Prologue
The night steadied as the light burns in Mr. Fujiwara's cigar. He puffs a smoke and blew it straight. He watches a group of male teenagers ganging up a young female teenager through the dissipating smoke inside the shadows. Everytime the girl would take a powerful blow he would snicker.
"What kind of idiot would want to get beat up just for the sake of others?" Mr. Fujiwara mutters.
The girl grips the dirt with both of her bare hands as she groans in pain. Facing the dirt, tasting it along with the saltiness of her blood, she spits and turns her head towards the mob surrounding her.
"Have you had enough?" Says the guy with cheeks full of freckles.
The girl grins. She grips a handful of dirt. She knew she can only throw this and momentarily blind one person and it seems that the freckled guy is the perfect target. He seems to be their leader.
"I never had enough." She mocks the guy, taunting him with a grin. Huge hands suddenly grabbed her from her back then pull her upwards. She knew another right hook will come right away, so she quickly threw the dirt towards her assaulter's eyes, blinding him, and then she kicked him in the stomach. The freckled guy fell on his back, unable to remove the dirt from his eyes; he curses the girl with every fabric of his being.
The girl was about to follow up her attack when something sturdy whacks her right temple causing everything to fade to black. She didn't have the chance to steady herself because a series of heavy blows came right after she got hit in the head.
Mr. Fujiwara taps the ash to fall on the ground the same time the girl fell on the ground, beaten up and unconscious. He seemed fascinated by how the girl has put up a fight against five tall and well-built teenagers. She did put up a good fight. She even managed to break one of the teenager's shoulders, thus, giving them an open invitation to cause a serious damage on her.
The mob left the girl lying on the ground facing the dirt without a hint if she's still alive or not. One of them even spits a mouthful of saliva as he pass by her body. Mr. Fujiwara, on the other hand, threw his cigar and let his eyes follows the group of teenagers leave the park. He waited until all of them are gone.
"Humans." Mr. Fujiwara mutters.
A slight but a quick movement caught his attention. He turns to the girl lying on the ground. He narrowed his eyes and sure of what he saw, this girl is still alive but almost. In few minutes, if this girl didn’t receive any medical attention, she’ll die. He decided to leave the shadows and went straight to the girl. He stood right beside her, looking down like a god who decides which is which.
"What an idiot." He mutters.
He recalled what happened earlier when he saw a young boy sitting just exactly where this girl is lying right now. That young boy happens to be blind and was picked on by the same group who left this girl unconsciously on the ground.
"Stupid human and her heroic tendencies." Mr. Fujiwara doesn’t care about humans but he felt it building inside his stomach up to his chest. That same impulse right before a Norm was about to be reborn but this one is a little different. There’s something else, something inside this girl is monstrous. He turns the girl to face upright then slides both of his arms on the girl's neck and calves and then lifted her in the air. "But, you're not... Human."
Few blocks away from the park, a sushi bar is built for particular customers. Inside, a guy wearing a kitsune mask and a white suit is waiting by the bar, reading a novel book. His ominous aura sends a shrill down on every spine of every customer inside the sushi bar.
"Kitsune-san." A guy appeared from his left. Kitsune didn't turn nor respond, he just kept his undivided attention on the book he's reading.
"Excuse me, Kitsune-san. Mr. Fujiwara left a message." The guy continued. He waited for Kitsune to respond. While doing so, his eyes went from Kitsune's head down to his shiny leather black shoes. Mr. Kitsune has a golden white hair laid back smoothly. Two ear piercing in his left ear. He's holding his novel book with his right and his left is holding a glass of whiskey. The guy noticed an odd looking ring Mr. Kitsune is wearing. It looked like a skull with two intertwining, what it looks like a lightning, is shining beautifully on his middle finger.
The guy's attention was momentarily diverted and currently engrossed by the ring when he saw a slight movement from Mr. Kitsune. He quickly looks up and saw Mr. Kitsune facing him. He felt a quiver of fear right away. Mr. Kitsune cocks his head to one side, waiting for the guy to recover.
"I-I’m sorry. I was just...--" The guy tries to clear his throat but ended up choking in fear. "The... message...--" He forces to speak but something is forcing him to shut his mouth, something sinister.
Now that he's in this state, he regrets the moment he ignored Mr. Fujiwara's advice: Deliver the message then leave. Do not wait for any response.
He should have listened... A voice echoed behind his mind.
Shall I put an end to his mediocre life...? Another voice echoed. Then slowly, like turning the volume up, he can hear voices, maddening voices.
A sweat breaks off from his temple, a signal that an Exousia is starting to drain away the guy's sanity. Then, the choking started to happen. The guy suddenly reached for the bar to hold on and steady himself as his own lungs is slowly betraying him. Mr. Kitsune, on the other hand, is watching Mr. Fujiwara's messenger gets drown by his very own fears.
Few moments after the guy choked, he vomited his two days’ worth of meal and then he started crying asking for forgiveness. Everyone around them didn't say anything at all. Being a Renascentia, even in their caliber enough to enter the sushi bar, isn't enough to stop what Mr. Kitsune is doing. They kept minding their business as if nothing is happening.
The messenger is already on the ground, swimming in his own vomit while continuously muttering inaudible sounds.
"Kitsune." A familiar voice spoke. A strong, valiant voice, a known voice to anyone who has been in the Ragnarok business for too long will surely recognize who it is right away. Whilst everyone tried to keep it to themselves, ignoring Mr. Kitsune and his freak show, this particular voice made them turn their heads towards the owner.
"I think the messenger had enough." Mr. Fujiwara revealed himself. Mr. Kitsune turns his attention to Mr. Fujiwara, who's now sitting beside him.
"I take it he didn't finish what he's supposed to deliver?" Mr. Fujiawara gestured the waiter for his usual. The bartender nodded weakly. Now, no one can blame him if he's about to piss in his pants.
"You have a bad habit of messing up my messenger's mind. That's sixth now. Don't you know how difficult it is to find a messenger? And if you ever find one, it'll cost you a dime." Mr. Fujiwara scolded Mr. Kitsune as he accepted the glass full of ice and a can of soda from shaking hands. Mr. Kitsune glances at the poor messenger who felt the wrath of his Exousia. The guy was left unconscious, lying on his pool of vomit.
"Sorry." Mr. Kitsune finally spoke.
"Don't be."
"Okay."
Mr. Fujiwara poured his cola on his glass full of ice then he turns to Mr. Kitsune with an intense gaze. The thought drives him mad until now. He helped a Norm to become a Renascentia that yield extreme and exquisite result. At first he thought it's an amazing find in history of mankind, including theirs: The Tyrans. But, as days pass by, witnessing how his newly reborn Renascentia being able to control the Exousia right after being born again troubles him.
A Renascentia will lose their memories for quite a while after the process of being reborn again. That process is what they call the Gaia Cycle. They will start from the very first question: 'who am I?' and everything they need to learn will be provided by their Creo. From abc to learning how to have an absolute control of their Exousia.
But, this Renascentia is truly magnificent beyond worlds. It also scares him. That's why instead of relaxing on his terrace drinking warm sake, he's now sitting beside one of the most feared Renascentia/Creo in their district and his brother in arms.
"I wouldn't be here if it's not a matter of life and death." He spoke in a low voice.
"I didn't know you'd care about life and death."
Mr. Fujiwara grins. Mr. Kitsune can see him through and through.
"But, I just did. Forty five minutes ago." Mr. Fujiwara took a sip on his soda.
"That's a very long time for you to decide. Anyway, what is it?" Mr. Kitsune closed his novel and puts it inside his suit.
"I helped a Norm to go under the Gaia Cycle." Mr. Fujiwara's gaze suddenly became intense and deadly serious.
"You always do. What's new?"
Mr. Fujiwara took a deep breath then he leaned closer to Mr. Kitsune so that they will not be heard by anyone else. "Everything."
