Chapter 1: Song of a storm

Under the watch of the night queen, rows of giants were forced to bow themselves at the rhythm of the hollow wisp, their myriads of arms entangled with each other, bruised and cracked by the relentless pursuit of zephyr.

The ghostly sound created by the passage of the wind between the numerous branches, moving the sea of coniferous spamming the endless lands of the north American continent.

Somewhere along the frontier of this forest lay a town, withered and tattered by the passage of time, the little town stay standing, arrogantly against all odd, linked to the rest of civilization by an unending straight line cutting the sea in two. The little town of no more than five thousand souls, built a hundred and twenty years ago on the prospect of a now abandoned mining operation, was experiencing a new revival, the injection of a massive amount of investment by a mysterious benefactor, sustaining it frail economy and the multitude of construction adorning the landscape.

At the center east of the town, the last bastion of activity knows its last minutes, at the corner of the night life center an old two floors building stand proudly in the middle of the new building, its black façade giving it charm, the Crawler is one of few original still standing.

On the second floor, the usually vivid mood was replaced by the comforting calm only a fireplace could bring, the crisp burning wood, glorious display of energy waste. At the corner, close to the French window, a disheveled middle-aged man, silver strips falling down his face, layed down on a massive brown leather couch, his grey eyes full of sorrow. Lost in thought the man reached for the bottle of expensive single waiting on the wooden table in front of him. Chugging his drink, the man relaxed his shoulder and close his eyes.

Unknown to him, a young man was about to reach for his table before a pair of hands firmly grasped his shoulder

"No need to bother him Lucas..." whispered the old barkeeper.

"but sir … we are closing..." lamented Lucas, his voice betraying his feelings.

"it's okay, you can go home." responded the old man, already on his way to the stairs.

Happy at the prospect of leaving sooner, Lucas did not catch the look of regret hidden in the old bartender's eyes, too focused on rushing back to the welcoming bliss of his bed. Not bothering to ponder about the single man in the empty room.

A few hours later, a pair of tired grey eyes opened once again, the middle-aged man left the Crawler swiftly reaching a black car. Throwing himself on the front sit, a groan escaped the man lips, before his crackling voice gave the command to the vehicle to bring him home. Silently, the car obeyed, an almost inaudible sound confirming the request, at the corner of his eyes, a discrete holographic display was showing the path to home.

A lone band of bitumen assert man domination on the natural wonder, cutting it in two. Moving at fast speed, a solitary car was silently making it way, its front lights were the only sign of its presence. Inside of it the silver haired man was watching the international news on the displays in front of him, swiftly navigating from one to another, completely oblivious to the extraordinary phenomena happening outside of the driverless vehicle.

A blinding light erupted, for an instant the entire sky was alit, numerous animals, big and small started to flee, their senses screaming at them to run the furthest away possible from the source of this light.

" non.....no..Annah ! ANNAH!!" screamed the silver haired man, his face drenched in sweat, the bags under his eyes betraying the heavy lack of sleep. His hands still shaking, he reached for a half-emptied bottle of bourbon laying on the side of his king-sized bed. A lone tear fell from his left eye as he set his gaze on the picture of a happy family, the emptiness of his bed more stabbing than ever. He could not even manage to sleep for one hour, he sights lightly and with practiced movement started to change the sweat filled bed sheets, the ritual having been done numerous time now.

Unable to bear the sight of this memory filled room, he started to make his way to the stairs, the luxurious environment surrounding him only adding to his aching heart. The scent of the wooden floor, the sound of the artificial waterfall, the once loved view of the endless forest pushing memories of happy times, reminding him of the only he could never get with money.

In the forest, amid the endless row of trees, a lone shadow can be seen moving at a fast pace. His body working in automatic, he found himself running in the cold night, bids of sweat shaken by the rhythmic up and down of his body, the strong beats of his heart pushing him forward. Step after step he let go of his emotions, losing himself in the blissful exertion.

After two hours of intense run, the man stopped at the entry of a red metallic bridge, after a moment, he took a resolute step, his face was contorted by the guilt, images of his lost ones flashing in his mind. Step after step, he made his way to the middle of the bridge where everything changed.

In this starless night stood a lonely figure, under the gaze of the shining moon he closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

" Oh, sleepless eyes of the endless forest

Powerless before your might, I can only implore

And beg for you to listen to my plight

To take care of my fallen ones and watch over their souls

For, you ripped them away from I

Oh my fallen love, I have no more tears to cry

before death even I, stand powerless

This empty hole in my chest, full of sin I tried to fill

Only to stand here before you, beaten in distress

Oh so Tempted to take this last step and join you in the abyss

I see our broken future and hopes …."

The voice of a broken soul shook the forest, as if to accompany him howl of distant wolf started to resound around.

***********************

Fifteen kilometers away, the origin of the flash had made its way through rows of trees, the now crashed craft, leaving a trail of pure destruction behind it. The burned remnants of the blasted trees were littering the nearby grounds, the smoking parts of the craft were scattered around the main body, pieces of pulsating electronics threatening to release the surplus of energy still coursing through them, those same components, not build to withstand the amount of beating they were just subjected to.

Amid the smoldering wreck, a door was blasted away, crashing on a tree tens of meters away. Two figures swiftly jumped out of wrecked ship, a snow haired young woman let sigh escape her lips, wiping the metaphorical sweat of her face, her garments depicted the picture of a hard fought battle, their miserable state rendering them unable to conceal the athletic body of the young woman. At her, a reddening black-haired Asian teenager,shyly turned his head away, the blossoming boy clearly affected by the sight,while occasionally stealing glances at the large amount of flesh exposed. After a moment of silence, they exchanged a look of understanding and started to laugh eagerly, bid of tears escaping their eyes.

"Ahhh... we made it... I thought we were done for sure !!" Exclaimed the teenager, brushing the tears of happiness out of his eyes .

"Don't tell me about Kai, I never thought it was going to work ! I wonder how that idiot is going to react?" responded the young woman, her crystal eyes showing satisfaction at the outcome.

Looking around, the white haired beauty took a small device and sighed, turning her head to Kai with a disappointed look.

"The MX is fried, and looking around we clearly deviated from our destination... these freaking hunters" she lamented to the boy.

" Hey don't look at me like that Irys… this is my first time on earth since the last seven years" exclaimed Kai, throwing his arms above his head, his face a picture of dejection.

"You are the only earthling here

A frown on her face, Irys turned her body and went back to the wreck, two minutes later she came back with a red and black bag attached to her bag, on her left hand a set of gold runs where lightly pulsating, forming a complex blade shape, on her left arm a different set of runs formed a shield in the shape of a double headed spear.

She softly throwed a leather brown back toward the teenager, and simply started to walk in direction toward the dense forest. Kai gently touched the jade pendant hanging around his neck, gathering his resolve, he started to run toward the disappearing Irys.

"Hey! Wait for me !" he complained at the woman.

Not bothering to turn, she kept going, an odd feeling pushing her toward that direction. After several hours of walking the sound of flowing water started to become more and more distinct, until they finally saw a red metallic bridge standing 70 meters above the bed of water, connecting two bodies of land. While they were getting closer to the manmade structure, the broken voice of a desperate man assaulted their hear drum, bringing at the surface memories of their past they would rather bury.

" Tsss, great way to make a good impression..." Said Kai, his eyebrows frowning, the screams of a little boy echoing in his mind.

Irys nodded, her perplexed eyes fixed on the far away figure, she pondered for a moment before opening her mouth, an evil smile now attached to it .

"What do you want to do?" She asked in a non-question.

***************

On the bridge the silver haired man was pouring his soul in his singing when he heard a woman scream. Turning his head, the figure of running woman, her tattered clothes bloodied and torn revealing her toned body under them. But what caught his eyes was the monstrosity at her pursuit, a two-meter tall wolf like creature, its snow-white fur stained of blood, on its head two pair of soulless eyes, its mouth open at an angle that should not be possible, almost ripping it flesh. The abomination was quickly gaining ground on the young woman, its bloodied eyes fixed on his future dinner.

Scared out of his wit, with all his sense screaming at him to run at full speed in the other direction, the man found himself staring at the face of the young woman, her screams reminding him of the wife he could not save, the child he could not keep. And at this crucial moment, despite the crippling fear, he decided to take a step toward his impending death, a step after a another, he found himself running at full speed in direction of the abomination, passing the white-haired woman, he flashed her a confident smile, no more.

In front of the wolf, he strangely felt a sense of belonging, his blood boiling with excitement, he calculated the timing and send a perfectly trained round kick toward the gigantic wolf. But before it could connect, a brutal force blasted him 3 meters away, his ribs obliterated, a scream escaped his lips. In an instant, a white-haired figure appeared out of thin air, her emotionless eyes freezing his mind, and before he could react, her fist reached his face, sending his body flying like a ragdoll.

"what the hell was that... you killed him! "screamed the wolf with an exacerbate voice, its body rapidly morphing into a black-haired teenager.

"but... but. It was an accident!" retorted Irys not at all concerned by the life she just ripped, her cheeks gaining a shade of crimson.

"Have to give some credit to the old man, he had some balls though" said Kai with a hint of admiration in his voice, his eyes fixed on the river below.

"Yeah... sure whatever he's dea...." responded Irys, her word stuck in her throat by the vortex of golden cloud forming above them.

The previous clear sky was now filled of swirling clouds, golden and azure streaks of thunders were angrily roaring, as if to announce their might to the world. A vortex was quickly forming, at its heart, continuous strike of lightning could be observed, each several meters thick. An ominous feeling was quickly rising in Irys heart, without notice she grabbed Kay and escaped the scene at full speed, leaving only an after image behind her. A second later, a stream of lightning tens of meter thick fell upon the bridge, evaporating it out of existence.

For an hour, a rain of lightning continuously strokes that same spot. On the river bed, water was moving around away from cold body, instead forming a water wall. Each strike descended stronger and faster than the last one, until finally a link of lightning was formed between heaven and earth.

In space the strange phenomenon was captured by the array of satellite orbiting the planet, electromagnetic fluctuation caused havoc in the surrounding towns and cities, the scene visible for hundreds of miles, the sounds wave so strong they flattened a radius of a hundred meter of forest surrounding the striking zone, that day the landscape was forever changed.

Barely able to escape the calamity, Irys and Kai were watching the scene in awe at a safe distance. Slowly Kai turned his head to Irys, his eyes as big as a plate.

"what the.... this is …. OH, COME ON !!" he lamented, his accusing eyes landing on the girl completely lost in thought.

"WHAT ?!!"

End of chapter 1.