Sab (sabrichan) wrote in dream_inspired, @ 2004-02-06 23:50:00 |
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Current mood: | content |
Current music: | Magdalena-- A Perfect Circle |
Prologue
This is the prologue to a long story I'm writing... I'm really hoping it turns into a novel that I can send to an editor and after many many corrections get published. =)
Prologue
Night was only just beginning to fall, spreading black wings to smother the sky. Lights were starting to speckle the tapestry of shadow weaving across the city, the humans that needed light getting it the only way they knew how. As the working portion of the city finally returned home, televisions were turned on, the LEDs glowing eerily in dimly lit rooms. At 19411 Rain Place, however, the charred remains of a magnificent hospital were still smoking. A fairly ragtag group of people stood around the ashes, one stooped over. They were oddly dressed, three women and the same number of men, all in outfits with some sort of star insignia on them. The kneeling person, a boy just out of high school, stood. Not a bit of ash tainted his midnight blue samurai kimono, the star-speckled sleeves seeming to shimmer in the gloom, in a manner that made them difficult to look directly at. He frowned, turning back to the other members of the group, and slid his hands into the sleeves of his kimono. They came out holding twin sleek knives, instantly recognizable as made for throwing. There was just enough of a tang—giving the knives the shape of a slim, four-pointed star with two points long and two short—to make each serviceable in hand-to-hand combat.
“He was here. A few hours ago, yes, and he had already given into shadow. The demon that came from him was more powerful than any I have ever known. It was that what burned down this building, despite the fact that it was comprised mostly of stone.� He reported to the austere-looking people around him. “This may prove to be difficult. Keiryl, can you trace him if I give you a description of what his mental state is?�
A small, thin girl, no more than seventeen years old, wraithlike and pale, looked over to him and nodded slightly.
“Yes…� Her pointed ears were always beautiful to his eyes, marking her as different from the normal human population. Pale gold hair hung past her pierced earlobes, and she was garbed in a long, strapless black dress that contrasted magnificently with her pure white skin. A golden star adorned the front, stretching across her chest. “I can do it, Lerem. Form an image of him in your mind, putting all your other thoughts away…� With his nod, she walked towards him and placed a cool hand on his brow, closing her pale green eyes. Her soft voice continued as she received the information directly from his brain. “He’s currently… in an alley right over there… but the energies I’m picking up are extremely powerful.� Keiryl opened her eyes again and removed her hand, looking into his eyes for longer than she should have. He could have held that moment forever, but she blushed slightly and looked away, raising a hand to the greatsword strapped across her back.
“We’d better go… if we want to resolve this with a lack of bloodshed. I fear for the boy.� Keiryl turned, and all the others followed, gold stars bobbing into the blackness of the night. Lerem brought up the rear, lingering in the ruined, blackened remains of the hospital. There were some dead bodies pulled from the rubble, fire-blackened but removed before the fires completely consumed the building so as to still be recognizable. A while ago this would have shocked him, but no more. He had lost his innocence, he realized. Death no longer fazed him; destruction no longer fogged his mind and slowed his steps. Lerem noticed he was falling behind and hurried to catch up, leaving the charred fragments of the building behind him.
“Keiryl,� he began, gathering his confidence as he caught up to her. “What kind of power exactly did you sense?�
She looked up at him, her pale green eyes shadowed. “Immense power, Lerem. I’m not entirely sure what it was, it seemed to be mostly channeled rage… there was something else as well. I don’t… understand it, really. It was extremely dangerous, though…� Keiryl staggered, and Lerem’s arms went around her to support her frame, so thin and delicate-seeming, but with its own brittle strength.
“Are you alright?� He asked, concern tingeing his voice, turning his face sensitive, very unlike its normal rugged determination. “What’s the matter? Are you hurt?�
“I’m fine…� She said, giving him a faint smile that did little to reassure him, stepping back a little from him with her own footing gained. “I think… it knew I was watching. And it drained me. Whatever this boy has created, it’s more than anything I’ve ever dreamed up.� Still leaning on him, Keiryl took a step. “Come on, we’re falling behind. We’d better be there… you know the others don’t have a chance without us, the most gifted senser and fighter of the Stardust Keepers.� She grinned weakly at him and Lerem smiled back, hopefully to provide confidence to her, rather than to him, though he was not sure who needed it more.
The last of their companions, an austere, raven-haired woman in a trenchcoat rimmed with golden stars, turned off into an alley and they followed. Keiryl gasped. Ash spattered the narrow path between two high walls, pure, black remnants of fire. A boy who couldn’t be more than twelve lay in the center of the alleyway, gazing blankly into the sky. A single bullet hole formed the center for a flower of crimson that bloomed on his breast. Lerem frowned.
“We were too late.� The raven-haired woman, Nimel, said. Her crimson eyes, a perfect match to the dried blood on the clothes of the body, scoured the area.
“Wait,� said Lerem, “Look at this….� Kneeling in the ash, his rough hands brushed aside some of it to reveal shards of obsidian. He looked up at the others, and his face was grim. “A battle occurred here. I’m guessing this boy was at the center of it.� He stepped over to the dead boy, removed the boy’s sunglasses. A trace of amber fire faded from the glassy eyes. “He was already dead, though… nothing but a human bullet would cause this hole, and from the amount of blood on it, I’m guessing that he stayed alive for a while. I believe there are dark forces at work here, both dark and light.�
“I wonder,� murmured Keiryl. The rest of her sentence was interrupted, however, by the landing of a… creature… on the other side of the corpse. Eyes of pure obsidian, devoid of both whites and distinct irises, regarded them. Lerem shuddered and stepped closer to Keiryl. Hate in the gaze had pierced through to his heart. The creature appeared human, perhaps, except for the eyes, a tall, pale human of features reminiscent of the dead boy. Feathered wings, the many colors of livid bruises, stretched from its back, spreading out to reflect the shadows of the night. As Lerem looked closer, he could make out anguished, tortured faces in the wings. A dark chuckle escaped from its mouth, a twisted sound that sent Keiryl’s hand to grip his shoulder tightly.
“What have we here… the Stardust Keepers. Perhaps looking to find the creation at fault for the burning of the hospital? No one calls us ‘son’…� His… for it was a boy… voice was twisted, sadistic in the manner of one driven insane by torture and the torture of others.
Lerem spoke up, his voice ringing boldly in the night. “How is it that you still exist after your host’s death? What foul creature are you?� His knives were again in his hands, he had slipped them back in wrist-sheathes as Keiryl did her divination.
“I am called… Id.� The boy’s crooked smile widened, and his wings spread. Flapping them once, twice, a foul wind blew over them, bringing the stench of carrion with it as Id rose into the air. He only hovered a few feet from the ground, yet it would still be difficult to… deal with him. The sound of weapons drawn rang out in the night air.
“Attack me?� The child-creature arched an eyebrow, its crooked smile changing to a sinister smirk. The ground around them began to shake, most of the members of their small band forced to crouch to retain balance. Keiryl was one of the few bowled over, and she remained lying on the ground, her frail arms supporting her, hoping to remain there until the tremors passed. Lerem, however, stood strong against the quake, shifting his balance back and forth to stay standing, his arms only slightly held out from his sides. The shaking began to subside, and other Stardust Keepers were able to gain their balance. Nimel was one of these, and her katar was clenched tightly in her hand. As the tremors seemed about to cease, however, the ground erupted. Tendrils of darkness pushed aside the pavement and snaked up to wind around the people. Those with weapons drawn hacked at them, but their weapons went straight through the tendrils and bit into their own legs, causing whimpers of pain to underscore the frantic beating at the darkness that swarmed up the legs of the group.
“Oh, shi-!� Lerem bit off a curse and stepped backwards, a dark tendril snaking after him. He jumped and grabbed onto the edge of a fire escape platform, swung himself up and stood there, tossing a star-dagger skillfully towards Id. So busy with his magic, the creature was, that the dagger imbedded itself in his leg. Id turned, his face twisted in indescribable rage, killing hatred that made Lerem take a step back in spite of himself.
“You…!� Id snarled. Most of the Keepers were now bound, incapable of moving. The race faded from the child’s face, to be replaced by grim amusement. “I know what to do with you… the others, they get to die. You, however… you have to live.� He motioned, and a shadow detached from the darkness behind Lerem. It slipped around his neck, soft as a kiss, then tightened. His brain immediately went into panic. Lerem knew better than to try to breathe, it would only freak him out more. So he didn’t, and let his common sense calm him down while he brought a knife around. The world was blurring to an indistinguishable mix of dark colors, smearing across his vision, when he sliced neatly at the shadow-thing around his neck. Darkness grew in his world, threatening to overwhelm him, when, finally, he could breathe again. Lerem fell to the ground coughing, his hands scrabbling at the pitted metal of the platform on which he stood, his vision filled with spots of darkness. He didn’t know how long he was there, half-collapsed, with his arms supporting him, threatening to move in and out of consciousness, but it seemed like eternities. Finally, Lerem’s vision cleared enough for him to see, though the world still seemed like wet paint disturbed before it was set, slightly blurred all around. There was no sign of the shadow that had wound about his neck, but the daggers, dropped as he had fallen, seemed to glow with an unearthly light.
“Thank you, sister…� he whispered, his voice weak. Lerem looked down off of his perch, and the dagger he lifted fell from limp fingers.
There was no sign of Id. Pale moonlight shone on the limp bodies of his friends. Eyes gazing up at the stars that represented their companionship, each of them lay in a pool of blood. From every chest protruded a single, bruise-colored dagger. Keiryl’s form, even whiter than normal, seemed to stand out amongst the rest, and he dropped down from the fire escape.
“No…� he whispered. It was as a whimper escaped the girl who so occupied his thoughts that he noticed she was still breathing, though barely, blood speckling her lips.
“Lerem…� she whispered, and gasped, agony twisting her once-pretty face. “You must… find others… Stardust…� Her voice faded away, and pale green eyes looked into his purple-brown ones. A faint smile formed upon bloody lips, and her eyes closed.
“Keiryl!� He shouted, the world disappearing around him, nothing remaining except the pale, limp form of the girl he loved, blood darkening the pavement around her. Tears formed helplessly in his eyes, bitter tears from his inability to do anything. His hands shook as he pulled the dagger from her chest, the realization that it was one of Id’s feathers barely striking his loss-fogged mind. He sat there, one hand clutching a razor-sharp feather, unheeding of the cut it was inflicting on his hand, until dawn tinged the sky and his mind was clear again. Lerem stared blankly at the rosy hue to the east, then down at the gash upon his hand. Transferring the feather to his other hand, he wiped the blood on his hand across Keiryl’s cold forehead.
“I swear, upon the blood that still flows in my veins, both fairy blood and human blood, that I will recreate the Stardust Keepers. That I will hunt down the criminal in charge of this fiasco, and I will extract my revenge from him… very, very slowly.� His eyes narrowed, and he pulled each feather from the chest of his friends. They were people he had worked with for years, and even though they didn’t talk much, they understood him better than anyone else. There had been times when he had needed someone to turn to, someone to help him, and they had been there. Never again. His mouth turned to a thin line and he stacked every feather. Nimel had taken two to go down, leaving him with six feathers. Six feathers he would use as knives upon his life's mission. Lerem flipped one in his hand, testing the balance; it was perfect. His face grim, he slid a dagger from his boot and placed the tip on the center of the feather. It sunk in, golden light pouring from it, sparks leaping into the air. As it pierced the whole way through, Lerem tugged it out. A single eight-pointed star was the result of this. The symbol of the Keepers… he repeated this process again and again, taking comfort in the routine after his life had been turned upside down.
When the police arrived due to a startled citizen’s reports of a man in a kimono in a sea of bodies, they found nothing but vague bloodstains, the DNA unrecognizable. As they worked on cleaning up, a young man in a kimono watched them from atop a nearby building, the wind tossing his long brown hair over his shoulder, sun reflecting from a dagger of some strange, blue-black metal…