p.s. the characters you recognized don’t belong to me. I’m just borrowing them so that I can twist their little lives around for my own and maybe some others’ enjoyment. Please don’t hate me.

And now, after all of that, let the fun begin.

Prologue

"Whoa, who’s the babe and how did she manage to avoid getting sucked up with the rest of the people in the city?" Ryo asked, without tearing his gaze away from the petite woman in front of him.

"I don’t know," Rowen answered. "She looks a lot like that Kayura chic who showed up with the Warlords earlier—what if she’s not human?"

"She looks human enough to me," Ryo said with a grin. "I’m goin’ to find out who she is," he finished before running across the deserted city street towards the girl.

"Ryo! Wait!" Rowen called to no avail as he set off after his friend.

She stood, staring in the darkened window of a bridal shoppe, staring at what was perhaps the most beautiful wedding gown she had ever seen—and she’d seen many in the long years of her existence. She had heard the two boys discussing her from across the street. Wondering why she was left here instead of going where Talpa had taken the rest of the normal people. She had often wondered that herself. Why had she been left alive when the rest of her world had been destroyed so long ago?

"Hey," the boy with the jet-black hair said, interrupting her thoughts. "You look a little lost."

"No, I know exactly where I am and what I’m supposed to do," she answered, turning to face him. "It’s just how I’m supposed to go about doing it that’s got me in a conundrum," she added, not knowing why she said it, but strangely drawn to this boy.

"Conundrum?" the dark haired youth repeated turning to his companion with a quizzical look on his face.

"Conundrum, stymied, baffled, she doesn’t know what to about it. In essence, she’s mentally lost," the other boy said. His hair was stunning, a shocking shade of electric blue—matched his eyes nicely, though. She laughed, though she wasn’t sure why, nothing about her situation was funny. Oddly though, she felt the same pull towards this boy as she did his darker companion.

"I’m Rowen," Little Boy Blue introduced himself as, "and my vocabulary challenged compatriot is Ryo," he continued, growing more comfortable with the girl by the moment. Ryo conversely, the one to initiate the conversation, was developing a rather concerned look on his face. It was as if he could sense something about this girl that Rowen was oblivious to. "We saw you standing over here and wondered if we could be of any assistance," Rowen went on.

"It’s nice to meet you. I’ve only been here a short while and haven’t had much of a chance to meet many people before this whole mess started," she gestured to the dark clouds and deserted streets. "It’s nice to know that I’m not the only person left in this world. Oh, forgive me!" she exclaimed. "I haven’t even introduced myself to you! My name is Rhiannon Gael."

"Why don’t you come back with us?" Rowen asked.

"Ro—are you sure?" Ryo cautioned.

"That’s quite alright. I have an apartment here in the city."

"I know it would put my mind at ease, knowing you weren’t alone, and if Mia and Sai found out we met another living soul and didn’t insist that she accompany us back for a meal, they’d have our heads."

"How many of you are there?" Rhiannon inquired.

"There are five of us, and Mia, who owns the house and Uli, who lost his parents in Talpa’s first attack."

"Rowen! Does she really need to know all of this?!" Ryo exclaimed, then turned bright red. "I’m sorry," he stammered. "I-it’s just that-that I’m not used to sharing all this all at once," he finished in a rush.

"It’s ok," Rhiannon said. "I’m not the boogywoman. I won’t eat you." Turning back to Rowen, she repeated, "you said there were five of you? Are you related?"

"No, the five of us and Mia an Uli somehow managed to avoid Talpa’s attack as well."

"I see," she said. And she really did see. ‘This could prove to work out very well,’ she thought to herself.

"Won’t you reconsider coming back with us?" Rowen prodded.

"Well, I think you’ve convinced me. The prospect of an actual cooked meal is very enticing. I’m not much of a cook myself, I tend to burn things," she added, smiling.

"Then you’re in for a real treat. Sai’s the world’s most incredible cook. We’d better hurry if we want to eat before Kento scarfs it all." Rowen smiled at Rhiannon as they headed towards Mia’s jeep. Ryo followed with a look of concern marring his visage. He wasn’t exactly sure now how he felt about this young woman who bared so striking a resemblance to the Demon Priestess Kayura.

This is your authoress again.