"So, did you learn anything?"
A voice, one speaking with a mocking tone. It belonged to a priestess who was everything but priestly, perched on the edge of a building, kicking out her legs like a little girl.
Night had fallen over the city. The fractured moon cast its pale light over those fortunate enough to live beneath the open sky. Stars filled the darkness without a cloud to obscure them. As I climbed the fire escape of a building to reach the top, a cool breeze carrying the scent of salt brushed against me.
After my little chat with Mira, Hanna returned as bubbly as she had left. She treated my eye, if you could call what she had to do treatment, and slapped on a new eye patch. And by slapped on, I literally mean she slapped the damn thing onto my eye. Even now, I felt the pain stinging my eye.
I climbed over the building's rooftop railing and sat down next to Lilas. "I learned that Ritair might have a preferred target." As I spoke, Lilas was scooting away, creating a rather unnecessary distance between us.
A part of me wanted to ignore her, but she gave me a cautious gaze from her lone eye.
"And what may that be?" she said, as if what she was doing was nothing to make note of.
I moved a little closer to her; she moved further away. I shook my head, silently sighing in my head as I answered her question.
"It seems he targets women who are lonely."
She tilted her head as she placed a finger to her lips. Lilas swung out her feet. "Like…what's that supposed to mean?" Then her body shuddered. She rushed to cover her rather lacking chest and looked at me, shocked. "You don't mean that I have a chance to get a nasty scar like that, do you?"
I wasn't gonna conclude that, but she made a valid point, even if she was being a little dramatic about it. So far, all the women that I have met seemed to be single and troubled by something.
Then maybe you should exploit that.
I slapped my cheeks as hard as I could. The distorted voice returned, its words laced with malice. But this time no shadow followed.
Lilas gave me a worried look as she moved closer, leaning towards my face, giving us little room to breathe. I could feel the intense stare from her eye into mine.
"W-what?" I asked.
"Nothing." She pulled back. "I just wanted to see if you were injured from my little magic trick." She then turned back, facing a young girl stargazing silently behind us.
Magic trick…yeah, there was a conversation to be had about that. The lack of hesitation alone was one thing, but the lack of an apology after the fact was something I wanted to yell at her about. But she launched me straight into the path of Hanna, so I am willing to forgive this brat.
Sara noticed us looking at her, and she pointed to the sky. "Hey," she said. "Why is that shiny thing in the sky broken like that?"
I followed her finger toward the moon. Master often told Rinara, and me stories lost to time, known only to him and the church. Looking back, Master was very clever with his lies, so it was hard to say whether what he told me was valid.
I turned to Lilas, her face a mask of playful regret. She shook her head, a silent dismissal of the moment, as if forfeiting the chance to impart wisdom to her beloved new little sister. "Sorry," she held a hand to her face as she lowered her head a little. "I didn't really listen to Father Muller's lectures." A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes as she stuck out her tongue, a gesture meant to be cute, but in reality it made her look more of an idiot than she looked. Though, given who it is, I doubt that's truly the case. She wouldn't be a 'Mother' had she not paid attention.
"That's the moon." I rolled my eyes and stood up from the side of the roof. I sat next to Sara, who sat up from her spot on the roof. "Master told me that it was once a massive celestial mass that controlled the oceans. But one day, war broke out; every country in the world was at each other's throats. It was said that a global superpower had a lunar base with a superweapon primed to target the world. The fighting countries banded together for a single moment and launched several weapons of mass destruction to the moon, blowing it to pieces."
"So that's why the moon looks like that?" Sara said, her gaze staring happily at the moon.
"That's what Master told me. With how long ago old humans died out, who knows if it's true or not."
"So," Lilas spoke, her gaze also looking up. "That's what you've been told." Her voice was low and emotionless.
"I thought you didn't listen to Muller's lectures?" I asked with a slight mocking undertone.
"There is nothing that Father Muller would say that I would not listen to." She said almost jokingly, but her tone made it sound sadder than she had intended. "That matches about…70 percent of what the church teaches, but there was a second reason for blowing up the moon, and the hell that broke loose."
Lilas approached Sara and covered her ears. Sara looked at her with a confused expression, but she didn't try to remove Lilas's hands.
"This is something you guys don't like having the public know about?"
Lilas nodded slightly. Her blue eye fixed on me with a stern look. "That country was trying to awaken the void god. He was the superweapon. The humans of the old world blew up the moon thinking it would destroy both him and the country responsible, but they were wrong. So wrong that all the gods and goddesses made their debuts on the Earth years after the war met its end just to fend against the void god."
"Let me guess…" I said, knowing that there was only one direction her story could go. If void spawns run rampant now after they destroyed the moon, then that could only suggest one thing. "The moon was a seal."
Lilas removed her hands from Sara's ears and nodded. She wrapped her hands around Sara's body and looked down at her. She smiled softly, an expression Sara didn't mirror as she returned the gesture with an annoyed one.
Sara then let out a soft yawn that was followed by one from both Lilas and me. It was getting late. But I still had one more stop to make.
"What's with that look?" Lilas asked me. "You seem like there was something else you need to do."
"There is, and if you want to follow, I want you to stay in the shadows."
Both Sara and Lilas stood up. Sara grabbed her weapon and held it tightly in her small hands. Lilas chuckled at the sight as she retrieved her massive blade.
"I don't like being shoved to the side, you know," Lilas said quietly.
Those words of Lilas lingered in my head as I made my way off the rooftop. She might not like it, but we have Sara with us. If Lilas hadn't told Rinne to return, maybe she could've come with me.
The streets of the Outer Ring were as busy as usual. Hostesses would run up to every young-looking guy, sweet-talk them into joining them for the night, then eventually squeeze them dry of every coin in their pockets. It was the same song and dance in every corner of this sector.
For me, the experience was rather…disappointing to say the least. The hostesses would look at me; for a moment they would mutter to themselves, then with their gazes locked on my weapon held firmly in my hand, thanks to Lilas, and my eye patch, they'd back off.
'Twas a shame, but it made my job easy.
"Welcome, Mist…er…hmm…"
I opened the doors to the Brass Light. A place I had once entered before, but that memory was long since lost to the void of time. Before me was a woman dressed in a shiny dress, her brown hair reaching far down her back. Her skin was caramel-colored, and her brown eyes seemed to house nothing but resentment toward me.
"Anya, just the hostess I wanted to see." I smiled as I stepped into the establishment. "I was feeling rather lonely and thought you could accompany me at a table."
Anya's left eye twitched. "This man…" she muttered under her breath. "Fine. Fine." Then, as if something switched in her brain, she reached out to me and grabbed my arm, pulling me into her chest. "A table in the back for Mister Axien?" Her voice was charming and beautiful. "Is that all right?"
She led me towards the back. According to what I have been told, when I entered this place the night I drank too much, there were hardly any female patrons. But what I am seeing right now does not match that account.
The place was packed with male and female customers, served by hosts and hostesses. A single bartender sat behind the bar, chatting with customers without a worker to accompany them. The only odd thing about this place was the absence of music. A large piano coated in brass stood alone, with no one to make it sing.
The information I was given didn't match.
Anya and I sat down towards the back, looking around the establishment as if scanning the area for something before leaning closer to me.
"You seem to be in disbelief." She said, as if reading my mind. "Well, I don't blame you. Ritair hasn't shown up for a couple of days. Because of that, customers have been returning."
"Why would his absence affect that?"
Anya shrugged her shoulders. "Ask him, not me." She looked away. "Make it harder to kill him, that's for sure." She muttered. "Oww!"
I gently chopped my hand onto the top of her head. "You are my client; I will not allow you to be placed in harm's way."
"…" Anya rubbed her head. "You heard that?"
I heard many things she thinks she's sneakily saying. But I won't tell her I can; it'll make it harder to keep her actions in line.