The soft souls of her boots made hardly any sound as she made her way to the bus station. Only the occasional scuff broke the generally quiet mood. In fact, if there had been any other noise Gwen would have missed the sound of shuffling down the alleyway when she walked past. Slowing to a halt the woman looked into the darkness that was barely illuminated by the soft orange glow of the street lights. The sound occurred again. Thinking that maybe it was a stray of some sort, Gwen took a few steps into the alleyway. Her heart began to race as all of her senses began to go on high alert as she looked around for the source of the sound, expecting to find a dog or cat.
Coming upon a large garbage bin, she noted the closed lid and that the sound, now that she was closer, was actually something scraping at the bin from inside. Worried that whatever was inside was trapped Gwen ignored the cold bite of the metal on her hand as she lifted the lid up with a groan and creak of cold metal on metal. What greeted the woman though was not anything she had expected.
“What the hell…” Having no other way to describe it, the monster leapt from the darkness of the bin, landing on the other half of the lid that was still closed. It was easily the size of a large dog but it’s features were remarkably like that of a rat. A long hairless tail, clawed feet, a brown haired body and beady red eyes were probably the most normal features. The odd tentacles like appendages coming from it’s back almost seemed to move of their own accord and lashed out at Gwen who threw herself back with a surprised scream, tripping over some discarded garbage in the process and landing unceremoniously.
Hissing the creature leapt forward at Gwen, the four tentacles reaching forward to try and grasp at any part of Gwens body who was doing her damn best to scurry away from the creature.
Camelot felt the pull of power from his perch on the roof, looking over the edge of the building and down to the street in an effort to follow the feeling to its source. He could not see the power in any kind of visible trail, of course, but he found the motion helped him with his bearings, and he scanned the darkness until he was able, with a few leaps between rooftops, to find the unawakened knight that had produced the spike of magical power.
A knight about to awaken. He could feel it, different from the auras awakened and powered up knights gave off. After all, that was only a human down there, scurrying away from a youma, it looked like.
This was always a tricky situation to find himself in. There was a problem down there that he wanted to help with, and every instinct in him told him to get down there and protect her as he was meant to do. But he also understood that knight magic awakened in times of need, when their potential for good and power was at its greatest. It often happened in the middle of a fight, unfortunately, and though she looked very scared and was in very real danger, it was a necessary evil.
Once her item appeared to her, he could step in, but for now, all he could do was watch and be ready. He stood ready to attack, to leap down into the fray if the youma got too much of an advantage, or if the awakening started to go awry. He was not hiding, but the youma had no interest in him when it had an easier target ahead of it. And he was still up on the roof top, with his powerful aura alerting anyone that could feel it to his presence there.
For now, he would be a guardian from the shadows, keeping her safer than she would likely realize in the terror of the moment.
A frightened yelp escaped the woman as she dodged to the right. She was barely keeping ahead of the monster, her bulky coat inhibiting her movements. The thing was not giving her any chance to try and get to her feet either. It’s rodent-esque eyes remained focused on her, hairless tail whipping about, while the tentacles did more of the work of trying to pin her down. It was a relentless attack and Gwen had no idea that she wasn’t in as much danger as she thought. At that moment all she could think of was that this creature wanted to hurt her, or worse, eat her!
Rolling to dodge again, Gwen missed a second tentacle that whipped around to counter her movement. Before she realized what was happening the sensation of something wrapped itself around her leg and tugged hard. Her whole body rocked and she practically smacked her head on the cement which dazed her for a moment, allowing the youma to pull her close.
In the process of being pulled, Gwen’s hand brushed against what felt like a small stick. As she pulled herself out of her dazed stupor, her eyes focused first on youma’s ugly, brown whiskered face as it bared down on her. She lifted her free leg to kick out at the youma and that was when she felt the slip of fabric over her legs and noted the fact that she was wearing something completely different than before. She didn’t really have time to muddle over that mystery though. She managed to hit the creature’s leg but it did little but seem to piss it off more. “Let me go!”
Another tentacle wrapped itself around her other leg in what Gwen assumed was an attempt to keep her from kicking again. Then pressure around her torso confirmed another tentacle had found purchase. That was when she began to feel an odd sensation like she was growing weary as the youma began to draw from her.
Camelot watched the fray below, tensing as the youma caught her and made ready to, rather likely, drain her of all her energy. Or just eat her. Sometimes, he was not too sure just what youma preferred, as some seemed to just want to literally rip someone apart, while others were happy to crunch on energy spheres and starseeds. Neither were particularly good to have around.
Well, unless they were only half youma who had wanted to be knights, then they were alright.
The silent amendment to spare the feelings of someone who could not hear or see him at the moment in mind, Camelot moved to the edge of the roof, hoping over the railing and balancing on it. He braced himself with his arms, keeping his balance and gauging the fall below, doing a bit of calculating in his head just in case he needed to jump down in a hurry. Which was beginning to look like the case. She was on the ground now, but he saw it in a flash. The weapon, a stick of some kind, soon enough in her grasp. The power he had been feeling, like a dulled sound in the distance, suddenly burst forward and became a full fledged aura.
A new Page was awakened, though she hardly seemed aware of the change herself. Not that he could blame her, she had a lot of other things to focus on at the time. Well. One other thing. A gross, monster thing that wanted to eat her. It was a big distraction from most other… things.
Grinning despite the danger, Camelot leapt off the roof and dropped himself down, slamming down on top of the unsuspecting youma just as it started to take her energy. It had no chance against his drop, aided by gravity and the power behind his fourth tier ranking, and it burst into a surprisingly copious shower of thick, black and gray dust. It seemed to catch the light as it fell, though, twinkling in a strange way. Like incredibly unpleasant glitter.
But hey, at least he hadn’t gotten any on him, beyond his feet and the lower part of his boots. The new Page, however…
“O-oh. I… I’m sorry. I didn’t… think that one through quite as… ah… quite as well as I should have. Oh. Dear.”
Gwen had no idea what the hell had just happened but the pressure of the tentacles had disappeared along with the odd energy pulling sensation. She opened her eyes, which she hadn’t noticed she had closed, to find a cloud of oddly shimmering dust raining down on her. She sputtered and coughed, waving a hand in front of her face to try and disperse it as she rose up onto her elbows. It didn’t take long for the horrible cloud to settle, and unfortunately she was the unhappy recipient of most of it.
Finally able to see, Gwen looked up at the man in front of her. A sour look passed across her face when she realized he had managed to not get anything on himself while she sported a thin coat of grey. Not to mention, he was dressed up like some renaissance festival knight. Still, he did save her she supposed. “Thanks.”
She pushed herself up and got to her feet. Her poor head pounded from where she knocked it on the ground. Tentatively she reached back to the sore spot finding a small lump. Great. Perfect. Then she remembered and promptly looked down at herself. Where she had been sporting a thick blue peacoat, jeans, tall boots, a sweater and scarf she now was wearing tall stocking, short heeled boots, a skirt of some nature, bodice, and a loose shirt under it. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought.” She murmured.
Camelot felt incredibly guilty and silly for covering the poor newbie in youma dust within moments of her awakening. It was not exactly the best introduction, to him or to the new job she had just acquired. It was not going to be a lot of fun for her, after all, if she had to judge things from where the bar had just been set. But then again, maybe she could look at it like things could only get better from there? Maybe.
He cleared his throat.
“You’re welcome!” he said, offering her a hand to help her up as she struggled to get to her feet. He looked her over to make sure she was not hurt, but she seemed to be in one piece. Maybe a bit of energy lost from the quick draining, but that would return in short order. It could have gone a lot worse, he imagined, though now he had a lot to explain to her.
“Ah, no, you didn’t. I mean, you may have hit it hard enough, but not to make you imagine any of this. Make sure to check it out once you’re home, just in case… I wouldn’t want you to have a concussion… uh. My name is Camelot, and I’m a knight. A Royal Knight, to be exact. You are also a knight, now. An Earth knight, by the looks of it, just like me! If you take a moment to clear your head, you’ll know what name you go by. It sounds odd, but trust me. Just think.”
Gwen rubbed the horrible dust off of her face using the back of her sleeve which had managed to stay somewhat clean. Thankfully the dust wasn’t too hard to wiped off and after removing it from her face she had a fair amount of success wiping it off of the rest of her body, even giving her new attire a good pat down helped remove a good amount of it. All the while she listened to Camelot before looking up at him with a raised brow. “Camelot? a Knight? Name I go by? What are you talking about? This is all crazy.” She gestured to him in all of his armored glory before looking down at herself in bewilderment. How the hell did she get in this outfit and where had he other clothes gone?
He was right about one thing though, she’s need to check out her head when she got home. She was pretty sure she had a bag of some sort of frozen vegetable in the freezer since she had been intending to make vegetable soup.
While looking at herself Gwen’s eyes caught sight of a little stick by her feet. Carefully she knelt down and picked it up to find that it was an incense stick to be exact. Another thing to throw into the mystery? She sighed and stood back up, feeling weary as her andrenaline slowly began to ebb off. With the weariness her tired mind began to quiet down a bit and unintentionally Gwen followed Camelots suggestion. “Hy-Brasil.” She said softly, barely registering the word as it left her mouth. With a frown she said it again with a bit more confidence. “My names, Hy-Brasil.”
Now she was royally confused. “This doesn’t make any sense. What exactly just happened? Why am I in these clothes? What is an Earth Knight?!” With her frustration at the situation, Gwens temper began to flare and with it her voice by her last question.
“Believe me, I understand your confusion. But I can explain all of this. Here.”
He motioned for her to follow him, guiding her to a place to sit down so she did not have to stand and try to absorb all the information he was going to give her. That, and he could see she was still very weary and overwhelmed, which meant she was probably at risk of just falling over at any moment. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a passed out Page.
People always thought it was weird when he carried swooning young ladies around, even if he was just trying to help them home or back to the library or hospital where they could be safe.
“What just happened is called an Awakening. That little stick you’re holding is your item, your power: it awakened the knight that was just waiting inside you. Once your potential was tapped, and your need was greatest, the power inside you was realized and you were able to access it. What you’ve transformed into, this knight, is Hy-Brasil, Page of Earth. You are a soldier of the White Moon, a warrior given the power to protect those in need, and defend this city from an evil that most don’t even know exists. That creature you fought was one of their beasts of Chaos. A youma. Evil little monsters, huh?”
He slowed down, checking in with her to make sure she was still at least trying to half follow what he was saying. Most of this she would end up learning while on patrol, as doing was always easier than sitting there and listening.
Gwen followed him, not really sure why, but at this point what else did she have to loose? As long as he didn’t attack her or anything, which she was thinking wasn’t likely, she figured she’d learn something. And he was willing to explain things to her, so with a few deep breaths she began to quell her temper.
Truth be told, Gwen still wasn’t 100% positive she wasn’t knocked out in an alley dreaming about this while some crazy mutated rat gnawed on her body.
At the offered, Set, Gwen happily sat down on the ledge. The dress was not all that conducive to sitting like anything but a lady, so after a bit of fumbling with the front panel once she realized this, Gwen perched with her legs together, back straight. The last thing she wanted to do was give anyone a show and smack her already sore head off of the wall behind her.
she held her hands up. “Whoa, slow down. What you just said sounds like I’ve stepped into some kind of alternate world like Narnia or something. I just used this incense stick instead of a cupboard.” She ran a hand through her hair, and paused when she felt several small braided clumps. She grabbed one and looked at it Those had certainly not been there before. Alright, so her hair had changed too. Great. “What is this white moon? And a soldier?” She laughed dryly. “I may know a bit to try and save myself from an attacker...” She paused before amending. “A human attacker. But I am not a soldier. Which is pretty obvious if you watched me back there.” Her arm swung in the direction of the attack. “Besides, up until now, I’ve not known about any of this or have been involved so why should I bother now? Seems it would be safer for me to just to try and ignore this all happened.”
“It does, doesn’t it? But no, this is the real world. As real as it can get, in fact. I know it seems like… magic. But I suppose that really is what we’re dealing with here. That is why no one knows about it, except those awoken to fight in this war. Order and Chaos battle, but most of the civilians of Destiny City don’t even know what is going on around them, much less on their planet. Uh. It’s… been happening for a long while now, to boot.”
A very, very long time, in fact.
“The White Moon is comprised of the soldiers of Order. Knights, like us, and other powerful beings called Senshi. We are meant to aid them, each other, and the innocent people of this town. We protect them all from the corruptive force that is known as Chaos. The Negaverse runs on Chaos, and spends its time hurting and killing people in their quest to regain this planet and destroy the White Moon.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. Her battle prowess was not something he was concerned about yet, considering she had only just awoken. That would be like expecting a baby to know how to sprint when they just figured out how to stand up. Not that he would call her a baby to her face.
He’d just treat her like one, and worry about her endlessly like the mother hen he was.
“Ignoring it won’t work, not now that you’ve seen it. I’ve tried. I think we’ve all tried, at one time or another, because it seems like the easiest answer. But you begin to see Chaos’ influence everywhere. And this power was not given to you, it was always inside you: this was something you were destined for. Whether you understand it now or not, you were always a knight. And there are many others like you, not just me. We can all help you, if you’d like, to learn and come to understand what all this really means. There is so much to learn and see, and some of it is more wonderful than I can ever really tell you and do justice to. Being a knight is, for lack of a better word, very cool.”
“Wait. Battle? Like...a war?” Gwen’s brows shot up before she rose from her sitting position and began pacing. “How could there be fighting going on and people not notice? I mean, seriously? Usually things like that are pretty damn obvious.” By this point, Gwen was rather animated in her pacing as she stopped periodically to use her hands as emphasis. The incense stick was still clutched in her right hand and used unintentionally as a baton of sorts as it was whipped around with her hand motions.
“So what you’re saying is that these senshi and knights are fighting this Negaverse crew because they’re killing people? That sounds like a gang to me and surely something the government can take care of.” She continued with her pacing, only stopping for a split moment every now and then. All the while she continued to gesture wildly. “And you’re saying I can’t just ignore all of it because I’ve seen it now?” Gwen was not at all happy about this. She was just getting comfortable in the city and now this occurred? “I don’t see how any of this can be, ‘cool’. It sounds like you’re off your rocker.”
Then, Gwen stopped suddenly as a memory came to her from when she first came to Destiny City. She had been out exploring the city when she’d been jumped by a man. Nothing had been stolen and she hadn’t been injured besides her own self inflicted scrapes and cuts from trying to get away from him. She’d woken up later safe and sound with a good samaritan by her but she didn’t remember anything before that.
“Wait...do these guys just, randomly jump people?” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “And wear dark uniforms?” She couldn’t really remember exactly what the guys’ face looked like, but now that the memory had resurfaced she couldn’t ignore it.
Camelot nodded his head slowly.
“A war, yes,” he said, taking a breath. It was hard to explain fighting this kind of a war, where no one noticed, but he imagined once she had some experience with it, she would quickly understand. The easiest thing was usually to go on a patrol with them, once they had a bit of time to sleep on it.
Keep from getting too overwhelmed all at once. A constant concern he had, with the newbies.
“It’s not really a government thing. The Negaverse can be anyone, just like the White Moon can. When you power up, like you are now, your identity is completely hidden. I would bet you’ve seen me a hundred times in your day to day life, but would never be able to guess who I am. Do you have any idea? Can you recognize me by looking?”
He gave her a moment, then powered down, looking at her plaintively. There was no one around them, so he did not worry about being spotted. The librarian was sitting where the knight had once been, in a far less impressive and grand outfit than the armor and cape.
“What about now? See. That magic is called glamour, and until someone shows you both sides of their power, you can never know just who is fighting on what side. Even the government can be included in it. The cops. Everyone that seems normal. This is a magical war, outside the ‘normal’ world.”
Her question made him pause, and he nodded his head.
“Yes, that’s them. So you did meet a member of the Negaverse? And did you fall to sleep or unconscious, only to wake up later? You were one of the lucky ones: they only stole your energy. Some people aren’t so lucky, and the Negaverse will take their life force. This little jewel of power and energy that rests inside everyone. Their starseed.”
It was odd at first, like her mind’s eye had to adjust itself or snap into place but once where the Royal Knight stood now stood a rather uninspiring older man. He was right, any other day she would never have thought that he could be a Knight in some unknown war, but now...well…now she wouldn’t forget. “Huh.” Hands went to her hips as she stood there practically staring at him. Then it dawned on her. “Wait! I’ve seen you once before in passing. You work at the library, right? I visited once when I first got to Destiny City.”
This was all almost too much to take in. At the same time, Gwen was beginning to find it completely fascinating. Still, she wasn’t sure she was ready to buy into this whole knight and war business.
“People won’t be able to recognize me when I am like this? I can see how that’s useful. Sort of like masks that super hero’s wear in the cartoons and comics. On top of that anyone I see everyday can be one of these Knights, Senshi or Negaverse people? That’s not all that particularly comforting.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, some left over youma dust floated down and around her from the red locks. She looked at the dust in dismay, pretty damn sure she was going to find the stuff until she showered.
Feeling a tad bit overwhelmed at this point and weary, she sat back down on the small ledge. “I ran into him in the summer. After a bit of a scuffle yea, I fell asleep and woke up leaning against a building. I had no idea it was part of this whole war thing, but now the whole thing makes bizarre sense.” Leaning back she placed her head against the wall and hissed, forgetting about the tender lump there. She really needed to take care of that. “So, what’s this starseed thing do? What’s so important about it?”
“For most people, a starseed is their life force. Without it, a person just can’t live. There is a little magic in everyone, at the end of the day. That Starseed is also the source of our power, and where your potential was sleeping until you were awoken. It is what Chaos can corrupt with their evil power, and what makes their soldiers. If they put Chaos into a starseed, they can create more of their soldiers. Or they can simply pull the starseed out, to use the little crystal for its raw energy. And that’s why we have to fight them, to protect this city from them.”
He shook his head, not wanting to bog her down on her first day with the darkest facts about the war. Corruption could wait for another day, as a topic to be covered in detail.
“Here, you should power down. It’ll get rid of all that dust the youma left behind. Just think about how you were before, without your power, and you’ll return to your civilian identity. Just make sure there is nothing around you, no one watching you, when you do. You don’t want anyone to know your identity, unless you know they are like you. I showed you who I was, because I wanted you to trust me.”
He had already seen her civilian identity, after all, so she had nothing to hide from him by powering down. And he could tell she was very uncomfortable with all that youma dust on her. Not that he could blame her. He still felt a little guilty about that one.
“You’re hurt, I can see that. Maybe we should let you tend to that nasty bump before we continue more lessons? I can always meet you again, if you want to talk more about all of this. I’m always at the library, either as a librarian or up on the roof, powered up. I try to be accessible at all times, so knights and senshi know where to find me when they need help.”
There was so much information being thrown at her and the starseed stuff was the complete tipping point for her. She was officially done. All she wanted was to go home, shower, and tend to her poor aching head. So When Camelot suggestion she power down Gwen did as he suggest. Within a moment she was again standing in her blue peacoat, jeans and boots with a scarf tied around her neck. As promised, the youma dust was gone. “So, will I be covered in that stuff again when I...eh...power up again?”
She stood up again and nodded carefully. “Yea, that sounds good. I’ll uh….I’ll come find you.” Assuming of course that she decided to ignore his warning about trying to ignore the war and give it a shot herself.
“So, last question then. What am I supposed to actually do as a Knight of Earth? Just sit and twiddle my thumbs until I hear about trouble or something or is there some sort of alarm system I should expect to hear or see? Cause ya know, a warning would be good if some sort of alarm is going to sound or something.” Really, Gwen just felt completely lost and clueless despite all the info that had been regurgitated at her.
“Oh, no, the dust will be gone. When you power down and then back up again, any damage or dirt you got on your uniform before will be gone. Self cleaning and healing clothes. Not everything is fighting and gloom, at the very least.”
He chuckled despite himself, shaking his head and sighing. He stood when she made to leave, but paused at her question, looking thoughtful. He had his cane with him, leaning on it now that he was standing and no longer powered up. It was much easier to walk when he had magic to help him.
“You patrol. Power up and patrol the city. Danger is always out there, and only by being dutiful can we stop it before it manages to hurt anyone. There are a lot of us out there, doing the same thing, but there is always Chaos. Once you start meeting others, you’ll be able to communicate with them, and that’s a good way to know when something bad is happening. For now, I think patrolling with me for your first few trips out might be your best option. I can show you how to do things, instead of just babbling your ears off.”
He offered her an understanding smile, nodding his head in an effort to reassure her. He knew it was overwhelming, and didn’t blame her for not knowing what to do just yet. It always took a little while to find the routine that fit.
Oh. Well, that was a perk she guessed. Clothes that took care of themselves. Ha! If only they existed in normal life. She’d be saved a lot of time, not to mention be free of one of her least favorite chores. Now, if only her injuries healed automatically too, but she guessed that was a bit too much to ask. “Ah. Well. One tick on the positive side against the negative I guess.”
Gwen was getting cranky. And ruefully she wondered how the man, who now was leaning on a cane, was going to help with all of this? Wait, he didn’t have a cane before. How the… I don’t need or want to know right now.
“So I just run around the city dressed up in that get up and hunt down monsters and a strange gang. Great.” Who came up with these things? Really? A signal would be a better use of time. Wasting your time running around the city just seemed idiotic to her, but, then again, she was new to all of this right? Try and stay open Gwen. You said you wanted change when you moved to this city. Of course, this wasn’t the type of change she had meant when making DC her home. “Fine. Then I guess I’ll just come find you at the library at some point.” Ya know, once I decide if I am even going to deal with any of this.
She turned then and peeked out of the alleyway to see if anyone was around. Thankfully the coast was clear. She gave Camelot another look from over her shoulders, a tentative wave goodbye, and left in pursuit of the bus. She wanted to get home. Her head ached, she was tired, still felt the need to shower, and just wanted to lay down and hopefully wake up to find that it was all just a dream.
Lithiasaur
