Grave love.
A
spin-off of prolonged equilibrium, for WilliaMoonlight fans
'If
you want to see the woman you loved again, come to Payon
Cave...alone'
This is
what was written on the small piece of paper that had been delivered
to William shortly after Nale and his companions had left. He read it
over again and again, unbelieving. Moonlight was dead; did these
mystery people presume to show him a corpse? He sighed deeply and
scratched ShadoWolf behind the ears solemnly. He rose slowly from his
chair and grabbed his cloak from a peg by his door.
He stepped
out into the crowded streets of Geffen and looked around for the
Kafra. He whistled lowly and the sand-wolf pup came bounding up
beside him. He scratched it behind the ears and pulled up his hood,
walking through the town, ShadoWolf keeping a path open before him.
People generally moved out of his way, being a living legend and all,
but he noticed that it was much easier to walk freely with his
faithful companion scaring people off.
He wasn't a mean
creature, in fact, aside from towards enemies, ShadoWolf was the most
trusting monster he had ever seen, but still, people feared wolves.
He smiled to himself as he recalled the childish fact that this fear
was based off of an old story called little red ridding-hood. He
looked back up to find his pet, only to come across it barking to
him, tail wagging as it sat before the Kafra.
"Good
boy, ShadoWolf," He tossed his pup a treat as he addressed the
Kafra, who seemed slightly ruffled, "Don't mind him, he's truly
friendly."
"I'm quite sure he is William," The girl
smiled, unsure, "Where would you like to go today?" He
withdrew a pouch of zenny from within his cloak and handed it to
her.
"Payon caves, if you don't mind." She smiled and
gave the pouch back with a wave.
"Have fun!" She giggled
as he slowly faded out of the world, and opened his eyes in front of
the gaping mouth of a large cave.
"Come
on boy."
ShadoWolf and he walked throughout the caves first
level, looking all over for anyone who might have some idea about the
note he was given, but the cave was strangely empty, it even seemed
devoid of monsters, except for the odd Poring, which ShadoWolf
disposed of easily. William sighed down to his companion and
smiled.
"Seems as though we may have to descend a bit
further, my friend," and so they did. After a short time of
searching William found the opening to the second level, and he and
ShadoWolf began their descent. Upon reaching the second level they
discovered more of the same. ShadoWolf would run off lazily, toung
lolling and tail wagging, while William searched. Every once in a
while his pup would return with an item or two, mostly just red
potions, but other than that the place seemed just as empty as the
first level.
Coming round a corner William thought he caught a
glimpse of light coming from off in the distance. He sent the wolf
off to find out what it was, but he refused to go, almost as though
he were afraid, so, He trailed behind William, tail between his legs
as he whined. William came around a corner and was forced to shield
his eyes from the bright light of a fire.
When William's eyes
adjusted he found himself encircled in half a ring of
High-Priests.
"You are the one called William I presume?"
A blue robed man asked him.
"Yes, and I assume you are the
one who sent me this letter?" He asked as he tossed it before
him. A woman also garbed in blue kneeled and retrieved the note,
looking it over.
"Yes, this is our message," The woman
replied, as she waved towards the fire, "Please, won't you join
us?" ShadoWolf bound forward and sat by the fire, but William
remained in place.
"I'd really rather you told me what you want with me," William said; yet he walked forward and sat reluctantly by the fire.
"All
in due time my friend, all in due time," The first man answered
him.
"Well, first things first, do I continue to think of you
as a blue priest, or would you like to introduce yourselves."
William asked, cocking an eyebrow to those surrounding him.
"Hmm, I feel at the time you should merely call me Wisdom, and address my others in suit, when we feel we can trust you, mayhaps we shall introduce ourselves further." He smiled.
"A queer sort of thing to call someone, but all right, what is it you want with me." The Wisdom who he had done most of his speaking with continued to address him.
"Well first off, we should explain the story behind your arrival, and our need of you." The Wisdom sat across from William, on the other side of the fire.
"To start our story off, I think I should explain who we are. We are the Water Priests. We have been trained by our fathers and their fathers, and their grandfathers for years and years. We know all the old spell and tricks of the priests, and hold records older than those of the Juno library. We are all high priests, and have always chosen to be Acolytes when we have finished learning the skills of the Novice. Except now we find ourselves in a complex. Two of our children, my son and daughter, find themselves wanting to be something other than Acolytes. Unfortunately, this cannot be allowed to happen, as others would learn of our family, and you can see where this would be a problem. Years of incest has kept our lines pure, yet we find one, my daughter, to be unnaturally strong for a child of a priest, and my son is faster than any I have seen before. They threaten to let other's know of our existence if we do not allow them their wishes. So, we request that you would take them under your wing and train them." He sat back and waited for his message to sink in.
"And what makes you certain I would not let the world know of your existence?" William asked.
"Because of what we could give you, the one thing that all your books will never teach you is in our grasp, and we can give it to you." The Wisdom waved behind him and two others carried a cloak wrapped around something and set it before him, proceeding to unravel it.
William looked down on the contents inside and reeled back in horror. It was Moonlight! Parts sewn back together and bones put back into place, but still as beautiful as ever, even with a large scar across her cheek. Tears filled William's eyes as he glared across the fire at the Wisdom, a smug grin on his face.
"This is what you offer me!" He shouted, standing up heatedly, "The corpse of the woman I love!" He turned angrily and stomped away.
"The woman you loved William!" The Wisdom shouted after him, "Past tense, for she is dead...but this, like so many other things in this world, is not a constant." William turned to look at the beast in blue, anger upon his face.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I mean, that we know all the old tricks of the priests, including the darkest and yet the holiest of all...Resurrection..."
A/N: My writing has improved so I hope you really like this, as you can tell from other stories I don't get to write much so please bear with my long delays between updates…I don't have the net at home…