I’ve have felt the call since the beginning, the birthright of my people.’

‘To reproduce.’

‘To succeed on a level no other organism has.’

The man in shadow, standing before the bodies of numerous priests, looks upon the sacred, holy podium. His deep footsteps echoing across this field of death, an apparition remiscient of Death itself made its way toward the small podium.

‘To be the dominate species on this planet.’

The dimly lit podium, its source of this luminance being two humble candles on each side and the man in shadow continued his slow but determined walk, as if taking in his victory and savoring this shrine of death as though it were a cup of fine wine.

‘It was our right, and we ruled it as deities would, because that is what we are. The cusp of our existence is our ascension to Godhood.’

He placed his hands on the podium, gripping the sides tightly as he lowered his head, staring at the blank wood of the podium.

“Where is your God now?” he muttered to himself, mocking the dead men of the cloth. “I will kill your God, I will become God because, you see.”
His head rises slightly; a twitching smirk crosses his face, as the front of his eyebrows tense.

“I will become omnipotent.”

Taking a deep breath, the shadow man begins muttering in an ancient dialect, one so deep, guttural and hollow it seems to be coming from beyond this world.

The man’s body tensed completely, his legs shaking as his voice grew in volume, finally culminating in a bellow phrase: “Juntarataqumo!”

A deep, sudden echo, similar to that of a large bell filled the small room with its deafening sound followed by a small electrical pop.

Out of thin air in front of the podium, a naked, woman fell onto the concrete ground, hissing in pain while the sound and smell of burnt flesh permeated heavily from her.

She writhed slowly on the ground, totally overcome by an indescribable pain from her experience, the man simply walked around the podium and stood over her.

He observed her as one observes a piece of a work, her skin seared by burns from an unknown source tainted her body all over.

I stood over the fallen bodies, these bodies I had never seen until now. I felt an unknown heat radiating throughout my body, it felt like my skin was going to melt away.
I was panting heavily, from fear, from anxiety. I had killed these men hadn’t I?
I check reality by looking for my knife, that weapon which had helped me kill those who threatened me in the past.
I couldn’t reach into my pocket. Something was blocking me.
I looked down to see.
My knife.
It was in my hand this whole time, and it was covered in the vile red liquid I had become all too used to seeing.
The Blood of my Enemies.
No...
Of those that defy My Power.
No.
Those who fight against me.
This isn’t me.
Your fate is guided by my hand.
Who are you?
Your savior.
I awoke slowly, my brain felt frozen, my movement was sluggish, I couldn't breathe well and my eyes fluttered when I tried to open them. I felt weak, like I was going to die at any moment... I panicked and sat up quickly, regaining myself. My mind felt hollow now, I realized I was sweating to a degree where it had soaked through my nightshirt and darkened the fabric.

I sat there for what felt like ages, panting and staring straight ahead. I saw the lines; I had forgotten my glasses and my brain paid the price: A headache came on.

Groggily, I grabbed my saviors of this vision and put them on, glancing at the clock.

“5:30...” I muttered to myself, it was a Sunday so I didn't have to worry about class but my thoughts turned to disgust that I had been so totally awakened at such an early time. The memories of the nightmare slowly faded as I heard a knock on the door.

“Shiki-sama?” I heard a quiet voice call out. “Are you alright?”

Hisui... I thanked the powers that be for her.

“Uhh... I'm fine, Hisui... Why do you ask?”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. Even if I had been here for a little over a year, Hisui was still very shy and introverted; a small smile crept along my face. Nostalgia, remembering that the world had not gone straight to Hell and that everything was fine... Such a small thing reassured my restless mind.

Hisui finally managed a barely audible answer. “I don't know... I just thought something...” She trailed off into silence.

Uncomfortable silence again...

This time, I would break it.

“... Um, Hisui, I'll get washed and be downstairs shortly.”

Hisui quickly replied. Her uneasiness replaced with her usual cool demeanor. “Of course Shiki-sama, sorry to bother you.”

“No trouble.”

'And thank you...' I almost said it, but I realized that would have just made the situation more awkward so I stopped myself.

I made my way downstairs. Still groggy, I felt I could fall down the stairs if I even blinked too much; I made my way into the sitting room.

Akiha was already having her morning tea, watching the sunrise paint the room orange and red. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at me and stopped.

“Nii-san?” She said with some degree of disbelief in her voice.

“Hey...” I barely manage to say, still not totally alive to the world yet.

THUMP

I narrowly avoid toppling myself over an end table.

“Nii-san!”

“I-I'm fine, I just bumped it.” In truth, had I not moved at the last minute, there would be a broken end table and a broken Tohno Shiki on the floor right now.

Akiha's face returned to her normal cool look. “Please be more careful, walking about so recklessly will only end up with injuries to everybody.”

Ouch, Akiha still knew how to barb me. I'd probably feel worse if I wasn't so tired.

I sat in my usually chair and closed my eyes...

Hot...

I felt hot...

Something hot was near my face...

I felt my heart thumping into my throat...

My brain began to function in more instinctive sense...

I snapped my eyes open to what I hoped wasn't a nightmare image.

I expected the worst...

A demon?

A vampire?

I expected to see all those I cared about slaughtered in front of me in a terrible manner...

... All I saw was blue

“I'm drowning!” I screamed. I began to thrash about wildly, attempting to escape my watery prison.

I forced my eyes closed, still thrashing, I felt something warm and solid strike my arm. Then I heard a scream. Akiha's scream?!

I opened my eyes again...

I was in the sitting room, but Akiha was gone.

“Akiha?” I worthlessly asked, knowing she wasn't here.

“Nii-san...!” I jumped when I heard a reply. It was more of a growl than anything, I was scared.

I looked down toward the source. Akiha was sprawled on the floor, a large, solid red mark adorned part of her face, covering mainly the left side of her face. She looked both flustered and enraged.

“What happened?” I asked, quite stupidly, by now my mind had returned to me and I pieced together what happened.

I hit Akiha. Unintentionally, but I still hit her. I feared for my life...

Akiha stood up, still faintly blushing, and adjusted her skirt. Her eyes bore down on me like I was an enemy.

“Nii-san! Why on earth did you hit me?”

I just stared at her dumbfounded, I don't know why... Well that's not true; I thought I was drowning... If I told her that, she would probably get even more upset with me sleeping in the sitting room. So I kept quiet.

“Nii-san!” She shouted. It woke me out of my daze.

“I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!” I kept apologizing, but the cold stare from her eyes never left me. My heart sank.

“Ahem... I guess I can forgive for this...” She quietly blurted out. “But be more careful in the future, you're getting to be terribly reckless.” She scolded me, I sat there, dejected.

Eventually, Kohaku served breakfast, the usual arrangement of Hisui standing behind me and Kohaku standing behind Akiha had not changed. After breakfast, a terrible silence ensued in the room, occasionally with Kohaku and Akiha idly chatting over a cup of tea.

Neither me nor Hisui said anything, I mainly spaced out, staring out the window at the garden.

“The flowers are dying...” I said emotionlessly.

'The flowers are dying.' I thought to myself, what a stupid thing to say.

After an extremely awkward silence, I stood up.

“I'm going back to bed...” I quietly announce.

“Rest well, Nii-san” I heard Akiha say behind me as I went into the lobby and began climbing the stairs. Halfway up I was struck by a realization and stopped.

'Blue?' If I wasn't dreaming when I saw blue... Then... I rushed back down the stairs into the sitting room.

“Wait! What was the blue thing I saw?” I asked out of nowhere.

Akiha and Kohaku slowly turned to me. There was silence.

Akiha coughed and blushed slightly. “That was me, Nii-san.”

'Blue? Oh... Her eyes.'

Before I could ask, she answered my question. “I was checking to see if you were alright, I was about to open your eyes with my fingers to see if something was wrong since you seemed to have just slipped into unconsciousness.” She states very matter-of-factly.

I nod slowly, understanding and then head back to the lobby, up the stairs and back into bed.

I heard tapping...

I awoke, rolling over to face my clock it said 11:00AM. Putting on my glasses, I stood and looked out the window. I was certain I heard those noises outside my window. Looking around outside, I just managed to catch the disappearing shadow of someone walking away from the gardens. On the desk I saw a pink envelope with my name written on it in an elegant calligraphy. I open the letter and pull out the sheet of paper.

'Hey Shiki!

It's been a long time; I'm hoping that we could meet back up at the park around 9:00PM, for old times’ sake. I've missed you.

Signed, Ciel'

“Ciel?!” I unintentionally blurted out.

Ciel...

I can't believe it. I never thought I’d see her again.

I was shaking. I was both angry and happy. I sat down, panting, my whole body felt sick... I put the paper back in the envelope and tossed it back onto the desk.

I couldn't think...

The day passed by normally, I was already sitting in the sitting room when I looked at the clock: 8:30, Time for me to begin to leave.

As I stood up, Akiha spoke up, stopping herself from playing her violin. “Where are you going Nii-san?”

“I'm going out... I have to meet someone.”