Lolita Chikyuu Warriors, Lolita Magical Girl, 13+ [language] Options

[Another Morning]

Mmkay, so this is something I've been working on off and on for a while now. Really not a lot to say about it at this point, so here we go! Tell me if there are any spelling or grammar errors, and of course, give me feedback!

Chapter 1

It was raining, like always.

The drops beat against the large classroom windows relentlessly, the only sound to be heard besides the occasional rustle of a turning page. A girl sat by one of the windows, reading by the cold, grey light. As usual, she had stayed behind while her teacher and fellow students went out to the commons for lunch. She preferred the quiet solitude.

The silence was broken, though, as the first group of students wandered back into the room, chattering and turning on the overhead florescent lights. Ophelia glanced up at them before returning to her book, but couldn’t help overhearing their conversation. The topic of discussion caught her attention.

“Before this, it was only disappearances, the authorities were thinking kidnappings,” the police chief’s son explained as the group pushed their desks together in a cluster. “People would just be there one day, gone the next. There was no trail, evidence, anything. And no connection at all between the missing people.”

“And then that body turned up,” a girl shuddered. “And they think it’s related to the disappearances?”

“Some do. The only similarity is that there was no sort of evidence to be found. The body was only found by chance. But the really weird part, though,” the boy said thoughtfully, “is that they have no idea how this guy died. Even after the autopsy, there was no sign of injury or natural cause. No blood loss, no poison, no illness, no organ failure. A perfectly healthy man just up and died and showed up in a dumpster with no sign of how he got there.”

The group separated again as the teacher entered. Ophelia closed her book and returned to her desk, thinking about what she’d just heard. The disappearances had been on the news lately, and she’d caught a snippet about the discovered body on the radio before school. Dirge City had always had a seedy underbelly, but it had been a while since there was anything as big as this. Fifteen missing people in less than two months, and now a mysterious death. A lot of people were really getting worried.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Watson called the class into order, directing their attention to the tests that were being passed back. Ophelia scanned the sheet half-heartedly, the rain still pounding against the windows

**

It surprised Ophelia to see her father’s car waiting in the parking lot once school got out. As she sloshed through the numerous puddles, the father in question, Jonathan Owen, looked up from his cell phone just in time to unlock the door for her. She slid into the seat and quickly folded her umbrella to avoid the drizzle.

“Hey, dad,” she greeted, her voiced puzzled.

“Hello,” he responded as they pulled out into the street. He glanced at her.

“Something wrong?”

“Just wondering why I wasn’t taking the train home like normal.”

Jonathan’s brow wrinkled slightly. “I take you home sometimes.”

“Rarely. Does this have anything to do with the disappearances?”

“It might.”

Ophelia sack back and sighed. She supposed she understood why her parents would worry, but dad couldn’t leave work every day like this. “Dad, I’d be fine. There’s plenty of people on the train and on the walk home, somebody would see if I suddenly disappeared.”

“Or, one of them could be the kidnapper,” Jonathan retorted.

“You know, there’s no actual evidence that there even is a kidnapper, or a killer, for that matter,” Ophelia said evenly. “There haven’t been any trails or signs of struggle anywhere.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t take a few extra precautions,” her father replied, his tone indicating that the discussion was over. But Ophelia wasn’t done yet.

“This isn’t going to be a regular thing, is it?” she pressed. “It’s really so unnecessary, and your boss is such a tighta-“

“Ophelia Alexandria,” Jonathan said in a warning tone. “That is not your problem. If your mother and I decide to have you picked up after school for a while, then that’s what’s going to happen.”

Ophelia frowned and pressed further back in the chair. He was going to get in trouble at work for nothing.

“I know you don’t like feeling like people are fussing over you,” her dad said in a more gentle tone. “You’re 14 years old, you want to take care of yourself. But when it comes to your safety, your mom and I are always going to worry and do what we think is best for you. If you ever have kids, you’ll understand. We just want you to be safe.”

Ophelia stayed pulled back in her seat, but her frown slowly disappeared. It was hard to stay frustrated at that, even if she did dislike talking about such sentimental things.

The rest of the short drive went by in silence. Jonathan reminded Ophelia to let the new Rottweiler puppy, Zeus, outside before he pulled out again.

“Hey, dog,” Ophelia greeted as the puppy jumped and barked once she came through the door. He followed her through the house to the bad door, where she hooked him onto a lead and let him tear outside. They’d discovered through experience that there were several holes in the fence the puppy could wriggle through. Ophelia wandered back into the kitchen, grinning slightly as she passed the refrigerator plastered with her A and A+ tests. She frequently got such grades, she always, had, but that didn’t stop her mom from slapping her papers up with a magnet like each A was a rare and treasured phenomena that needed to be recognized. Ophelia opened said refrigerator to dig around for sandwich fixings, and was soon sitting at the table with a late lunch. Just as she was about to take a bit, Zeus began to yelp frantically from the yard. He always barked at squirrels and the like, but he never sounded so urgent. Frowning with concern, Ophelia got up and hurried to the back door, peeking out around the blinds.

Zeus was still barking wildly, but there was nothing there. It was because he’d tangled himself around a large tree in the middle of the yard.

“Idiot,” Ophelia muttered, sliding out the door to go rescue him. He jumped forward against his lead as she approached, not ceasing his yelping. Ignoring him, Ophelia looked up into the tree as a bird landed on a branch. Maybe that’s what was driving Zeus so cra-

“Whoa!”

Ophelia’s arms flew out in front of her as she tripped over something, but her hand slid through the wet grass and she still landed on her face. She cursed loudly into the ground before pushing herself up onto her knees and looking around to see what she’d tripped over. All she saw was grass. She scowled. She’d distinctly felt her foot get caught in some sort of solid loop, but there wasn’t anything like that in sight, even Zeus’s leash was stretched out a few feet to her left. Not being particularly clumsy, she didn’t often fall over on her own, but…that must have been what had happened. Zeus was still barking and struggling against the lead, so Ophelia picked herself up, brushed off what mud and wet grass she could, and went to unhook him. As soon as the puppy was loose, he scrambled towards the stack of firewood against the fence and began to dig furiously.

“What is your problem?!” Ophelia called, jogging over and scooping the puppy up. She whined as she carried him back into the house. “I appreciate your concern,” Ophelia said idly as she whipped off his muddy paws, “But not every squirrel, rabbit, and bird is plotting our untimely demise.

**

At 12:30 that night, Ophelia was soundly asleep. The evening had progressed like normal. Three hours after Ophelia had come home, her mother and father arrived. An hour after that, her older sister came home from her evening classes. Dinner, homework, and then bed. Ophelia had fallen asleep quickly, entering a strange dream involving a blurred black figure sucking people up off the street around her, but all she could think of was finding out what was in the wood pile. And now someone was tapping on the storefront window beside her.

…No…wait…that was actually happening.

Ophelia sleepily opened her eyes, still hearing something rap on her window sharply. She rolled to her feet and shuffled over, turning on her nearby desk light to see what it was. However, as soon as she got near, the tapping stopped. Upon looking out the window, Ophelia only saw the street below. Grumbling darkly, she turned the light out and headed back to bed. As soon as she was turned around, the tapping began again, this time even more insistent. Ophelia turned back around with a growl, switched the light back on, and looked out the window again. Nothing. The tapping had stopped.

She unlocked the window and pushed it open, leaning out and looking below her and to either side. It had to be a bird or something, she was on the second story and there was nothing to stand on outside. Her search proving fruitless, she shut and locked the window again and turned around to turn the light back out.

She jumped back into the wall and gave a sharp gasp. A snake was curled up on the foot of her bed. It raised its head from the coil, weaving curiously. In the soft light, she could see it wasn’t a snake, after all. It did have emerald green scales and a long, legless body, but its head was topped with pointed ears and twisting horns, and from the sides of its snout hung long whisker…things.

“Hello, Ophelia” it said simply.

Ophelia scrambled back against the wall with a long string of faint, incomprehensible noises. She didn’t yet have the mental capacity to scream.

“I was afraid something like this would happen,” the creature muttered without moving its mouth. “Please, calm down, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The suggestion that it could pose harm made Ophelia even more frantic, and her voice began to grow louder.

“No, please!” it said, lowering its head back down. “Don’t shout! I’m a friend.”

Ophelia’s garbled words ceased. She starred at the thing wide-eyed, now fully awake.

“Oh good, you listened,” it said, relieved. Though it wasn’t actually using its mouth to talk, the smooth male voice still seemed to come from it. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“…We?” Ophelia managed to spit out.

“Yes, Brogan and I,” it said with a nod. “It’s a relief we finally found you, we’ve been looking for weeks.”

“But, why are you looking for me?” Ophelia asked, still cowering against the wall.

“Because we need your help,” it replied. “I assume you’ve noticed all the people going missing? We know why.”

This made Ophelia begin to panic again. “You’re the one causing the disappearances?!”

“What? No, gods, no,” it said, cocking its head. “I just know what’s causing them. And I know how to stop it. That’s why we need you.”

Ophelia calmed down a little. “…Who are you?”

“My name is Valkin, of Goriga,” it said with a small bow. “The dragon carrying me is Brogan, my familiar.”

“Dragon…carry…what?” Ophelia asked, shaking her head in confusion.

“You’ll understand it all in time,” the dragon said with a sigh. “But right now, there is an important task to be seen to. You want people to stop disappearing, yes?”

“…Yes,” Ophelia said skeptically.

“Then you must do as I say,” he said firmly, raising his head back up. Ophelia let out another small cry as the dragon actually twisted its body into the air and floated a few inches above the bed, never taking its red eyes off of her. “Will you help us?”

“What do I have to do?” she asked warily.

“Many things,” Valkin admitted. “But for tonight, your duty will be simple enough. I will guide you through it. You will be safe. Will you help us?”

“You can’t be a little more specific?”

“We have little time!” Valkin insisted. “Will you help us?”

“Alright! Alright,” Ophelia said, shakily standing up. “What do I have to do?”

The dragon twisted in on itself, forming a tight loop with its body. It then fluidly uncoiled, causing something to drop from within the loop onto the bed. It motioned towards the object with its head.

“What is it?” Ophelia asked, squinting to see better in the dim light. The dragon jerked its head towards the dark lump again, then fixed Ophelia with its stare.

“I don’t see why you can’t just tell me,” she muttered, carefully approaching the bed. The dragon watched her as she came near, and then tenderly picked the object up.

“A choker?” she said, inspecting it. It was a black silk band with a large, oval ruby attached by chains in the center. Three chain loops hung under the stone. “Do I put it on?”

The dragon nodded.

Ophelia slowly unlatched the choker and wrapped it around her neck. Shutting her eyes tight to prepare for what might happen, she closed the latch.

“Ah, that’s better,” Valkin said.

“Hey!” Ophelia yelped as she leaped backwards, her hands flying to her head. His voice had come from inside her mind this time. “What are you doing?! Get out!”

“Calm down, I’m in the jewel,” Valkin said coolly. “Now that you’re wearing the choker, we can communicate without verbalization. I’d suggest starting that now, we wouldn’t want to wake anybody up.”

“I don’t like you being in my head!” Ophelia thought heatedly at him. “Now get out!”

“I’m not in your head,” Valkin stressed. “I’m in the ruby. I can only hear what you want me to.”

“…Are you sure?” Ophelia questioned.

“Believe me, I have no interest in the every thought of a teenaged Earth girl,” Valkin said dryly.

“Wait, so let me clarify.” Ophelia pointed at the small dragon that was casually twisting through the air. “The dragon is Brogan, and you’re Valkin? There is a difference?”

“Yes,” Valkin confirmed. “I had been speaking through Brogan while he kept the choker safe. That’s why he couldn’t speak when he summoned it to the bed. Valkin is my familiar, he is what keeps me tied to Goriga.”

“I think I get it,” Ophelia nodded. “The first part anyway. And I suppose it was him tapping on my window, and you got in when I opened it? How did you get past without me noticing?”

“You’re surprisingly unobservant.”

Ophelia frowned.

“We need to get moving.” Valkin’s tone was serious again. “This is where I need you to listen to me. Before we go-“

“Go where?!”

“What did I just tell you? Listen. Before we go, you’ll need to connect to my powers. Focus on the ruby, and say, ‘warrior’ out loud.”

“...Come again?”

“What did I tell you?”

“Alright!” Ophelia rolled her eyes before closing them and focus on the jewel at her neck. She just felt stupid, at first, but suddenly, the ruby started to feel warm. It felt like the stone was melting, sinking into her throat with a tingling sensation that quickly rose to a strong vibration throughout her body. She felt like she was about to burst out of her skin, an unfamiliar and wild power surging through her.

“Punk Lolita Warrior!” she cried, her voice echoing as the words poured out on their own. “ROCK!”

For the shortest moment, she was sure she was exploding. A bright red light blinded her eyes, and her body let out all the energy it had suddenly built up in one giant wave. It was over as soon as it had started, though, and she opened her eyes to find her body whole and her room just as it had been moments ago.

“What was tha- oh my god!” she cried, looking down at her clothes. “What am I wearing?!”

No longer in her pajamas, she was wearing thigh-high black leather boots and a fluffy red mini-dress adorned with loads of pink and black lace, complete with a black corset with an odd sort of bladed chain wrapped around it. Feeling around her eyes, she also appeared to be wearing a black mask.

“For your protection, so you aren’t recognized. Traditional Gorigan garb. Now come on, we need to get going,” Valkin urged. “Head downtown, the Aldale Building should suffice.”

“Err…alright…” Ophelia blinked. “Should I call a cab, or something?”

“What?” She could practically hear the frown in his voice. “A ca-… no, no cab. Just jump through the window and run.”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t run that far, and even if I could, it would take an hour at least.”

Valkin groaned with impatience. “I can see you aren’t going to take to this quickly. Please, just trust me. You’ll make it.”

Ophelia hesitated. He’d been truthful about everything so far, but…jumping out a window and running all the way down town? She shook her head slightly before going to open her window again. He’d just have to deal with it when she collapsed from exhaustion a quarter of the way there. She put her hand tentatively on the window sill, preparing to lift herself gently into the frame. What happened instead was that her body took its own initiative. She quickly braced her arm on the sill before swinging out the window gracefully and landing in the driveway below, landing as if she’d just jumped down a single stair. Shocked at her own ability, she stared up at the open window as Brogan twisted his way though and settled himself across her shoulders. She shuddered at first, but he was oddly warm.

“Now, run,” Valkin instructed.

Now unsure of what was going to happen, Ophelia began to jog down the driveway. She quickly picked up speed, reaching a sprint much more easily than she ever could before. She legs hardly felt like they were moving as she blasted down the street, quickly reaching an utterly inhuman speed. She wanted to look down at herself to see how exactly she was achieving such speeds, but all her concentration had to be placed in not running into anything. Everything she passed was little more than a blur, and she was sure she looked the same to anybody that may see her. Without losing speed, she made a sharp turn at the end of the block to head downtown.

**

Skidding to a stop outside the doors of the Aldale Building, one of the tallest skyscrapers in Dirge City, Ophelia looked around. This part of the city was nice enough to be mostly deserted this late at night. The wet street was quiet except for the occasional distant sound of a car. Brogan unwrapped himself from her shoulders and flitted around idly.

Ophelia had stopped being amazed with herself shortly after she’d started her run. She was getting numb to the shock of the night’s events, and she’d halfway convinced herself that this was some sort of very realistic dream, anyway. So what if she just ran faster than most cars without breaking a sweat? “What now?” she said aloud to Valkin.

“Look up, so I can see what we have to work with,” Valkin muttered. Ophelia obliged, examining the face of the massive building herself. Assuming that the goal was to reach one of the higher floors, they’d probably have to break inside and use the elevator. She didn’t see any way to climb up. Thank god...

“That gargoyle directly above us should work,” Valkin mused. Halfway up the building, there were several large decorative gargoyles that looked down on the street. They happened to be standing right below the center one. “The chain whip at your waist, pull it loose.” Ophelia did as instructed, patting around for a moment until she found one of the ends. She gave the chain a single tug and it slid off of her smoothly, the bladed links not cutting her hand.

“Now use it to grip the gargoyle.”

“I suppose the fact that the gargoyle is thirty five stories up and this chain is six feet long at the most won’t pose a hindrance?”

“You are catching on.”

Again doing what she instinctually felt was right, Ophelia gave the whip a quick crack before swinging it up towards the statue. As she predicted, it extended as it flew through the air, reaching the gargoyle and wrapping around it several times for security.

“Now tug,”

Expecting to use the chain as some sort breaking and entering weapon, she gripped it tightly and gave the chain a test pull. What she did not expect was for the chain to suddenly yank her upwards and send her hurtling through the air, unwrapping itself from the gargoyle as she flew past it all the way to the top of the building, Ophelia screaming all the way. Maybe she wasn’t quite numb to all of this, after all.

She landed on a spire sticking out from the roof with another large statue on the end, this time a lion. The instant her feet touched the concrete, she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around one of the lion’s back legs.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” she barked roughly, the echo of her scream dying down (it was lucky that Dirge City wasn’t a place where a scream in the night would be terribly out of place). She squeezed her eyes shut to avoid looking down. The view was making her queasy.

“That was the quickest way to reach the top of the building.” Valkin seemed indifferent to her terror. “Now let go, we need to get to the roof.”

Ophelia peeked and eye open and looked behind her. The long spire was cylindrical and slick from the rain. Another hesitant look at the drop below, and she instantly shut her eyes again. “Yeah, there’s no way that’s going to happen.”

“...You wouldn’t happen to be afraid of heights, would you?”

“It’s a distinct possibility.”

“You can’t cling to this lion forever.”

“Oh I beg to differ.”

“Do you not understand yet?” Valkin asked with an exasperated sigh. “You have all my powers now. I know what you’re capable of. If I tell you that you can easily walk across this spire onto the roof without falling, I know what I’m talking about.” Something warm and scaly was trying to pry her arms off the lion’s leg. Brogan had apparently flown up after her.

“If I die, I will track you down and come back as the most angry and vengeful ghost you’ve ever seen,” Ophelia threatened, batting Brogan away before nervously pushing herself to her feet. She turned around and tried not to think of what she was doing, striding along the spire like it was any normal sidewalk. When she reached the roof and hopped down onto the thick gravel on the surface, she heaved a sigh of relief.

“See, you’re fine,” Valkin calmed as Brogan twisted around her head. “Now, the disappearances lately have been caused by dark forces coming to Earth from Goriga through tears that have ripped open between the worlds. We think one of the tears is on top of this building.”

“How do we close it up?”

“Well…that’s the problem.” Valkin sounded embarrassed. “I don’t exactly know how.”

“…Then what was the point of coming up here?!”

“Brogan can sense when something is about to come through one of the rips,” Valkin hurried to explain. “There should be a new arrival tonight. If all has gone according to plan, it should be one of our allies.”

“We get allies?” Ophelia asked, perking a bit. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have to do everything.

“Of course. It would be idiotic to take on a task such as this by oneself.”

“When am I going to get to learn what exactly this ‘task’ is?”

“Later, when we have more time. For now, something is coming.”
Brogan had gone stiff in the air, fixing his gaze on a spot in the air above them. Ophelia watched, holding the chain whip tightly as the air seemed to rip in half, accompanied by an appropriate sound. Nothing came out for a moment, showing the world beyond to be a strange vortex of swirling jewel-tone colors, until something dark and angular appeared. Several more similarly-shaped creatures popped up after it, all of them jumping out onto the rooftop and sniffing at the air before focusing on Ophelia. Their outline was indistinct and fuzzy, like they had been smudged. Their heads appeared to be devoid of features except for two slits for nostrils, until they opened their wide mouths to hiss at Ophelia, revealing several rows of needle-like teeth.

“Those wouldn’t happen to be our allies, would they?” she asked shakily.

“Umm...no.”

“Darklings?”

“Darklings.”

“Glorious.”

The three monsters all leapt for her at once, their long arms outstretched. Ophelia leapt over them, landing on a large furnace case.

“WHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDO?!” she cried, barely managing to dodge the darklings’ continued strikes.

“Use the whip, it will channel your energy,” Valkin commanded. Diving backwards, Ophelia swung the whip behind her, then cracked it forward, managing to entangle of of the darklings and pin its arms against its sides. The creature thrashed against the chain, letting out a shriek. Her grip around the chain tightened, and red energy suddenly exploded from her hand, crackling down the chain’s length until it reached the darkling and began to rip it apart. The dark scraps faded into the air until there was nothing left.

“I got one!” Ophelia said with a mixture of pride and astonishment. Her victory was short-lived, though, as one of the remaining darklings tackled her. They flew backwards, over the short ledge of the roof, Ophelia only just managing to grab onto one of the aging bricks while the darkling clung to her leg, both of them dangling 70 stories in the air. She rammed the heel of her boot into the darkling’s head, causing it to let go of it’s hold. Instead of plummeting to the street below, though, it pooled its body against the side of the building and began to quickly ooze downward under its own power.

“Should I go get it?!”

“Pay attention!”

Looking back up, Ophelia was able to shift her grip to her other hand just as the last darkling made a swipe at her hand with its long, shadowy claws. She quickly swung herself back up onto the roof. She reached for her chain whip, which had wrapped itself around her waist again while she had been hanging from the ledge, and gave it a loud crack before swinging it at the darkling. The bladed links made a gash through the black substance, but the creature was still up. It dived at her with its claws outstretched, making her dive to the side to avoid the attack. Her foot caught on a pipe, causing her to stumble and fall. Before she could prevent it, the darkling heaved itself over the roof ledge, making its escape. She made it to her feet and ran to the ledge just in time to see a dark, inky pool disappear into the building’s shadow.

“How do I get them now?” Ophelia panted.

Valkin took a deep breath. “You don’t. Once they merge with the shadows it’s nearly impossible to find them again until they reappear on their own, and they aren’t concerned with fighting you right now. They’ll find a nest tonight, somewhere to hide during the day. We’ll come back for them tomorrow night.”

“I look forward to it,” Ophelia groaned, stepping back from the ledge and falling to her knees, curling her arms around her stomach. “If there is going to be much more falling off of buildings in this gig, we’re going to have problems.”

“You’ll get better, it hopefully won’t happen again.”

“So no allies for us tonight, huh?” Ophelia turned around to see Brogan twisting around in the air idly, not really concentrating on anything.

“It would appear not. They were probably held back keeping the rest of that host of darklings from going through the tear.”

“Well good for them,” Ophelia said. Honestly, she could barely believe she’d survived the fight with just three of them. She managed to catch her breath as a light shower began to fall.

“It will probably be-”

“Hey, Valkin, I really appreciate you telling me how to not die and all, but...could I have a few minutes? I just...need to think.”

“...Yes, alright,” Valkin said, his voice oddly soft. The ruby on Ophelia’s choker gave a tiny vibration, and she didn’t hear anything further. Maybe that was how it turned off? She reached up to touch the stone, feeling that it was oddly warm against the damp chill of the drizzle. She readjusted herself into a more comfortable position and leaned back against the furnace case, toying with her choker as a more heavy rain began to fall.

**

Her alarm went off at 7:00 AM. When Ophelia snaked an arm out from under the covers to slap the snooze button, she was almost able to roll over and go back to sleep for another five minutes. The only thing stopping her was the small dragon curled up on the spare pillow next to her.

She jumped at first, before remembering everything that had happened the night before. Brogan peeked a sleepy eye open at her as Ophelia sat up, rubbing her eyes. So it hadn’t been a dream. Damn.

“You shouldn’t sleep on my bed like that, what if somebody came in and saw you?” Ophelia grumbled at the dragon. Brogan blinked at her, looking incredulous.

"I don’t know where you’re gonna sleep, you’re the one who decided to live here.”

He kept staring.

“Oh god...” Ophelia growled, getting out of bed and grabbing another pillow. She opened her closet door and threw the pillow onto the ground in the corner, patting it a little to make a hollow in the center. “Does this please milord?”

Brogan floated over obligingly, twirling around her head in what Ophelia assumed was a display of affection before curling back up on the pillow at her feet.

“I’m closing the door so the puppy doesn’t find you,” she said, shutting the closet back up before she turned back to her bed. On the pillow where Brogan had been sleeping was the choker. She went over and picked it up with a sigh, letting it dangle while she inspected it reluctantly. The ruby sparkled in the early morning sunlight.

“Fi, are you up?” Her dad was calling from his own room.

“Yeah, I’m up...” Ophelia replied, fastening the choker around her neck. She went to her vanity to get ready for school, the ruby warm against her neck.

[winxclubrox23]

Ooh, I like that alot! It's really, really good. Keep it up AM!

[W.I.N.X]

Ooh, this is good. Verry good. Definately keep going

[LinneaKou]

As I said on dA:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY LOLITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! 8D

[MorriganAensland]

Well, finally finished chapter 1.

And it was good! We got a good grasp of the situation, Ophelia as a character is really intriguing and I want to see where this is all going to go.

The name Ophelia makes me think back to the character in Hamlet as well... is she gonna go crazy at some point?

[Another Morning]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys! ^^ Glad that it's getting some interest! I'll have a lot of time on my own tomorrow, so I'll hopefully get a start on chapter 2 then.

[fullmoon]

Hehehehhe....is chapter two ever going to come out. ^^ You have some eager readers just dying for more. XD

[Another Morning]

XD It's chugging along. There's a lot of stuff trying to keep me away from writing, but I work on it in snippits!

[fullmoon]

Yay. I hope you get a lot of snippets soon then. ^^

[Another Morning]

NEW CHAPTER

Chapter 2

“So...how do you find a darkling nest?”

Ophelia had made it through the day clinging to one single, fragile shred of hope that the events of the night before had been some sort of hallucination. She’d found the necklace buried in her room somewhere, then had some insane dream about it that carried over into her half-asleep stupor as she’d gotten ready for school. That hope was pretty much shattered as soon as she got home and opened her closet door to watch Brogan float out idly. She’d holed up in her room for the rest of the evening, not bothering to come downstairs even for dinner. When the jewel in her choker flashed to light and Valkin instructed her to run downtown again, she had transformed and slipped out the window into the overcast night with resigned compliance.

They were now in front of the Aldale Building yet again. Ophelia figured that since this was where they’d lost the darklings last night, it was as good a place as any to start hunting them down again. She looked up to the roof with apprehension. “Do I have to go on the roof again?”

“I doubt it,” Valkin replied. “They’ll have gathered somewhere with a lot of shadow, in an alley or something similar.”

Ophelia walked towards the dark gap between the Aldale Building and its neighbor, reaching for her chain whip. Brogan twisted through the air after her. “They crawled over here last night, maybe they stayed put.”

“Give it a look.”

She pulled the whip from around her and stepped carefully into the alley. It didn’t much surprise her that she could see better in the darkness now than she ever could before. Taking a deep breath, she began to search, kicking aside garbage cans and old boxes. Quite a few angry cats scattered out of her way, but no darklings surfaced. Ophelia stepped back with a frown. She was about to ask Valkin what to do next, but stopped when she noticed something she hadn’t before. A faint sort of buzzing sensation against her temples. A step to the right made it grow stronger. Another step to the right, and it dulled again. After some experimentation, she determined that whatever was causing the feeling was forming a sort of path leading back out into the street.

“I...I think I found a trail.”

“Good, follow it.”

Ophelia followed where the buzz told her to go, starting to run with it once she felt she wouldn’t lose it by accident while Brogan curled himself around her neck. “Are you sure I should just be going along with this? I don’t even know for sure what it is.”

“It’s the only lead we have,” Valkin said. “Following it is better than searching fruitlessly in the same place all night.”

“I guess...”

Valkin was silent for a moment. “I did not choose you as my host at random, Ophelia. You have powers of your own. Powers that could become just as strong as mine, if not even stronger, if you let them. But you have to trust in them.”

“Yeah, well, this whole magical crime-fighting thing is kind of new to me, so excuse me if it takes a while to adjust,” Ophelia muttered. “...But I have powers?”

“You mostly just have potential, at the moment,” Valkin said thoughtfully. “But yes. I chose you because I could feel your magical energy resonates strongly with my own. That’s why you can channel my own powers so well. This sensation you’re feeling from the darklings’ trail is probably your own ability to pick up on their magical residue.” His voice became harder. “And as I said, you will grow into your own power one day. You won’t need me anymore.”

“Does that mean you’re going to leave me?” Ophelia asked, suddenly panicked. “I can’t do this on my own, Valkin, I have no idea what-”

“No one is leaving anyone right now,” Valkin sighed. “Keep going.”

Ophelia hadn’t realized she’d stopped. She took a moment to refocus on the trail, then took off again.

“You do need to start learning more self-reliance, though,” Valkin warned. “Even if you are using my power, you’ve got to know what to do with it without asking me. You won’t always have time to double check.”

“I’ll work on it, okay?” Ophelia said, hoping her annoyance covered her worry. Why was he telling her this now? So she could try to fight monsters while the threat of her only guide deserting her hung over her head? That’s all she needed. “Why did you have to come to Dirge City, anyways? Well, to follow darklings, I guess, but why are they here? And how? Where do you all even come from?”

“I knew this was coming,” Valkin grumbled. “I don’t know how much time we have tonight, but I’ll explain what I can. The darklings and I are from another dimension, a world called Goriga.”
“Oh yeah, I remember you saying something about that.”

“Right. Goriga is much smaller, in comparison to Earth, and it is the only planet in its dimension, but it has much magic. Our royal family has been in power for thousands of years, and they’ve used their magic try and keep peace amongst the whole planet. Not everyone uses magic for such altruistic purposes, though, so those in the service of the king and queen are often sent out to help fight those who would wish Goriga ill. My team and I were sent out when the darklings first started attacking.”

“So you work for the king and queen?”

“...Sort of.”

“Alright, we’ll get back to that. Just to clarify, it is the darklings that have been causing mysterious disappearances here on Earth, right?”

“Right.”

“So how did the darklings end up here? They found that tear over the Aldale Building?”

“Found, or created,” Valkin said. “We aren’t entirely sure yet. But they’d already caused so much disaster in Goriga, the last thing we needed was for them to come to this dimension and gain even more power. So several teams of the royal guard and hired parties like mine were told to follow them here.”

“Why couldn’t you just fight them, then? Why do it through me?”

“Because my own magic doesn’t work here on it’s own. I needed somebody with magic connected to Earth to channel my own power through.”

“But wait, if you can’t use your magic here without channeling it, why can the darklings?”

“An excellent question.”

“So do you think the darklings aren’t from- HERK”

Ophelia’s thought was interrupted by a dark blur leaping at her out of the shadows. She hit the ground with a darkling on top of her, reaching back to take a swipe at her face. Instinct told her to kick up as high as she could, and her foot collided with the back of it’s head. The attack dazed it enough for her to shove it off from on top of her and leap backwards, unwrapping the whip from around her corset. The darkling got up and leered at her, crouching back for another tackle. Ophelia ran forward, swinging her whip and grabbing the darkling with the bladed chain. It screamed out in pain as she sent a charge of energy along the chain’s length, and the creature was rent apart.

“I think I found the nest,” Ophelia said shakily, looking towards where the darkling had come from. It was an abandoned grocery store, of some sort. Her running had taken her to one of the more seedy parts of the city, one she didn’t recognize. Ordinarily, she tried to stay out of these places. “This is bad.”

“The nest will be small, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, I mean the fact that they chose a nest here. Over in the business district, the streets are pretty empty at night, but this is the kind of place where the gangs and muggers are pretty active after dark. If I get spotted, we’ll have more than just darklings to worry about.” Brogan twisted around her head, reappearing after the fight. “And a small flying dragon probably won’t be too well-accepted, either.”

“So you don’t want your Warrior presence to be known of at all?”

“Well...no. Wouldn’t that be bad?”

“You’ll have to decide that for yourself. You’re the one who lives on this planet.”

“Thanks for the help.” Ophelia frowned and tried to look into one of the boarded windows without getting too close. “How many darklings generally constitute a nest?”

“It depends on how many are in the area, and how long they’ve been there. Since they just started using the tears recently, I wouldn’t say that this gathering is too large.”

Ophelia gulped. “And there’s no way we could wait until that back-up gets here?”

“The nest will only get bigger.”

For the first time, Ophelia realized what had happened to her. She was using magic. She had to fight monsters. These things were responsible for the death of at least one person, and she had to stop them. She was fourteen.

“I’m just...”

There was silence for a few moments. “...You’re just?”

Brogan brushed against her head gently, reminding her of where she was. “Nothing. Here I go, I guess.”

Feeling oddly calm, Ophelia walked across the street and up to the building, kicking down the sealed door and striding into the small store. It was almost totally dark, except for the dim moonlight that shone through the planks covering the windows, but she could still see black shapes seething around the weak rays. She swung her whip up and around one of the rafters, yanking herself to the ceiling just as one of the creatures leaped at her. She landed and looked down to see several of them circling around her. She gripped tighter onto the rafter. The ceiling wasn’t too high, but...it seemed farther from the ground now than it had when she was down there. She didn’t have much time to lament her decision as two of the darklings seeped into the shadows and climbed up one of the empty shelves, re-materializing in front of her. She leapt across to the next rafter, swinging the chain around her and lashing at one of the monsters. She cut through it’s misty forearm, but didn’t get a good hold on it. It growled and lunged for her, the other darkling following behind. Ophelia just managed to dodge the two of them, but was caught by behind as another of the creatures swooped up behind her and slashed her across the back. With a gasp of pain, Ophelia fell forward, just managing to catch onto one of the metal supports and swing herself back onto the main beam. She winced, crouching down and trying to reach back to feel the wound.

“Don’t get distracted!” Valkin barked as the darkling ran towards her on all fours. Ophelia pulled herself back up and whipped her chain forward, wrapping it around the creature’s neck and sending her energy crackling through the metal links. A last screech, and the darkling exploded into scraps of shadow.

Something started to make the rafter jerk violently. Ophelia turned around behind her and saw two of the darklings hanging from the metal, bouncing from it and pulling it out of the ceiling. Before she could jump to the next beam, the rafter broke apart from its mounting and began to fall to the floor. Clinging to one of the remaining support bars, Ophelia hung over the ground until she saw a shelf to swing onto. The fallen metal had managed to pin one of the darklings to the ground, but it quickly melted out from around the wreckage and reformed at the base of the shelf, watching her every move. There were four darklings left in total, and they were all surrounding the shelf Ophelia had landed on. She spun around several times, trying to figure out which one to attack first. They were all starting to climb the shelf now, hissing and growling in anticipation as they smirked at her with their wide mouths.

An ear-splitting bang outside broke their concentration. Ophelia and all the darklings froze as several more followed it.

“Gunshots?!” Ophelia said aloud, wildly confused for a moment until the sound of screeching tires and a roaring engine followed. Police sirens began blaring, and the tumult rapidly approached the street outside the store. Two figures ran in through the broken doors, the area around them briefly illuminated by their guns firing, and the store was suddenly filled with a blinding light. The darklings screamed, and seemed to disappear instantly as the police cars skidded to a halt outside. Faster than she knew even her new powers were capable of, Ophelia swung herself back up into the rafters, running towards the center of the store towards a skylight in the ceiling and breaking through onto the roof. She sped towards the back of the store, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the opposite direction from the firing guns and police sirens.

**

She didn’t stop until she was back into the heart of the business district, and all was quiet except for the rain that was beginning to fall. She stopped and collapsed in front of one of the black skyscrapers, gasping for air. The whole run to this place was a blur of jumps that felt more like short glides and terror; she couldn’t even remember when she made it to the ground. Or when Brogan had wrapped himself tightly around her upper arm. He uncurled now, floating around the area, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. All Ophelia’s muscles ached, and her back still burned from the gash the darkling had given her.

“That...was faster than I was aware you could go,” Valkin said, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Shut...up...” Ophelia hissed murderously in between gasps. “The POLICE! The POLICE almost saw me! I almost got SHOT!”

“But you didn’t,” Valkin said. “You actually handled the situation fairly well.”

“I can’t do this! I’m a teenage girl! I should be asleep, not getting shot at! I have school tomorrow!”

“Nobody was shooting at you,” Valkin said. “And you can do this. You have to. After a while, you’ll become more accustomed to being in battle.”

“I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO BATTLE!” Ophelia roared. She took a few deep breaths. “You’ve got the wrong girl, Valkin. Find another host. I quit. This is crazy!”

“You can’t quit,” Valkin said, his voice severe. “You are the only one who can channel my power well enough to stand a chance against the darklings and anything that might be controlling them. There are lives at stake, Ophelia, and the safety of an entire planet. Are you going to turn your back on that?”

“I’m not supposed to be responsible for it!” Ophelia sobbed. She couldn’t actually tell if she was crying or not, with the rain and the fact that she already couldn’t breath, but now her chest was tight and her stomach was twisting into a knot. Crying was the only thing that seemed like it could make that better. “I’m just a girl, I’m just fourteen. I’m not supposed to be responsible for other peoples’ lives. I can’t do it.”

She curled up and cried and ached and panted, and Valkin stayed quiet. With what energy she could muster up, she tried to clear her mind totally and just lay there without thinking for a few minutes. Rain fell on her bloodied back, which actually helped the pain, and it washed the tears off her face. The rhythm of the drops against her and against the sidewalk around her made it easier to finally catch her breath.

Above Ophelia, Brogan froze for a moment, than began to flit around excitedly. He twirled in the air a few times, then began to nudge at Ophelia’s cheek.

“Brogan, if you haven’t noticed, I’m in the middle of a break-down,” Ophelia croaked. “So if you don’t mind, could you please beat it?”

“Something is coming through the tear,” Valkin said.

“More darklings.” It wasn’t a question. She just knew.

“Possibly.”

With a groan, Ophelia picked herself back up. Her arms, legs and back were uncomfortably stiff, and her wound still throbbed with a dull pain, but she seemed to have recovered from the worst of it.

“So your powers include fast healing,” she said with a stretch. “That’s useful.”

“Have you...are you, erm, better?”

“Not really,” Ophelia shrugged. “Let’s go.”

It was a short jog to the Aldale Building, by her new standards, and Ophelia didn’t waste any time in closing her eyes, ignoring the her stomach’s nauseous apprehension, and swinging her whip around the same gargoyle as last time, flying up to the roof. She stopped in front of where she remembered the tear to be, looking up into the air and waiting for it to open. “Well come on, then, let’s get this over with.”

Brogan danced around in the air, and as if on command, the tear ripped open before them. Ophelia readied her chain whip, crouching into an offensive stance, but all that came out was a small, white ball, and the tear sealed again. On the ground was a tiny white rabbit, sniffing at the air.

“...A rabbit?” Ophelia asked. “Now I’m fighting rabbits?”

“No!” Valkin said, sounding relieved. “That's one of our allies!”

Ophelia walked up to the rabbit looking skeptical, and it looked up at her, sniffing her curiously. “So I’m fighting on the same side as a rabbit. My confidence in our team is waning.”

“You’re fighting on the same side as Alidier, one of the strongest warriors in all of Goriga. This is Mio, his familiar. She is here to deliver his jewel to his host, like Brogan.”

“I guess that’s better...” Ophelia said, reaching down and holding her hand out to the bunny. It hopped to her readily and let her pick it up. “Mio, right? She’s cute.”

“She’s a monster...” Valkin mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Well Brogan seems to like her,” Ophelia said with a slight smile, as the dragon twisted over and nuzzled with Mio. “Awww.”

“I suppose someone has to. Let’s just go back to your house, we’re done for tonight.”

“But what about the darklings? Did that light kill them?”

“It weakened them, but they’re still around somewhere. They won’t be using that nest anymore, though, and a bright light like that will take them a day or so to recover from.”

“Weakened them? So the next fight should be easier, right?”

“Don’t underestimate them,” Valkin warned. “They...wait, next fight? Does that mean you aren’t quitting?”

“Like you said, I can’t really quit, can I?” Ophelia said plainly, heading to the edge of the roof. “Let’s just go home.”

**

By the next morning, Ophelia felt basically back to normal. Her muscles had stopped burning, and her back seemed mostly healed, excepted when she stretched too much. She carefully got out of bed and lifted her pajama shirt to check it in the mirror. There were three large scratches that started at her right shoulder blade and went down to about her hip, but she could hide those pretty easily.

Hiding. That would become a big part of her life now. She would have to start working on her lying and excuses, because she would need to start making a lot of them to cover up her new job. She’d never been much of a liar before. She’d never needed to be.

She got dressed and put her choker on, then opened her closet to check on Brogan and Mio. They’d both curled up on the pillow she’d set up for Brogan last night before she passed out. Brogan was still there, sleeping soundly, but she was surprised to see that Mio had disappeared.

“Valkin!” She touched the ruby in her choker, and it flashed briefly.

“What is it?” Valkin replied.

“Mio is gone!”

“Of course she is, she went to find a host,” Valkin said simply.

“Oh...right.”

“Was that all?”

“Don’t take that condescending tone with me.”

“I wasn’t condesce-” Valkin stopped himself. “Fine,” he said, sounding restrained. “I’ll just be going, then.” The jewel flashed again, signaling his leave.

Ophelia closed the closet door again and headed down stairs, muttering about snotty Gorigan know-it-alls. Her dad was already at the table, eating some toast and reading the paper. He looked up at her as she entered the kitchen.

“You’re already up?” he asked.

“Nope, still asleep,” Ophelia replied as she poured herself some orange juice.

“You’ll forgive my surprise. You’ve never been one to wake up early on your own.”

Ophelia shrugged. “I’m just not really tired.” Even though her nightly escapades were cutting into her sleeping hours, she had yet to feel like she’d lost much rest. She looked at the paper her dad was reading, and suddenly became morbidly curious.

“Uhh...are you almost done with that?”

Her dad looked at her, then at the paper quizzically. “The paper?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure, here,” he said, handing it over curiously. “I didn’t know you were interested.”

“Well, you know, with those disappearances recently, I wanted to check up on what was happening,” Ophelia said, scanning the headlines. It was partially the truth.

“You seemed pretty blasé about it a few days ago.”

“Well now I’m not,” Ophelia said, trying to concentrate. Nothing jumped out at her, until a few pages in, she found what she had been dreading. A short article about a shoot-out at 1:17 AM between the police and two armed robbers. She skimmed the story quickly, looking for any mention of darklings or herself, but the only unusual note was that a portion of the building’s roofing seemed to have been destroyed shortly before the stand-off.

“You look a little pale, honey,” her dad said, causing her to look up.

“Yeah...well...look at this,” she said, putting the paper down. “A shoot-out at Broadview and Parker? That’s not too far from us.”

“It’s across the city,” Jonathan replied. “And there’s always police activity in that area.”

“You don’t go around there, do you?” Ophelia asked.

“I try to keep my 1:00 AM jogs through the slums to a minimum, yeah.”

“Dad, I’m being serious!”

“Fi, are you alright?” her dad asked, getting up and feeling her forehead. “You’re acting so strange.”

“I’m fine,” she said, leaning back out of his reach. “I just had a bad night. I’m alright.”

“If you say so,” Jonathan said, still watching her with concern. “We need to get going. Grab something to eat. If you start feeling sick today, call me and I’ll come pick you up.”

“I’ll be fine.” No she wouldn’t. And so the lying began.

This post has been edited by Another Morning: Jan 15 2010, 5:00 AM

[humbu111]

Wow, it really is amazing! This should be a tv show lol. I never got around to reading the first chapter on its own but now I'm glad I did, and I'll be looking forward to the next one (:

And you said to point out any typos/grammer mistakes ^^:

“No!” Valkin said, sounding relieved. “That's one of our allies!”

“You’re fighting on the same side as Alidier, one of the strongest warriors in all of Goriga. This is Mio, his familiar. She is here to deliver his jewel to his host, like Brogan.”

This post has been edited by humbu111: Jan 13 2010, 2:01 AM

[Another Morning]

Thanks, Bubu! =3 And I'll fix those XD

[fullmoon]

Like what I said on DA, I really liked this chapter! I can't wait till the next one. XD

[Another Morning]

XD Thanks again!