Snippet #1692374

"First They Came..."
Mora Town, Nonya

Madame Ursa, lovely as ever, stood in the center of the apartment commons, looking towards the gate. She feared what would happen, there was no way to know. There was no way to know that, from the cavern in the rock, two hawks flew away from the explosion of fire at a dying man's behest. There was no way to know that one of the hawks, poorly trained, startled, would fly back up to a dome of Trinity Palace and roost for a while. There was no way to know if the hawk which landed in the Near Guard's outpost carried a message of acceptance or extermination. There was no way to know if the men amongst the guard would "just follow orders" or question their leaders, sending for a second message that would never come as its author was engulfed in flames.

The silence, and the waiting... Staring towards the gate, wondering how they would enter... wondering how she would know... wondering if perhaps it was merely overreacting. The feeling of safety that crept into the paranoia... perhaps not now, perhaps it was all just in her head... the feeling of horror that it would come when she was least expecting it, when she could not be here...

And what would being here do? What could she possibly do? The gate didn't move, and the moments crept by slower and slower. What would happen?

Stayed in the Darkness with You
Trinity Palace

The young alchemist fell to his knees before the inferno. Hours ago he had carefully annointed all the tapestries and rugs and drapes with scented oils and fragrant alcohols. "All part of the ritual" he said. It was to cover the smell of decay that occasionally overtook her, when he was not quick enough. When frequently treated with the flower's vapor her body remained pristine, and she even began to breathe, but it was just movement.

Now the fire was burning, casting shadows across the walls. They grew, hungry, living. First they took the cloth, then the hair, then they took the flesh.

He stared on in horror. There was no sound save for the crackling roar of the fire. There were soldiers shouting, and Ayden screaming, but they were mute against the ferocity of the flames.

So he stood, the smoke was making it hard to breathe, he couldn't see anything now, but he couldn't look away from her. Beautiful even in death, as the fire overtook her, lifting her up. It was rapture.

Then he turned ran out the door, grabbing the second soldier's dragon gun as both men began to wake from their strange slumber. He ran down the hallways towards the lift, where he saw Yorina.

"Yorina! Quickly, you must trust me!" He said, as he heaved an enormous lever, sending the machinery whirling, with the sound of water moving in the distance, and the lift began to move. Instead of stepping into its cage, he jumped ontop of it, crying for Yorina to do the same.