Akashi Reborn: Chapters 1-3 (incomplete)

For years, this war has destroyed the universe it in the covered in the darkness of the fallen angels. They have exterminated every shred of hope that dares threaten their world. However...

AKASHI REBORN

 By Cory Witt

Volume 1: Book of Darkness

v  Prologue

v  Chapter 1 " Old Life

v  Chapter 2 " Promethia

v  Chapter 3 " New Experiences

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volume 1: Book of Darkness

š Prologue

System Code: 0641875-8CX4

File Code: 1756K9-PB4596

Hosting User: Azerith Ramiero de la Shinsovak Mohora von Zekereih

Last Revised on: 28 March 2096

Accessing User: Unknown

Error code 4553976: Un-established User

Access Date: 17 July 2148

     Do you remember planning out your life as a child? What was your dream, your aspiration, the thing that gave you guidance? I imagine you probably didn’t believe in demons, monsters, angels, Gods, or other mythological creatures besides those in fairy tales. I know I didn’t when I was younger. I remember wanting to be a doctor because I loved science and theory. I played video games and had a lot of friends. However, as time continued, that dream became clouded and things changed.

At one point in my life, I started to record a journal of my dreams and daily events. I filled books of them by the time I was 16. I started writing these journals as part of an assignment recommended by my school therapist. It was supposed to help me feel at ease with everything I had been through. I have always had problems with anxiety and depression. When I was a Selokashi, in other words a person who has their mind and spirit fixed before birth, it used to be small things that would set me off into bouts of depression or an anxiety attack, like forgetting to do something or the end of a relationship. I eventually learned to deal with this since I had more pressing issues to deal with. Back then the horrors of conflict and war were a mystery to us all. We were innocent. Most importantly, everyone was still alive and for the most part sane. We went to school, hung out, had jobs and played video games together at home. Those were the little things that kept me going over the years. I would give anything to have them back, besides my family. I’m happy that I documented those days on paper and can always come back to them. After everything fell apart, I never stopped writing in these journals. I still keep a diary to this day. It’s important to remember the dark days along with the happy days.

When my family and I first starting going through all these journals, we were shocked. All of my experiences and my life before I became a soldier were all recorded. In addition, I also had journals from the time of my awakening to the present. I didn’t realize how much I had changed over the years. Most of this change was brought on by what I have seen " and what I have done. I have been to the end of the line; I’ve been on the brink of death and I have pushed others off that brink. You don’t really realize it until you actually witness or commit it yourself, but watching another being die really changes you. Seeing another thing in incredible pain, hearing the last sounds of life, and watching the last breath leave a corpse is more than just traumatizing " it makes you feel sick and inhumane. It is true that a person’s last moments truly reflect their true personality. These are parts of a person that no one should ever have to show or see. A part of you dies that you can never get back.

When asked if I enjoy killing, I usually get angry because it’s not a pleasurable experience for me. It’s incredibly painful. The first kill is always the worse, but you never get used to it no matter what you do. I believe that at this point the total number of lives that I have extinguished is over forty million. In the Battle of Karbudiah Valley on Eidrium alone, over one million lives were ended by my blade. Everything about murder still disgusts me to this day. I may have adapted to the stench, the sight of blood, and the pain but I’m still unable to avoid the feelings after the event. The feelings of sorrow, nausea, and anguish are feelings I am too familiar with. They are feeling that I wish I could numb out completely. However, I can’t and they serve to remind me of the terrible things I have done. My hands are drenched in the blood of others. Enough with this subject though. I feel it is probably too deep for this point in my story.

Instead, allow me to state the intent of this document. I have compiled and edited the journal entries of myself and the others around me to explain everything that’s happened the last seventy four years of my life " of our lives. I find it obligatory to start at the very beginning. This file serves as a recollection of everything that has transpired since my awakening to the end of the Akashi Wars. At first I thought it was pointless, but as time passed, I found it imperative to record the events of my life so that future generations could further understand what I went through, what we went through, to get to where we are today. I edited it to include more information since when most of these articles were written, there was no point in going into great detail. However, these little details hold the truth. History only seems to record the moments in which my friends and I succeeded, never the moments we failed or lost. It only tells of the battles we won and never tells of the blood we shed. I hope this file helps to uncover the truth of who I really am.

So let’s start at the very beginning, of who I used to be before I became who I am today " before I was remembered, before I was famous, before I was someone important. My name back then was simply Azerith “Azero” Leeroy Ramiero. I was born on April 14th, 2000 at the Allina Medical Clinic in Saint Paul, Minnesota. My mother, bless her soul, was named Julia Ramiero. My mother was born on May 4th, 1964 as Julia Howards. She was born into an interracial family in Baltic, Ohio. Her father was African American and worked at a store in town. He met Julia’s mother, who was a mutt of various European races, there one day when she was purchasing milk and eggs. They married, secretly because my grandmother’s parents didn’t approve of their relationship, and had my mother a few years after my grandfather bought the store from its previous owner. My grandparents didn’t have any money when they had my mother, and they had financial problems their whole life before they died. My mother was raised by them and went to a public school where she received perfect marks. She managed to get a chance to attend the University of Minnesota where she was the first person in her family history to ever get a degree. My mother finished school and got her PhD in Pediatrics.

After finding a job in the cities at a clinic, she moved to an apartment near the university where she met my father, Andrew Ramiero. My father was born in 1960 at a hospital in St. Paul. He lived in the city with his parents, one from Italy and one from France, and had a younger brother, Anton Ramiero, who was my uncle. My father and his younger brother both joined the marine corps when he was 18, my uncle was 17, and was enlisted for eight years and became a detective for Minneapolis Police department after that in 1988. He worked there when he met my mother on an emergency call. They never told me what this call was about when they were alive because I was too young, but it changed both of their lives forever. They were married three years after the incident on July 7th, 1995 and spent their honeymoon in California. My parents bought their first home in St. Paul on July 3rd. I was born 5 years after that.

My parents continued their normal lives until my sister, Mikayla, was born on May 15th, 2001. Soon after she was born, my parents quit their jobs, sold their house, and started moving around from place to place. I grew up moving from house to house, never staying in a place for very long. My parents cut off all contact with the outside world except my Uncle Anton and a few select friends. The first seven years of my life were like this.

One day when I was seven years old, Mikayla was six years old; my parents dropped us off at my Uncle Anton’s house for what was supposed to be a weekend. My Uncle Anton lived in a mansion near Rosemount, Minnesota. My parents were going to see a friend that lived 4 hours away and they promised me that they would be back by the end of the weekend. On the way back, my parents supposedly pulled over to get some gas at a gas station because their 1998 Ford Explorer was out of gas. After pumping the gas, my father walked inside to pay for it. My mother decided to stay outside in the car and wait for my father. My parents never left that gas station.

The gas station my parents went to get gas at was robbed and everyone inside was murdered, including my parents when they arrived on the scene. Officially, the cause of death for my mother was a laceration on her throat, along with multiple other lacerations and a series of bite marks on her neck, causing her to bleed to death. While my father had a bullet wound through his upper atrium and his left arm severed off. Everyone else that was in the gas station was also murdered. Their cause of death was all exsanguinations from a series of small marks on their throats. One victim was found with their throats literally torn out and their head rolling off to one side.

Ballistics was unable to match the type of ammunition that my father was shot with any known weapon, deducing that the gun he was shot with must have been custom built. The shot fired was a 0.11mm bullet made out of a strange metal with the tip hollowed out. The metal was composed of a combination of nitrogen, chromium, gold, and multiple unidentified elements. After further inspection, the bullet had unique rifling marks that further points towards the theory of a custom built weapon. Ballistics also showed that material used to fire the shell left an unknown substance behind as residue. Crime Scene Investigators were also unable to find hairs, footprints, or any other traces of the killer at the scene. Based on these findings, it’s safe to say that whoever killed my parents and the people at that gas station was a trained professional who knew what they were doing.

Right after the police gathered the evidence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the case and they never released any details. The case supposedly became a cold case and nothing happened with it after a few years. I had to hack into their secure servers when I was sixteen to even gather this information. Later, I found evidence that incriminated a whole branch of the United States judicial system. I will make sure to elaborate on that later, however, since you won’t understand why until our story continues.

After my parents’ death, I moved in with my father’s brother, Anton Ramiero. My Uncle was a sniper in the Green Beret for 15 years before he retired and went back to school for mechanical and chemical engineering. While in college, he started to get in contact more with my parents again. Anton graduated and started up a company that manufactured weapons for a lot of countries around the world that he called Ragnarok Incorporated. Ragnarok Incorporated quickly became a global name as my uncle’s ideas changed the world. My uncle became incredibly successful and expanded his company by adding multiple new departments and products. Soon my uncle was made into a multimillionaire and bought a mansion in Inver Grove, Minnesota. He married a woman he went to college with named Madeline Basanka. Madeline was a biomedical engineer and under her guidance, Ragnarok Incorporated started to manufacture prosthetics and medical equipment for hospitals. Madeline and my uncle had one child and named him Paris. Paris was born January 25th, 2000. .

When we really had nowhere left to go, my aunt and uncle took Mikayla in and raised us. My uncle changed a lot after my parent’s death. He started to stockpile weapons and various products at his home. As a result, he took some heat from the government, but there was nothing they could do. They never found anything when they searched his house that could be called “illegal”, so they were unable to charge him. He was an expert at hiding weapons and renovated his house to include many hidden passages and safe rooms. And in those rooms, he started a new kind of research. This “research” was something he never told us about growing up. Whatever he was researching, he managed to hide it from everyone except Madeline.

Instead, my uncle raised Paris, Mikayla, and myself with knowledge in many fields. He taught us how to fight using martial arts, including everything from Tae Kwan Do to Judo to Okinawa martial arts. We were taught to only use these skills to do the right thing because great power comes from responsibility and respect, not force and dominance. We also learned how to use weapons like guns, swords, bows, and knives. I also learned how to hack and build computers from my uncle, which is how I managed to get the information about my parent’s case from the FBI servers. Essentially, my uncle put us through boot camp minus the yelling and punishment. I grew up learning all this and much more from my new family. My uncle never once yelled at Mikayla, Paris, or myself. For the most part, we had a good childhood.

Over the course of my life, these skills have proved to be invaluable to me. Without them, I probably would have died more than I already have " and probably would still be dead. I’ve had to expand my skill set many times throughout my life to surpass difficult challenges and hordes of enemies. I never realized growing up how pivotal the skills I learned and the applications of these skills.

Well there’s my introduction. If you choose to continue, you will discover that I am not as fearless and perfect as the textbooks say I am. I am only human, after all. Those books tend to lie. They depict me as an amazing warrior king that slays tyrants without hesitation, a great King that succeeded at bringing Rekashi and Mokashi together, and a master engineer that built a whole universe from scratch. Though most of that is relatively true, there is more to my story that no one ever knows. In reality, I’m just like you. The history books on me never once talk about the true me " the insecure and indecisive person I really am.

And thus our story begins, before the chaos and the nightmares that transpired after my awakening. To show you the truth of who I truly am.

           

 

š CHAPTER 1: Old Life

Hosting User: Azerith Ramiero

Date Created: March 3^rd, 2012

     “Azerith… When the world ends… You will be the one to awaken it from its deep slumber…”

     I woke up gasping for breath as I do every morning after having the same dream. A dream where an angelic figure is standing gazing out over a sea of ashes, covered in blood. And then there’s the girl with red hair who always appears and speaks to me right before I wake up…

     I crawled out of bed and looked at my phone on the charger next to my bed. Its only 5:02am, 2 hours before I have to get ready for school. I do a few stretches to relax my stiff muscles before slowly opening the door that connects my bedroom to the bathroom. I turn on the light in the bathroom and immediately adjust my eyes to the bright light that fills the room. I quickly creep over to the other door in the room and slowly open the door. This door connects the bathroom to the room of my younger sister, Mikayla, who is sleeping peacefully in her bed. I stand there and watch her a little while before shutting the door again. Since my parents died ten years ago, I have done the best I possibly can to always be there for her and to protect her. After all, she is the only thing in this world that I have left of my parents (beyond material items that are impossible for me to use). Everything about her reminds me so much of my mother…

     I promptly strip out of my clothes and turn on the shower. I stand there for a few moments and stare at myself in the mirror. My hair has grown long enough to require a haircut and has a few strands in the front that refuse to lay flat no matter how much I comb it. This area seems spikes up when I part my hair to the right, which I guess doesn’t look that bad. I have an average physique and a decent amount of muscle on my body for someone who prefers to not lift weights. My blood type is A-Negative and my skin has started getting a little darker than its usual lighter tan, which is common for me this time of the year. I usually get a nice tan around the end of spring and the beginning of summer, but I’ve been getting a lot more sun now that I’ve been going out a more in the mornings and the afternoon to work out so I’ve gotten a lot darker. On top of my skin rest multiple scars that I have obtained over the years from getting into fights at school or from challenges I have been stupid enough to accept that usually end in me getting hurt. The most prominent of these was a large, nasty looking scar over my right pectoral muscle. I have no idea where I got this, but supposedly I obtained it when my parents were still alive.

I turn around and walk over to the shower. By this point, the water is very warm and the bathroom is beginning to fill with steam. I climb into the shower and just stand there for a few moments pondering the events of my reoccurring dream. Normally this dream would mean absolutely nothing to most people, but the fact that I have had the same dream and wake up at the exact moment for the last two months bothers me. I think over the events within the dream and try to decipher clues. In the end, I found myself at both a loss of time and ideas. Mikayla was finally up and was pounding on the door to go to the bathroom, so it was time for me to get going. I quickly pull on a pair of faded blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt, a green, plaid, and long sleeve button up, and a green hoodie sweatshirt before exiting the bathroom. I grabbed my glasses off of my end table in my room before running downstairs.

I still had another hour before school, so I quickly scarfed down some protein bars and grabbed the wooden sword that my father left behind for me and headed outside to do some workouts. My father’s sword was custom built to allow differently weighted handles to be attached using a screw and thread to help with training. The sword, which was very close in style to a Japanese shinai, was currently outfitted with a heavier handle perfect for working on muscle strength. Though not a real fencing sword, this particular weapon is a lot heavier and takes a lot more energy to use which make it perfect for working out. I take an en‐garde stance and begin a phrase with an invisible opponent. I lunge forward, clashing swords with my imaginary target and begin a regiment of simple attacks followed by quick parries and finally a riposte using compound footwork. I follow up quickly with a lunging thrust before returning to my original en‐garde stance to do it all again. This time I implore a feint into my style and follow with a combined attack to make a compound attack. I tend to practice similar routines as this every morning.

I continue like this for another half hour before Mikayla came out side to tell me it was time for me to finish getting ready. Mikayla was pretty dressed up today, since it was the Friday after a new school term began, and looked nice as usual. Unfortunately for me, Mikayla’s good looks tended to attract lots of guys at my school although she claimed that she didn’t have a boyfriend and wasn’t interested in having one yet. Mikayla’s skin was a little lighter than mine was, but still had a slight natural tan to her flawless skin. She stood about five feet and four inches tall and due to her great metabolism, she was very petite. She was small in every area of her body, except her breasts which easily measured three inches (in other words, my little sister had a C‐cup which made even more men flock to her). Mikayla possessed the same green eyes as my father, and had a beautiful face that never once showed a single sign of acne. She was blood type A-Positive. Today she wore a white colored silk blouse tucked into a black skirt. On top of the blouse, she wore a red plaid scarf. Her long black hair was curled and held in place by a hair clip that had a large red rose on the top. The rose, of course, wasn’t real. She also wore my mother’s chandelier earrings that she wore every day. I sighed and followed her inside.

As usual, my younger sister made breakfast for the whole family. Today she prepared French toast with maple syrup, sausage links, hash browns, and orange juice. My sister did this every day, not always to this extreme, but I still have to thank her for this unnecessary commodity. If it wasn’t for her, all I would ever eat in the morning was a protein bar.

“As usual you have outdone yourself sis, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You would starve to death,” she replied with a mischievous grin that she always made whenever she was joking. Just like our mother did.

“Actually I would survive fine with a protein bar for breakfast,” I proclaimed matter‐of‐factly.

“Hmm‐hmm. What would you do about lunch, have you thought of that?”

Damn. I forgot that Mikayla made my lunches every day. Without her, I might actually starve to death. However, I couldn’t tell her that or she would have the satisfaction of wining the argument.

“Well, um… I could just eat the school lunch and I’d be fine.”

“That’s a lie and you know it. Those lunches are awful. Besides, you’re lucky to have a sister like me who is kind enough to be willing to make you lunch every day.”

Once again, my sister held the high ground in our argument. Giving in, I thanked her and continued to scarf down my breakfast. Paris decided to make his appearance fifteen minutes later and sat down next to me. Mikayla served him a plate before beginning to eat herself. Paris, who had a little trouble waking up in the morning, ate the food in complete silence. Paris was only 3 months older than me and was 6’ 4”. He weighed 163 pounds and had a similar metabolism as the rest of our family so it was impossible for him to gain any weight in fat. Paris worked out every day to get as muscular as possible to prepare for the football season earlier in the year. He had a very muscular build with a slight tan (not as much as my sister or me because his parents were both Caucasian) and dirty blonde hair. His blood type was O-Positive. If it wasn’t for our last names and facial structure, it would be impossible to tell that we were related. His eyes were a deep blue, the same as mine. Today he wore a school sweatshirt with the words “Grove Academy Athletics” on the front and baggy blue jeans.

Unfortunately, by the time we all finished eating it was time to go to school. Since it was a new school term, it was not advisable to be late. I ran upstairs and grabbed my backpack and car keys near my bed. Leaping down the stairs, I quickly ran outside to my car and jumped in. My car, a red 2004 Ford Focus, started up perfectly. I silently thanked the heavens that I’ve never had problems with my car yet. Mikayla and Paris had to drive a separate car since I had to leave the school halfway through the day. I put the car in reverse, and slowly backed out of the driveway.

Before I could head directly to the school, I had to pick up a friend who would also be leaving with me half way through the day. Her house was just up the street from me so it wasn’t that far out of my way. I pulled into her driveway and waited for her to come out. Unfortunately, my childhood friend had a nasty habit of being late to everything. Her tardiness often got her trouble, and today was especially a day in which I didn’t want to be late. After five minutes, I honked my horn. Within a minute, she stepped out of her front door, yelling to me that she would be there in a minute. By “a minute” she was actually implying five.

Finally, right as I was starting to debate leaving, Karina “Kari” Reyes finally decided that she wanted to get going. Kari was born on September 19^th, 1999 making her 18 years old. Kari was approximately 5’ 6” and was petite, just like Mikayla. Her skin was pure white and pale with only a slight natural flush to her cheeks. Her beautiful emerald green, which reminded me of a beautiful garden with how bright they are (cheesy example, I know), eyes complemented her beauty. She was blood type B-Negative.  Kari had light brown hair down to her lower back which was in a messy bun that made it appear to only go down to her shoulders with her bangs hanging down to her chin off to the sides. Like my sister, Kari had a desirable frame with nice curves. Her breasts had a small, slender shape and probably measured around 2 inches in cup size. Though small, they had their own unique attractiveness. Her chin length bangs remained separate from the bun and were tucked behind her ears. Today Kari was wearing a white button up blouse with a black button-up vest over her blouse. She was also wearing a knee length black skirt with white stockings that went up to her knees. Over everything, she wore a white trench coat that serves as her winter jacket. Today she was wearing pink lip gloss that made her lips look even succulent. As usual, Kari looked beautiful today.

I have been best friends with Kari for quite a while now. We share a lot of interests together, so we have always been able to hang out together without that guy-girl interest barrier. Both of us like a wide variety of music, anywhere from rap to rock to dubstep, and have the same favorite group. One of my personal favorite things about Kari, which I found very attractive, was the fact that she enjoyed playing video games with me and was actually good at them. Together, we played a lot of first person shooter games and RPG’s both locally and over the internet. Another thing that I got Kari into after a friend of mine showed me was Japanese Anime. I’ve actually watched quite a few series with Kari. Our favorite genres are romance, comedy, and adventure so there’s quite a bit out there that we can watch and talk about together. Kari also really loves animals of all kinds. At home, she has 4 dogs of all sizes and she belongs to our school’s nature club in the winter and archery club in the fall. In addition, her love of animals has earned her a job at a pet food store in town. Unfortunately for me, Kari loves shopping and loves it even more when I carry her bags for her. For some reason, she’s never had a boyfriend that she has brought shopping with her. It’s always been something we’ve done together I guess. However, I really don’t mind doing it.

To be honest, Kari is more of a friend to me. Like me, Kari also has a sad story of how she lost her parents when she was younger. Kari’s mother, Maria Reeves, worked as a teacher in an old elementary school around Inver Grove Heights. I’m not sure of the actual name of the school she taught at, however, it was torn down years ago and replaced by a newer complex. Her mother was supposedly a very devout Christian and worked very hard for various charities. Unfortunately, Kari’s mother is a perfect example of how bad things happen to good people. You see, Kari never actually met her father. Her mother was attacked by a man, who later became Kari’s supposed father, on the walk home from church and was raped. Kari was born after that. Though she wasn’t intending to have a baby, she raised her daughter the best she could.

Kari grew up with her mother until she was around seven years old. Her childhood was full of happy pictures all captured by her mother’s camera. The daughter and mother pair were inseparable and they smiled in every picture I have seen in the picture book Kari has. I met Kari when we were seven and she was brought over to my Uncle’s house. We played constantly for a week before my parents left for their trip to go see a family friend. We all know how that ended. A week after I lost my parents, Kari’s mother was attacked again on her way home from church. Kari was at my house with me because she was the only person besides Mikayla that I was able to talk to. However, this time Kari’s mother was not only raped at the exact same location as before but was also murdered as well. Her official cause of death was exsanguination from a series of lacerations delivered to every major artery in her body.

Kari was devastated by the loss of her mother and shut herself away from everyone but myself. Her grandparents, who lived close to her mother, adopted her. During this time in our lives, I grew really close to Kari. And as time went on, she slowly opened up more and more to the outside world. We remained close throughout our lives up to this point. Kari grew up and got more beautiful every year of her life. My feelings for Kari changed over time from that of a sister to a full blown crush. I’ve felt this way about her since the beginning of the 8^th grade after not seeing her for a whole summer.

However, unfortunately I am awful at reading girls. Girls have always been a concept that escapes me. I not only have a hard time acting normally around them, once something more than talking starts, I get incredibly nervous and start to freeze whenever a situation that I perceive to be awkward occurs. Because of this, I have only had one girlfriend in my life, a pretty girl named Rosalie, though we broke up a year ago. Now she is Kari’s best friend and a good friend of my sister, thus further complicating my situation. I suppose this can be blamed partially on the fact that I’ve never really had feelings for any girls except these two. I mean, I’m pretty good at getting their numbers and making friends with them, but anything beyond that and my mind suddenly loses its ability to comprehend anything.

To be honest, I really haven’t found a girl that I actually have feelings for besides Rosalie and Kari. I’ve heard from people occasionally that they “know someone who likes me” or they have tried to make moves on me, but I have a hard time returning those feelings. I’ve also never done anything more than holding hands with a girl in my life, ever. Well, actually I’ve had two kisses from two different girls. The first one was with Rosalie and only happened once, while the other one doesn’t count. It’s a weird situation that I can’t say that I’m happy with. I just… I wish I could take a step forward with Kari, though I know that it will never happen. I feel that if she gave me a chance, it would work and we could have a healthy relationship. I guess I’ll never be able to understand how the hearts of woman work.

 That’s enough about the sob story that is my pathetic relationship status and back to the current situation. Today was the Friday after the start of a new trimester, meaning that everyone in my school had new classes this week, including myself. School is something that never challenges me to begin with, and this trimester is no exception. The only interesting classes to make note of this tri are my fourth-year Japanese Class and a sort of work option enrollment class that I take at the University with Kari. Kari and I are the only students in the state to get the option to take this class. It really is an honor to be able to take it, though to be honest it would be easier to get over Kari if I didn’t have any classes with her…

     Kari and I received a rare opportunity to assist in the research of an old friend of our parents’ who worked as a world famous archaeologist and a professor at the University of Minnesota. He contacted my uncle with a proposition to allow my sister and me to shadow him as he prepared an exhibit at a museum in Minneapolis. My Uncle Anton just recently got into contact with him and got everything set up for us with the school. The high school I attend decided to treat this class like a post-secondary work option that we get work based credits for. However, my sister, who takes all college course classes and electives to help prepare her for college, was unable to fit it into her schedule. Madeline, my aunt, proposed that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the position to be offered to Kari, who accepted and now will be going to the university with me after our fourth hour, which is our Japanese Four Class.

     Finally, Kari opened the passenger door and got in the car. She shut the door and I put the ignition in reverse. We are going to be five minutes late unless I somehow manage to make up the time on the way there.

“Honestly, did it take you long enough to get ready? I’ve been waiting here for longer than ten minutes. I was debating leaving you here.”

“Sorry. It took me a little longer to get ready and take care of the dogs this morning. By the way, what are you doing this weekend? I need someone to go shopping with if you aren’t busy,” she asked while staring at me with puppy eyes.

Damn. When she looks at me like that I find it impossible to not cave in and give her whatever she wants. This is a perfect example of how weak I am to the effects of the opposite sex.

I had to think about her question for a moment. Not only do I have school, I also have two part time jobs. The first is a computer repair service that I started with some friends that makes us a little spending cash. The other is a job at a family bakery, patisserie, and confectionery store that a family friend runs. I only work there for a few hours a week decorating cakes and cookies, but its still work none the less. I really enjoy it, and the family that I work for is incredibly nice. I luckily have every Friday and Saturday off from work in return for my Sundays. In other words, I’m free to go out with Kari.

“Yeah sure I’m free,” I uttered after giving up my freedom to a girl that I realize I have no chance with. “Just let me know when you’re free and want me to pick you up.”

“Thanks, Azero. I’ll be ready on time next time, I promise.”

 

˜š›™

 

We ended up making it to school on time after all, even though I had to drive five to ten miles over the speed limit to get there on time. The last day of the week of a new trimester is always easy at my school " two morning classes, which for me are calculus and physics, followed by an hour of homeroom and four additional afternoon classes making for a total of seven classes. For Kari and me, however, we only had two afternoon classes after our fourth hour Japanese class so we can go to the university to meet with our Professor. Kari was in 4 of my five actual classes this tri, which ultimately betrays my wish of not having any classes with her. The only class that I didn’t have with her was calculus because she dislikes math classes (though physics is almost all math based). That’s the only time of the day in which I don’t see her.

My first few hours flew by after lectures about rules that have been engraved into my head. In homeroom, we had a few quick notes and then we got to talk with our friends. Mikayla, Paris, and Kari are all in our homeroom class along with my best friends Jeremy “Remy” Revel and Alexander “Alex” Retterath. I’ve known these two clowns since junior high after we got to know each other in gym class. We have hung out together ever since.

Alex is a more quiet type of guy who is really good at fixing things. His favorite pass time and source of income is fixing computers, a business I often help out with to make some additional money when I don’t have school or work. However, Alex takes it to the extreme by writing his own computer programs and hacking into other websites. I know how to hack and write scripts, though I’m nowhere near as good as Alex is. One example of his work is a program our school uses to manage sales at our school store. However, after he gave them that software and installed it, he also added a virus that allowed him to sign in to the school’s servers as an administrator and change permissions when he has his proxy server running. Luckily, the school has yet to figure out after four years that my small groups of friends use this proxy server to do whatever we want on the school Wi-Fi. Alex is a tall, skinny guy who is 6’4” and only weighs 135 pounds. His blood type is AB-Positive. He has short, dark brown hair with side burns that connect down to his jaw line to form a beard that he has to trim quite often. Alex is really into anime so he’s always showing and telling me about new series that I should watch. For the most part, we have a similar taste in anime. He has deep, green eyes that are accented by a set of stylish, metal rimmed glasses with small rectangular lenses and dark brown finish. Today he was wearing a white graphic t-shirt with a red zip-up hoodie.

Remy is Alex’s polar opposite in some ways. Remy only has entry level computer technician information because the only things he enjoys doing with them are building and playing computer games. Remy is a lot more like Paris in the fact that they both love competitive athletics. Remy is a baseball player that I played baseball with for three years before I realized just how horrible I was. Remy on the other hand is the varsity pitcher for our high school and has a nice sports scholarship to some private college. Remy is 5’11”, weighs 165 pounds and has O-Positive Blood. Remy and his family are Puerto-Rican and probably the funniest people I know. Whenever we hang out, we usually end up going over to Remy’s house. Remy also assists with our computer business by building computers here and there when someone in the area needs one. Remy works a part time job at an electronics store as a cashier so he’s able to get us some good deals on various goods.

Anyways, our group is made up of Alex, Kari, Parris, Remy, and I. Our big thing is computer gaming and LAN parties. We’ve always played multiplayer games together since we were young. Our current game together is an online massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) called the Crystal Chronicles: The Sacred Exodus.  This game is a realistic simulation of what life would be like if you lived in a world of magic and monsters. It has tons of awards, including game of the year last year. The game is heavily story based, which is way different from normal MMORPG’s. However, the game is graphically the best game created so far. GamerR3v0lut1n, a well-respected group of video game critics, gave the game a 39 out of 40 which is the highest rating they have ever given a game. Yeah, this game is that great.

The game’s story is about a war between the heavens and hell where you play as a monster (with over 100 different options including vampires, werewolves, sirens, half-dragons, and many more) that fights for one of the sides. Your goal is to end the war between the two sides by “defeating” the leader of the opposite side. There are different play styles, called classes, like every other RPG. However, you are free to divulge in any skills and abilities that will help you progress through the game and can make custom classes tailored by how you play the game. In addition to those classes, every race has unique abilities which include stuff like super speed and jump height for werewolves and the ability to breathe fire for half-dragons. In addition, each character has access to these things called “authorities” which are gained from defeating boss characters which are very similar to the Gods and Goddesses from mythology. By defeating them, you gain their powers and unique abilities that come with their powers. As you level-up, you gain the ability to use multiple authorities and abilities. As you progress through the story, you gain a bunch of authorities ranging from Odin, to Zeus, to even Shiva.

My group plays as a group of knights from the Heaven faction who are trying to defeat the King of Devils, Lucifer. So far, I’ve put in over eighty hours since the game came out last September. Kari and I went and picked up the game the day it came out (I actually bought her copy for her birthday as a surprise gift) and we stayed up all night playing it together. We’ve been playing it non-stop when we aren’t studying together (she lives just up the street and we usually have a lot of classes where we are in the same class, so we study together whenever the opportunity pops up) or we aren’t working. She plays as a Venruse (a half-fox half wolf like monster who specializes in working with animals) archer/mage on the backlines providing support type magic (healing and summoning allies) to my character, which is a spell-sword vampire who specializes in one handed weapons and pure destruction magic to quickly eliminate all foes. Paris, who plays with us quite often when he’s not busy with sports, is an Dargenweller (half-dragon and half-ogre like thing that is massively aggressive and is built for blunt force weaponry) barbarian that beats the crap out of everything that comes in his view with brute force. Alex plays as a Kinnara (bird-like humans from Hindu mythology whose main ability is flight) combat mage while Remy plays as an Amarok (which is similar to a werewolf that’s pure black and has a shorter snout from Inuit mythology) combat medic. Together, we make an unbeatable force that pretty much trumps anything.

We formed something called a clan together for competitive play where we essential gain group rewards and all sorts of cool things for winning games against other clans. Clans are used to fight games in a place called the Arena against other clans around the world. Even if you aren’t in a clan, you join random games; however you are at a major disadvantage if the other team is a clan. There are over 15 different maps and 8 game modes that you can play in. The Arena is a great source of experience points and is pretty much the only way to level up once you hit level 100 (max is 150, but then you can enter something called elite mode that has rarer items and weapons. You also start back at level 1, but you keep your stats, upgrades, armor, and weapons from before).

It’s pretty fun when we all get together and play, though usually it ends up just being Kari and me at my house on the weekends because no one else can get on. This normally would be fine with me, though it’s difficult to be around someone that you really like but you know you have no chance with. It gets worse when you are around that person all day, every day and might possibly be around them for the rest of your life. What I mean by that last part is Kari has applied and has been accepted to study animal veterinary care at the University of Minnesota, which just so happens to be the school I will be starting pre-med at next year. She also managed to get a dorm in the same hall as me, so then we can “study more in college”. I’m not complaining about all this, because she still is my best friend, though it would be easier if I didn’t have feelings for her…

 

In Advance Placement Japanese today (I’ve had this class all year because it’s the highest Japanese class my school offers) we got more details on the school trip we will be going on in three months to Tokyo, Japan. I’m super excited for this trip and can’t wait to go. I’ve always wanted to go to Japan since I was a kid and now I’ve finally gotten a chance to do so. Alex, Remy, and Kari will all be going as well, so I’m sure it will be a lot of fun and I’ll be able to make some memories that I’ll never forget. After all, in a three months Alex is going off to Portland, Washington and Remy is heading off to Phoenix, Arizona so I won’t be seeing them for a while. We’ve promised to stay in touch, so hopefully I’ll still be able to talk to these guys when we’re in college. I’m also looking forward to meeting some foreign girls overseas. Japanese girls are super pretty after all, so it would be nice to get as many email addresses over there as possible. It’s always nice to have girls you can talk to.

Everyone in my class is pretty excited for the trip as well. Alex is really excited to go and buy some manga and anime, while Remy is looking forward to the food and women. Kari is looking forward to everything. We will be staying in Japan for a week and a half in some four star hotel in Tokyo. The first week will be comprised of group sightseeing and tours. Then the last four days will be small group sightseeing, where we will be splitting up into smaller groups of our friends with an adult supervisor. To be able to do this, we have to provide the school with a detailed list of every location we will be visiting beforehand. Failure to do so or getting caught doing something not on your list results in four days at the hotel we will be staying at under close supervision conducted by the principle. In addition, the Japanese 4 students will also be joining us for the trip. In other words, my little sister, Mikayla, will be joining our group as well.

My group is made up of Alex, Remy, Kari, Paris, my sister, Paris’s girlfriend Megan, my ex-girlfriend Rosalie, and myself. Included on our list of things to see were the Takeda Shrine, Mito’s Kairaku-en, the Art Tower of Mito, the Maizuru Castle Park and many other places around Tokyo that everyone wanted to check out. These things were mostly decided by Rosalie, Kari, Megan, and Mikayla. Things turn out better when they plan things anyways. The guys of our groups aren’t really too productive when we are in the same room together. It usually turns into playing video games or looking at pictures on the internet.

Our group already managed to finish our plan for the last 4 days a week early, so for the last few minutes we get to just relax. Or so I thought.

“So Azerith, what part of Japan are you looking forward to the most,” Rosalie asked, “is it the women or the food?”

“Because it’s Azerith, I’m going to guess that he’s looking forward to the women. He’s not a real big fan of fish, so he’s probably not too interested in the cuisine.”

“Yeah, I totally agree with Megan. Azerith is always thinking about other girls, aren’t you Azero?”

Megan and Kari both chimed in right after Rosalie’s question. Damn it, you girls. There’s no way that you should know about my plans already.

“That’s not true. I don’t always think about girls. I’m looking forward to the sights and relaxing most of all.”

“By sights you mean girls, right? I’ve known you for quite some time Azerith,” Rosalie quickly followed up to my answer, “so I’m pretty good at knowing how you think. You’re also a terrible liar, so don’t try to say you aren’t looking forward to the girls.”

“Fine. I am looking forward to the girls quite a bit, but there are a lot of other things I’m excited for besides the women,” I retorted, “I’m really looking forward to seeing the history of Japan and the different shrines. Saying that I’m just looking forward to the girls isn’t true.”

“Well it’s still partly true. By the way Azerith, what are you doing this weekend?”

“I’m going shopping with Kari on Saturday, I have work all day Sunday and I’m working on my neighbor’s computers on Sunday night. Other than that, I’m free. Why, what’s up?”

“Well I really want to go see The Order 3. Remember how we saw the last two with Kari and her boyfriend? I think we should go again together. I think it would be a lot of fun, to go out like old times.”

Yeah, like old times. That’s never happening. What Rosalie is referring to is a series of movies we saw when we were dating. Maybe I should tell you about her and my dating experience first.

Rosalie Talerikin is the daughter of a three-star general who lives in Washington and the current head of the school board. Her parents are incredibly rich and powerful people who are very respected in our neighborhood. Rosalie herself has a very impressive and charismatic personality and good-looks that make people go crazy for her. Rosalie is 5’5” and weighs 112 pounds. She has a stunning body with incredible curves and jaw dropping features. Her breasts are d-cups and her blood type is A-positive. Her face is incredibly beautiful, with a perfect complexion and blue-eyes so deep you could swear you were wading in the ocean. She has her nose pierced and always wears a nice diamond stud. I personally feel this just makes her even more pretty, but that’s just my personal preference. To top it all off, she has beautiful light strawberry-blonde hair that looks like sheets of silk flowing down to her lower black. Her hair is naturally wavy and is usually left down after she straightens it and curls it into spirals around her face. Her bangs are fairly long and are always perfectly tucked beyond her ears. Rosalie has that bombshell look that attracts nearly every guy at are school. If she really wanted to, Rosalie could have every guy around as her personal servant.

However, that’s not how she is at all. Rosalie is a very kind and sweet girl who has a massive heart. She is the president of our school’s student council and currently has the highest GPA out of every student in our school. When we graduate, she will give a valedictorian speech to our class right before we get our diplomas. Rosalie works part time at a nursing home so she can save her money up for college. She’s already been accepted into Yale’s pre-med program and hopes to be a neurologist. As you can see, she’s extremely gifted and pretty. I fell in love with her the moment I met her. I finally asked her out on a date, knowing that I was going to get rejected, one afternoon when I was fixing her mother’s computer.

Surprisingly, she actually said yes. I took her to the movies and together we saw the first Order movie. Rosalie is a huge action buff, which really surprised me at first. The Order is about a group of amateur soldiers in the US Army who want to save people and be heroes. The US government approaches them and turns them into superheroes using genetic mutation. It is a success, and the government turns them into a black ops unit and has them fight other “mutants” and demons. Eventually one of their members goes AWOL and they are forced to take him down. It was pretty good movie, and I was incredibly shocked when Rosalie told me how much she enjoyed it.  After the movie, she told me that she wanted to do this more often and kissed me on the cheek before getting out of my car. So we hung out quite often together and officially became a couple. However, the only things we did were hold hands, go out on dates, and talk. I really enjoyed it. Through me, Rosalie met Kari and they became best friends. We went and saw the Order 2 with Kari and her now ex-boyfriend, who was a major idiot, as a double date. We continued to date for a year and everything was good.

However, I guess things weren’t going that well for Rosalie about three months ago. One day when she was sleeping over at Kari’s (It was January 1^st to be exact, it was right after my New Year’s party that my family holds every year), she called me and told me that she was dumping me. She gave me the whole “it’s not you, it’s me speech” and told me the official reason was because “our relationship never progresses farther than stuff that friends do”. I was incredibly distraught after hearing this and wasn’t even able to give her a proper response on the phone. To be honest, I actually started crying with her on the other end. It was so embarrassing. After that, I didn’t talk to her or Kari for a month because I was so pissed off and embarrassed.

I got over it though. Whatever, I don’t need her in my life.

Or so I thought, until I forgave Kari after two weeks and she persuaded me eventually to talk to Rosalie again. Rosalie felt incredibly awful for breaking my heart. She told me how she missed me and really wanted to be my friend again. I caved, so now we are friends. Except for the fact that she always texts me when she has a problem and still acts like we are still dating. She also bakes me cookies and sends me pictures when she’s out shopping for advice. In fact, she still invites me out on dates every once in a while and I still enjoy eating over at her house with her mother (who is the head of our school board). Her mother treats me like I’m Rosalie’s brother. It’s a little creepy, but I got over it a while ago.

I usually end up making excuses as to why I can’t go out with her, but this time is a little bit harder because I really want to see that movie. I look over at Kari and I realize that she’s glaring at Rosalie with an intensive stare filled with malice. When I glance at Kari, she sighs and smiles back at me.

“Yeah sure, why not. I’ve kind of wanted to see it for a while. What time do you want to go, and do you guys want to carpool?” I ask while stealing a look at Paris. He gives me a “don’t do it bro” look, but why shouldn’t I go? It’s not like Rosalie and I still have feelings for each other anymore. At least I know I don’t. Or so I tell myself that while knowing that I probably do have some feelings for her.

Kari glances over at me with a sad look before answering, “The movie starts at seven on Saturday night at the theater in the mall so we can hang out all day on Saturday before the movie.” She still has that sad look on her face, and you can tell from the tone of her voice that she’s upset about something.

“Great! I’ll drive separate and we’ll meet up at the theater. Try not to be late you two!” Rosalie concluded the conversation with a huge smile and a wink directed at me. At least someone is happy about this situation. I’m still curious as to why Kari is so upset over us all going to the movies.

The bell rang about fifteen seconds after Rosalie finished her last sentence, signaling it’s time for Kari and me to head over to our mentor site. I’m really looking forward to meeting another friend of my parent’s. I wave at my friends and walk with Kari out of the school. On the way out, Kari looks nervous and especially upset about something.

“Hey Kari, what’s up? You’ve looked really upset ever since Rosalie brought up going to the movies together. Is everything okay?”

“…Everything’s fine. I just wish she would stop trying to flirt with and ask you out every chance she gets.” Kari pauses for a moment and stares at her feet. She looks back up and I can swear that her cheeks are a little red.

“…Hey Azero… Do you… Still like Rosalie?”

“Yeah, a little bit. I never really did stop liking her,” I paused for a moment, thinking about how I felt after I was dumped. “I don’t think I’d ever date her again though. After what I went through after she broke up with me, it’s not worth getting my heart broken again. I’m only going to the movies this time because I’ve wanted to see this movie for a while and you’re going as well.”

“…Do you promise that you won’t date her again?”

I stopped for a moment and looked at Kari. Her expression was serious and slightly sad.

“Yeah I promise. But why does it matter if I date her again?”

“…Forget about it. It’s nothing really. By the way, Chad won’t be joining us. I think we’re kind of done.”

Chad is Kari’s current d********g of a boyfriend who is 19 and loves to get drunk. I’ve only met Chad once, but I really wish I hadn’t. Kari is way too good for an alcoholic low-life like him. We approached the doors leading outside and I promptly held both sets of doors open for Kari. The cold winter wind greeted us and I could feel it in my bones. I hate winter.

“What happened between you two?”

“I’m just tired of him always getting drunk and not caring about me. I can’t be around him without him wanting to do weird things or trying to get me drunk.”

Weird things, huh. I felt a slight pain in my chest at these words. I wonder what kind of weird things she’s taking about. Sexual things? The thought of Kari doing something like that with an a*****e like Chad makes my heart throb and my head spin. Without thinking about it, my face makes a weird expression that probably makes me seem angry. I correct it instantly, but it was enough for Kari to notice it.

“Don’t worry, we haven’t done anything together. I don’t drink either. We haven’t even kissed because his breath always reeks of alcohol,” Kari answers my thoughts with a very cute smile.

Are my thoughts really that easy to read? Because it seems like every girl in my life is able to read what I’m thinking. Oh well, I guess this time it was actually done to make me feel better.

We finally arrived at my car and stopped before getting in. There’s something that has been bugging me for a while that I need to know the answer to.

“Hey Kari, do you know why Rosalie really broke up with me? It just seems dumb to me that I was dumped because I never did anything more than always being there with her and rarely kissing her. There’s got to be more to it, right?”

Kari paused for a moment. She blushed and started to bite her pink lips as if she was thinking very hard about something. This expression was extremely adorable. When she bites her lips like that I can’t help feeling butterflies in my stomach. I would do anything to kiss those lips…

Her response brings me back to reality. You can tell by looking at her that the answer to this question isn’t good. So there is more to it then?

“…can we talk about this some other time? It would be a breach of our friendship if I say anything more. However, I can at least tell you that she regrets it and is still trying to get you back.”

Kari got into the car with the same flustered look and stayed that way for quite some time. I got in after stopping for a second and turned the ignition over. What kind of answer was that? Instead of satisfying my longing for an answer, she fanned the flame that eats away at my conscious every time I think of Rosalie.

 We left the school quickly and started to head to my house. To get to the university, we had to take a shuttle from my house over to the Minneapolis campus. My uncle has an expensive, private shuttle service that he pays for pick us up from my house and drive Kari and me to the University. My uncle usually doesn’t throw money around on stuff like this, but he really doesn’t want me to drive on 35E and I-94 because of the amount of traffic on them all the time. So instead we have an expensive shuttle drive us to the university. The shuttles are pretty nice inside, and it’s only me and Kari together for an hour. Along the way, I tried to start conversations with her to my house, but eventually I was forced to give up when all I got was one word acknowledgements. She must still be thinking about the whole conversation about Rosalie. Why does it bother her so much?

 

Once we arrive at my house, we quickly transfer over to the shuttle that is waiting for us by the time we get there. On the outside, the shuttle is a large, eggshell white conversion van with a divider placed behind the driver’s seat that separates the driver from the passengers. The van has one set of doors on the right hand side of the vehicle. On either side of the vehicle, there are signs that read “Sven Brother’s Luxury Transport”. There logo is a red seven in a red circle with a red crown added above the circle. By the way, the name is not a typo, the owners of the company all have the last name Sven and there are seven brothers. It’s one of those things that just work out perfectly.

The oldest Sven brothers, Jackson Sven, is a good friend of my uncle’s and said he’d be willing to chauffeur us around for a reduced price. I’ve known the whole family for quite some time and usually end up spending Memorial Day over at their house every year for a party. Jackson’s oldest son, Christopher “Topher” Sven, is a year younger than me and is a pretty nice guy. Topher always needs help with math homework, so I’m often at his house tutoring him. He also plays The Sacred Exodus with me every once in a while. Though with basketball, baseball, and soccer, he’s not on too often and when he is on, he can only stay online for about two hours each time. Jackson’s other brothers are really nice. They all have a different personality, which makes them great to talk to. Every Memorial Day, we all sit and play poker together. It’s a lot of fun.

     I open the car doors and say hey to Jackson before climbing in and taking a seat. From the moment you walk in, you can tell this shuttle is high-class. That’s because these vans are luxury vehicles used for the prom and other high-class events. The van is setup to only open on one side and has a C-shaped sectional seat that comfortably seats nice passengers with breaks in the corner and in the center that have cup holders and radio jacks . The seats are made of high-quality foam and expensive looking black leather. Every three seats have pull down DVD and TV system so you can watch movies on your trip. There are lamps above every seat that can be turned on and off whenever you want in case you want to read. The van even has built in Wi-Fi so you can browse the web.

     I sit right behind the panel that separates the driver and the passengers. Kari takes the seat right next to me, and I pull out my laptop. I’ve decided that I will be taking this time to tackle my ever growing list of anime. Kari doesn’t mind because she enjoys the same kind of shows as I do, for the most part that is. Kari’s reaction when we sat down really surprised me this time though. To be honest I was expecting her to sit next to me like she normally does, with minimal physical contact. However, what she did this time really surprised me.

     As we were getting situated, she grabbed my arm and wrapped hers around it. She grabbed my right hand with both of hers and rests her head on my shoulder. Our hands, still mingled together, were placed on the seat in-between her legs. She’s still wearing the same melancholic expression as she was when we left the school. She looks comfortable, and I’m not complaining.

Oh man… My arm is being pressed right in between her breasts. I can feel the small orbs of happiness on either side of my arm. Their slender shape was just perfect. My hand was also between her thighs… I wish I could stay this way for ever. I can feel them on my arm. It feels so good…

Wait, no. Why is she suddenly so clingy all of a sudden? Kari and I haven’t held hands since we were kids. She never sits this close to me and she never rests her head on my shoulder unless she is asleep sitting next to me, which has happened a few times when she’s sleeping over. Kari is like family to us, so her sleeping over after falling asleep is normal for us. I usually end up carrying her down the stairs after making her a bed on the sofa. Most of the time she sleeps over to spend time with Mikayla, but occasionally we study together or play video games until one of us falls asleep. There was one time when we both fell asleep at the same time a few months ago and we ended up sleeping next to each other on my bed. When I woke up, her face was right next to mine and she was cuddling up against me. I didn’t mind this at all, but I would have a hard time explaining the situation if anyone walked in and saw us like that. Since then, I’ve made it a rule that I can’t fall asleep first. She’s the only girl that I’ve ever had sleep over in my life.

“Kari, is everything seriously okay? You’re acting a little off and I’m worried about you.”

She blushes and squeezes my arm tighter. The way she bites her lips when she’s nervous is too adorable. She opens her mouth to speak, but then stops before continuing to bite her lips. Does she know how cute she is right now? I can’t help but stare at her. My face is starting to get hot and turn red. In my chest, my heart is thumping really fast…

“…everything’s fine. Just… Please… Please don’t date Rosalie again. I don’t want to see you get hurt again… And when you stopped talking to me, I… I…”

She trails off and begins biting her lips again. Why is she so obsessed with this topic? As cute is she is when she is like this, I can’t help but worry about her. And what about me not talking to her? I recalled the week I didn’t talk to her. I literally ignored her every time she tried to talk to me. It was difficult for me, not talking to my best friend. The best friend that I secretly love.

“Kari… I’m sorry about that, I really am. It was a stupid idea on my part. But why are you so obsessed about whether I’m going to date Rosalie or not? I already told you that I’m not interested in her anymore.”

“…Azerith, you can’t lie to me. I’ve known you for so long, that I know when you are lying or not. I know you still like Rosalie. And I know that she still really likes you and really, really wants you back.” She was staring up at me, with red cheeks. Her expression was now both sad and angry. Squeezing my hand tighter, she continued, “…you stopped talking to me for a week when you two broke up. Every time I tried to talk to you, you would walk away or pretend to be far away. …that week I cried so much. I don’t think you realize how I felt…”

…she cried? What does she mean by that? I have no choice but to ask her.

“Kari… What do you mean?”

“…after my mother died, you were the only one that was there for me. You were the only one I felt that I could talk to. You’ve been my best friend for years and there is no one else in the world that I care about as much as I care about you. There is no other person in my life that understands what I went through... Without you I…”

I never actually stopped to think about how she felt. I can’t believe I made her cry… I’m the worse friend ever. I’m so sorry Kari… I never once thought of how you felt. It really wasn’t your fault. And yet I still blamed you for it…

Kari was interrupted by voice coming from the speaker above our heads. The person interrupting was Jackson Sven, the man who will be driving us to the university till school is over and we graduate.

“Sorry about the short delay ladies and gentlemen. I had some problems finding a place to drop you guys off so you don’t have to do a crazy amount of walking. Anyways, we will be leaving shortly.”

Sven honestly couldn’t have interrupted at a worse time. I looked at Kari. Her face was still red, but she didn’t look as sad or angry as before. She was still holding onto my hand and arm. The van started up and we started to move.

“Kari… I’m sorry about that. I promise I won’t do it again.”

I tried to find appropriate words to apologize with. However, it was more difficult than I thought. In the end, that was really all I could think of saying. Someday I hope I’ll be able to tell her how I really feel, without tripping over the wrong words. And when I do, I hope deep down in my heart she will return those feelings. The main reason I haven’t said anything to her yet is because I don’t know how to say it. I’m also deeply afraid of being rejected and the strain that rejection will place on our relationship. Someday, I will tell her though. I just don’t know when…

“It’s fine Azero. I’m sorry about blurting out how I feel to you all of a sudden. I wish I could say to just forget everything I just said, but I know that won’t happen…”

Mumbling something I couldn’t hear, she looked away from me for a second. I still feel terrible over what I did. I was just thinking about myself. I stared off for a moment, reflecting on what I did. I was such an idiot… I looked back at Kari. She was staring up at my face. When our eyes met, she smiled at me. Her face was still red and so was mine. As always, her pink lips were entrancing. Oh how I wish I could just close the distance between our lips. At least once in my life, I want to seal those lips with my own.

“You don’t have to apologize for telling me how you feel. We are friends, and it’s my job to listen to you. So on that note…”

I couldn’t even finish that sentence. Her face was slowly getting redder as we sat and stared at each other for about five minutes. She finally broke the silence by turning away from me. Still blushing, her smile grew even larger.  Holding onto my arm and looking this beautiful was really stimulating. My heart was beating so fast.

“A-Anyways, we should um…” she was stammering. Her face was getting even redder. This was a new shade for Kari that I had never seen before. “Y-You said you had a s-series you wanted to show to me…?” As she spoke, those pink lips trembled uncontrollably. I was still staring at her.

“A-Azero…?” She stared back at me and squeezed my hand tighter. I finally broke the trance and looked down at my laptop out of embarrassment. This is so embarrassing. I just… I just couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“R-right. S-So this one is about a guy who loses his father and was asked to attend a school for the rich where he meets a lot of girls that end up following in love with him,” I explained the newest anime that Alex had told me about. “The catch is, one of these girls is his father’s illegitimate child and he has to find out which one it is. It was made five years ago, but it looks pretty good.”

“Let’s watch the first episode and see if it’s as good as he says,” she sighed before continuing with a deeper, more depressed tone than before. “Honestly, after the last one that he told you about, I have a hard time respecting his suggestions anymore.”

“Oh c’mon, it wasn’t that bad. I really liked it.”

“Of course you liked it. It was filled with over-sized breasts and panty shots. I can deal with a few here and there, but after a while it’s too perverted for me.”

The last show was a more recent show that was dubbed in English called Sunset Lover: I Will Live for You. The story was fantastic: it was about a guy moves into the suburbs of a large city near the ocean after his parents both die and meets a girl who was planning on committing suicide, who becomes the main crush. He stops her, and she falls in love with him. Along the way, he meets lots of other girls who end up falling in love with him. The main character almost dies when trying to save the main crush from killing herself again. He spends two weeks in the hospital before returning to school. In the end, he starts dating the girl that he stopped from committing suicide. Kari didn’t like it because the guy had a problem reacting around girls in perverted situations so they corner him. There’s a decent amount of nudity and quite a few up skirt shots in the show, which really turned Kari off. I personally didn’t mind it but that’s because I’m a guy.

I started up the first episode on my laptop of the new show. Kari was still holding on to my arm and hand. I could still feel the curvature of her breasts on my arm. Honestly, if she wanted to do this whenever, I would be okay with it. As the show started, she rested her head slowly on my shoulder. When we sit like this, it’s as if we are a real couple. From this distance, I could smell her perfume. I can usually smell it whenever I walk or sit next to her, but from this distance the smell of apples and cinnamon was intoxicating. Apples and cinnamon. Kari always smelled like apples and cinnamon.

Alright, Azero. That’s enough. It’s starting to get creepy.

I told myself that because I was thinking about Kari way too much and it was starting to get creepy.  I couldn’t help but start smiling and quietly settle in to watch anime with the girl I’m crazy about.

 

˜š›™

Chapter 2: Promethia

Hosting User: Azerith Ramiero

Date Created: March 3^rd, 2012

By the time we made it to the university, it was already 2:30pm. We were dropped off surprisingly not that far from Blegen Hall, which is where our mentor teaches seminars and studies various forms of history and is where we will usually meet him. Today, however, we were told to meet him in the Weisman Art Museum across the river. He’s planning on holding an exhibit to show off some of most recent find at the end of May, with proceeds going towards the Make a Wish Foundation.

Our mentor here at the university is none other than the world famous Professor Amirani Pramantha. If you haven’t heard of Amirani Pramantha, then you know nothing about the famous archeological finds of the last two decades. Professor Pramantha was originally born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1964 before his family relocated to London. He received his PhD in archaeology by the age of 25, which is frankly amazing when you realize that he started attending the university at the age of 16. Right after graduating, he assisted in an archaeological dig in the United Arab Emirates where a tomb was found that dated back to around 500BC. From that point on, Professor Pramantha assisted in over 15 archaeological digs with his brother, Epiumo Pramantha who also received his degree in archaeology a few years after his brother.

However, it wasn’t until much later, about 4 years ago to be exact, that Amirani and his brother’s names became famous. Starting in 1993, the two began excavating a sight in the middle of the Saharan Desert in Egypt, miles from civilization. It took them over 3 years of constant digging before they finally turned up ancient Babylonian records that date back over 3900 years ago. From there, they continued to dig deeper and found artifacts that pre-dated the Ancient Egyptians. To gain supporters and money for his continuing excavation, Amirani and Epiumo came over sees to America and eventually found themselves in here Minnesota to meet with a friend who had asked him to conduct a seminar on his findings. However, they ran into a still unknown assassin who for some reason wanted Amirani and Epiumo dead. The assassin managed to assault and critically injuring Epiumo before escaping. My father and mother were both witnesses to the murder and tried to help, since my father at the time was an off-duty detective for the Minneapolis police department and my mother was a doctor. Epiumo never recovered from his injuries and died on the way to the hospital. Amirani was treated for minor injuries and was released from the hospital a week later. That was the case that my parents met through.

After that, Amirani kept in contact with my parents and they became friends. He was one of those people my parents didn’t cut out of their lives. He returned to Egypt and continued excavating the dig site without his brother. The site continued to turn up more and more relics, and as they dug deeper they found a major find: beneath everything was a massive underground city that has been called the Unknown City, since no one (not even Amirani) knows who built it. However, it didn’t end there. Three years ago, Amirani found a tomb of some sort in the city that he insisted that no one else could enter but him and his personal team. The records show that a lot was excavated from the tomb, but only a few items were shown to the public. Around this time, Amirani contacted my uncle and asked to meet me. They arranged this whole work opportunity at this point and soon it was decided that Kari and I would go to meet him.

Today will actually be the first time I’ve met with him face to face since my parents died. He’s written me letters since I was a kid, and I’ve written him back a few times. My dad followed his work when we were moving around a lot and I remember him coming to see us a few times. However, after a while, he became too busy with work to write me back. I am excited to meet him again.

In fact, Professor Pramantha’s findings were actually used as the concept behind my current favorite game, the Crystal Chronicles: The Sacred Exodus. He was called in as an expert to make the game as close to different parts of mythology as possible. I thought it was so cool when he sent me a letter in the mail telling me about the game and even sent me my copy of the game when it came out.

We stepped out of the shuttle and started our one mile walk over to the art museum. To get there, we have to cross a bridge over the Mississippi River which is a majority of the walking distance. The bridge has a long hall that offers protection from the cold winter wind, but has no heat inside so it’s still really cold. When we become students here next year, we will probably be walking across this bridge every day. It feels even colder outside since we got out of school. I check my cell phone to see what the temperature is outside. It’s only 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now. I suppose it is winter after all.

The best part is that we can just cut through a few halls inside the university so we can have some protection from the cold. I’ve lived here my whole life, but I’m still not accustomed to the cold. This winter has been dreadfully cold and snowy. When I look at Kari, I can tell she must be freezing wearing that skirt.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked as we walked.

“I’m fine. I’ve lived here for so long that I’m used to the winters. Thank you for worrying about me though.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to these winters. I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’m still freezing. Aren’t you even a little cold?”

“A little.” She paused for a moment and started blushing. What are you blushing for?

“…y-you know what would make us a little warmer?”

“W-what would?”

Kari reached out and grabbed my hand with her hand, wrapping her little fingers around mine. She inched closer to me until our arms were touching. We continued to walk together, holding hands.

“There. Isn’t that a little bit warmer?” She asked, smiling at me.

Walking like this, we probably look like a couple to the outside world. If only that was really the truth. As soon as my hand met hers, my thoughts were instantly shifted back to her. My heart was thumping, and I could feel myself blushing very slightly. We walked the whole way to the art museum like this. I hope in the future she’ll let me hold her hand like this more often. Today just keeps getting better.

When we walked across the river, we had an opportunity to discuss what kind of courses we wanted to take and what clubs we would join. The interior walls of the hall on the bridge are painted on every year by the different clubs as a mean of advertisement. The art is innovative and wonderful. There are so many different clubs here at the University so it’s difficult to decide which ones to join. There’s literally a club for everything. However, I have a few ideas as to which one’s I want to join. All of them are clubs that I want to join with Kari. In the end, walk went by so much faster by looking at the art.

We got to the art museum faster than I thought we would. I held the door open for Kari and a woman greeted us at the entrance. She led us to where a middle-aged man was standing in the middle of the room, looking through a set of books. Around him, everything was in complete disarray. There were open and shut boxes strewn throughout the room containing packing foam and items for the display. There were also a few shelves, tables, display cases, and the like with glass doors in the room placed around the room like you would expect a normal museum exhibit to have. All of them appeared to have wheels to make them easier to move around.

The man before us was reading the book was Amirani Pramantha himself. He was at least 6’5” tall and had a very muscular frame. His skin was a nice bronze color from the Egyptian sun. He had short buzzed hair that continued down the sides of his face to a nice, short-trimmed beard and mustache. He had sharp facial features with a slightly round nose. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green. In front of them was a pair of narrow rimmed reading glasses. You could tell he was successful just looking at his suit, which easily cost around 1200$, if not more. The suit consisted of pinstriped black pants, a white silk button shirt with an expensive looking red tie that had a gold dragon on it, and diamond cufflinks. He had a sports coat that matched his pants that was currently laid across the back of a chair. The sleeves of the white shirt were rolled up just below his elbows. You could not tell by looking at him that he was 53 years old. He still looks like he just turned 30.

Professor Pramantha looked up from his book and saw Kari and me in front of him. Without realizing it, we are still holding hands. I quickly let go of Kari’s hand and my arms return to my side. I probably look really stiff right now, but I don’t care. Professor Pramantha smiles at our expressions and starts to walk over to us. By the way he stands and walks, one can infer that he has a high social upbringing.

“It’s been too long Azerith. You have gotten so tall since I last saw you. How long has it been? How have you been?” He inquired while placing a free hand (the other hand was still holding the book, now shut) on my shoulder. He has a sophisticated British accent that I distinctly remember from my childhood.

“It’s been 10 years. I’m doing great, how about you?”

“Busy. I have spent countless hours preparing for this exhibit, and I still have yet to come up with a name for it or a color scheme. I’m dreadful with these kinds of things, so it’ll be nice to have an intuitive mind such as yourself and Miss Reeves to help me. While on that topic, Miss Reeves, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please feel free to call me Amirani or Amir,” He made an elegant bow before us while continuing to speak, “In return, I do hope you would allow me to call you by your first name.”

“Thank you sir. It is an honor to finally meet you. Please call me Kari.”

Kari acted a little nervous in front of the professor, but didn’t let it show too much. I would be nervous too if I was meeting someone as prestigious as him for the first time. Amirani extended his hand to Kari for a handshake. She took it, very feminine-like, and together they shook hands.

“Now that introductions have been concluded, shall we discuss the job that you will be assisting me with? I elicited the help of you two because I’m incapable of preparing an exhibit on my findings at the Unknown City I have excavated near Egypt, which you obviously know about, by myself. As mentioned previously, I am absolutely dreadful at these kinds of things and I prefer finding the stuff rather than presenting it. Now, I presume you have both read the materials that I have provided you earlier this month prior to attending our meeting today?”

We both signaled for him to continue by nodding our heads. Last weekend, Kari stayed over at my house and together we studied a packet of materials detailing Amirani’s findings from the Unknown City. We stayed up really late reading everything in front of us and annotating the pages for key points. She ended up sleeping in Mikayla’s room with her that night and supposedly they had some conversation about boys I ended up hearing about the next morning. Unfortunately there weren’t any details from either party when I overheard them referencing it during breakfast.

“Excellent. So what I was planning on doing was showing off some ancient relics that were found outside the central tomb when you first walk in. Most of these relics have already been shown on the internet and are rather old news, if you will. From there, you would continue down a path of relics that eventually leads to the artifacts that we have kept secret up to this point. Most of these will be presented on shelves that some club is currently building for me. Which club it is, I do not know nor do I entirely care. All I know is that they should be done this time next week if all goes well. A few have already arrived, as you can see. However, knowing how rubbish my luck is, it is safe to say that they won’t be here until next Wednesday.”

He paused for a moment and reopened the book in front of him. He flipped to the back of the book and jotted down some notes before he continued.

“We have roughly 5 months to prepare for this exhibit, and there is a lot to get done. I have also discussed with your Uncle Anton about your class trip for Japan, so there will be no work for those two weeks. That is valuable time, though I suppose there is nothing that can be done about the matter. So for today, please feel free to help me unpack most of this stuff and look through it. I just ask that you handle everything with the utmost of care. Leave the big boxes shut, however, since we will most likely need to shift them around multiple times. The first step I suppose is deciding what we should use and what should get sent to my office.”

Amirani carried over a box filed with old scrolls and bound books over to us, noting that only a few of them should be laid out on the exhibit. We also found plastic gloves to put on over our hands so we wouldn’t contaminate or leave fingerprints on anything.

“Hold on, aren’t most of these artifacts over 10,000 years old? Shouldn’t they be put in some kind of sealed container or something?”

“That is one of the strangest parts about what we found. The books here were all found in the tomb underground. By testing the sediment around the tomb and the materials on the outside of the building, we were able to deduce the approximate age in which the city was built and when it fell below the surface of the earth. We also tested to see if the soil had been moved or dug in before using carbon dating with multiple samples, however we found no signs that it had been disturbed. The tomb was sealed airtight like a vault without any windows or possible entrances from the outside. When we walked in, we were able to test the air and dust on the floor, again using carbon dating, and found that the room hadn’t been opened since it was sealed over 150,000 years ago. When you look at the books found inside the tomb, you would swear that they had been placed in there quite recently.” He paused for a moment and started to scratch his beard. “However, judging by the condition the books are currently in you can see that they are in a fairly stable condition. There are only minor signs of water damage and only minor oxidization. They look not even 50 years old. Please, open one up and see for yourself.”

Kari assisted me and together we took the top off the box, setting it off to the side. I looked down at the stack of books in front of me. The covers, for the most part, were made of a weird material that resembled stone. However, there was one book that only had its spine exposed that really stood out to me. The spine of this book appeared to be made of small plates of a shiny, golden material that looked like real gold. It was slightly faded in some parts and showed a few signs of aging and damage. For example, there was a long crack down the whole spine and a few scratch marks here and there. In the center of the spine were three small, blue gems inlaid within the golden plates with the centermost gem being a little larger than the rest. For some reason, I felt a strong desire to grab the book.

Kari, for some reason, didn’t even notice the gold book and instead grabbed a stone book off the top. She opened it and I realized what Amirani was talking about. The inside of the book was made of beige parchment paper that was starting to turn yellow in a few spots. The book was written in a weird language of odd symbols that I had never seen before. I’m kind of a history buff and have seen characters from nearly every language out there somewhere.

However, these symbols were new to me. In fact, I don’t think anyone has ever seen them before. Whoever wrote this book used a written language of lines and circles that were sometimes filled with ink and other times left empty like rings. To some degree, a few of the characters looked like our alphabet, which is derived from the Latin and Anglo-Saxon alphabets. Kari slowly turned the page of the book and it didn’t rip like you would expect a book from over 150,000 years ago to.

“So I bet you are wondering how this is all possible. Well, we don’t know. We tested the books too. The ink and parchment both predate the walls of the tomb by an undetermined amount of years. The spines of the books are made of a rare metal that we have no record of that is made of trace amounts or elements that currently do not exist on our periodic table of elements.”

I couldn’t help but stare at him, dumbfounded. How is that even possible?

“We were just as skeptical as you are. We double tested everything and then triple tested it again to make sure we were getting the right answers. In total, we probably tested everything eight times. We got the same result each time. A few of the books were kept for research and that’s all that remains of what we found. However, there is one book in that pile that stands out above all the others.”

Double, no triple tested. Eight tests, and each time they come back as saying this book is over 150,000 years old? And the cover, what is it made of? I looked over at the pile again, at the golden book. I don’t believe in extrasensory perception; however I could swear I was feeling something radiating off that book.

“It appears that book has already attracted your attention Azerith. That book was found in the center of the room in a closed casket with a corpse in it. The casket surpasses the technological level of us humans and seals its contents in a powerful vacuum-tight environment. The corpse was very well preserved and looked as if it had been buried yesterday. Whatever substance they used to embalm the subject seems to have accomplished its goal of preserving the body for an immeasurable period of time. On top of the casket was a message in the same language as the book that Kari was holding. We believe the message to be the name of the corpse we found inside. It appears to be human in every way except its cuspids are much larger than your normal human’s. Here, see for yourself.”

Amirani handed me two pictures. The first image, depicted below, was the message inscribed on the top of the casket. The second image was of a male, Caucasian human with long black hair with a handsome, tan complexion. His face was covered in small scars and there was noticeable bruising and an indentation on the upper-right side of his head. He had a nicely shaved face and a slightly deformed nose that was probably broken before he died. His mouth was left slightly open and you could see his pearlescent teeth shining in the faint, white light of the excavation sight.  As noted by Amirani, the man’s cuspids were much longer than a human’s. The top fangs alone were at least an inch long, with the bottom two fully covered up by the top two.

“We first tested the corpse’s clothes to see if we could approximate how old it was. However, we were unable to find out anything by testing them. The embalming fluid found in his veins, however, is an entirely different story. We had them tested multiple times by different companies and each time we were told that their age is not computable. In other words, the age of the corpse exceeds that of any object found on earth, including the tomb they were placed in. The book you have your eyes on Azerith reached the exact same result. Therefore, we have no idea how old these two items really are. It is a complete mystery that will continue to baffle us for some time. I have some personal theories, but they aren’t possible. Now then, Azerith, if you wouldn’t mind grabbing that book and opening it up, that would be splendid.”

Doing as I was told, I placed my hand on the gold-plated book. As soon as I touched it, a cold feeling shot up my arm. I froze and stared at the book for a moment. A severe bout of anxiety was freezing my body. The book felt incredibly cold the moment I touched it. There is only one word to explain how I am feeling right now. Fear.

I could feel it again. It appeared as if that book had a thick, black stream of smoke rising out of it. I must be hallucinating or something, because that’s not possible. A book cannot give off smoke unless it is burning, and the fire alarm would have gone off again if there was a fire.

“Is everything alright Azero? You look like you are freaking out over there.”

Kari was worrying about me. This isn’t good. I can’t look like a coward in front of the girl I like. Swallowing my fear, I reached my hand out once again and ripped the book out of the box.

It felt like my fingertips were about to freeze to its surface it was so cold. The cover of the book was a solid gold plate, similar to the spine. However, there were deep, wide cracks in the gold cover filled with a brilliant deep-blue stone that resembled an ocean of sapphires. The cracks made a pattern that looked like ripples after a drop of water breaks the surface in a cup. In the center was what appeared to be a large, clear diamond. This book would at least sell for a million dollars for the cover alone. On the other side of the book, a circular clasp the size of a finger held the book shut. This clasp appeared to have a button mechanism to release it. The book was surprisingly light for its size, which appeared to be at least a thousand pages thick. As much as I would love to sit and gawk at this beautiful book, my hand felt like it was about to become frostbitten. Now how do I get it open? I placed my finger on the circular claps of the book and pushed it in.

A sharp pain flowed through the tip of my finger through my whole body, up to my head. Uggggh… My head is throbbing in pain like a severe migraine. No, this is worse than any migraine I’ve ever felt. It feels like my head is about to explode. I feel hot all over…

Holy s**t… Why does my head hurt so bad…? I can’t even finish my sentence like this…

I tried dropping the book, but my body wasn’t responding to my mind. Arghhhh….!

Every second I hold this damn book, my head hurts a thousand times worse. What the hell is going on?!

I could see black spots in my vision. Everything around me was starting to get really cloudy. My body was convulsing and I could feel myself keeling over. I dropped to my knees, hard. Uggh… I’m blacking out… What the hell is this book…?

“…Azerith…!”

I could hear Kari screaming, but I couldn’t respond. Instead I fell down to the ground, the book barred against my chest by my hands. And just like that, I blacked out.

 

˜š›™

 

     When I woke up, I was standing on a rock in the middle of who-knows-where. The sky around me was fading from a brilliant yellow, to orange, to red, and then finally purple behind me. In the distance, I could see the sun, or what I thought was the sun anyways. I looked down at my feet. The rock I was sitting on was positioned on a cliff of long, green grass that was up to my ankles. From the grass, hundreds of pure white fireflies were flying in waves towards the sun on the horizon. I looked around my rock. About six feet away, the cliff side was cut into two equal divisions by a river filled with intensely pristine water that reflected the beautiful sunset. Behind me was a mountain range just like the one I was on with white snow caps. To my left, orchards of pink cherry blossoms were fluttering in the wind. The petals from their blossoms were all floating in the same direction as what on first look appeared to be fireflies. On the second look, however, I realized that they weren’t fireflies but droplets of water. A faint, warm breeze rolled past me, carrying flower little pink flower petals with it towards the horizon. The air temperature here felt perfect. I felt comfortable in this beautiful paradise. The view was amazing…

     However, as amazing as this view is, where am I? This feels like something out of some RPG where you find a magical item and are transported to a new world. Most of the time in scenarios like this, the whole game ends up being a dream and the main character wakes up back in the real world. So I’m dreaming, right? Yeah, that’s it. I must be dreaming. So all that means is I just need to wake up, right?

     [Fufufufufu… You’re not the first one to ever give that response. So you will be my new partner for a little while then, huh? What a shame, you’re so young and talented…]

I tried looking around me to find the origin of this strange voice. However, the only living thing I can see around me is me. The speaker had a deep voice with an accent similar to that of Professor Pramantha’s. Wait, hold on, partner? And what do you mean by “a shame”?

[How do I say this so that you will understand…? I am you. Or at least was you. Many, many years ago. Now I am nothing but a string of memories, implanted into your consciousness waiting for the right time to meet you. So you are Azerith, right?]

What the hell are you talking about? You were once me? That doesn’t even make any sense. Who are you really?

[As said, I was once you before I died. You are the descendant of one of my children and the true possessor of my geas. You are this generation’s True Dominion.]

What’s a geas?

[A geas is an impregnation of memories into your genetic code that gives you instructions and guidance in life. Only a few are able to access their geas, however. You are able to access the memories that I have impregnated into the code of my descendants. You are True Dominion.]

True Dominion? So are you, like, a past life or something?

[I suppose you can call me that. Yes, let’s go with that. You inherited my authority. I see looking through your memories that you have encountered this word in something your people call video games, yes?]

Authorities, as in from the Sacred Exodus? But that’s a fictional game.

[Yes, very similar to that. I see Prometheus is still working hard to find the key to defeating Absolute Perfection. So tell me boy, what is an authority in that game?]

An Authority is a set of abilities that are like superpowers: possessing an authority and having the ability to use it allows you to do things control time, summon the dead, or other amazing feats. Essentially, everyone starts with an authority based on their race, fighting style, and magic level. As you go through the game, you level up and eventually gain other authorities by defeating bosses. What has that to do with anything? That game is pure fiction.

[Alright, that’s not exactly the whole thing, but we will work with it. Have you ever heard of the word Akashi?]

No, but I can look it up. Hold on, I have my smart phone on me. I surprisingly have 5G coverage here.

[Oh, by all means, waste even more of my time. Though I don’t understand this “5g coverage" you speak of or how you have it here, please do let me know what you get.]

I opened up Google on my phone and searched the word “akashi”. What I got was information about a town in Japan. Is this what the voice was talking about?

[Yes, that’s the exact Akashi that I was talking about in the conversation on Authorities. Honestly, was the devolution that successful that you Selokashi have truly forgotten everything about our people? No, by Akashi, I mean the spirit that lives inside of you " your core. The essence of life in your neural system that is the opposite of your complex " your body. Your Akashi is comprised of what we call Myst, or free-floating crystalline ectoplasm particles found in the center of your cells. Akashi is an entity separate from your complex that governs the flow of your life, called chakra, and one’s magical abilities. Your game has Akashi split into five different items but they are all part of Akashi. Race, powers, authorities, and magic are all Akashi. An Authority is what determines your Akashi " it is a gift from the Creator. Different authorities exist that have different powers. Everyone has an authority, like you say. But over time and after evolution, the ability to use parts of this authority is lost. The authority becomes fragmented and splits apart until it comes to rest. Akashi can be separated from its complex and then “sliphed”, which means the process by which authorities are transferred be it either gifted or stolen, so that another Akashi can use it.]

Alright… S-so let’s say this is all real, what has this to do with me?

[It is real, and you would do well to believe it. This knowledge will save your life, if you know how to properly apply it. Tell me boy. Do you believe in angels?]

Angels? As in the one’s that do the work of the God from the bible?

[No, as in the ones that deliver babies. Of course the one’s from the bible! What other angels could there possibly be? You possess the fragments of an authority " my authority that is. One of the greatest authorities of all time, with the power to shape the world or make it burn. You are True Dominion " the greatest of all war and victory Aetrials, which is a fancy term for what you beings incorrectly call Gods. Your true authority is called Archangel Patriarch.]

Eh? True Dominion…? This is just too much…

[I hardly see why you are surprised by all this. Throughout history, your fellow Selokashi have written about the Aetrials and Akashi that appear on your planet from time to time; be it for mischief, war, or protection. However, it was dishonorable and pitiful for you humans to worship Akashi like Gods. You only fanned their egos and gave them a seat above the Creator. I must admit, however, that it is admirable that the word of the Creator has managed to find its home in your hearts over the years. Though in reality the word of the Creator has become muddied with capitalistic desires and has truly become detestable. Your race uses religion as a weapon stronger than a sword and also as a shield to protect you against the beliefs that you believe are false instead of truly following its true message. Not to mention that others have managed to added things that aren’t truly the word of the Creator, though almost all of these items aren’t that harmful to the word. Tell me boy, do you believe in the Creator?]

I’m not an overly religious person. It’s not that I don’t believe, but I just don’t feel as if this “Creator” is that great. He wasn’t there for me when I really needed him. When my parents died, and I really needed someone, I tried praying. It never worked and I never received any “messages” from the “Creator” either.

[Really? So you abandoned the Creator after your parents were killed by devils. How foolish.]

What the hell are you talking about? Angels and devils don’t exist. They are mythological creatures created by some guy with an active imagination. There’s no way they exist. If you believe that they exist-

[Is that what you really believe? I see…. I suppose it doesn’t matter. It will all be over for you soon, and then I’ll drift on to the next host. Enjoy your last moments on Earth with your ignorance boy. Your time will soon run out whether you want it to or not.]

Again, what the hell are you saying? My time is running out and I should enjoy my last moments on Earth? That doesn’t even make sense.

[Goodbye boy. Hopefully the next host will be a better believer than you.]

Wait, hold on. Wait!

[Yes?]

What do you mean by “my time is running out?”

[True Dominion is the authority of the White Dragon King. There are over 13 different dragons in total, with 6 Great Dragon Kings of the Divine Spark. Authorities, as previously stated, are part of the Creator’s creation system. When he made the world, he made it in his image. Thus, authorities are fragments of his power. Every authority has a class and are all sub-evolutions of the six great sparks: Guiding Purpose, Absolute Truth, True Dominion, Grand Devotion, Pure Perfection, and Infinite Immortality. The great sparks were the first authorities ever created, and are said to be the Children of the Creator. All authorities stem from these sparks and are classified into classes based off of them. Pure Perfection, the Red Dragon King, is your mortal enemy. You two are destined to fight. When you die, your authority will be passed on to another user and so will the Mantle of Responsibilities.]

This is too much… How do you expect me to believe you? And what is this Mantle thing?

[The Mantle of Responsibilities was our instructions left behind by the Creator on how we, his children, should oversee and maintain his creation while he rested during the seventh period of creation. Our job was to make sure that all those in the universe maintained the laws that God gave to Mosiel, whose descendant is the great Moses who in turn bestowed these laws upon your world, our king until the end of the seventh period. However, we were betrayed when one of our brethren felt that he should have been made King while the Creator rested and detested the creation of the Selokashi, who were created by the Creator as a master race that had to evolve to survive. They lacked authorities and the ability to fully harness the Akashi that gave them life. Instead, they had to use tools and each other to grow. From the beginning, the Selokashi were always the Creator’s favorite beings. It was our job to watch over them in the Creator’s respite. Some found the Selokashi detestable and were jealous of the Creator’s favoritism. Others, such as myself, found their race to be beautiful and envied how well they worked together.

 This traitor went against the Creator and revolted against the Seraphim, persuading others that he was the true Creator, and destroyed hundreds of Selokashi worlds. We were told that it was heaven’s second-in-command angel, who was quickly exiled for the crime of treason against the creator. A war began, sides were chosen, blood was shed, and Akashi were separated between two sides: the Mokashi, or members of the Seraphim, and Rekashi, the banished fallen angels who wanted revenge against the Seraphim. Every single law that Mosiel had been entrusted with was violated during a period of over fifty millenniums. The traitor, along with myself, was ultimately killed at the supposed end of the war. You know this man’s name well. His name is Sataniel, the Red Dragon Devil King. You are, after all, holding his book. And from what I can tell, you also have his blood in you as well.

However, the war never truly ended because the decedents of these fallen heroes decided to continue this war until there was nothing left. I do believe that at this current time, the descendants of the Rekashi generals have the upper hand. Unfortunately for you, now that you’ve awakened, you have become a target for the son of Sataniel. Luckily, that fellow placed a seal on you…]

S-S-Sataniel!? A-As in THE Satan!? There is no way… You still haven’t told me how I can believe you!

     [In due time child. If you trust in me, you will live. Soon you will see that what I am saying is the truth. Please, do believe. Not only in me, but the Creator as well. It may not seem like he is there, but he is. You just have to believe. There is much work to be done, and you will be the one doing it. For now, live as you always have. I will contact you again when you really need me. Farewell and best of luck.]

WAIT!  None of this makes any sense! D****t!

 

     I finally woke up in the real world, screaming “Wait, Wait!” to the invisible voice in my head. What the hell was that all about? My body was covered in a cold sweat and presumably felt clammy to the touch. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and ever gasp of breath took excruciating effort. After a few moments I managed to get my breathing and irregular heartbeat under control. Regaining my senses, I looked around me. I was still sitting in the art museum at the University near the spot the spot I passed out. Professor Pramantha was standing a few feet in front of me looking through a book. He shut the book when he noticed that I was finally awake. As for Kari...

Whatever I was sleeping on was incredibly comfortable and soft, like one of those fancy pillows you sleep on at a hotel. I looked up and found Kari's face looking down on mine. It was then that I realized the wonderful thing I was sleeping on. The soft and comfortable pillow was created by Kari's bent legs. In other words, I was enjoying the famous lap pillow. And if I may say so, it is as wonderful as everyone says. However, I couldn't exactly enjoy the moment because of Kari's current facial expression. Her face was filled with anxiety and fear. As always when she is worrying over something, she was biting those amazing pink lips of hers. There were even tears in the corners of her eyes. Oh man, this is sadly enjoyable for me...

"Azero! Thank God you are okay! A-are you okay? When you passed out, I was so worried about you...

"Yeah, I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me. I just had a really weird dream..."

This time it was Amirani's turn to ask questions.

"What did you see?"

"It was nothing. Really, it was a figment of my-"

"Azerith. Tell me what you saw." Professor Amirani quickly cut me off before I could finish my sentence. He looked both excited and angry. Why are you excited?

"I-I know this is going to seem crazy, b-but I'm not crazy. In my dream, I was sitting on a golden rock on a Cliffside with green grass and a long river that flowed into a waterfall. There was a mountain range and a cherry blossom tree behind me. Oh, and there were droplets of water in the grass that were floating toward the sunset in the distance. And then there was a voice..."

"Asgard. What you saw was Asgard. Tell me about this voice."

"A-Asgard? What are you talking about? You sound like the guy in my dream..."

"This isn't a joke Azerith. What did he say?"

This time it was Kari who interrupted. "E-excuse me. Azerith just woke up after fainting. Shouldn't we be worrying about that?"

Wait, are her eyes red? Was she crying?

"We will worry about that in a bit," Amirani responded in a stern, authoritative tone. "First, however, I need to know about that voice. What did he say Azerith?"

"H-he told me about authorities and something called Akashi. He also started to talk about angels and devils, and about the bible. I don’t know what’s going on anymore!”

            Trying to comprehend the situation was aggravating for my brain. For some reason, it felt like I could believe what this voice said. The information that I had gathered from the conversation with the mysterious voice had already transferred from my short-term memory to my long-term memory. Was that voice really a part of me…?

            I continued to ponder and contemplate what had just happened for a little over three minutes before Professor Pramantha interrupted my silent soliloquy with another string of questions. He had a very stern facial expression and he was staring intensely at my face as if he was trying to read my thoughts.

            “Do you believe what you heard Azerith?”

            I had to think about that one for a moment. For some odd reason, I actually believe what I heard. It’s impossible to put it into words, but it just felt so real and compelling. So I gave the only answer I could.

            “…I think so. I’m not sure why, but for some reason it seems so real…”

            My answer seemed to relax the professor quite a bit. He even smiled.

            “Good. That will make everything much easier for us. I believe that will be good for the day. While you were away, I had Kari call Mr. Sven to come pick you up.” He paused for a moment to look down at his watch before continuing, “I do believe he should be here shortly. Please do come back as soon as possible, we have much to accomplish in a rather short period of time and I would greatly appreciate your assistance.”

            “H-hold on. We still haven’t determined if Azerith is alright or not.  And what is this about voices? You two aren’t making any sense!”

            I completely forgot that Kari was there. Without me noticing, she must have grabbed my hand and continued to hold it. This is going to be fun to explain…

            “I’m sorry Miss Reeves, I completely forgot about that matter. Azerith, how do you feel?”

            “I feel fine. Really, I feel fine. There’s no need to worry so much.”

            It was easy to tell that Kari was upset just by looking at her face. Her eyebrows were scrunched and she sported a frown that I knew meant she was worrying. She was also chewing her bottom lip, which is a sure sign that she was worried.

            While we sat and chatted, my phone vibrated from a text message. I pulled it out of my pocket with my free hand. The time was 7:05pm. It has already been 4 hours since we got here. How long was I out for?

            I looked down at my other hand, still clutching the book that was supposedly once a possession of the devil. I set the book on the ground and let go of it. Unlike before, I was able to pull my hand away from the book. As soon as I did, however I was once again greeted with a sharp stinging sensation similar to being poked by a syringe at the doctor’s office. Looking down at my finger, there was indeed a small drop of blood on the area of my right index finger where it had made contact with the book’s clasp. I quickly wiped it away and no more blood protruded from the wound.

            The diamond center of the book appeared to clear, as if a fog had drifted apart inside the gem. Underneath the fog, what appeared to be a human eyeball materialized. This eyeball looked directly at me no matter which way I shifted or turned the book. How odd.

            I handed the book to Professor Pramantha, who looked surprised when I handed it back to him. He took the book and studied the cover for a short period before staring of into the distance and stroking his beard, obviously pondering something.

My phone vibrated again to remind me that I had alerts I still haven’t attended to. I unlocked the device and tapped the messaging app. The alert was a text message from Jackson Sven. He was about to be here and suggested that we meet him on the street below us for pick-up. It was finally time to go home and relax. I told Kari about what Jackson said and grabbed my jacket and backpack. Kari did the same and we waved goodbye to Professor Amirani. We also said good bye to the woman who let us in before exiting the museum.

Outside, the cold winter weather greeted us yet again. Unlike before, it was night time and the air was filled with little, white snowflakes. Around us, people came and went on bicycles or on foot. Even at night, the university is still really active. It’s amazing when you think about how big this school is and how many students there are here.

After pausing for a moment to admire our surroundings, Kari and I started to walk with each other down the stairs to the street below. Once we managed to put some distance between the museum and ourselves, Kari gently slipped her fingers into the gaps between my fingers on my right hand. I returned the gesture by closing my hand and just like that, we were holding hands like before. For some reason, it seems like our relationship has progressed to a more intimate level than before. Of course, I’m not complaining. I've always had feelings for Kari and I would be pretty happy if something does come out of this.

            I wish this walk could go on forever but, after a somewhat short walk, we finally arrived at the arranged pick-up site. Jackson was already waiting for us outside his van, having a smoke. Once he saw us, he put out his cigarette and returned to the van’s driver seat. He flipped the switch inside and the van opened. We both stepped in and sat down next to each other. I started up my laptop like before and I was just about to start the next episode of the anime we started earlier.

However, I was interrupted by Kari grabbing my hand. She was turned toward me and was staring right into my eyes. Her serious expression told me she was still worried about earlier. I turned back to her and realized that I couldn’t dismiss the issue.

“Kari…”

“Azerith, what the hell happened back there? You fell unconscious and then you went on about hearing voices? Azerith, I’m worried about you.”

“Kari, you have to believe me. I really saw what I said I did. It really happened.”

“Alright, then explain to me exactly what happened. I can’t believe you if I don’t know what happened.”

Oh right, I guess I never actually told her what actually happened. It would be impossible for her to believe me if I didn't tell her, so I explained what happened while I was unconscious in great detail. The whole time, she just sat and listened to me without saying a word. Finally, I finished my story and she looked at me with an even more serious look than before.

“A-alright Azerith. I want to believe you, but it just seems too far-fetched… I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault. It does seem a little crazy, but it did happen. I don’t know… I just… it felt so real…”

“Well alright… Let’s just leave it at that, alright?”

“…yeah, alright…”

And just like that, the conversation about my dream stopped. Kari squeezed my hand and smiled at me. I smiled back, though it was a fake smile. I probably seem crazy to her. I swear, that wasn't a dream, it felt too real to be a dream. I don’t know why exactly, but I know that it happened. At least Professor Pramantha believes me…

I loaded up the webpage and played the next episode. Kari rested her head on my shoulder again and I was finally able to relax, putting my mind to rest. Instead, I was able to watch an anime that I really enjoyed with a girl I was crazy about sitting next to me, with her head on my shoulder. I could smell her perfume again, and it was driving me crazy. I hope that someday, somehow, I can be more than just a friend to her.

 

CHAPTER 3: New Experiences

Hosting User: Azerith Ramiero

Date Created: March 3^rd, 2012

            By the time we got home, it was already 8:15pm. We were both dropped off at my house and we proceeded up to my bedroom. The only people in the house tonight were Kari and me. In my room, we played the Sacred Exodus (I used my laptop, and she used my desktop) for a while. I made us a frozen pizza for dinner and together we completed some quests while eating and chatting. We managed to rack up some experience points and get a few rare items to help our clan. It was a lot of fun. I love playing video games with Kari.

At about 10:00pm, however, I had to take Kari home. We got into my car and drove over to her house. As she was about to get out, Kari asked me a question that made my day.

“Hey, Azerith… Does it bug you when I try to hold your hand?”

“No, not all! I… I actually… like holding your hand.”

“Alright! Then I’ll hold your hand more often. Alrighty then, I’ll see tomorrow at 12:00am sharp then. Don’t be late!”

“I promise, I won’t be. You better be ready on time though,” I responded with a sheepish grin.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. See ya later Azero.”

            Kari then got out of the car and walked up to her house. When she got to the door step, she turned around and waved at me before opening the door and walking inside. I waited for a few seconds before heading home.

            By the time I got home, I was incredibly tired and hungry. I could tell by looking at the driveway that my aunt and uncle were now home. I pulled up next to them and put my car in park. I sat there for a moment, listening to the radio and reviewing the events of the day. I’ve made a lot of progress with Kari today. Should I ask her out on an official date? Should I confess to her? What if I get rejected? All of these things crossed my mind all at once. I should probably just wait before rushing things, right?

            I sat and pondered this for a short time until I realized that I was wasting gas with the car on. I quickly flipped the switch and turned my car off. As I was trying to step out of the vehicle, the strength left my legs and I stumbled to the ground. My head was pounding again and I felt like I was about to faint again. Ugh…. What is this…

            Luckily, my uncle happened to realize that I was home and was just coming to check on me in the driveway when I fell down. He grabbed my arm and helped carry me inside. I think he was trying to talk to me; however I was unable to hear him. All I could do was to attempt to drag my feet through the door in front of me. The effort was pretty unsuccessful and my uncle ended up carrying me into the living room.

            Now in the living room inside the house, my uncle laid me down on the couch and went to fetch something from upstairs. I sat there for what felt like eternity, staring up at the sealing. My whole body was paralyzed and I couldn’t move at all. I had trouble breathing and had to take short, ragged gasps out of my gaping mouth. All of my senses except vision had now ceased. I was starting to feel numb and cold.

            My uncle quickly returned from somewhere in our house with a vial of a strange looking purple liquid. He undid the clasp on the vial and proceeded to pour the liquid down my throat. Within seconds, the paralyzed sensation completely left my body and was quickly replaced with feelings of intense pain stemming from the center of my chest near my heart. I couldn’t help arching my back out of sheer pain. My body literally feels as if it’s about to rip apart. If this continues any longer, I won’t be able to hold it any longer without screaming!

            Within five minutes of experiencing the worst pain of my life, I finally returned to a normal condition. All at once, the pain subsided, my muscles unclenched, the feeling in my body returned, and I could smell and hear again. I could finally breath normally and I didn’t feel like I was about to pass out.

            [Are you alright partner? It appears who ever sealed that book in the Tomb of Sataniel placed a powerful curse on it to prevent anyone else from using it. However, that man appears to know a little about medicine and alchemy and had something prepared. Without him, you probably would have died.]

            There it is again! I knew that voice was real! There was no way that was a dream.

            [Yes. As I said, I will always be here to help you until you die. However, we need to be more careful in the future. Small things like that are enough to kill you when you are this weak.]

            Hey, when you say it like that it’s really insulting! Wait, hold on! Here you are again claiming that magic, angels, and all of that stuff like they are real!

            No matter how much I shouted at him, the voice in my head never responded. I looked over at my uncle, who was now sitting on the other end of our sectional couch. He was staring at me with an intensive look and looked incredibly concerned.

            “Gemini, Azerith. You scared the daylights out of me. If I knew that this is how you would respond to the Grande Grimoira del Rosso Dragore I would have let you touch it in the first place! To think that that fellow, after all he’s been through, didn't even check the damn thing for enchantments and traps is just unbelievable…”

Author's Note

Currently a work in progress. If you could review and tell me what to work on, that would be fantastic!
Note: there are a lot of errors that I find every time I read through this that I need to fix. If you find any, please let me know.

Reviews

[Matthew Ian Herrawood W]

it would have been better to upload this as a book so you could separate the chapters. i dont have time to read this so maybe ill give it a good look later just one question... what up with the beginning?

System Code: 0641875-8CX4
File Code: 1756K9-PB4596
Hosting User: Azerith Ramiero de la Shinsovak Mohora von Zekereih
Last Revised on: 28 March 2096
Accessing User: Unknown
Error code 4553976: Un-established User
Access Date: 17 July 2148

I have no idea if this is part of the story or if you decided to write this down for some reason but it doesnt seem to be part of the story.