Hey Guys! Crescent Rider here and I welcome you to the first chapter of the revised story. Or rather the first chapter of "Fiore's Lost Souls' since Tale of Lost Souls doesn't have a vibe to it.
And a reminder to you all, the OC characters of this story will have dark and psychological backstories as I'm considering this fanfic as a type of experiment when making such characters.
Lastly, the main focus of this story will still be an OC but her name is different as I've learned compared to the past.
That is all and enjoy the revised chapter of the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Just the OCs...
Unknown Location, X781
Across a dark hallway, a 13-year-old girl wearing a patient's gown was running with an unconscious 9-year-old girl behind her back. The former keeps panting from all her running and never gives up on picking her feet up and still carrying the latter on her back.
She endured the pain, weight, and exhaustion just to keep herself running. And when she set her sights on the gates, she widened her eyes in distress as the gates were closing on her.
"No, No, NO!"
Without hesitation, she uses every ounce of Etherano she has to conjure what appears to be a large spiritual construct to keep the thick gates in less than a second. Then she diverted it all to her feet and dashed right through the closing gates after her construct easily broke from the immense pressure of the door.
Once she was through, she tumbled and slid against the floor along with her unconscious companion. As soon as those gates were sealed shut, the girl looked up to see those closed doors and recall the others who were forced to remain inside.
She no longer had any tears for them, but she ushered a word to those people as she turned away, "I'm sorry..."
Even without any strength to spare, the girl endured what others may consider impossible as she lifted her companion's arm onto her shoulder and carefully dragged her through the hallway ahead.
She took less than a few steps forward, before finally succumbing to exhaustion as she fell to the floor. Her head towards her unconscious companion, her last thoughts were the same words she had to the ones behind the door as she held her hand, 'I'm sorry...'
Feeling her heavy eyelids, she dozes off and presumes she'll never wake up. But just as her hearing died down, she heard faint steps before them and what followed was darkness...
...
After what felt like months, she slowly regained consciousness and heard the sound of animals chirping and a fire crackling.
She then sat from what appeared to be a makeshift bed and scanned her immediate surroundings. After she spotted her companion, she tried to go for her but immediately hissed from the pain as there were bandages wrapped around her body.
"Do not be alarmed," The girl turned to the voice and what she saw was a man bandaged from head to toe, wearing a white stand-collared shirt with rolled-up sleeves, stitched blue jeans with a black belt and two holsters, and snake-skinned shoes, "For she is safe, as well as you,"
The girl seems cautious but calms down as her friend is well-treated by this stranger. Neither of them wasn't up for a conversation as he was sharpening his knife with a whetstone, and the sounds around them were the animals and fire.
After several minutes had passed, the bandaged man was the first to speak his mind, "What troubles you lately?"
"What do you mean?" The girl asked,
"One's silence often clarifies their troubles in life. If it's a matter that you can discuss in detail, you may tell it in detail and I will provide whatever words ease your mind," The bandaged man stated, "But if you're not comfortable with the details, then say nothing and I shall understand your silence,"
"How could you understand silence? That doesn't seem to make any sense," The girl said,
"Silence comes in many forms. From what you and the girl been through, your silence would mean fears that you have yet to face," The bandaged man said, "And from what I can understand, you have yet to conquer them,"
"I suppose..." The girl said, then changed the subject, "Is she going to be okay?"
"Compared to what you've endured, her's is fine. Nothing is broken and no scar shall remain visible. She will heal, as will you," The Bandaged Man said,
The girl sighed with relief and soon received a bowl of warm soup from him, "Eat, for you must gather your strength for tomorrow,"
She'd take the bowl, gather a spoonful of soup, and feasted herself onto it. Though it was warm, its taste brought out something she couldn't comprehend as she continued to eat this soup.
After the bowl was empty, the girl started sniffing and then began to cry as she never had such food in her life. The bandaged man just watched casually and offered more soup when asked for more.
Her cries would last the rest of the night and the bandaged man just watched before letting her sleep in while the night was young for all of them.
The Next Morning
Much like the girl, her companion cried for having such good food and the girl comforted her with a hug and tears of her own. After that, there were some discussions between them and the bandaged man.
"We don't know how or what to say, but we wish to thank you for the meal, it was good," The girl thanked,
"Really good," Her companion added with a smile,
"A simple word and gesture of gratitude is all the obligation I need from this world. As well as the good company from young wandering souls of this forest," The bandaged man said, "But before we part ways from this point, I would like to ask. Where exactly are you headed?"
"We don't know..." Her companion said, "We don't have homes or family. All of them died after the men in white took us away,"
"And after our escape, we don't know where to go exactly," The girl said, "We're alone...
"It would seem that we are all leaves of the same branch. Quite a coincidence seeing as I have no home or family to return to," The bandaged man said, "The road towards peace and salvation is a difficult one, even I or you two will find trouble along the journey,"
"Then let's go together!" Her companion said, and eyes were on her, "Since you said something about leaves and branches. We should go together, it's better than going alone, right?"
The girl and the bandaged man glanced at each other, then they expressed their opinion on the detail.
"That sounds like a good idea!" The girl approved,
"A plan worth trying," The bandaged man declared, "Though it would mean that our meeting here is preordained,"
The girl smiled to her companion, held her hand, and traveled with the bandaged man together. As they left the forest together, a large and ominous figure is seen sitting on a branch of the tallest tree, and beside it was a black crow that followed around it.
"Keep an eye on them for me" The Stranger requested,
The crow understands its request as it cawed once and hovers off the branch to follow the three. It then stood on top of a branch as it appears to be quite weightless and expresses wonder towards the three, "Until the day we meet little Ones,"
It soon jumped off of the branch, but there was no sound upon impact...
...
...
...
As if it disappeared like it wasn't even there...