The New Year, as always it was a time for celebration and many were having great parties, but this was a special year, the final year of this century and the millennium. Many feared that the changing of the years would cause great problems with computerized systems because of the date and so spent ludicrous amounts of money ensuring that there would be no problems, many programmers were working up to the last minute to earn their paychecks. Spiritualists were scrounging through ancient texts and prophecies for apocalyptic information, to be able to ensure that there would be life in the new millennium and that God, whatever god they worshipped wasn't going to consign them to death anytime soon. The exception was the St-Evans religion, which continued to work for the good of mankind and dismissed all notions of Armageddon. Even the High Bishop Mabus, the leader of the religion, was working with the homeless on the last day of that year. He was without his ceremonial trappings, wearing casual clothes as he helped feed children and others. Of course the press, what few were working on that day, saw this as a photo opportunity and asked him about his position on many things and of course the question of the apparent impending doom touted by wandering prophets. Mabus merely smiled and turned to the reporters as he began to speak.
"I started out in this world with nothing, I was a homeless orphan, much like these children. I had no education, I was self-taught and I taught myself with scraps of text and replicas of the St-Evans bible. I'm sure you've heard how some of the clergy say that I had a vision from God that pushed me towards the priesthood. It was nothing of the sort, I simply saw my condition and the suffering of others around me and I was determined to do something about it. I approached the priests and applied to the priesthood. They accepted me because they saw my desire to join. I rose through the ranks because of my devotion to God. You do realize what an accomplishment that is, don't you? I'm one of the few people of Negro decent who has reached a high standing position in religion and the only Negro who is the religion head. I don't believe that God would destroy the world so long as it is redeemable and I came this far under the belief this world can be made a better place." He had said.
And that, it appeared, would be all he said on the matter for he never answered another question the whole night as he worked.
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Not all of the St-Evans organization were aiding the poor and destitute, but that was due to the fact that officially, they didn't exist. The Templars, a sect of the St-Evans religion whose purpose was to eradicate demons and other supernatural dangers, was only made public to heads of state, Mayors, Presidents and other such political stations as well as police chiefs and heads of law enforcement were privy to their existence. Of course, that didn't mean they were excluded from the guest list of certain celebratory functions. In particular, the New Years party held by the Mayor of Rubicant (1), a city in the country of Evrai, where quite a few Templars and their commanding officer High Templar Ishan, a direct subordinate to the High Bishop, were invited.
The mayor, a portly man with a thinning hairline, approached High Templar Ishan. He was a surprisingly young looking man, he had a charming face, one you would trust even if you had never met him before. With his short dark hair and suit, he looked like a movie star, only more approachable.
"Are you enjoying yourself, High Templar Ishan?" The Mayor asked.
"Yes I am, but please, there's no need for formality, Mr. Mayor. Please call me Ishan." Ishan said smiling.
"Well then, please call me Reginald, if we're being informal." The Mayor chuckled.
A woman in a slinky black dress approached the two; she was very beautiful with her long red hair, full red lips and emerald eyes. She had a calm smile and graceful walk and it was hard for anyone, man or woman, not to look and admire her grace a beauty. She walked up to the two and handed a glass of wine to Ishan.
"Ah, I don't believe you've met my wife have you Reginald? Her name is Shade." Ishan said.
Shade smiled and nodded at the Mayor and he took her hand and kissed it gently.
"'Tis a pleasure to meet such a lovely young woman. You are a very lucky man, Ishan."
The mayor looked into her eyes and repressed a shudder; her eyes were so blank, dull, like the eyes of a doll. There was simply something about her that sent a chill up his spine. But it would have been terribly rude to show any sign of discomfort untoward his guests and the mayor was an excellent actor, being a politician most of his life it was difficult not to pick up such things. Now he decided to use another political trick to distract them from potentially seeing his discomfort.
"We truly owe a great deal to you for all you've done for the city, master Ishan." He said.
"Oh there is no need to thank us, it is the purpose of the Templars to rid this world of monsters and besides you do not have me to thank, you should reserve that thanks for my students." Ishan smiled. "Speaking of which, here is one now; may I present one of my top Templars, Maia."
The mayor's eyes widened as the woman approached. He was surprised, not by the fact of how young she looked, which was about eighteen, or the fact that she had been called one of his top Templars. It wasn't even the fact that she was obviously of Woren, though that was part of why he was so surprised. Most Woren in this day and age bore few signs of their feline heritage, just ears, eyes and tails; this girl, Maia, however, appeared to be a full Woren with light brown fur and short, golden blond hair in a bobbed hairstyle. Rarer than rare, full-blooded Woren were always the most noticed in a crowd and in Maia's case, her slender, but curvaceous body as well as the short skirt and top that showed off generous amounts of that physique only increased the amount of attention she received. Her appearance was in fact her greatest asset in fighting off demons. Instead of hunting them, she let them come to her, for there were few demons willing to let such a delectable young girl go without having their way with her. However, despite her soft appearance, Maia was no shrinking violet; her strength and combat skills were second only to High Templar Ishan. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. She was the perfect bait, the perfect weapon and thus, the perfect trap.
"W-well then I appreciate all you've done for my city." The mayor said with a slight bow to Maia.
"No thanks needed, I was doing my job." She said to the mayor as she grabbed Ishan. "He's brooding again." She whispered to him.
"Again? Damn, he has got to learn to relax… anyways; I'll go talk to him and I have to talk to you later, so don't go to far." He smiled.
Ishan left the group and headed to the doorway, which lead onto the balcony. The night air was crisp and cool, so most people had opted to remain indoors. One however, chose to enjoy the air; Joshua stood in his formal attire, a glass of champagne in his hand and a pensive look on his face. Ishan let out a sigh and a look of pride appeared on his face for this, his best Templar and his unofficially adopted son.
"You miss her." A statement, not a question.
Joshua said nothing, taking a sip of his wine. His eyes never left the stars, who seemed to shine brighter tonight than any other night previously. The sky was perfectly clear, not a single cloud in the sky; in fact, there were reports of clear and perfect skies across the world that night. He looked up at the perfect full moon and wondered if Nina was looking at it on the other side of the world.
"I know you would have preferred to fight there instead of here, but you would have let your emotions get in the way of your work. If you had any distractions, any doubts it would weaken your ability to fight and that would not be conductive to living a long life in our line of work. You're needed here." Ishan said.
"Needed?" Joshua asked, sneering. "How needed can I be if I spend my time at these ridiculous functions? Our purpose is to hunt down demons, not socialize at parties."
"I'm not overly fond of these gatherings myself, you know. But I get to spend time with my wife and forgot that I'm a monster killer for a bit. If we don't take time to enjoy the world we're saving then what's the point? If we don't take time to ourselves, to enjoy life, how can we keep from becoming the same as the demons we hunt?"
Joshua took another sip of his wine and turned away from the balcony. Ishan was right, moping wasn't going to accomplish anything and he had been fighting demons for so long so he did need a rest. Ishan tossed him his cell phone as they entered the hall.
"Call her. You know you want to." Ishan laughed.
Ishan turned from Joshua and took Maia aside.
"What do you need, master?" Maia asked, in a hushed voice.
"I have a big job for you, something more powerful than any demon you've fought."
"More powerful? What is it?"
"In Winlan, of the Rhapala Region of Windia, the Dragon has been spotted." Ishan said with deadly seriousness.
"The… Dragon…" Maia said in awe. "So you need me to kill it… Am I strong enough?"
"You are, but your usual methods wont work; you'll have to attack him outright, so be careful of bystanders, we don't want any innocents caught in the crossfire."
"Right… Say, isn't Winlan where Joshua's girlfriend lives?"
"Yeah, it seems that the Dragon has made contact and is living with Nina… The forces of Darkness (2) may want to use her to get to him, that's why I'm not sending him."
"This party was getting boring anyways. I'll get ready and leave tomorrow."
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A continent away, the New Years party was in full swing. Lastic and Kit's jazz club was fully packed, everyone enjoying the music and a drink. For Kit there was just something about a saxophone and New Years that went together perfectly. So she, on saxophone, Lastic, on Piano, and Rick on bass guitar, played with passion and heart for all. Behind the stage curtain, Rin hid, making adjustments to the sound so that nothing would happen, well, that and she was hiding from all the guys who were hitting on her. They were only interested in her for her looks, some for the size of her breasts and thus held no interest for her. Lenn was behind the bar, serving drinks and she was more than half drunk herself. She loved music, but she hated not being able to play any herself so she stayed out of the way and kept herself drunkenly happy. Nina was enjoying herself immensely, after the whole affair with David, this was exactly the kind of party she needed. Furthermore, she'd just gotten to speak with Joshua, so all was right with the world, she didn't mention anything about David though, for fear of worrying him or worse. So now, she was enjoying the music, the people, and the fact that no freaky undead monster things were trying to kill her or have sex with her. She wasn't trying to spend her time alone or anything, for this great celebration she'd brought Ryu, but now he was nowhere to be seen. Granted it was crowded and it was noisy, so he wouldn't be easy to find, but she'd asked around and he'd apparently disappeared. Thinking once again what happened to the last time she'd followed him, she asked around some more.
After talking with a somewhat drunk Lenn, she found that Ryu had taken the stairs up to the roof. The stairs, located in a corner of the bar, near the stage lead up to Kit, Lastic and Rick's living space as well as the roof of the apartment. She made her way to the staircase in question, wading through the sea of people. It was a winding staircase and the passage in which it was, was very cramped. She made her way to the roof and she shivered at the winter air, her breath visible in the cold. The slinky black dress she wore was not meant for the cold. She looked up at the perfect full moon and wondered if Joshua was looking at it too on the other side of the world. She looked at the flow of moonlight and it shone upon the one whom she was looking for. The way the moonlight shone upon Ryu as he looked up at the moon gave it all a surreal quality, as though it were some romantic dream or like a panting with a dream-like landscape. Nina swallowed hard at the sight; he was like an angel, sitting there waiting for her alone. She blushed at the naughty thoughts that were triggered by this scene and she shook her head to clear it.
-SOL Nina-
Have you ever felt something about a person but you weren't sure what it was you felt? Not sure if its love or lust or something else? I've always been faithful to Joshua I would never betray him, but I felt that I wanted… no… needed to kiss Ryu, just once, if only to soothe the ache in my heart. I never did… maybe things would have been different if I had. But I knew Ryu could never return those feelings, feelings I wasn't even sure of. So what do you do when you feel like that? You bury those feelings and hope you can get by with the 'what if' and 'if only' scenarios that'll bug you from time to time.
-End SOL-
The time was ending for the year; midnight was closing in. Nina bit her lip with indecision. She argued with herself, but it was a compulsion, like she just needed to kiss him, just once and all the anxiety would go away. She wished Joshua was there, just so he could hold her. She had felt a swelling of feelings building in her ever since she met Ryu, but she had no idea what those feelings were and they had become heightened as she saw him now. There was a superstition that said if a couple kissed at exactly midnight they would be bound together for all eternity. She and Joshua had performed that little ritual the previous year. These thoughts, these feelings, were they real or was this only because Ryu had saved her?
"R-Ryu? I… I-I." She tried to say.
The countdown had begun and was nearing its end.
"10…
9…
8…
7…"
Nina took several steps towards Ryu. He said nothing as she approached, did not even turn to face her.
"6…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The cry rang out and Nina could even hear it up there.
Her feelings, those feelings she thought she had, seemed to ebb away in the face of a new sensation; a feeling, like someone walking on her grave, as though Death Herself (3) had touched a finger to Nina's spine. Both Ryu and Nina looked up at the moon. An unnatural quiet seemed to descend on the world as the moon began to change color. Its color grew red and then a moon of blood hung in the sky. Looking at it made Nina feel ill, a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach like she had the absolute certainty that something bad was going to happen to the point that she felt like she was going to throw up. Ryu stood, as though he had been waiting for this, for the moon to change.
"So now it begins…" He said with solemnity.
"For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due." –Revelations Chapter 16, Bible.
Music: 'Smooth Mana' (Ocremix, Secret of Mana)
1)- Rubicant, a reference to Dante's Inferno.
2)-Remember, 'Darkness' doesn't always equal 'Evil', nor does 'Light' always mean 'good'.
3)- I've always thought of Death as female, ever since I read Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman'