Dark Skies

First written by Splitheartwarrior

Re-written by CyberNinjaKat

Summery: Even the strongest can break. Having caught the attention of a dark being, Guin suffers torment both physical and mental. Roles now reversed and a dark path on the horizon; it is up to Rinda, her guards, and a grizzled old doctor to protect and heal the wounded warrior.

Rating: M for gore, non-con, violence, and other mature themes. Readers' discretion is advised.

Author's note: To those who don't know, Splitheart and I were friends in college. We both were interested in having a career in art and pushed each other to strive for new heights in our skills. She mentioned her writing hobby to me and asked me to be a sounding board for some of her ideas. Even challenged me to try making my own interpretations of her story ideas, as she did the same for mine. I was beginning to beta read some of her old stories when she was killed in a car accident. I am sorry it took me so long to say anything.

Since I couldn't bring myself to change her writing, I decided instead to do a rewrite of her stories with my own interpretation of them while leaving the old versions up. Not sure how consistent I will be with this since I'm currently job searching and will likely have less time to write once I get one. I guess I just want to keep this page alive, and maybe adopt it as my own over time. We'll see how things go.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Prologue

The sound of jangling keys rang through the stone halls, awakening the exhausted occupants. Crawling from under a thin brown blanket, a red-headed young man named Koga stared blearily through the bars to his cell. 'Another day…', he thought to himself in dismay.

An imp-like creature stood outside his cell, its reptilian yellow eyes watching him boredly while it's grey scaled hand worked on unlocking the door. "Get up," it said with energy matching the look it was giving him, "time tah' get tah' work. Halls need a cleaning." Opening the cell the creature walked off, not bothering to see if Koga got up or not.

After waiting a few moments, Koga stood and stretched before straightening the rag tied around his waist. With a short sad glance to the others still locked inside their cells he began his trek to the corner of the room, which held a mop and bucket. He hated being trapped here, but was thankful to no longer be regularly subjected to the demon Zinran's whims. The others were not so lucky. Bidding a quiet goodbye to them he headed out into the main halls of the head demon's keep to begin his day's tasks.

Koga's mind wandered while he mopped the grime and occasional blood splatter on the floor. He was trying desperately to ignore the blood coated woman's body being dragged by her ankle across the end of the hall by one of the imps. Her sightless eyes stared blankly at him as blood bubbled slowly out of her gaping mouth, leaving a crimson trail behind. She'd been taken to Zinran last night, and he'd evidently become bored with her. Koga hoped she was at peace now in the afterlife, fore that had not been a quick passing. He remembered the last day he was taken to the demon's chambers, the resignation at his impending pain turning to dread when he was instead taken back to his cell. The fear he felt that day was overwhelming, for being turned away was one of the only other ways to know that Zinran was ready to get rid of you aside from in the moment. It was that day he learned two things; he was slowly dying, and he was now tasked with cleaning the so called castle as well as caring for his fellow prisoners.

Glancing up from the floor, Koga inwardly groaned upon realizing he'd wandered close to the demon's "throne". The rapid sound of clawed feet hitting the floor interrupted his musings as a small brown messenger imp darted past him into the open doorway. Being careful to look busy Koga watched and listened to the conversation inside. Information was key to survival sometimes, and the scouts had been unusually busy lately.

"My Lord Zinran," the imp called as it skidded to a halt before the shadowed figure, "I bring news from the scouts." The imp bowed low and waited, its head almost brushing the stone floor.

Two slit golden eyes opened in the darkness. Gazing upon the bowing messenger in bored curiosity, Zinran spoke with a smooth mid-ranged voice, "Speak then. What news do you bring me at this time?"

The imp straightened from his bow, its body practically quivering with excitement, "We found him!"

Zinran's gaze changed to one of joy as a smile quickly grew on his lips. "Indeed?" He stated as he straitened in his seat, "so he has finally been found… my precious Gem." His smile grew to a fanged grin as he looked upon the nearly vibrating messenger, "Head out immediately and rally the elite! Waste no time in bringing him to me!" With a quick affirmation the brown imp bowed once more before dashing back out the doorway, passing a shocked Koga.

His hands felt numb while his body moved on autopilot to continue cleaning the floor. He had heard rumors from the workers in the keep that someone had caught the demon's attention, but he thought those were just rumors. Zinran typically didn't have a preference when it came to his prey, but this individual was apparently more than that. 'Great gods,' he thought as a wave of sadness overtook his shaking body, 'The god of fate is a cruel being indeed'

—

Many miles away in the kingdom of Parros, Rinda shifted uneasily in her sleep. The young semu girl Sunni stirred awake, sitting beside the princess and watching in worry as she continued to move in her sleep.

"Guin!" Rinda shot up suddenly with a cry, reaching forward as if to grab ahold of someone just out of reach. She curled into herself as echoes of an animalistic scream played in her mind. "Guin," she mumbled softly as Sunni hugged her. Neither noticing as a young maid peeked in through the doorway.

"My lady," the blonde woman exclaimed in concern as she rushed over to Rinda's side, "Lady Rinda what has happened?"

Taking calming breaths, she brushed her platinum blonde hair out of her violet eyes and turned to the worried maid, "I've had a vision… please fetch my brother, and hurry." Watching as the maid nodded in affirmation and hurried out of the room, she hugged Sunni close and closed her eyes.

"Rinda ok?" Sunni asked in concern while hugging her back.

Reopening her eyes, she looked down to Sunni and nodded. "I will be fine," she said softly, "I just pray that I'm not too late."

-End Prologue-

Notes: well, here is my attempt at rewriting Dark Skies. While I do plan to follow the original storyline, I do plan to make small changes here and there as well as try to make the chapters a bit longer. Splitheart had wanted to see how I would write the story, I'm just sorry she'll never get to see it.

Please leave feedback. While I plan to concentrate on this one, let me know if there are others you guys want to see me try rewriting.