"The Story of Daytaii Valere:"

The Shades of Grim Fate Arise

It always seemed to rain.

Time and time again, there seemed to never be a week in which the cool ocean breezes did not bring yet another spring storm upon the Orphanage of Aquavy. Flowing free, flowing strong, the cycle of waterfall truly did seem almost eternal in this watery land.

Daytai simply sat at her most common spot by the window of this building, ever entranced by the continuously falling deluge, lost in the quite simply, and yet unexplainably complex thoughts of her own.

Water fell so often here. Rain came so commonly. Yet somehow some countries of the world, far far away, were parched, dry, and burning; but places such as Aquavy came near to flooding away during the springtime rains. Why did the water only come to such areas like Aquavy and not to the desperate lands without such precious water? Surely there was enough of the liquid to go around. Biting her lip in wonder, Daytai simply sat there, unmoving, trying to find the -Truth- in this- yet another of life's most innocent happenings.

About her, the whining voices of children echoed about the room. They wailed, they complained, they sobbed about their ruined playtime. They longed for their waterlogged toys and their soggy places of play. Their distraught voiced filled the room, and of all the child-talk, the same chanting arose from the chaos time and time again, "Rain, rain, Go away! Come again another day!"

Daytai grinned softly. Did children in the other countries of this world think of the rain in such ill light? Surely the hatred for rain had to be unique to only the children afflicted by constant rainfall, although somehow it made sense. What type of child would embrace a wet toy, be that a child of the Desert or Aquavy?

In such a way, her thoughts leapt on from one strange, curious topic to another. She sat, not a sign of her rampant, fleeting debates upon her serene face, as she simply stared, as if entranced, watching the ever falling rain and wondering about everything under the sun.

The slamming of a door snapped her from her dazed thoughts, as she watched a few children dash out to reclaim their toys that they so carelessly left out in the rain. She laughed quietly, and walked towards the door, poised to take the soaked children in from the unforgiving water and wind of the outside and rush them and their newly recovered toys near the fireplace.

It was often like this. Children grew restless when shoved in small places, and with everyone crowded into the main building of this area, a church house of sorts, they grew even more frustrated with their situation. They couldn't even leave the church house to dash off to their own little rooms in the surrounding 'cabins' without ending up in their cold, wind chilled rooms drenched head to toe.

Time passed on slowly, each moment a lasting eternity. Each passing minute was torture to the poor children refined to their 'prison', trapped not by the four wooden walls of the house, but by the rain. The children who sought for their toys eventually returned, although two still searched the watery, muddy landscape for the belongings they had accidentally discarded. The water continued to fall in a huge deluge, pouring hard and fast enough to drench any soul to the bone in moments. Slowly a frown crept upon Daytai's face as her worry grew for the children outside. She couldn't stand the thought that she could be allowing little ones to catch illness for the retrieval simple toy.....

She stood still a moment longer, pondering whether she should truly flee into the flooding world in order to find a pair of children who could potentially be returning with their dropped possessions at any moment. But still, something nagged at her emotions..... Something tore at the back of her mind.. Like a fault in the flow of the commonday events it stood out in her mind, calling, howling, breaking the serene stillness of perfection, and yet she could not put a single definition to this cry.

A piercing, pained scream of a young girl shattered her thoughts, as her face became overwhelmed with a sudden, guilty fear. Her mind raced with possibilities, but none, none seemed to answer her fright.....

Only an incalculable moment later, a panicked, fear-stricken child ran up to the open doorway of the house, practically collapsing before Daytai. She wasn't wounded in the least, though her face was torn with a terrible, unspeakable horror. She was caked in thick, wet mud and panting vigorously, and yet the words she uttered were layered in such a fright that it was amazing the word she spoke was comprehensible at all... And yet, at the same time, her words were undeniably understandable, "R-reapers!!"

Daytai's eyes grew wide with a powerful, mirrored shock, but her stunned mind was somehow, at that moment, quick to recover, and her voice grew stern and commanding in the swift flash of a moment; a strange look of duty completely and rapidly overcame her usually serene face, "You, in the house! Now! Close and block that door to the best your little hands can! It seems I've something to do....."

"T-tashi?" The confused cry echoed throughout the room, as assorted little voices called out their confusion, unable to understand her as she prepared to exit, "But..... Tashi! There are Reapers!"

Daytai gave them a weakened smile- a faint, weak attempt to assure them, and then dashed outside.

The rain was enveloping from the very start, soaking through layer upon layer of clothing and clinging against her skin, though she gave it little care. On a suicide dash she bolted, through the pouring rain and howling wind with one target in her mind- her house. She sensed the Reapers about her, the anger, the hatred in their forms. But she ran, ran with all her heart, desperately trying to make that it to that one single goal that could grant her the only chance she had.

She nearly burst down the door to her house in the effort to throw it open and swiftly entered, practically sliding on mud-enveloped boots to the back of the room in her haste.

Her eyes darted frantically, in panic, about the room, then in an incalculable moment, she instinctively grabbed tight the handle of the forgotten rapier, discarded in the back corner of the room. Her then eyes fell to the dresser, the keeper of the Odakah Headpiece, but she only shook her head, reluctantly tearing her mind from the thought.

I shall do this alone, old friend..

With that she exited the house, seeming to fly in her haste, an almost insane flare of duty reflected in her eyes.

They surrounded her; stood behind veils of water so thick and dark that she could not see their wretched, deformed bodies by sight. But she sensed them.. their crooked, tormented minds, their aura of dark, grim hatred... She sensed them, saw them, in ways no other could.

She knew them.

With a certain cry of desperation, she unsheathed the rapier, revealing the heavily ornate weapon in all its glory. Playing off the nearly non existent light of the area, the runes, carvings, and gems inset upon its hilt began to glow as if by magic. With a graceful, fluid jump, she leapt towards one of the 'Reapers', striking at it with a flurry of light, piercing strokes. The blows seemed weak and fleeting by sight, although the dimly glowing weapon seemed to lash out with a unique anger of its own, as strangely, her target let out a growl of despair and pain, falling backwards a bit, as if the swift, light blows held more power than it seemed to the eye.

But still, she did little good.

Three surrounded her, one stood before her. All four set upon the endless craving of mortal flesh and blood. They lusted for that death, those cries, her blood. And she could not possibly fend them off with her simple rapier. She could sense their desperation, their twisted minds and forms, their terribly darkened souls....And then, she snapped.

In pure fear, she lashed out with the cruelest thing she could- an act of desperation, an act borne of panic itself.

She extended her hands, cupped about formless air, and uttered a few strange words beneath her breath. Flaring bright, blinding pure white light burst from her hands, spiraling and bursting from her very form. The crystalline beams poured clearly through the veils of darkened water, shining through each raindrop with a glorious prism effect as the nearly blinding light filled the area with the speed and effect of an explosion.

But the effect was far less 'beautiful' to the Reapers, as they wailed out with a pain indescribable, reeling as if their very being, their very existence, was being torn from them.

And in a sense, it was.

Light From Darkness, Order from Chaos. Truth from the Shadow.

And for the twisted, wailing beings, the -Truth- was the most cruel of attacks.

The children watched with fascinated, bewildered eyes as they watched the rain-veiled form of Daytai let loose the bright flares of light and attack with her ornate, ancient rapier, shining bright in dim moonlight as if a creation of magic.

With wide, amazed eyes, one little girl whispered timidly, "Tashi.... Look at her..."

With such a simple comment, other stunned whispers rang throughout the house, as if they feared their full voices would shatter the dream-like image before them as they whispered in hushed voices of awe...:

"Such a beautiful thing in her hands.."

"What type of magic is that? Its so bright and lovely... like a fairy tale..."

"Maybe.... maybe Tashi is a princess!"

"Or an angel...!"

She stumbled, desperately tried to stay on her feet. She couldn't keep this up forever....

The Reapers were weakened, but comparably she was in far worse condition. Not a scratch laid upon her, yet with every moment the light flared forth, her strength drained from her like water through cloth.

Oh, why do you deny my call?

Truth, come forth to your master..... Help me triumph!



And for this you shall destroy yourself as well?

Foolishness!! You'll never learn!

With a soft growl of determination, she struggled to simply stand, to keep her balance. She felt so weak, so lightheaded.... And yet, uncaring to her pains, the water poured down on her without prejudice, drenching her to the bone. Her clothes stuck to her skin, her hair plastered against her face. The winds howled at her, freezing her entire body until she felt so damp and frigid that she could not even tell anymore how she was. She could of been upon her knees, she could of been standing- it was impossible to know. She couldn't feel anything anymore.

She coughed, stumbled, tripped. The light about her dimmed, flickered, vanished. She couldn't take this pain much longer...

Oh, Merciful Fate...... Spare me!

A shot rang out. A Reaper fell. The others stood in dazed confusion, growling in pain and agony, torn between the one who dared to attack them with physical force and the one who held them in check.

To the young lady it made little difference, as she let out a soft wail, and with a whimpering groan, stumbled weakly, trying desperately to keep herself from collapsing to the ground.

The shots rang again. And again.

And the weakened Reapers fell with every ringing blow with such ease that it seemed that the true strength of the Reapers was little to fear.

But of course, that wasn't the truth of the matter. She had given her own strength to demolish theirs.

Daytai shivered uncontrollably; her legs refused to support her body. She was so cold, so wet.... She felt so weak, so torn, in so much pain and yet, at the same time, so worn that she felt nothing at all.

She couldn't stand it. Her mind screamed in a pain unspoken, her body cried out with a terrible, stricken agony.

Her legs fell from beneath her, she collapsed towards the mud-thick, rain drenched land beneath her. Yet through her frozen form, she felt herself being caught. She could feel the weak, faint warmth of another body catching her in a swift, desperate moment. It was nothing to her and her blind eyes and falling frame, nothing but a gentle warmth.

And even to her shattered thoughts,

The faint warmth, the noble thought....

She held no joy nor relief from this.

It meant nothing to her at all.

And with a soft, weak moan, there was only darkness.

* * *

Foolishness, Child! Do you will yourself to die?

You are nothing without the Odakah, and yet you deny it!

Playing the childwatcher may be a pleasant guise, little one....

But in the face of danger, you are the Odakah's!

Without it, you are but a weak, pitiful little soul...

Nothing! You are nothing, little one!

"Tashi? Tashi! Open your eyes, Tashi!"

Daytai's eyes fluttered open slowly, a sort of distant, pained look on her face.

It was night. The sound of rainfall echoed just as loudly through the church house as it had before, the voices of the children were just as full of whines of annoyance, although far more plagued with sleep and misery and fear. It couldn't of been more than a few hours since she fell....

Her head throbbed. Her body was frozen stiff, a numbing, dead feeling only second in misery to that of her mind. A blanket draped about new, warmed clothing, although it and the fireplace which blazed before her only emitted a tiny bit of the precious heat, that she so desired...- that she needed. Her body desperately absorbed every bit of warmth it could, but nothing would draw the chill, the dampness, from her skin.

Her mind spun with images, with thoughts, with fragments of memory and the broken shards of thought. Where she was, what had happened- it all seemed like a vague dream to her.

She shook her head, trying to clear the fogginess that seemed to rest perpetually within her mind. Slowly, she remembered.. The Reapers. The battle... the gunshots.

She knew of only one person around here that wielded guns.....

Her eyes slowly, weakly scanned the room. True to her suspicions, Billy stood in the corner of the house, talking to some degree with one of the child spectators, a strange look of confusion on his face.

It would do him little good. The child didn't comprehend what had happened. And he couldn't possibly understand, even if the little one could explain the truth of the matter.

Then she turned her eyes towards the children, staring at their eyes- their eyes full of a sort of stunned caution, a peculiar wonder and an unspeakable awe.

She blinked at them, confused, lost, wondering why they gazed at her in such a manner. But she had little time, and less ability, to think. Her mind droned, her thoughts and confusions melded. And as they did, the children simply gathered about her in their own little glee and began to speak in a cacophony of voices.

"Tashi!! How did you do that?"

"You never told us you had magic!"

"You never told us you could swordfence!"

"Tashi, Tashi! Where did you get this stuff?"

"Where did you learn all this, Tashi?"

"Tashi....-"

"Would you kindly spare her? Can't you see she's in no condition to be questioned?"

Daytai blinked in mild confusion, glancing weakly at Billy. As blunt as his words were, it was true.. she couldn't possibly bring herself to answer their questions, even if she was in the best of conditions....

He smiled faintly, "Forgive their curiousness. Are you all right?"

Daytai slowly turned her gaze towards the fire, burning so brightly and wildly yet yielding so little precious warmth, "I... I'm fine. I don't think I'll ever be dry again, though...." She forced a small, weak smile.

A long pause followed. At the moment, it didn't even bother Daytai. She was in so much pain and misery for the moment, and she was hardly in the mood to converse. In fact, it seemed like a small miracle that she was able to do so at all.

"......Just what happened out there?" He asked quietly, carefully, "All of the children only speak of you as in myths and simple fairy tales." He shook his head lightly, "Besides, even if half of what they said was true, you most certainly didn't have to put yourself in danger like that.. Its bad enough to worry for the children. I didn't need you to go out there and endanger yourself so senselessly....."

She frowned slightly, "Yes, I did."

"What....?"

Daytai gave a quiet, soft sigh, "I had to go. I had this feeling, this pull in the back of my mind.... I had to go out there. I had to do something. My means of doing it were simply inefficient and slightly out of the ordinary. But of everything, I certainly I don't need you to protect me, nor do I need you to scold me. I helped. That's all I could do and all I wanted to. And I may of done some good with that, however little.. So there should be no reason to be cross with me...."

"Perhaps....," The word trailed off lightly, without any sort of true end, his face bound as if in thought as the silence returned.

Daytai's could not possibly respond. Her thoughts were angered, her body paralyzed. The words would not come, the ideas would not form, and finally she simply gave up, and her undivided attention was turned on the fire. She glared at it, peered deep into it, willed it to flare up with an acceptable warmth. She tried desperately to pull the dampness away from her skin, to let that indefinite warmth fill her. Never before had she been so terribly frigid. And yet, her pleading thoughts did little good to aid fire; did nothing to cease the freezing, drenched feeling which invaded every part of her body.

Her mind ceased to think, she ceased to feel. There was only the chill, the terrible, unceasing freeze that enveloped her entire being. With a gentle fluttering of her eyes, she simply coughed once, weakly, and closed her eyes, her body sagging, half-collapsed upon the floor on which she sat, "....Tired...."

"D-Daytai?!"

"TASHI! What's wrong, Tashi?"

".....Her face is so blue...."

"Oh, Dear God...."

* * *

Its so cold here, Mother....

I remember this pain....

I remember this agony..

But you were always there to comfort me then...

Mother, I'm so alone...

I can't take this pain by myself...

Why did you have to go away?



Silly child.

You decided your fate for yourself.

You could of been protected, been saved...

If only you had gone with your -Truth-.



......There is no Truth!

Not now, not ever.

Its only a jest, a ploy, a lie.

And it cost me so much...

Tell me, why do you cry out against me?

Are you my -Truth-?

Are you my foe?

Who are you?



I am me, as much as you are you.

I am here, ever and always with you, foolish child.

But you are still alone.



That made things no more clear. Why do you not answer me?

Tell me your name!



I answered the question you asked.

I spoke what you longed to hear.

I am no enemy of yours, Child.

I am nothing.

You are dreaming, Little One.



What? But....



Dream, child.

Only then will you survive.

Dream.

Softly, she groaned, caught in a sort of uneasy path between the misery of life and the torments of sleep.

Wrapped in numerous blankets, huddled up upon her aged bed, she laid, looking for all her appearance a wreck, her face torn in the vivacity of her dreams, tears falling down her young face.

And those eyes looked down upon her, full of a sort of curious worry and an uneasy fear.

Child after child, group after group. Soul after soul had stood there, watching, eyes full of horror as they watched the pained young lady. A simple childwatcher, a common young lady.. For all her attempts, she had tried to be innocent and forgotten, and yet in her moment of need, even the children which knew her the least could not help but turn away in sadness at the sorrow, the fear, and the pain upon her face.

Everyone had a different reaction. Some simply mourned, others cried. Primera's eyes had mirrored the pain on the young lady's face, reading it as if she could see far clearer than any other child of the orphanage. She had fled the room with a horrified face, although the reaction was not by any stretch unique. The enflamed, pure emotion on Daytai's face had that sort of moving effect.

The surviving children who had sought their things blamed themselves with guilt, while even Billy felt a very similar reaction. Somehow, staring at her face made any and all fill with a need to protect her, to somehow find a way to place the blame of her actions on themselves, on the world, on anyone but the tormented girl before them.

And despite their sorrows, despite their guilt, nothing seemed to wake the girl from her nightmarish rest.

There was only darkness, only sorrow.

Nothing more.

None could tell what was destined to happen.

All they could do was fear and fret.

They couldn't possibly of known....

That finally, the -Truth- had gained the foothold it needed to emerge.