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The sky was drapped in forever twilight. That was the only word that could be described as Caliban awoke and looked up. All around him were people screaming and houses entrapped in ember. "Where am I? What happened? Aren't I supposed to be at the-" Caliban stopped when he saw a demon fal to the ground and beg."Pl-Please...I...I...I worshiped you just like I was told to. You've been the best King this land has ever recieved, why are you-" The man was then stabbed in the chest with a clawed hand. Caliban looked at the person, it was his father Mohaia. His own people were running for their lives afraid that their own King would kill them. Why....why? What was going on? Mohaia turned his head to a beautiful wolf demon who was shivering in the corner of an alley. Her eyes were wide and full of fear,"Please...darling...what are you doing? We all love you, why are you doing this? Y-You're killing the people of this land and you're dooming us all...please, stop it." she begged. Mohaia grabbed the woman by her neck and watched as she struggled. "I...lo...love....you...." she managed to whisper as Mohaia was squeezing her neck ever tighter. Mohaia didn't even blink or bat an eyelash but with a single grip he ended the woman's life. This event caused Caliban to shiver and fall to his knees. "T-T-This must be...hell...." he whispered,"I died by my Father's hand and as punishment for being a monster I was sent here to watch all of the terror he caused...This must be the night he killed his original family...I shouldn't be here...." he cried. His Father walked right through him and Caliban followed and tried to cover his eyes and ears from watching the people's pain, but this of course did nothing but make it worse. He followed his old man to the shrine were only moments ago he had battled with him to the death and there, right at the foot of the shrine was a gangly young boy holding Shinto's sword. His ands were shaking, no his whole body was. Mohaia only laughed at the boy,"Who do you think you are hm? Do you really think you can defeat me? Do you even stand a chance runt?" he asked. The young black-haired boy shivered violently but still held his stance. "I-I-I-I won't let you do it...I won't let you hurt anyone else! Even if I die today, even if it costs me my very life I will not let you hurt Caliban!" Te very gravel and snow around the child started to levitate, this kid was serious. "Witt....you're nay but a 6 year old brat...do you really think you can even lift my sword?" he asked. 'Witt...this is the boy who wrote the journal entries...this is my long lost brother and this....this is the day he dies...' the prince thought to himself. Still Witt howled and the sky answered back to him with the apperance of night. It was by the moon's light that the two with the same blood fought. Witt was amazed at his brother's fighting skills, he would dance just as Shinto. Because of Shin's agility Caliban often mistook him as though he were dancing and that was just the style Witt had. For hours the two demons fought, but still neither would back down, then Witt jumped to a surrounding pine tree. He stood at it's top, and held up the sword,"I am not a fighter and I never shall be. But today I saw him....I saw my newborn baby brother. And the moment I looked at him through the window I knew, I knew that he had no right to suffer. He has no right to suffer by your hand, you it's with this strike that I'll finish you." he growled. Witt swung his father's blade and Cali ran out to him. "Noooooo!" he cried, tears falling from his eyes. His Father stood up from the snow and tree rubble where he was flung and walked up to his son's lifeless body. "Pathetic child....You should've accepted your death, maybe then you wouldn't have been sent to hell." Blood covered Mohaia's claws and it was only by the moon's lighting that Caliban could see it. Silver-blue tears fell into the snow, and they did not belong to him, they came from his Father's golden orbs. 'Why? Why? Why? Why would he be crying? Was this not what he wanted? I don't understand...' Caliban then flashbacked to his elder brother's last entry. It wasn't his Father's fault. This...monster truly wasn't his father, no that creature was something else entirely, blocking his true Father's spirit. It was that beast controlling his Father, the beast that was formed by the world around him. The world had feared, hated, and despised him so it was only natural that such a persona would exist. 'This....that could've been me if I had never come to see Shinto.....I would've been just like him....just like my father.....' he thought to himself as he watched the silver tears crash into the ground. Mohaia truly was trapped within his own body. Caliban stared up at the star covered sky and let his own tears fall,"Big brother....Shinto.....I.....I never got to say goodbye..."



"Master! Master! Master!" Shinto cried as he shook Caliban's body. "No...no...no....." Witt whispered as he gripped his younger brother's hand. Zeke felt his pulse and shook his head,"He's gone....w-w-we were too late....I-I-I'm sorry." Asami fell into Ordell's chest for comfort but it seemed no amount of love could make this pain disappear. "T-T-Today....today was Cali's birthday...." Dirce cried,"After the orb was placed...I wanted to throw a surprise party...." "How could that stupid brat die today?! He swore he wouldn't die until we settled our score...stupid b*****d...." Yael cursed, holding back his anguish. Merlow held Yael's shoulder and looked down at his body,"He's a;ways been so powerful, practically invincible....it seemed impossible that he would ever even come close to death...." she whispered. Then there was Merlon who stood perfectly quiet. 'How? W-What happened? Why did you die? It doesn't make since...you're just a kid....and someone like you, they....they can't die! And on a day like this.....why? Why? Why?' he cried. Merlon's heart ached for the demon prince. The magician stood still and quiet until he wiped away his tears and walked to the broken shrine. "What are you doing?" Witt asked. "Th-This shrine....it's supposed to hold the orb until the last day of Winter to calm the souls right?" he said sniffling. Witt nodded,"Yes but that's impossible, not only did Father destroy the shrine but Cali broke the orb. It's how he set me free." Merlon looked at the debris that was once the shrine not only his very Master stood on but one of his comrades died on. He took a deep breath and tapped Mooncica on it. Her magic had reformed the demon's shrine. The rest of the group stood amazed at what Merlon was doing. "No one was ever even able to figure out what made this thing function or even what it's capable of but this kid fixes it as though it was nothing? Who is he?" Witt asked. "My brother." Merlow answered, wiping her tears away. "Now....." Merlon held out his sleeved hand and formed a ball of energy. Instantly the scattered souls flocked to the energy ball and once Merlon's eyes opened; it started hardening. "H-He's recreating the orb that held the demon's souls?!" Shinto said surprised. This magic caused Merlon to be uncontrollable, making him actually float in the air as he held the orb and called all of the demon's lost souls. "Oh...oh....oh my god.....this is it.....this is what that woman did! This was what she did when she made the orb, c-could this child be her reincarnation?" Witt asked. Merlon gently floated down and held the orb tight in his arms,"C-C-Can you get everyone back here and tell them what happened?" he asked.


I had never felt more nervous of fearful in my entire life. More than a million eyes were watching me, and once again my face and the words that I spoke would be spread across the world via orb. I was getting nervous. Even more so as I held the newly made orb in my hands. "Ah....okay, now that I have everyone's attention. I need to explain an important event that just occurred. Moments ago Prince Caliban West fought for his life against his father. After much destruction including not only that of this shrine but also the orb....someone had returned from beyond the heavens, but it was too late. Ladies and Gentleman all around the world, it is with a heavy heart that I tell you all that His Highness has left this world." Gasps and screams went across the field, but it wasn't until I said it could I feel the sadness rushing up on me. Cali was a close and kind friend who was too young....I had always thought that he was placed in the wrong body.But eventually I too was crying. "P-P-Please everyone...I know that it is tough but.....for his sake and that of your tradition, we must continue the Winter Nights. There is only a few days left, let's celebrate this in his memory." The crowd was silent, they were much to upset to continue, Cali was their idol, their hero....I knew they were unable to do it. Then Shinto came up to the shrine and placed down a small candle, out of everyone I think he was dying the most inside. Once again his Master left him behind. As if the sky itself was in mourning, not only did it rain that whole day but snow flakes poured from above. Shinto however refused to leave his Master's still body alone. I remember right before going to sleep seeing Shinto laying beside Cali in his cat form, snuggling up to him. I wanted to cry.


The next day Shinto was of course still in the same place but the orb that I placed in the dog's mouth was actually shining more brightly. I ran to Witt and explained the phenomenon to him. "In all the stories of Winter Nights, I've never heard of any of this sort of thing happening before. But what would make it act like that I wonder?" Ordell came outside with us and glanced at the shrine ahead,"Maybe it's you Witt." "Huh? Me? Why?" "You're supposed to be dead, I cannot explain how or why you came back to life. Tell me, when you where dying, do you remember holding onto anything besides the sword?" Ordi asked. Witt thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. "Yea! I did touch the orb....I remember me staining it; I had felt bad sullying it's white color." "That orb has some strange properties....It was Mooncica who created it correct?" Witt nodded,"But she didn't leave like anything behind about it....she just gave it as a gift for the first West....I don't think even she knew about what it was doing." "The West.....I've never been to a more stranger place in my life...there are so many mysteries of the past that surround this place. Nothing is as what it seems." I said, glancing down at Mooncica. I wondered what she would do in this situation. But with Caliban gone, no one could think properly so that entire week most of us were actually training. I was using too much magic at once but I needed to do something to keep Cali off of my mind, everyone did.

Witt was spending a lot of his time however buried in research. "What the hell are you doing?" Zeke asked, staring at the papers and books. Witt looked up at him and took of his glasses,"I'm looking up all I can about that orb and what happened to me....When I was a kid the only thing I was good at was being a total nerd so...here I am!" he said blushing. Zeke rolled his eyes and picked up a random paper,"Hm? This doesn't look like it's from any book, did you write this?" "Oh well....yes actually. I know this sounds weird coming from a demon but..I'm infatuated with technology. And I look at this as any other invention. So I need to come up with hypothesis on what this thing's function is and why it was made. Is there anything I can help you with while you're here though?" he asked cutely. Zeke felt himself blushing but he immediately shook it off. "No, my sister just wants to have that military nerd teach her instead of me...So I got nothing else to do....Hey wait, you said you were basically a nerd before you died right?" he asked. Witt nodded,"Yepper doodles!" "Well....I was watching you with your father, how in the hell did you fight like that? You were incredible!" "Oh...well...to be honest, that's the second time I've ever even picked up a sword. Mostly when I'm fighting can you believe that it's usually a fluke? I don't know how to fight but I do know how to hold my own against my old man." he said proudly. Zeke couldn't help but laugh. "Your body may have grow up but you're still a kid on the inside. So, do you...well.....do you believe that you killed your father?" There was a long pause making Zeke feel akward for asking in the first place. "No...that man, I believe he will live forever tormented by his anger, he is like a spirit that is unable to pass onward. I most certainly do not believe that I killed him." he said in a dark whisper that put a chill up Zeke's spine. "S-So...er....can I help you with this stuff? Seems like you got a lot to read and I got a lot of nothing to do, can I help?" "Oh, well.....I guess it's okay, just put down the things you find most interesting in notes so I can add it to the hypothesis paper later okies?" "Alright!" Meanwhile in the deepest danks of the castle Merlow and Yael were going at eachother like animals. Still however, Merlow was unable to keep up and ended on the floor. But this time, she stayed down. "What's wrong?" Yael asked. "It's all my fault...Caliban is gone and I know I could've done something....and now Shinto is so miserable...Damnit!" she cursed. Yael actually kicked his student to her side and growled. "What happened was not your fault, it was nobody's fault. Just....just...get up alright?" Merlow could tell that even Yael was in pain, and he was one never to show his emotions to often. "Stupid idiot got himself killed by the guy who killed my parents....talk about lame. Now I can't even yell at him....even more lame. Oi....." "Yael....you really miss him don't you?" she asked. "Yeah a little I guess...everything is gunna change so much eventually we'll all probably drift apart...scary thought." he said suddenly. Merlow could never imagine that having to drift apart? That seemed nothing more that a nightmare. It made her shake, not being able to see her brother or any of the people she cared about most. Merlow hugged onto her teacher and whispered in his ear,"I want Cali to come back....I don't want to lose you guys...." "...I don't either." he replied.


Finally the last night arrived, the aurora was shining and dancing above as bright as possible and everyone had actually gotten dressed up all nice for this one. Well except Shinto of course he remained stationed at his Master's side. So after 6 days Merlon actually had to kick him in the side. "Hey....wake up and move." he said in a dull tone. Shinto of course refused to budge. Merlon rolled his eyes and began the ceremony any way. "People of the West, a few days ago Caliban passed away, but today of course is the day where we set his soul free and it moves on. So.....here we go~" Merlon the pulled out the orb and watched as it began to glow even brighter,"Let us all wish for each and every one of these souls to have peace." The stars above were twinkling and the aurora was actually still. "Eh?" That's when the miracle occurred, well at least according to the natives. The orb gave one last flicker when a flame burst from it, quick as lightning, anyone could recognize that it was a soul. The soul danced around the air a bit before finally coming to Shinto, who actually looked up. "M-Master?!" he asked. The soul then flew to Merlon and Mooncica. "Oh my god...everyone, uh...please wait a moment." "Merlon! You have to put Cali back in is body! Now!" Shinto said suddenly. "Wha?! I can't bring back the dead...I'm not God and......" Shinto had given him a pleading look that made him give a sigh. "Fine....but I know that this isn't going to work...." Merlon spun Mooncica and held her up in the sky and watched as not only the orb gave him strength but so did the skies above. Something wanted him to bring Cali back that much was obvious, but would it really work? Do or die.

They called me a hero for a whole week again. They even added me to their Winter Nights book. Weird oi? I did it, I actually brought Cali back to life. His body was so cold before and the moment I placed his soul back....he was warm again. But the pinnacle moment, or at least the one that I'll always think of about that day was seeing Cali,Shin, and Witt hug eachother with tears pouring and smiles on their faces. They were calling me a hero....me a hero, who would've thought some invisible nerd from Britain could do this much...heh.....After Cali came back and everything had finally settled down, we went back into the castle. "Damnit! You better take care of Cali before he comes back to me, ya got that stupid cat?" Dirce barked. "Uh...of course Dirce-hime." Shin said bowing. "Hard to believe after that incident recruits just practically came pouring in but...where do we go now?" Sis asked. "I'm not sure...but since the barrier is down and we don't know what to do let's just wait for them to call us." Ordi suggested.


Ugh finally this is done....such a pain having to switch between Merlon and er....that guy? Anyway...I got lazy on the last paragraph and even though I brought Cali back to life I didn't give him any lines lol....Whelp next chap gunna be filler-ish but Ima make it funny I promise...