Achaeos's Story

A light amidst the darkness of the hollow wandered, lonely, through the street towards the commotion outside the house. A lantern born aloft by a figure wearing a bright red and gold kimono blazed a trail of embers in the air. Achaeos could sense them, the dead, their spirits crying out in pain and torment. They were young, painfully young, painfully innocent. But how, how had their deaths come? Why?

Achaeos' fox-like features carried anger as he strode towards the house. "What has happened here?" he demanded, his long hair sweeping out behind him like a cloak. The lantern swayed with each stride. He sniffed the air for a moment, then wrinkled his nose at what he smelled. The woman that he had seen kick the door down was a werewolf. But it seemed she was not responsible. He would tolerate her presence so that justice might be done.

There were others here too. A young boy covered in odd-looking charms, as well as a man clad in black with metallic attachments, around whom smoke was forming. Achaeos was used to odd people, though, dwelling in Verinotte, home of the supernatural, for an extended period of time. It was a quaint home, a pleasant place for one such as him, though he often had to foray into the nearby city to spend time around the humans there. There were many vampires here, many without solid souls to sustain him passively.

He was stopped at the door a short distance from Biohazard and Rune, unable to see past Maria into the house. Flames danced from his lantern in anticipation. "I sense the dead within. You have my aid, strangers."

Well.

This was something.

Dorotea sighed softly as first a knock sounded on the door, then someone chose to simply kick the thing in. Rude people. She shrugged and pressed a point in her throat, activating her Vox Caster, speaking the code words needed to bring aid. See, Pandemic had thought things through, he knew there was bound to be hiccups along the way- he knew Dorotea got bored at times, and got into trouble, so he had placed certain...safeguards in to his plans. "Make it Rain."

Descorp had once been an ally of the vampires, supposedly, and in the time they stayed here they introduced an option- Take a shot, Enjoy the sun. No one questioned this gift horse...so they lined up by the hundreds. Each one taking a shot, that at first was a boon, it allowed the vampires to walk the day again- they no longer had to fear fire, and a few other small perks. What they didn't know, as none of them asked...was that they also allowed Descorp to activate them..and control them, as a kind of Sleeper Cell. As Dorotea spoke the phrase keyed into this block's wireless, about two dozen vampires went berserk. Each one roared like the monsters they were, each one ripped away the clothing that they now found tight fitting and binding...and each one doubled in size as the nanites triggered changes in the musculature and bone structure of each...creating a pack of massive savage beasts.

These monsters smashed in through the walls like a team of SWAT members on angel dust.

Dorotea laughed in glee, this was going to be fun!

At that moment, far above the planet's surface on the Descorp Flagship, the situation was being monitored. Troops were on standby- if things got messy, Nox was going to drop the hammer. A full squad of Chimera were in the transport room, as well as Apex. The combined force would be more than enough to clean up this little debacle. How this group had come to know of the plans was a mystery, but it did not matter. Things would still end in ash and tears.
'
"Sir, Pandemic on the line. He says he is minutes away from the location. He will provide additional support." a low level tech spoke out, looking to his boss for confirmation. The inky entity paused a moment, before nodding his support. The being was willing to allow Pandemic to run this operation, but would brook no failure. Should things look as if they were tilting in a less favorable outcome he would beam down there himself.

"Ready the squad anyway, set coordinates for a hot landing, weapons free. This is going to be messy...one way or the other. Remember, if we do this right....we don't get dirty." the being nodded and exited the command hub, heading down the long hallway to the transport room. It paid to prepare ones self for the worst.

Pandemic roared down the road, the vehicle was not long for this world, it had taken quite a beating getting here from Wing City. How had his plans been discovered? There was no paper trail. There was no witnesses..other than the few in town, and they would be simple to silence...so..how? This would require more investigation. But first..it was lunch time. He leaned over and spoke to Mose "Hang onto your butt, we are rolling into a warzone, Kid."

Well, this had all escalated very quickly. "This is why I don't leave my house!" Rune whined in panic, seeing the vampires-on-steroids charging towards the house and doing the first thing that came to mind.

Running directly away from them.

This of course took him further into the house, and the terrified young man swiftly ducked for cover behind a chest of drawers and proceeded to cower trembling out of sight. Him? A coward? Never.

However, despite his non-action, his presence would have an ... interesting effect on the fight that was about to ensue. Everyone and anyone involved would find themselves intermittently suffering from inexplicably poor luck.

Fortunately the town had guards stationed throughout its streets at all times, and the brunt of the berzerking vampires were swiftly intercepted and engaged out in the streets as the locals attempted to subdue the unfortunate victims of Descorp. Only a small handful would likely reach the building unhindered. The entire town was surrounded in a fifteen foot high wall as well, and with the commotion breaking out within the square it was likely that the guards and the Forces Detante would be on high alert all across the town for anyone trying to come or go from it. The town was well protected from assaults and getting past the outer walls and military defenses of the Forces Detante would be a hard fought challenge for arriving reinforcements.

Meanwhile for those vampires that did reach the building, they would unfortunately find that which was contained inside of it far less humanitarian than those that were attempting to subdue the ones out in the streets. The wolf-mind had been a caged animal within Maria, and it had been prowling the bars of its confinement ever since she had set foot in the Cursed Wood.

As the beasts tore their way into the building, Maria let the chains go. A savage snarl tore from her lips as she met the first of the berzerking vampires head-on to grapple with it. The creatures formidable strength was met in turn with an iron strength from the woman. The bones in the beasts forearms would be caught in a vice grip known to crush bone, and bend steel, before she twisted to bring it smashing down through an oak table. She trusted Biohazard to have her back from the other berzerking vampires while her attention was on the one in her hands.

The Ulfhednar were born and bred for combating all manner of undead abomination, and these beasts she suspected paled in comparison to the cunning adversaries of the north. Brutish hulks made for flashy entrances, but from their reckless entrance it was a likely safe assumption that their berzerker savagery was hindering their discipline and capacity to fight smart. They seemed more akin to the feral werewolves of G'ael than Vampires.

While she wrangled with the creature she threw a look to Archaeos and Rune in turn.

"Get that out of here," she bit out with a look to the unfinished bomb. Her voice had dropped several octaves and taken on a throaty growl.

It didn't take a genius to recognize the contraption as a bomb, and she had learned her lesson with the destructive capabilities of bombs already. She didn't much care which of them acted to get the explosive components out of the room as her own focus was largely taken up elsewhere. Of course having spent so many years in solitude combating the supernatural, Maria often overlooked the fact that not everyone was as physically strong as herself and that moving such a large contraption was easier said than done.

Into Verinotte Square did the Chirons descend, a little over a dozen of the winged beasts flying in close proximity to one another. The scent of fresh vampire led them to the center of town, which seemed to be quite busy at the moment. They locked on to the over-sized bloodsuckers with their menacing eyes before quickly taking after them into a mad dash.

Unfortunately, the werebats were intercepted by the guards as they quickly moved to subdue the roided-up vampires that failed to enter the building. One of the underlings was the first to pounce, releasing a vicious snarl as it dove forward with fangs and claws bared. The other members of the pack followed suit, attempting to sink whatever weapons they had into the nearest occupant of the square. No one was spared from the beasts' onslaught.

Formalities, it seemed, were for another time. A barrage of bright dancing flames poured from Achaeos' lantern as he nimbly slipped inside the building, rushing in blasts of white towards the berserking vampires. So hot was the fire that it could turn a man to ashes in but a few moments, and the flames swarmed the large beings' forms like insects, aimed to cling and bite at their flesh to swiftly cover them and reduce them to nothingness. Burned away.

Achaeos himself slipped through the room towards where the werewolf had directed him, eyeing the bomb cautiously, as well as the two people working on it and the woman observing. "Cease," the kitsune commanded, waving a hand in the direction of the man and woman. His powers worked on their minds, attempting to wrest control of them from the woman seated nearby. He disdained taking the wits of a mortal from them, but at times such as this, it was necessary. "Leave this place," he attempted to instruct them, "Find safety and shelter."

The kitsune then turned on Dorotea herself, "For your crimes here, you will face justice. There is no redemption for your actions in this realm. I hope you can find it in the next."

At his words, once more flame seared from his lantern towards her, a large gout fully capable of engulfing the seat and reducing it - and her - to ash.

The ground began to tremble and the air began to thicken with the distinct smell of something being off. This continued for several long moments before the skies above Verinotte Square began to bend and warp, a flash of white light skimming across the skies followed by a deafening crack, and then a rush of air before the looming form of a distinctly colored Reverence I PAC. Unlike the foreboding violet colored military vessels, this one was a white, trimmed with blue, and it bore the seal of the President of the Aschen Confederation.

The nameplate read 'Aschen One' And it seemed to bristle with the latest in Aschen military technology.

The ship remained in the skies for several long moments, it's engines reverberating in a low deafening rumble, causing windows and alike to rattle. After these moments passed, a brilliant column of violet light seared down into the square itself, besides the statue.

This column of light remained. Perhaps something will come of it.

Murphy's law seemed well at work here. It manifested in all manner of ways, from the inconvenient to the catastrophic. Maria and the vampire-hulk's impact with the table in the room turned the furniture into an impromptu catapult with a grizzly payload. The head of a dead child was launched into the air, spinning across the room straight towards where Biohazard was standing.

In the meantime, Maria herself would find her misfortune coming in the form of the table's silverware. A silver steak knife spun in the air for a few moments, before plunging downwards - point first - straight into the woman's hand.

A number of the mutated vampires suffered somewhat more dramatically, as their bodies began to reject the transformations they had undergone, their genetic make-up seemingly by chance being incompatible with the alterations they had undergone. They would find themselves either shrinking back down to their ordinary selves, or keeling over altogether.

As it seemed the fight was dying down, or at least that the hulking vampire beasts were losing focus for the moment, Rune took the opportunity to run away.

Of course, outside there seemed to be little in the way of respite. There were great winged bat things attacking the town even as the mutated vampires lost their drive to fight. How wonderful. Rune decided, based on the academic merits of his various options, to go the other way. He ran off out of the square and disappeared into the hollow.

Achaeos' flames consumed the chair, and when they cleared, Dorotea too was gone. But he had not sensed her spirit leaving her body - no, she had merely vanished. Something else had removed her, it seemed. He did not have time to ponder on this, for at that moment a vehicle ploughed through the wall, and he was forced to dive aside in a rush, skimming the ground as he rapidly darted away from the car's path.

The engine was aflame, however, and it would not be long before it did much further damage in exploding, and so Achaeos acted to prevent it. The fire was snuffed, drawn away from the car through the air and into his lantern before it could cause the vehicle to detonate. The driver was apparently long gone, much as Dorotea had disappeared.

He joined the fight, then, against the oversized vampires. His flames had apparently had no effect, and so he struck instead with lightning, lashing at their bodies and electrocuting them as they fell away. Before long, the conflict was over. The kitsune brushed himself down and strode out of the house, frowning at the scene outside as the Chirons flapped away. He hesitantly approached the large beam of light, halting some distance away and staring up at the ship overhead. What more was to come, he wondered?

It was late in the evening in Wing City Town Square, the sun had gone to sleep and only the silvery glow of the moon and stars shone down intermittently between the clouds that drifted lazily by. There were few people still gathered here in the town square at this late hour, and aside from a few street-lights around its edges, it was largely bathed in the darkness of the night.

There was one other light however, notably, in the square. The warm orange glow of flames danced in a lantern carried by a figure clad in a red-and-gold kimono, his long dark hair falling to his waist as he strolled peacefully through the night. Achaeos breathed in the stillness with a small smile, enjoying the quiet calm of the near empty square. The kitsune found the silence pleasant after a long day spent in that very square, surrounded by vibrant life - the hubbub and clamour of a city filled with mortal life.

Whilst such things were enjoyable in small doses, spending an entire day surrounded by such noise was a little much. But at the same time, it was revitalising. As a kitsune, Achaeos relied upon the soul-energy of mortals to sustain him. Unlike many, he did not choose to acquire this by seducing or tricking them into giving their souls up in their entirety. Instead, he would come to a busy place such as this and passively siphon the slightest trickle from each and every person present. He took little enough that it was not noticeable nor harmful to the people, but there were enough of them that it sustained him all the same.

But now he rested, his batteries recharged, so to speak. All was quiet, for now.

Achaeos took a step back as Elizabeth brushed by him, deftly sweeping his lantern out of her path so that she did not burn herself. The kitsune chuckled at her lightly. "I am fine, miss. But perhaps you should pay more attention to where you are walking, lest you walk into something less soft than myself."

He glanced past her, and frowned. "Are you alone tonight, miss? That may not be advisable. There are many who keep to the night so as to commit immoral acts, and it would not do for a lone young lady to be caught off guard by such unpleasant characters." Achaeos lifted an eyebrow. "Unless, of course, there is more to you than meets the eye?"

"To my understanding, this city is one where there are few places that are truly safe." Achaeos replied with a small, sad smile. "But fear cannot rule your life, I suppose, or you'd never do anything." He shook his head, "And, no, I am not such a character. I like to consider myself pleasant, but at the very least, I mean you no harm."

The kitsune bowed politely, his lantern trailing an amber glow in the air as it descended with him. "My name is Achaeos, but you may call me Aki if you'd prefer." He said, straightening and looking up at the sky. "Yes, the stars are shining brightly tonight it seems. Perhaps it is an omen of good fortune. What brings you here at such a late hour, then, if I may ask?"

The Forces Vankoryth sprung into action as chaos undertook Verinotte Square. While many were prepared, fully armored in soft black leathers, a good number were armed with whatever they could find. Some had the afterthoughts of protection, none seeming to care all too much about their own demonic selves in the face of whatever the hell this was. They worked in tandem with other citizens who had taken up responsibility in the dire time. Doorways were secured, families and unarmed vulnerable's ushered behind walls and to safety. Everywhere mutant humungous vampires dropped like flies. The conflict seemed like it was over before it started, to some.

What of those Chirons flapping away? "Thank the Crawling Chaos," Some muttered at the end of the confusion. Helmets were disbanded, armor was shed. Forces Vankoryth task members sifted out from the shadows to collect bodies. Many were hauled off to the Tower Alba for testing and identification purposes.

As the Forces worked to clean up the rest of the mess, none other than Zosimos Bistreo came bustling out from the Piata. He had come directly from the Stones of Isis, four lightly armed soldiers en swarm. Folding his arms, the angle-faced man frowned deeply upon the spectacle. Was that a corpse hanging from the fountain? His tongue clicked against his fangs. And what was that rancid sme-

That rancid smell.

The Reverence remained high over the square as the flying creatures swarmed the city. The Commander of the Reverence 'Aschen One' was watching the chaos unfold in the safety of the ship's CIC.

"These things are everywhere..." He commented, turning to one of his weapons officers.

"What should we do? Shall we engage?" The weapon officer asked, and on cue, the ship's AI Flickered into view. "I have point-defense targeting solutions on all of the creatures, the ship is ready to fire, on command."

The Commander tapped his chin, then he nodded. "Commence engagement, all batteries weapons free, mind the collateral."

The AI nodded, and a three-dimensional tactical display, complete with firing solutions flickered up before the Commander, and he spread his hands on the railing while he watched.

---


On the ground, it seemed if the massive Aschen ship was coming to life. What seemed a lifeless floating hulk began to rattle, and clank, doors sliding back and quad-barrelled disruptor batteries emerged from the armored hull. Flying creatures impacted the ship's shields, and likely fell like bugs.

There were rapid pops, and the ship began to open fire in all directions, lancing the flying creatures with brilliant green bolts of light, which vaporized them on impact, no flesh, dead or undead could withstand millions of degrees concentrated into a tiny bolt of energy.

One by one the creatures met their end to the overwhelming firepower presented by the singular Aschen ship. The Commander watched, as targets were neutralized one by one.

"Turbodisruptor batteries on the ground targets, precision fire." The AI chimed it's response, and massive turbo-disruptors swiveled on their turrets, to bear aim at one of the massive creatures on the ground.

A Deafening crack, and a flash of green light, the creature burst in a flurry of ash, the ground around it liquefied into molten rock.

One by one the ship engaged the creatures, and they each met their death. It seemed for one massive ship, it was able to engage a myriad of targets.

As they left, the AI Quickly advised the commander of such, and the Commander offered a slight nod. "Very well, cease fire." He said, and as the flying creatures left, the ship would of course, cease fire.

Achaeos turned towards Zosimos as the great sky-ship began to annihilate the attacking winged beasts. The kitsune pegged him for some kind of authority figure, and made his way over. He gave the dhampir and her jelly-like form a curious look, but was far too polite to comment on the oddity of her visage... and the fact that she was carrying a skin around with her. This was a haven for the bizarre and supernatural, after all.

"Greetings." Achaeos bowed politely to Zosimos, smiling to him. "Are you in charge, here? Or at the least, someone of authority who might give me an idea of what I have stumbled into? Do you know of the origins of the sky-ship overhead? I... am to hope that it is on our side, considering the destructive power it has at its disposal."

"Do I not?" Achaeos frowned, looking down at himself, "I suppose that my garb is rather... traditional. It has been a while since I spent much time amongst humans, I've not really adjusted to the fashions of the day." The fox-eared boy looked back up with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth. I've been here for most of the day, just enjoying the atmosphere."

He stepped away, lantern trailing lazily through the night air as it swung around with him. "I am enjoying the quiet, I suppose, after a day of noise and crowds. The contrast between how busy it was here earlier and how deserted it is now is remarkable."

"Always? No, not always. But more often than not, yes." Achaeos smiled, trailing a hand over the metal frame, apparently unhindered by the heat. "It is both comforting and helpful for me to have a source of flame about my person. I have an affinity to it, you could say. Think of it as equivalent to a priest carrying a crucifix, or a wizard their wand. A mix of a reassuring and symbolic presence and a useful tool, in the right circumstances."

Not to mention the fact that it carried a portion of his soul, but that was a detail Achaeos seldom shared, and certainly not with strangers. To demonstrate what he had said, a spark of flame danced from the lantern and onto the kitsune's arm like a firefly, twirling about the length of the limb in a merrily erratic dance and blazing a short-lived glowing trail behind it. "I have noticed the diversity here, it is true, and so I have made less effort than I might otherwise to 'fit in'. Such things have previously been much more important, where displays of a supernatural nature or other abnormalities might bring more trouble than they were worth."

"Were the ears not a give-away? Maybe you aren't familiar with the legends," Achaeos laughed, the fox-ears upon his head twitching. "I am a kitsune. Renowned for our deception, and our ability to blend in so that we might steal the souls of unsuspecting humans. Humans consider us foxes in disguise, whilst on the reverse, foxes consider us humans in disguise. Quite the quandry, I'm not even sure myself which - if either- is more true."

He held up a hand, "I assure you, the bad reputation does not describe all of us. I am quite evidently making no efforts to conceal my nature, and your soul is safe from me. I have other means of surviving than leaving a trail of lifeless, drained husks. I cannot abide a murderer, by supposed necessity or not."

"Well, were that my intent, I am doing quite a poor job of leading you towards said alley, aren't I?" Achaeos quipped with amusement, "And in enlightening you as to my nature, I would have only shot myself in the foot, so to speak. I fear that should a kitsune have designs upon your soul, you would not know them for what they were until it was too late. Few wear their fox traits out in the open, instead shrouding them with illusion."

He shook his head, "But there is little need to be paranoid. It has been decades since I last encountered another of my kind, and she did not survive the meeting. An unpleasant experience, but she had left a trail of death behind her I would not like to consider the potential length of. She could not be allowed to continue."

Achaeos laughed, nodding his head. "I've never known alleyways to be that sneaky, but there is a first time for everything." he said, "And I could not possibly refuse, since you're asking. I have nowhere pressing to be, and good company is its own reward. To where do you travel, Miss Elizabeth?"

The kitsune held out his free arm in offering for Elizabeth to take, should she wish to. "You are a waitress, then? At what establishment?"