Maria's peaceful dreams of her beloved Elizabeth were shattered at the sound of an explosion in the distance. Within a few seconds she leapt up to her feet, staring out of the lid, beholding calamity.
They had stopped on a small hillside rest stop, overlooking the city that sprawled across the horizon in front of them. She recognised it as Aranville, though she had never been there before, as it had been dominating the news for years now, the pictures of violent clashes, riots and the events that the press had dubbed the "park street wars". None of those visceral images could compare to what she was now seeing right before her.
The city was ablaze, pillars of flame engulfing buildings, illuminating scenes of carnage and mayhem, shrill sirens pierced the cacophony of sounds only to be silenced fast. Maria left the back of the van and entered the front, sitting down next to Sin in the passenger's seat. "What on earth happened here?" Under the impression of the carnage she could barely raise her voice. Sin was deathly quiet as the stared into the inferno, a dark flicker appearing across her eyes. "That is what I am trying to find out, my master. Yggdrasil spoke of a "ruckus" happening here, something linked to one of my other dear sisters. I should have figured that the damn log was hiding something."
Elaine had followed her master quietly and sat down on her master's lap, who was too disturbed by the sight right in front of her to truly notice. "So, is it their doing that, I mean, can she, do that?" Fear was mixed into her voice equally as much as sheer disbelief. "She can, but not without your orders and guidance. Something is very, very wrong here, my master." Sin revved up the engine again, and eyed up Elaine. "Go on top, we can't afford to move by foot and we cannot afford to lose the van." Her fellow beast obeyed and crawled off of Maria's lap, vanishing outside to leap onto the top of the van, wraping a few of her strings around it to lock herself in place. "It would be best for you to stay right here, my master. With things the way they are, I believe alerting authority will be the least of our worries."
With an affirming nod of her master Sin let the engine roar, and they drove off headfirst into the blazing hellscape. From the moment that they entered the city proper did the atmosphere change, as the heavy black smoke from the countless fires blackened out the sky. Sounds were disorienting, unable to be pinpointed at all. They drove past signs of a violent, but more orderly time, barricades, torn up and scorched signs, and most disturbingly, piles upon piles of torn cloth, barely resembling clothes anymore. With every second that they lingered and moved in more deeply did Maria's panic rise. "The heroes just, let this happen, where, where are they?"
While Sin kept facing the road in front of them, her eyes darted all across, scanning for every ever so minute possibility of a threat. "You know where they are, I heard the news channel as much as you did. But this, this is something they cannot ignore and apologise away." They arrived at a large crossroad, and came upon the first bodies. Mangled and torn they laid in piles in impossible positions, bones or just their splinters piercing through the skin. Most had bite marks on them, and all of them were missing entire limbs. The view made Maria want to throw up, she tried all she could to avert her gaze, but it remained glue to the gruesome scene, she just could not look away.
All buildings they passed were burned out or in the process of, windows had been smashed in, with few traces of human conflict: Bullet holes in walls, empty shells laying on the ground and a few guns scattered around corners, all scorched or broken to pieces. And still it was eerily silent, save for the ever present landscape of sounds of flame and ruin. Until they were pierced by the sound of a scream, a human scream, coming from a house to their right.
Maria's mind could not even begin to be shocked at her body before she had already stepped out of the car. "Elaine, to me!" Her beast did not hesitate to leap off the van, following her master into the fire. Smoke was blinding their eyes and making Maria tear up, but she persevered up the stairs, past ruined burning furniture, heaps of trash blocking her, all the way to the second floor into a small and dingy apartment. The smell of burning flesh and wood was almost merciful in comparison to how it must've been before the arrival of the flames, but Maria could not even feel disgust as she braved through trash-bag after trash-bag into a small room at the end of the apartment. A young woman was cowering in the back of the room, with a hulking monstrosity staring her down, a mass of animal parts protruding from a human body. "Help her!" was all Maria could shout before the smoke caused her to cough violently, and it was enough for Elaine to spring into action.
The creature stared back at them with it's many animal heads, too slow to even truly register their appearance before Elaine's threads cut it into pieces. Disregarding it Maria ran across the room to the woman, trying to help her up her feet when she noticed the handcuffs tying her to the radiator. She waved Elaine to her side, pointing towards them, not daring to speak another word. With another flash of her threads they were cut, and Maria aided the woman out of the shambling ruin, the heat starting to rob her off her senses.
When they finally reached the streets she was the first to collapse, panting and gasping for air, only to be carried into the back of the van by Sin along with her rescue. "Elaine, on guard" she shouted, Elaine following her elder sister's orders and pacing around the van, threads whipping through the air. The moment that Sin let the woman go she darted into a corner, staring at her and Maria with fear. "What, what on earth." Fear made way for pure terror as she hid her head in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "The devil, the devil, they really sent me to hell, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I was bad!" Sin looked on, worry flashing across her face, though she quickly turned her attention back to her master. After handing her a bottle and holding her head up to help her drink she shook her head. "That should be a lesson for you, my master, not to just run blindly, just what were you thinking?" Maria looked at Sin, worry still across her face. "Is she, okay?" She tried looking around, though her body, already overtaxed by more strain than it had faced in the last six years combined, refused.
"I am afraid not, my master." Sin stared at the trembling woman who was now sputtering utterly incoherent pleas. "Your rescue here can see me, for what I am. I will get us away from here and find a more suitable location to fortify." With these words and a quick bow Sin left the scene, and quickly after they began to move again.
Maria leaned into her last reserves and turned around, looking at her rescue with a weak smile. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay." She had to crawl to reach her. "You're safe now, yeah?" When Maria stretched out her arm to touch the woman's shoulder it caused her to pull back as if struck by lightning, her gaze still filled with fear even though the abject terror had begun to fade with Sin's departure. "Where's the devil, who are you, am I dead, is this hell?"
Disheartened Maria pulled back her hand, shaking her head. "Everything's alright, please, please try to calm down. The devil, well she's gone, yes. And no, you aren't dead this." Her own words gave Maria pause for thought, and a deep feeling of guilt. "This is all real. But nobody is going to hurt you alright? I promise you that." She rose one hand and put it over her chest, mustering the most inspiring smile she could, which was not much, despite all of her years of practice in the mirror.
"I am Maria Len-Fey, the Heiress of beasts. And I will protect you, I promise."
