Prologue
The day was beautiful, the sun up in the sky behind a big cloud, kind of shaped like a crescent. That was very fitting considering last night’s moon was in a perfect crescent shape, which is very rare, in these parts anyways.
It makes me smile when I see a crescent moon, because I was born on a night with a perfect crescent moon,. Of course that wasn't a good night. You see, people believe that if you're born on a night of a crescent moon, you're a demon. Boy were they spot on too, but I'm not your normal stereotypical demon. I'm not ugly, I don't go around killing or possessing people, no, instead I spend my time in the forest near the town that I was born in.
But I was telling you why the night I was born wasn't a good one, not about my demonic abilities and features. Well, here is my story...
Chapter 1
Birth Night
The sky through the day had been completely clear, not even a single cloud in the sky and the evening was busy in the Kagoichi family’s house as Tetsuki Kagoichi was in labor...
An hour had passed since the birth had started and it had gotten dark when Haraki walked out to catch a breath of fresh air. The birth was being a complicated one and the midwife had said she didn't think Tetsuki would survive, which is what had caused him to step outside, he had started feeling light headed and nauseated, but what he saw made him fall to his knees with wide crying eyes. Sitting in a perfect crescent shape was the moon.
He soon heard the cries of his newborn child and he quickly jumped up and ran inside and into the room with his beloved and the midwife who, as he entered, looked at him with wide eyes. She'd been looking at the child’s back, which had a mark in the middle. In the center of the mark was an hourglass which had a box around it, and it had extra corner lengths to attach to the box corner, and surrounding the box was a crystal type shape.
“We must kill this child!" the midwife finally exclaimed after several minutes of staring at each other.
"No!" Haraki replied.
"Excuse me?! You know as well as I do what this mark means Haraki!" the midwife persisted.
"I don't care! She's my child and I'm not going to kill her based on some prophecy!" he cried as he was now choking back tears, for he had finally looked over at his beloved Tetsuki and she had died from the hard birth.
“Are you saying you don't believe?! You, who was a priest in the very chapel, of which teaches this prophecy? For shame! You used to preach and remind people of this prophecy every day. What has gotten into you?" the midwife asked as she watched him scoop the child up into his arms.
"Yes, I am saying I don't believe, how could a priest such as I be the father of the child of prophecy?" he began to ask her.
"You yourself said that ANYONE, including a priest, could harbor the demon of prophecy inside us," she said in a reminding way.
"I don't care! Besides it's a girl, not a man," he pointed out.
"The prophecy never specified gender," the midwife said.
"That does not matter; we do not allow women to be warriors. Besides there's the debate among priests that we do not have the whole prophecy, so how do we know that she will kill all of the humans?" he questioned her.
"Very few priests address that debate and live Haraki," the midwife said threateningly.
"Are you threatening me Tetsuka? Your sister would surely scold you for threatening family," he said, giving her a cold hard stare.
"My sister is dead thanks to that demon child, and the only family I had left has traded reason for a child, a demon child no less!" Tetsuka, the midwife, exclaimed as she charged at Haraki, her arms outstretched and hands aiming for his neck.
Haraki dodged as he ran out the door holding his child tightly in his arms.
"Stop him!" Tetsuka shouted as she raced out the door after him. As she was chasing him several villager men stuck their heads out their doors. "His child is the demon child of prophecy, stop him!" she yelled and after that all the men also began chasing Haraki.
Haraki began running faster and in zigzags as an arrow narrowly missed his head. He couldn't decide if this was the stupidest, or the smartest, decision he's ever made. Soon he had ran into the forest and had lost the villagers and sat down to rest next to a lake.
Once sat down he pulled the child away from his chest. Surprisingly she was not crying, but she certainly was not dead, for she looked up at him with blinking emerald green eyes. He smiled softly at her. "Look at your eyes, what an odd color, but a beautiful one," he said thoughtfully.
He sat there for several more minutes without saying anything else, but then got up. "Time to find somewhere to sleep," he said looking around and as he did he spotted a cave and headed over. Once there he walked inside. It was actually quite warm inside. "Looks safe," he said smiling at the baby.
After an hour he'd gotten a fire started and was now sitting with the baby in his arms. He had taken his shirt off and wrapped her in it. As he looked down at her she began to smile. "I suppose I need to name you huh?" he asked and began to think. "Ah-ha!" he said snapping his fingers. "I'll name you Taleigha," he said. And with that he laid down and went to sleep.
