CHAPTER ONE - LONESOME HEART AND THE SHADOW
A quiet rustling was all that could be heard as they ran. Years of training had prepared them for moments like this, to be quiet, to fade into the darkness. It felt second nature to them, even though the woods through which they ran were strangers to both of them. Neither of them knew where it was they were going, but it didn't matter. All they needed to do was stay quiet, stay hidden and follow the woman in the wind.
It was Etienne who had heard her first. It was just after a bout in the training yard with Lord Rundas, the hunter. She had spoken to him in whispers then. She told him of a great danger on the horizon, that he should leave. But he had not listened, Etienne had thought himself mad in fact and Novio had agreed when he told him, but when her voice returned on the eve of their trip abroad Novio had heard it too and so they had taken what weapons and supplies they could carry and left. As they fled the keep the woman began to sing. A song, in a language neither of them could understand. They followed song across the rocky hills that surrounded the keep and into the tree line they were forbidden to cross.
The trees, and the song, and the trickling water of the many streams that ran through the wood made them feel more at ease, but they never stopped. They couldn't. They knew the Priestess wouldn't allow her boys to abandon her as they had without repercussions, and with the Young Prophet guiding her, she would eventually find them wherever they hid.
Two days they ran, stopping only for water before Etienne called for a stop. He could see the fatigue etched on Novio's face and he knew his reflection would show him the same dare he look.
"Why are we stopping?" Novio asked. His breaths were steady and deep, but he winced with every inhale.
"We need food, we need water, and we need to rest," Etienne replied.
Novio paused for a moment, seemingly taking in Etienne's appearance for the first time, and then nodded. Etienne could only imagine what he was seeing. Novio had always been the handsome one, with his lithe frame and precisely cut hair. Even his training scars seemed to complement his face, but at the moment, he looked sickly. His skin pasty white and eyes so dark and red they seemed as if they were sunken into his face.
Etienne tore his eyes away from his friend and busied himself filling his canteen at the stream. Seeing Novio the way he was made him question leaving and he couldn't afford to question it now. He took a long drink and dug through the pouch at his belt for a strip of cured beef. He chewed the tough strip, savouring the salt and spices as they reminded him just how hungry he had been all this time. Lying back, he tilted his head upward to find that Novio too was chewing a strip of the beef they had stolen.
Novio made his way over to him and took a place in the grass next to him, stripping off his boots and gently sinking his feet into the cold stream.
"Will we sleep here?" He asked after a time.
Etienne took a moment to study his surroundings as they had been taught to. The tall trees that surrounded them had branches large enough to sleep on if they tied themselves off or else there was the bed of roots closer to the stream that created an overhang where the dirt had washed away in some heavy rain. He looked back at Novio and nodded; either option would do.
Etienne sat up and crossed his legs in front of him then leaned forward, peering into the stream. He was taken aback by how horrible the creature was that looked back at him. His curly auburn locks were tangled and windblown, and the circles around his eyes made him look corpselike in contrast with his pale freckled skin. He scowled at himself for a moment, but it only made him look worse, so he stood up quickly stripped down to his underclothes and ran into the stream.
Novio complained at the splashes, but by the time Etienne was in deep enough to dunk his head Novio was stripping down to his underclothes too.
Etienne ran a hand through his hair as he resurfaced briefly pausing at a twig and plucking it out. He rubbed his face roughly and could taste the sweat and dirt in the water as it ran down his face. It was the most satisfying bath he could remember.
When he was done, Etienne made his way back to the shore and rinsed their clothes in the stream. He hung them all around on the lower lying branches of the surrounding trees and then laid himself out on the one patch of the grassy forest floor that the sun reached through the trees unhindered, to dry off himself. As he lay there he watched Novio swim lazy circles in the stream. He remembered a story Novio had told him once of the time before being taken in by the Priestess. Like Etienne, Novio had been an orphan in a great city, but the city Novio was from had sandy beaches that went on for as far as the eye could see. He said there was a city near to there that floated on the water, though Etienne was never sure he truly believed that part. Novio had told him that he and the other orphans in the city used to steal so much of the clothes that people left on the beach that he never once had to mend an article of clothing that had grown worn.
The sun was near setting before Novio dragged himself from the water, by which time Etienne had set about clearing away some of the prickly plants and vines that had grown under the bed of roots. As Novio dressed, Etienne covered the ground with some large ferns he found nearby.
For a while, the two of them sat tucked below the overhanging roots staring into the night. Every cracking branch was their pursuers footsteps approaching, every rustling branch the sound of their tutor's spies. But then the wind came and on it the sweet voice they had followed into the woods.
"Rest." She told them, and once more she began to sing.
This song was quieter, more solemn, though they still did not understand any of the words. Even without meaning, it was peaceful and before long both boys found themselves drifting to sleep.
A sweet smell woke Etienne in the morning, something like the smell of white flowers in the spring. As his eyes adjusted to the grey light of morning, Etienne was frightened to find that he and Novio were no longer alone in the woods. A pale young woman crouched before them, watching them as they sleep. She wore a lavish violet hood over her pale hair and in her steel-clawed hand she clutched a curious glass orb.
Etienne reached out to where he had set down his kukri knives, but they were gone. A small mocking smile flashed on her face, but she didn't speak or even flinch. She gestured to Novio with a small nod and so Etienne reached out to him and gently shook him awake.
Before his eyes had even opened, Novio too had reached out for his weapons only to find them missing as well. He gazed upon the strange woman with furrowed brows, but like Etienne remained silent. She took a moment to look them each in the eye, judging Etienne felt, and after settling her gaze on Etienne she spoke.
"Come now, lonesome heart," she said in a bored tone. "Your shadow will follow."
With that, she stood and after a brief hesitation Etienne found himself following suit. She made her way over to a man Etienne had not even noticed was there. He looked far more dangerous than the woman, with his dark eyes and tattoos across his chest. He held their weapons in a leather thong over his shoulder.
Etienne followed the man and woman as they began to walk east through the woods and he could hear Novio's footsteps following closely behind him.
"Why are we following them?" he asked quietly over Etienne's shoulder. "We don't know who they are… what they want." Before Etienne had a chance to reply or even think of a reason why he was following the strangers, the woman answered for him.
"They call me Viola." She said bluntly in the same bored tone as before. "My travelling companion is called Zwei. And we don't want anything."
Etienne and Novio quickened their pace to catch up with the two strangers striding through the wood ahead of them.
"Then why not return our weapons and let us be on our way?" Novio asked as they came up beside them.
"The lonesome heart knows why," Viola replied, watching Etienne from the corner of what he could see now where piercing red eyes. "Death hunts you both and you have nowhere to go. The wind has blown you to sanctuary."
That peaked Etienne's attention.
"You've heard her as well?" He questioned.
Viola shook her head softly and then Zwei did too.
"Then how do you know she showed us the way?" Novio asked.
"I've seen her," Viola said, and in place of her bored tone was a mystic one. "Mother to many, she hides in the sky with her children. She did not act when the sky was cut open and chaos spilled out, but it seems your fates have forced her hand."
"I am not sure I understand," Etienne admitted.
"Of course you don't. She speaks in riddles." Novio grumbled beside him.
"If she didn't speak to you, why are you helping us? How did you know where we were?" Etienne continued.
"We are all connected on the web of fate, lonesome heart." She spoke to him. "I could feel the weight of your destiny pulling at the threads."
"And… what destiny is that?"
Viola did not answer Etienne's question, she only offered a sad smile and continued on her way. Etienne met Novio's gaze, the non-response was troubling to say the least.
The rest of their journey continued in silence, both boys too afraid to speak lest they invoke some answer they would not like.
As they travelled the woods grew denser and then thinned again. It seemed the woods would end at any moment, but no clearing ever came into view. Zwei, at the head of the group stopped suddenly and held his hand up for the rest to follow suit. Etienne watched as Zwei seemed to smell at the air his eyes scanning every tree in front of them.
"Zwei and Viola, returning." He called out to the trees. Surprisingly, a voice called back to him.
"You do not travel alone." The voice replied.
"They are… friends," Zwei called again. "Etienne and Novio." He gestured at them both respectively. Seemingly from nowhere, a large group of armoured men and women began to appear from the forest. They drew closer but stopped just in front of Zwei as a tall battle-scarred man with long blond hair made his way to the front of the group.
"These boys," the man spoke in his rough voice. "Why have you brought them here?"
The man looked from Zwei to Viola and back again. It was Viola who finally spoke.
"They are hunted."
"So?" He replied.
"In the moon, I saw them… and those who pursue, wake the hand of Hephaestus."
The man seemed to understand what this meant, where Etienne did not.
"Which hand?" He asked. "Will they offer us aid?
"This I could not see," Viola admitted. "Though, either of the children seems more likely than the mother."
"Nobody has seen them in over a year," He said more to himself. "Why return now, do they even know what's going on here?"
"Is it possible the swords are back?" Zwei offered. "They were the last known wielders, it would make sense."
The man looked to Viola for some sort of confirmation but received only a small shake of the head.
"I do not see the swords in play here," she said. "But something is… missing. A thread I cannot unravel."
"You said you saw the return… where?" the man asked.
"A dark tower with a great storm at its crest, then that same tower again, in ruin. I've seen it, though I do not know where it is."
The man's eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"I think I do."
The man gave them the night to rest and in the morning sent them in search of the tower he suspected Viola seen in her visions. He told them that the tower was once the stage of a great battle between the spirit sword Soulcalibur and its rival Soul Edge that drew together warriors from all across the world. It was here that the awakening would occur and so the four companions went east.
It was three days into their journey to the ruined tower that Etienne and Novio were granted access to their weapons. With the realization that seeking out the tower meant seeking a confrontation with the very people they had run from all this time, Etienne and Novio had taken to sparring whenever the group stopped to make camp. Weaponless, the pair worked only on their hand-to-hand combat, until Zwei who watched on impressed by the skill of such young boys wanted to see what they were capable of weapons in hand.
Armed, the two of them were quite evenly matched, though they could not have fought more differently. Etienne, with his kukri knives, was quick and acrobatic. He moved with a cold mechanical deadliness and was ruthlessly unrelenting. Watching Novio fight, on the other hand, was more akin to watching a dance than a battle. He wielded two thin short swords and danced around the battlefield with such flourish.
The skirmish didn't end until both boys were completely spent, both so glad to be armed once more that they dared not be the first to relent.
Completely drained of energy, the boys both slept early and in good spirits.
When they woke in the morning, the mood was changed. Zwei was stood, blade in hand peering out into the forest around them and Viola knelt on the ground staring into the strange orb she carried with her.
"What's happening?" Novio asked, concerned.
"We're not alone," Zwei replied.
The boys quickly grabbed their weapons, scanning the woods as they did. Alas, nothing seemed to come for them.
Then they heard it, the screech of an owl. Only, both boys knew too well… it wasn't an owl.
"They're coming," Novio called to their companions. "They've found us."
Etienne clenched his knives tightly, unsure of what to expect or who. Would the priestess send the hunter alone, would she join him or worse yet would the young prophet be with them? The thought alone sent a shiver down Etienne's spine.
It was Lord Rundas that attacked, leaping down upon them from the treetops, his talon-like blades at his feet. He distracted and defended with the draping fabric at his arms, all the while attacking each of them in turn with powerful kicks. He seemed able to take them all on at once and they had not yet laid a scratch on him.
It was then that the priestess Eris made her appearance. Her bright white robes blinding in the sun she would look angelic if not for the golden mask that covered her eyes and lead upward to form horns above her head.
She approached holding her scepter. Etienne had never once seen her use it in combat, but she seemed poised to do so now.
She approached Viola from behind and lashed out with the scepter, but Viola's orb blocked the attack. Viola broke off from the fight with the Hunter to face the Priestess one on one. The Priestess attacked with stiff calculated strikes, the force behind them making a deep thud every time it came into contact with Viola's orb.
The Hunter seemed to be everywhere at once in the middle of the other fighters, kicking at Etienne, tangling his robes in Novio's swords and dodging the ferocious attacks from Zwei. A swift kick to the face sent Novio hurtling backward. Etienne could see blood pouring from his face as he lay still on the rocky ground. Zwei seemed to grow even more vicious then, attacking the Hunter unrelentingly. Etienne watched as a purple haze formed around Zwei as he fought and then from his back emerged some sort of wolf or at least, the spirit of one.
The wolf fought alongside Zwei as if they shared a mind, attacking and defending in turns. It was working and twice the Hunter stumbled. In a panic, Lord Rundas reached into his robes and pulled from it a handful of what looked like black sand and smirking, threw it into the air above him. The very air around the group seemed for a moment to turn inky black and when it cleared the Hunter had vanished.
Etienne looked to see if the Eris had vanished too, but instead, it seemed she had gotten the upper hand on Viola. Etienne threw one of his knives hurtling toward her back, but in an instant, she was facing him. She batted the knife to the side with her scepter and smiled.
"My sweet boy," she said quietly. "You would harm me after all I have done for you? Your fate cannot be avoided."
Her robes blew about her in a wind she seemed to conjure and as the robes spun into each other and vanished so to did she.
Etienne stood for a moment bewildered and amazed, having never seen either of his former mentors perform such feats during his years in their care until he remembered the state of Novio.
Etienne ran to where Novio laid, his face now completely covered in blood. He tried his best to wipe it away with the cloth of his shirt, but the blood still trickled from the singular slice that ran from his right cheekbone, under his nose, and across his lips.
"I failed to see this," Viola spoke from over his shoulder. He looked back to see her standing there with Zwei who held out the knife he had thrown at the Priestess. Viola crouched next to him and ran her hand over the wound. "I can help this to heal, but it will mark him forever."
Viola created a poultice from some of the surrounding vegetation and applied it to Novio's wound. Within just a few hours the painful redness had disappeared and it began to show signs of healing.
As the group waited for Novio to wake they rested and made fire, no longer attempting to hide. Etienne sat by the fire with Novio's head in his lap, absently running his hand through his hair. Viola watched on curiously.
"The two of you are… very close?" She asked.
The words pulled Etienne away from his thoughts and it took him a moment to realize what she had asked him.
"I suppose… yes," he said, after a time. "He is the only friend I can remember having."
"Were you the only two kids… wherever you lived with the Priestess and her goon?" Zwei asked.
"No, there was one other," Etienne replied. "The young prophet they call him. He is of an age with us, but from the moment they took me in, I was… five or six at the time; even then I could tell he was different. I was so afraid of him... He always acted so much older than he was. He treated me like a child, but what was he? I hated him… so much, it was the reason I was so eager to help them when they asked me to bring in Novio."
"Novio specifically?" Zwei questioned, leaning in intrigued.
Etienne nodded.
"I don't know why though," he added. "At the time I thought he might replace me, and before I found him I think I resented him for it… gods know why, but when Lord Rundas… the man with the talons you met earlier. When he brought me to the little alley where Novio lived with all the other children their city had forgotten, I just couldn't anymore. There he was in the center of all the others, telling some grand story of warriors sent by the gods themselves, and all of them… they loved him. I loved him. He was the friend I dreamt of having, the friend I prayed to the gods for. And so, even though I knew he would hate it as I did, I put everything I had into convincing him to come back with me…"
"You were a child," Viola offered. "You were lonely."
"I was selfish," Etienne muttered. "I knew he would hate it, I knew the training hurt, I knew they were bad people… but I made him come, because… because I was afraid of being stuck there on my own with those people. And I- I thought so highly of myself… I actually told myself that it wouldn't be as bad for him 'cause he would have me… I think deep down I knew I was wrong, but I kept telling myself over and over until he followed me onto the carriage home. And you do you want to know the saddest part? He was excited the whole way. I had made it sound so wonderful that he was glad to be leaving."
Etienne was surprised at how worked up he had made himself. He could feel tears prickling at his eyes and knew the others must have seen them, but still he dared not blink and let them fall.
"Oh, lonesome heart," Viola spoke softly. "Know that he does not dwell on it as you do, he follows you into danger still, knowingly."
For the first time since he began telling his story, Etienne looked down at the boy he had lured that day to find that his eyes were open, watching him worriedly. Etienne felt his whole body clench as his mind raced. How long had he been awake? The two had never spoken to each other about how they met before or why. Would Novio judge him now that he knew how selfish Etienne had been?
"I am sorry," Etienne whispered, so quietly he could scarcely say himself whether he actually spoke at all. But, Novio heard him. He closed his eyes once more, rolled on his side to face Etienne, and after adjusting a few times to get comfortable fell back asleep. Unwittingly, Etienne returned to running his fingers through his friend's hair.
Etienne must have fallen asleep sometime shortly after because the next thing he knew it was morning and Zwei and Viola were packing up camp around him. He looked down to find Novio still curled in his lap asleep. He shook him gently by the shoulder. Novio scowled at him as he woke. He sat up and Etienne couldn't help but to reach up and touch his wounded face. Viola's poultice had done its job, very well in fact. The wound had completely scarred over in the night; there was even a small gap in the scar just above his upper lip where the poultice had healed it completely leaving no trace.
The boys were dressed and ready by the time Viola and Zwei had completely struck the camp, and within minutes, they set off. They had travelled half a day when they came to the field of obsidian. It was waves of shimmering black topped with bright green where only the strongest grasses and plants had begun to grow upon the rock.
"This is it," Viola announced as they made their way across the field of stone, but none of them could see any signs of a tower ruined or not. They searched until the sun grew low around them before they found it.
As they reached the top of one of the many inky ridges they finally saw it, the very peak of the tower standing alone half submerged in the glossy stone. Only three portions of its decorative crown remained, but its form was imposing just the same.
As they approached the top of the tower the decorations appeared more and more ominous, like three dark daggers cutting at the sky. And as they made their way around the great structures they learned that they weren't alone. Waiting for them there was Lord Rundas, the Priestess Eris and the Young Prophet himself. He smiled as they approached.
"We are all here for the same thing," he boomed. "We want to bring back the hand of Hephaestus and get humanity back on the right track."
"Then do it," Novio replied. "Why wait for us?"
"The two of you are the most important part," the Prophet answered. "The two of you were both born the day the chaos opened and the tower came down. You must be the ones to open it again so that the hand can return."
"And how do we do that?" Etienne asked.
"To revisit that day, to open that same chaos…" the Prophet explained. "We must spill the blood of one of you. One of those born of it, and it must be spilt by the hands of another."
"We aren't going to do that," Etienne replied.
"You'd have to be mad to think we would even consider it," added Novio.
"Fortunately," the Prophet supplied. "I too was born on that day… reborn actually, but it should do the trick."
The Young Prophet's golden eye seemed to glow and in an instant he was upon the group in a flurry of white robes, slashing at them with his scythe. Etienne blocked the first attacks, but failed to dodge a kick and was sent hurtling across the hard black surface. He watched as Zwei approached the Prophet with his wolf spirit sprouting from his back and was stopped by attacks by the Hunter and the Priestess both.
Viola sent her orb hurtling in the Prophet's direction, but he batted it out of the air with ease.
"I remember you… forgetful girl," He said to her. "Let me help you remember me." He smiled his wicked smile and his golden eye glowed with a blinding light. Suddenly, Viola was on her knees and letting out a horrifying scream. She held her head as the memories she had searched so long for were painfully returned to her.
The Young Prophet turned his attention to Novio, who readied his swords. The prophet was upon him at once, slashing away, and though it wasn't easy Novio deflected every attempt. The Prophet seemed to grow angry, and with his anger came a renewed strength. Novio seemed to struggle increasingly with every coming blow and then the Prophet spun round and thrust the bottom end of his scythe right into Novio's stomach.
"No." Etienne cried.
Novio fell to his knees, blood soaking the fabric of his shirt and streaming to the ground. Etienne made a run for his friend, but just as he neared a resounding crack rumbled the earth and brought everyone to a standstill.
Everyone present watched on as a glowing crack appeared from behind Novio and spread to the sky. It split open and like a great vacuum Novio was sucked into its black and purple whorls.
Tears filled Etienne's eyes at the sight, but he couldn't help but watch the portal for any signs of someone else coming through. For the longest time, nothing happened and the only sound was the wind pouring into the astral chaos. It wasn't until the portal began to close that a body was sent hurtling out. It landed with a thud on the ground in front of Etienne. Novio reached out a hand but recoiled as the body started to move. It was a young woman, with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. In her hand, she held a long-sword.
The woman stood, a wild look in her eye. She shouted out in pain or… anger? It was hard to tell. She looked around suddenly, her head moving in jerky movements and her eyes scanning everything all at once. That is until she spotted the Prophet.
"Zasalamel!" She screamed, pointing her sword at him. "I'll kill you."
"Calm yourself girl." Zasalamel replied coolly.
"Calm myself?" she scoffed. "You destroyed my family… you're the reason I was trapped in that hell."
She pointed her sword behind her and gestured to the empty space where the portal had stood. Zasalamel smiled.
"I am here to set you back on the right path, Cassandra."
Her scowl deepened into a contorted rage and in an instant her blade was above her head and she was charging straight for the young prophet. As she brought her blade down, the priestess stepped between the pair. The sword lodged itself in her golden headdress with a dull clunk and she fell. As she hit the ground, her body, her robes, everything that was the priestess Eris turned to smoke and ash and polluted the air. Cassandra stepped back, shielding her face from the smoke and Zasalamel laughed.
His robes swirled around him in a wind that wasn't there, just as the priestess's had in the woods.
"And so it begins," he smiled.
His robes twisted in on him and then he was gone.