Introduction
GM Post
It had been sudden and unexpected. Without any warnings, without any signs, the storm that swept over Southsage August the 8th just appeared. It was as though God himself was pulling the strings of the supernatural, conjuring an untamable beast for the sole reason of tearing up the capital by the very foundation it had been built upon. Trees were pulled up by their roots and tossed around like toys by a toddler throwing a tantrum, power lines were cut; plunging countless of households into complete darkness. Smaller buildings were ripped apart by the strong winds or shattered, street lanterns were blown away as though they were dust. Several neighborhoods were enveloped by flames, while others were flooded by the heavy downpour. Needless to say, it was a storm that late would be forgotten.
The most peculiar thing about this event, however, was not how violent the storm had been, or the chaotic state it left the city in once it had passed. No, the strangest thing about this night was that when logically millions of people
should have died, there were no more than seven victims. Several people were injured, and some heavily so, but almost as though it had all been planned… only seven particular individuals lost their lives.
Location: Southsage City - The East District
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 05:06
It was early in the morning, and the raging storm of last night had long since passed. All remained from the previous night as a reminder of what had happened, were the destructions it left behind, and a thick mist that enveloped the entirety of the city. A few fires were still burning, though slowly even they extinguished themselves, leaving smoke and ashes behind. While some areas had survived the storm fairly well without too much harm caused, others were a complete mess.
The state of the East District belonged to the latter category. This area had never been a particularly good place to live in to begin with, and most inhabitants of the neighborhood were fairly poor. Their houses were not built to withstand this kind of weather, and only a very few of them had by luck made it through the storm fairly undamaged. For this reason, most inhabitants of the East District were already up and about, doing their best to relocate their belongings and fixing their homes.
"Mommy…" the meek voice of a young child on the verge of tears echoed through the mist. Almost everything surrounding him had been burnt to the ground, and not a single person seemed to be somewhere close. Most had evacuated their homes when they caught on fire, after all. "M-mommy…" the child repeated, a note of panic in his voice. "Mommy, where are you?" he sniffed desperately.
The child appeared to be around the ages five or six. He had a tousle of messy black hair covering his head, and a pair of large brown eyes to go with it. In his arms he was clutching an old stuffed animal, which looked almost ragged as he did: drenched to the bone, several scrapes, rags for clothes and dirtied by the ashes surrounding him.
"M-Mommy…" he repeated, large tears filling his eyes and spilling onto his cheeks. Soft sobs escaped his lips and he pressed the stuffed animal closer to his chest. "Mommy," he wailed tearfully. Then something in the distance caught his attention. A figure, a shadow… something on the ground a fair distance away. The thick mist was clouding his vision, making it impossible for him to identify what it was he was seeing. Nevertheless a look of hope reflected in his eyes. "M-mommy?" he asked tentatively. No response. His teeth was shattering, his body quivering. He was freezing.
Biting his lip, the boy took a deep breath before breaking into a run. It
had to be his mother. It simply had to. He was sure of it. He jumped, climbed and crawled over and under whatever stood in his way, just wanting to reach his mother as soon as possible. "Mommy!" he called. He was almost there. Just a small distance left to run… his foot caught. A surprised yelp escaped him and he fell forwards, landing in a puddle of rain water and ashes with a splash. He lifted his tearful gaze, seeing his stuffed animal about a meter away to his right side. "Mommy!" he cried desperately, struggling to get up. For the first time his eyes focused on what was laying ahead. His eyes widened and a wave of nausea washed over him.
Whatever it was, the child knew that it could impossibly be his mother. It was a corpse had been so dismembered, it was barely recognizable. From what the boy could deduce, it appeared to be a small man with hideous, gray and wrinkly skin. His eyeballs had been gorged out, leaving a pair of empty sockets staring back at him. The blood that had flowed from them painted his cheeks red. His hands and feet were missing, and his entire body had been cut open. Innards pulled out, heart missing.
The child was frozen in shock, a look of pure terror painting his face. His heart was beating erratically, his entire being shaking in fear.
"Tommy!"
He was so struck by terror, that he barely noticed someone calling for him.
"Tommy! There you are!"
The boy named Tommy jumped slightly as the voice of a desperate young woman finally reached him, turning his gaze in the direction it had come from. Before he knew what was going on, he was in the arms of his sobbing mother, who hugged his quivering body tightly to her chest. "Finally," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion, "I thought I'd lost you…"
"M-mommy…" the boy whispered, his expression unchanged from moments ago.
"Yes, sweetheart?" She asked, pulling back slightly as she gazed at her son with the same brown eyes, concern and relief written all across her features.
Wordlessly, he pointed in the direction of the strange corpse. She followed his hand with her gaze. Her eyes widened. A horrified scream slipped past her lips.
Location: Outside Southsage – The Carnival Camp
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 05:26
Bron had joined the Carnival a year ago. Both his parents were originally Aristocrats, but because he'd stood out too much among normal people with the patches of scales on his skin, they had let him transfer here instead. This was common practice between the Carnival and Aristocrat faction, as they often collaborated on solving problems. Since Bron had joined Carnival not too long ago, and didn't really have anything he excelled at, his tasks were usually related to something outside the show. Since he liked and was good with animals, he worked mainly with caring for them. Each morning he had to get up early to feed them and tend to their needs overall. He was also usually stuck with helping out cleaning the cages. Everything was as usual and he went about his daily routines, thinking of the storm last night.
Since the circus was located outside the city, the storm had been rather mild on the Carnival. One other strange thing had occurred, however. That particular night, not even one of the monsters turned into their true form. This was more than just a little strange, considering how this usually happened every night at twelve, without exception. No one could explain why this phenomena had occurred, and everyone was reacting to it differently. Bron personally had been a little sad. I loved roaming around in his monster form, which hadn't been possible last night. Then again, while it was storming he probably shouldn't be roaming around anyway.
Bron was suddenly ripped from his thoughts as he reached the tiger cage. His eyes widened and he dropped the bucket he'd been carrying in shock.
Strung to the ceiling between two walls of the cage was one of the animal trainers, Charlotte. Blood was dripping onto the floor of the cage from the large gap in her upper body, where innards where hanging out freely. The tiger seemed excited, trying to reach the corpse with her paws, but she didn't manage to reach her trainer. "C-charlot?!" the boy stammered out in utter shock and horror. One of her legs were missing and so were her fingers and all but one toe on her remaining foot. Her mouth had been sewn shut, and her expression was frozen in terror and agony.
The boy turned on his heels, his legs feeling wobbly. Nevertheless he pushed these thoughts aside, and darted towards the ringleader's tent. He needed to inform him immediately.
"Ringleader Conquest! Ringleader Conquest!" he yelled, his voice and expression filled with panic.
Location: Southsage City – Roseworth Street – Cassandra's Apartment
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 07:00
Morning had arrived in Southsage, and the sun was searching its way over the horizon, bathing the city in a warm morning light. In combination with the mist and smoke lingering over the city, it almost made a surrealistic picture. What had been hideous before became beautiful; even the destructions looked different in the new light. The way the sun reflected itself on the surface of the flooded streets had a somewhat magic feeling to it. Despite how terrible what had happened was, there was no denying that there was also somewhat mysterious and amazing about it.
Then again, in Cassandra's opinion everything was better in daylight. Her area had not been too effected by the storm, and she was now comfortably sitting at the kitchen table, sipping her morning tea as she flipped through the daily newspaper. As it seemed, most neighborhoods had survived the storm rather well- even of the areas which had not were absolutely disastrous at this point. Most articles in the newspaper were naturally about the catastrophes, which Cassandra had little interest in. She was just about to shut it and toss it away, when something caught her attention.
"Mysterious Murder committed during last night's storm. Victim and culprit unidentified…strange symbol…" Cassandra read aloud, a slight frown creasing her forehead. A slight frown marred her forehead as she skimmed through the article, before taking a closer look at the small photograph included in the article. It was small and what it was depicting was hard to identify, despite the fact that Cassandra was wearing her reading glasses. Leaning closer to the newspaper, she narrowed her eyes as she put all her focus into trying to make out what was there.
The memory of the old monster stopping her last night flitted through her mind, and she nearly dropped her cup, straightening up in her seat. Surprise painted her expression. Then she frowned. "No way, it couldn't possibly…" yet the longer she looked at the picture of the dismembered corpse, the more confident that it indeed was the little freak she became. "But why?" she asked herself, sighing as she took a sip of her tea and then placed down her cook. "Oh well, don't suppose it really matters," yawning she shrugged her shoulders before downing the rest of the tea and placing the cup with the rest of the dishes.
I better message Elsie about today's schedule… picking up her phone from the kitchen table, she quickly typed up a message and pushed the send button. Then she waited.
And waited. Twenty minutes passed. Half an hour passed. An hour passed… still no reply. It was unlike Elsie, as she usually was rather quick with replies. Starting to get worried, Cassandra eventually decided to take things into her own hands, and pay her loyal secretary a visit.
Location: Southsage City – Roseworth Street – Elsie's Apartment
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 09:23
The sight that met Cassandra as she unlocked the door to Elsie's Apartment after having rung the bell several times without reply, was definitely not what she had expected. She took a few trifling steps backwards, a feeling of nausea settling in her stomach. Blood. There was blood everywhere. On the floor, the furniture, the walls… however, it was not the blood that upset her. As she built up her courage and continued further into the apartment, the amount of blood painting the apartment became worse. Cassandra held her breath, stepping into her living room. Her greatest fear at this point was confirmed as she took in the sight.
In the middle of the living room, on the floor, her secretary was lying in a puddle of blood. She wasn't quite as dismembered as the little guy in the article had been, but she was definitely dead. Her face had been cut up to the point where Cassandra could barely recognize her, but what was still visible of her blonde hair in all the blood betrayed her identity. Just like with the little man, her upper body had been cut up and the heart was missing.
Cassandra's hand covered her mouth as another wave of nausea washed over her. Tears were burning in her eyes. Elsie had been one of the few people she had been able to call
friend, after all. For the first time in her life, she was actually grieving someone's death. Not able to take anymore, she quickly looked away from Elsie's corpse. First then did she notice the strange symbols on the wall. They looked like some sort of message, though she was unable to tell what it said. It had been written in some sort of runes Cassandra didn't recognize. The blonde faction leader clenched her fist, her lips forming a thin line as emotions of rage mixed with sorrow. "Who did this?" hissed, quivering with anger, "that treacherous bastard brother of mine?! Or perhaps even that pet of the watchers. This definitely looks like something he could have done…" her voice was raising in volume by every passing second, in a rare display of hurt. Tears spilled onto her cheeks, yet she refused to let herself sob. Instead she turned her back to her once beloved friend, glancing back only once as she whispered. "I swear, Elise… I'll avenge your death. I'll wipe whomever was responsible for this from existence. They won't get away with this… I promise…" her voice was all but study, and yet there was an undertone of determination in it. She had meant every word of what she said. No matter what, she would find out who had made her friend suffer like this, and give them the same treatment. If it so meant that she had to wipe the entire existence of monsters off this planet. She would do it.
Location: The Sewers
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 09:40
Tony and Jill had always been a mischievous pair of siblings. With less than a year separating them, they were almost like twins. For as long as they could remember, they had been inseparable, almost like gum sticking to a school bench. However, the last year Jill had noticed a change in Tony's behavior. He was no longer quite as carefree and mischievous as he had been in the past, and it wasn't unusual that she found him with a worried or nervous expression. Yet no matter how much she pestered him, he refused to tell her what was weighing on his mind. In fact, to Jill it even seemed like he was avoiding her by constantly going on dangerous missions for war. Eventually, he barely came home at all anymore. She was glad that her brother was rising in rank and pleasing the leader of the rats, but his constant absence saddened her.
Jill was worried, as her brother should have been back from his mission last night. She was very well aware of the storm that had raged on the surface, and couldn't help but worry that something had happened to him. In order to clear her mind, the seventeen years old rat decided to take a short walk around the sewers. Only the usual route, so she wouldn't be going far. She tied her hazel hair into a simple ponytail, before heading out.
She didn't walk for a particularly long time until a crowd of people caught her attention up ahead. They were looking and talking about something, yet Jill was unable to see what from where she was standing. Curiosity dominated, and she quickened her pace, pushing past the fellow rats to see what the commotion was about. Someone snorted and cursed at her, but Jill didn't hear. It was almost as though time stopped for a moment, her heart plunging into her boots.
"No…" she whispered, taking a unsteady step back, "no!" tears burned in her eyes. Before here in a puddle of blood, laid her brother. A once handsome young man with broad shoulders, chestnut shoulder length hair which he usually kept in a short pony tail, and large, warm, gentle hands, which had held Jill's in moments of despair and worry. Now the thumbs of those hands had been removed, his tongue cut out, his head connected to his body by only a strong of flesh. His upper body had been cut out, several ribs were missing, innards had been pulled out and the heart was gone.
Jill swayed on her feet. Her vision was swimming, the world was spinning, the pain in her chest suffocating. She felt sick. Sick to her very stomach. "Tony!" she cried out in despair. It took two other monsters to keep her back, to prevent her from throwing herself at the corpse. Tears streamed down her cheek as she struggled. Jill still couldn't completely comprehend, that her beloved brother was gone for good.
"Whas'sat?" snorted one of the monsters, a middle aged woman looking tougher than all the men present together. She pointed at the wall where strange runes written in blood had been written. Two of the men followed her hand with their gaze.
"Dunno' looks weird… should probably report to the boss," commented one of them. "Could 'ave to do with yesterday…"
The woman nodded before giving one of the men holding Jill a sharp glance. "You go take care of the gal and make sure she's fine," he gaze drifted to a small young man with dark blue hair who'd been silent up until then, looking nervous. "You kiddo, go report to the boss."
Suddenly the boy look terrified. "W-why m-"
"You 'eard me?" the fierce woman asked sharply, giving him a terrifying glance.
He nodded his head nervously and then quickly dashed off towards War's living quarters.
Little did they know that a bit further into the sewers, another rat had suffered exactly the same fate. A child at the age of twelve, who had lost her real parents to the ministry of monster welfare three years ago, and now lived with her grandmother.
Location: The City of the Watchers
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 09:42
As with the sewers, the city of the watchers hadn't really been effected by the storm. Well, the water level had risen somewhat in the sewers, but otherwise not much had really happened. The watchers who resided in their underground city had certainly been least affected by the storm, and many of the citizens didn't even know it had existed in the first place. Shin had known, but didn't really worry about it since he knew that he, and the rest of the watchers would be fairly safe. Thus he had gone through this night like any other, transforming at twelve and then regaining his human form around four. This was how it should have been, at least. Yet for some strange reason… this particular night, not a single monster had transformed into their true selves.
He, like everyone else, had been puzzled and confused by this phenomena. Yet he, like most of the others, had also simply accepted it as it was without thinking about it too much. There was no way he could figure out the 'why' anyway, so why agonize over it? Like most Watchers that night, he had simply gone to sleep in human form.
"Shin! Shin, wake up!"
Shin could feel someone shake him rather violently, stirring him from his sleep. His eyes snapped open, meeting the wide eyed, somewhat panic filled gaze of his elder foster sister. Her hands were shaking, and he could see tears threatening in her eyes.
"What is it?" he asked quickly, having a bad feeling about this. It was rare to see Clara this upset. Something definitely had to be wrong.
"F-f-father…h-he's…" her voice was so thick with emotion, she could barely get out a squeak.
Shin got up without any further delay, gazing at her intently. "Father what? What's with father?" he asked impatiently, feeling the knot in his stomach tighten.
"F-father is…" Clara couldn't speak. The tears she'd been holding back for so long spilled onto her cheeks as she cried, shaking her head.
Shin breathed a deep sigh, grasping hold of her shoulders to shake her lightly. "Tell me, what's wrong with him?!" he asked, suddenly sounding somewhat harsher. Worry was written all across his face. When he didn't get a reply, he let go of her and hurried out of his room. He could hear a loud sobbing coming from the living room. Without hesitation, he hurried in the direction of the sobbing.
On the floor his foster mother was sitting, a plump middle aged woman with mouse gray hair and a kind face, holding the bloodied and cut up corpse of her husband in her arms. His ears, nose and eyes were missing, and just like all the other victims of the storm, he'd been cut up and his heart was missing. Strange symbols were on the wall. Shin could feel a shudder go down his spine at the sight, and he momentarily forced his eyes shut. Taking a deep breath, he reopened them and looked directly at his foster mother, remaining calm. "Where are the twins?" he asked, his voice flat.
She looked up at him, tears and blood smeared on her face. "Upstairs…" she rasped weakly, her voice barely audible.
Shin nodded and walked over to her, crouching down by her said. Carefully, he placed his hand on her back and stroked it gently. "Go up the twins. They need you. You're their mother…" he instructed calmly, though there was a note of authority in his voice. The look she gave him in response was first shocked, then angry… though as she considered what his words meant, it softened and she nodded her head. Reluctantly she let go of her husband. Then, after having wiped her tears as good as she could with her bloodied hands, she did as she was told and headed up the stairs to tend to her youngest children.
Now alone, the black haired youth gazed as his foster father's corpse silently for a moment. Then he bowed to it in respect, whispering- "thank you for…everything," before once and for all turning his back on him and heading outside.
A while later he arrived at Noelani's living quarters, firmly knocking at the door to her room. He could only hope that she was still there…
Location: The City of Soutsage – Ministry of Monster Welfare's Headquarters
Date: 09/09 /2019
Time: 11:27
"Director Wolf."
"Yes?" answered the man behind the back of the leather chair calmly, gazing at his reflection in the large window that gave him a good view of the city, "what is it, Commander Snow?" lighting his cigar, he let the chair turn around so that he could face one of his trusted commanders. Jace Snow was a tall and handsome man in his mid-twenties, with long white hair that reached to about his mid waist. Although he usually wore it loose, sometimes he would tie it into a ponytail. As usual, he was dressed in the black uniform of the company, and as usual, his expression was flat and unreadable.
"It appears that one of our patients has died." Commander Snow inquired calmly, glancing down at the clipboard in his hands, "Subject. 091 – C, to be precise."
Director Wolf arched an eyebrow. "And…? Subjects die all the time. Was he given too high a doses of the vaccine?" though if that was the case, Commander Snow probably wouldn't have been there to tell him that in person. It would just have been in the weekly report from the lab.
As expected, the commander shook his head in response. "No, director wolf… this is how he was found this morning." The commander took a step towards the director, placing down the clipboard on Wolf's desk. Amongst other things, there were a few photos of the condition the subject had been found in.
A slight frown married the director's forehead as he rubbed his chin as he studied the pictures. "He was killed…" the director stated the obvious, "by one of the scientists?" he asked slowly, studying the face of Commander Snow carefully. Somehow the director had a hard time imagining it was one of the scientists. Why kill their patients in such a gruesome and idiotic way? None of them really were that bad, as far as Director Wolf understood. Yet if it wasn't one of them… it meant someone had managed to get past their security system and broken into the facility. This was a rather worrisome prospect.
The commander shook his head again. "No, most likely not. The deed happened during the short moment between the time we lost power and our generator had to start. No normal human could move that fast…"
Director Wolf nodded his head a little, looking thoughtful as he continued studying the picture. The middle aged man's head had been completely severed. His knees were missing and so were his teeth and eyes. His mouth had been sewn shut, his upper body cut open. The heart was missing.
Why would anyone do this? Where are the missing body parts? I don't understand… the director pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Then something strange came to mind. Frowning, he looked at the other pictures. There were markings on the wall. "Those symbols…" he said, looking as though suddenly everything made sense. A slight smirk tugged the corners of his lips. "And so everything begins… do you know of any more victims?"
The commander nodded his head, handing the newspaper to the director. Wolf skimmed through the article, nodding his head thoughtfully to himself. Then he breathed in the thick smoke of his cigar and turned his gray eyes back to Commander Snow.
"… would you please be so kind and send for the first class agents. I want them here within an hour." The Director ordered.
"As you wish, Director Wolf…" the commander bowed and then started to stride out. "Within an hour," he repeated his boss's words before disappearing out of the office.
The Directors smirk faded, replaced by a slight look of concern as he turned his gaze back to the city. "And so it begins…" he repeated his own worlds slowly, smoking his cigar.
