A Demon's Clutches
The soft thud of bare feet running on lush grass echoed through the dark forest. A young girl with pure white hair, piercing violet eyes and lightly tanned skin continuously ran until the forest opened up, revealing a vast clearing with healthy looking grass, and dazzling white flowers as far as the eye could see.
She took in a sharp breath; the sight never seized to amaze her. "Wow." Her clear innocent voice played along with the soft breeze. The simple white dress she wore slightly fluttered along with her waist length hair.
"Why are you here, Mizuki?" asked an emotionless and cold voice.
Startled, Mizuki summoned her violet sword and swung it at the figure that loomed behind her. To her disappointment, her attack was blocked with an explosive bang. Mizuki turned around; blood began to rush to her face. The figure was cloaked by a long black cloth which covered his entire body; a striking pair of amethyst eyes looked at her; his pale complexion and shabby white hair made him look like death himself.
She opened her mouth and began to call his name...
I woke up with a start, clutching my head with my hands.
Uh, I was so close to finding out who that person was...
After a few minutes, the headache started to dissipate enough for me to walk to the bathroom. Once there, I turned on the tap and splashed cold water on my face, trying to get myself awake. I grabbed a nearby towel and rubbed my face dry.
I looked in the mirror and froze.
A female with white hair, piercing purple eyes and lightly tanned skin stared back at me; just like that girl from my dream, but something was off. Her waist-length hair had thick red streaks that elegantly snaked their up to her scalp. Those streaks...blood...this girl, what happened to her? Her eyes...such sorrow-filled eyes...there was so much sadness. We just stood like that, staring into each others eyes until my hand subconsciously moved to touch the mirror. Suddenly the image was replaced with my reflection: a fifteen-year-old female with lightly tanned skin, dark brown hair that tumbled to my waist, full lips and a pair of sapphire eyes.
That...was weird, I concluded.
Brushing to event off, I walked back into my room and looked at the clock on the wall.
Hm, it's 7:50 in the morning...Now I have...
"Damn! I'm going to be late!"
"Teito! Mikage! Wait up!" I called to two figures: a brunette and a blonde. The blonde, the one named Mikage, turned around, revealing his amber eyes. However, Teito - the brunette - just stopped walking.
How thoughtful of him, I thought sarcastically.
"Mizuki, there you are! We were wondering where you would be!" shouted Mikage cheerfully as he walked towards me.
"Sorry. I slept in," I told Mikage, sheepishly rubbling the back of my head.
I ran up to Mikage and whispered a plan of mine into his ear. He snickered then nodded in response. Teito just stayed fixed to his spot. Oh, what a perfect day. Mikage and I quietly walked up behind him: Mikage to Teito's right and me to Teito's left. '1, 2...3' at the three mark we launched ourselves at Teito. To our surprise he dodged us and we ended up colliding in each other.
Teito fixed his emerald eyes on us. "If that's all you guys can do, you won't be able to pass the final exam tomorrow," he told us coldly. We looked up at him.
"You're so cold Teito," Mikage told him while I scowled and got up. What a party-pooper, I thought as I stuck my tongue out at Teito and walked away hotly. Mikage lifted himself up and looked at Teito; "She's rather...cranky...this morning wouldn't you agree?"
"Come on. Let's going before your make us late, again," Teito relpied, stressing the last word. Even at my distance I could hear what Teito told Mikage. I tried to suppress my laughter, but I guess it could still be heard 'cause the last person on my list made their appearence.
"What is that hag doing here? She's contaminating the air just by her devilish laughter," said a snobbish manner. I frowned.
Great, just when I thought my day couldn't get worse...Shuri just had to show up...and with hsi gang as well...
"Well hag, answer his question! What's your reason for being in a military academy that specializes in zaiphon when you can't even form the words?"one of Shuri's minions added.
I growled. They were seriously beginning to push my buttons.
"What's the point in her being here anyway? The military is only for people who have the guts to carry out their work. That 'thing' over there doesn't even have a backbone. How she got in is-"
"Mizuki, ignore them. They're a waste to the world," a voice told me gently from behind. I turned around and saw both Teito and Mikage there. Mikage took my hand and began to pull me away from the group of idiots. I turned to call for Teito and was stunned for a moment; he was standing up for me, giving stares that radiated death to Shuri's group. I felt tears begin to form around my eyelids, but i wiped them away before anyone could see, at least that's what I thought.
"Don't spill your tears out on those worthless waste of air, Mizuki." I looked up and saw Teito look at me with those emontionless emerald eyes. To say the least, I was momentarily stunned by his comment. Once I regained my composure I smiled gently at him. "Thanks, but I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me, I'll manage."
"Aw, you're so cute Mizuki-chan," I heard Mikage say. I looked back at him, confused, only to be embraced by a bear hug.
"M-Mikage...I'm...g...going to...die," I manged to breathe out.
"Hey, Mizuki, are you sure you're okay?" asked a voice from my right. I turned to see a concerned Mikage. I must have spaced out again, realizing that we were already in class and seated; now just waiting for the teacher to come in.
"What...is the sklave's friend feeling home sick?" snickered Shuri in the background.
I ingorned him. "Don't worry. I'm perfectly fine. Just a little tired," I told Mikage. He nodded slowly, unconvinced.
"You know, if you continue like this, you're going to become like Teito: an emotionless, cold-hearted, tiny guy," Mikage told me.
"Would for you repeat that again, Mikage," Teito said threateningly from my left, zaiphon ready to strike if needed.
"Must you two reach a dilemma so quickly in the morning?" I asked them quietly, my head in my hands.
Realzing the scene that was being created, Tetio quickly disbanded his zaiphon, but not before giving Mikage another of his infamous glares.
An "Ahem" was heard from the front of the room. I looked to see our teacher Lloyd-sensei patiently waiting for teh classes' undivided attention.
"Now that has been resolved, I'll continue with the lesson." Satisfied, Lloyd-sensei continued his lesson on the different contributions each district made to make the Barsburg Empire a "better place." I should rephrase that: how each district contributed into making the military a "better place." Why they cared more for the military arts than the people was something I'd like to know more than this.
"Come at me for real, Mikage," Teito told him.
"Fine, but those are my true feelings for you, Teito. And that will never change," laughed Mikage.
Mikage and Teito had decided to have a duel with only their zaiphon to prepare for the exam that would occur tomorrow. They asked me if I wanted to join, but I declined their offer. I had a feeling that they wanted this time to resolve the issue they had in class a few hours back. Besides, it was more amusing to watch them fight. I looked at the imprinted message on the ground by Mikage: 'Best friend.' How predictable. Teito released his zaiphon towards Mikage: 'Stop messing around.' I laughed to myself.
The most entertaining part of fighting with zaiphon would have be the messages created by the caster; one of the reasons why I wanted to skip this battle - to read the messages they would send to each other.
Even though I couln't use zaiphon I spent most of my free time tring to find out as much as posible from the books in the library, with the hope that'd finally get a grasp on that ancient technique. So far, this is what I've learnt: zaiphon's the ability to convert mana, the life energy that souls are made of, into various forms of energy. It mainly appears as a glowing blue ring of words from an ancient language, and is controlled by writing those words in the air. Zaiphon's mostly controlled by using the hands, but there've also been people who use it with weapons. It's also influenced by the emotion of the writer; basically, the angrier the person becomes, the more aggressive the words are written, so the stronger the attack. The ability to use zaiphon is apparently very rare and its users are thought to be blessed by God. However, despite its rarity, all of the students here are able to use it; so it shoots down the 'rare' part. Zaiphon can also manifest itself in many forms, often reflecting the user's nature and personality.
Anyhow, back to their duel. Mikage had blocked Teito's last attack and shot one of his own. Teito dodged it. This time, I read the imprinted message off the ground aloud: "Chibi. You know that does suit you well Teito-Chibi-chan." I said the last words with a grin on my face. Teito's face began to redden. Mikage walked towards the spot his zaiphon hit and inspected it.
"You know, that kinda slipped out. I was really aiming for it to say 'cutie' or 'adorable' or something like 'over-reactor'..."
I looked at Teito and burst out laughing. His face was the reddish red I've ever seen, and he was trembling from what I'd guess to be anger. Mikage, upon hearing my laughter, turned around to see what I found so amusing. I pointed a shaky finger to where Teito was at, and soon he too was clutching his stomach.
"You guys! I'LL SHOW JUST WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOU TWO!" Teito shouted at us. He shot multiple of his zaiphons at us. Mikage and I barely managed to dodge. I looked down and paled: 'DIE YOU BASTARDS!' the zaiphon read. Teito was actually serious this time. Oh no...
"Ne, T-Teito, you don't really mean that right?" Mikage asked, and then gulped. Teito began to walk towards us, a dark aura resonating from his body.
I lightly tugged on Mikage's arm. "M-Mikage, I think right now would be a good time to start running," I whispered.
Mikage nodded. We both turned around and sprinted, trying to get away from the anger infested Teito. Suddenly, more zaiphon was shot at us as Teito, too, began to sprint, filled with the intent to kill.
"TEITO WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL US!" I heard Mikage shout.
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU...!" Teito shouted back. Thank goodness he didn't finish his sentence.
"I think the list of what you anticipated your zaiphon to say is what ticked him off Mikage!" I told the frightened person beside me.
"I don't care! We'd be lucky if we make it out alive!"
"What do you mean you don't care? We're being chased because of you!" I yelled at Mikage.
Mikage opened his mouth to counter, but Teito beat him to the punch. "YOU BOTH CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR DEATHS!" Teito yelled at us.
Mikage and I gulped at this. Now was not the time to be fighting with ourselves, so we focused back on our escape, with Teito using us as targets for his anger management.
Mikage was right; I'd really be surprised if we made it out alive.
So God, if you're there, please, help us escape from this demon's clutches.