A New Story

[Sparkfyre Lyras]

How do you like?
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Dark moonlight bathed the earth like an all-consuming darkness; tonight was warm, starlit, and windless. It was a truly beautiful night; particularly, it was especially beautiful upon the coast of Undine, at the resort city of Charybdis. Soft, calm water lapped at the beach soft as a mother kitten; crickets and nightingales together charmed a harmonious tune that could soothe even the most dangerous of beasts, and for the most part the country slept, oblivious to what was coming.

Like a knife through butter came the large, powerful cruise ship to the docks of Undine; it was large, massive, powerful. Silver, metallic, the name Asmodus appeared in glittering, red-as-blood letters upon its side. An unnatural wind came within its wake; at the prow of the ship, a cloaked and beautiful female figure smiled at the approaching land. Few people in this world stayed out until midnight hour; however, she seemed right at home. Covered in a cloak, the wind seemed to avoid her like a plague; the wood beneath her feet was dry and rotting, as if it could collapse at any moment. There were no others in sight on deck; if anybody had managed to spot this particular boat, it would have given them a very depressing and fearful bout of emotions. After all, very few boats is the world adorned their hull with a chain of human skulls.

It arrived at the dock as silent as an owl in flight; it was then the first two creatures emerged, lowering a plank down to the ground for their dark mistress to walk down to the docks. The figure at the dock turned then; the birds and bugs had fallen silent as death upon her arrival. With each step she took, the area her feet touched rotted and grew old, ancient, dead; upon reaching the ground she took off her cloak and handed it to her servants, who looked like the traditional images of grim reapers- skeletons wearing long cloaks.

The girl herself was truly beautiful; she appeared to be in her very early twenties, possibly even a teenager still; her skin was pale and white as snow, her lips as red as cherries. Her eyes, which seemed to be half-closed, stared at the world through a deep black hue; she also had waist-length radiant black hair of finest quality, flowing loose about her voluptuous body. She was very well-endowed and her features truly flawless; she could even be said to be a goddess of beauty. She wore only tight black clothes; a cute little tank top and a pair of what seemed to be silk pants that ended just above her ankles; her perfect feet were placed delicately within two masterfully crafted sandals, and her body was, truly, shaped like an hourglass. She was the type who could turn even the biggest of prudes into the most slavering of love-slaves with but a single rub of her hand; a touch of her leg; a kiss upon the forehead. The way she moved, it seemed impossible for her not to have been a seductress at one point or another; her hips swayed in such a way that it might be considered impossible not to stare; she exposed just the right amount of flesh to set somebody’s imagination afire with thoughts of lust. She was the type of beauty a complete stranger would gladly die for just to feel her touch but once- and indeed, her touch could kill instantly.

She but moved her hand and the two servants she had carried with her went back aboard the vessel she had come upon and gathered her things, carrying them for her as she walked toward the finest resort in town; as she passed, grass shriveled up and died as she passed, sometimes turning into dust if she lingered for even the smallest fraction of a second; the stones beneath her feet that paved the way through the town grew old and moldy as she stepped upon them. Nevertheless, her beauty drew the magical world excluding one’s attention as she passed; even if they could not see her and knew not anything of her, they suddenly felt yearnings of lust for beauty incomparable and undying thirst for the touch of female companionship.

The hotel she had chosen to come to was still open this late, or at least the lobby was; there was only one person on staff waiting on those that would arrive late tonight. As soon as the lady of the boat entered, he instantly began staring; he could not but help himself to a visual feast. The female could not help but give a small smirk of knowingness; her aura made many plants wilt upon the way to the counter, and, stopping there, she brushed a hand along the man’s face, her magical aura suddenly disappeared, but her beauty even more evident for it.

“My name is Amaya. Can I trust you to take good care of me?” Her voice was the beauty of a chorus of a thousand angels; upon hearing it, the man at the counter had to grip the counter quite hard to prevent himself from fainting; he was, in all truths, speechless. Staring at her face, he could not bring himself to do anything more than to open his mouth and give a weak little whine.

Smiling, Amaya took his chin in her hand- he could not be but an adolescent- and drew him in close, putting her truly beautiful lips next to his ear and whispering. “I desire to stay in this hotel while I seek out a man in this town in secret. Can I trust you to keep me a secret? I’ll even pay you double.”

The attendant gave another weak whine, grabbed a key from the list of the most expensive and beautiful suite in the place, and immediately gave it to her. Struggling to find his voice, he managed to squeak out, “The man you’re looking for doesn’t know how lucky he is.”

Amaya tilted her head to the side and put one very sexy finger to her lips. “All too true. But that ends when I find him. And believe me, I will find him.” Smiling, she snapped her fingers, and the two servants she had, now just entering the hotel behind her, followed her to the elevator, where they would accompany her to her room. Behind, in the lobby, the attendant finally fainted, the image of the beautiful woman in his mind as he had the most pleasant dream he had ever had.

[Sparkfyre Lyras]

“Kekkai Dhampir? Are you still here? It’s closing time again.”

A loud sigh and an irritated thud of a book closing echoed across the great and vast expanse f shelves and books; as a resort city, Charybdis still had quite the expansive library. However, it was rarely visited, except from locals on book reports, or by the odd bookworm every now and again. Either way, it was very rare to have a regular visitor like Kekkai Dhampir came every day for three months, staying from open to close, reading some of the most advanced materials in the library. And, quite often, he was here even between open and close; many times when the librarians got here in the morning, he would already be there, deeply involved with the books, as if he’d never left. It was impossible to try and keep him out; however, according to protocol, they still had to kick him out- or try to, at least- every day at one in the morning, when the library closed.

The librarian sighed as he went deep into the restricted sections; here, there were mostly a lot of books on magic: advanced magical theories, forbidden magical arts, books from other dimensions of existence that the library had managed to get their hands on… if you truly wanted to find out about something, here was the place to come. Finally, he got to the couches here, where the people who were really deep into reading something often lounged, reading quite heavily, and found the most regular patron of the library, Kekkai Dhampir, positively glaring at him. If looks would kill- come to think of it, some could- then the entire staff would be long dead by now.

Kekkai wasn’t too bad in the appearances department; he was only about medium height, and had shoulder length blond hair, glossy and envied by all members of the female staff. His eyes were crisp, clean, and sharp; they were also bright yellow, like his hair. For clothes, he rarely wore more than a loose black t-shirt with a pentagram with a dragon behind it emblazoned upon it and a pair of faded blue jeans with holes in the knees; he wore basic-looking flip-flops and also had a red cloth wristband on his left wrist, which he never seemed to remove. There was tattoos on both his arms; they were both covered in black and green glittering flame patterns. On his right cheek he had a tattoo of a black pentagram, and from his left ear dangled a small silver skull with rubies as eyes; there was a little bit of stubble on his chin, and he wore three rings, two on his right hand, one on his index finger adorned with a sapphire and on his middle fixed with an emerald, and on his left there was a third set with amethyst. All three rings were made of pure gold, it seemed. Around his neck, he wore a chain of silver with a topaz snake pendant at the end of it. Nobody had ever seen anything else of him, so they weren’t sure if he had tattoos, piercing, or scars anywhere else. He wore a snakeskin belt diagonal across his waist over his shirt, and while he was quite skinny, he wasn’t too horribly built for strength. Most of the younger female librarians had secret crushes on him, and he often flirted with them as well, although he never let it really go anywhere. He didn‘t appear to be interested in physical relationships. He only looked like he was around twenty-one, and he had vampire fangs, quite visible when he smiled. As far as anybody could tell, he hadn’t even come on a ship; he had just appeared one day. All they knew about him was his name.

“Um, it’s, it’s closing time. You have to leave again.”

“When are you going to just let me stay here during the night? You know I’m just going to break in again. Within five minutes.” Kekkai’s voice complimented his looks; he was, truly, quite handsome, really.

“Yeah, but, well, it’s- it’s my job to make sure all patrons are out of the library when we close. I still have to follow the rules.”

Kekkai raised both hands and flipped him off with both of them. “Honestly. Just piss off already. I’ve got a lot of research to do, and I’m pretty sure my enemies will find out about me being here soon.”

The librarian paused for a moment. “Huh. Do you know a girl named Amaya? She-”

Kekkai didn’t eve appear to move. All of a sudden, he was on his feet and one of his hands was around the young man’s throat. Their faces were so close, one couldn’t even slip a pencil lead between them easily. “Tell me-” Kekkai spoke, his voice dark and dangerous now, threatening; as if he desired to kill- “tell me, for the sake of your life, what exactly you mean by the name, Amaya.”

The librarian was truly scared now; Kekkai had always been peaceful, and he was quite strong, as expected; there was no doubt that, if Kekkai tried, he could snap the young librarian’s neck without any real problem. However, it had to have been magically enhanced strength; Kekkai looked strong, but not THAT strong. “Um, I, I have another job at a hotel over the weekend, and a girl came to town a couple days ago in the middle of the night. She said her name was Amaya, and that she was looking for a man. Are- are you him?”

Kekkai released the young man and stared at him for a couple of seconds. Then, he turned around and swore, quite violently. He swore again, and kicked a table, shattering it into bits with one blow. Then he turned back to the librarian. And that’s when the librarian wet himself. “Your name is Leshy, right? You’re a plant elemental?”

“I-I am.”

“Good. Listen- as far as Amaya’s concerned, I’m not here. And as far as you’re concerned, she’s dangerous. Deadly. Lethal. Stay the hell away from her, and it’s possible you might live through the week. I’m leaving now; I’ll be gone for a few days. I have to go prepare for something.”

Kekkai walked past Leshy and stormed off among the hallway; it was odd. For the first time, Leshy noticed that there was no magical aura around him. That meant that either he had no magical power, or he was at least as strong as a demigod. Leshy began to feel true fear of this man who had been, as far as he had been concerned a few moments before, just a rather unusual bookworm. Leshy waited until Kekkai was gone, with the doors slamming shut, before he moved again. He turned off all the lights, locked all the doors. He would go home, change, and then he would go to Amaya’s hotel room. For some reason, he felt safe around her. And what he needed now was that feeling of safety.

[Sparkfyre Lyras]

The entire top floor of the hotel, with a beautiful view that gave her a good view over nearly all of the surrounding parts of Charybdis and set at the border of the civilized territory, right at the edge of the magical tropical rain forest that covered nearly all of the country of Undine and was for the most part completely undeveloped, this, by far the tallest building in the city (twenty-six floors; most didn’t go above twelve) gave Amaya the best stakeout position to find the man she was here to seek. He was quite the elusive one; not only that, but her own personal ability did not effect him properly. It also gave Amaya a beautiful view of the full moon tonight; it was just passing one-thirty now. There were still a great many hours of night to go- here, the sun didn’t rise until eleven, and stayed up only until five. Charybdis was a shielded city- it had a spell surrounding it to maximize the nighttime hours for its guests.

Tonight Amaya wore all black, again, but this time, while he still wet with the same style shirt, she had chosen to wear a leather miniskirt and tights instead of her usual jeans. Nobody bothered her up here; it had been her special request with the manager the next morning after a incident where the young maid had come in to clean what she thought had been a very empty room. The manager had actually been quite understanding about her becoming an old, wrinkled corpse; one could not expect to live in a world of magic without such things happening every now and again, especially in a country that various things from all over the world came to.

There was a knock on the door, and a flash of irritation crossed her face for a moment before she resumed her playful face; a sweet smile, a suggestive twinkle in her eye, and exuding an aura of pure sexiness. The males of this planet- and quite a few females as well- fell for it quite easily, and bent to her will all too quickly under her charming gaze. She could get them to tell her anything she desired to know; for some of them, by this time already, all she had to do was ask, and they’d gladly sacrifice their lives for her. Mortals were such fools.

Sitting on one of the lavish couches, legs crossed, she flicked her wrist and the door opened, revealing a sweaty and nervous Leshy, hastily dressed, who quickly entered and shut the door behind him. Although her mask of kindness didn’t waver, inside she frowned. Oh. It’s only that fool boy from the first night. What does he want? Her irritation was quite reasonable; he had often visited much from the first night and talked with her. It seemed that he wanted her to fall in love with him, or to impress her, perhaps. Whenever he left, Amaya just laughed at his efforts as soon as she knew he wouldn’t hear; such things as love were fully pathetic.

Nervously, he walked over and sat down across from her, staring at his feet. “Umm… umm… Mistress? Amaya? I- I just got done with my other job. There was somebody there that knew you, I- I think. He- he didn’t really like the name Amaya, at least.”

Amaya’s interest levels instantly rose, and her full attention turned to the boy across from her. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “Really? Well, isn’t that something. So what’s his name?”

“Um, it’s, it’s Kekkai. Kekkai Dhampir.”

Kekkai Dhampir, huh? Seriously. What. The. Hell. Amaya just smiled. “Hmm… well, it definitely sounds like him, then. Tell me-” she leaned forward, her shirt revealing just a little bit of her very good endowment- “does he have a green and black flame tattoo on his arms?”

“He- he does.”

Amay grinned a rather wicked smile as she leaned forward and kissed the child’s forehead. “Well, well. Then you’ve found him. You’ve proven quite useful; usually Azzy’s a lot harder to find than this; I actually expected to be here for at least three months. Exploring the clubs, sampling the booze,” she drew him close and whispered in his ear, “maybe even sampling the local male population a bit.” She drew back, smiling. “Tell you what- if you can get Azzy- or, really, Kekkai, as he’s calling himself at the moment- to meet with me, I’ll go on a date with you. Your choice on where we go, how long it is, what we do-” she ran one finger down the front of her shirt in a way that made Leshy sweat all the more- “and maybe even how we do things. But that’s only after I meet Azzy. Think you can do it, love?” She teased him with that last word; drawing him out, testing him, giving him a little extra motivation.

Leshy stood up in a hurry and gave her a deep bow; he was clearly just trying to hide her red, embarrassed face. “Any- anything you say, I will do, Mistress Amaya. I am yours to command.” Turning, he quickly left the room, and Amaya gave a small little chuckle.

Hm. Kekkai Dhampir, huh? So you’re taking the name of blood-based creatures this time, Azzy? Is this a shot? Heh. Whatever floats your boat, then- it won’t matter when you’re dead. I will slit you effing throat, Azzy- you can count on that.

[Sparkfyre Lyras]

It took Leshy the better part of a week to find Kekkai again, and even then, he wasn’t the one on the finding end of things. Rather, he was walking along on his way back from the hotel to report, yet again, no findings, when a white blur darted out from the forest, grabbed him, and slammed him down to the ground, making him pass out. Although he didn’t see what hit him, he did see a pillar of green and black flames in a body-shaped pattern before him, with two flashing red lights from within the flames, watching him with deep hatred.

When Leshy came to, he was in utter darkness; he could not really tell anything about his surroundings other than he was suspended in midair, bound tightly in a rope cocoon that started at his shoulders and ended at his ankles, and that it was pitch black- zero visibility.

“Good. You’re awake.” The voice was cold and harsh, and not the typical voice he was used to, but Leshy could think of no one but Kekkai that it might belong to- or, as Amaya kept calling him while she teased him with her looks, Azzy. “Don’t try and move too much, or you die.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Leshy, obviously, could not see him, so he called out, seeking to find him by sound, or at least his general direction. “Why don’t you want Amaya to find you? She’s hot; any man would kill to have her, and yet you reject her. I can’t understand that.”

“Child, you don’t use your eyes much, do you? Think of not only her, but what you have seen about her. Think about it, and give me your answer.”

Thinking of Amaya was not hard; upon his last visit there, she had worn a very revealing skirt; Leshy was hit by oceans of desire and lust the second he had seen her. Her pale complexion, her silky-soft hair, her beautiful eyes, that luscious smile, that to-die-for body… the sexy way she moved... And she always wore black, tight clothes…she was just too hot… even the flowers wilted around her…. Wait. Not even the most beautiful things in the world were so beautiful flowers wilted in their presence. And, come to think of it, both of her servants that stayed with her looked like they might be the true grim reaper. And she did always wear black; the color never changed. Her boat, in the harbor, had a chain of skulls on it. And it was more than just flowers wilting around her; more often than not, anything living she touched died. Nothing on all of this planet of Moondane could do that. Unless…

“You witless pervert freak. Honestly. How long does it take you to notice what happens around her? Honestly, man! Have you never heard the saying death is a beautiful lady, always seducing her victims, dragging them along like pets on a leash? I told you before, Amaya is dangerous. I meant it.”

Leshy looked all up; the voice was still coming from all around him. “What, exactly, is she, then? She’s obviously a creature not of this world.”

“Calling the goddess of death herself a creature is just advertising for bad shit to happen to you, dumbass.”

Leshy froze in motion, the breath almost literally knocked from his lungs. Oh. My. God. I’ve been flirting with Amaya all this time. I’ve got a crush on a goddess. And then an even bigger realization hit him. Oh, shit! I’ve been trying to get it on with death itself! He shuddered, immediately wished to forget the events of the past couple of weeks of his life.

“Well? Aren’t you going to ask me?”

Leshy blinked, momentarily confused. “Huh? Ask you what?” That’s when another realization hit him. “Wait- how do you know Amaya’s a goddess of death? How does she even know you? Why’s she seeking you, if Death’s supposed to be all-knowing? Wait- are you- no way- can it be that you- you’re a god, then?”

“Easy, book boy. Don’t strain your brain too hard now. And no, I’m not a god. However, there is a prospect of magic out there that dictates the world’s races. It’s called balance. You know, yin and yang? Good and evil? Light and dark? That applies here. I only exist because my race was born to keep the gods in check.”

Leshy frowned and shook his head. “That’s- that’s not possible. There’s no mention, anywhere, of anything that can match the power of the gods.

At that moment a bright flash of light illuminated the area, and he was forced to look down to avoid going blind. He was tied up in a rope cocoon, tied to a branch, at least one hundred feet in the air, deep in the tropical rain forest. Suddenly, the light faded to an easy enough level to see by, and Leshy looked up at who he had thought was Kekkai.

Obviously, it wasn’t him. He wore no jewelry, and had no visible tattoos on- although he might have; this one was wearing all white, all satin. White pants, a white long-sleeved unbuttoned shirt hanging loose about the man’s shoulders over a somewhat muscular chest, and white sandals upon the man’s feet. White angel wings flapped every now and again, emerging from the man’s shoulder blades; he had his arms crossed in front of him, too. His hair was pure white and somewhat messy, but shoulder-length, as Kekkai’s had been; the man’s appearance was completely immaculate as well. The skin was very pale, and the eyes glaring at him were like two rubies set within two perfectly white pearls. He also still wore the cloth wristband, although now it was white. His mouth was in a frown, and every last one of the man’s teeth was pointed and sharp, as Leshy could see as the man spoke, “It’s impolite to stare, and I thought you were hetero?” Most importantly, the entire body of this strange man was translucent.

Leshy made a couple of astonished attempts at speaking before asking, “I thought you were Kekkai?”

The stranger in front of him gave a dark, sadistic grin. “I am, but that’s not my real name. My name is Azrael. I’m a ghost demon- meaning I’m Undead; Amaya can’t track me.” He moved the wristband back a couple inches, and the tattoo of a sword was revealed; it flashed for but a second, and suddenly the man was holding a bar of black leather with a carving of a snake rotating clockwise but an inch above it, and a long, three-foot double-edged blade clearly made of the finest quality, looking like new, rotated but an inch above that, only counterclockwise. Between the two gaps between the parts of the sword was crackling purple lightning, connecting them. “And now, you’re never again going to tell Amaya shit- ever again.”

[Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]

I love it, it's written really well. It draws you in with each new paragraph, and it's just like a book you can't put down. Congratulations!

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[Sparkfyre Lyras]

*bows gracefully & humbly* thank you. And it's fine to post here; I dont mind. I actually have at least one more section I'm planning to add to this I have to type up, and then I've got another idea for something else, but overall I've been distracted lately by doing a bit of site design and with college homework, so I haven't had too much time to be able to get to writing when I've got a bit of inspiration.