• Chapter I: Strange Going’s On

    “Very good, Nocturn. You are doing very good progress with your abilities,” applauded an old man. He sat cross-legged on a pillow, watching Nocturn through his thick, white moustache. His wrinkled face gleamed in the sunlight that warmed the sands of Landes von Nachtzeit. “Now show me how you use an offensive cast of Relampago with yoursword.”
    Nocturn grunted. It was hot in the desert. But why should he complain? He has been working with his master for ten years. Nocturn uttered the word “Relampago” and moved his hands around, as if producing lightning and keeping it away from his heart to avoid death. Death, he had thought when he was told about the risks of this spell, is barely worth worrying about when you’re a Dieu de la Mort. A small channel of electricity surrounded the tip of his blade. He aimed it to the sky and shot lightning out of its tip.“There. Now can we go back to the dome? I’m melting here,” murmured Nocturn.
    “Well you wouldn’t be melting if you had decided to wear more comfortable clothing,” replied the man calmly. Nocturn was wearing a black cloak that covered him from foot to chin.
    “My claw is itching, too.” Nocturn acknowledged the claw on his right. He had lost that arm a while ago. He decided to set his wild (but also calm) amber eyes back at his master. The old man wore a white hakama with an immaculate tunic. He got up from his pillow. He was hunched, but was still taller than Nocturn’s twenty year old body.
    “Very well. I am quite parched myself.” The old man turned around and walked straight to a large, gray dome that stood tall in the middle of the desert. Nocturn followed suit. He brushed some white sand out of his messy, short, bluish black hair and dismissed his sword.
    When they had made it to the dome, Nocturn felt the need to ask a question. “Master, what exactly does the Dieu de la Mort do?”
    “I’ve told you that many times,” grunted the old man. “We are in order of making sure that the order of life and death is kept safe. The Angels, our allies, are also on that job.”
    “But Angel magic is too dangerous for our kind, so we are to be kept apart.”
    “Precisely.” The old man whistled a tune as he opened the great door that led inside the dome. Then, the two walked down the hallway behind and made their way to the next door. Behind the second door was the lounge room. It had comfortable white couches where people would have their conversations. A winding gray staircase stood in the middle. “Now have your break. I will see you in three hours for training on Hielo.”
    “Yes, sir.” The old man stalked to the other side of the lounge room and disappeared into the door that stood there. What was on the other side, Nocturn could not guess.
    “Hey! Nocturn!” called a male voice. Nocturn turned around to see a brown haired boy with bright blue eyes. He wore a white jacket and a white hakama, like Nocturn’s master.
    “Aeulus. How have you been?”
    “You know, training my butt off with Master Ventus. I hate the Wiatr training!”
    “Well that’s your specialty. Lucky. I don’t have a special element.”
    “Hey, at least you have more time to goof off. I’m on training all week long.”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “Hey guys!” said a female voice. “Training’s got you, too?” The woman was in her early twenties herself. She was just a bit shorter than Nocturn and Aeulus and wore a white cloak. She looked at them with friendly purple eyes.
    “I hate it,” repeated Aeulus.
    “Hmph. I agree,” murmured Nocturn. “And I need to head back outside in three hours.”
    “Oh well.” The female had long brown hair that reached down to her back. “Muzyka practice is unbelievable!”
    “What are we complaining for, though?” murmured Nocturn. “We’ve been doing this for ten years.”
    “Yeah, but that’s like five hundred human years, right?”
    “So?”
    “Then of course it felt long!” exclaimed the woman.
    “So…um, Viola,” stuttered Aeulus.
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s been ten years since we’ve met.”
    “Oh yeah!”
    “How time flies,” said Nocturn.
    “So what should we do?” inquired Aeulus.
    “I’d celebrate, but training is probably going to get in the way,” muttered Nocturn.
    “Aw, really? Come on Nocturn,” replied Viola.
    “Sorry. I’ll try to come.”
    “I guess it’s just you and me, Viola,” said Aeulus, trying to suppress his anxiousness.
    “I guess so!” Viola exclaimed gleefully. “Hey, I’ll be back. I have to do something.”
    “See you later,” said Aeulus. When Viola vanished into the crowd of people at the east end of the room, Aeulus turned. “It hurts me to watch her walk away like that all of the time.”
    “What?” said Nocturn after he woke up from his small trance. He never liked focusing on only one thing, especially when there was work to do.
    “Viola. I’ve known her for ten years, and yet I didn’t tell…”
    “Do you here that?” interrupted Nocturn.
    “Hey! I was trying to say something deep here!”
    “Shh.”
    “What is it?” inquired Aeulus, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Wait…I hear it, too!”
    “It sounds like buzzing.” The droning sound grew louder and closer. A black mist started to materialize on the southern wall- the one that Nocturn and Aeulus were facing.
    “What the hell?” The mist grew and completely swallowed the wall. Then, it moved to the gray ceramic tiles of the floor. People started to whisper to each other, inquiring about what is going on. A gray, torn up arm reached out of the fog, followed by a pale head. Then a body came out and two spikes for legs followed. The creature was humanoid- with black, un-kempt hair, a wily smile, frenzied eyes, and a man’s body- but there was an eerie vibe emanating from its appearance: the appearance of the devil himself.
    The creature opened its grinning mouth, showing its sharp, dagger-like teeth. “Denruter evah I.”
    “Every body out of this room!” commanded a strong voice. Master Dunkel. He had a goateed face. He had straight, flat, brown hair, silver eyes, and a tall, muscular body under his white cloak. Next to him was Mistress Heilen. She had brown hair and green eyes. Her dark skin was draped in her immaculate cloak.
    As other people panicked, Nocturn stood like he was a part of the floor. “What the hell’s happening?” The creature’s black eyes turned to meet Nocturn. An orange ring in the eye was the only thing that was not black in the monster’s ebony eyes.
    “Nocturn! Move!” barked Dunkel with his usually laid back voice. Now he was serious. This caused Nocturn to run as if running for his life. This might be the case since the shadowy creature lunged after him. Its spiky fingers almost clawed Nocturn several times.
    “Gniog uoy era erehw?” whispered the creature in what seemed to be a question. A blast stopped the creature in its tracks. It slammed to the floor, rolling over to its left violently a few times.
    “Oscuro!” commanded Dunkel. He made wraith-like movements with his hands and conjured black wisps to appear around his fingers. He straightened them and shot them towards the creature’s side. It rolled again, this time smashing into tables and couches. Another black wisp slammed it into the window that looked out to the horizon. “Materia Negra!” This time, he twisted his fingers around each other. Purple mist launched out from below him. It transformed and took the form of its conjurer. “Attack!” The purple copy launched at the creature and pummeled it with kicks and punches. The creature yelped in pain, but laughed at the same time. It was enjoying its show.
    “Leicht!” yelled Mistress Heilen. A beam of ball of light shot out of her index finger when she pointed it at their adversary. The creature was launched again. The window shattered under its weight. The creature flew outwards, just to be dematerialized by a puff of black mist. “There. Mission accomplished, wouldn’t you say?”
    “If you count the fact that the windows were destroyed, yes,” replied Dunkel in his laid back tone. “But I would’ve liked it if somebody else did this for me. Nocturn, are you still there?”
    Nocturn was standing at the exit of the room. His amber eyes were wide. The collar of his cloak couldn’t even cover the confused look on his face.
    “Nocturn!” bellowed an old, rickety voice. His master stood hunched near the stairs in the middle of the room.”
    “Master Johnson,” replied Nocturn. “What was that thing?”
    “That is not of your concern. Now leave.” Nocturn turned on his heel and walked through the door. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t investigate, does it? He walked down the immaculate hall and into the desert where other apprentices were standing. They were talking, some were questioning what happened, and others were joking about the situation.”
    “Nocturn! Are you okay?” inquired Viola. She was standing near the entrance next to Aeulus. “Aeulus told me about some creature and Master Dunkel and Mistress Heilen coming to the scene. What happened to you?”
    “I’m okay,” replied Nocturn. “But they don’t want us to see something, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
    “Nocturn’s going to break the rules?” gasped Aeulus sarcastically. “Don’t try.”
    “Why shouldn’t I?”
    “Because it’s dangerous.”
    “Please,” muttered Nocturn dismissively. He sprinted through the crowd towards the west wing of the dome. He took cover in the crowd of confused students.
    “Nocturn! Wait!” called Viola. She and Aeulus ran after silently after him.
    “Oh so who is breaking the rules now?”
    “Shut up,” said Aeulus jokingly when they got to an area of sand with broken glass all over.
    “The creature slammed with that window and shattered it. I should be able to here what the Masters and Mistress are saying if I get close enough.”
    “Fine.” Aeulus and Viola cupped their hands and hung them low. Nocturn stepped on them. He was lunged just a few inches, but he was in reach of a ledge. He grabbed the ledge with his left hand, taking good care not to make noise with his claw. He tried to focus on the three adults in the middle of the room.
    “…could it?” inquired a lazy voice. It was young. Dunkel.
    “But Master Terra was killed. He couldn’t have-” Heilen.
    “Do you not remember how he was killed?” Johnson.
    “He was ripped to oblivion by a Djinni,” answered Dunkel.
    “So? Is that special?” questioned Heilen in her usually bright voice.
    “Yes it is,” replied Johnson.
    “How?”
    “It was by an entity not like our own. Or the Angels. They are from a realm completely of their own.”
    “That does not answer my question.”
    “They are of a higher type of magic, Heilen. We were lucky to destroy that thing before it got strong enough,” said Dunkel.
    “Correct. But you did not destroy him. Shinigami Rik still lives.”
    “Shinigami Rik?”
    “That is Terra’s Shinigami name.”
    “Out of curiosity, what would be mine?”
    “Shinigami Shadow.”
    “That’s a stupid name.”
    Nocturn stifled a sneeze. The ledge was extremely dusty.
    “We just have to make sure no students hear of this, understand?”
    “Yes, sir!” replied Dunkel and Heilen in simultaneously. Nocturn let go of the ledge and landed on his feet on the ground.
    “So what did you here?” asked Aeulus.
    “Do you know of Master Terra?” said Nocturn.
    “Yeah. They say he was killed because of a conjuring incident,” answered Viola.
    “Well it’s a lie.”
    “How?”
    “Master Johnson said he was ripped into oblivion by some strange creature called a Djinni.”
    “What’s a Djinni?” asked Aeulus.
    “I don’t know. Some powerful creature from a different realm. Anyway, his death made him transform into that…thing somehow.”
    “Did they destroy it?” questioned Viola.
    “No. Master Johnson said it still lives.”
    “So we have to be on our guard.”
    “Not we. If they figure out we know about this, we are dead.”
    “Then we better go back before anybody notices we’re missing,” announced Aeulus. The crowd of students and masters started to move back into the building. The trio quietly blended into the crowd, making it seem as if they hadn’t moved. The shattered window of the west wall was patched up. Probably Master Chrono rewinding the damage, thought Nocturn when he had noticed this. Masters Johnson, Heilen, and Dunkel disappeared from the scene. They are probably in that room in the back. Whatever was in that room, Nocturn had to find out.
    “What are you staring at Nocturn?” asked Aeulus.
    “That room in the back. I wonder what it’s for.”
    “You shouldn’t meddle anymore, Nocturn,” warned Viola.
    “Meddle in what?” inquired a strong, low voice from behind. Master Ignus. He had long, orange hair and fiery, black eyes. He had a chiseled chin and a white tunic over a white cloak.
    “Master Ignus!”
    “Answer my question, child.” He had respect for his students, if they are respectful to him.
    “Nothing, sir!”
    “Are you lying to me, Viola?”
    “No, never.” Viola’s voice broke away from its usual certainty. Ignus’s fiery gaze flickered to Aeulus.
    “I’m sure it is either you or Nocturn.”
    “I don’t blame you,” sighed Aeulus.
    “Well? Answer.”
    “We are just trying to figure out what that thing was,” answered Nocturn, trying hard not to tell everything.
    “Well you shouldn’t, understand? It is none of your business. The sooner you learn that, the better.” Ignus kept his burning gaze until he turned to go up the spiral stairs.
    “Whew. That was close!” said Aeulus.
    “Speak for yourself,” muttered Nocturn. “If we had left Viola to answer the questions, we’d be dead.”
    “Hey! Don’t give yourself the credit!”
    “Don’t worry, Aeulus. I’m sure Nocturn’s kidding.”
    “Half of it was a joke,” said Nocturn.
    “I understand.”
    “Good. What now?”
    “You have to go back to training,” answered Aeulus.
    Nocturn glanced at the clock that took up all of the space of the east wall. “Damn. You’re right. Have fun with you celebration.” He ran for the southern door, leaving Viola and Aeulus to themselves. He spared a glance top the door at the other end. I’ll find out what’s going on. But I need to find out what’s behind that door. And Master Johnson’s going to show me.