Recent Content by Maestre Caelum

Something's in Life

Spoiler

We measure time in memories. That's the reason why it goes so fast for some, and too slow for others. Today's generation knows this well enough that it needn't be explained to them. I just thought of writing this done for posterity and in the hopes that the next life will be able to decipher our language, proving to heaven that they are smarter. Yes our time seems to be spent on what normality views as stupid, weird and non-professional, but at the least we know that our time is limited, effectively motivating us to enjoy every second of it, no matter how stupid it was.

The loss of our teacher taught us that. That all of crazy antics we were put through were to show us that life is very short. Now we are struggling to remember the same facts pushed down on us by them. Memories are the standard measurement of time. When repeated, you seem to be in a rut, an uninteresting and constricting rut made especially for us by them. Those who take our time for them. Those who live off us. Our teacher never treated us that way. Each and every day we had was unique and special…I still remember each of them clearly.

We lost our friends the day our teacher disappeared. Those who remain reckoned that they couldn't stand the rut either. At first we thought them fools, we were convinced that they were wasting their futures by leaving. But as usual, we were wrong. We were deathly wrong. I duck my head down as I write this. Me and the rest of us ran away from the camp they held all of us in. We headed for our dormitory, the only safe place in this world.

The elevators still worked despite prolonged disuse. They still connected us to our destinations well. They still were reliable. We found what we were looking for. It waited for us after we left…forcibly left it.

"No matter where you are, look to the sky, I'll be there."

Of course, they can't take everything away from us. How could I have forgotten that? This is all I am able to write at this moment in our sanctuary. Even they won't reach us here.

"What are you writing Odette?" a boy with bowl cut pink hair asked a girl with dirty blond hair, half of which covered her face.

"Just a record of our situation, you know, if we manage to get through this." Odette replied softly, shuddering slightly in her thick jacket.

Sonete, the pink haired boy, sat beside her and huddled close. "Keyword being 'if'…" The girl rested her head on his shoulder. "We're almost out of food and there's no news from the others." He stood up and slid his hands over the wooden crates next to him. "These weapons aren't much use either, neither of us can use Ura…"

"If only Eloise were here…" Odette softly whispered in the cold, a gentle mist came out of her mouth.
"I heard she nearly got caught in a raid two days ago, good thing that girl, Remi was it? Was with her." the boy replied, still brushing his hand on the crates.

Ever since they ruled, they have been searching for anyone who was against their will. A few days ago, they went from room to room of our school building pulling out anyone who even said hi to our teacher. Being his advisory class, we were targeted first, but several of us managed to fight them off. The next day they sent heavily armed men, according to my friend, and tossed a grenade into our room before storming in, luckily we had already fled the campus the night before.

But that only inflamed their cause to find us, they shut down our school, claiming that we were stepping way beyond the line that they made months ago. After 200 years our school was closed by they who are blinded by hate. They won…I have to admit that they won…We are scattered all over Scholas with almost no means of communicating with each other. Even if we were to stand and unite against them, only a few of us have the strength to go against them. It's hopeless…

"It's hopeless Sonete…" she began weeping in her place.

The teen's hand stopped caressing the wood and turned to her. From the sliver of light that came from the Xell in her hands, she saw sorrow in his grey eyes.

"Don't look at me like that!!" she screamed at him, she stood up. "What's wrong with giving up?! Why don't we just hand ourselves in to them and let them decide our fate?! Wouldn't it be easier that way!!"

Her words echoed in the storage room, it echoed long after the original ended.

"Wrong!"
"Giving up?!"
"Let them decide our fate!!"
"WOULDN'T IT BE EASIER THAT WAY?!"

They were unnatural how they were louder than her own voice. Sonete winced with every echo and crumpled down to the floor. "Odette…." he whispered before passing out. She could see that his skin has turned a deathly blue...

She woke with a start in in her bed, her sheets slightly lit by the faint artwork that the window showed. Reaching for her Xell, she fumbled to call Sonete.

"C'mon…." she whispered anxiously, staring at the holographic display. "Pick up…."

"Urgh, Fairhayet??" his annoyed voice sounded through the speakers, the display showed a picture of a rabbit. "What do you want??"

She hung up on him and hugged her stuffed toy. "Thank goodness…"

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Made you look.

Spoiler

For those of you who don't know me, I am Lico E. Occultalsis better known as Leo, and--wait, no this is a bad way to start an autobiography. Alright…

Many months ago an old sooth sayer predicted that the savior shall be born near the water that flows upstream, he shall vanquish the evil darkness and….rabbits….no….

A long time ago, in a different time, and a different world…yeah, that works…A world where Nephilim, half-breeds of angels and humans, populate the world, or well, the place where I live. Anyway as you may already know I am Leo and I like reading almost any kind of text like newsprint, comics, legal papers, fine print, ads, websites, e-books, those product information on the back of some electronics, you name it and I'll look it up on the dictionary. But I like reading subtitles the most, you get a good read with background music!! How great is that?! Oh not to mention my furniture (except for my bathroom of course) is entirely made of books. Really!

So I used those hard bounds with the foamy covers as my bed and a huge single hardbound held up by soft bounds to make the desk, and basically the rest are all hard bounds….Hmm, that was a short biography….Oh wait.

I was born from Nephilims, so I have a light shade of hair and eyes, green and grey respectively. Just this week I turned a hundred and fifty-one years old, fifteen in human years and a third year student at a local school. My height's five-feet, seven-inches, or a hundred sixty-three centimeters, which ever unit of measurement you use….I am Leo….

My school, where I study, is a nine minute walk from my house, precisely nine minutes using average walk speed. It's a coed school but I'm somehow more comfortable talking with the male population. Unlike normal schools, our buildings have no stairs that lead to the upstairs. Also unlike normal schools, everyone of us can walk on air, well technically we can treat light particles as a solid object allowing us to "walk" on it….where was I?

Oh yes, I am a relatively friendly person in the school, so much so that even the bullies treat me nice…enough. Isla Staccato, also a third year, was just telling me the other day that people will start to take advantage of my friendly attitude someday. She's also one of my best friends by the way, and sometimes gets a bit too motherly over me…

A shadow cast over Leo while he was thinking what to write next for his autobiography. He was too busy thinking that he didn't notice Isla slipping an ice cube down his shirt until it was too late.

If you excuse me, an ice cube just slipped down my shirt…

"Waaahahaheee!!" Leo screamed in a girlish way, he shot up faster that Isla could react. She fell backwards, spilling the rest of the cup down her shirt.

"Fa fa fa fa--!!" she yelled as her shirt got soaked.

He looked behind him to see who made such awkward noises. "I thought you knew that I jump up when my back is tickled." he said happily as he helped her up. "Need a dry set of clothes?"

"No, I just need your jacket since I love its design." she replied sarcastically.

Leo shrugged, not understanding the concept of sarcasm, and threw her his jacket. "Just give it back this week, 'kay?" he said happily, flashing a toothy grin.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know." said Isla as she put it over her wet shirt, then after some fidgeting, took off the wet shirt without removing the jacket. "I told you learning this would come in handy."

That was Isla and she just took my jacket after the ice cube that slipped down caused me to involuntary jump and knock her drink all over her. Now as I'm writing this she's looking over my shoulder in my jacket, good thing I'm an inch or two taller than her. Also the bell just rang, we have to get back to our classrooms.

"Isla get another hobby!" Leo whispered to his shoulder after a few minutes of being followed.

We always take a route that avoids most of the crowd that comes up, helps us discuss those private stuff that just came up while on the way. Like today it's about our crushes.

"You seriously don't have anyone you fancy?" she asked after unsuccessfully trying to loosen the borrowed jacket. "Not even a slight attraction to??"

"Nope, I really have no interest in any gender as of this date." Leo replied.

"Not even to your friends?" she persisted.

Leo looked at her.

"No, your stuffed toys don't count." Isla replied after an annoyed sigh.

Don't believe her, I don't have stuffed toys…Sure that I did preserve some of my childhood in the form of cotton filled cartoonish animals…Wait… I didn't even write down what we talked about so …urgh.

Leo closed his journal with a sigh and ran for his classroom, leaving Isla at the door of hers.

"See ya Isla!" he called back as he ran through the crowd.

She rested her hand on the open door and sighed. "An idiot as always…"

Leo ran back to her, catching her by surprise. "You say something?"

Nephilims may be slightly better than humans, but not that much, Isla figured. "I think you should go have a check up…"

"Why?"

"Normal people aren't supposed to hear--" but the almost-time-for-the-next-subject bell rang. "Crap, later then."

Leo stared dumbly at the door until the get-your-butt-to-class-right-now-or-so-help-me bell rang. He calmly walked back for his classroom.

Maybe calmly walking back to my classroom after the get-your-butt-to-class-right-now-or-so-help-me bell rung was a bad idea. In my defense I didn't even know that we even HAD a detention room. Oh wait, this is the library…Also they hired some squirt to watch over me-HEY-~+!+_

"Give that back!!" Leo demanded from his captor--supervisor. He lunged at him from his seat and clawed for his journal.

The supervisor broke free and held it triumphantly above his head. He had a bored look in his eyes that were almost covered by dark blue hair. By the look of his collar, he was only a first year. "Fine." Leo caught the book that was tossed at him.

"Thank you!" he said in grateful annoyance, and went back to his seat.

There was a tense silence after that, something Leo was quite used to whenever he spoke to anyone other than Isla.

The squirt of a supervisor decided to be the better man and apologize first. "Look I'm sorry I took your biography like a jerk would. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?" Sure it was an overused line but it has proved its worth over the years.

Leo snapped his book shut and stared at him seriously. "Did you know that that line is one of the most commonly used by people who seriously have nothing else to say as an apology or something?"

"You messed it up on the 'something' you know?"

"I'm Lico Enere Occultalsis, it's what I do." he replied proudly.

"Well I'm Sivuya Nekoko-"

Leo burst out into a silent fit of laughter with his face on the open book.

"Yeah yeah it's a funny name I get it." Sivuya sighed. "Wait, isn't Lico a funnier name?"

"Yes, but Sivuya is a funnier name." the green haired boy said with a grin while suppressing another fit of silent laughter.

Sivuya gave him a strange look with one eyebrow raised.

The rest of the day was spent in that boring library with that tense silence between Sivuya and I…me?…I…wait no….yeah, I. Anyways I walked home with Isla again after school. This time our conversation was about seeing a man in a black cloak brush by her when we were walking back to class. I didn't notice anything though…Must've been those standing-sleep dream things…

So she wants to bunk with me again tonight. Didn't I mention it yet? Isla doesn't have parents in this city, so she sometimes spends a night at my place. She always takes up the sofa though, even though I offer up my bed EVERY SINGLE TIME. Dam it, left the caps lock on…wait I'm writing this…
….

"Same scenario then?" Leo asked his friend. The sun was already setting when he was allowed to get out. "You take my couch and I take my bed?"

"Only if you won't use those instant noodles as dinner."

"I told you it was spaghetti…"

"Same basic cooking method."

"Spaghetti takes eleven minutes in boiling water…Instant noodles takes only three."

"Still, it gets boiled in water."

"I have to make the sauce of the spaghetti from scratch, Is!"

"So do the instant noodle companies, then they turn it to powder then pack it along."

"Argh!" Leo gave up from the logic. "Fine, do want curry?"

"Not the instant ones?"

"Nope."

Isla finally beamed at him. "Okay!"

I am writing this in the wee hours of the morning. Isla kinda liked my curry, so did I. That reminds me, I also saw a woman in a black cloak the other day. It was at the beach and I was in my best, reader's beach attire. I just finished a moving picture book and was about to take a sip from my strawberry shake when I saw the said woman in black stare at me from a distance.

"You're gonna get a heat stroke from that, you know!!" I yelled at her. Depressingly, she hurried away from me and quickly disappeared from my sight.

I didn't think much of it until I slipped into bed, there was that exact same cloak tucked neatly under my sheets. In fact I'm looking at it right now…

Leo reached out for the untouched cloak in front of him, it felt incredibly soft for a thick looking fabric. He put it over his shirt and zipped it up.

"Leo…" he heard Isla mumble loudly from the door. "I waannaa glass of water…."

Pulling the hood up, Leo stumbled his way for the in his fortress of books and clumsily fumbled for the knob.

"Leo!!"

"Just wait for it!" he shouted as he stumbled into his living room. "Isla, just wait for it.."

"Leo?" Isla peered from her sofa perch. "Where are you??"

"Over here you night-blind twit." he replied right next to her. "Almost there…"

Isla fell out of her sofa and groped for a light switch. Instead she took a double fistful of Leo's clothes and dragged him in her search for the light switch of illumination. Mumbling something like "I'll never forgive you." along the way.

"There we go," softly said Isla. "Now where--" but the sight of nothing in her fists silenced her almost immediately.

Leo stared quizzically at her. "Isla?" he waved his free hand in front of her. "Yoo hoo.."

"AAAAHHHHHHH" Isla screamed very loudly. She shoved the space in front of her (which was occupied by Leo though she didn't realize it) so hard that his hood slipped off.

"What is it with you, Is?!" he asked harshly before looking up to his friend's stunned face.

"H-h-h-h-h-how'd you do that?" she asked in a fearful tone. Her face resembled that of an over protective mother.

Instead of answering, he put his hood back on and went into his small kitchen to get her a glass of water. He returned to the living room to see a shocked Isla feeling the space where he was a minute ago.

That kind of reaction went on for the rest of the night. It was fun pulling my hood off, revealing myself to Isla then put it back on before she had a chance to grab me. It was all fun and games when she started tearing up my newspaper, crumpling it, then tossing it at whatever she thought I was. I just knew she would have went for my books if this continued, so I took it off.

"So," Isla said in a lecturing-mother tone. "You're telling me this cloak was just neatly tucked under your bed the night after seeing a man-"

"Woman." pointed out Leo.

"-in a black cloak…And it has the same abilities like that invisibility cloak from that one series…plus the negation of sound made by the wearer…" she finished. "Why don't I have one then?"

"Because you didn't acknowledge me." a man who appeared in the sofa said. "That's the rules, see a Crow, then greet him." he sat in front of the arguing couple friends.

"or her." Leo pointed out again. It was a thing of his.

"I should probably introduce myself then…" the man in black continued. He stood up and dusted what looked like leaves off the lower part of his cloak. Ruffling his already messed up brown hair away from his boyish face that was closely rivaled by Leo's, he made a salute. "I am Hideki Rekku and I'm proud to inform you, Lico Enere Occultalsis a.k.a. Leo, you have been accepted to be a Crow, that is, someone--You know what, I'll cut it short." He let his raised arm drop, revealing an index card with minuscule writing on it.

"You are called to keep this dimension in order and all. Not safe, just in order, actually it's up to you if you wanna go all Juvenile Hero on this, just remember that you answer to a higher purpose…is he listening to me?" Hideki pointed at, for lack of a better term, a fan-boying Leo while giving a worried look to Isla, who was still staring at him with profound interest.

Good news diary- JOURNAL I have been accepted into this semi fantasy organization WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I AM SO HAPPY NOW.

Leo showed his widest grin ever as he continued writing…scrawling on his book. It was starting to unnerve Hideki and Isla.

"Oh look at the time!" the messy haired man exclaimed, glancing at his bare wrist. "Well I've gotta be going now….interdimensional stuff to take care of and…" his voice trailed away as Leo began giggling like a grown man acting like a little girl. He took another cloak from inside his and handed it over to Isla. "Keep an eye on him…" he said before disappearing. Her stare focused on the clothing in her hands as Leo's giggling continued.

"Leo…" Isla finally said after the sun rose.

"Yes, Isla?" he replied after finally getting over the initial shock.

She held up her cloak and yelled excitedly. "I'm in!!"

"YEEAAAAAH!!"

"YEAH!!"

This is kind of my first post here so please understand if I mess stuff up...

Chapter 1
It’s been like this ever since we were born, Lyn and I. We live in Novus’s Third Level, see, and despite what people say about it being a good place to be born in, they. are. lying. Our “paradise” is nothing but a flooded wasteland filled with islands of roof tiles and mountains of broken skyscrapers. Me and my sister live on a relatively spacious island with an extended roof. It has an air pocket below, which we use to hide when bandits come along.
“Sol…” she whispered to her brother.
“Shh” he hushed her, and point with his eyes to the nearly submerged window. There was a blurred image of a green haired man in a dirt brown cloak in a raft. He leapt to our island, barely made a sound, and took a look around. Sol pushed her sister’s head down, she automatically held her breath and he did the same. On a good day (which was ironic since the sky was always gray there) they could hold their breaths for 3 full minutes.
The man looked up and stared at the ground beneath him, he kneeled down and touched it with a gloved hand. Where his fingers touched, the ground disappeared. Sol saw a blurred image of the roof getting holey and immediately led his sister outside. They got out just as water filled the ex-airpocket. The man saw the two’s heads break the water and knelt in front of them.
“That’s a strange way to take care of your sister.” he said to them. It was a heavily accented voice.
“I do what I can,” Sol replied simply.
Lyn sneezed next to him, which caused some water to splash into her nose, which caused her to sneeze…again.
“Here,” the man lifted the two up with ease with one arm and put them down underneath the roof. Good thing to since it started to rain, again. “My name’s Zeroro, what’s yours?”
“Sol Stradi, and my sister, Lyn Stradi.”