HI, I'm back with a new series. This is part one, nd after what feels like forever since i last said this,please don't hestaite with any questions comments or concerns.

Titus stood on the roof of an abandoned mall as he smoked and looked upon the glowing lights of Bay City. As he watched his beloved city seemingly rest for the night, the atmosphere was peaceful. Click,Click, Click. As a slight smirk crossed his face, Titus turned to who he knew was going to be there. “Oh, so you decided to join me on this lovely night Selene?” As he had expected his sometimes companion was approaching. Like every time he saw her, Selene took Titus’ breath away. Her warm caramel skin served well to accentuate both her long silvery hair and her crimson eyes. In his eyes, every graceful movement reminded him of the moon dancing across the night sky. When she spoke her voice was soft and melodic, the voice of an old friend that was never far.

“Well of course, I had to come see my champion. What else am I supposed to do with my time?”

With a practiced ease Titus brushed her weird little nickname aside. He went to make a sarcastic remark when he caught some movement over her shoulders. Nothing but shadows seemed to be there. Any further questioning was interrupted, as Selene’s voice cut back through the silence. 

“I’m going to get jealous if you ignore me to stare at another woman you know.”

Titus gave her an unimpressed look not wanting to point out the fact that he had just thought he saw movement. He thought about letting it go, but something inside him wouldn't quite let him. As Titus opened his mouth to say something, he was shocked that the next voice that could be heard wasn't his own. For that matter it wasn’t even Selene’s. From the shadows behind Selene, a figure, still shrouded but obviously feminine starts to emerge.

“Don’t be jealous Selene, we both know he's gonna get addicted to me rocking his world anyways.” The voice was playful and teasing,but there seemed to be something in the tone that made it clear it wasn’t an empty promise. As Titus was processing this statement, the figure now even with Selene, took form. Before him stood a girl around his age, 16 or so. She stood at about five foot seven inches, had long black hair in a high ponytail. She wore a deep crimson crop top that exposed her well defined six pack. She wore a pair of lavender, low cut baggy cargo pants that had a couple of tears in them. She had a black unzipped jacket on that didn't go all that farther down then her crop top did. A pair of well worn converse were on her feet, but what really caught his attention was a necklace that looked like it could double as a lower face covering. Intricately detailed to look like the mouth of a demon and in a deep royal purple color. The necklace was the most outstanding feature until Titus made eye contact with her and saw her eyes were the same beautiful purple color as her necklace. Any further admiring of her was cut off as she made a playful and teasing remark, yet once again,Titus could feel something extra in her tone. 

“Seems like you like what you see, at least if your bulge is anything to go by.”

Titus felt his face go scarlet, as he looked to Selen who was apparently greatly enjoying this interaction. “Who the hell is that, Selene?”

It took Selene a moment to get over her enjoyment enough to respond to him. “Well, you're my champion right? You need a bodyguard and companion right? So this is Aoyuki, she is an esteemed warrior of a well respected oni clan. You’ll be in good hands.’

There was a brief moment of silence as Titus let what Selene had told him sink in, before he let out a thoroughly entertained laugh. “An oni, really? Well at least I can give you credit for originality but there is zero shot she is a magical, club wielding Japanese demon. That’s just silly.” Aoyuki actually seemed to look impressed for a moment, then it was her turn to laugh in amusement as she turned to Selene and asked a question.

“Wait, does he not know about the mystical world? Oh this is gonna be fun.” Selene actually seemed to pout for a moment, the cute action creating a gulf between her mature and elegant features and her behavior. “Well I told him I’m a goddess, he just didn't believe me. But I guess it is time to get serious about this then.”

Before anyone could move or speak further, the world warped and distorted, and within a blink of his eyes, Titus found himself staring at the Earth in its full glory. For five long seconds, he tried to process what he was seeing, before he looked down and saw something he had only seen before at night and never this close. Below his feet was the surface of the moon. It took another three or four seconds for Titus to realize that he was breathing just fine. With a shell shocked look, he turned to Selene. He had of course recognized the names from mythology, but he had thought she had just been a kind woman who just happened to share the name. But as he watched Selene grow in height and presence he realized just how wrong he had been. He looked over to Aoyuki and found she was immobilized by the growing pressure given off by Selene. With a voice that did not demand but forced respect, Selen spoke. “I am the Titaness of the moon, she who remained neutral in the Greek gods' little slap fight, she who controls the tides, and watches over the world as it sleeps, she who causes madness. I am Selene, keeper of silence and secrets. I have declared it, and so shall it be. You, Titus, are my chosen champion. You shall speak and act with my authority, and any who question or challenge you, will insult me. I have given you a few gifts so far without your knowledge, but now, I give you one more. Sleep.”

That last command was not directed just at Titus but also Aoyuki, causing both to immediately collapse, sound asleep. With a warm smile on her face, Selene reached out and grabbed the souls of the two sleeping mortals. She then intermingled them. Once they were thoroughly connected Selene put the souls back into their mortal frames. This would cause a deep and unbreakable bond to form between the two. These deep feelings between the two would start forming even before they awoke. Selene knew soul binding between two beings was something that was considered borderline sacred as the two were bound together not just in this life but any afterlife or reincarnation and usually involved the consent of all involved, but Selene found herself not caring about whether Aoyuki wanted this or not. Aoyuki’s feelings didn't matter, all that mattered to Selene was Titus' happiness. When she had met Titus, he was a lonely kid with only the moon, her, to keep him company. She soon found that she greatly enjoyed his company, and one of his rewards was going to be a friend, bodyguard and possibly more in Aoyuki, her wishes be damned. Selene took pleasure in knowing that Titus would have as the kids these days called it, a ‘ride or die’. Except even death would only be a temporary separation. Selene took a few more moments to watch her chosen champion sleep, before she snapped her fingers sending them home.

With a jolt, Titus awoke in his bed in his dorm room. He stared at his ceiling for a couple of minutes before deciding that the whole event was just a dream. With a sigh he shook his head and started getting ready for the day. It would be cool if all that was real, but this wasn’t some anime or something. The real world didn’t have magic.As he caught sight of his reflection, his heart skipped a beat, his dirty blonde hair still looked like a mop, but his once hazel eyes now were a silver color that reminded him of moonlight reflecting off a deep pool of water. Titus just gawked at his reflection for a couple of seconds before dismissing it, chalking it up to him being more tired than he initially thought. Casually went through his morning routine, uncaring if he would be late. Sure he was a student at the prestigious St. Scholastica boarding school, but pretentious name aside, Titus didn’t particularly care about his school. As he ruminated on all of this, he found himself ready to leave. Feeling the nervousness rising, Titus rushed out of his room before he could talk himself into skipping. Keeping his head down he quickly headed to the dining facility.

As he walked into the large cafeteria, Titus felt his heart drop as he heard an all too familiar voice calling out to him. “Hey chuckle fuck, get your ass over here.” Brad. As Titus heard the voice of the part time bully, part time starting linebacker and full-time douchebag, he looked around nervously, but it was the same result it always was. No one cared, and no one would help him. Reluctantly, Titus walked up to Brad and his gaggle of friends. Strangely though as he approached, Titus saw Brad and his group of friends look among each other with some confusion. The moment passed as quickly as it had appeared and the group went back to glaring at Titus. As soon as he got right up to the group, Brad got to work. “So another day of being a lonely freak huh? Couldn’t be me. So How about we get this over with. You are gonna do our homework for English class right?” Titus just glared at them ignoring the fact that some were in entirely different grades for now, he just shook his head and spoke clearly with a hint of disdain.

“Absolutely the fuck not. You can kiss the whitest part of my ass. I mean, I know you fuckfaces are dealing with CTE but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your own shit. I mean as long as you can read, which isn’t a guarantee.” With that Titus just walked past the group. He knew he couldn’t fight them, so he went with his next best plan, baffle them with bullshit and get out of dodge. As he walked away he hoped no one would stop him and for a brief moment, no one did.

Unfortunately, one of the football goons grabbed his arm before he could make good on his escape. Titus was wheeled around to face the group which gave him a great view of what happened next. The door of the Cafeteria slammed open as it was kicked in. Standing there dressed similar enough to yesterday, was Aoyuki. Even from this distance Titus could she looked around for him, and when she saw what was going on, her face shifted to one of rage as she stormed towards them. Titus thought about waiting to see what happened, but he decided to take the distraction that was provided. Titus threw a large right into the face of the dude that while distracted was still holding onto his arm. Titus hadn’t been expecting much but to his shock the guy went out like a light. Maybe it was luck or maybe it was because she saw that this was a violent situation, but a split second later Aoyuki was in Brad’s face, before he could even ask who she was, he got hit with a left straight and a right hook. Much like his buddy had, Brad hit the ground. The rest of the group took a step back, and as Titus looked around he found that the entire cafeteria was now watching. His attention was ripped back to Aoyuki as she spoke to the entire room.    

“Sup Bitches! I’m new. The name is Aoyuki, and as everyone of you that ain’t racist can tell my family comes from Japan. There is only one other thing you need to know about me.” As she takes this pause, she points to Titus dramatically. “This one is mine. Now, fuck school. The local zoo has a Bengal tiger. Let’s go see it!” Aoyuki then grabs Titus by the hand and starts to lead him out. As they get to the door,Titus turns and faces the crowd that was watching this whole event in disbelief. Except for one person, Krystal. Titus had felt the hatred and the stare from behind. Part time head cheerleader, part time most popular girl and in the distant past, best friend. She wasn’t just glaring, It looked like she was trying to light him on fire. In the brief moment left before Aoyuki dragged him away, Titus realized something. Krystal hadn’t been glaring at him but instead it had been Aoyuki. Titus felt a shiver down his spine as he caught Krystal’s eyes. What he saw was an unyielding pit of pure rage and hatred. Then the spell was broken as Aoyuki continued to drag him, so they could go off on their adventure to see that Bengal tiger.     

Lock.

With a theme like that I guess I have to join. I'm in.

If it helps any besides maybe continued issues with proof reading in general, I wouldn't say I really have much of a unique style for you to miss. That's at least what I think. May actually explain some things. Kinda hard to stand out if you don't have your own voice might be worth trying to improve.

Congrats to Lux 

Sounds good to me

My bad I meant Sur and ant. Fuck those two in particular. Only issue I have with you is I still want that rematch from you beating me in that short story contest. 

You could end world hunger and I would still pray that both of y'all get Alzheimer's and force your families to watch who you are as a person slowly fade into oblivion.

You can keep your blood and skulls

Cat fight for the cat god

Entertainment for the lady of pleasure

I think the main thing is death of the author (DOA) shouldn't be used to directly contradict the author. If the author says a flood is a bible reference it's a bible reference, not some esoteric reference to Walmart or some shit.

It is true that authors do lose some control in how there works are interpreted, but if we can prove that they are making bible references that should be the line of thinking.

I also think that who the author is should actually be the base of any interpretation if possible. A lot of people don't seem to realize that some of what makes it into a work is more subconscious.

It is just being a pretentious ass to say that the human behind the art doesn't matter.

On the flip side a author shouldn't be judged as a human purely based on their work. Maybe provide a insight into their world but not define it.

Sorry if this came across as a jumbled rant but just some thoughts I have