It was a horrible day in the castle, per usual.
This castle of sorts was not as fancy as Castle Oblivion - albeit, it was white.
So noted Xiryi, as she was led (or rather, dragged) towards the looming building.
She barely noticed what Exophis was saying – she could just figure out the finer details later.
Fantastic. I seem to have been recruited into a Organization. I'm currently being dragged to the castle in which this 'Organization' currently lives.
I have no idea what the hell I'm doing here.
So thought Xiryi, rather dazedly being dragged into Exophis' office ( Or so it appeared )
Xiryi contemplated escaping while she still had her sanity, as she flopped into a chair, gracefully missed and landed stylishly on the floor.
She discarded the idea, as she picked herself up and this time succeeded in hitting the seat. She needed a place to stay, and something to actually live – or non-live- for.
Xiryi glared at the walls.
She could swear she had heard someone giggling.
“Now then, Xiryi....”
Exophis' voice dragged Xiryi back to the land of Cruel Reality, as her grey eyes switched from the rather bland wall pattern to Exophis.
She waited patiently.
As did Exophis.
Seeming to realize something, Exophis coughed a little, before beginning to speak again. “I've looked over some records -” Xiryi raised a eyebrow.
Records?
Ignoring Xiryi's reaction, Exophis continued without pause “ and you seem to have been working as a mercenary, of sorts. I've also looked at your fighting style, and its apparent-” And so continued Exophis, as Xiryi turned her attention back to the wall. It was all stuff she knew, anyway.
“- I think we'd have to work on you not attacking the other members-”
I wonder what the food is like here?
“ - hearts, darkness, blahblahblah, fangirls, youaren'tevenpayingattention, HEARTS-”
“ For the love of all that is unholy and heartless, GET ON WITH IT!” Xiryi finally snapped in exasperation.
Exophis looked a little insulted, before finishing with
“As such, I believe your qualities would best be used in having you work as a World Hunter, naturally, however, you'd have to go to three worlds to preform a few activities that would be necessary for you to prove yourself, but it should be fine, with your abilities.”
Xiryi stared at the wall long and hard.
“What?!”


As such, Xiryi learnt of the type of worlds she must scout out, and to spare you the horrible, badly written and yawn-worthy description of her reaction, i'll skip ahead to the pacing, muttering, plotting and angsting just before she leaves.

“Oh freakin' fantastic.” Xiryi muttered darkly, stalking around the clearing Exophis had brightly pointed her out to. “World with kind morons, world with morons in love and a world with fast morons. WHAT THE FREAKIN' HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?”
Five points for the suicidal tone in those sentences.
She paused, and glanced at Stephiroth, whom had resumed perching on her shoulder “ You wouldn't happen to know a sane world with all three of those kinds?” She said hopefully.
Stephiroth squawked something that sounded like a negative.
Xiryi shook her head in disgust.
And then she considered exactly how she did this teleport in a poof of darkness.
She thought over a few options.
“Er... Teleport?” She muttered into the air. Nothing.
“Dark zap? Um, Heartless Poof? Nobody Teleport?”
Nothing.
By this point, Xiryi was feeling very, very moronic.
“Up up and.... away?”
*POOF*
Oh, for gods sake. Xiryi thought as she was teleported to a seemingly normal world, on the top of a hill with a sweeping view of a small, rainy town. It was as ordinary as could be – a small high school, a scattering of shops, and a lot, and I mean a lot, of rain.
Which of course meant that one 'unusually' beautiful girl was going to fall in love with some mythical creature which would run away because he was TOOO DANGEROUS for her and then she'd hook up with ANOTHER mythical creature and then the first one would come back and they'd all fight over her.
In other words, it was your usual, plain town in the middle of nowhere.

A few hours – and several detours – later, Xiryi finally found the supposed high school – which of course, the main girl would be attending and making the entire male population fall in love with her on sight.
Xiryi considered the best option and then decided to just walk in.
Five seconds later, she stumbled into the cafeteria.
“Mother darkness, strike me where I stand.” She muttered, as she surveyed the scene before her.
The obvious cluster of attention was on a slender, pale girl with dark hair.
She was clearly the main character Xiryi had detected earlier.
A little ways away was a group on a table that no one went near.
They were all pasty little buggers and looked like they had stolen about five tonnes of eyeliner and were quickly depleting their store.
They one with bronze-ish hair -obviously dyed- was staring stalkishly at the girl, looking as he was about to make her his snack.
Ew. Forget that.
At that moment, the girl glanced over to the table, met his eyes and then turned away, blushing.
Dear lord.
Xiryi turned and fled the hellish high school, attempting to escape the badly written characters and personality faults.


Xiryi stayed a safe distance away, observing the high school.
For god sake.... are the kids here morons?
So thought Xiryi, as it took her about twelve seconds to realize that the 'Cullens' were, in fact, vampires. And that Bella was severely retarded, but that is another story.
Xiryi, being Xiryi, was the point on going insane.
She glanced at her notes.
Find a world with fast inhabitants:
Race the fastest and win, on fair means or other
Result: To create fast Heartless that can literally act on their feet

The bronze haired one looked likely.
Without further ado, Xiryi strode up to him and smacked him on the back.
He whirled around, striking a pose worthy of any decent male magazine as he did so.
He frowned, looking around. “ Down here.” Xiryi said helpfully. He glanced down.
He blinked.
“ Oh Edward!” Bella swooned, throwing herself several feet forward. Xiryi helpfully stuck out her ankle casually, sending the young and somewhat moronic teenager into the dirt.
“Bella!” Edward sprung to her aid, catching her dramatically.
Then he turned and growled – yes, growled – at Xiryi.
Xiryi raised her eyebrow, and patted Stephiroth.
“What do you want?” He snarled, looking the entire role of a predator.
Xiryi wondered how they'd passed as humans till' now.
“A race.” She inspected her nails. Despite her calm demeanor, she was going to crack any moment.
Edward paused, and looked at Xiryi liked she was a maniac. “ What?”
“Nooooo Edward! I can't live without you!” Bella wailed whilst clinging to a somewhat bemused Jacob.
“Bella!”
“Edward!”
“Bella!”
“Edwa-” At this point Xiryi had rather masterfully tripped her up again.
“Race, sparkles?” She prompted. Edward stared at her like she was crazy... yet again.
Which, being Xiryi, wasn't that far off the mark.
“You....know?” He said in a deadly quiet sort of voice.
“Only a moron wouldn't. Its freakin' obvious, actually. The whole hiking trips whenever it's sunny, the whole GRR IMMA SCARY GUY thing, the smell.... pretty much everything. And you know, the fact you occasionally forget to BREATHE. Those were certain clues that by deduction, I discovered whom and what you are – in a matter of seconds.” Xiryi pointed at.
Edward stared.
“Race?” Xiryi said pleasantly.


As I, the author, skip over more boring description, and skip ahead to the quickly prepared
and somewhat surprised race against sparkly, A.K.A Edward , in which Xiryi had to be restrained from permanently 'taking care' of Bella Swan.

Xiryi had suggest Bella's hand as the prize – as in the actually hand.
Sparkly had disagreed, much to Xiryi's disappointment.
After finally agreeing on a prize for the victor ( A rather interesting but sharp piece of crystal that Xiryi had 'found') they lined up, Edward smirking and striking poses as well as throwing meaningful looks at Bella, whom was clawing at the air and molesting Jacob.
Poor boy.
Emmet ( Whom had happened to wander onto the scene) called out the start.
The ending point was a tree about a mile away.
Now Xiryi wasn't exactly the slowest person in the world ( At least, not this one, courtesy of Bella Swan) but she really didn't have a chance racing against a vampire.
Well, she didn't intend to win that way, after all.
After Sparkly was nearly there, and Xiryi had gotten about quarter way, she paused, throwing her arm up dramatically.
“GO AFTER THE SUE, STEPHIROTH!” She screeched, as she resumed a rather slower sprint. Stephiroth leapt off of a tree in which she had been roosting, and flew shrieking at Bella Swan, who uttered a girlish shriek and screamed “ EDWAAAAAAAARD! SAVE MEEEE~!!” And proceeded to trip over her own feet.
Four times.
Xiryi doubled back, whistling somewhat more cheerfully ( If emotion was possible for nobodies. We've heard the pitch) lifting her arm on which Stephiroth settled upon, smug after her success at distracting Edward.
Xiryi then proceeded to knock poor Jacob unconscious, for he was the one holding the trophy. It wasn't his fault, really, for falling in love with a moron. And she rather thought wolves were cuddly.
After leaving the scene of pathetic-ness of the vampiric Beauty and the Moron, Xiryi succeeded in opening a dark portal of heartlessness, darkness, good lord, something. Use your imaginations, people.
“Really, how did nobody get that Bella Swan is literally Beautiful Swan?” She muttered to herself, stepping into the portal with a * poof *

TASOGARE SEKAI
POINT BLANK
The weaves of time flow through alternative universes, like a river rushing and splashing through a mountainous forest. Each spec of water would represent another realm, another universe within the space and time continuum we’ve all come to understand as life. Beyond the understanding of planetary existence, and beyond the idea of conceivable travel, these alternate realities continue to mimic similarities to our own reality. What we fail to understand continually is how to gain entry to another realm, another aspect of quantum science well above our own level of thinking.
Yet there is one answer to every question and an equal and opposite reaction to every step outside your own house. We present in a popular form, the idea that we are not alone and yet we are so alone in the same aspect. We question how this could be as space travel goes further, nanotechnology pushes medical boundaries and we plan to populate the moon.
Our own ‘realm’ or ‘planet’ has several different names across every language and every dialect of each language even. So why is it that these alternate realities push portals and doorways, black holes and entry ways into our concurrent existence without the ability for us to contact them back?
It’s simple: we do not have the technological understanding or fantastical realm of knowledge many of these alternative spans of time have. One in particular that mimics our own way of life, one ‘realm’ in particular – “Tasogare Sekai” has broken the boundaries and entered into our own existence.
This is their story, from the beginning POINT BLANK.

There is always a point in time you wish you could just be someplace else, experience another space or time, another place entirely besides good old EARTH. So you can escape from reality per se and de-stress from the trappings of daily life. A place in your heart you know exists and you feel it tugging on your heart strings so much you can’t bear to not imagine what it is like. You question to your self if this is paradise, imagination or just childish impulses. People around you stop to stare as you almost feel as if your creative juices are something more – something powering you from the outside.

“The Rhetor wished for magic and so the magic was. The Rhetor spake that the magic was for all, the Humans, the Elves, the Dwarves, the Faerie and all living creatures, and so the magic was. But the selfish Faerie, greedy Elves and cunning Dwarves took all the magic, sealing it to themselves before the Humans could have any. Their selfish ways left us crippled, but we did not complain. We discovered science, and art, and literature, excelling above them in all things. With their magic, they grew lazy and foolish and Pharos fell into chaos. The Rhetor spake that this was wrong, sending his word with a deathly fire that poured from the sky to the North, and to the East. The Dwarves of the West were spared for they had not become lazy, but fear drew them from the air and to the land beneath. The Faeries all perished, their selfishness crushed, and the few Elfin survivors withdrew to their mountain lairs…”

The teacher droned on, reciting the old tales from the True Pharotain Scriptures that every living human knew by heart anyway. It was a pleasant summer’s day, the windows of the classroom thrown wide allowing a breeze to dance enchantingly through the room, stirring papers, shifting hairs, and slowly lulling the class to sleep.

Ella sat in her front row seat, staring at the teacher with what seemed to be complete focus. Her mind, however, was with the upcoming enlistments. This annual event was approaching – could it only be 5 months? – And this time, it was her, her brothers, and her friends turn. They would be sent away to battle, to war, to fight for the honor of their race.
The tone of the teacher’s voice changed, and she focused back on the teacher – he had left behind the old fables and reached the bit that interested her.

“… and the day came that the Elves returned from their hide-outs, and for the first time in centauries the Humans gazed upon them. They were disfigured creatures, beastly and stupid, not beautiful or elegant as the fables had told. And so the Humans knew they would have to care for these creatures, save them from their sins and selves, but they did not want our care. They fought us with fire and rocks and magic, cruel, stinging magic that grated like gravel, and they did not cease in their attacks. The war began 100 years ago and still continues today. It is a war for freedom, for peace, for beauty. We, as guardians of the Rhetor’s word, must free Pharo of the Elvish blight.”

The teacher snapped his book closed, the noise shocking a few of the drowsier students awake.

“That is the future of all of you. Fighting for our land, our magic, our freedom. You are the next generation, and soon, it will be your turn to attack and defend, to lead and to follow. In 5 months, you will graduate from this school and enlist in the Army, and bid this town farewell.”

He grinned affectionately at the class.

“Now, I’m sick of all your ugly mugs. Scram!”

CHAPTER 3





It was sometime later that she woke up, in the same
position that she’d arrived in her room with. Crinkling her nose in disdain
when she realised she was still in her school uniform, she picked herself up
off of the floor and promptly changed, grateful to slip into something a little
more comfortable. She knew she’d already missed dinner, as Ana was nowhere to
be seen, a telltale sign. That girl’d give her left arm for something warm and
unhealthy. Sabine had merely bent down, grabbed her violin case and then took
her leave, disappearing off to the Music block. Now that she’d fallen asleep
all evening, the least she could do was to rehearse.





Practicing was something that occurred mechanically to
her. Every night after dinner, she’d make this walk over to the same building,
hide herself in the same practice room and play piece after piece that she’d
been studying until the indents in her fingers from pressing down the strings
to the fret board wouldn’t disappear. The reason why she spent so long in the
dim room night after night wasn’t really because she got engrossed in it- no,
that wasn’t it at all.





It was to attempt to achieve perfection. Wasn’t that
what every musician wanted to attain? The perfect sound? She had been chasing
it since she had first picked up the violin when she was a child, her parents
encouraging. Too encouraging. Born in
Suffolk, England, she had been the only
child to her two parents- her mother whom had been a world-famous violist when
she’d been younger. Naturally, on their sole offspring, the pressure to follow
in her footsteps and develop a musical talent was heavy, and sooner rather than
later, Sabine had found herself enrolled at the College, hiding in this
practice room every night.





Violin, to her, was a competition. A continual competition,
at that. She practiced religiously, concentrated hard during her specialist
lessons during the week, but never had she picked up the instrument with the
intention to enjoy what she was playing- only with the want to become better
than the rest, to attain the perfect tone.





With a sigh, her fingers curled around the neck of the
violin and she brought it down from her chin, finding it hard to concentrate on
her practice tonight. Her mind kept wandering although her eyes never moved
from the music, and it was proving to be most difficult to keep her technique
on track. Sitting down in one of the luxurious dark brown suede chairs in the
room, a quiet sigh escaped her lips as she stared at the opposite wall, the
colour of the rich wood complimenting the low light.





She’d been here for what- an hour, and her mind was
already beginning to go off track? Perhaps she should just take an off-day;
after all, it had been a rather strange afternoon and evening, and maybe her
brainpower would be better devoted to finishing off some of the outstanding
classwork that she had yet to do. The College was, of course, primarily a
musical institute, but since it had developed into an international boarding
school, the call for a well-rounded education had been heard and included,
forcing the students that enrolled there to take a variety of ‘normal’ classes
as well as musical initiatives.





Slowly picking herself up from the comfortable chair,
Sabine moved over to where she had unpacked her violin case on the piano and
began dismantling the instrument, putting away the bow and headrest carefully
before slotting the violin itself into the correct space. Zipping up the case
with nimble fingers, she reached over and grabbed her music folder off of the
stand she’d been using before picking up her violin and letting herself out of
the practice room, flipping the light switch off as she went.





Peering down the hallway of practice rooms (one
hallway of many), she could still see some of them had their lights on,
obviously indicating that there were still students playing inside them. Checking
her watch absently (9.35, nearly time for curfew), Sabine paused for a moment
before walking the opposite way down the corridor, heading towards the exit.





The sounds that she passed were pretty usual ones-
some of which carried the signatures of particular students at the school, and
so were easy to recognize. She could pick out a third-year’s piano playing,
some tall boy with light hair that she didn’t know the name of; a first-year’s
clarinet practice, who she thought
their name was Miu, but she couldn’t really remember.





Almost at the end of the corridor, Sabine stopped.





There was an unfamiliar voice in the chorus tonight,
one that she had never heard before- but there was something odd about it. It
was entrancing, entangling her into the music and rooting her to the spot as if
she were forbidden to move. Curious, she took a few steps over to the practice
room she assumed it was coming from and peered in through the glass panel on
the door, having to step on tip-toes to see.





There was some guy hunched over a cello inside, facing
away from her so it was hard to make out who he was. The neck of the cello was
tilted towards the door though, and as the bow flew across the strings, Sabine
could see long fingers darting up and down it, striking every note with a
precision that made her envious. She herself wasn’t a bad violinist- not in the
least. Judges often told her that her performance lacked a certain something,
the same something she had been chasing just as fervently as the perfect sound,
but that hadn’t stopped her from being ranked nationally on the instrument.





Before she had departed England to come to the Japanese
school, she had placed fourth in a national recital, her parents more ecstatic
for her achievement than she had been- but it was always that way. But, now, as
she stood here, hearing this music… there was something about the way this boy played, something that made her almost
tremble on the inside, as if she were physically connected to the notes
resounding off of the strings.





And then, she realised- this music had exactly what
she lacked. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew it was something
intangible, something abstract but most definitely there. For the first time in however long she could remember, her
eyes slipped closed as she just listened, appreciating the music for what it
was and allowing the deep, breathy tones of the cello to wash over her like a
wave.





Soon, too soon, the song ended and she found herself staring
through her glasses into the room again, the musician inside just sitting
frozen as if he were deep in thought. Eyes drifting across the room for some
clue as to whom this was, her sights set on a very familiar music case that was propped up in one corner, and her
breath hitched in her throat.





Jacques. He was this good?





Staring for just a fraction too long, the French
student inside the room turned and glanced towards the door, only to see a pair
of green eyes looking back at him- and Sabine took that as her cue to dart off.





It seemed as if there was a lot more to the teen than
she had first thought.





--





The night had passed quickly after that. She’d
immediately returned to her dorms, in more of a hurry than she intended and
then had half-heartedly completed some homework before finally crashing. Ana
had already been in a deep sleep when she’d come in, snoozing peacefully over
various theory books on her bed, so she’d been quiet. Tomorrow was another day,
right?





Well, sort of.





The next morning, her alarm hadn’t gone off and she’d
found that she’d overslept as she turned over in bed, fixing her eyes on the
bright red numbers of alarm clocks.





Crap.





Bleary-eyed, she stumbled out of bed and ventured into
the ensuite to brush her teeth and make herself look presentable, and then
somehow she fell into her uniform and wandered out the door. Ana had already gone
by the time she’d managed to get herself ready, leaving a note on her bedside
lamp saying ‘you looked like you needed
the extra forty winks- sorry, Sab!’





Grabbing the note off of the lamp and scrunching it up
into a ball in her hand, she aimed for the waste-paper bin on the other side of
the room but missed miserably. Okay, so hand-eye coordination hadn't always
been her thing, but--





Oh, no. Today... today wasn't Tuesday, was it?





She had assembly, and she was late?!





Oh, she was going to murder Ana when she got back from this!





--





Eli and Jia were sitting next to each other, flanked
by Innes and Ana on either side, all of whom were whispering a lot louder than
was probably allowed for an assembly above all things. However, no-one seemed
to be paying much attention to the man up the front of the stage whom was
trying to shut everybody up and instead kept talking- in other words, kept
doing the thing that teenagers were best at.





Slouched in his seat so far that he almost looked like
he was lying down, Eli faked a massive yawn and then turned his head to glance
up at Innes, whom looked equally bored.





"Oi, have you seen four-eyes this morning?"





A surprised expression briefly flickered across Innes'
face as he realised that something other that total boredom was actually
happening to him and then he shook his head, light brown hair swaying from side
to side. "Nope. How would I know, anyway? She's in your dorm, jeez."





"Well, I'm not in her room with her- actually,
Ana?"





The cherub-looking girl that was sitting to Jia's left
scrunched up her fists in her school skirt and tried not to look guilty,
staring down at her impeccably polished shoes as if she were trying to avoid
the question.





"I... left her asleep in the dorms. She's been so
tired lately, and I didn't really feel right about waking her up... I didn't
think that she was going to be this late--"





"Morning, all." A new voice came darkly from
above them, and all heads in the row turned to see a bed-ruffled Sabine dump
herself in a seat next to Ana. Her hair was sticking up at odd angles, as she
hadn't had enough time to brush it properly, her glasses were slightly askew,
and there was still some sleep in the corners of her eyes. Eli whistled at her
appearance and Jia promptly jabbed him in the ribs.





"Rrrreow, someone had a rough night last ni--
ouch, CHRIST, could you stop doing that?! I still have a bruise from last
night!"





"You keep deserving it, so no. Anyway, I think
I've done it so often now that it's become something of a reflex action."
Jia replied curtly, crossing her arms and looking upwards towards the stage, as
if she hoped that they were going to start sometime soon. "Oh, speaking
about last night- what happened to that French kid? Is he here or did
knucklehead scare him off at dinner?"





Sabine glanced up at the mention of Jacques, looking a
bit worried at what she'd heard. Of course, she'd missed dinner last night,
and-- oh god, what had Eli done? Turning to Ana, she attempted to prod the
information out. "What? What happened?"





"I don't know," The blonde replied, still
tinged a little red from the guilt that she'd let her room-mate oversleep.
"I wasn't sitting with them last night. I did see Jacques come into
assembly today, though- he's sitting somewhere near the back, I think?"





"Ah. Right." Sabine replied shortly, still
attempting to smooth her hair down. "Jia, what did Eli do to
Jacques?"





The teen in question rolled his eyes at the
conversation, shaking his head. "You make it sound like I assaulted the
poor guy. You have to know, I'm very choosy with who I touch
inappropriately--"





"He was just being a pain and attempting to speak
French, if that's what you can call it," Jia said drily, not caring that
she was talking over her indignant friend. Looking down towards the slouched
Eli, she shot him a look that said 'if-you-don't-shut-up-I'll-elbow-you-again'
and he promptly stopped talking. "Asking for him to pass 'le salt', and when
Jacques got confused, he started talking about 'le bridges' and 'le school
spirit'."





"Eli!" Sabine cried, causing a couple of the
students in front of her to turn and give her odd looks, to which she quickly
responded by lowering the sound of her voice. "I mean. Eli, that's
horrible!"





"What's wrong with you people and your lack of
love for building relationships between our beautiful countries?!" He
asked, mock-indignance making him sound so comical that Innes was grinning to
himself and Jia was rolling her eyes. "And you all call yourselves
patriots! Bah, humbug."





Luckily, his little 'countries, nations and the
loyalties that come with them' speech was interrupted by the microphone up
front feeding back, causing a screech that made at least three-quarters of the
student body cover their ears with their hands.





"Ahem-- testing, one two-" The voice over
the speakers sounded as a mumble of annoyance spread through the student body
like a wave. "Ah, yes, it appears to be working now. Okay, everybody--
hush please, yes, especially you in the second row. I can see you."





A man was standing at the podium center stage now, a
reasonably tall one with an elegant face for his age- perhaps mid-forties?- and
horn-rimmed glasses sitting on his nose that he peered through to seek out
people whom had not yet stopped talking. He was, of course, the head of the
College, the person that had been chosen by the Government to head the school
due to his impressive record in both teaching, and the musical field.





He was of Japanese birth, though he wasn't from one of
the more famous cities- instead from one of the less populated towns in the
northern part of Honshu- though it only made sense for a College in Japan to be
run by one of their people, regardless of whether it was an international
ordeal or not.





"Here we are again, as of every Tuesday!" He
began, no hint of a smile on his face to match the emotion of his words as he
scanned the student body beneath him slowly. "Today's assembly is going to
be fairly short as we only have one or two presentations to make. However, I'd
ask you all to pay special attention to the notices at the end, as they concern
all of you. Thank you. I'll now turn over the microphone to
Yoshiyama-sensei..."





Sabine almost followed suit as she heard a bored groan
emit from Eli, two seats away from her. Assembly was something she always
hated. They were boring, routine, and their only saving point was the fact that
they often got to listen to items from students of various year levels at each
one- though, they were short and not plentiful enough to replace what had been
lost through the excruciating event.





Luckily, the principal had been, in fact, telling the
truth when he said that the assembly was short and less than half-an-hour
afterwards, they found it winding down as the teacher that read out the notices
to the school approached the podium at leisure.





Wait- she hadn't seen this teacher before. Who was he?





"Thankyou," A deep voice rang out, echoing
musically around the hall. "Now, for the notices. I'd like to announce the
upcoming ICMC- or, in other words, the International Chamber Music Competition.
I'm sure you've all heard about this prestigious event, which is open to people
of thirteen to eighteen and held over in Europe
near the end of the year. Our school is always very eager to encourage our
students to enter in for this competition, so if there is any part of you that
is curious about it, please come to Music Hall #2 at lunchtime for a further
briefing."





Sabine sort of drifted away after that, as the new
teacher began to start one of those motivational and inspirational rants that
never really dwelled well with her, but also because she was considering what
he'd just said. The dreaded ICMC- oh, she knew it well.





She’d never actually entered it before, though a
couple of her friends had. The reason? She wasn’t sure she was going to win,
and if she wasn’t certain of that, there was no point entering. Why go in for
something with the assured knowledge that you’re going to fail, especially if
it’s going to reflect upon you and your career as a musician when countless
people are there to witness it?

As we pile my belongings into the car, it’s clear that ‘Rai’ is finding it hard not to cry. For years, he’s been trying to stop my father from killing me, or disowning me, or locking me away in the basement; and now the day’s come where even I want to get out of here. I wonder if he feels guilty for not doing more to keep me here? He’s almost as bad as Malphas is with Asta’.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Mum looks at me worriedly.
“Don’t worry, Amy, he’ll be just fine,” Dad doesn’t seem particularly concerned. “The driver knows the route, and when Nab’s at the base of the mountains, he’s going to be handed over to the mage-doctors. Apparently they have a van for their clinic.” ‘Rai’s hands slip protectively onto my shoulders, and he whispers a quick comment into my ear.
“If anything bad happens, just use their phone and give me a call,” He’s probably not the best person to be relying on, but it’s better than nothing… I guess.
“Have you got everything, Nab’?” Mum smiles at me insincerely, her crimson eyes glazed over. I don’t think she cares too much that I’m leaving. She’s probably reminiscing about something… Maybe her glory days. Maybe my real father? I wish I could get inside her head.
“Yeah, mum,” Sloughing a backpack over my shoulder, I slip through the open door of the car.
“I’m going to miss you, Nab’,” She sounds slightly more sincere this time, and her smile is less false. Dad takes up her uncaring mantle, however, and grunts impatiently.
“Yes, I’ll miss you too,” He checks his watch, and then allows his gaze to wander around our garden, up the driveway, and land on the road. Yes, dad, I will be going soon, don’t worry.
“Make sure you keep in touch,” ‘Rai’ leans into the car and gives me a hug. For once, his touchy-feely approach doesn’t bother me. “I’ll see you, bro’.” He doesn’t need to say that he’s going to be upset while I’m gone—for the two of us, it goes without saying. Releasing me, he leans back, and slams the door, flicking his fringe out of his eyes. I’ve always told him he should cut it back. Maybe, when I return, he will have. Maybe…

The car lurches down the driveway abruptly, leaving me no more time to say goodbye. ‘Rai’ smiles as I’m hauled off down the driveway, neither of my parents doing anything to indicate that they’re sad, or happy, or relieved. As I’m just about to disappear through the gates, mum gives the slightest of waves, before falling into ‘Rai’s arms, finally showing some emotion. I think I’ve gone eighteen years without seeing anything like it. After a few minutes of staring back at my disappearing house, I turn my attention to the driver. It’s a snake, with scaled skin and slit-pupils. His eyes gleam a bright yellow. Dad’s assistant. I don’t know why I didn’t notice sooner. He takes the slightest moment to glance at me through the mirror, as though he can feel me watching.
“How long will the journey take?” I start up a conversation to shake my nerves. The snake—damn, why can’t I remember his name?--taps skeletal fingers against the steering wheel.
“About three hours.” We reach a set of lights. I glance out at the city around us: Moonsol, a sprawling metropolis which the government calls home. We’re still on the northern side, but I know we’ll be passing through downtown to get out into the country. I’ve always wanted to see downtown. We talk about it sometimes in school. Apparently, its so filthy, that once you’ve seen it uptown seems like paradise. When mum was a teenager, she used to visit there a lot, so I think that the girls were probably exaggerating: but who knows?
“When will we be going downtown?” We’re still in familiar territory at the moment. My school drifts by the window—a vast field, leading onto pristine white buildings with deep blue signage. It seems empty, now that summer’s set down on it. There’s no-one playing on the field, and the junior school’s playground is barren. Almost a pity—I would’ve liked to see people there in my final moments with it. Running about, in that black uniform… I hated wearing it, but so many of the girls there suited it. I enjoyed seeing them in the tight-fitting blazers, dashing between buildings to make their classes. I somehow doubt Buer will have girls like school did.

Buer… I think I’m starting to dread it now. The mountain range I’m being sentenced to for my awakening. It’s remote. I hear they’ve got some nice hot springs there, maybe I’ll be able to visit them a few times? Oh, who’m I kidding, I’ll probably end up too out of it during half-time to even think of stopping over. It’s kind of a shame. I’ve always wanted to try wearing swim shorts.

Who knows, anyway? Maybe I’ll end up being some kind of bird hybrid. Then my half-time’ll be twice as long, and I won’t be able to go swimming with them. Malphas always complains about his wings. They get sodden in the rain, and they take forever to dry out… That said, you’ll never catch him complaining about flying. Asta’ and I both find it more than slightly annoying that he lords over us because he can fly, but not nearly as much as ‘Rai’ does. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Rai’ and Malphas are friends, but what with ‘Rai’s failed attempts at wind-riding, he’s pretty sensitive on the subject. Hopefully, by the time I return, ‘Rai’ll be able to wind-ride like dad does.
“Downtown?” The snake’s sudden reply after thinking for so long startles me. “It’ll be about ten minutes.” He tries to smile at me, but his fangs ruin the effect. Just another thing to dislike about snakes: those teeth. I know dogs and cats have similar canines, but coupled with those unfriendly scales, they’re unnerving. Dogs and cats have the fur going for them, at least. Back in school, we had this one girl who went tiger after her awakening, and we all managed to get over her nasty bite for the sole reason that we could pet her. Snakes? They’re not so nice to the touch.
As we drive, the scenery gets duller and duller, losing its sheen and slowly becoming slummy. After about ten minutes, we’re in a district full of neon lights and refuse, with hybrids running everywhere. There’s not a hint of pure blood. As we pull up to turn a corner, I spot a man with red-black streaked hair strutting down the street, two girls hung off him. I watch him for a few seconds. His hair makes him look like some desperate hybrid, trying to pull off an elemental look, but… Hm, I can’t see any animal traits, let alone plant ones. Maybe he really is fire? He glances in my direction, and I realize he has golden eyes. Geez, what is he?
Downtown really is exotic. I wish I could’ve come here earlier. Maybe someday, once I’ve done half-time, I’ll be back to take a proper look around. I bet guys like red-streaks are common around here. Gazing out the window for a while longer, I see the dust and grime slowly transition into corn fields and houses. We’re leaving the city. As the houses become more scarce, the fields begin to transition into plains full of livestock, with the odd demon mixed among them. It reminds me of the time my family went overseas to visit the battlefields. Apparently, my father being there would give the troops morale. On the way to the desert, we drove through immeasurably beautiful countryside, and past vast lakes and beachside towns. Since we reclaimed those territories from the humans, they’ve become popular tourist hot-spots—and for good reason. I’m almost ashamed to admit I’ve never noticed similar beauty in my own hometown.
As we keep driving, my eyes begin to close, as I’m overcome by tiredness. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, and now we’ve passed through downtown… I’ve really got nothing to stay awake for. My eyelids flutter close, and for a few hours, I rest.

During my sleep, I start off dreaming: of Asta’, and ‘Rai’, and seeing them when I return. But soon, the dreams turn into nightmares… of the world on fire, and a dark winged figure stepping through the flames to meet me. And the figure has a similar silhouette to Malphas.

When I wake up, we’re at the base of the mountains. The snake is placing my suitcases in a nearby van, and talking to its driver: a young owl demon, with flecks of white and blonde through his mousey-brown hair. I open the door of the car, and slip out, yawning loudly. My pant legs trail in the dirt, and twice I almost fall over them. As I reach the van, the owl tilts his hat and smiles at me.
“So, you must be Naberius,” Now I’m not so far away, I can see that he’s only a year or two older than I am—about twenty, maybe twenty one?
“Yeah,” He seems like an amiable guy. “And you are?” He folds his arms, and flicks open one of his wings.
“My name’s Andras. I work up at the clinic,” He extends a hand to me. “Pleased to meet you, Nab’. Can I call you that?” I nod.
“It’s a bit less of a mouthful,” He looks a little embarrassed by his admission. Turning to the snake, he folds in the wing. “So, you’re heading back now?”
“Yes,” Snake-man walks back to the car, and gives me a half-hearted wave. “Goodbye, Naberius. I will tell Caim that you have arrived safely.” Like dad’s going to care…
“Cool, see you later!” Andras responds with a wave of his own, but his is noticeably more sincere. The snake sits down in the driver’s seat, and reverses out of his car-park, before driving off down the path, disappearing into a thicket of trees. Andras breathes a sigh of relief. “He was making me anxious. Damn, I don’t like snakes.” Slamming the boot of the van, he leads me towards the front. As he walks, I notice that the wing he was flaring before is his only wing.
“Your wings—“
“I was wondering when you’d notice,” He takes my surprise in his stride, swinging himself up into the front seat, and motioning for me to walk around and sit on the passenger side. “It’s kind of a long story.” As I get in, he shuts his door and pushes the seat back away, doing up the flier belt. Passing the buckle over his lap, and then slotting up the miniature back, his movements are quick and precise. Without looking, he pulls out the second belt and pulls it around his waist, into the mini-back, before clicking in the lap belt. I don’t know how birds get used to those weird set-ups. They have to pull out custom car-seats, buy completely different clothes to everyone else… For Andras, it’s probably not even a worthwhile effort, considering he wouldn’t be able to fly with that one wing.
“Basically, I used to be part of the undying war,” As he starts up the car, Andras taps his fingers rhythmically against the steering wheel, making a little bit of a face. “One time, my unit got sent out to some tiny country town to get rid of a weapons stash. The rest of the guys got killed on sight, and they took me hostage for a while. Ransomed the army and said they’d kill me if they didn’t get their hands on our new exoskeleton tech.” Pulling out of our car-park, he begins to drive out of the clearing, and onto the main road. The forests at the bottom of the mountains have a lot of rest stops like that.
“’Course, we would’ve been stupid to give it to them, so they cut off one of my wings. Another unit came in to rescue me, but by the time they had I wasn’t really fit to serve any more,” I feel kind of bad for him, but he doesn’t seem to want sympathy for what happened. Birds… Because of their lightweight bodies, they tend to be more of a liability than anything if you stop them from using their wings. They’re built for speed, but nothing much else—except for some of the nocturnal birds, who end up with night vision. Depending on whether Andras is a hybrid or not, he might still have that little blessing: I kind of doubt it though, he’d be wearing sunglasses if he was entirely nocturnal. “My cousin took me in after that, and let me work here. If there’s anything I picked up in the army, it’s how to drive.” Revving the engine, he speeds up abruptly, and then slows back down.
“So you’re just the errand boy around here?”
“Basically,” Twisting a sharp corner, we begin to ascend the steep road up the mountain. We pass a road sign: ‘Buer; 70 km’. It’ll be about an hour and a half, then. “I also help some of the other war victims get to grips with what’s happened.” Leaning over, he twists a knob on the dashboard, and turns on the radio. It’s tuned to a rock station—one of Malphas’ favorite songs is playing. I hum quietly along, while Andras finishes his story.
“I’m not a pro’ therapist or anything, but when the others see an owl with one wing, they tend to realize that I know what I’m on about,” Andras takes a corner far too quickly, and nearly spins off the mountainside. My heart leaps up uncomfortably in my throat. For claiming to be so good at driving, Andras is kind of wild. “So, you’re here for a de-block, right?” God damn it, he nearly went off again, I think I’m gonna be sick…
“Y-yeah,” Where’re the buttons to wind down the windows.
“Everyone at the clinic is really excited about it, we haven’t done a de-block in a year or two,” This clinic sounds almost like school. Nothing you say or do is private. “Any animals you hope you’ll end up with?”
“I don’t really care,” Crossing my legs, I close my eyes and try to ignore my nausea.
“You sure?” I nod. Andras sighs, before pulling a frighteningly tight turn and turning down the radio. The song ends shortly after. “If I were you, I’d want to be a bird, or a bat, or something. Speaking from experience, flying is really fun.”
“So my friends tell me,” I’m starting to try to go to sleep now. I don’t want to be awake for the rest of this van ride from hell.
“You know some birds?” Andras seems almost surprised. I guess he’d expected that I was some kind of elemental purist. That title goes to my father, not me.
“A raven-earth,” We hit a bump in the road, and I’m almost sent flying. It seems like Andras is… accelerating. Damn it, you crazy owl, slow down or let me off, I’m not in the mood for dying today. “But he’s predominantly raven.”
“Mm, ravens… Yeah, they’re cool,” I push myself to open my eyes, and notice that, miraculously, we’re still on the road, though we’re nearly crossing onto the other side of the center line. I hope that no-one else comes driving this way, or Andras and I’re toast. “Actually, we had a raven in a few weeks back to have a break in his wing fixed. Nice guy.” A four wheel drive appears out of nowhere, and Andras ducks out of the way just in time. I’m on the verge of crossing myself and praying to Amon that I make it to the top of the mountain.
“So, what’s the clinic like?” Andras seems to be driving more seriously now, trying to stick inside the lane, though his speed is a little worrying. Scratch an hour and a half, we’ll be there in twenty minutes at this rate.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard that we’re small,” I have, and now I think about it, ‘small’ probably doesn’t fit, if this is their best driver. ‘Miniscule’, or ‘tiny’, assuming it’s not some haven for terrible drivers. Taking a quick glance at the accelerator, I realize Andras has nearly floored it. “About seven of us work there… Uh, there’s me, Aim—he’s our receptionist; Orobas, Crocell, Pai’ and Zale’ are our mage-doctors; and my cousin Zag’ who owns the place.”
“How far are you from the hot springs?” Andras’ face lights up at the mention of them.
“About five hundred meters. But will you really be wanting to go there? I mean, Aim said you’re supposed to be lying low up here, and they are kind of a populated area…”
“I know that, but surely I can just take a day out near the end of it all?” Andras laughs at my remark, swerving dangerously in his moment of distraction.
“Nab’, it’s pretty damn difficult to tell when ‘the end of it all’ is. You kind of start and stop. And by then… Well, who’s to say you’ll want to go swimming?” I grin, and gaze out the window, trying hard not to be sick.
“I still will. After all, it’s not like I’ve ever been before.”