metal and stone, monster and bone

prologue

1.

Blood dripping down between her legs, little shrieks echoing in the empty space barely leaving her mouth, racked with sobs."Runo, no, she's gone," she can't hold back her screams anymore and she lets herself slip out of touch with the world as they rush her to the hospital.

2.

He covers his eyes with his hand, pulls the toddler into his body, "don't look, please," his mother shouting and then she is silent; he rushes towards where she last stood but she is not there, not really, her body broken, his father kneeling besides her- and then his father crumples, "I can't live without her" etched in the air before his breath stops.

3.

She drops her books as her best friend runs towards her, horror on her face. "They shot the prime minister! There's no one left to take his place. Promise me you'll run in the election?" She wants to say yes but she wants to stay here so she says no, next time.

4.

They press the photograph into her hand and shove her behind them. "Not her," her father shouts. "Don't hurt her. She's only a child." The soldiers laugh in his face, spit at his feet. She closes her eyes so she can't see them die. A hand grips her wrist and she tries to fight it, her eyes still closed. They drag her towards a vehicle and shove her inside.

5.

He stands over her sleeping figure, that perfect face that is so like her mother's, that perfect body so unmarred. A silent tear falls from his masked face and he raises the knife above her.

And then he brings it down.

6.

There is darkness and shouting and dirt and turmoil, screams and blood and he cannot go anywhere without brushing against another horned creature, another evil twisted figure, another nightmare so unlike him he has no idea why he is there.