Night Call - 1. Chapter 1

He looked around as he ran across the parking lot. His body a black shape in the night. Barely seen but not noticed. He looked around when he stopped and he sat down on a small curb. The man was waiting. He wasn’t there yet and the man was worried. He was never late. He was always there when it happened but not tonight. The other man was far off dealing with some other person. But the man waiting didn’t know this he sat there and waited, even though he knew what could happen to him if he wasn’t careful. But the man had taken every precaution he knew. He sat there, on the curb, for another five minutes before he decided to head back.

“Come to me, all my children. Come to the sweet source.” The man heard the tune before he could hear the song’s words. He ran even faster knowing that he might not make it back. The words almost made him stay, but he had trained against a Calling many times.

“Follow the paths, make the turns, run as fast as you can, but you’ll never learn.” The words were louder now and the Calling was stronger now. He didn’t look back as he ran. He could hear the voice as he ran. The voice was drowning out everything except the wind passing by his ears. He exerted so much strength in order not to listen to such a powerful Calling but the strain on his body made it a little easier to ignore the song.

“Return to our world, come to be sent back, never have we meant to be here, but still you wish to stay.” He could make out the voice a little better, but that scared him it was coming closer and if he didn’t get out fast enough he wasn’t going to be much longer. It was a female voice but he could also hear an underlining male song hidden in it’s lyrics.

“Never come back, stay as long as you can, to all my strength can give, let them wander in this forest until they are ready, ready to make their own homes.” The song was giving the man courage and strength. He tried to memorize the voice as he ran, he was starting to be able to tune the other voice out now. The Calling’s were canceling each other out. The female’s voice came to an abrupt stop while the man’s continued to call out across the night. The humans couldn’t hear any of the songs but they could feel their influence. All the animals could understand the words and they were frightened. They howled and hissed at the darkness in which they could see. They may have belonged to the human darkness but they never belonged to the Night. The sounds that should have only been heard in the darkest of human nightmares could be heard by every inhabitant of the Night and anything that held connection to it. The sounds made the man’s hair stand on end. But through all the sounds and the fluxes in power the man sang. The man stopped running and turned around. He didn’t dare to move closer to the sounds but he let his own voice Call out into the human night.

“The you my strength can go, the one how saved it from the fire, to you my unknown companion.” He sung until he was starting to feel the stress he was putting on his body from the energy consumption. The man’s voice became more louder and he belted out the words.

“Night gives me, you can take, give to the Night all of it’s power, a song of power, music to sooth it’s appetite.”

The other man’s voice increased in volume and power. The man as channeled his power to the other. A sign of thanks.

“ From darkness we are born, we live our lives burned by the light, Night gives us strength, Dusk gives us travel, and to you they can never hold.” The other man Called out in return. The man drew strength from the Night. He walked into Dusk. The world between Night and Day. He wanted to find the fight. He let the Dusk give him power but he felt as his memories were pulled forcefully removed from his mind. He soon forgot what he ate yesterday and soon the memories became more big. He couldn’t remember his last birthday but he could feel himself fill with Dusk’s energy. That was more important. Within the next couple of days the Dusk would return the memories as the man spent the power it lent him. The man knew well of the pact he was making with the Dusk but he needed it, he needed to protect. It was what he was born to do. He was a Guardian not a Runner. He walked thought Dusk, as he made his way towards the disturbance. He could see the excess energy that had gathered around the two Fighters. He ran across the street. Even in Dusk he could hear the man’s Calling.

The man ran up through the gateway into the park. The two Fighters were standing near the fountain, their auras directly combating in the air around them, her bright yellow flaring around her body. The man’s purplish black was creeping along the edges of the female’s. It’s winding tendrils weaving itself into the yellow light.

The man walked onto the fighting field calmly. They couldn’t hurt him with the level of power he had but he couldn’t fight them directly unless they fought him first for that was what a Guardian could do. They were they judges of the Fights. The Fighters looked at him as he walked onto the grass. It’s color fading quickly as the Dusk soon approached Night. The excess energy was drawing them into the Night. Fighters were the ones who could fight over territories or over disputes. They were the most volatile and they could hurt anyone. But with Fights came the Laws. They couldn’t harm any humans during the Fights, which was why the Fights were always fought in Dusk. They weren’t able to harm any one who couldn’t find their way into Dusk and if they could the they weren’t completely human. So they were fair game. That was the only real rule. The man stood between them and looked at the girl. She was watching him with utter disdain, she knew he was the man she was hunting before. The man on the other hand was looking at him with interest.

“You came back?” His voice sparkled with amazement and life. The man walked slightly towards the Guardian, His aura creeping along the ground weaving itself into his as well as the girl’s. The Guardian’s aura was a misty silver. Laced with white and gray radiating from him like a cloud of rain.

The girl was furious and she launched forward at the man. Her fingers spread out like she had claws. Her aura flashed brightly and filled the Dusk with it’s sulphuric glow. The man turned back as fast as he could towards he. His hands pushed out at her using his power to make a small shield. She flung herself at it trying to break the small bubble of power. He was running out of energy and you could see it. His aura was slowly growing dimmer and the Dusk was leaching away at his body, he was dissipating but the girl was still as strong as ever. The Guardian couldn’t stand to see this. He jumped in the way and the girl hit him. He could feel her power pulse through his body and he looked down. He aura had blasted its way through his and was sparking on his skin. He was venerable. The girl smiled evilly and she backed up. The man threw down his shield and ran forwards. His remaining aura trying to repair the gapping hole in the Guardian’s. The Guardian looked up his own body finally vanishing into the Dusk. He was returning back home to the Night. The man over him was also dying. The Guardian smiled. He knew that people would wonder what happened to him, but he would be gone. He looked up into the man’s eyes once more. “Thank you,” was the last thing he said as his body faded away forever. The man was fading as well but he watched helpless as the Guardian’s body faded back to the Night. He looked up at the girl who was watching them with a devious grin. The man watched as the threads of the Guardian’s aura were whipped up by the spectral winds and spread across the Night sky. He stood as the last remnants fell from his hands like grains of sand.

He moved forward, suddenly given a rush of strength from the ether. His aura flared again and reached out around hers. It started to close in and it was strangling hers. He man smiled evilly, his mind almost gone. He tightened his grip on her and her aura was slowly destroyed.

She was fading slower than the man but the man knew that she would fade either way. He turned away from her and towards the spot where the Guardian had died. He walked over and kneeled down at the spot. He wrapped his aura around him and let himself vanish. The Night pulled his soul back to it’s home. As a ball of the man’s coiling aura reformed into a man once more it walked into a group of people.

He looked out over the people and saw the Guardian. He was fully formed and returned to a glory that looked divine. The Guardian put his hand out and welcomed the man. The man took his hand and the lights faded and only the man and the Guardian were left. The Guardian looked at the man and smiled.

“Thank you.” He said pulling the man along as they both faded into the fiery stars above.