Shadow Moon
By Chibidragon7
Chapter 1 : Old Magic
"Magic is dangerous, Valmont. Old Magic most all." - The Shaman
When it rained in America, people excpected a light shower or drizzle. If you happened to live in Seattle, you excpected a downpour. But, here, in China, he had no idea what the clouds above would bring.
The was the diffrence between there and here, He thought to himself as he tread through the growing puddles towards the outskirts of the town, (no, that would be village, and this tiny settlment wasn't even that) He knew what to excpect, he could guess that outcome of each moment, in modernizied, technology driven, money greedy America. In China, it was as if each moment was half in creation, half thought out, as it passed. It was the 'rawest' place he had ever been.
He hated to admit it, but he was a perfectionist. Being in the buisness he was, it was a trait that had served him well. . . but here. . . He never knew what was going to happen or what to excpect. This place. . . it was full of half-baked memories and...
Well, there really was no other word for it...
...magic.
It had been a stupid idea, and stupid idea can cost a man his limb, his freedom, his life... Yet he still thought that this was the best way to go about things. Alone. Without anyone else tagging along and potenitally ruining all he had worked for.
This tiny village, like all the others, was small and hapless. what passed for houses her where like garden shacks to the ones he was used to. But it was here, and he would have to go through with it.
He was slightly lost, he'd admit that too...
Something tugged at him. Ice-blue eyes travled downwards to meet those of a small girl, barely three yeras old, who was watching him with huge, simpering eyes.
"Mama wants you." The girl knew english, that was unexcpected. "Come on." She tugged him down a row of inhabitations, a loose grip on his arm sleeve somehow pulling the tall man along.
The house she led him into seemed like all the others on the outside, but the inside was dark and musty, filled with the pungent aroma of inscence and tea. The entire room seemed filled with the villagers, which explained the village's emptyness. A woman sat before what looked like a shrine (he'd never been good with religion) praying. The klack, klack of the beads in her hands was almost annoying, as was her constant muttering.
Fifty pairs of eyes swivled towards him as he was led into the room. The accumalated feeling was that he was as an ant was to a tyrannical god. A terrible feeling that left him empty and sunken. Heightened by the strange silence that seemed to fall over these people.
The girl let go of his hand, and joined her the woman before the shrine, facing him. It was that moment the woma's strange muttering stopped, and she stood, turning towards him.
Despite the rich black of her pinned up hair, he had to admit he'd been excpecting the wise woman to be old, past fifty at least. But this woman was neither old, nor young. Her face spoke of youth, but her eyes told a diffrent tale. And they where blue... like his own, but much richer. The folds of her clothing swept around her like water.
"You have come as excpected." She said.
He had excpected this. He had seen, and used, magic. He knew it was real, and he knew it was deadly sometimes. But he didn't believe even this woman in this village would have access to Chi magic. His approach had proabably come from word of mouth rather than divination.
"You are seeking power over yourself and the forces within."
Excellent english for such a backwater little village, he thought.
"I came for an item."
The woman's facial expression didn't change. But neither did she respond. He sighed.
"The man in Hong Kong said you had it."
"Sit down, Valmont."
This startled him, he hadn't excpected them to know his name. How the information had been leaked... well, whoever was responsiable was in for a fate far worse than getting fired. The fake identity he'd been traveling under was now presumably useless.
Lower to the floor now, the incence was beginning to make his eyes water. The outside had become even darker. Now, only the flickering candles seemed to cast any light.
He wasn't a superstitious one, despite having had a body possessed by a demon for a year. Something in his nature still kept telling him there was no such thing as magic.
The wise woman (presumably, or maybe just somekind of villiage leader) had taken a handful of somekind of powder in her hand, and also sat down.
From her hand, she blew it in his direction, and Valmont sneezed.
"When do I get it?" he growled, sick of preliminaries after two months of it.
"Patience is a great virtue."
Ice-blue eyes narrowed, and his mind weighed the consiquence of storming out of there then, despite the years' worth of searching. But, Valmont could be patient. When he wanted too.
So he waited.
Darkness seeped through the doorway, beat back only by flickering candlelight. Something in his inner being really, really wished there was a steady, dependable electric light in the hovel.
She was muttering in mandarin chinese, her words lost on him. Wonderful. A wanna-be shaman.
But he sat still, waiting her strange motions and her chanting out.
There was no wind, but the candles twitched violently, as if the darkness was trying to blow them out.
She was quite now, hands outstreached towards him, eyes closed. The village watched, collective breaths held.
Valmont suddenly had the oddest feeling, like a child who had presented something for inspection, and was waiting for the adults to tell him how good it was.
The strangest part was that he felt that, whatever it was, it wasn't good enough.
She finally put her hands down, and smilled.
He could feel the relief spread through the room.
"I accept your request, Valmont. You live up to all our expectations. You may have what you seek."
Any feeling of gratitude he might of had for it finally being over was washed away by confusion. Expectaions? Of What? Things where getting too strange. Again. Would he ever leave this whole magic business behind?!
The strange woman had walked behind the rickety altar, and pulled forth a black bundle.
"I caution you, however, to use this properly in the right time and right place. Magic is dangerous, Valmont, Old Magic most of all. Misuse of it can lead to the destruction of the user. Or worse." She laid it in his arms. For it's size, it seemed incrediably heavy. "I wish luck for you, for you have a great destiny ahead of you. Gods smile on you, Valmont."
He wasn't paying any attention anymore. He was unwrapping the bundle. The villagers eyes where pinned to the foreigner. They knew what it was.
They knew who he was.
The metal danced in the firelight.
The shadows crawled closer.
San Fransico was a blaze of morning sunlight.
Or, at least, it should have been, if those big, heavy rainclouds weren't so busy drenching the place.
Why was she always bored on rainy days?
Of course, the fact the it was 6:46 AM on summer vacation and Jade Chan had a heap of chores had ASOULUTLEY nothing to do with it.
And the small chinese girl was busy at them. Uncle had made it very clear how much he'd wanted done before he and Tohru returned from whatever pressing errands had called the Chi sorcerer and his apprentice away at this ungodly hour.
Which found Jade in the lonley shop, hauling huge exspensive vases down rickety stairs with only the rain for company. She almost severly wished Jackie was still there to do all the work, and immediatly felt guilty. He was on his Honeymoon! and did he damn well deserve it, too.
Recent memories sneaked up on Jade and jumped the girl as she sat the fourth of ten large urns on the shops bottom level, and wiped her brow.
Memories of her uncle's wedding day.
Jade took a breath to smile, before charging her way up the staircase to harrass another large vase down them.
It was a funny one, the thought of Jackie married. She pictured him a week before, right before the wedding, so nervous he walked shaking. Uncle's constant pestering hadn't been any help...
...Married, to Viper...
Another urn down the stairs, but Jade's mind was far off this time as she ran back up.
It had been about six or seven years since the whole tailisman deal, hadn't it? So much had happend. Not as much in the way of adventure as the way of life.
Up the stairs. Almost fall down. Up again...
There was a reluctant knock on the door below.
Jade stopped midway from lifting te eighth vase, setting it back down with a rattle. They certaintly weren't open at this time of day, but maybe Uncle had suddenly developed a sense of humor and had turned the sign before he had left.
The limber girl hoped over the railing, and landed on the floor below with a thud that would've sent Jackie scrambling to catch rocking antiques.
She had to ulock the door first, and Uncle had always made very sure of his security system. These days it wasn't so much technology as it was magic.
She opened the door to see a black figure drenching themselves hopefully in the street.
"Er, Can I help you?"
"I, I, I, I, I, I ,I..." The stranger was having quite of bit of speaking trouble, as if he was having to force every word out. "I-I'm look- ing for-" Though she couldn't see his face because of a bothersome trenchcoat hood, the shadow of lips moved beneath it, as if trying the name out. "Un-cle."
"'S not here right now, off on some errand or other."
"I, I, I, I have some-thing to sell!" He said this bit rather more quickly, as if panicking that she would close the door. He grabbed the handle. "Please! It will be wor-th your tim-me!"
She started at him through the crack oddly.
"I guess I can let you wait till uncle gets back." She threw the door open, the glass pane rattling. It was cold outside. "Hurry up, before I freeze to death." He scuttled through the door way into the bright haven of the shop. His drenched coat began it's quest to form a huge puddle on the floor.
"You want a towel or something?"
"No, Than-k you."
"Well, at least come into the kitchen," said Jade, feeling much more hospitable to the shivering figure than usual. "It's warmer in there."
He followed her towards the sounds of the whirring fridge, leaving little puddles behind him.
"Well, you can wait here. You sure you don't want a towel?"
He nodded. He still hadn't taken the dripping hood off, and she was becoming very curious as to what the visitor looked like.
Jade backed out of the kitchen watching him, and wondering.
She spent the next half an hour finishing her chores. When the huge vases had all been arranged and both floors swept, she went to check on her visitor again.
And there he was, in the same position as she had left him, sitting quietly in a chair, though slightly drier now. He seemed absolutley content to stay that way.
"SO!" She threw the door open. He must have jumped a record, what, four feet? "What is this object of intrest you're trying to sell?"
He fidgeted nervously as she sprawled herself over the back of a chair at the other end of the table.
"I, I, I, I, I, I nee-d to spea-k to Un-cle."
"Aw, come one, I'm not gonna hurt you." She game her trademark Jade Smile. "maybe I can tell how much he'll give you for it."
A pair of eyes watched her from beneath the hood, and slowly, delibratley pulled something from the depth of his trenchcoat. He set it on the table very, very carefully.
For all the world, the object set infront of the chinese girl looked like the Tailisman locator the Dark Hand had once used. Same basic princible. But very, very diffrent.
For one thing, it didn't have mean-looking dragons. These where supple, graceful... and white. It looked like someone had used saphirres for the eyes. And there was a pentagon shaped indent at the top, as if someting could be but there.
"What is it?"
"I, I, I, I-"
There was load crash.
Jade jumped up and ran towards the door, assuming one of her vases had fell over. As she skidded out into the hallway, she slipped on water. as the world did a somersault, she caught the sight of the door thrown, no, torn open. Something huge and black was-
She hit the ground, knocking the breath of of her lungs.
Someone leaned over her, smilling.
"You must be Jade. I'm suprised. You are very pretty, Jade. I excpected a child."
He brushed strands of long purple hair from his eyes, and drew a gun. Pointing it towards the kitchen, he fired three rounds.
He was still smilling.
He brushed his coat aside, replacing the gun in a holster. "It's a sad thing, really. That you are so pretty."
He leaned over her, and Jade tried to sit up, and found she couldn't move.
Still smilling, he hit her hard over the head.
Everything blacked out.
((It took me a realy long time to do this chappie, huh? Well, as always, thanks for reading and please review!! ))
By Chibidragon7
Chapter 1 : Old Magic
"Magic is dangerous, Valmont. Old Magic most all." - The Shaman
When it rained in America, people excpected a light shower or drizzle. If you happened to live in Seattle, you excpected a downpour. But, here, in China, he had no idea what the clouds above would bring.
The was the diffrence between there and here, He thought to himself as he tread through the growing puddles towards the outskirts of the town, (no, that would be village, and this tiny settlment wasn't even that) He knew what to excpect, he could guess that outcome of each moment, in modernizied, technology driven, money greedy America. In China, it was as if each moment was half in creation, half thought out, as it passed. It was the 'rawest' place he had ever been.
He hated to admit it, but he was a perfectionist. Being in the buisness he was, it was a trait that had served him well. . . but here. . . He never knew what was going to happen or what to excpect. This place. . . it was full of half-baked memories and...
Well, there really was no other word for it...
...magic.
It had been a stupid idea, and stupid idea can cost a man his limb, his freedom, his life... Yet he still thought that this was the best way to go about things. Alone. Without anyone else tagging along and potenitally ruining all he had worked for.
This tiny village, like all the others, was small and hapless. what passed for houses her where like garden shacks to the ones he was used to. But it was here, and he would have to go through with it.
He was slightly lost, he'd admit that too...
Something tugged at him. Ice-blue eyes travled downwards to meet those of a small girl, barely three yeras old, who was watching him with huge, simpering eyes.
"Mama wants you." The girl knew english, that was unexcpected. "Come on." She tugged him down a row of inhabitations, a loose grip on his arm sleeve somehow pulling the tall man along.
The house she led him into seemed like all the others on the outside, but the inside was dark and musty, filled with the pungent aroma of inscence and tea. The entire room seemed filled with the villagers, which explained the village's emptyness. A woman sat before what looked like a shrine (he'd never been good with religion) praying. The klack, klack of the beads in her hands was almost annoying, as was her constant muttering.
Fifty pairs of eyes swivled towards him as he was led into the room. The accumalated feeling was that he was as an ant was to a tyrannical god. A terrible feeling that left him empty and sunken. Heightened by the strange silence that seemed to fall over these people.
The girl let go of his hand, and joined her the woman before the shrine, facing him. It was that moment the woma's strange muttering stopped, and she stood, turning towards him.
Despite the rich black of her pinned up hair, he had to admit he'd been excpecting the wise woman to be old, past fifty at least. But this woman was neither old, nor young. Her face spoke of youth, but her eyes told a diffrent tale. And they where blue... like his own, but much richer. The folds of her clothing swept around her like water.
"You have come as excpected." She said.
He had excpected this. He had seen, and used, magic. He knew it was real, and he knew it was deadly sometimes. But he didn't believe even this woman in this village would have access to Chi magic. His approach had proabably come from word of mouth rather than divination.
"You are seeking power over yourself and the forces within."
Excellent english for such a backwater little village, he thought.
"I came for an item."
The woman's facial expression didn't change. But neither did she respond. He sighed.
"The man in Hong Kong said you had it."
"Sit down, Valmont."
This startled him, he hadn't excpected them to know his name. How the information had been leaked... well, whoever was responsiable was in for a fate far worse than getting fired. The fake identity he'd been traveling under was now presumably useless.
Lower to the floor now, the incence was beginning to make his eyes water. The outside had become even darker. Now, only the flickering candles seemed to cast any light.
He wasn't a superstitious one, despite having had a body possessed by a demon for a year. Something in his nature still kept telling him there was no such thing as magic.
The wise woman (presumably, or maybe just somekind of villiage leader) had taken a handful of somekind of powder in her hand, and also sat down.
From her hand, she blew it in his direction, and Valmont sneezed.
"When do I get it?" he growled, sick of preliminaries after two months of it.
"Patience is a great virtue."
Ice-blue eyes narrowed, and his mind weighed the consiquence of storming out of there then, despite the years' worth of searching. But, Valmont could be patient. When he wanted too.
So he waited.
Darkness seeped through the doorway, beat back only by flickering candlelight. Something in his inner being really, really wished there was a steady, dependable electric light in the hovel.
She was muttering in mandarin chinese, her words lost on him. Wonderful. A wanna-be shaman.
But he sat still, waiting her strange motions and her chanting out.
There was no wind, but the candles twitched violently, as if the darkness was trying to blow them out.
She was quite now, hands outstreached towards him, eyes closed. The village watched, collective breaths held.
Valmont suddenly had the oddest feeling, like a child who had presented something for inspection, and was waiting for the adults to tell him how good it was.
The strangest part was that he felt that, whatever it was, it wasn't good enough.
She finally put her hands down, and smilled.
He could feel the relief spread through the room.
"I accept your request, Valmont. You live up to all our expectations. You may have what you seek."
Any feeling of gratitude he might of had for it finally being over was washed away by confusion. Expectaions? Of What? Things where getting too strange. Again. Would he ever leave this whole magic business behind?!
The strange woman had walked behind the rickety altar, and pulled forth a black bundle.
"I caution you, however, to use this properly in the right time and right place. Magic is dangerous, Valmont, Old Magic most of all. Misuse of it can lead to the destruction of the user. Or worse." She laid it in his arms. For it's size, it seemed incrediably heavy. "I wish luck for you, for you have a great destiny ahead of you. Gods smile on you, Valmont."
He wasn't paying any attention anymore. He was unwrapping the bundle. The villagers eyes where pinned to the foreigner. They knew what it was.
They knew who he was.
The metal danced in the firelight.
The shadows crawled closer.
San Fransico was a blaze of morning sunlight.
Or, at least, it should have been, if those big, heavy rainclouds weren't so busy drenching the place.
Why was she always bored on rainy days?
Of course, the fact the it was 6:46 AM on summer vacation and Jade Chan had a heap of chores had ASOULUTLEY nothing to do with it.
And the small chinese girl was busy at them. Uncle had made it very clear how much he'd wanted done before he and Tohru returned from whatever pressing errands had called the Chi sorcerer and his apprentice away at this ungodly hour.
Which found Jade in the lonley shop, hauling huge exspensive vases down rickety stairs with only the rain for company. She almost severly wished Jackie was still there to do all the work, and immediatly felt guilty. He was on his Honeymoon! and did he damn well deserve it, too.
Recent memories sneaked up on Jade and jumped the girl as she sat the fourth of ten large urns on the shops bottom level, and wiped her brow.
Memories of her uncle's wedding day.
Jade took a breath to smile, before charging her way up the staircase to harrass another large vase down them.
It was a funny one, the thought of Jackie married. She pictured him a week before, right before the wedding, so nervous he walked shaking. Uncle's constant pestering hadn't been any help...
...Married, to Viper...
Another urn down the stairs, but Jade's mind was far off this time as she ran back up.
It had been about six or seven years since the whole tailisman deal, hadn't it? So much had happend. Not as much in the way of adventure as the way of life.
Up the stairs. Almost fall down. Up again...
There was a reluctant knock on the door below.
Jade stopped midway from lifting te eighth vase, setting it back down with a rattle. They certaintly weren't open at this time of day, but maybe Uncle had suddenly developed a sense of humor and had turned the sign before he had left.
The limber girl hoped over the railing, and landed on the floor below with a thud that would've sent Jackie scrambling to catch rocking antiques.
She had to ulock the door first, and Uncle had always made very sure of his security system. These days it wasn't so much technology as it was magic.
She opened the door to see a black figure drenching themselves hopefully in the street.
"Er, Can I help you?"
"I, I, I, I, I, I ,I..." The stranger was having quite of bit of speaking trouble, as if he was having to force every word out. "I-I'm look- ing for-" Though she couldn't see his face because of a bothersome trenchcoat hood, the shadow of lips moved beneath it, as if trying the name out. "Un-cle."
"'S not here right now, off on some errand or other."
"I, I, I, I have some-thing to sell!" He said this bit rather more quickly, as if panicking that she would close the door. He grabbed the handle. "Please! It will be wor-th your tim-me!"
She started at him through the crack oddly.
"I guess I can let you wait till uncle gets back." She threw the door open, the glass pane rattling. It was cold outside. "Hurry up, before I freeze to death." He scuttled through the door way into the bright haven of the shop. His drenched coat began it's quest to form a huge puddle on the floor.
"You want a towel or something?"
"No, Than-k you."
"Well, at least come into the kitchen," said Jade, feeling much more hospitable to the shivering figure than usual. "It's warmer in there."
He followed her towards the sounds of the whirring fridge, leaving little puddles behind him.
"Well, you can wait here. You sure you don't want a towel?"
He nodded. He still hadn't taken the dripping hood off, and she was becoming very curious as to what the visitor looked like.
Jade backed out of the kitchen watching him, and wondering.
She spent the next half an hour finishing her chores. When the huge vases had all been arranged and both floors swept, she went to check on her visitor again.
And there he was, in the same position as she had left him, sitting quietly in a chair, though slightly drier now. He seemed absolutley content to stay that way.
"SO!" She threw the door open. He must have jumped a record, what, four feet? "What is this object of intrest you're trying to sell?"
He fidgeted nervously as she sprawled herself over the back of a chair at the other end of the table.
"I, I, I, I, I, I nee-d to spea-k to Un-cle."
"Aw, come one, I'm not gonna hurt you." She game her trademark Jade Smile. "maybe I can tell how much he'll give you for it."
A pair of eyes watched her from beneath the hood, and slowly, delibratley pulled something from the depth of his trenchcoat. He set it on the table very, very carefully.
For all the world, the object set infront of the chinese girl looked like the Tailisman locator the Dark Hand had once used. Same basic princible. But very, very diffrent.
For one thing, it didn't have mean-looking dragons. These where supple, graceful... and white. It looked like someone had used saphirres for the eyes. And there was a pentagon shaped indent at the top, as if someting could be but there.
"What is it?"
"I, I, I, I-"
There was load crash.
Jade jumped up and ran towards the door, assuming one of her vases had fell over. As she skidded out into the hallway, she slipped on water. as the world did a somersault, she caught the sight of the door thrown, no, torn open. Something huge and black was-
She hit the ground, knocking the breath of of her lungs.
Someone leaned over her, smilling.
"You must be Jade. I'm suprised. You are very pretty, Jade. I excpected a child."
He brushed strands of long purple hair from his eyes, and drew a gun. Pointing it towards the kitchen, he fired three rounds.
He was still smilling.
He brushed his coat aside, replacing the gun in a holster. "It's a sad thing, really. That you are so pretty."
He leaned over her, and Jade tried to sit up, and found she couldn't move.
Still smilling, he hit her hard over the head.
Everything blacked out.
((It took me a realy long time to do this chappie, huh? Well, as always, thanks for reading and please review!! ))