Prologue: The Moon Versus the Stars

  "Well isn't he just the cutest!" a gracefully dressed woman said as she pinched Tai's cheeks.

  "He's the spitting image of his mother, isn't he?" another man said proudly, ruffling Tai's rust-orange hair.

  "With those eyes, I can tell he's going to grow up to be one of the strongest..." the woman said again. Her voice was silky and smooth yet something was off about her- off putting about everyone. At the time he couldn’t tell whether it was her tone of voice nor her false smile but something about her alluded that behind the delicate facade, there was a rooted darkness.

  Tai looked around, his excitement clearly apparent and noticeable by all. He was currently at a gallery that was being hosted by his parents and the elegant look of his surroundings made him jittery and ecstatic with the joys of finding himself in a new environment, his body shaking and his breaths short and quick as he bounced from one side of the hall to the other.

  He was smiling from ear to ear as he quietly observed all of the people around him. Everyone seemed so unique in their fancy dresses and suits. It was all new to him, surrounded by things he had never seen before. But, out of everything around him, he was most intrigued by the group of people in the corner of the massive room, studying and observing everything carefully. What was strange to him, however, was what they had on them. They were wearing white coats that fell to their ankles and a black rope holding sheathed blades and a gun around their waists. They held black clipboards and all of them used strange purple pens that wrote in a sort of glittery color.

  Taiyo looked around and noticed no one had their attention on him anymore. So, he took advantage of his moment of freedom and ran up to them.

  "Hey, what are you guys doing?" Taiyo asked, cocking his head at them as he approached.

  The group looked around at each other confused, unsure how they should respond to the child’s sudden appearance. After a moment to collect themselves, they turned to each other and nodded. They all collectively stepped back in unison and a girl who looked only sixteen stepped up and kneeled down to him, her eyes were sharp like that of an eagle's but they immediately softened at the sight of him. She had a mature presence emitting from her despite her young age and an almost commanding nature. Yet, there was an air of kindness surrounding her as well. She had on two black ropes just like the men and women that stood behind her. One was around her waist like everyone else and the second one was tied around her thigh.

  "Hello, you're Master Vitale's son right?" she asked.

  "Yeah, I am but that's not important! Who are you, lady?" he questioned.

  "I…” she took a second to ponder her answer before she looked back at him with a reassuring smile. “...am nothing and no one. I am merely a servant under your parents and soon you too once you grow older; a child under the sun, if you will."

  "Why? What do they even do? I only see daddy at home sleeping and momma is always on the phone," he responded. "Why would you want to work for them?"

  The girl laughed hard and stood up. She put her hand to her holster and swiftly drew out a golden revolver in one clean motion. its intricate details of brilliant swirls and gems shone brightly in the reflected light it caught within its curves.

  "Woah!" Taiyo looked amazed, staring at the glistening weapon. “What’s with that gun?! It’s so sick!”

  The people behind her laughed and the girl grinned.

  “It’s cool right? I'm glad you are taking an interest in it since it's yours anyway," she laughed, tying her dark blue hair into a ponytail as she talked, holstering the gun in the process.

  "I get to keep it?! Give it to me now!"

  "I will when you are old enough, I promise. But for now, there is something you must know... You possess great strength and someone will certainly want to take that away from you.”

  “Strength? What kind?” Taiyo cocked his head

  “One great enough to change the world as we know it. Some things will not make sense to you right now and there is a chance they never will. But, no matter what happens and what you do, know that I and the people behind you shall always be your ally."

  "If you tell me I bet I'll understand," he said confidently.

  The girl sighed but couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Okay okay. Let’s do this then. I’ll make two important promises with you, how about that? First, I promise to take care of you and try my best to look after you. Secondly, If you can keep smiling like that years from now, I promise that I'll tell you everything I know; absolutely zero secrets between us. Okay?"

  "Deal! It's a promise!" Taiyo held out his pinky, extending it towards her. The girl giggled a bit and wiped a tear from her eye before she reached out and shook it with hers.

  "And now for the main event!" an announcer boomed over the intercom. "It is time for the Chikarai duels! This year's fight is between Lady Selene of the Moon and Sir Caelum of the Stars."

  "Well, I have to go for now, but never forget who you are." The girl Taiyo assumed was Selene drew a sword. The blade was unique and graceful, its pure white features and long hilt glinting a luminescent white in the soft lighting. She and everyone else behind her bowed deeply to him and walked away.

  "Goodbye, little Tai... Keep smiling... for your sake and everyone else’s."

  "Bye Selene!"

  ***

  Once everyone was back at their seats, the walls started to mechanically open up and reveal windows that looked down to a football-like stadium below. There, the two contestants were standing on the giant platforms, both had their weapons of choice in hand.

  "For anyone new to the contest, two chosen Chikarai representatives will be fighting for the spot of guardian to the Vitale family heir," the announcer continued. "The winner will be determined through an all-out duel with whatever they have on their person. No holding back is allowed and once someone is unable to continue, the match will end."

  "Good luck little Cael, you've never beaten me before and I don't plan on changing that today," Selene said with a laugh.

  "I've told you to stop calling me that, you're only a year older," Caelum sighed as he put on large wool gloves over his hands and tied the same black rope the others had on over his head. "And I'm going to mop the floor with you."

  "Whatever you say Cael," Selene readied her katana, its blade shining silver in the arena's lights.

  Taiyo sat at the edge of his seat, his heart racing with excitement. This was the first year he's been allowed to go to one of these galas but he didn't even know what they were for. Now that he was eight, his family finally thought it was appropriate to introduce him to the real world.

  "Shine."

  With that one word, the air seemed to visibly get heavier around Caelum. Just his presence alone sent rocks slowly lifting up into the air as he created cracks on the very ground he stood upon. His hair slowly started to rise into the air, the wind picked up and the energy he was releasing took on a physical form. The bright white and yellow light slowly swirled around him like he was the center of a solar system. At that moment, it was as if he had become the center of all gravity within the world.

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  His hair slowly changed color from brown to a blood-red in seconds, slowly dying itself from the roots up. The most prominent change was his wool gloves that seemed to morph into cold, silver metal. Steam rose up from them as lights flickered like flames from the spherical gems on the back of the gauntlets.

  "Don't underestimate me, Selene,” he said quietly. Within an instant, his head and stance lowered and his eyes went cold like that of a trained killer. The tone of the scene seemed to shift as his voice came out in an almost boiling calm. “Or... I might accidentally kill you."

  Selene let out a breath and mist slowly flowed out of her mouth, chilling the air around her. Her hair started to glow white and the ground started to freeze from her touch.

  "Trust me Cael. You'll never even get the chance to kill me," she said coldly, her voice almost coming out as a hiss as the air cracked and sparked from the sub zero mist. She strengthened her form and the ground which had been completely solid before almost shattered under her weight now, frozen shards lifting into the air.

  Within seconds, both of their forms blurred. In that moment, one blink could have been the difference between whether or not the audience had the privilege of watching their bout. Caelum dashed towards her as he kept both of his arms extended behind him, his hands tensed like the claws of a wild beast. Pivoting on his foot and sliding on the ground toward her, he reeled back and swiped furiously at her face, the air sizzling in its wake. Selene got into a high sword stance and leapt backwards out of the way. Her landing was gentle and agile, not even disturbing the dust under her as she shifted her weight around to land without making a sound. She tensed her sword, firming her stance as she ran up to Caelum and swung her sword swiftly and deliberately at him. The sound of metal on metal reverberated throughout the entire arena and could be heard from the gala above, sending a chill through the spines of everyone watching.

  Caelum applied more pressure to the sword, slowly pushing Selene back with his raw strength alone.

  Selene sidestepped, making Caelum stagger forward and lose his balance.

  "Sixth Stance: Tears of the Blood Moon," Selene dropped into a low sword stance. Her sword started to eerily glow a red aura and the air around her started to visibly turn to a pale, ghostly-white.

  "Second form: Proxima Centauri," Caelum responded while making an X-shape with his arms. The light erupted from his arms while still maintaining their X form and flame-like nature.

  It all happened in a split second. The ground erupted from under both of them as their forms blurred as they moved faster and faster. Sparks flew into the air as colors of white and red clashed in quick succession. Taiyo didn’t even have time to comprehend what was happening before the dust started to settle. For a brief moment, all was still and not a single sound could be heard. In more ways than he would like to admit, this absolute silence that held enough power to keep him in a state of suspense was more painful than anything else. As the dust started to clear, Taiyo’s eyes widened in terror, his tiny body shaking in its seat. The natural curtains to the theatrics presented before him opened up to show Caelum, somehow standing upside down in the air and Selene kneeling on the ground. While both of them were severely bleeding and injured, Taiyo noticed just how heavy Selene was breathing and how distant her gaze was. Her eyes looked blurry as she tried to focus but could only shake in place.

  "Sorry, Selene... It's just business," Caelum said to her with a sad look in his eyes. “Whenever you look down on someone so much, you fail to realize all of the growth that happens. Why? Do you know why you can’t notice? It’s ‘cause you never pay attention to anything below you!”

  "Don't pity me! I haven't lost to you yet!" Selene responded while noticing the look he gave her. Her voice was breaking and filled with pain.

  "You make it sound like such a bad thing to lose to me..." he sighed. “This is the problem with you! First what you did to your sister, and now this! You can never understand how the people around you are affected by your actions! If you can’t wake up on your own, then I’ll open your eyes for you! Third form: Rigil Kentaurus!”

  Light pulsed through the arena in a brilliant rainbow array. The brilliant spectacle formed a wide sphere around Selene, trapping her in a large luminescent room of radiant colors. Caelum flew down into the room, kicking off the invisible air platform he had created at maximum speed. His fist was pulled back violently and his face contorted in frustration.

  “Selene! You need to wake up! This world will continue to move whether you’re involved or not! So could you at least try to be a part of it?! Open your damn eyes already!” Caelum shouted.

  The heat around his metal fist had reached a boiling point. With one final shout, Caelum landed a solid punch to Selene's face. The light that surrounded them slowly concentrated into a sort of tunnel and funneled into the orb on the back of his gloves, charging the punch and increasing its output exponentially.

  Frustrated tears flowed from Caelum’s eyes as Selene was sent flying for meters and was headed straight towards a wall. She managed to use her sword to slow down a bit, stabbing it into the ground beneath her. While it did help in some form, it was all for naught as she still plunged straight into the concrete wall at a dangerously high speed.

  A referee descended down the stairs on the side of the arena since there hadn't been any movement in the arena for an entire minute. Once there, she saw Selene sitting there with extreme injuries and bruises.

  "Do you yield?" the referee asked bluntly.

  Selene didn't say anything and hid her face behind her hair. She sat there for a few seconds and let out a stifled groan.

  Caelum silently stood off in the distance, looking away from his dear friend. “Please, Selene. You can’t keep going on like this… I don’t want to have to hurt you anymore…” he whispered silently.

  "If you continue we can not guarantee the safety of your life in your current condition,” the referee said, her face becoming serious as she awaited an answer.

  "I'm… not dumb! I realize that..." she said as she spit out blood with a cough. "I yield."

  "Good girl, no one wants you to die yet," the woman said with a laugh. Her expression visibly lightened as she extended a hand out to the injured girl. “I can only thank God for your good judgment.” The referee helped Selene up and slung her arm around her own shoulders. They carefully walked out of the rubble into the open arena as all eyes were on them.

  "Contestant Selene of the Moon has admitted defeat against Sir Caelum of the Stars!" the referee announced.

  Many gasped and were taken aback. Not only was this the first time in years that Selene had lost to anyone, but she had lost to Caelum of all people. The elegant lady of the moon had lost to the shy and timid Caelum, the person she had easily defeated for many years now. Not to mention, it was such a heavily one-sided fight.

  Caelum let out the breath of relief as he ran up to the two women. He didn’t know where to look, his gaze constantly shifting downwards in shame. Selene looked at him expectantly. Her eyes weren’t judging or angry but patiently waiting for him.

  “Look… Selene I-”

  “Don’t waste your breath. I’m not angry,” she groaned.

  Taiyo got out of his seat and ran to the injured Selene and lightly punched her leg taking the attention off of Caelum for a moment. "What the heck! You weren't supposed to lose..." Tai said with tears in his eyes. "What about our promise?!"

  Selene bit her lip and avoided looking at Taiyo. After a while of silence, she looked at him and tried to fake a smile. "Hey, it's fine... I guess it wasn't meant to happen you know? Caelum is a good guy I'm sure you'll like him..."

  "I want you taking care of me, not some random guy!" he yelled back.

  "Young master..." Selene's voice shook at the sound of his disappointment. "I'm... nothing and no one... no more to you than a servant of your family. I am as much of a stranger to you the same way you think Caelum is."

  Taiyo looked devastated at her words and Selene felt as much pain as he did when the words came out of her mouth. Caelum could only look at the two of them as a bystander. In his current position, he knew he had no right to intervene between the two of them after he had lectured her and gotten in between their promise. He looked down defeated, his hair casting a shadow over his pained eyes.

  "Please excuse us, Master Taiyo, we must tend to Selene and Caelum's wounds,” the referee said with an apologetic bow of the head. She looked towards Caelum who still had trouble processing everything and back at the girl who she supported on her soldiers. “My Lady, Sir. It is time for us to take our leave.”

  The three people started to walk away from Taiyo. All he could do was stare at their backs as the harsh artificial light cast a fake hope upon him. A woman sharing his appearance came up from behind him and gently placed a warm hand on his head.

  Taiyo looked up, tears still falling from his devastated face.

  “Tai… Let’s go home okay?” the warm figure said as she kneeled down and wrapped her arms around him. “You’ll be my only focus, absolutely no calls tonight.”

  After a short pause, she stood up and grabbed his hand, holding it within her own. She wouldn’t notice it at the time, but his hand had become just ever so slightly colder. In due time, the world would be able to witness just the severe impact that this fight would turn out to have on Taiyo's life. It would be known to only a select few as the match that introduced the heir of the Vitale family, and the murderer of the Vitale family, to their abilities.