Prologue
Raine Whispers was frustrated; they were more frustrated than they had been in a very long time. They knew that their long-time girlfriend, Edalyn Clawthorne, or as she liked to be called these days, Eda The Owl Lady, was pushing them away.
Raine had tried everything in their power to get Eda to open up to them about what was troubling her. But every time they asked, Eda would brush them off and avoid the topic. And it was starting to get to them.
With a sigh, the twenty-seven-year-old bard pressed their back against a random building and slumped to the ground. Raine's head was a mass of thoughts, but one kept breaking its way to the front of their mind.
"...Do I really want to break up with Eda?" They muttered uncertainly.
This wasn't the first time they had these thoughts, and the uncertainty of this decision was affecting them, adding to their stress. Raine hanged their head and clenched their fists as they tried to think.
Suddenly, they heard a noise, something getting knocked over in an alleyway near them. Raine planned to ignore the noise until they heard muffled voices.
Raine, now curious, slowly inched their way to the mouth of the alley and peeked in. Their eyes snapped open when they saw two witches in leather, full-body robes. But it wasn't the witches' outfit that startled the bard. No, it was the young girl they had cornered that was so surprising.
Raine narrowed their eyes and tried to study the young girl. All they could make out from where they stood was that the girl had a skin tone similar to theirs. She was also about 10 to 12 years old and was wearing a dress made from the same leather the witches' robes were made from.
The witch on the right took a step forward and said in a cold tone, "Alright, thing, you waste enough of our time. Now, be a good little tool, and come with us."
Raine's blood began to boil as they started to realize something. These two witches were probably with a cult of wild witches and if the rumored were to believe, this cult had plans to take on the Emperor himself.
Raine watched as the witch moved close to the child, and they realized she was shaking in fear. That was the final straw for them; they made a spell circle and summoned their violin.
"Stop right there!" They commended, stepping into the alley.
The two witches did stop and looked at Raine. Though they couldn't see their face due to their hoods, they knew the cult witches were scoffing at them.
"Take care of the bard while I retrieve the object," one witch said, and the other nodded.
The two broke apart and went about their task. The witch facing Raine made a circle and created a ball of lightning.
Raine's face became set, and with skilled hands, they played two notes on their violin. The first note sent a crescent wave of magic at the witch.
The robed witch was surprised at how fast the bard's spell was and didn't have time to react. The spell hit the witch's lightning orb, and it exploded, showing him with lightning. The witch didn't suffer for long; Raine's second spell was a powerful knock-out spell, and it hit both witches at the same time.
Raine watched with a raised eyebrow as the two witches hit the ground. If these two were part of the cult planning to overthrow Emperor Belos, they weren't impressed. Then again, these two not taking Raine as a serious threat helped.
Raine suddenly heard a whimper and hurried over to the frightened child.
"It's okay now," Raine said, speaking softly, reaching out with a hand. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Unfortunately, the child was too scared to listen to reason and tried to back away from the bard. But since her back was close to the wall, she ran into it and screamed in pain.
Raine gasped when the child threw her head back, and her hair fell away from her face. They could only stare at the child's ears…her round ears.
"...She's human," Raine gasped.
The bard's mind was flying a mile a second! Since Eda had her door, they knew a little about humans. But the fact that a human child was here, nowhere near the house Eda currently called hers, brought up a lot of questions.
Raine heard the child whimpering and decided that all the questions could wait.
Rain smiled at the girl and tried to look as unthreatening as possible. They slowly held out their hand as they looked deeply into the girl's uncertain eyes.
"My name's Raine Whispers," Raine said, keeping their voice soft. "What's your name? I bet it's pretty."
A strange look suddenly crossed the human's eyes, and confusion replaced fear. Raine watched as the girl's face twisted as she struggled to remember her name. The girl's head began to twist and turn like she was trying to clear something out of her head so she could think clearly.
Raine's worry started to grow; the girl's memory issues were clearly due to more than just fear. And it looked like trying to remember was causing the child even more stress.
Raine was about to tell her she didn't need to tell them her name now when she suddenly looked at them. The bard saw that the confusion was gone, and the girl spoke a second later.
"C-Camila."
(G Corner)
So, since I didn't feel like starting the next chapter of Ghoul Break, I decided to be a tease and put on the prologue to the story I will be working on after Ghoul Break is done. So, look forward to it.