#decimatoroflight

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter 9: New Clothes

             To Cin’s surprise, all the food in the Darkness was tastier than practically anything he had ever had on Earth – which instantly also made him guilty, since his father was a chef. But the experience was so interesting he managed to put that thought aside for the time being.

             The food looked roughly the same -- what appeared to be meat, grains, vegetables, fruits -- but they didn’t seem to be the exact type of things that grew back at home, and like everything else in this place, every slice of food looked like some sort of painting that belonged in a museum. But he was so hungry, the beauty didn’t stop him; in fact, he hardly could pay any attention to the appearance to the food or anything around him once it was in his mouth. Whenever anything touched his tongue, it was almost like he was waking up taste buds that had been asleep his whole life, ones that could tell his brains about flavors he’d never had before on earth, with the smells being equally new but entrancing. His whole head started to spin slightly just from the flavors alone; he had to close his eyes to sit and truly savor what was going on in his mouth with every chew. And yet, as he ate, all four Squadron members were constantly apologizing for not taking him anywhere fancier than the place across the street from the “Squadron Hall,” the place they’d been talking in and that Cin had thrown up in.

             According to Sterk, all Squadron members lived there, sort of like an apartment for them, though anyone was allowed into the big area with the bar and bubbles so that all people could come and give support to the various Squadrons or simply to just have fun. Even though they were having a big party because of Cin’s arrival, apparently,  it wasn’t exactly uncommon for there to be a party going on pretty much any night that a Squadron was home instead of on some mission. Cin liked the sound of it – it made the Zero Squadron seem a little less intimidating and overly-serious to him.

             After Cin finished eating, which took a while as he stuffed any food he could reach into his mouth until he felt ready to throw up again, he was led back towards the Zero Squadron’s corridor, though this time, through a back entrance. There was a secret hallways hidden behind a painting on the back half of the beautiful building, through what looked to be the image of some being of Darkness protecting some humans from some sort of ultra-bright explosion. Only, it wasn’t that the painting was moved aside and the hallway was visible. It was just a wall like everything else. Cin didn’t get a good look at it; he was pushed right through, and walked right through the wall as though it hadn’t been there.

             Cin had to blink several times and look behind him again and again, wondering if that had actually happened or if he was so tired he was hallucinating, but in the end, he couldn’t decide which it was. Either way, he ended up in a corridor with different stairways that seemed to lead off in eight different directions. The Squadron members led him up the flight that seemed to go to the very top, which confused Cin, as he remembered simply entering a door on the first floor when he first got there, but sure enough, when they opened the door, they were back in the same place he’d been before. Same table with a cube hovering above it, same cushions on the floor, same doors with the Squadron members’ faces on them, Tishina even still leaning against the same wall they’d left him against when they’d left. Cin was definitely confused, but decided he must have been considerably more exhausted than he thought he should be for someone who had passed out twice in the same day. So, when Sterk suggested that Cin get some rest, that idea sounded really appealing.

             As Cin started to head towards Tishina’s room and looked at Tishina, who was supposedly still watching the Versabic, the teen felt a little strange. Cin felt as though he had let someone down. The feeling only doubled when he noticed Tishina’s bored, unfocused eyes lift just enough to focus on him for a moment. Once again, they filled with pity, and Cin felt a gnawing urge to speak to him, to ask what was wrong, why he always looked at Cin in such a way -- but Cin was pulled into Tishina’s room by Veder, and Tishina’s tattooed head tilted out of view as the man’s as his eyes drifted back to the cube as though he had never given Cin so much as a glance.

             “Do not mind Tishina,” Veder assured him once he closed the door behind them and noticed Cin’s concerned expression. “He is not very traditional in his approach to people, but he is amazingly proficient at his work. And he is not one to get angry over something as simple as using his room...”

             “Why didn’t he go eat with us, though?” Cin asked, eyes still locked on the closed door, trying to picture that man still staring at the cube. He hadn’t even been bothered by it until he had seen Tishina again. “I mean, doesn’t he get hungry? Isn’t he tired?”

             “He shall eat eventually. He is not one to do things outside his personal pace,” Veder replied with a smile. “Please, do not worry yourself in his behalf. Tishina is more than capable of taking care of himself. Like Frio, he was once a Castigator, after all.”

             “A what?” Cin’s curiosity was piqued. As much as he hated to admit it, he was still curious about Frio’s reaction earlier, and if she had been whatever the heck a ‘Castigator’ was, then maybe it had something to do with it. Not to mention, he was desperate for any information he could get on Tishina.

             “Perhaps it would be best if you rested for the time being, Cin?” Veder chuckled a bit, motioning to the bed Cin had awoken in about two hours earlier.

             Cin barely managed to bite back the urge to groan. “I mean, yeah, sure, I guess...but could you at least explain it before I do?” he bargained, climbing into the bed and pulling the abnormally warm covers onto himself as a sign of compliance, but it still felt as though he had only gotten up three minutes ago and was already climbing back in. The desperation in his voice was clear, however, and with a sigh and a gentle smile, Veder sat down in the chair beside the desk and explained.

             “It is the title of a position, much like being a member of a Squadron. The official title of a Squadron member is actually ‘Vizard’.”

             “So you guys are magic!” Cin sat up in triumph, but Veder just gave an entertained chuckle and motioned for the boy to lay back down.

             “Vizard. Not wizard. Because we must disguise ourselves in the Gray World to be able to do the work that is needed there. Regardless, Castigators are in groups called Teams, rather than Squadrons, and their work lies not in keeping matters on the Gray World peaceful, but gathering information from the Oth- er...the L-Light,” he had to choke the last word out as though it made him a little sick inside, but Cin did vaguely appreciate the effort. “It is considerably more dangerous and involves considerably more physical prowess and combat. It involves much more deception and secrecy than even we do in the Squadrons. So, I think you see how someone as mysterious as Tishina did well in this sort of job,” He lifted an eyebrow at Cin, clearly waiting for agreement, and Cin did have to nod. Tishina did seem like someone who could easily keep any secret in the world.

“Now, if that has satisfied your curiosity, Cin, I must ask that you sleep. You will truly need your rest, as when you awaken, we will attempt to help you use your Ability. Would that be alright?” He asked the boy.

Cin nodded, and Veder chuckled, standing up to give Cin a solid pat on the shoulder before exiting the room and closing the door behind him, leaving the boy alone with his thoughts. Cin turned away from the door and hugged a pillow close to his chest. He frowned. Frio had once been a sort of fighting spy? He would have thought that Sterk had been, seeing all of his scars...but then again, now that he thought about it, Frio had quite a few scars, herself. Tishina, however, looked perfectly unharmed, and he had not shown any signs of what his Ability was when kidnapping Cin. But they had both been Castigators (why did that word sound so intimidating?), and Tishina and Frio happened to be the two Cin felt closest two. Was there some reason for that? Maybe Tishina would show his Ability during the training that Veder mentioned. Maybe then, Cin would have another piece to add to this weird puzzle.

             With these thoughts swirling around in his mind, Cin drifted off to sleep, never even hearing the beginnings of the excited conversation amongst the Squadron members outside the room.

             “Enatha! Enatha, look! It’s beautiful...!!” he gasped in awe, looking out of an oval mirror. His face was so full of excitement, she couldn’t help but laugh lightly as she approached him.

             “What is it...?” She asked gently, but gasped when she saw what her friend had been talking about. It was a shape, a large orb, and around it, all the elements were flowing. Water flowed gracefully into wind, which, in turn, flowed into an electrical storm, which eased itself into fire, which was somehow avoiding burning the earth beside it, which was not dirtying the small specks of powdered metal next to it, and the metal in turn solidified, then turned back to speckles and glittered back into the wind. As the elements swirled, faster and faster, the two forces within the circle were flowing as well. Light and darkness, flowing in and out of each other like two fish in some sort of ritualistic dance, until finally, it glowed a bright, shocking and beautifully balanced gray. The elements then closed in, and with a loud burst and a wave of light, the gray circle became a fresh planet.

             “This...it is amazing...” Enatha said quietly, tears forming in her eyes. “Did we...? Is this because of...?”

             “We did it!!” Alanore cried, turning towards his friend and grasping her hands. “We made this! A product of Light and Darkness -- it was us, Enatha! This is what our people can do together! We created a whole new dimension, but now...now we have a planet we created by WILL! Maybe...maybe we can help life flourish on it as well!”

             “But what should it be called...?” Enatha asked, unable to stop her smile. “A name would make explaining this much simpler...”

             “Name?” Alanore asked, pulling back. “Name... I know! It was gray for a minute, wasn’t it? The Gray World! The first planet in this solar system of our dimension to have life! The Gray World!”

             “Perfect,” Enatha nodded, smiling gently.

             Alanore suddenly frowned, and his white eyes looked dreadfully worried.

             “What happened!?” he demanded, looking at Enatha with panic. “What’s going on!?”

             “Hm?” Enatha only blinked at him, confused. “What are you talking about, Alanore?”

             “You...you faded for a second! It was like...like you weren’t there for a little bit! What’s going on!? Are you alright? Is this normal!? Do you need medical attention!? Do-”

             “Shh,” Enatha laughed a bit, pressing her pointer finger gently to Alanore’s lips. “Calm down. I am fine. I am sure you simply imagined it.”

             The man seemed to melt a little at her touch, his cheeks suddenly turning a little pink. She pulled her finger away, and Alanore nodded weakly, smiling down at his friend as a hand drifted to the back of his head.

             “I’m sorry. Sorry...I must be a little tired, I suppose,” He laughed at himself. “Sorry, just...the idea of you disappearing -- that scared me so much...!” he put a hand on his heart like it literally ached.

             Enatha laughed gently at this as well, as though finding this idea absurd, but when she turned away from him, her eyes stung with tears. She felt that the inevitable was coming closer and closer every day. The least she could do was try and hide this from Alanore, at least until their project was done. It was all she could ever really do for him, all she could ever really be to him -- a lab partner.

             And only a temporary one, at that.

             Cin awoke with a start, feeling the door opening. It made no form of sound and he was over ten feet away, but he could feel the air being pushed away from the door. Quickly, knowing right away what the dream had caused, Cin wiped his tears away while extending his other arm, so that when Pila peeked her head in, he looked as though he had just awoken from a pleasant dream and was stretching instead.

             “Ah, Cin, you’re awake!” she said with surprised excitement as she entered the room. She had several boxes in her arms and had to use her shoulder to open the door. She quickly toppled all the boxes onto the yet-to-be-slept-in bed beside Cin and then plopped herself down next to them. She seemed the most casual around him out of all the Squadron members. “How’d you sleep?”

             “Fine,” Cin said, his eyes still on the boxes. They were of various shapes and sizes, the largest big enough for a basketball, and the smallest about the size of a ring box. He was worried that whatever was inside them was going to be used to force his Ability out of him. “What’s in those?”

             “Clothes,” Pila said with a grin, patting the closest box next to her, a flat one that looked it could hold a pie. “Sterk, Frio, and I figured you could use a new outfit to help you fit in a little better. Not to mention the clothes you’re wearing now are all sweaty and probably have some vomit and blood on them.”

             Cin felt his ears get hot, realizing that he had been in his pajamas for almost two days now. The idea of a change of clothes was very appealing. Even more appealing, though -- was a shower.

             “There’s a Hygienics Room right there,” Pila added, motioning to a part of the room Cin had ignored earlier. To his surprise, there was a door there, though it looked like it was simply a part of the wall with no door frame around it. All the other doors in the Darkness had been so elaborate that he had simply not seen the one normal one.

             “Er, thanks?” Cin said, hoping that was the bathroom. He stayed in bed, expecting Pila to leave after that, but she continued to sit where she was, smiling at nothing in particular. After a moment of awkward staring, he finally asked, “Uh, so, do I just go in there and change or something, and then...?”

             “Oh, right! Sorry!” Pila clapped her hands together as though just remembering something important. She seemed a little out of it and more than a little distracted. “After you’re dressed, Sterk and Veder are going to take you to the Darkness Dungeon.”

             “Th-the what?” Cin felt his heart jump in his throat. A dungeon? Was he getting arrested?

             “Oh, don’t worry!” Pila laughed a bit at his reaction, waving a hand to dismiss his thoughts. “It’s just the term we use. It’s kind of like a training hall or dojo on the Gray World. It’s just underground, away from the surface so no one gets hurt, and it’s easier to draw Darkness for Abilities there. They’re just going to try and help you train, that’s all.”

             “O-Oh. Okay,” Cin sighed with relief. “But what about you, Frio, and Tishina? Do you guys just have to wait for them to finish with me?”

             “A few of the other Squadrons are having trouble,” she replied very casually, leaning back on the bed and kicking the air with her feet. “Tishina went off to help One already, Frio’s going to go help Four, and I have to help Three. Three’s near an electrical plant, so they need more than one Pauser, and we’re the only Squadron that isn’t on any real mission at the moment. So it’s just going to be you and the guys.”

             “Huh,” Cin nodded a bit, though he was a little confused by Tishina wasn’t included in ‘the guys’. But Cin quickly realized he would have been more than a little embarrassed if Frio and Pila would be the ones to see him fail around during his attempts to master his Ability and quickly appreciated the situation. Not that Veder or Sterk were necessarily any less embarrassing to flail in front of, but Cin got the feeling those two were going to judge him no matter what the situation, anyway.

             As he climbed out of bed, Cin noticed something glimmering on Pila’s chest. It hadn’t been there the day before, even though she was in the same uniform, otherwise.

             “What’s that?” Cin hadn’t actually intended to ask that out loud, but thankfully, Pila didn’t seem to mind.

             “Oh, this?” Pila looked down and smiled widely as she hopped to her feet, touching the beautifully-detailed flower charm she now had around her neck. “Sterk got me this while we went shopping for your clothes. He saw me and Frio staring at the shop, and he snuck off while we weren’t paying attention...” The way she shifted from one leg to another as she spoke made Cin raise an eyebrow in confusion, but he decided he cared a lot less about the necklace and a lot more about getting showered at this particular moment.

             “It’s really nice,” he did offer her, since she looked so happy about it. “And good luck with helping the other Squadrons,” he added before disappearing into the Hygienics Room.

             He closed the door behind him and looked around. It was similar to a bathroom -- the floor and walls were shiny in a way that suggested they wouldn’t absorb water and there seemed to be the basics with a sink, toiler, and shower -- but the differences were really what got Cin’s attention. There was what he only could have assumed was a toilet, only it had no back to it and seemed a bit longer than it should have been. Next to it was a counter with what only could have been a sink, though it was crescent in shape, and the water was constantly flowing from the edges, like a little waterfall. In the corner, next to some towels, was what appeared to be a shower or something of the sort. It was a small rectangular room a few from any wall, with glass doors revealing the inside. But instead of the usual faucet or handle, there only appeared to be buttons. No knobs, no shower head, no shampoos or even soaps. The shower space was completely bare otherwise.

             Cin let out a low groan as he reluctantly opened the glass door. He already hated it when he had to shower anywhere new and figure out how a shower head not from his own house worked. How he had to go in blind with buttons? Though he was incredibly afraid of experimentation with buttons in the Darkness, he was far more self-conscious about simply going back and asking someone about how the shower worked. No, third degree burns were easily better than having to have someone explain a shower to him like he was a six-year-old. So, the teenager stripped himself of all his clothes and, after a little thought, even the bandages, and climbed into the rectangular room, closing the clear door behind him.

             Within twenty minutes, Cin had tried every button on the wall.

             It was considerably simpler than he had thought, as well as a lot more entertaining. The buttons ranging from blue to purple to red had to do with the temperature of the water. Blue was cold, red was hot, and purple was a nice, even mix, with the shades in between correlating to the temperatures in between. There was no wait time – the moment the button was pushed, that was the temperature of the water before Cin could even lift his finger. The black buttons with silvery shapes on them showed where the water would come from. It sprayed out from the ceiling, the sides, and even up from the floor, and the buttons could be used in combination with one another so that water was literally just spraying from everywhere at once. The other buttons were all soaps and shampoos that smelled like different fruits and flowers, all of which either landed in his hands, on his hair, or just somewhere on his body, keeping on which of those small buttons he pressed. That part was especially jarring when he figured out which one was meant to soap up his backside.

             By the end of the experimentation, Cin was completely clean, but left the purple button on, letting the water drip onto his head. His soaked, purple bangs obscured his vision, but he leaned back against the shower wall to stare at nothing in particular, so it didn’t matter.

             Though Pila had surprised him and the shower had distracted him, now that he had nothing else on his mind, his thoughts were drifting back to the dream, of all things. The memories of it were much more vivid in his mind than dreams he’d had back home over the years. And something about them was nagging at him in the back of his mind, though he couldn’t place the feeling.

             That newest dream definitely took place after the last one he had had. Enatha had felt a little more tired, a little more hopeless than before. Though she had been temporarily pleased by their project working, she wasn’t too surprised that Alanore had seen her fade. She had been so upset that Alanore had almost caught her, and it had stung at her so badly when he had said he’d hate to see her go...Her eyes had even filled with tears...

             It suddenly hit him.

             Her eyes. How could it have taken him so long? Enatha’s eyes! They were black, pure black, just like Cin’s, just like everyone’s in the Darkness. Enatha was a being of the Darkness!

             Cin’s heart rate double instantly though he wasn’t sure why.

             The fact that he had been dreaming about a being of the Darkness before knowing anything about them was more of a shock that he’d expected. There was a strange, unfamiliar glimmer of hope. He knew, somewhere deep inside of himself, about the Darkness. About someone from the Darkness. Could that have possibly meant that he was actually what the people said he was? Could he really have been the Decimator? Maybe this was something actually all connected to him.

             He quickly pushed this thought out of his head. He didn’t need to get his hopes up. A whole race was depending on the Decimator. Cin had no right to assume that he was their savior simply because he had had some dreams.

             But something else was still bothering him. Something he wasn’t sure about. The way the planet had formed in his dream had been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, hands down. And yet, it had been strangely familiar. Not to Enatha, though he had been seeing it through her eyes. To him, to Cin. As though Cin had seen it somewhere before, somewhere recently. But where? There were so many designs everywhere in the Darkness, was it even possible for him to find a specific one?

             He could always ask one of the Squadron members, though he didn’t love the idea of possibly being questioned about his dreams. But Cin had only been in three buildings so far, someone was bound to remember a design as beautiful as the one he’d seen as long as he could narrow it down to three buildings, right? Maybe it was worth it, telling them about his dreams...

             “Nngh-!” Cin lurched forward unexpectantly, grasping his stomach to stop the wave of nausea.

             Cin panted for a moment, swallowing down the extra saliva that had accumulated in his mouth, trying to understand what had caused this reaction. He shakily pulled his hand away from his stomach, coming to the realization that it had been the idea. The idea to tell the Squadron, anyone, about his dreams. He had never had the urge to do so before. But now that he had considered it, suddenly, his body was rejecting the thought. Physically.

             He breathed deeply looking down at the shower floor, idly watching the water disappear into the floor instead of ever splashing. After a minute of this, Cin blindly pressed the buttons on the water, shutting the water off, and exited the shower.

             He wasn’t going to tell them. At least, not yet. His body’s reaction made him completely reconsider ever doing so in the first place. He wasn’t prepared to go up against his own body quite yet. Maybe one day, but it was only his second day in the Darkness so far. He’d have time to ask another day, right? Now, he was going to go train or something. Cin was going to try and find out his Ability, see whether or not he was this so-called Decimator, and either make everyone happy or very disappointed.

             Soon, Cin was all dry and trying on the clothes the three had gotten him. Though they all looked to be skin tight, as all clothes appeared to be in the Darkness, they were also amazingly comfortable and pleasantly warm. With some searching, he found a black pair of pants that weren’t too tight, but not nearly as baggy as what he was usually used to. After he had those on, he found a silver belt to put on as well, even though it wasn’t necessary with pants that fit snugly. He couldn’t find a single shirt that was anything short of form-fitting, and finally settled on one with no sleeves but a high collar. He saw arm bands and a few pairs of gloves as well, and after a moment of contemplation, put a set on. The arm bands matched his belt, and the gloves were fingerless. It wasn’t so much that he thought he needed them, but he sort of felt a “Decimator” would wear something like that. It looked kind of cool on his arms, too. Like a futuristic video game character.

             Finally, he found a nice pair of black boots and pulled them on. They fit just right and seemed to be made out of a more comfortable, but just as sturdy, material as leather. There was no mirror in the bedroom, nor any mirror in the Hygienics Room at all, so he just ran his patted his hair until it felt like it should have been sitting correctly. His hand innately went to his nose to push his sunglasses up, when he realized that he wasn’t wearing any. He blinked for a moment with surprise, realizing that he hadn’t worn any since he had entered the Darkness.

             It was different now. Everything seemed so different. He usually hated different, hated new. And yet, this? He was welcoming it. It was bizarre but not necessarily bad.

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter Seven: Squadron Hall

             Cin sat, an unfamiliar numb sensation filling his lungs and then slowly trickling its way down to the rest of his body. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but the way the Sovereign had said that last part made him feel as though some dark, deeply-hidden secret about him was suddenly revealed, one he didn’t want anyone to know.

             “The...Decimator? Of...Light?” Cin managed to ask, pulling a hand to his stomach to try and stop the sick sensation from spreading.

             “That is what you have been called for generations now. There were many names before it – Savior of Darkness, Birther to Darkness, The Ultimate Creator – but this is the name that has most recently become most popular. That is the current name for the one said to have your Ability: the sorely-needed power to create that which fuels our realm, our people. The ability to create Darkness itself.”

             “Ability to...create darkness?” the teenager gave the man a look of utter disbelief.              Him, capable of creating darkness? Cin could do push ups, he could sort of run, he could draw pretty well -- but creating ‘darkness’ wasn’t something he had ever made before. Darkness was something that was simply always there. There was no way to create such a thing, and if the person who was supposed to be able to do something so amazing was only talked about in legends, Cin seriously doubted that he, of all people, could have been that person.

             “Listen,” Cin started, rather awkwardly and still very uncomfortable around the older man. “There’s no way that is me. I’m not some savior. I don’t have cool powers like the people who took me. I’m not a hero. Heck, I only finish my homework because my mom checks sometimes, and I’m too scared of her yelling at me not to do it. I’m not the type of person legends are written about. I’m sorry – I’m really sorry. I can tell you, like...really, really want me to be this Decimator. But I’m not. You have the wrong guy.”

             The Sovereign smiled, though it was a little strained and more than a little disappointed. “I am so very sorry, my boy, but I am afraid that is not possible. We have searched for you for generations, utilizing every mothing we have at our disposal. There is no mistake, there is no ‘wrong guy’, I am afraid. It is you, Vincint. You are the Decimator, and this is a fact.”

             Cin felt as though the man had just read him his death sentence. “It’s not any fact,” his chest felt tight, but he forced himself to keep speaking. “Make darkness? I’ve never done anything like that. If I was this guy, wouldn’t I have, you know, done that a few times? Maybe when I was in danger or something? Or just for fun at some point?”

             The man nodded gravely. “This actually does not surprise me entirely. I expected this, if it turned out that you knew nothing of where you came from...But do not worry about your capabilities, my boy. You have been away in the Gray World for so long, so very long, it is obvious that your Ability had no chance to be properly discovered, much less used. You never had a chance to train yourself as the beings of Darkness are meant to. All you need is time here, in the Darkness, and I am sure you will find that you are capable of more than you ever imagined.”

             A jolt suddenly ran through Cin’s heart. Time. Here?

             It had been obvious throughout the conversation, and especially considering they’d kidnapped him, but it hadn’t exactly occurred to him that he would be expected to stay. The possibility of not seeing his mother, his father, his brother, or his two friends have him feel ready to panic. What would they think while he was gone? If he was really, somehow, in another dimension, would they think he was lost? That he ran away? Or was even dead? His parents would never forgive themselves, not being there when he’d disappeared. His friends could never move on, when he’d just disappeared from under their noses. He couldn’t simply leave them all without some sort of message.

             “I can’t!” Cin said without thinking, jumping from his seat. He chest felt so tight he couldn’t catch his breath. “I can’t stay here, my family and friends, they-!”

             “Oh, sweet boy, no, please do not worry!” the older man chuckled, seemingly entertained. “We have arraigned for everything to be fine on the Gray World – your disappearance has been taken fully taken care of. You have nothing to worry about while you stay here.”

             “What?” The wave of panic paused for a moment. “Taken care of? But, how did you-?”

             “Worry not,” The Sovereign lifted a hand to stop Cin once again. “We are capable of many things, as you saw. The Abilities we possess allow us to interact with the Gray World on levels you likely have never realized. Something as simple as a disappearance holds no issues for us. Everything shall be taken care of, their lives will not be drastically changed by your disappearance. All shall be well.”

             Something about the way the man spoke didn’t sit well with Cin. He didn’t entirely believe the man, though he didn’t sense that he was lying, either. But he also realized something with more certainty: this man wasn’t going to let him leave. And he had a horrible feeling that he could either play around and try and find a way home quietly on the sidelines, or he could try and take this man head-on. Cin didn’t like his odds, one-on-one.

             “As long as they’re okay,” he said quietly on the matter, sitting back down and trying his best to ignore the screaming voice in his head, telling him he’d be breathing his mother’s heart. He had to focus on right now.

             “You have my word they shall be fine,” the Sovereign nodded his head, before suddenly standing from his own seat. “Now, as it stands – it appears I am not doing a wonderful job convincing you of your capabilities. I believe I understand the issue; having lives in the Gray World, everything here must seem utterly strange, and my words will likely offer little solace without direct evidence. Does that seem to describe the current situation?”

             Cin was taken aback that the Sovereign seemed to actually understand him a little. “I mean -- yeah. You’re saying a lot of stuff. You’re telling me I’m someone I’m really, really sure I’m not. Unless I start throwing darkness around, I don’t think I’m really going to be convinced of anything. I’m sorry,” he added the last part quietly. Just that little bit of understanding from the man had helped ease Cin much more than he’d ever expected.              “Of course not, my boy. Words without evidence are merely fairy tales until proven otherwise,” the man nodded sagely at the words. “Alas, I am afraid I may not be the best person to guide you, after all. I focus so much on my realm here, that my overall knowledge of the Gray World is likely hardly better than your knowledge of the Darkness. If you are to see and experience our world, you will need better guides than I, individuals who understand the Gray World well and will be able to help you bridge the gap between your two homes. I think it would be best if you were around people your age, people you might be able to relate to, do you not agree?” The Sovereign smiled gently at the boy, though again, the smile never reached his black eyes. “How does the Zero Squadron sound? They are roughly twenty, and very good, respectable beings. And I assure you that you will be perfectly safe around them.”

“Wh-what?” Cin was more than a little taken aback. He was all for the idea until the last part. Taken away from his home only to then go spend time with his own kidnappers, who were now, in an instant, supposed to be considered his bodyguards? “The Zero Squadron? The people who took me? Attacked me? Are you serious?”

             “Yes, they are celebrating that successful Extraction at this very moment. Talented individuals, are they not?” the man smiled. “Please, do not worry yourself. Being around the Decimator of Light is as honor for any being of Darkness. They will openly welcome you, even if they may be fatigued at the moment. They are some of the foremost experts on the Gray World in our realm. If any group of individuals will be able to help you make sense of the current situation, I am sure it will be them.” As he spoke, the man only seemed to be half paying attention, his eyes glazed over as though he was focusing on something else in the back of his mind. It annoyed Cin greatly.

Cin opened his mouth to argue again but hastily closed it. Talking to this man was like talking to someone who knew a foreign language perfectly while Cin barely knew a few cheesy phrases. He could ask this guy questions all day, and he was sure he’d just end up more and more confused. The Squadron people – at the very least, they had been to Cin’s world. They had waited there for him, they knew how stuff worked well enough to break into a house. At least, maybe, he’d be able to understand them better. Not to mention, Cin didn’t like this man at all. The way he said some words with hunger, the way he eyed Cin with sick desire, the way he kept smiling in that creepy way...Cin would have rather risked sitting with his kidnappers for a day than staying another minute with this Sovereign.

             “Okay,” he finally said, one hand gripping his chair so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, “If it doesn’t bother them, I guess.”

             “A wise choice,” the Sovereign nodded in approval and stood, placing a hand upon the boy’s shoulder. “Now, I imagine that this will feel rather foreign to you, my boy, so please, do not get too worried.”

             Before Cin could protest to being touched, he felt one of the strangest sensations of his life. It lasted for nothing more than a second, while simultaneously feeling like an eternity. He felt excruciating pain, the feeling of his body being torn apart. He could feel every joint pop, muscle tear, vein and artery sever all at the same time, and then, for a moment, lost all sense of himself, of everything around him. He was gone. It was all over. There was no more him, nothing at all. And strangely, almost frighteningly – he felt eternal, never-ending peace. True tranquility.

             But just as suddenly as that all happened, out of nowhere, that sensation disappeared, and he was suddenly back together, standing in front of a large building like he’d been standing there all day.

             Cin doubled over, so many emotions washing over him at once. Having that sort of tranquility, the losing it, while also having been okay with just not existing for a moment...That was way, way too much all at once. Too many feelings he’d never felt or been prepared to feel that made him wonder what was wrong with him. But thankfully, the feelings he’d experienced in that split second started to pass just as quickly as they had appeared, so although he was heavily disturbed, soon, he couldn’t recall that exact feeling anymore, and instead, it was only a strange thought he’d had rather than a proper memory. Cin took a few very deep breaths, slowly straightening up again, giving his head a light shake, as though hoping to physically shake the feelings off of himself. He was able to focus on where he’d suddenly appeared, instead, and when he looked up, his jaw dropped.

             The building had heart-stopping, gorgeous detail all down it, both painted and carved on, intricate paintings and obscure shapes. The design of the building itself was like a staircase shell, but it was standing up, with each bulge being a different floor, with eight levels in total. The protrusions running along the walls had all sorts of amazing designs of all sorts of shapes and patterns carves into them, almost like it was telling some sort of story as the shapes progressed up the sides, each one original, and yet working with the ones around it to still be aesthetically pleasing. The walls themselves were painted and caved with all sorts of scenes, Squadron members in all sorts of different styles doing all different sorts of feats. Many members weren’t faces Cin had seen in the Sovereign’s room, so he guessed they were from retired teams. At the very top was an amazing orb that looked almost exactly like what Cin imagined earth must have looked like from space. Emanating from the walls were all sorts of music, each piece more beautiful than the last. All the songs seemed to go with the theme of the image closest to them, and yet, somehow, none of the notes clashed, and instead, turned into a different orchestra, depending on what angle they were heard from.

             But most shockingly, when Cin turned around, he realized that very last building on the street was just as beautiful, intricate, almost magical as this one. He could merely stare in awe, unable to focus on only one building when he realized that every single one was as amazing as the Sistine Chapel. For the first time, something good had taken his breath away in this realm.

             “I know,” the Sovereign signed besides Cin, suddenly reminding the teenager that the older man was still standing there. “No matter how many times I see this, it brings me true peace and joy. I cannot imagine what it must be like, viewing it for the first time,” he smiled down at Cin, and for the first time, it actually seemed genuine. But it only lasted for a second, before the man added, “Now, please, go ahead and enter. Captain Veder knows is aware you are here and is waiting.”

             “What?” Cin was once again utterly confused and felt like he missed something. How could the captain have known? The Sovereign supposedly just decided a few moments ago that he would be coming to see them. But before Cin could question what was going on, the Sovereign was simply gone, and he was left alone in the middle of the street in front of the amazing building.

             The moment the man was gone, Cin felt like a weight had lifted from his chest. For a split second, he realized he was alone. He was free – he could run. Then a second voice, just as quickly, reminded him he had utterly no idea where to run to. These buildings were completely unfamiliar, and something in general felt very off about this place, despite its beauty, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Something made him feel more lost than he expected to feel.              Cin realized after a moment he was clinging to the front of his shirt, and after a second, he realized it was because he was looking for some comfort. He was still dressed in his baggy shirt and shorts, the clothes he had been kidnapped in and allowed to put back on again after that girl had undid his wounds. And now, these clothes were all he had left of his home, all that connected him with his normal life.

             Cin’s hand tensed, gripping the shirt tightly when it began shaking as fear and anger started to bubble up within him. These people were trying to tear his entire life from him and thrust some new identity onto him. He was supposed to no longer be Vincint Luna, but instead, act like he was the so-called ‘Decimator of Light’. He was supposed to just leave behind those who cared and accepted him so that he could help the people who were trying to steal his life away from him. It was disgusting. There was no way he could help such people. He had to find a way out of it, figure out where he was, how to get out, and run.

             ‘Decimator?’

             Cin jumped, whirling around, searching for the source of the voice. He vaguely recognized it as the captain’s from the Zero Squadron, but for some reason, Cin couldn’t see him. He looked to the sky, but the bald man wasn’t there, either.

             ‘Decimator? Are you outside of the building?’

             This time Cin noticed a difference. What he was hearing wasn’t a real sound. It didn’t have a small echo, it didn’t sound louder in one ear than another, it wasn’t overshadowed by the sound of the music inside. It came from inside of his own head, like a thought.

             “What the hell...!?” Cin clutched his head, instantly assuming he’d gone insane. It would have made everything else that day make a lot more sense than it had.

             But a second later, Captain Veder floated out of the window from the very top level of the building, only to see the Decimator swinging his head around violently, hands on his temples, as though trying to force part of his brain out through his ear.

             “Er, Decimator...?” Captain Veder landed on the ground besides the teenager and attempted to put his hand on this shoulder. Cin jerked violently at the sudden touch and whirled around, ready to defend himself, but stopped when he saw who it was. Cin relaxed a little, though still looked thoroughly confused.

             “I...I heard...in my head...” Cin tried explaining, but he was out of breath due to panic and head-swinging.

             “Hm?” Veder lifted an eyebrow in confusion for a moment, and after a second, seemed to realize what had happened. He suddenly bowed deeply in apology, arms on either side and forehead past his waist. “Forgive me, Decimator! I did not think it through -- of course you would not be used to Distance Speech!”

             “What...?” Cin squeaked out. He was quickly growing to dread all these weird terms.

             “Er...” Veder looked around awkwardly, as though trying to find the right wording to explain something new to a child. “I believe the word ‘telepathy’ is used on the Gray World to explain a similar ability...It is the closest term I can think of. I apologize, we are not used to having to explain Darkness terminology to someone from the Gray World, it is usually the other way around-”

             “Telepathy? Now you’re psychic, too?” Cin asked weakly.

             “Oh, er, well, it is...not an Ability, if that if what you mean, sir. Distance Speech can be used by anyone in the Darkness, though the capability seems to disappear in the Gray World. We have theories as to why, but we assume a major factor is the lack of the extra dimension-”

             “It’s okay,” Cin cut him off before he could try explaining further. “Whatever you’re going to explain’s probably way over my head.” He was too tired to pay proper attention, anyway. To his surprise, Veder seemed to blush with embarrassment. Cin didn’t know why, and felt it best if he didn’t pry about it. “Anyway, sorry for being dumped onto you and everything, the Sovereign-guy thinks it’s best if I hang around you guys or something. But, I mean, if you show me to a hotel or something, I can stay alone for a while-”

             “N-No!” Veder cried, causing Cin to jump slightly. The captain looked even more embarrassed and once again bowed in apology. “Er, f-forgive my outburst, but everyone inside is truly looking forward to meeting you! Frio and Pila are excited, and everyone has so many questions for you. We have been searching for the Decimator for so long, and we had to hand you over without any chance to ask a single question. But...but I understand if you wish to rest instead,” he added the last part forcefully, seemingly remembering that duty came first.

             “People want to...see me?” This was a foreign idea to Cin. No one had ever wanted to meet him as though he was a celebrity, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to see what it felt like. Not to mention, he wasn’t looking forward to meeting more ‘beings of Darkness’. And yet, after hearing how much Veder was looking forward to this, he couldn’t bring himself to let the man down. Veder just looked so incredibly nervous that it felt cruel to do something to make it worse, even though Cin realized how insane it was for him to care at all about what that man must have been feeling. “Um. Well, I guess I can go, then. Yeah.”

             Veder smiled brightly, though it looked rather out of place on him. “Thank you, sir!” He bowed one final time, before turning and moving his arms in an ushering motion. “Please, follow me!”

             Cin frowned at the use of ‘sir’, but trailed after the captain, a new type of dread filled his stomach. As much as he didn’t want to pretend to be this Decimator, it was clear that it was what everyone wanted him to be. What people were expecting, what they were dreaming about. And all that was now on Cin’s shoulders, all those expectations and hopes. People had never expected much of him; they had always known he was generally more on the lazy side. But the way everyone here was tripping over themselves in front of him, it was as though he was setting himself up to disappoint an entire universe.

             His fears faded momentarily when he actually entered the building. If the outside was impressive, the inside of the building was nothing short of breath-taking. The walls had giant, life-sized paintings of all the Squadron members, and all around them were beautiful shapes and designs that reminded Cin of the classical elements of nature. The walls seemed to glow and almost vibrate from the brightness and vibrancy of the colors in the paint. After they left the corridors, Cin was led into a wide, dome-shaped room that must have been the size of a football field. Cin had utterly no idea how the room fit into the building – there was no way the outside was nearly big enough for all those corridors and this giant room. The room was filled with people are laughing, eating, drinking, and dancing to the hypnotic music that seemed to be coming from the walls themselves. There was nothing on the walls; instead, the room showed its beauty through its furniture. The chairs and tables all around the room were bend into some of the most intricate metallic designs Cin had ever seen, every piece of furniture fashioned after some exotic animal that likely only lived deep, deep under water. In the very center, there was what seemed to be a bar table made completely out of water with live fish floating around in it and barstools that looked to have been naturally formed from some sort of coral. Above the table was a giant hole, where not only music was pounding from and seemingly reverberating directly through the walls, but also odd, bright-violet bubbles that floated around the room like small balloons, unable to pop when jostled by someone. The people were all different: Red hair, blond hair, black hair, dark skin, light skin, tall, short, fat, thin -- all different, all getting along, all sharing only their dark, pitch-black eyes.

               Cin was so enamored by the room that it took him a while to notice that, as he and Veder entered, everyone had stopped moving and were now staring at him with looks of complete and utter shock. The music turned down, quieter and quieter, until the only sounds left were the hollow bumps of the strange bubbles bouncing against things.

             Cin swallowed nervously, feeling his face burn as he hunched his shoulders like he hoped he could hide his head like a turtle and tried to hide behind Veder. He wasn’t used to having so many eyes on him and hoped that the pleading look he gave Veder made that obvious. To Cin’s great relief, the captain seemed to understand, and quickly led the teenager to the far left corner of the bar where a set of metallic doors waited. It had a giant zero carved into it with a beautiful design with floral and mechanical accents that Cin would have liked to have admired more in another situation. The two entered, and Cin sighed with relief as the door closed behind him, shutting away that incredibly awkward and tense silence. He easily preferred the four semi-familiar faces in this room over the strangers outside.

             The room reminded Cin of a college dorm. There was a low, drink-laden table with eight floor-cushions around it and a strange, black cube floating above it, rotating in the air. All the Squadron members were sitting on cushions around this table with drinks in their hands and had frozen the moment the doors had opened. One wall was covered by at least twenty perfectly oval mirrors and the wall opposite of it was covered in what seemed to be fan art, poems, fan letters, and other miscellaneous gifts. On the wall opposite of the one they had entered from were three other metal doors with the faces of the Squadron members carved into them: Pila, the small woman, and Frio, the tall woman with the killer finger-pointing, on one, Sterk, the huge guy with all the scars, and Veder on another, and Tishina, the small one who Cin would still swear had looked him right in the eyes back on earth, was alone on the last.

             Cin swallowed, noticing the looks these Squadron members were giving him. They were hardly better than the people outside, but at least there were fewer of them. Frio was staring up at him expectantly, tense and unsure, looking just about ready to burst. Pila had the same expression as Frio, but she was also gripping a glass so tightly it looked ready to shatter. Sterk looked worried more than anything else, and continued to move his large hands onto his lap, to his side, on his knee, and then repeated the pattern over and over, like he had suddenly forgotten how hands were supposed to work. Tishina, though, continued to smile and only nodded in acknowledgement of Cin and his captain, and then continued sipping his drink and staring blankly at the cube floating above their table.

             “Er,” Cin eloquently began, trying to block all the whispers that suddenly began behind the door they had entered through. “S-sorry. About just bursting in like this and everything. I didn’t mean to be a bother or anything, but-”

             “You are no bother!!” Pila and Frio cried at the same time, both standing up to their knees and then struggling to stand up entirely from their sitting position. Both blushed furiously after doing so and quickly fell back into their seats when they realized how strange they had looked.

             Veder cleared his throat, clearly a bit embarrassed by that outburst. “Now, Zero Squadron, it is our job to keep the Decimator safe and welcome him into the world he originated from. As some of the foremost experts on the Gray World, we should be able to help explain things most clearly. We must do our best to explain everything and help him ease into life here.”

             “Mm,” Sterk nodded in agreement and moved over one cushion, motioning for Cin to sit down. Cin flinched unconsciously, clearly a little hesitant to sitting beside the one who had almost tackled him outside of Kazuko’s office. This instantly made Sterk’s eyes fill with guilt and shame, looking like some sort of kicked puppy (a very, very large puppy), and Cin forced himself to sit down with a small, nervous smile.

             Then there was nothing but awkward silence.

             Even as Veder sat down, no one seemed to have the courage to begin any conversation, both sides having so many questions, but neither side wanting to risk actually speaking and accidentally sounding rude. Cin was afraid of becoming more confused than he already was, and the Squadron was obviously afraid that he held his kidnapping against them (which wasn’t entirely untrue). The Squadron members looked to one another, trying to urge the others to say something, anything, and thankfully, the only one in the room that seemed unaffected by Cin’s arrival spoke up.

             “So, everyone on the Gray World calls you Cin, right?”

             Veder gave Tishina a deeply appreciative look. The ice was broken, and Cin was glad to have a chance to say something without sounding like a complete idiot.

             “Er, yeah. I’m Vincint Luna, but my friends gave me that nickname when we were younger, since there was another Vincent in the class, and neither of us really liked “Vince”. You guys can call me that, too, if you want.”

             The Squadron members all looked to one another again, clearly aghast at the idea of using something that sounded so informal with someone like Cin.

             “Um...C-Cin...” Pila began, the first to use his name, and sounding a bit unsure of herself. “I, well...I...I want to apologize! It was my idea to use the chemicals, and I’m sure that really, really unpleasant, I-I just felt like there wasn’t any other way-!”

             “Um, it’s okay,” Cin was a little taken aback to the reaction but wasn’t really used to girls sounding almost near tears. “Way better than, y’know, being bloodied up too badly. Passing out wasn’t all that bad if I could’ve been more messed up, instead,” Cin laughed awkwardly at his own comment, and Pila smiled in great relief, but Frio and Sterk both averted their gazes in shame. Cin almost felt their reaction without even looking properly at them, and quickly continued. “Not that I really blame you guys,” he half-lied. “I was pretty shocked about it, but I know it wasn’t your fault if you were ordered by that Sovereign guy. You guys adapted really adapted well when I ran and stuff, too. It seems like you guys are a good team, at least.”

             “It w-was Captain Veder’s plan,” Frio said softly, looking away from the captain as she spoke. “He always tr-tries to work through as many possibilities as p-possible beforehand. We unfortunately had n-n-no warning beforehand, or else we c-could have been more prepared and had c-caused less problems for you.”

             “You flatter me,” Veder chuckled a bit. “You and Pila planned the way to subdue him yourselves and managed to avoid most of the unnecessary violence. Which I think all of us are thankful for,” he added, looking to Cin, albeit with a lot less confidence.

             “Maybe. But I still broke the laws,” Pila said with a small, nervous huff. “Hopefully, the Sovereign’ll overlook it since it was so important and last minute, but I don’t know. He’s usually really against disturbing anything in the Gray World, no matter the circumstances...Oh, I’m Pila by the way!” She waved from across the table, going from depressed to cheery in an instant.

             “Ah, I completely forgot!” Veder cried, bowing deeply to Cin in both apology and introduction. “I am Veder, Captain of the Zero Squadron. The woman over there is Frio, second in command. The one beside you is Sterk. The one rudely watching the Versabic instead of paying attention to the conversation is Tishina.”

             Each one nodded politely as their name was mentioned, though Tishina merely raised a hand without so much as looking at Cin. His eyes were locked onto the cube floating in the center of them all.

             “What...is that thing, exactly?” Cin quietly asked, deciding to risk testing to see if they would actually answer his questions. If they were going to be better than the Sovereign, maybe it was worth not trying to run away instantly.

             “It’s like a camera,” Sterk responded with his low rumble, albeit a little timidly. “It can show any part of the Darkness that the watcher wants to see. Tishina’s a little obsessed with watching the higher-numbered Squadrons. He says he does it ‘cause he’s worried about them, but we all think he just wants the attention of a certain someone.”

             “We don’t know which certain someone, though,” Pila pouted slightly, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. “He won’t tell us! We think it might be the leader of the Three Squadron, though.”

             “Maybe we sh-should not be talking about this in f-front of the Decimator...?” Frio requested weakly, though she smiled slightly as she said it. Though Cin had just been starting to enjoy the little back and forth, he shuddered.

             “Can you...Please not call me that? Cin’s just fine,” he said, looking to the side with his shoulders hunching up to his ears in discomfort.

             The Squadron looked taken aback. They looked to one another, as though arguing with each other through their expressions, and in the end, Frio was the one who finally decided to ask, “Not to be r-rude, but, uh, m-may we ask why not...? W-we apologize if it is a bothersome qu-question, but everyone here dr-dreams of turning out to be the Decimator.”

             “Maybe you guys do,” Cin said through gritted teeth, starting to be annoyed hearing that again. “But I have no idea what ‘the Decimator’ is. At all. I don’t know what you guys expect of me, or why you want me to use some kind of weird power to create darkness I’m supposedly supposed to have, or why you think I’d even have that power to begin with. The Sovereign just said I’m supposed to be able to make darkness, and I don’t know how to do that. Honestly...I think that he, and you guys, got the wrong guy. So I don’t want to be called that, since I’m probably not it.”

             The Squadron exchanged glances, first utterly shocked, and then, worried. No one knew how to begin explaining and instinctively, their eyes all drifted towards Veder. The captain nodded and after taking a deep breath, gently touched Cin’s shoulder, his expression filled with pity.

             “I apologize for our assumptions. But there is a reason we are so confident, and why we are so excited by this development. It is...A very long story, however. But if you so wish, we shall try and explain everything to you, everything that you -- er, that is, the Decimator -- is said to do from all our legends, what is to happen with their arrival. But explaining why we need you now, more than ever...that will be considerably more difficult. It is something you must personally see and unfortunately experience to fully understand.”

             Cin looked at Veder, more than a little surprised by how earnestly he spoke. He actually believed the man wanted him to understand, and actually believe that maybe he’d be honest about it all. If that was the case – Cin was dying to understand.

             “Yeah. Tell me all you can now. I’ll see what I have to see when the times comes, right?” He added the last part without any real confidence. He definitely wanted to be gone long before he ever had to see anything.

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter 6: His New Title

             “Please, enter!” the Sovereign’s voice chimed from inside the room, and Frio gently pushed Cin past the steel door. The teen looked back to her, easily preferring her over the old man, but she merely gave an enthusiastic wave and shut the door with a heavy slam. Cin heard her footsteps in the hallway, moving further and further away, and with every step, he could feel more dread welling up in his stomach. When he could no longer hear her at all, Cin swallowed nervously and looked back to the brown-haired man sitting at a polished black desk in front of him and quickly realized that he was in some sort of office.

             The room wasn’t nearly as bare as the corridor had been. There were paintings and what appeared to be framed poems or lines of prose covering almost every wall. The paintings were beautiful, done in bright colors, some realistic, some the most abstract Cin had ever seen, all in differently-sized frames. Every inch of the walls were covered in some sort of framed masterpiece. Right above the Sovereign’s head was a painting of the entire Zero Squadron saluting, although Frio was missing, and instead, there was a stocky man missing his left ear, and next to that portrait, there were portraits of other Squadrons standing in formation with different numbers on their headbands. There were seven other Squadrons according to the paintings, not including the one that had had kidnapped Cin.

             The boy could only gape as he stared at the pictures, mentally debating whether they were actually paintings or simply photographs. But he could make out the changes in thickness all along the piece caused by the layering of paint and found himself even more impressed than before. His eyes just began drifting towards a poem sitting on the edge of the Sovereign’s beautifully designed desk when the man spoke again, unconsciously crumpling the paper up as he did so.

             “Please, please, Decimator, sit down! I would never expect you to have to stand before me like a common soldier!” He chuckled at this comment, but Cin didn’t see what was so funny. Nevertheless, he sat down in the elaborate chair before him, heart already racing, his throat drier than it had been the entire day. For some reason, this man gave him a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he attempted to figure out why as the long-haired man continued to speak.

             “Now, I am sure you have countless questions for us. And your assumptions are likely correct, Decimator,” the glee with which he used that last word caused chills to run down Cin’s spine. “I am the Sovereign of Darkness, humble guide to the beings here and should-be protector of the nothingness that we are losing so rapidly. Now, I think you know we would not have Extracted you if it had not been of utmost importance. And as you likely have guessed, The Others have found out about your situation and your power, so we had no choice but to--”

             “I don’t have a single clue what you’re talking about,” Cin finally interrupted him. He couldn’t take sitting and listening to this strange speech anymore. As soon as the Sovereign had begun explaining, Cin had once again become completely lost. He spoke to Cin as though the teenager was supposed to already have a clue as to what was going on, as though this had all had been some great plan finally coming into play, as though Cin had been waiting for this the entire time. He hadn’t. “Look, sir, Sovereign or whatever you are, I think you have the wrong person.”

             “I beg your pardon?” the Sovereign looked at him expectantly, as though awaiting the ending to a very silly joke. When he received no punch-line, he furrowed his brows in concern, studying Cin’s face intently. After a moment, his smile completely vanished and his eyes filled with concern. “You...You do, of course, know who you are, what you are to us, do you not, Decimator?”

             That word again. It was like some sort of title, like ‘Sovereign’ was. Cin felt a twinge of annoyance towards it and felt it best to make it clear that the strange title was not his.

             “Vincint Luna. Or just Cin. That’s my name. Not ‘Decimator’ or anything else fancy like that. Look, I think you accidentally grabbed the wrong guy.”

             The Sovereign stared at Cin with a blank expression, as though unable to completely understand what he had just been told. Finally, sudden understanding flashed across his face, and the Sovereign covered his mouth to hide his gasp of horror and disappointment.

             “Oh...Oh, dear...Oh, goodness...” he frowned, shaking his head. “It must be...It seems as though you were considerably more locked off than we first thought. That we could have possibly imagined. You must be so confused...”

             “Locked off?” Cin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Hey, I’m not locked off from anything, I’m not deprived of anything, I’m not abused in any way! Seriously, I think you just have the wrong guy--”

             “Oh, my dear boy. A thousand apologies -- but that is impossible,” the old man said, shaking his head. He looked to Cin, his dark eyes filling with pity. “I am afraid...Vincint Luna...that it is you who has the wrong idea -- concerning who you truly are.”

             Cin stared for a minute, trying to register what he’d just been told.

             Not know who he was? That was a good one. He knew himself -- his physical limits, his thought patterns, his strengths, his weaknesses, his secrets -- better than anyone. He knew his family, he knew his friends, and only he knew his plans for the future and his actions in the past. He was Vincint Luna, the lazy, underachieving, high school senior painter who was quickly starting to hate the guy in front of him. No one could change that or even debate otherwise.

             “What the heck, man?” Cin couldn’t suppress an awkward laugh due to the sheer silliness of the situation. A lot of crazy things had happened that day, but that couldn’t suddenly, magically change who he was, no matter what the man seemed to think. “You’re kidding, right?”

             The Sovereign’s frown deepened, and he leaned forward, clasping his hands together so tightly they turned white. He must have been trying to hide his panic and was doing a decent job keeping his tone steady and gentle as possible.

             “Vincint...Goodness, how can I even begin?” The Sovereign took a deep breath to steady himself, mentally searching for the right words before speaking, “Well...Have you not noticed how you are not like the others in the Gray World? How you seemed to avoid harm, had ideas appear without prompting, understood things with little systematic work to be able to do so? How the light always hurt your eyes? How your eyes are identical to all those in your dreams?”

             The last comment sent a powerful jolt through his entire body. Cin swallowed slowly, trying to shake the statement off. True, he was luckier than most, and he did have sensitive eyes. But the dream remark was wrong. Well, half-wrong. Half the people in his dreams, ones like Enatha, had pure-black eyes, yes. But the other half, the people like Alanore, had no blackness in their eyes to speak of, only pure color. But how? How had that man known anything about Cin’s dreams in the first place? The teen had stopped trying to tell anyone about them when he was six. The only time he even mentioned them anymore was when someone had asked him what he was drawing, and even then, Cin had always only responded with, ‘It’s from a dream’. His conversation with Kazuko and Mark about them had been the most he’d said about his dreams in years.

             Nevertheless, Cin had never considered himself to be one of the people from his dreams. He had seen small similarities, yes, but he was a normal teenager, and there was no such thing as a pure-black eye. His eyes were brown -- just very dark brown. He wasn’t like the people in his dreams. It was impossible.

             “My eyes are brown. That’s a really common eye color,” he finally said.

             The Sovereign winced with disappointment at that answer. “No, my boy. Your eyes have no color. Your eyes are the same as every other citizen here -- your eyes are pure Darkness. Perfect nothingness. You know this. You only lie and pretend your eyes have color to be like others around you in the Gray World. But you are not like them.”

             “Why do you keep calling my home the ‘Gray World’!?” Cin snapped, glaring now, angry that he was being lectured on what he was supposed to know about himself. Who was this man to tell him what his own eye color was? His family had brown eyes; he had brown eyes as well. His were just darker.

             “It is not your home, Vincint,” the man said, his voice slightly strained with the effort of keeping calm. “It is that entire world. The dimension in which you once lived. That is what we, the Darkness, call it. The Gray World.”

             Cin stared blankly again. “My...My what? ‘Dimension’?” Cin snorted at the mere thought, unable to express a small grin. This old man was sounding crazier by the second. Part of him was in disbelief at the nonsense, but the other part was getting more and more annoyed at being lectured like he was the one who didn’t know anything.

             “You are surprised?” the Sovereign asked, seemingly surprised himself by Cin’s comment. “You cannot possibly ignore the differences between the two dimensions. How light is unneeded to see here. How the states of matter are different from the solid, liquid, gas, and plasma you would be used to. How there is a fourth dimension here, allowing us to make use of the Darkness when we so need it -- the extra level that the Gray World’s dimension lacks. They have but three dimensions. We have a fourth, here. We...are Darkness,” the Sovereign opened his arms to motion to the area around him, clearly beyond proud of this final comment.

             Suddenly, Cin couldn’t breathe, he was laughing so hard. As terrifying as the idea was that he had been kidnapped by some insane cult, the fact that they believed such nonsense was simply too funny. He continued to laugh, beginning to think that he was on some sort of show or in the middle of some very terrible joke.

             But slowly, very slowly, his laughter began to die, as the Sovereign continued to look at him with an unmoving expression, not surprised, not even disappointed in his reaction. Cin’s smile turned into a frown as, slowly, reluctantly, he began to consider what had been said to him.

It was insane. Everything that man had said was utterly insane and something only some sort of sci-fi obsessed dork could have thought up. But the problem was, he had seen utterly insane, unexplainable, borderline science-fiction things happen in the past few hours. His wounds had vanished because some hands had hovered over them. He had seen ice turn more solid than he had ever thought possible. He had been hit with splinters from trees that had exploded because a woman had pointed at them. He had seen the man now sitting before him vanish in the blink of an eye. He saw everything around him clearer than he ever had before in his life, and yet everything was in perfect darkness. He could practically feel the emotions of those around him, his senses were so heightened.              Even if this old man was crazy – how could he possibly explain everything that had happened to him? To think there was a normal, logical explanation for it...Maybe Cin was the crazy one. As much as he truly wanted it to be, this man’s ideas wasn’t nearly as impossible as Cin had first thought. That thought suddenly made Cin feel incredibly heavy -- sick, even -- for considering such a possibility.

             “If I may infer – it appears you are beginning to see the truth of this predicament,” the Sovereign said with some relief in his tone. “But, I also believe that you need much, much more explained to you. I cannot possibly imagine what could be going through your mind at this moment, but I assure you, I will do my best to inform you of this situation, and I shall be telling you only the truth.”

             Suddenly, the Sovereign was gone.

             Cin jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder and whirled around, heart racing. He was only slightly relieved to see that the old man was there, patting him sympathetically.

             “How...how do you do that?” Cin stammered, not trusting the man enough to think he would get the whole truth, but too desperate for answers not to listen. His heart was racing, but he still felt a slight chill from the man’s touch.

             “Oh?” The Sovereign blinked in confusion at him, suddenly appearing in his chair again. When he saw that Cin jumped a bit when that happened, he finally understood what had been asked. “Oh, dear, of course. You mean my Ability.”

             “Excuse me?” Cin didn’t see how it answered his question at all.

             “It is the term we use in the Darkness. You see, while the Gray World has three dimensions, ours has a fourth, as I have explained. Where there is Darkness – where nothingness exists, that is. No space, no time, nothing that usually exists in the “emptiness” you have in the Gray World. Our people, everyone who was birthed from nothing, can manipulate this aspect of our world. We each are Able to pull things into this Darkness, at least temporarily, and this is known as their Ability. Some very, very talented individuals can even pull something from nothingness, but let us not get ahead of ourselves for the time being. For the average being, there tend to be several different classes of Abilities, depending on what sort of matter or force they are able to pull into the darkness. For instance, I believe you recall the Zero Squadron – the individuals who Extracted you?”

             “Er, yeah,” Cin was trying to keep up with everything that was being said, but at the very least he remembered the people who kidnapped him. It was all so difficult to believe, and yet, he had no choice but to trust the man after everything that had happened. All he could do was memorize as much as he could to try and test out the information later.

             “Well, their leader, Captain Veder, can nullify the pull that gravity has upon him. He pulls that force of gravity that should be effecting him into the Darkness, temporarily. He does this by will, and thus can be weightless whenever he so wishes, and because this is his native-born Ability, a natural capability of his body, his body suffers no physical damage for it. This Ability is called Floating, and he is what we call a Floater. But this is but one Ability. Another example: the man with the impressive amount of muscle, Sterk, has the ability to remove mass from inside of him and temporarily store it in the Darkness. This allows him to run at impossible speeds and to strike quicker and to kick faster than most. He only has to carry half the mass one usually would, though he begins with the same amount of energy of someone with a heavier mass, and that excess energy goes into increased speed. Like the Captain, this effect on his own body causes him no harm, as it is what he was born to be capable of, and we call him and those with the Ability Hollowers. Then we have the woman who escorted you to me -- Frio is her name -- that sweet girl can momentarily pause the motion of all the electrons in a small area. She stores the energy needed to spin the electrons in the Darkness. Usually, this causes the atoms in the substance to form an ideal orientation and take the most powerful solid form it can. When her power fades, the electrons continue normally, as though the energy had never been removed. Unfortunately, energy cannot ever be permanently removed -- merely suppressed momentarily in nothingness. Beings that have the same Ability as Frio are called ‘Welders’. And Abilities like these are fairly common, but very vital to our Squadrons.”

             Cin blinked, unable to do anything else. Cancel gravity? Reduce mass? Stop electrons? The last one made even less sense to him because he’d almost slept through all chemistry. All he knew was that atoms had electrons and they spun, but he was pretty sure them just stopping was something that made no sense at all. It was like he was in a comic book where the impossible occurred left and right because physics just didn’t apply or maybe because the creator was too lazy to get the information right. But he could not argue. It all fit; Veder floated around like a feather, Sterk was unnaturally fast for someone his size, Frio had caused the snow to take a solid shape he had never seen before. So far, everything was consistent.

             “Now, Pila!” the Sovereign continued, his voice filled with pride. “She is very vital, and her power is very rare. She is what we call a Pauser. She is able to temporarily stop the flow within any circuit. Water, air, and most importantly – electricity. I think you can see how vital this is in the Gray World, where electricity flowing through wires helps humans attain light and mechanical energy and even conversation and facts from far away. There is a Pauser on every Squadron, and the Pauser helps on every mission to make sure that the Gray World stays peacefully unaware of our small excursions. The humans merely assume it is a power outage or that their devices have ceased to function.              “Oh, and the most recent individual you had seen. She is known as a Reverser -- just as vital as a Pauser, but so much rarer that we do not allow them to go on missions or technically become members of Squadrons. They actually remove the effects of time from a certain area, causing everything to go back into the order it had once been in. It is one of the very, very few Abilities that permanently remove something into the Darkness. If continued long enough, this Ability can cause matter to go back to when the atoms within it first formed, though I don’t believe anyone has had the sheer power to be able to do such a thing in generations. Usually, Reversers are used in the same manner as...what are they called...as doctors, in the Gray World. They bring our bodies back to their original states in cases of injury. They are some of our most respected beings in the Darkness; saying anything rude to them is not permissible.”

             The Sovereign paused just long enough for Cin to realize he was waiting for some sort of reaction. So Cin nodded awkwardly.

             “Of course, there are several other different categories for Abilities, outside of those within the Squadron. I, for one, am a Porter. I temporarily bring space into the Darkness. I use my Ability to thus travel and to reach different places without movement. This was one of the original, innate uses for Darkness, really, to travel -- but different ones came to be, and now the Ability I have is usually used to deliver messages or packages. Everyone can use the Darkness to travel to the lower dimension, to the Gray World, but only those that can instantly traverse a distance within a dimension are called Porters.”

             “O...okay,” was all Cin said, leaning back a bit against the chair, looking down at his hands, and pausing for a moment to try and let everything sink in.

             He was numb. That was the only way he could describe it. Everything he had once known, everything he had believed possible, had suddenly been flipped on its head. It was as though even his hands, things always so close to him, were now foreign.

             Another dimension? And it was possible to reach it? And he, of all people, had somehow been pulled into it? He was no longer on his home planet, he was no longer even in the same universe that he had been raised in. But what bothered him most was that he felt that this was...right. That this was all true. That this was how it things were supposed to be.

             The viscosity of the air, the lack of light, the ability to feel everything around him -- this felt right. It was like Cin’s body had been struggling and straining his entire life, and had finally returned to where it felt most natural. And he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the sudden feeling of strange, unwelcome, never-before-felt belonging. No, he didn’t get along with all people back home, yes there had been bullies of all sorts as he’d grown up. But he had a home, he had a family, he had friends that made him feel welcome. He’d never thought for a minute that in his own home, in the place where he was loved and accepted most, he somehow didn’t belong. And suddenly knowing that he had been foreign to the world that he had grown up in made him sick inside. He shouldn’t have liked this new place more than his home; he had no friends, no family, no reason to prefer this darkness over earth. But his body told him otherwise.

             The unfairness of the situation started to cause a rage to boil in his gut. If this place was where he belonged, why would he have grown up in the so-called Gray World, then? Why would he have been given a life there if it hadn’t been where he belonged? Why had this old man expected him to know all this beforehand? Did he miss some sort of memo? Was he kidnapped and left on earth? And why was this place called the Darkness? Why would he belong in a place named after the source of nightmares, malice, and all evil?

             Cin slowly lifted his face up to look directly at the Sovereign, not entirely sure what he was feeling. He knew part of it was anger. Anger at the Squadron for bringing him there, anger at the man in front of him for telling him that everything he had ever known was wrong, anger at being taken away from his friends and family. But another part was relief, which he felt due to the strange sense of belonging, relief that he wasn’t so much different from others at home by sheer coincidence, that he wasn’t simply a freak. But this relief made him feel sick, as though all the happiness he had ever known in his life was suddenly somehow tainted. More than anything, though, he was worried. Worried about what was going to happen now. Would he ever see his mother, his father, his little brother, or his best friends ever again?

             “What do you want from me?” Was the question that left Cin’s mouth.

             “Hmm,” the Sovereign folded his hands on his desk, thinking deeply on the question. After a long pause, he decided to start from the very beginning. “Well, when this dimension was created -- the cause of which is still heavily debated about to this day -- The Others were created, as well. We lived separately, and thus we lived peacefully, and no problems existed within either realm. There was no pain, no suffering, no hatred. But our worlds met, and everything you know within the Gray World was created as a result of our realms interacting.”

             The Sovereign had hatred in his voice, though Cin wasn’t entirely sure for whom that was.

             “This new, lower dimension connected with ours and the realm of The Others, and each life form on the Gray World connected to one Other and one being of Darkness. With our help, life in the Gray World grew, differentiated, and evolved, became stronger, became what it is today. To this day, The Others, the Darkness, and the Gray World are all connected to one another, and as a result, all interdependent. But with the creation of life in the Gray World, the problems began between the Darkness and The Others.

             “As it turned out, for The Others to use their disgusting powers to manipulate the Gray World to their liking, they must leech off of the Darkness. And the easiest way for them to accomplish this is to steal it directly from the beings of Darkness, the life force of our own innocent people! The Others do nothing but create, they do nothing but increase and enhance -- The Others suck in all nothingness, all potential from my people to create their so-called ‘life’. The more of this ‘life’ that is created, the more Darkness that is used up, and the more our people suffer because of it. After decades of this abuse, we now fear that there is no hope left; that soon, the Darkness will all be turned into one, large, used-up canvas, not a single space left for anything else to be added. And the worst part is that our people are utterly helpless to do anything to stop this disgusting violation of our realm.”

             The man’s hatred grew with every word until his face was red and a vein was bulging in his forehead. Cin was afraid his teeth would crack from how tightly he was clenching them.

             The story was interesting, and he felt sorry for the people, but Cin didn’t really see what any of it had to do with him specifically.

             “So I somehow ended up on Earth? And you took me back because you need more soldiers?” Cin asked after a moment. It was the only thing he could assume from that story. There was some unstoppable enemy, and so they took back one of ‘their people’ from earth? Had be just been some sort of back-up his whole life?

             “No, my dear boy, no,” the Sovereign said, a smile finally reappearing on his lips. “You, you are no mere soldier. You are no mere being of Darkness. You are what our legends have been speaking of since the first being of Darkness made contact with the first Other. It has been told that when we are at our weakest and on the Darkness is on the bring of being used up entirely, a being shall appear with the capability far greater than any other -- the power to create nothingness. The Ability to create Darkness, itself, and save our entirely realm.”

             Cin shrank away as this was said, the sick feeling in his stomach suddenly doubling. There was a hunger in the man’s voice as he spoke, a desperation that Cin didn’t want to have any part of. But the man’s dark eyes remained locked onto Cin’s face as though the teenager was the one secret weapon that could destroy his enemy in a war.

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter 4: Gray World Extraction

             “Alanore?” The lady asked in her charming voice. She giggled when her companion turned so suddenly that he ended up spilling the strange, foaming liquids from the beaker all over his hands. Thankfully, they were in gloves, but she knew the contents shouldn’t have been very dangerous, regardless.

             “Sorry, sorry!” The man cried, face burning in embarrassment. “I didn’t get any on you, did I?”

             “Calm down,” she said simply with a second giggle and waved her right hand over the spills. As her fingers hovered over the foam, the strange liquid seemed to evaporate into nothingness. “See? It is just fine.”

             “What would I do without you?” The man laughed to himself before turning away to scrub the beakers in the sink. With his back to her, the woman’s smile faded. She looked down at her hands, and for just a moment, they seemed to let the light in, becoming temporarily translucent. They then went back to normal; it only lasted for a brief second, and the man didn’t notice at all.

             Soon, the scrubbing slowed and then stopped altogether. “Say...Enatha,” the man fidgeted, as though trying to bring up a subject that made him uncomfortable. “Do you think that maybe it’s about time we told someone about...this?” He turned, slowly, obviously worried what the woman would think of the suggestion.

             Her dark eyes softened, and a guilty smile spread across her lips.

             “Soon. We will, soon,” she reassured him. “We merely need more time to study. The more we know, the more easily our peoples will accept such a drastic discovery -- the more answers we will be able to give them. And the less frightened they shall be because of it. Fear is the killer of new discoveries.”

             Relief washed over the man’s face instantly. “Right! Of course you’re right!” He pulled his gloves off and slapped them onto the counter before walking towards the woman. “You’re always right! Why would we want to rush? We have all the time the Light can give, after all!” He clapped his hands onto her shoulders in excitement. The woman jumped slightly in surprise; she still had not grown entirely used to such physical contact, especially not when it seemed so out of place.

             “Right,” she lied looking directly into his white eyes, feigning a small smile. He did not notice her distress, but that was the way she preferred it. The burden was hers to bear. There was no need to worry him. Not yet.

             He couldn’t breathe.

             Cin gasped loudly, trying to gulp down air as he sat bolt-upright in shock. His face was wet. His nose was stuffed.

             “What...?” Cin touched a hand to his face and quickly realized that he had been crying.

             Still groggy, he hurriedly wiped any sign of tears away from his cheeks and eyes. He was about to clear his throat when a small snore from Kazuko reminded him that his two friends were asleep on the couch beside him. So instead, he made his way to the nearest bathroom and turned on the light, hissing in pain and squinting when the room was illuminated.

             Cin did his best to look at his face in the mirror. What was going on? Him, crying? He’d barely even teared up when he’d been stabbed earlier. He hadn’t really cried since the third grade, and now he was bawling because of something he saw in a dream? A dream with the two people he saw almost every night? People he saw so often that he could draw them from memory, no less?

             But the emotions in the dream had been so much stronger than they usually were. Deep down, Cin already knew what was different. That had been what had overwhelmed him.

             Cin had always viewed his dreams from the sidelines, as though watching a movie. But this time, he had seen everything from the woman’s point of view. He had felt her happiness around the man, the pang of fear and sadness when her hands had faded, and the horrible agony boiling inside of her as she lied right to the man’s face. She had remained composed in the dream, able to mask her feelings, but in the waking world, Cin had not been able to do the same.

             Cin managed to tear his eyes away from the mirror and turned on the cold water, cupping his hands to catch it and splash it onto his face. He let out a small sigh, enjoying the cooling effect the water was having on his skin. He kept his eyes shut, not because of the light, but to try and empty his head of all other things around him. He wanted to focus on the dream now, while he could still remember.

             Alanore and Enatha...So those were their names. He had never heard them before. Usually, Cin couldn’t remember or even understand a single word the two were saying. This dream, and the one he’d been woken up from in class the day before, were the only times he could remember hearing actual words, though the one in the classroom hadn’t had Alanore in it. Being able to recall their names and a good part of their conversation was a huge accomplishment.

             But why had that woman, Enatha, felt so guilty? Though Cin had felt what she had felt, he hadn’t been able to understand the reasons behind her emotions, and Alanore had seemed completely clueless as to what she was actually feeling. She seemed to be have been hiding something from him, and she’d been doing a good job of it, too. But no matter how much he wracked his brain, Cin couldn’t figure out what she was hiding or why she would even want to. Those two always seemed so close in all his dreams, they always seemed to speak to openly to one another. Why would Enatha hide something from Alanore?

             The teen shook his head a bit and wiped his face off with a towel before turning off the light. He was instantly able to relax his eyes. The dream was bothering him considerably, enough to start a headache, and the light had only been agitating him further. He headed back towards the couch that he and his two friends had fallen asleep on, trying to push the thoughts aside and relax his temples enough to keep his skull from throbbing.

             The television had not been turned off, so Cin knew he had definitely not been the only one to have fallen asleep before the movie had ended. He found Mark and Kazuko’s forms in the dim light from the television screen, and he couldn’t help a faint smile from finding its way to his lips. Kazuko was wrapped tenderly in a blanket as her head rested in Mark’s lap. She snored in her sleep, mouth hanging open with a bit of drool glistening down her cheek, looking about as graceful as a ruffled turkey. Mark was sitting cross-legged, one of his hands tangled in the girl’s hair; he had fallen asleep scratching her head, and still had a blissful smile on his lips because of it.

             In her sleep, Kazuko turned to her side, pressing her forehead against the blond’s stomach. She closed her mouth for a moment, just long enough to smile and nuzzle him a bit, while her fingers clung unconsciously to his shirt. Cin bit his lip to keep himself from laughing. It was funny to him, how Kazuko’s feelings only seemed honest when she wasn’t awake to stop them.

             But the urge to laugh stopped when he saw Mark’s face. Cin had expected the boy to melt at the girl’s touch, like it usually did, but instead, Mark’s expression was tight, strained, as though a wave of nausea had just punched him right in the gut. The blond’s breathing quickened and sweat was already pooling on his forehead, as though he was about to be sick. The blond gave a weak whimper, turning his head to the side in his troubled sleep.

             Cin started to panic, eyes darting left and right to try and find anything that could help. If Mark threw up on Kazuko, she would never forgive him, and Mark would never forgive himself. But what could Cin do? Get a bucket? Medicine? Was it best to just pull Mark to the bathroom?

             A small creak halted Cin’s thoughts.

             The teen’s heart stopped as he whirled around, half expecting someone to be standing behind him, half expecting something to fall from the ceiling. Cin stood still, eyes darting back and forth, looking for something – anything -- that could have possibly made that noise. But nothing happened.

             Slowly, Cin let out the breath he’d been holding in, the panic soon being replaced with a feeling of deep annoyance and embarrassment. He wasn’t usually a paranoid or jumpy person -- it was all because of one unlucky day and one silly dream. That sound had been nothing, probably just the house settling, and yet Cin’s heart was still drumming violently against his breast-bone. He was usually so stress-free; at this rate, Cin was sure he was going to have a heart attack before he graduated high school.

             Then he heard a second creak.

             Cin’s heart and breathing both stopped this time. There was no way that he had imagined the creak this time. It had been the distinct sound of a floorboard bending under someone’s foot. And it was coming from almost directly above him.

             Cin’s eyes slowly moved up towards the ceiling. Above him? How could there possibly have been anyone above them? There was only one way to enter the house, and that was through the front door. Had someone broken in while the three had slept and just sneaked right past them? The thought made Cin’s skin crawl.

             The windows were all locked, so there was only one way to enter the room that Cin and his friends were in. That meant that there was no way for someone to sneak up on them as long as they stayed in this room. All Cin had to do was call the police, wake his two friends, and then the three could sit together ready to defend themselves against any threat that dared enter from the corridor until the police arrived. It was a solid plan, a safe plan. Cin didn’t want to wake his friends before the police were on their way, so quietly patted his chest, looking for his cell phone. He froze, his hand catching nothing but emptiness. It wasn’t there.

             Cin mentally cursed himself. He had forgotten it at home; he had actually been so desperate to leave his house, he’d dropped it and left it when Mark had come to get him. Well, there were Mark and Kazuko’s phones. He looked to his friends, but instantly realized the issue with that plan. Kazuko wasn’t really wearing something that would have pockets, so he had no idea where her phone could be. Mark’s was probably in his pocket, but Kazuko head was in his lap. Any sound from either of them could alert their visitors upstairs, and he’d rather start running for his life after the police were on their way rather than risk having to run before they even managed the call in the first place.

             But how else could he call the cops? Cin looked around and saw a squarish object on the end table. Kazuko’s home still had a land line – Cin had almost forgotten those still existed. He let out a very slow breath of relief and inched towards it, quietly as he could, using the faint glow from the television as his guide.

             That was, until the light on the television suddenly turned off.

             It took every ounce of Cin’s self-control to keep himself from shouting in surprise. He strained his ears, trying to hear something, anything, but to his relief, he couldn’t make out any voices or the sounds of anyone walking towards him. And then he realized he couldn’t hear anything; no hum from the heater, no vibration from the refrigerator. The power had gone out entirely.

             Cin forced himself to swallow down his fear, though it definitely struggled getting down his throat with how dry it had suddenly gotten. He reached the end table he’d been aiming for and groped around until he found the familiar shape of the phone receiver. Relief washed over him as he gripped it tightly, bringing it to his ear, fingers ready to press the number nine. He held his breath, listening as he waited for the dial tone so that he could start. He waited. And waited. But it never came. There was only silence.

             The line was dead.

             Cin stood where he was for a moment, lowering the receiver and staring at it with disbelief in his eyes. Fear climbed up his legs, reaching for his heart and lungs, threatening to grip those organs tightly in its icy claws. Now panic had full reign over his body, numbing his muscles, making it difficult to even swallow anymore, but he forced his brain to continue thinking.

             He had to wake his friends. He had to wake them up, and try to leave the house with the two of them. That was the most responsible thing to do after realizing a stranger was inside a home and the power and phone lines had been cut, right? Cin knew that. He could picture it – waking Mark with a hand over his mouth, whispering quickly to him what was going on, and the two of them doing the same with Kazuko. Then they could sneak out and run to her neighbor, an elderly woman who practically had the cops on speed dial and would love nothing more than to be the hero. They would be safe with her. It was the appropriate thing to do. He understood that. And yet...

             This couldn’t have been a coincidence, not after everything that had happened earlier that day. Something was going on, something that had been planned out, somehow set up. Cin didn’t know what it was, he didn’t know why it was happening, he didn’t even know how something so strange could have all been planned out in the first place, but he knew he was the target. Only him. Fear gave his heart an extra tight squeeze as he realized it.

             He looked over and saw Mark flinch in pain as Kazuko peacefully slept on, completely unaware of anything being wrong. For some reason, Cin knew, deep inside, that whatever was going on right now – it didn’t involve either of them. He didn’t know how or why he knew this. He had no logical reason to believe it -- Mark’s odd facial expression appeared at about the same time that Cin had noticed the creak, and whoever was upstairs was in Kazuko’s home, not his. But Cin was positive. He knew somewhere in the furthest, darkest recesses of his mind or soul or whatever it was, that this didn’t involve his two friends. It was as though the thought had simply always been with him, just like any other fact of life. He, Cin, was the only one in danger. And if he wanted it to stay that way, he had to get away from his friends.

             Cin inhaled sharply and looked towards the corridor leading to the stairs. It was right there for him to walk through. He knew he had to walk away from his two best friends to keep them safe, but his legs suddenly feeling as heavy and stiff as lead. He looked once between the doorway and the sleeping figures, thinking one more time about his original idea. He could have still woken the two up tried to run away, get to Kazuko’s neighbor. It was a much smarter option, a much safer one, a more logical one. He had to be an idiot to listen to some weird, illogical feeling in his gut. He’d have to be insane to.

             Then he tore his eyes away from his friends and sneaked out of the room.

             As Cin skulked quietly away, he never saw Mark’s pained expression slowly ebb away. The agony melted away like ice, back into a relaxed state, as though the blond had never been uncomfortable in the first place.

             In the corridor, Cin held his breath as he made his way up the marble staircase, glad that the stone made no sound under his socks. As he neared the top of the steps, any doubts about there being intruders vanished -- he could hear voices whispering to one another. There was definitely someone – several someones -- there. The teen stopped at the final step and leaned against the railing, straining his ears to try and hear what was going on, but no matter how he trained, he couldn’t make out any of the conversation or even figure out how many people were talking. He had to get closer.

             Even as he thought it, Cin knew he was an idiot. Why was he getting closer? Why did he care? Why hadn’t he just run away, instead? Made a big fuss so these people would run after him and leave Kazuko and Mark alone? But his body was almost on autopilot. He had to see why these people were after him, no matter how amazingly stupid that decision was.

             After swallowing nervously, Cin crouched low and inched towards the door that the sounds were emanating from. It was the office, the room Kazuko’s mother could usually be found in during her short visits to America. It was so strange, hearing so many voices coming from it, all so quiet; it was the opposite of the usual angry yells and loud threats into the receiver that came from that room. When Cin reached the entrance, his heart leaped into his throat, both thrilled and terrified as he realized that the door was slightly open, just enough for someone to peek inside.

             Before proceeding, Cin tried to his best to take control of his body. Sweat was running down his back, his breaths were quick and shallow, and his heart was thumping so loudly in his ears that he was amazed that whoever was in the room couldn’t simply hear it slamming against his chest with every pump. The thought that this was all a terrible, horrible idea popped back into Cin’s mind again, but he simply couldn’t run away without seeing who these people were. He needed to know how they could have possibly been involved with the other things that had happened earlier that day. It was insane of him to think that it was even possible, but he was convinced of it. He had to see; it was as though his whole spirit was being drawn towards the door. So, he took one more strained breath and leaned forward peek into the crack left in the door.

             He instantly knew he made a horrible mistake.

             There were five figures. One was sitting in the center on top of the desk as though it was a throne, and the other four were standing, looking right at him with their arms respectfully behind their backs. Cin saw that each one was completely bald, and they were all wearing the same pitch-black uniforms, armor, and head-bands. The part of the headbands that touched their foreheads looked to be made out of cloth, but the part which should have been tied back into a knot was instead made of thin, metallic strings that laced through one another like little plant vines. But despite their strange, assassin-line appearance, what bothered Cin most was the fact that they had something in common with him: their eyes. He could see the eyes of three of the people, and all three pairs had black irises, just like his. Just like Enatha’s. Just like so many of the other ones from his dreams.

             Cin was frozen, unable to think properly, unable to anything but stare at these people. In the back of his mind, he knew he should have run -- the black uniforms probably meant that they were some sort of robbers who pretended they were ninjas or something. But Cin’s brain didn’t completely register those thoughts. He wasn’t even processing what they were talking about, even though he was close enough to make out every word. All he could do was sit and stare, hypnotized by these people and their strange appearance, wondering if he was awake or asleep. When Cin eventually remembered how to breathe again, he finally started to pick up on the conversation.

             “--Come back with us, whether he wants to or not,” the one in the center finished explaining.

             “What if we hurt him?” the largest one asked in a low rumble of a voice, a voice that seemed capable of staring an earthquake if it were ever used at a louder volume.

             “Well, it is p-permissible, erm, in this pa-particular case,” the thinnest replied nervously. That one was a woman, and she sounded like someone who felt that she was speaking out of place. “Any damage d-done to the body will be of little c-consequence once we Extract him, I mean. Com-Compared to what may happen, oth-otherwise.”

             “It is vital that we get him now,” the leader agreed with her, getting up from his spot on the desk. Cin’s jaw dropped; instead of simply hopping to his feet, the man seemed to hang in the air for several seconds, like a slow motion movie. It was as though gravity had no real effect on him. “The Others have discovered him as well, and many humans here have been Saturated in preparation for some sort of ambush, likely a capture. Our Abilities have stopped having a clear effect through the Oval Mirrors. We have barely managed to help him survive three separate attacks, I had to physically interfere with the second. If we do not Extract him now, we risk his life. We are doing what is best for him and for our people. Do not forget this. Do not waiver.” Cine assumed that was supposed to be motivational, but the last comment sounded a lot more like a threat to him.

             The group nodded their heads together with murmurs of agreement. They then continued speaking to each other in quieter voices, trying to formulate some sort of plan. Amongst all the chatter, the man in the very back, the shortest and least threatening-looking of the uniformed people, turned his head and looked towards the doorway. He looked right at Cin.

             The teen’s eyes widened in horror, wondering if he was imagining this or not, wondering if he should start running. The man just watched him silently, and then gave Cin a calm, apologetic smile. Cin completely froze. A smile? Why would he be smiling at Cin?

             The man then bowed his head slightly, as though asking for forgiveness, and formed words with his mouth, as though trying to send Cin a message. The teen felt his breath catch in his throat. He could have sworn that guy had just tried to tell him, ‘Your friends will be safe.’

             Cin continued to stare, dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, almost ready to ask a question as though he and this man were having a normal conversation, when a second pair of eyes locked onto him. These eyes weren’t nearly as kind, and soon the other three pairs followed suit.

             For almost ten whole seconds, there was a deathly silence as the five strangers stared at Cin, and Cin stared right back. Neither side seemed to know what was supposed to happen next; neither had planned to get caught. No one moved, no one seemed to even be breathing. Finally, the leader of these people seemed to snap out of it.

             “Sterk! Grab him!” the leader shattered the silence with an order. Everyone seemed to snap out of their stupors, and the largest man hurled towards Cin, amazingly fast for someone his size. Cin’s legs lifted him back to standing automatically, and what seemed to be an instant, he was bounding down the stairs and then forcing the front door open with his shoulder. Cin only realized that he was running when he felt the snow crunching beneath his socks. He and Mark had jogged together more than a few times in their lives, and at that moment, Cin regretted every sarcastic and whiny remark he had ever made during those sessions.

             The teen looked back, trying to see how close these people were, and his heart leaped into his throat. The leader was floating out from the second-story window like a feather dropping from a bird’s wing. Beside him, landing not quite as softly, but just as safely, was the largest one with the deep voice. The other three burst out of the home’s front door only a few seconds later, the same door Cin had used. The four underlings started running after him; the leader floated through the air like a superhero instead.

             Cin turned his eyes in front of him again and picked up speed, but he knew that he wouldn’t last long just running from them. That big guy was fast, and that skinny woman looked to be just as quick. Cin wasn’t a real runner like Mark; there was no way he was going to make it to somewhere with a phone without them cutting him off, first. Even worse, Cin didn’t know if these people were violent or not, so he didn’t know if heading into some place crowded like a bar or a gym was a good idea. What if they had guns on them? It was impossible to tell with the armored plates they had on.

             “AAH-!” Cin’s thoughts stopped as he suddenly jerked forward, almost falling onto his face. His foot was stuck on something. For a terrifying moment, a feeling of defeat welled up in his stomach, telling him that this was the end, that he was caught, that he wouldn’t be able to free himself in time with those people at his heels. But his foot was released before he even had time to look down, and Cin ran, not bothering to figure out what had happened. They were right behind him -- he could hear their feet crunching against the snow and their panting breath. The big guy and the woman were right behind him, while the others trailed behind them, the leader still in the air.

             Suddenly, his foot was caught again. Cin jerked so violently that he swore his foot must have come unhinged for at least a second. This time he looked down, positive that something was going on there. His entire foot was encased in ice, a sort of ice he had never seen before. It looked less clear, much more like tightly-packed snow, but it had a frozen, icy sheen to it. Cin would’ve never thought it would have been as hard as it was if he hadn’t had his foot trapped inside it, unable to pull it away no matter how much he yanked. But just as quickly as Cin had felt his foot get incased in it, the strange ice fell apart, turning into snow and allowing Cin to pull his foot free.

             Unable to believe what he had just seen, he looked back, hoping that he was just hallucinating this entire time and there weren’t really people chasing after him. But there they were, the two quickest ones only twenty feet away. For some reason, the woman was aiming her index finger right at his feet, as though she was able to shoot some sort of beam from the tip. The large man smiled encouragingly.

             “Good aim, Frio! Keep at it, we’re catching up! Don’t stop!”

             “I have t-to be careful! I cannot hit his foot -- it d-does not work well with organic matter!” She responded, her expression filled with worry and her finger retracting partially into her first.

             “That is no excuse! Our Reversers shall fix him if necessary!” The leader’s voice rang from the sky. Upon hearing that voice, the woman’s thin body stiffened with shame, slowing her run. “Keep going, Frio. That is an order!”

             “Y-yes, Captain Veder!” The woman called behind her obediently, pointing her finger at Cin once again, but this time with much less precision and care.

             Cin ran faster than he ever had in his life. Whatever she had done to the snow, he knew he didn’t want done to his foot or any other part of his body. The fear was an amazing motivator; he didn’t even care how cold he was anymore, and he couldn’t remember ever being colder. His feet were too numb to feel anything anymore, even through the holes he had ripped into his socks. All he could focus on now was running and how close those people behind him sounded; Cin was past wondering if what he was doing was safe for others or not.

             The teen made a sharp turn, ducking into the garden behind someone’s house. Just as he passed a large oak tree, the tree made an odd sound, like something between someone squeezing a cork out of a wine bottle and snapping a twin. His eyes automatically shifted towards it, never having heard such a sound come from anything before. A moment later, a thunderous snap echoed throughout the area as splinters exploded from the center of the tree. There was no longer enough wood to support the trunk, and the tree toppled over with second a thunderous crack, right onto the roof of the shed in this person’s backyard.

             Cin only saw this through the corner of his eye and was mildly surprised to find that he was actually more frightened than he had been a second ago. So that was what the woman had meant about her pointing-thing not mixing well with organic matter. It wasn’t like Cin had doubted her words, but it was nice to have a demonstration and not wonder about what sort of fate awaited him.

             The boy forced his way through a small opening in a wooden fence, feeling some splinters embedding deeply into his arm and stomach as he squeezed past. He was so cold and panicked by then, though, he barely recognized the feeling as pain. He simply kept running, mind racing as quickly as his feet, trying to think of some way out, any way out. Usually, ideas came to Cin out of nowhere. He had always been able to think of a way out of any tight situation; he almost had a sixth sense for it. No matter how dangerous life had been, he had always been able to count of sudden flashes of wisdom to get himself to safety.

             But now, there was nothing. His mind wasn’t giving him anything. It just kept repeating the same thing over and over: that he was in danger and that he had to run. No suggestions as to where, not telling him which direction, just that he had to run, and nothing more. Nothing new was coming to him, not a single way to weasel away from these people, no way to distract them, no way to hide from their attacks. Out of all the times for his mind to fail him, why did it have to be now?!

             A tree right in front of him suddenly burst as the last one had. This time, though, he couldn’t avoid the splinters, and he had to bring his arms up to shield his eyes as the pieces of wood blasted out and dug into his skin. Amongst the many smaller pieces, one the size of his finger embedded itself three inches into Cin’s forearm. All the cold in the world couldn’t have kept him from feeling that one, and Cin staggered back, hissing in pain, blood dripping to the ground, staining the snow.

             They were close. Cin had lost the pursuers momentarily by ducking through that fence, but now he was on a dark road with nothing but trees to his left and right -- nothing but ammunition for that finger-pointing woman. If he were to duck behind one, he’d only get hit by more splinters. But he couldn’t go back towards the houses; they would block off his path easily. There was no way he could run around all five of them, especially when one could see him from the air.

             “There he is!” he heard the Captain cry from the sky. “Frio, Sterk! On the black path!”

             “Yes, Captain!” The two said in unison. Cin swallowed deeply, took a moment to think over how stupid of an idea this was, and then ran off the road, into the bright snow, ducking between trees.

             He had hoped for at least a few seconds of avoiding them, but that had been too much to ask for. Cin realized his mistake all too quickly.

             Frio could send those blasts faster than he had thought, and within five steps, he had tree bits flying at him from all directions. He instinctively protected his face, feeling the wood embed itself into his arms, his legs, his stomach, his chest and his back, tearing right through his thin sleep-wear. The splinters came in waves, causing more searing pain just as one set was about to give him a second of reprieve. He let out a loud cry of pain, reeling backwards, and falling to one knee. His body shook violently, not only from the sudden agony washing over his body, but also from the exhaustion of running this entire time. Now that he stopped, his whole body was screaming for more oxygen and energy, going still from overuse. Blood dripped from almost every inch of his flesh and his breath was causing the air all around him to steam up as he gasped to breathe. And worst of all, the adrenaline was beginning to fade as the inevitable realization began to sunk in.

             This was it. He was caught. Not only did he not have the energy to keep running, but if he tried, he would leave a rich, red trail leading right to his location. There was no way to escape.

             But instead of being scared of what was to come, Cin just found himself bitter and angry. This was all because he had been unable to think clearly, all because panic had overtaken him. His mind had forsaken him completely and he’d ended up running like an animal with its head cut off instead of doing anything worth-while with his energy. He couldn’t even believe it. The sting of being betrayed by his own mind was even worse than the fear of what these people were going to do with him.

             “I got you!”

             Before he could react properly, Cin’s felt someone’s hand on his shoulder, jerking him backwards, and a rough cloth covered his mouth. He tried to yelp in surprise, trying to struggle against it, but when he breathed in, the world suddenly became fuzzy. His vision narrowed into a long tunnel, and then tilted violently one way, then the other, making him light-headed and dizzy. He was so tired, so very exhausted, almost incapable of keeping his eyes open in this world anymore.

             “Pila, where did you get that!?” The Captain’s voice rang out, echoing slightly inside of Cin’s head as the teen began to succumb to the urge to sleep.

             “It’s safer than anything else we could have done! It really doesn’t feel right, any of us hurting the Decimator.”

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter 3: Old Sketches

             It only took half an hour for the three of them to be sitting together on the floor in Kazuko’s bedroom. It was considerably more organized than Cin’s; the bed was made, the desk was neat, all the books were on the shelves organized alphabetically and by subject, and the walls were covered with posters of K-rock stars, papers with witty quotes, Asian weapons, and action-movie characters. There was a large stereo sitting in a corner connected to the computer, and in the other corner was a large chest filled with various metal parts, wires, and computer chips that Kazuko used to build battle-bots or fix computers.

             Cin was leaning against the wall, and Mark was beside him, flushed and still panting after jogging back from his house; he must have really booked it. Kazuko sat in front of them, her eyes narrowed at Cin. He had refused to begin talking until their blond friend was in the room with them.

             “So,” Mark finally broke the cold silence, still breathless and wiping some sweat from his forehead. His eyes shifted to the friend next to him. He had noticed Cin shaking in his car on the way there, but had known better than to press him on the matter until the three were together. “What’d we miss?”

             “Today...” Cin paused. He’d spent the last hour playing over everything that had happened that day in his head, thinking about what he’d say, how he’d phrase everything. But now that he was there with Mark and Kazuko in the same room, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words. “Today’s been really off,” he finally managed, attempting to organize all his thoughts into something more coherent. He had no idea how to explain everything without sounding utterly insane.

             “No! Really?” The one girl in the room gasped with sarcastic horror, putting a hand over her heart. “Because, you know. People get shanked all the time, especially you. Same old, same old,” the sarcasm faded into a glare that cut into Cin, demanding he get to the point.

             “More happened,” Cin continued, his eyes darting momentarily to Mark. The blond didn’t look confused in the slightest, which meant that Kazuko had already informed him of that day’s adventure at the diner. He was relieved that he didn’t have to explain that part, but it still left a lot for him to say. “After I dropped you off, Kazuko.”

             Cin finally managed to tell his friends of the rest of day’s happenings, starting with almost being hit by the truck and ending with almost cracking his skull open on his own weights. He mentioned the strange white circle he’d seen in the mirror as well, hoping one of them might have had some logical explanation for it. The two listened to him, expressions shifting between shocked and concerned, and when Cin finished, Mark locked his jaw with a look of deep suspicion.

             “It can’t all just be accidents. It doesn’t make sense.”

             “What else can it be, though?” Kazuko sighed as she leaned back against her bed. She looked annoyed, but she wasn’t nearly as concerned as Mark was. “That truck driver obviously wasn’t aiming for him, the girl in the restaurant was bawling after she stabbed him-”

             “The circle,” Cin blurted out, looking between the two of them. He could tell from Mark’s expression that he and Kazuko had been on the brink of starting an argument, and he didn’t want that, not before they worked together to help him figure out that that strange, white-hot circle had been. “That’s what’s bugging me the most. I’m not the type of person that just sees things, or believes in weird things like that, but I know I saw it. I do.”

             “Probably your lamp,” Kazuko shrugged without missing a beat. “You said the lights flickered, right? It was probably a bright flash before it faded out and then back to normal. Electrical surge or something. Not a big deal – especially considering the fact that any light leaves you blind as a bat, Luna,” her tone clearly suggested that she had permanently ended that discussion. But Mark didn’t look convinced.

             “I don’t know,” the blond admitted, looking away with a guilty expression.

             “What?” She snapped at the mere idea of him contradicting her.

             “I...it just seems familiar to me,” Mark couldn’t word it properly, any better than Cin had. “I don’t know why. I just feel like something like that’s happened to me before or that I’ve seen something like that before. Something’s familiar. With the white circle.”

             “I feel like I saw it before, too!” Cin cried, glad that he wasn’t the only one feeling unsure about Kazuko’s justification. “That’s what bugged me the most, it’s like I just saw it somewhere, somewhere not long ago.”

             “Well, if it’s just some white circle, duh,” Kazuko rolled her eyes.

             “What?” Both boys turned towards their friend. She stared at them for a second in disbelief, but when their wide, awaiting expressions didn’t change, she heaved a deep sigh.

             “Are you two serious? He’s been drawing frikken circles in his sketchbook since he could hold a pencil! He’s probably drawn a thousand in there and another million on his homework! Getting a deja vu feeling because of one isn’t exactly some big movie twist.”

             “Wait...You mean the eyes?” Mark muttered, mulling the thought over. But, be quickly saw the connection as well and a look of realization came over his face. “Cin, I think she’s right. I think that may be where I remember it from.”

             “No,” Cin said firmly. “It...it was like them, but it definitely wasn’t one I’ve ever drawn before. The ones I sketch are from my dreams, and they’ve always got color to them. Half of them are pure black, and the other half of pink or green or something random. This was just white. I’ve never seen a white one before.” That wasn’t entirely true, but Cin didn’t want to go into details with his two friends, not at the moment. Instead, all the talk about his sketches made him slowly realize another possible explanation for the white circle. “Wait. Maybe...I was dreaming?” He looked between his friends, who both paused to consider the idea.

             “That makes the most sense, actually,” Kazuko agreed. “You daydream too much as it is, and you lost a good hunk of blood today. You probably passed out standing up and had a night terror. Or you hit your head on your car and don’t remember,” she frowned with more serious concern. “Shit, maybe we do need to go to the hospital...”

             The mention of the hospital had Cin tensing suddenly, though he wasn’t too sure why.

             “Hold on, hold on. That still doesn’t explain the other things, though,” Mark didn’t look convinced, and Cin was able to breathe again thanks to the change of subject.

             “And what explanation is there? There’s a group of people trying to assassinate Luna?” Kazuko lifted an eyebrow at him. “Don’t sound crazy.”

             “It’s just as crazy to pretend all that could be coincidence,” Mark cut back, glaring slightly at Kazuko.

             “I-I don’t know,” Cin said, cutting in to prevent an argument again. “I mean...I hate to say this, but maybe Kazuko’s right, maybe I’m overreacting.” He felt his face burn slightly with shame, especially when he saw the look of disbelief on the blond boy’s face. “I mean, everyone has an off day, right? That girl tripped, the guy in the truck was half-asleep-”

             “But you’ve never been hurt before!” Mark argued. “Ever, in your life!”

             “So I was long overdue, right?” Cin tried to laugh, as though it was a joke, but he kept his eyes to the right, away from Marks’ gaze. “It’s more unnatural that things like this haven’t happened to me. Well, smaller things, anyway. I know, it’s a big deal to be stabbed and almost run over in the same day, but if I’m okay, maybe I just got you two to panic for nothing? Sorry, guys.”

             Cin finally looked at his two friends after he finished. Kazuko obviously agreed with him, but Mark looked as though he’d been struck across the face.

“Exactly,” Kazuko nodded, giving Mark a look to suggest he drop it. “And it’s getting kind of late. How about we watch a movie or something and sleep?”

             “Whatever,” Mark muttered in a defeated tone, standing up, but making sure not to look either one in the eye. “I’m going to go change; my clothes’re sweaty.”

             As Cin watched his friend head to the bathroom, he couldn’t help feeling as though he’d betrayed his best friend. Mark had always been the one who thought outside the box, the one who thought mind could defeat matter, who kept open to the possibility of things that science couldn’t explain. He was the poet, the one who wrote about the impossible becoming possible. Kazuko was a technological person who always wanted to see things logically, how they systematically got from point A to point B. And though Cin was an artist, a painter, he painted only what was in his dreams, and he recognized them to be just that – dreams and nothing more. Even worse, and though he didn’t like to admit it, he was a little lazy, and would prefer that the explanations to things be as simple as possible. Especially, for some reason, right now. Cin needed whatever the easiest explanation was, the one where this was all the smallest deal. He knew Mark couldn’t be okay with an explanation like that given everything that had happened, but Cin simply needed it to be true.

             “He’ll be okay,” Kazuko ensured him, seeing the guilt consuming Cin’s face. “Come on, you probably have to change, too.”

             “Yeah,” Cin shifted to his knees and crouched in front of his bag, fishing out some comfortable clothes. But after a moment of looking his own pajamas over, he remembered about a gift that Kazuko had gotten recently. And an idea popped into Cin’s head -- one he couldn’t resist, not with all the negative feelings that had just filled the room. They needed something light-hearted, especially for Mark. Giving Kazuko a rather wicked smirk, Cin leaned towards her and muttered, “You know what’d help him forget faster, though?”

             Kazuko’s cheeks turned pink. She knew exactly what he was talking about. “Shut up, you jerk.”

             “Ten bucks says he’ll start feeling all awkward,” Cin continued, nonetheless, knowing Kazuko couldn’t resist a dare.

             “They’re sticky and uncomfortable and the only reason my aunt gave them to me is because she heard I can’t get a boyfriend, and that I went to school in my pajamas one time. My dad would kill me if I actually ever wore them. Besides, Mark’ll just laugh.”

             “So?” Cin lifted his eyebrow in challenge.

             Kazuko crossed her arms over her chest, glaring and pouting deeply at the boy in front of her. He smiled back, very cocky, not faltering despite the distrust in her eyes. After several seconds of silent staring, the girl gave a deep nod as though accepting a risky business deal.

             “Fine! I’ll take your bet. Get your money ready,” she walked over to her closet, rummaging through her things until she found a set of silken pajamas. She stuck her tongue out at the boy before she leaving for the bathroom, giving Cin the chance to switch clothing in privacy and snicker at her reaction. When Cin was changed, Mark entered the room behind him in a pair of sweatpants and a large shirt. The blond looked around the room quickly before asking slowly,

             “And Kazuko’s...?”

             “Changing, too,” Cin answered with a small shrug. “What movie we going to watch?”

             “Anything with fighting and no mention of anything involving classes, colleges, or anything even mildly pertaining to them,” Mark sighed as he sat down.

             “So a nice, old Yazuka movie?” Cin asked, looking at the options Kazuko had available. Her father had brought back dozens of sets of subtitled movies from his father’s house, and the group had been slowly going through all of them, one at a time, in pure fascination since.

             “Oh, hell yes,” Mark grinned widely. “Nothing like mindless violence and a good bro-mance. I love watching that stuff, here.”

             “Maybe you should show up more, then?” Cin feigned an innocent tone, looking to the side innocently. “If you like the movies so much, I mean. You can just jog here and-”

             “Oh, yeah, sure,” Mark rolled his eyes before putting on a large, painfully-fake smile as he attempted to predict what that situation would sound like. “‘Hi, Kazuko! I know you told me never to come here without Cin, ever, but I did it anyway in spite of you!’” His gaze shifted suddenly to his own left arm. “‘Oh, look, and now my arm’s suddenly broken. What an unprecedented development!’” With the performance over, Mark dropped the smile. “I’m enough that much of a stalker. What’s wrong with you?”

             “You’re not a stalker!” Cin stared at him in disbelief. “She follows you around. She shows up at your track practices. You haven’t followed her anywhere since she stole that megaphone to tell you to leave her alone.”

             “Ah, freshman year,” Mark sighed wistfully at the memory. “What nice memories.”

             “Freshman year?” Kazuko’s voice suddenly interjected behind the two boys. “That year sucked, you’re a liar.” The two boys chuckled at her comment and the girl stepped into the room. Mark’s laughter was instantly caught in his throat when he saw her.

             Kazuko never wore anything fewer than three sizes too large, but the pajamas that Cin had dared her to wear were a little tight. The bottom part was nothing more than a pair of black, silk shorts and the shirt was a small black, high-collar shirt with a red outline that showed an inch or two of her midriff. She’d let her hair down from her usual braid and let her chin-long bangs frame her smug and giddy expression.

             “What!?” She barked at Mark, unable to hide a smirk, though she was trying to sound intimidating.

             “N-nothing!” He yelped, snapping out of his trance, and quickly turned away. He tried using a hand to cover his face in a vain attempt to hide how quickly his face was turning red. “I...I’m going to go make us something to eat,” he mumbled awkwardly and darted out of the room, allowing Cin to finally burst into laughter.

             “Ten bucks,” Cin said, holding his hand out and Kazuko instantly slapped two fives into it. The money had been in her hand the entire time.

             “Worth it,” she said simply, eyeing the door through which Mark had escaped like a scared rabbit from a cage. After a second of thought, she added, “Think he’ll freak out more if I lean on him while we’re watching the movie?”

             “If by ‘freak out more’ you mean ‘explode’, then yes,” Cin nodded wholeheartedly.

             “Nice,” with her expression still smug, she left the room to follow after Mark in the kitchen.

             Cin’s smile faded the instant Kazuko was gone. He had been trying to get the two to leave the room, at least for a few minutes, since they’d mentioned the white circle, and although he felt guilty for taking advantage of Mark’s feelings in such a way, the nagging in his stomach was bothering him considerably more. Cin had technically lied about never seeing white eyes in his dreams, but he wanted to check something before admitting anything to either of his friends. His dreams were hard to talk about – they had often felt so real when he was young that he’d embarrassed himself many times, insisting they had actually happened. To this day, Cin had difficulty even bringing up anything other than a vague, ‘Oh, yeah, I dreamed them,’ whenever Mark of Kazuko asked what he was drawing.

             Cin hurriedly dug through his bag until he found the sketchbook he’d been talking about minutes before. He flipped to the end of his sketchbook, where he had the figures of two people drawn roughly in pencil. The person on the left of the picture was a middle-aged woman who was wearing a small crown and a warm smile. Her hair was in a tight bun, and her wise, perfectly black eyes stared back at him from the paper like Cin had just done some something very endearing. But the man next to her, with his long hair tied back, stubble speckled all over his chin, white lab coat, and two scars over his left eye, had pure white eyes. There was a small, gray ring that separated what may have been the iris from the rest of the man’s eye, but where was no pupil or any other pigment to speak of. It was definitely the white circle Mark and Kazuko had thought about; it was the only white eye Cin ever drew. No one else in his dreams had eyes like that.

             But the eyes of the man in the picture had never frightened Cin before. These white eyes were kind, warm, welcoming, just like the black eyes of the woman, and it was that inherent kindness kept Cin from mentioning this picture, this person, to his friends. The two people on the paper constantly appeared in Cin’s dreams, and he knew them quite well by now. The woman loved flowers and birds, as well as sitting back and sipping tea while waiting for something to finish at its own pace. She was placid and kind, always able to calm down those around her with sweet words and a charming laugh. The man, on the other hand, was light-hearted but very impatient. He had a fascination with mushrooms and fish and was constantly hopping around, trying different experiments, postulating different hypotheses, never able to sit still. The only time Cin ever saw the man sitting without fidgeting was when he drank tea with the woman.

             Cin didn’t know where these two people came from or what they meant to his subconscious, but he felt close to them. Cin had never seen the man in his dreams do anything unjust; he was always helping others and his face, his eyes told of that. The orb that had stared at Cin from his mirror had been cold and cruel; it had made him scared to even breathe. There was simply no way that the two white circles had any connection to each other, despite being the same color. Cin was sure of it.

             The teen stuffed the sketchbook back into his bag, positive that he had withheld the information for a good reason, and then walked to the clean, marble kitchen to see Mark frying some sausages alone and muttering angrily to himself, his cheeks still a little pink.

             “...only when he’s here! Making sure to show off, right after she knows she got into college, as far away from me as she can get-”

             “Hey, yo, right here,” Cin waved his hand a bit to get Mark’s attention before he heard anything more. Cin was unable to suppress a small grin when his friend jumped so violently that he almost sent the food into the air.

             “Cin!!” His whole face burned with shame. “Er, Cin, I was...and-”

             “Don’t worry about it,” Cin brushed it off and leaned against the counter beside the blond. He continued speaking before his friend could manage to stammer something more coherent. “But she didn’t dress up for me. She never dresses up around me. And I think you know by now that, although I think she’s great and all, you know she’s like a sister to me,” Cin shrugged at the thought, sighing as though it was his fault for being unable to see past the fear of physical pain. “Besides, she seems more like a poetry-loving type to me.”

             Mark’s eyes lowered in apologetically as his face darkened even further. After a moment, his green eyes lifted, and he and Cin shared a smile, both aware that there were no hard feelings.

             “I wish,” Mark finally admitted, bowing his head in defeat. He just groaned hopelessly, slamming the spatula onto the counter. “Sorry! I know you hate it when I start thinking she wants you. It’s kind of hard not to, though. I mean, she’s...her arms! She’s showing her arms! Did you know she has arms? And legs! I didn’t even remember she HAD legs, anymore! And I haven’t seen her hair down since that basketball game FOUR years ago!”

             “How very creepy of you to remember that,” Cin pointed out before continuing. “But, I’ve seen all that way less than you have. And pay attention a lot less to it. I see her arms and stuff, and I see the muscle underneath and flinch in fear. You see it, and you like it because you’re a masochist or whatever’s wrong with you. And she knows this in her tricksy little head,” Cin tapped his temple, before asking, “So, who do you think she’s dressing up for?”

             Mark was quiet for a moment, knowing in the logical part of his mind that what his friend said made perfect sense. He stayed quiet, watching Cin pick the spatula up to flip the sausages onto their uncooked sides.

             “If it’s for me, it’s to mess with my brain,” Mark finally decided on, but then he paused, his eyes widening as though having an epiphany. “But then again, do I really mind?” The blond looked up, asking his brain that question out loud. After a moment, he gave a small laugh, his jealousy obviously gone.

             Cin rolled his eyes at the comment, but then jerked in pain as a bit of oil hit his arm. He gave a sharp hiss, dropping the spatula to the ground, splattering the clean floor with several droplets of residual oil. It wasn’t the most horrible pain, but it was beyond surprising for Cin.

             Mark frowned and pushed his friend towards the kitchen door. “No offense, but I think I’ll finish up. Don’t need all the oil spilling on you or something ‘by coincidence,’” The last part was accompanied by air quotes. “Go sit with Kazuko, I’ll be there in a sec.”

             “Good idea,” Cin chuckled, but as he turned to leave, his smile vanished and eyes looked to the small, circular burn already forming on his arm. Yet another thing that had never happened to him before. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. Now he was with his friends. He was safe. There was no need to think about his problems, he told himself.

Decimator of Light: Book of Darkness Chapter 1: The Luck Fades Away

             Time seemed to have come to a screeching halt as the students saw a sudden look of realization dawn on their teacher’s face. They held their breath, all eyes covertly darting toward the figure napping at his desk. The teacher, who was normally oblivious to this well-known fact, had finally noticed that the student was dead asleep, rather than simply paying attention with his head resting on his arms. The sunglasses had hidden his closed eyes for a good half-hour, but the half-snore-half-whimper he had given off a moment ago had finally given him away.

             “Luna,” the professor said in an irritated tone.

             “Nngh.” The teenager’s only response, as he turned away from his teacher’s voice, was to try and continue napping.

             “Mr. Luna!” he repeated, this time with less patience.

“Susurry...” was his sleeping response.

             “Mr. Luna, wake up this instant!” the teacher finally shouted.

             The student’s head finally shot up and he slammed his hands on the table for emphasis. “I-I’m awake! I love Chemistry!” he declared. Half the students in the room quickly cupped their hands over their mouths to stifle their laughter.

             “That’s very nice,” growled the teacher, holding his pointer so tightly that his knuckles began turning white, “but you’ve fallen asleep in my Economics class!”

             “Oh,” the student said, pushing his sunglasses back up the brim of his nose. “Sorry.”

             After some unpleasantly loud shouting, the class was let out, and Vincint Luna left the room, grumbling and squinting harshly. His teacher had confiscated his sunglasses as punishment for falling asleep, and without them, the teen’s unnaturally dark eyes had trouble allowing him to see. Otherwise, he had been released with nothing but a mere (albeit very loud) warning. Luckily, the teacher had never caught him sleeping in his class before -- which was amazing, considering that Cin did so almost every day. But honestly, being caught wasn’t bothering him nearly as much as the dream. It had left him with a real sense of dread he was having difficulty shrugging off this time.

             “Hey...Cin!” called a tall, pale teenaged boy, snapping Cin out of his train of thought. The boy quickly jogged over to his squinting friend, a smile plastered to his thin face. “I just heard what happened. I can’t believe someone finally caught you! You sleep through basically every class, don’t you?”

             “Yeah, I know,” Cin chuckled lightly, scratching the back of his head. It really was a bit on the odd side; no teacher had ever noticed his constant naps, especially since he tended to receive relatively high grades. Not the highest, but high enough for the teachers to assume that he paid attention most of the time. Truth was, he was just very good with multiple choice exams, and he made a point to try and pick teachers who heavily relied on that testing format.

             “Luck finally failing you, Luna?” came another voice, followed by the appearance of a short girl with a long, black braid. She was wearing her usual baggy outfit, as in her opinion, the extra 10 or so pounds her short frame was carrying was an unacceptable offense that had to be hidden at all cost.

             Cin only chuckled a bit at her comment as his blonde friend took the opportunity to gently and affectionately pat the girl on the head.

             “Aw, c’mon, Kazuko!” He ruffled her hair, causing one of the many pins she used to keep her bangs out of her eyes to fall to the ground. “Don’t be jealous just ‘cause he doesn’t snore like a buzz-saw. You should get that checked out, by the way.”

             “Hey, Mark?” she chirped in a very sweet, excited tone, looking up at the taller teenager with her dark eyes opened wide. “Go to hell,” she finished, dropping the sweet act as she bent down to pick up her hairpin and then clean it against Mark’s shirt.

             “Isn’t she adorable?” Mark sighed lovingly, completely ignoring the fact that Kazuko was using his shirt as a napkin, and causing Cin to snort with laughter. Mark said things like that often, and Kazuko simply refused to acknowledge that the poor boy meant every word of it.

             “Jerk,” Kazuko muttered as she fixed her bangs again. Then with a sigh, she looked over at Cin, her expression fading from agitated to mildly concerned. “It’s kind of weird, though, isn’t it?”

             “Hm? Being caught?” Cin asked, lifting an eyebrow in her general direction, still squinting due to the light. “I mean, it was only a matter of time, right?”

             “Well, logically, yeah,” Mark snickered, stopping suddenly and yanking his friend back before he could take an extra step. They had already reached Cin’s locker, but the blinded teen had attempted to keep walking. “But you’re insanely lucky! Every time a teacher’s even come close to noticing you were asleep, you’d always wake up, or he’d suddenly realize that he forgot to write something on the board, or he’d be called to the principal’s office, or he’d trip and end up having to go to the hospital, or something.”

             “I don’t think it’s been that dramatic,” Cin pointed out. “Besides, I can’t always be lucky, though, right?” he chuckled before proceeding to struggle with his lock combination. He knew the numbers by heart, having had that same lock since middle school, but he simply couldn’t make out a single number on it without his sunglasses.

             “Oh, for the love of-!” Kazuko pushed Cin away and opened his lock with three quick flicks of her wrist.

             “You know my combo?” Cin asked, only a little surprised. He was doing his best to ignore the fact that her shove had sent him tumbling into a locker beside him, sending waves of discomfort up his spine. He usually wasn’t one that stumbled so easily. Weird.

             “Of course I know your combo; my eyes are AT your lock’s level. I know the combos for at least a third of the locks in this damn school! Now either pull out a pair of sunglasses, or a dog and cane.”

             “Yes, ma’am,” Cin obeyed, pulling out a pair from a corner in his locker. He always had an extra pair in there, as well as a pile in his room at home and three pairs in his car’s glove compartment. He wasn’t particularly fond of sunlight, and he knew where he could buy perfectly usable sunglasses for only a dollar each.

             “Do you know my combo, too?” Mark asked their friend, only to have her snort loudly.

             “Why would I need yours? In case I want some crappy poem or something?” She rolled her eyes.

             “They’re there for you, y’know,” he continued smiling, though he sounded slightly hurt. “Almost all of them are about you.”

             Kazuko merely snorted again, causing Mark’s smile to fade for a second. With a frown, Cin shot Mark an apologetic look before pushing the protective lenses up to his eyes. Mark nodded in acknowledgment and then turned away and rubbed his arm awkwardly, doing his best not to show Kazuko how hurt he really was.

             “But, anyway, like I was saying,” Kazuko suddenly began, completely unaware of the moment the boys had just shared above her head, “it’s a little weird, isn’t it? I mean, you’ve always gotten away with everything. You would’ve died a million times by now if it hadn’t been for your weird, magical ability to dodge trouble.”

             “I wouldn’t say a million...”

             “She’s kind of right, though,” Mark pointed out. “Just last week? When you fell asleep in your car? Waking up right before a van showed up in front of you? You must have some awesome guardian angel-”

             “-Or some sadistic demon following you,” Kazuko interjected. “I mean, seriously, Luna -- you fall asleep at the worst times, you end up in terrible neighborhoods, buildings you were just walking around in set on fire-”

             “Once!” Cin cried in his own defense. He was sick of people bringing that up. “That happened once! How was I supposed to know that that place had a gas leak?”

             “Yeah, how were you?” Mark smirked in amusement, enjoying how bothered his friend was. “You just happened to take the kid outside to play, and happened to make that restaurant owner think you were kidnapping him. And then you happened to cause a scene that got everyone outside and saved their lives!”

             “Yeah. Weird, I guess...” Cin muttered, pulling his keys out of his pocket before closing his locker and turning towards the exit. Something about the incident had always sat oddly with him, but he didn’t like thinking about it. For some reason, he wanted to think about it even less right now, with the dream lingering in the back of his mind. “So, who am I giving a ride to today?”

             “Do you even LISTEN to yourself!?” Kazuko snapped. “Weird stuff happens to you!”

             “Both of us, please,” Mark answered Cin’s question, ignoring Kazuko’s words, “I don’t have practice today, and I don’t really wanna take the bus.”

             “You’re just gonna let him get away with that?!” Kazuko stared skeptically at the blonde.

             “What’s that? Do I hear a short-stack saying she doesn’t want a ride home?” Cin asked the air around him, cupping a hand over his ear. Kazuko growled darkly, but turned red and dropped the subject. She despised public transportation.  

             With that, the three friends walked outside into the snow, Mark not so much as shivering despite wearing only a sleeveless shirt. The school grounds were motionless, aside from a couple of students walking to their after-school programs; not many students had their own cars in the area, and most others had already left to their bus stops.

Usually, it was only Cin driving Kazuko home, but today, the three had the rare opportunity to head home, all three of them. The track coach had suddenly gotten ill enough to end up in the hospital, although all Mark had heard was that he had no practice, and thus looked forward to going home and helping his mother take care of his seven siblings.

             “God, I hate your car,” Kazuko sighed as the black machine came into view. She said that every single day, so neither boy did more than snicker as she opened the door, which responded with a loud creak, and climbed into the back, quickly followed by Mark. Cin climbed into the driver’s seat after wiping some of the frost off his windows with his sleeve, put his seat belt on, shoved the key into the ignition, and pulled out of his parking space.

             “So,” Cin murmured, tapping his steering wheel lightly. The silence was rather awkward, mostly because Mark was staring at the girl next to him like a lovesick puppy, rather than telling one of his usual stories. This seemed to snap the blonde out of his stupor, and he quickly searched his mind for something to properly break the silence with.

             “I got nothing,” Mark finally said, leaning back slightly. “Only interesting thing that happened recently is you getting caught sleep-”

             “I got accepted to MIT,” Kazuko blurted out.

             Mark almost choked on his own spit, and Cin had to keep himself from suddenly slamming on the breaks. The shocked silence made Kazuko’s face burn awkwardly.

             “You...You what?” Cin found his voice first.

             “I got the letter today. I applied for early action, and I got in,” Kazuko explained, looking out the window with a forced nonchalant expression.

             “Whoah!” Cin laughed, his reaction quickly converting to happiness. “Congrats! You always wanted to go there, right? I mean, I knew you had good grades and everything, but with early action, too? Wow.”

             “Mm,” Kazuko grunted, apparently fascinated by something passing by her window. There was an odd silence, and Cin quickly stole a glance at his rear-view mirror to see Mark’s face losing what little color it once had.

             “That... that’s great,” the blonde finally managed to say, forcing his words past a lump in his throat. “You... really deserve it. You’ve tried so hard, I mean... and they have the best engineering programs there, right?”

             “That’s all you have to say?” Kazuko asked, her voice slightly colder than the inside of the car. “That it’s ‘great’?”

             Mark swallowed again, and with a quick breath, forced a large smile onto his face.

             “Sorry, sorry! It’s... it’s amazing! You’re going to do so great there. Not like anyone can be SURPRISED or anything, I mean, you’ve been in those robot battles things, you’ve never gotten anything lower than an A on anything, your test scores are great, and you probably did awesome with that interview and everything!” He looked at the roof of the car, shaking his head slowly. “Oh, man, Massachusetts...”

             As he laughed in disbelief at the idea, Cin noticed Kazuko’s expression drop.

             “Yeah. Massachusetts...” she muttered to herself.

             “And the best part?” Mark leaned towards her with a smirk, as though he was telling her a secret. “There’s no way I can get in! You did it! You finally escaped me! You always said you’d sell an arm just to get at least a state away from me, and you did it,” He laughed at the thought, while Kazuko stayed perfectly silent.

             “We’re here,” Cin cut in, slowing to a stop. They were in front of a small house with a large yard littered with toys -- toys Mark’s siblings never bothered to pick up, and that his mother was too tired to pick up. Cin turned off the engine and opened the door, taking his friend’s slightly panicked expression to mean that he’d want to talk to him before entering his home.

             “Well, see you, Kazuko!” the blonde said, flashing a final smile towards the back of the girl’s head before climbing out of the car. His happy mask fell the moment he was out of her line of sight.

             “Thanks,” Mark muttered quietly to Cin. His green eyes peeked over to the car one more time, only to see the uncaring back of Kazuko’s head. He sighed, his eyes turning hopelessly to his feet, instead.

             “You can get in,” Cin blurted out instinctively, placing a hand on his taller friend’s shoulder. “You still have the interview-”

             “Cin, I’m a guy with low test scores and nothing too impressive extra-curricular-wise-”

             “You’re the star of the track team! MIT has track -- probably! Everyone has track! It has to be enough. I mean, you have a huge family to help take care of! There’s no way anyone could hold that against you-”

             “It’s me or someone like Kazuko-”

             “You practically wrote her essay for her. That’s a huge factor, and she got in.”

             “She could’ve written it herself-”

             “No. If she got in with your writing skills, so can you. Just be yourself during the interview, and you’ll be following her there, okay? Hell, I might even put some effort into getting into a community college there so I can stay near you guys,” Cin patted Mark’s arm firmly with reassurance, letting him know the subject was closed.

             “Maybe,” Mark sighed, looking back at the black car for a moment. He then turned to knock his forehead lightly against Cin’s -- a tradition the two had developed as a goodbye -- and walked to his front door. “See you.” With a weak smile, Mark stepped inside, the sound of laughing and shrieking siblings emanating from the doorway for the few seconds it remained opened.

             Cin shook his head. That poor guy. But there was only so much Cin could do. It was always such a problem when friends had feelings for each other and refused to discuss it directly.

             Cin walked back to his car and sat down in the driver’s seat, Kazuko already sitting shot-gun beside him. Her expression was a mixture of disappointment, anger, and pain. Cin knew to expect this, so all he did was smile sympathetically and start the engine.

             “So, want to get something to eat and talk about it?” he offered.

             “Yes,” she reluctantly admitted, choking back tears by biting down on her lower lip.

               Thirty minutes later, the two friends were sitting as a table at a pancake house with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of Kazuko, while nothing but a cup of coffee sat in front of Cin. The place was warm and cozy, so both had shed their jackets. Families littered the tables around them, excitedly chatting with their kids about their plans for the winter break. Within minutes, half of the pancakes in front of Kazuko were gone, and her hurt expression had been replaced by a purely angry one as she continued her rant.

             “And I mean, what is he thinking, anyway? ‘You finally escaped me’? He basically wrote my whole frikkin essay for me! He should be able to get in, too! But he’s just trying to find an excuse to get as far away from me as possible! I mean, what, is he just going to ditch the interview, too? The guy interviewing him’s only a few houses away, he could WALK-”

             “So, you still break into his locker?” Cin asked curiously, taking a calm sip of his coffee. There was no way for her to know the interviewer’s address unless she had broken into Mark’s locker to find it. Mark had a rule about talking about his applications and anything involving them, and that rule was to never talk about them, period.

             “Of course I still break into his locker!” she growled, though she lowered her voice as she did so. “I have to check to see if he wrote a new poem or not.”

             “You know, you might want to tell him that you love them?” Cin suggested. “Just a thought.”

             “I’m not an idiot,” she glared at him. “The second I tell him I even give the slightest damn-”

             “You can stop acting so defensive all the time and get married to him after college or something. I’ll be the best man, and probably your maid of honor, too, since I think I’m the girliest friend you have-”

             “Ha-frikkin-HA, Luna,” she glared at him, but his last comment had earned him a smirk. It faded quickly, however. “But seriously, you know he’s just kidding about all that stuff. He hits on girls all the time-”

             “No, he doesn’t,” Cin instantly defended his best friend. “Girls hit on HIM all the time. He’s the fastest runner on track, he writes poetry, and he’s not exactly bad looking, Kazuko. And yet, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. You know why? He only wants ONE girl, and he has since we were in the third grade.”

             Kazuko turned slightly red at this comment. Mark was open to constantly telling her how he felt, and he allowed Cin to remind her whenever the opportunity came up, too. Kazuko, however, never wanted to believe a word of it from either of them.

             “There’s just no reason for him to be serious,” she muttered, her tone finally shifting to disappointment. Cin sighed, glad that she was past her ‘anger’ phase and finally beginning to speak truthfully. “I mean, he could do better. I’m loud, I’m always so sarcastic, and I’m so fat...”

             “You’re not fat,” Cin rolled his eyes. “Especially not since you started running around every morning. Honestly, at some point, all that exercise’s got to be bad for you.”

             “Well, excuse me if for some of us, sleep just doesn’t seem to cut it,” she glared enviously in his direction before poking the remainder of her pancakes with a fork. “And you lift weights, you hypocrite! But seriously...why was he so happy when he heard? I kind of hoped he’d tell me not to go, that only preppy kids with loads of cash go there, or something.”

             “Maybe because you’ve been set on going there since you were...what, twelve?” Cin snickered a bit. “He IS glad that you’re going, he’s not going to lie about that. He wants you to be happy. What he’s disappointed about -- and he is disappointed -- is that he doesn’t know if he can get in, too.”

             “...He was disappointed?” despite her best efforts, the happiness in Kazuko’s tone shone through as she peeked up at Cin.

             “Oh yeah,” Cin was a little surprised she hadn’t noticed. “He went all pale. Sure, it’d be easier to tell with someone like me, but he turned white, the poor guy was so horrified. I mean, you’re going to MIT whether or not he gets in, right?” He looked at her, waiting for her to agree.

             The blush spreading further up her face was his answer.

             “Kazuko!” he stared skeptically at her, almost dropping his cup of coffee onto the table. “You can’t pass this up when you’ve spent your life getting the grades to get in there! It’s impossible to get in, much less for an engineering, and you did! Don’t you dare pass that up!”

             “But-”

             “Mark wouldn’t forgive you, either!”

             “But...” She weakened considerably at his last comment, but did her best to defend her logic. “I can keep track of him while I’m here! I can see which girls are talking to him and scare some off! But, but if we go to different colleges...” Her brown eyes locked onto the fork in her hand, but Cin knew from her expression that she was imagining Mark laughing his head off with some pretty girl that was thanking him for a poem he had written for her.

             “Kazuko,” Cin felt her jump a bit as he touched her hand, snapping her out of her stupor. She wasn’t the most touchy-feely person, but he decided to risk it. “That boy will jump through fire or ice for you. You’ll be able to see each other during breaks, and he’ll gladly wait for you.” He smiled at her. But after a moment’s thought, he added, “Well...” and he pulled his hand away. Kazuko’s eyes followed him, looking to his face as though her life depended on what he said next. “That is, if you tell him how you feel. And soon.”

             Kazuko looked back to her hand as though it hurt her to even consider such a possibility. Cin shook his head, watching her. She was so scared of showing any form of weakness, of letting anyone have the power to hurt her, and yet, she was just as terrified of letting anyone but herself have their hands on Mark.

             During their conversation, neither one of them noticed the waitress walking by, pausing every few moments to shake her head slightly, trying to keep her thoughts straight. Several people were already watching her, worried she was going to faint.

             Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and before Cin could even turn his head toward the source of the sound, he was pushed face-first into the table, just barely missing his coffee cup with his forehead. He felt a sharp, agonizing pain spreading throughout his back, originating in his left shoulder. His hand shot up to instinctively touch his shoulder, and within seconds, he started to feel a warm liquid dripping over his fingers as the air began to smell metallic.

             The waitress who had tripped started to scramble back to her feet beside their table, apologizing profusely, but ended up giving a loud shriek as she saw the tip of a knife embedded in Cin’s shoulder. She’d picked the knife up from the table behind them as she had been clearing it but had lost her footing due to another dizzy spell. Everyone in the diner froze, gaping in horror at the scene. There were several loud clanks as people dropped their cutlery, quickly followed by several hushed screams and the sound of smartphone cameras going off.

             “O...Ow...!” Cin grunted, awkwardly reaching behind himself and wrapping his fingers around the handle of the knife to yank it out, giving a loud hiss as it exited his body. The wound seemed to be relatively shallow, but blood was quickly gushing down the left side of his body, ruining his shirt and staining the chair.

             “H-Holy crap-! That could have pierced your lung-!” Kazuko cried, her voice barely audible with shock and fear constricting her throat.

“Yes, ow, I noticed,” Cin muttered through gritted teeth, trying to press his hand against the cut to slow the bleeding. “Kazuko, will you please ask the nice waitress if there’s a first aid kit or anything around here?” His eyes were shut tightly due to the pain, but he heard Kazuko’s chair move away and her run off despite the hysterical sobs from the waitress. Even if he bothered to open his eyes, his sunglasses had fallen off and his eyes were stringing with tears.

             What bothered Cin more than the pain and temporary blindness was the sheer fact that this had even happened in the first place, that he had been stabbed for the first time in his life, and by accident, no less. Sure, these things happened, probably, somewhere, to other people. But here? To him, of all people? And today?

             As much as he’d been trying to ignore his feelings, Cin was definitely beginning to panic, now. This whole day had been strange and wrong, not just this current moment. He had woken up, only to step on a mirror by his bed; he couldn’t even remember how it had gotten into his room, much less onto his floor. He had lost track of the time and ended up late for school for the first time in his entire life. He had forgotten his homework, gotten caught sleeping in class, was pushed into a locker, and now he had almost been killed by a tripping waitress. Normal people would have called this a bad day, probably, but for Cin, this was different. This was wrong.

             Cin was lucky. He had always, as long as he had lived, been lucky. Even as a child, he had never so much as scraped a knee, gotten a paper cut, or been hit by a ball. He had never forgotten homework -- it had always been in his backpack if he went to look for it when it was time to hand it in. He had always woken up from his daydreams at just the right moment to get anywhere on time. He had always ended up right outside of the area if something bad were to happen. This day was wrong, and getting stabbed was the final shred of proof he needed to stop all this denial.