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xennariel · 6 years

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Grim Aria - Chapter 1

I’ve decided to post the first three chapters to my novel publicly, not just the prologue, so enjoy! If you like this story, please consider supporting me on Patreon? I’m posting my novel as a monthly serialization on Patreon, posting a new chapter for patrons every month!

This is also posted on FictionPress and AO3!

Prologue

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror Rating: T for violence, swearing, and gore Summary: Xennariel Revenlyr is an Ankhari, a race of demon from a world known as Shadira. After tragedy strikes her people, she feels she has nothing left to live for but vengeance for her family. She decides to dedicate her life to finding and killing Chiron, the Lord of the Chaos Demons and the man that is responsible for her family’s deaths.

Due to events beyond her control, Xen finds herself trapped in an unfamiliar place that she later discovers is our world, a world dominated by humans that are unaware of the existence of other dimensions. She spends the next eight years futilely trying to find a way home, thinking she needs to get back to Shadira in order to kill Chiron. But maybe she doesn’t need to go that far to find him after all.

Begrudgingly accepting the help of a young man who seems oddly interested in the paranormal, Xennariel faces challenges, unexpected enemies, and attempts to cope with past trauma while trying to find a way home. Through it all, she refuses to give up on getting back to Shadira, regardless of the attachments she might be making in our world.

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Chapter 1

The crisp night air brought in a chill from the North and Xennariel tightened her cloak around her shoulders. Thunder rolled in the distance, getting closer with every crash. The trees around her swayed in the howling wind and strands of her long azure hair flew about, becoming a tangled mess. She lifted the hood of her cloak over her head and struggled to tuck her hair under it.

A little more time. Just a little more time was all she needed. The weather had changed unexpectedly as soon as she began her hunt, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from catching the shadow demon she was tracking.

How exactly these lesser demons were getting into this world was a mystery she very much wanted to solve. If she could find out where they were getting into this world from…

Thunder boomed again, this time much closer, just as Xennariel caught up to the shadow demon she’d been hunting. It was an ugly thing, floating horizontally off the ground with no visible legs, just dark mist dripping from its elongated torso. It appeared to be made entirely of dark smoke, its outstretched, spindly arms the only truly solid thing about it. Where its face should have been was shrouded, its eye sockets hollow, mouth full of jagged, razor like teeth. Xennariel could make out the trees through its body. The shadow demon would be hard to spot to anyone that didn’t know what to look for.

“Go, Shakuran,” Xennariel muttered.

The wolf at her side took off in a blur of silver and blue. He rounded about the shadow demon to trap it between him and Xennariel, who swiftly dashed forward when it tried to flee, corralling it back toward Shakuran. Shakuran snarled and snapped at the lesser demon and it reared back, mouth opening to let out a high pitched screech, its jagged jaws dripping with dark mist and saliva. Xennariel and Shakuran closed the gap between them until the shadow demon had nowhere to run. Xennariel conjured a ball of shadows in her hand that crackled with blue and purple lightning. She threw it at the demon and it fell with a howl to the ground, writhing and twisting in pain.

Xennariel smirked at the shadow demon, standing over it and placing her hands at either side of the demon’s body. She slowly dragged her hands apart, eliciting an even louder scream from it as she tore away its life energy. After a brief flash of light, the shadow demon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Xennariel held its life energy in her hand, a ball of dark mist floating inches above her palm. Tossing it in the air, she leaned her head back and opened her mouth to devour it, taking a deep breath and licking her lips. It was the first soul she’d eaten in years and she could already feel herself growing stronger again. She didn’t know how demons from her world were suddenly finding their way to the one she was currently stuck in, but it was working out in her favor.

“Well, that’s taken care of. Let’s go back, Shaku. I’m tired.”

They trudged back to the house just as it started to rain. Xennariel slipped in through the side door with Shakuran right behind her. Once inside, Xen removed her cloak, hanging it on the coat rack to dry. Shakuran shook, spraying water all over the entryway and Xennariel glared at him. He brushed past her, ignoring her scowl, and ascended the stairs.

“Rude, Shaku,” Xen grumbled.

Taking her shoes off, she followed him up the stairs to dry off and get some much needed sleep.

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Xennariel groaned and yawned, groggily sitting up in her bed. She threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side, feet landing on the plush rug covering the wooden floor of her room. She wriggled her toes and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up. Shakuran lay at the foot of her bed and cocked an ear, one eye opening to watch Xennariel stand and stumble toward the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Warily, she stared at herself in the mirror while she brushed her teeth. She looked terrible. The young woman who stared back had bags under her eyes, matted hair, and pasty skin. The current shabby appearance of her human form was a testament to how terribly she had slept. She dreamt of her past again. It had been a while since that memory manifested itself in her nightmares, but when it did, it always made for a restless night.

Sighing, she spat out a mouthful of toothpaste, rinsed out her mouth, and began attempting to remove the tangles from her hair. It had gotten long, now falling almost to her waist. When she finally managed to free her hair of all knots, she put a blue contact into her right eye, then looked herself over in the mirror once more. She reached up to the black, leather choker around her neck with a large silver hoop dangling from it. A silver chain was connected to the hoop, winding its way around her shoulders and back. Her hand fell from her neck to the chain, tugging at it a bit. It was impossible to remove, enchanted as it was, but it never stopped her from fidgeting with it anyway. Sighing, she dropped her hand back to her side, nodded in satisfaction at her appearance, and left the bathroom to change out of her pajama shirt.

Shakuran was awake when she walked back out into her room. He stood and stretched before stepping down off the bed without even needing to jump. He had grown so much since they woke up in this world eight years ago, yet Xennariel had barely grown at all. Despite being seventeen years old, she wasn’t much taller than she had been as a kid. It was something that annoyed her and she wished she knew what had stunted her growth. She had her guesses, but none of it explained why Shakuran still grew up normally.

“Well Shaku, I’m off,” Xennariel said with a yawn, scratching the wolf behind his ears as she walked past him.

Her bedroom was located on the third floor of a log home. The upper floors were used as living space for the family she was staying with and the bottom floor was a cafe and coffee shop run by said family. The couple that had found her all those years ago had a son who was older than her and they all had rooms on the second floor. When Xennariel came to stay with them, they gave her the attic space, fixing it up with a bathroom, window seat, and French windows that opened up to a rooftop deck. It was a nice setup and Xennariel was certainly not complaining about having a roof over her head and a comfortable place to sleep. The rustic and nature inspired atmosphere of the house, as well as the fact that it backed up to a dense forest, made her feel at home, which was a definite bonus.

She shuffled down the stairs to the door that lead to the second floor from her room, opening the door and stepping out into the dim hallway. It seemed her adoptive brother wasn’t awake yet. Typical. They needed to open the cafe in less than half an hour, but he was still off in dreamland, probably expecting Xennariel to do everything, as usual.

Xennariel descended the staircase to the main floor and flicked on the lights. The main entry to the living portion of the house was across from the stairs and she meandered through the foyer toward the kitchen when a muffled thump on the other side of the door caught her attention. Furrowing her brow, she crept to the front door and listened. The sound came again so she unlocked the bolts and flung the door open only to have a blond man fall over the threshold and almost land on top of her.

“Ow,” the man yelped, rubbing his head as he stood up again. “Oh, so you are home. Thanks for finally letting me in.”

Xennariel gaped at her adoptive brother, Jesse Rousseau. His blond hair was mussed, his clothes wrinkled, and, judging from the bags under his green eyes, he must have slept terribly. He shouldn’t have been outside at this hour. She thought he had been asleep in his room upstairs.

“What the hell? You weren’t even home?”

“Met this chick last night and she invited me to her place and well, ya know, I just stayed there. She was hot.”

Xennariel sighed and leaned on the banister behind her, covering her face with her hands. Of course he was with a pretty girl. He could never resist chasing tail. It was infuriating, especially when she was left to do everything by herself. His parents were off touring Europe for his mom’s modeling career and he was supposed to be in charge of the cafe. But every day, he’d go off with some girl or his friends and leave the running of Blue Rain to Xennariel and the small staff that worked for them. She could handle it. That wasn’t the problem. The issue was that she had so many more important things that she needed to be doing.

“Well good,” Xennariel huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re home and awake so you can actually help me with the cafe today.”

“Aw, c’mon Maggie,” Jesse groaned, using the name Xennariel had given when his family first found her. When they asked her name, she had given her middle name, Megari, out of caution. They misheard her, but she never bothered correcting them. “Cut me some slack.”

“Cut you some slack? You never do anything! You’re the adult here. Ya know, the one that’s supposed to be in charge? You’re so lazy. Just do your job.”

“I don’t need a little brat like you telling me what to do.” Xennariel kicked him in the shin for his jab at her height and he doubled over to hold his leg. “Ow, hey!”

“I wouldn’t have to tell you what to do if you wouldn’t shirk your duties.”

She turned and stomped off to the kitchen to resume her morning preparations. The swinging door that led to the cafe from the kitchen flew open as she stormed through.

It was always surreal to see the cafe so quiet. The lingering scent of coffee hung in the air. With the curtains drawn, only a meager amount of sunlight filtered in, casting streaks of light over the booths and tables stacked with chairs. The steady hum of the ice cream and soda machines behind the bar were the only sounds to be heard other than the door flapping behind Xennariel. It was peaceful and she wished she wouldn’t have to ruin it by dealing with customers all day.

Xennariel unlocked the entrance to the cafe and opened all the windows to let in as much natural light and fresh air as possible. Blue Rain was notorious for getting stuffy when it got busy. Just as she turned her back on the door to start pulling chairs off of tables, the door opened. It jingled as it hit the little bell hanging above it, grabbing Xennariel’s attention.

“Maggie!” A girl with short blonde hair pranced into the cafe, her blue eyes bright and focused on Xennariel. “Good morning!”

Xennariel breathed a short sigh of relief. Leave it to Amy to show up early on a Saturday to help set things up even though she wasn’t scheduled until later. She and Amy became friends a year or so after Xen was adopted by the Rousseau’s. They were the same age and met in school. Amy was sad when Xennariel ended up testing out of high school, but Xen wanted to focus on getting back to Shadira rather than wasting her time with unnecessary human schooling. When Amy came looking for a part time job last year, she was hired right away for her spunk and enthusiasm and Xennariel was grateful she would have someone to talk to while working. It made the work days pass a little faster.

“Hey, Amy. Mind helping me out with setting up the tables?”

“Sure! Let me just put my stuff down.”

The multicolored bracelets adorning her arms clinked and jingled as Amy practically skipped over to the long bar at the far end of the cafe. A piece of the wall was cut out behind it connecting to the kitchen and Amy tossed her purse through the hole. It landed with a thud near the dining table Xennariel and her adoptive family used for personal meals. Grabbing an apron from behind the counter, Amy wrapped it around herself and got to work helping Xennariel pull chairs off the tables.

“Zak’s coming in today right?” Xennariel asked as they set the tables with silverware and glasses.

“Mmhmm, should be here soonish, I think.”

Zak was the part time cook for the cafe and had come in with Amy to apply a year prior. It was an easy job for him to handle while he went to college a few towns away and he just so happened to be a fantastic cook. The three friends were the ones that ran the cafe while Jesse was off galavanting around town.

The two finished setting up the cafe just in time to open. Blue Rain was a favorite spot for the locals and, as expected, morning regulars showed up just as Xennariel flicked on the ‘open’ sign.

Zak showed up half an hour late with profuse apologies, his jeans covered in ink stains and his brown hair looking as if he hadn’t combed it that morning.

“Dad messed up the computer systems at the shop again,” Zak sighed. “It took a while for me figure out what was wrong and get things up and running.”

He donned an apron and got to work in the kitchen right away. They were lucky no one had ordered any food yet. Just coffee. Lots of coffee. It was actually what Blue Rain was known for, even with a menu full of delicious food options.

In such a small town, everyone seemed to know everyone and familiar faces trickled in throughout the day. It was just another boring Saturday until a small group of tourists walked in. A blonde teen immediately caught Amy’s eye and she spent the rest of the day talking to him as often as she could.

Zak noticed Amy chatting with the boys at the booth in the corner and he sighed, his brown eyes staring off in distant longing. Xennariel caught Zak staring at Amy and wondered when Amy would ever notice his feelings for her or find a boyfriend she could actually stick with for more than a week. Xen was rooting for the former, but with Amy, who she dated seemed to be completely random and based entirely on sudden puppy love on her part. She fell in love hard and fast and was always broken hearted when she eventually realized how superficial the relationships actually were. Zak sighed and turned to get back to work.

Closing time came around after what seemed like forever. Xenariel bid her friends good night after declining their invitation to hang out, claiming she was too tired. She trudged up the stairs to her room, noting that Jesse wasn’t home again as she passed the dark hall. That slacker would get an earful the next time she saw him. His parents were such nice people and how they managed to raise such a jerk was lost on Xennariel.

She reached the door to the refurbished attic and opened it, climbing the stairs into her room after locking the door behind her. It had been a long day, but she had an even longer night ahead of her.

Just because she was trapped in a world run by humans didn’t mean she wanted to be. When she wasn’t blending in, she was researching ways to return to Shadira, her world. The place she belonged. Things like walking around in a human form, refraining from using magic in the presence of others, and keeping Shakuran out of sight, were getting tiring. Drawing suspicion was the last thing she wanted though, so she went about her days pretending to be human and used her nights to try to find a portal that would take her home. It was a shame she never did master that form of magic. She would have gone home years ago if she was able to activate portal runes.

Shakuran greeted her as she reached the top of the steps. She rubbed his head and he pushed close to her, enjoying getting his ears scratched. She snagged a book from out of a drawer in her night table and scanned the runed cover to make sure it was the one she wanted. Opening the French windows, she stepped onto the cushioned window seat, careful not to knock any pillows off, and climbed out onto the rooftop deck with Shakuran right behind her. Two plush armchairs sat under an awning stretching out from above her windows. She dragged one of them over to the edge of the deck so she could sit and look out over the backyard while she read, into the darkening forest beyond. It was relaxing to simply sit out on that deck, the sounds of birds and crickets filling the air, the sun slowly dipping below the horizon, making way for the moon and stars to dot the sky above her.

If she closed her eyes, it almost felt like she was home.

Movement just inside the line of trees before her caught Xennariel’s attention and she leaned forward a bit, eyes narrowing as she watched and waited to catch sight of whatever it was. Shakuran’s ears perked and he too moved to look in the direction of Xennariel’s gaze, his body tense, eyes alert. A low growl reached their ears and a shadowy figure darted past their line of vision. They sprang to their feet, Xennariel leaping to the ledge of the rail that surrounded the deck, crouching for a moment before leaping off the roof. She landed gracefully on her feet and darted at an inhuman pace toward the forest. Shakuran followed her a moment later and they disappeared into the treeline.

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It was a lovely, cool evening for a jog, yet Loki’s loose t-shirt still clung to the sweat on his back. He had been running for over three miles already. It was inevitable that he’d work up a sweat. That didn’t mean it was any less uncomfortable.

Pausing to wipe his brow with the sweatband on his wrist, he quickly resumed his nightly jog, passing all the familiar homes and streets on his path. As he neared the end of his route, he paused for a moment again to pull his too-long dark hair into a tighter ponytail, glancing at the forest several paces away. It must have been something in the air that night, but after taking a swig from the water bottle clipped to his sweatpants, he decided to press on. Another few minutes of running before heading home couldn’t hurt. It was a beautiful night and it felt like a shame not to enjoy it a little longer.

Loki continued jogging down the path into the forest. With the sun almost gone from the sky he couldn’t spend too much longer in the woods or he would never be able to see to get back, but the night’s breeze pulled him in, pushed him forward. He breathed in the refreshing air, the scent of pine and cedar filling his nose. It always felt good to be out of the house for any amount of time, but nights like these were what he lived for. If he was lucky, maybe he would even stumble upon some kind of paranormal activity. It seemed like the kind of night for that sort of thing.

The forest ahead of him lit up, suddenly. What appeared to be purple and blue lightning flashed through the trees and vanished just as soon as it appeared. Loki stopped in his tracks and blinked. His staying out late had actually payed off. There really was some kind of strange thing going on in the woods that night. He grinned and took off toward where he saw the lightning, hoping he wasn’t too late to catch sight of whatever it was that caused it.

What he stumbled upon was unexpected to say the least.

A girl stood over a cloud of smoke on the ground. She was small, but even in the dim light Loki could tell she wasn’t a child. Her eyes glowed blue in the twilight, the right more dimly than the left. Her long hair, azure from what he could make out, flowed and billowed out around her, like the smoke pooling at her feet. She wore a silver sleeveless trench coat that buttoned in an almost oriental style in the front, the inside of which was a deep purple. Loki had never seen a style quite like it. A teal turtleneck stuck out from the coat’s scooping neckline and a choker with a chain attached to it rested over the turtleneck’s collar. Black pants and shoes completed her ensemble with black fingerless gloves adorning her hands.

The chain around her shoulders was an odd thing for a person to wear and it drew Loki’s attention, the light glimmering off the silver metal as the girl cast her magic. Why would she wear something like that? Wasn’t it uncomfortable? At her side was a large canine looking animal. He would have called it a wolf if its fur had been normal colors, but it was blue and silver, like the girl, and Loki wondered if his eyes were just playing tricks on him.

It was then that Loki noticed the smoke on the ground was moving erratically and wasn’t smoke at all, but some kind of creature. It screeched as the girl ripped something out of it, the sound so loud and grating Loki needed to cover his ears. He cringed and moments later it was abruptly cut off, the creature evaporating in a puff of mist and smoke.

The girl then proceeded to eat whatever it was she pulled out of the thing in one gulp, a satisfied grin on her face.

Loki took an involuntary step back.

The sound of leaves and twigs crunching under Loki’s feet alerted Xennariel and Shakuran to his presence and he gulped as they turned to face him. His violet eyes met her glowing blue and he faltered, unsure of what to say or how to proceed.

Xennariel mentally cursed herself for not noticing a human watching her until it was too late. Lying her way out of this one would be impossible.

“You’re not human,” was all Loki could lamely manage to say. She certainly looked human, but no human could use magic like she had.

Xennariel smirked.

“Gee, what gave that away?” She noted his expression and her grin turned wicked. “Am I scary?” Loki’s eyes widened as she smiled back at him, head cocked slightly to the side. It was creepy and he shivered.

“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all...” he muttered. Taking a deep breath, Loki composed himself as best he could and cleared his throat. He was treading on thin ice, but nerves alone weren’t enough to make him turn tail and run. There was an opportunity here and was going to take it. “Wouldn’t you try to keep that a secret, though? You were making quite the scene out here. I saw your magic or whatever it was all the way back at the entrance to the woods. Not a very effective way to keep people from noticing you.”

Shakuran let out a soft growl and Xennariel narrowed her eyes, practically growling herself. Any trace of humor was gone from her features.

“I could kill you where you stand.”

“But you won’t, right? That’s why you’re hunting those things instead of people, isn’t it?”

Loki was gambling with fate by bantering with, well, whatever she was. But meeting her could prove to be to his benefit. He had always wanted to be a part of the supernatural world. His father had books on the paranormal, magic texts that Loki couldn’t make heads or tails of when he was younger. It was fascinating and he wanted in on all of it. This girl could potentially offer him that. If he played his cards right...

Xennariel huffed and put her hands on her hips.

“Listen, if you so much as hint to anyone of what you’ve seen tonight--”

“I won’t,” Loki interrupted, his voice shaking with a tinge of fear and excitement. “As long as you let me go with you on these little adventures of yours.”

Xennariel blinked and furrowed her brow, wondering what exactly this human was thinking. Blackmailing a demon? Did he have no sense?

“Why would I possibly want to negotiate with you?”

“Because I can help you. I have connections, particularly with the military and law enforcement and research facilities across the country. If you want to hunt creatures like that smoke monster or whatever it was, it could make things easier. Not having to hide or worry about trouble with the law is pretty convenient.”

Loki was getting excited. Was he really doing this? Could he really pull this off? He wasn’t positive, but he sure as hell would try. Hopefully she wouldn’t kill him.

“How the hell could you have connections like that?”

“Well, it’s through my father, but they know me and trust me, no one wants to upset my father, so people will do whatever I say.”

Xennariel stared at him with a skeptical look and sighed. If that really was true, she could have access to areas where portals might be open. Access to information that could help her discover where these other demons were coming from. He might have been bluffing, but he very well might have been telling the truth. If the latter was true, could she really afford not to take him up on his offer? If it turned out that he was lying to her, she would kill him and no one would be the wiser. What did she have to lose?

“All right, all right, fine. I accept your deal. I do this,” Xennariel waved around her and at the ground where the shadow demon had disappeared, “whenever I happen to spot a shadow demon lurking about or whenever I hear about strange things in the area, which happens somewhat often.”

“Shadow demon? Is that what that thing is called?”

“Yeah. It comes from another world, as do most other ‘supernatural things,’ as you humans call it. That’s all you need to know.”

“I see… so, uh, where do I meet you when I want to join you?”

Xennariel huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. She didn’t really want to tell him where she lived, but she didn’t have much of a choice at that moment.

“The Blue Rain Cafe, you know where that is?”

“Sure, I’ve seen it before.”

“Meet me there whenever, I guess. More often than not, I’ll be there.”

“Okay, but… why would you be in a place like that? Hiding out, or...?” Xennariel shot him a murderous glance and he raised his hands in a placating gesture. “All right, uh, until next time, then.”

Loki nodded at Xennariel, sent a wary glance toward Shakuran, and jogged off the way he had come, silently hoping the girl wouldn’t change her mind and send that huge dog of hers after him.

#grim aria #chapter 1 #original fiction #fantasy #writing #Thank you so much for reading!

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