Night time, Siadro

In the central plains of the continent and kingdom of Siadro, a majestic structure towered straight toward the sky. The walls are made of different brightly coloured marbles, glittering like twinkled ng eyes in the moonlight. The paths were paved with silver. Inside, the walls were coated with ivory and the ceiling carried designs of bronze. Its stairs were inlaid with jewels and the curtains were a velvet, brightly coloured silk. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were made with gold and its candles from silver wax. The floor was made with red amethyst and spiralled with white obsidian. The tables were made with luminous jade and the chairs with ebony coated with gold. The cushions on the chairs were stuffed with goose feathers and woven with linen. The fragrance in the air was akin to roses in full bloom. The structure, everything in and around it, had surpassed the value of money. The abode of the ruler of Siadro, it stood proudly, portraying that Siadro's fame as the richest continent in the twenty first realm in the thirteenth dimension in the fifth universe wasn't in anyway a rumour.

Voscov bent down and quickly dodged behind his little crystal wall as dozens of little crystal balls wooshed past his head in a trail of light and struck the wall then dispersed. He was panting heavily but he was still smiling.

"You can't get me Tema!" He said and poked his little, ten-year old head from behind the crystal wall but ducked just as quickly as another dozen balls wooshed past.

"Oh yeah?" Tema, his older sister, teased.

"Yes. 'Cause I'm the king of the world!" Voscov replied and leaped high into the air.

A wave of crystals rushed in his direction. His manipulation surged and crystals flew down from the ceiling and condensed into a shield on his arm. He placed the shield in front of him, blocking his sister's crystals. Tema redirected a few and struck Voscov on his leg. They looked hard but bounced off him like cotton balls, completely harmless.

Voscov's manipulation surged once more and the crystal shield dissipated into crystal balls and rained down on Tema.

Tema formed a large disc with crystals and stepped on it. Just before the rain of crystals reached her, the disc flew high up to the ceiling in a trail of light, carrying Tema with it. From the ground, Voscov looked up and pouted.

"I'll get up there today, you'll see."

Voscov's manipulation surged again, stronger than ever and numerous crystals rushed in his direction. They condensed into a disk and he stepped on it. His manipulation surged once more and the disk began to go up towards the ceiling ever so slowly.

Doing such a thing was pretty hard since the crystals had to be kept tightly together and they also had to move in synch, but Voscov stood on it with a goofy grin on his face.

Soon he was just half a meter below Tema and the crystals were getting shaky.

Tema's eyes widened. Voscov was losing synchronization. If he fell from such a height it'd be a hard fall.

Just before the crystals scattered, Voscov jumped toward Tema but missed her disk. Tema darted downward, stretching her hand to the fullest to catch Voscov. Just half in the nick of time, Tema caught Voscov and hauled him up but she couldn't stop the momentum of her crystal disk and they both crashed into the amethyst floor, laughing, in a rain of harmless crystals. And this way the heir to Siadro and her little brother's laughter rand throughout the west tower of Siadro's palace. Perhaps it was only them that had the guts to laugh so freely in the magnificent palace.....

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Gabriel stood by the doorway watching Valerina solemnly comb the fur of her cat. Her brown hair was long and straight and he could imagine her pretty gray - almost white - eyes bristling with anger once he said what he had to. She was his first and only friend. Though they had only met briefly, he considered her a friend because no one had ever talked to him in such an informal way as she had and he knew he could let down his guard around her and still feel safe.

"Valerina," Gabriel called.

"Hmm?" Valerina answered without turning.

Gabriel was dispirited. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what exactly?" Valerina turned and winked.

Gabriel's lips curled and amusement flickered in his eyes. He inched closer toward Valerina.

"I think for this," he said and flicked her nose before darting out of the room, Valerina hot on his heels.

Moments later they were out of the cottage, under the rain, running, dodging and laughing. Their shoes were lost sometime during the chase and their dresses were sullied. And years after, they would both be doing the same thing, at the same spot and under the rain. But that is a story for another time because now they were children; running, laughing and dodging.

Gabriel darted left, bent and dodged Valerina's arm with a twirl. He ran a bit, stopped and turned to mock Valerina but she slammed right into him, knocking the breath right out of his lungs with an 'oof' and they both fell with a thud. Valerina was right above Gabriel, her face just inches away from his. He could feel her breath coming out in short, ragged pants but she was smiling and so was he.

Looking at him up close, Valerina fell into a daze.

Gabriel cleared his throat and turned sideways. Valerina's cheeks turned red in embarrassment and she rolled off him and they both sat on the muddy floor in a peaceful silence.

"What you said earlier wasn't true right?" Valerina suddenly asked.

Gabriel's eye twitched and he lay on the ground silently. But it was also a silent 'No'.

"Jerk," Valerina snorted.

The rain had became a light drizzle and she could see Gabriel clearly when she turned.

"How could such a face be given to such a jerk? Has the world gone crazy?" She muttered and began to absentmindedly trace the flower drawn on his mask.

She traced the white petals, down the green stem and then down to the root. She immediately felt dizzy and her eyes whirled as the dripping if rain became more and more indistinct. Inside the cozy cottage, Lola's eyes shot open and she snarled before darting out of the door.

Valerina found herself in a pitch black space with a surreal figure of Gabriel in front of her; but he was so cold, apathetic and emotionless that it made Valerina feel scared. The surreal figure looked intently at her then stepped aside to reveal a little dot of white light.

"Go on," it said.

Valerina walked toward the light and it enlarged and covered her in a warm, gentle light.

Suddenly she was in the woods, though she didn't know which, and a woman in a red dress darted past her. The woman's dress was only a blur and her ink black hair flowed in the wind. She was carrying something but Valerina didn't know what. All she could see was a golden blur darting out of the parcel sometimes.

Suddenly, Valerina frowned. She was actually keeping up with the woman. Obviously she wasn't that fast since the woman's legs were only a blur.

She looked down and saw that her legs were also a blur! She was clearly running but not of her own volition. Her legs were just doing their own thing.

A maniacal laughter rang out, pulling Valerina from her thoughts. Soon a mass of black smoke descended from the sky. All she could make out in the smoke was a pale white face with three dark blueish lines on the forehead.

"Do you really think you can run from me?" An evil voice cackled from the smoke and the woman stopped.

"You'll never get him you damned razatche!" The woman said and clenched her fist. White glowing rings formed around her arms and she punched the space in front o her. The rings shot out and she darted in another direction.

The maniacal laughter sounded again and the plum of smoke went toward Valerina. The hairs on Valerina stood up and chill ran down her spine as the plum of smoke passed directly through her.

Suddenly her view whirled and distorted. Soon she was in the woods again but this time a six year old boy crouched in front of her and was crying over the body of a woman in a red dress.

"Mother please wake up. I've chased away the baddie but Keva's gone missing. Mother please!" He cried.

Valerina bent to see the boy's face better.

"This has got to be a memory," she muttered as she began to examine the boy's features.

Golden hair...... Iron mask....... Soft blue eyes.......thin red lips. Valerina's hand flew to her mouth. Who knew it was actually.... She hadn't completed her thoughts when the surroundings cracked like glass and flitted away and she was sucked into a black vortex.

Valerina was back in front of the cottage.

"So that's how it is," she muttered as she subconsciously stroked the fur of her cat. Lola had come unto her lap at a time she wasn't aware of and she carried the little feline in her arms and walked into cottage.

A lifetime's debt III

Right from the morning of the next day, Gabriel was downright moody. Valerina didn't think much of it until around noon when Gabriel asked her the way to leave.

"Why? Don't you like it here?" Valerina asked. After witnessing his memory she concluded that he must be an orphan and began to see him in a different light...... Sorta.

Gabriel frowned. He couldn't argue with the girl. Not now. That thing was coming.

Turning, Gabriel walked out of the cottage and up a little man-made hill. Halfway up, he looked down and muttered then continued upwards. When he reached the top, he looked around, muttered and made to descend the other way. His leg froze midair and he placed it down, a rarely seen chill flashing in his eyes as he looked at the sky.

The space he was looking at distorted and a plum of grey black smoke sifted out. It swirled a bit in the air then rushed at Gabriel in a long stream.

Gabriel rolled to the side and the smoke hit the ground, turning the grass in a five-meter radius into a deathly patch of black. It went at Gabriel again and he dodged, a bored look surfacing briefly on his face.

The black spirit, as he called it, came every year about this time and got stronger each time so he goes to the spring in Pionel woods to face it. If worse entered worst he'd just dive into the waters of the spring. Surely, the spirit could go into water and underground too but it wouldn't dive into the spring. It wouldn't dare.

With Gabriel dodging and rolling, he failed to notice the soft padding of footsteps coming from behind him. Later on, he heard a thud and immediately spotted Valerina frozen in shock. He snapped his head back almost immediately and a trace of helplessness flashed briefly in his eyes.

Is she scared? A second him seemed to ask.

Of course, he answered himself.

Why? A second Gabriel seemed to ask again.

Funny, he thought. Obviously she was scared of the spirit. Because of him.

Upon reaching that conclusion, anger surged within him. It was all the spirit's fault. Everything was it's fault. The damned thing. Why doesn't it just leave him alone?!

The black spirit swirled and a dark blue light shone from within it as a maniacal laughter sounded out. For some reason, Gabriel panicked and leapt out of its way. It rushed pat him and latched into Valerina's throat, lifting her a feet into the air, strangling her. Gabriel immediately sprang at her and held the spirit, trying to tear it apart. His mask shone with a negligible green light and he broke the spirit in two.

It twirled into the air then joined back and began to meld and increase in size. Soon, it was a big, black, grizzly bear. It lunged at Gabriel and a white fur ball suddenly crashed into its side, barely leaving a scratch. The bear paused and hit the cat with it's huge paw. Lola tumbled across the ground and stopped. If she wasn't dead, she definitely wouldn't live.

The bear lunged at Gabriel again.

Gabriel dodged, rolled and sidestepped the bear. The bear's forelegs tightened, it's claws dug into the soil, bringing it's massive bulk to an abrupt halt. Gabriel was sure he heard a few bones snap but the animal disregarded it and in a single bound to the side, brought its maw biting down on Gabriel's head. Gabriel stepped back quickly, lost his footing and fell to the ground. He skittered back hurriedly as the bear walked toward him slowly, its lips curled in a savage grin that revealed long, wild fangs.

"Doofus, run!" Valerina screamed as something struck the bear's face. The bear snapped its head and glared at her while growling.

Gabriel got his feet under him as fast as he could and distanced himself from the hulking mass of death. Valerina had two small silvery knives in her hands and threw one. It pierced the bear's eye, blood spurting high.

The bear didn't scream or roar. It just growled threateningly as rage burned deep within its pupil. Slowly, it crumbled into smoke and disappeared.

Valerina sighed. It was gone. She raised her eyes and gazed at Gabriel, feeling relieved.

Gabriel though, was anything but relieved. He couldn't help but feel that something was absolutely wrong. He looked around and spotted some movement in the black grass. A deathly plum of smoke was weaving its way through the grass at an ungodly speed. Before he could speak out,

it reached Valerina's side, morphed speedily into a bear and swiped its claw across the girl's chest.

Crimson blood spurted high into the air, the momentum of the swipe tossing the girl to a side as the bear evaporated, a maniacal grin stretching across its muzzle until it vanished totally, leaving the surrounding a ghastly black.

Gabriel stared at Valerina's collapsed body, horrified. He swayed weakly and walked toward her with shaky steps. Tears coated his eyes and he shook like a leaf. A step away from her collapsed form, his knees kissed the ground with a sickening thud. A thud which reached the very depths of his soul, bringing back some unpleasant memories.

He'd almost forgotten. Today was the day his mother died. Today was the day his sister died too. All because of him and his stupid mask.

His mother had told him to steer clear of people two days before the spirit came but what had he done? Played with the damned girl and slept in her cottage when he could have easily slipped away.

His lips trembled as raw agony gnawed at his heart. A tear came running down his cheek. It had an unnatural green colour and a blade of grass grew where it struck the soil. Light green dots began to appear and accumulate in his direction. His golden hair dazzled like it could outshine the sun. His mask began to glow; softly at first before bursting with green light and a terrifying life force such that it seemed the mask would collapse in on itself.

Soon the boy was enveloped in a growing white-green light. Green dots floated around him like a whirl disk and stretched on for a radius of twenty meters like a miniature milky way.

The flower drawn on his mask seemed more lifelike and a seed fell into the soil. The plants there began to regrow at a frightening speed and Gabriel was like an unstoppable pulsing heart in the middle of it all.

Gabriel suddenly stood up; but he was more cold, detached and emotionless than the surreal figure Valerina had seen before.

His soft blue eyes landed on Valerina and the three gashes were healed. Green dots lifted her and restructured her flesh, the three vicious wounds disappearing completely. His eyes landed on Lola next and the little feline was quickly healed.

The boy's blue eyes pulsed, his hair dazzled and the plants all around him swayed.

"I owe you my life..... No I owe you more. For saving my soul I owe you a lifetime's debt."