Chapter Fifteen: The Keeper
The figure began moving closer and closer to Kohana, its face shaded by the darkness of the room; a long sword was clenched tightly in its hand. The child stumbled backwards over a scroll illy placed on the floor. The little girl became almost paralyzed with fear.Outside, the two adults searched frantically for Kohana's whereabouts. Silence dwelt upon the shrine grounds, failing to aid Vincent and Miyo. A sudden piercing shriek of desperation emerged, and stricken with anxiety, the woman cried, "I heard something in the other building!"
Vincent perked his ears and listened in for the child. He continued to run as he finally rushed into the main building. The man burst through the door and aimed Cerberus at the stranger, who appeared to be a twenty nine year old woman, with long, straight chestnut colored hair and hazel eyes. He lowered his gun and looked over to the young girl.
"Kohana?" he called to her, the woman following suit behind him. "Are you alright?"
Miyo's sister rushed over to Vincent almost in tears. "A monster was... was behind me!" she stuttered, nearly sobbing.
Miyo rushed up to her sister with a concerned expression, checking to see if she was hurt. "Everything seems fine, what happened?" the older sister questioned, wiping away a trickle from the girl's cheek. "Who scared you, Kohana?"
"I didn't mean to alarm anyone," the stranger replied, stepping up to the group blandly. She lowered her sword, continuing, "I'm Arnia, and I'm the shrine keeper here."
After taking a glance at Vincent and staring into his intense red eyes, the keeper's eyes widening as she thought to herself, "Could it possibly be...is that who he was talking about? He's far more attractive than I would've imagined..."
Vincent expressed his usual blank face and put Cerberus away. "Valentine," he said in a low tone. "Vincent Valentine." He looked over to the two sisters and then turned back to Arnia. "Sorry for the confusion, you just startled us."
"I'm sorry," she replied, continuing to stare at the Turk. She slyly smiled as if she knew something Vincent didn't. "Your... daughter stepped back while I was coming inside, and I didn't realize it. Please, allow me to make it up to you." The woman took a step forward toward Vincent and the light from the outside accentuated her form.
The features on Arnia's face were one of a kind, but her personality and habits didn't match her beauty. She always felt somewhat burdened by her duties as shrine keeper. Her desire was to have a family and life of her own, but that was impossible. She had no choice in the matter, so she had always felt somewhat lackluster about things and people around her, jealous of what they had. She noticed Vincent's red eyes again, along with the clothing and weapon he had previously aimed at her weren't from the village. "I guess my suspicions are confirmed now... it's obvious this must be the man he spoke of," she thought.
Arnia then lightly touched Vincent's arm while Miyo simply stared, a hint of envy surged through her.
"You don't have to make it up to me," he said with a blank expression, offering the shrine keeper's hand a mere glance. "I appreciate your kindness but you owe me nothing."
The man looked down at the young girl standing beside him and placed a hand upon her shoulder. "As for Kohana, she isn't my daughter," he said offering her a smile. "She happens to be my very good friend. Right, Kohana?"
"Yes!" Kohana shouted towards Arnia. "You really did scare me, you know!"
"Kohana!" Miyo interjected, glaring at her younger sister and crossing her arms in dismay. "That was a rude thing to say. Please apologize, we did intrude upon Arnia."
Arnia looked at the young girl and replied, "It's alright. I know that I came on a little too strong and I apologize. Please, stay. I don't want to ruin your fun here."
"I don't want to stay," Kohana said in a timid voice. "It's kinda scary...what if there really are ghosts?"
Arnia chuckled a little, having heard stories about the shrine ghosts her whole life. She returned her glance to the girl, winking and replying, "Well, if there are ghosts, I promise they wouldn't bother you."
"If you're sure you don't mind us staying, then... I suppose we can stay a while longer," Vincent said looking up to Arnia. "After all, we weren't done with the trip, were we?"
The man looked over to Miyo and nodded. "What do you think, Miyo?" he questioned. "Do you think we should stay here? It's your call."
Darting her eyes about the place, Miyo bit her lip in mild uncertainty. Fixing her attention on the Turk, she hesitated a little and then spoke. "Well, we did come all this way," she stated, lowering her eyes. "Maybe we can stay a little longer."
"Well,you all can stay as long as you like," Arnia said going to the desk. "Sorry about the clutter. I didn't think anyone would come. But for some reason Vincent, you look very familiar..."
While Vincent looked downward, Arnia looked to Miyo with great intrigue. She paused and turned back to the Turk, gazing into his eyes nervously and said, "I know why you seem familiar! At the festival last night, after reading from a Riyonan Prophecy to the townsfolk, a hooded man approached me, asking if I had seen a man with red eyes. I told him no, but then remembered a passage in one of the scrolls, speaking of a red eyed warrior. It said that great danger would befall the man and all those close to him."
"Really?" Vincent said with a tone of mild surprise. "Please, can you tell me more?"
Feeling out of place, the older sister slightly frowned. "Maybe we should give them their privacy," Miyo whispered to Kohana, placing a hand on the child's shoulder. "Arnia could know something of importance, and we might... get in the way."
Overhearing Miyo, Arnia carefully spoke, "That would be best. After all, I might need to find a specific tome, and this room is rather small for so many people..."
The shrine keeper then turned to the Turk, saying with a serious tone, "Vincent, I think I might know why you're here..."
Vincent looked up at Arnia with a bit of unexpected surprise on his face. "What? Really?" he asked as he stepped toward her. "Why am I here?"
"Just a minute," Arnia announced, "I need to find a certain scroll. Would you mind waiting while I find it?"
He turned to Miyo, and his face produced a grim frown. As she walked away from him with Kohana, he sighed and looked down once more. "Sure," the man whispered with his frequent emotionless expression.
"You see, recently I found this old scroll..." Arnia replied, searching through the clutter on her desk. "Ah! Here it is."
She held up a rather old-looking scroll with ancient writings etched into it. She looked over it and showed it to the man. "This is what I read not too long ago. It talks about a great dimensional rift. Do you know anything about that?"
"Yes," Vincent solemnly said, "I do. There was a giant vortex that brought me here."
"Ah," Arnia remarked, "well, it says those brought through this rift will be faced with a great danger that will continued to plague them until finally defeated."
Vincent's eyes widened a bit and he looked at the scroll. "What? he asked once more as he took another step toward Arnia. "How is this possible? I... I can't believe it. He was right..." The man looked upon the scroll and advanced towards Arnia once more.
The shrine keeper started reading it following each line with her index finger. "It also says that the warrior will face great loss to triumph; most likely a reference to," she paused, "death."
Chapter Sixteen: Seduction > >
