Prologue

The dark night sky of the island-city Argos. The moon and stars are barely existent, most of the lighting coming from the houses and businesses with occupants moving about. In an alley, a young woman sobs as she runs through it, water in the puddles splashing out onto the walls and onto her bare legs.

She gets to the mouth of the alley and collapses onto her knees, her head bowed as she shakes from her sobbing. The few occupants on the street ignore her, not wanting to get involved. The woman sniffles and wipes her eyes clear of tears and then grabs onto her stained white shorts as she tries to get herself under control again. She looks down at her shorts, noting the red stains around the pelvic area. The sight brings her to further tears as she remembers what had just occurred in the alley.

“Raine!” She intakes her breath and looks up, seeing a figure running towards her. “Raine, are you okay? Where have you been, you’ve been gone for hours!” The young man knees down in front of her and places his hand lightly on her shoulder. “Oh Jenos…” She throws herself into his arms and holds onto him tightly, wrinkling his dark gray shirt.

Jenos blinks and holds her as he rubs her back. “Raine… what is it?” Raine doesn’t answer, but just continues her hold on him. He stays silent as he waits for her to regain her composure, while giving the few people that had turned to see what had occurred a death stare, making them continue on their business and not interfere. After a minute she lets go of him and looks down, lightly trembling. “Raine…” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry for worrying everyone…” She lightly bites her lip and looks up at the man, looking into his brown eyes. “Can you try to not let my parents know what happened?” Jenos frowns lightly. “I can’t say until I know what happened.”

Raine smiles slightly and nods, her short brown hair bobs with the action. “I’ll tell you later… I just want to leave here.” Jenos nods and gets up, offering his hand to help her up. She takes it and he pulls her up, catching her as she nearly falls back to the ground. “Are you okay?” She shakes her head and leans against his chest. “All right…” He holds her up as he bends down and picks her up in his arms, carrying her back home. Over his shoulder she looks at the alley and wraps her arms around Jenos’ neck, not wanting to go back there again.