Under The Final Crescent Moon

Kana's fist slammed onto the table with an audible crack, rattling the hastily assembled feast before us. Without missing a beat, she pointed a finger in my direction, eyes blazing. She shouted, "You're kidding! There's no shot that you met with a real, flesh and blood angel."

Flashing her a brazen smirk, I took a swig of the mystery liquid that had been poured into my cup. As I set it down, I made sure my exaggerated movements displayed my superiority. 

"Well, for a mere mage such as yourself, it may be too much for your feeble brain to fully comprehend. As it turns out, higher lifeforms such as Cacophony and myself have had a multitude of experiences with such celestial creatures. If you'd like, I might even consider allowing you to see one for yourself." 

Calmly, Kana laughed and swatted her hand in the air, "No, no, I doubt I'd be able to handle an experience like that. As you said, I'm not a higher lifeform just yet."

The cozy, but somewhat cluttered confines of my living room seemed to feel even smaller as everyone packed together to eat together. We'd already gone through three packs of sugar cookies with a fourth already being opened. 

Why am I so focused on the sugar cookies you ask? Well, you could say that I'm somewhat attached to them. I mean, I have been hogging them just a bit.

Just next to me, Fang asked Cacophony a question. "Hey, you're a vampire so why can you walk outside during the day like a regular person?"

Other than the sugar cookies there were plates of hastily prepared sandwiches, chips, and a suspiciously colorful fruit punch that Tiana had insisted on buying that sat between us. The warm light hovered above and for a moment, it was almost... peaceful.

That peace shattered spectacularly when Tiana, mid-sip of her drink, froze. Her wide, sparkling eyes darted to Cacophony, who had just casually mentioned, "—and as the rightful Vampire Empress, it's only natural that I—"

I guarded my cookies, already knowing what would come next. Tiana spit out her drink and it flew through the air like a monster from a certain kid's show using water gun.

Cacophony raised an elegant eyebrow, dabbing at her lips with a napkin before responding in a perfectly calm tone. "Surely Veri has mentioned it before?" She gave me a pointed look as if this was somehow my fault.

"I only met them today. Also, Fang and I never got the chance to explain everything to them." 

"Oh, I see then. Still, it's good for you both to know this. Since I find both of you to have a fair bit of potential, I'll make you my allies." 

"You two have the honor of being two new servants of the Vampire Empress! Be grateful!", I proudly stated. 

"No. If I wished to appoint them as servants then I would've said so. They are allies, not servants like you, fang, and Jean. On that note, I haven't seen Jean in a while. Let's visit her later."

"Just to be clear...", Kana interjected, "You're the Vampire Empress from the stories?" 

"The stories? I asked."

Fang, who had been quietly massaging his temples through the chaos, suddenly straightened up. "There are countless stories of the Vampire Empress. In the world of mages, she's practically legendary—and not in a good way."

The room went silent and everyone turned their attention to Fang and what he was saying. 

"She's the nightmare they tell mage children to scare them into behaving," Fang continued, his tone dark. "The stories tell of a fearsome woman with red hair made of raging flame. With a single wave of her palm, she was capable of wiping out both nature and mankind alike. Her kingdom existed within the eternal night, her subjects being her fellow vampires. Her power threatened all of mankind. Her reign was so terrible, so absolute, that it took the combined might of the magical world and humanity's strongest warriors to bring her down."

Despite hearing his story, Cacophony herself seemed unaffected, her crimson lips curling into a smile as if Fang had just paid her the highest compliment.

Kana slowly nodded her head, "That's one of the more tame ones. Some of the stories don't even seem real if I'm being honest. They paint you to be a force of nature." 

"How flattering," Cacophony mused, her gaze flicking between Fang and me. "Though I must admit, the ending of your little bedtime tale is wrong."

"Wrong?", I asked. "It didn't seem too far off from what you told me." 

"I guess I left out a small detail then." 

Cacophony leaned back in her chair, her movements graceful, almost feline. Her fangs glinted as her smile widened. "I wasn't defeated by some great human mage or humanity's finest warriors. The one who bested me wasn't a human."

The room fell silent. 

Fang was the first to speak up, his analytical mind was already searching for a solution to this new question, "Was it a Were-Human? Since you have some experience with angels, was that when—" 

"No. To clarify, the person who defeated me wasn't a Were-human nor an angel. He had a distinctly human form, but I highly doubt he was a human."

Cacophony's facial expression shifted, it was as though she was no longer living in that moment with us. She was reminiscing, lost in the confines of her own mind, living that experience over again. 

"He looked human," she said, her tone almost wistful. "A man with an unassuming appearance—black hair, dark eyes, and the kind of face you'd forget in a crowd. But his very existence… it defied nature itself."

"What does that even mean?" Kana asked, leaning forward. Her skepticism hadn't vanished, but there was an edge of genuine curiosity in her voice now.

Cacophony's crimson eyes sparkled with amusement as she regarded Kana. "It means," she said slowly, as though explaining to a child, "that everything about him felt wrong. The air around him was heavy, and oppressive, as though the world itself was straining to accommodate his presence. His movements, his voice, even his gaze… none of it belonged in this reality."

"So then... do you think he's still alive?", Fang inquired. 

"I've got no clue. Everything that I've just said is merely conjecture. I may be completely incorrect and he was just a normal human, but in the scenario where I am correct..", As she spoke, she paused and looked across the table. She looked directly into my eyes before flashing a deep smile. "In that scenario, my servants and I will have a long road ahead of us."

In order to not meet her gaze for too long, I looked toward the window. Fang had insisted on opening the blinds when everyone had first arrived, so unlike before I could clearly look outside. 

The crescent moon hung high in the night sky, its pale glow bringing order onto the stars.

'That crescent moon in the sky... It's beautiful... But, it won't last. Tomorrow, it'll be just a little different, and in a mere few days the moon will look completely different.'

Effortlessly, that thought entered my mind as though it was the most natural thing. 

Reacting to that thought, my head hung low and I faced the floor. It was a position that a coward such as myself ended up becoming accustomed to.

I reached for another sugar cookie, suddenly very aware of how fragile the world around us really was. Another thought effortlessly entered my mind as the sugar cookie touched my lips. This time, it was Jean's figure amidst the beautiful night. 

Without looking back at me, she heartfully responded to me. 

"Even still. Even if it won't look the same tomorrow, and even if you never get another chance to see the moon that same way ever again. It's still the same moon. Burn that image of the moon into your mind, so that when the day comes that you won't be able to look up at the moon again, you won't have any regrets."

Pulling my head up, I looked Cacophony in her eyes. Just like the moon, they were beautiful, like dazzling crimson rubies. Confidently, I met her smile with one of my own. For some reason, all my usual worries and doubts disappeared. It was like my shaking heart had been covered in a large, warm blanket.

I know this feeling is merely fleeting, but just like the moon, that fact isn't anything to be sad over.