A single unearthly scream became the dominant sound of the Maze.
The wasteland where large cracked fragments of bizarre structures peeked from within sandy dunes, while a crimson full moon bathed the entire landscape with a distinctive blood-red luster ambience.
In the distance, a thick silver pillar of light cutting through the vermillion skies and the reddish veil of sand could be seen. The elegant aftermath of a perfect strike.
As the erratic wind of the location waved her long red hair violently, the girl walked with inherent calm towards the direction of the light. The cold expression in her face only reflected how she, too, was in a world of her own as she analyzed the result.
Yet another witch hunt, yet another ethereal venue. They were all the same for Sorin Fran at this point.
Once the blinding energy faded, instead of an expected void, the large humanoid figure engulfed in living darkness still lied there, twirling and convulsing violently, shooting liquefied fragments of itself upwards, and releasing steady streams of bubbles, the same way boiling water would.
Certainly, the witch was not dead yet.
"…Tsk."
Sorin gritted her teeth upon the realization of failure in eliminating her target, but her frustration lasted mere seconds.
Her ability to focus was after all, one of her strongest assets.
The girl sprinted towards the black mass becoming a silver flash in an instant, and, as she did, extended her arms backwards and then to her sides. A trail of petal-like sparks started to gather rapidly around her hands, soon condensing, losing their shine and forming beautiful ornamental blades.
Upon proximity with the black mass, Sorin shifted her route into a circling motion, encasing the witch at the center of the movement. In this fight where a short gap of distance between herself and the target amounted to suicide, constant motion was the most reliable method of defense and offense.
There was no other option left.
Once her route was established, Sorin began to leap back and forth at the witch with great speed, slashing key spots over and over, and creating new ones in the process. Sorin was effectively carving wounds upon the witch, one after another, at such blinding speed that her single maneuver had taken the appearance and effectiveness of a well-coordinated group of attackers.
To the normal eye, the only glimpse to be caught from this approach would've been a series of flashing strokes, violently ripping across seemingly random spots all over the black mass, and the pieces of its thick liquid-like substance falling apart and dissolving into nothingness as a result of this.
Such was always the death of a witch - a gruesome sight of abstract violence accompanied by desperate shrieking that human ears should hope to never encounter.
Such, like the previous attempt, should have been the death of this witch.
Perhaps it was during the brief moment of distraction this realization took place, where Sorin failed to notice the witch too, had prepared a counterattack as her life was being extinguished.
Darkness erupted.
Abruptly, Sorin's movement was halted.
Rather, Sorin became incapable of moving. A piercing pain invaded her chest.
Before the full shock and realization of what had halted her motion took effect, the same sting was felt across her entire body, multiple times, like a rain of blades, dozens of thin black spires spawning from the witch and impaling as many regions as possible, one after another.
Still restrained by the living projectiles, Sorin's sudden condition evidenced an unexpected change in the flow of the battle. For a brief second, everything turned to white for her.
A miscalculation in the abilities and traits of the witch. A deadly one at that.
Sorin, suppressing her body's desperate attempt to throw her into full shock and fall completely unconscious forced herself to remain aware of the battle conditions.
The damage threshold of magical girls is much higher than that of any regular human, but it was, once again, her innate ability to focus what had made the difference. Such feat allowed her to ultimately notice yet another spire quickly growing in her line of sight. One aiming for the killing stroke perhaps. It all would end soon.
With the speed of a sonic projectile, the spire's sharp edge pierced through Sorin, or at least what should've been Sorin. Instead, an afterimage of light quickly dissipated, releasing the pulsating black spires and causing them to twirl and twist in confusion, as if they had been freed against their will from the areas they had impaled.
750 meters away from the black mass, a white glow materialized, swiftly shaping Sorin's silhouette. As the form was fully established, the shine once again disappeared, leaving a seriously wounded Sorin behind, who, with no further action collapsed to the ground violently.
Her last resource depleted, and rendered unable to act, the tide of the battle had quickly evolved into the worst possible scenario for the broken magical girl.
Without looking at it, Sorin imagined the condition of her Soul Gem with the turn of events.
She could feel the fading light of the artifact being overtaken at an alarming rate by the dark embrace of corruption as the passive healing properties of her artificial body acted against her and slowly drained the last reserves of magic she had left. Her entire existence at that point could have well been best described as a ticking time bomb. An unstable one at that, which was ready to go off at any second.
"Agh…"
Two minutes had passed and the evidence of her downfall still plagued her. Twenty four searing injuries, according to Sorin's estimations, most of them in vital spots.
Her attempts to move only brought unspeakable pain.
Her attempts to remain still only brought unspeakable pain.
Even just thinking seemed to ignite more pain in her now.
"D…Damn it…"
Coughing blood with every word, Sorin cursed her fate. The black grip of darkness had indeed devoured most of the girl's Soul Gem, yet a tiny glimpse of silver light remained.
Perhaps, in this situation, she was a fool to still cling on to hope. Perhaps it was just denial that everything was over. Sorin still had much to take care of. She still wanted to live. She needed to live.
At that point, all that seemed to have been brought to an abrupt end.
In the distance, the shape of the black mass could be seen. The witch was slowly approaching Sorin. She would finish off the effective counterattack it had started. Sorin knew this, but the thought of whatever the witch had in store for her didn't terrify her in comparison to the sense of frustration she was experiencing. There was nothing left to be done.
"Not…like this…"
Sorin thought to herself as she let go of her last remaining strength and allowed her struggling head to fall to the ground completely. Only her left eye still had the escaping strength to peek at the approaching witch. A blurry shape which would get bigger and bigger with every lapse where her body would naturally attempt to close her eyelid completely.
In her deathbed, and with her last moments of consciousness, Sorin questioned everything which had led her up to this point. Was it true despair what she was experiencing? Or was it the realization that her life was over? For someone like her, perhaps this was only a fitting death.
"Ah…I was so close too…"
A bitter smile formed upon her face as she gave up in retaining her left eye open. Perhaps she had finally accepted the logical conclusion. The one outcome she had always dreaded the most.
All her actions up until now, all her plans, all her dreams, sins and hopes.
It had all been for nothing.
Overcome by despair, the faint light left inside her Soul Gem gave up and became engulfed in darkness.
The sound of the crystal cracking around its core was the audible cue to announce the end. Sorin knew what would happen next. A fate which, for what she still dreamed of achieving, was, just another type of death.
"...Well then…"
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a set of foreign sounds.
The corruption of her Soul Gem was halted before the last drip of light was overpowered.
"Hang in there! Don't give up! It was scary wasn't it? Everything will be alright now!"
Sorin catches a kind, innocent voice speaking behind her. The voice, owner of the Grief Seed which had been used to halt the destruction of Sorin's Soul Gem.
"What…?"
Sorin thought to herself as she felt a rush of energy coursing through her body. In an instant, all the deep cuts had been closed off, and her bones were slowly regenerating as well. Now with a purified Soul Gem, Sorin's naturally strong magic was repairing her artificial body properly. With erratic movement the girl slowly opened her eyes to a blurry world.
Before she could turn around, the kind voice was heard again.
"Don't move yet, your gem is still absorbing the Grief Seed! Hehe I'm sorry, I am still new to this but I'll do my best!"
Still unable to completely move at will, Sorin's attention was quickly seized by the sight of moderate explosions which interrupted the Witch's advance.
In the blurry distance, two shapes could be seen. One belonged to a frail looking girl. A predominantly purple silhouette with hair almost as long as Sorin's. The girl seemed to appear and reappear erratically, leaving behind only a trail of explosions where she had passed by.
The other belonged to an elegant looking, slightly taller person. A shape which could be best discerned in yellow, and whose attacks displayed grace, experience and refinement. A heavy contrast when gauged against her companion.
"K-Kaname-San!-"
The frail girl shouts a name with an insecure tone.
Presumably, the name belonging to the girl standing right behind Sorin.
"Yes! Homura-chan! I'm coming!"
The kind voice acquired a brave, determined tone to it as it replied, before it directed itself back at Sorin. Once more, the reassuring tone, one Sorin was receiving for the second time in her life, was used.
"This should do it! Please leave this to us, everything will be alright now!"
With the darkness completely eradicated from her Soul Gem, and her body fully repaired, Sorin regained full control of herself. Setting priorities aside, Sorin turned her head around to discover the identity of the mysterious savior. To her surprise, a soft, tender smile was there to be found. A smile so stunningly radiant that it almost felt as if just by staring at it, one's heart would also heal rapidly.
Unexpectedly, the owner of the smile, a girl dressed in a fluffy white and pink outfit grabbed Sorin's hands, causing her to shift back but unable to actually refuse the gesture.
"My name is Madoka Kaname, but you can call me Madoka! What's yours?"
Before Sorin could react to the girl's energetic behavior and reply, Madoka's expression changed and she interrupted herself.
"Ah! We'll leave introductions for later okay?"
Her smile had returned almost at the same pace as she had finished the sentence.
Madoka let go of Sorin's hands before switching her gaze to the horizon where her two friends fought the black mass with great caution. Her tender appearance soon was replaced by a fierce, determined look.
Madoka then extended her left arm.
Promptly, the shape of a rudimentary bow gradually materialized in her left hand. A bow which looked more like a thin crooked wooden branch, rather than an actual weapon.
Shortly after, she raised her right hand and anchored it at the arrow shelf. With a graceful motion that same arm was then pulled backwards and with this, Like a pink petal akin to a flame, an arrow of erratic energy spawned from nothingness.
Without crossing sights, Madoka spoke to Sorin once more.
"You are our friend now, alright? You will never be alone again."
As soon as this sentence was finished, Madoka released the tension from her fingers and the powerful blast was fired.
Sorin had never met someone like this person before.
Hello and thank you for reading!
This is a madoka fic taking place(initially) during the first homuhomu timeline and revolves around an OC, I plan to have this end at around 5 chapters, and things will really start taking off in the next one!
Given the premise of this story, combined with Nasu and Urobutcher being some of my favorite writers, if you're familiar with them, you can get a somewhat accurate idea on how this story will unfold. Thanks for your interest !
If you're curious on what Sorin looks like, I roughly sketched her design a couple of days ago and a link for it can be found in my profile. It was this sketch and my love for this franchise what got interested in writing a fic in the first place.