A/N:
Seeing as how I keep running into grammatical mistakes, I really really would appreciate it if there's someone who wants to betta this story for me. So...anyone? ^^

I know it's been a while, but I'm kind of a busy person. School leaves little time for a writer to do his (her, in my case) thing.
Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter.
Since it's my first fantasy story, it'll tend to be a bit messy here and there. Maybe some stuff will make sense in my own twisted little mind, but to you it won't. If that's the case, feel free to send questions my way. I'm happy to explain :)

Love,
hommeles

Chapter 2 – Even?

After 11 Pm, total peace ruled the city of Lhanka as every single citizen obeyed to the night clock. At exactly 11 Pm, no living being was allowed on the streets.
Most lights were already out, since there was nothing more to do in town then to sleep.
Only assigned guards of the city watch were allowed on the streets, keeping an eye open for anything suspicious.
The gates to the city were closed shut, a gigantic lock preventing anyone from entering or leaving the city. The huge wall that surrounded the city completely had to protect it from whatever was on the other side.

Every city in Jawar had a wall and a gate just like the one in Lhanka; it was a safety precaution ever since the attacks. The city Doré had even thicker walls then Lhanka, being the capital and home city of the Elders.
The attacks started over 50 years ago, taking everyone by surprise; even the Elders had not foreseen it. Everyone had assumed that after the cure centuries ago, it was all over. Yet the epidemic had turned animals into something gruesome. Even humans who got infected, turned into cruel beings, who had seem to have lost all emotion.

Some even said that they had their souls ripped out, thus the given name ‘the Soulless’, and were now nothing but empty shells, trying to still their everlasting hunger, hunting in the night; for they slept over day.
There was nothing anyone could do to help them return to their former selves; not for the animals, and not for the Soulless.
At first there seemed to be no problem. The Soulless were kept at a safe distance, as a precaution for their aggressive nature and the infected animals were easily handled and kept separated from the healthy. People feared that it was contagious.
Yet, after so many years, it appeared not to be contagious at all! Which put question marks above the heads a lot of people.
If the epidemic of the Soulless was not contagious, where had it come from and how had they gotten infected?
The Elders kept the people assured that there was no need for fear and distrust, for humans had simply grown immune thanks to the cure injection.
Most people went on with their lives, but there was a small group who still had their suspicion. But they kept silent in fear for the government.
50 Years ago, the Soulless grew restless for some reason. According to the Elders, they were out searching for their lost Souls, trying to take those of others. Thus making the human race their target.

That’s when the attacks started.

Many people have disappeared, taken into the darkness. Most of them were never to be found again. Others were found…lifeless, their souls ripped out and taken by those who sought their own.
It was then the Elders ordered to build the walls, huge city walls to protect humanity from these attacks. Cities were overcrowded, since everyone wanted to live within the protection of these walls, afraid that they might be next.
There were only a few villages left outside of the cities, for the walls were only meant to protect those who lived in the city, so they were granted allowance.

Villages were left out, for they were too small and to insignificant to shield, according to the government.
To many, it was just a sly way of their rulers to get them to live in the city. Villages were in-depended and stood free from the government. People who lived in the city fell under the protective wings of the governments order, the Hawks, and had to pay a good amount of money for it, whether they liked it or not.

There were still some disappearances from time to time, but not as many as before the walls.
Besides the city guards strolling the streets, there was someone else out late too. Sun was making his way down the quiet road. His shift had just ended and he was on his way home.

He had exchanged his Hawk outfit for a pair of dark blue jeans, a purple sweater and a black leather jacket. His hands were kept in the pockets of his jacket nonchalantly as he kept on walking.

“Hey! You there…” a loud and angry voice called out, making Sun stop and turn around.

It appeared to be one of the guards that came running towards him. “What are you doing out?”
Sun arched an eyebrow and tossed a quick glance at his watch; half passed 11 Pm.

“Sorry man.” Sun began, bringing his eyes up to meet the shadowy face of the guard. “I had a late shift, not my fault.” He reached into the insight pocket of his jacket to pull out his badge.

“Hold it!” came the warning tone of the man as he pointed the barrel of his machinelike gun at Sun’s torso.

“Calm down.” Sun said, not disturbed by the edginess of the man. “I was just going to show you my badge, okay?” He held up his free hand in defence, letting the man know that he wasn’t up to something. Slowly he pulled out his badge and showed it to him.
T
he guard looked at it in suspicion, but relaxed as he recognized the insignia. A sight of relief escaped his lips and he lowered his weapon. “Sorry man.” his voice sounded apologetic.
“Didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just that there was someone taken tonight and we’re taking all safety precautions.”
Sun eyes widened at the information.

“What? Someone was taken?!” His hand clenched into fists as he looked at the man in disbelief. “Damn it.”

The guard nodded, looking quite depressed. “Yeah I know. And we were doing so well. There hadn’t been any attacks in three months.”

The walls around the city protected it’s citizens perfectly, but it couldn’t prevent that sometimes people were taken. Authorities weren’t sure, but they suspected the soulless. Someway or another the soulless must’ve found a way into the cities. But there were no evidence

Sun stared down at the pavement in a cold hard stare and shook his head. “Damn it…” he repeated, biting on his lower lip. Every time someone was taken, Sun felt like punching a wall in pure anger.

“I have to get going. You be safe now and look out for anything suspicious.”
Sun nodded and the guard left in a quick pace, leaving the black haired boy by himself in the shimmery glow of the streetlight.
Even though he didn’t quite feel like going home after hearing what he’d just heard, he had too. There were probably more guards out tonight so it was best just to leave it up to them to protect the citizens. Besides, there was not much Sun could do anyway without his weapons; although he was pretty good in a hand fight too…

Slowly he started walking again, towards his small apartment.
As he walked around the corner, he reached the park that was stationed in the heart of the city. All major cities had small parks, the only ‘green’ spot to be found in a city; seeing as how the cities consisted mostly out of brick, concrete and glass. Therefore it was quite sacred to the general public, and was kept maintained with the upmost care.

It was then he noticed a group of three near the monumental tree in the heart of the park. They appeared to be colleagues of the guy he had met a few minutes ago.

Frowning, he slowly neared the group with caution, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. They appeared to be having quite a lot of fun, laughing and chatting about. It wasn’t accustomed for guards to gather like that, especially when an attack had just occurred. They should be on patrol, not having a social tea party.

The three men seemed to surround something, but Sun couldn’t see what. Slowly he crept up to the group with caution, his head slightly tilted towards the sound of the voices as if he could hear them better that way.

“Ya still haven’t told us whatya doin’ out so late, little girl…” the biggest of the men stated with a sly snicker at the end. The other guys chimed in with loud laughter.

“Yeah…maybe we should escort you home ‘safely’ or something, huh?” a tall guy with long brown hair suggested.

Sun could have sworn he saw an evil glint shining in the man’s eyes, even from where he was standing. It was pretty obvious the guys were up to no good.

“No way.” a girly voice said firmly, sounding quite irritated. “Just back off and leave me the hell alone.”

The tall brown haired guy moved in closer and reached out a hand to touch the girl on her shoulder. “Ah, come on, don’t be like that. We’re here for you…” The sarcasm in his voice was overflowing.

“Don’.me.” the girl said in a warning tone of voice.

The guys all laughed loudly, ignoring her protest, and seemed to move in only closer. “You know…”

“Hey!” Sun called out into the darkness, hoping to catch the attention of the guards. It worked, since they all turned around, looking like they got caught with their hands in a cookie jar. After lying their eyes on Sun, who obviously was on his own, they visibly relaxed.

“What do you want?” the one in the middle asked who was clearly the oldest of the three. He stepped up, revealing a small blond haired girl behind him, who was slightly pressed up against the tree trunk.
Actually…she looked kind of familiar…

Sun reverted his eyes back to the three men. “Shouldn’t you three be on patrol, instead of harassing some girl?” He placed both hands on his sides, staring the men down, although two of them were much taller then him.

“Mind your own business.”

“Yeah!” the big one stepped in. “Besides, we could bust you for being out after night clock…” He smirked evilly and patted on the handcuffs he had hanging on his belt.

Sun just smirked back and narrowed his eyes at him dangerously. “Really? I don’t think so.”

“Oh yeah?” the long haired walked over to him in an intimidating manner, but Sun didn’t move an inch.

“Yeah.” he replied, his smirk not leaving his face.

The brown haired chuckled and tossed a look over his shoulder towards his friends, rolling his eyes. “What is it with this guy huh?” He reverted his eyes back and slammed his right fist into his left hand.
“Maybe we should teach him a lesson.” As he finished his sentence he brought back his fist and made swing at Sun’s face. Sun managed to duck away quite easily, taking the man by surprise. He stumbled forward by the force of his swing, losing his balance a bit. This allowed Sun to grab him by his outstretched arm, turning it around while Sun turned his back towards him and flipped him over his back. The brown haired guard was tossed onto the ground, hitting the back of his head on the cobble stone with a yelp.

Sun left him there squirming, and turned towards the other two, moving into a fighting position. “Well? Let’s go!” he said invitingly.

The oldest cracked his knuckles. “I’ll make you pay for that!” he yelled and stormed towards him. Sun stood there rather relaxed and awaited the man’s arrive, before he stretched out the palm of his right hand, curling up his fingers. With force Sun pushed his palm forward, slamming against the mans nose bone.

Sun watched the man grab his nose and scream out in pain, thin lines of blood came flushing out of the his nose.

“You broke it! You broke my nose!” he screamed, his body shaking uncontrollably. Clearly he had never broken his nose before…

Sun smirked and shook his head, turning around to face the last one of the guards. “One more to go.” he stated with a grin and stared the scared man straight into his eyes.

“You…” the guy started, pointing a trembling finger at Sun. “You’re going to regret this…”

He didn’t really sound all that convinced though.

Sun gave him a crooked grin and shook his head. “Probably not.” He took a step forward, but even before he could take the second step, the man dashed away into the darkness like a deer on the run of it’s hunter.

With a victorious smile he watched the man’s disappearing form. “They didn’t even saw it coming.” he joked with a chuckle, and reverted his eyes to search those of the ‘victim’.

“Are you oka…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a hand made contact with his cheek, smacking his face to the left. It stayed like that for a while, on his face a shocked expression, his mind trying to link the threats together to figure out what had just happened.

“You big retard of a Hawk!” a high pitched voice yelled, that somehow sounded familiar to Sun.

The young boy blinked a couple of times and turned his head back to meet the eyes of a young blonde female, who looked quite irritated.
“Wha…what?” Sun placed a warm hand on his red hot cheek and stared at the girl, still dumfounded. Had he not just helped her out?

The girl crossed her arms over her chest rather angrily and looked up to him, not because she actually ‘looked up to him’ but because she was about one head smaller then Sun. It took him a while to gather his thoughts and realise it was actually the girl, the thief, from a few hours before that was actually standing before him, still in the same outfit.

Sun managed to restore to his normal self and gave the girl an annoyed look. “What the hell was that all about?!” he exclaimed, revering to his hurting cheek.

“That…” she repeated, pacing her hands on her sides. “was for scaring the children today.”
Sun blinked at her and raised his eyebrows. Ah, so she remembered him…

“And also, thanks.” she continued, not really sounding like she meant it.

“Hey!” the young boy exclaimed stunned. “I save your butt, twice! And this is what I get?!” He pointed a finger towards his reddened cheek, staring at her in irritation.

The blond girl chuckled and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Yep.” she simply replied before turning her back to him and walking away.

Sun stood there for a few seconds, astonished that a smack in the face and a ‘thanks’ was all he had got from saving the girl’s life. He had just done a good deed, hadn’t he? It’s not like he wanted her to carry him on a silver plate, but a little more then ‘thanks’ would be appropriate…

“Hold on a second!” Sun yelled after her, jogging to keep up with her quick pace.

The girl sighed, almost annoyed, and slowed down her pace somewhat. “What is it?”

“Is that all? Thanks…I just saved your butt!” he grabbed her lightly by her bare arm to make her stop walking. The girl looked down at his hand in surprise, but didn’t make a move to shake it off.

She grinned slightly and nodded. “Yep, that’s it.”
Her eyes scanned his features and she sighed heavily. “Okay alright…Sorry for my behaviour towards you.” she said somewhat sincere, placing a hand on Sun’s that was still around her arm, placing her other hand on his chest. “And thank you for saving this damsel in distress.” she brought out dramatically and with a high pitched fake voice.

Sun rolled his eyes and smirked. “Yeah right, well thanks a lot.” He removed his hand from her arm and crossed his arms over his chest, starting in a sarcastic tone. “Now I ‘really’ feel appreciated.”

The blonde giggled, covering her mouth with her hands. “Sorry. Well what did you expect? That I’d throw myself at you and give you a kiss?”

“Well…” Sun pursed his lips in thought, placing a finger on his chin. It made the girl chuckle, and she smacked him over the head.
“Hey!” the boy yelped in surprise.

She just smiled warmly at him. “Really, thanks. But I guess We’re even now, since I gave back your wallet.”

Sun raised his eyebrows and chuckled. “That you stole in the first place…”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” she waved his comment away with her hands.

It stayed silent for a while, before Sun realized they hadn’t been introduced yet. “The name’s Sun.” he said, stretching out his hand to give her a proper handshake.

The girl looked at his hand in amusement for a second before looking him in the eyes. “Yeah I know, I stole your wallet, remember?” She grinned at his frown and took his hand anyway.

“Celia, but Cell for friends. Nice to meet you.”

R&R