Prompt 1: Diamond Dust
This time of year, snow is common. What’s uncommon is the single, strange snowfall where each snowflake that fell glistened like tiny diamonds. For the most part, the snow seems fairly normal—it’s cold, wet, and melts just like any other snow, it just also happens to look like tiny little gems are falling from the sky. Depending on who you’re with, it’s either incredibly strange, or incredibly romantic. When the snow is coming down at its strongest, crystalized snowflakes trickle down with the rest of the snow. These are roughly the size of a quarter and are light and hollow. They are fragile, like glass, but glisten like a fine cut gem. No one can explain this anomaly, but these small snowflakes won't melt. And they are all over Destiny City. You can find them gently falling to the ground, or lying in the fresh fallen snow. There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly magical about them, but they are beautiful and make pretty keepsakes.
Atheneite was out for the evening looking for victims to drain. It was a particularly cold night which left the young Captain shivering in her combat boots as she stalked across the darkened city park. The snow was coming down in a steady rhythm that bleached the ground and left the air a sparkling display of snowflakes slowly drifting from the heavens. Normally this would not garner the attention of the viscous officer beyond slight annoyance at its inconvenience. However she noticed that the snow was difference. It was brighter more brilliant than normal snow. It was almost as if the snow flakes that fell were tinny diamonds.
She had heard of phenomena like this before of course, Destiny City was no stranger to unnatural occurrences after all especially it seemed during the holiday seasons. However hearing about this sort of thing and seeing it was another matter. In a way the cold beauty of the tiny glittering snowflakes moved the young woman. She observed the radiant snow for a moment she thought about how it offered no warmth or value just a deceptive beauty that in truth could prove deadly should one be enticed by its beauty to enter the icy domain without proper protection for too long. It was not the same sort of appreciation she had for outright destructive forces such as a storm but she still felt like this quiet danger had a charm all its own. She just stared at the glittering snow for a while as she thought the danger
She eventually ended her musings and proceeded to continue with her hunt. She had a duty like all officers, she needed to gather energy from the hapless civilians that were foolish enough to be caught in the darkened corners of Destiny City. This was a duty she was more than happy to fulfill. She moved quickly and silently through the snowy forest until she spied a young couple spending a tender evening together on a park bench under a streetlight. She stayed in the shadows and began draining their energy. It wasn't long before the two began to show signs of fatigue and both stood up to leave. She wasn't entirely sure why but she decided to did not want these two sickeningly happy love birds to end to tonight with a only bit of exhaustion. No with a wicked smile the Captain decided that they would not live to see the dawn. So she summoned a feral youma to serve her bidding. It resembled a saber tooth tiger with a pure white coat, blood red eyes, and steel blades where its fangs should be. The youma let out a viscous growl as it approached the couple. Both let a of terrified scream however the young man acted first. He shoved his presumed girlfriend between the youma and himself and took off running into the forest as the youma quickly pounced on the terrified woman viscously ending her life in a matter of seconds. The youma stood up from the mauled corps beneath its stained paws and maul. It moved to chase down the fleeing man but Atheneite dismissed it. She decided that she wanted to deal with the man herself. His mixture of cowardice and callousness sparked her interest. A man who would so coldly abandon someone he presumable loved or was at least was attracted to all to save his own skin. If not for the fact the act reeked of cowardice Atheneite could almost respect the drive to survive. The man had a decent head start with adrenalin carrying him farther than one might expect however unfortunately for him the distance did not matter to a being who could teleport. Atheneite appeared in front of the man who scrambled to a stop landing in the snow. She smiled cruelly as she stared down at her pray. "That was a wonderful attempt, no really I'm impressed. I don't know that many people would throw their loved one to a brutal death just to give themselves a few extra seconds to run. However like all prey you've learned the terrible truth that you're nothing but food for your betters." She mocked the man, with an evil cackle drove she drove her spear into the man's lung.
As he laid in the snow bleeding out, choking on his own blood, a single crystal snowflake drifted down to rest on his chest. As Atheneite looked at the glistening little crystal against a crimson backdrop, it was beautiful really something so delicate among so much gore. As she was starring at she heard the man make a pathetic gurgle of pain. She thought about him, maybe she shouldn't waste him after all. A coward like him could still serve the Negaverse after all even if in only a small way. She removed the crystal and reached her hand into his chest. She poured chaos into his very soul, she couldn't control it enough to make the man an officer like a General could but then again she had no desire to see a coward made a lieutenant. No what she wanted didn't require control only power. She watched him writhe as chaos followed into his very being changing him from a human into the monstrous form of a youma. It was draining to use this much chaos energy and left the young woman breathing heavily as sweat poured down her face but it was worth it to see the new being that stood before. The new monster resembled an yeti and roared with the furry of one of the mythical creatures. It was unintelligent but it would serve her purpose. She was exhausted from her teleporting and starseed manipulation so she sent her two feral youma to continue collecting energy for her. She took a seat against the tree as she caught her breath she looked at the slightly stained crystal snowflake. She would keep it as a memento of the wonderful carnage of this night.
Word count: 1000
