Akatsuki

Chapter two

Lucifer had felt the pain of having to climb out of bed at the early hours of the morning all his life, his training at the academy demanded that level of sacrifice. Getting up before dawn after just four hours sleep was a on a whole other level of difficulty however and he almost cried in agony as his alarm clock made the worst racket he has ever heard blasted piece of hell produce.

Nothing within the vicinity of his bed could save from the metallic shrill that rang through the room no matter what object he threw or how hard. ‘I lose’ he thought as he rolled off the bed with a thud on the bare wooden floor.

When he closed the apartment door behind him and replaced the key in its hiding place, after locking the door, the view presented from the balcony looked rather melancholic and undesirable. The storm from the night before had ended but the rain has left enormous puddles throughout the village and the hurricane winds that howled throughout the night cracked exposed shop signs.

The village was empty still, with fewer patrols roaming the paved streets. Lucifer, as he made his way towards the gate, took comfort in finding the village so peaceful on the morning of the full moon. The rain water splashed under his boots and echoed down the dark alleyways that formed an intricate network of passages and Lucifer wondered if this complicated labyrinth had aided Edward’s murderer the night before. As this thought crossed his mind he brought himself to a stop to glance down one of the entrances to the labyrinth of alleyways only to be faced with the outline of various ominous looking objects staring at him from their hiding place. A shiver ran down his spine and with a shake of his head he continued towards the job site.

“Morning, you here for the job?” asked one of the gate’s sentries. He was situated within an old kiosk style booth used to take the details of people entering the village and to direct visitors to the testing lodge where the checks for werewolves were performed. There were two exams the village used for detecting if someone is a werewolf; the first requiring the examinee to ingest a miniscule drop of wolfs bane followed shortly by antitoxins to neutralise the poison in a normal human. The purpose of this test is obvious; werewolves don’t react particularly well to this flower and because it’s rather easy to cultivate, also makes it one of the most popular tests throughout the world for detecting werewolves.

The second test was just as simple and involved the examinee being pricked by a small needle made from silver. Another weakness of the werewolves and causes a severe burning when it penetrates their skin however this isn’t as cruel as it sounds during a test as the needle is so little and is immediately removed from the skin.

Werewolves that arrive to the village in their human form are not killed on the stop, not in Akatsuki at least. No, in Akatsuki many of the residents suffered from the werewolf plague but the village recognised their illness to only be extremely dangerous during the full moon when they would be escorted to a heavily fortified underground bunker to live out their hellish anguish in isolation. As a result of these services provided by the village since its founding, Akatsuki became increasingly popular as a safe haven for werewolves who only wished to live in peace. Coming up to the full moon civilians living outside of protective walls would also seek refuge in their nearest village until the full moon passed.

At this early hour however there was no traffic, the desk was empty with the exception of one guard whilst the others on duty patrolled the walls above.

“Yes, Cleaver said I was to meet someone here” replied Lucifer as he attempted to disguise his tired voice, “but I’m not sure who… or what the job even his.” This is the first time Lucifer realised he was never told what the job was and that he never even questioned it before. It was a sign that so much occurred last night he still hadn’t been able to process it all and Lucifer knew this would take some getting used to before, as now it felt like he was slowing down.