Bloody Moon

Chapter 3: Silver Fire

  Pain.

And then black. And then the scene flashed in front of him.

He was still in the house. It was still burning, but the flames didn't hurt. Instead they passed through him.

Wait... they're passing through him?

Maki looked down at his hands. It was ghostly white and translucent. Underneath him was his body, as if he was peacefully sleeping if it wasn't for the fact that there was blood pouring out of his stomach.

He was dead.

He touched the walls. He expected it to pass through his hands, but he could feel the wall. It was hard like it normally would be, but it also felt like mist was passing through his body.

"We need to talk."

Her.

The strange girl.

"You! But I thought I'm dead!"

"When you're like me, you go through a process that resurrects you, allowing you to live while seeing other spirits."

"What about my family? Which families did they kidnap? Or traumatized?"

"You'll see later. Now we have to revive you."

Maki stared at the girl. Her light blue hair looked gloomy in the smoke and fire. The meaning sank in.

"B-but why?"

She dragged him up the stairs and raised her eyebrows at him.

"I thought you'd want to live?"

"Why me?"

He thrashed and kicked, but her grip was like steel. He couldn't grab on to anything, not with his body being made of air particles.

"Your aura is white. Those with white auras are those who will become heroes, and we need them alive," she explained.

She kept her hand on his wrist while breaking his front door down, where a woman was waiting.

"You've found him."

She was wearing a wavy, emerald green dress that went down past her feet and spread out on the sidewalk. Her hair faded from platinum blonde into a rich, auburn color which rested on her pale shoulders. Her grey eyes scanned every inch of Maki, which gave him goosebumps, as if she was seeing his soul as the girl dragged him.

"Don't be too harsh with him, Athena."

Athena dropped Maki and raced over to her side as he crashed onto the sidewalk.

"Are you sure there isn't anyone else?" she asked as Maki stood up. "He whines and cries too much. Even worse, Luna is his best friend. How do we know Bloodmate and Luna haven't brainwashed him yet? Or if he would be willing to kill her to save us?"

"Blood who?" Maki asked as the woman put a finger to her rosy lips.

"We will train him. But first, collect us some moonlight," she said, and Athena pouted as she pulled out a small candle.

Maki wanted to point out that nobody could collect moonlight, but then again, the moonlight was red, blood could fade into a knife, people could dissolve into air, and living people most likely could see ghosts. And he was pretty sure anyone who could make wood crumble to ashes or predict who would murder him wasn't average. Besides, he didn't want to anger them further. He had a feeling that Athena was armed, and that he'd be dead again once he was brought back if she got too pissed.