It was dark, the rain was pounding down on me as if it wanted to make tiny pits in my shoulders and head. I was walking toward the park. I had been unable to sleep because the air conditioner in my apartment was broken, so I had decided to come out here to train. I walked through the gate that led into the graveyard, somewhere a crow called out. I could hear a few cars driving out this late, but the number was surprisingly low considering the location. Their headlights would catch in the raindrops and shine against my back as they turned the sharp corner near the wall. I smiled, and continued walking, through the forest of tall gravestones, toward the forest.
I heard a noise at about that point, something like a faint hissing, and I thought I saw, draped over one of the obelisk shaped stones, a large albino snake. Lightning flashed and the image was gone. I smiled to myself again and turned to walk toward the tombstone where I had seen the snake. I crouched down to read the inscription, nothing of consequence, just some poor woman who had been murdered nearly fifty years ago. I stood back up and dusted off my black pants.
A glimmer of light, very faint, past some of the older stones. I strained my eyes to see it, there seemed to be something blocking the way, a tree maybe? Or maybe a tomb. I started off in that direction, by now my clothes were soaked through, and my hair was dripping wet.
I reached the obstruction, but now I could see that it was not a thing in the way of the fiery light, but the light was inside of it. I tried the door. It opened easily, and I stepped inside.
There were three boys in the room, sprawled out over the furniture, and one pretty woman with red-brown hair, who was standing between the couch and a love seat.
"This is Nasuti," Ryou said motioning to the woman, "and they're Shuu, Seiji, and Touma." He then walked over to the woman and spoke to her in a low whisper, she nodded, and then looked at me pleasantly.
"You may stay here as long as you like Ryuu-san," she said, smiling, "I will show you up to one of the guest rooms." I nodded and followed her up the stairs, but not before I noticed the boys leaving the house. Something was definitely going on with them, and I was going to figure out what it was. In fact, I had a pretty good Idea already.
Nasuti showed me up to a large room with several beds, and two chests of drawers. I set down the duffel bag I was carrying on one of the beds, as she left. The room had a large window, which opened out to the front yard. And there was a large tree right outside. A good escape route. I smiled slightly to myself and opened the window, looking out at the front lawn. I could hear the sound of water from a large lake, behind the house a ways, but that was not the sound that captured my attention. That sound was the sound of clanging metal, and shouting as if some huge battle was being waged in the forest.
I climbed out of the window and down the tree, running silently into the trees. I could see flashes of silver, reflected metal between the leaves and trees. I crept a bit closer and then my suspicions were fully confirmed. There, between the trees, fighting, were five boys, and a legion of bodiless soldiers. I crept closer to the action, and watched as the five boys, without armor, destroyed every last one of them.
(to be continued. . .)