Whether by luck or just by providence, the car I was on did not require any electronic access. In fact the last coach looked positively ancient, like it was an antique that was pulled out of the last 400 years, from back when trains were just becoming a thing. I was able to drag the doors to the side as I stepped into it with a careful look on my face. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
I let loose an involuntary gasp at the sight in front of me, a scene right from a horror movie would be an apt description for this. The entire coach was covered in blood and decapitated bodies. Multiple crates were open as Cards floated every which way, with some of them even floating on top of the ruined mess that was the bodies of quite a few very dead soldiers. It was as if a tornado of blades had gone through the coach and tore everyone to pieces it was horrific, but in the end I was not alone.
It was inevitable that my eyes would find him eventually or rather her. She was sitting at a corner of the coach, her eyes red as her blonde hair now coated and slick with blood stuck to her face like glue. She was heaving, breathing heavily with each breathe that she took, and those red eyes, eerie as they were gave me a chill that left me stuck in place. They were manic, crazed, but ultimately they were the eyes of a predator and I was prey.
*Whoosh!*
There was a sound of rushing wind as she vanished from my line of sight, it shocked me as I'd not even blinked, but it was as if I had and then she was gone. I shook my head, was I perhaps seeing things? Maybe seeing such a bloody scene has messed me up, though in all honesty I was pretty much unmoved by the sight. The war with Palladia was just under 7 years ago. I was young but….I've seen my own fair share of bloodshed and gory scenes, some of which included bodies of my own family.
I moved to take a step forward, only to stop as I heard her. She has been there this entire time and I had not felt her presence, she was behind me. Breathing down on my neck, her lips just a hair's breath away from my skin. I'm not so sure there's an apt word to describe what it was I felt in that moment, horror, fear. A major part of me knew she was responsible for the carnage within this bloody coach, and perhaps I was to be her next victim.
"Kid get down!"
I did not question where that question was coming from, I got down just as a shot from a rail gun went off. Half her chest was blown open as I caught sight of a soldier that looked half dead, his entrails hanging outside of his body and both his legs twisted and bent in awkward angles. By all means he ought to be dead, but he was still able to grab onto the massive rifle and fire it off against the woman.
"Reeaaaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!"
She screamed in pain, and that's when I saw it. The fangs in her mouth, extending longer than what should be possible for a human being. Even if she had a transformation card, partial or full, there was just something positively evil about her fangs. She blurred past me, with more than half her body missing, I saw her reappear in front of the soldier as claws longer than normal slid out of her hands, then she laid into him, using her strength to wrench the gun out of the soldier's hands and flinging it backwards where it smashed into my chest, breaking a few ribs in the process.
I felt the wind knocked out of me and things that I didn't even know I had in my body break. I instinctively held on to the gun, as through a pain filled haze I watched her tear the soldier apart, her groans eerie and nerve wracking, and in such a way it left me shaking all the way down to my boots. I pointed the rail gun in her direction, barely able to lift the massive thing. Without a card my system was not active and I was just a very athletic normal person….I'm going to die here aren't I?
But who was here to answer that question, who was here to save me. All of a sudden she stopped, then slowly, methodically she turned and brought the full brunt of her fiery red gaze to me. I didn't think, my body froze, it locked up in fright as she moved. Perhaps because of the adrenaline that I was feeling she moved slow, or better yet perhaps it was that thing people say about when you're about to die….. everything slows down and you feel your life start to flash before your eyes.
But there was no flashing memories, just me in this dark coach, and those pearly white fangs and red eyes. Just me and death in the body of an insane woman….. and so my trembling finger squeezed the trigger. The rail gun was the size of my entire body, the moment it fired all that I could possibly care about was the pain. The recoil so strong that it lifted me up and slammed me back against the wall of the coach, hard enough to have left a dent in the wall as I involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood. I couldn't help it this time as I cried out in pain feeling my shoulder pop as I slid back to the ground, nestled amongst blood and bodies torn apart.
[Ding! As Per The Ancient Ways! You Have Slain A Card Master With An Ancient Deck! As Such Ownership Of The Deck {Vampyre} Has Been Handed Over To You! Adeoluwa 'Ade' Warchild!]
[Ding! You Have Gained Your First Card! Your System Has Been Unlocked! Welcome Ade! To The Path Of Kings]