[Tyr Zalo Hawk]: 712.Stories.DawnMeetingDusk.3

Chapter 3: Cry of the Night

Slamming through the quite serenity of night with only a single cause in mind, a pair of determined, and obviously female shadows weaved through the narrow gaps between the 'naturally' fluorescent columns of crystal that littered Hallower's Gate. Each pillar rose from the earth and towered 30 feet in the air, glinting rainbow hues of stunningly soft brilliance. Cloaks floated out behind them giving an illusion of short, rapidly fluttering wings standing out from their otherwise unimposing figures. Each was short, no taller than 5'5", if that, yet carried a powerful aura about their slim, shaded forms. Tail-like whips of hair stretched out from the back of the otherwise smooth silhouettes of their heads as they ran. Speed was of the essence.
Hallower's Gate had never been a friendly area to be near during the night. Gargoyles lurked amongst the few shadows that existed in the 100 mile expanse, and were none too kind to anyone who dared enter. Some said the columns radiated a feeling, one that made it seem like the entire area was alive, breathing, watching from these rainbow spikes. Even the blades of grass glowed a pale green beneath the figures that flitted along, crushed with each step; four flickering dots of darkness amongst a field of light.
In the center of this glowing plain was a single, towering arch of stone around which several thousand small alters had been constructed. The alters were all built long ago by groups of priests who had come to the arch to study it. It was, as far as they had known, an enigma unlike anything else on the planet, and still was. What they had discovered later though, on a single, fated night, was that it was also a portal, a gateway to a world so different from the surrounding one that they deemed it necessary to remove the possibility of anything passing through it. The exact details of that night had been left unknown for so long, but how they had removed the 'threat' was not. The priests negated the gateway by setting up a grand total of 5,000 shrines in an elaborate rune circle around the gate. It was meant to last forever.
This concentration of magical power was not left unnoticed by the world, or even by the field which surrounded the gate. within a year, the crystal columns began to sprout from the ground, glowing lightly, making them only more unnatural than they already were. The grass followed this unusual pattern, becoming warm to the touch as it started giving off a faint glow. Snow no longer touched the earth around the gate. Demons and creatures, drawn by the call of mana, flocked to the area, hoping to feed off the energy and live there. No edible food would grow though, and the grass had turned poisonous, its magical concentration too high for any creature to withstand. The gargoyles though, beings who did not eat, thrived there in the intense magical aura.
Gargoyles. They were the cursed race that were never allowed to sleep, to eat, or to feel anything soft in their lives. Given gruesome forms that even some demons shuddered at, made entirely of stone, these sad beings spent eternity, loathing all those who had what they could not. Now, a pair of the hideous beasts violently leapt, unannounced, into the path of the two figures, making them skid to a sudden stop on their path to the arch. Now halted, it could be seen quite easily that each of the pair wore outfits compromising of a set of raven black, form fitting pants, long-sleeved shirts of the same color and fabric, their dark cloaks and finally thick sashes, of a lighter material, wrapped around their waists. Both girls smirked beneath black cloth masks that stretched tightly over their heads, leaving only a tiny hole in the back out of which protruded their 'tails' of hair. Even their eyes were covered by this dark cloth, effectively blinding them.
After a moment of heavy silence, the taller of the two spoke up in a surprisingly soft voice. "Kenna... I'll handle the filth. Would you be a dear and go ahead without me?"
As she spoke, neither of them moved a muscle. The moment she finished, Kenna's head turned slightly towards her partner, fixing a blind gaze on the woman, before nodding and replying in a tone that could've cut through stone "Very well then." Not waiting for further word from the second figure, she shot off back on their original path, breezing past the two befuddled gargoyles without so much as a rustling of her clothes.
"Well," the attention of the gargoyles reverted back towards the nearest intruder "I suppose you'll want to know the name of your slayer, won't you?" Both creatures growled threateningly, warning her that she would be the one who was going to be slain. "My name is Kireen." Her tone revealed the obvious lack of bone shaking fear that most people would be overcome by in such a situation. "If you don't mind, I'll be making this quick. I have other appointments that need to be kept." All the while her voice kept the same tone; one so soft that it almost seemed timid, yet deadly at the same time. Her bare hands reached up, untying the cloak from around her silky white neck, revealing a small octogram tattooed on her throat. "So, which of you is first? The ugly one? Or the stupid one?" The stupid one always died first...
Across the glowing field, through a vast ocean of pine trees and deep below the surface, a small girl swung her right arm through the air, connecting the point of a small, curved dagger with the heart of an already mutilated male body that hung limp on the wall. Scarlet blood slid down the naked flesh and dripped onto the damp limestone floor, creating a thick puddle in the darkness of the cave. It made the little girl smile to herself with glee at the faint splashes.
Her body was wrapped in the same cloth as the two who were currently away on their mission to Hallower's Gate. Although quite obviously much younger than either of the them, she moved in much the same manner, having been taught it was the only way since birth. She had never known anything but the darkness through all of her life. They called her Kottu, a name which meant both 'mercy' and 'death' in the tongue of her tribe; she had never been taught what the word mercy even implied. Death, on the other hand, was more important to her than her own life. Death meant survival, it meant honor and, in fact, it meant that her sisters would be proud of her. What more could she want?
There wasn't a single sound in the cave besides her slow, steady breathing. Everything else was horribly and absolutely still. Even the air was maddeningly calm, standing thick and stale all throughout the darkness that wouldn't allow even the faintest trace of light through. It was the kind of nothingness that monks and warriors try to attain in their souls, except that it was outside, and the tormented screams of your inner body still remained, echoing back into your mind off the reticence of nothingness.
"Well done, little Kottu." An elderly woman's voice reverberated softly against the walls, ringing through the child and the stillness. "You just barely missed..." Immediately, Kottu snapped her body upright, her breathing becoming soundless, her chest barely moving, but still taking in enough air to function properly. The voice continued, ancient, powerful and suddenly much closer to the young girl's ear "Come... it is time."
Although she tried to suppress it, the little one felt her heart race at the deep meaning those words held. Her body moved silently along towards the grand chamber, weaving around invisible obstacles in the ebony eternity that was her home. This was finally the day, the time, the moment she had spent 13 years preparing her mind and body for under the guidance of her elders and her sisters. Now, it was her turn to go through the ritual, to finally become one of the true sisterhood.

Kottu stood fourth in a line of only six girls her age, dressed in the ceremonial gown of a majestically dark purple, their knives hidden, attached to their legs, just in case.. Each of them still had their masks on, never being allowed to take them off for any reason, not that it would have mattered. They had dressed themselves in complete blindness, as always, and now stood in the secret portion of the grand hall, the back room which was only to be used for this ceremony. Silently as always, they awaited the start of the ceremony, one which the only clue they had of it was that it would give them the right to be one of the sisters.
None of them could have ever expected what was to come next, it wouldn't have been reasonable of them to do so. What they did know, was that it would be unlike anything they had experienced so far. Some wanted a trial of strength and skill, a deadly game of life and death; because they knew some didn't make it out of the ceremony alive. Others hoped that it would simply be a test of their endurance, their faith and devotion to the sisterhood. They all wanted to prove themselves, except for little Kottu. Kottu felt she had already proved herself enough, and knew that she would be one of those to pass, if not the only one. She had not come this far to fail at anything.
All around the inductees, the members of the clan watched like sightless black statues, their hundreds of covered eyes trained on the sound of the 6 who could not yet fully hide their breathing from ears honed to detect the faintest sound. Each remembered their own ceremony well, for it was something impossible to forget, seared in their minds as vividly as if it had only just happened moments before. Many of the newer members refused to return to witness the ceremony for years after their own because of the memory's frightfulness. To all, it was the only thing they had ever been terrified of in their life. Among the figures stood Kireen and Kenna, returned from their mission already.
The elderly voice that had summoned Kottu before echoed into the chamber, louder and stronger than before. "Daughters of shade, sisters of the blind, the soundless echoes of the night... tonight, these 6 who have proved their worthiness, their strength, their readiness to join us, shall undergo the ceremony laid out since the beginning!" Nothing moved except for the beats of over 200 hearts, none more rapidly than the 6 who were drinking in these words for the first time. "Now... it is time to begin. Remember to believe in your sisters and in yourselves, young ones... it is the only way you will survive." A small, magical wind unwound the cloths from around the girls head, and each opened their eyes.
The screams were almost deafening.
There was light, a dim, faint candlelight over thirty feet in front of each girl which just barely illuminated anything in the darkness of the cave. To them though, to those who had never seen light, it was a blinding agony to their eyes. The same wind that had taken their cloths away held their eyes open and focused on this light that wouldn't go out, holding their only salvation close enough to see, but too far to reach. Agonizing shudders and horrified pleas racked the six as they desperately tried to find a way to escape, to find darkness, to remove the torture from their lives. Their sisters stood in silence, holding themselves firmly in place solely through sheer will that could not be allowed to bend, or break. One girl, the eldest, was so overcome that she raised her blade shakily and plunged it into her eyes to stop the light. Her efforts only ended her own life, and her candle flickered out as she dropped limp onto the floor.
Kottu's mind raced and pushed itself over the edge time and time again as she desperately searched for a way to stop it. The other girls and their sufferings were lost to her because of the nature of her own. Then, her own knife flashed into her hand by instinct and she raised it up to her face. It had to stop... it had to end or she felt she'd die. A flash, a brief moment, and her candle fell to the floor, extinguished by the rush of air as it dropped, Kottu's knife embedded in its center. Her cloth dropped back into her hands and she immediately closed her eyes, wrapping the cool, soothing relief around her head tightly, reveling in its embrace. She had done it... she had passed. The cool sting of magic etching the octogram into her throat let her know this. Kottu was now a Sister of the Void.