A History Lesson It was the first time Sally Rosa Redinger saw the man known only as Mr. White, and she had to admit, the stories did him no justice. Tall, somewhat pale, glowing with an effervescent aura, a smile eternally chained to his mouth, eyes gleaming with every color and voice calm, melodious, and careful, he didn't seem real, not even as he walked past her politely and assigned himself a spot in the lobby. He could've been there for many reasons, possibly for Kamaguchi, possibly for Amielle (or worse, Pale), possibly for no reason at all. Sally didn't feel like getting involved, so she stepped aside and asked, out of politeness, if there was anything she could get him. "No, thank you. I do not require anything." His feet seemed to hover as he walked. Sally wondered if they really touched the ground, or... "Holy Hell!" she heard a familiar voice shout. It was Merry; she had probably seen her old benefactor and reacted. Sally rushed in and found Mr. White standing before Merry, as well as half the population gathered there in the building, as if he were a teacher before his students. Those few that knew the man better than others seemed appalled that he had found them. Marissa drew in a deep breath, and was the first to approach him. "S-sir? What are you doing here?" "Oh, that question cannot be answered so simply," he sang, his grin becoming wider. "Let us just say for now that...I would like to see dear Yohko—and anyone else that would like to meet me. Anyone at all." The hairs on the back of Sally's neck stood on end. Did he suspect anything? Did he know about Amielle, and Alicia, and the girl's secret identity? Sally could only join her girlfriend, keeping wary eyes on the foreboding person...if he really was a person. The time passed quickly as several of the girls, mostly those from "The Lost", peppered him with questions. "Sir, do you know anything about Namie and Shalis?" asked Merry desperately. He nodded slowly. "Yes, I do. I know quite a bit about them. They are quite safe and sound, I assure you." A sigh of ultimate relief came from the tall woman. So, her actions that one day had not killed any of her friends. That was good. Then, "So where are they? Do they know about this place?" "They are residing somewhere...peaceful. The compound was unfortunately decimated, so they had to be relocated. I...came across them amidst the ruins and rubble, and offered to...help them in their way. Many new bargains were made thereafter." "What do you mean? What bargains?" "Those contracts are only meant to be observed by the parties in question," he said, which was just his way of saying "mind your own business". Weathers frowned. "Well, all right, but why don't you bring them here?" "All part of the deals." "Are they working for you now?" "In a sense." "So I guess you're pissed off that we abandoned you, huh?" "Not at all. Considering what has happened, it can be expected." "Speaking of which," Marissa interjected, "I heard a few things being said from our attackers, something about an...Omega person? Do you know what they're talking about?" If Mr. White did, he didn't show it. "Omega? I suppose." "You're hiding something." "If you want the truth, then I know about him and his operation in explicit detail." A pause. He looked too serious to be doubted. Marissa took a breath. "Where were you on that day anyway? Why did you constantly come and go?" "I am not one to be tied down," he stated, sounding even more serious than before. "I am not a tame...individual. I came and went as I saw fit, to do what I needed to be done." "What about Amielle?" asked Lurker. "You search for Amielle, for Pale. Why?" "Pale is lost, just as you all were. I sought her so that I might find her." "Not how we heard it." Several people winced. Julie had pretty much let the cat out of the bag with that one. The only way she could've "heard it" was from Stalker herself. Mr. White's smile became darker. "Really. How did you hear it?" The Lurker then realized her error and shirked away. The man in white laughed once, sharply, and dismissed her. "No matter. That is not why I came here." "So why?" He tipped his hat. "To give my respects to the good doctor, of course. She has helped me along, and I have done the same for her. Of course, she thinks I have no knowledge of what she is truly doing here." CONFUSING! "Alisti right!" barked Lurker. "Make sense, make sense! I head going to blow up soon!" "Oh, Lurker," sighed Mr. White sadly, "you are far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. But to be blunt, I am here to see Yohko, and to inform everyone here of some...developments. If I am not mistaken, five people here have already met up with one of my main objectives." "I believe we asked you to simplify yourself," snarled Merry, but Marissa held her arm, stepped forth, and nodded lowly. Sanaa was not there, nor Rin, Kailin, and Setsuka, but if they were, they probably would've been just as somber. "You...are talking about Kali, aren't you?" "Yes," he said. "You faced her, and you almost defeated her. That is quite an accomplishment, but I suppose I ought not be surprised. You are after all what a more foolish person would call an ‘evolved human'." "A what?!" Mr. White smiled sweetly. "As if you did not know. Both you and your friend, Sanaa, that work of beauty, are evolved humans. Did you not come to that conclusion yourself?!" Marissa froze, her insides brewing darkly, her mind sent hurtling, then crashing, then flailing, through its dark abyss. Everyone else was stunned, but she was astonished to a whole new level, deeper and darker than she had ever known. The worst thing about it was that she knew it to be true, and had known it for a long time. "I suspected," she whispered, sounding quite dead. She felt his hand on her shoulder, and became flush when his eyes penetrated her living soul. "You have nothing to be ashamed about. A part of you was brought into this world by an offspring of the Parents, but another part, a truer and more real part, was given to you by Kurios, Almighty One, and that is something that you can hold your head up to." He smiled, genuinely, and squeezed her shoulder. Marissa looked ready to crawl into a closet and hide for weeks. She didn't hear Mr. White continuing, she just...shut herself off, until Sanaa came. What she didn't hear was, "Kali, the one I am mentioning, was responsible for the deaths of Rin Takamatsu, Hsu Kai Lin, Sanaa, Marissa Wainright, and countless others, many people who did deserve death and many who did not. The only one to have survived an encounter with her, save her very creator, is Setsuka Hinomoto, the Lady Snowblood." What she did hear was, "I have come to give you all the information I have on her, in the hopes that you will use it to destroy her, once and for all. That is one of my missions in this world: I am, with the help of the inhabitants of this world, to destroy the biological weapon named Kali, the so-called goddess of death!" ...... Most everybody was now crowding around Mr. White as the hour closed. He was answering questions, but never spoke of anything terribly major. Most of the time he explained about the Seven, or Namie and Shalis, and seemed to know just about everything about everybody there. Amielle, Alicia, and Yohko were just a few of the people missing from the ensemble, but their absence had nothing to do with his presence: Yohko was away in a conference (or so Yui Miyamoto said), and Amielle and Alicia were most likely in their room (nobody had seen them all day). Eventually both girls came within viewing distance. Their thirst was what drew them there—the gathering was right next to the kitchen. For awhile, neither party noticed the other, but then Amielle got a glimpse of the crowd, and wondered what new idiocy her allies were up to. She brought Alicia—perhaps the gravest mistake she ever made in her life. When the two girls came into the room, attention was immediately drawn towards them, and Mr. White's eyes fell on them first. His face brightened in a rare flash of joyless shock. "Amielle!!" he exclaimed. Celestino gawked and felt her entire body turn into a glacier: skin, blood, organs, hair, the whole lot. Overwhelming guilt and hopelessness followed—and after that came fear, then rage, then above all else, the desire to protect the one she loved most. But if Mr. White had any animosity towards her, he kept it well-hidden, and approached her as a father would come to his daughter. "Amielle Yeshua Celestino!" he exclaimed, his face bold with new thrills. "Not even I thought I would come into contact with you here! My-my, it has been awhile, has it not? You are looking superior lately, as if something or someone has influenced you for the better. I wonder what it could be. Tell me, child, what news of Pale?" Alicia Moore was right in front of him, breathing quietly. "...Bastard," Amielle snorted. The man in white just laughed. "What the hell are you doing here? Were you tracking me? What do you want? Come to kill me, or press me for answers? Maybe make another bargain? I don't want anything to do with you any more!" "Well, you certainly have not changed in that aspect. Still rude...but I can understand. You did have a hard life. Tell me," he said, now calmly leering at Alicia, "who is this? Oh, please, do not say it is Pale herself." He chuckled. Amielle growled. "Oh, yes, it's Pale!" she spat, trying to sound as sarcastic as possible. "Here, see, show the nice bastard your wings, O angel of the morning! Yes, and while you're at it, stop some crime and step on this man's kidneys! Yes, here she is, in all her angelic glory! Take her away and leave me the hell alone!!" The man in white leered with much less pacifism now, giving Amielle a warning gaze. "You should not be so impetuous in front of me. You could have just said no." With that he walked away; Amielle couldn't help but smile and wink at Alicia once his back was turned. Moore had to fight to suppress the giggle in her mouth. Apparently, her secret was that well-hidden from him. When Yohko Kamaguchi first laid eyes on Mr. White, she didn't look surprised at all. In fact, the only thing she did was say a few enigmatic words: "I was wondering when you would show up...Nort." "So you figured it out, Doctor. How astute...but I ought not expect less from you...should I not, Doctor?" His leering eyes eventually corroded her calm expression, and she shuddered. Pandora the Gambler had been at Yohko's side, as she always seemed to be, but once she got a look at Mr. White, her face exploded in such fear that she ran away and could later be heard vomiting in the bathroom. She was promptly ignored; all eyes and ears were now focused on the guest, who had been saving his explanations for this very moment. Now that he had everyone's attention, he could tell them why he had came. The history of Kali, the goddess of death, goes back longer than any of you could imagine, and further than any of you will believe. Once upon a time there was a man named Malchior. He was born in a small tribe in a place so far away, the distance cannot be measured, and he is so old that only one other person on this planet exceeds his age. The early years of his life, he was harassed and scorned by the other children of the village, and was daily beat by them. When he was ten, his mother died of illness, and his father blamed him. Malchior was sent into exile from his home. For days, he wandered—hungry, alone, and cold—until, quite by accident, he stepped on the wrong tract of peat, and fell through, right into the tomb of an evil king. It was in that tomb that he discovered the Book of Shadows. Although illiterate, he taught himself to read using that book. When he emerged from the dark of the tomb, five years later, he was changed. His eyes blazed with power, and he could defy the very laws of God Himself—extending or shortening life, controlling aging. Days later, an army of corpses raided his former village and burned it to the ground. He made sure there were no survivors. Since then, he has lived much the same for years. He has traveled often, and often rubbed elbows with the movers and shakers of history. He has always craved power, and yet he has only been able to have power in certain, often covert ways. Many times, he has had to flee his "kingdoms of the dead" as he calls them, to escape the church. Over time, he has had many lovers. But his one great love was a young girl from another country, long ago and far away. She, like him, had been scorned—for her scarred face—and had fled in her youth. He had found her in the woods, scared and alone. Feeling pity for her, he took her in, and taught her magic. She was one who understood him, who did not judge him, who loved him unconditionally. He healed her scarred face, and she helped to heal his scarred past. As she grew, so did their relationship. They loved each other, and thought that it would last forever. Sadly, an inquisitor captured her when she left him to go find a new city to live in. She was burned at the stake. He mourned her loss, and his inability to do anything. There was no corpse to revive for even a zombie form, and her soul had disappeared. Her name was Venus, a name that he had given her. Ever since her death, Malichoir has poured himself into further studies, trying to find some way, any way, to bring her back. His best theory thus far was to store her spirit in a new vessel. This is where Kali came in—but in order to totally realize his plan, he needed two bodies that would eventually fuse, through some means, into one—which is where Kali's lost sister Celine comes in. The first time that Malchior attempted to revive his lost love, it was about two-hundred of our years ago, on a very distant planet called Earth. Several exceptional people from this planet were able to put a stop to Malchior, but it took far greater powers to destroy Kali. Defeated but undaunted, Malchior picked up the remains of his first experiment and went into hiding, until Celine died from old age. He then bided his time until the technology of Earth was advanced enough to remove him from the planet—for he had gained too many enemies over the course of his long life, and reviving his "daughters" required a world with a different flow of life. This led to their second incarnation, upon a planet that is now lost. The two sisters, while only mild rivals on Earth, were bitter enemies in this new world, and destroyed the planet and each other. Malchior was left to face defeat a second time. He relocated before the world was wiped out, and recently settled on this planet, drawn by its radical surges of unusual power—for on this planet, as many of you have noticed, exist many people whose abilities far exceed those of other people. This seemed to be the ideal place to set his design into motion, so once again he set to work. This is where the third and present incarnation of Kali comes into being, and by far the most powerful. As to where her sister is... Well, only Celine herself knows that, if indeed she knows anything. And now, let me tell you a brief history of this planet, from its conception to the present era. Long ago, before our star Zeruel was placed in its position, Kurios the Almighty brought forth from the Father Star the Parents, Father and Mother. Almighty Kurios showed the expanse of darkness to the Parents, saying that such desolation needed life, or else it would have no purpose. The Creator then instructed Father to enter the sacred garden, which no mortal may step into without His approval, and retrieve the fruit that would bear Celestial Seeds—the beginnings of a star system. Father took the fruit, and buried it in the soil, and Mother helped nurture it in its earthly womb. However, the fruit was incomplete—in his desire to taste the fruit, Father created sin: the sin of disobedience, as well as the sin of false testimony and the sin of irresponsibility. Therefore the star system was incomplete, and sin purged the new world quickly. Father and Mother were then given a task: to guide and instruct their children, to give the strong a throne and the weak a scepter, and to await the day when the perfection of the world could be realized. When Father and Mother perished, their bodies were planted deep in the world's core, wherein it was given the name of Gaios, "our world". It is said that they will wake again when the world ends, their bodies and souls at last perfect. As for their children, they were divided in two, although one group was not better than the other. They were called the Strong and the Weak, and were both assigned roles that suited them. Since the Strong vastly outnumbered the Weak, they were assigned to rule over the whole world, to govern their fellow brothers and sisters atop a throne. The Weak were then compensated for their losses by being bestowed incredible powers that enabled them to fight—not only for the Strong, but for themselves. This is their scepter, this is their destiny. All creatures in this world that have exceptional powers are known as "the Weak". All creatures that do not—in other words, the so-called "normal humans"—they are known as "the Strong". Strong and Weak cannot live without each other. However, now there is a third category: "The Evolved". One person saw to it that she could improve upon the genetic build of the Strong, to give them powers that not only met those of the Weak but exceeded them as well. She experimented on many subjects—Kristen Masterson, Alisti Kreager, Shalis Torth, Jane Brewe, the Lurker-child, Hsu Kai Lin, Joyce Jameson—but only found perfection with two; that is of course Marissa and Sanaa, and the researcher in charge of the entire project was none other than Dr. Yohko Kamaguchi herself! It was she who created these new beings, those that were both Strong and Weak—a combination of the two, utilizing all the best parts to evolve even further, in the hopes that soon every human being would become like them! Yes, yes, this is her plan, but it is not all of it. She experimented on one other person, and to this day is experimenting on them. I will now confirm what a few of you have already suspected from the start: I am not only none of these three, but am something so totally different that I shall not describe it, for I know that none of you will believe me. I was sent here to this world for four reasons: I was to gather those that I knew were "Lost", to shield them and to love them and to see to it that through my intervention, they would have another chance at life. I was also assigned to destroy Kali, and to send Malchior to judgment. My third assignment was to find the rogue angel Pale, to bring before Almighty Kurios, and the fourth... My final task upon this world is the act of battling the dark one, Omega, and his legion of cultists. Yes, that is why I am truly here. But I was forbidden to do these tasks alone, so I gathered aides. You, the Lost, were not the first; I had others well before your time. You know them as the Dead Zodiac, twelve so-called apostles of mine that I gathered to help with these four tasks. I must admit, you have all performed marvelously against them, slaying all but four. Ezekiel, my right-hand man, has foreseen much of this; he is a great soothsayer from yet another world, neither Gaios nor Earth, but from a land where a power called "magic" exists, called Galroth. It is this magic which gives him his abnormal abilities, but even they pale in comparison to my own. Well, I suppose I have said enough for you all to linger on for some time. The day has grown long, has it not? And if I am not mistaken, we have one more guest to attend to. I think one among you has been calling for her. Mr. White—Nort—Alpha—Thirteen—he was correct in saying this. The group knew it to be true; their guest was right in front of them. Five in their number knew her at once, for they had fought her, and the only survivor could not have identified her face, but rather knew her by her black aura. Not a single soul in the room, save Mr. White himself, stood firm against her; they all quivered in fright, for they faced the bane of all living things, the goddess of death and the instrument of sorrow, Kali herself. She had found them. Next chapter: Beast of Prey
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