The Revelers (Serial 1)

Act 1 - Chapter 1: Ari

Next to the girl is a giant lumbering creature, lanky like a twig, with scrawny arms and long nails. The creature lurches forward and, with one brutal slash, obliterates a wave of guards in front of it.

"Ari," Rayne yells, "we need to bust out of this joint!"

"Agreed, but where to?" I gasp.

The girl puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Oh, now you want out? In that case, follow us!"

It's not like we have much choice. So Rayne and I agree to follow the two strange children as they lead us out of the arena.

We progress down the walkway towards the halls, and my vision clears as the smoke dissipates. The two children and the allied creature appear clear and visible.

Both are shorter than me and have pale skin. Horns on the sides of the black-haired boy's head, as odd as it seems, appear real, like actual horns from a ram or goat. The white-haired girl, who lost her ball cap, has authentic-looking white bunny ears, the tips colored black. As we progress through the arena's hallways, both kids swap in and out books from those pockets on to a metal binder, allowing them to summon unique creatures or conjure strange weapons.

The twig-like monster is tall, about two and a half meters, I think. Its skin looks brownish-gray and splintered, like an ancient tree. The limbs resemble petrified wood with claw-like hands. A living tree of some sort. This person-shaped tree wears brown, tattered, mismatched fabrics patched together to form a skirt. A lush green wreath around its neck wraps like a scarf, and the skull of a deer with large menacing antlers serves as a face mask.

Another wave of cultists barge in, attempting to stop our escape. "Hold right there, you fae misfits!"

"Fae misfits?" Rayne questions, head tilted in confusion.

Fae? I wonder. When I was a kid, my adoptive mother would tell me stories of strange fae folk. She mentioned these fae look like children, but have an affinity for animals and live inside trees. It sounds crazy, and I never thought of them to be true. Just plain faerie tales. If these two kids are fae, I wonder who their boss is.

The boy turns his head to the girl, smiles, and grips his hand on the hilt of his blade, unsheathed a couple of inches. "Samza, you and your Leshy pal get to that side. I'll get to the other side."

"Sure thing, Mezos," the girl says, while commanding her tall, tree-like companion.

Samza and Mezos. I jot a mental note.

Mezos's head jerks forward, his left foot back, and his right on the front. He unsheathes an inch. A strange gust of wind cuts and whirls around him. He mutters in a monotone voice, "Behold! From the hands of the wild kami himself, Susano." In just a blink, Mezos dashes forward. The sound of a violent clash of the blade echoes and reverberates off the steel and concrete walls of the arena hallways. In less than a second, he appears behind the five mutants. He concludes his monologue with a quiet drawl: "Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi." He sheathes the blade back into the open rift from his book. And then the vortex closes.

A second later, blood gushes out, and five more collapse and die. Just like that. All in one quick snap.

My face turns white in shock, perhaps whiter than the skin of both strange children in trench coats. How? Did this boy just legit cut five burly guards in half with only one slash? There is no way that could happen! No way in hell! I mean, he has ram's horns coiling out of his head. He's not human. I want to scream. Yet not a single word escapes my lips. Speechless.

Rayne's face mimics mine, her jaw agape. "How the hell did he chop up those wankers?"

Meanwhile, the guards on Samza's side scream in terror as the giant tree monster's powerful branch-like claws tear up the guards like mincemeat.