Ray Of Hope

Chapter 1-Shooting Star

He was a blessing, he just showed up one day out of nowhere. He was the one I ran to when shit got heavy such as when my wicked aunt was being a total bitch or my day was totally fucked up ( which happened a lot). He was pretty much my world, pitiful as it seems.

Today I happened to drag him and I do mean literally drag his ass to a party. We decided to leave early because he sure as hell wasn't lying when he said he didn't do well in the whole 'party scene'.

Seron and I were talking about something trivial while we walked down the street. We bypassed the sidewalk for a little dirt road, it was a shortcut that I had used many times, but as you can figure out that this time was different. As we walked quietly in the dark he had his arm loosely around my shoulder. Seron was always an affectionate person and though I'd love to say he was only like that with me, it wasn't true. I relished in his arm around me because I knew that was as close as I was going to get to him holding me. But then I felt Seron's hand go rigid, I looked up at him and he was still and tense.

"It is time." An unknown voice said. I looked in the direction and could barely make out a figure. "

Time...um its 12:30" I said thinking that I didn't hear him properly and that he was probably asking for the time.

"Do not talk in matters that you do not know." He said in a manner that left no wonder if he was annoyed or not.

"What is it that you want. I am not to return till the end of the year. I have 2 months to go." I looked at Seron in astonishment. What the fuck is he talking about? Is he leaving, is he going somewhere?

"It is time." The voice said again.

"Father said I could stay until I turned 57 years old." Seron said and that left me more confused. 57 years old? Yeah if he's 57 then I must be fucking a thousand because he was notorious for having a baby face. If you hadn't talked to him you would have thought he was only 16!

"Their has been a change in matters Seron. Our lord has fallen today. Great evil has come, the prophecy points to you. You must come and take your rightful place, my lord. You have a kingdom to rule, Where is our hope?" The man said solemnly.

"It is with me." Seron said looking at me gravely.

"What the fuck is going on. What the hell is he talking about Seron?" I said, I was starting to get really freaked out by all of this and before Seron could respond I felt a sharp pain go thru my whole body and then I blacked out.

I slowly stood up out of the comforters and then I realized I wasn't wearing my clothes. I had on a pair of black pants that looked like leather, but they didn't feel it. It was if I had the lightest material ever on. I had to look down twice to make sure I actually did have pants on. My chest was bare, much to my dislike since it was a little chilly.

I walked slowly to the door and was totally freaked out because before I could go to open it, it opened all by itself as if it had a mind of its own. I walked out into the hallways and crept along the walls out into a grand hall. The floors itself looked like it was made of white gold with gold trimmings. The walls were painted with such lifelike images and had a weird language written on it.

I walked that hallway for what seemed like months but probably was only an hour. I was soon getting discouraged, it seemed as if the hallway had no ending. I turned to go back to my room and was surprised to see that I was only a few steps away from it. It couldn't be! I've been walking for forever, the images on the walls were changing as I went on, theirs no way that I only made it fucken 12 steps from the door. I ran in my room and curled myself in a ball at the head of the bed. I was either going crazy or this was a really, really vivid dream.

"Sire would like to see you know." I recognized that voice from last night. I looked up to see a man dressed in the same leather looking pants as me. With a long leather coat and a black wife beater under it with a cross that shone brightly around his neck. He looked to be 6'1, about 170 pounds of pure muscle give or take a few pounds. His hair flowed down his back, almost to his butt. His skin looked like it was kissed by the sun, square jaw and full lips. But his greatest feature was his eyes, they were the same shade of Seron's, but were totally different. Passion, strength, cunning was paretically pouring from them.

"Tristan! Tristan!" He didn't quite shout but said over and over firmly. I quickly snapped out of it and shook my head trying to clear the cobwebs.

"Tristan is your name, is it not?" He asked looking at me with a smirk.

"Yeah and yours?" I asked curiously.

"Sephlous Taome (Se-f-lous Tah-ome)" he said.

"Where the hell am I? Where's Seron? What the hell is going on here?" I said starting to shoot questions at him.

"You will know in time, but for now you need to come with." He said very nonchalantly. I stood up and walked over to him figuring that I couldn't stay rolled up in a ball in that bed all day. We walked out to the hallway and as we walked I kept looking back, making sure that we were actually distancing ourselves from the bedroom door.

We soon made it to a staircase. I looked up and I thought I would die. The staircase seemed to go on and on and on. I couldn't help but ask "Am I suppose to walk up that?"

"Yes" was his reply and he soon started making it up the stairs at a pace I would not be able to keep for long. By the time I actually saw the end to the staircase I was collapsing all over myself in exhaustion and we still had a long way to go to reach it. I looked over at Sephlous who was quite a few steps above me who didn't even look phased. He wasn't sweating, he wasn't out of breathe. He WAS staring down at me looking utterly annoyed.

I couldn't help it, I had to sit down and as soon as I did I was picked up and ran up the stair so swiftly that I didn't have time to think, let alone react. We reached the top of the stairs in a matter of seconds. Sephlous let me down and I just stared at him. He still didn't look phased. Ok I know I'm skinny and all but picking up something 135 pounds and running up a staircase that looked to be at least 5 blocks and not even breaking a sweat was weird as hell, it was damn near unhuman.

"All your questions will have answers, but you must come." He said in his infamous nonchalant way. I dumbly followed, a million and one thoughts racing through my head all at once. We soon made it into a large room filled with people sitting on the floor talking. I looked at all of them and saw one common trait, all of their eyes were green. Sephlous started talking to this huge man and was whispering not too softly "This can not be him?"

"Seron says it is, it is written that he would know." The huge men said to Sephlous.

"It is not him. Look at him. He is weak, quite pathetic, not much of a man at all." Sephlous said staring at me, looking at me like I was pathetic. I felt my cheeks reddening under their scrutiny.

I averted my eyes and then I saw Seron lying on the bed. His eyes filled with tears, his face full of sorrow. They must not have treated him as well as they treated me. I took off running for him. As I was about to reach Seron, a man grabbed me and before I could really think I picked him up and threw him clear across the giant room and ran over to Seron and pulled him in my arms. He started to bawl when I held him and then what I had just did hit me. I sat there holding Seron in complete shock. I kept looking at where I was when I threw the man and where he landed. What the fuck is going?

Every one sat up and stared at me. I just continued to look at that spot and then I felt weird. Something came over me. My eyes grew heavy but I wasn't tired and when I finally closed my eyes, images and words that I never saw or knew were going thru my head lightening fast. Their was a lot of stories, languages, spells and demons of all sorts going thru me. Pictures of horrific things that even my imagination could not conjure up were going thru my head. None of it made sense to me and then I felt weak, really weak. I opened my eyes to see that I was floating above the floor. When I realized what I was doing I just passed out.

I awoke and felt two arms wrapped tightly around me. I looked around and the whole room was in complete darkness, but the bed was illuminated by a white light. I looked up to see Seron staring at me, his green eyes were now more brighter then I ever saw them. "Seron what is going on here, I'm scared?" I whispered over to him.

" I have much to tell you friend, much to tell you. I am part of a race, a species called Proeliator. We are somewhat of a...hmmmm...a vampire." He said slowly. I looked up at him like he was crazy and I slowly stared to pull away from him.

"What the hell are you talking about Seron." I said when he pulled me back into him and held me there with such force.

"Our species, race is called Proeliator, warriors. A long, long time ago their was an uprising. Proeliator split into two groups. These groups had very different viewpoints on the world and its ways. The groups were called Belatricus and Vampires." He said very quietly. At that information I struggled to get out of his hands but he held me there tightly.

"Your scaring me Seron, let me go!" I screamed at him.

"I will, after I finish telling you everything." I looked up at him and nodded not because I wanted to finish hearing his gibberish but because his grip on me was so tight that I couldn't get out of it even if I wanted to.

"Our...um...species you could say were born with powers. We could read minds, our strength is of power you could only dream, we age extremely slowly, we run as fast as light, we are taught from young wizardry. The Belatricus believed in leaving Noraah (middle earth) to its own devices. We are opposed to the vampires who wanted to rule Noraah (middle earth). They wanted humans to be their slaves. They started to take over Noraah (middle earth), they would drink the blood of men who rallied against them in front of their families and friends. They did it to scare the people, so they wouldn't oppose them. Their was one king of the Proeliators, the king of us and the vampires. Unfortunately he was on his dying bed. Their were two heirs to the throne. They were to share the throne together, but one was evil and was the king of the vampires. As the others was the king of the Belatricus. It is said the warring among them led their father to death, but before he went, the word of what the vampires were doing in the villages got to him. He summoned up all his last strength and put a hex on them. That what they despised most they would have to live off and the eviler the heart the more that pure goodness would eat away at it. He thought it would make the Vampires hate for the humans disperse seeing as now they needed them. He did not think they were so evil that they would kill so many innocent humans to live. He thought they would find hosts. Humans that would allow them to feed off of them, he was sadly mistaken. They turned evil beyond his dreams" He said stopping to wipe a tear from his eye.

"But their were pros and cons to being a vampire. They're immortal, unlike us who just age very slowly. But they can not speak the goodness of the lord. Blessings from God kill them. Such as the sun, such as the cross for it is a symbol of a great blessing. They are weak compared to us, but it is very rare for a man or woman to have more then 4 children here. Our process for birth is quite different and they reproduce so quickly. But they're offsprings do not hold the strength of their fathers. They're blood was too tainted with that of the humans. In the 1200's there forces were getting smaller and smaller. We thought for sure that they would not survive another hundred years, but then they found out that they could turn humans. That they could make humans one of them and now there are many of them. It is to the Belatricus to keep them from enslaving or totally destroying Noraah (middle earth). It is a great task since we are outnumbered, but they are out forced." He said in a weary voice, in such a grave tone that I actually believed in all he said.

"Vampires you say." I whispered, thinking of how I should be way more weirded out by this then I am.

"You know this story, it is written in your blood. You are Specula, a ray of hope." He smiled down at me.

"What the fuck are you talking about. This don't got shit to do with me, I am all human." I said giving him that what-the-fuck-is-you-thinking look.

"Before the great king died, he told us of a boy whose blood was pure and tainted. That he would hold the key to the survival or destruction of Noraah (middle earth). That his grandson down four generations will find him in Noraah (middle earth) the year of his 56th and will befriend him. Went brought into the room of his death, he will bare the mark of Specula above his left eye, the symbol of hope. I, Seron am the grandson down four generation of the great king. The day I turned 56, I traveled to Noraah (middle earth) alone. On my first arrival I saw a boy who emanated great kindness and I knew without a doubt that he was the chosen one. The he was Specula!" He said as he slowly let go of me.

"I have no scar above my left eye Seron." I said to him as I sat up. He took a mirror from the bedside table and handled it to me. What I saw left me breathless, sure enough above my left eye was a scar. The scar looked like out of this world. It was made of three stars that ran along side my eyebrow, it looked like liquid silver but on the touch it was just skin. Going thru the stars was what looked like a shooting star, it was a fiery red. I stared at myself for a few minutes. The only smart thing I could say was "Holy shit!"

I looked back at Seron, he was staring down at me with an amused face. "A boys blood who was pure and tainted" I reiterated his words.

"Your parents did not confide in you before they died, that you were adopted. Your real parents, well, your mother was a powerful Belatricus who was raped by a group of Vampires. We are stronger then they are because they were stripped of almost all their natural powers, but still 30:1 is a great disadvantage. They have raped before, but the baby was never strong enough to make it through and you, you're the one that did." He said looking at me closely. It was all too much for me.

"How do I know that all you say is true. " I said looking at him hoping to find a way out of all of this. The fate of Noraah (middle earth) on the shoulders of a shmuck like me seemed. Well, it seemed stupid.