Hello everybody! Yes, this is a new story that I'm posting on here. However, it also serves as another moment of experimentation for me. Up until now, I haven't done any stories that were tailored towards the supernatural side of things. As I'm sure you no doubt know now because of what I just said, this story is going to be my first attempt at writing something that has and concentrates on the supernatural world. It's just something that I want to try, especially since it was here on fanfiction where I really got into reading stories that had to deal with supernatural creatures and whatnot.
Note that it is not going to be so detail-oriented and exact to current culture, i.e. that vampires die through direct contact with sunlight. Nobody really knows exactly how certain supernatural creatures are killed, only that's because one has yet to ever come into contact with something of that nature. As such, I will not necessarily follow the popular rules of supernatural culture word for word. Rather, I will change some things around in order to make things fit with how I plan for this story to work.
With that said, I'll leave you all to read the prologue of my new story. Hope you all enjoy it! And be prepared as it's somewhat different from how I usually start or even write my stories.
Prologue
Once before in a time since passed, there resided a small village that lived a peaceful life. It was more of a settlement than an actual village, the residents added together hardly matching the numbers of the town nearest them. The children near equaled that of the adults, and many would often be seen playing with each other or tasked with chores akin for their parents. Those coming in would believe that such a small community would find it hard to properly sustain itself, and that proved true at times. Still, they were always well off thanks to their location near both a river abound with fresh fish and the main road that was favored by merchant caravans. That, in turn, allowed for the comfortable exchange of goods and the receiving of news from the lands beyond. It was nothing short of a simple but enjoyable life, the townspeople keeping to their own but in no way disconnected from each other or the world.
Then one day, a stranger arrived at this humble little village. He introduced himself to be but a simple scholar, travelling the lands in search of knowledge worth recording. The bag upon his back was filled with scrolls, some of them detailing his findings and others being illustrations of things he found interesting. His well of knowledge quickly won him respect with the adults, and the children became enamored by the stories he told, both of his travels and fantastical tales he learned from others. His approachability and willingness to help with even the most mundane of tasks granted him shelter for as long as he wished, a time he mentioned to be no more than a fortnight upon his arrival on the day of the new moon.
As the days of his stay drew closer to an end, the man bonded quickly with everyone both child and adult alike. He connected well enough with the children, all of them now approaching him for his stories rather than play with each other. The adults often came to him for his advice on one thing or another, his knowledge proving wonderful in all things from nature to natural health. He was the most perfect man that had ever come across their village, and some dared to think that such a boon of knowledge was but a dream for their humble community. But as the fates would have it, this truly was a dream that would soon come to an end.
On the night of his scheduled departure, the peopled wished to hold a community feast to thank him for his help and bid him safe travels. Many had gathered in the village square, setting up for the celebratory dinner. Children and adults alike were carrying plates filled with various foods, the wonderful smells mingling and quickly saturating the air itself. All chatted amicably away with each other about their experience with their visitor, none of them having a single bad thing to say of him. All they were waiting for now apart from the remainder of the setup was the guest of honor himself.
However, all the happy chatter quickly fell silent as a sudden scream pierced through the once jovial atmosphere. All turned to stare in the direction of the frightful sound in hopes of finding the source and finding a woman running towards them shouting incoherently. Whatever they failed to understand through her hysteria they realized immediately after watching her collapse to the ground, her upper body completely ripped to shreds in a frightening display of splattering blood by some unforeseen entity.
The entire village square was now drowned in a chaos of fright and confusion. Food that was still in transport to the table fell unceremoniously to the ground, the dinner now forgotten by all. Chairs were overturned by hysterical villagers as they scrambled to get somewhere safe, and the table itself knocked over with its contents now smeared across the floor. Countless mothers were trying to shepherd their children into their homes while the men took up whatever weapons they could find so as to take a stand against the murderous creature. They had yet to see what it was that dared to kill one of their own, but they would be damned if they allow it to have another taste of blood.
Unfortunately, the assailant remained unbeknownst to them as they were struck down without warning. One by one, the men were killed. Some died simple clean deaths, others suffered through a grotesque display of blood before being bereft of all that was above the waist. The women who had yet to reach the safety of a house screamed a scream never meant to leave the mouths of humans over the terrifying scene. Children all about were crying, some of them standing in complete shock while others were forcibly carried into shelter.
When the unseen monster was finished with the men who dared to raise arms against it, it turned next onto the women and children. It attacked those still out in the open and sought out those who chose to run or hide. None were spared from its wrath; all were caught and died in spectacular fashion. The village square that had once been covered with the scent of food now smelled heavily of death. The scent of blood overwhelmed air, the land now resembling that of a war field where innocent lives were needlessly snuffed out as if by callous soldiers. But this was different than a war field; all this was conducted by something that none of the victims ever had a chance to see before being struck down.
In a matter of minutes, the entire village was wiped out. What had started as a night of celebration had turned into an unprecedented massacre. There was not a single soul left alive, not a one who lived to tell the frightful horrors that befell the poor people. None had saw the twisted creature that had deigned to steal away their lives, but all had at the least good enough fortune to have died quickly and with little pain. Still, that was little consolation compared to the atrocities they bore witness to prior to their deaths.
Suddenly, a lone figure appeared in the center of the village square, his face obscured by the hood of his traveler's cloak. He had a sword in his hand that looked as if it were carved straight out of the blackest night imaginable. The sound of blood slowly dripping off the end of his blade echoed throughout the eerily quiet square. His cloak and been completely dyed by the blood of his victims, its original color now lost to all but its owner. He seemed almost as if he did not notice the carnage that laid before him, but he soon gave a grin so sadistic that even the most feared denizens of hell would have feared him.
It was only after he took a minute to survey and admire his atrocities, he sheathed his sword within his cloak and made to leave the village. He then discarded the bloodied garment and let it flutter away with the wind that carried the scent of blood and death. On him was yet another cloak, this one protected from the carnage and immaculate as though it had not bear witness to a horrific crime. And resting upon his back was a bag filled with scrolls, papers that begot a man who was knowledgeable about the world but kept hidden a monster who preyed on the generosity of villagers and repaid them with death.
Well, how was that for a prologue? It's shorter than my usual chapters, but all that's mentioned in here hopefully caught your attention. I did warn you all earlier that things were not going to turn out how I typically write my stories. That ending was a complete bloodbath; I honestly even surprised myself with what I managed to write out. Anything that has even a hint of horror elements like this massacre is something I usually do bad at writing out. In that respect, I consider this to be a personal win already!
But yeah, this story definitely does have characters from Kingdom Hearts in it. I purposefully made the traveling murderer nondescript so as to not give away who he really is as of now. But yes, it is a "he" and is not exactly human. I mean, no human could possibly kill people with such skill that they can't be seen even when in close range. Clearly, that means he's some kind of supernatural being. And I promise you that this man used no magic in his killing. And no, this guy is not meant to be Sephiroth! I admit that would be the obvious choice, but it's very wrong in this case.
And as you no doubt notice, the narrative has been written in a somewhat different style. It's something that I'm trying out after having picked up snippets of it during my Creative Writing classes. I won't admit that it's perfect, but I thought that the different phrasing of words and their placement would help give a better visualization and "oomph" factor. Again, it's not exactly perfect. It's just my attempt at practicing the things I've learned during the past Winter quarter of college.
I hope that you all ended up liking the preview of what is to come in this story. I promise that not all the chapters are going to be like this one with the mass murdering and total bloodbath. As it is with first chapters, it was my attempt to hook you in as readers to become interested in what I'm to post next. please don't forget to leave a review saying what you think about it. Constructive criticisms are always welcomed; I don't take offense to anything that might seem to be offensive so long it is meant and written through a constructive criticism standpoint. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!