Awakening Anew

DuskRaven

Bookworm with a pen
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
MYTHICAL MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. Multiple posts per week
  3. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Futanari
  4. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Fantasy, romance, yaoi/yuri, vampires (non-twilight vampires preferred) though right now I'm VERY interested in finding a romance fantasy
She was sitting in a tattoo parlor, waiting for the tattooist to turn around with the needle. She swallowed back a little bit of fear and focused on breathing. She had chosen the design--a butterfly made of flames and water. She was technically 18 according to her license since it only said that she became 18 on this day.

She turned brown eyes up at the clock on the wall and fidgeted. 3:42 pm. She had 8 minutes before she would become 18 truly. The tattooist sure was taking a long time. She looked up at the clock as it ticked away. 6 minutes left.

She was starting to debate if she really wanted this damned tattoo when the artist turned around and started to do his work. She looked away and bit her lip to keep from whimpering a little at the pain of the tattoo. It was on the inside of her left wrist--small but beautiful as she watched the design take place.

She flicked her eyes to the clock again and held her breath. 2 minutes. she closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm herself. When she stopped feeling the needle poking her skin, Yumi Refesti opened her eyes and looked at the clock. 3:50 and 10 seconds. She grinned as the tattooist wrapped her hand in a gauze so that the newly done tattoo was protected from the outside air. She felt something tickle at her but she couldn't really reach it. After she was told she could go out, she walked out of the parlor and stretched.

"Well Yumi, you don't have to run any more," she told herself and walked down the town's sidewalk with a bright smile on her face. She felt her hair play with the wind and fly behind her. Her baggy black pants rested on her hips as her blue button up shirt sat upon shoulders as a black tank beneath hid her skin from view. She did a little victory dance in the sidewalk before walking on. She could hear the jangles of her earrings as they clanked together--two on each ear and then an earcuff in the shape of a snake adorned her left ear while her right had just the two matching. She was finally 18 years old.
 
Shrouded in pure darkness, he waited. Eye's peering on and about in the dark world he'd surrounded himself in. Seeking little attention from others, if any at all. He had chosen to be alone, secluded in his dark world awaiting his time. Chosen to serve another as a way to redeem himself from a life of past crimes.

Ticking had begun in his dark world, a sign that his time to leave was soon approaching. Behind him his tail slowly swayed back and forth, anxious to be removed from the darkness and returned to the world he so remembered. His eyes blinked shut for a moment, listening to the noise that echoed through the darkness. A countdown had begun, one of which he would be forced to help another just to gain his freedom.

His eyes flashed open as the ticking grew louder, the seconds beginning to fade away quickly. The clock had finally run it's course. 18 years of waiting were over, he would be forced to step back into a world he was once so familiar with. Thoughts of what he could do ran through his mind. The freedom he'd been so eagerly waiting for was knocking, ready to greet him once more. A dark smirk played across his lips as the darkness faded and the world he was to be apart of once more came into view.

With sinister thoughts playing through his mind, he readied to step away and out of such a clouded reality. Locked away from the world of the living.

"Cero." A voice called out to him, freezing him in mid step. "You must teach her, and protect her. You're bond to it."

"Blah blah blah," he hissed out, growling at the face he'd never once truly seen. It had always only been a voice that entered his secluded place, his time away. The only thing that could pierce his dark mysterious world, hidden away from all other curious eyes. "I know the deal."
 
The new adult pranced through the park that she loved in her new town and twirled with a laugh. It felt like she was free. It surprised the young woman how much knowing you no longer had to fight against police for being a 'run away' because you were of age could lighten a person's heart. Despite her happy making, she was constantly aware of her surroundings. How many times had she let her guard down for a moment and nearly gotten taken back to her god-awful adoptive parents? With that thing in mind she turned and looked around her just to make sure.

When she was sure that no one was watching she jumped up onto the edge of a fountain and spun on the balls of her feet around the edge. Other patrons of the park watched her like she was crazy as she jumped down and continued to walk down the path that led deeper into the park. When she was sure that she was alone completely, she slipped off onto a dirt path and moved through the trees until she found her camp. Set within a deserted part of park, her pack sat inside a cave that offered little protection from the elements. She pulled out the remains of her paycheck--$32.43, and put it in her pack with the rest of the money she had saved up. She laid down and held her arm up to inspect it. pulling the bandage away she grinned as she looked at the butterfly. She was so used to never being interrupted here that she actually released her tense form to just look at her tattoo.
 
Feeling his control return, he noticed the sudden change in surroundings of the image before him. Grumbling under his breath, he stepped on again inhaling deeply the fresh scents of a free world. A chill ran down his spine, giving him a small case of goose bumps as he walked forward. The light of the world fading once again, taking him to where he needed to be. He only grunted, rolling his eyes as he caught the scent of the girl he was sent out for.

Scoffing at her clueless and relaxed position, he stood a ways back in the darkness. Taking a keen look at the marking she'd obviously just received. Her intrigued look only irritated him more as he began to step forward once more. Stopping only once he felt a tingling sensation on his wrist, causing him great suspicion as he slowly moved to take a look.

There it was, plain as day on his wrist. The same tattoo the girl was so eagerly examining on her own wrist. His eyes widened, irritation and anger quickly spreading across his normally expressionless face. "Damn, why the hell did it have to be a butterfly," he shouted out from behind her. After a moment of pure irritation, he stepped out from the shadows, trying to hide the mark by shoving his hand in his pocket.
 
Yumi scrambled to her feet, backing away from the figure that appeared out of the shadows. Her mouth dropped open as she saw a tail that moved. It might not have been such a shock if it just hung there lifeless--she could have shrugged it off as some kind of cosplay fanatic that wanted to be a --a what?

"How-How did you find this place? No one comes here." the woman said, backing away from the figure. Her brown eyes flicked around, trying to see if anyone else had discovered her place of hiding. She made sure that as she backed up she inched towards her pack and the cave it was hidden in. A cave was a lot easier to defend after all. For all she knew this was a crazed serial rapist killer or something like that. After all, why would he be demanding why something had to be a butterfly? His angered look only made her worry more. Had she taken this place from someone who had been traveling?

No when she'd found the clearing the grass around the cave had been undisturbed--growing at it's will. "Who are you?"
 
"What the hell kid? Relax," he scoffed out through his irritation, looking at the girls surroundings with a bit of disgust. "And I thought my place was a dump." He took a few steps forward, examining the rock walls that surrounded her little 'home' wondering how anyone could stay in such a place. He'd seen himself as a high class guy, either having everything or in the process of it. Rolling his eyes once more, he ran a hand through his dark green hair. Pushing the strands that crowded his site out of his way so he could once again see clearly. He locked his bright yellow eyes on her, running his split serpent like tongue over his teeth.

Examining her get up, his eyes trailed up and down her body, the expressionless look returning to him once more. "Names Cero. Pronounced sero, I'm your familiar." He was blunt with his answer, not concerning himself with any details. Never having done this, he'd gone ahead and assumed the girl knew the entire situation and his purpose with her.
 
"You-You are my what?" Yumi asked, her eyes flicking form his green hair to bright yellow eyes and then to where she had seen a serpent like tongue a moment before. She kept backing up until her foot tapped the pack. "Look buddie, I don't know what kind of drugs you are on or what, but just stay away from me okay? I was here first; this is my home. Go find some other place to sleep the side effects off." It was safe, Yumi assumed, to believe that the guy was on drugs. After all--who had ever heard of a human with a tail, green hair, serpent tongue and yellow eyes? No one that she knew of. She bent over, her eyes never leaving the man. Her hand rummaged in her bag until it felt the can of pepper spray that she had for just these kinds of situations. She pulled it out and held it at her side.

Her eyes were no long frightened and had a fire burning in them that warned anyone that she was not going to just let someone come in and walk all over her. She unconsciously shifted her weight in case the man attacked she'd be in a better position to defend herself. Yumi just prayed that he wouldn't grab her wrist.
 
His eyebrow twitched as he tried to control his anger. They'd put him on the case of a foolish kid who knew nothing of herself or her heritage. With his short temper and foul attitude he knew it was a bad mix already. Grunting, he took a step back, putting two fingers to his temples. He was silent as he rubbed his temples to try and calm himself, knowing lashing out on the kid would only earn him another case of waiting 18 more years for another clueless kid to try and fight him. Besides the quiet mumbling he was doing, he said nothing to the girl. Trying to think over an approach that could be made to ease his situation in some way.

"Ok, let's try this again. You are a witch." He spoke slowly, obviously mocking the girl in numerous ways as he spoke to her. "As a witch, you get a familiar. Do you follow me? I'm your familiar." The way he moved his hands, the small gestures he made as he pointed to her, and himself whenever one or the other was spoken of. It was all his way of mocking the girl, calling her stupid without verbally saying it. Once he finished he stood up straight once again, returning his hands to the pockets of his long black coat.
 
Yumi raised her eyebrows and watched as he tried to explain in a mocking way to her his illusions. She waited until he was done 'explaining' before cracking a grin. "So, basically what you are saying is that I can do spells and stuff? Man, you... must be having some kind of mad trip. I'm sorry, I'm not a witch. Maybe we should get you to the hospital and make sure you are okay? Your eyes are kind of funky and that might be a problem with the drugs," she said, though she made no movement to go and help him out of her cave. She couldn't yell at him to leave her alone because that might just end up frightening him more, or worst, make him so angry he'd attack.

"I don't know where you got this idea that I'm a witch, but I'm sorry to inform you that I'm not. I can't make things happen by saying spells or anything. Believe I tried making my adopted parents disappear once through a spell I found online but it didn't work," Yumi said, before backing up so that her back rested against the rock wall. She had to admit that the tail and the tongue were strange, but the tail could be moved by mechanics and the tongue could have been cut purposefully. His eyes were a little harder for her to rationalize--how many people had yellow eyes? But she refused to let this nut ruin her birthday. It wasn't going to happen. "Here, I'll show you, do you want me to try and make something disappear or make something float? Anything I can do to show you that I'm not a witch?"
 
Growling, he smacked his hand to his forehead. Unsure if he was more annoyed with her idiocy, or the faceless echo that proposed this idea to him. Now he was forced to teach a child who knew nothing of herself, and even more so. He was teaching her something he had little experience with. There was little to no magic on his end, just the ability to shift into only one other kind of animal. No control over elements, no summoning spells, or whatever these witches happened to be able to do. Yet still, he was the one stuck with the powerless witch.

His yellow eyes were fixated on her, unchanging and unmovable as he watched and listened to the girl speak. "First off, I'm not on drugs. I'm a shape shifter, a basilisk to specify, and you, my moronic friend are a witch. Now go ahead and try something and prove me right please." He took a seat on the ground, crossing his arms and legs as he watched her. Annoyed by his tail for the time being, he made it vanish, taking his full human form minus his yellow eyes and green hair.
 
Yumi squeaked as the tail the man had disappeared. She wanted to climb the earthen wall like a spider to get away from the freak in front of her. "You-Your-It-" She stammered before sliding down the side of the wall to stare at him open mouthed. Her gaze moved from his eyes to where the tail had been not a second before. Something tickled at the back of her senses and she grasped at it, throwing whatever it was at the strange creature. The water from a bottle she had shot out of the plastic material and went sailing at the basilisk, hitting him in the face.

Yumi covered her mouth and stared. Fright of what had just happened turned slowly into the urge to laugh. She tried to keep herself from laughing but it was not working right. Giggles came from her mouth as she sat there, the pepper spray sat forgotten on the ground next to her. "I am-" she had been about to say that she was sorry for throwing water in his face. Did that mean that she had? Her laughter died off and she just stared at him like he was some kind of strange specimen.

"I did that?" she squeaked out, all traces of laughter gone, the fright of what was going on returning, making her stiffen where she sat.
 
He watched her reaction for a few seconds, amazed that she was shocked in the least seeing as he had just explained to her what he was. Growling, he closed his eyes, trying to keep from snapping one to many times at the girl. "Look, I just to--" He was cut off by the sudden collision of water in his face. With a twitch and a large amount of control, he simply wiped the water off of his face with his sleeve. Shaking any drops that rested in his hair out as best he could.

With a low grumble and a small hiss, he peered up at the girl, obvious irritation written with his every action. As he watched her his anger only seemed to build up into rage. His only release the small trembling throughout his body as he restrained from biting her head off. "So glad you're entertained," he growled out, shaking a few more drops of water from his hair. "Now that you've proven my point, can we move on please?"
 
Yumi sat there stunned. She opened her mouth a few times to answer but only remained quiet for a good minute and a half before looking down at her tattoo. She poked it and winced. No, no it wasn't a dream. The area that had been printed on was still painful as ever. Then she looked back up at him and thought very hard about this. "Shouldn't I be dead?" she suddenly asked, tilting her head to the side. "I've read that basilisks turn people into stone with their gaze. If you are part basilisk, should I be dead or at least turned to stone?"

She didn't really believe the turning to stone thing, but before ten minutes ago she didn't believe in witches and wizard either and here she was throwing water at a man's face. "And what are you even supposed to do here? What is your function?" she asked with a frown. Was a familiar some kind of lame term for a teacher?
 
Cero basked in the silence, taking in what he believed to be his last moments of peace. Of course his silence didn't last as long as he'd hoped, interrupted by the girl, proving her ignorance to him once more. "What the hell? You've got your creatures all mixed up," he grunted out, shifting to a more comfortable position as he spoke. His arm sat perched up on his knee now, he other leg laying comfortably before him. "Granted, the glare of a basilisk can stun you, but it's the breath that kills you. Gorgons are the unlucky ones. The second they look another person in the eye that person will be turned to stone. They're forced to be alone, basilisk choose to be alone."

He let out a sigh, mixing itself with a small hiss as he looked the girl in the eye once more. "I'm your familiar. I help you, and in this case teach you. I assumed, once the job was offered to me, I'd be helping you by training with you. But no, I babysit, and I have to teach what I barely know of anyway. I'm pretty much your partner, I'm by your side... permanently." The last word was a challenge for him to scarf out. The idea was unappealing to him in every way. The thought of being free, yet trapped all at the same time.
 
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> Yumi stared at him, though she made a point of not looking at his eyes anymore. She had to admit his coat looked nice. Closing her eyes to give her a moment to comprehend the finality of his words, Yumi tried to imagine having this man next to her… forever.

She shuddered at the idea and looked at him again. “So, I get to put up with you and your horrible attitude until I die of old age or however I’ll die? Simply because I can do magic?” she asked before pushing herself up and collecting her pack and slinging it up over her shoulder. Then she stomped away out of the cave. “Sorry, but I don’t have any plans on dealing with you and your snide remarks. You are a pain in my back already. Thanks but no thanks. Not that I even believe in magic or anything.” She was almost out of the cave when she stopped and looked back at him a sudden thought coming to her.

“What’ll happen to you if I refuse to hang out with you? Do you go poof or something?”
 
He kept his remarks about her idiocy to himself. Everything she said seemed to irritate him, his foul mood only getting worse as she whined about being stuck with him. Not that his opinion was much different. He took the young girl as an idiot. Figuring she understood little, to nothing. He was trapped in a bad situation either way, the only bonus being that he was out, back into the world of the living.

Peering up at her with fond annoyance, he shrugged his answer out. "Like I know. I've never been in a situation like this." Getting to his feet, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, revealing the mark on his wrist. A mark he wished had never appeared so he could have walked away from the situation without looking back. "As a familiar I guess, I'm suppose to get a mark that represents me as being yours." He sighed at the thought, never finding the idea of being made out as property to be appealing.
 
Yumi looked at his wrist in curiosity and then at her own wrist. "It's supposed to represent the balance between fire and water. I didn't feel like having a Yin-Yang sign in water and fire so I went with the next best thing that represented change--a butterfly. Had I known I would be putting it on another person like you I would have gotten it somewhere else," she explained before giving a sigh. IT wasn't like he had any more choice than she did. "So from the way you showed up and started talking, I'm going to assume that had I known my original birth parents one of them or both would have told me about this little gift before now. But since they aren't here, where do we start? I don't know how I threw the water at you."

The young witch was putting her pack down and preparing to sit when noises could be heard coming her way.


"I swear I saw her come this way. She looked just like the girl on the bulletin," came an unfamiliar voice and then several other's talking about the cave as a possible hiding spot for the runaway. She gaped at the path that would lead out of the clearing. She was 18! She should be free from this sort of things. Scrambling to pull her pack on she grabbed the basilisk's wrist and pulled him after her as she headed away from the voices. "Come on, I don't want to drag you out of here, run" she hissed before releasing his wrist and dashing forward.
 
(I'm back! I'm sorry, a lot was going on, then our net was down for a little while. I'm so sorry >.<)

Cero crossed his arms, a look of pure annoyance still gleaming in his eyes. The girl seemed to talk a lot, while he ultimately preferred the silence. With a sigh, he opened his mouth to speak, only to be silence by more talk from the girl. "How the hell should I know anything about your parents. They probably weren't even magic users. It tends to skip a few generations." He simple shrugged, running a hand through his hair as to brush it out of his face.

He peered over his shoulder as he heard the shuffling of feet not to far off as they approached the two. His expressionless face remained so as he turned back to face the girl, watching the panic rise in her. "What the--" He stumbled forward as he was dragged behind her, his claws and tail appearing as an instinct. Hissing back at her, he stood up straight to dust himself off. Rolling his eyes he rushed after her, unknowing of the situation at hand. "What the hell is going on kid?"
 
(Don't worry about it. :) I can totally understand the busy-ness.)

Yumi wasn't going to stop running just because he asked her a question. She kept running. She hopped over logs, ducked branches and jumped over a fence as if the wind was pushing her on. She looked over her shoulder a few times, fear evident on her features before she'd look forward again and continue running. Deeper into the forest she led them, only stopping when she could only hear a stream nearby and her crashing feet and pounding heart. And then she only stopped because she tripped over a high log and went sprawling across the leaf covered floor. Closing her eyes as she laid there she waited. No one was coming.

breathing hard she pushed herself up and stumbled towards the water source. there she dunked her head under the water to cool down before cupping some water in her hands and drinking it. "Technically until an hour and a half ago I was a runaway," she finally explained. "They will probably still try to take me in but I'd rather the adoptive parents didn't know where I was. It is safer for me that way." Yumi pushed herself up before sitting back down quickly. Her legs were tired and were trembling too much to keep her standing.
 
Cero let out a growl of irritation as he chased after the girl, his tail trailing behind him. The array of obstacles only seemed to agitate him further, his tail smashing into a few things. His tail vanish as he stopped, watching the girl stumble forward over a log. Standing behind it, his hands behind his head, he stared down at her. "Geeze." He scoffed out, blowing a few strands of hair out of his eyes.

Stepping over the log, he walked calmly over to her. Watching her dip her head under the water for a moment. He seemed unconcerned as always, taking little to no interest in the girls apparent freak out. "Until an hour and a half ago?" Cero seemed highly unamused, and un-curious toward the whole subject. Only speaking about it in hopes of finding an easy way out.