Mary Loathwood was standing there in the hot sun, painting away on one of her canvas. On it was a half-finished landscape of a beautiful green hill covered in flowers, the scene was broken suddenly by a man eating the flesh of a woman as crimson streams flowed down the hill.

Mary’s painting was interrupted as the sky seemed to be torn apart, as powerful beings seemed to emerge and clash above her. She smirked “Well that’s new and exciting.” She blinked as a grey skinned girl with black hair wearing formal clothes materialised on the sand next to her.

The girl stared at her “Where am I?”

Mary smirked “I don’t know, I just go where I wish. The nearest town is about 150 kilometres from here. You aren’t from around here are ya?” She then held out a hand “Mary Loathwood, travelling painter. You?”

The girl took her hand “Octavia Melody, aspiring musician. I don’t know how I got here?”

Mary pointed to the sky “From whatever caused that I’d gather. I doubt you are from around these parts, a gray skin tone like your doesn’t exist in this world at least. Still helping you find your way home sounds like a fun adventure.”

Octavia smiled “Thank you miss Loathwood, you are very kind.”

Mary frowned “None of that formality, call me Mary.” She then smiled as she pointed to a rusty motorbike that clearly had years of wear and tear “That’s our ride, I have a helmet for ya. You might want one.”

Octavia nervously eyed the bike as Mary laughed collecting her painting equipment and putting them in her backpack. Mary looked at her dried canvas as before dropping it into her backpack and took a seat on her Motorbike, she gestured to Octavia “Are you coming?”

Octavia slowly walked towards it and slowly got on it “Is it safe?”

Mary gave her a thumbs up as gave her the black helmet “It’s gotten me through my entire life since I left home with only it and this back pack full of art supplies. It is my only friend.”

Octavia looks at Mary as she rests her hands on the bike, Octavia smiled “Okay I’ll trust you. I am grateful for you helping me out of nowhere. Very few would do that.” Mary smiled back as she gripped the handles, Octavia strapping on the helmet. Mary then gunned it, Octavia gritted her teeth as they sped across the countryside leaving a trail of dust behind them.

Octavia shouted over the loud bike “Can you slow down a little!”

Mary smiled as they slowed down “I guess you don’t like high speeds huh.”

Octavia shook her head “I prefer to sit down quietly and play my Cello. I can play any note, I have memorised every symphony that one could ever play.”

Mary frowned “So your artist like me, a budding one but still an artist. Have created something, something that is your own?”

Octavia frowned “Not yet, why do you ask?”

Mary turned to her for a moment “Art is about passion and creativity over skill and precision. My brushstrokes do have some rough points as I am self taught but I still have sold several creative paintings to the certain buyers. If you forget that you won’t get to where you wish to be.”

Octavia shouted “An artist should be a master at their craft!”

Mary turned to her “That takes a lifetime of practice, more than. By that logic, you can’t be a musical artist unless you master every instrument that has been made. You can see the absurdity that logic grants, can’t you?”

Octavia snaps “Yes but it doesn’t mean you shouldn't strive to improve!”

Mary turns back to the road “I do improve but it’s not my sole focus. Supplies, maintenance, food. This costs money, I need to make my work profitable enough to make an income as well as making sure my paintings are not just carbon copies of each other.”

Octavia was about to shout, she then took a deep breath “I’m sorry. I’m really passionate about my music To be criticised isn’t always easy for me to take.”

Mary raised her left hand “No, never let that passion go. Without it your music will become nothing but dull copies of other’s work.”

Octavia nervously tapped her fingers “What’s your been like?”

Mary grimaced “My parents weren’t kind people. They were always shouting at each other, I don’t even know why they got together. I didn’t like them very much, got out of there as soon as I could.”

Octavia rubbed her hands nervously “Maybe when I get return home, you can join my family for dinner.”

Mary smiled “I’d like that. Still we should get going if we want get you home, it could take us quite a while to find our way back.” Octavia nodded as Mary sped up slightly.

Octavia’s eyes widened as a portal opened in front of them without warning, they shot through it. Mary gets them to stop before they crash into a giant wall dripping with black ooze, Octavia looks around the dimly lit room to see that all the walls and floor was covered in a pitch black ooze.

Octavia shivered “W-what i-is t-this p-place?”

Mary jumped off the bike into the ooze with the slightest concern “I don’t know but it looks like a fun place to explore.” She grabs the bike and starts pulling it along “Come on it will be fine. I have gotten through plenty of tight scrapes.”

Octavia winces as she see several bloody corpses strung up on the goopy walls “I’m scared, how are you not?”

Mary smirks “Travellers see a lot of danger and if we seem to hoping between places we will encounter a lot more.”They see short three skeletons, all of then wore blue hoodies. One had a black hole in his cranium and had one blood red glowing eye. The second had black ooze seeping out of two empty sockets. The third had one red eye and another eyes that had a red iris with a blue pupil.

The third skeleton smirked “Who are you two and how did you get into our master’s castle?”

Mary grinned as she pulled a chain off the bike “I’m Mary and this is my friend, Octavia. We are just passing through.”

The third skeleton gestured to himself “I’m Dust” he then pointed to the second “That’s Killer” he then puts a hand on the third “this is Horror. Now I’m afraid you two aren’t going anywhere.”

Mary prepared her chain only for Horror to appear in front of her, she gritted her teeth as his axe cut through her skull. Octavia screamed “MARY!”Mary grabbed the monstrous skeleton’s arms and pushed them up as bits of her brain dripped off his axe. Blood poured out of her damaged eye socket, a blood red eye forming in the dark pit of her right eye socket.

Mary punched him in the face with a mad grin, sending him hurtling past Dust and Killer. Mary grinned “Octi, I’ll be fine. I promise.” Octavia was not convinced in the slightest, shuddering silently as her guide/friend was putting her life at risk.

Mary rushed towards Killer, the skeleton pointing the same. She smacked him with her chain, then kicked him into Dust sending them flying crashing into Horror who was just getting up. A black skeleton with black tentacles coming out of his back and one eye socket covered by goop emerged in front of Mary. He grabbed her by the neck with one of tentacles “I’m impressed you did so well against my servants but you stand no chance against me.”

The black skeleton slams Mary into the goop, holding her under the surface. Octavia watches on helplessly until multiple arrows made of pure light pierced through black skeleton's back turning him into small pieces of goo. Three skeletons, one who looked like a painter and was the shortest of the three, another who looked like a prince holding a bow and a third skeleton wearing a blue scarf.

Mary stood up as the painter skeleton shouted “We can do introductions later, we need to go!” Mary frowned uncertain about these other skeletons but they were more trustworthy then the ones who attacked her. She ran beside them to and her bike, the painter skeleton created a portal out of Ink allowed them to all escape.

They were now in a living room with a plain couch, Mary looked over the skeletons. The prince skeleton was wearing a suit of golden armour, a golden circlet with a triangle in the circle on his forehead. The painter skeleton had a grey outfit and splotches of ink on his face, he also had several vials attached to a sash across his chest and also carrying a paintbrush.

The third skeleton was wearing a grey shirt with a white undershirt as well as blue pants and boots.
The third skeleton of this group shouted excitedly shouted “I’m the Magnificent Blue, the skeleton carrying the paintbrush is Ink and the third member of our is Dream!”

Dream frowned as he looked at the Mary’s head “Are you alright?”

Mary gave him a thumbs up “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

Octavia looked sceptically at the huge hole in Mary’s head, she exclaimed “You have a hole in your head! Could you act a little more concerned, my friend Vinyl as reckless as she is would be concerned if she had a hole in her skull!”

Mary shrugged “I have had always been remarkably hardy, I broke every bone in my arm and it was back in working order in a few days. I always thought I was just naturally lucky.”

Ink, Dream, Blue and Octavia all blinked in confusion as the hole in her skull rapidly regenerated. Within seconds there was no sign of damage other than her glowing red eye socket. Blue focused on Mary, he frowned “You have a Determination Soul. You’re stats are LV 10, HP 3000/3000, Defense 999, Attack 1029. It said that you are a determined traveller, that you have killed and eaten other humans to survive.”

Octavia screamed “You’ve eaten people!”

Mary scowled at her “You try being abandoned far enough from civilisation that it will take several months on foot with limited water, no food and a bike that has no fuel in it! The only food being the dead people who tried to kill you! I didn’t have a lot of options!” She then took a deep breath “Sorry Octavia, I just don’t like being judged for surviving.”

Octavia sighed “I’m sorry too, that was quite a shock. I just hope I don’t ever have to do that.”

Dream nodded “Checking has limitations. If you have some time we can teach you how to use your soul’s powers. After you leave here Nightmare might go after you.” At their confused expressions he sighed “Right, he was the black goopy skeleton.”

Octavia nodded “That would be helpful, I hope not encounter more dangerous opponents than him but we can’t hope for such things as we travel.”

Dream nodded “I need to check you to see your stats and how you can improve.”He focused on her, he smiled “Interesting, a soul of Patience and Integrity. You’re stats are LV 1, HP 100/100, Defense 15, Attack 10. The rest is less relevant to the task at hand, now it’s time to teach you some magic.”

With that Mary and Octavia nodded as they planned to learn magic from the three skeletons that helped them escape from the dark clutches of Nightmare.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy this first chapter. I am nervous about this story.