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Jÿlun 13th 525. B.E.

Last night, I finally dreamed. For once, I woke up in silence, without pain in my heart, or a scream threatening my breath.…and the first time I had felt real peace since the Beginning of the Bluyd War against Ethwyn. Through the darkness of the dream, I heard a song. My goddess, Aias, whispered a melody to me as she smiled. I distinctly remember her silver eyes flashing in the darkness while waves of silver hair swirled around me, dancing in harmony. I tried to listen, to understand what she had to say, but it was a language of the Ancients, and could only guess at its meaning.

“Find peace with Ethwyn…Love her as I loved…” And then the melody was swept off in the wind, lost to my ears.

I cannot imagine what she means. I've been hiding for so long. I cannot imagine both Aias' and Ethwyn's disappointment in me, and all the while he hunts me. Ethwyn is passing as I am, being claimed by Vylrik's new kingdom of Argnòk…as Numa has. The age of moon demons are gone. I’ve become a relic in the Bluyd Ÿr waiting for their god to finally uproot me from where I lay and finish me off like he should have done 500 years ago.

I guess I shall only find peace within the reaches of Ethwyn’s soil. That is where the Blood Demon of Numa shall be put to rest...I can feel it in my soul, something is coming. It's pathetic to say, but I cannot wait to say goodbye to this forsaken place, and find my goddess in the otherworld. I can only hope she will forgive me for failing her.

Kÿrith Falon, the Last Moon Demon

He touched the papyrus gently with his fingertips, memorizing the ink that was bonded into the pages. This was the last entry of this journal, and he feared that it would be his final. He had hidden himself in this lost town for twenty-odd years, and had been running from the Ordyn for far too long before that. He knew it was only a matter of time before all his past discrepancies had caught up with him. This dream was an omen. He knew that much.

“Kÿ?” he heard Serenus’ voice call through the house. She walked into his room putting on her half-inch thick spectacles and blinked a couple times at him in curiosity. The glass slightly enlarged her honey-brown eyes. The years had worn her once smooth skin, and her strawberry red hair had turned to straw, but he could recognize the traces of beauty from her youth…That all seemed so far away now.

“Is there something that you need?” he said monotonously, not turning from the book. These days he could hardly bring himself to make the effort.

She frowned deeply as she pulling her hair out of her daily braid. “I swear if I didn’t know better I’d say you were the old maid. If all you’re going to do is sit there for the rest of your life, why don’t you bless me with all that youth of yours?”

“I am not blessed,” Kÿrith muttered back.

Serenus frowned deeply at this comment. “Oh I’ve seen rocks less dull. You didn’t even set up shop today. Harris waited almost two hours this morning before I finally shooed him away.”

“He does seem to plague us with his presence daily,” Kÿrith said gruffly. A shopkeeper…that’s what the great King of Numa had been reduced to. He had once commanded vast army of his kin, and Ethwyn and Numa lived harmoniously in his reign…Now he was hated by all of Ethwyn, hiding like a coward amongst her dying villages. Could he never find peace again? No…The self-proclaimed God of Argnòk, new Ethwyn, would not rest until his breath left his body. Surely that would be soon enough, he contemplated bitterly.

Kÿrith breathed in deeply. The air was still stale. He didn’t know how he would be able to drag himself through the rest of the night. “I thank you for checking up on me, Serenus, but surely it is not needed. If you have nothing else to say, I’ll ask you to leave.”

Serenus flushed hurt by his words. She had watched over the years how Kÿrith gradually regressed into himself. He had never been a cheery person, but as the days passed, what little hope he had seemed to wither away. She knew in her heart, that he didn’t mean to be so cold, but it was so easy to forget. If she wasn’t careful, his pessimistic attitude would start to rub off on her.

“Well if you need to be alone I understand, but I hardly think it’s healthy for you. I think what you need is a good night’s rest, dear. Take the day off again tomorrow, if you must, but for goodness sake get out of this room every once in a while.”

“If you insist,” Kÿrith sighed deeply. “I apologize for worrying you Serenus. Please go to sleep. I promise I shall do the same.”

Serenus glanced at Kÿrith unsure whether to trust him or not, but nodded in return. “Okay, dear. See you in the morning then.”

Kÿrith waited until he heard Serenus click off her light in the next room over and then silently retreated to his study, where he could truly be alone with his thoughts.




Everin gritted her teeth as she slipped for the third time on the slick pavement. It had been raining non-stop for a week and most of the abandoned houses where she had taken sheltered were flooded into and leaking constantly. The few possessions she had were wet though she was able to salvage the folder.

She huddled into herself, shivering slightly. She was quite useless in this weather. Disgruntled, she ducked her head below, and squinted into the darkness. ‘What to do now?’ she grumbled. She couldn’t afford to stay at an inn. She was sure that the money that she was reserving for food wouldn’t last much longer. What she was thought she was given was not as much as she had first assumed, not that she could tell much difference from one mark or another. She only had a few bronze marks left and tiny bag of coins, which would only last her until lunch tomorrow if she had guessed right. If she wanted to avoid stealing she would need to finish the job…tonight.

It was closing midnight, and there were barely any lights out, as she wandered the streets of Lyndò. The buildings were each a wash of gray and stood over her menacingly. Even the skies seemed to hold a monotonous tone that she had felt. She cupped a ball of fire in her hands, a beacon from the cold. It had to be done soon, she had told herself for the hundredth time. The sky would not stay dry for long. She could smell another storm coming across the fields, and it would be a long one. She wouldn’t last. It had to be done tonight or she would be forced to retreat back to Vymik humiliated and empty-handed.

The wind howled and she could not suppress a shiver that coursed through her. It was just so cold, even for a fire-bender like her. Her mind seemed to be torn between retreating back to the abandoned buildings, or to go through with her erratic half-baked plan. She scanned the soggy streets of the eerie ghost town, but there was not a soul in sight. The whole world seemed to be asleep, but her.

She stopped momentarily, shuddering, and tried to gather her thoughts. She was near the other edge of the town. Only a few blocks up the forest started again, growing over obliterated machines and blackened ground. She had tracked this demon down to this area, and when she closed her eyes she could almost feel his aura singing to her. It was strange. She had always been confident in her abilities to track, but she had never felt this confident before.

Feeling a little more assured of herself, she tried to find an opening. She had followed the scent to this building countless times. It only appeared to be a withered down bookshop, but yet she kept feeling the pull of a faint force she couldn’t name...She couldn’t say what this urge was telling her, but she knew that it was almost always right...more or less…

There were a lot of torn down ledges where she could find a grip, if she could only get a grip. The moss made all the ledges slick but she managed to hoist herself up to one of the windows. It appeared empty to her, except for a vast sea of books littered every corner of the room. There was no way she would get into the building from here.

She climbed higher, and scaled the building until she found another window. It was rusty, and half-open. The ledge was wide enough so she could balance herself. It was dark inside but it appeared dry. Using her pyromancing skills she melted the hinges off and let it fall down the stories below. The glass fell with a loud crash and she cringed. She would wake up the whole town at this rate.

But after a few moments of silence, no one seemed disturbed, and she slipped inside.




Kÿrith’s solemn eye leveled a glare in the darkness. He had heard the disturbance outside. The homeless usually came to rest in these parts when the hard winter rains came and flooded out the streets…but this was no ordinary street rat. Her clothes were terribly tattered, but it didn’t dim the inhuman beauty her face possessed. He watched as she looked around in confusion, huddling into herself as she tracked fresh mud onto his carpets.

‘Pyromancer,’ he noted quickly to himself. ‘They sent a pyromancer to the Detinu’? They must be out of their minds.’ Her eyes scanned the darkness but her eyes were too weak to see past his shroud. She was…frail, much too small to be an assassin, but too foreign to be native here.

“This is the best they could do? I’m offended.” a voice growled in the darkness. Everin flailed around, clumsily, to see a tall man stepping out of the shadows. It was he, the moon demon. His aura was unmistakable. His silver hair and silver gleaming eye told her that he was pure. Immediately she crouched in a defensive position ready to attack.

“Well now ye gone and made it easy fer me,” she chuckled, shrugging it off. She would use this opportunity to her advantage, though she was very angry of losing the element of surprise.

Not allowing herself to think any longer, she pushed forward on her hand, sending flames as she did so and bent her fire to spin around him. No gaps, she thought. Don’t leave him an opening. She tightened the circle closer and closer, making sure that her flames would strike closer and closer. It almost seemed too easy. He was just standing there. Did he want to die? Somebody with this high of a bounty shouldn’t-

Without warning, her fire blocked off and she hit the wall hard, finding the wind had been knocked out of her and without her breath, her flames they shot back into her body.

“That silly trick doesn’t work on me,” Kÿrith growled.

‘Ok,’ she thought quickly. ‘New Plan.’ She lunged at him, hands aflame and placed one good swing onto his chest. His jacket was began to spark into small flames, but he didn’t react much and simply evaded her next blow which should have landed squarely on his jaw. She didn’t get it. She was the fastest fist in all her squad, but she couldn’t get one more decent hit in. What was even more frustrating was that the demon didn’t even look like he was trying.

Finally he swiped at her fist crushing her wrist with his massive hand. “Not bad, but your technique is something to be said. Nevertheless, if you cannot give me any more entertainment than that I might as well finish this,” he smirked as she twisted her arm to pull away.

“Don’ toy wit' me!” she spat angrily, lunging into a spinning kick that had never missed its mark before, but he caught it easily, and merely tapped it away.

“You don’t realize who I am, do you? Any sane person would realize that that wouldn’t work on someone like me?” he studied her face to find her face showed no recognition to him. She seemed young. It was a pity that she was only an arm’s length to defeat. “I am Kÿrith Falon, and you will soon realize that you were wrong to oppose me.”

The Kÿrith Falon…her head seemed to swirl in disbelief. How could this be? It took her a few seconds to remember why the name seemed so familiar, but suddenly it was clear. If she would have realized that it was not a moon demon but THE Blood Moon Demon, Former King of what was once Numa, she would have willingly go cold and hungry for weeks. Now she realized that her foolishness would surely cause her to die.

She pulled back quickly. How could it be true? Rumors in the Ordyn were that he was dead, defeated by the God-King Vylrik himself. At least his name had not struck fear in the hearts of Ethwyn’s children for a great many years. It would be just the luck of Everin Kyrn to be the unfortunate soul to cross the path with the most infamous demon that walked this earth. She quickly felt herself running out of options and it showed on her face. She hated to say it, but she began to think that begging might be her best option.

Kÿrith had a superior smirk as he felt the agonizing fear that paralyzed her heart. He felt pity for the creature and thought it was best to end her life quickly. Perhaps that small mercy would be enough for her ignorance. He waved his hand and out of the walls strange tendons of energy wrapped around her wrists and ankles. She yelped as she hit the bricks hard.

Instinctively she struggled against this strange draining power, but it was no use. Tears pricked her eyes, as she felt his cruel gaze upon her. Death was near, she knew, and she trembled violently truly afraid for what would happen next. Satisfied that the ropes would hold firm, he stepped forward.

“No!” Flames seemed to just burst from her body and he barely had time to shield himself. He found himself blinded a bit and to his dismay, when he could see again all his precious books had been incinerated. The psychic ropes he had had turned to a puddle of raw energy. Kÿrith shook in anger as the he eyed his scorched study. Thousands of marks and hundreds of books were destroyed in one foolish move. She would pay for this.

Everin could feel her temperature drop dangerously fast. She could do no more but lay on his scorched floor knowing she was now so vulnerable. Her powers were drained so much that if she sent out any more fire she would use up her inner flame and her heart would cease to beat. “Oh heavens, what do I do now?” she thought helplessly to herself.

Kÿrith saw his chance. Her rapid heart was now beating much slower and she would no longer trouble him with her antics. Detinu weather would make any pyromancer weak, and he was surprised she had made it this far. Grabbing her thin shoulder he turned her head so that she was forced to look into his lone, silver eye, and in the moment she was lost to it.

He entered her mind to find a swirling abyss, much unlike any mind he had seen before. Minds usually gave off the color that matched the signal of their auras, but the colors of this one seemed to change from one smoothly to the next, as if she couldn’t decide exactly what she wanted to be. It was unusually bright as he stepped slowly to her core, and strangely inviting. There were many memories intertwined together, as if she had no sense of time or any chronological order. Her timeframes streamed freely as if they were excited he was there. He felt welcome here, almost like a sense of waiting, but he dismissed this quickly deciding that he was imagining things.

He wished to linger longer in her psyche but he had to pull himself back. He had a job to do, and perhaps when he was through extracting the information he needed he would attempt to decipher the inner workings of this strange creature’s mind. Seeing as there was no way that he would be able to gather the information himself quickly, he decided it was best to ask the source.

“Now who are you?” he said to her mind.

‘Everin Kyrn, Born of Myrisia, 23 summers ago,’ her voice responded monotonously.

“Still a child,” he muttered. “Who sent you?” He called to her mind.

No answer. It was almost as if her mind didn’t even know.

Once again, he called. “Who sent you?”

Before he knew it, a wrath of memories pounded him. Poverty, desperation, anger, and humiliation all came raining down upon him. The answer came in too many pieces to count and the shambles, as they crashed down on him, were too unrecognizable to read. He didn’t know how he entered this part of the mind, but he knew he didn’t mean to. He didn’t need to know all this, but these memories…Though they were not his; they pained him all the same.

Suddenly the memories stopped, halted, as if someone had frozen the screen on the turmoil and held the falling memories in place. A figure of a woman appeared, hovering at the center of it all. She was covered with a thin semi-transparent veil though it did little use for concealing her curves. Wait…No; it was she, the assassin. This…Everin...He knew he should be searching, but…Was it her soul he was looking at. He’d never actually seen one before, but hers seemed a little…broken. Her skin was paler than what it should be and it seemed to be sickly too, but it was beautiful even if he didn’t have a say in it.

He turned his head a bit, closing his eyes for a bit, pretending to attend to something else, not because he was shy or embarrassed, but just to give her a little privacy. He didn’t find much about the human body too interesting to begin with. Feeling that his observations were now through, he saw it fit to be moving on to what he should be doing-finding out who sent her.

Keeping his eyes closed, he turned from the scene but he stopped, feeling the soft pressure on his lips and a slight stroke on his face. He was surprised to find that he was kissing the woman and the woman was kissing him, lovingly stroking his flushing cheeks. In anger, he pushed her away a bit forcefully. “I’m sorry I but cannot return your affections,” he said through gritted teeth, a line that came naturally, but his harsh tone didn’t affect her brilliant smile. She peacefully rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him longingly.

“Now don’t look at me like that…” but she smiled playfully and began to glow in a mysterious light. She shook her head defiantly and hugged him tighter. “Now look here. This is no time for childish games…” His tone began to get softer; losing his voice, as she gently began kissing his neck.

“Why am I even negotiating this!? Get off me!” he yelled…Or he wanted to yell, but he could no longer talk, and his body began moving on his own. He was trapped inside his mind and his mind was trapped inside hers. He shuddered in disgust as he felt himself started following her example, petting her and stroking her like some lovelorn fool. What was the matter with him!

He tried to force him to abort the mind probe. Something was wrong. He could feel his heart pound, and his mind race to figure out what was happening. He wasn’t in control of his actions anymore. It was as if his subconscious just took over him. Subconscious…Yes, he remembered someone explaining that to him once, but it was so long ago, could he remember what it was even about?

The foolish mind who had taken over his body gently pushed the woman to the ground. “No! Stop you imbecile!” but it was no use. His own body was lost to him. What was his subconscious doing? Subconscious… The woman was not even supposed to be there. Souls aren’t in the mind…They reside in the heart…

Then it hit him, and with a fury, he pulled away with all of his might. Why didn’t he see it earlier? “No,” he urged himself. “You’re stronger than this. Stop! ” His subconscious was merging with her subconscious, and before he could pull them apart-

“NO!” he roared, aborting the mind probe as fast as it was possible, but it was too late. The bond was formed, and after 1500 years, his mate had been found.

There was utter loathing for that woman that began at the pit of his stomach and invaded him to the deep cavity in his chest. His heart pounded so loudly that his body shook in effort to keep the blood from bursting from his veins. 1500 years… 1500 years and finally fate decided that he now needed a woman to doom him…As if losing his kingdom to be hunted by foolish children were not enough. Still…she was weak. If he just finished her off now he would be done with it.

He conjured up an enormous amount of energy and attempted to hurl it at her, but his muscles tensed up and he found his power draining back into his veins. He tried repeatedly, but his frustration built every time he failed. Heaving a sigh, he collapsed into his char-broiled chair.

He gazed over at the girl who was trembling violently in the corner. She didn’t know what had happened but he could see that she was just as affected by his intrusion. She began blubbering like a baby as she cradled herself.

“Now how do I dispose of you now?” Kÿrith muttered between his fingers as he glowered at her spitefully. He could feel her flinch at his cold words.

She knew the best thing to do now was to shut her mouth but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “If ya lemme go, sir, I swear I’ll keep my silence! I swear I will,” she blurted, but found he nearly smirked at her words.

“If I let you go, you’ll just go back to your master and spoil my carefully constructed disguise that I spent 25 years to create,” he explained soothingly, her fear for him putting him in a less irritable mood. “Unless your comrades are waiting for word of your success; is that what it is?”

After some silence, she realized that he wanted an answer. “J-Jus’ one man,” she explained willingly. He wasn’t sure what he had done to her but it had terrified her. “A-a messenger tha’ I’m ta report to, but ‘e’s no trouble. I-I’ll tell ‘im there was no one ‘ere! I’ll tell ‘im-“

“Silence,” he ordered. He couldn’t stand the way she sniveled in that guttural tone of hers. It was utterly pathetic. He should have killed her while he was still able.

She immediately obeyed him except for her uncontrolled sniffles, but shoved her face to the sleeve of her shirt. He took this quick moment of silence to study her. She was a lot smaller than he thought, almost half of his size. Her beautiful face was distorted with her fear, her vivid orange eyes thick with frightened tears. Her clothes looked beyond worn, and the stitching of her oversized shirt and breeches were becoming loose. Inconsistent patches littered her clothes, and her skin reminded him of creamed coffee. She was a street mouse. Everything about her was painfully common. What was his goddess thinking?

She felt his cold stare upon her. Why was he staring at her like that? His eyes were cold and murderous and she had never felt such blistering hate. She imagined her death 50 times over again, but he didn’t move as if he was waiting for something to happen. She turned away flushed from her frightened state. The suspense was too much. If he was going to kill her, he should just do it.

One man, she had said. Just one other man living knew where he was residing…Could he believe that it was really that simple; that his freedom could be kept by keeping the silence of two people? Could he escape the god’s grasp so easily?

“Where is he now?” His voice was almost in a whisper.

Everin’s lip trembled, and tears stung her eyes. Sickening guilt struck her as she realized that to save herself she would have to betray her messenger.

She hesitated for a moment but said, “’E’s in the outskirts of town. Should beh…‘iding near one of the ‘ouses ‘round Trudgeburn Inn.” She closed her eyes. It was done. She had uttered the words that would send him to his grave.

Suddenly she couldn’t feel the ground any longer and found that the demon had thrown her over his shoulder. She shrieked in terror, and pounded her puny fists on his burly back, but her blows held the force of a fly. Abruptly she found herself being thrown into an empty study room.
“These shall be your quarters for now. You have earned your life for today, but don’t push your luck girl. You might not have it tomorrow,” and with that he slammed the door on her and locked it as she crumpled to the floor, too terrified to do much more than cry.

“Kÿ?” Serenus questioned as she peeked her head out of her room. She had heard his heavy footsteps from outside of her room and looked on curiously at the locked door. “Kÿ, what’s going on?”

“Don’t set up shop, today,” Kÿrith told her abruptly. “We have an unexpected guest. See that she is attended to.”

“Unexpected what,” she cried as he watched him march down the stairs and snatch his jacket angrily. “Kÿrith I don’t understand!?”

“I’ll explain later,” was what he said, and he slammed the door wildly behind him.