Someone had organized a party in his own house. Everyone from our year was invited to come, but naturally weren't the only ones who came. It was one of those parties where the only ones remaining sober were the ones who were to drive anyone else home, but usually got drunk themselves. If one can't rely on himself, then how could anyone else rely on one?
That night was quite intense. It was quite hot inside, probably because of so many people inside, which got us a little immobilized at times. Additionally, I had drank some beer, which raised my body temperature a little. So there was a moment I actually had to go outside the house. I was still finishing the first bottle of beer I had that night, at that moment. I was beginning to remember the past year, trying to compare it with earlier years, which I couldn't seem to remember anymore. Until...
"Your aura... It looks so evil."
I heard someone talking. It may have been the drink, though I hadn't drank that much yet, but I would swear she said something about an aura.
"What?" I asked as I looked up.
I saw a dark figure. She was cloaked, though I wouldn't know why. Judging from the size and voice, I'd say there was a girl standing in front of me.
"Evil seems to surround you." she continued, "Evil seems to be with you! But it doesn't seem to control you!"
Come to think of it, that would be the first time I heard someone with such an accent that didn't refer to beer as a thing of evil. Even so, I still had no idea of what she was talking about. At least she had the decency to take off her cloak's hood.
"I'm sorry for being so mysterious," she explained "I just didn't want to be seen until I was absolutely certain about who I have before me."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Talim." she answered.
The name sounded familiar, but judging from her Asian looks, I supposed that the name is quite common where she's from. It is possible that I bumped in on the name before, but I didn't remember where or when.
Still wondering what this is all about, I asked: "And what this thing about an evil aura you mentioned?"
"It's weird." she explained, "It seems to cover you like fog, but it doesn't seem to effect you at all. Such pure evil, and you're still sane?"
Though still being serious, I replied: "Given some past experiences, sane would be the last word I use.
"Experiences?" she wondered.
I told her: "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Were you treated bad in the past?"
"To say the least!" I answered, "But why would you wanna know that?"
"Maybe they taught you patience."
"Excuse me?" I asked her quite exited.
"That's why it can't consume you!"
"What can't?"
"The evil aura!"
She still hadn't answered my question: "What evil aura? What are you talking about?"
"Do you own some piece of metal? Which glows red?"
It is true that I had some kind of a rock which glowed red every once in a while. I always believed that glow was some kind of optical illusion. Question is, how did she know about that? I thought to myself, that perhaps she was one of those religious people who believe those type of rocks are forces of power, and thought I might wanna join them. Which meant trouble, and that was the last thing I need.
"I wouldn't say own it." I explained to her; "It's really my mother's, and she thought I should keep it in with me for luck. In fact I'm keeping it because I'm afraid to throw it away. Because If she would see I did that, I'm in trouble. Hell I'm even afraid to tell her that I believe the glow is some kind of trick to fool her."
"So it's already effecting her." she said
Every second I talked to her seemed to make less sense: "What are you saying now? That that rock's evil?"
"Yes!" she answered abruptly.
At that moment, I was officially confused. Unless it were an opal from those djinn myths, how can a rock be evil?
"You ever heard of Soul Edge?" she asked me.
That name... I had read dozens of stories about that: "The Cursed Sword? Yeah, I know all about it! Why?"
"That rock, as you call it," she explained, "is really a fragment of Soul Edge."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Next thing I know, she would tell me that my bed was made out the the same wood on which Jesus Christ himself was crucified. As I was thinking that, something came to me. I remembered where I had heard her name before.
"Wait a minute. You wouldn't be that same Talim from..."
"Hard as it is to believe, yes!"
I distinctly remember myself thinking "Is all of Asia gone nuts?" at that moment, although I couldn't remember anything else that involved Asians, out of which I could draw such conclusions.
"You don't believe me, do you?" she asked almost pleading.
I didn't know what the right answer could be to that question.
"Maybe this will change you mind!" she said as she started to take of her cloak.
I remember to have seen pictures of Talim. Not photographs, but still colored and fairly believable drawings of her. From what I remember of those, even though she was wearing modern clothes, her taste in clothes hadn't changed much. She was still wearing a greenish top, white tight shorts, green shoes, white socks and golden bracelets. She was also carrying her tonfa's on her red belt.
After she had taken off her cloak, she turned her back to me, and lifted her top up a little. She was showing me a wound, which wouldn't have meant much, if the wound wasn't glowing green.
I looked at it amazed: "What the...?"
"How familiar are you with the stories?" she asked me.
I was trying to pull myself together before I answered: "I... I... In all stories the same characters return, but it never ends the same, or picks the same character as protagonist."
"Do you at least know Necrid?"
"Yes." I answered, "He was poisoned by Soul Edge, wasn't he?"
"I fought him once, as you may know." she explained, "Somehow, by scratching me, he has poisoned me with Soul Edge too."
"That's how you could possibly still be alive?"
"No." she replied, "It was this boy I helped, who was infected with evil, that helped this."
"How?"
"The only way I could heal him was by carrying his disease instead."
"Yeah, I read about that," I interrupted, "but weren't you already carrying a disease?"
"Not really." she continued, "The poison Necrid gave me wasn't working on me as it did on him. It acted like any other poison. It slowly killed me. By carrying the boys disease, and later destroying the sword, I thought I'd be saved."
"And obviously you were?" I remarked.
"I managed to cleanse Soul Edge," she continued, "and kill it's wielder with Soul Calibur. And Soul Calibur was the one that changed the disease. It wasn't evilness anymore, it became goodness. It wouldn't allow the poison to kill me, but it wouldn't let anything else kill me either."
"So basically, you can't die anymore! Lucky you!"
"Maybe!" she said, "But that's not good!"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"As long as Soul Calibur exist," she explained, "I'll never die. And for so long Soul Edge exists, Soul Calibur will as well!"
"Of course." I stated, "As long as there's a villain, there'll be a hero. But what do you plan to do about it? Soul Edge has been destroyed dozens of times, if not thousands! What makes you think this time will be any different?"
"It won't be..." she answered, "... unless you give me that fragment I ask you!"
I had to seriously think this over. On one hand if I keep it to myself, I won't get in trouble with my mother, I'll be shielded by my fear. On the other, if I don't give it to her, I'll never get in trouble with my parents again, but then again nothing else would happen either. For my own sake, I might as well be asked to choose which flesh-eating virus may be unleashed upon the planet.
