"Moon Hunters: Damian the Witness"

"Moon Hunters: Damian the Witness"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

It was getting pretty dark after I finished my lab project. I just had to ask myself the question , if this was assigned as group work why was the only person looking at Petri Dishes when the lamp lights lit up near the schools laboratory? I should horde the grade for myself but then again my so-called group mates are going to need it more than I do.

I waved hi to the guards on my way out.One of them was Kuya Sol who knew me even from a distance.He knew the tall nerdy kid who has been doing this since First Year and he wasn't so surprised to see me still doing it now that I am on my last year. Good old dependable me.

It would have been nice if I had some company tonight but I was enjoying the quiet of the road and the full moon up above.A hunters moon they would say. I'm not much of a hunter.I am more a full blown scientist. I even have the eye glasses and the pimply face to show for it. Yup.No one would mistake me for a hunter ,not even in a million years.

Our town is a simple one , a population of less than 600 or so(I read that in the Fiesta Manual which I also wrote and researched). A lot of the families knew each other by good or bad reputations. We seldom have new people move here. The city was only a few miles east so why settle in a sleepy town like this but there was one family who did move here. It was the Villadios family. House of God. I only mention it now because I saw Karin walking in the woods that I was walking into right now. Nothing really peculiar about Karin aside from the fact that she had the wide eyes and cheerful face right out of an anime. I mean she was pretty but then again compared to everyone else around here she was a Ms. Universe contestant.

What was peculiar about Karin tonight though was she was moving as deliberate as possible toward something that I could not see, it was like a flame , something very faint at first. I moved closer , hiding behind a tree and then I saw it. Karin was sneaking up behind something that looked like a Red flame floating from the ground. It was as huge as a man , as big as Kuya Sol as I estimated and Kuya Sol was 6'1. 

What in the world was Karin up to? There she was unmindful of the thistles of grass hitting her bare legs as she inched closer to her quarry.Her upper body covered by a metal blue sweater , her face was obscured by the hood that she had worn over her head but edges of her long raven hair was still being carried by the wind. The Red Flame seemed unaware of her approach. Karin spread her arms to her sides and produced spinning blue flames at each of her palms. Something similar to Naruto's Rasengan? Wow ,cool my classmate could do Rasengans.

It was at this point that the flame finally noticed. Probably a little too late too because she had sprinted toward it and with both hands brought down the blue orbs from her palms , colliding with the creatures sides. There was no sound but the Red Flame seemed to be engulfed in those orbs of Karin's.It looked as if it was in so much pain , writhing around yet unable to break free from the blue orbs pull. In a matter of moments it was gone and only the radiance of the full moon bathed us with its light.I tried to back away as discreetly as I could. I must be too tired and all that alcohol from the lab was getting to me. No one would believe me if I told anyone anyway.

Karin turned and was able to spot me from my hiding place and with a speed that I cannot believe she would ever possess, was upon me in what seemed like a blink. Another orb was forming on her right palm.

"Please tell me you didn't see anything"She said while pressing the orb toward my neck. I could feel it spinning with a force like that of a metal grinder. The very air in between it and my neck seemed to be spinning uncontrollably.

"I'm good at forgetting things if you are worried about me seeing anything tonight" I stammered to her face.

For a moment there was something deadly in her eyes and I feel that this was my end. Poor old me.The good old bacterias I have been cultivating would be left untended , The Dinner my mom prepared would go cold and my brother , who would he torment now? He would not even mourn for me but bully the next hapless nerd. Why , I was saving my little corner of the world here. I found all these thoughts absurd as I faced certain death.

For a moment I knew it was certain and I just closed my eyes. A few more seconds...then a couple more passed by. Death was becoming less certain then? A few more seconds ticked away and I was still alive. I opened my eyes , Karin still had the orb in her palm but it was a good distance from me , the non-lethal distance. I liked it. The deadly aspect of her eyes was gone as well.

"I can't kill you..."

"Good...I didn't want that either. I mean we still have that Chemistry exam tomorrow and I don't know about you but I have a lot of reading ahead of me tonight"

"I can't let you leave either..."

"Now wait a minute..." I started to protest.

"No, I can't let you leave without signing a contract with me."

"A contract? Is this going to be a Sex Slave kind of thing? Because you know...I know a lot of things but..."

"Shut up.You have been watching too much Hentai. You will sign a Moon Hunters Assistant Contract."

"Moon hunter? Assistant? I have never hunted anything in my life. I didn't even know what that Red flame was. I mean did you kill it?"

Karin looked shocked at me. "You saw it's true form?"

"True form?It was a Red Flame what else should it be?" 

Karin pointed at the prone form of a man in black on the ground."I only sensed it's presence , humans possessing the power to summon these spirits must be regulated. Only those of the Order should have dominance otherwise the imbalance would prove catastrophic for mankind. What you did , well, let me put it this way,  only higher people from the Order could see Santhermos like that."

"Well I saw it!" proudly pointing to myself , still not grasping the mess I was getting caught up with..

"I'm so sorry Damian but I really have to do this now".Karin Punched me in the face. Her fist slamming at the side of my head was the last thing I remember as the world blinked into darkness.