight grip. "It was an order." He took his hands and pulled on her arm hard to get himself feet. His head was pinned on the back of the chair that was made for him. His eyes closed tightly as he struggled his hardest to get free. Why did he ever ask for an exciting life? He didn't mean it! Truly, if this was exciting, he wouldn't be able to take the pain. He would much rather be nothing more than a simple priest in a temple that didn't bother anyone but the resident Mazoku.
His strength started to fade and his grip started to fall. He reminded himself that he was going to die this day.he. His face started to pale as he finally gave in to the woman. He was ready for her to take him out.but she decided not to. Instead, she let her hand loose of his neck and smiled with a mischievous sneer.
The boy was too occupied with his breathing taking to care about what she was planning next. To say the least, he thought he was going to have his life taken then, but perhaps not. Or he could be terribly wrong. Once his tears cleared, he looked up at the woman that was now just standing over him. She was looking over a dagger that was silver with black embroidering. A new fear arose in him as he repinned himself to the chair.
Her eyes came to meet the boy's face. That look burned into his mind hard. Time passed between the stare down, but only seconds were accounted for before she lunged at him. Being a smart boy, he sprang to his feet and out of the chair, falling to the bed of leaves. She quickly pried the dagger from the wood, looking to him.
"Come now, little one." She said in a pleasurable voice. He quickly stood to his feet, looking to her, but stepping back quickly. "I have a treat for you. If you are a good boy, I'll make it fast."
He shook his head and turned around to run, but was stopped by hungry mouths of the creatures he feared for the last mouth. The glowing gold eyes and low growls of the dripping teeth caused the frightened priest to back into the arms of his persuer. The cold blade lay on his skin and he froze. She smiled with delight as he pressed in on his neck, letting a small rich stream flow from the blade. He felt it and knew this time there was no hope of escape. Again, he gave into the woman and let his struggle subside.
"Good boy." She muttered as he removed the dagger from his neck and turned him to her, giving him a sincere smile. "Now, this isn't so bad, is it?" The boy said nothing, but shook his head in response. She lightly tapped his cheek with her free hand, leaving him with a bloody handprint on his face.
The wolves started to snarl loudly as the sent of freshly shade blood reached their noses. Somehow the priest found comfort in the woman's eyes, even over the many protesting voices of wolves. Do not mistake his demeanor. He was still very scared.
That was till she misplayed his trust.
She jabbed the dagger clear into his chest, only a few cells short of his heart. His eyes had gone wide, but he was still standing. He should have been dead with the blow, but all he felt was a sharp pain run through his chest, nothing more than that. The he remember from his years as a priest. the markings on the blade were not normal decoration, but an enchantment.
"Hold still, or all this preparation will be lost." He didn't move, but that's because he couldn't. One glance at the gush of blood was well enough for him. He was going to be sick. Not to mention he believed it wasn't good for someone of his race to bleed so badly, but his dizziness came to him quickly, so his mind did not function along the same lines as logic.
The woman smiled. She had finally found herself a priest and he would be like no other that her other siblings had. This was going to be rich.
She pulled the nasty blade out and reached into the boy, pulling out his heart. It had stopped beating long ago, but the boy was still alive, hanging on to what bit of consciousness the blade had given him. She looked to her hungry pack of wolves and nodded, pushing the boy back. He took a few fragile steps back before losing his balance and falling to the ground. The horde of wolves gathered around him and worked on the boy's remains. He gave was for a few small yells and cries for help, but not nearly as much as she had hoped. Her head shook a bit as she licked one of her fingers.
A sense that all Mazoku love rang in her mind: Fresh blood. The heart was something she could not eat, for that was what she would make her perfect priest from. Flesh was what she wanted. She moved some of the wolves aside to pick at the bones as well, staining her white dress with the blood of the innocent.
"So pretty." The maiden was slender, but not weak. Her hair was like a silk brown crown that flowed down her back. Her eyes were just a green as the emerald stones travelers bring into the village. She ran with the grace of the deer and the elegance of a cat. Her voice was like the soothing sounds of the flute.
"So lovely. like. the buttercup in the rain."
"If she is so pretty, why don't you take her for your wife?" The voice startled me out of my sleep. The furs fell from my limbs and the skin I had over my arms went flying through the room. When I looked over I saw my mother holding her mouth with a giggle.
My mother was a beautiful woman with rosy cheeks when she smiled. Her hair was like mine. Long and thick with a rich brown luster to it. She had me grow out my hair to show off. I didn't mind all that much. It kept the back of my neck warm in the winter. She also had a slender body for a woman that gave birth to three children. She was a very modest woman that kept her arms and legs covered year around. Her eyes were always a wonderful thing to get lost in. It was as if you could fall back into innocent childhood just by looking into the gentle ocean of blue.
She kissed me on the forehead with her soft lips before kneeling a little to look into my eyes. " Get up before your father comes home and gets you up." Sometimes that phrase was just a way to laugh, but other times it was completely serious. My father wasn't as gentle as my porcelain made mother. I tried to avoid him whenever I could.
She left my bedside, along with the heat. I hadn't realized how cold it was till now. I pulled the fur up over my arms and shivered, trying to refrain the warmed I had lost.
There was an even colder breeze of air that ran through the house that made my teeth chatter. After that, the door slammed shut. My father was home and I knew if I didn't get up, he wouldn't only force me to my feet but throw me into the snow to wake me up. That motivation itself made me jump out of bed and struggle with putting on some clothing that would keep the cold from getting to me.
It wasn't long before I walked into a main part of the house and sat at the table. Normally, mother would wake me before father came home. She would pour me some warm soup and I would eat. She would join me and we would talk till the sun was a quarter of the way in the sky and going outside was tolerable.
Then she would get up and pour a bowl for father to cool. I would always do something to it. Put too much pepper in it, or sometimes the same for salt. Once I put dirt into it. Other times I would eat half of it. He knew it wasn't mother doing it, so every morning he would glare at me and I would smile, acting as if I knew nothing about his anger.
Today was different. She wanted to let me sleep for as long as I wanted as long as father didn't beat me up. My days staying in the cottage I grew up were done for. Today she was taking me to the tera. Father wanted me out of the house and mother knew I had little skill except for staff fighting. She hated when I took up lessons on how to fight.
Father was already setting at the table eating his soup when I walked in. He glared at me, as he always did, but resumed to his soup, knowing I didn't get a hold of it this time. I took my place on the other side of the table, eating my bowl as well. He kept looking up from his dish to stare at me with his aggressive brown eyes. I sank in my chair as he did losing the will to eat.
I got up to help mother with the daily chores. She was off doing something else, so I decided to clean a little. Besides, I didn't want to sit and stare at my father any longer then I had to.
Her voice startled me when she called my name. She was smiling as I turned to her. The rosy cheeks invited me to her presence. She placed an arm around me, though it was hard, noting my couple inches taller than she is, and set her head on my lower shoulder. With her gentle fingers she played with the ends of my hair. I smiled as it made my back fill odd.
"You behave. All right? No making mischief while you're there." She smiled knowing good and well I would. It assured her more so when I said nothing in turn for her request. "Just don't make me worry about you." She tapped my cheek gently before letting me go and started to hand me bags with my clothing and belongings. I really didn't have too much.
She quickly moved into the other room, holding her thin fingers over her mouth. This would be the first time I had left home for longer than a week, and with no other surviving children, she seemed to take it hard. I wouldn't be but 15 minutes from the cottage and probably visit often. Well, I hoped as much.
My father took some of the smaller bags, leaving me with the larger ones to pull along myself. He did things like this just to see me struggle. I had wondered, on occasion, if he was a Mazoku seducing my mother for kicks, or if he was a spy from the Mazoku community.
No matter. Father had me out the door before I could tell my mother goodbye. I could hear her saying something from the back room where her and father's room was. It had to be the coldest room in the winter. I'm sure father meant it to be as well.
He said nothing on the way there. I was sure that he was happy to see me go. He never enjoyed my company and never showed me his skills for me to learn so that I might learn and help the family with food and wood. He never played with me as a child. Mother was the one that raised me with not a finger from my father to help.
He always looked angry when I saw him. I never saw a smile, and I never knew why. We didn't talk much unless I was in trouble. I would get my ears boxed in and I was forced to do unnecessary work. After his punishments became annoying to me, I would work twice as hard to get into the trouble I did. He became so frustrated with me that he gave up with my punishments and plotted for my dismissal from the house. This was now my punishment.
We arrived. The tera was large magnificent temple with many ornaments to make it, noticeably, the pride of our small village. This was the only means of our tourism. We believed this to be the farthest north temple for Ceipheid. There was one more northern than this one, but it was for the dark lord, Dynast. Ultimately, all those temples to the dark lord's, or other powerful Mazoku, were for Ruby-eye Shabranigdo. All in all, there were many more temples for him than there were for lord Ceipheid. People feared Ruby-eye Shabranigdo more than they did Ceipheid. They tried to please him with these temples. Mother told me it was an honor to be accepted into priesthood like this. She tried to assure me that things would turn out right, even if I was serving for the losing side.
The high priest was there to meet us at the gate. Father and him talked for a while. I was too busy with all the things I could get into here. Even though I hated the idea of working in such a dull place like this, the surroundings had to be some of the best. The forest covered one of the most marvelous things for miles. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the bitter air and then let it out with a solemn sign. It froze my lungs over and made my inner ears go numb, but the feeling was life, and I dug at it with all I could.
When I opened my eyes again there was a priestess of the tera. She didn't look too happy to see me, and already knew I was going to be trouble. She looked me down well, patting some parts of my loose clothing. I suppose that was to insure I didn't have any weapons on me. To be truthful, I hated sharp objects.
She then took me by the ear and pulled me into the tera. I followed her, helplessly in her grasp. I could hear the dark chuckle of my father as I was carried away. Some of the underling priests came and took my things and followed the girl and myself.
* * * * * Time went by so slow the first few weeks. They wasted no time with my teachings. I wanted to slack off so badly, but they would not let me. Sleeping in was a pleasure only taken by the ones that had been there for years. Me, on the other hand, woke up long before the brake of dawn. The only blessing to that is I ate first. If I eat first, I eat all I want, whether or not the cook gives it to me. Some of the underling priests could deal with not eating some times. The life here has made them fat.
Life seemed less exciting than it was back at home. All they ever wanted to do was show me how to do their stupid rituals for Lord Ceipheid and hit me over the head with a stick to force me to listen. I hated it more the chopping wet wood. After some time, and many numb days to my head, I decided to listen, almost out of malice for the woman that was teaching me. I believe her name was Kera. Excuse me while I correct myself. Kera-san. She wanted a better title, but she compromised that with me.
She was amazed how fast I really did start to learn once; "she got it though my think head." I became an underling priest in less than a year. I got to do more on my own, which meant freedom. I was able to go visit my mother more often too. Well, that always required me taking a note from my sensei as well. Mother feared the reports. Some where good, but most of them showed how much mischief I would get into around the tera. I loved to ring the help bells and the ring bells that were supposedly there to get Ceipheid's resting soul to answer a few requests. I never really understood how that worked. I mean, it was an understanding that I have not mastered yet, I guess, but if you have a creature that is busy trying to destroy the opposing side, would you not think that they would be too busy to answer petty things like, "help my child heal," or "My wheat harvest is sparse this year. Please send rain." I know if I where Ceipheid, I would not. Destroying Ruby eye Shabranigdo was enough trouble as it is.
Let me see. One yes, I loved to sleep in the rafters when I am to be sweeping the foyer. And teasing the girls when they came. The dragons had to be the best. I would always run off though. I never had the guts to face them myself. Mother says I get that from her, being to shy. Shy was far from what Kera-san called it. Everything was bad to her. I eventually ignored the notes, and so did my Mother. Instead of her fretting over the notes when I had my time with her, she would enjoy my company while father went out to chop wood or something. He never stayed in the house when I came to visit. Even though he never sees me I made sure I left him a gift before I left.
Believe me. It is not worth mentioning. Let me say it made him very angry. I would always hear about it a few days after.
* * * * * The years went by as my rank fell far above my superiors. Gray-san was now my teacher. He was the high priest of the tera. The training started to take a whole new light to it. All the previous things I had learned were finally starting to make since. Well, the constant sweeping of the floors and the polishing the golds and silvers (silver is a pain in the neck to clean!) will never make a common mind set with me. He did it to keep me out of trouble, I know.
Tonight was my night of no work and I decided to take advantage of it. There was a cottage out in the forest that had been abandoned for many years. It was rumored that it was cursed. Some went as far to say that it was possessed. The rumors also said that if a man talked upon the wood of the house, he has an evil curse on him and will surely die. I, on the other hand, am not as stupid or superstitious to believe such things. I had fixed it up to where the inside was almost elegant looking. I came here to rest and sleep my days away, even if I was to do work in the tera. Gray-san always gave me a fit about it and doubled my duty the next day, not letting me have a bite to eat till it was all done. He started to remind me of my father; just it seemed he tried to get to know me, while my good for nothing father would rather leave the house than to hear me talk.
I had a girl that I had met not long before now. She was a pretty blonde with blue eyes. She was one of the new interns from another tera to the south where the ground stayed warm. She wanted to spend the evening with me that night, so I pleased her to join me.
My cold scents arises off me in a way though. Something seemed amiss about now. That dream had. The ones Gary-san told me to look out for and tried to pry from my head. If he wouldn't teach me anything other than monk play and light spells, then I would keep my dreams to myself and wish for them.
It is a hard one to explain. It seemed like a cold dampness around me that made my joints paralyzed and my skin numb. I felt strong and able to defeat anything at the same time. The power was overwhelming and laborious to my frail human body. I wasn't exactly the most muscular of the men round here. To be truthful, most of them could probably break me in half like a twig if they wanted to.
But anyhow, I held it within my hand-
"That's it." Gray replied dryly. "At lest that's all he wrote so far."
The woman beside him, with semi long brown black hair looked over his shoulders, but then relaxed with a sigh. "He lied to you."
The high priest sighed, sweeping back some of his stray hairs back behind his ears. "I know. I should punish him too, but then he would know we snooped. I don't want to give up this writing faith that I have in him just yet."
The woman sat on the side of the low placed bad, looking to the floor. The wood of the room sparkled as if it were just waxed. The cleanest part of the whole tera was their young apprentice's room. He kept that up nicer than the rest of all his duties. He would show up late for his lessons, though it would get him in great trouble, just to make sure his single room was clean.
"Then what do you propose we do?" She paused, gathering her thoughts. Gray seemed to know that she was deep in though. So he kept his mouth shut waiting on her. "We are running short with time on him, Gray-san." Her eyes met his when she looked up at him. "You know that just as well as I do."
"They get what they want, Kera. We are only toys. Chances are that they will just kill him like the other priest that wherever half as good as he is and ready to replace me."
The room went into a dead silent as he ended his sentence. It was only a year ago that his priest that was to be his heir to the temple was killed days after he had accepted the honor and placement that was given to him. That's when they had known about this young boy from the lonely cottage on the edge of town. It seemed to be such a pity that he would be the next to arise. Both Gray and Kera knew it would be a mistake to hand him the key to the tera. The townsman seemed to hate him when he came to do ceremonies in town. The boy didn't have a good reputation. His words were like honey when he spoke them to people, manipulating them to his will. Gray had fallen victim to it more than once. There was not one man that was willing to give his daughter up for him to marry. This put many of Gary's plans for him on hold. There was hope though. The young woman that he talked about in his writings. Maybe he could persuade her to abandon her priesthood and become the boy's mate.
That was easier said than done.
"Do you know when that was written?" She asked causally. The man only shook his head, checking the papers once again.
"There are no dates with any of these." He set the papers down on the floor where he found them and walked out of the room. Kera lifted herself off of the bed and followed him. "I would say the last one was written yesterday afternoon. That is when I told him he wouldn't have any work." An irritated sigh slipped from his lips as he passed some of the younger priests-in- training. "And I thought I was giving him too much work. Seems I should give more."
"Caution isn't always a bad thing, Gray-san. If it keeps him out of the clutches of the enemy, then it would be worth it." The silence grew between the two once again when Gray didn't answer her.
He nearly felt responsible for the fall of his pupil. Who would have thought a delinquent child, such as him, would rise in rank so quickly. The timing couldn't be worse either. Fall festivals were coming around. They would need him to carry it out while they attended to the more primate work in the tera. His favor with the people was becoming poorer as time went by and many people came to him asking why such a boy was doing such important work. He didn't have an answer.
"It needs to be." He said, moving away from the woman. She looked to him with concern, but then grew angry. If he couldn't pry something from him, then she would. Besides, the dream he had machined in his writings intrigued her.
* * * * * "You know how much I envy you." The boy looked to a bird that was perched on a golden ball that marked one end of the tera's roof. He would often climb a tree that was settled near the tera and rest on it. It was perfect. Kera or Gray never looked there to try to find him.
The bird gave him an odd look, cocking his head back and forth, like birds do. He gave a small chuckle. His gaze turned from the bird to the blue skies. The days were getting colder. The mid shin length brown robe and vest wasn't doing much for him. His arms remained bare all day, making the relief only in his bed at night.
"If I had wings I would fly far from this retched place and never come back." The bird tilted his head down towards him with a squawk. He just smiled, slipping his eyelids down his eyes till they closed. The warm coming fall sun relaxed him, blocking out all means of the bitter wind, cradling him into a soothing light sleep.
There was a tug on his neck. His lazy eyes open, turning his head to the side. There was the bird desperately trying to pull the locket he had on his neck off. He laughed a little, reaching up to take it, but as he did, the chain around his neck broke. The bird bounced back a little.
He jumped up quickly, looking to the bird. "Come on, now. Give that back to me." The bird jumped back a little more before he remembered his wings and flew off the roof and for the ground. The young priest wasted no time. He jumped from the roof to the ground, running after the bird. Supposedly the bird found this funny and let him chase him into a wheat field that had not been harvested yet.
He ran as fast as he could till it became too hard for him to breathe and run any more. He laid his hands upon his knees and rested, breathing laboriously till he could look up again.
A hand touched his face with a silk gentleness. His name rolled from her lips like ice. When his senses came back to his, he smelled the strong odor of tobacco and wine. His head rose in hesitation. A spotless white dress with an even longer slit up the side. Fair tanned skin with golden strains of hair that curled at the ends, and. gold cat like eyes.
She was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen.
She held his chin, taking it and forced him to his feet. Her other hand held a long elegant stick, and on the very end was a cigarette. On each of her arms were several gold bracelets. She smiled with a dignity he had only seen in travelers that dressed well and were obviously rich, but there was something else about her. Something he could not place. Maybe it was her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, but also had a dangerous element to them.
He wanted to move away from her, but something held him there. Maybe it was his fear. Maybe it was she. No matter. He could feel his heart beat in his throat. His face became hot with anxiety, but he still didn't move.
"Dear. Calm yourself." She said gently. The very sound of her voice nearly made all his muscles collapse, but return so he didn't lose his dignity and fall to the ground. She gave a brief laugh. "Cute priest."
"M.m.maaa. Ma'am?"
"Trust in me, dear priest. I hold something you want." The boy's attention perked up a bit. He had hoped it was his locket. It was his most treasured item he owned. It held the picture of his deeply loved mother and lost sister.
But another word rang through his mind. "Power." His eyes grew wide, looking to the woman with a desire to know more. She chuckled again, taking a drag on her stick, and exhaling the extra smoke. "For a priest, you are quite lustful. You want to control the elements of this world by the motion of your hand, don't you?" He nodded mindlessly. "Come with me then."
She took her hand from his chin and took his hand, opening it up and placed the locket there. He looked to it and then her. She smirked and her eyes grew dark. There was something not right about her. He stepped back, shaking his head.
"Who are you?"
"Why question me now, priest? Can't you see your fate is sealed with me?" She said advancing towards him. He moved back as quickly as he could till the heel of his foot hit a rock in the field, and he fell onto his back, disappearing from normal sight into the vast ocean of wheat.
When he got over the fact of him falling, he had realized the woman stood over him. His face paled with her look that streamed over her face. The complexion of perfect evil. ".Ma.a.zoku.!"
The gasp of the word poured from his mouth. His breath wouldn't let him refill his lungs completely, though he tried.
She bent down to him, putting her long sharp nails to his neck. They tugged at his skin, scraping the first layer off, leaving his skin felling raw. "You realize what I am." She said softly, looking into his large brown/gold eyes. Sweat ran from his face as his gasps for air increased. He feared her more than he had anyone before, and to be truthful, he could not tell why. His mouth lay open, but not a sound came from it, nor did he try to produce one.
"Now." three of her nails dug into his skin where she had made is raw, drawing blood from it. The boy shrieked in the unexpected addition of pain. ".the trick is to." She covered her fingertips in his bright red blood. ".figure out who I am." She showed him his blood before placing her fingers to her lips, enjoying the hard taste of his freshly drawn blood.
He felt his eyes roll back. He felt sick. His sweating increased, but around him, he felt like ice. The cold sweat seemed to amuse the Mazoku. She tapped his face lightly, smearing the blood on his face. "Your joys of this will come soon. You will know how I feel and lust for it as well."
She placed a hand over the left side of his chest, beckoning his heart to come to her hand. The poor young boy widened his eyes, abandoning his feeling of sickness and yelled out in pain. The vivid feeling of arteries and veins being pulled from their place and the pressure on his ribs came to mind. A burning sensation appears in his lungs. Tears flowed down his face as he tried to beg her to stop.
She didn't stop at first, but she did soon after. It felt like an eternity to the priest, but when she did, he moaned in pain with closed eyes. The tears fell from his eyes in a modest manner. The sound of his heart beat against his ribs with a hardness to it that hurt almost as much as her trying to take it from him.
"Remember that the wolves come searching these areas for food about this time of year, young one." She scowled. "There will be a wolf coming for you."
He didn't hear her leave. He can't remember the time he stopped smelling the tobacco. All he could think about was the deep pain in his chest and how he wished it to be gone.
It took a while, but his hearing was cleared from the pounding of his heart. Someone was calling him. With dizziness in his head, he opened his eyes. The blue sky had turn into a red. The warmth of the sun was gone, as night had started to set in. He rose from his place, seeing he was still on the roof of the tera.
Was it all a dream? He felt his chest. The locket was still there and his chest felt fine now. He smiled mischievously. It was all a dream!
"Zeoliet! If you don't show yourself now, I will beat your head in later!" Kera-san. The boy signed bitterly as he rose from his place. With ease, he jumped from the roof to the ground with little sound. His chest reeked with pain. The dream must have put a lot of stress on his heart for it to act like this.
He walked from around the tree holding some clippers. He came out with a smile and a sweatdrop. "It's a good thing you don't know my last name." She turned around to him with a wisp. Her face was red with anger. Of course she wasn't ready for his smart mouth.
"What do you think you where doing? You know today is the day you were to clean the altar till you could see yourself in it!" He could not hold himself back. He covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. "What's so funny?" she yelled.
"You are, Kera-san." She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, narrowing her eyes even more as she marched herself over to him.
She grabbed his arm, shoving his wrist into his face. In his eyes, he only saw a gold blur and his wrist. He looked to her, shutting his mouth quickly, and returning his humored face to a questionable one.
"Stealing?"
"Umm. No."
"Then where did you get it?" She demanded.
"I. don't know." She let go of his arm. He took it away from his face and looked at it. His eyes widened with a gasp, but he turned to the side. The last thing he needed was her asking about it more.
"Whatever. Look, you're slacking on your work again. We will never have this tera in order before fall fest-" she cut herself short. Her eyes focused back on him with paleness in her face. "Zeoliet."
He looked to her. He had zoned out of her lengthy lecture till his name was mentioned. He hoped that she wouldn't have him repeat everything that she just said. He knew he could not.
But she didn't.
"You're bleeding." Without a thought, he placed a hand on his neck and then looked at his hand. His eyes became mindless, and his face grew pale. Wolves.come to hunt here this time of year. There will be a wolf coming for you
Her words rang through his mind loud and clear. He pushed Kera aside and darted into the tera. She looked to him in confusion. She had never seen him so pale and almost sick looking. She questioned her actions. Did she say something wrong?
* * * * * The sick feeling never really left the young priest. One part reason being, the gold ring that was on his hand would not come off. No matter how had he tried to bend it, break it, pull it off, it would not budge. He tried to burn it off once as well, in the utmost part of his desperation, but ended up burning himself instead.
The other part of his sick feeling came from what the lady had told him before she had mysteriously disappeared. Remember that the wolves come searching these areas for food about this time of year, young one. There will be a wolf coming for you. The quote didn't set easily with him. It nearly felt like stabbing pains in his heart when he thought of it. It didn't help that his heart felt weak ever since the ordeal.
He couldn't figure out this small part for him. There was a part of him that asks for what she offered, to receive what she had to offer him. That power from those dreams. Much like the ones where he held the power within this hand. It was an unimaginable power that this place could never offer him. It didn't help that his teachers and masters didn't want him to learn, especially after he lusted for it so much.
And if he took the woman up on her offer, he could have.
No! Taking what a Mazoku had to offer was forbidden, even in his heart. He may have been a very rebellious child, but he wasn't going to stoop that low for anything. More so than anything to stop him was his mother. How it would kill her to find out that her sweet only little boy would die to become something so vile as that. How it would kill her indeed if he were to betray the creature both he and she served. That was one of the only drives that kept his selfish desires at bay. for now.
Gray wasn't too happy that his young pupil had gone to bed without finishing all his duties around the tera. When his trusted assistant had told him her experience with him, his anger was at bay, and turned to concern. A reaction like that from Zeoliet was very strange.
"Did he say anything after that?" Gray asked inquisitively.
"No. But I didn't bother to follow him until he was gone. That is when I found him in his bed, shaking. I tried to whisper his name, but he wouldn't respond, so I figured he was asleep already." Kera's thought was intense. She was trying as hard to figure this out as Gray was. Neither of them knew how to conclude something like this.
Gray started to walk down the hall, stopping a young underling priest. He looked to be the same age, as their sick one now, but still in the ranks of the younger. He told him to see to the jobs that were most importune that his "replacement" had missed. After giving him the half-staff list, he walked away. The boy was anxious to do the jobs of his superior.
"What should we do?" Kera ran up from behind him, looking to his with question, but did not cross ahead of him in his step.
He looked to her without turning his head. "I really do not have an answer for that right now." His focus went back on what was in front of him. His older gray eyes could not fathom the mystery that was set in front of him. None of it made much sense. "I'll see how he is doing in the morning." He looked to her once more. This time his head looked to her straight. The gray eyes seemed to be stern. "I should be the one to check on him in the morning." He wanted to make sure she wouldn't try to pry this from him. It might cause more damage than it was worth.
She nodded in reposes to him and let him walk on. She stood there; asking what she may do now.
Gray spent the rest of the remaining waking hours finishing up from left behind chores. Even he would stoop back into early priesthood to keep a reminder on how he came from where they are now many, many years back. This time, he did it mainly to get the swimming thoughts out of his head. He would worry with it in the morning. It wasn't till he closed the doors to the tera and said his prayers to his Lord Ceipheid that he felt any contentment with the irritating thought of the boy.
It didn't mean he slept easy that night.
Well, neither did the boy.
The nightmare would not let loose from his mind. His sleep didn't come easy either. No matter how hard he tried to get the thought of the beautiful woman from his mind, he could not. The wolves.her taunting eyes and bleeding fingers. The mere innocent laugh persued his ears, even in his sleep.
He woke in a cold sweat. The sun was far gone by now. Work was just not being set away by the newest additions to the tera. His eyes were heavy with sleep, but he refused to sleep anymore, in fear of his pursuing woman.
A soft stroke on the forehead made him turn over onto his back and peer up at the silhouette over him. She, whoever she might be, was setting on the side of his bed, stroking his forehead like his mother would do in his younger years.
But it wasn't her. His mother didn't have long blond hair. The moonlight from the window had shown him her outline. She placed a finger to his lips to tell him to be quiet, even though he had no intention of making a noise. She sang softly to him with a gentleness of a lullaby.
He smiled softly to the figure in thanks to her caring touch. He wanted to know who the woman was. Then he could thank her by name. His eyes grew heavier until they fell. Like a child neglecting to sleep, he jerked his eyes open again. Moments were rare in his life now. The woman acted much like his gentle mother. He wanted nothing more than to take in as much as he could.
Her hand went from his head to his cheek, tilting his lazy head upward. A few of her gold bracelets fell from her mid arm to her wrist, making a soft metallic noise. He could see her smile from where he lay. Beautiful and innocent. With the last of his strength, he gave in. The sweet tone had relaxed his soul and put him to sleep.
She sang a little longer making sure he was sound asleep when she had stopped. Her eyes were the same gold as before with a cat like cut for the pupils. She titled his chin up a bit more so she could see his profile a bit better.
"Over the many years of my searching I have not found a better match." She whispered to him in his sleep. "Here is to my patience in waiting for the right one to come along." She gently let his chin down, lightly stroking his cheek. Everything about him was perfect, even his looks. No, it was more so his easiness on the eyes.
"My wish now is to make sure your transformation doesn't ruin you." Her hand ran down his cheek and to his neck to the upper portion of his chest. Her fingers detailed his collarbone before she pulled her hand away. "Not yet." She scolded herself with a smile.
She bent down her head to his forehead and kissed him lightly. "Goodnight, my young priest." He stirred a little in his sleep, but did not wake. She shook her head mildly before vanishing from the room.
He slept soundly for the remainder of the night.
* * * * * The warm tides hit my feet with the gentleness of a feather. The sands were the soft under my feet. I was running. I could feel the nice warm sea breeze against my face.my entire body. The smell of salt filled my nostrils.
Something was missing though. I can't quite place it, something important.
I looked to my side and there stood that woman I dreamed about in my childhood. It was as if the sun's warmth came from her alone, for it wasn't till I looked on her did I feel it. She laughed with a smile running along side me.
I.
There was no sound to her voice. Though, that seemed so minuet right now. The time was paradise, the woman I dreamed of was now next to me. Her hair, being only a bit shorter than mine, waved behind her like a silk sheet. Her green eyes shimmered in the bright sun with the luster and sweetness more powerful than a gem itself.
We finally came to a stop, looking over the glassy ocean. I couldn't help but look back at her. She was perfect. Everything about her could not go against her.
She didn't notice my admiring stares. She just turned around as if to hear something behind her. She must have for she turned and waved with her gorgeous smile. When I joined her glance, there stood my mother. Something captured my heart and I ran towards her with all that I had.
I could feel the tears run down my face. Why was I crying? What brought me to such tenderness? Was my mother well? She looked well. She looked more than well. She was running towards me as well.
Just as I got to her and placed my arms around her, it was as if she was only a bubble, and burst. I felt my eyes become wide and I mouthed the word "no" but nothing came out. I screamed it as loud as I could, but still, I could not hear myself.
I turned to the woman that had been next to me prior to this. She backed away from me with a fearful look. Her face had become white. The water had started to soak her pants.
That is when I remember looking down at myself. I was covered in blood. Not any blood, but my mother's. I don't know how I knew, I just did. I shook my head rapidly, not believing anything I saw.
I turned the other way and darted towards the sand dunes, but I ran into something and fell to the ground. As my sight came to me, I gazed up at what I ran into. The sand had disappeared from under my feet and the sun's heat vanished from my skin.
And there she stood. The same woman that had tried to take my heart from me. She only smirked with a wolfish grin. I moved back slowly, pushing my feet across the icy floor.
She shook her head lightly with amusement and held a hand out. It was as if fire had come around me, eating me alive. I screamed and screamed, but I could not hear my wants for help and I knew no one could hear me either.
Then it stopped, but I was on my feet. My eyes opened, and into a mirror I looked. What I saw in the mirror was not me, but another man. He seemed a bit older than myself.
He turned from me and looked over a vast piece of air. Power emerged from him like nothing I have ever seen before. There was not a cloud in the sky, but the sun harsh enough to burn a man's skin, but not mine. The pain upon it was.pleasurable. And the fleet of dragons headed my way was almost funny.
The man reached a hand out to one side and moved it across-
"Zeoliet!" The poor young priest nearly fell from his bed at the screams of his teacher. He pulled himself up from his undignified position. He had not realized he had fallen asleep in his dirty work clothes from the day before.
He heard his teacher start yelling at him for the missed chores the night before and sleeping in now, but he tuned most of it out. They should know by now that this does not work on him. Why couldn't this be like the dream where he could not hear anything? Even if it was just him. He would not mind it too much. No, on the contrary, he would enjoy it all the more.
"I am going to start cutting your work in half." This was a change. This is when the boy started to pay attention. Having a cut in work was not something that Gray-san did out of the kindness of his heart. There has to be some kind of catch to it.
"I just think I have been over working you lately. Partly my fault for getting a little stressed over the fall festivals." Gray did not seem like the same priest that the young one had come to know. Something had to be wrong. Something he did not know about yet. Obviously he would pry it out of another. It would not be too hard to do that. He had most of the people in this tera wrapped around his finger.
"Now, get changed so I can give you a list to do. The sooner you're done the sooner you can go visit your mother." Gary nearly scowled. He had never met another priest of any age so close to their parents. He couldn't understand it well, but he was also very old and had long lost his parents to old age.
The boy only nodded and rose from him bed to get a clean pair of clothing from the small stack of clothing that lay on the floor.
Gary turned to the door, but stopped before turning back to his apprentice. "Make sure you go to the healers and get that scratch removed. The last thing we need is blood on the altars." He had nearly forgotten about the gashes on his neck. With a touch from his hand, he was reminded and paled.
"That reminds me, Zeoliet." Gary said strategically, "how did you acquire that?" The boy became bare with words and shook his head.
"I was trimming the pine trees."
He said nothing more, even though Gary stood there waiting for more of an explanation. He guessed he didn't need one and walked off, assuming a branch sideswiped his neck or some pine needles scraped against his neck. It did nothing for his logic, but he let it not bother him.
* * * * * Gray took the time off he gave to the boy to his advantage. He pondered through his things, looking for things that the boy could be keeping from them, but he found nothing. The boy's writings became less and less after the boy's ordeal with the scratches. All it had on the paper was a description of a woman. That could be anything.
His resources were exhausted.
"Gray-san!" A voice called. He set his old fragile body on the boy's bed waiting for Kera to come to him. Sure enough she did. Her radiant smile made her face seem a little red. He wondered what this was all about.
"What do you need, Kera?" He sounded more tired than he did angry. Even if he came across angry, he did not mean it for her.
"No luck, hm?" He sunk his head in desperation, but waited for her question. "Well, I was going to ask for a day or two time off."
"Reasoning?"
"Well. I have a friend that wants to take me traveling for a week. And I was wondering-"
"The fall festivals are near, Kera. The temple isn't nearly ready to show." His voice was soft, but still cut her off.
"I know, but I was hoping-" This time she cut herself off, bowing her head, knowing the answer.
"Listen to this and tell me if this person sounds familiar to you." She nodded as he took up the paper and read the written potion out loud.
How do I even start to explain what I saw? I think I should not expand to say that I saw the most attractive woman today. Her hair was gold locked with the help of the setting sun. Her skin was much darker than mine. I know she was not from these parts, but from somewhere south. Her skin was like the silks that came from the west, like her clothing, and her eyes were like that of an orange cat. No, much more beautiful gold. Her dress was a simple one. It was white with a slit in both sides that went up longer than her legs. I felt it almost a sin to look upon her. But something that marked her face that made her perfection seem imperfect. There were two small scars on each of her cheeks.
She was sweet one minute and then vicious the next. I can't figure out what was with her. Maybe I will never know.
He looked up from the paper and glanced to the woman standing in the doorframe. She thought intensely, trying to place the details together, but could not put a name to the puzzle he had created.
"I might know." Said an unfamiliar voice. A man met the woman at the door as he looked in at Gary on the bed. He was considerably taller than the woman beside him. His skin was pale but his hair was raven black. His eyes were the same shade as the grass is in the early spring. He liked the color blue. That was obvious in the choice of clothing he wore. He wasn't too far off on money either. Gold bracelets set on one of his arms. They were just small enough to where it wouldn't slide off his hand, or be forced off. This came off as suspicious to Gray. It was as if they were the same gold as the one that his apprentice wore now. In the same way, it would not slip off his hand. He tried himself after telling him to take it off. He thought he was being smart when he said he could not.
"Please share with me, then." Gray said shortly, looking to the tall dark man. The man gave a grin that seemed out of place on the handsome face.
"She isn't a woman to be toyed with." Gray already knew he was being choosy with his words. There were moments where he stopped, thought and then spoke again, plucking words and rearranging them artistically. This was one of them. "Sweet lady that always gets her way. I would steer clear of her if I were you."
Gray seemed unsure about this man's words. For one, he was someone Gray knew not of, and he already seemed to be shady.
"And how do you know this?"
"Myths." This rose some eyebrows making the newcomer move into more detail. "Where I come from, off the shores of the great forbidden Black Sea, there is a myth of a beautiful woman that would walk the waters. The youth, as you should know, like to walk the nights on the beaches with new lovers or to find themselves a love. There, she would call them to the water, entrancing the men and boys with her uncanny beauty." He looked to the looks about the room, pleased with his storytelling. The intoxicated looks of his listeners pleased him for the moment. "Once their feet touched the water, she would release her many faithful wolves on them. The bloody mess would litter the water. The only thing remaining of young wretch's would be their blood stained on the sand."
Kera looked horrified while the old high priest seemed unmoved. More so, he seemed not to believe the man, and the man knew it and smirked back. Seemed not to matter to him. The raven-haired man seemed to enjoy the man's disbelief.
"You come across me as being a smarter man than to believe such nonsense." The old man finally said.
"You do not, sir?" The man said craftily. "You believe in a great dragon that can protect you from a Monster like beast."
Gray said nothing to that but darted a glare to the man. It was one thing to make up lies to him, but another to insult the things he knew to be true. Above all, he had seen Lord Ceipheid before. It wasn't a belief, but to know the truth.
"If it makes you feel any batter, I have seen the woman before." He took the woman by the waist looking down at her with a sly expression she didn't meet. She only smiled lightly, looking to her better. Gray did and said nothing. He only looked to the floor. The man suggested them leaving and they did so.
Another week went by before Gray finally let his high priestess leave with the suspicious man. He was either over exaggerating or there was something particularly wrong with the man that none other could see but him. An evil aura about him, he guessed. He tried hard to let it roll off his back.
* * * * * The boy held his hand out for the beautiful young blonde priestess he had expressed once before. She was the one from the south. She found it hard to get used to the cold, even now. Walking across the thin layer of frost was hard enough, but climbing over rocks and logs was even harder. The young boy tried as hard as he could to assist her. Having her fall and hurt herself in the dress she had on would have spoiled the night.
"Be careful." He said light-heartedly. It was far from the first time that he said that. He wondered if going to the cabin was such a good idea now. Maybe they should have run off earlier in the day. Besides, he had an eerie feeling about the forest and it being close to dusk. There wasn't any going back now. He had already promised her that this was their night.
Why had he chosen her was a mystery in itself. She was annoying at some points, but he supposed her beauty made up for that. She was very easy on the eyes, he knew, but far from the beauty of his dreams or the mad woman out for his life.
Once to the cabin, he and his partner settled in for the night. He made a fire as she started a small snack and tea for them before the bed was made. They talked and laughed for a few hours.
While in there, they argued as well. Him and her were like night and day. Opposites attracted, but it seemed him and her were too different. There was not a single fact that tied them together. Just that she found him attractive and he, the same.
* * * * * "I have taken what I wanted from this village, and things are set up for your pursuit." The raven-haired man stood before a darkened thrown room. Nothing else could be seen in there but what seemed to be onyx steps that led to an elegant chair. All else was covered in shadows. Even the man was consumed in it.
"Very good." A familiar female voice commented. "I am glad I could be of some service to you, bother."
"Oh, believe me. You have help change the outcome of the future." A large sneering grin came over his face. "Of course, one that brings us closer to our only goal. Mother will be proud of us." A small chuckle exited his thin pale lips. Out from the side of one lip shown a white fang. Something the Mazoku clans took as prideful as their egos.
* * * * * The young boy could not stand the silence of the cabin any longer. The distant howling of the wolves made his nerves go haywire, yet he still put on his clothing and shoes. He looked into a bucket of water to use as a mirror so he could straighten out his hair. There was no particular reason to look nice before he left to go into the surrounding forest, but he was always self-conscious and always wanted to look the best that he could with what he had.
Once all set, he quietly opened and closed the creaking door so as not to wake his company and made his way down a short trail that he used often to collect wood. The night had a bite to it that was relentless. He rubbed his hands together, blowing his warm breath into them and rubbed his arms to try to stay warm on this late fall night. Nothing seemed to suffice his chill so he tried to let it be. That didn't work either.
He looked up at the bright moon. It wasn't quite full, he could tell, but to one that did not look in depth with small details like this, it looked full. It was just as bright as any full moon, making the sight of the trail not hard to see either.
"Sweet unnamed moon." He muttered as he looked to it till his eyes began to water. "Reminds me of myself." He looked to his bumpy arms and shivering arms. "Unnamed priest." Little did he know that would all change all too quickly.
His silence was broken by an undesirable sound. The poor boy felt nearly cornered by the howls of the wolves that seemed to encircle him. He could tell they were all still a long ways off, but in his heart it was as if they were nipping at his heels. By now he was a good distance from his cabin. A new brisk wind flew over him making himself wrap up as much as he could. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. He turned quickly to head back for the cabin, but stopped dead in his tracks petrified by the stare of a lovely woman with bloodthirsty eyes.
The familiar beautiful face and silver locks were everything but beautiful to the boy now. Fear ran down his spine and back to his brain as he nearly froze in fear. The cold surroundings were no help for him in this case either. The howls of the wolves became increasingly closer to him as she started to take soft steps into the dead leaves below her feet. The noise seemed to wake up his muscles a bit, but only enough to step back at the same pace as she was coming closer. Soon his efforts became futile.
His back hit the trunk of a tree. He was trapped. He thought about moving away from the tree and running back to the cabin, but the petrifying fear came back to him when his eyes met hers. Before he knew what had become of her, much less himself, she had her hand on his face, stroking his soft and delicate skin with the tips of her fingers and the ends of her long nails.
"Dear wolf priest." She smiled him, but her words came out as a chuckle. Her voice might be mistaken as the song of the sirens that could draw men to their deaths, though it was believed to this man that his death was already sealed long before she spoke.
"I.I'm not a wolf priest, M'lady." The young priest said in a small voice with his stomach turned over and again. She smiled to him in an almost motherly way.
"Oh, dear child. Not yet." The words seemed to purr off her lips. The boy seemed not to notice it too badly. He was more concerned with her hand on his face. His poor heart pounded in his chest as her nails stroked his cheek.
His eyes widened as his mind finally processed the shape of her eyes despite his fear controlling thoughts. They were easily seen as cat shaped with gold all around them made it a perfect landmark to what he knew to be true.
She was Mazoku.
What does a Mazoku want with me? He asked himself, but the simple thought vanished as she reached out and started to groom his cheek with her fingers. Her icy hands, like the dead fall around him, were cold against his hot face. They were soft, not clammy from the cold, or oily from treatment from the cold. It had to be her unforgiving blood.
His heart pumped fervently into his body. He could almost swear that he felt it beating rapidly in his throat, if he could think of anything but the beautiful woman with dangerous eyes. He forced the beating down so that he could spare himself some words.
"Wh.who are you?" The poor priest managed. She chuckled coldly a she grasped his face in her hand, forcing his eyes to look deep into hers. He became stiff again, not daring to move from her grasp.
Her lips curled around the words as she formed them carefully in her mouth. The brightening gleam in her eye told him that she was just waiting for him to ask. "Juu-ou, dear child."
Juu-ou. The beast master. She was the third greatest of the Mazoku lords. Well, the exception being their lord and king, Shabranigdo. It was bad enough that he was dealing with a Mazoku, but a lord over them all? He was beginning to wonder how much worse this could get. Soon his mind regarded asking that very question.
His back gave way to an empty space behind him as the tree mysteriously vanished and he fell into a chair. She stood in front of him, preventing him from going anywhere. He looked around in fear, seeing the forest was all still there.
With a gleam in her evil animal like smile, she set an arm down on the chair, looking hard in the eyes. "I have an honorable position for you." Her voice was calm and soothing. One the boy would never forget. "Become my priest."
Something came over the boy like a fire. "NO!" The fire had a cause from his heart that told him the deal he was being offered was not well. Of course, it would not take much for one to see making a deal with the devil as a bad thing. Out of his soul he shouted one word that would altar the events of the night, and his life forever.
"That wasn't a choice," She growled as her free hand laced itself around his neck with a tight grip. "It was an order." He took his hands and pulled on her arm hard to get himself feet. His head was pinned on the back of the chair that was made for him. His eyes closed tightly as he struggled his hardest to get free. Why did he ever ask for an exciting life? He didn't mean it! Truly, if this was exciting, he wouldn't be able to take the pain. He would much rather be nothing more than a simple priest in a temple that didn't bother anyone but the resident Mazoku.
His strength started to fade and his grip started to fall. He reminded himself that he was going to die this day.he. His face started to pale as he finally gave in to the woman. He was ready for her to take him out.but she decided not to. Instead, she let her hand loose of his neck and smiled with a mischievous sneer.
The boy was too occupied with his breathing taking to care about what she was planning next. To say the least, he thought he was going to have his life taken then, but perhaps not. Or he could be terribly wrong. Once his tears cleared, he looked up at the woman that was now just standing over him. She was looking over a dagger that was silver with black embroidering. A new fear arose in him as he repinned himself to the chair.
Her eyes came to meet the boy's face. That look burned into his mind hard. Time passed between the stare down, but only seconds were accounted for before she lunged at him. Being a smart boy, he sprang to his feet and out of the chair, falling to the bed of leaves. She quickly pried the dagger from the wood, looking to him.
"Come now, little one." She said in a pleasurable voice. He quickly stood to his feet, looking to her, but stepping back quickly. "I have a treat for you. If you are a good boy, I'll make it fast."
He shook his head and turned around to run, but was stopped by hungry mouths of the creatures he feared for the last mouth. The glowing gold eyes and low growls of the dripping teeth caused the frightened priest to back into the arms of his persuer. The cold blade lay on his skin and he froze. She smiled with delight as he pressed in on his neck, letting a small rich stream flow from the blade. He felt it and knew this time there was no hope of escape. Again, he gave into the woman and let his struggle subside.
"Good boy." She muttered as he removed the dagger from his neck and turned him to her, giving him a sincere smile. "Now, this isn't so bad, is it?" The boy said nothing, but shook his head in response. She lightly tapped his cheek with her free hand, leaving him with a bloody handprint on his face.
The wolves started to snarl loudly as the sent of freshly shade blood reached their noses. Somehow the priest found comfort in the woman's eyes, even over the many protesting voices of wolves. Do not mistake his demeanor. He was still very scared.
That was till she misplayed his trust.
She jabbed the dagger clear into his chest, only a few cells short of his heart. His eyes had gone wide, but he was still standing. He should have been dead with the blow, but all he felt was a sharp pain run through his chest, nothing more than that. The he remember from his years as a priest. the markings on the blade were not normal decoration, but an enchantment.
"Hold still, or all this preparation will be lost." He didn't move, but that's because he couldn't. One glance at the gush of blood was well enough for him. He was going to be sick. Not to mention he believed it wasn't good for someone of his race to bleed so badly, but his dizziness came to him quickly, so his mind did not function along the same lines as logic.
The woman smiled. She had finally found herself a priest and he would be like no other that her other siblings had. This was going to be rich.
She pulled the nasty blade out and reached into the boy, pulling out his heart. It had stopped beating long ago, but the boy was still alive, hanging on to what bit of consciousness the blade had given him. She looked to her hungry pack of wolves and nodded, pushing the boy back. He took a few fragile steps back before losing his balance and falling to the ground. The horde of wolves gathered around him and worked on the boy's remains. He gave was for a few small yells and cries for help, but not nearly as much as she had hoped. Her head shook a bit as she licked one of her fingers.
A sense that all Mazoku love rang in her mind: Fresh blood. The heart was something she could not eat, for that was what she would make her perfect priest from. Flesh was what she wanted. She moved some of the wolves aside to pick at the bones as well, staining her white dress with the blood of the innocent.