Announcements: Cutting Costs (2024) » January 2024 Copyfraud Attack » Finding Universes to Join (and making yours more visible!) » Guide To Universes On RPG » Member Shoutout Thread » Starter Locations & Prompts for Newcomers » RPG Chat — the official app » Frequently Asked Questions » Suggestions & Requests: THE MASTER THREAD »

Latest Discussions: Adapa Adapa's for adapa » To the Rich Men North of Richmond » Shake Senora » Good Morning RPG! » Ramblings of a Madman: American History Unkempt » Site Revitalization » Map Making Resources » Lost Poetry » Wishes » Ring of Invisibility » Seeking Roleplayer for Rumple/Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time » Some political parody for these trying times » What dinosaur are you? » So, I have an Etsy » Train Poetry I » Joker » D&D Alignment Chart: How To Get A Theorem Named After You » Dungeon23 : Creative Challenge » Returning User - Is it dead? » Twelve Days of Christmas »

Players Wanted: Serious Anime Crossover Roleplay (semi-literate) » Looking for a long term partner! » JoJo or Mha roleplay » Seeking long-term rp partners for MxM » [MxF] Ruining Beauty / Beauty x Bastard » Minecraft Rp Help Wanted » CALL FOR WITNESSES: The Public v Zosimos » Social Immortal: A Vampire Only Soiree [The Multiverse] » XENOMORPH EDM TOUR Feat. Synthe Gridd: Get Your Tickets! » Aishna: Tower of Desire » Looking for fellow RPGers/Characters » looking for a RP partner (ABO/BL) » Looking for a long term roleplay partner » Explore the World of Boruto with Our Roleplaying Group on FB » More Jedi, Sith, and Imperials needed! » Role-player's Wanted » OSR Armchair Warrior looking for Kin » Friday the 13th Fun, Anyone? » Writers Wanted! » Long term partner to play an older male wanted »

Shadows of The Forgotten

Shadows of The Forgotten

0 INK

Things seem to have calmed in the land of Valcrest. The war, the assassins' inner disputes, the peoples' demands for a solution... But is the land actually calm, or is this just a calm moment before a even bigger storm? (FULL)

20,614 readers have visited Shadows of The Forgotten since Blackbird26 created it.

Mr_Doomed are listed as curators, giving them final say over any conflict & the ability to clean up mistakes.

Introduction

DISCLAIMER:

The land of Valcrest, its cities, history, as well as the Wolfpack and its rules, are my own creation and are not to be used without my consent. (As well as any of my characters).

This RP is, as of this moment, full and no longer accepting.


Thank you.

Blackbird26 – Your friendly GM. ^_^




Image


[The White Shadows]

I was told as a child that the Land of Valcrest was blessed by the Gods with its beauty and magic. Now, I’m no longer certain of such fact. Centuries of war have ripped the beauty of this Land, now only a shadow of its former glory remains, kept alive by old tales and legends. The magic now is simply viewed as a tool to be used by one side or another as an advantage in battle. No one speaks of blessings nowadays… I wonder what the Gods would have to say about that.

I’m no longer a child now, and I can go as far as to say I was never truly innocent, growing up where I did. I know for a fact that Blackhurst was a city of Enlightened. The scholars who once lived there only sought knowledge on their own origins, they never thought their actions would cause the Land to self-destruct; they simply wanted to understand where they came from. It was an innocent quest for knowledge that led us here. They found what they were looking for... And were killed for their knowledge.

Surely, those people were being naïve. They should have kept quiet as to what they were doing, they should have kept what they discovered a secret. If they had, none of this would have happened. I assume, no living person outside of my clan knows how exactly this war has started. Dani Rivers was the last outsider to hear the story. I violated the laws of this clan by telling her, we are sworn to secrecy, for obvious reasons. When the Enlightened started being killed I thought it might have some relation to that particular piece of history, so I thought I should tell her… I’m still not convinced that it was an unrelated incident, in spite of having no actual facts to back up those suspicions. Something about the whole thing resembles something I’ve read somewhere; however, I can’t quite remember what. I have read a lot of things in the past couple of decades.

I always tell my apprentices this:

The term “Enlightened” today is associated with a magical ability an individual possesses. It once meant being knowledgeable, wise. That is why we study. Being born with a specific ability doesn’t mean being born fully capable of mastering that ability. We are all born capable of great things, not all of us are capable of achieving that greatness, or even fully understand what greatness means. To most, greatness still means power. To most, power still means force.

Sounds very preachy, I know. I thought so too when I arrived in this place. The angry, impulsive child I was back then found it easier to simply curse the world for being as it is. Many similar children have arrived since then, now more than ever; orphaned, homeless and lost children. Filled with rage, void of any type of understanding; the perfect tools for any heartless egomaniac to use with the purpose of fulfilling its own delusions of grandeur. Some have been twisted to such purposes. I have even heard rumors of cults and sects being raised far in the south.
For me, it was difficult to accept the change I was being asked to make in my ways. It took me time to finally listen to what I was being told. My enlightenment was not the curse I believed it to be; the real curse was my lack of willingness to develop it. Fear, perhaps.

What does this have to do with anything? Well… Everything is relevant when it comes to this Land. Everything is connected in a way or another. Every action causes a reaction, if not now, in the future. The past is never truly dead… It sleeps, soundly, until one day it begins to stir in its sleep and causes the ground to shake, sometimes even crumble beneath our feet.

And so we fall; only time will tell when we will finally ever hit the bottom. That is… If there is even a bottom to hit after all.

Helena Turner – Leader of the White Shadows


A diary page left behind dated ten years ago. That was all Lena Turner left of herself for the ones who had followed her for 25 years.
A new dawn came for the White Shadows and many others followed. Now, three years later, they are barely starting to return to the ruins of Blackhurst where they once built their homes. One foot there, another one in the desert ruins of Brightvale. The healers were finally closer to what they once were, thanks to the endless efforts of Lena’s young daughter. However, their numbers are now severely reduced, and the unbreakable faith that once drove them to die for their beliefs was, in the very least, shaken. Many healers deserted, a great number of them left Valcrest for good after having seeing the war reach the only safe place left. It was undeniable that those people were not prepared for such a thing. For those who stayed, however, there was still the never-ending and exhausting task of providing help to those who needed it.

------------------
[The Desert]

Legends tell that the Goddess called Heart was one the most rebellious of the 14 children of the Gods that fathered Valcrest. Impulsive and irrational, some would say. Her passion for the mortal beings only matched by her anger towards Mother and Father for forcing her to leave them and the forest where she and her twin made their home. She revolted and chose a mortal man to father her children, encouraging her siblings to do the same so that, this way, they would never truly leave Valcrest. Unlike her brothers and sisters, Heart became attached to her children and so, she used her powers to summons the packs of wolves that lived in the snow covered lands to the north into the forest as her final gift to the children of the forest, explaining to them that the wolves were always true to their hearts and loyal to their family and so, as long as they remained together, they would always be protected. She warned them that they would always be stronger as long as they were able to remain as one.

Heart’s twin brother, Mind, on the other hand, was not one to grow attachments to any mortal creature. He left his children in Valcrest for the sake of maintaining balance in the world, for without reason there could be no order. He used his sister’s gift to pass his teachings to his sons and daughters, telling them to always remember that the wolves always maintained a hierarchy and every member of the pack played his part for no task was unimportant. The leader should always be the wisest, strongest and most respected amongst the members; otherwise he would be challenged and cast aside.

And so, when Heart and Mind left Valcrest, they left behind their clan, today known as The Wolfpack.


This legend has been told to children of the Wolfpack as a bedtime story for generations. It was Crystal’s favorite as a child and it was also Dani’s favorite way to remind her of her responsibilities. Ever since she was little she would hear her mother say that the Pack had two leaders to represent the Twins, because if only one person ruled the clan alone, there could never be balance, and without it the clan would fall.

Now, however, Crystal Rivers stood in a very difficult position. Exiled to the desert for the past three years, she had her hands tied as her clan fell to pieces. The Wolfpack was no more. What was left was barely recognizable as the proud assassin clan that it once was. The people who once lived there still lived there, for the most part, but the clan was no more: that was how she saw it.

The betrayal had been painful. Not only the assassination attempt that left her very close to death, but the attacks on her parents’ honor after everything they had done for the clan.
The few people who had followed Crys into the desert didn’t complain about the new life, in fact, most of them seemed to think that it was far better than what they had three years ago. Life in the desert was less conflicted, and they mostly enjoyed the company of the mercenary clan that had taken them in, as well as few remaining healers.
Even so, Crys couldn’t seem to get over the fact that the Wolfpack had fallen apart under her command and, of the few choices she was left with, she was still tempted to try and salvage the past somehow, knowing very well that there was probably nothing left to save by now.

[The Wolfpack]

Once upon a time, the Wolfpack stood tall, proud, and untouchable. Those days ended with the appearance of a group of men and women called the Wolf Hunters. Those people, who called themselves victims of the assassins, terrorized the clan for generations. Killing, without mercy, anyone that stood between them and their targets, they posed a severe threat to the Pack’s survival.

In one night, one damned night, the Hunters attacked the camp. In one blow they took out all the recruits, most of the instructors, and of the leader’s family… Only one survived. That night came to be remembered as the Red Night and, until this day, it remains as the biggest massacre to ever occur within the Pack’s territory.
In the morning that followed such massacre, a young Dani Rivers, shortly after burying her parents and twelve year old sister, along with great part of the clan, announced that she would declare war on the Wolf Hunters and that she would not rest until every live lost that night was avenged.

Two long years and many lives later, the Wolfpack celebrated their victory over the Wolf Hunters. The clan was rebuilt and thrived for over 20 years after that under Dani’s command.


The above story was the official tale that had been told to every new arrival and to all the children born in the clan ever since that fated night. Sean Fletcher had grown up believing it, and so did his brothers and sister, and everyone else in the clan.

However, that story was a lie.

Dani won the respect of her clan by winning a war that she fought out of guilt, not revenge. The truth, the actual truth, was that Dani had lied to her mother, to her clan, and brought a Wolf Hunter into their camp. Along with him, death followed. The Hunters raise hell to avenge the death of the boy named Sebastian, however… He was never dead to begin with, he was alive and well living amongst the assassins.
Now, almost thirty years later, after the truth has been exposed, the Pack tries to rid itself from its past and change under a new leadership. The situation of the assassins had improved, but the clan as a whole suffered a severe blow by having the most important part of their history exposed as a lie. Those who remained under the new leadership are struggling to stay together, even with all that has improved. The truth is: the Pack is yet to find its place in the world again.



THE PLOT:
Three years have passed since Shadows of The Past. The several factions, as well as the cities, have cleaned up the debris left by the final battles/parties/storms, and attempted to move on with their lives in the best way they could. Some of them now find themselves struggling to simply leave the past behind, others attempting to build a new future from scratch. Others are finding that things can in fact get worse than they have ever been before. Some are even catching a small glimpse of light in the end of a long period of uncertainty.
The fighting amongst the factions seems to have cooled off for the first time in a long while. In spite of the of the peaceful that it gives to the Land at first glance, some wonder if this is really peace, or if war is simply evolving into a much more silent killer.

Which is the actual truth, or if the truth is something else entirely, beyond what simple mortal minds can grasp… That, only time will tell.



THE HISTORY:
Official story of Valcrest:
The land of Valcrest originally consisted of five great cities and some smaller villages. It has a vast forest and one great river that run from one side of the land to the other. The first two cities to be created there were Blackpond and Newhaven. These two cities exist ever since there is a record of human life in Valcrest and they co-existed in harmony for many centuries until the other cities were built and the land started to expand. Several power struggles started to shake the peaceful existence of the two cities, after many years of minor disputes, the two cities finally declared war. Out of the three other cities, the city of Elffort took the side of Blackpond and the city of Brightvale took the side of Newhaven.
The fifth city, Blackhurst, decided to remain neutral. Ironically it was the first to be attacked.
After the great war that raged for many years across the land of Valcrest, out of the five cities that existed there, only two remained. Originally in opposite sides of a dispute that has been long forgotten, the cities of Blackpond and Newhaven continue to fight each other until this day.

THE LAND:

Image

1. Valcrest: The land of Valcrest was once rich and full of life. Now its territory is only a shadow of what it once was. Most of the population is now concentrated around the forest, the two remaining cities and the plains and the desert. The mountains to the south and the ruined town of Effort remain unpopulated until this day, only visited by those who leave the land through that path, which are a rare few, since the easiest way out of Valcrest is through the north.

a) The Woods (Center of the land): The great forest is the center of Valcrest and, at present time, the most populated area. Deep inside of the forest, lies the territory of the assassin clan; the Wolfpack. The small mercenary groups that could once be found there have now disappeared, fled from the Pack’s sudden urge to take over the territory of the forest. The open trails that cross the forest and lead to the nearby cities are mostly respected and watched from a distance by the assassins, but straying from them may cause anyone, even the most experienced tracker, to become lost. Wandering into the wrong territory unannounced is something that can get any person killed fast.
Several small streams can be found amongst the trees, but only one bigger lake is present, in the outskirts of the Wolfpack territory, making it off limits to any human outsider that walks that forest.
Wildlife is abundant as well as other sources of food. Mostly wild boar, rabbit, and deer can be found easily for hunting purposes. No one has actually been attacked by predators larger than a snake in these woods, but it is told that wolves live there as well, and in quiet nights their howling can be heard in any point of the forest. Adjacent to the forest and at a distance sometimes considered uncomfortable, are the two remaining cities of Valcrest. No more than a day on foot can get a traveler from one city to another and from any one of them to the depths of the forest.

b) The Plains (West): This territory now is far less inhabited than it once was. However where the ruins of Blackhurst now lie, the healers once made their home. It has been three years since the army of Blackpond chased the White Shadows away from their home, and only now they are starting to come back. The still fertile soil, once used to grow healing herbs, flowers and spices are now void. One or two food crops are currently planted there, mainly for the purpose of keeping the few healers that have returned fed.
The healers once received supplies from the two cities; however, after fleeing to the desert, the healers have cut their ties with all factions involved in the war, and accept the same amount of aid as they provide: None. They help those who reach their camp and advice anyone who is in need of help controlling their enlightened ability, but now the once open territory of the White Shadows is only available to a chosen few, and members of the Crimson Shadows have been placed at their gates to make sure of it.

A long, long, time ago in this territory, the great city of Blackhurst once stood proud and tall. The city looked like one ever growing village, the houses and shops mixed together and scattered within its stone walls, The ruler’s home only recognizable for being larger and more isolated. The army mostly consisted of archers that guarded the walls and could shower attackers with arrows at miles away… Once past them though, the city was defenseless. Most people who lived on the inside of the city walls were scholars, medics and teachers, peaceful and educated people. Outside the walls smaller villages formed as ramifications of the larger city area, those villages were composed mostly of hunters and craftsmen, as well as their families. When Blackhurst suffered its defeat in battle the villages stood and their inhabitants refused to leave. As consequence, many massacres occurred in that area. It is rumored that most of the population of the city consisted of Enlightened and that was the actual reason behind the furious attacks on the city and its population. Both sides carried too much fear of what would happen should Blackhurst choose to get involved in the dispute. Those, however, are only rumors. The true motives behind the destruction of Blackhurst are, until this day, unknown.

c) The Desert (South): To the South of the forest lays a small wasteland where the merchant city of Brightvale once stood. The people who once occupied the city of Brightvale were experienced horsemen and sturdy travelers. Some were known to brag about traveling to the furthest lands known to men in order to acquire their goods, and therefore had seen it all. The Completely deserted once the city was destroyed, the area was rarely visited and only inhabited by a few bandits and runaways that preyed on any unsuspecting and bold adventurers that crossed the territory. Most people saw no point on going through these parts unless the person was leaving Valcrest forever or in need of hiding, however a few years following the abandonment of Brightvale, the mercenary group known as the Crimson Shadows claimed the territory of Brightvale as rightfully theirs. From then on, they made sure no travelers were harm unless they posed a threat to the clan, many times they escorted travelers through the desert and to the mountains, for a small fee, of course.
The mercenary group consists of descendants of the people of Brightvale and Effort; brave warriors as well as a friendly and talkative bunch, the Crimson will extend their welcome to anyone who is in need of shelter, for a night or longer, as long as the traveler is smart enough not to abuse their good will.
Currently the ruins of Brightvale have become a refuge to great part of the White Shadows as well as a, small, exiled group of assassins. Protected and assisted by the Crimson, by the order of their leader.

d) The Mountains (Further South): Beyond the desert, snowcapped mountains determine the limits of the Land. Protected by the stone walls of the mountains, the brave men and women of Effort once lived. The people that once lived there were known as proud warriors and horsemen. They were also known for their mining skills and for fabricating the first explosives seen in Valcrest. They were not the most educated people in the land, but were honorable and proud men and women. A population made extinct when they marched into war beside Blackpond and went into direct confrontation with the nearby city of Brightvale. Having their supplies cut short and their territory being the constant target of attacks… Effort also came to an end. The mines and homes left abandoned until this day.

2. The city of Blackpond (North end of the forest): The city of Blackpond is one of the most ancient and traditional cities to ever exist in Valcrest, its creation only preceded by that of Newhaven. The war with the neighboring city has left its marks on the proud kingdom, but through everything and anything; it has survived.
King Rory had ruled Blackpond for many decades. He was loved and respected within the city walls, as well as Commander Hastings. For the most part, the mass of Blackpond’s population, even though struggling against poor living conditions, had faith in their leader and were proud of their city’s warrior spirit. The city had its problems, it was clear, but what they lacked in wealth or beauty they made up for in spirit. A city filled with warriors and survivors, admired even by its enemies for never allowing itself to break or bend.
However, sorrow filled the city when word spread of the events that occurred in the castle. The news of their King being murdered would by his most trusted officer, along with the news of Hastings’ death spread quickly, first throughout the castle, then across the city streets. Not long after, it became known that Rory had a son.
Under the new leadership, Blackpond seems to have gradually lost the little order it had left when it came to its living conditions, and in the short period of three years, it has slipped into complete and total chaos. Crime rules the street and no punishments are given to those who rape, murder, steal, and vandalize as they please. It’s every man for himself and women and children are safer (in theory) locked on the inside of the house. Even then, when the people of Blackpond leave their homes, there’s no guarantee they will be back unscathed.
These days, anyone who wanders into the, once mighty, city of Blackpond can immediately see that something is very wrong with the city, however, those who are wise enough to know their place would never dare say it; and those who aren’t are usually never seen or heard of again.

3. The City of Newhaven (East end of the forest): Newhaven is nowhere near its former glory, but it’s slowly getting there. With the announcement that those responsible for the killing of their king, and the news of a new heir to take the throne, great part of the rage and fear that once roamed the city streets has subsided. In three years, the people of Newhaven are finally beginning to see a light in the end of a four year struggle to regain its former balance. However, Newhaven is far from being free of problems.
Even with the efforts of the City Guards and Knights combined, the rate of smaller crimes has gone up considerably due to the number of citizens to lose their homes, families, or businesses during the several attacks the city has endured. Small gangs of thieves have begun to form on the less privileged areas of the city, making it now impossible for people to walk the streets unarmed as they once used to. Some businesses are being closed as others are reopening. The economy in Newhaven is not at its possible worst, but it’s fragile. The city funds are growing slim, and there has been talk amongst the city council (and rumors amongst the population) of increasing taxes. Still, even if still shaky, order seems to have slowly been restored to city, especially since Blackpond seems to have lost its interest in attacking Newhaven, ever since the death of their most beloved ruler.

4. Assassin’s Camp (Within the forest): Between the grounds of the two cities, deep inside the forest, lies a clan of assassins, they name themselves the “ Wolfpack”, or simply the Pack” and they have prospered for years eliminating targets on both sides of the feud. The camp consists of one huge clearing surrounded by woods and several hidden paths that lead across them. Inside the clearing there are several cabins made of logs, and also a few tents. One big, more secluded cabin is the home of leaders. In the very center of the camp there is one big camp fire which is lit every night.
In the last three years the Pack has suffered with internal disputes after their leader was thought to be dead and then was discovered to be alive. However, the young woman was unfit to fight properly to maintain the leadership of the clan, and was forced to flee to the desert. A few actives followed after their former leader that night as well. Ever since, many others have considered abandoning the clan as well. The Wolfpack is actually in a better place than it was three years ago, however their place in the world in uncertain and the tense relations between the clan and its former members, as well as the Crimson Shadows, has made living a little bit more difficult; to say the very least.

Toggle Rules

GENERAL RULES

1- Read these rules, read and post on the OOC before submitting a character. I will view your profile and look at your other RPs when you apply, it's there to be read, am I right? I also reserve myself the right to request a writing sample before approving your character (in case I found none on your profile).

2 – No God-modding , autohitting, or any other of those annoying habits that make people call you a douche and complain to me. You may autohit NPCs unless I state otherwise, but killing someone else’s character without consent, or attempting to do so will get you a nice boot print in the ass, be warned.

3 - Battles between PCs must be discussed through PMs beforehand and have a conclusion both players agree to. Keep in mind Enlightenments contain side effects, and do NOT, under any circumstance, start a pissing match on the OOC. There is going to be plenty of fights to go around, don’t expect to win them all!

4 – There is no posting minimum or limit in this RP. As long as you give your fellow players enough to work with and a little bit extra just for fun, that’s great. We love reading as much as we love to write, don’t be afraid to be creative.

5 - I’m fine with romance, but don’t expect things to stop so that you can concentrate on your love life. It just doesn’t work that way. No need to tell you people to keep it clean, but… I will anyway: Keep it clean!

6 – Try to post at least every 3 days, unless you are waiting on a reply. If you can’t, let us know. If you have to drop, let us know and write your character of, or ask if someone wants to adopt it. ABANDON your character if you’re dropping out.

7 – Don’t make more characters than you can handle.

8 – Feel free to spend time in the OOC lounge and share a laugh or two with us. ;)

9 – This RP is mostly character driven so feel very welcome to bring your own ideas to the table.

10 – There shall be no divine interventions unless if relevant to the plot. Which means that: if it must be done, it will be done by me or a fellow co-GM. The Twins are not playable characters in this RP and the Myth of Creation is just that: a myth. There is no proof to verify that there are actually Gods. It is a blind faith.

11 – I will NOT tolerate disrespect, whining, trolling, or arguing on my thread. Do NOT PM me about another player unless said player is violating the rules and I missed it. I have no interest in gossip and I’m not a babysitter. If you have problems with another player, work it out with them.

I’m a friendly person and whatever assistance you need I’m here. However, I’m also GM of this RP. Being so, it’s my duty to enforce these rules. And I will enforce these rules. So if it comes necessary for characters, or posts, being edited I will take no whining about it.

Browse All » 8 Settings to roleplay in

Valcrest

Valcrest by Blackbird26

The Land of Valcrest

Newhaven

Newhaven by RolePlayGateway

City of Newhaven

Blackpond

Blackpond by RolePlayGateway

City of Blackpond

Assassin's Camp

Assassin's Camp by RolePlayGateway

The Wolfpack Camp

The Ruins (Healer's camp)

The Ruins (Healer's camp) by RolePlayGateway

The Ruins of Blackhurst, home of the White Shadows

The Desert

The Desert by RolePlayGateway

The ruins of Brightvale, home of the Crimson Shadows

The Manor

The Manor by RolePlayGateway

Headquarters of The Order.

Raven's Nest

Raven's Nest by RolePlayGateway

Camp of the former Black Guard.

The Story So Far... Write a Post » as written by 14 authors

Setting

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Luckas Character Portrait: Mageria Talsheir Character Portrait: Sham (No Last Name)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Mageria watched as Luckas pulled the bandages aside to reveal a set of slash marks across the width of his chest. Gently, she touched the edges, nothing the red puffiness that indicated infection. "You need to have those looked at again." she said absently. In her mind she was reliving the siege of the Lower City, moments after Daniel had used his spell to transform himself in a desperate effort to save Newhaven.

A chill ran it's way up and down her spin. Those marks, that description . . . could it be anything else? Almost without realizing it, she brushed her fingers across the scars running down from her left temple. Abruptly she turned and strode to her room, crossing to her bookcase and pulling a leather bound journal out. It was the sum total of three years of research, put together only with exhausting effort. She snapped it open the the first page, which contained a sketch of the Beast that she had fought. Walking back out, she brandished the open book at Luckas. "Was it this?"

She was waiting for his response when one of her scouts ran up to her at full speed. Skidding to a stop, he grabbed her shoulder and started to whisper harshly into her ear. “Salamander camp . . . attacked . . . Warlord was outnumbered . . .” She really didn’t hear much more than that.

The book that she had worked on for three years slipped from fingers suddenly gone numb. A sense of foreboding ran it’s way up her back; as if she could feel Death taking an interest. Taking off at a dead sprint, she followed her scout down to the stables.
------------
Sham had rather enjoyed watching the quiet guy take apart the new toughs, it was obvious that he was a professional of some kind. She had moved out of the way, leaning against one of the windows and privately making bets about what was going to happen. It was about halfway through when she noticed a few Black-clad riders galloping down the street. She thought that she recognized the Cap’n at the front, and there were few things that could cause her to rush like that. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that the fight was over.
“Jake? I’ve got a bad feeling about something. Com’on.” She pushed out of the Inn and saw that a second group of riders were following after the first. Reaching out with one hand, she grabbed the arm of one of the passing Guard and swung up behind him. With a few minutes of frantic riding they reached what must have been the camp of the Salamanders. Sham swung down and shook her head . . . there was so much blood . . .
-------------
Mageria scarcely noticed the ride from the Castle to the camp. The report hadn't been clear, just that there was something appearing to be a coup and that Grim was involved. She just got him back, he couldn't . . . . she couldn't even think it. She just held on as her horse galloped out of the gates and into the forest where she had walked just hours earlier.

Swinging to her feet as the horse slowed, she looked around and was nearly sick to her stomach. A couple of her Guard walked into her line of sight, she hadn't even noticed them following.
"Fan out, search for survivors." But she didn't think that there would be any. She had seen battlefields often enough to read the signs of this one . . . Most of the men must have been drugged somehow, they lay as if they had been killed in their sleep or taken unawares by someone they trusted. Heart in her mouth, she started walking though the carnage, searching for that one familiar, beloved face. But Grim was nowhere to be found. She almost dared to hope when she was hailed from a path that took a winding way back to Newhaven. She followed at a lope as her scout lead her to a second battle scene. This one bore the familiar sign that Grim had been there, body parts lay about as if a child had ripped their dolls apart in a fit of rage. And leading away, a steady trail of blood.

Numbly, Mageria followed the blood trail. There had been one last fight, it seemed. Two bodies lay crumbled not far from one another. Chandos, recognizable only from the scars and eyepatch, had a spear through what remained of his head. She wouldn't mourn that overmuch, because it was obvious that the other man had caused that injury.

Grim.

Her friend lay in a pool of his own blood, a gaping hole through his stomach and an eerily peaceful smile on his face; scarcely breathing. Her mediocre healing knowledge had no hope to offer her, only one of the Twins could save him from a wound such as this. Anything she could do would only prolong the pain, and he wouldn't thank her for her efforts. Even if she could save his life, he'd never be the man he once was. Carefully, she knelt down next to him and ran her fingers through his hair before pulling his head into her lap.
"Ah Grim. What has the world done to you?"

Behind her she could hear some of her people starting to gather the bodies of the Salamanders together; she gladly left them to it, grateful for just a moment of peace to say goodbye in.

The edges of his fingers crept over her hand, what once possessed such strength could hardly hold her now. Meekly clinging to Mageria, he carefully lay down chuckling just under his breath. What voice he had carried just beyond his lips. The emeralds of his eyes watching as they drifted toward a distant horizon refusing to focus.

“You came- back for me.. I-I somehow knew you would…I’m afraid it’s- … I got in over my head Th- this time...”

The touch of his hand was ice and every breath was far too labored. His body shakily rising and falling, wincing as it did, but holding fast for his friend. Still smiling as blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth. It wouldn’t be much longer.

“T… the beast is gone. I am free.. The gift is spent and I am just another man.. What I always- hrk.. Wanted…
P-please do not- blame yourself..’

Mageria gripped his hand tightly and leaned over him, tears glinting in her eyes but refusing to fall. "But I'm the Captain. I'm always in charge, you know that."

He had forever been nagging her for trying to control the world, for fretting about things that were out of her reach. How many times had he pulled her away from her plans in the middle of the night, telling her; "If you don't rest Captain, how are you going to order the Twins around?"

Gently, she brushed some of his hair out of his eyes, taking a trembling breath as she did so. "Of course I came back for you." A choked laugh forced it's way out of her throat. "You always did have to bite off more than you could chew." A deep breath. "You know, I never got the chance to tell you how much it always meant to me that you believed in me. I sometimes think it was the only thing that let me hold on for so long." Leaning over, she brushed her lips against his forehead. "Thank You, my dearest friend."

The lights of his eyes dimmed and the lids grew heavy sinking over the green orbs. The pacing rhythm of Grim’s heartbeat slowed, drawing air shallowly. The old familiar darkness edging it from all around his mind.

“.. I-I’ve seen.. The Black Sea… and I’ve- spo- spoken with the Moon. I must go now.. But- will wait for you..
M-mm… My dear sister… I love you too.”

The Black Knight’s hand gently sank from Mageria’s and rested on the earth never to rise again. That night in the black skies of Valcrest, the Moon would show her face in full brimming down over the land. A light when all else is in shadow.

Mageria felt something in her break. “My brother. I will always love you.” She tried desperately to take a breath but a wire had wrapped itself around her chest and she couldn’t breathe right. Gently she brushed Grim’s eyes closed and looked away. Somewhere she could hear birds calling . . . it sounded so normal. So unfair . . .

She didn’t know how much later it was when footsteps approached her. Mageria didn’t look up, just kept holding Grim as if he might wake up at any moment.
“Captain?” It was Sham, kneeling down next to her with a worried look in her eyes. She looked over her shoulder where several of the Guard waited. “You need to get up now . . . They’ll take care of him.” Gently she reached out and shook Mageria’s shoulder. The blank look on her Captain’s face worried her. Always in the past when someone she knew had lost a friend, it was crying and tears and threats. Not this . . . emptyness.

Mechanically, Mageria laid Grim . . . laid Grim’s body down on the ground and followed Sham back to where the horses were. They had only taken a few steps before Mageria turned and looked back at where the Guard had started to pick up Chandos as well as Grim. “Not him. He betrayed his brothers. Leave him for the dogs.” The look that they gave to the body mirrored what she felt. To a group such as theirs, nothing was worse than that. Already she could see where her men were putting up a funeral pyre. It would be put to use tonight; but first there were duties to be seen too. Slowly, she started to ride back home.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Luckas Character Portrait: Jake Turner
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Luke didn't appreciate much being set aside by whatever news that messenger had brought, but he was quickly distracted by the book Mageria dropped to the ground. He immediately picked it up and started going through it. After a little bit of skimming he laughed out. "Oh, this is too good." He exclaimed, walking away to find a quiet place to read more.

----------------------------------------

Jake was about to reply to what Sham had told him of the Blackpond woman, in some level he wished he had been the one with the woman’s life on his hands, it would probably end in saving them all the future trouble he was sure she would cause them. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t that easy. Before he managed to utter a word however, a man spoke up; the mercenary Jake had spotted when he entered the Inn, for some reason Jake had completely forgotten the man and obviously he had been having quite a bit of fun watching the whole commotion between them and the assassins. He listened to the man’s words with an amount of interest he hadn’t shown anyone in quite a while. This was good. He had that psycho’s actual name now, as well as the name of someone who could possibly give him some answers. He wouldn’t have believed any stranger this quickly, wasn’t for the fact that he had heard similar things from several people in Blackpond… All of them convinced Hastings hadn’t killed the King. All had vanished without leaving a trace.
Jake was going to ask some questions, but this was interrupted as well as two men entered the Inn and another fight broke out; this time between the man who had addressed them and the two other men. Jake didn’t move; the guy seemed to be handling himself pretty well on his own.

As the fight was over, Sham pointed out to him that something was going on, and with only one glance outside the Inn, he saw what she did; something was definitely wrong.
Sheila had heard the commotion and walked back into the room. Jake simple looked at her and gave a half smile, pointing at the two new men on the floor. “Those aren’t mine, and I have to run. Is Shadow still where I left him, or did you move him?”
“He’s still there.” She told him. “Did something happen?”
“I don’t know yet. Sorry about the mess.” He said, walking out and running to the small stable in the back of the building, finding the horse he had left there the night before and riding out in the direction everyone else had gone.

When Jake rode from the plains he made sure to go around the forest and not through it, while he would usually welcome any excuse to take down an assassin or two Annie had told him to hurry her letter to Newhaven, so he took a longer, yet safer, path to the city. He only came to know of who was camped there in the morning, through the whispers of the black guards roaming the halls. He thought he’d have the time to pay a visit at some point later, but apparently he was severely mistaken. He rode in to where he could assume there was once a camp, to find a funeral pyre being built there. He didn’t bother to ride any further or even dismount; he simply spotted a familiar face amongst the working men and questioned him.
“Allan, what happened here?” He asked the man.
“Uh, I’m not sure Jake. Things were just in a mess when we got here, but for what I understand there was some sort of coup, amongst the Salamanders. We looked for survivors, but there was none and Grim…” The man stopped talking as he saw the look on Jake’s face, changing what he was actually about to say to: “There were no survivors.”
Jake looked around and could spot the movement of bodies being carried, lined up, and prepared for the pyre, but he quickly looked back to the man he was speaking to. “I see…” He mumbled, lowering his head and stroking his horse’s neck to calm the animal down. “... And the Captain?”
“She was here moments ago, so was Sham, but they already rode back to the city.” Allan informed. “She didn’t look so good, you know?”
Jake sighed at the obvious statement. “I’m sure she’s not.” He replied. “Thank you for the information.” He said, turning his horse back in the direction of the city. Before riding off, he lifted his head and added. “Make sure someone retrieved Grim’s sword. A Knight’s weapon shouldn’t be left lying around for scavengers to find.”

Jake rode off back to Newhaven not really paying much attention to his path and finding himself reaching the castle stables in what seemed to him like record time. As he dismounted he finally took a long deep breath, pressing his forehead against Shadow’s snout momentarily before leaving the horse and making his way into the castle, and through some little known passages, until he found himself in one of the towers.
Sitting on the window ledge, looking down at the city, he started thinking back to his days of training when he heard the younger members of the Black Guard discussing amongst themselves, in loud and excited voices, how many armies would be necessary to bring down ‘War’. While at first Jake laughed at those exaggerations, he thought maybe he’d heard them enough to partially believe them… Out of everyone he had considered a friend in his life; Grim was one of the few who he had never imagined being found dead in the woods. He still wasn’t sure he actually believed it happened, it didn't feel real.


After a long moment of silence, a familiar chuckle reached Jake’s ears and he sighed, turning to face the smiling figure of Luckas. “What are you doing here, you little vermin?”
“Awe, Jakey… I love you too.” Luckas replied, with a small giggle. “Have you finally decided to dump the redhead and run away with me?”
“Shut up Luckas, I really don’t have any patience left to deal with you right now.” Jake muttered.
Luckas stood from the little wooden bench he had been sitting on, hiding whatever he had on his hands on the insides of his jacket. “Now, now… Don’t be that way. You don’t want to wake up naked and tied to a tree like last time you were mean to me.” He said, with a faked tone of innocence in his voice. “Come on Jakey, tell your old pal Luke what’s the problem.” He said walking over to where Jake was sitting and landing a hand on his shoulder.

The moment Luckas touched him Jake stood and struck him in the face, activated his enlightenment and pushed him against the wall, pressing his forearm firmly against his throat, causing him to suffocate. “You are NOT my friend! You don’t the meaning of that word, you worthless piece of junk!” Luke really couldn’t breathe right, but Jake could tell he was trying to say something even so. “You can’t talk, you can’t see my eyes, and you can’t break free. Don’t even bother; you’ll breathe if I decide to let you go. I may, or may not let you go… In other words: I own you. How does it feel?” Jake muttered out to him. Luke had stopped fighting for air, and was now holding a slightly satisfied grin on his face.

After a moment or two, Jake released his hold and Luckas dropped to his knees, coughing as he tried to catch a breath. Slowly tough, he began to chuckle. As he regained his breath the chuckle turned into full formed laughter, and soon enough the room was filled with the sound of manic laughter. Once able to speak, coughing slightly, now from all the laughing, Luke stood up and started to applaud. “Wow! That was fantastic, Jakey! I almost thought you were going to kill me there. I’m disappointed though, it didn’t last very long, but you will get there! We’re not so far apart you and I.”
“I’m nothing like you, you freak!” Jake shouted at him.
“Oh, you’re not? Why are you not in the plains, or in the desert with that girlfriend of yours?” Luke asked, a chuckle still escaping him. “I’ll tell you why: Because that’s BORING, that’s why! You had to go to Blackpond, you had to go where everything is twisted and broken, you have to go where the oddities are see what makes them tick! You can’t sleep if you don’t, you can’t breathe; it’s just meaningless!” He shook his head, still smiling. “The difference between you and me, my dear old friend, is that I don’t bother to pretend I’m doing it for some random cause. I don’t pretend I don’t enjoy myself with these little mind games we all play. I’m honest, and you are a liar. A damn good one too, because I think you actually believe yourself, but a liar nonetheless.” Luke stated calmly. “Now, don’t be shy, show yourself. Let me see what’s going on inside that pretty little head of yours.”
Jake deactivated his invisibility knowing full well that he was an idiot for letting Luckas ramble on and distract him. The little freak was going to go through his thoughts now, which is something he had done at least twice before. The moment Jake was visible Luckas caught his gaze and there was no escaping it.

Once done going through Jake’s thoughts Luke grinned. “Jake, Jake, Jake… Why is it always a redhead the first thought on your mind? First the blind one, then her mother… Weird, but who am I to judge? And now there’s a different redhead, I see… Lamya, is it? I’ll have to meet this woman, she’s managed to get further into your head than I have ever been, in only one conversation… Wow, if I was actually capable of such I could really fall for a girl like that!”

“Screw you.” Jake said, sitting back down by the window, it was almost dusk now. The pyre would be lit soon.
“Too bad you didn’t get speak more to Alex… He seems like a very interesting man.” Luke stated simply.
Jake caught his words and stood up slowly, turning to face Luckas. “Alex?”
“The man at the inn, his name is Alex. He is a… Salamander. I passed their camp on the way here.” He said absently.
“Luckas... What do you know about him?” Jake asked with a slight frown.
“Oh, it’s Luckas now? Not vermin, or maggot, or freak?” He chuckled. “Can’t help you there. I didn’t play with him… And I think I seriously freaked him out, or might have been more because of the girl that brought me to him.”
“What girl?”
“Scars all over, slightly psychotic… Really fun, but not my type. I don’t think I caught her name.” Luke stated with a shrug, beginning to grow bored of all the questions. He started to walk out. “Have fun at the funeral.” He stated, leaving Jake with a lot more questions to answer.

The setting changes from Newhaven to The Ruins (Healer's camp)

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Sibrand
He let out a heavy sigh as he watched the scene before him unfold; A woman had stormed out from a nearby tent and begun to run for the exit with a blade in her hands, knocking down two to three healers in the process. Out from the tent followed Barca with a wide smile over his face. As if he had done something good. It would be a waste of time to punish the green bastard while he had an appointment with Annie, so Lockwood saved his rage for later.

“Theron Lockwood. I have been expecting you.”

The masked man nodded slightly at the young woman as she acknowledged him and he brought his attention onto her. He wasn’t used to hear his entire name from someone else, but it wasn’t a feeling that threw him off his balanced state of mind. However, before the leader of the White Shadows, Annie, were able to continue, a roar erupted in the middle of the encampment. It was one of the healers who had, in his fury, screamed and was charging at a large green orc Theron knew by the name of Barca. Lockwood figured it was best to stay out of the fighting and let this healer take his lesson. As long as nobody died that is.

Although Annie rushed to stop one of her men and succeeded at doing so, Theron still felt it had served as an example to Barca; Healers could fend for themselves and could pose a great threat if they got the upper hand in a fight. Hopefully Barca would soon learn that he wasn’t invincible, no matter how skilled he was in battle.

Once Annie was done sorting out the man who had attempted to assault Barca, she soon found Theron where he had been standing all along, watching the scene from afar. The conversation between them went faster than Theron could both have thought and hoped for. He didn’t even have a chance to say anything until she had returned to her tent once more. However, she had left an envelope to him and as he carefully opened it with one of his knives, his eyes darted over the text upon the letters.

As he read the first letter from Lena, Annie’s mother and the former leader of the White Shadows, he got mixed feelings and felt lost for a moment; In it she told him that she knew that he would sooner or later return again and that she had the book he was looking for. Confusion and frustration struck Theron, but he waved the frustrated feelings away into the void of his mind. Somehow she had known that he would return and look for this certain book. However, could she truly possess the actual book he was looking for? It seemed impossible, but then again, these healers had already proven that they didn’t know any limits when it came to mystics. They knew many other things surrounding subjects close to magic and the art of healing, so it wasn’t much of surprise to Theron after all. The problem now was, what would he do now when his plan was pretty much ruined? Everything he needed to know about both Newhaven and Blackpond was in that book and the few ways to stop the incoming invasion as well. The importance of that book was greater than his own life, and he could say that without being overzealous. Maybe he would go after Lena after all or he might just follow her advice and wait for her, but with the incoming invasion and all, that seemed like a very very bad idea.

Before Lockwood could decided what to do next in this horrible mess, the other letter came into his view. The letter from Daniela. Slowly, Theron read the letter and he could feel the intense pain as tears began to roll down his damaged face. She was dead, for real, and she had known that she would die. ‘The last teachings’ is what the elves used to call that - To know and accept your own death. A strong a wise thing, but then again, Dani had almost always been a strong and wise woman. Even though Theron had all the reasons to cry in sorrow, his tears were that of joy; He would not fail her and Sebastian and knowing that they were both together in the afterlife made everything seem so much brighter and better for some reason.

The last words of the letter:

”Until we meet again… I leave you my best wishes.

Dani Rivers”


Theron stared at that sentence for a couple of moment. ”I’ll see you in the afterlife... My friends.”. After placing both letters inside his coat, Theron looked and realized that Akida was standing right next him and Barca was standing just in front of him. He let out yet another sigh as he waved Barca out of his way, but added ”I’ll deal with you once we're out of this camp.”, before leaving for Annies tent.

Once he reached it, Lockwood walked straight in and stared at Annie where she sat for a moment. ”Crystal has already updated me about the situation and the things that are going about in Valcrest, but I found her words not neutral enough to make a solid stand on.” Theron explained very forward in his tone, yet, still friendly enough. Seeing as the book was out of his reach for the moment, he might as well try to make some use of both himself and his companions and maybe help the healers out or anyone else until he could find a lead on Lena or wait until she comes back. She stated in her letter that she had traveled back to the mountains, but it would take weeks, if not more, to find her up in those hazardous icy peaks.

”Could you tell me what’s going on and if you need me and my company to do something for you while I’m still here. We will be moving on shortly though.”

---
[The Plains]

Ace and the healer had been walking together (More like she was following him around) for a short while now and the healer had started to go on about her life with the White Shadows and asked questions from time to time about him, but Ace did his best to ignore her and the sufferable ranting. However, as they reached the outskirts of the encampment itself Ace started to hear distant voices with the help of his abilities as an elf. It didn’t take long for him to position himself just right to seem like he was listening to the girl in front of him, but at the same time hear everything this unknown woman said to another little girl.

Ace quickly recognized the woman’s voice to be that of Allison and the little one was unknown to him, but she was called ’Kate‘ by Allison. Although their conversation wasn’t so interesting, Ace focused on them instead of the bothering girl in front of him. Suddenly, however, a man joined in on the conversation soon enough. He was called Sean by Allison and it was clear they were in some sort of lock-down with each other - Nemesis facing Nemesis, if you may. Violence had yet to occur, but this was something Ace just couldn’t miss.

”You’ll have to excuse me, I think I heard something in the plains.” The elf said and pushed the girl away. She had apparently had enough of this fool and walked away once and for all. Ace sighed and turned his full attention back on Allison and this ‘Sean‘ guy with both his ears and eyes from afar. The conversation just turned very serious and utterly interesting as Allison slashed at Seans chest with a knife, missing by an inch. Ace was sure it had been on purpose; A way of intimidating the young man. Just before Allison turned her back to the man and walked away, Ace stood there, half covered by a boulder and watched as she walked away. The question was now, should he approach Sean or maybe follow Allison or should he just go back to Theron? So many choices and so little time. In the end, he choose to return back to the rest of them at camp. He wasn’t as curious about these kinds of things as Barca, and especially not as Akida.

---
[Outside Newhaven]

Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack

The clicking sound in the beasts head repeated itself like a turning wheel every second he continued to stare at the scene in front of him. Mageria, the person he was after, held her so-called dying 'Brother' in her arms. The scene brought great joy to this demon, because he was connected to Mageria and could feel her massive sorrow and hatred growing ever slightly bigger for each passing moment. It was like an orgasm in his very soul, repeating itself over and over again.

When the woman had finally left on her horse with another person, The beast followed her through the shadows he found here and there. It wasn’t easy, but he kept following her for as long as possible before she and her companion reached the city where he and she had fought against each other before, only three years ago. The beast lay still in the shadows as he watched her ride past the main gates and fade into the crowd of people inside the city. The gates closed shut after her.

"Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack. Time has come for Thee to die by mine hands, claws, jaws and fangs. Thy soul and body will be mine in the morrow of the Seventh day." He whispered in her mind as a grim smile crossed his demonic features before fading into the shadows completely. He loved to play with his prey's mind before feasting upon its body and soul.

The setting changes from The Ruins (Healer's camp) to Valcrest

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

the time has come.

Everything seemed very far away.

the time has come.

Why did that keep running through her head?

Mageria moved through the corridors of the Castle and was almost surprised that they didn’t melt away like a chalk drawing in the rain, so false did they feel. Somewhere Sham was talking to her, as were some of the Guard, but she couldn’t have repeated their words if her life depended on it. It took a few moments of intense thinking for her to remember that she should report in, that she hadn’t seen Thomas since she yelled at him this morning. He needed to know what had happened.

Mageria was working her way to the Royal suite when Councilor Martin found her. A fussy man, fond of dressing nicely and being important, he was one of the few who seemed to think that he could order anyone around that he cared to.
“Captain Talsheir! You missed today’s meeting!” The man’s voice seemed to echo to her from a great distance, everything around her seeming to be oddly removed. Mageria absently brushed at a damp spot on her tunic, shivering just a bit as the clammy cloth stuck to her.
“My apologies Councilor. I had other things to deal with.” With a sneer, he planted one hand on her chest, stopping her forward movement.
“I’m sure you did, Captain. However, your absence meant that the Queen was . . . What on earth?” Pulling his hand away, he flipped it around to look at the palm, which was smeared with something red. “Is that . . . is that blood!?” Mageria reached out and gently grasped his wrist, turning it around so she could see it.
“Yes, Councilor. I believe it is.” She smiled gently at the shorter man, pleased that he could figure that out on his own. It seemed to be very hard to think right now. Then she looked at his sleeve in distress. “Oh dear, there seems to be some more.” There were indeed more smears of bright red blood around the wrist of his shirt, place there by her hand. Looking down, she brushed at the damp patches that covered most of her front in confusion. In the better light of the hall, they all glinted red. It seemed that she was covered in blood.
“It must have happened when . . .” she couldn’t finish the thought. Looking up, she noticed that the Councilor was turning so white that he appeared green. “Are you feeling alright, Councilor?” She looked at his shirt, knowing that his appearance mattered a great deal to him. “You should take care of that quickly. Blood stains so badly, you know.” He nodded violently and started to back away, not taking his eyes off of her as if he was afraid she would leap on him at any moment.

Mageria watched him walk away, still wrapped in a numb feeling like a blanket of cotton, then looked down at her uniform. She should really clean that up.




the time has come.

The setting changes from Valcrest to Blackpond

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Lamya's journey back home took a lot less time than she had anticipated and the rest she had when she got back turned out to be longer than anticipated. If one was swayed by their anticipations, the world would get nowhere. What humans called the most important moments in their history were all spurred on by the lack of anticipations. Big upsets in war were all based on a simple fact that the winning army had anticipated their foes to be stronger and the other side anticipated their opponents to be weaker than they turned out to be.
"You're here sooner than I expected." A voice came from the end of the hall. The voice of a woman whom every assassin in the Shadow's Conflict seemed to hate. Lamya understood, but at the same time could wrap her finger around the idea. This woman knew what she shouldn't and Lamya had given her a position of power. To anyone else it seemed ridiculous. The only other one who was able to warm up to her was Rick, but that was because he always believed that keeping one's enemies closer was the best solution to the problem.
Lamya didn't walk any closer to the woman down the hall. She ignored the comment that seemed to directly relate to her thoughts. "Hello Rita. How's my less pretty counterpart?" Lamya knew she hated that.
Rita gave her typical sneer and response. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I thought you of all people would recognize that."
"Oh I do Rita, but I like to see you get worked up over such a petty topic. Now how are the armies doing?"
"They're fine" Rita said. "if you were to restrict them as much as you have."
"It's up to them to stand up to their beliefs no matter what restricts them my dear. For example, I understand that you think killing me and all the other assassins would be good for Blackpond. You believe that killing me would end all of Blackponds troubles and the war with Newhaven would be over." She laughed as loud as she could. The high pitched screeches echoing through the halls. "You see, I've already solved that problem. The last time we've fought with Newhaven is when we took those prisoners. That is almost three years ago."
Lamya walked away. She had more to say, but she just didn't feel like continuing on. There was no reason why she didn't continue besides how she didn't feel like it. There would be more time to talk if she was interested. Rita knew that there was no point in talking any more. She just let Lamya walk out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newhaven
Alex sat in the inn for a while longer after everyone left. Based on the movement outside, he knew exactly how dreadful the site would be. He much rather preferred to wait it out and maybe have a moment to relax. He sat atop his barstool and stared down the drink that had been left unattended by a patron after the ruckus scared them away. A drink seemed like a nice thing to have. The soothing feel of losing one’s self while the tingly tonic burned its way down to his stomach would feel so great at that moment. His eyelids pressed down and he shook his head a few times before reaching into his pouch to grab a cigar. Placing it in his mouth, he got out of his seat and made his way to the door.
“The money’s on the counter.” He explained the girl before leaving.
He had a feeling that something fishy had been going on inside the Salamanders’ camp. Things just seemed to be going too well for the past while. People seemed to be sucking up to one another too much. Some people were acting too kind and others a little more hostile. He should have seen the signs and been able to interpret them given how he had seen it happen a few times on smaller scales.
The streets were full of guards and soldiers who seemed to be franticly wandering back and forth through the city. The townspeople could tell that something was happen and were all on edge. People were all on the edge about it all. He didn’t blame them, but the fact was that there was nothing to worry about anymore. Soon things would subside and people would forget about it as if nothing happened. That’s how everything worked in Valcrest. One day it is big news and the next it is forgotten. Nothing would last forever. Not in their mind or anywhere for that matter.
Alex moved his way down, exiting the city to see a group of guards and workers all around. They were all working on individual things. Some were keeping guard of the bodies while others were rushing around to make the bodies look presentable. That would all be easy enough to slip by. He had slipped by a few things in the past while.

After getting past everyone, he had managed to find what he was looking for. He seemed stupid for not looking in the most obvious spot. Knowing the relationship between Grim and Mageria, she would want him to be placed closest to the Pyre. Grim was laying there under the shade of the trees that weren’t too far off. He had seen many dead people in his days, but this one struck him in particular. He had only felt this feeling for a dead body once before. He wanted to go find the person who did that immediately and find the person a dead man. It defiantly wouldn’t be pretty if he did find that person. There was way too much revenge on his mind already to deal with more. He would sadly have to put it aside.
He walked up closer to the motionless Grim. “Ha! Even dead you still look better than I do… Well, I guess it doesn’t help with the lame eye that I have, does it?” Alex felt like a complete idiot talking to a dead body, but he found himself unable to stop. “Now I know that anything I ever told you was safe. Like that time I accidently told you about stealing some of Morrigan’s stuff and burning it in the camp fire that one time after she had cut my eye out. She can be a bitch sometime, you know. I don’t know how you could handle her.”
He looked down at the body for a little while longer. Soon enough the commotion in the town would die down and people would forget about the day that the Salamanders died; the day their great leader of the group had died. The moment everyone who personally knew him dies, he would become just another person in the history books, but people can’t believe everything that is written in those things. People wouldn’t know about the fine details of a very complex man. And eventually, even those history books, with the little details about the man would disappear from time. Grim would disappear from time. He would just become another shadow of the forgotten.
With all that he had to say over with, he left the area. He wasn’t sure where he was going to go now. So he just went off to the treeline and walked for a while until he found a distant place to stop. He was alone, like he wanted, but being lonely could be such a burden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[The Desert]
There Evin was in the middle of the desert. Time seemed to go by slowly in this place, even for someone who had control over the speed at which time went by it seemed slow. The funeral that was being held for the Crimson Shadows who had lost their lives in the most recent attack with the assassins had started to devolve into their second for of respect that Evin liked to call “the forgetting period”. They would all get completely drunk until they forgot what it was they were getting drunk for. In the morning, they wouldn’t remember anything about the previous day. The only indication that they would have that the lost comrades were no longer with them would be because they wouldn’t be able to find them anywhere in the camp. Sometimes they’d have a second and even a third party over it because they would forget that they had already partied for their deaths. The morbid comedy moved on.
Soon enough, he noticed Crystal walking by.
"Hey Crys. You wanted to talk?"

Crys had gone into the camp to get some food and water and see if any of the Crimson that had been out that morning had important information. After scattering the ashes of their fallen companion the mercenaries had gone back to their usual loud and cheerful behaviour. A couple of years ago Crys would have found them irritating, but she had gotten used to them by now.
Sitting by a place that had become her usual spot, a little more secluded, but still close enough to know what was going on with the general population, she heard Evin's voice and nodded to his question. "Yes, I did. I'm not sure to what point you'll want to listen to this, considering the source, but I'll tell you anyway because it's a serious matter: I spoke to Theron last night and he told me a little of why he's back. He says this man, I think his name was Adrian, has been forming a massive army in the West and plans to conquer, well, the entire continent for what I understand. So Theron tells me he is here to end the war and prepare everyone for the incoming attack. I listened to him, and I really don't doubt there will be an attack, but I'm not sure I believe there is way to get Valcrest in order to defend itself." She sighed. "At least not as quickly as he seems to want it. I told him so too, but he has some sort of plan he wouldn't tell me about." She went silent for a little while, hearing one of the Crimson tell a slightly offensive joke to one of his buddies. "I think he left for the plains." She added.

Evin didn't want to look like he was interested in the topic, but he couldn't not listen to it. The mere mentioning of Theron made him mad, but it also made him interested. While he calmed himself down, he thought of what to say. He was still an assassin and he needed to keep his cool so he could make decisions.
"While I believe what Theron says to be true, I don't believe that the army would attack us first. I don't know much about the outside lands as most do. I have however looked at a few maps out of interest. Valcrest sits in the center of this continent and it wouldn't be strategic to attack in the center where this Adrian would have to fight on two fronts. Odds are he will work his way up the side of the east or west coast before moving to the center. We have time enough." He took a few second to grab some of the food that Crys had taken. "Hope you don't mind." He took a bite. "That can be discussed more at a later date when it becomes more pressing. I've had some time to think and I believe we could use Theron's arrival to our advantage. It may seem disloyal to do so, but if we were to somehow inform Sean of Theron's arrival, he will use all his resources to destroy anything that remains of the man. That could give us ample time to launch our own attack on Sean directly. Our assassins might not yet be able to take on the Pack at full force, but if Sean stretches his assassins, then we have a chance."
He took another bite from the food he had practically stolen, ready to listen.

Crys shook her head as Evin took her food, holding back a chuckle. She didn't mind, but she always found it funny when people said 'hope you don't mind' after doing things. If they actually cared, they'd say it before and wait for a reply, so it was really just pointless. "Huh... Someone should describe that map to me one day." She said absently. "Suppose we do have time to do that, if it can be done." She agreed. "And I thought about having Sean know about Theron's return. The risk involved in this would be that Sean is a coward; he rarely goes after people directly. He could come after us instead hoping that it would affect Theron somehow. The way I see it, he could go either way, and if he decides to throw the Pack at us, we have no chance. If we can make it so he has no choice but to chase after Theron, that would make it easier." She said, going into thought for a moment or two. "If we could know what's going on in the Pack internally, and we made that information public to the clan, in the right time... They'll pressure him into hunting Theron, and he'll have no choice. He doesn't have it in him to go against the whole clan the way my mother always did." She chuckled. "Definitely not after criticizing her so much for it."

"I'd give you the map I had, but I kinda burned it with the rest of the archives." He chuckled, thinking about how he had almost burned down the entire leader’s cabin in the Wolfpack's camp. He hadn't burned down the entire thing, but he had managed to burn down the entire archives of the assassins. All the records, all the history was destroyed in a single moment. Things forgotten forever. There was no chance for finding a way to remember what had happened in those moments in history and so it would be lost in time.
"So you really think that Sean would go after us? What if we convinced Sean that Theron has no interest in us anymore? We could also try to convince him that we have no interest in Theron. That way Sean would go for Theron with even more force than he would think he could give your situation. It would take less time to get that done and we would have even better odds. Theron can handle things himself. Especially if he trained the others following him well enough."

Crys considered the odds carefully, at some point she wondered if she should be concerned that the possibility of sending the entire Wolfpack after Theron didn't bother her at all, but finally she simply forced her mind back to the matter at hand. "I don't know if he'd buy that. Not unless we put on a damn good act." She said thinking it over one more time, and then again. "We'd have to get the information to him, without him knowing it's coming from us and we have to make it so his focus is entirely on Theron. That's a complicated thing to do. If the news came from one of the messengers in Newhaven, or Blackpond, he might be more likely to believe it, I think." She sighed. "I also have to keep a closer watch on Ali or she might just mess it up, and we can't really afford any mistakes right now. Suppose that's a little bit on me though..." She added with a little shrug.
Crys ran a hand through her hair, and took a moment to hear the sounds of the desert camp, so different from what she used to call home, but all too familiar now. So many of the things that happened forced her to think of the past, to relive things that were meant to be dead and buried... And now this. "Can't really believe he's back." She mumbled, still not sure of Theron's return would bring, despite their own plans.

Evin looked around him like Crys had. He looked over two Crimsons fighting over a bottle of beer. A crowd was beginning to gather around them as the fight got 'better'. He could see money passing hands as the fight went on. Eventually, the crowds had covered the fight completely and there was nothing left to distract himself from Crystal's comment about Theron. "Yeah, it is hard to believe." He said with a light tone. The topic to him was like salt in an open wound. It hurt, a lot. Speaking of him as a tool against Sean was fine with him, but personal talk was just not alright yet.
"What we need to do is start a scene between him and the two of us at an Inn. Hell, we could probably do a repeat of the first time we met him, minus the inn burning down of course. The new assassin working there wouldn't even notice what was going on. It would be a great! The informant would report back to Sean both that Theron was back, but also that we have a beef with him. Did you ever learn how to fake an injury? Do you know how to make fake blood?" He asked, not really expecting an answer right away. These questions were shot at her too fast for her to respond to immediately and besides, she had to contemplate the plan before even answering those question.
Soon enough the crowd had died down. Some looked disappointed. Actually all of them looked disappointed. Obviously the fight wasn't what anyone had expected. They had probably come to some sort of compromise and the fight never really had a conclusion. It seemed to have been arguing over who had won the fight. The motions of their hands indicated that they were discussing the highlights and basing their arguments around those moments. All in fun and games, but to Evin, it all looked silly.
Crystal wasn't given a chance to think the whole way through before Evin said another thing. "I have a favor to ask of you Crystal." Long had he stopped calling Crystal by her full name, but in times when he was being extremely serious he tended to fall back to old habits. "I know there is a lot on your plate, but there is something really important that I want you to do for me. It a lead I have on a personal matter. You see, there is a small village about an hour’s walk west of here. In that village, there's a man who owns a small store. It's the only store in the village, not at all hard to find. I'd gotten a lead from another man in that town about a woman around my age that had passed by about five months ago. He had told me to talk to this shop keeper, but you see, the shop keeper had been directed only to speak of her to a woman who is to pass by in a couple of days from now. I couldn't get any information out of this man, but I'm hoping that you will be able to pass off as this woman. Could you do this for me? I need to know about the whereabouts of the woman I've been getting leads for." He took a second more. "It's really important to me."

"Suppose that might work..." Crys said absently, taking the time to think the whole thing through. It would be tricky, but then... What wasn't nowadays? It was clear they needed to start taking action soon, they wouldn't be able to hide from the Pack forever, and this was a very good opportunity to take them down; there might not be another anytime soon. As she was about to answer the question about faking injuries and blood, Evin changed the subject to something else, and this she listened much more carefully to, and that for the mention of her full name and of it being a personal matter.
She sighed softly when hearing what he wanted her to do, it sounded simple enough, and if it was that important to him she wouldn't say no. "I can help, if it's important, but... Are you absolutely sure you want my help? For an assassin, I'm a terrible liar and, well... When I do people favors I do collect. Dastan has been trying to get rid of me for close to ten years now." She stated, with a little grin, thinking that she couldn't really pull the same tricks on Evin, but it'd be fun to try it anyway. "So, tell me... When I talk to this man, who would I be asking for?" She asked, not bothering to pretend she wasn't curious about the whole thing, but leaving it up to Evin to decide what, if anything, he would be willing to tell. People had their secrets, some of them they'd rather keep just to themselves, and she could easily understand that.

Evin listened to her with joyful discourse. “Friends do favors because they want to. Maybe I’ll go back to calling you Crystal again.” He chuckled and continued until she asked him for a name. Immediately he stopped, shooting his glare out into the distance of the desert. “I’m off to the plains now. Hopefully Theron will still be there when I get to him.” He said and walked away. From there, he prepared to journey out to places he hadn’t been for over three years. It would be interesting to see how things had changed in his absence.

The setting changes from Blackpond to Newhaven

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

After a through bath, she spent the next few hours working on the pile of reports that lay on her desk. Thomas had sent a note that she could put in her report later, Sham had given him what he needed for now. Taking comfort in not having to deal with anyone else, Mageria simply worked through an endless supply of lists, filling in blanks and marking checks as a way to avoid thinking. Finally though, she had to get up and get changed again, this time for the funeral of one of her closest friends, a beloved brother-in-arms that she would never be able to replace.

“Captain?” A soft voice drew Mageria’s attention from where she was pulling on her gloves. She was dressed in her seldom used full formal gear, that of a Black Knight.
“Yes?” Mageria’s voice was soft and even; too even. The Guard standing in the door shifted nervously.
“We’ve retrieved Sir Pondus’ sword. It’s in the armory.”
Mageria nodded and finished pulling on the hooded coat that went with the winter version of her formal gear. “Thank you.”

Slowly she walked down the hall, entering the private armory of the Black Knights and Guard. Along the walls hung a massive variety of weapons, those that were needed and those that were left behind. And toward the back was the massive sword that once belonged to Grim. Mageria sighed gently as she ran a finger along the scabbard. One more ghost to add to the ranks.

Walking past where the sword hung, she reached the very back, which held the reason that the Blacks kept their own armory separate. It held a small alter to Moon, their patron Goddess and protector. Mageria bowed her head, remembering the legend told to new recruits as they were accepted into the ranks.

There are no official records of the creation of the Order of the White Knights, and there aren’t any official records that even indicate the existence of the Order of the Black Knights, although it common knowledge that it does exist. However, much like almost everything in Valcrest, there is a myth about it. Some actually believe it to be true, while others simply find it entertaining to pretend that it is. Either way, nowadays it is the only known story of how the Knights came to be.

After Mother and Father punished the Twins by taking away their immortality, Sun and Moon became preoccupied for the humans who lived in Newhaven. They didn’t think they were prepared enough to maintain the city without them. For that reason they decided that they would leave their children behind to keep the city in peace.
As their eldest children reached adulthood, Sun’s first son was proclaimed the first Kings of Newhaven, and Moon’s first daughter the Queen. For years, even after the Twins had left Valcrest for good, Newhaven prospered.

However, as the Twins left the land, the war escalated more and more. Once it became clear that city needed to be protected further, the King and Queen decided they needed to form a proper army, more importantly; they needed people to command said army. The problem was that the King and the Queen had different views on how the situation should be handled. After a lot of discussion they finally decided on how they would proceed: They each hand-picked five human warriors and, over the course of five years, had them trained to the very best of their abilities.

Once trained, the five warriors chosen by the King received light silver armor, and shields that held the golden symbol of the Sun. They were sworn to an oath: To protect and maintain order amongst the people of Newhaven, to serve the Royal family and uphold the law above all else.

The five warriors chosen by the Queen were given Black armor and shields, as well as dark helms to conceal their faces; the darkness of their figures only broken by the dark silver crescent on their shields. They were also sworn to an oath: Surrender their body and souls to Newhaven; and protect the city from any harm, at any cost.


From that moment on the White Knights became the front of the ever-growing army of Newhaven, and the Black Knights their silent shadows.

It was an ideal that she had believed in for a very long time. She still did.

Leaving the room she came to a sudden halt. In the hall before her was almost her entire command, all of them dressed in their own formal uniforms. It was clear that they meant to join her, even if she hadn’t asked it of them. Bowing her head, she walked through their ranks, feeling them close behind her as they followed. As their boots hit the stone in unison, they fell into a marching cadence automatically. Together they walked through the back corridors of the Castle, through the slowly emptying streets of the City and out to where the ranks of the dead awaited them.

Mageria walked out on the field, her Guard and Knights grouped behind her. It was the beginning of true dark, the time for farewells and passing on. The night’s wind blew chill through their ranks, but the Black ranks were still beyond the rippling of their cloaks. Before her upon a burial pyre, lay the rows of the dead; the Salamanders that Grim had worked so hard to build for years.

And Grim himself.

One of the Guard walked forward, offering her a lit torch. Mageria took it, gazing for one last time upon the face of her friend. He had tried so hard to rise above the chains that his Enlightenment fastened upon him, but in the end, it ended up the same way it always did. Death’s touch was inevitable, but sometimes it was merciful. From the peaceful smile on his face, it seemed that in death he had found some of what he sought in life.

Stepping forward, she bent and held the torch to the oil soaked kindling stacked around the bier, watching as it caught with a crackle and leapt to fulfill it’s purpose. Mageria stepped back and rejoined the ranks of watching Guards, almost all of whom had been mercenaries or private guards at some point. Even though they didn’t know those who lay before them, they mourned their brothers all the same.

But their duty wasn’t done. Mageria tilted her head to the sky and took a deep breath, calling upon her memory of a dirge that she had sung far too many times already. Bell like, her voice rose above the crackle of the flame to rise toward the moon.

Soon the morning sun will rise,
And dawn will bathe the sky.
There's time for just this parting song,
Before we say goodbye.


Behind her the ranks stirred at last, their voices blending in a soft thunder to rise into the night as well.

So sing together one and all,
And raise a glass of wine,
Here's hoping we will meet again,
Along the road of time.


Mageria waited for the soft notes to fall away before she drew breath again.

We've shared our stories, yours and mine,
We've shared our hopes and fears.
With memories of distant youth,
We've all rolled back the years.


And once again the ranks of shadow-cloaked soldiers behind her raised their voices.

So sing together one and all,
And raise a glass of wine,
Here's hoping we will meet again,
Along the road of time.


Finally she felt the burn of tears in her eyes as the flames roared up, the cloaks of those standing around the fire billowing backwards, the glare of the firelight showing solemn sorrow on more than one face.

The ever-turning, fateful wheel,
Must cause our ways to part.
And bringing untold mysteries,
Another day will start.


The pain in her was a living thing, tearing at her guts until she thought she might rip herself open just to let it out. Mageria wrapped her arms around her chest, trying desperately not to break down before she was finished. She could do that later, but right now she had to finish her last duty to a man that she had trusted with more than her life.

So sing together one and all,
And raise a glass of wine,
Here's hoping we will meet again,
Along the road of time.


From above, pristine snowflakes started falling, dancing delicately down to alight on the ranks of mourners. Cold. She was so damn cold that she could feel it seeping all the way through her. She let it, it seemed to ease the pain inside until she could function. Strange though. The pyre was roaring in front of her, she should have been able to feel it. But she felt nothing.

Behind her the ranks drew closer, hands reaching out to one another; men who knew that someday it would be them lying there acknowledging that for today at least, it wasn’t. Several hands reached out to her, and Mageria let herself be drawn into the crowd, joining them for the final farewell to those who had sought to better the world around them; but standing alone all the same.

For from endings come beginnings,
From the old shall come the new,
With hopes for tomorrow,
We'll see our parting through.


Together they watched as the flames died, leaving naught but ash behind. The snow continued to fall, blanketing everything in a falsely comforting sense of serenity. Even though there was nothing left for her, Mageria couldn’t bring herself to leave; it felt that if she just waited long enough, the moment would shatter and she would wake up and find it had all been a bad dream. Just a moment more . . . If she just waited one more moment. . . . . From behind her a harsh wind blew up, whipping the mingled ash and snow up and away into the sky, leaving only the memories carried by the living to mark their passing. Mageria drew a breath and bowed to the inevitable. This moment wasn’t going to go away, no matter how hard she prayed. Grim was gone and there was nothing that she could do to bring him back. At least the cold that had seeped into her very core would make it easier to do her job; so long as she didn’t feel, she couldn’t hurt.

As one, they turned and walked back to the City; the living had their duties, even if the dead had found their rest.

-----------------------------

Mageria made her way slowly up to her room. She wanted nothing more than to be left alone, lick her wounds in peace. The cold frozen feeling in her chest hurt, but in a distant way. She paced down the hall to her doorway, feeling as if lead weights were attached to her shoulders. Wearily, she leaned for a moment against the door, not even daring to hope that the night might bring some measure of relief. Grim was dead and gone and one more of her friends awaited her in Death's hall. There were so many of them there . . .

Forcing herself to move again, she pushed open her door, shrugging the coat off of her shoulders and tossing it towards the nearest chair in front of the fireplace. She stared blankly at the mantle before her eyes slowly focused on the Traveler's Blessing lamp still burning. A spasm twisted in her chest before she buried it under the cold again. There were two wicks burning, one for each of the people that she was waiting for.

Well, now one of them was at rest. Gently, Mageria reached out and pinched the wick labeled with the rune, “Strength through Courage”. Grim had finally come home.

Turning away, Mageria absently rubbed at the back of her neck as she looked around the room, her eyes catching on some of the weapons mounted here and there on the walls. While some of them were not what she would ordinarily use, they served as touch stones for the memories of the people who once bore them. There was one sword, hanging over her mantle that was far larger and more ridiculous than anything she would have ever used. But again, it was something that she held on to in memory and until she found someone worthy to carry it once again.

But tonight wasn’t a night where she wanted to relive old memories. Turning away, she opened the chest under the window, pulling out a bottle of wine. Maybe if she drank enough, she could sleep tonight. She got as far as cracking the seal and opening it before she had to stop. The last time she had drunk to forget . . . she roughly pushed the cork back into the bottle and slammed it down on the table. Fighting the increasing pain in her chest, she went to the window and pressed her forehead to the freezing glass, letting the memories wash over her.

A line of men and a few women stood in the dust of the training yard. In front of them paced one of the White Knights, speaking in a loud, grating voice.
“You all are the sorriest bunch of idiots that I have ever been forced into whipping into shape. You think that you know what it’s like to fight? You have no idea. You all are going to pair off and do your best to beat each other into the ground. You will not stop at first blood. You will not stop when you’re tired. You will stop, when I tell you to stop; and not one damn second earlier!”

Mageria sighed and waited to see who her partner was. To her dismay, it was one of the guys trying for White Knights, an overbred stick up his ass noble. Still, she took her weapon and lined up across from him, waiting for the signal to start. When it came, they both went after each other, while around them the other pairs quickly beat one another bloody. But for once, she and her opponent were fairly evenly matched. There were no rules to this fight, so he kept trying to knock her over with a sonic blast; while she was using every dirty trick she knew. Circling each other, neither of them could get an advantage over the other. Mageria could tell when Krander was about to let loose with an especially loud blast, because he always took a deeper breath than he needed to for fighting. When she saw that, she usually managed to duck to the side and dodge the worst of it.
“What’s the matter, girl? Can’t you do anything but swing a sword? Maybe if you concentrate you’ll develop an ability that will make you worth something.” Krander had a glint in his eye that suggested that he enjoyed trying to put her in her place. Mageria simply bared a smile, grabbed a handful of dust and threw it in his face the next time he took a deep breath. He choked and was forced to fight sword to sword while he frantically swallowed and spat, trying to clear the dust.

Finally it looked like he managed to clear his throat, taking an especially deep breath. Clearly he was looking for a bit of revenge. With her ears already ringing, Mageria took a chance and spun in a dizzying blur of blades, breaking through Krander’s guard and slamming her sword into his upper arm. Not seeing the point of actually cutting it off, she twisted her sword at the last moment and simply broke it. His jaw dropped in shock and his sword fell to the ground, choking and gasping with the pain, while he cradled his arm with the other one.

Mageria couldn’t help a tiny smile, this guy had been giving her shit about crawling out of the mud ever since she got to the Castle, it felt good to put him down in it. She dropped her guard just a bit and moved closer to where the noble stood clutching at his busted wing like he’d never had to deal with a broken bone before.
“Sorry about that, but you might want to learn to concentrate through the pain,” she offered helpfully, speaking softly to keep it between them.
Krander looked up at her and a flash of anger crossed his refined features. He took a quick gulp of breath and let loose a blast that impacted the center of her chest, flinging her backwards. There was a loud painful pressure to her ears, a popping sensation, then nothing. Absolute silence. She actually flew backwards about ten feet, before crashing into the ground in what she presumed was a clatter of armor. Dizzily, she pulled off her helm, rubbing one ear with her hand. There was blood on it, and a second swipe showed that the other ear was the same. The bastard had shattered her eardrums.

Krander smirked at her and flashed the hand sign for Surrender.

She glared right back and replied with a decidedly non-military signal of her own.

-years later-

“I’m sorry Captain. But there’s no sign of him. Just his sword, stuck in the ground.” The Guardsman in front of her shrugged apologetically before setting an entirely too familiar weapon on the table in front of her. Mageria reached out and grasped it, rotating it from side to side to check for damage. Too ornamental for her taste, too long to be properly balanced, too flashy to serve; but that was Krander all the way. She swallowed and held her emotions tightly in check. “Are you sure?”
The Guard nodded. “Aye, Captain.” He hesitated. “That area, ma’am. There was heavy fighting, damage from some thrown boulders, a couple of houses that burned down. Add that to the Blackpond forces getting in . . . Honestly, I don’t think that there’s anything for us to find.” He shuffled his feet uncomfortably for a moment. “We did find some . . . remains in some of the rubble, but we can’t be sure . . .”
Mageria nodded and dismissed him with her thanks, trying to focus on the sea of reports before her. Things had been so chaotic that she wasn’t even sure when Krander had vanished; it had been days before he was missed. Then she had assumed, hoped really, that he was simply in a ward somewhere, and hadn’t reported in for some reason that would only make sense to his twisted noble mind.
But all injured had been accounted for. Her spies in the Blackpond Castle had ascertained who all was being held there . . . the White Knight Captain was not one of them. He was simply gone.
Missing, presumed dead. That was the column that she added his name to on her reports; wielding the quill with a heavy hand. Then she took a deep breath and got up. There was more that she had to do, as a friend more than the Captain.

She did manage, however, to hold her tongue until she got to Krander’s rooms. There was an air about them that made it seem as if he could walk back in at any moment. Which she had to accept wasn’t going to happen.
“Stupid, arrogant, over-dressed, smug, son of a bitch” she snarled at the empty chair where he liked to sit during the evenings they spent talking. “How many times; how many times did I tell you, did I prove to you that having an Enlightenment didn’t mean that you were the greatest swordsman around?” With anger making her every movement over forceful, she started sorting through Krander’s desk, searching for his journal. Given how maudlin both Krander and Phelix were, she had no doubt that it contained things that no one else should see. The key she found in a secret compartment in the very back of the desk that she had helped him make.
“But did you ever listen to me? Noooooo, why should you? I’m only a commoner who crawled out of the dirt; of course you know better than me.” Oddly enough, she didn’t find it at all strange that she was yelling at Krander’s ghost. A quick search through the cloths chest revealed a bracelet that she knew had appeared after one of Phelix’s visits; that went into her pocket for safekeeping.
“Honestly, how the hell do you think I stayed alive all these years? It’s because I, unlike some people, had a realistic idea of what I could and could not do.” The rest of the room didn’t hold much that she thought she needed to take away for safe keeping; she only noticed a sketch hanging on the wall because of a trick of the light. The face was in shadow, but she recognized the body, even though she was pretty sure that Phelix had never looked like that. The rose colored glasses of love, she supposed.
“Damn it, Krander, what the hell am I supposed to tell Phelix about this?” Briefly she closed her eyes and shook her head; feeling a heavy weight settle on her shoulders. She hated having to notify the family of the dead.

At the door, she turned and scanned the room one last time to make sure that she hadn’t forgotten anything. His armor could go into storage, she certainly couldn’t keep it in the corner of her room. Everything else was simply the normal things that anybody would have, nothing that she needed to hide. With a shuddering sigh, she looked down at the journal in her hands, wondering just what it held. Something trickled down her cheek, she wiped it away without noticing. With a final sniff, she looked back at the empty chair, almost able to imagine her friend sitting there and saluting her with a glass of wine. Then she shook her head and turned to leave, one last time. “Goodbye, Krander.”


Mageria the weights on her shoulders getting heavier. As soon as she could, she had taken the enormous risk of sneaking into Blackpond and leaving a note in Phelix’s home that she needed to talk with him. But he had never responded. With everything that had happened, she was forced to assume that he was dead as well, because nothing less would have kept him away, not for three years. The night that she had been forced to admit that they were both dead, not long after Grim had left, that was the last time she had gotten blistering drunk while trying to wash away the memories with a bottle of whiskey. But all that had achieved was leaving her with an enormous headache. Not something that she cared to repeat.

So instead she sat at the table in the center of the room and started pulling off her armor bit by bit, setting the pieces in front of her as she loosened them. She got about halfway through before she simply stopped, lacking the will to continue. It was another moment that time seemed to stretch oddly, leaving her with no idea how long she had sat there before someone knocked on her door. She wanted to ignore it, but her sense of duty was too strong. With a sigh, Mageria pushed up from the table and slowly made her way to the door, struggling to keep a pleasant expression on her face.

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Tyce
Phelix had been riding next to Krander, not just today but a majority of his life. Krander was actually so close that he rested his head on Phelix's shoulder while they rode their horses towards Newhaven. Krander woke and sat up on his horse. "We are about an hour out Krander," Phelix said while Krander shook his head to wake up. "Phelix, you don't know how much this means to me, and I want you to know that I never have held us going and staying up here your fault. I know you would not have lived because of the assassinations but I chose to go up and after all you have done for me..." He paused. "I don't know, I have a lot going on in my head because I have no idea how this is going to play out, and I have no idea what condition Mageria is even in." A tear fell from his left eye. Phelix wiped it away and softly said, "Krander, we shall ride in silence until we are there, and you can sort your thoughts." They kissed and rode in silence. Phelix had some thoughts to sort himself...

About an hour later Krander saluted to the Gate Guard who luckily was new and did not recognize Krander. He didn't want word spreading that he was back before he got to see Mageria, and talk to whoever was running the show as the Captain of the White Knights, and the king or queen of Newhaven. Krander and Phelix hopped off their horses and Krander grabbed the box of letters and his knapsack while Phelix grabbed everything else and a stable-worker took care of the horses. Krander went to where his old room was and noticed a new name on the door, "Thomas." He felt a gut retching feeling but dismissed it momentarily. Down the hall he reached Mageria's room. He dropped the box of letters next to the door, straightened his deerskin vest, looked to Phelix for emotional support, got the nod and knocked. He heard armor slowly clinking towards the door, a sound he oddly missed. As the door opened Krander felt a rush of emotions. He couldn't help but smile. He saw as Mageria looked a bit confused but looked at his mouth. His "vampire" fangs were always his give away feature. Mageria looked from one of his teeth to his eyes, to his other tooth and she held her breath. Her eyes changed colors so quickly so many different times that Krander had trouble looking at them. He momentarily closed his eyes and when he opened them again a hand had grabbed his vest, clinched around it, and tossed him across the room.

"Stupid, self-righteous, son of a bitch!" she screamed as he flew through the two wooden rods holding up the top part of her bed. He luckily landed on the cushion of the mattress but the top of the bed collapsed on top of him. Before he could react a suit of armor hit him like a battering ram slamming him into the back of the bed and against the wall. He avoided a punch that landed on the brick and a moment of surprise flashed across Mageria's face. He whistled a high pitch tune and she covered her ears. He then blasted her gently with enough of a hit to push her off the bed.

She rolled over backwards and hit her head. "You uptight over-bred do gooder devil!" she screamed as a chair flew across the room shattering just inches from Kranders head. For a moment he returned to when he was in training and his partner was Mageria. He instinctively grabbed his arm which she had broken. He didn't understand. He was alive, and was in good health, and so was she, why was she behaving so irrationally? If he knew one way to break Mageria down it was to not allow her to get a hit in, and fighting someone her equal really pissed her off. He got up and chucked one of the broken banisters from the bed at her face. She threw herself on the floor and flipped back up running at Krander. "Over-bred, under-developed arrogant ass!" Again, he was slammed into the wall by the battering ram of metal. She hit him in the chest knocking the wind out of him. Too bad for her it was at such a force that again sent her tumbling. They both got up and circled the room. Phelix was sitting at her desk on one of the seemingly fewer chairs left in the room with the box in front of him. He scanned the room and noticed a bottle of nice wine. "Don't mind if I do." he said sighing and walking over to grab it. He had to duck as more things were thrown. After he picked up the bottle he went back to the chair, popped it open, and watched the rest of the show.

Mageria got up yet again trying to tackle Krander and she barely missed, but that was because Krander was ready. He took one of the chairs and bashed her over the back of her armor and head as she fell to the ground in a heap. She was at the base of the fireplace which didn't seem to have been lit for a while. She reached in and threw a cloud of ash at Krander as he breathed in. He coughed, gagged and teared up as the ash filled his lungs and stung his eyes. Mageria staggered to her feet and stood there weaving drunkenly.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE," she screamed. "Just go back to whatever God's be damned hole you crawled out of and leave me alone again!!! " She collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. It was too much. The pain she had been fighting ever since Grim died in her arms simply broke and she couldn't deal with it anymore. She was so damn cold and shaking, she didn't think that she could get up if she tried. Choked sobs wrenched their way out of her chest, carrying almost incoherent words with them. "Jus . . . Just go away . . . Leav . . . leave me alone . . . again. It hurts . . . hurts less that way."

Phelix immediately got out up and gave her a hug.
"It is alright Mageria, everything will be okay." He patted her back. She just fell to the floor mumbling nonsense.
Krander got up and tried to assess the situation but Phelix was already pulling Mageria up against what remained of her bed. She was bawling. Completely irrevocably sobbing so hard no one could understand. She kept motioning and trying to talk but couldn't.
"Mageria, take your time," Phelix said rubbing her back. "We will talk when you are ready." For about five minutes Mageria just cried. Krander had never even seen a tear when she had been attacked in training, by a demon, during a war or when children died she tried to help save. Nothing seemed to get to her. He walked over to her and she tried again to slap him but was so hysterical that she barely even pushed his face to the side. Krander held up two fingers, the sign of surrender. She took a deep breath, and flashed that sign that the military would never claim as its own. They could almost reunite.

Mageria gulped a deeper breath. "Stupid arrogant overdressed prick. I thought you were dead." Miserably she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. "Thought you both were dead." Her eyes dulled as she remembered what she ahd been doing only a little bit ago. "So damn many dead . . ."

The setting changes from Newhaven to The Ruins (Healer's camp)

5 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers Character Portrait: Allison Blake Character Portrait: Jake Turner Character Portrait: Sean Fletcher Character Portrait: Annie Turner
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Sean watched Allison leave, frowning as she walked away. He resisted the urge to stab her in the back and walked into the encampment, where he spotted a healer and asked her for Annie.
“Miss Turner is speaking to a visitor right now, would you please wait for her? I will let you know when she’s free.”
“Alright, good… Have you seen my sister anywhere? A teenage girl, dark brown hair…”
“Oh, yes, she was talking to Isaac.” The healer pointed at one of the tents. “Over there.”
“Thank you.” Sean mumbled walking towards the tent he had been pointed at. As he got nearer though he stopped as he could listen to the conversation going on inside:

“… I know, but I’m really confused. Sean is my brother, I love him, and he was always great to me, but I can’t ignore what he’s done to the clan… To our family… I mean, he told me he tried to stop Lionel, and that was a lie. I can’t trust him, no matter how hard I try, and Donovan is very close to turning out the same.”
“What do you think your father would say about this?”
Kate let out a small, embittered chuckle. “If my father knew half of what Sean pulled… I think he would want to kill him personally. I think about it sometimes. I’m not much of a fighter, and I don’t have it in me to kill anyone, even less my own brother, but I do think about it. I think Sean is doing more harm than good, and I know he won’t listen or change.”
“You don’t think he is doing the clan a service as a leader, then? For what I’ve heard they seem pleased with his leadership.”
“Sure they do, within the clan things are fine, but we have more enemies now than we have ever had; The White Shadows are a good example of this: Our clans used to cooperate, now our actives are openly threatening healers as if it was no problem. The Crimson will eventually take a greater stand against us because, fools and mercenaries as they are, they don’t respond well to anyone or anything threatening their way of life; They are faithful to their traditions and their land, and they will fight us before betraying an ally.” She sighed heavily and went silent for a few minutes. “I’m sorry Isaac, this is really not your problem.”
The man chuckled. “No, no… That’s what we’re here for. I’m more than used to listening to people.” He told her. “It’s just easier sometimes to talk to a stranger, right?”
“I guess it is.” She replied.

Sean shook his head slowly at Katie’s words, but decided it was best not to let his sister know he was there. Katie was just a kid; she still believed there was justice in the world, somewhere. It was a matter of time until she realized that there was none. What was considered fair by most was only available to few, and those were the people who had the power and means to make justice for themselves. Everyone else was just fated to conform; there was nothing they could do, and no one who would do a thing for them. Forgiveness was nothing more than that: A pretty word for conformity. Sean refused to forgive; he wanted justice and he just didn’t care what price he would have to pay for it. Not anymore.

--------------------------------------------------------

Annie looked up at Theron from where she was seated, looking over some notes she had made on Luke’s wound; she sincerely hope he would return to have it taken care of, but she doubted he would. Setting the notes aside, she gave the man a little smile. “If you want a neutral source of information, you would probably have to ask the Creators themselves, because I’m afraid even the Twins would be a little biased at this point.” She stated, in an amused tone, but then she shook her head trying to put on a straight face and not take every little thing literally, as it had the tendency of annoying people. “Long story short, Lockwood, I’ll give you what I can, which is my point of view: Valcrest is in the middle of a calm period, before a devastating storm. Those amongst my clan who are more sensitive to it are actually speaking of it as ‘the end of times’. Crys should be sensing some discomfort, although I’m not sure how open she would be with anyone about that. What I think is well… I think you should go take a look at what Blackpond has become and that would maybe give you an idea of where we’re heading. To Newhaven, that’s fine, maybe, because they’re quiet and not a threat… Yet. Still, once upon a time they would’ve intervened; the Pack would have intervened if Dani Rivers was still in command.” She sighed, trying to find the words to describe. “Valcrest is shattered to pieces, and putting them together will cost a lot more than anyone can imagine at this point.” Annie stopped talking for a moment then added: “When my mother left us, she was troubled. She told me, that… That if she didn’t come back in 30 months, at most, Valcrest might not survive. Now… She wouldn’t tell me what exactly she knew, but she would never say something like that for no reason. And she has been gone for 28 months now.”

She stood up and looked at where the man’s eyes were behind the mask. The silence lingered for a couple of minutes until she finally let her gaze wander freely and spoke. “I think your abilities would be wasted here, but I appreciate the offer even so.” She said, now looking over his shoulder to were a healer stood, patiently waiting to speak with her. “Do stay as long you like, though.” She added as she walked past him towards the healer.
The woman gave her a look and whispered. “The assassins’ leader is here to see you Annie.”
Annie sighed. “Fine, lead him to one of the visitor tents, I don’t want him here.” She told her.
The healer bowed her head and walked away to find Sean and lead him to a tent. Annie didn’t turn back towards her tent; she simply mumbled “I have to go take care of this” and walked away towards the tent herself.

As she arrived Sean was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. “Should I be insulted that you greet strangers in your tent and send me here?” He asked, opening a half-smile. “You’re making things difficult for me, Annie, and I don’t want to be forced into some unspeakable act here, I just want to find some common ground to stand on.”
“Forced?” Annie chuckled. “Is that what you tell yourself Sean? That you’re not responsible, you were forced into this. Maybe you’re enough of a fool to believe that, but I most certainly am not.”
He laughed. “Did I say ‘forced’? I meant ‘pushed’. I’m everything but irresponsible Annie. I know that these things come with a price, I just… Really don’t mind paying.”
“That’s because you’re not the one who pays Sean. Not yet, at least.” She stated. “Why are you here now?”
“I’ll be attacking the Crimson Shadows, considering they will probably deny my latest offer for a truce. The White Shadows don’t have to be a part of this, if it’s protection you need, we can provide it. I wouldn’t want your clan to suffer with this.”
“I don’t want thugs guarding my gates, Sean, but thank you anyway. Go ahead and do what you must, we can take care of ourselves.” Annie replied. “Is that all you had to say?”
“Is my sister healthy enough to travel back to camp?” He asked her.
“She is better now, but I’d suggest that she stays in observation until tomorrow. You can take her home then.” She answered.
“Then I suppose I’ll be staying overnight, if that’s not too much of a hassle, but we have nothing more to talk about.” He sated, nodding slightly and beginning to walk past her to leave, but then he stopped right beside her. “Wait, there is one thing: Right after your mother left, you said you needed to talk to me about something, but Evin invaded the camp that day and I didn’t come see you…” He looked at her with the corner of his eyes. “What was it you wanted to say to me then?”
Annie lowered her head, a frown taking over her expression. She thought about whether she should in fact tell him or not, maybe it was best if he didn’t know after all. “I don’t remember, Sean. It’s been over two years. Stay for as long as you like, though.”
Sean shook his head and chuckled. “I don’t believe you, but alright, you know where to find me in case you change your mind.” He stated, walking out of the tent.

----------------------------------------------------------------

[The Desert – Crimson Shadows Camp]

After the conversation she had with Evin, Crys spent most of her day in the training area, thinking things through. There was something she desperately wanted to do, but she didn’t know if she should. It was risky, to say the least. Finally she heard steps behind her and snapped out of her thoughts when Ali spoke in an angered tone. “Where’s Evin?”
“He said he was going to the plains, you missed him, I think.” Crys told her, not turning around from where she was standing, throwing knives at a dummy. “And where were you?”
“I went to see Annie, I needed to vent. Why?” Ali said
“You went to see Annie, and…?” Crys asked walking towards the dummy to retrieve the knives she had thrown at its head.
“And, Theron was there, I avoided him… And Sean showed up. I couldn’t avoid him.” Ali stated.
At that moment Crys turned around to face Ali with a serious look on her face. “Sean was in the plains?”
“He was. I think he was there because of what happened to Katelyn, but… I don’t know. I don’t like it.” Ali said, taking a seat on a nearby boulder.
“Did he see you?” Crys asked simply.
“Oh, he saw me. We spoke.” Ali responded.

Crys went silent for minute or two, facing Ali as if she saw something amusing there. “Alright, you know… I’m sick of this attitude of yours; stand up.”
Ali snorted out a chuckle. “What?”
“Are you deaf? Stand. Up.” Crys repeated.

Ali didn’t know what this was all about, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out either, but even so she stood up and walked a few steps to the center of the arena, watching Crys walk to the weapon rack and pick up a wooden sword. She walked back slowly and threw the sword to her. Ali grabbed the training sword in the air with her left hand, looking at Crys with suspicion as she dropped her own weapons on the floor. “What do you expect me to do with this?”
“What the hell do you think?” Crys told her, walking closer and crossing her arms over her chest. “Hit me.”
“I’m not going to do that.” Ali said simply, dropping the training sword and turning to walk away.
“It was your fault, what happened with Owen. You should have known better than to get him involved. You should have known he wouldn’t be able to tell when things got too risky. It was your responsibility to make sure he got out alive. You failed him completely, and that’s why he died.”
Ali lowered her head and sighed. “I know that.”
“Yes, and you also know that Sean was the one who actually killed him, and no matter whose fault it is, there is nothing you can do to change that.” Crys said, picking up the training sword and offering it to Ali again. “Take it.”
“I don’t want to hit you.” Ali told her, with an annoyed expression.
Crys laughed out. “Oh, yes you do, but I didn’t say I was going to let you. Come on, pick it up or you’ll have to fight me empty handed.”
Ali turned to face Crys and took the training sword heaving a sigh. “Are you sure? I’ve been practicing you know.”
Crys shook her head, laughing. “Not enough, you haven’t.”

-Two hours later-

Ali walked out of the training area with a small limp and a visible bruise on her neck, where Crys had punched her to end the fight. She was muttering to herself things she should have done differently, frowning, although it did help her feel better. Crys had a very good point in what she told her: Owen was only one person that was going to get caught in the middle of this, if she wasn’t prepared to be responsible for those deaths, she was useless.

Ali was so distracted with her thoughts that she didn’t even noticed Jackson walking in her direction; she collided with him before looking up to face the mercenary, who was visibly about to fall down drunk. “Jack, are you feeling alright?”
The man stopped and stared at her for a long while, trying to focus on her face. “Ther’s a woof at th’ gates, lookin’ for tryscal.”
“There’s a what, looking for… What?” Ali asked, looking at him with confusion.”
“A woof, lookin’ for tryscal.” Jackson repeated, apparently confused about what part of the message was unclear.
Ali stopped to think and try to make sense of what the man was trying to say. As she managed to put the pieces together, she smacked her own forehead and laughed out. “Oh! A Wolf! Looking for Crystal!”
“Tha’s wut I sad!” Jackson exclaimed, laughing as if Ali had said something incredibly silly.
Ali shook her head and patted the man’s shoulder. “Sure it was… Sure it was. Can you go tell ‘Tryscal’ for me?”
“S-ure.” He answered, a hiccup breaking the word in two as he stumbled off towards the arena.
“Well… He’s going in the right direction at least.” Ali said, watching to make sure the man actually went to the training fields where she had left Crys, before walking towards the gates.

Once she got to the gates she saw a shaky, pale and scared-looking figure of an assassin. The guy was shaking from head to toe, and had a terrified look in his eyes; he also he his right hand wrapped around a bloody cloth. “What the hell…” Ali muttered, before walking past the Crimson that were all facing the man as if he would jump on them at any moment. She stopped in front of the man and waved the mercenaries away. They walked back to a more comfortable distance, but still stayed close enough to watch her back. “What do you want?” She asked him.
“I… I… I need help.” He mumbled, stumbling forward and landing on his knees.
“Are you joking?” Ali asked raising an eyebrow. “Why would we ever help you?”
“I had n-nowhere else to go, there’s was n-no one else…” He stuttered. “Sean went crazy after Evin invaded camp yesterday. Me and a couple of friends had smuggled some booze in, for kicks… He blamed it on us that Evin got in so easily. We were punished…” He stopped talking, and simply sat there on the ground shivering for a few moments before he managed to speak again. “Sean told Avius to ‘handle us’, we were whipped in front of the whole clan, an example to the others. I got the worse of it though. Evin was sitting right next to me and I didn’t recognize him. When Sean found out about that he….” The man sighed, slowly freeing his hand from the bloody cloth that protected it, showing that his ring finger had been cut off. “I can’t go back. I have no place to go. Please.”
Ali took a good look at the injury… It looked very much self-inflicted, and she knew for a fact that Sean was the kind of sick bastard that would talk someone into this.

As she thought about it, Crys showed up behind her. “What is this?” She asked, frowning at the man that was now sobbing on the floor. “By the way, next time don’t send me a drunken idiot for a messenger. Took me quite some time to understand what the hell he was trying to say.”
Ali chuckled. “Sorry, I wanted to check this out for myself before you got here. This poor loser here is asking that we take him in. Apparently Sean took his ring, finger and all.”
Crys immediately picked up on the fact that Ali didn’t believe the story, but as she raised an eyebrow and turned to her she sounded interested. “You don’t say…” She mumbled, looking back to the man. “Well… I don’t really know what you expect us to do about it, but if that’s true, you can take your plea to the head of the Crimson Shadows and if he believes you, you’ll be welcome to stay.”
“T-thank you. I’ll do that.” He answered.
Crys nodded and gave Ali a very discrete signal that told her to keep an eye on the guy. “You do that, now excuse me… I have some errands I need to take care of.”

Ali sighed heavily watching the shivering figure. The guy was lying, but it seems like Crys wanted Sean to believe they had bought it. Fine, she’d play along. Looking at one of the Crimson who seemed to be a little less intoxicated and asked her for clean bandages and a bottle to clean the man’s wounded hand. Sitting next to him on the floor, she grabbed his wrist without asking permission and mumbled a “this will sting”, before pouring a good amount of alcohol on his wounded hand, and act that was followed by several complaints of the Crimson due to her ‘waste of good booze’. “So…” She mumbled starting to wrap the bandages around the guy’s hand. “What’s your name?”
“Eric.” He answered.
“Very, well, Eric…” She told him. “While I’m usually a very nice person, Sean Fletcher has harmed me to the point of anything slightly, remotely, related to him being able to turn me into a violent bitch. So, let me make something perfectly clear…” She sunk her nails painfully into his wound and leaned closer, staring menacingly into his eyes. “If you do anything, ANYTHING, that leads me to believe you are still working with the Wolfpack, I will cut your every finger, toe, hand… Hell, I will slice you into little chewable pieces and send you back to Sean in a little wooden box. Are we understood?”
The man simply nodded in response, since he was in too much pain to be able to utter a word.
“Good.” She said, releasing him. “Welcome to the desert.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

[Flashback - Wolfpack Camp, approximately 12 years ago]

Crys was sitting by the lake, it was cold away from the camp fire, but at least she was alone. She had another outburst that morning, she couldn't stand being around almost anyone anymore ever since her enlightenment began to manifest itself, almost a year ago. She was scared all the time and she just didn’t know how she would ever be able to live with this her whole life; it was unimaginable.
After a good while of enduring the shivering cold, Crys felt a blanket dropping down on her shoulders and sighed. “Hey, uncle Eldric.”
“Hey, kid.” The man greeted, sitting next to her on the ground. “Are you trying to freeze?”
Crys moved away from him slowly and simply shrugged.
“It’s your birthday, Crys… Why are you hiding out here?” He asked.
“I can’t handle a party right now.” She said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m tired anyway.”
“I’m sure you are… Kicking and screaming can be pretty exhaustive.” He said with a little chuckle.
“Shut up.” She muttered.
He laughed. “Oh, come on, kid… Don’t be like that.” He said. “I made you a present, but… Before I let you have it, you’ll need to sit through one of my stories.”
Crys sighed. “Fine. Not like I’m doing something important anyway…”
Eldric laughed some more, it seemed he just couldn’t stop laughing at her, she didn’t know whether she should laugh right back or be angry at the man. Finally she shook her head and opened a little smile. “What’s the damn story?” She asked.
“When I was a kid, not older than you, Dani’s mother, you grandmother, had the habit of gathering the recruits and telling them stories of the Twins and the time they spent in Valcrest.” He chuckled. “Now, Dani wasn’t a recruit yet, but she was an annoying little thing, and wouldn’t shut up unless she was allowed to hear the stories too. And her favorite story happened to be about the origin of music. You like music, right?”
“Sure.” Crys nodded.
“Sure, but do you know where it came from?” He asked her.
“I assume that you’re just about to tell me.” She replied with a grin.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.” He said, letting another chuckle. “It goes a little but like this:

Heart and Mind were the fifth pair of Twins to arrive in Valcrest. As soon as they arrived, Heart was amazed by the Land and its beauty. She found it all so perfect that she felt there was nothing she would change or improve, thus, she decided she would give something to the humans; something that would allow them to appreciate the beauty of the world and of the people around them much better, she gave them the gift of emotions.

Now, at first, the humans weren’t all too pleased with Heart’s gift. Emotions were complicated, they were impossible to control, and even after Mind gave the humans reason, emotions seemed to often overcome it. As a result, a group of humans decided to go to the Goddess and beg her to take the gift away. They didn’t want to have their actions controlled by emotions anymore, most of all: They didn’t want to feel pain anymore.

Heart listened patiently to the complaints of the humans, and then told them to follow her into the forest. The humans didn’t understand, but complied and followed Heart to the depths of the forest, to its darker and quieter corner. Once there, Heart said that she would not take the emotions away, but she would give them another gift; something that would allow them to feel happy any time they wanted. She then asked them to close their eyes and be silent.
Intrigued with the offer, the humans did as they were told and closed their eyes. After a moment or two a sound filled their ears; a sound like nothing they had had heard before. As they listened to it, they felt their troubles fade and their hearts fill with joy.

Heart then told the humans that this was music, and that music was something that could be created at will by their own hands, at any moment and it would always bring them comfort. Ever since that day, wherever there were humans in Valcrest, there was also music.”

Crys listened to the story with interest. She’d never heard it before. “That’s a great story, but it’s not true.”
“What is not true?” Eldric asked.
“Music doesn’t necessarily makes you feel happy.” She stated.
“No, but you can choose what songs to hear, or play, and it makes it seem like have you control, even if a little while.” He explained. “And Heart would much rather let the humans figure that out for themselves, or at least I like to think that.”
“Mom told me Heart could sense every living creature in Valcrest… At all times. What if trees had emotions? Where the hell would I run to?” Crys muttered out, frustrated.
“You can’t avoid people forever, Crys. You know that, but…” He took her hand and placed an object on it. “You can pretend you have some sort of control, at least for a little while until you figure out the rest.”
Crys examined the object in her hands; it was cylindrical wooden casing. Opening it she reached the object inside, removing it from its casing she began to examine it with her finger tips and smile growing wider and wider across her face. “It’s a flute!” She exclaimed, unable to hold back the excitement. “Did you make this?”
“Yes, I did, missy. It took a good amount of my time too. I can’t take complete credit for it though; it was your mother’s idea, but the work is all mine as you can probably tell.” He said with a very satisfied tone in his voice.
“It’s the best gift ever, uncle… Thank you.” She smiled.
“I’m glad you like it, hopefully it’ll help you too.”


. . . . . . . . . . .

[Flashback – Wolfpack camp, approximately 4 years ago]

”YOU LIED TO ME!!!” Sean’s words exploded and echoed through the camp coming from the leader’s cabin. It caused chills down Crys’ spine; she had never felt so many rage coming from one single person before. All directed towards her mother.
“Sean, lower your voice.” Dani asked him in her calmest tone. “I know what you want, and I know how you feel, but this doesn’t solve anything.”
“No… You don’t know how I feel.” Sean stated, lowering his voice like she had asked, but not changing his tone in one bit. “You saw with your own eye what he did to her, what it did to me. You gave me your word that he would pay for this. You. Promised. Me.”
“He was punished for it.” Dani stated simply.
“How? How was he punished?” Sean asked with a chuckle. “You think that because he’s ‘sorry’, that’s enough punishment? Really? Didn’t you slay the Wolf Hunters for what they did to your mother? Huh? So don’t give me that crap about redemption and forgiveness now! You can’t have it both ways!”
“I did that, yes.” Dani stated. “I was punished for it too, over and over with every death that occurred as a result from it; your mother’s death included.” She sighed. “I’m very sorry Sean, but it has to end. It has to end here.”
“You’re not sorry.” Sean spat out in anger. “Not enough, not yet… I’ll make you sorry. I’ll make sure one day you truly know how this feels; that is my promise to you.” He stated.

At that moment the cabin door opened and Eldric walked in with firm footsteps to take his son away. Sean had to be dragged out, still cursing and screaming at Dani for her injustice. Crys simply stood where she was, silent even after she heard her mother speak.
“I am sorry, kid.”


[Reality - Wolfpack Camp, early evening]

Fingers grazed the name in the cold stone. It had been a long time since Crys had been there, a little over three years actually. She had spent a lot of time there, she even talked to some of those who were buried there. Out of those people, Eldric Fletcher had been a great friend to both her parents; and to her personally, but Crys had somehow forgotten him. “My dear old friend, I am so sorry.” She whispered. “I know this isn’t what you wanted. I know you did the best you could, maybe I could have done a little more, I don’t know… But now here we are.” She sighed. “I hope you will understand why I have to do this. I hope you will forgive him whenever you see him again, because I can’t anymore. He took almost everything from me, even if not by my hands… He’ll have to pay. And I am truly sorry.”

Crys knew she had a little bit of time to be there before she was seen. People usually paid their respects to the dead in the morning. For some silly reason most people avoided the memorial at night. She moved from Eldric’s to her mother’s grave and there she sat, right beside it, with her back against a stone that held her own name. Sean had left it there for whatever reason. It was funny in her opinion.

After sitting she sighed slightly. “I’m still a little mad at you, but tomorrow we celebrate creation, and the Crimson believe it’s a day to think of new beginnings and ask the Twins for blessings. I have faith in the Twins, but I have trust in you, so maybe you can bless me instead, I think I need it now more than ever. I also wanted an excuse to come here again. But still; here I am, right? That must count for something.” She sighed, surprised at how stupid she felt asking questions to a grave; not like she never done it before. “The other reason though, you know what it is. I think it’s what you’d like me to do, but understand I’m only trying this once.” She brought her knees closers and hugged them tightly, feeling a slight shiver. It was starting to know, and she was no longer used to this kind of cold. “I’ve been alright, all in all. Jake is constantly a concern though, I keep expecting someone to show up and tell me he dropped dead somewhere. I wish there was some way I could help, but I know there isn’t. All I can do is hope that he’s alright somehow.” She paused for a minute then shook her head. “Oh, Theron’s back, which is good in a way, but I still don’t know how I feel about it. Evin is angry, hurt… I’m not sure… Sometimes it’s actually difficult to tell with him, although it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. He’s always telling me how friends should act though, makes me wonder if he demands these things from all his friends, or if he’s just doing it to mess with me. Again, it’s hard to tell.” She chuckled. “I don’t know, I knew he wouldn’t be happy, but I still expect him to suddenly start giving Theron attitude like he did four years ago. Those two were such stubborn idiots back then, but I do miss it sometimes.”

Finally, she took one deep breath and pulled her flute from the bag she was carrying and started to play. Soon enough the breeze carried the music into the camp. It didn’t take long for people to start wondering where it was coming from and heading towards the memorial area.

“What is she doing here?” A female voice asked.
“We should do something, she’s trespassing, and is a traitor.” A male active suggested.
“Yeah, but… You know…” Another one mumbled. “We should probably call Avius. He’s in charge.”

Crys snickered softly at the whispers of the confused actives, which interrupted the sweet and calm melody that had been echoing through the clearing. She hadn’t shown up, been heard from, or even given proof of life after Allison had escorted her out of the encampment three years ago. It was very amusing how people seemed confused and frightened to see her there, sitting by her own gravestone (that had never been removed), playing flute as if she was right at home. They were shocked, and didn’t know what to do about the whole thing. Finally she lowered the flute and turned to face the small crowd of actives. “Please, just pick one already. You’re making me frustrated.”
“Why are you here?” One of the actives asked.
“I’m here to see Dante. Could you please go get him?” She asked, not saying anything more and simply going back to playing her music.

------------------------------------------------------------

[Newhaven]

The pyre was about to be lit.

The pyre was about to be lit and Jake was stuck in his room, pacing back and forth trying to make a decision. He wanted to pay his respects, sure, but being at a funeral would remind him of every other funeral in his life… His sister’s, which was practically inexistent, only a few old friends of her father watching as she was buried next to their parents in the local cemetery, an empty grave next to her held his own name and marked him dead as far as the records of Blackpond were concerned.
Bastian’s funeral, which he had to sneak in to the Pack camp to see. The sight of Crys, covered in blood, looking pale and shaky, suddenly popped in his mind. He stopped pacing and sat on his bed, hiding his face in his hands… Dani’s funeral… He was in Newhaven then; he didn’t even know she was dead.

He sighed heavily, deciding not to go to the funeral after all. Instead he left his room and made his way to the courtyards, sitting down on a stone bench and closing his eyes for a moment to take noticing of the chilling night air.
Jake was never the kind of man that prayed, and he constantly mocked Crys for speaking to graves as if the dead could hear her. Still he sat there, took a deep breath and spoke with a little chuckle. “I don’t know why I came here, but suppose it’s as good of a place as anywhere else; I was told the dead can hear you anywhere…” He sighed. “Everyone is outside now, shedding their tears and saying their goodbyes. I was supposed to be there with them, but you know me though, I’m not much of a sentimental type, and when I have something to say I prefer to say it privately; even if it is ‘goodbye’.” He scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling a little bit stupid, but going on with what he wanted to say. “I suppose it’s not as much a ‘goodbye’ as it is a ‘thank you’. After all, you were a damn good friend to me in a time when it was hard for me trust myself, even less anyone else. Now, I know Valcrest is yet to find peace, the way you always said you wanted it, but I sincerely hope that you have.” He opened a little smile and added. “So, you just enjoy your freedom, and let the rest of us take care of this mess. It might be a little slower without you, but if there’s a way we’ll find it.”

With that said, Jake simply sat there in silence. He could hear the voices singing in the distance, but couldn’t make out the words. He raised his head as he felt it began to snow, if he sat there for long he’d be wet from head to toe, but for the moment he just didn’t feel like moving.

------------------------------------------------------------------

After a good while of sitting out in the cold Jake decided it was best to just go inside and change into dry clothes. He had decided he would wait a bit before running off to do what he needed, wait to see how things would be in the morning; for everyone. He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there in the dark, he’d heard the people passing coming back from the forest and some other movement, but he couldn’t really bring himself to pay attention, and if someone had noticed him there they didn’t mention.

Finally he stood and slowly made his way into the castle and up to his room to change, dragging his feet and thinking over things he needed to find out soon. Probably easier if he hadn’t associated with the Black Knights again, but he had stopped questioning why he made these sorts of decisions a long time ago, he just learned to accept his own stupidities. Halfway through changing into a dry set of clothes, the sound of crashing and yelling was heard echoing through the stone halls. Jake stormed out of his room with his head half stuck in a shirt, but managed to get it on properly before reaching the group of seemingly confused members of the Guard standing outside Mageria’s bedroom door; the shouting and shattering coming from inside. “What’s this?” He asked the men.
“Uh… We don’t know. Should we… Break the door down, maybe?” One of them asked, clearly expecting the he give them some sort of order; something he was not at all used to doing.
“Hum…” He put his ear against the door for a moment, but quickly pulled back as something broke right close to it. “No. I don’t think so.” He told them. It was loud and ugly, but to him it seemed like she’d just had a meltdown and started breaking things. Or at least at first it did… Not soon after the guards had dispersed, as if Jake’s words had given the perfect excuse to just run as far away from the door as possible, the shattering stopped and a scream was heard loud and clear coming from the inside of the room: “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”
That made Jake doubt his theory to the point of making him press his ear against the door and consider barging in himself. However, what he heard next caused him to relax a little bit. Mageria was clearly sobbing, which was a little bit frightening to overhear, but in a way it was good, because it was bound to happen eventually.

Jake thought he’d heard someone else speak though, so he stood there and listened in for a little while longer.

"Stupid arrogant overdressed prick. I thought you were dead."

Jake didn’t need to listen to anything else after that one. There was only one person he could think of to fit that description, so he walked away trying not to think of how incredibly intrusive he had been, but thinking that this was a good thing. “Son of bitch isn’t dead.” He mumbled, as he walked down to hall. He was moving his plan along then, as soon as possible, which meant he needed to find Sham.

--------------

Jake had been almost everywhere in the castle looking for Sham. It was difficult to look for someone you barely know in such a big place, Jake could barely take a decent guess to where she would go. Finally, he went back to the tower where he had been sitting prior to the funeral. If he didn't find her there, he'd just sit around and wait until morning, he didn't feel like sleeping at all at this point and he liked the view from that window.

When he went inside though he couldn't help but open a grin when seeing her there, he couldn't understand why it didn't occur to him to look there first. "Huh... Why didn't I think you'd be in a high place? I must be tired or something." He stated, finding the little wooden bench Luckas had used earlier and sitting on it. Remembering Luke, he looked around for any sign of that little freak being hiding there, he could be surprisingly sneaky, but he wasn't there, so he figured it was safe to get into the subject at hand. "So, what you said earlier about being all for messing with Blackpond... How serious are you about it?" He asked.

Sham twisted around from where she was perched on the window sill and raised an eyebrow. She had changed out of most of her formal uniform, but still wore the coat and tunic. The hood was pulled forward, hiding the glint of her hair from anybody looking from below. But the winter air still cut through the cloth.
"I like high places because so many others avoid them." She pulled her legs up and crossed them in front of her, tucking each foot under the other leg.
"You'd be wanting to cause trouble over there then?" She leaned one shoulder against the frame. "I'd say that that'd be something I'd be most interested in." A dangerous glint shown in her eye. "I've got a bone or two to pick with those over there myself."

"Does that mean you like to avoid people?" He asked in an interested tone. "And that's good, because I do plan to cause a lot of trouble there. I have reasons of my own to do it, but I figure it might actually benefit Newhaven if I can pull this off." He paused a little thinking about just how much he wanted to tell, how much he was willing to admit to at this point. finally he decided to give just the most relevant part of the information he had, for the moment:

"There are some strange things going on in Blackpond ever since this new King took the throne. I spent close to two years sneaking around trying to find out wh Everyone who could have given me decent information on the things happening inside the castle, disappeared before I could get anything useful out of them, and anyone who speaks against the crown is dragged to the dungeons never to be seen again. I tried to sneak into the castle one time, but somehow they knew I was there and I almost didn't make it out." He said trying not to think too much about what happened that time, it had been a very close call. "I've had this idea in my mind for quiet some time, and while it's absolutely stupid, it might be crazy enough to work... I'll get myself taken to the dungeons. I'll make enough of a scene for anyone in there who might be having problems with the new King to be able to find me, at the same time, maybe there is someone alive in those cells that can give me something useful." He smiled slightly. "This, is my stupid plan. I'm going to do it by myself if I have to, but It'd be nice to have some backup. Mostly since I can't know what will happen once I'm caught." He didn't tell Sham everything, not yet, but it wasn't relevant anyway, besides... He didn't know how much she knew about the whole story.


Sham shrugged. "I don't have a lot in common with most anybody in this place. I grew up in the gutter, learning to steal to survive. First time I saw the Cap'n? Couple of me mates was being chased by Blackpond soldiers. We was giving 'em hell, and outta nowhere a couple of crazed folk in Black armor showed up, killed 'em, ended up offering us supplies for our help." She shook her head at the memory. "I really did think she was a bit cracked, but it worked for a while. Anyways, I got less idea how to act with some of these noble folk than I have to fly."

Sham curled her legs up under her chin and listened quietly as Jake outlined his plan. "Why do I not think you've told Cap'n about this? The woman who came the other day, she's holdin' the lives of a bunch of our folk over the Cap'n's head, at least from what I can gather. Me, not to be darkcast, but I have trouble believin'' that they're still alive." She stayed quiet for a long moment. "So that'd be one o' the things we'd have to find out. Along with what ever it is else you want to find out."
She measured Jake with her eyes, considering what she saw. He looked as if he could hold his own in most any situation, and resolved enough to go through with his plan and not break halfway through.
"So, do ya have an exit plan, or is that going to be up to your back-up?" She grinned and gestured at herself, indicating that she was going to be going along with his mad scheme. Then she tilted her head to the side. "You know, she's really not going to be happy about this. And with the walking around covered in blood and not even realizin' it; you think we should go off like that?"


Jake chuckled. "Well, nobles are strange folk, I give you that, but there's a decent number of misfits amongst the Guard too."
He said absently. "We're a small, but ever growing group." He said in an amused tone. "And no, I didn't tell her, but I like to think she knows me well enough to expect this kind of stupidity." He said still smiling, letting the smile fade slowly as he thought about the situation with the prisoners. "Those soldiers... Yeah, you're right. It's hard to believe they're still alive, but as long as there's chance they are, they're a great bargaining tool. Knowing for sure will help us know what to do... If there's something that can be done."

He stretched lazily where he sat and let out a small yawn. He wasn't sure how late it was, but even thought he knew he was tired, he was also wide awake. "Exit plan? Hum... No, I don't have one." He laughed. "I heard starting a riot is an effective way to escape from prison, but I have a feeling that it won't work very well." He joked. "Seriously though, it's very difficult to know how to get out of a place without knowing what's there, but... I'm sure there's a way. Worst case scenario they'll have another bargaining tool." He stated with a small shrug. "I'm hoping that woman the guy in the Inn mentioned, Rita, will be smart enough to contact me in there... She'd probably want to help us if she believes Lamya killed the King."

Jake went silent for a little while. Then he heaved a little sigh. "As long as we don't get killed and get some actual results, we'll be fine. As for the walking around covered in blood... That's not strange. She and Grim were very close, now he's gone, and that hurts like... Well, there's really nothing the hurts quite like it." He shook his head, not sure if he should laugh or not as he added. "Besides, I have a feeling the Captain will be in good hands while we're away. And I certainly don't want to wait for her to be well enough to know what we're up to here. I mean she probably will, but I don't plan on being anywhere on sight when she does." He said with a small grin.

Sham grinned back. "Well, unless they've done some major remodeling, there's a secret passage or two in there. They know about them, but they might come in handy anyways. We happen to have a map that shows where they be. Shouldn't be too out of date." She thought a bit more and suddenly laughed a little bit.
"So, your whole plan for not getting in trouble is to simply not be here when Cap'n finds out and not get dead while doing it? I can't argue against the stupid part. Maybe even insane. But it sounds like a lovely bit of fun. You'd be wanting to start trouble for that Lamya?"
Smoothly, Sham rolled forward out of the window sill to land on her hands, rolling into a handstand and then flipping over to land on her feet once more.
"When do you want to leave?"

Honestly, she wanted to get away from the Castle. Seeing the Cap'n in that much pain brought back memories of when she lost her entire crew to a pack of Blackpond dogs. She had wandered lost for a long time before Mageria happened to cross into her sight once more and give her a reason to keep going.

Jake laughed out. "Oh, no... I think I'll probably get in trouble either way, that's my plan for not getting strangled." He said, still chuckling. "If the map you're talking about is the one I think it is... It is a bit old. I know for a fact that there's at least a whole new part of the dungeons that isn't on it, but those passages can still be useful, yes." He watched Sham with a slight curiosity as she moved. It was indeed curious. "Lamya is not really my priority unless she would like to be so kind as to put herself on the tip of my blade, but..." He sighed. "Since I doubt she would grant me that favor as much as I doubt it's possible to avoid having to deal with her again... Whatever I can do to cause her trouble, I'll sure do it."

He stopped to think for a little while about when would be the best time to leave. "Before sunrise, if that's okay. I would say 'right now', but I think it might be best to try and get a few hours of sleep." He stifled a yawn and stood up, stretching, and running a hand through his hair. "It was damn long day today." Jake knew he probably wouldn't be able to get any sleep, but he needed to try anyway... He didn't know when he'd get the chance to sleep in a bed again.

Sham nodded and stretched herself. "Aye, I can be up and ready to go. Take a couple of horses, ride over, I find a place to den up, while you go and make trouble. Then I'll lurk about and see what I can learn while you enjoy Blackpond's lovely hospitality." She nodded again. "Sounds like a fair deal."
With a slight snort, she linked her arm through his and started walking toward the stairs. "Soooooo . . . which one of us is going to leave the note? I mean, I guess that we're not to just mention that we're out on a ride. A note that get's to her somewhere abouts lunch ought to give us enough lead. You think? Maybe that there's something you wanted to check out and I went to back ya up a bit? It's all true enough."

Jake nodded opening a little smirk. “Oh, I’ll leave the note. I think I know what to say.”

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Sibrand
Theron remained silent and still as the young healer explained the situation to him. It wasn’t actually the kind of information he had been hoping for that she provided, but during his years away from the land he had learned to deal with such losses. His old, renegaded self would probably have killed Annie outright by now. Annie eventually took her leave as she seemed to have been summoned by someone else outside the tent.

Lockwood was on his way out when he noticed something laying on the nearby bed; The note Annie had been going through when he had entered her tent. He was not a much of a curios person nor did he want to have anything to do with Annie’s personal life. However, if it had any kind of information vital to him, he would be a fool to give up on this golden opportunity. No one was around to see him, so sneaking was pointless. Lockwood moved up to the bed and picked up the note from the bed and let his eyes fall upon it.

The note simple described a certain patience wounds and although this was nothing important in Lockwood’s books, he noticed that these were some very strange wounds; No animals in all of Valcrest had such large claws, if this note even described the wounds right that is. The assassin started to ponder on the possibility if one of Adrians large track-predators had been sent on its way into Valcrest with a band of scouts. If this was true, it was bad news for all of them indeed. That would mean Adrian was scouring Valcrest, locating its weaknesses and its strengths and plan accordingly to them.

After a short while of thinking, Lockwood felt he was wasting time and decided that he would look into this matter after visiting both Blackpond and Newhaven; he had to know how things looked for the the cities and mark out possible enemies that would stand in the way of his plans. Theron walked out of Annies tent and was just out in time to catch her walking into another tent across camp. The rest of his company were swift to gather around him.

”Report.” Lockwood ordered and looked upon his trusted companions.

”The Leader of these healers, Annie, is currently meeting the leader over the Assassins in this land; A man named Sean. He wants to start a war with the mercenaries out in the desert.” Ace reported as he looked off in the distance towards the actual plains, ”Allison and Sean were at each others throats earlier and I’m certain that this hostility between them can be used to--”

”Leave Allison out of this.” Lockwood commanded swiftly with his usual calm and respectful tone, ”She has nothing to do with this... Yet.” He continued. Ace tried to protest, but his words was silenced by Theron’s hand as his gaze moved over to Akida and Barca. The Orc simple shock his head, stating that he had nothing new to report to his leader. However, Akida seemed more jumpy than usually.

”Master, look what I just discovered!” She almost shouted in pure ecstasy as she all of the sudden disappeared in front of their eyes, leaving leafs from the ground soaring where she had once been standing. Ace took a step backwards in shock while Barca remained still, all white in his face. Theron didn’t move a single muscle at what had just happened. It didn’t take long at all for Akida to finally return in a sweeping move, out of nowhere. However, she had clearly left a trail behind her after traveling through the plains in that kind of speed.

”I can run fast!” She shouted, but quickly lowered her voice when she saw how Ace was looking at her. He gave her the usual ‘people can hear you, you know‘ look. All of the sudden she couldn’t feel her arms anymore. It was as if all the bones in them had turned to liquid and all that was left was her uncontrolled muscles and nerves.

”That’s a side-effect to your new found enlightenment. I knew that there was a slight possibility that one or more of you would receive this, but I wasn’t certain. Until now.”

”What do I do now?! I can’t feel my arms!” She sobbed with teary eyes. Theron grabbed her by her shoulders and began to lead her towards the exit of the camp. He nodded at Ace and Barca before leaving, signaling for them to get the horses. He walked with her for a bit and started to explain to her how alignments worked, how side-effects work and how he could help her improve this new found ability. In the end, she was no longer on the border of crying. More like happier than ever.

”So I can use this whenever I want to?” She asked as Ace and Barca approached them in the distance with their horses.

”Yes and no; You can use it to all your hearts content, but if you use it too much the side-effects will become stronger and more severe. Who knows what will happen to you then?” Theron explained before taking a grip of his horses saddle and mounted it. Akida stopped to ask questions and jumped onto her horse. Her left arm was still not functioning, but her right arm had come back.

”Where are we heading now? Shouldn’t we look for the book?” Barca asked as they began to move out from the healers camp on top of their horses.

”No, it will come to us when the time is right. For now, we ride to Blackpond.” And with that, they rode off in full speed north. Theron could feel that terrible headache returning to him in the back of his head and the words from Lena’s letter came back to him:

”I believe you have been away long enough to be feeling the changes in the energy flow for yourself right now. If not, believe my words, you will feel them shortly. If you feel them, then others will feel it as well, keep your eyes open for those signs, they should become more apparent to you than to others, since you have been out of the Land for so long.”

----------------
[Wolfpack Camp]

Avius had taken a longer nap than usual because of some horrible nightmares before awakening, realizing that it had all been just that; Dreams. After walking down to the lake and taken care of his dirty suit, Avius had made his way across the camp to get something to eat. The food wasn’t good, but at least he wasn’t starving and had enough energy now to deal with all the problems the world would throw at him before this day was over.

Seeing as Sean took charge of most things around camp and only summoned Avius if a decision had to be made for the entire clan or if he needed his second in-commands counsel on some dire matters, Avius had lots of time for himself. He had yet to find a recruit suitable for him, and he guessed he would never do so either since he could be very picky about such things.

After having spent a well earned day in the training grounds, training with his quarterstaff and some new moves he had been working on with his powers, an active disturbed him while he meditated. Even though Sean was away and had moved all responsibility over to Avius, he thought the clan would at least be able to handle itself for one freaking day without turning to him for aid. He had been wrong.

”Avius, Sir!” The active shouted as he rushed into the training grounds. Avius felt calm after such a relaxing session of meditation and so, he remained calm throughout the conversation. ”Relax, Wolf,” He began and waved his hand at the man before him, ”Take a deep breath and then tell me, slowly if you may, what’s going on.”

The active took a few deep breaths and also gave Avius a few weird looks at the same time; What had Avius been smoking or drinking to get him, the infamous punisher as actives and recruits had started to call him, into such a calm state? ”It’s Crystal! Crystal Rivers! The traitor is in the graveyard.” The active explained before being dismissed by Avius.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the graveyard and when he did, he saw Crystal sitting on a grave with her own name on it, playing flute. Avius had always been weak to music, but this wasn’t the time for him to get all emotional and dream about a better world to a couple of beautiful tones from some flute. When Crystal noticed him, the beautiful music ended and it was like Avius had been pulled out from some sort of trance. His attention shifted towards Crystal who sat in front of him and before anything could be done or said between them, Avius casually pulled out his quarterstaff and placed it a bit away from him, yet still close enough for him to reach.

”Crystal Rivers. What brings a woman of your caliber to the Wolfpack’s cemetery, hmm?” He asked with a respectful tone, least he wanted to start trouble for no good reason. He was sure that this would turn into violence if she didn’t have a good explanation for her being there, but Avius wasn’t about to force a confrontation upon her. He didn’t want to be the bad guy here. Not yet anyway. Dusk glittered in the distance as the sun started to say one of its first good byes to the world.

The setting changes from The Ruins (Healer's camp) to Assassin's Camp

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

"Avius Dante." Crys greeted simply, with a slight smile. "A woman of my caliber... Should I be flattered or insulted by that statement?" She asked a small smirk discretely forming in her expression. "I'm here for two reasons, one that doesn't concern you, and one that does. I will give you both, since you are currently responsible for this encampment and, unlike your leader, I do still feel a certain level of respect for you personally." She brushed her cape aside, showing the katana she carried, sheathed at her belt, and put her flute away safely in a leather casing, strapped to her belt. "First, I came because a great part of me is still buried in these grounds. In spite of it having been twisted by Sean's insults, my family still played a great part in the history of this clan. You can take the command from me, but you can't erase that. Second, I came to see you." She sighed facing the man with serious, almost severe, expression. "And, there are two reasons for that too, you see... I know my mother tried to speak to you on several occasions after..." She paused, and changed her wording slightly. "Before she died. So, I conclude that she would want me to try and do the same. The second, well... You may or not believe me, but I still want the best for the Pack, and as much as I understand that Sean is your friend... He is making a lot more enemies than he can handle. That will hurt the clan in a near future." She nodded. "Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't support the Alpha, but you, as Second, have the obligation of making sure he's acting on the clan's best interest, and he's not. So what I'm saying is: Do a better job." She shifted slightly where she was sitting. "By the way, that little idiot you two sent to the desert with that sob story? He'll be treated nicely, but don't insult my intelligence by expecting me to believe a word he says."

Having said all that, she opened a smile and added. "Now that I've said all I needed. How have you been?" She asked in an extremely friendly tone.

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Sibrand
Avius chuckled slightly at Crystals question if she should take what he called her as a compliment or an insult. However, the pleasantries didn't last longer than so, because Crystal continued on with the reasons she was within the Wolfpack's perimeter for the first time again after 3 years of being away, or hidden in the desert. She explained that she had two reasons why she stood before him and because of not only his position, but also thanks to a certain level of respect she had for him. When she brushed her cape aside when she unequipped her flute, Avius eyes locked themselves upon the katana she carried by her belt; He recognized it somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was for the moment. After a short moment of thinking intensively about it, he let it fall to the depths of his subconsciousness.

After Crystal had mentioned that she was here because a part of her was still buried here, she brought up that she had also come here to see Avius personally. He was of course a bit surprised by this since they had never spoken much before this very moment. However, when she explained that she was here to talk to him because she felt it was probably something her mother would have wanted since Dani had tried to speak with him when she was still warm and breathing. Avius still held onto his old memories of Dani, few as they were, and tried to hide his remorse for such a heavy loss. Sometimes it was easy to ignore all those painful feelings bubbling inside him, but most of the time he couldn't resist to turn insane because of them. They screamed inside him and they cut him in both his heart and his soul, trying everything to get out. All of this came back to him in a single second before his attention rushed over to the girl before him once again.

The last reason for one of the reasons she had spoken of was that she thought he should do a better job because she still cared for the Wolfpack, even though she might hate its current Alpha. While Avius sat there and listened to what she had to say, he couldn't do much more than to agree with her; Sure, Sean might be his best friend and the Alpha over this clan, but his recent actions have pushed the clan against the White Shadows, which is something Dani would never have done. It all felt so wrong. Avius still had no idea why everyone had turned so easily upon Allison and Crystal and started throwing dirt at two dead people they had once adored and respected with all of their hearts all so sudden. He had only asked once and he had never received an answer that made sense to him. However, he had still witnessed what Evin did to the leaders cabin and that was something he would not forgive and forget in a very long time.

In the end Avius chose to ignore Crystals statement about the kid who had left the camp earlier. He didn't want anything to do with that boy anymore either way. She ended her long speech by asking, in a very friendly voice, how he had been. Avius took some time to melt all of this and eventually chose to sit down in the green grass. It was soft and a bit wet, but nice nevertheless. There was so many things he wanted to ask her and tell her, but he didn't want to cause any conflicts now that he had her attention and he most certainly did not want to waste that "level of respect" she seemed to have for him. Unless it was necessary of course.

"I don't know. Things could of course been better." He chuckled shortly before continuing, "I just don't know. I'm not sure if I care anymore either. I'm so confused by everything that has happened around me and yet, It's like I see the everything clearer than before." Avius didn't know how to describe his feelings on how he felt and how things had been going for him and others around him. Everything seemed to be falling apart at the same time as everything almost seemed better than before.

"There's actually something I've wanted to ask you Crystal for a long time now. The other wolves doesn't seem to think it would be a good idea to share with me what actually happened the night you returned and Sean challenged you for the leadership over the Pack. I was away on one of..." Avius refused to speak that filthy bastards name in front of Crystal, "... your friends missions in Blackpond to rescue some healers when it all happened. What I'm trying to ask is, what happened that night? Please, be honest with me, Crystal."

A small smile actually formed itself over Avius hidden lips after he finished; It was his first time saying 'please' to anyone outside of his own prayers. And It wasn't just that, because now he might just get the answers he had been waiting for so long.

The setting changes from Assassin's Camp to Newhaven

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

"Mageria, what in the Gods names happened?" Phelix wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Mageria leaned on his shoulder, tears running steadily down her face.
"Grim is dead." Her voice was a raspy monotone, strained from the screaming and crying. "My brother left three years ago. Yesterday he came home. This morning I went to talk with him. This-ss after, afternoon he . . . he died in . . in my arms." Mageria gulped down her sobs and pressed her fist to her mouth. "I just got done singing at his pyre."

Mageria just sat there for a long moment, fighting to get control of herself. Her eyes wandered around the room, between the two of them, she and Krander had managed to wreck just about every stick of furniture in her room. She'd have to replace all of it. Kander kicked through the detritus, looking about. She watched as he stopped, looking up at her mantle. Above it hung the sword that had been pulled out of the wreckage three years ago. His sword. He reached up and pulled it down, turning it from side to side to test the balance. She had cleaned it carefully once it came into her hands, the metal glowed in the candlelight with a soft warmth.
“You kept it?” His voice held a note of wonder and thanks and a smile worked its way across his face.
Mageria sighed. “After we picked it out of the rubble, yes. It was the only sign we could find that gave some sign of where you were, when you vanished.”

Mageria stayed pressed to Phelix's shoulder for a moment longer before it really sank in that they were sitting there in her room once more. A sullen anger started to burn in her chest, almost lost against the sorrow, but clear none the less. Roughly wiping at her face, Mageria got up and crossed to her bookcase, picking out one slender journal with gold leaf details and a lock. The dust on the lock clearly showed it hadn't been opened in years.
"Here. Kept this for you." She tossed it on the bed next to Phelix. Her voice started rising in anger.
“I managed to hold on to a few of your things, things that I thought you would want to make sure that no one else saw.” Phelix picked up the journal and looked over at Krander with a smile that clearly spoke of secrets that were written there. Obviously she had been right to keep it hidden from prying eyes. “I cleaned out you room myself. I thought it was my duty as your friend.” She saw both of the other men wince a bit at the tone in her voice. And at that sign of guilt her temper snapped once again, this time with anger and not crushing sorrow.

With one swift move, she crossed the room and had Krander by the throat, slamming him back against the wall. Her eyes were ice white, staring at him from a face ravaged by grief and pain.
"Now. Krander. Old friend of mine." Her fingers tightened ever so slightly. "Where the hell have you been?"

The setting changes from Newhaven to Assassin's Camp

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Crys listened to Avius with interest, glad that he had sat down and was willing to talk. He seemed to be very conflicted and confused by everything that was happening. That was good in a way; it meant he wasn't following Sean blindly like she thought he might be. "I understand how you feel, Avius. I do. And I think that things wouldn't be so confusing for you if you didn't care, at least a little bit." She said with a little smile. "Things seem better, but they're not what they once were and people will eventually wonder why. I can tell you why, since you're listening to me for some reason... The laws of the Pack were written based on loyalty. Even though Sean enforce those laws, he can't fully understand what's behind them. He can't inspire loyalty in these people because he asks something of them and is not willing to give. He doesn't trust them."

She sighed slightly and pulled the katana from her belt, sheathed, and put it on her lap. "I was attacked on my way to the desert, partly because I wanted to question Lena about a few things, partly because I wanted distance from the battle that was going on in Newhaven. Halfway there I was attacked by assassins from Blackpond. I lost that fight, and while I was on the floor bleeding out, Sean showed up to tell me why I was going to die and that he was going to leave me there, 'because not everyone deserves a quick demise'." She made a pause and took a deep breath in order to keep her voice calm. "The Crimson rescued me, and I came back after a month, on that day. I was still wounded, and weak, but I didn't know what was happening and was concerned. When I got here, Evin had already figured out what Sean had done, and demoted him. When I told everyone what he did, Sean challenged me, I lost, and that was it. Whatever you might of heard of my father's involvement with the Wolf Hunters and, what my mother did to cover for him... That actually did happen. But I suppose no one takes into account that they just idiot teenagers then, and were nothing but loyal to this clan for over 25 years after that." She shook her head. "See, the clan betrayed me, in a way, and I can't trust them anymore. So, even if Sean was no longer an issue, I have no p[lace here. I still believe that the Pack deserves a worthy leader, and Sean is not that Leader." She leaned back on the gravestone, casually. "Anything else you would like to ask me?"

The setting changes from Assassin's Camp to Valcrest

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Seerow
Snow descended from somewhere some would call it the heavens, or perhaps merely the sky. From on high it forms transforming its weary watery form, solidifying into an icy design till every edge is made whole in its rebirth. Then after its glorious metamorphosis it becomes far too burdened by its newfound weight. Flawed and beautiful the snowflake falls earthward helpless to the winds that blow where they will. Floating about wistfully only to find its end by being stranded on the unfeeling earth.
They were all dead, and for a brief moment in time she wondered if she was too. The gentle pulse of golden light that gazed into a sky of movement. Endless night that was shaken with dots of white that moved over her. The sky touched her with its cold, but she didn't notice, she felt hollow... empty. They were gone though, and she rose once more from the ashes.
Morrigan pulled to her feet, she was in Valcrest forest, and remained weary, more tired then she could recall being. Salamanders lay all about her feet their eyes reflecting the last moment of terror. Blood and dirt mixed with grime smeared all over the place. The fight hadn't gone the way she intended, but she lived which meant that there would be others.
Promptly she pulled a knife from a cadaver and ripped a cloak from another fallen traitor. Wrapping her body in a long cape of green. Pulling the hood over her eyes to hide away her features, no one would think much of a muddy traveler. So she meandered toward the nearest city... Newhaven.

Her recollection on this night's happening was fuzzy at best. Try as she might the details were fuzzy. Returning to camp was too dangerous to risk right now, but then she could sense something far more sinister. All that was coming to that fragmented mind was mere moments of the day. She had been drinking something and then, she woke, they were surprised. There was violence to follow, they tried to stab her.

A smile crept slowly across her lips, that was right. They tried to kill her, such an absurd plan. The Grinning Ghost could not be merely skewered like some pig on a spit. Anger nudged at her brain, but serenity flowed through. She was alive and they were gone. Morrigan couldn't have planned it better herself if she had planned it at all.
Numbly she trudged through the vegetation planting each foot flatly and somewhat carefully she did not wish to fall again. The tail of her cloak scraping the ground behind her. Time was needed, rest even more so, she would gladly play this game of cat and mouse. There were more, she knew it, so many more and the Ghost would go on the hunt.

The setting changes from Valcrest to Assassin's Camp

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Sibrand
The woman before him spoke of loyalty and that the laws of the clan had been built upon those concepts. The reason why everything was so different and things seemed broken was because Sean didn’t use loyalty when enforcing his laws; He used fear and respect to drive the Wolfpack forward. Loyalty could bring a man to sacrifies himself to a cause while fear and respect can only last for certain amount of time before the followers learn to overcome their fears and lose respect for their leaders.

As she continued to answer what he had said and what he had asked, Avius heard something that seemed both silly and partly true to his ears; Crystal said that she had been attacked on her way to the Crimson Shadows camp by the ruins when she had been attacked by assassins from Blackond and later on left for dead by Sean out in the desert. These news were shocking to Avius; He had never heard of it from anyone. Not from Evin during one of their encounters (If Evin even wanted Avius to understand the situation or not), not from Sean and not even from any of the other wolves. Not even Allison had tried to reach out to Avius. The assassin felt a feeling of loneliness for the first time of his life.

He stood alone, facing the dark abyss that was life.

The news about Dani and Sebastian and the Wolf Hunters didn’t seem to concern him as much as the recent news about Sean’s betrayal; Sean betrayed the Wolfpack even before beating Crystal in a fight. He was not worthy of the title of Alpah for his treacherous ways. However, this was a delicate matter and Avius would have to tread carefully to beat Sean at his own game. He would haver to gather all the puzzle pieces before beginning. His hand twitched furiously at the pain from the old wound inflicted by Evin. Crystal stopped her speech with a question.

”In my childhood, I remembered living in Blackpond, fighting each and every day to survive even if I lived in an orphanage. From those streets I learned a certain saying: ‘Once a traitor, always a traitor’.” Avius began and let his eyes wander around the graveyard for a bit, ”If what you’ve just told me about Sean is true, then he has no claim over the Alpha role. I can make a deal with you, Crystal Rivers; I can do anything you wish me to do to help you overthrow Sean, but I cannot trust you just like that. Once I start down this path then there is no turning back and I will be considered a traitor to the clan.” Avius explained and rose from his sitting position. He brought his quarterstaff with him on the way up.

”If you agree to my terms then I will fulfill my end of the bargain and then leave the Wolfpack forever. My terms? I want Evin Bana’s life in exchange for me to use my position as the Second in-command to bring justice on Sean for you. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I want to see Justice be done as much as you do. What say you?” The assassin ended and sighed as he stared at Crystal. One wretched life for another. Allison's opinion about him be damned.

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Crys' expression changed to something between frustration and disappointment at the last words Avius spoke to her and she didn't bother to hide. He had understood everything, except one thing; what she wanted him to do. Aside from that he had demanded something she wasn't able, or willing, to give. She stood up, lowering her head and heaving a sigh. "You didn't understand what I came here for, Dante. I don't want you to commit treason, and leave the Pack: I want to know that the Pack will have a leader after I do what I must. I'm not coming back, because I can't trust the clan anymore and they won't follow me... That makes me just as good as Sean." She attached her father's sword to her belt and faced the man with a slightly intrigued look. "I'm not here to make a deal, I'm here to remind you of what you signed up for when you took your oath and when you accepted Second Command. Besides, even if I was here to make a deal; what you ask of me is not mine to give, or trade. If you want Evin's life that badly, go ahead and take it from him. Don't ask it of me as if it was worth nothing. It's worth something to me."

She stood in silence for a moment, smiling slightly in the cold winter air... Why was it always so damn hot in the desert? Then she smiled at Avius and spoke her final words to him. "I want justice for the Pack, and I will have it either way, if that breaks the clan or makes it stronger is entirely in your hands. Think about it, and leave me a message with the White Shadows when you decide."

With that she nodded her goodbye and began to walk away towards the South.

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Sibrand
Not a single word came from Dante has he heard what Crystal had to say nor did he move a muscle. It wasn’t the kind of answer he had hoped for, but an answer he had come to expect from people like Crystal; People who refused to face their problems head on and had to go around an obstacle and use unnecessary methods. It was a cowards path and Crystal seemed to walk on it. Although Dante would love to walk away from such a path, he couldn’t be sure if the rest of the clan would accept him with greater loyalty than the one they have for Sean. He knew he would have to win their trust and earn their loyalty before Crystal strikes at Sean.

Avius Dante watched how Crystal turned her back on him and walked away, heading south towards the desert once more. Whatever her plans might be, Avius would make sure that he would get his revenge on Evin before the end of it all, even if it meant sacrificing himself in the process. However, for now he would have to win over the clan from Sean somehow. The problem was that he had no idea how to do so because he had always been a lone wolf and being the leader over some clan of assassins had been the last thing in his mind. Until now.

The sun had died down in the horizon and darkness was beginning to cloud everything around Avius. However, being the night creature he was, he could see in the dark almost as good as at daylight. The assassin decided to move back to camp and see if there was anything else to do this very late evening. There was nothing more he could do about Crystal. He would have to think about the things she told him and decide wether or not he should act upon them.

When approaching the camp several actives came up to him and they all had the same question on their lips: What happened? Avius wasn’t about to lie and so, he told them some small parts of the truth and let everything else out of the explanation. He told them that he and Crystal had had a peaceful conversation about what happened the night she returned to the camp and was challenged by Sean. Most of the actives dispursed after hearing this, however, there was still one who decided to follow Avius further into the camp. His name was Dova, a bright little fellow who had joined the Wolfpack just a month or so ago. He had yet to find an instructor and therefor, he did some minor things around the camp as well as training a lot for himself. No weapons of course.

”Why is that particularly night so important and such a touchy subject, Dante?” Dova asked nervously, knowing all too well that Avius could decide to punish him for slightest mistake around him.

”Some of the wolves feels it’s a touchy subject because there was such a hugh change then; Crystal Rivers, the woman who’s mother had been their leader for so long and who’s father had been a father figure to almost everyone in camp had recently been declared as dead and all of the sudden she returns. Sean challenge her and defeats her and by the Wolfpack’s laws, he had the rights to kill her off right there, but he was stopped. Allison interfered and a couple of actives and recruits stood by her side as well. They were all branded traitors by Sean. It’s a dark night in our history.” Avius sighed heavily, ”Maybe not as dark as the Red Night, but still.”

Dova seemed to get it, but somehow he just wanted to learn more and more about the history of the clan since their records were slowly being rebuilt after Evin pulled off his little stunt and burned down the leaders cabin three years ago. Much of what once were would never be recovered, but at least they could try. Avius smiled beneath the cloth that hid his face and looked over at the boy as he stopped in the middle of the camp, by the fire that threw the shadows of the dancing flames across the ground in the cold night.

"But rememeber this, Dova; The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming."

The setting changes from Assassin's Camp to Newhaven

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Thomas stood about fuming until the medic finished and left. Apparently he was unable to stop the bleeding, the best he could do was wrap the hand in bandages and hope that it stopped eventually. The medic couldn’t tell what was causing it to bleed the way it was. She left the room as perplexed as Thomas was.
"My Lady, I pledge to you, this was not the work of a ghost. When I entered the room, there was a man directing the movements of the skeleton. When I attempted to fight him, he was helped to escape by a second man." He crossed the room and sank down on a stool near the bed. "Do you remember anything that could help us identify either of them?"

Ella took a moment to think over the earlier predicament, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what happened. The last thing she could remember doing was turning around to look at who was coming in the door. Listening to the story that Thomas had told her made her shiver. To think that a man could just walk into the castle so simply and do that to her. She couldn't even speak, so she shook her head instead to explain that she didn’t know anything about the man.
She looked at her hand which, for some strange reason was still bleeding out that odd symbol on her hand. She could feel an odd tingling in her hand that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. It didn't seem to hurt at all, so that was one good thing.
"H-how, how could th-this ha-ppen to me?"

Thomas sighed and leaned forward, elbows planted on his knees.
"It happened because you were alone, my Lady. Something that won't happen again for a while, I'm afraid. From now on, there will always be at least two Guards with you, and unless I miss my guess, Mageria will also assign somebody to hang around in the background." He scratched his nose and clasped his hands in front of him.
"I'm afraid the reason it happened, was because somebody wants you to be frightened, Lady. For whatever reason, because they are afraid of what Newhaven might do or what you personally might do; their answer is to frighten you so badly that you are helpless against whatever might happen." He chose his words carefully, if ever there was a time to be careful, it was now.
"This was an attack, my Lady. Make no mistake about that. I have my guess as to who it might be or it could be somebody else who wants to cause trouble. Either way, we now have somebody to guard against. But we shall stand firm against them, just as we always have."

Ella walked over to the desk. It was really a stunning piece of art, the desk was. It was made purely of marble and carved from a single block. On it's legs were the engravings of four kings, all holding a the moon in their hands. Two of the moons were full, while the other two were only half full. Underneath the marble top, there was a small wooden drawer that had been attached some while after it had been made. She grabbed a chess board from it and walked to the center of the room where a small wooden table was. She opened the box, and placed her pieces.
"I really don't know who would be a suited regent. I don't see anyone who Blackpond would like to see on the throne less than me. Maybe I'm just full of myself, but I really can't see anyone."
After she had finished the first move, she played her first piece. Pawn to e4. It was her favourite beginning move with loads of versatility. After that, she reached her hand under the table, flinging it back out from under it and stabbing a knife right into the table. "I trained last two weeks ago for three hours." She smirked. "I'd say I'm still quite sharp with a blade too, thank you."

Thomas sat down at the table across from the board and started laying out his own pieces, considering his first move.
"Very good my Lady. But you should perhaps carry one or two of those on you at all times. Perhaps a stiletto blade disguised as a hair ornament? There's a weapons maker that caters especially to female bodyguards, he can be quite inventive."
There was a knock at the door, Thomas held up one finger to hold the game and went to answer it.
"Yes?" It was Sham, and she looked agitated.
"You need to tell Mageria to take the rest of the night off in her room or something."
Thomas raised an eyebrow, the young woman was having trouble keeping her voice down. "Any reason why?"
Sham glared at him and stepped toward, trying to whisper. "Because Grim Pondus just died n her arms. Because she's walking around in complete shock and shouldn't have to deal with anything else. Because I don't think we can count on her reacting passively if somebody pushes her. Is that a good enough reason?"
Thomas grunted and told one of the Guards to let the Black Captain that she was off duty for the night. Then he went back and sat down again across from Ella.
"Sorry about that." He studied the board for one final moment and made his opening move.

Ella couldn't make out what Thomas and Sham were talking about. She wanted to get closer and listen in, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to without being noticed. She knew what her limits were, and she knew that these two were good at what they did and what they did was keep secrets. It was not her place to even attempt to find out what they were talking about. It only took a few moments and he was back, making his first move.
"Good move, but..." She said while moving her hands over her pieces. "... but you might want to change your mind on the your next move if I move my queen's side knight there." She smirked. She was simply just looking at Thomas' eye movements as she was moving her hand over the pieces. Based on that, she was judging what she believed his next move to be.
"And I've talked to the blacksmith who makes specialty weapons. I have a completely undetectable weapon hidden within my corset that is easily accessible. I'd take it out, but I'm afraid that it takes a while to put back in, and I'd have to remove my dress. Out of laziness and decency, I'd much rather keep it in."

Thomas carefully kept a carelessly cheerful expression on his face. Even though Lady Ella was the Queen, he refused to let her win without a fight.
"I believe you about the knife, no need to undress to prove it." He waited while Ella made her next move, then leaned forward and carefully considered what to do next.
"You see, my Lady, I have always been of the opinion that it is the long game that one must win and the way to do that is to map out all the available possibilities and plan for every eventuality."
The move he made reflected that statement, it left a rook in danger but opened up the path for one of the stronger pieces later on in the game.
"For example. Most assassins never plan past the moment of their kill. But every action has an effect, one that will ripple outwards and change the world in ways that can never really be understood. That is why we must try and understand the ramifications of our actions before we make them."

She took some time to look at the move. There were a few potential forks that Thomas was attempting to put up at this point in the game, but it was strange, seeing as he hadn't developed completely yet. "I thank you for allowing me to keep dressed Sir Knight." She giggled while castling her king and filing up her rooks. "The long game is an important one, but if you can't set up the short game, than your long game will fall apart. Typically, it's best to get your king castled by your next two moves. Take it as a pro tip."
She looked away for a few moments to check her hand. The blood was seeping through the bandage. She unwrapped it to see how bad it was, but to her surprise the bleeding had stopped and all that was left was a scar of that symbol on her hand. She didn't put much thought into it as the game was more important to her at the time.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. When I have spare time, I like to look through the archives and look at the old chess records if I have nothing else to do. Did you know that the first recorded game is in there? The game was created by War to hone his skills, but no one wanted to challenge him in fear that he might rage up if he lost. The only person who wasn't afraid was Life seeing that he couldn't die. There are actually two versions of the match. One is where War wins and the other Life wins. Every move is the same up until the last ten moves. If only there was a way to find out which one is the real match. Too bad, it's impossible to know the truth now."

"Of course my Lady. I wouldn't want you to catch a chill in the winter air." Thomas smiled winningly. "However, what seems like a weakness in the short game can become a strength in the long game, as it allows the stronger pieces more free reign."
Thoughtfully Thomas nodded as he followed the movements of the board. "It's always a wise thing to learn from the past." Leaning over, he gently grasped Ella's wrist so that he could look at the wound. "Interesting." Thomas stayed silent as they both worked through a couple more moves.
"Castling is important, but you have to choose between keeping your King safe and keeping your pawns safe. Whichever you choose depends on how you plan to play your game. It can tell your opponent quite a bit about what to expect from you in the future." Thomas moved his bishop, capturing the opposing rook. "Your game also depends very heavily on deciding early on which pieces you consider most important. Even a pawn might capture a King, but they have to be . . . in just the right spot."
He sat back and regarded his Queen thoughtfully. "I do believe, if I had to guess; Life would have been the one to win over War. War, you see, would have only played to a fixed point; once he reached that point the game was over. Life on the other hand, Life understood that the game never really ends at all. There is no checkmate, you simply have to live with the debris that war leaves behind. War saw a series of stopping and starting points, where Life saw a continuous movement.”

Ella had placed her rooks in the perfect position for an attack down one of Thomas' week rows. It would be only a matter of time until she would be able to use it to her advantage. The perfect ploy for her hidden agenda. It only took another move before black's bishop took her rook. She knew what she was going to do next, but she just allowed things to sink in. She overlooked her moves over and over to see what might happen if she wasn't careful.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Thomas. War was the one who created the game, and Life had never played it before. I mean, it was the very first match ever." She moved her next piece and continued as Thomas thought of his next move. There was only one logical move to make in her eyes. "I do agree that War looks at things as stops and finishes, but I do think he understands that the game never ends. You see, a game of chess may move on after checkmate, but only after pieces have reset. A new King is appointed along with a new royal court and it all happens again."
Thomas made the move she expected. With it, all she needed to do was move her knight up two more times. The first of the moves was a decoy; directly threatening one of her rooks. Thomas needed to move the rook or it would be taken, and that's what he did, weakening his position. He moved his knight up one more time, forcing a fork between her king and queen. "Check." This left Thomas with her only option, and that was to move the king into a safer position. After this move, she took the queen.
"The long game allows for positional strength, but the short game is what always changes the tides. With a single move, the tides of a war can change dramatically. It all started with a small threat to break defences, but then it quickly spirals out of hand into a vulnerable queen."
She smirked allowing Thomas to take in what just happened.

Thomas surveyed the board, raising one eyebrow in approval. "You've learned well, my Lady." He reached out and took up one of his remaining pawns, advancing it to a spot he had been driving Ella's King towards the entire time. "Check, my Lady." He smiled wryly. "I did mention that with the right moment, even the pawn can take the King."
He leaned back in his chair before getting up to pour them both a glass of wine. "Life is war, my Lady. Every living thing struggles to survive at the cost of something else, nothing lives without causing death in some way. So I believe that Life understood War quite well, perhaps in a way that none other could."
Thomas sighed, sipping his wine and letting the rich scent fill his nose. "True, the short game is a type of chaos while the long game requires more planning. But it is a peculiar type of plan that relies on chaos in the first place. Think about it, my Lady. No matter how many moves either of us make, the end will always be one of three options. One of us will win, or we will draw. But between the beginning and the end game, there are millions of possibilities. You just have to guide the chaos in the direction you want it to go."

"Don't focus too much on the long game, or you might miss important stuff going on in single moves. Sometimes we don't move our pieces to have a good long game, but we still always need to have the long game in the back of our mind. For example, you can see that I'm going to win the pawn race once my king is out of check. I don't see the pawn race working out for me in the end though so I'll probably leave that pawn there." She said looking around the board at the few pieces that were left. There was a rook on each side and three pawns. Thomas' pawns were set up close to each other, attempting to force their way down the board, while Ella had two eyeing Thomas' pawn island and a pass pawn on the other side.
Ella's only reasonable way out of check was to remove the pawn eyeing her king from the game with her rook. That left her pass pawn on the other side vulnerable to attack from his rook.
After the pawn exchange had ended, things were even both positionally and with the pieces left on the board. Ella couldn't see a way to break it, and it looked like Thomas wouldn't be able to break her line, but they tried anyways. They spent over an hour without speaking to each other, moving their king and rook around to get an edge on the other. Finally, after the hundredth pointless move in a row, Ella decided it would be best to give it up.
"How 'bout we call this a draw?"

Thomas nodded. "I'm afraid I must agree, my Lady." he held out one hand across the board.
"Well done."

Ella smiled at Thomas and removed her pieces from the board to put them away in the marble desk. When she looked out the window overseeing the desk, the lights of morning had been lit. In the chill of white that carpeted Valcrest, there was warmth. It still wouldn’t be warm again for a couple of months. “It looks like we’ve talked the night away.” Ella smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Blackpond]
The sweet morning light brought cold chills through Rita as she pulled the covers from her. The blanket of ice stung her exposed arms and legs like thousands of hornets. She retreated back into her covers and got up. She moved closer to the fireplace which was only down to its last embers. She rekindled it and the fire roared on, allowing her to leave the comfort of her covers without fear of being stung by the bees of the cold.
After she changed, she ran strait outside. It was only ever that cold out when it had snowed and snowed it has. Over the grime and filth of Blackpond lay undisturbed snow from the night before. All the worries of the city were lifted off her, and everyone’s shoulders as more soft grains gently touched down on top of the old snow before it.
With this change in the seasons came a change in the attitude for the people of this rotten city. Not only were the children seemingly able to run around the city without fear of being kidnapped for once, but also the adults all had this joyfulness about them. None seemed to worry at all about divides that separated them on a usual basis.
A few kids ran up to Rita, throwing snowballs as they passed. Each one, exploded on impact around her chest and waist. Then from behind, something knocked her in the head, leaving chunks of snow and water lodged in her hair. She turned around with a wicked grimace on her face, eyeing the three children behind her who were all pointing fingers at one another. Rita smiled and with a quick swoop through of her hands, she grabbed a clump of snow off the ground and threw it at the kids. The three kids giggled as they scrambled to avoid the snowball.
Soon enough, everyone was getting in on the fight. From the littlest of kids to the most cold hearted adults. The spirit of the snow was in all of them.
As the snowballs flew along the air, Rita stopped for a moment. The snowballs flew in this seamless choreography that could never again be replicated. She just wanted to admire the unspoiled harmony of this moment, because it sure wouldn’t last forever. The Day of Creation would go by and everyone would forget about this. They’d go back to their lives.

The Day of Creation…

… She’d almost forgotten. The Day of Creation was celebrated every day on this day, which was typically before the snow would fall. Before the death of Rory under the hands of Lamya, people would forget about life for a while to celebrate on the streets the day that Mother and Father created Valcrest. Along with that, it was believed that it was also the same day that all the Twins had been created. Each set of twins being exactly a year younger than the ones before them. It seemed like Blackpond was through with
“The Day of Creation!” She shouted with jubilation just as a snowball collided with her smiling face. She wiped her eyes of the water and looked around, dodging another snowball from the same direction. At that moment, she realised who it was that threw it at her.
In the distance, she saw the very last person she believed would be playing out there with everyone. Lamya stared across, every once in a while a kid would pass by, but her stare cut through every one of them. Typically the stare before she did something really devious, this time it was only one of someone looking for some fun. Rita really just could not get a read on this woman. Impossible would be an understatement in this situation. Rita looked back with the same intensity; snowball ready. She was going to see how good this assassin really was.

~~~~~

Dominic stared at the chaos at hand. It was really not what he was expecting from Blackpond. He had even made his presence perfectly known to the city by wearing his iridescent Black Knight armour over the layers he had on already. From what Dominic had heard, the practice of ‘fun’ had been eradicated and the only real thing that was practiced was oppression. Obviously his sources were wrong. There were snowballs flying, people making imprints of them in the snow. In Valcrest they were called snowbirds because of the wings and tail that was made from flapping one’s arms and legs across the snow. It was really magical and something that he just never really imagined.
He decided just to enjoy the sight for a while. After Grim’s funeral, he needed something that would ease his mind. He didn’t know the man all too well. Most of the times he would spend his time in his disgraceful White Knight armour and didn’t have time to be less diplomatic. What he did know of the man was only good things. This man had an ability that could cause so much dread if he let it get out of hand and yet he was able to govern it to a point where he was able to function as a regular White Knight himself. It was a shame that he no longer stepped the earth.
There was a whole lot of wonderful surrounding him. Something that he didn’t have a chance to experience in a while, even in Newhaven. Then the day got a whole lot better. Out in the distance he saw a woman throwing snowballs at Yishka. The beauty of her in her winter clothing seemed to block everything else from his vision. He didn’t walk any closer; he just sat at a near bench and watched that goddess of splendour frolic and flip through the air, weaving past even the most straining of snowballs to dodge that this other woman threw at her. He could watch this forever.
Things got more than serious however when he heard a cry from somewhere nearby. This was different from all the other’s laughs and screams. This one sounded like it was something of true distress. A woman in the distance that needed help. She wasn’t too far away at all. Just a few turns down a couple of streets was all that was needed to reach the alleyway he heard the screams from.
In the corner of this alleyway, there was a man brooding over a young woman with a kitchen knife in hand. He hoped that this man was only a thief, because if he was thinking of doing anything else, he’d pay the price. Dominic approached the man, making as much noise with his armour. Claymore in his hand, he gently placed it on the man’s shoulder. The weight seemed like it was a little too much for the man with his knees buckling under the weight, but he still managed stand. He dropped the sword beside the man, and in an instant, he swung the knife around, only to deflect off his armour. Obviously the blade hadn’t been sharpened in a while as it barely made a mark. He simply gripped the man’s wrist and stated to squeeze. It didn’t take long before the man was begging for him to stop, so he let go. It wasn’t over for this man though. He cocked his arm back and clocked the man square in the jaw and the man fell over.
He walked slowly over to the woman on the ground. “Are you all right?” He asked.
She seemed to ignore her comment, only laughter came from her lips and as she looked at the man on the ground. “Do you think he’s actually one of them?” She asked the man. He looked behind him and saw the man rubbing his jaw, trying to get to his feet. “Yeah, he’d defiantly a Black Knight.”
“What’s going on here?” He asked.
“We need your help…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[The Plains]
When Evin had gotten to the Plains the other night, he went straight to sleep. He hoped that Theron would still be there for him to talk to in the morning. First he wanted to talk to Kate. He felt bad about using her as a weapon for this war. He wouldn’t have said anything and just let the girl die, but at the last moment, he just couldn’t come to terms with killing her. She wasn’t the target that he was after; it was Sean that he really wanted.
He walked out of his tent to see snow on the ground. It was nothing that he was really fond of, but the street performers who had arrived the same night from Newhaven were a delight. Even though he didn’t like parties typically, he still liked to watch the talents that these people possessed. Most of them weren’t even taking advantage of enlightenment to do what they did. This amazed him, especially the magicians who seemed to make things appear from nowhere. His eyes were trained to see what others didn’t and even he could be tricked by some of the stuff they would do.
After his moment of distraction, he quickly moved to the tent of the leader. Lena wasn’t there for him to complain to. He really didn’t like Lena for some reason. Annie was less like her mother than most thought she was and Evin really respected that about her.
“Annie, its Evin. We need to speak.” He said from outside the tent. He wasn’t positive that she was there, but needed to try anyways. “I’m sorry if you’re busy, but I have other things that need doing today and it can’t wait. Again I’m sorry.”

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

(Many thanks to Trickster for the collaboration.)

Michael was wandering through the castle when he ran across Sham.
Suddenly his pace came to a crawl and he moved very slowly and very deliberately, each step planned and executed with the precision of a cat
He walked up behind her quietly and stood leaning just enough to say in her ear at normal tone.
"It appears today you are the one to be snuck up on my lady."
His sincere hope was to see if he'd walked silently enough to make her jump in very much the same way that she'd done to him the day before.

Sham had been concentrating on the book she was reading; it was a skill learned very late in life and extremely difficult for her. But the Captain had insisted, so here she was, working her way through a book of legends about the Twins.

"It appears today you are the one to be snuck up on my lady."

Sham did indeed jump when a voice suddenly appeared in her ear. Unfortunately for Michael, when she was startled, she tended to hit the thing that startled her. She ended up spinning and slicing his feet out from under him, then sitting on his chest.
"Oh, 'ello." She frowned at the book and then pointed to a word in the middle of the page.
"What does this one mean?"

Michael attempted to look at the word she was pointing to but the book was too far away and the print too small.
"Sound it out for me my lady."
He was still squinting trying to read the word when with a strain to his voice he said
"After of course you get off my chest.
My current position lends little to my eyesight and my current predicament lends even less to my ability to draw breath.
Should you follow my line of reasoning.
Precisely how long have you been reading this book my lady?
And to what end do you do so?"

Sham slid off Michael's chest and sat cross legged next to him. As dull flush worked its way up her neck, she snuck a quick look at him to see if he was making fun of her. Not being able to read in a Castle full of well educated people was a bit of a sore spot to her, but she wasn't willing to pass up a bit of help.
"Th-e Twins in they-re ben-ben-ev-o-lannnnce. . . ." Sham very nearly slammed the book closed and gave up. "Why do they have to use such big words all the time?"
"And I've been trying to get through this bloody thing for the past week." She ruffled the few pages she had managed to get past sullenly. "Don't want th' nobles ta think I'm stupid 'cause I can't read." she muttered mostly under her breath. "Cap'n said she'd teach me, but she's busy right now."

Michael ran his fngers through his hair and said.
"Very well,benevolovence is possessing an aptitude toward good deeds, good actions, in one's dealings with others.
You my lady show considerable wisdom in wanting to better yourself.
The captain after all shall not be around forever.
That is the funny side of life.
You no sooner get comfortable with something when it is torn from your grasp.
Either by chance or fate depending on what you believe in."

He then bowed slight with his hand over his heart.
"I recognize this and laugh in the face of it.
Rather than be defeated, I know it's coming, and therefore devise a cynical yet measured response.
You my lady would do wise to do very much the same."

Sham snapped her book closed and leaned back on her heels, studying Michael with one cocked eyebrow. "You think I don't know how random some o' the tings in life are? I lost me entire crew before I came here, during the last o' the fighting three years ago. Never found not but the pieces."
She tilted her head to the side and smiled gently. "Besides, I don't think that the world could stand two such as you. If you know that fate is drawing it's bow toward you, that means you have a chance to dodge. So you continue to laugh, I'll continue to dodge. It's what we do best, after all."

Sham tucked her book under one arm and stood up, turning away for a moment before turning back. "It's strange, don't you think? I lived in the gutters and thieved for my meals afore I was here, and you'd be calling me my Lady. Seems life can give as well as take at times, no? Whether or no, somebody's got a sense of humor."

Michael nodded reflectively before smiling deviously.
"No indeed the world cannot handle another such as I.
Life as you say has drawn it's bow on me many times.
Dodging provided little in the way of help or comfort.
So I've chosen to take the shot with a laugh rather than brood over the injury.
You see life's little injuries are all a part of what I call "the black joke".
To the masses it is niether funny nor a joke.
But to those that understand the shot is coming.
To those that embrace the sweet, sweet pain and welcome it into their veins.
These injuries become the punchline and you learn to bleed as black as midnight."

He then waved a black gloved hand dismissively.
"Think, if you will.
Of the plans, armies, governments that people are fool enough to make.
Trying to give themselves some sense of control.
Are these not all turned on their heads by events that are not even a spec of dust in the blink of an eyelash of time?"

Sham tilted her head to the side. "Aye, plans all come to naught in the end. Still, if there be any hope of making a difference in th' world, you need a plan, no? It's not the sort of thing that can happen just by the blowing of the wind." She stepped back and took a seat on the top of a nearby table. "On the other hand, you could just go where the wind blows you, might be somewhere that you'd never go on your own."

Sham tossed the book on the table and leaned back, crossing her arms and looking at Michael. "Thanks for the help, mate. I'll be going on a trip soon enough, so's I'll have to be trustin' my own skill at dodging. Do you keep laughing and we'll come through right enough."
Twisting, Sham pulled the book off the table and started out of the room.
"Take care while I'm gone, aye?"

With her last words Michael turned and faced the common room.
To sit nursing a glass of wine.
His stare was fixed on the fire and the dance of the flames among the embers.
Most of which glowed red hot.
He shoved the ashes about a bit with a small poker and pushed some of the half burnt wood back into the fire.
For whatever reason patrolling the halls or causing trouble, for now, had lost it's luster.
Plus there were things he could not explain, like why he'd caught the captain of the guard leaving town the last time he went walking in town for patrol.
His previous conversation with Jake, which served to be quite amusing.
It seemed at times he was interrogating as much as being interrogated.
He was contemplative, silent, staring intentfully into the mouth of the fire.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Luckas Character Portrait: Annie Turner
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Luckas’ mind was racing a little with thoughts of death, eternity, and a million other ironies that just had him torn between laughter and frustration. He had gone to the funeral, and he had also gone over the book Mageria had dropped, over and over and over. He’d read that journal front to back at least five times throughout the night, finding things to become more and more interesting every time he read, confusing and frightening in a way, but that was the most interesting part of it all. He was particularly fascinated with one bit of history contained in there; it was similar to something he’d seen before on the Shadows’ archives, although, told as being only a myth.

All of it got him thinking of Death. Luke thought that if he would ever worship one of the Twins, he would worship Death. He didn’t understand how people failed to see the beauty of Death, the beauty of being compelled to make every moment count before you reach the end of the line… The beauty of the moment when you accept it’s finally over; so silent, so peaceful, so… Perfect. Luke had been so close to it, he stared it in the eyes, and it had left him with a very itchy wound as a reminder. He really should have that looked at again…

Finally he moved from where he had been lying, looking around the room he had chosen to spend the night in. Light was slipping through the curtains. It was morning… Did he sleep? He must have slept, but he wasn’t sure if he had or if he simply lost himself in thought. As he sat up, he felt an aching in the back of his head, he also felt a bit of pain in his left forearm and, as he rolled up his sleeve to examine it, he discovered the word ‘STOP’ scratched onto it. He tilted his head staring at it. So, he must have slept, he certainly did dream. “Am I in your head, or are you in mine?” He mumbled. Ever since that thing almost killed him, Luke had heard and seen things that didn’t seem to quite belong in his mind. He didn’t know why, nor did he actually care for it much anymore, he just wanted it gone. Finally, he reached for the book he had dropped in his lap, opening it to the same bit he had been reading, and rereading, the night before.

I've figured it out. Gods help me, it can be done, but it will require a sacrifice; bait. Good of Newhaven and all that, right? I just hope I'm strong enough to do what must be done when the time comes.

Just below it though, there was something written that just wasn’t there the night before, something written in Luke’s own handwriting, although he had no memory of writing anything.

Time has come.

“What the…? Who are you?”

Luke sighed, not turning towards the man that had just entered the room, probably released from night shift and looking to get some shut eye. “Don’t worry about it, pal. I’m just leaving.” He stated, standing up.
The guard eyed him suspiciously, he had snatched uniforms, but he didn’t really look like a castle guard in one bit. “I asked: Who are you?” The man repeated.
Luckas nodded. “I’m none of your business. Now, go to sleep. You look tired.” He stated.
The man let out a yawn and began to drag himself towards the bed, dropping down on it and immediately falling asleep.
“Good boy.” Luke told him with a snicker. Turning to leave the room, however, he stopped, noticing a piece of paper in the guard’s hand. He took the note from the man and read it over. “Huh, now this sounds important… I should make sure it reaches its destination.” He stated, stuffing the note in his pocket and walking out of the room. “First though, I think I’ll go have a look at the festivities.”

[White Shadows encampment]

Annie had woken up before sunrise again, this time not greeted by the usual silence of the healers, but with a level of excitement only seen in that camp once each year. She wasn’t all too fond of excitement, to be honest, but she couldn’t help but smile at how happy everyone was for a change. Since she had taken command of the Shadows, things had been rough, it was noticeable, but this date seemed to have the power to make all troubles be forgotten.

“I knew you would be hiding out here.” She heard a familiar voice behind her. “Suppose not everything changes in time.”
Annie didn’t quite believe her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her even when she turned to face the owner of that voice. It took a good moment of staring before she was even able to speak. “I can’t believe this.” She mumbled, taking a step forward. “Alistair? I thought you said you were never coming back.”
“I wasn’t, but…” Alistair heaved a sigh. “She made me swear I wouldn’t say this, but what the hell… I ran into your mother a couple of months ago and she… suggested, it would be a good idea for me to check up on you.”
Annie raised an eyebrow. “Check up on me?”
He chuckled slightly. “She didn’t actually say that, but I know that’s what she meant. I told her that there was no way in hell I was coming back here, but lately I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head. So… Here I am.”
“Where did you see her?” Annie asked him.
“I saw her in the mountains, but she wouldn’t tell me why exactly she was there. She looked pretty tired too, as if she hadn’t been sleeping.” He said, attempting to hide a concerned look. “She said not to worry though.”
“She always says that. It’s hardly ever true.” Annie replied. “Never mind that though, are you staying or just checking up on me?” She asked with a smile.
“Oh, I’ll stay for a little while, see some friends and maybe visit Newhaven, but I will be leaving again soon.” He stated, pacing around one of Annie’s favorite gardens, which was now covered in white snow, and enjoying the ‘crunchy’ sound of his footsteps on the frozen grass. “I can’t say I don’t miss this place, but I don’t think I still have it in me to do this kind of work anymore. I hope you understand that.”
“Sure I do.” She said, walking past him and dragging him along with her to the encampment. “Come on, I’m sure Isaac will be happy to see you.”
Alistair nodded in agreement, walking after her. “Is he still having outbursts?”
“A few, but nothing… Too troublesome…” Annie stopped walking as she noticed someone who was waiting by the entrance of her tent. Usually, Evin’s presence wouldn’t bother her, but she was sure Sean was still around somewhere. “Al… Do me a favor: Find Isaac and tell him to keep Sean Fletcher as far from my tent as possible.”
“Sure, no problem.”Alistair said, walking past Annie’s tent to look for Isaac.

Annie simply walked over to Evin and offered the assassin a smile. “Hello Evin, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” She said, walking into the tent. “Come on in.” She asked, taking a seat and waiting for the man to enter as well. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

She was walking through the Salamander camp. The bodies of Grim’s men were scattered about like rag dolls, only dolls didn’t have that much blood in them. Frantically, Mageria worked her way from one to another, searching for someone she could help, searching for her friend. But time after time, as soon as she got there, the mercenary breathed his last, dying before her.

Where was Grim? Why couldn’t she find him?

She stumbled over a man’s out flung arm, falling to her knees in the blood soaked grass. Looking up, she finally found him, lying torn open in the grass. His eyes stared at her with a mixture of rage and betrayal as he whispered, “Why Mageria? Why . . . did . . . you do it?”

“No!” Mageria scrambled on her hands and knees forward, trying to reach him before she lost him again. “No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I failed you. I’m sorry!”
Grim rolled his head from side to side, bright blood trickling from one corner of his mouth. “You . . . killed me.”

Looking down at her hands, Mageria saw her hands were soaked with bright gore, blood running down her fingers to soak into her sleeves. By her knees was her sword, also covered in blood. Looking around, she could see what she hadn’t before. All the bodies carried wounds similar to her fighting style, wounds that she would have inflicted.

Mageria pushed away from Grim’s body, staggering to stand surrounded by a carnage that she couldn’t remember being a part of. A hard hand seized her shoulder, spinning her around. Daniel Zimmerman stood there with a fearsome expression on his face.
Monster!” He roared. “You think that you can escape the fate that is in store for you?” Reaching out to hold her by the throat, he started to intone words that echoed strangely, words that she could feel wrap around her and start to twist her body and soul. Pulling her hands up in front of her, she could see that claws were growing from her fingertips as thick skin started to flow up her forearms.
“Why?” She looked up at Daniel and staggered backwards.
Daniel shook his head. “The time has come.

As the change moved faster and faster, Mageria could feel herself slipping away. Pushed beyond all limits, she did the only think left to her.

She screamed.


Bolting upright in bed, Mageria staggered to her window, stumbling a bit over some of the debris left from last night. Throwing it open, she gulped in deep breaths of the icy air, trying to banish the nightmare images from her mind. From below her she could hear the happy celebrations of Creation Day, people laughing and children shrieking as they flung snowballs at each other. Gradually her heartbeat slowed and Mageria drew her head back in the room, shivering a little as she closed the window.

Quickly she dressed for the day, toweling off the sweat that had formed along her hairline and under her cloths. She didn’t want to think about her dreams and so she ignored them, instead throwing herself into the day as best she could.

When she reached the common room, it was full of her men all laughing and joking, telling tall tales about what they were going to do during the day. She slipped in quietly, just grabbing something to eat and sitting off to the side. Feeling a tiny spark of mischief, she waited until the boasts reached their peak before she cleared her throat and cocked an eyebrow as silence fell over the room.

“Seeing as you all have so much energy, why don’t you all go out and have a snowball fight?” She grinned at the looks of worry that started slipping over a few of their faces. “Special rules.”
With a chorus of groans, they all got up and walked out, bundling up as they went. Special rules meant a kind of sudden death type of snowball fight, where the soldiers divided themselves up into teams and had a tournament to see who could stay alive the longest without using their Enlightenments to help. The city-folk even were allowed to join in, forming their own teams, some of them quite good. The fights were held in a practice area that was set up to mimic fighting in part of the city, it was actually an area that had been reduced to near rubble in the siege that Mageria had claimed. Now it was used to train the Guards and the City soldiers in how to fight in close quarters.

Today, it would be the scene of a grim battle.

Already people would be gathering, generally any time it snowed something like this would happen. In the areas set aside for observation, were the people who only wanted to watch and lay bets, and they loved it; cheering wildly for their favorite team.

Mageria smirked into the last of her food before she pushed away and went to see about her duties. The men as a group had ruled that she was no longer allowed to participate, seeing as how she skewed the results too badly whenever she participated. So instead she left to find Thomas and catch up on what had happened while she had been . . . distracted.

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Luckas
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Luckas wandered around the city for a bit, watching curiously as people laughed and danced around to the music of several street performers. It was amusing how people just tossed their troubles aside for one day every year, even the healers who seemed to be the most uptight people in the world. They seemed to just give meaning to the most meaningless things sometimes, simply for the sake of believing something. They way he saw it, most people lived off those little illusions, never really looking to find the truth of things in fear of what they would find. Luckas was still unsure of whether he thought that was pathetic or clever. After all, no one wants to feel pain, and knowing the truth often means nothing, so why really bother? So, was it stupid or smart to pretend not to know? Was it stupid or smart to not want to know?

He walked without paying much attention to where he was going, he hadn't been in Newhaven in almost five years, and he couldn't really say he knew his way around anymore. Eventually he found himself in front of the city orphanage, stopping to take a good look at it. It seemed it had gone through some serious work, he almost didn't recognize it as the dump he lived in for five years of his life. He was still standing in front of the building, wondering if he should go have a look inside, when someone collided with him at full force, knocking him down. Looking up, he caught a glimpse of a bunch of people rushing towards the castle, one of them shouted a "Sorry, friend." as he ran along. Luke jumped to his feet and started to follow the crowd until he caught up to someone. He caught a man by the shoulder and asked where they were all going.

"We're going to see the snowball fight!" The guy answered, excitement clear in his voice.
"A snowball fight?" Luke asked a little confused.
The man chuckled. "You're not from around here are you, kid? Not a snowball fight, THE snowball fight!"
With that said, the guy ran along. Luke hesitated for a moment, but then decided to follow them and see what made THE snowball fight so special. Didn't take him long to realize what it was.

The 'snowball fight' was actually more like a massive tournament. Rules were given and teams were being formed and organized by size. The whole thing seemed like a great deal of fun, so Luckas managed to get himself on a small team with some of the city folk. They weren't bad, but not the greatest of strategists. While Luke managed to sneak around and hit some people on the head from behind, eventually he found himself cornered and bombarded by another group of city folk, most of them teens, but they seemed to be led by a retired castle guard. Needless to say it was a bit of a massacre and when Luke managed to get himself out of the mess, he was covered in snow from head to toe. It had been incredibly fun though.

One of the guys from his team, who had also been cornered and 'killed', chuckled at him. "You are lousy at this."
Luke simply grinned. "Well, what can I say? I guess I'm not much of a killer, huh?" He said with a small shrug, heading towards the castle to find a fireplace, and maybe see what interesting things he could come up with there, thinking of it though... There was something he could do that was always interesting; it just required a little bit of searching.

It didn't take long for him to find a servant who knew where maybe he could find the Captain of the Black Knights, out of the couple of options the man had given him, the archives were closer, so he headed in that direction. The snow that covered his clothes had now melted, and he was soaking wet. The water had sunk into his clothes and also the bandages he had underneath them, which was causing an annoying itch, to which Luke only responded to by absently scratching the infected wound over his clothes. Finally, after a little bit of walking he spotted Mageria walking in the direction of the Archives. "Hum..." He mumbled, deciding to follow her from a short distance just to see if she would ignore him, and for how long.

Setting

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK


The setting changes from Newhaven to Blackpond

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jake Turner Character Portrait: Sham (No Last Name)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Sham made her way down to the stables, a pack of everything that she thought she might need slung over one shoulder and a couple of breakfast rolls in her hands. Her pack had a couple of changes of clothing, some food, some money, her backup weapons . . . . and a few surprises that she had in a special pocket sewn into the lining. But for now she just looked like a reasonably well off young woman who was out to travel into the city for a festival. Grinning at Jake, who had managed to get there before her, she tossed him a stuffed role and went to check out her horse. Finding it to be ready to go, she mounted and waited, following Jake as he rode out.

Sham looked around as she rode, she always enjoyed the Blessings Festivals, not the least because it had always been an opportunity for thieving. But even then, the sheer giddiness of the celebration always made the world seem a little brighter. Leaning over, she accepted a flower held out to her by a little girl, tucking it behind one ear as the finally made it through the gates and out of the city. Glancing sideways out of the corner of her eye she studied the young man carefully, waiting until they were well out of earshot of anybody else.

"So," she finally broke the silence. "I understand the need to be causing trouble, in the name of the greater good and all that. But you look to be walkin' up to a bee's nest and whacking it with a stick." She rode for a moment more in silence. "Now, you have your reasons, and I'll not push if you'll not talk of them. But nobody paints a target on themselves and invites the archers to take their best shot without a powerful reason." She looked at Jake and then away, waiting for his answer. "So what is it that gives you such a wish to queer Blackpond's plans?"

Jake had been quiet as they rode out, only stopping as they crossed the castle gates onto the city. There he handed one of the guards the note he had written for Mageria, leaning down and whispering something to the man before riding on. He looked around at all the people as they crossed the city, curiously wondering how the Wolves would be celebrating it this time. He had poisoned their food supplies the last couple of years, but he would be too busy for that this time, what a pity... But Sean had been moved back on his list of priorities just a little bit for now

He was lost in thought, he wasn't sure for how long, until Sham spoke to him about why he was doing this. He thought about it for a few seconds, thinking that he has way too many reasons to name them all. "So, I take it that now you know me well enough to ask questions, huh?" He started with a little grin. "I don't really believe in greater good, you know; it's an impossibility. All of my reasons for this are personal in a way, some are strong enough to be risking my life" He sighed. "My strongest reason? I like Blackpond. I spent a lot of my nights in the Inns of that city as a teenager, I always thought people there had a lot of spirit to survive with so little as they did. I always thought that the whole city had a lot of potential, which they wasted in the war, but potential nonetheless... So I don't like how things are doing there. I also don't believe their King is who he says he is, and I have a special kind of hatred for fake Kings."

He looked around a little bit in silence then added. "There is also something that I've been looking for, for about four years now, and I suspect it might be there, but that's mostly a guess." He said, patting his horse absently. "What about you? Why are you helping me? Aside from it being great fun."

Sham grinned back. "Sometimes you need to ask the questions, just to see how somebody don't answer them." She scratched her nose and leaned back a bit. "You'd be wanting to save the city from themselves? That's be a mighty big hope, even for somebody who's been a Knight, twice over. And even if ya can prove that the King not be who he says he is, what then? Newhaven had the same deal, somebody killed the King and everything went to hell. And then things just kept getting worse, leading to us going out to stir up trouble all over again."

Absently, Sham traced a scar on the back of her left hand, in the shape of a jagged X. It was the swearing in mark from her old gang, all that she had left to show that they had ever existed. Carefully, she peeled off the fingerless glove and showed it to Jake.
"I told ya, Cap'n found me during the last siege, me an' my mates. This be our mark. Our territory was square in the way of the fighting, so pickings was good for a while. Took the Blackpond dogs a while to catch on that it was a buncha kids taking 'em out one by one. Took them longer to track us down and do somethin' about it. But when they did . . ." She shook her head, for once losing the cheerful demeanor that characterized her. "I was the bait, out lookin' for a mark. I heard . . . screams. And things blowin' up. And . . . worse. By the time I got back, all that was left was bits. Just burned up and torn apart. Naught but kids, but they were old enough to fight back. Old enough to kill." Sham pulled her glove back on, rubbing the stiffness out of her neck.

"I wandered around for a while, just looking for a reason to keep going. Eventually Cap'n and I crossed paths a couple times. One thing to another, I joined up." Sham shrugged. "So aye, I'd be looking for a bit of revenge. But back with my gang days, there was one rule we held above all others. You never leave your mate in the wind. You always back 'em." She glanced out of the corner of her eyes at Jake and grinned. "No matter how mad they seem at the time."

"Oh, I don't want to save Blackpond. I think salvation, no matter what you think it is, is your own choice. I just think they also deserve to have that choice. No more, no less." Jake stated simply. "And I don't have to prove anything. Rita, or whoever else is interested, can take care of that... I'll just give it a push if I can."

He then went silent listening to Sham's story. Something in her tone while she told it seemed all too familiar to him. He'd used that tone way too many times before, each of those times left a mark he would never be able to erase, but in a way or two it was worth the price. He was silent all the while she spoke and few moments after that. Then out of the blue he talked again. "When I talked to Lamya she... She dropped her cloak in the middle of the hall. We walked past it, and when we reached the door to the meeting room, she told me I had the choice to pick it up myself and let her walk in ahead of me, or enter the room while she picked it up. She said it didn't matter which choice I made, it would only lead to the same meaningless result. That stuck in my head for a little while, not for any reason other than it sounded like the most honest thing she said. Or maybe I'm wrong and she was just messing with me... Either way, I can't decide if I agree with that or not. Does anything actually matter? One day we're all going to die, and be forgotten. If we end this war today, what's to say it won't start all over again in a hundred years when no one even remembers how much sacrifice it took to end it in the first place? Under that perspective, isn't it correct to say that nothing has actual meaning: Everything is temporary and pointless?"

Suddenly he took notice of the fact that he was just making himself sound a lot crazier and let out a small chuckle. "You know... Never mind that, I was just thinking aloud." He told her, scratching the back of his head. "Do you want to go through the forest or around it? Through the forest is faster, but we might have trouble with the wolves. As you know, they don't like me much." He shrugged. "Up to you, really."

Sham shrugged. "Aye, everything might just be a bit pointless. So the meaning, that be the meaning that we give them, no? We know that we're born, we know that we die, all that in the middle, that's what we make of it. We can waste it or we can take the chance the Twins gave us and try and leave a mark. The choices we make, that's what makes us who we are. Those that just allow the world to push them around? They be the ones that will be forgotten the fastest."
She shrugged uncomfortably at the look that Jake gave her. "One of the best places to stay warm during the winter was in some of the eating houses; a lot of time people got together and argued about all manner of things to pass the time. I was bored, so I listened."

Sham looked between the both of them, neither of them were anything that looked like it would attract too much attention. She shifted, looking up at the sun to gauge the time. "Well, we want to be getting to Blackpond as quick as can be, aye? I'd say we take the quicker path. Any trouble we get into, I'd say we can get out of fast enough. And you wanted to cause trouble with everyone, aye? Might as well get started."

Jake nodded simply, taking the path that crossed the forest. "Suppose, you're right, although depending on the kind of trouble it might slow us down a bit." He grinned. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm all for causing trouble." Riding further into the woods, Jake kept silent for a little while longer then he turned to face Sham. "Ever been to Blackpond before?" He asked absently. They weren't far enough in the woods for there to be Pack scouts around, but still, Jake made sure to keep his ears open for any movement. The snow from the night before had melted in the sun, leaving a pleasant smell of wet dirt in the air. It reminded him of when he was a simple Pack recruit, a smile even crossed his expression for a split second... It was funny how meaningless things brought back such meaningful memories. "Oh, I was meaning to ask: That little scene I stumbled upon when I first got to the castle..." He let out a little snicker. "Was that a... Regular occurrence?"

Sham kept her own eyes on the forest as they talked, her eyes growing faintly greener as she drew slightly on her Enlightenment in order to track the sights and sounds of their surroundings. Odd how skills that she had used to keep track of potential marks back in the city translated into use outside Newhaven.
"Aye, I've been there a time or three, enough to know my way around. Both before and after I joined the Night Crew, which lead to some interesting times. But one thing stays the same in both places, almost no one ever looks up." She smiled at the memories.

Turning, she flicked a glance at Jake before settling back in her saddle and shrugging. "You mean when Cap'n and I were sparring? Happen's every once in a while. For someone with not a bit of a Gift, I haven't an idea how she always manages to know what's going on around her like that. So I keep tryin' and she keeps makin' me eat dirt. The deal was, so long as she kept beating me, I had to do drills, longer each time I failed. I'm up to" she rolled her eyes back, counting on her fingers. "About six hours of drills if I want to keep trying to jump her."

"What about you? I heard about your match with Cap'n as well. Didn't even faze her when you went all see through. Any idea how she does it?"

"Some people don't need to look up, like I said." He chuckled. "But since I didn't notice you following me either, I'll just shut up about it. And that match was not my proudest moment, even when training is considered, I kind of expected a worse beating than what I got actually. Although... In a life or death scenario I would have worked it from another angle." He said absently, shifting in his saddle and patting Shadow when the horse snorted out in annoyance. "Some of the guys from the Guard used to go on about how she's got a hidden enlightenment, but I don't really believe that. With extensive training it's possible for someone to enhance their sense to a point of gaining a sixth sense of sorts. I know a few veterans of the Pack who had trained themselves to that extent. So I figure it must be that." He said with a little shrug. "So, I guess you just have to keep trying then." He said with a little smirk, turning as he heard movement in the bushes, but brushing it aside when realizing it was something too small to be human. "When we get there, there's one place I need to go before anything else." He informed simply.

Sham nodded. "Will you be wanting company? If no, then I'll use the time to stable the horses and start looking for places to cache supplies. I'm fine with sleeping out of the way, means that there's more ways out when some come after us. And it might even be better to just scout places where we can steal what we need on the way out rather than try and hide anything. It's not as if it's that far between Blackpond and Newhaven. Fair warnin' though. The longer I use my Enlightenment, the more I hav' ta eat. So if we end up runnin' we may end up huntin' on the way back. But that's the only problem that I can see."

Sham scratched her nose and listened carefully as something bounded away from them in the trees. "So . . . what was this I heard about the Cap'n wrecking her room? And somebody comin' back from the dead?"

"Sounds good to me, I'd much rather be alone for this, actually." Jake replied. He thought for a little while on Sham's next question, wondering just how much he should tell of something he had no business knowing about in the first place, but then he decided it really didn't matter, the whole thing had probably turned into gossip by now anyway. "The, uh, somebody who came back, for what I understand, is the former Captain of the White Knights. Everyone thought he died three years ago when Blackpond invaded. He was never found anywhere, not even a piece of him, only the sword. He was declared missing, presumed dead... I'm not sure, I wasn't there then. I never liked the guy much for the little I knew him, thought he was too loud and flashy for my liking, but he and Mageria were pretty close. And for what I heard of the shouting he just showed up out of nowhere, or at least I assume it was him... Can't think of anyone else who fits the description of an 'arrogant overdressed prick'." He scratched his head for a moment. "Gotta admit that the guy's timing was less than ideal."

They were riding closer to the assassins camp now, which made Jake straighten up a bit in his saddle and draw his hands closer to his sword on an instinct. Hopefully there would be no trouble, few of the Wolves who had remained in the clan knew his face, and unless he was recognized, they shouldn't try to stop the two of them.

Sham snorted. "I'll shove off then, I know when I'm not wanted." A grin took the sting out of her snarky comment. Then she tilted her head to the side. "So, three years ago, a bunch of you all took off at abouts the same time. And then you come back, and join back up. And Pondus comes back and dies in the Cap'n's arms. And this other Cap'n comes back and pushs Cap'n into a bout of screaming and breakin' things." She scratched her nose and nodded. "I will be very surprised if she doesn't end up a bit cracked after all that."

Watching Jake closely, she noticed that he was getting more tense and ready to fight. In response, she slipped one of her batons out of it's holder on her back and laid it across her lap. "Out of curiosity, just how much do they 'not like' you around here?"

"Who isn't cracked nowadays..." Jake mumbled in response to Sham's comments. It seemed there was so much going on lately, but still when he looked around there was nothing out of place. He felt like some crazy person chasing ghosts sometimes; he knew there was something there, he could just feel it, but he couldn't see it. Sometimes he had to wonder if he was just getting too paranoid.

"They don't like me in one bit." He stated. "I'm still well known as the traitor who pledged allegiance to the Black Knights and poisoned their most beloved leader." He said absently, lowering his head respectfully at the memory of Dani, but the moment lasted only a few seconds. "Although technically that's true... It's not really the whole story. The whole story is a bit of a long one... And it would require a considerable amount of alcohol for me to get through it." He said, keeping his eyes and ears open to any strange movement. There was none. "It's all quiet, they're probably celebrating." He concluded, relaxing just a little bit. "I remember these parties being good, it was one of the few occasions alcohol was allowed in camp... Can't get any funnier than drunken assassins." He said with a little chuckle.

"Unfortunately, I'm out of booze at the moment." Sham shifted and her eyes started darting around the forest. "That'll have to wait for later."

A brief smile flashed over her face. "Me an' my crew, we never really celebrated Creation day. We celebrated the day after . . . . day of was one of our busiest days. We worked hard enough, we had enough swag and glim to keep us eating for the next month or so. Half the time you didn't even need to sneak through the houses, everyone was down in the parlors getting as drunk as they could, no one knew who was supposed to be there because they hired extra help. One time I even walked into one of those parties with a drink tray, lifted some jewelry on my way through." She sighed wistfully. "We always ate well too, nicking food from the rich folks kitchens."

Sham looked down at the warm clothing that now covered her, well made with no holes, something that she could only have dreamed of just a few years ago. "Strange, the places that life will take you, aye?"

"The day after was fun when I was kid. I got to pull pranks on the Instructors while they were passed out drunk." Jake laughed. "Not so fun when I was an Active and had to wake up early for training or assignments." He said with a little grin. "And then, of course, I've been everywhere over the past few years, so..." The rest of the sentence was lost the moment Jake noticed the movement he had been looking out for; something had moved in the bushes to his left.

Jake pulled on the reigns, slowing Shadow to a halt, and gripped the hilt of his sword. There were five or six assassins surrounding them, as far as he could tell, but they hadn't decided to make a move yet. Jake stopped, and now it was clear that he knew the Wolves were there, so if they knew him, they would attack, if they didn't, they would most likely be very quiet until the intruders decided to move along. A moment passed in silence, two... "Shit." He muttered as he leaned back to dodge an arrow.

"My, my, my... Jake Turner." A man greeted as he walked out of the shadows, holding a bow in his hand. "Sean will be glad to see your corpse once I'm through with you. Who's your friend?"
Jake sighed in annoyance as he dismounted, he knew this man, and he knew he wasn't going to back down. "Terry... Nice to see you still manage to fire a bow without the fingers I cut off."
"Sean demoted me after that humiliation you put me through, but not this time, see, it's snowing, so you can't hide like the coward you are."

Jake sighed. "Come on, Terry... I have somewhere else I need to be, and my friend here has nothing to do with this. Can we settle this another time?" Jake wasn't scared of him, but he was a former Instructor and an enlightened, nothing like those idiots from the Inn, and taking him out wouldn't be so easy if it came to that. "Sorry, kid, but we settle this here." As he said that, four scouts came out of the bushes as well. "I was hoping you would show, Jacob... Didn't expect you to bring company though."

"Dani always said it was disrespectful to shed blood on the day of creation." Jake stated, with a little sigh. "Suppose you folks don't care as much for tradition as you claim, huh?"
Terry walked closer and closer until he was less than an inch away from Jake, then he leaned over and whispered. "Funny how much you still care for the opinions of a woman you murdered." In a louder tone of voice he added. "We're letting people through unscathed unless they make trouble, but that does not apply to traitors like you. So your friend can go on, if she wants, but you're not going anywhere."

Jake shook his head in amusement, glancing towards Sham. "You hear that? You're free to go. Ain't that nice?" He looked back to Terry his hand was still holding on to his blade, but he didn't draw it. He looked the assassin straight in the eyes and smirked. "No blood." He mumbled, releasing the hilt of the sword and striking with his fist instead. Terry dodged the punch and sighed, tossing aside the bow he was holding. "Fine kid, have it your way."

Sham frowned. “Five ta two hardly seems like a fair fight.” She shrugged. “But still, as if I’d leave when they went to the trouble to set up a party for us like this.” She whipped out her other baton and grinned wildly as her eyes flared a bright green. “No blood, aye?”

With that she pulled her feet free of the stirrups and pulled them up under her, pushing off the saddle to fly through the air at the man in the center. They had spread out in a rough fan pattern, which meant that she had plenty of room to move between them. The first one went down with a grunt as she landed feet first on his chest, Sham brought her baton around and smashed it into his head as hard as she could. “That was the easy one.” Sham muttered under her breath as she looked up. The rest of the folk surrounding her looked upset, to put it mildly.

The other three all attacked her with daggers and swords, some of them two handed and Sham had all that she could to to keep them from scoring a hit. She wove both her batons around herself in a dizzying blur, ducking and weaving as fast as she could in order to stay unscathed. She couldn’t managed anything beyond defense for a long moment, before a lucky strike drove one of her attackers back. The second one darted in, momentarily getting in the way of his partner. He struck high and low at the same time, trying to get past Sham’s guard. Sham blocked both strikes, but he used the movement to momentarily bind her weapons so she couldn’t do anything. Frustrated, Sham snarled and leaned back slightly, bringing her right foot up in a savage kick that caught him neatly on the point of his chin. His eyes rolled back almost comically and he dropped limply to the ground. Sham stepped back and spun her batons around her torso in a fancy bit of display. “Well? You two really want to keep going?”

Jake was barely managing to block the hits coming at him. Terry's enlightenment was, according to Lena, called Mirroring. Which meant that the guy could know the opponent's moved right before they were made. The only to go around it was if the opponent was out of sight. That wouldn't be a problem for Jake, wasn't for the snow. So at this point he was struggling to keep up. Finally, a slip of his foot, and he found himself face down on the ground.

"You lose, kid." Terry growled at him.

Jake chuckled in response. "No, I cheated. And you're dead."

Terry pulled a dagger at those words, but it was far too late. Before he had the chance to do anything else, he dropped unconscious. The other two assassins immediately rushed towards Jake as he stood, but stopped when he spoke. "He's not dead!" He stated. "Well, not yet. He will be if you don't get him to a healer in time though. So I suggest you get moving."

The two remaining Wolves looked confused as to what to do, but while they didn't move Jake was already walking back to his horse and mounting. "We'll be going now. You guys have a nice day." He said, as the two assassins finally decided to help Terry instead of just standing there. "And tell Sean I still plan on returning his knife."

Sham jumped on her horse as well and dug her heels into it's side, sending her cantering off after Jake as the assassins started pulling their leader into the bushes.
"And just what was that you'd be cheating with?" Sham twisted around and dug into her pack, pulling out a large strip of jerky and a hunk of bread. As her stomach growled almost embarrassingly loud, she ripped a piece off and nearly swallowed it whole.
"I'm only asking outa professional curiosity. I like ta know all the ways available to work on the sly."
Finishing the snack she dug out a bag full of trail mix, throwing the pieces up in the air one at a time and catching them in her mouth. Hopefully the rest of the ride would be quiet.

Jake shrugged absently and pulled a black needle, seemingly out of nowhere, and held it where it was visible. "Poison." He stated. "It's not really cheating, per say, but that's how they'd see it. I'm known for that too, a little bit. They think I don't fight like a man and all that crap." He said, putting away the needle and glancing at Sham with an amused smile as he heard a pretty loud growl. "Those guys back there were idiots, most of them, but the older guy, Terrence, is an experienced assassin. He was an Instructor until about a year ago when he caught me sneaking around camp. I escaped him, so he was demoted for it. To a guy like him there's nothing worse. I'll probably have to kill him eventually." He explained. "Which is too bad, because they don't make assassins like him anymore."

Rubbing his eyes in a clear sign of weariness, Jake figured it wouldn't be too long before they reached Blackpond, hopefully things would be a little lighter in the city during this particular date, it would be nice if he could speak to his contact without getting the man into too much trouble.

The rest of the ride was quiet and uneventful, thankfully. Jake wasn’t in a bad mood or anything, but he was tired and anyone else who tried to get in his way would not be as lucky as the assassins were. The man he was going to meet was his father’s best friend, he was retired from the Castle Guard, but he still had good connections on the inside, if Jake could find him and get the man to recognize him, he would be a great source of information. There was a small problem though: the man thought Jake had died thirteen years ago, on the same day as his sister.

As they crossed the gates, Jake wasn't sure if he should be glad or suspicious of the they stumbled upon; people were cheerful walking the streets without a care, having snowball fights, laughing and playing. Blackpond looked like a completely different city altogether. He couldn't help a smile as he watched the whole scene. "Well..." He mumbled. "This is surely surprising."

He dismounted once they were closer to the center of the city and offered Sham Shadow's reigns. "You said you were going to stable the horses, right? Careful though, he bites." He warned her with a smile. "I need to find an old friend, and... I'd rather do that alone, I have to talk him into helping and that might not be easy; amongst other things he doesn't like Knights all that much." He stated. "I'll be in the north end of the cemetery in about an hour, we can meet up there."

With that said, he began to walk away disappearing amongst the small crowds of people. He wasn't sure where the man would be, but he had a slight idea of where he should start looking; walking through a familiar street, he stopped in front of a particular house, not far from where he was born, and entered without knocking. The place was dark and looked abandoned, but two steps into the house and that proved itself not to be the case. Suddenly, Jake felt the tip of a blade on the back of his neck. "Who are you?"

Jake smiled as he heard the voice asking the question. "Nathaniel Morris?"
The blade was pressed harder onto his neck, almost breaking through his skin. "I know who I am, boy. Who are you?"
Jake reached slowly into his shirt and pulled the locket he wore around his neck, holding it where the man could see it over his shoulder. "Do you remember this?"
"Where did you get this?" The man growled withdrawing the knife. "Turn around."
Jake turned to face the older man, a smile still plastered on his face; the man looked exactly like Jake remembered him, a few wrinkles, grey hairs, and scars added to it, but it was the same face he knew as a kid. "Hello Nate." He greeted.
The man took a good couple of steps back, still pointing the knife at Jake, but now with a look of absolute shock in his face. "I don't know who you are, or what you are trying to pull, but i suggest you leave now." He said.
Jake chuckled. "You think I'm an illlusion? Take a good look at me... It's not a vision."
"I don't believe it. It just can't be... You." He mumbled, now lowering the knife and walking closer, narrowing his eyes at Jake. "Little Jacob?"
Jake laughed out. "Well, took you long enough old man. I was beginning to think you would never connect the dots."
"I thought those thieves dropped your corpse in the woods that day. Everyone saw them drag you away." The man said, finally sheathing the knife and relaxing. "Where have you been all this time?"
Jake sighed. "Everywhere. Anywhere. I was rescued by one of the leaders of the Wolfpack that day. I woke up in their encampment, I trained with them for almost six years." He explained, giving a light shrug. "I'd love to say I never looked back, but that's not entirely true."

Jake then walked back to the door and opened it. "Walk with me, I'll tell you everything you want to know before I tell you why I've come." He told the man, tucking the golden locket back underneath his shirt.
Nathaniel followed after him, always one step behind, as Jake headed for the cemetery. Both of them stopped as they reached a line of graves in the northern area of the graveyard. Jake eyes were fixed on the name of the second grave from the right. It read: Jessica Marie Turner, followed by his sister's date of birth and death. To the right of Jessica's grave there was another one that read Jacob Allen Turner, the same date of his sister's grave marked Jake's early demise... He did in fact die that day in more ways than one, but not in the way his father's best friend was led to believe he had.

Not taking a single glance at his parents' graves, Jake broke the silence after a long while of staring at Jessica's name. "I never had the courage to come here, I thought that maybe I should now." He lowered his head for a second before letting out a chuckle and shaking his head in an amused gesture. "You know what's funny? According to the Newhaven Archives, I died four years ago. Makes me wonder how many more times will I get to die before I'm really dead."
"Why are you dead according to Newhaven files?" Nate asked.
"I can tell you that, but you might not like the answer." Jake stated. "Remember after my father died, when you said he was always talking about how I could become anything I wanted and he would always be proud of me?"
"I remember that, yes." Nate answered.
"I highly doubt he would say that if he knew." Jake answered, with a little smirk.
"I don't think your father would mind it if you are a Wolf." Nate stated. "If that's what you're worried about."
"I'm not a Wolf, Nate. Not anymore." Jake said, turning away from the graves to face the older man. "I'm something far worse, to your eyes at least. Think of the absolute worse. I am it."

"You mean a..." Nate silenced the words he was about to speak, not even able to utter the name. "You are one of them? They killed your father, Jacob! What they have done to this city... There's no excuse for that!" The man exclaimed, spitting on the ground a Jake's feet.
"None of the people I know killed my father. Not that I would actually care if they had. The man who killed my father, I think his name was Morgan, is now dead. Yes, I did check." Jake stated, completely unfazed by the man's obvious anger. "Are you done now, or do you have more to say to that?"
"I have nothing more to say to a..."
"Traitor?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow. "I admit that I am, in every possible sense, I sure as hell am. Although, not in this case." He nodded. "Unlike you, I owe no loyalty to Blackpond; if anything I should hate this place for everything it took from me. Instead I'm taking one huge risk to try and find answers people like you should be asking a long time ago. So, are you going to help me or not?"

Nate hesitated, Jake was his best friend's son, but he had just admited to being the one thing he despised the most in the world. He hadn't seen the kid in thirteen years, how much could he trust a Black Knight?
"Come on, Nate. I trusted you with my identity and I could have easily lied, give me some answers." Jake insisted.
"You still haven't told me why you've come." Nathaniel stated simply, his green eyes piercing through Jake in such a way, that if a simple gaze could kill, the young man would have dropped dead immediately.
"I was once asked what matters most: actions or intentions. If someone takes the life of someone you love, does it matter why they do it? No. Right? However if someone offers you help, that's the first thing you ask: Why?" He snickered. "Double standards are everywhere, huh? I have many reasons, doesn't matter which one I give, none of them will seem important to you. I'm not doing it in my father's memory, although I'm pretty sure that's what you wanted to hear." Jake answered.

Nate was silent again, still examining Jake with his eyes as if he expect to see something he could actually believe in. "Ask your question, and I'll decide whether or not I'll answer them." He said finally.
"Tell me about the assassin training program." Jake said finally.
"I cannot deny or confirm the fact that there was ever one. Just as much as you couldn't confirm or deny if asked if a certain person is in fact one of your people.
"I know it exists, Nate." Jake muttered. "I've seen the scar they left on a close friend of mine. So spare me that crap; What, if anything, do you know?"
"Only the King and the Commander knew anything concrete, Jake. What the rest of us knew was... Rumours, speculations. Most never believed they were actually real." Nate sighed. "Your father was head of Guard for almost ten years, but I doubt even he ever really knew anything."
"This I know you know: What happened when the King died?" Jake asked, lowering his voice as he noticed someone standing by a grave not far from them.
"What I actually know is that the King was found lying dead, apparently poisoned, Commander Hastings was found dead in the room as well, stabbed. The official story is that Hastings was caught after killing the King and killed as a traitor, but... I heard from a secure source that he was already dead." Nate looked around to see there were a few people paying their respects as well. "I never liked Hastings, a lot of people didn't. The man was a drunk and a bastard, but he was one of the best Commanders this city has ever seen in its history. And I would bet you anything you want that he didn't kill our Ruler."
"I didn't think he did." Jake mumbled. "Is there anything else, a detail maybe?"
"The curtains were missing. In the King's chambers, one of maids told me that, but... Haven't been able to find her ever since. She remembers it clearly, because the King seemed excited about the fabric. It was the same the White Shadows used."

Those words caused Jake's mind to travel back to Newhaven, to Lamya's visit, to that damned cloak that had disturbed him so much... "Shit."
"What, kid?" Nate asked, raising an eyebrow at Jake's expression.
"Nothing." Jake replied, shaking his head slightly as he tried to pull his thoughts together. "There's one more thing I need from you, Nate."
"What?" The man asked.
"A way out of the dungeons" Jake replied with a serious expression that showed he wasn't just asking that.
"Three years ago, maybe, kid. Now... I can't possibly give you that. I honestly doubt there even is one. What are you going to do?" The man asked.
"I'm going to protect Newhaven from any harm, at any cost." Jake stated simply. "That's... What we do." He said, opening a grin as he saw the disgusted look on the man's face. "But it might help Blackpond in a way or two. Or maybe make things worse, but that's really not my problem, is it?"
Nathaniel shook his head in clear disappointment as he turned to leave. "David Turner's son... A Black Knight... This land is really going to hell." He muttered. "Monsters... All of them, souless monsters..." The man mumbled on as he left the cemetery.

Jake simply stood, saying a silent prayer for his sister as he waited for Sham to meet him. He needed to talk with her one more time before he even considered causing the amount of trouble he had in mind.

The setting changes from Blackpond to The Ruins (Healer's camp)

0 Characters Present

No characters tagged in this post!

Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Evin entered the tent and sat down on a small pillow that was used as a seat. Annie cut strait to the chase which made Evin extra happy. He didn’t want to be spending too much time doing anything of less importance.
“Well miss Petite Rose,” He said as a little joke of his. Lena, Annie’s mother was known to the people as the White Rose. Even though it wasn’t all that funny, he always managed to crack a smile at it for some reason. “I’ve come to you only really to know about the whereabouts of Theron. I’m wondering if he has left the camp yet and if so, where to. The sooner I get to him the better. As a matter of fact, I’d like to get to him before Sean even knows he has returned. Time is everything.”
He leaned back, resting his hands behind him to prevent him from falling. On a small table to the side, there was a whole kettle of tea that seemed to have been prepared when Annie had woken up or at least that’s what he believed. Evin helped himself to a cup, taking a sip before he spoke again. “You could just call it chance, but since I’ve found myself in this camp after the unfortunate event of Kate’s poisoning, I was wondering if I could visit her?”
He tried to make light of the situation he had put Kate in, but it really didn’t help. He felt terrible for doing that to her. She was not meant to be an instrument of war. She had meaning and purpose in this world besides petty and deadly arguing between two pathetic individuals.

View All »Arcs

Arcs are bundles of posts that you can organize on your own. They're useful for telling a story that might span long periods of time or space.

There are no arcs in this roleplay.

View All » Create New » Quests

There are no quests in this roleplay.

Add Group » View All » 8 Factions to align with

Here's the current leaderboard.

The Ravens

Former Black Guard


Newhaven Royalty and Military

Queen and White Knights.


Exiled Wolves

Group of assassins exiled from the Wolfpack


Wolfpack

Assassin group that reside in the Valcrest forest.


The Order

A brotherhood of people who aim to cleanse the land from enlightenment.


Crimson Shadows

Mercenary group that resides in the Brightvale ruins in the desert.


The White Shadows

Group of Healers the resides in the ruins of the citiy of Blackhurst in the Plains.


Shadow's Conflict

Assassin group currently in control of the City of Blackpond.


Events

Soon™.

Game Master Controls

Welcome home, Promethean. Here, you can manage your universe.

Arcs

Arcs are bundles of posts from any location, allowing you to easily capture sub-plots which might be spread out across multiple locations.

Add Quest » Quests

You can create Quests with various rewards, encouraging your players to engage with specific plot lines.

Add Setting » 8 Settings for your players to play in

Settings are the backdrop for the characters in your universe, giving meaning and context to their existence. By creating a number of well-written locations, you can organize your universe into areas and regions.

Navigation

While not required, locations can be organized onto a map. More information soon!

Valcrest

Valcrest by Blackbird26

The Land of Valcrest

Newhaven

Newhaven by RolePlayGateway

City of Newhaven

Blackpond

Blackpond by RolePlayGateway

City of Blackpond

Assassin's Camp

Assassin's Camp by RolePlayGateway

The Wolfpack Camp

The Ruins (Healer's camp)

The Ruins (Healer's camp) by RolePlayGateway

The Ruins of Blackhurst, home of the White Shadows

The Desert

The Desert by RolePlayGateway

The ruins of Brightvale, home of the Crimson Shadows

The Manor

The Manor by RolePlayGateway

Headquarters of The Order.

Raven's Nest

Raven's Nest by RolePlayGateway

Camp of the former Black Guard.

Collectibles

By creating Collectibles, you can reward your players with unique items that accentuate their character sheets.


Once an Item has been created, it can be spawned in the IC using /spawn Item Name (case-sensitive, as usual) — this can be followed with /take Item Name to retrieve the item into the current character's inventory.

Mobs

Give your Universe life by adding a Mob, which are auto-replenishing NPCs your players can interact with. Useful for some quick hack-and-slash fun!

Mobs can be automated spawns, like rats and bats, or full-on NPCs complete with conversation menus. Use them to enhance your player experience!

Current Mobs

No mobs have been created yet.

Spawns

Locations where Mobs and Items might appear.

Events

You can schedule events for your players to create notifications and schedule times for everyone to plan around.

Permissions

Add and remove other people from your Universe.

The Forge

Use your INK to craft new artifacts in Shadows of The Forgotten. Once created, Items cannot be changed, but they can be bought and sold in the marketplace.

Notable Items

No items have been created yet!

The Market

Buy, sell, and even craft your own items in this universe.

Market Data

Market conditions are unknown. Use caution when trading.

Quick Buy (Items Most Recently Listed for Sale)

Open Stores

View All » Add Character » 51 Characters to follow in this universe

Character Portrait: Evin Bana
Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers
Character Portrait: Mageria Talsheir
Character Portrait: Thomas Sidin
Character Portrait: Sham (No Last Name)
Character Portrait: Dominic Adams
Character Portrait: Lamya
Character Portrait: Grim Pondus 'War'
Character Portrait: Dastan
Character Portrait: Indrani Nayar
Character Portrait: Luckas
Character Portrait: Jake Turner
Character Portrait: Annie Turner
Character Portrait: Ella Page
Character Portrait: Allison Blake
Character Portrait: Sean Fletcher
Character Portrait: Alexander
Character Portrait: Ess

Newest

Character Portrait: Sif Aeducen
Sif Aeducen

Mercenary - "What do you do when you've lost the will to live, but fear death? You fight on."

Character Portrait: Alisa "Temeti" Mare
Alisa "Temeti" Mare

"Pain... s-sister?"

Character Portrait: Alina "Suferinta" Mare
Alina "Suferinta" Mare

"What is there to be said? Nothing? Begone."

Character Portrait: Samantha 'Johnson'
Samantha 'Johnson'

"Trust is the most powerful thing, and yet...It's fascinating how easily it shatters..."

Character Portrait: Darren Hearst
Darren Hearst

"A Friend is just another version of yourself."

Character Portrait: Stephan Kalir
Stephan Kalir

Don't fret, my bite is worse then my bark

Character Portrait: Isyer Tiaem
Isyer Tiaem

"You wanna know how I got this eye?" *grins*

Trending

Character Portrait: Jake Turner
Jake Turner

"There is no truth, only perception."

Character Portrait: Crystal Rivers
Crystal Rivers

"Sometimes, there is no such thing as justice... This might be one of those times."

Character Portrait: Dastan
Dastan

Crimson Shadow Leader: "There's nothing a good party can't cure." *winks* "Am I right or am I right?"

Character Portrait: Darren Hearst
Darren Hearst

"A Friend is just another version of yourself."

Character Portrait: Alisa "Temeti" Mare
Alisa "Temeti" Mare

"Pain... s-sister?"

Character Portrait: Dominic Adams
Dominic Adams

"Black and White are pointless terms for anyone who really wants to get something done here."

Character Portrait: Lamya
Lamya

"When there is more than one side to the moral coin, there is no morals. Blackpond is just one of those examples."

Character Portrait: Alexander
Alexander

"That which does not kill me, needs to learn how to finish the job." *Deceased*

Character Portrait: Thomas Sidin
Thomas Sidin

White Knight Captain. You look like you could use a friend.

Character Portrait: Isyer Tiaem
Isyer Tiaem

"You wanna know how I got this eye?" *grins*

Most Followed

Character Portrait: Ari Lupir
Ari Lupir

"Huh. you think you have me all figured out. Don't you?"

Character Portrait: Mageria Talsheir
Mageria Talsheir

Black Knight Captain. Things are so much more complicated than they seem.

Character Portrait: Dominic Adams
Dominic Adams

"Black and White are pointless terms for anyone who really wants to get something done here."

Character Portrait: Darren Hearst
Darren Hearst

"A Friend is just another version of yourself."

Character Portrait: Ess
Ess

Not many can resist her charms, deny her loyalty. Trying to outrun her violet stare, will only hypnotize one into her arms for eternity.

Character Portrait: Alina "Suferinta" Mare
Alina "Suferinta" Mare

"What is there to be said? Nothing? Begone."

Character Portrait: Alisa "Temeti" Mare
Alisa "Temeti" Mare

"Pain... s-sister?"

Character Portrait: Lamya
Lamya

"When there is more than one side to the moral coin, there is no morals. Blackpond is just one of those examples."


View All » Places

Valcrest

Valcrest by Blackbird26

The Land of Valcrest

Newhaven

Newhaven by RolePlayGateway

City of Newhaven

Blackpond

Blackpond by RolePlayGateway

City of Blackpond

Assassin's Camp

Assassin's Camp by RolePlayGateway

The Wolfpack Camp

The Ruins (Healer's camp)

The Ruins (Healer's camp) by RolePlayGateway

The Ruins of Blackhurst, home of the White Shadows

The Desert

The Desert by RolePlayGateway

The ruins of Brightvale, home of the Crimson Shadows

The Manor

The Manor by RolePlayGateway

Headquarters of The Order.

Raven's Nest

Raven's Nest by RolePlayGateway

Camp of the former Black Guard.

Raven's Nest

Valcrest Raven's Nest Owner: RolePlayGateway

Camp of the former Black Guard.

Blackpond

Valcrest Blackpond Owner: RolePlayGateway

City of Blackpond

Newhaven

Valcrest Newhaven Owner: RolePlayGateway

City of Newhaven

The Ruins (Healer's camp)

The Ruins of Blackhurst, home of the White Shadows

The Manor

Valcrest The Manor Owner: RolePlayGateway

Headquarters of The Order.

The Desert

Valcrest The Desert Owner: RolePlayGateway

The ruins of Brightvale, home of the Crimson Shadows

Fullscreen Chat » Create Topic » Shadows of The Forgotten: Out of Character

Discussions

  • Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Most recent OOC posts in Shadows of The Forgotten

There have been no posts in the OOC topic for this roleplay!