Author's Note: I own nothing that anyone can recognise, don't sue please. I don't have the money. :)
Prologue: 1314 (14th Century Europe)
Edwyn Albyn de-Yolton was born in 1290, when he was a young boy his father Magnus de-Yolton always took Edwyn wherever he went. Edwyn's mother Julia Rosa de-Yolton had died in childbirth and so instead of being raised by a woman as many children often were, as their fathers went off to work and did everything to provide for the family - It was clear from the beginning Edwyn would not develop the compassion that most human beings did.
Magnus had little time to instil in his son the basic values and manners that his mother would have taught him, had she been alive. In fact, Edwyn's father did not have much time for his son at all, as Magnus was saddled not only with his work and his field studies but also with being a full-time father, although he was not that great at being one. Magnus had a deep curiosity about the native plants and materials and so studied them extensively, he also held a job in the Wesen Council, and his work required that he study natural medicines to treat Wesen diseases. This is how Edwyn started his long ill fated journey into alchemy, he along with his father travelled endlessly. Learning about different plants, what those plants could be used for and how. Edwyn also learned from his father what natural materials like precious stones and gems could do, especially when crushed down into fine powder could be used to create powerful healing poultices and so many other wondrous things.
However, Edwyn never learned the fundamental things that he should have, things like: humility, compassion and the understanding of emotions, especially those of other people. As a young man, Edwyn knew that he wanted to out-shine his father some day. Wanted to be greater than anything his father could have dreamed about, so he picked the road that most avoided and only a few had dared to tread. The road that had harsh thorns growing on either side was the road that Edwyn chose, opposed to the one that many travelled down, that had lush green grass and flowers in bloom.
Of course, these pathways could only be seen in the mind, but they were very much real. Edwyn could not see what was so terrifying about the harsh barren road and did not feel an inch of fear as he walked down it, however, looking over at the other road with its flowers he sneered in disgust, who in their right minds would walk down that road? Edwyn was unable to realize the precise reason and with the upbringing that he had gotten, it was fully understandable. Ignoring the danger signs as he went, Edwyn travelled further and further down the darkening path and as he did so, his curiosity and knowledge about plants and other natural materials transformed into obsession and alchemy.
Edwyn Albyn de-Yolton had always been curious about the world and after his father passed away, he unleashed his darker side. Everything, perhaps the only things that his father had ever cherished about him, his seemingly love of learning and his interest in all the things that Magnus had also liked, vanished. It would appear that Magnus had failed at one very important thing in his life and that was being a decent father.
In the twenty-four years since he had been born, Edwyn had gone on approximately eighty-three different adventures, more than half those had been when his father lived. Edwyn had discovered many things, not only about the world, but also about the people in it and how there were different species of people: Wesen. Edwyn had discovered that strange and exotic kinds of Wesen existed, but that he was one too - a Zauberbiest. During his travels, he had found out that there was a special kind of person - a person that could see the unseen. These people were called Grimms, these people were not ordinary and could see the world around them for what it truly was, and this included Wesen - even if they tried to hide.
Grimms, Edwyn noted down in his journal, were sometimes used by the Wesen Council to dispatch of Wesen who were causing unnecessary trouble, especially in the world of the normal people. Grimms, he also noted down, were commonly under the command of the Royal families. They were used as bodyguards, assassins and were the generals of Wesen slaves, torturing the Wesen into working. It was customary in many Wesen communities to be extremely afraid of the Grimms, and for good reason - as they conveyed the notion to have a fondness for chopping off Wesen heads.
Edwyn however, was not only interested in Grimms, he knew they were uncannily powerful and he wondered how the Grimms came to exist. How could ordinary people develop the sight to see? If they even, were normal people to begin with? Nevertheless, he was also intently focused on a type of Wesen known as a "Reaper". Reapers were sent out to hunt and kill wayward Grimms. It was said that the reason Reapers were sent out to do this was because some of the Grimms had become overzealous with violence and fell out with the Royal families and left, going off on their own - slaughtering Wesen wherever they went, leaving a bloody trail behind them.
The Reapers carried out these gruesome tasks with these weapons called scythes; they were big curved blades on a long thin handle, similar to an axe. On one side of each blade, it was rumoured that the words, "Reapers of the Grimms", was carved into the metal. Edwyn had once been a witness to a fight between a Grimm and a Reaper. The incident involving the Grimm and the Reaper happened in July of 1314. Edwyn was out exploring the world as usual, much the same as his father had done before him, only with a few differences, if one considered the fact that Edwyn liked to study human and Wesen behaviour.
Edwyn was observing two Blutbaden interacting with each other, when a man dressed in shabby torn-up clothes burst out from the surrounding forest. He appeared to be in his early thirties, but with the leaves and mud mixed in with his sandy blonde hair and blood gushing from a hole in his forehead - it was hard to tell. What interested Edwyn the most was the feral look in the man's eyes, those eyes were the eyes of a raging beast that had gotten free. However, looking carefully into the man's eyes Edwyn woged out of a sudden odd desire to see if this man was a Grimm. He had been doing that a lot lately and he had been on the receiving end of some freaked out stares by other Wesen.
After wogeing Edwyn could see the tell tale sign that this man was in fact a Grimm after all, the infinite darkness present there was a dead giveaway. The Grimm looked harried as he glanced around himself quickly before hurrying over to hide behind a larger tree. Edwyn continued to scrutinize the Grimm's behaviour; he looked shaken ready to collapse even. The man's breathing did not sound good and it was obvious that his lungs were hurting far more than they should, but nobody dared to approach him or offer help, especially the Wesen who were present. Initially they were terrified beyond belief because they had been so certain he was there to kill them, however watching the Grimm hide behind a tree and looking like death warmed over, they became less worried that he would come after them and became more curious about his sudden appearance.
It became abundantly clear as to why the Grimm was hiding - as another man broke out from the forest and came to an abrupt halt. This man wore all black and carried in his hand a large curved blade with engraved writing on the side. Edwyn could not believe his luck or his eyes, for before him stood a Reaper - a Reaper searching for a Grimm... Edwyn turned his eyes back to the Grimm and watched, as the man stiffened as he realised his pursuer had not been lost. The Grimm braced himself, squaring his shoulders and began to go through his pockets. Edwyn glanced back towards the Reaper, the Reaper turned his head towards the shuffling sounds coming from behind the tree and steeled his facial features into a hard, cold mask - any emotion he had shown, if he had was instantly gone.
The Grimm had found what he was looking for - a short-bladed hunting knife. The man looked like he was at a loss, Edwyn had to agree with that assessment as he mentally compared that tiny little knife to the much larger, much more powerful and offensive scythe the Reaper carried. The Grimm, Edwyn knew was at a great disadvantage, given his beaten up appearance and horrible breathing. In that very moment, it was a mere split second - a soft wind had touched Edwyn, tousled his hair and the knowledge that this fight would be the Grimm's last, his final battle slammed into him - sending a cold chill down his spine.
The Reaper fastened his grip on the blade he carried, making sure that the weapon would not be easily dislodged from his hands. The Wesen surrounding the scene backed up a few metres, as an innate sense inside them took over; they could almost feel the deathblow that was coming. The black clad man breathed in and stalked forward to the Grimm's hiding spot. Edwyn knew little about Grimms, but he did know that they were supposed to have good senses and with that piece of information, he looked towards the Grimm to see the weakened man brace himself. Just as the Reaper was preparing to swing his scythe around the tree, the Grimm moved quickly, surprising the Reaper, which enabled him to strike the other man with his hunting knife.
However, the Grimm's abrupt move was costly and resulted in a loss of strength, he had had the advantage of surprise, but now all he had was a small hunting knife and dwindling health. The sudden blow made the Reaper lose his balance and his blade slipped from his fingers despite the death grip he had had on the handle. The cloaked man knew he had to improvise and so proceeded to land two consecutive punches to the Grimm's face, breaking the nose and eye socket. This caused the Grimm to drop his knife and stumble backward with the Reaper advancing. No matter how sick the Grimm may have felt, Edwyn had to applaud his courage - continued to fight off his attacker. Both men were locked in a duel, fighting now with fists and feet - punching and kicking wherever possible.
The surrounding Wesen grew restless as the two fought on, but Edwyn did not mind the scene before him and took a vast pleasure in the blood-soaked ground, and battered men in front of him. Then the moment arrived, Edwyn felt a tingle go through his bones seconds before it. The Grimm's breathing became so bad he could barely stand, let alone fight. It was quite clear that his ribs had been broken in the violent scuffle and had pierced a lung. The Reaper knocked the Grimm to the ground as if he were trash; luckily, he fell near to his hunting knife and immediately grabbed onto it. The Reaper gave no heed to this and stooped to pick up his own weapon, a mistake that would cost him his life. In his rush to get the job over and done with, he got too cocky and thought perhaps the Grimm was much too injured to retaliate further. But the Grimm did, in a last burst of energy the man threw himself up at the Reaper and thrust his knife into the other man's neck, slicing through flesh and artery. The reaper reacted on instinct and swung his weapon, cutting deep into the Grimm's side.
It was not long before the Reaper sunk to the ground, having pulled the knife from his neck and realizing his own foolish error before bleeding out. The Grimm followed not long after and he too fell in an ungraceful heap, his breaths came out stuttered before he drew in his last. Edwyn remained motionless for what seemed to him an eternity. The gathered Wesen began to disperse, talking as they did so. Edwyn could hear someone in the crowd saying, "There ye go. That's one less Grimm to worry about." As Magnus had in a way neglected his son, Edwyn, had as a result developed the personality traits of a sociopath. Edwyn was a solitary character that was excessively curious about everything and he loved creating things, but he was also a cunning analytical character that took advantage of potential opportunities. Having been able to watch the gruesome battle between the Grimm and the Reaper without batting an eye or flinching for that matter was further proof of his detached state.
With that in mind, Edwyn Albyn de-Yolton quickly grew what he thought to be a masterful plan; it was like in his own mind - standing on the peripheral of greatness. Edwyn remembered a written piece from a book that spoke of dark alchemical potions and things that could be created if certain ingredients were to be combined and there had been a particular recipe, he could not remember what it had been called, but he did remember that it needed the fresh blood of a Grimm and a Reaper. Without wasting any more time, Edwyn hurried over to the fallen men. He thanked his lucky stars that he always carried his alchemical satchel with him and began digging through it to find two glass vials, and then he proceeded to collect the blood samples needed.
Once Edwyn had retrieved the required amount of blood, he packed them into his satchel and rushed home. Edwyn lived in the Crimea Republic, Ukraine and his small, somewhat modest house was made from rough stone and was square in shape. The house contained little square windows and stone archways. The floor was stone and dirt, the kitchen was small with a hearth that had a cooking pot sitting next to it. The little house that Edwyn called home was sparsely furnished, with the kitchen also acting as a dining area and contained a jagged cut round table with two uneven chairs. There were two other rooms in the dingy dwelling, a tiny bedroom bearing a single wood cot with a hay and cloth mattress and one bedside table with a candle resting on top. The next room, which was hardly furnished was the bathroom. Edwyn breathed a sigh of relief upon reaching the front door, he could smell the ocean breeze or something similar to it, as the Crimea Republic was set in-between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The air was humid, which added to Edwyn's growing anticipation.
Finally entering his house, Edwyn made his way over to the dining table and pulled out the blood samples, sitting them on the table. He then went over to a chest that had been hidden from view and pulled out a book - a very special book. It was called the Unbekannte Geheimnis, the book had been written by his father. Glancing at it reverently for a moment, he then opened it, scouring the contents for a particular recipe and method. Edwyn finally stopped when he had found what he was searching for, the page was entitled: Todesengel, and underneath that, a subtitle that read, "Creating a Grimm Reaper". Down the page Edwyn's fingers travelled, following the ingredients list.
Bottled Ingredients:
Four and half bottles of Ewiges Leben
Six bottles of Tropfen des Todes
Three and one quarter bottles of Essenz der Seele
Five bottles of Cut des Grauens
Ten bottles of Prise Angst
One bottle of Gewurz Mischungen
Two bottles of Brennnessel Trank
Two and a half bottles of Ratten-Herzen-Zeichenfolge
Stand Alone Ingredients:
Three Feuer-Unkraut
Six Schwarz Rosenblatt
One Schweineohren
Four and a half Mitternacht Schatten
One vial of Reaper's Blut
One vial of Grimm's Blut
One full dead body aged 30-50 years. Has to have been buried two years or more. The body must be that of a male Zauberbiest, frozen in a state of woge.
Upon reading the last ingredient, Edwyn felt stumped, find a Zauberbiest that was aged 30-50 years, had been buried for at least two years and frozen in a state of woge - how on earth was he going to find that?! Wesen always returned to their human appearance when they died, it was a fact. He growled and grumbled until a thought hit him. What if the Zauberbiest was frozen in a state of woge because they had ingested something that stopped the reversal transformation? He had heard of people, Wesen being skinned of their Wesen selves and a potion had been involved...It was settled, he would just have to ask around and if that didn't yield any answers, well Edwyn knew where the nearest Wesen cemetery was, he'd have to go digging.
After setting out to go question the community Edwyn had received no luck or help from nearly all the Wesen living there, some slammed their front doors in his face, with disgust gracing their features. Others looked at him as if he was a strange insect that they had never seen before and asked him as politely as possible to, "Move Along". When Edwyn thought no one in town was going to help him because they just did not understand, he remembered the old Wesen that lived down the street, and this guy back in his younger days was a devoted mad scientist and now was in fact a gravedigger. Edwyn wasted no time as he bolted down the street and found himself knocking on the front door before he even had a chance to blink. The elderly man that answered was in his late seventies.
"Good Afternoon, Sir. I was wondering if you could help me." Edwyn asked, smoothing his voice out and stared unblinkingly at the old man.
"What is it that you need help with, young man?" The elder asked in return squinting his eyes, appraising the younger man.
"I was hoping you could tell me if there were any Wesen buried two or so years ago that were frozen in a state of woge?" Edwyn asked gently, not wanting to be told to go away for another time.
"Why don't you come inside to have this conversation?" The elderly man said with narrowed eyes and gestured for the young man to come in.
"Thank you for inviting me in." Edwyn returned politely, however the elder knew the politeness was a farce, there was not a nice bone in the boy before him - he could feel it radiating off the boy, hitting him in waves. This young man had a blackened soul, no doubt about it. However, the elderly man quietly told Edwyn all about a body he had buried four years ago, it just so happened to be a Zauberbiest. Edwyn was jumping for joy inside. The elderly man sighed as the boy left, he knew only bad would come of it, but he remembered being that age once and the things that he had experimented with.
Armed with a shovel and a lantern, Edwyn moved swiftly and with great haste up the hill, to Seele des Tieres Cemetery - a place where Wesen were buried. The time was nearing 9:00pm and everyone in the community with the exception of Edwyn, were obeying the town's curfew. Mikhail Aleksandrovich had put the curfew into place, he was the ruler of Russia but he had his hands and claws dug into Ukraine so deep he almost owned it. It wouldn't have surprised Edwyn if the Grand Duke did partially own it, he was after all part of one of the old royal families, especially one of the families that practiced Wesen slavery and was largely responsible for rogue Grimms running about.
Nevertheless, Edwyn was feeling grateful to the Grand Duke and for his curfew that enabled him to slip by unseen into the cemetery - it was going to make his task of digging up that corpse so much easier. Twenty minutes later Edwyn had the hole completely dug and the coffin uncovered, the stench was horrid. Since the Zauberbiest was not normal in terms of decomposition - it took them longer to decompose then ordinary humans and other Wesen. Edwyn pried the wooden lid open and tossed it to the side, the stench became even more revolting, having been trapped in the coffin for four years. Edwyn could see that the corpse still bared the woge, even though the flesh was still rotting away. The flesh was shrunken, the body almost looked completely dried out - the corpse was practically skin and bones. However, some flesh not matter how thin still remained. This body was perfect for what it was going to be used for.
Edwyn made it back home around 9:45pm and was already preparing a large cauldron what was sitting in the fireplace in his kitchen. On the kitchen table he had placed all the ingredients listed except for the body, it just lay on the floor until it was needed. As the cauldron started to bubble, Edwyn began to add the first set of ingredients. First came the four and a half bottles of Ewiges Leben and three Feuer-Unkraut, with those ingredients beginning to mix into the boiling water, the water turned a golden orange in colour. Next came six bottles of Tropfen des Todes, three and one quarter bottles of Essenz der Seele and six Schwarz Rosenblatt. The colour of the water this time began to turn a muddy brown, which reminded Edwyn of the dirt found in the cemetery and which still coated the dug up corpse. The third set of ingredients to be added, one after the other before the mixture could be stirred anti-clockwise twelve times were: five bottles of Cut des Grauens, ten bottles of Prise Angst, one Schweineohren, four and a half Mitternacht Schatten and one bottle of Gewurz Mischungen.
It was at this point that Edwyn began a steady count to twelve as he stirred the contents of the cauldron, which resulted in the combining mixture to give off an almost noxious odour. Edwyn coughed abruptly and a piece of spittle flew off and landed in the cauldron, Edwyn stopped for a moment and considered the possibility for what that tiny bit of saliva could potentially do to the mixture and came to the conclusion that it did not matter and continued mixing. The next and second last ingredient batch consisted of two bottles of Brennnessel Trank and two a half bottles of Ratten-Herzen-Zeichenfolge. After those ingredients rested in the cauldron for three minutes, Edwyn began to put in the last of the ingredients needed; one vial of Reaper's Blut and one vial of Grimms Blut, than he stirred the mixture twice before heaving the dead woged Zauberbiest into his arms and then proceeded to slowly place the corpse into the cauldron.
As the corpse made contact with the bubbling mixture, it turned a deadly black in colour and gave off a stench of death, especially when the corpse began to melt down and slide completely into the cauldron. Edwyn gave a great sigh and flopped down onto one of his kitchen chairs, intending to wait and rest while the mixture in the cauldron, which resembled sludge, to finish the creating process of the Todesengel. Two hours later the contents inside the cauldron began to move in an unexpected way, it rose up and out of the cauldron, revolving in a circular motion. Edwyn felt a chill go down his spine, he looked around and noticed that the candles he had lit were flickering violently and one of them went out.
Edwyn shivered and turned his focus back onto the cauldron, frost was starting to gather around the edges and suddenly it split as if it had been frozen with liquid nitrogen and shattered into pieces. The revolving mixture was starting to take on a humanoid form, legs, arms and a head were coming into being - they were skeletal just like the corpse's had been. Finally, black smoke erupted from the centre of the thick substance, which billowed around the being that was forming and cloaked it in tattered robes, dark as night.
Edwyn by this point in time was jumping up out of his chair and dancing a mad victory dance, thinking madly to himself, 'he had done it!' He alone had successfully created a Todesengel - a real life, living (kind of) breathing (that he wasn't too sure about) Grimm Reaper. Edwyn stopped to gaze at his glorious creation and came to a startling realization, whilst the creature that stood before him looked a lot like a Grimm Reaper there was something different, something wrong. The being was cloaked in a tattered black robe with the hood up and it covered its whole body, even the legs and touched the ground. But the scythe that the Angel of Death was supposed to carry was absent. Moreover, that alone, was which was very wrong with the being before him, if it wasn't a Grimm Reaper - a Todesengel like he had set out to create, then what was it?
Edwyn quickly grabbed his father's book, the Unbekannte Geheimnis and searched for something to tell him what had gone wrong. He found it at the very bottom of the page, "If anything gets added to the mixture before it is fully forming into a Todesengel, a Verlorene Seele will be created instead, beware, and make no mistakes with this volatile combination of ingredients. For a Verlorene Seele is a Lost Soul and not a Grimm Reaper, a Lost Soul steals souls, it doesn't collect them like Death himself is supposed to." Edwyn looked back up and dropped the journal for the Verlorene Seele, which it most certainly was, was right in front of him - reaching out a skeletal like hand towards him. Edwyn felt his insides twist in fear as the creature grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled his face closer towards its own, what was thing going to do to him? Edwyn thought in panic, before the Verlorene Seele pulled back its hood, revealing all black eyes, the eyes that Wesen would see when looking into the eyes of Grimm when they were fully woged and saw his own true reflection.
Edwyn's eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream, that was when the Verlorene Seele moved its head forward and pressed its lipless mouth to Edwyn's and began to suck. Edwyn sagged and tried to claw his way out of the Verlorene Seele's grip, however, his body was growing weak and his mind foggy. His last thought he realised, it was a dying thought - the Verlorene Seele steals souls, and that is what it was doing to him, sucking out his soul through his mouth in a searing kiss. The Verlorene Seele held its first victim and creator for a moment longer before letting the body slip from its nimble fingers, to lay slumped and dead on the floor, with a look of terror frozen upon its face. The Verlorene Seele gazed down at the dead body that used to be Edwyn Albyn de-Yolton in life before fleeing out of the house and into the darkness of the night.
Author's Note:
So what did you all think? Please Review, it would mean so much. Here are the translations for the German words used.
Ewiges Leben = Eternal life
Tropfen des Todes = Drops of death
Essenz der Seele = Essence of the soul
Cut des Grauens = Cut of horror
Prise Angst = Pinch of fear
Gewurz Mischungen = Herb and blends
Brennnessel Trank = Nettle potion
Feuer-Unkraut = Fire-weed
Schwarz Rosenblatt = Black rose petal
Schweineohren = Pig ears
Mitternacht Schatten = Midnight shadow
Blut = Blood
Todesengel = Angel of death
Verlorene Seele = Lost soul
Seele des Tieres = Soul of the beast
Ratten-Herzen-Zeichenfolge = Rats hearts string
Unbekannte Geheimnis = Unknown secret