The Demons of Shadow Moon

Part 123 - Across the Barrier

Shadow Moon glided over the darkening sea, the boat cutting through gentle waves as they sailed toward the island where the vampire castle lay hidden.

"Ummm. This is taking a lot longer than I thought," Luna murmured, resting her chin on her hand as she leaned over the boat's edge, hand dangling down to unleash her magic and play with the water below.

"Well, the island is outside Lucea. Just keep heading south; it won't be too long until we pass the barrier," Kazuko replied, adjusting the sail to catch a stronger breeze.

"Uh.... pass... the barrier?!" Luna gasped, eyes widening as she turned to look ahead.

Her lips departed as she noticed the shimmering veil on the horizon, hiding Lucea from the outside world. She'd been so wrapped in thought that she hadn't noticed how close they were to it.

"Uh... I've... never been this close to the barrier before," Luna stood in awe as she looked up at the towering wall of magic, a shiver running through her spine. 

Her mind flickered to an old memory...

"... what's that?" Luna recalled asking Akira, pointing to the distance.

"That... is the barrier that separates Lucea from the rest of the world," Akira had told her.

"Uh... a barrier? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Lucea is exposed to magic, so it must be sealed away from the rest of humanity. The barrier hides its presence from humans on the outside," Akira elaborated.

"There... are humans out there?" Luna repeated curiously.

Luna now found herself staring out at the barrier as if seeing it for the first time. She turned her attention to Kazuko, who was consulting a roughly drawn map in the setting sunlight.

"I thought any land outside of Lucea was really far away. So humans wouldn't find us?" Luna asked, frowning as she leaned toward him, looking over his shoulder at the map.

"Oh, it is. The rest of the world's hundreds of miles away. But the vampire island is just outside the barrier," he replied, half-smiling as he pointed to a bit of land drawn on the map, outside a large circle representing the barrier.

"That's why they show up in Lucea so annoyingly—it's the closest land to their little island," Umemi added, sat polishing one of her guns at the end of the boat.

"Why would vampires have a lair so far from the rest of the world? Don't they wanna like eat all the humans??" Atomu asked from the ship's steering wheel.

Kazuko let out a laugh; his voice lost briefly in the wind.

"Hah. The angels would never permit them to roam the mainland and risk exposure to the entire human world. And I imagine they'd rather not risk the war," the wind whipped across Kazuko's hair as he adjusted the sail again.

Luna found herself lost in thought, the questions of past worlds and hidden lands mingling with the sound of the waves.

"And like I said, the vampire king isn't that big on killing humans, anyway. He wants peace with us, remember?" he added smugly.

"Yeah, I still don't know about that. I feel like he's just using you," Echo mentioned, sitting boredly, leaning her head on her hand.

"To protect the world?" Kazuko reminded her.

"More like to keep an eye on us demons," Aki remarked.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Umemi bitterly asserted with a side eye as Kazuko looked at the setting sun.