Recollection

“Who- who are you?” but I already knew.

“You forgot? Aww, Mistress Chacha will be so sad if she finds that out…” he replied.

It’s been now ten years since I left Mochi Mochi. Not so long before I did, they left too, and not so long before that, my caretaker disappeared as well. I was saddened beyond comprehension because of their disappearances; I thought it was best to just forget about them completely.

Now he’s back.

“Are you sure you don’t remember me Riiya? Or are you just surprised…”

“You… Cannot be Shiine… Are you?”

“Aww, you remembered! Good dog…”

He’s taunting me. Confused beyond my wits, I stood frozen, afraid to move. Here is a figment of my memory, a long gone and long forgotten memory, standing right in front of me, talking to me; a shred of a long gone past now clearly in plain sight and in the flesh.

How do you suppose I should feel?

“Heh, come now Riiya, Mistress Chacha is waiting for you…”

He extended his hand towards me one more, beckoning me to follow him. Hesitantly I rose from my crouched position, still in shock at what has just transpired.

“What did you do to those poor souls?” I finally managed to ask.

Shiine, who was just about to turn his back, stopped for a moment feinting surprise. He turned to me and said

“Them? Mere fodder for my magic. Plus I didn’t know of any other way I could attract your attention…”

I could feel my fists clenching.

“… Besides, just what are you thinking? Becoming the self-proclaimed protector of life in this city? Trivial nonsense if you ask me…”

This guy…

“Trivial nonsense? You just killed someone…”

“Kill, murder, sacrifice, consume, mere technicalities of the term. I am a magician Riiya, a practitioner of the arts. It just so happened that in my line of specialization, I’m required to feed on a soul or two every now and then. Failure to do so would lead to my weakening and eventual death. I’m sure you’ll understand-“

“Shut up!” I growled, launching myself forward, catching him off guard, mounting him and grabbing his neck.

“Hey hey, there’s no need for violence. It’s just two measly people; they had their time coming anyway…”

“How can you be saying this? You… You are not the Shiine I knew…”

“Riiya, you’re still naïve as ever. Didn’t you realize why we left Mochi Mochi?”

I tried to talk but nothing came out.

“Simply put, Mochi Mochi was getting too nice, too cute. Me and my mistress wanted something else… Some excitement…”

“And you found this excitement in killing people? Are you insane?”

“Heh, killing people is an inevitable cost we had to pay…”

“Cost?!? For what?!? What would compel you to take life so indiscriminately?!?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Power, Riiya, power makes the world go round. If you have power, you can have everything.”

“Monster…” I spat out, tightening my grip on his neck.

“In due time I know you will understand…”

Ooof… What the hell was that? One moment I was on him, the next I was sent flying across the rooftop. Lifting himself up, he began to walk towards me, relishing each step as if he had just won a war.

“Did you like that Riiya? That’s not even a fraction of my power…”

He placed two fingers on my forehead.

“Don’t resist, this is going to hurt only for a little while.”

As soon as he pressed his fingers into my forehead, I felt a sudden and painful stream of electricity jolting up and down my body. My muscles began to twitch on it’s own in painful succession. It felt as if my blood vessels were going to burst open. I let out a scream, but even that was painful.

Just before everything went black, I heard him say.

“Sleep tight Riiya… Soon we would be together again… You, me and mistress Chacha…”