Chapter 1: Another
Sarah was getting close, she could sense them far more clearly. She glided through th forest until she arrived at a clearing, that was located directly in the centre. "Four warriors and an awakened being? But why? Even the yoma know not to come to this place. I've lived on this land for many years without detecting a single aura and now… this mass of energy. Could it be? The new creature of the abyss…"
"Heeeeelp me!" Sarah turned around, she displayed no signs of surprise or concern,
"who are you?" she inquired monotonously. This warrior was badly injured. Her uniform was splattered with blood, there was a large gash across her upper torso from which it continued to seep. Though she was still standing, it looked as though the effort was a strain upon every fibre of her being. Behind her were the remnants of 3 Claymores and an awakened being. The state of these corpses was horrific, had Sarah not sensed their yoki before she would not have been able tell whom this flesh and blood belonged to previously. The girl was trembling, the blade she clutched in her left hand was shaking in her grasp, however she did not let go.
"Who are you?" Sarah repeated, more forcibly this time. When the warrior finally spoke, her words were rapid and slurred, 'my name is Abigail, I am currently ranked 23 in the organisation, the four of us were on an awakened hunting party, but the organisation gave us false information about the strength of this particular being.' She stopped, and then began to cry. 'I..I don't know how I survived.'
"Neither do I as a matter of fact. Not only was this awakened being exceedingly powerful, previously ranked within the single digits if I'm not mistaken, but how was a warrior ranked 23rd the sole survivor of such a blood bath. You are a liar."
A wide smirk stretched across Abigail's face. She ceased shaking and lowered her sword. 'I know what you are,' she teased in a child like voice, quite different from the one she had spoken with before. 'Sis-ter' she hissed, savouring each syllable. How could I be so foolish, though I'd been briefed upon the creation of the first during my employment, I had been informed of your creation after my desertion. You are 'echo-bladed Abigail,' the organisations former number 0."
"And you are Sarah, the soul drainer, the organisation's former number 0. Interesting, don't you think, that though the two of us have never met, nor fought amongst other warriors, we are both familiar with each other's respective titles?" Now it was Sarah's turn to smirk. "Very interesting. Since my creation you are the first warrior I've seen. How coincidental that my first encounter with a warrior other than myself should be one of my own kind. That is, if I were stupid enough to believe that our meeting was coincidence, you wanted me to find you, no one comes here to the forest of the fallen. You knew I would go straight to the source of even the faintest trace of yoki. So why did you feel it necessary to acquire them," she indicated to the scattered pieces of flesh behind Abigail, "and pretend to be a current warrior for the organisation? Surely if you were aware of my true identity all this time, you'd know that I know that the organisation no longer exits"
"Those pitiful claymore had accidentally stumbled upon that awakened being, it seemed that their fear and its hunger were so great that they all for a moment, forgot their surroundings. I watched the battle for a while but it was boring and then I decided to intervene and put them out of their misery," she was now positively beaming with delight. " As my extraordinary powers allow me to fight without getting to close to the action, I had time enough before your arrival, to paint myself with their blood and give my self a couple of false wounds, just for fun of course," she giggled. Sarah spat at the ground below her feet.
"Why now you disgusting creature? Why after all these years have you now decided to reveal yourself to me?"
"I would be happy to answer all of your questions. That is on one condition, draw your blade Sarah, you see I am ever so curious as to why they call you 'the soul drainer.' "