My name is Meghan Arberry… I was told at a young age my fate…
In the Records of Barma…
Years before the Tragedy of Sablier, the world was at peace… until one day, Four powerful Chains emerged from the Abyss wishing to destroy the human race…
Now in this world of destruction, there existed four people: James Baskerville, a metal miner… Paige Barma, a ring maker… Anthony Nightray, a blacksmith… and Jonathan Vessalius, a leather smith… using the abilities each one possessed, the four created a sword enabling the termination of the Chains… there was just one problem…
The four had worked very hard to produce the sword, and because all did not want to face the Chains alone, they decided to form a pact, agreeing that each would capture and throw into the Abyss a Chain a piece using the sword… James Baskerville did as such, capturing and condemning the Chain known as Rhombus… Paige Barma did the same with the Chain Alsike… and Jonathan Vessalius, with all his might, used the sword to eliminate Tickcore…
From that day on, the four friends became heroes of their world, soon becoming royal Dukedoms… many years had passed…
The three Dukedoms of Vessalius, Barma, and Baskerville, were not aware that the Nightrays had a secret…
Anthony Nightray, who was very curious of the makeup of Chains, captured the Chain known as Spades… everyone assumed he had thrown it into the Abyss with the others… in reality, Anthony kept the Chain in his possession… the Nightray line passed down corrupt experimentations of taking the barely alive Chain and, after drawing a shot full of it's blood, issuing it to newborn human babies to see, perhaps, if the blood of a human could be taken over by the blood of a Chain… such went on for years, until the Vessalius family became aware of the Nightrays' actions… the Vessalius family refused to remain friends with the Dukedom, leaving them in the shadows of their horrid lifestyle…
After one hundred years, the Nightray's Chain's blood was almost completely drained out… countless newborns had died from the experimentation, with no success of the change the Nightrays hoped to aquire… on the verge of giving up, a child was presented to them… it was to be the last child to be experimented on, for there was only enough blood to fill one more shot… the shot was placed into the baby and the blood was administered… and then… something strange happened…
The baby did not die like the others… and it's eyes, after the administration of the Chain's blood, turned an evil green, the very same color of the Chain's eyes… the Nightray's were convinced that the remainder of the life present in the Chain had transferred to the child…
As a means to preserve the baby, the Nightray's cast the child into the Abyss, hoping that such would never be known that a child of the human race had the blood of a Chain… little did they know the child would return from the Abyss many years later, unaware of it's fate… unaware that the Four Chains that once terrorized the world, would remain alive through the blood of the child, as well…
"Madame Arberry?"
"Yes?", I said, answering the door of my home. The mail messenger handed me a letter. He tipped his hat and walked away. I looked down at the letter, curious as to what it could be… I never received letters from anyone…
The seal on the letter looked somewhat familiar. I opened it up…
"Madame Arberry, you are cordily invited to attend the social gathering of…". I stopped there. I tore up the letter, letting the pieces of paper fall to the ground like snow. I really did not like social gatherings… I really did not like people. I closed the door after walking back inside my house… I was nothing special… I never was… so why were they always inviting ME? I strugged, walking into my living room where my Aunt was waiting for me, tea in hand. She took a sip of tea and looked up at me.
"Who was that, dear?"
"Oh… it was just another invitation to a social event… like I would go to one of those things…"
"MIRANDA!"
"Meghan… Aunty…", I corrected her, for what seemed like the fifth time today. She ignored the comment.
"If you expect to make yourself known in society, you must ALWAYS attend social gatherings!"
"But…"
"REGARDLESS if you like them or not! Heavens… I'm known all over the country because of my attendance at these gatherings… even the Nightrays…"
"Aunty…". I rolled my eyes. The Nightrays… the Nightrays… the Nightrays… that was all this woman ever talked about… it was rather annoying.
"You know the Nightrays have three eligible sons… I've met two out of the three at Lonny's party! Vin… Vinny? And Eli… Eliot? Fine boys! Just fine! Two of them are adopted though…"
"Aunty… if they're eligible, why don't you go after them?", I joked. Aunty always took jokes seriously…
"Don't be ridiculous! If they were a tad older, I just might! You know, Mickey…"
"Meghan… Aunty…"
"They are all around your age…"
"Good! Then they must hate social gatherings as much as I do!"
"Pish posh! Don't be a ninny, niece! I'm telling you that you would make an excellent…"
"Don't say it…"
"Match…"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Aunty!"
"For one of them!". I rolled my eyes, taking a sip of tea again. I had no desire to hook up with a Nightray… if they were as sophisticated as my Aunt often described them as being, I, being a plain and simple girl, would never fit into their world… and I really had no interest in doing so in the first place.
"I know you're nervous, but once you're known in society, they will just be flocking towards you!", she said with a smile. I laughed a little. I had no interest in a relationship whatsoever… however, I somehow found myself in a party dress, in a carriage, and soon at a local mansion attending the social gathering I dreaded to go to that day… it was horrendous… absolutely horrid…
"MINNY! COME OVER HERE!", shouted my Aunt from across the ball room. I was sitting in a little chair near the door, my arms crossed… I refused to respond to anything that was not my name… I watched as my Aunt scurried over to me…
"Maybelle, I just got word from Lonny that a Nightray is coming!", she said with a smile. I frowned… great… just great…
"Does he by any chance have scissors so I can stab my heart and be rid of this world?", I exclaimed in a mutter. She frowned.
"Um…". She turned around. A hoard of girls was surrounding someone who had just arrived. She looked at me. "LOOK! I THINK THAT'S HIM!", she exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. She grabbed my arm.
"COME! LET'S HAVE YOU MEET HIM!"
"NO!". I pulled back my arm… I refused… after that… something strange happened…
The lights were flickering on and off… Everyone was startled… except me… I got up and decided to walk in the hallway, away from everyone… and the Nightray… and then…
"AH!", I screamed. I could not remember… but something came at me like a shadow… I had fainted… and woke up to find two holes in my right arm… and I was surrounded by black feathers… I could feel the pain in my arm, like something had cut through my muscle deep down, like a bullet… and… and… here I am now…
I look up… someone is looking down at me… I start to stand, holding onto my injured arm… blood seeps through my fingers… I turn around to look at him…
"What… what…". I take two steps forward. The man stands still and straight. He is wearing a black suit… his hair is tied back…
"WHAT THE HELL IS…", I exclaim, dropping to the ground… holding my arm… he runs up to me, trying to catch me before I fall… I look at him… he is looking right at me with his golden eyes… he is… scared…
"Who… are you?", he says. I pass out before anything else is said…