A/N: This new and improved version of BEAST will no longer be called a W.I.T.C.H. fanfiction, but seeing as most of the story focuses on them, it will remain in its rightful place. As to what elements (ba-dum bum) will come into play that leave question as to why this story should be placed in other locales... Well... you'll have to wait and see won't you?
Disclaimer: Own all original characters of my creation. All not of aren't mine to claim.
Chronicles of the BEAST: Ultimatum of the Soul
By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
Book Zero: Prophecy
They stood there in confusion, the five Guardians of the Veil, atop the tall tower of hardened sand and refined stone amongst a grand city of many other buildings of matching natures. They tried to speak but found their voices lost amongst the horrifying screams that cut through to their souls as six terrible rips tore themselves open in the now bleeding sky, revealing worlds slowly consumed in darkness. Darkness that was now ready to spread and take their world.
The beings that leapt from the rips were recognizable only vaguely in that their shape was humanoid yet none of the girls could see anything to distinguish them for those that came from the rip were such a shade of black that one could assume they were living black-holes from the way that the light of the sun refused to touch them. Those of their world were fleeing from the darkness, their features lost to the brilliance of their lights that were shadowed but still brighter than that which came for them. A shaded light that was threatened to be consumed by oncoming darkness.
And the Guardians could do nothing to stop it.
Alone.
The five came to them swiftly, answering an unspoken siren's call through means of their own choosing. The first arrived in a twister's embrace, grand feathered wings spread with an eagle's cry blowing back the first wave of darkness. The second came in a stampede of quarry-stone, a shining horn lighting the way for living-rock to go and crush themselves against the ground forces. The third came in an ocean's wave, long serpentine coils wrapping themselves tight throughout the towers of refined stone and hardened sand as a snake's hiss froze many in their place. The fourth came with an inferno's speed, nine curling tails wavering through the air as the stench of burning darkness grew steadily larger. The last came riding on the light of falling stars in the image of a revered dream, sending forth beams of life, of force, into the rips, sealing them away forever.
The Guardians felt themselves grow relieved from the sudden appearance of allies, but that relief would soon turn to stricken horror as those who fled from the darkness moved to congratulate the girls for their victory were suddenly turned upon by the very allied forces that had saved them but moments ago. The twister tore through the streets, ripping everything in its path up into the skies, never to fall back to earth. The stones shook and tumbled themselves loose with fierce abandon, crushing many while letting others fall away into a deeper, more renowned darkness beneath the rocks. The waters shot upwards and sent scalding rain to fall to the ground which soon turned to needles of ice that pierced every wound but a mortal one. The fires raged into a hellish inferno, igniting that which was thought un-ignitable and made the solar fires of the earth-star seem tame in comparison. The dream now turned nightmare swooped on darkened wings as fangs of steel colored themselves red from the lives of the shadowed lights.
It came then, in a corona-burst of light that blinded all, including the beasts. It shone like a miniature sun with the Heart beating in a steady rhythm beside it and though they knew not why, the Guardians could feel the connection between the two, like siblings reunited. No, something more than that.
Of lovers reunited.
The maddened rages of the five vanished like dust on the wind and they moved to stand beside they whom were their life's oath to protect. Wind & Air. Smoke & Fire. Ice & Water. Stone & Earth. Love & Life.
So it was that the Guardians of the Veils stood once more beside the Primals who, in turn, represented the Guardians and would forever-more act as they who guard the guardians.
The ten of them stood together, united by Fate and the Elements that lent them Their power before the two talismans of power as a dark shape grew from behind them, swallowing the stars and the world in Its blackness and whiteness until only they and the talismans remained. In that instant they knew It was not the darkness that fed and feared the light, but the Chaos that rivaled against the Order that came from Dark and Light both; a Chaos that had reigned supreme before and would reign anew. They, the Guardians and the Primals both, turned to face It, all knowing of the inevitability of their oncoming battle when another, final shape, made itself clear in the light between the beating Heart and the breathing Soul. The shape was different than any they have ever seen for none could decide what shape it was.
Perhaps it was a key to a door of salvation, of solution to this sudden and powerful darkness. To another pair, it was a shining sword that could slice away to the mortal core of the immortal shell the chaos had created. To them, it was shield to stave off the power of the chaos so that a newer and better power could be found and utilized against It. To them, it was a long and endless chain indestructible in its design that could bind the Chaos beyond the time of eternity. But to Wielders of the Heart and the Soul, they saw the shape as undefined for none of the Primals or Guardians could agree the purpose and reason for it and so it remained an unknown that could either aid or hinder them.
The Chaos grew stronger and they found themselves nearly lost in the discord as seven gates opened themselves in the madness of the Chaos' might. Unlike the rips that came before through unnatural and forbidden means, these circular portals were both natural and welcomed for the allies that they allowed through to join the Guardians and the Primals in the Final Battle.
It was not enough.
The Chaos, unbound by such trivialities as Order, changed Itself to match every unique power to its own and only together did the Primals and Guardians make any headway into Its core, the Child of the Heart and Soul following in their wake. In the beating, unnatural heart of the Chaos, they stood in silence, the Order of the Child matching in a strangely symbiotic rhythm to the Chaos' heart, and they, the Primals, knew what needed to be done.
They stepped forward and into the beating heart, the Child following closely behind and, in a blast the likes of which has never before been witnessed by mortal eyes, destroyed the Chaos and brought not a newly created multiverse but the original still living.
At the cost of their own lives.
For a brief respite, the human souls that housed the Primals stood before the Guardians who wept tears of loss and heartbreak. They tried to grasp the souls, the loves that they had gained and had now lost, but they could not be touched even by the Powers that once more reigned in their proper places. They faded away not to any Heaven, Hell, or Purgatorial life in the after for the sacrifice was not just of heart and life.
But of souls.
The five girls awoke with cries of anguish, only tiny slivers of memory allowing them view of the visionary dream they had witnessed. They wept for the loss of a love that none of them had yet to possess but subconsciously knew would gain and lose. In that same instant, five boys awoke with roars of bitter rage, screaming not with voices of mortal man but five seemingly immortal beasts that lamented at the pain they would cause to those they were created to protect. The boys knew nothing of their dream or their oncoming destiny but the five beasts within them remembered with crystalline certainity that would only last until dawn's light and so they continued their screams, their defying roars in the fading night.
The Darkness was spreading, slowly encompassing not six but seven powerfully unique worlds.
The Chaos was coming, ready to regain that which It had lost to Order and Law.
The Guardians were there, singing a silent siren's call to they who could aid them.
The Primals were approaching to answer that call, to aid as was their duty to do so.
In the Void, the Heart stood surrounded by the Elements of Life, beating in its eternal rhythm,
But where was the Soul… and its Breath of Order…?
The war to truly end all wars between mortal and immortal alike was approaching on wings born of chaos seed, beating heart, and living soul.
Prepare yourself… for the coming ultimatum…
