Written by Arcahan

"Laugh as much as you want", Kevin muttered sullenly, "But I don’t think that this is a good idea."

Raina chuckled from where she was sitting on the other side of their crackling campfire. "Afraid of a few little ghosts, Kevin? That’s not very like you, is it?"

Kevin dismissed his friend’s teasing with an angry jerk of his hand. His lean form was hidden by blue cloaks, which were decorated with dozens of tiny runes. Kevin’s once raven-black hair already bore several streaks of gray in it. His features were angular and hard. His sharply V-shaped chin, along with his long, curved nose gave him an appearance of a raptor. "A few ghosts are nothing I couldn’t handle", he growled to his companion.

"Then what is it?" Raina asked. Though as lean as her friend, she was taller of the two. Rust-brown curls flowed to her shoulders and far down into her back. Her chocolate-colored eyes were sparkling with mirth as she regarded Kevin over the flames. Blessed with soft yet slender features and a body built in a same manner, she resembled a weasel in every way. As her friend often put it, "just add sleek fur and ears."

As an answer Kevin simply lifted his hand and pointed to the west.

The pair had set their camp onto a moonlight-lit hill. Their fire was sheltered by a group of sturdy birches. Their mounts, a pair of chocobos, were comfortably sitting nearby, tired and soundly asleep. Far above them, extending from one horizon to another, was a dark sky, spotted by stars, like tiny jewels scattered there by a hand of some untidy god. Across a little valley west of them, there was another hill, this one occupied by a black bulk of a ruined castle.

It was clearly visible in the light of a full moon. Both of its towers had fallen long ago, only short, twisted stumps marked the places where they had once so proudly risen into the heights. The outer wall was badly damaged by the patient teeth of time. Only a few piles of rocks marked where it had been standing. However, no matter how ruined it was, the little castle would have offered the two travelers a fine shelter for the night. The only reason why they hadn’t used it was the hair in the back of Kevin’s neck. Even a mere sight of the keep had made them send a wave of chill across his back.

"There’s… something about that keep", the mystic said. "Something I don’t like."

Raina laughed again. She knew that the time her friend had spent studying magic had made him develop something like a sixth sense. All spellcasters had such a sense, in one form or another. It always warned them when there was something unnatural in the air. But all this fuss over a simple ruined castle? Over the years of traveling together Raina had witnessed several times such fits of worrying and uneasiness taking over Kevin, sudden and completely without any kind of reason. Considering the amount of worry currently leaking out from the mystic, the keep should have been radiating with a fiery red aura and an army of demons should have been circling over it, ready to attack every unwary traveler. But instead of that… nothing. Absolutely nothing else but an old heap of rock.

"Kevin, you really should calm down. If there are any kind of demons there, shouldn’t they already have come out by nightfall? And if that what-ever-it-is can’t come out from the castle, why should we be worrying about it? Just relax, ok?" As an example Raina leaned backwards, using her hands as a pillow.

Kevin refused to calm down. The mystic was sitting tightly upright as if his backbone would have permanently stiffened into that position. "I’m not going to relax until that keep is out from our sight for good. We shouldn’t have made our camp this near."

Raina gave this thought a dismissive wave. "Even with the full moon it’s too dark for the chocobos to travel. Let’s be off on the first light tomorrow, ok? Now calm down and get some sleep!"

"Assuming that you are going to stay really vigilant your whole watch", Kevin reminded Raina of her duty. Wrapping himself tightly into his cloaks he laid down and attempted to summon whatever dreams were in store for him tonight. He was quite sure that he wouldn’t get an eyeblink of sleep before the sun would announce the dawn of a new day. He hated it when this horrible feeling of foreboding took him over. It was as if –

Something made him to open his eyes. Slowly the mystic drew himself up, never faltering his gaze from the spot that had caught his attention. "Raina."

Within less than a moment the weasel-like woman was at his side, her slim rapier flashing in the leaping, golden halo of their campfire. Though she constantly teased Kevin because of his occasional nervousness, she never questioned his judgement when it was to immediate danger.

True enough. Visible like a glowing piece of gold against a heap of coal, heading for their campfire from the direction of the ruined castle, was a dim spot of light. A lantern, no doubt. The soft light swayed slightly from side to side as it came forward, slowly yet steadily.

"Well, looks like we are going to have a visitor tonight", Raina remarked, giving Kevin a little side-glance. "Could it be your ghost?"

"I… I don’t know", the mystic replied. Quickly he bent down to pick up his staff. "Let’s be careful."

They waited for something that seemed to be like an eternity. The slow speed of the lantern never changed. From time to time it disappeared behind bushes or trees, only to reappear again after circling around whatever obstacle blocked its path. Slow it was, aye, but persistent. Every second brought it a little nearer its goal, the campfire of the two travelers.

Finally Raina’s patience ended: "Ho, ghost! You down there, with the lantern! Hurry up so that we can have a good look at you!"

"Raina!" Kevin hissed.

The lantern stopped at the shout. For a moment it just stood there, as if hesitating, but then it began moving again, just as slowly as before. It was already at base of their hill. Kevin and Raina could distinguish a figure carrying the light. It was short and stout, larger than a moogle but much, much smaller than a human.

Raina gave out a quiet chuckle. "Not very fearsome, this ghost of yours."

Kevin did his best to reflect her mirth. "I… suppose not."

As they watched, the figure continued its climb with unshakeable determination. It waddled around another stunted bush and was finally clearly within the pair’s sight. It was a stout, lizard-like creature dressed in an austere brown monk robe. Its rocking steps were balanced by a long tail that pressed itself firmly against the ground behind the odd creature’s back. Its bright yellow eyes had no pupils and they seemed to be luminous against the golden light of the campfire. In its little paws it held a plain chef’s knife and a simple lantern with a melting candle inside.

"What is this thing?" Raina asked. She was more and more assured that if this was the ‘ghost’ Kevin was so nervous about, the mystic had mistaken… badly. "It’s cute!"

The Thing halted. It was impossible to know if it was glad to finally reach its goal: the lizard-like features didn’t flinch nor did it open its mouth. Slowly it lifted its lantern up as if the light of the campfire wouldn’t be enough for it. Then it waddled a little forward.

"Hello, cutie", Raina laughed, sheathing her rapier. With a few vigorous steps she cleared the short distance between her and the Thing. Bending down to look squarely into those luminous eyes she smiled. "What are you? And why are you out here all alone?" Only now did she seem to notice the knife in the little creature’s hand. "You won’t be needing that, sweetie. We’re not going to harm you."

The Thing seemed to follow her gaze down into its blade. The knife moved just a little in its hand.

Kevin was staring at the creature with wide eyes. A mere sight of the Thing had sent a mountain of ice sliding up and down his back. There was something… something truly horrible to this what-ever-it was.

Wait a minute.

He knew that he had seen a picture of such a thing before, he knew that it, too, had a name. A name that was always spelled with a slight shivering in the speaker’s tone. It was… It was… "Raina! Get back! NOW!"

Too late.

With a speed that denied its stout appearance, with a speed that turned Raina’s lightning-quick reflexes into those of a snail, the Thing moved its hand. The weasel-like woman had just enough time to flinch when the chef’s knife had cut through her chain mail as if it had been nothing else but another piece of cloth. She didn’t even have time to stagger backwards. The little blade had slipped past her rib cage and directly through her heart with surgical accuracy. She was dead far before she had fallen to the ground.

The Thing withdrew its blade and turned to face Kevin.

"Raina!" That was all the mystic could shout. All the other words were blocked by the sudden terror that surged through his body, numbed his limbs and dulled his mind. This creature… it was… Tonberry.

The lizard-like creature waddled forward, its lantern rocking with each step.

"Stay away from me!" Suddenly realizing that the creature was coming for him, Kevin snapped back into his senses. Lifting his staff high he chanted a spell. A jet of white-hot flames roared out from his extended palm.

Tonberry didn’t even seem to notice the fire. Though its humble robe blackened slightly and started smoking, it was as if the creature would have been walking through a spring rain. Another step forward. Slow. Determined. And not a once did those yellow eyes falter from its goal.

"Curse you!" With powers given him by desperation Kevin launched another spell. A bolt of lighting flashed through the darkened skies and hit Tonberry squarely into head. It had about as much effect as the fire had had.

Another step forward.

"N-No!! Stay away!" A rain of ice hadn’t much of an effect, either. It did quell out the little fire smoldering in Tonberry’s robe, but that was all.

The final step. The creature was directly before Kevin now. Without any kind of hesitation it lifted its knife. The strike was swift, accurate and merciless. An expression of pure horror was etched into the mystic’s hawkish features as he fell.

For a moment Tonberry simply stood there. Perhaps it thought the deed it had just done. Perhaps it regretted. Perhaps not. It was absolutely impossible to know what the mysterious creature was thinking. Its featureless face showed no feelings. It never did.

With a slow, almost respectful move the creature lifted its lantern over the dead mystic. Waving it in a simple circle Tonberry evoked whatever power was hidden into that candle. A sudden gust of wind stroke out from Kevin’s body. Short and violent, it existed just long enough for the candle to draw it inside the lantern.

Tonberry turned, waddled over to the body of Raina and repeated the gesture with the lantern. Another miniature storm was ripped out and absorbed into the candle. The whole exchange lasted long enough for the wind to give out the last, desperate howl: "Nooo-ooooooooo…"

Tonberry ignored this. Not once did it throw a glance at the chocobos, which were awake and nervous wrecks because of the creature’s presence. Turning back towards the path that led back to the ruined castle, the lizard-like creature started to make its way down into the valley. It walked without hurry, for it had all the time in the world. Right. Left. Right. One step after another.

Had there been someone to observe Tonberry, he would have noticed something very strange about the mysterious creature. Somehow, without any kind of change in its expression, it looked glad.

Glad that its task was once again one step closer to its fulfillment.

End

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