Smoke and Mirrors

Prologue – Part 3

The woman looked down at the small child as she dabbed a moist cloth over his forehead, cleaning the cuts he had gotten from that fight with the caterchipiller. Seeing that she had done all she could do she rinsed the cloth out in the bowl of water next to the bed and laid the freshly soaked cloth over his forehead.

"Will he be alright Annet?" asked Maria, who was sitting in a chair not far away, ankle fully bandaged.

"I don't know…" answered Annet, looking down at the small child with concern as she took one of his little hands into her's. She looked over her shoulder as Richter entered the room.

"I called Jun. He should be here any minute." He announced as he came in through the door. He looked down at the boy for a few moments and then looked to Annet, giving her a meaningful look. Annet nodded and stood up from the bedside, looking over to Maria.

"Keep an eye on him Maria. I'll be outside if you need me."

"Okay." Answered Maria as she turned around to keep silent guard over the boy.

"So, you don't know who he is?" Annet asked Richter as they stood by the fireplace in the living room.

Richter shrugged his shoulders. "Nope. Like I said, Maria and I were at the corner market when she saw him steal some apples and took off after him. Next thing I we're in the woods, and Maria's on the ground while he's trying to fight off a caterchipiller."

Annet looked down into the fire for a few moments, thinking. "The clothes he's wearing, they're all torn, nothing more than rags. And you said he was stealing food… You think he's an orphan?"

Richter crossed his arms and gazed at the painting on the wall over the fireplace. "Probably. That sorceress war only ended a little more than a year ago. Those things have a nasty habit of making orphans you know…"

Annet continued to look down into the fire. "A year… He's been alone and homeless for a whole year? The poor child… He can't be any more than ten years old."

Richter could only nod as he continued to gaze at the painting. A knock at the door startled him out of his trance. As he opened the door his eyes feel on an old, short, oriental man. He appeared to be in his 60's and was no taller than five feet. His head was bald and he sported a long white mustache and beard. Richter always thought he was quite the cliché, and smiled down at the old man as he greeted him.

"Speedy service as always. Eh, Jun?"

The old man known as Jun snorted as he looked up at Richter through squinted eyes. "I try. So, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time Belmont?"

Richter snorted back as he looked down at Jun. "Why do you automatically assume I'm the one always getting into trouble?"

"Because you're the one always getting into trouble." was Jun's simple reply as he walked by Richter into the house. Richter mumbled to himself for a few moments before closing the door.

"Its good to see you again Jun." Annet greeted with a smile.

"Likewise my dear. You're looking lovely as ever." Jun replied as he took a deep gentlemanly bow before Annet. Still at the door Richter began muttering something else under his breath. Something about dirty old men.

"So, what troubles you my dear?" Jun asked Annet, throwing a knowing look over to Richter as Richter glared back.

"We'll explain everything. Follow me please." Annet told him as she led him to the back room.

Jun examined the small child who lay in the bed. Hands lightly tracing over the spot where boy took the blow from the monster. Jun spoke to himself at times and asked the others questions when he needed too.

"This scrawny little boy was fighting off a caterchipiller?" he asked with a little hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Well, he was kinda winning at first. Then…he sorta started losing." spoke Maria.

"Indeed…" Jun trailed off as he continued his examination. He paid special attention to the child's mouth, opening it enough to look in. "Interesting…" Standing up from the bedside the old man extended his hand toward the child. "Cura." The cuts on the child's body began to close, and the angry red color along the side of the child's abdomen began to turn a more healthy color. "Very interesting..." When he was satisfied he turned around and faced the others.

"Well, he didn't crack any ribs, which is good. He'll only have a nasty bruise and be sore as hell for a few days. Just try to keep him off of his feet till then. Put some food in him too. The boy is quite boney."

"Thank you Jun, we will." said Annet as she walked him to the front door. "I was just about to make dinner. Would you like to join us?"

"I would love too my dear, but I must be going. I have some chores left to do at home." Jun said as he took hold of Annet's hand and bowed, making Annet giggle and Richter's left eye twitch.

Jun looked over at Richter. "Richter, walk me home would you?"

Richter's eyes widened. "Wh…why?"

Jun turned to the door and began to open it. "I am but a small old man and it is dark out. What would I do if I ran into a monster?"

"Pfft, yeah, whatever." Came Richter's reply. He knew more than anyone that Jun could take care of himself against a monster. "A monster, yeah, right. That old fart could take care of himself against 20 monsters." Richter however decided to humor the old man.

"Oh, alright. I'll be back in time for dinner Annet."

"Okay. Be careful. Goodnight Jun." Annet waved as they walked out of the door.

"Goodnight my dear." Jun waved back as he exited the house with Richter in tow.

"You could take down a whole wave of monsters without breaking a sweat. Why did you want me to walk you home?" Richter asked Jun as they walked down the cobblestone streets.

"Because we have much to talk about my boy."

"Huh? You mean the kid?"

"Yes." Jun stopped walking and turned to Richter. "Have you noticed anything strange about the boy?"

"Other than him possibly being a homeless orphan? No, not really. Why?"

"There is a strange aura about the boy…"

"Strange aura? Heh, are your Kung-Fu senses tingling again old man?"

The corner of Jun's mouth quirked up in a grin. "Perhaps. But I have felt this strange aura before."

"Really? Where?"

"In the war against Adel."

Richter stopped for a moment and stared at Jun. Not many people knew that he and Jun served in the Galbadian military during the sorceress wars, which was where they first met each other. After Adel's defeat and the war ended they both retired from the military. Richter had decided to settle down and moved to Winhill with his wife Annet and her sister Maria. Jun had moved to Winhill as well to open up a small clinic. He also taught martial arts in his free time; Maria being his only student.

"You remember the types of creatures Adel would often raise, no?" Jun asked.

"Yeah. Besides all of those guys in the fruity uniforms there were monsters of all kinds."

"And you no doubt ran into monsters of the undead variety, right?"

"Yeah. That was the first time I ever ran into those kinds of monsters…"

"That's because the undead are un-natural."

"What do you mean?"

Jun sat down on a nearby bench and motioned for Richter to join him. "The undead don't just pop up in the world like regular monsters so to speak. They don't breed. They are created by other means."

"What other means?"

"Magic. It takes a very high level of black magic to raise the undead, a level only attainable by sorceresses. Some call this brand of magic Necromancy."

"Necromancy… Wait a minute, what does all of this have to do with the kid back there?"

"I'm getting to that." Jun said as he sat his cane to the side and relaxed on the bench. "You were never in the Battle of Centra were you?"

"No. I was stationed in Deling then."

Jun nodded. "We faced the largest group of undead we ever faced in that battle. Abandons, Blood Souls, Forbiddens, Gerogeros, and anything else that even looked half-way undead came at us that day. There was also a new type of undead I had never seen before.out there that day. More deadly than anything I've ever had to face. They moved as if they were shadows. Moving so quickly you would see then still standing where where they were originally, and 'poof', they were right behind you."

Wow…what were they?"

"Vampires."

Richter's eyes went wide. "Vampires?"

Jun said nothing. All he did was sit there, gazing out toward the horizon.

"You're kidding right? I mean…Vampires? They're just something little kids tell stories about to scare each other. Something that Stoker guy wrote a book about. Something they make cheesy movies out of. Vampires…they're just a myth…right?" Richter was standing now, still wide-eyed and unbelieving.

"They were a myth...until that battle."

Richter sat back down hard, trying to sort out his thoughts. "Vampires…" A million questions tried to force themselves out of his mouth at once. He had to settle on the simplest of the questions. "How?"

Jun just shrugged. "They say every myth has to start somewhere. Perhaps they really did exist in another time, or another world, who knows. If they did actually exist I would imagine Adel knew about it and summoned them forth. If they didn't she could've very well crafted them herself. Adel was a powerful sorceress. I dare not doubt her abilities."

Richter stared off into the distance for a few moments, thinking. "You still haven't told me what this has to do with the kid."

"The child's aura that I sensed. I told you I felt that aura before…"

"Yeah?"

"…The first time I felt it was when I faced those vampires."

Richter was out of his seat again, staring wide-eyed at Jun. "Y-You're saying that kid…is a vampire?"

"…Yes...and no.."

Richter did the only thing he could, he laughed. He laughed loud and hard as Jun waited for him to settle down.

Richter had settled down after a few moments, wiping a tear from his eye. "The kid, a vampire? What evidence do you have? "

Jun took a few moments to gather his thoughts. "The child has obviously been living by himself, alone and homeless. That's not something a normal child so young would easily survive through."

"Well, maybe he was just lucky."

"Maria says he was gaining the upper-hand in the beginning of that battle against the caterchipiller. A child that young and small could hope to do little against a bite bug."

"Maybe he just caught the thing by surprise."

"A wound of that caliber should've killed a child so small. And even if they did survive, there's no possible way that the wound could have half way healed without magic in the same day."

This caught Richter's attention. "What? Half way healed?"

"Indeed. Maria said that after the battle there was blood coming out of his mouth and there was a wheeze in his breathing. Judging from her description on how the monster stuck the boy I can safely assume the blow cracked a rib and sent it through his lung, puncturing it. However, no one used healing magic on him until I got there. And before I used that Cura spell his ribs were not broken, nor was his lung punctured."

Richter didn't know what to say, he just stood there in a daze. Jun's evidence fell into place perfectly, but he was still skeptical.

Jun still had one more piece of evidence left though, and he saved the best for last. "Not to mention the boy has the fangs of a T-Rexaur."

Richter literally fell over this time. "Fangs? You saw fangs? You saw fangs and didn't bother to tell us?"

Jun waved his hand at Richter to calm him down. "I didn't want to cause a ruckus, we might have woken him. Besides, I exaggerate a little, there weren't that big. But I looked into his mouth just in time to see them retracting." Jun leaned over, eyeing Richter. "Have you ever met anyone with retractable teeth?"

"N-No…I haven't." Richter picked himself up from the ground and was busy dusting himself off until realization hit him. "Oh…Oh shit! I've got to get back!"

Jun grabbed Richter's arm to stop him. "Calm yourself Belmont. There is no need to worry."

"No need to worry? Are you insane? I left Annet and Maria back there with a VAMPIRE!"

Jun snatched Richter back into his seat next to him with surprising ease and relaxed back into the bench. "I only said the aura about him was similar to that of the vampires I faced in the Battle of Centra, not exactly the same."

"Wha-What's that supposed to mean?"

"It is hard to describe." Jun scratched at his beard for a moment, thinking. "Its as if he is a vampire, but at the same time he's not."

Richter had never felt so confused in all of his life. "Wha…?"

"The vampires I faced in the Battle of Centra were undead. Right?"

"Er…yeah."

"Have you ever used a cure spell on any of the undead monsters you faced in that war?"

Richter thought for a moment, trying to remember. "Yeah, I did. Cure spells have the opposite affect on the undead than they do on us. Cure spells hurt them. They taught us that in the academy."

"Correct. I used a Cura on that boy. The cuts he got from that fight healed."

Richter's eyes widened a little. "He's…not undead."

"Indeed. If he were undead he would've been killed by that Cura in his weakened condition."

Richter finally relaxed back onto the bench. Trying to let all of the information sink in.

Jun looked over with a grin. "Besides, the child was out in broad daylight and didn't catch on fire."

Richter chuckled at this. "True. You got me there."

Jun continued with his observations. "And its true that his aura and the auras from those other vampires are very similar. But there's one huge difference between the two."

"And what's that?"

"The auras of those vampires I fought in the war. They were dark, filled with malice, murderous rage, and an animalistic need to kill. That boy's aura is simply…dark."

"Simply…dark?" Richter tilted his head to the side for a moment. "Doesn't having a dark aura usually mean being…I don't know…evil?"

Jun chuckled at this. "Not necessarily. Darkness is only an element, much like fire, ice, or lightning, with minor differences of course."

"What difference would that be?"

"Before I explain, let me tell you about the element that opposes Darkness. Light is an element as well. We use it to categorize types of magic though. Cure and revive spell fall under this category. Holy spells are grouped with them too, only that it damages any target without discretion, undead or not. I'm sure you seen a few of those Holy spells in you time with the military."

Richter nodded to this.

Jun continued. "The elements of light and darkness are different from the other elements. They have a symbiosis."

"A symbiosis?"

"Yes. One cannot exist without the other. There is an old saying in my homeland. 'Light always gives birth to shadows, and thus creates darkness. And at the end of every dark tunnel there is always light.'"

Richter blinked. "Wow…that's deep."

Jun grinned. "Yes, it is."

Richter crossed his arms. "So, the kid isn't evil or whatever."

Jun nodded "I don't believe he is. Like I said. Darkness is an element, nothing more and nothing less. It's only as evil as the person using it."

Richter sat there slowly nodding, accepting Jun's explanation. "Makes sense I guess. But you said he was a vampire and wasn't. What exactly does that mean?"

Jun shrugged. "That I cannot say for certain. He appears to be very much a vampire, but he also appears to very much be human. Perhaps he's half and half. That would explain why he helped Maria."

Richter looked over. "What do you mean?"

"Those vampires from the war were soulless beings only guided by the malice in them. Its as if they had no minds of their own. They're eyes showed no intelligence what so ever. And whenever one of their brethren went down in battle they ignored it and continued in their attack, showing no concern for their fallen ally. This boy, however, made a conscious effort to help Maria. He heard her scream for help and made the decision to aid her. That's a big difference from those soulless creatures?"

"Yeah, it is." Richter looked over at Jun "Suppose that hints at the kid having a soul as well huh?"

"Yes, I believe he does, very much so."

Richter leaned back against the bench, looking up at the sky. "Half human and half vampire…wild. How does someone get like that?"

"For that we would need to know the parents. And he quite obviously doesn't have any. Maybe he was born this way. Or maybe he was 'created' this way."

"Created?"

"Yes. Adel was kidnapping children to find a successor. Maybe those children who were not suitable to be her successor became test subjects for her experiments. Perhaps she had a hand in how this child came to be like this."

Richter narrowed his eyes at this. He wouldn't put it past Adel to do something like this. For the lack of a better term, Adel was 'one crazy bitch'. Standing up to stretch, he looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. "Damn, where does the time go? Annet's gonna kill me."

"Then you had best get home my boy. It would suck for you if Annet decided she would rather have a much more dependable, older gentleman who happens to have a lot of experience...if you know what I mean." At this Jun sent Richter a knowing wink.

Richter's right eye decided to twitch this time. "Hands off you dirty old man."

Jun laughed good-naturedly and started his trek home. Suddenly remembering something he turned around. "Richter!"

Richter turned around in mid step. "What?"

"I'd imagine I don't need to tell you this, but this conversation should stay between us. The boy is an outsider in this village. You remember that stink the villagers raised the last time an outsider was in Winhill."

Richter thought for a couple of moments. "Yeah. Something about some guy named Loire. I remember now."

"We should also keep this from Annet and Maria for the time being too. Just to be safe."

"Yeah, okay."

"Oh, and Richter."

Richter turned around again with an exasperated sigh. "What?"

"Keep and eye on the boy.

"Keep and eye on him? I thought you said he was cool."

"He is 'cool'. But the child is young and I seriously doubt he can control this power. If he had full reign over it that caterchipiller would've been dead long before you got there. I wouldn't be surprised if the child doesn't know he has this power."

"Yeah, okay. Is that all?"

"That is all. Goodnight Richter."

"G'night Jun."

Maria watched the young boy as he slept, getting her first chance to get a real good look at him. The thing that stood out the most about him was the hair. She had never personally seen anyone in her life that had white hair. She knew there were people in the world with this color hair, but it was quite rare. It was long enough to barely touch his shoulders, and from the way it was frizzled and ratty it looked like it hadn't been washed in ages.

The next thing she noticed was his skin. It was paler than her's, and she was fair skinned. Maybe he was so pale from the injury. Maybe he hardly ever came out in the sunlight. She couldn't tell.

She then guessed it was from his obvious lack of eating. The boy was nothing more than skin and bones. The cheeks of his face were sunken in. and you could easily tell where his ribs were located.

"You were stealing those apples because you were hungry…" she said to herself as she took the cloth that lay across his head to replace it with a new one. As she did this she noticed the fingers of his hand began to move. She stopped what she was doing and looked to his face. His brows started to crease and his mouth opened ever so slightly. "Is he waking up?"

"mmmm…" the child moaned, his head turning to the side. Maria scooted her chair closer to the bed. "Talking in his sleep? Is he dreaming?"

"mmm…" the child kept mumbling. Maria moved closer to the boy, trying to understand what he was saying.

"mm….mom." Maria was now hovering over the boy. "Mom… His mother. He's dreaming about his mother."

"Mom……n-no." The boy's head turned to the other side now. Brows creasing further down and his lips twisting into a frown.

"St…stop." Maria sat back now, confused but still intent on hearing what little of the dream the child would voice.

"Stop…hur-hurting her." Legs and arms began fidgeting.

"No…killing her…stop!" The child appeared to be frantic now, and Maria was getting a little scared.

"No! Kil-killing mom! Stop it!" The child was writhing now. His body arched up as he were in pain. Maria had had enough by now and tried to wake the child.

Grabbing each of his shoulders she began to lightly shake him. "Hey. Wake up."

"No!"

"Wake up!"

"Stop it!"

"Wake up!"

"MOM!"

"WAKE UP!"

"NOOOO!"

It was at this moment while Annet was preparing to set the table that she heard screams followed by something crashing to the floor in the back room. She rushed to the door and opened it, revealing a visibly shaken Maria trying to pick herself up from the floor and the boy, who was very awake and very scared from the looks of it, was crawling his way backwards into the corner of the room.

"What's happened?" Annet asked as she quickly made her way over to Maria to help her up. The boy finally saw her and began crawling franticly against the wall, as if it would open up and allow him though.

"He was having a nightmare. So I tried to wake him up. And when I did he screamed and knocked me over." Maria explained, still shaken.

Annet looked over to the boy, who had stopped trying to crawl backwards through the wall. He was breathing heavily and watched the two with wide eyes. His eyes would dart around the room for a moment but would always fall back to them. "He doesn't know where he is. Doesn't know who we are. The poor thing is scared to death."

Annet moved slowly toward him and crouched down on the floor, keeping a safe distance from the frantic boy. The boy moved back again, pushing himself even more up against the corner of the room.

"Its alright." Annet said in a soothing voice. "No one is going to hurt you."

The child's eyes stayed locked with her's. His eyes broke contact for a moment to look around the room, and then quickly fell back to her eyes.

Annet kept moving ever so slightly toward the frightened child, keeping her voice soft and soothing. When she was an arm's length away she reached out to him. The child turned his head away from her, face pressed against the wall. His eyes closed as they began to water, and he started sobbing in between breaths. Her hand lightly touched the side of his face and she wiped away a tear with her thumb. She could feel the poor boy shaking like a leaf.

"Its alright. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe now." She kept repeating in a shushed voice. The boy's eyes cracked open, red from the tears, and looked up at her. She smiled at him as she wiped away another tear and brushed her fingers though the boy's hair, tucking it behind his ear.

"We brought you back here after the monster hurt you so you could get better. There's noting to be afraid of." Annet told him as she continued to stroke his hair. The child seemed to be calming down now, closing his eyes as her fingers combed through his hair. The child looked up at Annet again, then over to Maria, who had situated herself on the end of the bed.

"My name is Annet, and this is my little sister, Maria. You remember Maria, right?"

The child looked over to Maria as she looked back at him, eyes softening and smiling at him. And for the first time the child spoke.

"Sh-she…chased me….I-I…stole…" the little boy trailed off and looked down as he sniffled.

"Its alright. No one's mad at you." Annet told him, wiping away even more tears.

"Yeah. Besides, you saved my life you know." Maria said as she sat down next to Annet on the floor. "You remember that monster that was about to eat me, don't you?"

The child looked over to her and nodded, voice still cracking. "B-big…worm."

"That's right. He was about to eat me and you saved me from him." Maria said with a smile. "But you got hurt fighting him, so we brought you back here."

The boy took a moment to look around, then looked back at the two. "Where…?"

"This is our house. We live here in Winhill." Annet told him. The boy was still sniffling, but he had stopped shaking and was calm now.

"Hey, I bet your hungry. I'm almost finished cooking dinner. Do you want something to eat?" Annet asked him. The boy looked up and nodded slowly. She smiled back at him. "Okay, I'll be right back." She got up leaving the little boy there with Maria.

Maria watched as the boy cast his eyes to the floor, and ducked her head forward to see his eyes from under his hair. "You're pretty brave you know. Fighting a big monster like that to save me. Thank you."

The boy looked up at her, and then to the side as his face turned red, making her giggle.

"You never told us your name. You have a name right?"

The boy looked back at her and nodded. "A-Adrian… My name's Adrian."

Maria smiled at him. "Pleased to meet you Adrian."