Mountain of The Moons • Book 1

Prologue

It was a cool late fall night when I slipped out of my window and into the alleyways of the city below. My ankles stung because of the cold hair as I hit the bricks below having jumped all the way down from the second story. Though it wasn't my first time completing that task, that sting never got any easier. Though this was the first time I jumped down with no intention of getting back up.

I lived in a crowded area of town so it was easy enough to throw on a hood and blend in once I stepped out of the alley and made my way into the lively streets. With half the street drunk on spirits and the other half rushing to a tavern or party, I could easily go unnoticed so long as I kept to myself. There was no busy season around here because celebration for the rich knew no off season. Any marriage, promotion, birthday, or even just a night off was enough to fill the streets to the brim.

I was in the heart of the city where everyone would be awake and lively at all hours. Time here was not told by the sun in the sky, but rather by the volume of its people. It typically started to get loud in the late afternoon and it's peak was the hours surrounding midnight. After that it didn't quiet until maybe just before dawn when the drunken fools stumbled home to nurse a hangover. A mean night of drinking seemed to always send them to bed or a park bench.

The streets would be nearly dead and empty as the sun came up and those still around were employees going home for a rest or those who drank enough to knock out on the way home. Often drunken fools would be laid out and fast asleep on benches or propped up on trees. The view of the street below from my room was anything but satisfactory when the messy drunks filled the street with their carelessness.

Though another wave of people would flood in around mid morning for brunch and then it was a steady increasing stream until later when the streets would fill with socialites and the city would come to life again at night. An endless cycle that never took a day off or deviated from its schedule. Every casino, bath house, hotel, restaurant, and club would turn their lights and music on for customers to come back.

Chiba had enough places to go and visit to last a lifetime. Though I hardly ever partook and attending any events, my family owned a lot of these businesses and every so often I'd get dragged along. I saw enough in my few visit to deter me from ever wanting to visit for recreational purposes.

Needless to say it was rarely ever quiet in this town, if you could even call this epicenter of entertainment a town. It left me lying awake at night often just listening to people drunkenly navigating the streets and partying below. It was hardly a place to live but my father and mother had work down here so he had to. I hated living here more than anything else, it was the worst place for a person like me.

I was far from a socialite like my family and school mates unashamedly were. My family would often attend these events and parties to bask in the lavish life they so heavily relied on. They'd be gone until the wee morning hours when they'd return swaying and slurred. I'd grown to almost envy them and their carefree life style that I was so far from understanding.

They thrived on the finer things in life and lived for this kind of culture. They would often brag about celebrities and politicians they'd meet or be working with. The way they spoke of them they hardly sounded like people rather than a badge of exposure to wear.

My parents were business people so they had a large accumulation of wealth and wore that badge at any chance they had. My brother was all the same, as he was destined to be the heir to their company when they so chose to step away. I had made it clear years ago I wanted nothing to do with it.

As we grew old enough to attend these parties he soon adopted the spoilt and boastful personality my parents had. I however only grew to dislike every aspect of it all, bitter even, at how foolish they all acted in a world that was much more serious than parties and drinks.