Chapter One

The Child

Many times on a dark and dreary night she had heard the legend while sitting at the bar. Often she'd hear them, the people of this place, huddled together in groups, leaning across the table, speaking in low voices, telling the tale.

Never above a whisper was it told, for fear. Fear of what she could not quite put her finger on, it was not a tangible thing just a simple fear of the dark. The darkness always brings fear, because what lurks in the darkness is unknown.

And humans fear the unknown like nothing else.

She sat alone, as she always did. It was how she liked it.

"Another one, Misty?" The bartender said, smiling like a demented hyena. He was the only person in the bar who knew her name (how he had found out, she was not sure), and she intended it to keep it that way. She frequented the bar often, a hovel of a place built into a mushroom cave. The floor was damp, and so was covered with sawdust. The light was a dim greenish blue hue, emanating from the large mushrooms that lined the walls. There was an unexplained fog in the air, helping to create anonymity, which is what Misty liked most about the bar.

She simply nodded, placing three silver coins on the counter, and the bartender complied, pouring the concoction into her empty mug. She picked it up with both hands, and sipped the steaming green liquid from the steel vessel. She did not care much for the taste, but it did well to help her forget herself.

She overheard an old man clearing his throat, signalling his beginning to speak to an audience of eager ears. The familiar sounds were soothing to her – there was a certain comfort to be found in the habitual nature of it all. A crowd had gathered around, a hush descending over them.

"Born from the darkness," he began, in a raspy whisper, sounding like the rustling of a brown paper bag "The darkness itself begat it."

A girl's voice piped up "The darkness itself?" her voice was clear like a bell, soft and yet direct. It was a young voice, naïve to the unspoken fear.

The old man seemed flustered "Aye, the darkness itself."

"Really?" the girl piped up again. Misty snickered to herself, and turned on her barstool to get a look at this.

"Yes, child! Really!" he said sharply "Why else would I have said it? Now, where was I… Ah yes… Evil in its purest form begat the creature – Evil through and through.

Evil like none of you have ever known and pray you never will."

Misty saw the girl's eyes grow wider. She was a particularly pathetic looking creature, skinny and awkward, her startling red hair in an unkempt pile on her head, dressed in a ragged black dress and scuffed shoes, one long sock above her knee and the other fallen around her ankle. She sat cross-legged on the ground, fidgeting absentmindedly with a stuffed toy rabbit on her lap, which to Misty seemed oddly child-like for a teenager to have. Her skin was as pale as the moon on a clear night, her eyes as wide as saucers. She seemed entranced by the story, as if hearing it for the first time. And perhaps she was, Misty had never seen her here before.

"Yes, evil pure and simple, the evil that the noble one has fought so hard to conquer,"

Misty always smiled to herself when the old man said that. Conquer evil indeed, and with a sword no less! It isn't that easy. Evil exists in the world because evil exists in our hearts – one cannot conquer evil in the world until he conquers it in the heart of every human being.

"And you may ask, well, what kind of creature could darkness beget? Why, it is one that appears like you or I – it walks among us."

"Really? Wow!" The girl said.

"Ahem, yes, well," the elderly gentleman continued, furrowing his brow "It walks among us -unseen. It is told, that even though it was born of the darkness, cradled in the shadowy embrace of the night, it is drawn to the light – like a moth to a flame."

"It wants the light even though it's made of darkness?"

"So it is told. And so, this child of shadows walks among us – unknown, unseen – searching for the light."

"Has anyone ever seen it?"

"Well-"

"What does it look like? Have you seen it?"

"Dammit, child, I'm getting to that. I have never seen it, but many claim to. Often it is seen drawing unfortunates into the darkness."

"Unfortunates?"

"Yes, it preys on the weak – the miserable, the outcast. They are drawn to it just as it is drawn to the light steeped in their darkness."

"Well, maybe it just wants to be friends…" the girl said, pulling the rabbit's ears up against her chest.

"IT DOES NOT 'Just want to be friends', foolish child!" he shouted, forgetting himself. Misty suppressed a laugh – who needs television when you have this? She thought.

"It's made of pure evil! And it's just that kind of thinking that will get your soul stolen!"

The girl looked upset and frightened, more at the shouting old man than at the idea of souls being taken.

"Those who have seen it have told that it appears as the spirit of a young girl, unassuming as can be – to the untrained eye you might mistake it for a human, but be not fooled – you will know her. She has the marks of dark magic – the pallor of newly fallen snow in the cold winter sunlight, a mop of hair as wild as the beasts of the night and as the colour of freshly spilled blood…." He trailed off. His eyes grew wide. The girl kept staring, waiting to hear the end. Other members of the audience began to stare at her too, whispering to themselves, and backing away slowly.

The old man hopped up off his chair with surprising agility, and ran full force out the door, not saying a word.

"Darn, I never get to hear the end." The girl said, disappointed. She tucked the stuffed rabbit underneath her arm, and got off the floor, dusting her knees. She peered around her, looked at her watch, sighed, and made her way over to the bar.

She sat on the stool next to Misty.

She smiled.

Misty glared.

Obviously not picking up on the general mood, the girl spoke.

"Hi, my name's Ruby."

"Whatever." Misty took another sip from her drink. The girl paused, giving Misty a quizzical look. "Are you Mystery?"

"And what if I am?"

"Are you?" Ruby repeated, confused. Misty sighed heavily.

"Yes."

"Oh great!" Ruby clapped her hands together in delight, and took a small burlap bag of coins from her pocket. They made a clinking noise as she put them on the bar – a sound Misty liked. Her interest was now aroused, and she turned to face Ruby.

"I'm listening."

"You were speaking to my Mom, right? Aku?"

"Rings a bell." Misty remembered the conversation. She was not expecting the mistress of darkness' daughter to be so… pathetic.

"Right,so…" Ruby continued "You're going to teach me how to use magic?"

"Correct." She was also being hired to keep an eye on Ruby – and now she saw why. The child was like a headless chicken. She looked her up and down.

"Well, come on. We have a lot of work to do."