Heeeey, so this is my first attempt at a story. Hope you enjoy~
A calm breeze swept across the Heartfelia estate. The leaves of the lady's garden rustled against the wind and the branches danced around like they had minds of their own. The air hummed with the sounds of birds, insects and other more mysterious beings.
A shimmer of sunlight reflected from a set of tiny fluttering wings caught the eye of a young girl, about six years old. The child instantly froze and gasped in excitement. She watched as the creature hovered down to a blooming gaillardia flower. It's tiny feet pressing against the face of the pollen buds before it settled down into the bed of the brightly colored petals.
The girl was extremely lucky this time; it hadn't spotted her yet. With it's back faced to her as it reached down into the stem of the plant, Lucy decided that it was safe to get a closer look. Slowly, she inched forward, making sure not to disturb a single leaf in her mother's garden. The smallest of a rustle would be enough to alarm the creature and send it darting away, never to be seen again. She couldn't risk losing a chance like this. They were so rare, after all.
Lucy eventually became aware that she was practically standing over the small human-shaped sprite. It's glossy wings twitched around as it dug further into the flower.
Something so small and almost cute was the perfect image of little Lucy's idea of magic. The one thing she found herself infatuated with above all else was magic. Her mother had told her many stories about tales of anything magical; dragons, wizards, spirits, and even fairies. These were the things that she loved.
Refocusing her mind to the pixie in front of her, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. There was something particularly strange about it. A pointed tail flicked about below it's pale feminine form. This fascinated Lucy and she couldn't help but reach for the little stray limb. "A Fairy tail?" She thought to herself as her fingers drew closer. "What kind of strange little Tinkerbell would have a tail?" She was certain that none of the stories her mother had told her involved a sparkly fairy with a pointed tail... It just seemed so off to her.
Lucy's index and thumb finger closed around the tail in a swift pinch. Simultaneously, the fairy's wing's flicked up so suddenly that it caused the girl to jump in surprise. With the creature's head still buried in the flower, it remained incredibly still. Then slowly, it moved up and began to face Lucy. As the girl got a better look at the face of her sprite, her expression gradually changed from one of excitement to dismay. The fairy had large deathly black eyes that morphed it's delicate features into something from a nightmare. It's jaw opened wide to release an otherworldly high-pitched screech, revealing a set of tiny sharp teeth which made it all the more gruesome to look at.
Terrified, Lucy screamed back at the fairy, clenching it's tail tighter in shock. She felt a faint ripping sensation between her fingers before she realized that the sprite had detached it's tail from it's body in order to escape Lucy's grasp. Dark purple liquid sprayed the girl's hand and began to seep from the now detached tail that she still held. The fairy darted off into the trees past the garden.
Lucy dropped the tail and held her hand in place. Her brown eyes began to water as she stared at the fairy blood covering her arm. Whimpering helplessly, the child wiped her hand against her pink dress. She scrubbed her arm with the light-colored fabric until there were only dried black stains that refused to be removed. With tears now trailing down her face, Lucy looked back to the tail and sniffed at the sight of it still being where she left it. Reluctantly, she stepped over to the oozing worm-like stump and carefully picked it up by the end.
As she held it up to inspect what was left behind of the sprite, she watched a drop of the purple blood drip from the severed end. She was brought into a shaky fit of sickened sobs at the sight of it. Refusing to leave the disgusting appendage behind, she sprinted off towards the mansion with the bloody stump between her fingers.
"Mama will know what to do!" She cried miserably.
A tall woman adorned with a dress of the finest fabric watched out the view of a grand window. Her hands remained folded in front of her and her long blonde hair was pinned up in a tight bun. A frown plastered on her face showed an expression of unease. A decision had to be made. Her husband was corrupted by something evil. It was breaking her heart seeing him turn into something else.
It was apparent that something was up once he started chanting phrases in an unrecognizable ancient dialect while he slept. She secretly began casting warding spells on the property after that night. The chanting went away temporarily until a few nights later, when she caught him whispering to their daughter in the same sinister dialect before he tucked her into bed. Confronting him about it confirmed her fears; he was absolutely clueless. He even tried to calm her down at some point, as if she was the one losing her mind. But she was calm, she knew she had to be. All dark magic thrived on fear and panic after all.
She decided that she could use some advice from her kin, but all of her attempts at using long distance communication magic had suspiciously failed. When she tried to leave the estate, she was physically blocked by a mesmerized Jude. His eyes bored into hers with a hostile intent when he stepped in front of the the door. Only when she faked a smile and pulled him back towards the house did the terrifying manifestation disappear from his expression. No doubt, he'd do the same for Lucy as well.
Conducting research from her collection of magic books, she continued setting off any kind of incantation that she suspected could be useful. It became clear that her subtle attempts at getting rid of the magic had officially failed the previous night. Instead of mumbling in his dreams, once he fell asleep, he lunged out of bed and paced down the halls of the manor, shouting the chants for hours. Layla had rushed to Lucy's room and cast a deep sleeping spell on the girl as she clutched the child between her arms.
"I have to get them away from this place..." She whispered to herself. How she was going to accomplish this, she wasn't sure. At this point, any type of confrontation towards Jude could be dangerous. Risking conflict with Lucy around was not a chance Layla was willing to take. The only option left was to attempt reasoning with what was left of her husband and convincing him to get them out of there.
Distant sobs pulled her mind to the present. Layla's eyebrows furrowed and she turned her head just as Lucy shoved past the door and into the main hallway where Layla was standing.
"MAMA!" She sobbed, causing her mother to bend down to her knees and reach out for her child.
"What is it Lucy? Are you okay?" She asked frantically. Lucy stopped a few feet ahead of the woman and ceased her wailing. Her watery eyes moved from her mother's face to her tiny clenched fist.
"I saw a fairy." She sniffed.
"..Oh?" Layla slowly lowered her arms as she waited for the child to continue.
"I touched a fairy." She hiccuped and her mother stared at her nervously, noticing the dark purple that stained her hands and clothes.
"Why are you crying dear?" The small girl looked up at this question before returning her gaze to her fist.
"I- ...I caught a fairy!" She cried as she thrust her arm forward and opened her fist to reveal the severed limb. Layla's eye's instantly widened at the sight of it.
"A- A fairy tail?" Layla asked herself. She swiftly smacked the thing out of her child's hands, causing Lucy to become even more startled. Layla stood up, grabbed the hand of the girl and pulled her down the hallway towards the main entrance. She finally knew what type of magic she was dealing with. There was only one type of fairy with a tail.
"Lucy, this is a very bad sign. You shouldn't have taken that thing... Shit." Lucy gasped at this. Not only was she becoming more and more engulfed with fear by every word her mother spoke, she had never seen her act like this before. She believed that her mother was someone who was never scared and hardly ever angry.
"I can put it back..?" She muttered although she had no desire to touch it again.
"No! We need to get out of here before they come looking for-" Layla's voice trailed off as the hum of thousands of tiny wings became audible. The room grew dark; the light from outside being gradually obscured by something... or many things, at that.
"Dammit!" She cursed as she glanced back at the grand window. "It's too late." Her eyes were wide with fear now. Glancing down at Lucy, her mind began to spin in attempt to grasp onto a solution. Lucy stared back at Layla with trails of tears distorting her vision. She could just barely make out a tear running down her mother's face before Layla lunged forward. Grabbing a hold of Lucy, she leaped for a wooden cabinet, shoved her daughter inside and looked her daughter in the eyes as she commanded her not to make a single word no matter what happened. She slammed the cabinet shut and stepped back to the center of the hall, facing the main entrance just as the doors flew open. Jude's form stood in the doorway, his eyes black as death as he stepped towards Layla.
Lucy could just barely make out her mother's form through a crack in the door of the cabinet. Confusion and fear seemed to be the only thing the tiny girl could feel at the moment. She wanted with every fiber of her being to call out to her mother and be swept away in a warm embrace; safe and sound. But she did as her mother asked, making not so much as a sound of breath to be heard.
"Gcasfar le chéile sinn arís, Layla Heartfelia." Jude stated with a grin, his voice sounding like something out of a nightmare. Layla didn't move. Her widened eyes remained locked on the tainted form of her husband. A corner of her upper lip rose in disgust before she spoke.
"How dare you lead my family into this trap. I thought I had wiped out your kind years ago." Lucy's eyes widened. 'Why was her father saying these strange things? Why was her mother talking to him that way? ...Why is this happening?'
Jude laughed loudly at Layla's comment and continued to step closer to the woman.
"It doesn't matter, I'll wipe you out all over again if I have to!" Layla screamed furiously. The air around the woman began to swirl and spark as she held out two keys in front of her, tucked between her fingers. She held up her arm above her and the area around the woman began to glow in a golden light.
"...Aon." Jude spoke looking utterly annoyed at best. The light around the zodiac mage was suddenly overcome by the darkness surrounding it. In a matter of seconds, shadows pressed against the light until it retreated back into the woman's form completely. Once the shadow's touched Layla, her body jolted and her eyes widened in shock. The keys clattered onto the floor helplessly. Jude had the stage now.
"Tá d'am thar." With those words of reckoning, the grand window behind them shattered and the tiny forms of thousands of sharp-toothed imps rushed into the hallway, filling the air with a buzzing swarm. Lucy lost sight in the darkness and was left with nothing but the sound of buzzing and the screams of her mother. The girl pressed both hands over her mouth to keep herself from crying out. She recognized the creatures, they were just like the one she had found in the garden, only there were far too many to count.
The buzzing slowly faded and the light from the dark afternoon glowed in from the broken window again. The gaping frame let a cold wind pass through the hall, sweeping past the golden hair of Layla's mangled form on the floor. Jude was still standing over the woman with no light in his eyes. He turned away from the woman's form and glanced back over his shoulder, speaking in his normal voice.
"I'll be right back darling." And he slowly stepped out of the hallway. Lucy stared at her mother through the crack and watched her mother's eye's slowly open and make contact with her own. They gazed at each other for a few moments, both quite unsure of how to proceed with the situation. Layla's dress was torn to shreds, she was covered in her own blood which seeped out of countless tiny bite marks covering every inch of her flesh. She dared not to look at what was left of herself; she wasn't even sure if she could. So she watched her daughter for the last moment of life that she had left. It suddenly occurred to her how vulnerable the child was. Who knows how long she'd stay in that cabinet after witnessing something so traumatizing. Would Jude find her? Will she live? No. If there was one thing that Layla was still sure of, it was that her daughter was going to survive. Her eye's widened to command the girl's attention.
"Don't stay here. You need to leave! Now!" Layla burst into a fit of violent coughs and Lucy began to tremble. She'd forgotten how to move and in turn, stood there, staring through the crack for several minutes. Her hand twitched forward to press against the cabinet door, but immediately pulled back at the sound of Jude's footsteps approaching.
He stopped about a foot away from his wife's form with a shovel in his hand. Without a word, he lifted the shovel and slammed it down against Layla's skull and pulled back, repeating the motion over and over again. The blows were accompanied by crunching noises and shortly followed by gushing.
Lucy's tears had stopped. Her eyes shook in horror as she watched her mother get slaughtered through the tiny crack. 'This simply isn't real. This is just a terrible dream that doesn't make any sense' she tried to tell herself.
As Jude ceased his movements, the metal shovel suddenly clattered to the ground. He stared at the bloody remains of his spouse and muttered a single word.
"Lucy." And he sauntered out of the hall towards Lucy's bedroom. The girl in the cabinet finally began to breathe, though it was more hyperventilating than catching her breath. Her mind was so clouded with confusion and her body so stricken with fear that she simply stayed put.
"Don't stay here." Her mother's voice echoed through her head.
"You need to leave!" It shouted, causing Lucy to snap out of her immobile state.
"NOW!" She burst out of the closet and stood ahead of her mother's corpse, staring at it, not even sure if she could call it her mama anymore. She obeyed the voice in her head and inched over to her mother's key's, snatching them and sprinting towards the door as soon as she had her hands around both. The six-year-old pushed open the heavy entrance door and ran down the front steps towards the road, never looking back.
Mwahaha~ (An A/N? wat? wat is this?)
And there is much much more to come.
Let me know what you think in a review! This is my first story, so feedback is crucial. \(*3*)/