Crimson Suikoden
Chapter 1: Nightmare Begins
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It was a tranquil, sunny day with very little wind. A lake, its waters calm, was lapping on the shore. Overhead, one could see a gigantic, looming forest. The depths of it looked dark and mysterious.
Playing near the shore were four children. Two teenage girls, one silver haired and the other black haired, were chasing after two six year old boys, also silver haired and black haired respectively.
"Get back here, Taichi!" the black haired girl cried out as she ran after the silver haired boy. Already, the silver haired girl had caught the black haired boy and was trying to restrain him.
"No fair, Ammy!" he cried, "You always catch me!" Ammy smirked down at him. "Well, Geki, if you didn't run in a straight line all the time, I'd have a harder time playing tag with you!"
"Ha! You can't catch me, Yumi!" Taichi laughed as he swerved around, forcing the girl chasing him to speed up. For her efforts, she stumbled and fell to the ground, utterly exhausted.
"It's not fair!" Yumi complained hotly as she rose from the round. "Taichi, you know I can't run as fast as you!" She looked around the lake shore and her voice softened. "It was a good idea to come here, eh?"
"I'll say!" Ammy grinned as she continued to hold Geki close to her. "It's nice having a play date with our little brothers!" The boy struggled in her grip.
"Hey, I'm royalty here, you know!"
Taichi sighed. "We're all royalty here, Geki."
"Oh, right…"
These kids were actually Princes and Princesses of the Queendom of Falena. Their parents were Prince Freyjadour and Lady Lyon, heroes of the Falenan Civil war. Ammy and Yumi (Full names Amaterasu and Yumigami) were the eldest pair of twins, while Taichi and Geki (Full names Taichigami and Gekigami) were the younger set.
They had asked their parents if they could spend some time playing at an old childhood haunt. They had agreed and also allowed them to go alone without any bodyguards, as they were planning to spend some family time together.
Both sisters let out a happy sigh as they lay on a blanket next to a picnic basket. "Sure brings back memories." Yumi remarked as they heard a scrap of birdsong.
"Sure does!" Ammy replied, smiling as a memory came to her head. "Remember when I pushed you in the lake when we were four?"
"But if I recall, I grabbed you and pulled you in with me!" Yumi chuckled. "Then we started throwing mud, water, even a frog at one another!"
"Then Mother and Father tried to stop us and we accidentally hit them with water!" Both twins burst out laughing at this and continued until they were gasping for air. However…
"Hey, where'd Taichi and Geki go?" Yumi asked as she looked around. Both brothers had disappeared and now, suddenly, Ammy and Yumi were very afraid.
"Mother and Father will kill us if they wander off!" Ammy groaned as they got up and started searching. "Or if they're hurt, we'll be told we have to go everywhere with Guards!" They continued searching until they found two sets of footprints leading into the forest.
"C'mon, let's go!" Ammy growled as they started down the path. "I'm gonna kill those two for making me worry like this!" Yumi just rolled her eyes at her sister's antics and started a quick jog.
After some time, both sisters were getting nowhere in their search. What's more, their vision was sometimes impaired by Crimson butterflies. They continued to drift in and out of the way of the two.
"Erm…. Ammy? Was the forest this… foggy?" Yumi asked hesitantly as they stopped. The forest was getting more and more fogy and now they had a hard time seeing straight. By now, they were starting to feel real fear.
"How do we find them in this mess?" Ammy said as they looked around. A feeling of unease and despair was starting to creep through them. Unbeknown to them, they had passed an old statue.
Suddenly, Yumi grabbed Ammy's hand. "Ammy, over there!"
Standing in a middle of a clearing, both Taichi and Geki were watching hundreds of Crimson butterflies fly around them. Their expressions couldn't be seen, as they had their backs to their sisters.
"You two are in big trouble!" Ammy grunted as they walked towards them. Yumi, however, felt slightly less angry and merely whispered…
"Taichi…? Geki…?"
As one, the boys turned towards them. Both were incredibly pale and spoke as if half asleep.
"The Lost…Village…"
The thick fog was starting to clear and a dark, unnerving village appeared out of it. The butterflies started swirling around madly and as both Ammy and Yumi reached to grab their brothers…
Everything went black…
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That's the first Chapter!