Chapter 1: How we met



It was past midnight in the world of Subeta. Anyone with half a brain knew that when the light turned to dark that you best stay away from The Darkside.

Anyone with half a brain knew, except for one Kanis.

Running for her life, nearly falling every now and then, she ran. A big, huge monster was chasing her. The monster reeked so bad, that any one within a one mile radius would probably drop-dead the moment they sniffed the air around them. Its body seemed to be made out of a toxic liquid, which every time it made contact with the ground it left a big, dark hole in the ground. Its eyes shimmering an eerie green glow and it had razor sharp teeth.

The Kanis had no time sniff the deadly scent of the monster. The Kanis ran for dear life.

Then she fell.

She fell, falling down onto the wet grass and she looked around, fear plastered all over her face. She stared at the looming figure with much fear. It came closer, so much closer. The Kanis closed her eyes; she didn’t want to die, not yet. She took out one of her wands and tried to cast a spell. The spell exploded in her face and she was covered in thick smoke. She couldn’t see the monster anymore, but she could smell it. The smell was making the poor girl dizzy with nausea. She didn’t know how much more she could take. The monster raised one of its slimy claws and was about to attack the girl.

Suddenly, the monster collapsed in a big, messy, slimy pile. The Kanis opened her eyes, the smoke still hadn’t cleared. When it finally cleared, she saw a Montre holding a sword. The Montre turned around and stared at the Kanis. The Kanis examined the Montre, he had stunningly emerald colored eyes, or to be more precise, eye. His right eye was covered by a scarf that floated in the air. It also seemed that his left wing was clipped and his left arm had lots of weird markings. They continued staring at each other, until the Montre closed his eye, turned around and started leaving. The Kanis was brought back to reality.

“Wait, don’t go.” The Montre paused and turned around again, “Um…My name’s Miyuka. What’s yours?” She said cautiously. Why did she give him her name? She barely knew him. It was silent. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence the Montre spoke.

“Myt, my name is Myt.” He said curtly. The Kanis, now known as Miyuka, thought for a while.

“Myt…you mean as in fable?” She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, “Or, do you mean Myt as in mitten, but with a Y and no TEN?” She smiled a bit.

“Are you making fun of my name?” The Montre, now know as Myt, growled, baring his sharp teeth, which Miyuka assumed he wouldn’t mind digging into her flesh. She recoiled a bit and shook her head furiously. Myt made another attempt to leave, but Miyuka spoke again.

“Wait, don’t go!” Myt, low on patience, growled again, spun around and pinned Miyuka to a tree, holding his sword up to her neck.

“I swear; if you stop me again I will kill you.” He said; voice dangerously low. Miyuka’s eyes widened considerably. She could feel Myt’s breath on her face and see the dangerous spark in his eye. Her breathing quickened as she was once again taken over by fear. She was so scared that she didn’t even feel the burn where Myt held her down with his right hand. Miyuka took a deep breath and tried to relax herself so she could talk again, since it was obvious that Myt wasn’t going to let her go.

“I…I wanted to…t-to ask you. I-is there…anyway I can repay you?” She said, trying not to pass out from fear. The breathing didn’t help her relax one bit. Myt frowned.

“What do you mean, repay me?” Myt loosened his hold on Miyuka. Not enough to let her escape, but enough that the burning ceased.

“I mean, you saved my life. If you hadn’t showed up I’d probably be dead now.” She said. Myt stared at her, closed his eye and let her go.

“What can you possibly do? If you couldn’t protect yourself against such a small monster, how on earth do you think you could repay me? I fight things twice as big as that on a regular basis,” He said, “Besides; the burden of repaying a life isn’t something you can take lightly.” He continued in a much softer tone. Miyuka stared at Myt in awe. Myt was interesting. He seemed to be cold, harsh and scary on the outside, but on the inside…

Myt turned around and started to walk away. Myt was right; the burden of repaying a life isn’t something to be taken lightly. She clenched her fists tightly, because even so…

“I don’t care.” Myt stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, eye wide in surprise.

“Wha…”

“I said I don’t care. I don’t care what the price is. Whatever it is, I’ll do my best to repay you. I might not be strong, I might not be very fast, but I’m learning. Everyday, a little at a time, I’m getting stronger.” She looked up at Myt. He scoffed.

“Even so, what can you do? I saw you from a distance getting attacked by that monster. You’re obviously a mage in training, a pupil. The way that magic backfired on you, you’d only get in my way.”

“My Anima (1) magic might not be the best, but I can heal people just fine. When you fight, I can heal you when you get hurt. Isn’t that good enough?” Miyuka asked determined. Myt cocked a brow. They both remained silent; just staring at each other. After a few seconds Myt closed his eye, turned around and started walking away. Miyuka was surprised and was about to call him back, risking her life again, until Myt spoke.

“What are you waiting for? Time doesn’t wait for anyone, so we best get a move on.” Miyuka froze. After the meaning of Myt’s words finally sank in Miyuka smiled and ran after Myt. She didn’t know why, but somehow, it felt like she and Myt were meant to be. She read about something like that before. What was it called again?

“Hitsuzen (2)…” She whispered softly. Myt looked down at her.

“Did you say something?” Miyuka shook her head and smiled up at Myt. He just snorted and continued look straight.

After walking for a couple of hours they finally made it out of The Darkside and into a much safer spot in Subeta. Myt stopped and looked around.

“Let’s stop here.” Miyuka looked at him and tilted her head, “It’s already really late. Since you can’t go a whole day without resting it is best we stop now so you can rest.” Myt sat down near a tree, sword close by. Miyuka just stared at Myt for a while. She then put her backpack down and took out a sleeping bag and lied down on it.

She stared at the stars for a while until she started feeling a bit uncomfortable. What was she thinking? She barely knew this guy and she practically forced him to let her follow him. She didn’t know what came over her, but it seemed like the right thing to do back there. Many thoughts flew through her mind, until a voice snapped her back to reality.

“Hey, go to sleep already.” A gruff voice said.

“Huh? How did you know that I’m still awake?”

“You just answered me, for one,” Myt sensed her blush, “And I can just feel that you’re still awake. People give off a different aura when their awake then when their asleep.”

“…How do you know that?”

“When you travel by yourself, live by yourself and have to take care of yourself, you have to learn to feel the things around you.”

“Feel?”

“Yes, feel. Like a vibe. Living things give off different vibes than dead things. For instance, a rock is not a tree; anyone can see that, but what about the ones who can’t see?”

“They can’t tell the difference.”

“Yes, but they can feel the difference. A tree does not give off vibes of a rock, if it did it wouldn’t really be a tree and vice versa.”

“I think I understand, but Myt, why are you traveling on your own?” It remained silent for awhile.

“…That’s none of your damn business.” He replied gruffly. Miyuka was going to question him again, when he suddenly cut her off, “Just shut up and go to sleep already. I’m not stopping for you. If you fall behind and get killed, that’s your own fault. I told you that traveling with me wouldn’t be easy.” Silence. Miyuka turned over in her sleeping bag and closed her eyes.

“Okay. Night, Myt.”

“…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The first thing Miyuka saw when she woke up were Myt’s feet. When she looked up, she saw Myt’s angry face.

“Are you planning on sleeping the whole day? I will leave without you.” Myt said. Miyuka quickly got up and stuffed her sleeping bag into her backpack and got up. Myt started walking away, when Miyuka stopped him.

“Wait, can I at least clean myself off a bit?” Myt looked at her angrily.

“You look fine. Let’s just go already. I would’ve already been there if you weren’t following me.” And he started walking again. Miyuka caught up with Myt.

“Well, a simple ‘no’ would’ve sufficed.” She said a little cranky.

“You seem to be feeling very gutsy today, talking to me like that.”

“What do you think? I haven’t eaten, or cleaned myself since yesterday. You would be cranky, too.” After Miyuka said that, Myt punched her and she fell. Miyuka looked up at Myt surprised.

“Don’t forget who you’re talking to.” Myt said, clearly angry himself. That seemed to remind Miyuka just who she was dealing with again. She got up quickly and continued following Myt silently.

After a while her stomach started to grumble. She seriously hadn’t eaten something since yesterday morning. Suddenly an apple appeared in front of her. She looked at who was holding the apple. It was Myt. She raised a brow.

“We were sleeping near an apple tree. I figured I’d take a few before we started moving again,” There was steam coming from the apple, “Take it before it completely disintegrates, will you.” Myt said annoyed. Miyuka smiled and took the apple happily and started eating it.

“Haaah, I feel so much better now.” She said with a smile on her face. Myt stared at her for a while and then continued staring straight. “Hey, Myt, where are we going anyway?” Myt looked at Miyuka from the corner of his eye.

“…You’ll see soon enough.”

After walking for a couple of hours, Miyuka started getting bored. It was completely bare where they were right now and walking around in complete silence gets boring after a while. She wanted to try to start a conversation with Myt, but was too afraid that he would hit her again. Myt suddenly stopped and since Miyuka wasn’t paying attention where she was going, she bumped into Myt. She looked up at him confused.

“…There’s something here…”

“Huh? But I don’t see anything at all.” Suddenly Myt pushed Miyuka and she fell. When she looked up she saw a huge black figure about five times Myt’s size. Myt slashed its arm off, blood gushing out by the gallon. The monster tried to attack Myt with its other hand, but Myt cut that one off too. He was a little to close, so Myt got a complete blood bath, but he didn’t seem to care. Myt’s vision did become a bit blurry, though, so he didn’t see the monsters tail coming towards him. He got knocked down, but got up just as quickly. Out of nowhere the monster’s two arms flew at Myt and held him down. Miyuka gasped. She scrambled up to her feet and took out a wand.

“Come on! Ice!” But the magic backfired and exploded in her face. By the time the smoke from the explosion cleared, the fight had already ended. Myt was completely covered in blood, the monster’s arm somehow clinging onto his waist. He pried the arm off and stood in front of Miyuka. She looked up at Myt, unsure.

“Well? You said you’d heal me after every fight. I’m waiting.” He said curtly. Miyuka was snapped out of her gaze and took out another wand. She waved it over Myt and the blood instantly disappeared. Myt examined Miyuka’s handiwork and nodded in approval. He started walking away.

“Hey, a simple ‘thank you, Miyuka’ would be nice.” Miyuka exclaimed.

“What are you complaining about? You didn’t get hurt, did you?” Myt said without looking back. Miyuka just sighed and chased after Myt.

After walking for a few hours again they arrived at some cave. A mysterious mist came from out of the cave, which made Miyuka feel a little uneasy.

“Myt, where are we?”

“…We’re going to see just how useful you are.” And he pushed her inside. Into the darkness. Into the complete unknown. Or maybe even to her death.