Spirits of the Skies

Chapter 1 - Arrows & Souls

There was a loud screech as the werewolf collapsed onto the ground, shaggy black and brown fur becoming a dark blur as it fell. An arrow stuck straight out of its chest, the fletching on the end an unmistakable emerald green. A trickle of sickly green blood trailed down the monster's mouth, its eyes staring lifelessly at the sky.

A young lady with eyes the same emerald green as the arrow fletching, hair black as midnight, and skin pale like snow lowered her bow, turning to try and find another target to shoot. She swiftly found one, releasing another arrow directly into the leathery green skull of a goblin.

Someone shouted the young woman's name from behind her, alerting her just in time to spin around and stab a snarling daemon in the throat. She flung it away, hopping down from the tree gracefully.

Dark green leaves and bits of birch bark fell from the tree the girl had just leapt out of, rustling quietly in tandem with the clangs of metal blades on sharp bony claws and needle point teeth. The girl whipped around, throwing a dagger into the heart of a nearby werewolf.

A young man with amber eyes and pale ginger hair dashed over to her, slashing with twin scicles. They grinned at each other, falling into a familiar pattern of slashing, attacking, blocking, evading. Two moved as one, minds and bodies becoming a blur of limbs and blades. Once they took a pause from fighting, a ring of bodies was piled up around them, leaking blood in colors of moldy green, lizard-eye yellow, crimson, and midnight black.

The boy turned around at the same time as the girl, both of them grinning at each other with almost identical smiles, "Thanks for warning me about that daemon, Gem."

Gemini smiled, giving a casual shrug, "Not like you haven't done that same for me before, Cap, you know, a million times more." His golden amber eyes glimmered with a playful mischief.

Capricorn rolled her eyes, slinging her willow wood bow over her shoulder. She sheathed her daggers, both still coated in the thick blood of the now dead monsters laying around her, "You know it!" They shared a laugh. Capricorn gave Gemini a playful punch in the shoulder, "I save your arse all the time! Even on small missions."

"Okay that is not true!" Gemini huffed, puffing his cheeks out in a childish manner.

Capricorn rolled her eyes again, flipping the silky braid of her jet black hair over her left shoulder, "Whatever you say, Gemi."

Gemini pouted, "First of all, don't call me that, second of all, do you think the kingdom patrol is gonna catch us this time?"

"They've never done it before, and they never will." Capricorn deadpanned, giving Gemini a nonchalant expression, "As long as I'm the leader, we'll never get caught."

"Ambitious words." A soft, unassuming voice spoke from behind the two. It was quiet, but held a sharp edge and regalness to it.

Capricorn slowly turned around, "Ah- Virgo." She gave the spirit a respectful nod, Gemini copying the gesture.

Virgo smiled, though the expression was more cold than anything, though there was an affection in Virgo's eyes when she looked at Capricorn, someone she thought of as a little sister rather than a simple acquaintance, "You have fresh souls for me, I see. What happened this time?" The spirit raised an eyebrow, curiosity gleaming in her blood red eyes.

"Well, this horde of creatures was attacking a nearby village, so we decided to go and help them out." Gemini grinned, eyes glittering, "It was fun too! You have no idea how cool it is to see a corrupted fae explode into dust! They have this hilarious look on their face and then bam! Explosion!" He mimicked the motion with his hands, fluttering his fingers outwards.

Capricorn rolled her eyes again, chuckling, "Yeah, that's basically what happened. What are you gonna do with the souls?"

Virgo smiled, a dark glee on her face, "Oh you know exactly what." Her eyes flashed, showing her demonic side for a split second.

Capricorn was unfazed, simply sighing, "Right, right. You're gonna let the demons have them to play with. Why do I even ask?"

Virgo grinned, brushing Cap's arm with her wing, "Because you still believe that there will one day be a soul I don't have to send to the Underworld. I know you do."

Capricorn chuckled, gently pushing Virgo's wing away, "You know me better than myself sometimes, Vir."

Virgo shrugged, her crimson eyes glittering, "Do I? Do I really?" This cause Capricorn to face palm, barely containing her laughter. Virgo jumped onto her friend's back, a gleeful smile on her face.

"Virgo oh my goodness get off!" Capricorn squealed, trying to shake the spirit off of her back, "I need to go check on my group!"

Virgo flapped her wings and got off of Capricorn, still with a wide grin on her face. Capricorn face palmed again and walked towards the rogues' camp, whistling to herself. Virgo followed after, gliding along in the air.

The rogues' camp was comprised of a variety of different kinds of makeshift buildings; tents, huts made out of thin twigs and grass, tunnels dug into the ground, hammocks woven from leaves and sticks, you name it. Capricorn looked around the camp, a gentle smile spreading across her face. It wasn't much, that was for sure, but this camp was her home. It had been for countless years.

The homes and little 'shops' of the camp were in a circular formation, alternating between facing inwards and outwards to danger could be seen from all sides. Traps like tripwires and pitfalls were scattered around the outside of the camp, tailor made to capture and drive away any intruders that dared come near the rogues' most vulnerable location. If you looked up, you could see patrols of rogues scattered among the trees, watching for intruders. In the center of the camp was a large bonfire pile surrounded by carved logs and stone benches. And right now within the center Capricorn could also see Gemini speaking with one of the group's senior members, a man named Orion with shaggy black hair, bright green eyes, tan skin, and a scar across his left eye that had miraculously not left him half blind. Orion's expression was serious and composed, as it always was, but also had a humour behind it as Gemini babbled on and on.

Capricorn grinned, her eyes bright. She ran towards the center of camp, calling out to her friends.

Virgo watched her go, a smile on her face. She gave a powerful flap of her wings, shooting into the air. She swooped quickly over the piles of dead bodies at the scene of the battle, hand outstretched. Then she flew straight towards the ground, vanishing into a cloud of black and blood red feathers.

Virgo reappeared on a jagged cliff made completely out of glassy obsidian. She turned around towards the gate, holding a glass jar of glowing orbs in various colors, all dancing around and trying to break free of the glass. She smiled, her long claw like nails scraping the surface of the jar and making a horrible screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard. The souls shrank back, away from her hand. Virgo grinned coldly, walking towards the blackened iron gates of her home, a looming tower of black and red obsidian that seemed to be carved straight out of the clifface.

Once within the gates, Virgo looked at the souls in her jar with a dark grin. Her long, sharp nails tapped along the sides, making a soft clicking sound, "What to do with you, what to do?" An idea came to her mind as she looked at the bloody wooden gate to her left, "Oh I know. I'll let the demon trio have fun with you. That should be entertaining to watch!" Virgo gave a soft giggled, her eyes flashing a brighter red than they already were.

She scraped her nails along the jar one last time before placing it gently down on the other side of the blood stained gate, "Have fun~" She walked off, her wings snapping in the air as she vanished in a cloud of feathers and ash.