Chapter 1 - Ayamon Elias

Caline - Argot District Three

-knock- -knock- -knock-

Awoken from his sleep by three sharp raps on his door, Ayamon was understandably frustrated. It had barely struck the third hour of the morning, yet someone felt something was so important as to interrupt his sleep. As leader of The Argotian branch of the Rai Jin High Council's faction, his days tended to be long and filled with tedious work, so he was never happy to be disturbed during his time away from his office.

Reluctantly, Ayamon sat up in his bed, rubbed his eyes with his palms to remove the sleep, and answered the door.

"Who's there?"

"Master Ayamon," the voice at the door belonged to Benjamin White, his second in command, "I have urgent news."

"Give me a moment." Ayamon called out while, in his mind, letting out a sigh. He did not like to be seen before taking care of himself, so, he headed into his bathroom grabbing clothes on the way. After quickly showering and cleaning his teeth, he tied his long black dreadlocks into a ponytail, moisturized his dark brown skin, and returned to the open the front door.

Despite the amount of time it took him to meet Benjamin at the door, he was teeming with impatience. His arms crossed, his foot tapping a steady beat, Ayamon gave his second in command a daunting expression.

"Be quick about it, Benjamin," he said quietly. He made no attempt to straighten his face or shoulders to hide his lack of sleep. His second in command was one of the few which whom he could relax and be himself.

"Sir," he said, pausing as if struggling to word his next statement correctly. "I've received a report from Nova in Ku Yong. He says Dr. Hajib Bajir is to be publicly executed shortly by the Ku Yong Empire."

"Shame." Aya replied shortly. Though he admired the doctor's work, he had not known him personally. Rai Jin of high status were all aware of the doctor. His movements were monitored closely by them all before his imprisonment.

"Sir, Nova is requesting permission from the Council to extract the doctor during the execution." Benjamin finished his report.

"Request denied."

Benjamin was clearly surprised by his leader's response. "Sir, wouldn't it be best to consult the Council before making a decision alone?" he asked carefully.

"Have you forgotten that I am a member of the Council?" Ayamon responded impatiently, his voice rising. "Hajib's rescue would mean the exposure of Rai Jin to the human race in a way that would more than likely incite a war. I won't risk it. And, the Council would agree."

"Yes, sir." Benjamin gave a swift bow, a sign of respect in Argot, and took his leave. Ayamon closed his door, returned to his room, and sat on his bed, gently rubbing his temples to alleviate the migraine building in his brain.

Dr. Bajir was a man with the intelligence and resources to achieve his goal of changing Caust for the better. However, his goal would've ultimately resulted in the undoing of Rai Jin society, which was why Ayamon was not particularly troubled by his execution. In Ayamon's eyes, a human of his status with full knowledge of Rai Jin was nothing less than a threat to their very way of life.

Nova was Master of Ku Yong's Rai Jin Branch. Despite working his way up to a position to lead his own Branch in the faction he had not yet gained a seat on the Rai Jin High Council, the Rai Jin race's own elected government. He was a headstrong man. Older than Ayamon by a few hundred years, but in many ways much less mature.

Ayamon had always seen him as an irrational, emotional creature. He was sure if given permission to rescue Dr. Bajir, he would expose Rai Jin in a way that would cause conflict. Given the state of the world, which was now going to begin recovering from the effects of war, conflict was the very last thing needed.

Despite laying there for several hours, Ayamon couldn't get back to sleep, so he sat up and turned on his radio transmission receiver, and flipped through the various stations. He stopped when he reached a news outlet channel. He wasn't one for listening to these stations. There tended to be more bad news than good, and after living for nearly six hundred he'd heard more than enough bad news.

"-dark red cloud that has been spreading across the sea from Jitania." The reporter, her Abian accent thick, continued her report.

It was the dark red cloud she was describing when he came across the station grasped Ayamon's attention. He knew what it was she spoke of.

"Though we have not yet confirmed it, we believe the origin of the cloud to be Black Peak Mountain, the inactive volcano in the center region of Jitania. Scholars and scientists from all over Abia are at work, searching for any clue of what this cloud might be. It is spreading rapidly, having already crossed half the ocean, and from what we can tell it is spreading in all directions around the world," the reporter continued.

As if he didn't believe her words to be true, Ayamon abruptly stood from his bed, and hustled to the nearest window. Argot was a country in the southern region of Caline, a continent just north of Jitania. The two were separated by a small ocean.

Ayamon had traveled the world enough to know that the distance between Argot and Jitania was less than half the distance between Jitania and Abia. If the cloud could be seen halfway across the ocean in Abia...

Ayamon opened the blinds of his window, and his suspicions and fears were confirmed. The cloud the reporter had described had indeed already covered the sky of Argot District Three. Between the short time that Benjamin had called on his door and now, this "cloud" had covered the entire sky above him and Argot around him.

Rai Jin had a name for this cloud. It had been seen once during the time Ayamon lived, and according to spoken history, several times before that. They called it "Rai Jin's Nest".

The name was given to the cloud because each time it appeared, a new generation of Rai Jin appeared along with it. Normally to become Rai Jin, a human must take "The Trial", traveling to the very top of Black Peak Mountain and collect the Rai Jin's Lily themselves, fighting with Beasts that have drank the nectar themselves along the way. However, when the normally inactive volcano erupted, the nectar of the lily is released into the atmosphere. The nectar needs only to make physical contact with the body to take effect.

Most of the world was without knowledge of Rai Jin Society. Ayamon and the other eleven men and women who made the Rai Jin High Council had done a superb job of keeping their world hidden from the world of men. The Nest's appearance made the years of work they'd put into the preservation of their way of life obsolete.

Thinking quickly, Ayamon knew the only choice he had was to call the Council to a meeting, and together with his companions in arms, decide the direction Rai Jin would take against these unprecedented circumstances..

By now the rest of the Council will be aware of the Nest's appearance. Most of them will have already begun heading for Rai Jin Hall. I should head there as well. His thoughts now in order, Ayamon clothed himself with a black tee-shirt and pants, donned a long grey jacket, and took his leave.

The first thing Ayamon noticed upon exiting his home was the atmosphere of terror and confusion. There were many people on the street, hurrying to take shelter. Many others were pointing and staring in awe at the never before sight of the Rai Jin's Nest above them in the sky.

Down the street in front of him Ayamon could see a woman desperately jerking her child's arm towards what he assumed was their home. The child cried in out pain as his mother forcibly pulled him with her full weight. The mother did not seem to notice or care, in her panic she continued to pull her child until they were, in her opinion, safely in their home.

Ayamon let out a deep sigh. The panic was natural. He expected it, as it had been this way during the previous Nest appearance. He had learned during his many years of life that people fear what they do not understand.

Although this time, fear is the appropriate response. Ayamon reminded himself.

Ayamon took a cigarette packed with questionable substances from inside his jacket, lit it, and breathed in deeply. Once a feeling of euphoria took hold of his mind, he released smoke from his mouth and nostrils.

Elvian said immortality would be dull. Memory of a friend, long fallen, took his mind. With this thought Ayamon began to walk among the chaos to reach his fellow Council Members.

Towards the center of Argot's third district stood Rai Jin Hall. A large and elegant structure that became headquarters for the Rai Jin High Council, the leaders of their race. Rai Jin Hall was essentially a fortress, carved from a stone formation so large it could be called a small mountain, and surrounded by walls built ten meters high and three meters thick, and though it was roughly eighteen and a half kilometers from Ayamon's home it's high clocktower was visible to him.

Silently walking and watching the state of madness that unfolded around him, Ayamon reached his destination. Just as he walked in through the abnormally large front doors, rain stained the color red began to fall behind him.

***

The inside of the cathedral like building was lit by flames that seemed to float on their own in intervals along the main hall. Ordinary people would see this assume there were candles lit above them. Ayamon saw them however and assumed Kamarion had already arrived.

Kamarion, leader of the Rai Jin High Council, and before the destruction of Jitania, the leader of Marris' Rai Jin Branch, was an Elementalist. Elementalist were Rai Jin that could communicate with the elements of nature; earth, wind, fire, and water.

Most Elementalist with education and training can communicate with one element to the point where they could control it to any extent. Some could control two if they were talented. Kamarion was one of the few alive who could communicate with multiple elements. Though he had not yet mastered communication with the element of water, he was revered as the most powerful Elementalist alive.

Ayamon proceeded to walk along the lit pathway, already knowing where it is taking him. After a few minutes he reached the entrance to a fairly large room that the members of the Council converted into a conference room. In the center of the room was a large circular table. At the head of that table opposite the door sat Kamarion. Around the table sat the other ten members of the Council excluding Ayamon and Kamarion.

"Aya," Kamarion greeted him by his nickname.

"It would seem I'm late." Ayamon replied, appearing nonchalant to the matter, and took his seat opposite Kamarion.

"No one really noticed your absence." To Ayamon's left the familiar voice of his fellow Council Member, Lenora callously rang out. Lenora Kendy and her sister Alana Kendy co-led Hubang's Rai Jin Branch. Hubang was a large country just east of Argot, so Ayamon dealt with the sisters on occasion.

He got along fine with Alana, who was an Supernatural Rai Jin who could manipulate pheromones, essentially controlling the emotions of those around her. However, his relationship with Lenora who was an Extranatural Rai Jin that could shift the space around her and with objects she came in contact with, was strained due to a hidden desire between the two that both refused to admit to. Alana could be seen rolling her eyes at her sister from her seat beside her.

"You're the only person here who lives in the same city as The Hall, and yet somehow you're always the last here." Lenora's face was twisted into what looked like disgust for Ayamon. "Too busy beating your micro-dick to notice the world going to shit?"

Rather than respond to Lenora's provocations, Ayamon directed his gaze to Kamarion and immediately jumped into the topic of importance.

"How far has the Nest spread?" he asked aloud.

"Fifty-five percent of Caust has been covered by it. From the rate it's spreading it will likely cover the sky of the entire planet before noon." It was Davion, a Crescent Islands Native with dark skin and strong features, giving most people the impression that he had a rough character, who answered. Davion did not lead a Rai Jin Branch, but he was inducted into the Council by unanimous vote due to his effort and strategy during an event dubbed the Beast War.

The room was filled with silence. The last time The Nest appeared it had only covered Jitania. Thirty percent of the population died within seventy-two hours. Those who survived were suddenly cured of illness, and more vital. One percent of the population found themselves with abilities they did not understand, and a new generation of Rai Jin were created. To repeat such results on a global scale, the Council Members in the room could scarcely imagine the damage.

"There is no use in fretting over what has already happened," Kamarion said, killing the silence. All eyes in the room gathered to him. "The rain has already started pouring from the Nest. Soon, the world, will descend into the fire of chaos. And from the ashes of that fire, Rai Jin will come in multitude. Men, women and children who do not know our laws and ways. They will have likely lost someone close to them to the Nest. They will be frightened, they will be angry, and they will be lost. It is our job as the leaders of our people, to protect and guide them."

"Come on guys." Kamarion said, relaxing his shoulders and taking on his usual high sprites demeanor. "let's work together, find a way to ensure the future of our kind." At his words the majority of the Council dove into discussion, planning the future of Rai Jin.