A Song for Ghosts

A Song For Ghosts
Part 1. 
The Shadow Dancers 

 
Prologue  

 "Captain?" The lieutenant Walden Spence glanced at his superior worriedly. Vynisa Alsic crouched and wiped a gloved hand against a patch of crimson on the tar road. The empty, almost-silent city pressed in around them.

Another two soldiers loitered about, twitchy, their hands always inching towards the black hilts of their short-swords strapped on their sides.
The last, orange rays of the setting sun still stained the horizon red and the suns warmth had slunk away in place of the nights bone-biting cold.  

The two wandered about the intersection, kicking up the weeds rising through the cracked tar in boredom and trying to keep warm despite the insistent cold. The black hoods of their cloaks were raised, even the flaming, rising, Phoenix sewn onto the backs were dim in the shadow of the skyscrapers. On their arms, metal outlines traced their arms from the backs of their copper-plated hands to the backs of their shoulders, black, fabric wings folded, the dark tips long and curved.  

They were an inconsistent mass of dirty copper and black. Each knuckle on the copper plates were adorned with a sea-blue, polished gems that occasionally zapped with electricity when they rubbed their hands together to fend off the cold.
On their chests and backs were a sort of vest made of different sized copper plates and the metal-outlines that worked together like chain mail to defend its wearer.

On their legs their copper greaves were fitted with two exhaust tubes either side of the leg over black breaches and high boots. When need be, the exhausts of steam gives them the ability to jump to unbelievable heights. On their lower backs, beneath their cloaks were three, identical tubes filled with water. Thin tubes, connected top and bottom that ran underneath their copper plates to the greaves and their chest plates.

Vynisa had always silently marvelled and respected the ingenious of the MUNC's.

"Captain?" Spence said again, more annoyed than worried. Vynisa, yet again ignored him. She rubbed the blackened blood between her thumb and forefinger. "They've been through here," She muttered, pushing her hood back.   

With the shadow that her cowl had provided gone, a face masked with scars and duty had been born in the place of what had once been full of smiles and wonder of the world. Her murky black hair was thin and brittle, tied into a loose bun.
Despite her young age, Vynisa's twenty five years had shaped her into someone far beyond her years. Even her shortness and limber stature didn't suggest any hint of youth, her very presence, and cat-like hazel eyes screamed an agelessness only apparent in her.  

Walden of course was the picture of youth. And impatience. And stupidity. With his clean-cut, filthy brown hair and brown and lost-puppy-brown eyes.  

On either hip, a black, rotating-three-holster device sat, all as one. Vynisa pressed an indent on one the holsters, marked with red. The device, on a cog, clicked around to face forward. The holster opened, the hilts of three blades pushing forward. As usual, the Captain plucked the center blade, its hilt black and blade a plain silver.  

"Do you keep those other blades just for show?" Spence asked flatly, her holster closing as she went to scrape the dried black from the faded tar.  

"How do we know it was them?" Spence clenched his teeth together to stop them from chattering. "Believe me, it is. Ready the horses." The Captain stood, and her squad was instantly at attention. "Our prey has a weeks head start on us. The North will not stand for this insult. Remember that our orders are to kill and be clean about it, I want not mess and no prisoners. Clear?"  

"Clear." They replied in unison.  

The moment before the Earth began to open beneath their feet, an unearthly quiet interrupted the birds chatter and the crickets song. They were all thrown to their feet in an instant, the skyscrapers seemed to wobble slightly at the shake.  

"Ascend, engage Aeriel, NOW!" Vynisa roared as the Earth fell away beneath their feet. The four soldiers spread their arms, black, curved wings spanning down their body. The armoured plates, slits of vents aligned on their ribs shot out pressurised air, allowing them to ascend.    

The rest of her squad were high above her, yet Vynisa seemed to linger in the air for a moment. There was only a yawning darkness beneath her yet, there was a sound. Like something was...breathing. But no, it couldn't be? It resembled more the howling mountain winds, not the life's breath of something.  

It was almost like a trance, as she stared and stared at the darkness. Until something stared back. Whatever it was, it was big. Two eyes, big as lakes of glowing an unearthly green and crimson hung about in the blackness. That was until they started getting...bigger.

Only, no, they were getting closer! It rose up and up until Vynisa finally snapped from her disbelief and careened away. She hastily slammed into the glass window side first and smashed through, landing in a roll into the dark office floor. The others quickly followed. "What the hell was that thing?" Demi Brightspark yelped, the youngest at 18 and most nimble and quick of the squad.  

"Fly first, ask later girl." Edyrd Greyleaf shouted, the oldest and most sour of the four, vaulting over a collapsed cubicle, grabbing her head and forcing it forward. The building gave an almighty groan as it began to keel over into the black pit. Chairs, papers and desks began to slide towards them, picking up speed.

"Forward. Exit out the other side! The captain cried, forcing her heart to slow and her mind to focus. The squad turned on the lights attached to the breasts of their beaten, copper-hued armor. The yellow cones of light guided the way as they dodged and leapt their way through the floor, nimble and with the grace of a cat.  

A strange, bright green light illuminated the outside of the building. As one, they took a mask from the indents on their backs, shaped to the copper, green-eyed masks. They pressed it against their faces, matching perfectly with their features.  

With shouts of vigor, Vynisa, Edyrd, Demi and Walden burst through the windows of glass, their green eyes burning bright as they spread their arms and soared over an elevated highway, that wound around the western, makeshift wall of the city.

The wall was made of patchwork metal and barbed wire, collapsed in many places. It had been built around two years before the city had fallen, in a last ditch effort of defence against the Great Fire.

It had worked, well, at least for a while.

The four landed on a leaning crane, their wings folding like a birds.  

 The skyscraper descended into the black pit, roaring and shattering as the ground shook. The gaping pit grew and grew, more road, buildings and rusted remnants of cars fell in one after the other.  

The squad watched, the words refusing to form in their throats. Something. Some, great creature, towered above the sky-scrapers, so tall it's head was hidden in the dark haze above the city. Vynisa, through the white mist could only make out it's dark outline, it's head turning about to...examine it's surroundings?

Two, maybe more great horns rose out of it's head. It seemed to have the body similar to that of a man, yet its two eyes, glowed. The same, red eyes turned and stared right at them, blinking once then turning away.  

The creature began to walk away. Every step it took, the Earth trembled as if in fear. With it's back to them, Vynisa finally shook her fear. Yet it was Edyrd who spoke first. "What corner of the Forgotten World did that monster crawl from..?"  

The Captain ignored the punch of fear to her gut. In times when her young years betrayed her, Vynisa looked to the seasoned Edyrd for guidance. The fear that racked his every word...it was the same disbelief that they all shared. The wild fear was evident in Walden's eyes and every letter he spoke. "That's...that's not our job! Our job is to find the-"  

"Our job is to defend the Empire and her people. May I ask, have you seen a village razed to the ground?" Vynisa snapped, her thin, cat-eyes laced with ice beneath her mask. Spence averted his gaze.

At that, the four turned to face their captain. She let the silence hang there for a moment, sizing each of them up as their dark cloaks snapped in the cold, Autumn wind.  

"Without our warning... without anybody to stop that thing... there stands nothing between defenceless women, farmers and their children. You think those fat bastards they call soldiers  will protect them? The first thing they'll do when they see that creature is run the people they're meant to be protecting down in their hurry to run away with their tails between their legs. Or have you forgotten what's that like?" 

"I have not forgotten, Captain." He placed a closed fist across his heart. She mirrored his sign of respect and turned to the others. "We must act quickly. New mission. Under the conduct of the Military of the United Nations Core it is our sworn duty to hold humanities security as the priority and alert our fellow Guardians. Our short-range radios won't be able to contact the nearest outpost from here."  

"What are we do then? We can't just leave that thing to wonder about." Demi said, tying her yellow locks into a bun as it had been tussled about thanks to the close-call. The four had crouched, clutching the yellow, rusted rungs of the crane. 

 "We won't. Spence and I will go after the creature and observe it until reinforcements arrive, I don't believe it'll be difficult to track. Greyleaf, Brightspark, you two will head to the outpost two days out from here and alert them. They'll have the gear to send out a transmission and mobilise the local units. There won't be any stopping this thing, so Spence and I will outrun the damn thing and warn the villages in it's path to evacuate." Vynisa explained.  

"We lost the horses, you suppose you'll just fly after it? You'll be nothing more than mosquitoes to that creature, it'll kill you with its bloody pinky." Greyleaf grunted in that gruff manner of his. 

"Don't you worry about us, you just get to the outpost. Spence and I will find a way." The captain assured him.  

"You always do, alley-cat." Greyleaf clapped her shoulder with a haughty grin. "I told you I don't approve of that name, bald-bear." Vynisa actually cracked a smile, even if it was only a sly, half-smile.

"So bloody proud of coming up with that, aren't you alley-cat?" Instead of a hug good-bye or wishing each other good luck or to stay safe, the four place a palm-first-fist against their hearts. 

"From the Ashes!" The Captain cried over the howl of the wind.  

"From the Ashes!" The three replied in unison.