A Moonless Night

"When the moon shrouds in ethereal cloak, and stars align in a celestial stroke,

Bound by fate, five otherworlders shall emerge. Blessings of the nine gods, and nine deities will be bestowed.

Beware the silence. The hushed nocturne for darkness wakes to unleash chaos and destruction.

When the final hour dawns, a choice shall be made, between salvation and the fifth's blade of oblivion.

The prophesy's purpose, the story yet untold." A written prophecy, prophesied by the eye of the gods; an esteemed member of the Oracles.

*****

On this windy night, the moonlight cast a beautiful glow over a vast and magical industrial city. The air was warm, and the streets was in chaos, as most people sought refuge, desperately trying to escape the series of explosions that happened around this magical city. The stars shimmered brilliantly in the velvety black sky, providing a stark contrast to the pandemonium happening below.

Watching all this, from a tall building, was a young man in a black suit, black gloves, and an equally long black overcoat, which swayed gently with the winds of the night.

This young man had an indifferent expression on his pale handsome face, as he silently watched the disorder happening in the city. His blue eyes were cold and distant, devoid of any emotion. And regardless of all the chaos, the young man was deep in thought.

Soon joining the young man at the top of the building, were five other people, cladded in the purest of black.

"My Lord. We've destroyed all the secret hideouts of the vile cult of taboos. We await your orders." One of the people in black said, while bowing slightly.

The young man was silent for a while. He then looked at the bright moon, as the gentle wind caressed his jet black hair. He said,

"Good. Let's proceed as planned."

With that said, the young man pulled out a strange white mask from his overcoat, concealed his handsome face, and jumped down the building, heading straight into the chaos below.

Zalfick Morver, was the name of this young man. And to understand his story, we have to start from the very beginning. To the day of a moonless night.

*****

'… My life is so damn boring.' Aiden thought, as he was bullied in front of the classroom.

He looked at the three students responsible for his bullying, not with hate, but with a bored look, filled with lack of interest and care.

'Why is everything just so simple and mundane?' Aiden further asked himself.

"Did you just glare at me, you pathetic wimp?!!" One of the bullies asked, before punching Aiden on the face.

"I can't believe he had the nerve to even look us in the eye." Another bully said, as he pushed him to the ground, and delivered a painful kick to his stomach.

Aiden groaned in pain, while clutching his stomach. The kick was painful indeed, but what pained him the most, was the fact that he was also mundane and ordinary, just like the rest of the students currently watching him in the classroom.

"Hey wimp, do well to remember this. The next time we tell you to give us your allowance money, and you refuse… huh, believe me, the pain will be much, much worse. Come on guys, let's go." Said the third bully, as he turned and walked out of the classroom.

The other bullies glared at Aiden, before walking out of the classroom as well.

'Well, that wasn't so bad. Though they still took all my allowance money. Crap, I was planning on using that money to buy a new video game.' Aiden thought, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"…Oh well. I guess I'll just have to replay my old games." He said, as he stood up, and sluggishly walked back to his seat, at the back of the classroom.

As Aiden sat down, he noticed that his fellow students, were all looking at him with pity. That's the only thing they could do anyway, since no one was going to stand up for him. They wouldn't want to become the new targets of the bullies after all. Aiden didn't really care about that though.

He just wanted school to be over for the day, so that he can rush home and play his video games. So, Aiden ignored the pitiful looks from his classmates, and simply closed his eyes, feeling extremely bored, and a little bit resentful. In truth, he hated reality.

Aiden hated reality, not because of how cruel and harsh reality can be, but because of how plain, ordinary, and mundane reality actually is. And because of this, Aiden became a video game addict, as a desperate attempt to escape this boring reality.

To him, video games were the only thing that gave him a very little sense of the extraordinary. However, even video games weren't enough. Aiden wanted to experience so much more. He wanted to truly experience the supernatural, the wondrous unknown mysteries. He wanted to experience the feeling of being transcendent.

Well, that's just his wishful thinking. Those kinds of things don't exist. That's basically why they are called myths or fantasies, that are unrestricted by reality.

Aiden sighed once more.

'Let's see… after lunch, we have three more hours to dismissal. Which video game should I play when I get home?' He thoughtfully asked himself.

A couple of hours later…

Aiden could be seen walking home from school. His house was quite close to the school. Basically, they were just a few blocks away. So It didn't take long to arrive at his house.

Aiden entered his messy and gloomy room, switched on his game console, and happily began to play his action fantasy video games. He quickly lost track of time, and played for several hours.

And by the time he was done playing, it was already late at night.

"I think that's enough for today. I still have to go to school tomorrow after all." Aiden said, as he stretched lazily.

He switched off his console, and walked over to his closet to change into a comfortable pajamas. When he was done changing, he noticed that his window was open, letting in the chill wind of the night.

'Tonight Is a bit windy, huh.' Aiden thought, as he walked towards his window.

On reaching the window, Aiden looked out into the starry night sky. There were a lot more stars in the sky than usual. And for some unknown reason, the moon was also nowhere to be seen.

"Hmmm… that's weird." Aiden said, as he closed his window.

Yawning tiredly, he fell to his bed. That was the end of another cycle. Another boring day cycle.

'… Well, the world might be boring, but at least I'm alive. I guess things could be much worse. Still... when will this cycle… end' Aiden thought, as he drifted off to sleep.