Elemental Furies 2.0 Chapter 1
It was the middle of summer but the way the weather had been lately one would think otherwise. It had been a particularly wet, cool, and mild summer with only a few warm days and today was no different.
Pyra sighed as she listened to the rain pour down on the rooftop of her small home and flipped through the channels of her TV. She had begun to grow tired of these dreary days and wanted to see more warm days so that she could enjoy days finding things to do in stopped on the news channel when she noticed an interesting article being covered but quickly sighed again when she realized what it was about.
The anchorman spoke matter-of-factly as he reported the current events "…Our top story today brings us an update on a string of mysterious murders that have been happening over the past few weeks. Police reports put the death toll as high as ten people already." Pyra shook her head in disgust "Again? How can people be so cruel? What have they ever done to deserve that?" the news story continued "… Police say that some of the victims were so violently slain that they were completely unrecognizable and that even some of the most experienced officers had to leave the scene due to not being able to handle the brutality of the attacks…."
Pyra once again shook her head but this time in anger "I hope they catch the SOB that did this and lock his ass up for good. Better yet, I hope he gets the death penalty and suffers the same way he made his poor victims suffer."
She continued to listen intently as the news report continued "…Despite the viciousness of the attacks no murder weapon or finger prints could be found at the crime scene. Police say that some of the victims didn't even appear to have put up a struggle and thus making this case incredibly difficult for them." The news report on the murder then ended and changed to another topic of importance "…in other news, tensions between Brazil and Russia, as well as America and Japan are beginning to see a dangerous rise in animosity towards each other due to a rise in power in each other's military strengths, Russia and Brazil due to brazil trying to harness the power of wind and electricity as a weapon, and Japan and America due to Japans usage of new mechanized warfare…"
This report quickly got Pyra's attention. She knew that tensions had been high recently due to political reasons but she didn't know they were becoming so serious "…Russia has warned Brazil that if they don't stop with their experimental testing involving harnessing electricity and even the air as a weapon, they will force them to stop for the safety of not only themselves but for all of Europe, which at the moment, is facing a mass bankruptcy crisis due to a sudden mass recession to hit all of Europe. Brazil apparently replied 'Attack if you like, but know that it will be the last war you'll ever fight'. Many people fear if tensions keep rising, it'll lead to the next world war." This again made Pyra shake her head in frustration "Why can't everyone just get along? This is exactly why the worlds going to hell! People killing each other over nothing!"
She turned the TV off, having heard enough depressing news for one day, and decided find something more cheerful to do. She had inherited her grandparents' house after they had passed away since they had looked after her in her parents stead after their unfortunate deaths in a forest fire. Still, as she paced around her home looking for something to occupy her time in a more pleasant fashion, she still couldn't get her mind off of the subject of the murders that had been occurring. She had heard about them on the news a few weeks ago when they first started and it sickened her. She had always hated crime and the suffering of others and had always wished she could do something about it. The thing was she knew she didn't have the requirements to be a cop so there was little she could do about it.
As the thoughts of the crime and criminal being on the loose stuck in her head for a while she clenched her fist "Screw it! I can at least gather info that I can take to the police to help them catch this bastard!" she knew that doing this would be dangerous and would be better off left to professionals, especially with how the reports had portrayed the state of the victims. But she resolved herself to not wait for another helpless victim to be killed. She knew she at least had to try.
Grabbing her coat, her favorite pair of blue sparring gloves, and a small pocket knife in case she ran into trouble she made her way out into the rain. It wasn't long before she was soaking wet, something she wasn't enjoying in the least. Her long, elegantly braided, snow white hair, something she had always been admired for, and yellow "wife beater" shirt were already soaked and she was beginning to shiver from the cold.
She quickly made her way to a small bar that she often had acquaintances at and entered. She knew that some of the regulars had good ears and often had interesting things to say. She quickly spotted someone she knew sitting at the bartender's counter sipping on a White Russian.
Casually walked over to her "Hey Sara! How are you doing? You hear the news report?" Sara had long smooth wine red hair, bright blue eyes, a pair of cut-off jeans, a small self-made pendent, ,and black tank-top. Sara nodded her head in response to Pyras question "Yeah. This is starting to get out of hand. Ten murders in less than a month. People are starting to panic." Pyras interest was already piqued "Oh? Are they saying anything about it?" Sara nodded again "Yeah. Apparently the victims, at least some anyway, are all former employees of that closed down Asylum that had the riot of patients a few years back. You know, the one where over half the patients were killed because they were attacking everyone and the SWAT team had to be called in because they couldn't stop them all?"
Pyra looked away as she thought about the incident and remembered the story of the massacre of the High Field Asylum. It was covered on every news station for days and the pictures that were leaked of the tragedy were graphic and horrific. To this day no one knew what had caused the uprising.
Pyra looked back at Sara "Ya I remember it, why would they be targeting them?" Sara shrugged her shoulders "My guess is that they were a survivor of the massacre who escaped and now they're just doing what any typical psycho does. They're probably just angry at the doctors for keeping them locked up so they're taking it out on them."
Pyra nodded with a shrug of her shoulders "That does make a bit of sense. I suppose if I was locked up for years and then I was shot at I'd be a little pissed off too." Pyra's brow then furrowed in a mixture of confusion and deep thought "But still, that was years ago. I would think that they would just enjoy their freedom now." Sara shook her head in disagreement "I wouldn't be so sure about that. If you were locked up for so many years you might have some grudges against the people who put you there in the first place. Maybe that's what this psycho is doing; they're getting even for their imprisonment."
After a while the Bartender noticed Pyras presence and walked over with a smile "Want your usual?" Pyra smiled politely and responded "No, that's alright. I have to head out soon." The Bartender nodded with a smile then went back to his duties of helping the other customers. Pyra then turned back to Sara "I wanted to ask you too, you still planning on going to Brazil? Things are getting pretty tense between Europe and them, particularly with Russia."
Sara nodded excitedly in response to Pyras question "Of course. I've been talking to this guy, Raphael, for a while now and he and I are going to meet. Apparently he's a soldier who works in the Special Op's division! That's so hot!" Sara squealed in excitement like some teenage school girl trying to get the attention of the star of the football team. Pyra merely sighed in defeat at her enthusiasm. Pyra got up and began to head out "Well, thanks for the info Sara, it's not much but it's a start." Sara nodded "No problem, one question though…" Pyra looked at her with confusion "What's up?" Sara continued "…Why are you so interested about figuring out who's doing this? Not only are you not a detective or a cop, it's also very dangerous." Pyra shrugged at her "I want to help. If I get a bunch of information I can take it to them and it might help lead them to the criminal."
Sara took a small sip of her drink before responding to Pyras reason for doing this "You do realise that whatever we know they probably already know to right?" Pyra nodded "You're probably right, but still, the more I know the better. There's still a small chance that they may not know. The news reports did say some of the victims were unrecognizable after all." Sara nodded in agreement "That's true. Well, I wish you luck Pyra, don't get yourself in any trouble alright?" Pyra smiled in response reassuringly as she turned to leave "I will. Thanks for the help Sara. Have a safe and fun time in Brazil." She then made her way back into the rainy streets.
Pyra noticed that the sky was beginning to darken and decided to make her way for home. She had gotten a good amount of information, even if possibly irrelevant, from Sara and she wanted to make sure she wrote it down so she didn't forget it. As she was making her way home she stopped dead in her tracks as she suddenly began hearing cries for help. Immediately she made her way to the source of the cries and found a woman on the ground with a look of terror in her eyes. The woman quickly noticed Pyra and with pleading eyes begged for her help "Please help! They're a monster! They're going to kill me! She's-"before the woman could finish she was suddenly torn in half by some unseen force right in front of Pyras eyes splattering her face with blood.
Pyra let out a scream of horror as she saw the terrified, but lifeless eyes of the woman's upper torso staring up at her. Her screams were interrupted however, by a strange voice. It only spoke a few words to her, and Pyra couldn't make out where the voice was coming from, but she knew that whatever, or whoever, it was, it wasn't friendly. It spoke in a very blunt and direct manner "Forget what you saw here and stay out of my way if you value your life." After that there was nothing but complete silence.
Pyra quickly ran away from the crime scene and looked for someone she could go to for help. She knew there was no point in trying to get help for the woman who had fallen victim to who, or what, had attacked her, but she knew if she could find someone she could call the police and lead them to where the attack had occurred.
After a few minutes of running she found a couple walking in her direction and quickly flagged them down, panting from running the entire way. After getting a look at her blood stained face the couple quickly became concerned "What happened?! Are you alright?!" Pyra shook her head "No! Please Help! There's been another murder!" the couple looked at each other quickly then back to Pyra "Are you serious?! Where?!" Pyra pointed behind her "About four blocks back! I don't know how it happened…it defies all laws of reality, but the woman…she was torn in half! She was literally torn in half by nothing!"
The couple looked at each other in pure shock and horror before replying "But that's impossible! There's no way something like that can happen! That's just not possible!" Pyra nodded in agreement "I would normally say the same! But I was there! It happened right in front of me! I'll even show you!" Once again the couple looked at each with skepticism in their eyes but again nodded "Fine, we need to report this anyway."
Pyra quickly led the couple to the site at which the crime and sure enough the woman's torn body still lay in the alleyway in which the attack at occurred. Upon seeing the brutal scene the woman of the couple instantly collapsed to her knees and turned away not being able to take the brutality of the scene. Even the man was stunned for several moments his hand covering his mouth in shock. Pyra looked at them in desperation "See?! This is why there's never been any murder weapon, no finger prints, and no suspects! The impossible somehow just became possible right in front of me!" The couple then eyed Pyra suspiciously "There's you." Pyra replied with exasperation in her voice "Are you serious?! Right, I'm just going to murder someone, get their blood all over me, walk over to the first set of people I see, then lead them to the place I did it and ask them to call the cops on me. Right, that sounds like a great way to get away with a crime!"
The couple were silent for a moment then nodded "Well, when you put it that way, you do make a solid point." Pyra shook her head in dumfounded amazement at the ridiculous accusation they made about her but didn't say anything. Instead she put her attention to the situation at hand "We need to call the authorities." The man of the couple nodded "On it."
In a few minutes the police, ambulance, and fire department, as per the protocol, were on the scene. Again, even a few authorities had to turn away from the crime scene due to its brutality. After a surveying the scene for a short while the detective in charge turned to Pyra "So tell me, what happened here exactly? What was it that you saw?" Pyra gathered her composure and tried to explain what happened "I know what I'm about to tell you is going to sound impossible but I swear it's true." The detective nodded with a serious look as he took out his note pad "Go ahead." Pyra took a deep breath to gather her thoughts "Well, as you know, there have been a lot of murders recently..." the detective nodded in agreement "Unfortunately that's true." Pyra continued "…But what I just saw defied all laws of reality. I heard the woman's cries for help, so I ran as fast as I could to get to her in time to help but…when I got there she barely managed to speak to me before…something, tore her in half. She literally just split apart for no reason. There was nothing there to do it, but it still happened."
The detective looked her with skepticism. He closed his note book and looked at her sternly "You do realize that we have to take this case seriously. There's no way I can believe that some ghost or something killed this woman." Pyra sighed "Look, I know it sounds crazy. I completely understand where you're coming from and if I was in your position I'd be just as skeptical as you. But I swear on my parents and grandparents honor that it's true. I'll even take a lie detector test if you don't believe me."
As Pyra and the detective were speaking one of the other officers were came up to them "Pardon me detective, but just like all the other crime scenes, we can't find any forms of evidence at all to give us any idea how this happened or why the culprit would do this." Pyra put her arms up in a 'I told you so' fashion and looked at the officer "That's because the murder weapon isn't something you can just buy in a store, or even something you can make yourself." The officer look at Pyra in confusion "What do you mean?" she shook her head in defeat "I wish I knew. But whatever killed her isn't natural…and neither is the killer"
Eventually the Detective put his notepad away "I'm sorry but I just can't believe that someone was killed by Casper the friendly ghost. If you've got nothing that can help the investigation then I suggest you hurry home and clean yourself up before the murderer comes back. They may want to get rid of the witness."
Pyras shoulders sunk in defeat. She knew now that it was no use in trying to get the police to listen to her story. She did however remember one small detail as she was about to heed the detectives advice "Hold on…before I forget, there was one thing I forgot to mention." The detective turned back to her "What is it?" Pyra continued "Before she died, she said that whoever, or whatever, it was that was going to kill her was a "she" right before she was killed." The Detective took out his notepad and wrote what Pyra had said down "Are you sure?" Pyra nodded "As positive as I am that I saw 'Casper' kill her". The detective chuckled slightly "No need for sarcasm." Pyra just shrugged her shoulders "Whatever. I think I'll take your advice and get out of here before 'Casper' decides he wants to visit me. I don't want to end up like her."
Pyra glanced over to corpse of the women lying in the alleyway that the paramedics, who had just arrived, covered up. She quickly turned away again and back to the detective, as the scene was still much too gruesome for her to handle and even a quick glance made her nauseous. She smiled politely as she turned to leave "I'll try to keep tabs on things and inform you of anything else I find out alright?" the detective nodded "That would be appreciated. Stay safe on your way home." Pyra nodded back "I will!" she then quickly took her leave of the scene, letting the authorities do their work.
As Pyra made her way home the rain began to pour ever harder and her coat had become completely soaked through. She was beginning to feel a chill, something which any person would know was a bad sign, and began quickening her pace for her home. However, as she neared home she couldn't help but get the feeling that she was being watched. She couldn't see or hear anyone, but something just told her she wasn't alone.
By the time Pyra reached home everything about her was drenched. Her coat, shirt, pants, everything. She was also incredibly cold despite it being summer. Although the days had been rather dreary, they had always still been on the warmer side. But today, today felt especially cold. Almost unnaturally cold. She shrugged it off however as being an oddity as she knew that not every day would be exactly the same.
After drying off Pyra decided she would take shower to not only warm herself up, but also to get rid of the small amount of blood that the rain failed to wash off of her, something she was careful to keep hidden from other people she crossed paths with as to avoid any form of misplaced suspicion from them.
However, as she was about to enter the shower the lights suddenly died and failed to turn back on. At first Pyra thought it was a simple power outage due to the heavy deluge of rain pouring down outside, but her simple dismissal of it quickly became one of anxiety and nervousness when the bathing room suddenly became especially cold almost instantly.
As the temperature continued to drop Pyras anxiety only grew. She knew that even if the power had gone out, the heat of the house wouldn't have such a drastic drop in temperature so quickly. It would take days to reach the level it had suddenly become. It had become so low that she could visibly see her breath, and could be compared to that of being the same temperatures reached in winter.
As Pyras stress piqued, it was taken to new heights when a shadowy figure suddenly took shape in front of her. Its form was distinctly human in appearance but its features were completely hidden by darkness, almost as though it were a living shadow. After a few moments of tense silence Pyra managed to speak "W-who are you? What are you?" The next sound to pierce the silence however was Pyras screams as the shadows suddenly wrapped themselves around her and restrained her movements completely.
The shadowy figure then spoke, and Pyra instantly recognized it as the one from the alley of the murder "Who or what I am is none of your concern. I told you to stay out of my way. I told you to forget what you saw. Instead you told what you saw to the cops, and now they'll be one step closer to finding me." The shadowy restraints around Pyra tightened around her and began to restrict her breathing "Although it will only be a small step, a small step is all that's needed to break into a sprint." Pyra could barely breathe at this point as the shadows began to tighten even more around her. Despite this she managed to rasp out a response "I can't…just let you…get away with this!" The figure was silent for a moment before effortlessly lifting Pyra off the ground and pushing hard against the wall making Pyra lose what little breath she had. It then spoke in a low and threatening tone "I could kill you right here and no one would know what happened to you. I could easily make it look like you simply slipped and broke your neck. Nobody would question it. Do NOT tempt me." Pyra struggled to reply "Then…why…don't you…do it?" Again the figure was silent for a moment before replying to Pyra. It was almost as though it was unsure itself. Eventually however the figure responded "I suppose you could say I'm interested in you. You're the first one to witness what I've done and ignore my warning to you. It takes guts to do that. You can be sure I'll have my eyes on you from now on. "Pyra smirked defiantly "Great…my first stalker…is 'Caspar the not-so-friendly ghost'. Aren't I just…the lucky one?" much to Pyras surprise the figure let out a small chuckle "You're a cute one. Even when being threatened with death you still show no fear. I must say, I've taken a bit of a liking to you. Fine, I'll let you go…for now. But I will be keeping my eyes on you from now on." With those final ominous words Pyra was released from the shadows' grip and the lights of the bathing room turned back on. As the lights illuminated the room the figure vanished as quickly as the light appeared. The heat also started to come back on and began warming the room again much to Pyras relief as she was now colder than ever due to what the shadow figure had done to the temperature of the room.
After a minute or two of composing herself over what had just happened she stood up and undressed herself. Despite being incredibly shaken from what she had just experienced, she knew that she still had blood on her in several places that the rain had failed to wash off. As the warm water poured over her skin an instant flood of relief washed over her and she immediately felt herself relax. She often enjoyed her shower time because it just let her forget all the troubles of the day. Everything that seemed to have went wrong with the day got washed away with all the dirt and grime, or in this case blood, of the day and she could just go off into her own thoughts. Today however was different. The disturbing events that had transpired and the crimson taint that was staining the water as it drained from the shower stall made it impossible to lose herself. Every time she tried concentrate the gruesome image of the murder or the terrifying ordeal with the shadowy figure appeared in her mind.
Pyra eventually sighed as she gave up trying to enjoy even a simple enjoyable thoughtful escape and released the braid from her hair to get the remaining blood out of it. Upon releasing the braid her hair was free to fall down and was revealed to actually be very long; easily reaching past her waist. She had not only always been admired for the rare snow white color of her hair, but also for the length and silkiness. It was one of the defining features that had gotten her asked her out many times, all of which she had declined.
After a few minutes of washing she managed to get the blood stains out of her prized white hair and turned off the water. She wrapped a nearby towel around herself and tied her hair back up and made her way back out of the bathing room, tossing her soaked clothes into the laundry basket on her way out. After all that had happened today, she was to uncaring to even get dressed. She just wanted to relax. It's not like anyone would see her anyway.
Pyra sat herself on the couch and turned the TV but a groan immediately escaped her lips as the nightly news story came on and she knew exactly what it was covering. The anchorman spoke with a matter of fact voice "Tonight we bring you an update in the case covering the string of recent murders happening all around town during the past month." Pyra's shoulders slumped in irritation "I'm not going to be able to forget this am I?" despite her protests the anchorman continued "Early this evening another murder occurred putting the total to 11 in the span of a month…" Pyra responded sarcastically "Heh ya, no shit Sherlock. you figure that out yourself?" the anchorman continued "…Police are still baffled by who is behind the murders but apparently an unnamed witness who apparently witnessed the murder and escaped came forward and confirmed that the assailant was female but wasn't able to get any more details than that."
Pyra had had enough and turned the TV off. For weeks the news had been covering almost nothing but the murder cases, and anything that had was just as depressing. At first, she found the stories interesting but after a week or two she began to find it depressing when it was all that was ever on. She now wished to see something that was actually positive for once rather than somber and depressing, but she knew that as long as these murders were going on it was unlikely she would see any change in the stories that were covered.
With a small sigh she laid down on the couch and ran her hand over the oddly shaped scar on her chest. It was the one she got when she too was caught it the same fire that her parents had been killed in during a camping trip. During a heavy storm lighting had struck one of the trees and caught it on fire, and due to the extremely dry summer of that year it wasn't long before the rest of the area had ignited as well trapping herself and her parents in the area.
A small amount of sadness began to well up in Pyra as she recalled the painful memories of what had happened. She recalled how her parents had pushed her out of the way of a burning tree as it fell, instantly trapping them under it. She still remembered their weak voices reassuring her that they would be right behind her in a moment once they freed themselves but also telling her to run away to safety for the time being. Being a child at the time, she believed her parents, thinking nothing could beat them, and she ran; never knowing she'd never see them again.
As the vivid memory continued tears began to fall from Pyras face. She often got memories like this after watching or listening to something to depressing. Although normally locked tightly in the back of her mind, there were certain things that could always bring them out. The next thing she remembered was running as hard as her small legs back then could carry her until she got her foot caught on a root slightly sticking up from the ground and badly spraining her ankle, making it impossible to stand. Due to the heat of the fire and density of the smoke she began to fall from consciousness until everything went black. The next thing she knew is waking up and her surroundings devoid of flames and she had the odd burn like scar on her chest and not knowing where she was. After she was eventually found wondering the side of the road and picked up by a passing police car, she was taken to the station where her grandparents were contacted and took her to her new home. It was a few days later that the bodies of her parents were found and identified, forever changing her life.
Eventually the painful memories ceased much to her relief and she decided that she had had enough of this miserable day. She just wanted it to end. After witnessing a murder, being assaulted and threatened by 'Caspar', having to deal with more depressing news stories, and remembering the painful memories of her past once again, she had just given up. She'd had enough. In her mind, tomorrow couldn't come fast wiped the tears from her eyes and got up from the couch and made her way to her room hoping that, due to the stressful events of the day, she would fall into sleep at a quick pace. Even better, she hoped she slept soundly with little to no interruption. But she would only once she tried.
Before settling herself comfortably into bed Pyra said a small prayer for both her beloved parent as well as her grandparent like she did every night. It was her only way to have at least some form of relationship with them, even if it was just a spiritual one. To her, it was at least a small amount of comfort when she was feeling upset and alone. With one last tired sigh Pyra turned out the lights and crawled into her bed, nestling comfortably into the warm sheets. It wasn't long before sleep began to take its hold on her as she closed her eyes and cleared her mind of everything that had happened during the day. As long as she didn't dwell on anything, she generally could put things out of her mind. With one last silent prayer to her parents and grandparents she resigned herself to exhaustion and fell into sleeps embrace.
