Written for Raven

Word count:680

It was close to midnight. The stars were shining brightly in the dark night. The seaside was deserted. Silence everywhere. The only sound was the one of the waves hitting the shore once, twice,thrice…

In rest,just silence. The moon was half hidden behind a cloud so part of the water was dark and the other was reflecting the moonlight.

This late in night and near the sea there was no one. Nobody. Just a shadow walking on the sand with the most silent steps. The shadow wore a black cloak and his countenance was covered by the cloak's hood;his movements were graceful.

He stopped between palmiers and turned around to look at the beach. He had perfect view. With a swish of his hand every trace of him being on the beach was gone. And now...he waited.

The moon was high and it seemed to tell a story of its own, the story of what had been, what there was and what was to come. The story of what it had seen. But the man under the cloak wasn't looking at the sky, he was listening to the ocean and his eyes were set on the waves, counting them.

But, perhaps, he should have looked at the sky. He would have seen how the stars seemed to smile and how a light had appeared, shining more brightly than everything. And it was exactly what he had come there for. Or better said for what he had been sent.

The light continued to glow and to grow bigger and bigger until it was just above the water. Then he noticed. And he could only watch mesmerised how from the globe of light appeared the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was a mystic beauty born from an impossible love, sister of the stars and moon. And he was sent there to catch her.

Beauties like her were powerful enough to sustain with their magic a town for years.

Not everything place was as peaceful as this island. More like the opposite. Only the beauties with their powers kept the things going, but there were less and less of them. In the last years or so more than a half of them had been killed because they had refused to comply. And even more people had been killed because they had helped them. That was the reason people like him had been sent to infiltrate on the islands where it was believed that the beauties had retreated. Like the island he currently found himself in.

He had been chosen because of his dedication to the cause and of his hard work. But now, looking at the beautiful girl who was swimming in the ocean, he couldn't believe that this girl was part of the kind of monsters that had killed his parents.

And there was the fact that up until this moment he hadn't believed the term 'beauty' meant that they were indeed beautiful. The way the people talked about them, no matter if they spoke to attack or defend they spoke as if they were monsters, animals. And they called them beauties to get them to cooperate by flattering them, by making them remember the time they were indeed beautiful, time that was long gone according to them.

But all the clues, months of investigation, they shown that the girl in front of him was a 'beauty'. She really was beautiful. The definition was true.

Just that now, he didn't know what to do. The protocol said to capture her in the most vulnerable state and take care not to leave her alone. That she was dangerous.

He knew it to be true, but ...she looked so innocent. So sweet. So beautiful.

'Everything is just for farce' he told himself, the girl was dangerous if attacked. And he planning to capture her. Who knew what was she going to do?

But he was ready, wasn't he? His mind agreed with him, but for some reason there was a pain in his chest.