Chapter 7: Selquia



Serin and Sylvia dashed through the green haze around the cobblestone path, getting as far from the town as they possibly could. The two pale figures only slowed to a casual walk when the thick forest thinned out into a wide prairie of lush, green knee high grass. Serin gazed over the fields as the wind created waves along the green ocean of grass, feeling calm and depression as he thought about Kat.
"I'm gonna have to say that that was the most interesting tournament I've been in." Sylvia said as she pulled out a small bottle of water and drank half of its contents. Her eyes gleaming in the bright afternoon sun. Serin let the corners of his mouth form a small grin as he held his gaze over the shifting waves of green. "First we your two stalkers show up and then that level 6 phantasm." Sylvia's mention of the creature caught Serin's attention as his gaze shifted to her pale, glowing face.
"Now that we aren't in the middle of utter chaos, why don't you explain more about this 'level 6 phantasm' some more." Serin said with a curious, stern voice that sounded more like a demand. Sylvia just chuckled to herself and gazed up at the bright blue sky. "I'm guessing it has something to do with that holy order you're a part of." Serin said with a serious tone; Sylvia chuckled then let out an aggravated sigh.
"For someone who was part of the Shadow Band, you sure are clueless about some things." Sylvia said with a sly grin; the black haired boy rolled his eyes in irritation trying to ignore the remark. The silver haired vampire grinned evil as she began to explain. "Well, you know all about the ghost and evil spirits in the world, mostly compliments of shades, but all of them are classified from 1-13. What we say was probably about a middle class one. No one has ever seen a class 10-13 phantasm in this century, luckily."
"So that was just a middle class....phantasm...I'm scared to see what a stronger one could have been like." Serin said with a shiver as he began walking down the crumbling pathway. Sylvia stared at the boy, chuckling as she followed behind him. "We should probably hurry up and get going." Serin said, hanging his head sadly for a second. Sylvia caught a glimpse of his depression before he turned around and smiled goofily.
"But running into Kat and whats-his-face is always entertaining. You should feel special to have someone chase you around like that," Sylvia said giving the amber eyed boy a comforting smile, "even though you can't go back to her." She added evil at the end. Serin glared at her evilly and stormed down the path, mumbling under his breath. "Come on, it was a joke...but I guess it really wasn't, was it." She said chuckling to her self, hearing faint cursing amongst Serin's random babbling.
Sylvia grinned slightly as she dashed up to the boys side and laid a hand on his shoulder; Serin pulled away from the silver haired woman's grasp and almost fell into the sea of tall grass. He quickly caught his balance and shoved Sylvia into the tall grass, chuckling as he sprinted down the path as fast as he could, hearing the golden eyed vampire screaming at him from the middle of the field. The black haired boy skidded to a halt as Sylvia appeared in front of him. The startled boy glanced over his shoulder where she had been standing moments before and then back to the woman, who's face was red in anger. She held out a hand and Serin felt his body slowly getting heavier.
"What the-" Serin yelled as he suddenly fell face first into the ground, making a small crater in the cobblestones where his face had hit the ground. He tried flailing his arms about, but they two were slowly forcing themselves into the ground. Sylvia chuckled evilly, her golden eyes flashing.
"Did you forget that I have a hold over you?" Sylvia said, as she dropped her pale hand to her side. Serin got up, wiping blood away from his mouth and nose; he glared at her anger and rebellion coursing over his face as his wounds quickly healed. The woman chuckled to herself. "Don't worry, after a few years of training, a few oaths, and maybe some beat downs and I'll release you from my grasp." She said with an evil smirk, letting her two fangs hang over her bottom lip. Serin rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh of aggravated defeat. "That's a good boy." Sylvia said, but almost instantly dropped to the ground, grabbing her hand as if she was in immense pain.
"Sylvia, what's wrong?" Serin asked, watching as a glowing red symbol burned its way through the top of her black fingerless glove. The seal was some form of Kenoichi, but Serin had never seen something like this. The silver haired vampire hissed as the symbol glew brighter as it completely burned through the glove. Serin, watching helplessly, began pulling out cards with different lines coursing all around them, frantically searching the decks. He finally pulled out a plain white card and placed it over the seal appearing on the back of Sylvia's hand. The seal burned black marks into the paper, but Sylvia looked as if the pain had subsided. "What the hell is that thing?!"
"You know," She began, breathing heavily, "you know how I mentioned that I was part of a holy order?" Sylvia asked, hazily seeing her black haired apprentice shake his head. "Well, this is how they let all the members know of a big assembly. Which means we'll be making another side trip." The silver haired woman said, slowly standing up; a little color returning to her face. Serin sighed, not wanting to show his enthusiasm about traveling across the country.
"Where are we going now?" Serin asked, trying to act nonchalant. Sylvia chuckled, seeing right through the boy's rouse.
"Ever heard of Caldariz?" Sylvia asked with a grin; Serin just stared in shock. "I take that as a yes." She chuckled.
"Great, that's all I need." Serin mumbled lowly, Sylvia just cocked her head in curiosity. Serin saw the look then sighed. "You know how I am....or was apart of the Shadow Band?" Serin asked, the silver haired woman nodded quickly. "Well, we used to go to Caldariz on a regular basis and unfortunately that's the base for each members fan club." Serin sighed, mumbling the last part; Sylvia tried as hard as she could from laughing.
"Aww, how cute! You have a fan club!" Sylvia said with a grin. Serin stared at the woman evilly. "Don't worry, the Order of the Crunix is very reclusive. Only members know where it is." Sylvia said with a grin for a second, her expression quickly changing to a look of disgust. "Great, HE'S gonna be there." She hissed lowly to herself.
"Who?" Serin asked, curiously.
"It doesn't matter, you'll meet him tomorrow." Sylvia said with a grin as she began to stretch in the sinking afternoon sun. Serin looked at the golden eyed woman as if she had gone mad. "What?"
"Caldariz is a coastal city on the other side of the country. How are we supposed to make it there by tomorrow?" Serin asked as Sylvia grinned evilly. "I know we vampires can travel faster than any human can dream of going, but it's still not fast enough to make it there by tomorrow. Maybe a week if we didn't take any resting stops and ran all day and all night." Serin said, shuddering at the thought of the two of them running for 7 straight days. "What are you smiling about?!"
"Who said we were running." Sylvia said slyly as she made a hand sign. Serin's eyes widened as he ran towards his sensei, but his body was enveloped by a blinding red light. All that remained along the fielded pathway was the echoing laughter from Sylvia.

* * * * *

"I can't believe they just left again even after we helped them fight that THING." Kat growled as she paced around Dais. The brown haired boy rolled his eyes at the blond haired girls naivety. "What was that look for Dais?"
"You're not understanding." The boy said with a calming smile. "He's a vampire now, you and me are still human. Besides that woman," Dais said, letting the woman's beautiful image flood his mind for a second, "has probably forbade him from staying with us-" A stinging pain in his right cheek made Dais stop talking. Kat's eyes were filled with rage, but Dais could see beyond the anger and see the despair that she was trying to hide. "We'll just have to search harder and hope we can get a chance to sit down and talk with him."
"Tracking him won't be a problem; he may be a vampire, but he can't just disappear into thin air." Kat said with a chuckle. Her humor quickly faded away as she thought about Serin with that golden eyed vampire. "We just have to make him see the light, that he's better off with us rather than that she-devil vampire." The girl said, her cold eyes turned towards the setting sun.
"There wasn't much you could have done Kat." Dais said with a shrug. He glanced down at the ground under the girls gaze. Although distant as it was, it shown with torment and sadness. She sighed, watching leaves float by in the wind and listening to the low gurgling from the pale stone fountain behind her. "I know it's hard for you to come to terms with losing Serin, but the truth is there's nothing either of us could have or can do." The brown haired boy said, not daring to look the girl in the eyes. He shuddered as he heard her rapid breaths as she tried to stop herself from crying.
Kat began to sob and darted off toward the gate as fast as she could. Dais just stared after her, and sighed. The blond haired girl ran faster and faster until everything she passed was a colorful blur; she stopped only to catch her balance as she run up the side of the fortress wall and then over the other side. She continued to run, tears streaming down her face until she was deep in the middle of the woods. Her foot caught on a tree limb and stumbled into a clearing. She laid there, not willing to get up, her body shaking from her sobs.

* * * * *

"I can't believe we were walking that whole time when we could have just magically poofed wherever we wanted." Serin hissed as he tried to get his bearings. His head was still spinning from the bright light that had surrounded him. "Although, I think I prefer walking." The black haired boy said, sitting down on the ground under a small tree. He laid his head back on the thin tree behind him, trying to clear his head. Sylvia chuckled at the sickened boy.
"I don't do that because first off, it's a lazy way to get around and as you've probably noticed, it isn't the best thing for a person's health." Sylvia said slyly as the boy groggily stared at the woman. She laughed a little louder then gazed out over the shimmering city before them. "The city is beautiful, but I hate the humidity." She said, glaring over the blue-green ocean. Serin chuckled to himself, taking in a deep breath of salty air then almost gagging from nausea. "It's a handy little trick I created."
"You mean that that form of Kenoichi didn't exist before?" Serin asked, his mind slowly beginning to clear. He stood up slowly and glanced out over the city; the steel tower-like buildings gleamed in the setting sun. The fading glow turned the clouds on the horizon a brilliant red-orange and the sea a golden yellow. Serin felt a sense of relief, entranced by the shimmering buildings and the low, calming gusts of wind that swept over him. "Man, I've missed this place, but there is that little problem of my stalkers." Serin said, eyeing the silver haired woman's expression. She chuckled a little then gazed at the city. "To bad you couldn't have taken us closer."
"This is close enough, besides this cliff is has the best view." Sylvia said with a distant smile recalling an ancient memory, mesmerized by the sound of the rolling waves crashing into the side of the pale limestone cliff. "We need to get moving, I'd like to make it to the hotel before it gets too late." She said and started down an a stony pathway that was overgrown with strange dark green plants and vines. Serin started after her, nearly slipping on a patch of loose rocks; skidding for a few feet he caught his balance before crashing into his sensei. "So, how'd you create this Kenoichi if it never existed before?" Serin asked curiously.
"Well you see, it's actually the outcome of fusing two different styles of Kenoichi. Part of it is from a style used to locate specific people or places and the other style is a kind of levitation Kenoichi. I was bored one day and decided it would be cool if you could teleport, but it took me forever to pull it off." Sylvia said proudly. Serin just gave the golden eyed woman a confused stare then shrugged.
"I've always been curious, even though I'm a swordsman is there any way I could learn Kenoichi?" Serin asked after a long pause; the last few beams of sunlight illuminated Sylvia's expression perfectly. She stared at the boy with a worried, proud look. "I mean it's like the slowest form of attacking someone I've ever seen, but I'm sure it would be some help in a fight." Serin rubbed his shoulder as Sylvia punched him.
"It's not slow." Sylvia growled; Serin was sent into waves of confusion as she began to gripe about someone she knew who seemed to be able to pull off any Kenoichi given to her in lightening speed. "You're swordsmanship may need a little refining, but you are one of the strongest swordsman I've seen over my lifetime. Adding to Kenoichi to that mix would make you a force to be reckoned with. I might teach you one day, but as of now, you just need to work on your swordsmanship." Sylvia said with a chuckle at Serin's appreciative, disappointed face. She continued walked down the overgrown pathway until they came to a long concreted pathway that seems to stretch into the very heart of the city.
"What do you mean I need to work on my swordsmanship?!" Serin yelled after thinking about what she had said. "All those moves are self taught! It's not my fault they're not the most perfect thing in the world!" Serin yelled as they walked along the smooth, warm white stone. Sylvia glared at Serin with an evil grin. "Would it kill you to give a compliment for once in your life?" Serin growled as they walked along the path.
The sun slowly set behind the purple mass of clouds gathering at the horizon as the two vampires walked closer and closer to the sky high towers. Soon stars began to dot the blackened sky as a full moon began to rise. Serin could feel his vampiric side now, gaining in power as night came, but it still seemed to be nothing compared to what it was half a month ago during the new moon. Sylvia rolled her eyes, sensing the wave of excitement and energy coming over Serin and herself. She gazed up at the night sky, the stars were barely visible in the brilliant light of the silver full moon.
"Come on the hotel's towards the center of town." Sylvia said as she quickened her pace as they passed the first line of tall buildings. They seemed to be offices and other headquarters of multiple international businesses. Sylvia and Serin were soon past the business district of the huge capital city and were now heading towards the tourist zone; brightly lit neon signs leading into buildings with brightly flashing lights and loud music. Serin's ears picked up many different conversations within the buildings and the occasional fights. The boy was listening closely to a fight that had happened in a club, chairs had been smashed against people and bottles had been broken over peoples heads; he was so deep into listening to the quarrel that he almost didn't see Sylvia dart down an alley. "Serin, stop dazing off and follow me, the hotel is on the next street over." Sylvia said, but after taking a step into the darkness she stopped suddenly; despite the alley being pitch black, she could see the figures of people moving from behind trash cans.
"Well, looky here." A tall, bald man said, his image finally coming into focus to Serin. He had several tattoos on his arms, but the most prominent one was the one on the side of his neck: A dragon wrapped around a pearl, the symbol of some local gang. Serin smiled grimly as he stared at Sylvia's expression. "You're quite the looker lady, how about you ditch the kid and come with me." The man said with a chuckle from himself and his goons as he began to take a step towards Sylvia.
"So, you think I'm going to just give up and come along with you?" A voice whispered rather loudly in the man's ear. It's sickly sweet tone made a shutter of uneasiness shoot through the gang leader. The man quickly turned around, but the only people he saw were his buddies, who were wide eyed in shock. "Serin, I'll let you take it from here." The voice came again from behind him, but from a short distance away. The man turned around slowly, a look of confusion and worry covered his face as the black haired boy walked up in front of the group of men. His grin sent a cold shiver of terror shooting through the small band of men.
"What the hell are you two?!" The man yelled as he stared at the boys face. Serin's eyes suddenly shot into his, the stare seemed to hold no matter how hard the man tried to turn away. The cold glowing amber eyes filled his mind and everything suddenly went dark.
"That should take care of that." Serin said watching the twitching bodies of the men as they fell to the ground. Sylvia stared at Serin, confused worry passed over her.
"What was that?"
"It's a type of Samurai technique called Selquia." Serin said with a grin, a wild look in his eyes. "Basically there are three different levels of it. The first level basically strips a person of all their mental barriers causing them to black out; the second level is just like the first except the person is horrified with illusions of their greatest fears, sending them into...well, that." Serin said pointing to the men who were curled up into a ball, their eyes hollow shells; their bodies were still twitching slightly. "I haven't mastered the third yet, but it differs from Samurai to Samurai. But basically it's a mental attack that can actually do physical harm to the person. It's dangerous stuff." Serin said as the two of them stepped over the bodies of the men and continuing down the alley.
"I just thought Samurai techniques were all done with a sword. I never knew they could mess with a person's mind like that." Sylvia said with a gleam of proud amusement. The thought of how powerful a fighter Serin had turned out to be might keep her from getting into to much trouble, but then again if those two humans keep meddling before they get back to the clan's hideout. Her thought were cut off by Serin as he gazed down the brightly lit street at a building at least 12 stories tall with the name "Camdia" on it. "That's our hotel, come on and lets hurry and check in. I'm ready to get this thing off." Sylvia said holding up her hand; the white paper card was still attached over the strange seal, preventing the coursing pain from rippling through the woman's body. Serin just chuckled.
"Okay, but what am I supposed to do while you're at this meeting? Isn't the Order of the Crunix's headquarters some big secret and hidden?" Serin asked as they crossed a busy pathway towards the the enormous building. Sylvia paused to think about it for a second.
"Yes the the Order's location is a secret, but you're my apprentice and all so that should get you to about level B, but only high members can enter level A. I've heard you won't be the only one waiting either." Sylvia said, a distant look of disgust set on her face. "Either way you should probably come or risk getting mobbed down by that little mob of fans that you have." Sylvia's disgust was replaced by amusement as Serin shuttered as they walked through a revolving glass door and into the ornately decorated lobby of the hotel.