Chapter 4: The Dead City

The next morning Dalia gave a last fleeting glance at the academy. Pel gave her a protection amulet, Geny gave her whistle and Wisteria gave her a hug. Dalia had everything with her. Rumi wouldn't even see her. He told her he would see her when she came back. If I come back. No! She shook her head. I mustn't think that. I will see him again. She took Crisith and walked the long lonely path to Alsgard. It was night when she made it to Kyu. She had heard stories of this long deserted ruin. Many magical creatures lived among the falling walls and thick overgrowth. She knew she'd have to sleep here tonight. She erected a vault barrier and settled in for the night. Too many creatures knew that a high level vault barrier wasn't something to be messed with. The next morning when she rose she continued to head south. According to the Turni, she should be able to find Jefu in this region. She decided when she entered Ketsuki she would ask around. She watched the weather grow worse as she headed into the village. She knew that night would yeild a bad storm. It was already early evening when she got to Ketsuki. She headed for the first inn. Dali looked at the name THE MOUNTAINCAVERN INNE. Here was as good a place as any. Dali went in. A woman with black hair and eyes looked up.  "Welcome to the Mountaincavern may I get you something?"
 "Actually I'm looking for someone named Jefu."
 "Anything else?"
Dali looked at her. The woman was wearing a long back dress with a red velvet trim, a red shawl with black lace at the edges, and a blood amulet around her neck. Her eyes were blacker than the blackest night and her hair was the same. Her eyes shifted like the dark moon shifts- slowly. Her fingernails were like polished silver and were very long. Her teeth were glistening white with two long fangs, revealing her vampire nature. She wore a three-loop bracelet on her left hand and a matris ring on her right hand. She looked up at Dali waiting for an answer. 
"No." spoke Dali. Dali looked around some more. On the far table in the corner a miniature gargoyle statue stood. It was painted quite extravagantly. Its wings were a glistening red, its eyes were dark green and the rest of it was four different grays. Dali looked back at the woman and turned her attention to the blood amulet around her neck. True to its name it held a vial of blood. The top had a band of silver and the initial V was carved in it.
"Where did you get that?" Dali asked pointing to the amulet. 
The woman looked at Dali. "My mother gave it to me."
"Do you have a  name?"
"Angéliqué. Do you have a name?"
"Yes I'm Dalia, call me Dali."
A stranger walked in and took a seat at the bar. He kept his hood up but she could see his elf ears.
"Will it be the usual?" asked Angéliqué.
"Yes." spoke the elf. He looked right at Dali. "You look like the adventurous type. How about an adventure?" He said this with a wink and a grin. 
Angéliqué put down a glass of strawberry wine. "Here."
The elf accepted the glass with a smile. Angéliqué fixed herself a glass of bloodwyne. Dali looked into the elf's shimmering green eyes. "You can help me if you want."  
 "I'm looking for someone named Jefu. Do you by any chance know him?"
"I'm the only Jefu around." said the elf. "Are you on an adventure?"
"Well............"
"I like adventure stories." He slid closer to her. She thought of him as a pervert. He kept inching closer. Dali looked at his eyes. They were tempting her.
"Please tell us your adventure." said Angéliqué 
A clap of thunder and a streak of lightning warned them it was raining. Raindrops rolled off the windows and came down the chimney. The ones coming down the chimney sounded like a dragon running down the street. The door shuttered and the shutters groaned in the wind. The woman went over to the windows and closed them. They all sat at the bar waiting for Dali to begin her story when a girl of about twelve came in. 
"Momma."
Angéliqué ran over to her daughter. "You're drenched! Go upstairs and dry off."
The little girl went. Dali stared after her. Angéliqué noticed.
"That's my daughter Gabrielle."
"I didn't know you had a kid." said Jefu raising an eyebrow. 
"I just adopted her."
"Oh?"
"Her family was killed about a month ago. So I took her in. She has nowhere else to go"
"How did they die?" Dali asked.
"Their house burned down. Gabrielle was with a friend and when she came home.."
"I see..." Dali's gaze went down to the floor.
Another girl came streaking into the bar. "Hi mistress! Did Rie come in?"
Angéliqué waved her off. The girl ran upstairs after her friend. 
Angéliqué and Jefu both turned back to Dalia. His melodic voice whispered, "Your adventure miss?"
Dalia looked at him. "Look, I was told to find Jefu and he could help me."
"Well I'm your man, and what can I help you do?"
She was afraid he would only help her out of her clothes. "Rebek-." 
He stood up. Angéliqué was very intent on hearing the story now. He pulled Dalia up and threw money on the bar. "This is not for you Angéliqué. Nor any of this town." He ushered Dali towards the woods. They went to a small cave outside of town. 
"That name is not to be spoken in that town. If ever they find her... Her blood is, simply, eternal. How did you hear?"
He had roughly tossed her to the ground in the cave. She shook a little. It was cold. The rain hadn't let up. "I was told, by Dema, to find Jefu for he would lead me to the great black dragon."
"You're the last then? I always wondered when you would come. I always wanted an adventure. This is true adventure."
He took off his hood. His long purple hair spilling out. Her eyes stared through him. In this light he looked a little like Yukii. She sighed. He leaned down to her. 
"I'm sorry I wasn't more gentle. If I knew you were the last..."
 "I don't understand any of what's going on."
His swirling green eyes pierced through her. "So you are to be my bride."
She reeled. She went back and realized only rock wall was there. She couldn't stop staring at him. "B-b-bride?" She stammered. "I-I-I-I know nothing of this!"
"Well, I can't just force you, but it has already been foretold."
Dalia reached into her bag. She grabbed the book and spoke the incantation.  It flew open. She searched the blank pages ignoring him. "Is it true?" She shouted at the book. She felt a little stupid yelling at a book until the answer appeared. Two paths. One dark, one light. Marriage of two men, one forbidden. Forever forbidden. She stared. She assumed the dark was Vey and the light must be him. This man before her. She didn't even know him. She closed the book. He sat next to her. "I'm right, huh?" He looked at her expressionless face. "Yea, I remember that feeling. I was only a kid when I was told I would never marry anyone but you. You will marry the last. The true master."
"Master?" 
"I always thought it was the one who would master the dragon. Prove to me you are the real one. I would get you Rebekka, only thing is, I can't do it without the Master Bera."
"Bera?" Dali looked at him.
"The Bera. That stone around your neck?" She looked at the storm stone. "That is a Bera. You know why is swirls?" 
She shook her head. 
"There are tolecs in those. The trapped spirit of evil. They will proctect their master no doubt, but will steal their soul of not contained. The Master Bera can only be handled by a magician of high class magic. Not even the Turni or the Magi of Kia can posesses that stone. That stone opens the lair of Rebekka. I know where she sleeps. Get the stone and I will take you to her. If you can get the stone."  
She stared. "Where do I find it?"
He smiled. "I really like you." He winked. Dali was taken aback. "Seras knows. She can guide you to the Saint City." 
"Seras, I know this name."
"You should. She's Servania's daughter, and that little girl who came in to find 'Rie'."
She looked at him. "Servania's..."
He nodded. "She stays with Gabrielle until she is commanded to go. You must command her." Dalia silently nodded.
	The next morning Dalia awoke in the cave beside Jefu. She was a little concerned he might have tried something. He still seemed like a pervert. She tried to stay awake all night, but she must've fallen asleep at some point. She looked at Jefu in the morning sun. The light slitted it's way though the trees into the cave. His sleeping face was quite handsome and almost childlike. She longed for Rumi and Yukii and even Pel. She was in unfamiliar territory and didn't like the looks of it. Well, maybe she liked the looks of him, just not how this was turning out. She quietly got up and grabbed her things and headed to town. She reached the Mountaincavern. It was odd. She noticed no one, no one at all in the town. She went inside. She called out. Nothing. She went upstairs to where the girls had been the night before. She opened the door and found Seras sitting on the floor. Dalia walked over to the little girl. She did look like her mother. "Seras." The girl was silent. She still looked at the floor. "Seras, I command you." She looked at Dalia. "Master."
Dalia blushed. "I am no master. I am Dalia." Seras looked at her. Her grey eyes like a fog at sea. "Dalia?" Dali nodded. "What do you command of me?"
"More a request. Could you help me find the Saint City?" Seras' eyes went wide. 
"The last?" She looked at Dalia. "Yes, I will help. We must leave now." Dalia took Seras out of town. The opposite direction of Jefu. Seras seemed to come out of her daze.
"Dalia, that city," she pointed back at Ketsuki, "is nothing but vampires. We must hurry to Saint City. We will find it when the sun goes down."
Dalia followed Seras through the forest and up the mountain. They stopped at an expansive lake. The last vistages of the sun now sinking below the treetops. "Wait." Seras whispered. Dalia stood staring at the lake. The first rays of light from the Cestal moon stirred the lake. Gigantic spires emerged from the deep blue waters. The Saint Cathedral stood, waiting for people to enter. Seras hurried Dali towards the gaping door. "Hurry Dalia, the door will disappear when the second ray of light hits it." Dalia saw that ray inching toward the cathedral. They broke into a run. The door was a portal. They heard it shut and the sound of water rushing once they were inside. Seras showed Dali to the topmost spire. She opened the window. Dali gasped. There was a whole city. Dry as if on dry land and silver. Seras tugged her arm. "We have until the morning rays to do this or we will be trapped until someone else stumbles in. Come on!" She climbed out the window and jumped. Dalia closed her eyes and jumped. She landed on the ground like a feather. Like she had wings. She opened her eyes and looked around. The city was familiar. Those spires? She realized! Dad's watch! It was. The same silver spires. She saw Seras run up to another temple. There were columns and arches and two giant golden spires. It was a twilight city. A dead city. She followed Seras to the opening. It was a giant circular door. Dalia put her hand to the door. "Omorie." The door opened to admit them. The inside was a very straight path. They entered the chamber. The room was small but it was very bright.  It had rare stones all over the place. In the middle of the room, on a pedistal, there it was. The Master Bera, what they had come for. It was a giant blue swirling diamond-shaped jewel. Dali looked at her necklace. It was the same, only smaller.  Seras was facinated with it. She went and touched it.
"Seras NO!" Dali cried. To late Seras had picked it up. An orange fog started to envelope the room. From within the fog there were screams of hate. The tolecs were out. The most evil spirits, the tolecs. Dali ran over to Seras and grabbed the Bera.
"Letes en ef ses sot het rez" Dali screamed.
Seras fell over. The fog was still around. Dali felt claws ripping at her skin. 
Dali's eyes went red. She smiled as she held the stone. "Asroy to het rezzo en bereim." The tolecs surrounded her. They quietly came to her. They wove themselves around her. The fog started to lift and Seras struggled to stand. Dalia looked at her with her evil eyes. She would make her a true servant. "Master, master..master." The whispers of the tolecs surrounded her. Master ringing everywhere. Seras stood. She raised an arm. "Expeledi." 
The crystal sound pierced the chittering of the tolecs. Dali smiled. She gathered the evil creatures back to the Bera. She stood alone with Seras. A voice different from Dali's own came from her. "No, Turni. I will keep this vessel." Seras looked at her. "No, Shylphie." She placed her hand on Dali. "Arum!" Dalia came back. "What is this place?" Seras shook her head. "Isn't it obvious? The Saint City is quite literally, the City of the Dead. The portal to Cestal resides here. Or more there, in the Saint Cathedral. You are the true master. The last. The last Delphie." 
Dalia had stopped. "Del-phie..." She shivered. "I'm a Delphie?"
Seras nodded. "We must get to the cathedral now, and wait for light."
Seras ran to the cathedral, Dali slowly trailing behind.
She stopped and looked. "I've seen this."
Walking down stone steps. The silver spires around her. My dream...
She approached one of the pillars and a hand grabbed her. The dark figure loomed over her. "You have it. Give it to me." He stopped. "Dalia."
She shook. "Yukii." 
He pulled her close. "I must have that Dal, I need to get out of here."
"No, Yukii! I can get you out." Another figure appeared. Male. She was still shaking. 
Yukii looked at his sister. "All right this time. I want that stone Dalia."
"Why? Why do you need it?"
"To protect you."
She shook her head. "No, not me."
Seras ran back up. "Come on master!"
Dalia saw her go to the door of the cathedral. "Follow me!" 
The two men followed her. The four of them stood in front of the door. The light was blinding. "Jump!" Seras screamed.
They did. The water was cold. They all swam to shore now drenched. Dali laid down to breathe. A familiar face looked at her. She jumped. "Jefu!"
He smiled and bowed. "My master." Dali realized she was still holding the Bera. Jefu stood up. "Are these your enemy?" He waved at the two men and pulled his bow.
Dali jumped up and grabbed his arms. "No! That's my brother, and his friend."
Jefu put his bow away. Yukii looked at Dalia. "Master? What, did you bind them?"
She shook her head. "I did nothing. I was worried about you Yukii. Afraid you..."
"Died?" She nodded. He scoffed. "Sorry to burst your pretty bubble."
The second man stood by Yukii's side. He extended his hand to Dalia. "I'm Eiri."
She shook his hand. He had soft eyes. A sky blue color. They were like deep jewels. His hair was sapphire colored and quite short. He looked very fragile. Dalia liked him right away. She looked at her brother. His hair had grown in a year. It was so long it had to be tied in three places. She smiled through her tears, and threw herself at her brother. "I'm so glad you're alive." He hugged her. 
"Dalia..."
"No, please don't say anything." Tears still rolled down her face.
"We must go." Yukii said.
Jefu spoke. "So must we."
Yukii let go of Dalia. He went to Jefu. "Take care of her."
"I will."
Yukii looked at him. "You know what she is?"
He nodded. They shook hands. Yukii and Eiri turned and left.
Jefu picked up Dalia, still clutching the Bera. "I made a promise." He bent down to Seras. "Go back, protect your other master." She ran off, back to the vampire city, to guard her vampire.