Well well well, look who finally decided to reappear. That's right, me! I haven't posted anything in over a year, which is a long time. That would be because I started writing my own original story and, before I knew it, that had quickly taken over my writing time. Now I'm going to try to split it, which I already had difficulty with doing with the multiple stories I would write at a time on here, so who knows how it'll turn out. However, it's not the only thing that I have been writing. This, along with other stories that may or may not be released, is something that I've started and then forgotten about then reread then begun to rewrite. So, without any further ado, I hope you enjoy the prologue of Hell's Fury Huntress.
Chapter Title: The Taboo
Six Years Earlier:
Two girls, one with hair of gold and eyes akin to lavenders. The other with eyes alike to mirrors and black-brown hair tipped with dark red. The gold-headed girl's face was filled with a dark and grim determination, the brunette only held a look of worry, maybe even fear. The blonde, the elder by two years, pulled a small notebook from her pocket and flipped through the pages. Several boxes and tubs lay across from them, placed orderly next to each other.
"Water, thirty-five litres," the elder read from the notebook, glancing up at a large tub of the specified substance. "Carbon, twenty kilograms. Ammonia, four litres. Lime, one and a half kilograms." She took a breath before continuing. "Phosphorous, eight hundred grams. Salt, two hundred and fifty grams. Saltpetre, one hundred grams. Sulphur, eighty grams. Fluorine, seven and a half grammes. Iron, five point six grams. Silicon, three grams. Half a gram of each of the four primary Dusts. And trace amounts of various other materials." She looked at the tubs and boxes and headed over to them, opening the boxes and looking in the tubs to reveal the previously stated materials. After a short silence, the younger girl spoke up, her voice laced with nervousness.
"N-now..." she murmured, pulling out a few large pieces of chalk, "we need to draw the constructional formulae." They each grabbed a piece of chalk and got to work, scraping out two large circles that, in the end, took up the entire floor space of the room they were in. Each circle slowly became more and more complicated. Finally, they finished. The elder stared down at them, triumphant. The younger stared down at them, her face lost between pride and nervousness.
"This is it," the blonde spoke, a slight smile now gracing her face. "We can do it, sis." The younger girl, the elder's sister, murmured.
"I don't know. The human body it's... It's really complicated. And... And the soul, it just... It can't be this easy, Yang," the girl said, staring. Yang gave her sister a grin. It was strong, calm and resolute, but it was also laced with hints of nervousness and, possibly, fear. The blonde knelt down at the circle that she had drawn, placing her hands at the outer edge of the drawing. It took a moment, but the room was then illuminated by a brilliant blue-white light. The materials that Yang had placed inside of the circle began to rearrange themselves. Yang's grin widened and lost all of the traces of negativity that it had held before. The light died down after several moments, and at the centre of the circle laid a body. Black-brown hair with the tips dyed red, wide and curious silver eyes. A spitting image of Yang's sister, should the young girl instead have been in her late twenties.
"Mum..." Yang spoke, her lip quivering. Her eyes shimmered, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away. "Ruby... It worked!" Ruby's face lit up. Yang grabbed the legs, and tried, and failed, to drag the body along. "Ruby, can you help me move her to the next circle." The body was limp, lifeless, seemingly empty. They carried the body over the floor and placed it in the other circle. The girls carefully exited the chalk-drawn ring. "Just one last step, sis..." Yang reached out to place her hands on the circle but found herself stopped by her sister, who was staring at her.
"I... I wanna do this one." She spoke with confidence, looking at Yang for confirmation. Yang gave a quick nod, stepped away, and watched as Ruby placed her small hands on the circle's circumference. It began to glow with the light that had become so familiar with the girls over the years, and Yang couldn't help but smile as she watched as everything proceeded according to plan. Until it changed. The warm blue-white light changed to an ominous black-purple. Strange, black arms began to emerge from the circle's edge, and the siblings glanced around the room in fear. At the centre of the circle, a large grey eye appeared. Ruby tried to move, and Yang watched in horror as the arms latched onto her.
"Ruby, get out of there!" She screamed, racing over to the girl. Ruby suddenly let out a screech of fear as she began to slowly move toward the centre of the circle. She spun around, trying, and failing, to claw her way away from the circle.
"Ya-Yang! Yang, help!" She cried, her eyes wide and hands sliding across the floor. Yang stretched her arm out, reaching for her sister. There was an odd sound, much like a tower of sand collapsing, and Ruby screamed in pain. "Ah! Ya-ah-ang! Help!" Ruby called again. The arms tore at Ruby and her skin began to dissolve.
"Ruby! Ruby!" The older sister fruitlessly reached for her sister's hand as the black arms grabbed at Ruby.
"Yang! Yaaa-" The child let out a final scream before she disappeared entirely. Yang stared blankly at the spot where Ruby had once been, her face frozen in a look of horror. She brought a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes. The light finally died out, and Ruby's clothing, now empty, laid atop of the still-inanimate body.
"Ru... Ruby?" Yang croaked, staying completely still. "Ruby? Ruby? Ruby?" Her eyes welled with tears, which quickly began to roll down her face and fall to the floor. She made no attempt to stop them. "No... I... I... I can't lose you... Not you too." She slammed her hands down, the circle reactivating. The arms returned and the eye reopened, Yang sobbed as the arms trailed over to her. "I won't lose you... I won't... I won't!" She screamed as the ghostly limbs tore her apart.
Her eyes shot open, and Yang found herself a space that was pure white in colour. In front of her was a large structure. It looked metallic, but wherever she was clearly had no way of accessing such a material. She rubbed her head, and the slight rubbing in her ears subsided.
"Wha- Where am I? What happened?" She questioned, taking quick glances around. "Ruby! Ruby!" Yang called, searching for the younger girl.
"Hello," a voice spoke, and Yang spun around to see a short figure, sitting cross-legged on what could be called the ground. It had almost no facial features. No eyes, no ears, no nose. But it did have a mouth, which seemed disproportionately large. Yang stared at it, shocked and confused.
"Who… Who are you?" She asked, her hands trembling by her sides. The creature's already large grin widened, and it stood up.
"Over the vast amount of time your world's species have used the art, you have called me by many names. I am The World; I am The Universe; I am God; I am Truth; I am All, I am One; and I am also…" It, Truth, pointed at Yang, "You." Yang said nothing, staring at it. "You have dared to knock on the door." It said, and Yang's eyes widened in fear as she heard a heavy sound coming from behind her. "And now, the door has opened." Yang turned around and saw the doors swinging open with an ominous slowness, and the black arms began to emerge from it.
"Hey, no, get away! Leave me ah- No- Aaah!" She screamed as the tendrils grabbed her and began to drag her toward the doorway. "Please! Please, no! Pleeeaaa-!"
"Why do you resist, child, I am only trying to show you what you wanted to see." It grinned as Yang uselessly tried to escape the arms. "I will show you… The Truth." Yang could only scream in terror as she was pulled in, the large metal doors shutting with a gentle thud.
Ruby groaned. It was oddly cold and her body buzzed with numbness. She ached across all parts of her body, enough that it was nearly painful to move. She blinked, clearing her vision. She was still in the centre of the circle, where the arms had dragged her, but felt off. Whatever confusion that she felt, however, was instantly replaced with terror and shock. Her older sister was collapsed at the edge of the circle, lying in a pool of red liquid. Blood. Yang's blood.
"Yang!" She dashed over to her sister, scrambling across the floor like a terrified spider. She grabbed the blonde, lifting her off of the floor. Her heart skipped a beat. Yang's right arm was gone, the limb ending a few centimetres below the shoulder. "What... What happened? Ya-Yang?" She choked out, cradling her sister in her arms. She tried fruitlessly to stop the bleeding, sobbing and coughing. "I... I can't stop it... Yang! Please... Help! Help, please!" Ruby cried. Then she stopped. "D-Dad... Dad can help. Yang... Stay with me... Please." Ruby ran as fast as her legs could carry her, racing along the gravel path, the rest of the world becoming a blur. She wept for the entire journey, She turned a corner, finally coming up on a large, log house. She burst through the door. "Dad! Dad, help!" Ruby called out. After several heavy thuds, a blond man came running down the stairs.
"Ruby, what wro-" His sentence ended prematurely as he noticed the two girls stood in the doorway, one cradling the other in her arms. "Yang..." He gasped quietly, not moving. He took a step, reaching for her gently, brushing the messy and blood-stained blonde hair away from his daughter's face.
"Help her... Please..." Ruby was trembling, her lip quivering and eyes shimmering with tears. "She's going to bleed to death..." Their father nodded and took his eldest daughter from the arms of his youngest.
"You go wash up and rest, you... You look kinda pale. I can take care of Yang." Ruby nodded, heading away and trudging to the bathroom. She opened the door tiredly, looking at her hands, which were stained red. Ruby glanced away, retching at the sight. She knew what it was, whose it was, and it made her feel horrible. She stood at the sink and turned on the taps, watching as the water began to flow. Ruby placed her hands under the stream and threw some of the warm water onto her face, rubbing it with recently-cleaned hands. The young child looked up, staring into the mirror opposite her, and screamed.
Present Day:
"Yang, hurry up! We're almost there! We're gonna miss lunch if you go any slower!" Ruby called out, waving to her sister from the top of a large sand dune. Yang, her face glimmering from sweat in the sunlight, rolled her eyes. Her usually-freed, long, golden hair was tied up in a ponytail that hung limply in the breezeless desert air.
"You slow down Ruby... I think I'm gonna melt..." Yang groaned in response, moving strands of hair from her eyes. Ruby slumped, kicking the ground, which sent grains of sand tumbling down the dune. Dragging herself up the dune, Yang let out a heavy sigh, collapsing onto Ruby. After a short moment, she looked up and gasped at what she saw. In the distance was a small city. It was walled, with a large gate visible, and square in shape. The very centre of the city was dominated by a large pyramid. "That must be Shade..." Yang murmured with disbelief.
"Yeah..." Come on Yang, race you!" Ruby exclaimed delightedly, and dashed off toward the city, giggling to herself. Yang reached out in an attempt to grab and stop her sister, but failed and let out another deep sigh. Ruby glanced back and called out once more. "Last one there's a rotten egg!"
I'm back, bitches! It's been over a year since I last posted on here now. But anyways, ignoring the fact I've been dark for about a year, how'd you like it? Was it good? Bad? Neither? I need your reviews to help me improve, so don't hold back. Just remember: Constructive Criticism is always useful; Reviews are Welcomed; and Keep Moving Forward!
