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Old Souls: chapter 1

A Thief and a Knight

Darkness, that's all I could see. I definitely could hear the voices. They whispered to me, pleading, begging, as if I was some all mighty god who could save their sorry souls and grant their petty wishes.

A bell rings, making all the whispers stop, now they're listening to someone else, or more likely waiting for him to talk. I knew the routine by now, but this part always scared me, despite how many times I had to go through with it.

"We will now commence the ritual." The voice says. I never saw his face, it was always hidden under the hood of the cloak. All I know is his deep, red eyes, the color of crimson blood. My blood.

I feel them grabbing my arms and legs. I don't resist. I can't anymore. Suddenly, there's a burning sensation on my arms. I writhe in pain and agony as the burning envelopes my whole body. I look to my side and see the familiar image of the runes and sigils being burned into my once snow white fur. The fur I was so proud of, tarnished by blood, tarnished by these black markings, tarnished by their greed.

They step away, releasing my arms and legs. I keep looking at the symbol that was now forever burned into my fur, even the fur that grew out would remain the same eerie black. The symbol of darkness, a circle, surrounded by a crescent moon. It meant "To trap", symbolizing the eclipse. The time when we are all "trapped" by the moon, even though it's day.

The whispers start again, but this time they're in unison. "The shadow of Douryu comes once again, praise the dark one, who shall return our kindness with power. Fear the shadows, fear the dark, fear the night, and fear the ones hidden within them."

The burning starts once again. I see all of them. Every marking they placed on my body, every one they said were gifts, but only stood as reminders of their crimes to me. I writhe in pain once again, screaming to the top of my lungs.

"AAHHH!" I shout out, hoping someone would take pity on me. After all, I was just the child they took away, the one whose parents were killed right in front of him.

Please help me. That's the only thing I can think of. Why won't anyone come? . . . Where's my knight in shining armor?

* * (Dream over) * *

I open my eyes slowly, sleepiness still weighing me down. I raise my head up. Just a dream. A morbid dream, but still a dream all the same. Well, more like a memory. But they couldn't hurt me now, the past is in the past. Though I know I can't forget it that easily.

I stand up, stretching. I slept like a log. I look around, carefully. No assassins, no guards, no bandits, and lastly . . . no food. Guess I'll just have to snag some.

I take in my surroundings more, but in a much more relaxed state. It was dark, but the sun was quickly rising. It was morning, after all. The cold air seemed to pierce my heavy cloak, the clothes underneath, and even my fur. Though, I'm sure that every layer dampened the feeling quite a bit.

I was in an alleyway, a small one surrounded by two large brick buildings (you know, the way most alleys look), filled with rags and old sacks, all of which contained people. Yup, living the dream. If the dream was to be homeless, jobless, penniless, and living in the slums of Feralda, the slums being a small alleyway.

Man, this place reeks. Or maybe that's just me. Haven't had a shower in . . . wait no it can't be me. I just showered yesterday night. It was quite the shower, too. Even had a lady friend with me.

* * (Flash back to yesterday's shower) * *

She lathers the soap into her body, making sure to really wash her fur. She spends a bit too much time on her breasts, but seeing how big they were, that isn't too surprising.

I had just finished myself, managing to scrub away all of the grime in my fur. "Shall I wash your back, my lady?" I ask, like the gentleman I was.

"Hmm?" she says. She turns around, looking at me. ". . . AHHHH!!!!!" she screams.

Oh that's right, this isn't my house. And I don't know this woman.

* * (Flash back over) * *

Ahh, that was nice. Much better than my other shower escapades. What? I may be living in the slums, but I'm not going to miss my daily shower/bath just because I don't have a house with indoor plumbing . . . or a house at all. Besides, it's not like I mean any trouble or anything. I wasn't going to rape her, if that's what you were thinking. For one, I had all my clothes on, and secondly, I'm not even straight! I'm gay. And don't you dare say anything like "Thought so", just because I'm a fox. That's racist. Or speceist. I'm not sure.

My stomach growls loudly. I blush a bit, realizing that I was stuck in one of my weird monologues again. Luckily, my stomach was able to remind me that I was starving.

There's a shuffle next to me. I look to my right and see that a small pile of rags was starting to wake up. Out of the rags, a small boy pops his head out. He was a little badger. A cute one too. His name was Rick, nice kid.

"You ok, Danny?" He asks.

I kneel down to him. "Yeah, just gonna get some food." I say. "Don't worry, I'll bring you a special treat today." He smiles, showing his teeth. Normally in the slums, they would be yellow and probably rotting and broken, but his were white. It may or may not be because I stole a few fang brushes and some toothpaste. What? The people were rich! They had plenty!

I walk off, holding my large cloak close to me. I never took it off, it was kind of a safety blanket for me. It was stitched together, crudely, made of scraps of old cloth and rags. It wasn't the best thing, but I got granny Leah to help me put it together, it wasn't very fashionable, but the way I stitched it together was so I could use some of the magical runes I placed on the rags. Plus it didn't hurt when people looked away since they could easily tell I was poor as fuck.

Looking away at the poor to avoid real life social and economic problems. Thank you humanity for making it far too easy to go through the streets unnoticed. As for my cloths under, they were just some pants and a shirt, both made of old rags and cloth, but with granny's handy work, they looked like they were hand tailored from the finest materials, and they felt like it too! Of course, I did use a bit of magic to enchant it. Now it can't possibly get dirty, at least.

Enough about all that, it's time to get some grub. I'm sure I can change my thieving ways today, and work for an honest, good meal.

* * * *

"Stop! Thief!" The old merchant shouts out, quickly calling the guards. I continue running through the near empty streets, this being a rather strange time to shop anyway. Who even opens shop at the crack of dawn? Not even kidding, the sign on the front showed the times, and the opening time was "The crack of dawn".

. . . Ok, I know what you're thinking. Now I _could_have gotten a job. Well . . . actually probably not. I mean, c'mon, there are some unforeseen reasons on why I can't, ok? Just listen to the story a bit more and it'll probably be explained.

"Stop right there!" The biggest guard says, probably the leader of their squad. Luckily, he did break me out of what could have been an even longer monologue. I really must check that out later. Psychological trauma from my child hood is my best guess on the whole matter.

"You know, I could stop, but I don't feel like it!" I shout back at them cheerily. I quickly navigate my way through the streets, knowing exactly where I wanted to go. Suddenly, more guards come from the street I intended to go into.

In a split second, I turn left instead, heading into a small alley . . . which led to a dead end.

"You're mine now, scum!" they shout as they enter the alley. I slowly back up to the wall, still smirking, despite the situation and my brain screaming in panic.

"I'm gonna make you pay for the trouble you've caused." The big leader guy says. I couldn't tell what he was, he was in a huge suit of armor, much like the rest of them. He holds out his arm, aiming for me with his paw flat out, palm to me. "Now strike! Water pistol!"

Suddenly, water forms at his paw, and without warning it shoots out with blinding speed. What do I do?! He can use magic?! . . . Wait, so can I.

I quickly hold my own paw out, two fingers pointed forward, and quickly slash the air, as if I was drawing an invisible line. Which I was essentially doing.

Suddenly, a huge wall of water gushes out from a thick blue line, a line that appeared from the same place I had slashed just seconds ago. The water rushes from the line down, as well as up, heck, even to the sides! In milliseconds, I had created a thin wall of water that rose up to even the tall buildings around me.

The water pistol spell hits the wall, but just splatters. Looks like I never had to even worry in the first place. "Heh, Louten's first gardna, Grand Waterfall." I say, laughing a bit.

"W-What the hell?!" One of the smaller guards shouts out, obviously terrified. Not sure why. "A level three water spell without _any_incantation?!" Oh, that's why.

"Haha, really? The spells not that hard." I say, laughing a bit.

"T-That's one of Louten's eight gardna! Each one a level 3." Another no-named guard shouts out.

"Let me tell you all a little something, then." I say. "As you know, there are multiple spell levels. In level 1, spells usually require little energy, and about no incantation, and usually are spells like what your commander just did. A small concentration of the element of the type of magic being used, in his case, water. In level two, the spells are a bit more complex, usually incorporating the nature of the element of the spell. Those require a bit of incantation and a small to medium amount of energy."

"Why are you just explaining all of this?!" the head guard shouts out. "In fact, how do you even know this stuff?!"

"Now onto level 3 spells." I say, completely ignoring the guard. "Those are usually spells that utilize the full potential of the element type. Take Louten's gardna. I'm utilizing the element of water in how it constantly flows, and I'm utilizing the aspect of water magic which allows me to take small water droplets from the air and basically multiply the amount of it. Look how the water seems to disappear at the edges. That's because it's turning back to its original size."

"Oh, I see, and it's being increased at that line, right?" one of the guards say, completely captured by the whole lesson I was giving. Wait, that isn't a guard. I look at him closely. He was wearing a simple shirt and pants, not poor, but not rich either. Maybe he was a merchant or something. He was a wolf, with oddly black fur, and his eyes were a brilliant orange yellow, kind of like the sun.

"Y-Yeah." I say, still caught off guard by the random guy standing there. "Now, there are three more levels, going up to level 6, but they basically all take a lot of incantation, and a fair amount of energy, increasing as you go up the levels, obviously. And level 6 is known as the forbidden magic zone, since it is said to kill the user of the spell. The only people to have cast those spells and survive are said to be the original sentinels, the creators of the ten magics."

I take in a deep breath. "Now let's go to incantations." I say.

" Water Pistol!" the main guard shouts out. Once again, a small ball of water shoots at me, only to splatter harmlessly on the water wall. "Everyone, open fire!"

"My, you are certainly impatient." I say as they all shout out the same water pistol spell, all of it resulting in the same outcome. I was honestly surprised. Usually guards would be able to perform level 2 magic, but they all only knew level 1. "Now, incantations are a way of channeling our energy into our spells. They're like guidelines, or a safety rope. They reduce the chance of the spell turning bad and exploding."

Just as I say that, one of the guards takes themselves out, their water pistol spell suddenly exploding in their face. Not a fire explosion, just a large surge of water slapping him hard in the face.

"The reason I don't use incantations is simply because I don't need the safety anymore. I already mastered the spell." I say, a bit proud of my innate magical abilities. "Now, if you thought _that_was impressive, then let me show you this."

I raise my right arm up, lightly touching the blue line where the water was gushing out from. "I assume you're all aware of the magic grid of elemental relation, yes?"

They all look at me as if I was crazy, of course. "Okay then, it's basically a grid with the different types of magic, organized in a way that shows you how magic works with each other. I'd draw a picture, but I can't really right now. I suppose that's for another day. But basically, it shows that magic can merge in multiple ways, but only a select few can merge easily. This is called the 'Magic Atlas' since it shows all the different relations. In this 'Magic Atlas', the ten types of magic are aligned in a way where the easiest to combine are directly across from it, skipping the one next to it. The hardest to merge is the one directly opposite to it."

"Wait . . . so for water, the hardest to merge is fire, and the easiest to merge is . . ." the wolf says, actually trying to participate instead of the others who still tried to shoot me, despite the tactic failing every single time.

"Wind." I say. "Now feel the fickle heart of the creator of the wind, relax as the heavy gale overwhelms all who stand in her path. Tiral, Twisted Whirlwind!" From the blue line, at the tip of my finger, a small ball of white light appears. Abruptly, the wind starts picking up, spinning and churning, despite the small alleyway. The wind keeps speeding up, until it was a small hurricane. The guards brace themselves so they don't get thrown away, but I can see them getting slowly pushed back.

The water starts going with the wind, pelting the guards with a heavy stream of water. "Now this is just a crude merging, since I did the spells separately, but it's a simple example. Oh, and don't worry about disturbing the civilians. I set the limit on these spells to be the edge of these buildings, so the spell can't escape and go haywire."

I walk forward, not worried that the storm would hit me. It couldn't. Where I walked, there was a small bubble, protecting me from the wind and water. The guards brace themselves against the walls, making a perfect opening for me to just walk through.

Man this is too easy. I quickly walk away from the alley, a bit happy that I was able to get away easily. Although, those two spells took up a bit more energy than I would like, but I still have plenty. I look up to the sky, noticing how it had gotten considerably brighter. Looks like I was having a little too much fun. I have to get back to the others soon.

"So that was the famous 'Storm' element, huh?" the mysterious black wolf says, right next to me.

"Kinda, it's . . . it's . . . huh?" I look at him, shocked, but a bit more scared. No one should have been able to escape that gale, it was designed specifically to keep people in. I quickly step away, breaking out into a run. Shit, this guy must have been pretty good to escape.

"Hey! Wait up!" he screams for me. "No! Come back!"

I don't listen to him, obviously. I run down the street, dodging the few people walking around, as well as going into multiple alleyways. I look back, and to my surprise, I see the wolf is gone. But I still keep running, still afraid. How was he able to get out of the spell? How did he find me so easily?

"It's because I can smell your scent." A voice says. His voice. "Everyone has their own personal scent. Plus I magically marked you."

"Why are you following me?!" I shout out at him.

"Because I think I love you." he says, bluntly.

"W-What?!" I say, completely taken by surprise. I trip on a bit of uneven ground, the concrete in this area being terribly cracked, of course. I try to correct myself, but I was running too fast, I can only hope that my arms can cushion the fall a bit and hopefully not get too maimed.

Suddenly, I feel a warm body holding my own _extremely_close. I stop falling, in fact, I stop moving all together. I look up, noticing that in a split second, I was caught, then flipped so I was in a strange position, I think they call this being carried bridal style.

"Like I said, I think I love you." he says, his eyes burning into my own soul, making me blush hard. Who is this idiot?

* * * *

"So, who's the love-struck wolf?" The old cat says, otherwise known as granny Leah. She continues to braid her hair, the same shade of black as her fur. She always did this in the morning, taking a few strands of hair and braiding it. She said it was something she did to help her relax, everyone had one, she said.

"He's not love-struck." I say, glancing back at the wolf behind me. Nope, that guy was just an idiot. After he let me down, I continued to run, but more out of embarrassment than anything else. I mean, c'mon, this was a little too cliché, as if I was in some kind of fantasy romance story.

"Pretty sure I am." He says.

"See?" Granny Leah says, showing one of her "Hah, new it, bitch" smiles.

"Shut up, both of you." I say to them. I let out a tired sigh, unable to cope with all that was happening today. "Now let's get to more important business. Food. Think you can distribute this to everyone?"

I hand her a brown bag full of food. I was only able to get a loaf of bread and a whole mess of cucumbers.

"Where did you get this stuff?" Granny asks, knowing full well where I got these from.

"Just a grocery store . . ."

"Hmm, and how?" she continues.

"I . . . I got food, ok?!" I shout, frustrated at how she wasn't just eating the stuff. She had gone longest without eating out of all of us, she needed to eat something.

She lets out a sigh. "I thank you for the food, child, but you musn't sin for our sakes."

And with that, she gets up, placing at every sack of rags, one slice of bread, and a half of a cucumber. I smile as I see them awaken, their face becoming contorted with joy at the sight of real food. I smile a bit wider as a few of them break off a bit of their own and offer it to the person they were sleeping with. It was usually their child or their lover, but seeing them being generous, despite how we lived, it just really warmed my heart.

"What is this place?" the wolf asks.

"This is the slums, never seen one before?" I ask.

"I've never seen anything before." He says, flashing me a brief smile.

"What's that supposed-" I start saying, until I'm interrupted by a pulling on my cloak. I look down and see a small badger, on his face, an adorable, lopsided smile.

"So you got food?" he asks, hope in his voice. I smile down at him.

"Yeah, Granny's passing it out now. Of course, I did get a special treat for you." I say, rummaging through the many pockets of my cloak.

"Really?!" he asks. I manage to get it out of my cloak, one round, red apple. He starts hopping up and down, obviously excited. "An apple!"

"Didn't I say I'd get a treat for you?" I ask. He nods his head quickly. "Now eat up, enjoy it while you can."

He goes back to his little place next to my own, quickly biting into the apple. Everyone looks at him, a bit envious, but when he smiles at the first bite, they all just smile and look away, probably glad that he was still able to enjoy something so seemingly simple.

Suddenly, something covers my face. "Hello?" I ask.

"Eat up, Danny." Granny says, making me realize that what was on my face was bread, and probably a cucumber.

I remove the pieces of food from my face, looking at the greedily, my stomach reminding me that I was starving. I look away, guiltily, knowing that what I was about to do was going to hurt me much more than it should have.

"Nah, I'm not hungry." I say. "You take it granny, I know you haven't eaten in four days now."

"What, you think I'm some senile fool who can't even go a few days without a bit of food? Hah! I'm not so weak." She says, waving her arms arrogantly to show off her bravado.

"That's exactly why I want you to have it." I say. She looks at me, confused. "Everyone here needs you. You've always been there for us, our symbol of perseverance, our hope. And I can't have our hope die out because of something as simple as starvation. Now eat."

She looks at me, then at the food. Reluctantly, she takes the food. I feel a pang of regret as the food gets taken away, but I know it's for the best. I didn't deserve to eat anyway. After all, I was the one who stole it.

There was a bit of silence, the only sounds the crunching and munching of food around me. "That was really nice of you, you know?" the wolf says. Funny how I still don't know his name.

"Not really, I just didn't want granny taking a dirt nap anytime soon. Everyone here would probably panic and die along with her. Too much trouble." I say, secretly blushing a bit. Wait, why was I blushing?! Just because this guy compliments me I get all flustered like this?!

"Hey! Hey!" Rick shouts to me. "Show me the 'Magic Atlas' again!"

I smile warmly. "Alright, alright, ya little munchkin. Let's see here. . ." I rummage through my cloak once more, bringing out a small scrap piece of paper, on it, the grid of magic.

* * (Drawing) * *

Water

Life Force

Wind Dark Light Earth

Pure energy Death

(Arcane) Fire

* * * *

"Hey Danny, what's pure energy magic?" Rick asks curiously.

"Oh, well it's the pure energy that we as magicians and sorcerers use for our spells. In a sense, it's the energy inside us that fuels magic, but it isn't the origin of magic."

"Cool. Can you show me?" Rick says.

"Sure." I say.

"Wait, how's that possible? I know it's possible for a mage to use multiple elements, but I've already seen you use two. Another is stretching it." The wolf says. You know, that's a mouth-full, gonna call him wolf from now on, until I actually ask him his name.

"It's possible. In fact, I know how to use every element type. It's rare, extremely rare, but not impossible."

"Every single one?!" he says, shocked.

"W-Well, of course not dark and light magic, cause those magics are forbidden. Yup, never tried them at all, hehehe." I say, _totally_not suspicious at all.

"Hey Danny, what's the wolf talking about?" Rick asks.

"It's the principle of magic affinity. Usually, when a person is born, they only have the ability to use one magic type. This is called their magic affinity. However, sometimes you can be born with multiple affinities, though they're very rare. Also, the other magic types can be learned, but mastering a secondary element is extremely difficult."

I raise my paw up and concentrate. From my palm, a small orb of water forms, as well as a small ball of fire and electricity. "I've always had a natural talent with most elements, and learning spells was easy. In fact, I would probably be a lot better if I had studied more as a kid. But I just didn't have the time."

"Why not?" Rick and Wolf ask at the same time, making the little balls of magic disperse.

I think for a moment, my mind flashing to that one terrible scene. "Just some stuff, I suppose."

"Ok, are you gonna show me that energy magic now?" Rick asks. I nod my head to him, and he smiles widely.

I raise my hand once again, both actually. I cup them together, and focus. " Arcane Bolt." Suddenly, my paws are filled with a strange electrical ball. "Pure energy magic, also known as arcane magic."

I let go of the small ball of energy, letting it float around. It does a few dips, a loop de loop, and a couple other tricks. This was the nice thing about arcane magic. It was a very flexible type of magic, and it could easily be controlled. Of course, the initial casting of the magic was much more dangerous than most of the others, so I usually went on the safe side and used incantation.

"Cooooool." Rick says, almost whispering. He reaches out to touch it, but the small orb turns a strange, sickly green, and then just fizzles out. Strange. "Hey, Danny, do you think you can tell me about the history of magic?"

Strange, it's like he was trying to change the subject. Then again, he was just some kid, and this wouldn't be the first time he's bounced from subject to subject, and the chances that he's trying to do something that would arouse suspicion are about as high as me falling in love with Wolf over here.

"Okay then. I suppose it started a long, long time ago. About a hundred years. You see, we lived in a time much stranger before than we do now. It was a time when magic didn't exist, and the only forms of it were the sleight of hand. It was also a time when cities were gigantic, and we as humans relied heavily on technology, much more so than now. We would use cars, phones, computers, and all things like that. We still can use them relatively easily, but it isn't as common, or rather, it isn't as needed."

"What do you mean?" Wolf asks curiously.

"Now that we have magic, we don't use phones when we can just use an arcane line that lets us talk with others directly, and without a block held up to our face or something jammed into our ear. Texting, however, is still something we all do, and we cannot live without. Honestly, it's magic in itself. I mean, c'mon, type a message, send it in a blink of an eye, and have it read anytime? Amazing, just fan-fucking-tastic. Not to mention text slang. Ttyl xox."

"You're scaring me, Danny." Rick says, hugging Wolf for protection. Oddly enough, Wolf was doing the same to him. It was so freakin adorable. Wish I had a phone to take a picture of them.

"Anyway, it was a time of wonder, yes, but it was also a time of death. The technology, we all so relied upon was slowly killing the planet, and we as humans, were killing ourselves. In 2035, there was the third world war, the reasons honestly stupid, but the consequences . . . well, they certainly affected the whole world. The war lasted for a very long time. We all lost our humanity, slaughtering millions, all with the simple justification of 'this is war'. Cities were demolished by terrible weapons, innocent people disappearing in an instant."

I looked at them, wondering if I was getting too into it. I was. They looked at me, their eyes filled with a strange sadness, as if they could understand the true misery of the innocent being killed in cold blood.

"But then the Sentinels came to us. Ten amazing humans who could control the elements of the world at their beck and call. They all came together after seeing the tragedy called war, and brought every single soldier down to their knees, not killing a single one. They gave us magic and saved the land that was ravaged by the war. They said that the magic was for us to use, but they're not like the guns and bombs, they're meant to perform miracles. It was supposed to be our second chance. We kept our technology, but we embraced this 'Magic' they gave us. We kept it so close to us, and now here we are. I wonder how this will turn out. Will we end up abusing our power and bring the world to the brink of destruction once more? Or will we learn from our past and try instead to live in peace and harmony?"

"Wow, that's really confusing." Rick says, thinking about all that I just said. "So who were the Sentinels?"

"There was one for each magic, you see. The loyal dog, Sentinel of wind, Vina. The genius snake, Sentinel of arcane, Atrural. The passionate tiger, Sentinel of the fire, Faruna. The silent badger, Sentinel of death, Grimiel. The determined bull, Sentinel of earth, Gaien. The strong lion, Sentinel of force, Fou. The playful shark, Sentinel of water, Louten. The caring mocking bird, Sentinel of life, Raika."

I pause a bit, hesitating at the last two sentinels. Not because I thought like the crazy people from the monarchy and thought they were the creators of the world and that anyone who defies their laws will be smited down in their holy rage. I just didn't like saying the dark Sentinel's name.

"Then there was the honest wolf and creative fox, respectively the Sentinels of the Light and Dark, Kairyu and Douryu."

I see Rick shiver visibly. "I don't like the Sentinel of the Dark, he scares me. Even his name gives me the chills."

I smile warmly. "You know, just because he has dark magic, it doesn't make him bad. I once read a scroll on it. Dark magic isn't about the creepy crawlies and the things we can't see. It's how we see them." I explain. He looks at me, confused. "Think about it like this. All those shadows we see at night, we turn them into terrifying creatures, but can't we just as easily turn them into something nice? Dark magic is based on imagination, how we turn those shadows into monsters. Dark magic is the night, and the night is when imagination runs wild, when we dream strange dreams and think of something we haven't thought of before. That is dark magic."

He thinks for a bit, not saying anything. I suppose he never even considered anything like that before. But I'd like him to think that now. There were far too many people who had strange ideas about Douryu. He wasn't some demon, and he didn't drink the blood of virgins. He was just creative. He thought of things that no one even considered. I guess that's why they made him seem like a demon. He was always thinking of something new, something unfathomable. In fact, the only one who understood him, (and I know this is ironic) was Kairyu, the Sentinel of the Light.

It was said that they were in love, despite being polar opposites magic wise, as well as both being male. Then again, it's because of that that people had no qualms about sexuality anymore. Of course, there were those who tried to switch the genders around to keep their ideals of 'gays are the bane to society' nice and safe, but that was just a lie.

"I know Kairyu would never even fathom such a lie." I think to myself. I shook my head a bit, hating when that happened.

"You ok?" Wolf asks, concern heavy on his face. Could he tell something was up?

"Y-Yeah. By the way, how did you manage to track me?" I ask him, trying to change the subject.

"Like I said before, I marked you." he says. He must have seen the confusion on my face, because he looked like he was looking for the words to continue. "To be honest, I don't know how, but I used an arcane spell designed for tracking people."

He places his paw on my arm, making my heart beat just a tiny bit faster. "I beseech thee, Atrural, grant me the power to never lose track of my prey, allow me to always find those I love, never let me lose sight of my mate."

Mate?! Wait, wait, wait, this is an incantation. Yeah, has no meaning whatsoever. But he said he loved me, didn't he? Did I love him? No, of course not. We just met. But there was something I found interesting in him, and he just seemed to get more and more intriguing. Not to mention the guy was pretty dang hot. I mean, there was his stark black fur, his well worked out and developed body, his smile, his beautiful eyes, and . . . and why am I getting so worked up about this?!

"Ro Rendal, Arcane Mark." He says. Suddenly, there was a blue paw print on my cloak, at the exact place he had put his paw.

"Cool, a level 3 arcane spell, right?" he nods. "Very well done, I can't even undo it, Wolf."

"Wolf?" he asks, obviously confused. My face starts burning up, I accidentally called him my nickname for him.

"Y-Yeah, since I don't know your actual name." I say, trying to sound calm. "By the way, feel like telling me that?"

"Well, I'd like to, but I can't." Rick and I look at him, a bit confused. "You see, I kinda lost my memories."

". . . What?" I say, a bit baffled. "That doesn't make sense. You knew arcane magic, the incantation, and even some of the theory behind it!"

"I . . . I honestly don't know. This stuff just . . . it just comes to me." he raises his paws up, as if he was examining them. "It was like this ever since I woke up. It's second nature to me, like talking or breathing or walking. When I need to use it, I just do it. I don't put too much thought into it."

Strange, magic of that caliber usually takes an immense amount of concentration for the magic to actually form correctly. To have it just form, as if it was second nature . . . it was rare, but not impossible. I used magic in a similar way but in my case, I had . . . "special" circumstances.

"So you don't remember anything at all?" Rick asks.

"Yup, not even my own name. All I know is that I woke up this morning in a small alleyway, then ran after a whole bunch of guards chasing after a thief. After that, I found their thief, Danny here. And when I saw his face under that hood, I felt a strange connection. I chased after him, even after he ran, but I felt like I couldn't let him leave. I . . . I don't know why, but I loved him. I'm not even sure how I knew it, but I felt it, deep inside me."

"That's impossible. We just met. I've never seen you before in my life!" I say. Although, when I saw him, I couldn't deny that I felt a strange spark too.

"Ah love, never simple, but always exciting." I think to myself. I grip my head a bit, suddenly feeling dizzy. Damn it, he's never surfaced twice in a day before, it was starting to take its toll on me.

"Hey, you ok?" Wolf says, wrapping his arms around me. I lean into him, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

"Y-Yeah, I will be. I'm just a bit tired, that's all." I mutter. "But we should find a way to . . . to get your memory back."

"That can wait, I think something's wrong with you." he says, gently.

You kidding? I go on monologues to nobody on a daily basis. If that's not normal, then I don't know what is. "C'mon, I'll be fine." I say, trying to keep the exhaustion out of my voice. "First, tell me where you woke up, maybe we can find some clue to who you are there."

"That can wait." He repeats, hugging me a bit tighter, holding me close to his body. I felt a strange kind of familiarity in his gentle embrace. It was strange, it shouldn't be so comforting, right? But . . . I could have sworn I felt this before. His warm fur, his pleasant scent, his gentle, but firm embrace, it was all so familiar.

It felt nostalgic, like I was a kid again, and I would have scraped my knee, but . . . there was someone back then who would always comfort me. Someone . . . someone who was always there. It wasn't my parents, no, this person was more to me than even them. Who was it?

I start drifting off into sleep, unable to hold back this sleepy feeling any longer. Just a little bit. Just . . . a couple of minutes.

* * * *

I could feel a warmth surrounding me, arms wrapping around me gently, the feeling of water seeping into my fur. Wait, water?

I open my eyes, slowly, and see that we were in a giant tub of water. Not just any tub, of course, an actual bathtub. In fact, it was the one I was in yesterday. Huh, how did I get in here?

"You awake, Danny?" Wolf says from behind me.

I turn around and confirm my worst fears, he was behind me, and he was hugging me. I let out a sharp yelp, struggling to get out of his once comfortable and warm embrace. He lets go, allowing me to get to the other side of the tub. I face him, but I try to hide my body under water.

"C'mon, you shouldn't be ashamed of your body. It's actually quite nice." He says. I start trembling, unable to stop. Shit, why was I so scared? "And I really love your fur."

And the mention of fur, I start shaking violently. "W-Where's my cloak?" I ask, sounding like I was on the verge of tears.

"It's on the toilet, but you shouldn't move too much. Besides, we still need to wash your fur." He says happily.

"No! I-I need my cloak." I say. "I-It's too cold, it's, it's just too cold." I say.

"What are you talking about? The waters . . ." he says, trailing off. He must have seen me shaking like a sad little kit. I was ashamed, it was pathetic of me.

He walks towards me, making me flinch, but he still goes towards me. He pulls me into a hug, calming me down a bit, but I was still shaking.

"Shh, don't worry, everything's ok." He says. His voice was strange, it was almost like a lullaby. He always spoke in a way that could soothe your heart. It wasn't too deep or high pitched, but it had a rich quality to it. It was like it was intense and calm at the same time. Though now he sounded more calming.

"I . . . I don't want you to see it." I say, my mind probably still muddled from just waking up.

"See what?" he asks.

"What they did." I say, feeling that familiar burning sensation on my skin. The burning sensation I always felt when I thought about that strange cult, and what they did to me. And all for what? All for the simple idea in their heads that I was the reincarnation of Douryu, all because I was the only one other than him that could use Dark magic.

* * (Perspective change, "Wolf") * *

I held him close to me, loving how his fur felt, even when he was wet. I gently stroke his back, letting him calm down. I could guess what he meant when he mentioned that he didn't want me to see what they had done to him. All over his fur, there were strange sigils and markings. They were magical symbols of Douryu, but they were burned into his fur instead of written, like what I had done with my arcane mark.

It must have been painful, but he shouldn't be ashamed like this. He doesn't have to be. I pull away slightly, looking into his eyes. There were tears running down his cheek, and seeing that made me feel like someone tore out my heart. The playful, quirky Danny, crying and shaking, scared of what others would think when they saw the symbols of the Sentinel of the Dark.

I reach down with my paw, lightly touching his fur. He flinches a bit, but doesn't stop me. I run my paw along his snow white fur, stopping at one of the markings. He shakes a bit, but he still doesn't pull away.

With one finger, I trace the design, wondering if there was any way to get rid of these markings. "Scars are not meant to fade easily." I think to myself. I suppose not, but I can at least ease the pain.

It may not seem like it at first glance, but these markings were burning him. They were written in Dark magic energy, much like how I wrote the arcane mark. But that's the problem. The reason why Dark and Light magic is forbidden is that it eats away at the body every time you use a spell. The only ones immune to this effect are those with a natural affinity to it, which is just about no one.

Well, no one but him and myself. From the moment I saw the markings, I knew that he was in serious danger. But then I took a closer look. They should have been doing much more damage to him, but they weren't. The only reason they were even hurting him was because he was rejecting them.

"I know it must have been hard, and these are just reminders of that pain, but you can't be ashamed of them. These are symbols of your strength, these show that you went through hell and came back strong. Please . . . don't be ashamed of something someone else did to you."

I allow a small amount of light magic to slip into my finger tips, rolling off into the mark. It wasn't that strong, but it would negate a bit of the Dark magic in it, and ease the pain.

I trace my fingers over every single sigil on his body, making sure to get every single one. Although, some were oddly close to his . . . stuff, but I didn't mind all that much. It just made me blush a bit.

I look back into his eyes, seeing that they were tired, as if he just couldn't take it anymore. I pull him into an embrace, hoping that I was able to heal him a bit. This was all I could do, it was up to him to do the rest.

I lean back into the wall of the bathtub, pulling him with me. He buries his face into my chest, hugging me tightly. I smile a bit, enjoying the way he was clinging onto me.

"It's ok now, whoever did this to you won't come back. After all, you got me here now." He looks up, and I smile warmly at him. He smiles back, although it's timid and small, but a smile nonetheless.

We just sit there for a while, just holding each other, looking into each other's eyes. He had strange eyes. They were a grey blue, but it had this silvery look about it. His eyes were smooth and cold, but they always seemed to look at the world curiously, as if he knew that something interesting was going to happen.

As I looked at him, I couldn't help but think that I was falling deeper and deeper in love with him. I couldn't remember a thing, but as I wandered aimlessly, I found him. He looked so familiar, heck, he even felt familiar. His soft fur, brushing against my own, it felt so right.

I know I've met him before. This wasn't just a simple love at first sight kind of thing. It felt . . . deeper. It was like we always knew each other, but we just didn't meet until today. Confusing, I know, but that's the only way I can describe it.

He stops shaking completely, his breaths becoming steady. Without knowing it, he fell asleep. I guess should stop daydreaming so much. I look at him, smiling at how he had laid his head on my chest, right over my heart. He looked so peaceful, so content. That made my heart soar, for some reason.

"Hey Wolf?" he asks.

"Yeah?" I say. I guess he wasn't asleep.

"Why'd you take me into a bath?" he asks.

"Rick told me that you didn't like missing your daily bath/shower." I say. "I thought it would be nice if I took you here and bathed you."

"How much of me did you wash?" he asks, smirking a bit.

I lean down, speaking directly into his ear. "Every nook and cranny." He shivers a bit, but a different kind of shiver. "I wanted to make sure you were extra clean."

"I thought you said that we still needed to wash my fur." He retorts.

"Maybe I just wanted to wash you again." I say, smirking a bit myself.

"Heh, you big dummy." He says, chuckling a bit. ". . . Wait, Rick told you about my daily bath?" I nod. "That's strange. I always told him that I was going for a walk. And my cloak should keep out odors, as well as keep in my own. It can't be that he . . . something's wrong."

"What is it?" I ask, concerned.

"I-I don't know, but I have a really bad feeling about all of this."

* * (Perspective Change, Danny Folkaila) * *

We run back into the alley, fully clothed mind you. It was . . . deserted.

"W-What could have happened?" I ask, shocked by everything. The rags were gone, the people in said rags, the leftover food from today since most people here tried to preserve food, everything. It was as if there was no one in here to begin.

"Something's not right." Wolf says. He leans down, and then his eyes get wide. "There's a message."

"What? Where?!" I ask. I lean down as well, examining the ground more carefully. Then I saw it. It was faint, but someone had written in the ground with a type of arcane magic energy. I run my paw over the ground, reactivating the dormant magic. The message starts to glow an eerie green.

"'If you want to save your fellow street trash, come meet me in the public gardens. Bring that wolf if you want, but he'll probably end up a casualty anyhow.'" Wolf says, reading the message out loud.

"How could this possib-"

Suddenly, Wolf grabs hold of my waist, pulling me closer to him. "Take cover! Wind Pulse!"

We shoot up into the air, blasted up by a powerful gust of wind. The writing on the ground starts to shimmer, and I see why he had done that. The arcane magic was written quickly, and was extremely unstable. It was going to blow any second now.

"Heaven's divine grace, bestow unto me the strength to undo what was wronged, Binding Light!" Wolf shouts as we continue to slowly rise up. He extends his left arm, and from his paw, tendrils of light shoot out, literally pulling up the words and seeping into them.

Suddenly, the words explode, but in a split second, all the condensed arcane energy being released was absorbed back into the light, soon disappearing. I see Wolf slump from exhaustion, probably not used to performing spells so quickly, especially light . . . wait, Light magic?!

"You can use Light magic?!" I scream out.

"Yeah." He says, tired. "I guess so. It's the first time I ever tried." We fall to the ground gently, our paws landing softly on the ground. It was amazing, not even a scratch!

"So we gonna talk about this?" I ask. Suddenly, his knees buckle, making him fall into me. I quickly grab him, forgetting about the whole situation at hand. "W-What's wrong?!"

"N-Nothing. Right now we need to get to the gardens." He says.

It didn't make sense. Those spells shouldn't have drained him this much, they were only a level two wind spell and a level three Light spell. Then it hits me.

"You used light energy on the sigils on my body, didn't you?" I ask.

"Th-they were hurting you. As long as you rejected them, they would always eat at you, so I just negated some of the effects." He smiles at me warmly. "Plus I wanted an excuse to touch you all over."

"You idiot, that must have taken a shit ton of energy!" I say, still holding him up. Negating one sigil wasn't that hard, most likely, but I had so many on me! It would equate a level 5 spell, at least.

"Don't worry about it. I get energy back pretty fast. But right now, we need to get to the others. No telling what's happening to them."

". . . No, I think I figured it out." I say.

"Really? Tell me." Wolf says.

"No."

". . . What?"

"What fun would that be? After all, they want a performance from us. Yeah, they want us to be their puppets for their little play." I say, smirking a bit. "Well time for act 1, I suppose."

"O-Okay then." He says.

"For now, let me replenish some of your energy." I say.

"What? That's imp-" I silence him with a kiss, planted directly on his muzzle. It might have seemed strange, but this was an old technique they used to do. The reason why incantations actually work in magic is not in the words, but in the magic laced into them. In the body, magic is released commonly through the hands, but other focal points are the feet and the mouth. I continue to siphon a bit more energy into him, careful to not give him everything. He even started getting into it himself, kissing me rather passionately.

I break the kiss, looking deep into his eyes. "Better?" I ask.

"Much. But you didn't have to give me tongue." He points out. My whole face starts burning up. "I remember that technique vaguely, but I definitely know there's no tongue. It would make things too awkward. You don't give tongue when you give CPR, do you?" he says, jokingly.

"H-Hey, you were the one who started getting intense. Besides, I didn't hear you complaining." I retort.

"I suppose not." He says. He puts his paw on my cheek, making me face him. Without warning, he kisses me hard, his tongue invading my muzzle. Of course, he pulls out just as quickly and abruptly as he came in. "There, now we're even."

"Y-You're an idiot." I say, looking down, my face burning up even more. I could tell that by now he could see me blushing through my fur.

He steps away from me, making sure that he was capable of standing and walking and all that good stuff. He nods to me, and we both break off into a run. While we run, I take off my cloak, throwing it away. He looks at me, a bit confused, but I just smirk at him. Of course, on the inside I shiver a little. I didn't like so much of my fur to be showing. But it wasn't safe for me to keep wearing it, not anymore. I really wasn't sure what was safe and what wasn't, to be honest. Not anymore.

* * * *

We run into the gardens, trying desperately to find everyone. But there was no one.

"Help!" Someone shouts from deeper in the gardens. My blood seems to run cold. It was Rick! We run in the direction of the cry of help, hoping that everything would be ok. We run through the walls of flowers that seemed to close in, trapping us.

Finally, we reached the center of the garden, completely surrounded by four walls of roses, with only four entrances, much like the one we were standing in.

"Danny! Wolf!" Rick shouts out, directly at the center of the gardens, tied up in rope, sitting on the ground. "You came! You really did!"

Wolf smiles, running over, but I stop him. "Wait." I tell him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back a bit. I walk forward towards Rick, slowly and carefully.

"What do you mean, Danny?" Rick asks, scared.

"You know what I mean, Rick. Now tell me why you set this whole thing up." I say, demanding an answer.

"W-What?" Rick and Wolf say in unison.

"Don't play dumb. I have to admit, I didn't notice anything at first, but there were small things you didn't take into account." I say. "The first thing I found strange was Wolf's arcane mark spell. It was a level three spell, and strong enough that I couldn't undo it, yet it felt so natural, so familiar. Usually, weaker tracking spells that become undone easily are the hardest to detect, while stronger ones are easy."

"So?" Rick says, nervousness creeping into his voice once again, but in a different way.

"I realized it when I thought about the cloak that Granny Leah made for me. I had been wearing it everywhere, even in the shower. I imbued the cloth with a few magical sigils for protection, but in there, you placed an arcane mark. I didn't notice it then because I thought it was a natural part of the magic I placed in it, but I still was able to get used to it. That's why I didn't recognize the mark spell Wolf put on me in the alleyway, or when we first met. I was so used to it, I barely notice it now."

"I didn't put that on you! Maybe Granny did to keep you safe!" Rick shouts out.

"She can't, she never learned magic." I say. He flinches, realizing his mistake, bingo. "Now, before you say that it could have been one of the others, there's more. When I was talking to Wolf earlier, he said you told him that I didn't like missing my daily shower or bath, but I never told you. I always said I was going out for a walk. Now, there was the tracking spell, but only the caster of that spell can know where the mark is, and I doubt that any of the others would tell you something as useless as me taking a bath."

". . . I'm impressed." Rick says, his demeanor changing. What was once a scared little kid, turned into a calm and collected prodigy, as if he was some genius child chess player, planning out his next move. "I didn't think you would ever suspect a small child would ever be capable of planning all of this."

"That's because you didn't. The others were in on it too." I say.

"How did you know?" he asks, smirking.

"I didn't until just now."

". . . Haha, I fell right into that one." He stands up, the rope easily becoming undone around him. "Since you're being such a good opponent, I'll tell you who it is I am. I'm Richard Noxel, of the proud Noxel family. I was ordered by his highness to take you down, Daniel Fokaila, who was thought to be the resurrection of Douryu Fokaila."

I laugh. "I'm not some reincarnation of Douryu, kid." I say, trying to act natural. "I think you got the wrong guy."

"Don't lie to me, Danny." Rick says. "I know for a fact that Douryu's spirit resides within you, I've seen him stir inside you too many times, I know it for a fact."

"Really now, you can see spirits?" I ask, still trying to play it off. Shit, if he isn't bluffing, then I know what kind of mage he is.

"As a matter of fact, I can." Rick says, smiling deviously. "Tell me, are you aware of what kind of magic the Noxel family specializes in? Why don't I show you." From the three other entrances, small pale green orbs rush out, stopping around Rick. "Their specialty is death magic."

The green orbs start to grow, taking form into the people I knew on the streets, I could even see Granny Leah. The only difference was that they were dressed in servant attire.

"W-what is this?" Wolf asks.

"Death magic." I say. "Although, it's rare to see this form of it."

"What do you mean?" Wolf asks once more.

"Death magic is not about bringing people back from the dead and necromancy, as most people assume." Rick explains. "Death magic revolves around loss, how death takes away from us. Bringing them back from the dead is more in life magic, than in death magic. This is actually a form of loss as well. Soul Binding."

"I see. A level four death spell." I say. "One that someone casts on themselves, giving up their soul in order to become a familiar to someone and complete a contract. Although, this only takes place after death, when you lose your freedom in death and your soul goes to the contractor."

"Exactly, though we lent them the magic to do so, they just performed the ritual." Rick says. "Now, let's see how you do against your many friends."

At once they all come rushing at me, charging almost blindly. "Well, since you already know I use Dark magic, I won't hold back." I raise my arms up to my sides, allowing energy to flow through me. "Now bind those in total darkness, allow not one to escape your grasp, Shadow Chains."

From my paws, two black orbs fire out, landing at the opposite sides of the garden. Shooting out from the orbs are chains made of what looked likeobsidian, quickly shackling everyone except Wolf, Rick, and I.

"Secondary enchantment, Torula." I say. Suddenly, everyone trapped in the dark chains glow green, that light seeping from them, into the chain, slowly crawling back to the black orbs.

"Ah, I see." Rick says. "Adding an additional effect to your already released spell with the special magical term. What does this one do?"

"It allows me to steal the magic that's sustaining them." I explain, smirking a bit. Special magical terms, or words of power were enchantment phrases that gave a spell an additional effect, and sometimes was necessary for the spell to work. My level 2 shadow chains spell is one of the few that can utilize words of power even after being cast.

"Impressive, but it's not enough." Rick says, smiling deviously. "Now allow my enemies to know my pain, Plagued Needles."

He takes in a deep breath, then sharply blows out, with his breath, thin, green needles. Each needle pierces a chain. Instantly, the chains snap and the needles turn black, before both spells fade away.

"A spell that lets you steal magic, nice." I comment.

"Correction, it was corrosion. The needles only turned black due to the dark magic being overwhelming. Don't forget that Dark and Light magic is deadly to most humans, it's just too powerful."

"Heh, and yet you don't seem too discouraged when facing it." I say, secretly wondering how this kid was doing this well against me. "Let's see how you fare against this. The harbinger of fear and madness, resound through the night. Taldonal, Black Wolf's Howling."

I take in a quick breath, then let out a blood chilling howl. The shadows seem to get larger, and the light seems to fade as I continue. I see the spirits back away, gripping their heads. I even see a few scream in absolute terror. My howl finally tampers off, leaving me panting a bit. I look around, and I see that once again, everybody was rendered helpless except for Rick and Wolf. They were lying on the ground, shaking and quivering in fear. I might have felt bad, but I knew they were just familiars now, and at the moment, it was them or me.

"I-Impressive, Danny." Rick says, his voice a bit unsteady. How he managed to withstand that, I'm not sure. "To think, you could take out so many people with one shot. Even I can't help them now. Oh well, I guess I'll go to the next plan."

"Please, don't bluff like that. it's unsightly." I say, still panting a bit.

" Plagued Needles!" he says, shooting out another volley of needles.

" Wind Pulse." I say, blocking the needles with a wall of air. I get to my feet, staggering a bit. Damn it, I used up more magic than I thought.

"Heh, I'm surprised you've lasted so long. I know that you gave Wolf over there about half your energy, since you gave it to him while still wearing that cloak of yours. It was only a matter of time until you would run on empty."

"You really think I'm so weak?" I say, laughing at him. "Don't underestimate me!"

"Hmm . . . I guess I have no choice then." He raises his right arm out to his side, as if he was waiting for someone to hand him something. Suddenly, all the people lying on the ground turn back into green orgs, flying to him. "Be honored, I'm going to show you something that no one ever lives to tell the tale of. The sacred weapon of the Noxel family." The green orbs take shape in his paw, first, what looks like a large staff, but then out of one end, a giant, curved blade shoots out. " Grimiel's Scythe."

The green light fades away, revealing a large scythe made of what seemed to be obsidian, decorated with bones along the body of it, and tinged green on the actual blade.

"Now let's see how well you fare." Rick says, smiling evilly now.

He charges at me, somehow not deterred by how much larger the scythe was than him. He swings it at me haphazardly, almost managing to hit me, but I jump out of the way. He swings again and again, continuing to push me back. I try to concentrate, but it's surprisingly hard with someone trying to kill you.

I swipe in front of me with my claws, only two fingers extended. " Louten's First Gardna, Grand Waterfall!" in the blink of an eye, the wall of water forms, right between me and Rick.

"Heh, laughable." He says, preparing to swing his scythe.

"Not done yet!" I shout out. " Shadow Chains!" I shout. Once again, the black orb fires out, landing just behind Rick. He swings, but just a second too late as the dark chains entangle his scythe.

He sneers at me, struggling to get lose. He looks behind him, using plagued needles once again. The chains break, releasing his weapon from their shadowy grip. He laughs, as if he was triumphant.

"Thought that would hold me?" he asks, obviously mocking me.

"Course not, but I needed time to focus." I touch the blue line that was the center of my grand waterfall, releasing from my paws a small white orb. "Tiral, Twisted Whirlwind."

Suddenly, He's trapped in a large whirlwind, both the wind and water knocking him off balance. "This is nothing!" he shouts, his scythe beginning to glow. He swings, slicing through the wind, and managing to slice both the blue line and white orb in half. The spell immediately stops, no center there to keep it going. Damn it, I should have known that he would be able to cut though the core of a spell.

I back up once again, putting more distance between us. He looks at me, absolutely livid. "You've been far more annoying than I would have originally thought, Danny, but you still can't win."

I pant from exhaustion, barely able to stand now. There's no other choice, I have to use lethal magic. But . . . I'm not sure if I can. I . . . I vowed never to do so again, ever since that day.

"Hey!" Rick shouts out. "This is no time to be daydreaming!" he swings his scythe, but I dodge by ducking and rolling away, but not before he grazed me on the arm.

"Phew, that was a close one." I say, looking at the small cut on my arm.

"Heh, it's over." He says.

I open my muzzle to ask why, but When I, no sound comes out. Suddenly, my whole body freezes, and through my mind, images start flashing through my head. Terrible images, of death, of blood, of pain. This . . . this can't be happening. I fall to the ground, screaming.

"Make it stop! Please make it stop!" I scream out. I see them, they're about to be killed. They have to run, why don't they?!

" Grimiel's Scythe , its true ability is to show people of the deaths of their loved ones, its true ability is to lament."

I look at my parents, smiling down at me as blood continues to gush out of them, their lives being ended by some stranger with a knife. The life seems to fade from their eyes, slowly seeping out of them along with their blood. That white fur that I was so proud of, stained in crimson read.

"AHHH!" I scream out, unable to keep watching this. This can't be happening, not again. Please . . . where's my knight in shining armor?

"Don't worry." Rick says, raising his scythe in order to lop off my head. "It'll be over soon." My parents always said, that everyone had a knight in shining armor, so where was mine?

I could feel time slow down as he swung his scythe, the image of my parents, on the ground, lifeless, still fresh in my mind. Suddenly, there's a flash of black fur. I look up slowly, and see Wolf standing in front of me, the scythe blade caught in a single paw.

"Tch, what do you want, Wolf?" Rick asks, sneering at him. "Got some kind of death wish?"

". . . It's been a while since I've felt this scythe." Wolf says. I look up at him, shocked. What the fuck did that mean?! "To think that it ended up in some cub's paws. Still, you are quite talented, I'll give you that."

Rick pulls away the scythe, jumping back a few feet, shaking a bit. "What the fuck are you saying?!"

"Although, you're a far cry from Grimiel." Wolf says. I look at him more, and then a single image rushes past me, just a blink of something so very familiar, yet so far away. It was Wolf, but he was dressed differently, and he was carrying a grimoire.

"That's . . . Kairyu!" I think to myself. Wolf raises a paw to his head, rubbing it a bit as if he had a migraine.

"Sorry, zoned out a bit, there." Wolf says. "Now then, I'm sorry to cut in on your battle, but I just can't stand watching anymore. I'll be your opponent for now, Rick."

"Heh, you think you stand a chance?" Rick says, his bravado failing him.

"No. I think I already won." He says. Suddenly, he rips of his shirt, throwing it over my head. At that moment, there was a flash of light, though I wasn't affected by it due to the cloth over my face.

"Fuck!" Rick says, probably closing his eyes because of the blinding flash. I shake the cloth off my head in time to see Wolf running towards Rick, quickly punching him in the face, making him let go of the scythe. As soon as it leaves his paws, it begins to glow green, then simply turns into a thick green mist, dissipating into the air.

"Did you really think I was just waiting around all this time?" Wolf asks.

He follows up, pushing the small badger into the ground. "Take away the freedom of those who defy me, in the name of the absolute light, Seal of the Sun." Wolf says, placing a paw on Rick's chest. He moves away quickly, revealing a small sigil on his chest, glowing white. It depicted a small sun, only the size of his paw, but I knew that the mark was making it so that Rick couldn't move anymore.

"Pitiful!" Rick shouts out. He spits out a plagued needle, but only one this time. It goes straight up into the air, then being pulled back into the ground, right on the mark. As soon as it touches it, the needle turns white, and the mark seems crumble, and in seconds, both fade away.

He gets up quickly, looking straight at his new opponent, shaking a bit. "Who the hell are you?" he asks. "No one should be able to use Light magic without being rejected by it, or slowly killing themselves."

"Heh, funny." Wolf says. "This morning, I didn't know a single thing except magic, and a fox I fell head over heels for, but now it's all rushing back to me. My name's Kai Virtus."

"V-Virtus?!" Rick and I both shout out at the same time. That was the same name as the royal family, it was impossible.

"Yup, I'm the younger brother of king Regalias Virtus." Wolf- wait no, Kai says. We both look at him, wondering if he was crazy. Then I think about it. The king was a wolf with black fur, but he had no siblings. Then again, he was also a crazy, power hungry man that killed almost all of his cousins that had the slightest chance to steal the throne . . . so all of them. And those were mostly rumors, of course, but it was also true that most of his family mysteriously "disappeared". It wouldn't be too hard to believe something like that.

"Well, don't think you've won just yet!" Rick says.

"Stop." Kai commands, making us all freeze. "Look at yourself. You've depleted all your magic reserves. Don't forget that using that scythe is no easy task. It's over."

"No! I can't stop, I can't!" he screams out.

"Why not?!" Kai screams right back.

"Because I have to bring them all back!" he screams. There was a silence, both of us not knowing what he was talking about. "Everyone . . . they're all gone . . . and now he's alone."

"Who's all alone?" I ask, much better than I was a few moments ago.

". . . My big brother." He says, almost whispering. "Did you ever wonder why I had so many servants as familiars?"

"I assumed that they were from every generation." Kai says.

"No, the contract is only with one person per generation. Those were all people who died in this generation, every single servant of the household. We . . . we all left him alone." He says, tears now rolling down his cheek.

I slowly stand up, walking over to him. "We?"

"C'mon, I know you've realized it."

". . . Yeah, when I cast arcane bolt. I got a magical response of death magic, but nothing was being cast. You're a familiar too, aren't you?" I ask.

"Yup, I made a contract with my brother a while ago. But he doesn't want to see any of us, it's too hard. That's why I made a deal with the king. He said he could bring them all back, and I know it's impossible to bring any one person back permanently, but . . . I had to try!"

I lean in, hugging him lightly. "You big idiot. You said it yourself. Death is about loss, you can't gain back something lost so easily, but it isn't all that bad. With the loss of any one thing, you can find something else. That's how this world works. You lose one, you find another. It might take time, maybe all your life, but you'll always find something again. That's death, just the loss that brings something new into our lives."

"B-But it hurts so much." Rick mutters quietly, hugging me back. "He's hurting so much."

"Then we'll find him and save him. Don't worry. You can finally rest." I say to him.

"Th-Thank you, Danny. Please find him, please find Gio." Rick mutters, before turning into a small green orb himself, then changing into something else once again.

"The Noxel family was wiped out five years ago." Kai says. "Not even the servants surviving. It was an order of the king, since he feared the power of the next heir, Gio Noxel. But there wasn't another child in that family."

"Yeah, you're right." I say, holding him my arms, Grimiel's scythe. "But to Gio, this guy probably was a brother. After all, Grimiel himself was able to create a soul within this scythe by putting in his magic, it's not impossible that another person was able to do the same."

"So that's why he was able to use magic, he was an enchanted weapon." Kai says.

"Yup." I respond. I press my paws to the scythe, willing it to turn into a smaller form. It complies, becoming a small book, its cover obsidian with bone decorating the spine.

"So what now?" Kai asks.

". . . We find Gio. It's the least we can do, right?" I ask.

He smiles at me, nodding in agreement. "It's the right thing to do."

I smile back. I put the small book in my pocket, then walk over to Kai and give him a hug. His fur was nice and soft, and warm. It was . . . nice. I lean into him, taking in his familiar scent. It was so soothing to me, so calming. It was, well I guess it was because it was Kairyu's, and this was just a reaction of Douryu inside me. So . . . was I really falling for him? No, it wasn't so simple. More like . . . I was falling for him all over again.

"Thank you." I whisper to him.

"For what?" he asks, hugging me back.

"Being my knight in shining armor."

He laughs a bit, hugging me closer. "I would be anything, if it was for you."

". . . Thank you." I say. I wished for a knight so long ago. Funny how I finally got him, and now that I have him, I felt incredibly happy. So happy I could . . . fall . . . asleep.

* * * *

Huh, I was asleep, wasn't I?

I sit in the grass, in the middle of the garden. This was my house.

"Hey! Danny!" someone from behind me calls. I look in that direction and see Kai, but he was just a kid. Now that I think about it, so was I.

"Kai!" I say as I rush over to him. I hug him hard, burying my face in his fluffy neck fur.

"Danny, what's wrong?" he asks, concerned.

"The weird guys came to my house today." I say, sniffling a bit.

"Again?" he asks.

"Yeah." I say. "Dad scared them off, but there were a lot of them this time."

He smiles, holding me close to him. "Don't worry. Your dad's super strong! And if he can't fight them, then I'll be there."

"Like my knight in shining armor?" I ask, sniffing his fur to calm myself down. That always worked.

"Yeah. All you have to do is call for me, and I'll be there, no matter what." He says. "Even if it takes me forever to get to you, I'll never stop. I'll make sure to be there to protect you."

We both fall back into the grass, just lying there, still hugging. It was so calm and peaceful. So perfect. Now I remember why he was so familiar. This wasn't just a dream, this was a memory.

End of Chapter one