The Realm of Aereningate

CHAPTER 1

Most people long to find some sort of adventure in their life, away from their monotonous desk jobs or stacks of homework. To pave their own path, write their own story and to experience something new and exciting. However Kaeru wasn’t an individual that would fit into the ‘most people’ category. As she sat with her knees digging into the sand she realized that she had made an existential mistake. She swung the scythe lying before her as a joke, the kind of joke that would only be funny to the person carrying it out. The heat from the tiny grains of quartz pricked her flesh forcing her to lurch upwards and away from the heat. As she gained her bearings she realized that the only thing surrounding her was sand. Miles and miles of desert extended outwards in every direction. Kaeru squatted down once more and buried her head between her knees. Squeezing her eyes shut she contemplated pinching herself to see if it would miraculously bring her back to the circle of flowers she stood in before landing here. She pinched herself forcefully on the fat of her thigh and hesitantly opened her eyes. Peering between her knees she once again saw sand. The tiny grains seemed almost gilded, nothing like the sand that lined the coast in her hometown. The unfamiliarity of the situation began to sink in as she looked up toward the horizon.

“At least I’m not dead, ” she spoke to no one in particular. 

She noticed the scythe and the contents of her school duffle bag strung out across the sand. The air was still and scorching and nothing seemed to be alive. At least that is what she assumed initially.

A state of panic set in several minutes overdue. It would be assumed that if someone were to fall several yards from the air onto the ground that they would be pretty banged up to say the least. However, Kaeru had nothing more than a scraped knee and sore dignity in the aftermath. She slowly rose up from the ground and shakily stepped back from the small crater left in the sand. As she straightened out her back she noticed in the distance a small raised lump of sand followed by a cloud of dust. It seemed as if it were coming towards her, gradually at first, but as she focused her gaze she realized it was traveling at a much faster speed. She apprehensively watched the small bump moving its way across the desert, seemingly gaining more speed as it kicked up debris into the air.

 “A mole, it has to be a mole.” She whispered to herself in denial. As suddenly as the words left her mouth the form tripled in size. Then, it was gone. Total silence surrounded her. A rustle caused her focus to shift to her belongings strung across the sand. There beside her bag stood a creature. It’s body was pitch black except for it’s glowing honey colored eyes and fingers. It giggled an echoing child-like laugh. The creature's arms floated comfortably next to its body, disconnected and hovering calmly above her scythe.  She didn't know whether to run away or to somehow gain enough courage to attack the creature and keep it from taking the last few items she owned. Her throat felt as dry as the climate she was in as she swallowed nervously. The creature giggled again, tilting its head to the side while finally reaching for the scythe. Kaeru froze in fear as she watched her only means of protection about to be stolen. Quicker than she could blink it snatched the weapon and sunk back into the sand, rushing back in the direction it came. The head of the scythe, poking through the sand, was visible as if it was a shark's fin stalking its prey in the ocean.

 “Shit!” She muttered under her breath as she lunged for her duffle bag, taking off behind the dessert shark. 

She ran as fast as she could trailing behind the conniving creature, her feet feeling like lead weights as they momentarily sunk into the sand with each step. What would she do once she had caught up? If she ever did catch up. She was weaponless, the only thing that could potentially be used to arm herself with was a hair brush and a can of pepper spray. What she would do if seized the creature hadn’t crossed her mind, she only knew that without the scythe she had a slim chance of making it back home. Her legs carried her for what felt like hours. The sun began to set almost in a time lapse manner, speeding up at an abnormal rate. She looked up momentarily at the sky; pinks, purples, and oranges swirled together in a rippling motion blending themselves together until they created a subtle violet darkness. Only then did she notice the three planets in place of the moon that would typically be there on her own planet. The sound of faint calliope music brought her attention back to the ground. 

Before her eyes a carnival wagon materialized in front of her like a ghost. Bright green lights floated through the air and danced around Kaeru as she began to approach the wagon. Her chase was brought to a stop when she heard unfamiliar voices coming from the strange and ornate wagon. The conversation didn’t sound at all pleasant, therefore she decided to crawl her way around a cluster of what seemed to be palm trees. The closer she crawled the more audible the voices became.

The light from inside the wagon shone through the curtain and onto a young man's face. He sneered, revealing his shark-like teeth to the merchant inside the wagon. 

“Oh come on now.” The man slammed his palms onto the merchant’s counter and leaned forward, his crimson hair falling over his bandaged left eye. “You’re trying to tell me that you didn’t set up camp here because you saw that light?” 

The merchant shook her head frantically, her asymmetric white hair quivering as she pressed her gloved palms together. Her neck, floating disconnected from her body, trembled in fear just slightly about her shoulders. She wore a black leotard with a pair of black translucent harem pants that blended into a dark magenta hue over top. An indigo hat that looked almost like a jester's cap and pair of pigaches complimented her outfit. Her lips quivered as she adjusted the half mask that covered her left eye. The black mask had a Thalia-esque shape to it, the half grin outlined in red and the eye being replaced with a red cross.

 “Hey now… no need to be hostile.” She croaked, sweat dripping down her sickly lilac skin. 

The young man grew even more agitated. His green eyes glinted with anger.

 “Quit lying and hand over the scythe.” He snarled. 

He extended his arm towards the merchant. Two sharp blades made of bone broke through the posterior skin of his hand and continued to grow until they reached the merchant's chest. The blades poked eagerly at her collar bone. She put both her hands up, surrendering to the obviously vexed man.

 “L-look, you can search my whole wagon, I have no-” She ceased.

Her plea was cut short by his venomous retort. The muscles in his arms and chest rippled as he struggled to regain his composure.

 “And why would I listen to a notorious liar? Hm!?” He leaned forward glaring into her hollow eyes, his voice growing ever more agitated, “You’ve probably already sold it off to that stupid witch doctor in Kings town haven’t you?” 

The merchant gasped as the man grabbed her hair, yanking her forward, the blades pressed just above the skin where her heart would be located. 

“Perhaps you need some other body parts dislocated, maybe then you’ll wise up and speak truthfully.” 

Blood trickled down the man's wrist and began to glow ever so faintly, illuminating the large golden chain around his neck. The merchant choked back her screams. She thought that if she were to even breathe her lungs would burst from anxiety. Suddenly there was a ghostly shriek from behind the man. His pointed ears perked up at the sound. He loosened his grip on the poor girl's hair and turned his attention to the familiar noise behind him.

Kaeru stood behind the man, her foot on the chest of the thief she had finally apprehended. The scythe in her hand. She had managed to attack the creature as it waited for it’s master to finish his interrogation. Kaeru didn’t anticipate the creature's shriek to be so loud, and now she found herself forcing her heel into the creature's collar bone, completely unaware of the two individuals staring at her. She heard a chuckle and her head shot up only to meet the gaze of the crimson haired man. He walked slowly towards her, retracting the two blades back into his skin, his bones cracking as they slid back into his flesh. 

“Well, well, well. Look what we’ve got here," chortled the man. 

He folded his hands behind his waist and nonchalantly walked towards Kaeru, a demonic grin playing at his lips. Kaeru released her foot from the creature's body and it hissed and sputtered in response to the weight being lifted from its chest. The servant-like creature crawled away towards the man as if to look for some form of comfort. It only received a cold glare and in turn sunk back into the sand. The man bowed and smiled, his viridescent vest seemed to flutter as he did so. 

“You seem to have exactly what I want, Miss. How ironic.” He mused.

Kaeru looked down at the wine colored gem that was attached to the base of the scythe. Her hands began to shake. When she looked back up at the man he was gone. The footprints he had so recently made in the sand were nowhere to be seen. The air became eerily still. Then a voice emerged, but the direction in which it came from was unclear, it was as if the voice was in Kaeru’s mind. 

“How about you just hand over that scythe and we can be on our way?” The voice chided.

She then felt a twinge ride up her spine causing her heart to climb to her throat. What did he mean by we? She managed to push out a tiny voice in response.

“We? Me and you?” She gulped, “I don’t even know you. And I honestly feel that I’m much better off keeping this thing, especially since this is the second time I have felt threatened today.”

Instantly there was a presence behind her. A sharp breath caressed the nape of her neck. Within seconds the bone-like blades that she saw retracting earlier were pressed lightly against her neck, an arm wrapped around her waist. The low voice whispered in her ear, almost mockingly.

“I would love to bring you back without a scratch.” The man stated, “but if you don’t want to cooperate, I’m going to have to damage this lovely skin of yours.” He loosened his grip and snickered, “How can you be the human that’s supposed to fulfill the prophecy? You’re pretty weak for a supposed ‘goddess.’”

“Goddess?” Kaeru choked. “But I'm not-” In her panic she lost grip of the scythe and it fell down into the sand.

“Surprisingly though, you are pretty cute for a human.” The man tightened his grip around her waist. “You know what?” He questioned teasingly, “Maybe I'll just take you and the scythe back with me.” He laughed.

“N-no!” cried Kaeru.

Kaeru struggled from his grip, kicking the scythe in front of her as if moving it a foot away from him were to do any good. She shook terribly, clutching her hands to her chest. If she would have just accepted the fact that she wouldn’t have a weapon in the first place she would have never gotten into this mess. There must have been another way for her to return home without this stupid thing, she thought. But now that she had gotten herself into this there seemed to be no way out. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that when she opened them again she would wake up from all of this. This nightmare couldn’t be real, at least this is what she tried to make herself believe. But the cold prick of the blade against her neck, unfortunately, was all too real. 

A dark purple light shone through her eyelids, she thought that the immense pressure she was using to keep her eyes shut was causing her to see things. When she opened her eyes though, she was met with a purple light in the palm of a tall figure's hand. It stood in the distance next to  what seemed to be a cluster of palm trees. The figure raised it’s hand out in front of itself, the purple flame growing larger and brighter. 

“Good show, right, Daichi?” The red haired man scoffed. “I knew if I harassed her enough I 

would get a reaction out of you.” Ranmaru chuckled, “ You’re too quick to act, I wasn’t done having fun.”

The red haired man extended his arm past Kaeru’s jaw, his blades growing larger than

before, the veins in his hand pulsing and protruding from his tanned skin. Kaeru leaned back into the chest of the man, afraid that his sudden movements would result in a laceration across her face. 

A soft voice came from the figure in the distance. “I’m more surprised at the fact that you are capable of showing affection, although faked.” 

The violet flame roared and crackled as the figure approached the hostage situation. As the figure named Daichi came into view by the orange light of the wagon, it became apparent that it was a young man. A violet diamond hanging from a golden chain was dangling from his left ear, his dark hair sculpted around his pale face. He spoke again, this time more fiercely, 

“Now, enough of this. Release her and the scythe. If you do so we won’t have to resort to a tiresome battle.” 

Kaeru could feel the man loosen his grip around her slightly.

 “Don’t create more tension between our people, Ranmaru.” Whispered Daichi. 

He stared into Kaeru’s eyes, his violet gaze was comforting, and not at all that of Ranmaru’s demonic glare. She felt safer for some odd reason, lthough Daichi gave no inclination of being any safer than the man that was currently holding her hostage. It was idiotic to assume this violet eyed man were any better than Ranmaru, and yet she held onto that feeling just as tight as she held onto her chest. Daichi placed his hand above the flame that was in his palm as if he were going to condense it into a small glowing ball. He smiled warmly at Ranmaru, 

“I don’t feel like fighting today,” he whispered. 

The ball of light grew between his hands and then exploded, resulting in several dozens of glowing wisps of fire. He moved his hands out in front of him, palms upwards, the fire hung in the air around him. 

“You know what will happen if you decide to go through with your actions. Think.” Daichi commanded, looking to the ground as he spoke.

 Kaeru followed his gaze. His maroon shirt clung tightly to his body, just as the golden wrap around his waist did. He seemed to be fixating his concentration on the lights surrounding him. He looked up slowly. 

“Lila said to go about things civilly.” 

Ranmaru scoffed, “I’m not interested in helping you suck up to that hag.”

Ranmaru gripped the top of Kaeru’s head in his right hand, his arm and blades still extended in the other. Just as kaeru thought she was finally going to succumb to his blade, another voice emerged from the darkness, although this time seemingly more femenine.

“I’ve got this.” The voice scoffed.

Daichi smiled, “Go right ahead, Tama.”

“Let her go, unless you want to end up looking like a lotus root.” Growled the feminine voice.

A girl dropped down into the sand from the top of one of the trees. She aimed what seemed to be a pistol in Kaeru and ranmaru’s general direction. 

“Don’t worry, I usually don’t miss.” Tama exclaimed, grinning widely.

Her scarlet colored hair was pulled back into a ponytail secured by what seemed to be two large wooden sticks, leaving her chunky bangs to lay on her forehead. She wore a rusty sleeveless turtleneck and brown gloves and boots embroidered with heavy metal bands. As she squinted through the sight of her gun her eyes glimmered a deep amber. She couldn’t have been but a young teenager and yet she was so confident in her abilities as a gunman, or rather gun-child, that her arms barely even quivered under the pressure of the situation.

Without warning, Ranmaru dug his nails deep into the left side of Kaeru’s waist as he spun her around to face him. She cried out in pain and clutched her side feeling what was unmistakably the warmth of blood beginning to fill up in the palm of her hand.

“Now that you’ve threatened me, I guess I have no other choice.”  The devilish man liftend up Kaeru’s arm with a grin, “I apologize, as this will hurt… a lot.” 

His sharkish teeth gleamed and before Kaeru even had a chance to protest his blades carved into her skin ripping through her porcelain flesh from her wrist to the inside of her elbow. The agony was unbearable, it all happened so fast. Kaeru felt her knees buckle from the pain but before she had a chance to fall to the ground the man quickly pulled a small purple vial from his pocket and swiftly drank it. Just as she was about to collapse he kissed her. She felt a hot, pungent, liquid run down her throat. It burned and stung her throat as she was forced to swallow it. Once he released her from his venomous kiss she sunk to the ground with a thud, clutching her arm, coughing and screaming from the shock and pain. Bullets were being fired, and from the corner of her eye as she lay with her cheek pressed into the sand she could see the purple fire shooting through the air in the general direction of Ranmaru. Her heart felt as if it was slowing its pace. Every foot step and shout was so sensitive that she wished in that moment that she was dead. The blood continued to stream down her arm staining the sand in a crimson bath. 

Ranmaru made his escape, leaving her to die on the ground. Her eyes felt heavy and all sound seemed to cease. But before she could succumb to her slumber, the violet eyed man hunched down over her lifting her head from the sand. 

“Tama, she’s not breathing, we have to get her back to Kingston.” The man lifted her off the ground and held her in his arms. “Grab the scythe and let’s go.” 

The fiery haired girl approached her cousin with the scythe in hand. 

“But Daichi…” she bit her tongue. “Alright.” She whispered. 

It was unknown to either of them as to why Ranmaru, after putting up such a fight, left the blade in the sand before making his escape. He could have easily scooped it up before disappearing, and yet it was now in young Tama’s hand. Kaeru’s neck went limp and her head fell back against Daichi’s chest. All consciousness had finally escaped her body.