The day was miserable, Bryn decided. It was raining, and cold. If it was any colder she was sure it would be snowing, but as it was the rain was just coming down in tiny shards of ice that pricked painfully at her face and chest. It hadn't been too bad at first, but for the last half hour she'd been walking against the wind and it was beginning to make her skin feel raw and frozen. Beside her, her sister Charybdis was growling obscenities under her breath and walking with her head bent almost totally down so her face would be somewhat protected. At least they could say they were almost out of danger for the moment. Bryn and Charybdis had been born in the Kawani Lands, but their mother had taken them from their father when they were old enough to travel and disappeared back to her homeland. There the twins had grown and learned, and eventually they had fled from the evil that was sweeping across the small land surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides. First it was just one or two whispers in the shadows, people disappearing here and there. No one questioned it, figuring that they'd just left town unexpectedly. That happened sometimes, as the community was small and strict, and some who visited got fed up and left without any fanfare. In fact, it was the twins themselves that brought attention to the danger, for all the good that putting a name to the faceless monster did in the long run.
Charybdis had gone out into the forest to go for a run, and Bryn had decided to follow after a few minutes. She thanked the spirits that she'd decided to when she came upon her sister being attacked by a hideous purple monster. It was ranting as it struck, things like 'we are your future' and 'this is inevitable' in a deep voice that seemed to almost echo. Bryn hadn't wasted time, leaping on the back of the thing and knocking it off balance to give her sister some time to recover. They had fought it together, Charyb going for dirty blows and Bryn trying to get the thing talking, to figure out why it was attacking them. The only thing she had gotten it to say was 'We are your destiny, we are the Reapers', whatever that meant. When the twins returned to their town, spouting stories about Reapers in the woods, no one had wanted to believe their story. They realized this was something to be reported to the high council, because the creature was clearly dangerous and they could dispatch their Specter squad to hunt it down and make the forests safe once more. However, it was decided that they had been attacked by a wolf or some other creature and were too embarrassed to admit it had done such damage to them.
Months later, many wished they had taken heed of their warning, though the council had died before they could regret it at the hooves of the Reapers. What had been just one demon in the forest quickly turned into many and the country was overrun. It was decided they were some kind of full-sized soquili, but an evil or insane breed that was terrorizing the small land called Normandy, and the few survivors agreed it was best to flee in all directions and warn other lands of the danger.
That brought them to today, climbing down a mountainside after a month long journey, freezing rain pelting them like a thousand tiny needles, and a warning on their lips for any who would hear it. The Reapers were coming, because something that evil would not stop once the land they conquered was empty of its natives, no. They would eventually look for blood elsewhere.
