Our Own Meisters (Soul Eater)

Prologue: Submission

The barn doors groaned under the force, wood threatening to splinter and give way to the people outside. Within the barn, girl scurried away from the doors, ducking behind the pallid leg of another girl.

Both girls stared flatly at the door, hearts practically in their throats at the sounds of shouting and the wood of the barn door crackling. Moonlight trickled in through gaps in the ancient wood and spilling over everything inside. Silver gleamed and black glistening, pallid tones of skin glowing blue in the nearly-ethereal setting.

A shard of wood shot out from the door, grazing one of the girl's cheeks, drawing small beads of crimson blood. One of the many streams of moonlight disappeared and the girls following its once visible trail to a gap in the door, where a large, bulging eye swiveled around in it socket to stare at the girl, beady pupil zeroing in on one in particular.

They could practically hear as the owner of the eye's chapped lips curled into a watering smirk and the eye retreated, allowing the strip of blue light to return. A feral growl came from outside and the door bent, straining to remain closed as the thing outside attempted to force himself inside.

One of the girls, with platinum hair falling smoothly down an exposed, pallid back, took a cautious step backward, gray eyes trained on the spent door about to give way. The girl latched to her leg whimpered, dirtied hands holding tight to the silver girl's thigh as they both slowly crept away from the door.

"Come now, little ones," the man rasped, throwing his body against the dooe again with crippling force. "It won't be terribly painful, I promise."

The silver girl's eyes nearly bulged out her head when gnarly, elongated fingers curled around the door through a newfound gap, ripping away a good chunk of mold-ridden oak. A salivating mouth full of glistening yellow fangs sticking out in every direction came into view, nearly fitting it's owner's entire head through the door.

The door moaned and the steal hinges squealed against the man's constant battering, and the silver girl looked around, desperate for an exit. Fear anchoring her feet to ground, she heaved and nearly choked at the lack of hope in the solidity of the barn walls around them, leaving only the doors as a means of escape. She bite back a dry heave and held her bloody stomach, burning eyes turning back to look at the door.

The man cackled with one last push against the door.

Hinges and bolts flew out the wall, lodging their rusted bodies into the wall far behind the girls with loud cracks. The door slammed onto the ground, wood permanently warped from the ordeal and a twisted gray foot planting onto its distressed surface, black-encrusted nails curling into its wood. The man stepped inside with a satisfied rumble, saliva dribbling down his cleft chin and falling to the dirt floor with wet splashes.

"There you are," he purred, beady eyes training on the girls as his bulging eyes briefly retreating back into their sockets as he narrowed them.

"Just as I left you."

The girls reeled back in horror as the monster ambled forward on greasy, mechanical limbs cloaked in rust and sickly green limbs covered in bloody gashes and pus-engorged growths. His sagged, rotund belly colored purple hung low as he loomed over the girls by several feet and he twisted his head downwards until his crooked nose ghosted over the girl's.

His pupils glanced around the girls' body, thin lips curling into a smirk as a thick, long pink tongue darted out of his mouth to drag across the edges of his chesire grin and give the silver girl's muddy face a languid lick, coating her inflamed skin in an odorous glistening film of slobber.

"What a good girl you are, but I still have to punish you for running away."

Her blood ran cold and the tips of her fingers went numb as she stared up at the glowing face of the creature above her, stumbling back as gnarled fingers reached out for her shredded clothes. The creature's grin immediately fell into a terrifyingly large sneer, large hand lashing out to pick the girl up by her matted hair. She yelled and struggled, fatigued legs struggling to kick at nothing. The other was forced to let go, leaving her alone on the dirt ground of the barn. The creature held the silver girl in place as he looked down at the other, grin slowly returning.

"My sweet little girl. My beautiful Dawn."

Dawn gasped and fell backwards, scooting as fast as she could backwards as the creature watched her amusedly. The other girl shouted and latched onto the creature's forearm, trying to wrench herself free from his vice grip. The creature hissed and jerked the girl around, bloodshot eyes boring holes into her pained expression.

"Eve, what a stupid little girl."

Eve cursed and feebly tried to peel away the creatures clammy fingers, her own sweaty palms slipping uselessly. The thing howled with laughter, whipping around Eve before taking ahold of her by her torso, watching as blood began to fall from her scalp.

Dawn cried out, groping the air in front of her in a desperate attempt to find Eve. The creature growled and maw fell open with a loud snap, tongue twisting around inside as if it had a mind of its own. A low rumble came from its chest and it began to lower Eve closer to its gaping mouth. Eve screamed and kicked widly, bare feet beating against impossibly large fangs coating in saliva, making Eve's feet slip away.

"Hey!"

The creature paused, shutting its mouth and twisting its small head to look behind it. Dawn sat in shocked silence, head tilted in an odd angle and Eve groaned at the monster's hold on her.

A large man stood silhouetted in the barn doorway, formidable visage highlighted very dimly by the eerie moonlight. In his hand was a combat knife that seemed a bit small for him.

"A kishin egg..."

The thing glowered down at the man, carelessly tossing Eve to the ground. The man nodded, bending at the knees into a defensive stand with his knife at the ready. Eve clenched her eyes shut in pain, head pounding and muscles burning. Dawn crawled over immediately, falling atop Eve's lap and clinging to her with trembling arms.

"If you were still a man," the silhouette said, eyeing the creature as it turned to face him. "I would tell you that man should never do this to two little girls."

The creature chortled before launching its rotund body forward, mouth open to devour. The man didn't even move and Eve's eyes widened, heart leaping at the sight of their apparent hero staring down the monster.

"As a man-" The silhouette leaped upwards an incredible height, using the monster's head as a springboard to support himself. The silhoutted man happened to launch himself under a new ray of moonlight, illuminating tattooed, dark skin with rippling muscles underneath and black dreads held back by a bandana tied snugly around his head. The creature roared, hand rocketing upwards to catch the man before it screeched, reeling back as its hand was lopped off by the man's knife. Blood sprayed from the newfound stump, spilling onto the ground and the walls. The man landed soundly and charged, swinging his dagger every which way. "I cannot allow this to happen!"

Gash after gash appeared in the slimey skin of the monster, allowing the release of more and more blood. The creature howled and staggered, swinging in blind anger at the man. Eve crawled backwards with Dawn hugged close to her, eyes trained on the fight in front of them. The man struck again, this time lodging his knife deep within the creature's wide chest and twisting, eliciting glass-shattering shrieks of pain from it. The man planted his boot-clad feet on the thing's chest and he jerked the knight upwards, slicing the monster's upper half clean through the middle.

The creature gave one last cry before it's body melted into black shreds, violently twisting around a red light before fading away, leaving behind a floating crimson orb. The man hit the ground on the balls of his feet and stood to his full height, tossing his knife in the air as it began to glow. Eve gasped as the knife morphed into a gaunt woman, eyes fixated on the woman's blue ones.

The woman neared and kneeled down in front of Eve and Dawn, smiling softly at Eve's apprehensive expression. The man grabbed the orb and joined his partner, smiling as well.

"You two are gonna be okay."