Downcast Mercy: The Righteous

Downcast Mercy

The Righteous—

The night went by without any problems—or anything for that matter. The next morning a person could find Sakura and Kazuo lying sprawled in the chairs, with blank stares glued to the ceiling. It was close to time for the others to arrive, and they hadn't slept a wink.

“Dude… I see a rabbit on the ceiling.” Kazuo said in an exhausted tone; he sounded almost drunk.

“Yer an idiot.” Sakura replied simply, slurring her words slightly.

“Shut up.” Kazuo slowly sat up. With difficulty, he pushed himself to his feet and stretched his arms above his head, stumbling some as his vision blurred and then came back. He turned towards the foyer just in time to hear a door open.

“Hello?” A girl's voice echoed through the cathedral. “Sakura? Kazuo?”

Sakura looked up at Kazuo before getting up and walking into the foyer. He followed after her. Four people stood near the door, looking around with mixed emotions at the cathedral, but all looked with horror at the ceiling.

A young girl with unnatural purple hair partly tied in a bun and matching purple eyes stood ahead of the group. Her trench coat fell limply from her shoulders, threatening to fall to the ground and her visage was excited. She carried a small composition book and a pen. With every observance she would jot down a note or two and then spin around to look for more.

Standing near her was a girl with the same face and looked to be only a year younger. Her hair was blue, four parts pinned to the side of her head with cute clips and eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through your very being. She carried her trench coat with a small, two-tailed white cat on top of it. When the cat spotted Sakura, it leapt to the floor and quietly crossed the floor to her, jumping to her shoulder. Sakura nuzzled the feline affectionately.

The two men stood in the back. The first was Renjiro, a tall man with red hair as fine as a woman's and dark brown eyes that sometimes seemed black. He looked a lot like Kazuo, but was more tan and he stood definitely.

Standing next to him, staring with disgust at the horrid ceiling was Ruine. His black hair fell elegantly to his shoulder blades, the shine appearing to be purple. His bangs hung over into his bright amber colored eyes. Unlike other vampires, who kept their wings hidden, he kept his black, bat-like wings extended.

Of course, this wasn't all of the organization, though there wasn't too many more. The Vampire Organization was very close and therefore didn't have any members that weren't family, close friends, etc. The group of four held bags and a few suitcases with their things. So, they were really going to live there.

“I'm guessing everything is clear here?” Ruine asked, noticing that both Kazuo and Sakura were in one piece.

“Of course.” Kazuo said matter-of-fact.

“This place is amazing!” exclaimed the purple haired girl. “Hiruka, do you know how much this place must have cost to build?”

“A good amount, I believe,” Hiruka replied, her voice quiet and void of much emotion.

“Where can we sit and discuss this?” Renjiro asked calmly.

Kazuo pointed down the corridor leading to the reading room. “In there.”

Ruine looked to Renjiro, received a nod from the redhead and then he headed into the reading room, followed by Hiroko and Hiruka. Renjiro, however, turned around and headed out the front door.

“Renjiro!” Kazuo walked forwards. “Where are you going?”

“I have to go get someone, I'll be back soon.” He said calmly and then shut the door behind him.

Kazuo looked a little put out as he stared at the door closing behind his brother. Sakura walked over and put her hand comfortingly on his arm. He looked at her to receive a message that told him to forget it. He sighed and walked with her into the reading room.

Ruine had taken his position at the head of the table. Sitting to his right was Hiroko and next to her Hiruka. Sakura sat to his left and Kazuo sat next to her. Hiroko still had out her notepad and a pen, waiting for them to speak. But nothing was said for a few minutes. Sakura was idly stroking Yui who slept in her lap, and Hiruka was focused on a section of books labeled “Science Fiction”. Ruine was inspecting the room with a look of affection. Their bags sat in a corner, abandoned.

“Well?” Kazuo asked impatiently. “Are you going to tell us why we're living in a church now?”

“Well, you should know why.” Ruine replied pleasantly, still gazing about the room. “It's a perfect hiding place for our organization.”

“But we were perfectly fine underground.” Sakura protested, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

“No we weren't.” Ruine turned to look at her as if she made no sense. “Other organizations have started to move underground and disturb the dark Lerrits that still reside here. We were being put in danger.”

“So we move up ground and we're safe?” Kazuo asked, crossing his arms on top of the table.

Ruine nodded. “Precisely. We don't want to be in a Lerrit rebellion.”

Hiroko looked at them all, and then concentrated on Ruine. “Are you going to tell them now?”

Ruine shook his head. “When Renjiro gets back with our guest I will.”

“Tell us what?” Sakura asked, sitting up with a curious expression.

Ruine smirked at her, playing on her curiosity. “You'll just have to wait and see.” He nearly sang.

Sakura growled, clenching her teeth.

Hiroko laughed and Hiruka cracked a small smile. Ruine got up and walked over to one section of the bookcase. He ran his finger along the dusty binds of the books until he came to one he was looking for. He dug his sharp nail into the top of the bind and pulled the book down, catching it in his other hand.

“What's that, Ruine?” Hiroko asked, ready to pencil down the name of the book.

“It's,” Ruine sat down and turned the book over to the front cover, “Minorun History, Book One.” Hiroko scribbled down the name.

Sakura was making a face. “Why do we need that book? We all know the history just fine.”

“Wait a minute….” Kazuo studied the cover and then looked up at Ruine. “This is the lost collection, isn't it?”

Ruine nodded. “Another reason I wanted our headquarters to be here. This cathedral holds some of the most ancient records; most ancient and most accurate.” He sat down and cracked open the book, dust swirling up into the air enticing a few sneezes. He immediately began to search for something.

“Still, why do we need it?” Sakura asked.

“All in due time, Sakura.” Ruine replied pleasantly causing the she-vampire to scowl. “Who knows what happens at the turn of each century?”

“The Goddess returns.” Hiruka replied.

“Sometimes, she's here to help the vampires and visit. Other times, she's here to destroy those who anger her.” Ruine flipped through the pages on the book, stopping frequently to read a brief passage. “In a few months, we'll hit a turn. But this time, the Goddess will most likely return angered.”

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the cathedral door opening. They waited and listened as the door closed and two pairs of footsteps approached the library.

First they saw Renjiro. He walked in and stood by the table. Following him was a pale, semi-muscular man with long, spiky light blue hair and red eyes. He wore goggles on his forehead that pushed down his hair and a simple black trench coat, similar to the Organization's. His ears were pointed and he had fangs. On the right side of his neck there were two small, round scars; teeth marks.

“Zonar!” Sakura exclaimed, grinning broadly.

“Hello there, Sakura.” Zonar replied in a deep, royal voice.

“The trip was a safe one, I presume?” Ruine asked, eyeing Renjiro who only crossed his arms in response.

“Of course,” replied Zonar and he walked over to Ruine to shake his hand.

“Who's that?” Hiroko whispered to Sakura across the table. Hiruka listened in.

“That's Zonar, one of Ruine's best friends.” Sakura explained.

“He has a bite. He was human before?” Hiruka asked.

Sakura nodded. “He's a mythical.”

The Shitomi sisters looked surprised. Mythicals were a dying race of vampires and, because of that, extremely rare to see. Most had become rebellious and would attack and kill any Aryan vampire they could out of envy.

“So.” Renjiro said this rather loudly to interrupt the conversations and move the meeting along. “Do we get to know what this,” he paused to gesture about the room, “is all about?”

Ruine nodded. “Now that Zonar is here, we can inform you.”

“What is it? A mission?” Hiroko asked with her pen and notepad ready.

“Yes, a huge mission.” Ruine replied and looked to Zonar. He received a nod in reply and backed down as the blue haired vampire took the floor.

“I'm just going to jump right into it.” Zonar said. “Has anyone heard of the Downcast Mercy?”

There was a short silence, and then Hiruka spoke up. “It's a staff with extraordinary power. The rumors say that it is the power of destruction created by the Goddess.”

“Not exactly.” Zonar said, causing a surprised expression to form on Hiruka's face. “Everyone here should know that Celestia was once ruled by humans, until the different Gods and Goddesses of the races defeated them. Vampires probably never would have become dominant in Celestia if it wasn't for the Priest.”

“The priest?” Sakura raised an eyebrow.

“Thousands of years ago, there were four high priestesses, each one with a cathedral named for them. Each priestess was known for their strong power of right. The high Priest was jealous, so to speak. He didn't have the power. People began to wonder why such a simple human was the leader of them. To escape these rumors, he tricked a vampire into forging a strong, black staff that could absorb the power for the wielder to use. The staff was a success, but the vampire was immediately killed by the priest.”

Everyone, except for Ruine and Renjiro, looked shocked.

“A priest did this?” Hiroko asked.

“The righteous have not always been so pure.” Said Zonar simply. “Continuing on… One after the other, the priestesses fell ill from weakness. Eventually, they died in their respected cathedrals. The priest began to rise in power, aiming to become a dictator of Minoru, and one day Celestia.

“The turn of the century came, and for the first time in Celestian history, a Goddess appeared on living soil. It was the Goddess of the vampires, Ayaka. She punished the priest and took the staff, planning to destroy it.

“But the staff glinted beautifully and swayed the Goddess. The darkness in her heart began to swell. In fear of her control, she hid the Downcast Mercy in the cathedral of the last priestess to die.”

“So, what do you want us to do?” Sakura asked, looking bored.

“Find the Downcast Mercy and destroy it,” replied Ruine simply.

“What for?” asked Kazuo. “No one is using it; no one even knows where it is.”

“The Goddess.” Renjiro said, his eyes widening some in realization.

“Precisely. Last time the Goddess Ayaka had the staff she killed all of the humans and burned their buildings.”

“Why are the cathedrals still here then?” Sakura asked.

“The staff won't destroy the places it was formed from.” Zonar answered.

“Why would the Goddess want to destroy us? We're her people.” Kazuo pointed out.

“After obtaining the staff, remember I said the darkness in her heart grew? Darkness can't be controlled, meaning she doesn't always have complete control of herself.” Zonar said.

“And if she gets her hands on the staff, the darkness could spread more and engulf her. It could be the end of Minoru,” added Ruine.

“Then we just gotta find the Cathedral of the last priestess before the turn of the century.” Sakura said. “What's her name?”

“We don't know any names, except for Marilyn, this cathedral.” Ruine replied, looking solemn.

Sakura looked skeptical. “Then what the hell are we supposed to do?”

“I know what can help us.” Zonar said. “But it's in the hands of the Morte Nera Organization.”

“What is it?” Hiroko asked.

“It's called the Scrolls of Good Will. These scrolls tell about the priestesses and their powers. We could get names and where the cathedrals are located.”

Sakura's lips curled into a malicious grin and she rose to her feet suddenly, slamming her hands on the table. Obviously restraining her excitement, she asked through clenched teeth, “Do I get to steal them…?”

Ruine smirked, “Yes.”

“Oh yeah!” Sakura threw her arms up and leapt into the air. “Finally! I've been so bored!”

“Sakura and Kazuo, in two nights you'll go to the headquarters of the Morte Nera. Renjiro will be sent ahead to scout the area.” Ruine set the book he had been holding down onto the table. “I believe this is mission start, gang.”

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