A Life Changing Meeting
I was stood in the centre of a forest clearing. It was after midnight and the trees were shrouded in the twilight darkness. I had come here to be alone and to show a side of me I was unable to show in my place of residence. I was wearing a white suit specially tailored to my needs and above that was my special exorcist coat. The coat declared to the world that my allegiance lay with the forces of good in this time of war between God and his Exorcists and the Millennium Earl with his evil army of Akuma. Lying on the ground to my left were my twin blades formed from my Innocence when I first joined the Order. Despite their presence, though, I was not in the forest hunting Akuma. I had a different purpose, one that could never be revealed to the others as it would forever change the way they viewed me.
I closed my eyes and held my left hand in front of me. After a few seconds of concentration it started to glow purple, a glow that quickly became solid and sprouted eight legs. When the weight had settled, I opened my eyes and placed the creature on the ground before proceeding to increase its size repeatedly until it was half my height. This was my secondary ability; the ability to summon Supaidas, spiders that unfortunately seemed to have a thirst for human flesh despite all my attempts to sway them towards the joys of Akuma. My Supaida stood silently for a moment listening to the various sounds of the forest - the rustling of leaves and the hoots of a distant owl.
When the owl finished its call, my Supaida tensed and bolted into the shadows. I initially figured it wanted to hunt the owl, until I realised that the owl’s call had emitted from the opposite direction. I secretly prayed that there were no humans in the vicinity and prepared to settle in for a night spent under the stars. My Supaidas often enjoyed vanishing for umpteen hours on hunting trips, regardless of the suspicion it could raise within the Order (or maybe because of it!). I did not have to worry about this Supaida though, as after only a few minutes it came hurtling out of the forest and directly towards me. I rose quickly to my feet and started to reach for my swords. I stopped when I saw that the pursuer was nothing more than a small black butterfly with a curious neon purple outline.
I glanced at my Supaida, ‘you have got to be kidding me!’ I declared, rolling my eyes before continuing. ‘It is a butterfly, and since you are higher up in the food chain it should have come flying out of the forest with you chasing after it! How about you go over there and prove that you do have some spider in you somewhere?’ It shook its head and appeared to be watching the forest intensely. ‘Fine, be like that’ I muttered and was about to lay back on the ground when I heard my Supaida start hissing. I froze before slowly rising back to full height and surveying the forest. Whatever had spooked my Supaida was hidden amidst the shadows. ‘This better not be about that damn butterfly,’ I grumbled as I prepared to investigate. It wouldn’t be the first time an Akuma had blundered into my alone time, though it would be the first time that my Supaida had not felt the need to greet it.
‘You don’t have to worry,’ came a voice emanating from the exact location my Supaida was watching. ‘This is not about the butterfly. I would even go so far as to say that this was probably about me instead.’
‘What the?’ I grabbed my swords from the ground and took up a defensive position, ready for whatever the forest would throw at me. Well, I would have been ready had a well dressed, friendly looking gentleman not been what walked out of the shadows a few seconds later. He was wearing a top hat over his curly black hair and a well tailored suit, like mine only black. His skin was gray and there were a series of seven crosses along his forehead that immediately put me back on guard. The stigmata were the marks of a Noah, and along with the Akuma, the Noah were mortal enemies of the Exorcists. His presence in my forest could mean only one thing: he was here to kill me.
‘You have nothing to fear from me,’ he stated, no doubt reading my thoughts on my annoyingly expressive facial features. ‘You might even find the meeting strangely…enlightening,’ he added after a pause.
‘I doubt that,’ I muttered in an attempt to hide both my fear and my confusion.
‘We’ll see.’ He held his right hand in front of his body in a pose startlingly similar to the one I had used earlier. His hand started to glow a neon purple colour and from his palm emerged a butterfly, very similar to the one that had spooked my Supaida. ‘Look familiar?’ he asked when the butterfly was fully formed and the glow had faded away.
‘Yea,’ I replied, ‘there is one right there.’ I used one of my swords to gesture to the first butterfly that was now hovering beside him. I could sense my Supaida grinning behind me as the Noah turned to glance at the first butterfly before turning back to me and smiling.
‘You are right, I forgot about the first one. Please permit me rephrase my question,’ he said before turning serious and looking into my eyes. ‘Does the method of acquisition remind you of anything?’ His eyes moved to my Supaida and then returned to mine.
‘How the?’ I looked at my Supaida as though expecting to see a guilty expression on its face where there was none. That meant that however the Noah had gotten his information, it was not from my Supaida. I grew instantly nervous; this was something I could never let the Exorcists find out. As far as anyone in the Order was concerned, the Supaidas’ were the results of experiments I had been carrying out in my lab. They did not know that I had always had the ability to create them at will from my own body, and I felt for sure that they would be more than a little concerned if they were to ever find out.
After watching me deliberate with myself for a few seconds, the Noah broke the silence. ‘Let me ask you something else: do you feel anything…strange at the moment?’ He took a few steps towards me, causing my Supaida to move between us and start hissing. I placed my hand on the top of its head in an effort to calm us both.
‘Strange...how?’ I asked, buying myself time to gather my erratic thoughts.
‘The sense that you can hear the thoughts, or perhaps even the intentions and emotions, of the Tease. That you know them as well as you know your spiders even though you have only just met them,’ he answered.
‘Tease?’ I looked at the butterflies that were still hovering around the Noah, happily oblivious to the sinister conversation. ‘Right, Tease.’ I nodded my head slowly. I had heard about the Tease from Allen Walker, a fellow Exorcist. They were cannibalistic golems created by the Millennium Earl and used by the Noah Tyki Mikk as weapons. He had used one to pierce Allen’s heart in an attempt to kill him, and the only reason Allen has survived was because his Innocence had chosen to save him by sealing the hole itself. A chill instantly shot down my spine at the thought that my heart could go the same way as Allen’s. Unable to stop myself I blurted, ‘Are you here to do to me what you did to Allen?’
‘Not quite.’ He looked slightly amused by the idea. ‘Let’s just say that this is more of a fact finding mission of curiosity, both mine and the Millennium Earl’s.’
‘The Earl? What could he possibly find interesting about me? I’m an Exorcist, that's all he should need to know.’
‘Answer my question regarding your feelings at this point in time, and I shall answer yours about the Earl.’ Tyki tipped his head to the side and smiled at me in a way that was almost coy.
‘Fine.’ I glared at him and then focused my attention on the Tease. The truth was that ever since the first one had followed my Supaida out of the forest, I had been feeling a strange sense of bloodlust and excitement, emotions I now believed to be coming from them. I looked away from the Tease and back towards Tyki. ‘I can sense a hatred towards humans and a thirst for their flesh. Is that what you wanted to hear?’
‘Perhaps.’ He pointed at my Supaida. ‘And what about the feelings you get from that? Are they the same as those from the Tease?’
‘Not at the moment, no. Right now he wants to attack you, but I won’t hold that against him!’
‘Hmm.’ He smiled again, seemingly entertained by my less than subtle attack on his character. ‘But what do you normally sense from them when they are not around me?!’
Though annoyed, I decided to answer him honestly. ‘Normally they also have a hatred for humanity and a strange desire for human flesh. It is something that I am trying to remove from them because it is growing to be a touch problematic for me. The Order probably won’t be delighted to know that my Supaidas are more like your Tease than they should be! But how can you possibly know any of this? Nobody knows what my Supaidas’ true natures are…well at least not that I am aware of, anyway.’
‘I know all this because I can feel the emotions of your spider, just as you can feel the emotions of my Tease. It is because of this that the Millennium Earl got curious about you and sent me to investigate. He figures we might have a little something in common.’ He smiled once more. ‘Fancy that!’ Tyki paused for a few seconds, watching me before proceeding to walk slowly around the clearing, suddenly lost in his own thoughts. ‘Many, many years ago, the Millennium Earl created spider golems and gave them to another member of our family, but they were promptly lost - as was that member.’ He stopped walking and looked back at me with fierce intensity. ‘Imagine, then, the Earl’s surprise when he meets you, and with you are those very spiders that have been missing for more than two decades.’
‘What are you trying to say?’ I turned to face him once again, my swords hanging loosely at my sides as I was no longer thinking about defence or self preservation.
‘I am saying that the Earl believes that you are actually one of us, a Noah clanswoman, and is very much looking forward to meeting you.’ There was a quick flash of movement and he now stood only two feet from me. The Tease was hovering around my Supaida which was hissing again, unsure of it’s next course of action.
‘I can’t be one of you.’ I held one of my swords in front of me causing him to take a few steps backwards to be out of its range. ‘I am an Exorcist and we are enemies. The Supaidas are just part of my Innocence. They aren't golems and they certainly weren’t something given to me by the Earl. I have only met him once and I am certain that he didn’t have the sudden urge to give me any gifts, so you are wrong.’ My arm was trembling, causing my sword to sway dangerously in the air. I lowered it again and turned to stare at the leaf covered forest floor. My words had been as much for my benefit as for his. My mind was spinning and things I never understood before suddenly became clear. My Supaidas’ bloodlust; Hevaleska’s confusion when she first met me and analysed my Innocence; the Order’s mild mistrust of me and especially of my Supaidas even though they knew nothing about their true origins. Maybe they could all sense that I was somehow different from the rest, eviller perhaps and less sure about my role in the war.
‘No.’ I shook my head quickly as though attempting to send the thoughts flying from my mind by sheer force. How could they have thought any of this? If they had had any suspicion that I was a Noah then surely they wouldn’t have accepted me into the Order in the first place. That and I looked nothing like the Noahs and I could wield Innocence! I chastised myself for even entertaining his crazy notions and tightened my grip on my swords, feeling suddenly comforted by their presence.
‘You should listen to the side of you that accepts the truth of my words. It recognises, as you should, that you can't admit that there haven’t been times when you have raved against your God. When you haven’t wanted to swear loyalty to the Millennium Earl and fight against the humans, just like your spiders wish to do. You should allow yourself to embrace the truth about your origins instead of denying them.’ He had moved closer to me again and was speaking earnestly.
‘NO!’ I yelled, backing away and into my Supaida which jumped and turned to look at me. ‘I can’t believe any of this!’ I started to shake my head again; my knees were feeling weak and the swords were heavy in my hands. I felt like my mind was being torn in two and I just wanted to get the hell out of the clearing and back to the Order. Back where I was safe and could pretend this had all been just a dream. I was glad my Supaida was behind me now, I needed its support to stop myself sinking to the forest floor in despair.
‘Regardless of your doubts, Dranzer, you need to come with me. The Earl will be able to resolve any questions you have and uncover the truth. If you are not one of us, then I am sure he will be more than happy to let me put you out of your misery.’ I was too shocked to say anything and continued to stare at the forest floor. ‘If you are one of us then the Earl will reawaken your dormant Noah side. You can join us in our fight against the Exorcists you once called your friends. It might just be interesting to see if you can maintain both sides of yourself just enough to remain synchronized with your Innocence even after you know the truth.’ I could sense him glancing at my swords before turning away, looking to his left and back into the forest. ‘Road,’ he said, calling to the forest’s shadows.
There was movement, and from the darkness a girl emerged. Her skin and forehead were coloured and marked the same as Tyki’s, indicating that she too was a Noah. She had spiky purple hair, a short purple skirt, white blouse and stockings, and was carrying an umbrella that appeared to have a life of its own. I also knew her from Allen’s stories; she was Road Kamelot, the vessel that held Noah’s dreams. She walked across the clearing, stopping beside Tyki so she could stare at my Supaida. ‘It has been a long time,’ she said, smiling at it; I could sense that it knew her from its past.
‘What do you want?’ I asked her while making an effort to stand up straight and appear strong.
‘I am here to take you to meet the rest of your family.’ She smiled at me. ‘We promise that you will have a wonderful time, right Tyki?’
‘Right.’ He smiled at Road and then they both turned to smile at me. Their smiles told me that whatever their idea of fun was, it probably wasn't going to inhabit the same dimension as mine. As it stood, though, I was too blindsided by revelations and questions to do anything. I simply watched as the forest faded away and we began our journey to meet the Earl. I didn’t know how this meeting would change my life but I doubted that I would ever be able to return to the Order, or whether I would even be alive at the end. But yes, I will admit that there was a side of me that relished this, that like my Supaida, I seemed to have been waiting for this day. These feelings unnerved me and, unable to concentrate, I allowed myself to sink back to the floor and close my eyes. Maybe I would wake and find out this had all been a dream after all: a weird and insanely nutty dream, but a dream nonetheless.
Well I was allowed to hope, right?
