Chapter 1: The Magic, The Cave, and the Dead

            Moonlight Jade. That’s what they call me. My name is Jade Nyctohelio, so that’s why they call me that. The “Moonlight” part came from the fact that when I was younger, I joined a cult. It wasn’t one of those terrible ones that are whispered by people with fear; it was just a small cult of people who killed others for money and other various reasons. It wasn’t really even a cult, though. It was more of a small group of assassins. Unfortunately for me, my target was impossible to kill at any time other than midnight, due to guards, open areas, and other similar reasons, which made the assassination rather difficult on my part. I had my target cornered when suddenly, the clouds moved and I was standing near my target, no longer shrouded by darkness as a stretch of moonlight was positioned directly on me. I didn’t know what I could do. I did something, though, although it wasn’t really me who did it; it was more of an act of my subconscious. I was crouched, nervous and drained of hope, when I noticed a shimmer move across my skin. The shimmer went all over my body and when it was gone, I was perfectly blended in with my surroundings. I had subconsciously used magic.

            As this encounter with the realm of magic mostly revolves around moonlight, they decided to call me that. Actually, most of my friends got their names from their first magical encounter. For  example, my buddy Zombie Crux, whose original name is Nathaniel Crux, got his name because as he held his hands out to fend off an oncoming zombie, enough heat came out from his hands(purely by accident) to burn the zombie “alive.”

            “Moonlight, would you get you useless arse over here and gather some wood for this damn fire?! I can’t do everything, you know.”

            “Calm down, Hawk. I’ll be there in a minute. I just have to finish this last sentence.”

            I set down my journal and headed out of the cave we were in and into the surrounding woods. I started to daydream as I picked up twigs and branches.

            I hadn’t done it on purpose. Honestly, he attacked me. He was insane, I do believe. He started shouting “Why are you here?! What have you done?!! Don’t you see what this is?! You’re not supposed to be here!!!” and some other phrases with rather tasteless obscenities. I hadn’t really done anything. I was just walking around at about midnight. I saw some people standing around the town statue with torches, whispering in a language that was unknown to me. I asked what they were doing and he attacked me. He got his hands around my throat and if I hadn’t pulled out my knife and stabbed him between the ribs, I would have never gotten him off me and I probably would have died. He ran at me again, though. It was as if the wound hadn’t affected him at all. He took out a knife of his own and ran at me, blood pouring out of his side, staining his fancy white tunic a bright red. Like Zombie, I held out my hands to keep him off me and I unconsciously set him on fire. The image of his charred remains still disturbs me, even though I had seen countless corpses that were dead by my hand.

            I had picked up enough wood and headed back into the cave. “Hawk, I got your wood. Are you happy?” I called out into the darkness. I felt my way around the cave until I could see a torch that was propped up on the cave wall by our cots. I set the wood down next to Hawk. He was shaking, sitting on the floor with his hand over his stomach and his knees raised up to his chin.

            I poked him and he looked at me, an expression of horror on his face.

            “Hawk?” I said quietly, “What’s wrong?”

            He moved his hand from his stomach. My own face was now horror-stricken as I saw it. His hand had covered a serious wound. His blood was all over his hand and his shirt and I now realized why he was shaking, which for a second I believed was due to the cold. He was going to die. We had no medical equipment or skills. We didn’t even have any liquor to relieve his pain.

            “Who did this?” I asked somberly.

            “It was her. She wants you dead. She knew you were here. She knew I was with you. She wants you. You…..you killed….she……she wants…..” His voice trailed off until he eventually managed to say, “revenge.” He gasped at last and ceased moving.

            One may wonder why I seem crazy, why I seem disturbed. One may wonder a lot of things. The truth is, I am crazy and disturbed, but I have a reason to be that way. I didn’t kill him, not really. He killed himself. I didn’t. She wants me dead for it, and I suppose she can have me. However, I don’t plan to just give myself up. I’m not going down without a fight, and I’m not just fighting for bragging rights, I’m fighting for blood. It’s now her who spilled the blood, and this time, it was innocent. This is revenge. This is revenge for the both of us.

            I closed Hawk’s eyes, being careful not to look into them. I didn’t need any more disturbing images in my mind.

            It was just then that I realized that I had fallen to my knees when Hawk released his last breath. I threw my journal back to where it was before, which was about two feet away. I then got up and dusted off my knees.

            I couldn’t sleep in this cave, so I packed up my cot and the rest of my things. When I got all my stuff I headed out of the cave and looked around in all directions. I debated where I should go, but I knew there was only one place I wanted to go to.

            Eidenbaa was where Zombie was was, and that’s right where I wanted to be. It wasn’t actually very far from my location, too. It was about a half a day’s worth of walking.

            Not wanting to lose any time, I started north, in Eidenbaa’s direction.

            It’s kind of a funny story how Zombie and I met.

            We were both in the cult that I had previously mentioned. We were both neophytes and we were being tested at the time. We didn’t know it at the time, but one day, when we were studying some texts in the library, they were testing us. The higher members decided to send a streak of flames into the room to see what we would do. I held up my hands, ready to use magic if there was an enemy in the room. On the other hand, I saw Zombie standing there, fiddling with his sword to get it out of its sheath. I laughed at this because, at the time, it was a quite humorous sight. Zombie pleaded with me with his eyes to help him. Of course, I did help him. He was freaking out because the sword seemed to be stuck and he sincerely believed there to be an enemy in the vicinity. Eventually, I just took his hands off his sheath and told him to raise his hands and destroy the being with energy. He laughed as he said that he should have known better because that was exactly what he was reading about.

            For some reason, this experience caused us to grow rather close. By the time we were initiated, we were the best of friends. However, I haven’t seen him since I left the cult. That was about five years ago. I only hoped that Zombie was still at Eidenbaa. Otherwise, I would have lost every part of my past. It would have been one too many blows, especially directly after Hawk’s death.

            The fact that I drew very near to the town made me very nervous. I had to force myself to calm my breathing because I was so afraid that Zombie had left the town. I kept my head down because seeing the city walls only increased my nervousness. My eyes landed on rotting leaves, dead trees, broken pavestones, yellowed grass, and trampled wildflowers. The sight was sorrowing, so I lifted my head up.
            I followed the pathway up to the city gate and was stopped by the guard.

            “You there. This is a peaceful town. No weapons allowed inside the city.”

            “Of course.” I replied simply and emptied myself of all weapons, drawing my knife, short sword, and broadsword from their sheaths. I then mumbled, “Careful, they’re sharp.”

            In a way, I didn’t care if I got them back. My weapons had only really caused trouble for me.

            Once the guard had my weapons, he allowed me to proceed into the town, which I did. I inched slowly through the streets, admiring the buildings and their subtle differences, while simultaneously trying to figure out where Zombie lived. The more I walked, though, the more I remembered. By the time I had reached the other end of the small town, I had completely remembered where he was at. I could only hope he was still there, though.

            I came across the home I believed was occupied by Zombie and stood outside the building for a minute, just to look at it. It had barely changed. It was a simple house. It was painted a light-bluish color with olive drab window sills. I strode towards the door, nervousness nearly overcoming me. When I eventually knocked on the door, I was shaking terrible. I stopped shaking, however, when I saw the figure that opened the door.

            His pale skin, greasy black hair, small, yet toned body, and loving gaunt face ceased all my nervousness.

            “Zombie.” I breathed, more to myself than to him.

            “Moonlight?” He breathed back, similarly to himself.

            We didn’t need any more of an introduction than that. We instantly hugged and it was a great big bear hug.

            After we ceased our embrace, I exclaimed, “Zombie! How’s it been?”

            His loving smile fell as he responded, “Come. Let’s take a little walk and I‘ll tell you about it.”