Moonlight (Fight) – Night.

The young demon waited for the sun to set, patiently. He had been in Toei for about three years now, but as far as he could tell, none of the inhabitants of this cold land seemed to have noticed him. That was no wonder. After about half of a century of life, when humans begin to wither, he was still small, a child by demon's standards. A lonely child, as the humans that happened to see him called him. Though not many humans crossed his path here, in Toei, which was rather a relief. For he was still young, hence weak, and a chance encounter with a priest, however low-rank the human maybe, could very well be fatal. He had already barely escaped a few, and had learnt to dread and hate the others. Fortunately, Nature –or maybe his unknown parents- had provided him an almost human shape, with dark skin and hair, and eyes even darker.

This darkness proved itself useful now that he had arrived in the wild mountains of Toei, where night lasts longer than anywhere else.

The whole world after sunset was his domain. Dark and silent as a shadow, he went over the black, friendly silhouettes of trees, hidden, secure in invisibility. Creature of the night, he hunted until sunrise.

Unknown to anyone. A shadow. He did not have a name, but he thought 'Shadow' could suit him. Dark, soundless, here, but not here. Unnoticed.

Maybe one did notice him, he mused. That older demon, with little horns and sharp eyes, and that was the colour of night as well. That demon seemed to notice everything. But he did nothing more. If he noticed the newcomer, he didn't try to fight him out of Toei. And the young demon thought that he probably always was like this. He'd just sit somewhere and observe the world. Because he had a place in that world. He did not need to hide or to fight for just his food. Unlike himself.

The sun struggled, spreading final fires of bloody light, and then sank in a colourful agony behind horizon. In minutes, the whole world sank after it. The moon spread its pale, soft light that was sufficient to guide the young demon. Tonight was his. It was time for him to fight for a place among the demons of the North, or die.

At sun's rebirth, he was back in the safety of his secret cave in the mountains, covered in blood that wasn't his, and a bit surprised to be still alive. His reflection in water showed him what he had become. A human-shaped dark demon, firm muscles under brown, moon-tanned skin, cunning fire in deep dark eyes. Not so weak that he had thought he was. It was his first fight with a demon, and he had won. Won the right to live one more day. Exhausted, he slumped on the stone and surrendered to slumber.

One by one, he won many days of life, and earned a name, 'Night'. Now he could come out under sunlight, acknowledged member of the demons of Toei, but that name reminded him of the time he belonged to. He had learnt the name of the others, as well. The one that never fights was called 'Geiss', for instance. Night believed he must be the leader of the North. So powerful that he was never challenged. And conversely Night went on putting up fights. He had never done anything else, so, as a mean to avoid boredom, he wrestled. And found out one day that he had become the leader of Toei. This wasn't so surprising, after all. Night was born far in the south, between two human big towns, Offruth and Rutheda, near a river constantly occupied by human ships. When he had come to himself for the first time, he was bathing in his human mother blood and overwhelmed by survival instinct. And from that point on, he had had to fight for his life. To run, to hide, to be cleverer, faster, stronger than whoever crossed his path, for everyone in the world was his foe. He was born struggling for survival, and was tougher than anyone here.

Everyone in Toei ended up being his opponent at least once. There had been no exception. Demons are not the type of creatures that would accept someone's command before they had ensured they were weaker. So why wouldn't Geiss challenge him? No matter how strong Night became, the horned demon remained uninterested. Did he consider himself so strong that Night was nothing but some kind of bug to him? Night could have challenged him, as he had always done, after all. But it bothered him. But he had to. Night would never be a leader if the older demon didn't recognize him to be so.

Night opted for a compromise. He stood still in front of Geiss and merely decreed:

-I'm the leader of Toei. You'll be under my rule from now on.

He felt a reasonless nervousness as the older one stared at him in silence, totally serious.

- Oh. Really. You beat Fear? he asked as though he was talking about the weather.

- Yeah, said Night, unsure of what he could add. That makes me the strongest here.

He felt dreadfully childish saying so.

- That's right, agreed Geiss.

That's right!? Night wondered if he was being laughed at. But Geiss seemed no ironical whatsoever. He was completely solemn, and at the same time, looked like he wondered what Night wanted of him exactly.

- So you'll agree with that, without even trying me? You might be stronger after all. You might not need to do what I say…

What am I saying??

- Yeah, maybe. But then, if I beat you, it makes me the leader of Toei, right? Which I certainly don't want. So, Night, if we fight, either you're stronger and you beat me, or I'm stronger and I let you beat me. So why even bother?

Night didn't know if he should feel relieved, or frustrated, or offended. Looking at the feelings struggling on his face, Geiss smiled.

- If it reassures you, I'm quite sure you're stronger than I am. You look tough. You went through a lot, eh? You came from South, am I right? I watched you coming.

More feelings, shame, rage, and total bewilderment popped up on Night's face. If his skin hadn't been tanned, he'd be all red from the effort. 'Yeah, I was born between Offruth and Rutheda…' was all he could say.

- Oh, yeah. There's quite a lot of humans there. Why did you come to the North? Seethe's territory in the South was nearer.

- Because there are many humans in the South, so all that demons can do there is hiding.

They went on chatting, long after Night had given up the project of understanding that strange guy. He gave a last attempt just before to leave, as the sun was setting.

- But, Geiss, if you don't fight, what do you do all the day long?

Geiss extended his arm toward West, pointing at the scarlet sky.

- Looking at things like that. There are things I watch because I want to understand, and others I watch because they're beautiful. The moon, for example. Or the sun. Or just the trees.

- You really, really never feel like fighting? When you're insulted, or…

- No matter how strong you are, Night, you can't take the moon away, right? So I can still watch it. Why would I be upset?

Night spent his time watching the moon until sunrise, to the point his eyes almost hurt. He liked the moon, too. It was beautiful indeed. From that day on, Night stopped watching constantly if someone was attacking, and watched the sky instead. Every full moon, he understood deep inside what Geiss meant. Beautiful.

The moon has fallen. That's what Night had first thought. They were all bawling, 'a pure blood, a pure blood', but they were wrong. It was more than any demon. No being born on earth could bear that radiant beauty. It was far too subtle, far too sharp to be the sun. It was the moon. Night was born to be the moon's servant. Of course. The moon reigns upon the world after sunset, and Night was a being of that time. So he gave a name to that newcomer. 'Leader'. Whatever rule and command he had earned throughout long effortful decades, he handed it over gladly to that beautiful being.

Now he didn't have to wait sunset to watch the moon.