Arc I - Mystery
Late Evening:
Dusk entirely covered the once tangerine shaded sky, enveloping a lush, fertile land inhabiting one of the more breathtaking realms known throughout the universe with a darkened atmosphere littered with countless stars.
"Hah, hah, hah."
She ran fast and hard for as long as her lithe legs could carry, how long she'd been running posed as a mystery. They would catch her if she slowed down by only a fraction, and the punishment would be far more severe.
Passionately, the woman kept sprinting, not caring for where she ended up, just anywhere but where she currently resided. Down the countryside pastures her feet drub, small footprints planted in the damp ground's cushioned surface in a fixed, delirious pattern which became indistinguishable to all but the most practiced of ears.
Remarkably, her acceleration doubled despite an elevated heart-rate, everything within her capabilities tested from the moment they came. The vandals already seized her family, a loving husband who provided daily as an honest man, and their three children innocent since their inception. Forceful winds howl against her frail anatomy, curtailing the momentum which brought her to this point. There was little she could do to delay the inevitable, but that nagging feeling inside the pit of her stomach wouldn't stop her from avoiding capture though it seemed highly unlikely.
Rain poured from the heathens foreshadowing a tragic sign of things to come, the Gods weeping for what's bubbled under the surface for quite some time, an ancient evil primed to cause more than a civil disturbance.
The once lush grass plains transformed into a mosh pit, mud splatters on the woman's body with every sloppy step, the conditions hindering her speed. Just finding a decent spot to run proved challenging with the moon providing scarce illumination. She did her best to ignore the looming predicament staring her in the face.
They were getting closer.
Every bone and muscle ached with throbbing pain, the sensations pleading to at least inhale an appropriate amount of oxygen, her legs surging with unyielding cramps as they slogged through the rugged terrain. Even the most necessary actions proved fruitless, realizing that fate had become so cruel, merciless, and downright unkind.
A misstep caused her to take an inopportune trip face first into a mud pile.
Not even the most thorough bath could cleanse what was once an alluring woman, silk robes ruined as mud clung to the fabrics and her dark brunette tresses, her tan complexion but a shell of her captivating looks. These aspects mattered little, nor did they factor into her bleak, encroaching future.
She groggily pulls herself out the slosh, wondering how it all went straight to hell, what resembled a nearly perfect life disguised as a one-way ticket to an unfortunate end. The events partaking before this harrowing chase suggests this developed more than a lifetime ago as if fate wrote her ending but not in the way she preferred.
Half-hour ago:
She and her husband tucked their offspring into their separate beds. Next, both Edenians passionately grasped each other, their mouths clashing in hunger as they barge into their bedroom, no doubt wanting to exhibit their affection physically.
Their altered lives had started with a simple knock on the bedroom door.
Neither person wanted to answer, too entranced in their sensual dance and figured it was one of the children. The knocking persisted with emphasis, a groan of frustration let out by the male.
"I'll be right back," his voice but a mere whisper after kissing her lightly.
He climbed off her half-dressed body and proceeded to answer the door. By no means would he reprimand any of the infants, they were far too young for such discipline. A simple turn of the knob and glance into the hall provided no sight of any of their three kids.
'Hmm, that's strange,' the male thought to himself.
Curious, he quietly scanned the surroundings before ending up at the room housing their children. A quick peep through the open crack revealed that all three were sound asleep, none stirring in the darkness. Confusion wracked his face at the sight as he could've sworn at least one got out of bed to silently rap the door. If it wasn't them, then who?
"Greetings, Joseph," an eerie voice called out.
Chills traverse throughout Joseph's spine at the sound of his name so callously uttered. He froze in abject dread as a steady breath which wasn't his own released itself within the enclosed space.
His wife Beatrice, fully clothed, came out to check on her husband. "Joseph? Is everything ok?"
Joseph gestures for Beatrice to remain silent, trying to discern where the strange paradox ensued. Every muscle in the couple's bodies tensed, their hearts no longer beating with a moderate tempo. Beatrice's mouth opens in a silent scream, but her vocal cords fail to orchestrate any sound. Then, out of nowhere, an invisible force connected against her temple, hurling Beatrice into the kitchen area's far wall and knocking her unconscious. That same force morphed into a hand slamming hard into Joseph's throat, the fingers wrapped around the base of his neck, nothing but air underneath both feet. Only a strangled wheeze left his body, the yell trapped with no way to come out.
"Quite bizarre to have an uninvited guest waltz into your humble abode, wouldn't you say, Joseph?" the unidentified voice jeered before going on. "The years have deteriorated your once diligent awareness, though having a family will soften any man of your stature."
Joseph manages to gasp, "W- who are you?"
The voice booms in amusement. "Everything you'll learn to fear. This day will mark the beginning of many where Edenia will witness a reversal of ideology to fit its true superiority."
"Then... what do you want from us?" Joseph croaks out.
"You, Joseph; will be the first to observe a new power I've tested with the aid of an ancient artifact from our very own land," the voice stated. "But first, I require information only you know of, and you will divulge it to me."
The grip on Joseph's loosened somewhat to allow a clear response, saliva protruding from his mouth. "And if I refuse?"
"Well... " the voice rumbled, turning Joseph's head towards a heinous scene, all three kids held hostage by his assailants, a man and woman shrouded in darkness armed with swords aimed at their jugulars. "Perhaps your offspring will suffer the consequences of your insolence."
"Wait, don't!" Joseph pleads. "I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just leave them out of this!"
"Music to my ears," the voice lauds. "Now then, what memory retention do you have regarding Argus' power?"
Such a question confused Joseph. Nearly every Edenian knew or at least heard of the great Argus, so it baffled him as to why this unknown entity inquired about the land's deity. Whatever this unordinary criminal wanted couldn't benefit anyone other than himself and his cronies.
Taking a deep breath, Joseph began speaking. "Our God Argus is the divine Protector of Edenia, the most powerful of all Edenian Gods, and husband to Delia, a well-versed sorceress. He saved us all from an imminent apocalypse after being assigned by the Elder Gods themselves to prevent such a catastrophe by having his two sons Taven and Daegon compete in a race to the top of his pyramid and defeat Blaze, the firespawn Delia herself created. Whoever destroyed Blaze would gain full godhood to replace Argus as Protector of Edenia."
"Ah, so the rumors are valid," the voice mutters. "Nonetheless, what you've disclosed isn't enough to my liking. It appears as though I'll have to use an ulterior approach to extract the information I seek, through your subconscious."
Joseph didn't like the sound of that. "What you do mean?"
"You'll soon find out," the voice said matter of factly.
A sinister red glow emerges, horrifying the kids and a barely awake Beatrice as their stares fixate on the oddity increasing in size. Two eyes with only one functioning pupil replaced the menacing aura but didn't discard it altogether, staring right into the depths of Joseph's soul.
Anguish etches into Joseph's face, the hand around his throat tightening to reduce his cries for mercy. The pain that followed was unimaginable; all knowledge ripped from his brain by unparalleled energy. All four limbs convulse along with his body, the feeling of a trillion jagged swords attacking all at once. Joseph couldn't fight back, let alone speak or attempt to escape. His beloved family wept at the scene, helpless to do anything.
The torment ends suddenly. "I see," the voice mused. "Just what I was looking for."
Shudders and violent coughs were the only actions Joseph could perform in the aftereffects of this supernatural ordeal. Lucid thought gradually resumed following the interrogation. "I... beg you. No more," the Edenian male implored.
"That won't be necessary," the voice concedes. "Your cooperation has uncovered the missing clues for my plan." Joseph felt his shoulders sag in a reprieve that this may finally end.
"However..." the voice maintained an edge. "A complication exists in keeping you alive. If Edenia's royalty can question you into revealing what happened tonight, my scheme will deteriorate. Therefore, I cannot partake in the risk of having you inform them of my intentions while in their custody."
Joseph struggled against the solid grip. "But- but my family!"
"Ah, yes. Quite the life you've built here," the voice acknowledged, his lone eye examining the confines of the traditional home before inspecting Joseph's three children: two girls and a boy. "Your son resembles you. Maybe he'll grow to become an imposing warrior under my leadership." The gaze then fell on the petrified girls. "I assume your daughters take after their mother as well." With his single eye, the voice wordlessly commands his two aides to free them. "They do not concern me, so they shall be spared. As for you," laughter boomed in the room again. "Your usefulness to me has ceased."
In the blink of an eye, Joseph's neck explodes from a deep incision due to a horizontal sword swipe. The now corpse drops to the floor, eyes staring aimlessly into space as the man's children huddled around their blood-soaked father, unable to contain their grief and sadness over his demise.
The other shrouded male approaches his master. "What is your next course of action, my lord?"
"For now, we hunt for enough victims to prepare the ritual. Joseph is one of the few who possesses the quality soul needed to bring my plan to fruition. However, we must keep ourselves undetected from the King and his Resistance lapdogs. Any mishaps are considered ruinous from this moment on," the voice instructed before his single eye discovered an anomaly, the missing body of Joseph's now widow. "It appears we have a runaway."
Sauntering over to the leader was a svelte female, sensuality evident in her body language. "Allow me to track her down."
"As you wish but be discreet. Report back to the hideout when finished," the voice commands before disappearing alongside the other assailant.
Present:
"You know it's pointless running away," a feminine voice giggles, startling Beatrice who foolishly stopped in her tracks. "Plus, you're making me break a sweat."
Turning sharply to her right offers no visual for Beatrice, fear gripping her entire body to the point where she could barely move. Her head remains on a swivel to catch at least a glimpse of who was chasing her. Nothing but darkness persisted - or so she thought.
A harrowing scream reverberates all through the fields and beyond, disturbing the serene atmosphere amidst the downpour of rain. Soon, a flash of lightning streaks across the darkened sky, that brief instant of light unveiling a grisly display.
Beatrice's head decapitated, the body lying a few feet away as deep gashes and carvings grotesquely brand her entire body, only her face left unscathed.