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ilykazashi · 1 year ago

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crown of thorns: chapter one

desc: fantasy story featuring my own ocs. 2.1k words.

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a/n: this is the first chapter in a new series of mine, crown of thorns!! i'm very happy to have this finished and i pray to find a constant rhythm to continue writing and posting!! i might edit this post a few times, since this isn't beta read :') hope you all enjoy!

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tw: descriptions of blood and injury, cussing, and physical violence

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The rain fell heavily that night, soaking everything in Huosea City: skyscrapers, city-goers, plants, and one unfortunate young woman— me, Tanaka Ayaka, a newcomer to the city. The night was stormy, yet the air smelled like the familiar rain of the countryside far away. The urban cityscape was colder and wetter than it usually was, even in the rainy season of the year. Skyscrapers stood tall against the busy people of the city, people who traveled from one place to another with the utmost urgency.

I sigh, opening up a simple black umbrella. Rain pitter-patters on the umbrella, a sound that would usually be comforting to me if my apartment wasn’t another ten minutes from here. The bright lights of billboards shine down on the puddles of the wet streets. I had studied at the library later than I usually did to prepare for the upcoming finals that my school seemed determined to pile onto every student there. Wiping the fat raindrops off of it, I check the time. 11:38. Great— it was almost midnight and I wasn’t even close to feeling ready for tomorrow.

A feeling of hopelessness settles within me. I had spent all this time and money trying to get into this university which made my mental health feel like it was slipping more and more every week I attended. Was this really what my family had helped me to do? If I didn’t pass these tests, these finals, I would be done for. Everything I had worked so hard for would be gone and I would be forced to go back home, to face my shame knowing that I had used all my family could give me and couldn’t even repay it. I should have been able to help them— no, I should be able to help them. This feeling, this shame, is not something so easily escapable.

The looks I imagine would cross my parents’s faces are things I never want to see. To think that I had wasted the little money that they had is an extremely disconcerting thought for me. I attempt a few deep breaths, but the anxiety resides within me. Cold rain slides down my cheeks. I look up and reposition my umbrella even though I’m already dripping wet. I’m stewing in my thoughts and shame until I feel a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around and my gaze meets that of a guy around my age. He has the familiar dark hair, wide eyes, and spattering of freckles of the student I sit next to. It takes me an embarrassing moment until I realize that he is in fact, my classmate.

“Don’t you sit next to me in Historical Studies? You’re Ryou, right?” I looked at him and realized that he was about to say something to me before I cut him off. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you about to say something?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I noticed you were walking back to the dorms. It’s so dark out here, I figured you could use some company.”

I nod and thank him. We walk and talk together, lost in conversation. I got to know him better, so eventually I mindlessly placed my trust in him to lead me in the right direction.

What a mistake that was.

I somehow came to my senses after an extensive debate with Ryou over which of our classes is easier. Looking around my surroundings, I realize that the dorm building is nowhere in sight. Where am I?

“Are we lost?” The question falls out of my mouth, sounding scared and timid. Ryou shakes his head.

He turns to face me. “You’re right where I need you.” A sharp glint of steel cuts through the darkness of the alley. My understanding of the situation finally came. I’ve been tricked.

Ryou thrusts the knife at my head and I dodge, somehow, but my umbrella suffers a gash through the top. I step backward, almost falling into a rotten dumpster. The stench is awful, coming from a heap of black trash bags. I gag a bit at the sight. A second knife is pulled from the pocket of his rainjacket. Ryou extends his arm towards my neck, gripping the knife in his hand. I’m so done for. What a terrible way to go out, killed and maybe thrown into a stinky dumpster full of who-knows-what. I close my eyes and prepare for a slash in the next, but it never comes. I open my eyes to see Ryou holding the blade to my throat, his eyes full of what looks like… desperation. He speaks, trying to hide his cracking voice.

“Ayaka, I’m sorry— you don’t understand how badly I need this.” His voice shakes. “How badly I need you.”

My eyes widen at the statement. I’m of average looks, pretty to some, but no stunner. There are hundreds of other girls at my university, hell, in the class Ryou and I have together.

“Why me?” My voice shakes at the threat of a polished blade against it.

“I can tell there’s something… special about you. Not in how you look, but deep down.” His hand moves to my face, cupping my cheek. When Ryou speaks, his voice isn’t like anything I’ve heard from him. It’s quiet yet crazed, talking to me like I’m some sort of lab experiment. “Have you ever heard of abilities?”

“Abilities? Like what a person can accomplish?”

“No. Not like that. Like a magical power. People who can wield it are very rare… very rare indeed. And I suspect that you have an ability yourself.”

I look at him, not hiding my expression of confusion. “And you think I’m one of them? Why does that matter?”

Ryou speaks in a voice that is somehow more hushed. “Do you not know what I am, Ayaka? I am first and foremost a scientist. Assuming you are an ability user, you have a bodily system superior to mine and every other average human’s. And people like me are very interested in that sort of thing. Your organs, your body parts would sell. How about that, hm?”

My response comes without much of a thought. Not that it ever needed one. “No. No, I am not selling my organs or my body parts for research, no matter how much it helps.”

Ryou’s gaze does not falter. “Please. Please reconsider.”

“No. I will not.”

His eyes narrow, a cold gaze crossing his face. “Then I suppose I’ll make do with your dead body.” He swipes at me and I dodge, dropping my umbrella. A fight in the rain, great. Ryou attempts a punch to my gut. I step back, missing by a hair as his fist grazes my stomach. He tries to knock me down by swiping at my feet. I retaliate with what I believe to be a weak punch to the face, but it sends him crashing into the wall. His face is bruised and covered in blood, his nose shattered and arm broken from the impact. Surely I didn’t hit him that hard. I look at my fist which feels like it's coursing with energy. I doubt that I’ve ever hit anything quite as hard as I did then. Was that what an ability felt like? My attention flips back to Ryou. He grimaces, shakily standing up and clutching his shoulder. His once-clean face is ruined by bruises, blood, and a disgusting look of contempt.

“You bitch. I’ll get you for that. I’ll get you now!” Ryou screams hoarsely at me. Rage fills his eyes as his hand flies towards a small pistol in a murderous rage. He points the weapon at me and I hear the familiar click! as it’s aimed right at my forehead. Ryou’s finger rests on the trigger, ready to shoot, until something stops him— the clicking of heels against the street of the alley. It comes from the shadows, a corner that no one bothered to look. A strange sound ensues, the unsheathing of a blade; but it wasn’t the sound of any familiar edge. It was long and drawn out, like a sword unsheathed. Before I had time to uselessly contemplate it any further, the sword, or more specifically a katana, lit the dark alley. The metal glowed a warning shade of red, electricity crackling up to the hilt like some sort of taser-sword combo. Who the hell would use that, and how did it light up like that? Was this woman an ability user?

My answer becomes clear as the wielder’s face is lit in red, revealing to be a dangerous-looking woman. The lightning illuminates her lanky silhouette and strange attire that resembles the armor of the House of Cobra where the Emperor lives. The woman looks older and definitely taller than me, maybe in her thirties, and battle-hardened. A faded yet visible scar runs from the bottom of her left eye down to the collar of her long coat. What a strange person, I think to myself before my thoughts dissipate when she thrusts the sparking sword at Ryou’s head. His eyes widen and he yelps, barely dodging the blade as it passes by his shoulder. The woman’s dark eyes narrow, clearly unhappy with his survival.

“Leave her be,” Her voice is harsher and raspier than I expected, but the urgency is clearly there despite her haughty and cold expression. Ryou foolishly lunges towards the woman, hoping to land a punch, but is met with failure as she dodges easily. A look of annoyance yet confusion crosses his face.

“How did you—” His query is interrupted by the woman’s swift grab of his dirtied shirt. With a strange amount of ease, she throws him back to the wall. I watch from the other side with a mix of fascination and fear that I’ve never felt before. This woman was handling Ryou like a sack of potatoes. A few punches and dodges ensue until Ryou takes advantage of the woman’s position, using an opening to grab and unsheath her sword, slashing her face. The woman’s face does not lose its grace as she takes him by the arm, throwing him down to the hard, concrete ground and most likely breaking a fair amount of his bones. Ryou’s eyes roll to the back of his head as he spits out a mouthful of blood from the impact, cursing under his breath as the same sword he attempted to steal was pointed right at his throat.

“Ryou Watanabe. You have committed multiple crimes worthy of imprisonment and possibly even death, which include but are not limited to multiple counts of murder, fraud, assault, breaking and entering, embezzlement, and theft. Do you accept these charges?” She spoke as if she was justice herself. “If you accept, you will be taken to trial in front of the House of Viper. If you deny, you will be taken there forcibly after questioning with my colleagues and I of the Red Moon Syndicate.” Ryou’s face paled at that last statement, one that I don’t understand.

“Fuck. You’re from the Syndicate? I thought you were just some try-hard police officer!” Ryou sounded more scared than ever. “Just who the hell are you?”

“Aikawa Kazashi. Future leader of the Syndicate, noblewoman, and if you slip up, your executioner as well. So, do you accept or deny your charges?”

“I deny.”

One swift kick to the head and Ryou was out cold, leaving me with whoever this Kazashi woman was. My legs shake as I try to stand up and step away from the situation, but not before she speaks to me. Chains and metal clink as she walks closer to where I stand.

“And who are you?” Kazashi looks down at me with her arms crossed, practically oozing hostility. Despite her fight with Ryou, she barely has a scratch or bruise on her. This woman was unreal. I don’t wish to be executed, so I maintain an air of dignity in my response.

“Tanaka Ayaka. I’m a university student.” My gaze flits to her sword, which is sheathed and not electrified anymore. I bring up the question that had been burning in my mind since I saw her. “Who are you?”

Her voice does not falter in her next words. “I am a killer.”

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#crown of thorns ☆#astr3eaa's writings #writers on tumblr #original story #☆☆☆☆

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