Goddess and the Demon » Places

         

Salacia Sparrow

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Salacia watched as Fair explained his theory, obviously excited to share his musings with someone. His hands moved to illustrate his speech, not pausing for longer after his question before diving right back in. She listened with fascination, eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets as he mentioned the demon side of Tellus. Had this man really been to that side of Tellus? She couldn't imagine anyone who would willingly travel to that side. Yet this man had, advising her never to step foot there. She couldn't help the light chuckle that left her at this, as if she would ever go near that place.

She frowned though as he continued, thinking over the prophecy. She reached up subconsciously to rub the mark on her neck before she rolled her shoulders back, dropping the hand back to the reigns. Was that the reason she was drawn to this place? Was the prophecy truly coming to fruit? She frowned slightly, hands tightening on the reigns. There had to be another reason... her curiosity getting the better of her? More customers?

Yes. That had to be it.

She blinked as his speech came to a close. She shrugged, a weak smile stretching her lips as she answered, "That would be amazing! Meeting living legends..."

         

Aryana Bradley

Aryana felt like she was being dragged on a wild goose chase. None of the turns they took made sense to her, and it seemed like Myles was just guessing as well. Finally, they arrived at what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. Aryana stared up at the large building and cocked her head to the side. This one seemed almost familiar...but she couldn't figure out how. Puzzled, she pushed her fingers through her hair but quickly had to pull them out. The blood and brain matter that was stuck in her hair had now hardened, creating a crusty mess in her auburn hair. She pulled her hand back in disgust and a shiver went down her spine. She needed a shower, fast.

"Aryana, please take this." Myles said as he handed her his cloak. She took it gratefully and slipped it over her shoulders.

"Do I have it on right? I've never worn anything like this before," she said as she flipped the hood up over her head. She quickly tucked her hair beneath the cloak and made sure it covered most of her blood stained clothing. She was taller than the boy by more than a few inches so the cloak barely covered her pants, but it did it's job well enough.

Aryana walked toward the building and checked the doors. Luckily for the three of them, the doors to the warehouse were unlocked and Aryana pulled them open with little struggle. The guards weren't in sight but they still had to stay quiet. Aryana stepped into the warehouse and waited for the other two to step through before she shut the doors. The warehouse floor was covered in dust and soot, obviously it hadn't been used in months, if not years. Their footprints were visible on the floor. If anyone else came it, it would be obvious that they were hiding out there.

"Help me pull something in front of the doors," Aryana whispered as she indicated to the stacks of crates near her. "But make sure we leave ourselves an escape route..."

         

Edith Loretta

"Madam Edith," a man said from across the hallway. A young girl with short hair, wings, and a tail stood before him. A knife was held loosely in her hand and as she turned toward the man, he could see that it was covered in blood. A horribly disfigured form sat slumped over in a chair. It was impossible to tell what the poor creature had looked like before Edith had gotten to it.

“Rabbit!” Edith chirped cheerfully. She dropped the knife and turned around, revealing her blood soaked dress. She skipped over to the man and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Rabbit, the human man, tried his best not to gag as the blood got all over his clothes.

“Madam…there has been an incident in the-“ before he could finish Edith unfurled her batwings and wrapped them around herself. In the next moment she was gone. Rabbit looked at the poor soul Edith had finished torturing and shook his head with a sigh.

~~

Edith arrived at the scene moments after Evans had arrived in Eurus. Demons and humans alike stood around the young man and the dead demon, crowding around the two as if they had never seen death before. Edith elbowed her way to the front of the crowd and took in the scene.

The demon beneath the young human…she recognized him. ‘I haven’t seen him in nearly a hundred years!’ Edith thought as she pushed forward in the crowd. ‘And if he’s here…if he’s dead and he’s here…That must mean…’ Edith looked at the young man with wide eyes. He was the savior, the reincarnation of their creator. The one being in all of Tellus, no, in the entire universe that could save the demon’s.

Nox…

Another demon was about to reach forward and grab Evans when Edith rushed forward and stabbed him through the chest with her barbed wing. Edith then walked over to Evans and stood above him, extending out a hand for him to hold. “You’ve come…at last…you’ve come.”

         

Quentin Spiros

Quen nodded and looked down. He was dripping water all over the dojo's hardwood floors. He sheepishly lifted up his pant legs and removed his shoes, sticking them right outside the doorway. He then removed most of his outerwear so that he wasn't so soaking wet. Now, dressed only in his white frock and trousers, Quen headed up toward his room with Loreitia following close behind.

"I didn't see much...I was a bit...distracted when it happened," Quen said, not wanting to admit that he had been asleep. "But there was a huge blast that came from Caritus...but the weird thing was...there was no smoke, nothing." Quen entered his room and closed the door before Loreitia could come in.

"Sorry Mistress, boys only," he said with a laugh. He began to dry himself off and then changed into clean clothes. When he was finished he opened the door and stood in front of Loreitia. He leaned against the doorway and looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face. "The odd thing is...I swear that right before the blast I saw a bright light pass over me while I was...sleeping..." he shuffled his feet slightly. He didn't like his teacher knowing he had been sleeping on his day off. He knew that he was allowed to do what he wanted with his day...but it still seemed odd.

He looked at her suddenly and straightened himself. "Mistress, if you don't mind me asking...do you think this has something to do with your...ability?" he asked. He didn't like admitting that he knew her secret. They had never discussed it openly, but he had been around her for far too long to not know.

         

Salacia Sparrow

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Salacia hummed to herself as her cart rumbled over the cobblestone streets of Amo City. Her merchandise sat in piles in the back of the cart, pelts, fish, cured meats and assorted shells and driftwood tools were on show, the occasional passerby glancing at them, as if calculating whether or not the merchandise was worth stopping the Clydesdale and its owner. Salacia smiled at the citizens of the city, waving occasionally at small children as she passed, their eyes wide as they looked at the large scythe strapped to her back.

Making her way over the bridge, looking out across the ocean, returning her attention to Marina as the horse snorted, shaking her head. Salacia chuckled, watching as a couple of boys ran past carrying fishing rods, laughing amongst each other as they picked out a spot on the bridge to fish from.

Reaching the other side she looked to either side of the main street in the High District, searching a place to stop and sell her wares. She finally stopped, jumping down from the cart and patting the mare's snout. Marina whinnied softly, nuzzling into her hand before pawing the ground. Salacia chuckled, walking around the side of the cart to drape a series of pelts over the wooden side, stopping momentarily to run her fingers through the soft fur of a red fox.

She waited patiently for anyone to take notice of her cart, feeding oats to Marina whose ears flicked forth, tail swishing back and forth.

"Ummm... excuse me?"

Salacia turned, a smile instantly working onto her features as she took in the woman and the man beside her that appeared to be her husband. They looked well off, expensive jewels hangings from around the woman's neck, "Yes? Hello, how can I help you?"
The woman smiled and reached out to touch one of the pelts on display, eying off a pair of antlers that Salacia had carved patterns into before speaking, "Has this pelt been treated?"
Salacia nodded, "Yes, and if you look here," she held up the animal's stuffed head and pointed at the black beady eyes, "The eyes have been replaced with glass beads."

The woman smiled, turning to her husband and conversing with him in hushed tones before the man nodded, reaching to pull out a coin purse. He started to count out coins, his gruff voice coming from an otherwise emotionless face, "How much for the pelt and those antlers over there?"

Salacia grinned and quickly told him the price, picking up the antlers and the fox pelt, asking if they wanted it wrapped up. When the woman nodded Salacia pulled out butcher paper and wrapped up things, tying it off with twine and handing it to the woman as her husband handed over the coins, tipping his head before the two walked off.

She looked up in shock as a faint exploding sound ricocheted through the air, people in the streets looking towards where Caritus would be, shock covering their faces. Salacia rushed forth to calm down Marina who reared up, a startled whinny leaving the horse as its hooves collided with the ground, snorting, eyes rolling as Salacia held up her arms, hushing until the mare stilled, ears flattened against her skull.

         (Moved to Caritus - Harbor District)

         

Aryana Bradley

“These ruins were found nearly twenty years ago after a major earthquake created a small crevice in the side of a mountain. The crevice opened up into a set of caverns filled with relics of this ancient civilization,” the tour guide said as the high school class, filled with bored teenagers, entered the small exhibit.

Broken statues, pottery, and tablets were set around the room. In front of each relic there was a placard describing what the archeologists thought each item in the exhibit meant. “It is hard to tell what the texts say since the language used has never been seen before. Archeologists are still learning about the culture and the people living at that time. Most pieces seem ancient, except for one odd piece here.”

The tour guide led the class over to a corner of the exhibit. A large, six foot mirror stood erect, illuminated by an over head light. The frame of the mirror was gold, and not just plated, with lots of tiny details carved into the gold.

One of the teenagers in the class room felt the hairs on her neck raise as she stared at the mirror. A shiver went down her spine and she had to turn away. As soon as she had stepped through the archway into the exhibit room, Aryana had gotten the feeling that the things surrounding her were somehow familiar to her.

“Do you feel that?” Aryana mouthed silently to her twin.

Evans Bradley

Evans, from the first day hearing about the tour, was definitely not delighted. Who would? Everywhere just olds craps hanging who no one would be interested in. Everything was very old and boring. Why bother seeing such things? He scratched his head and sighed. It was clear that he didn't even hear one single word from the tour guide up front – but he wasn’t the only one: His classmates weren’t interested on those things either, as someone could guess from their expression. It was not a real good thing from the start to go to such an exhibition. Why didn’t they go to a jewellery shop or game center? Evans could bet that everyone would be interested. But no, they had to go here. It was all that the fault of that teacher.

He looked around. Nothing glitters or shiny - only brown ugly pieces that was presented as if they were something very important. Indeed – Evans was thinking to do a prank very badly, but it couldn’t be done seeing the teacher had his eyes on him. Well, that wasn’t something to wonder about though. “Do you see any chance of sneaking away?” He asked his friend in front of him and yawned. “No way, man. It’s over in a bit anyway, bear with it.” The friend just answered that made Evans sighing. It was obvious that he couldn’t bear with it any longer, as then he heard a soft voice from behind. It was his twin sister.

“Did you say something?”, he asked her sister, who looks quite a bit… bothered. As then he felt it. He felt something that was familiar… but in the other hand making him uneasy. It was coming around from his surroundings – it was as if he came back to an ugly home. Was it a forewarning? Or simply a figment – a fantasy. Still, it interested Evans. So for the first time after entering the exhibition, he looked closely to the things surround him. And sure, the first thing that catches his attention was the mirror with the golden frame. “Oh… awesome.” He muttered, as he slowly came closer to the mirror…

Aryana Bradley

“Alright students, walk this way! On to the next exhibit!” The tour guide said as she turned the students away from the mirror. The rest of the class shuffled by, ignoring the fact that Evans was staring at the mirror as if he was possessed. Aryana was about to turn away from the exhibit as well before she noticed her brother.

“Evans,” Aryana said as she approached her brother. She reached a gentle hand out to touch him and then pulled away. No, better not disturb him. She felt the same draw toward the mirror…but something else was keeping her consciousness at bay. A feeling tugged at the back of her mind and a strong sense of urgency overcame her. The rest of the class had already left and the exhibit was empty save for the twins.

Aryana heard something creak behind him and she slowly turned around. An ugly statue of a demon had moved from its place on the pedestal and was beginning to come towards them. She creature stretched its stone body upward, extending its arms and…its bat-like wings. Its skin began to turn to flesh, or scales…Aryana couldn’t tell for fear had consumed her.

“Evans run!” Aryana screamed as the demon lunged for them. Aryana quickly dived out of the way; narrowly missing the demon’s outstretched arms. Aryana forced her eyes open and was devastated to see that Evans hadn’t yet jumped out of the way.

Evans Bradley

There was something alluring from the mirror. May it be those golden frames or the feeling he got from it. Something he never felt before. It attracted him so much – he didn’t notice anything else, even his classmates leaving that corner. Indeed there were some who called for him, but he didn’t take a notice of it at all. As if he was possessed – yes, it was the best way to express the situation of him staring at the mirror.

Never had he seen such a beautiful mirror. But not only because he likes glittery and shiny things is he attracted to it. There was something else; though he couldn’t figure out what exactly it was. Somehow, he felt a strange feeling of relief, as if he had been gone from somewhere and now finally found the way back. A feeling, that he couldn’t let go, a feeling that he had to explore even more.

As his sister approached him, he didn’t hear a thing. Though, he was in progress of getting back to his senses. It was the silence, that made him came back and the sudden scream that made him completely gasp. He whirled around – as he saw it. A creature which ugly form is indescribable. And then those sharp claws, the big and ugly mouth, the small body and those big black wings… Evans couldn’t move by the sight of it, his consciousness was pending, his eyes open of surprise, shock… and more importantly fear. But it was something else that he really wondered about. The fear he had was mixed with the familiar feeling he had before. It was sickening – but the truth.

Still, his legs didn’t do what they had been told to do. They wouldn't move at all. He still saw his sister jumping out of the way of the creature, which was literally attacking them, even met her gaze. But then he just felt a sharp feeling on his shoulders, as then he lost the grounds where his feets were standing and everything else around him. The demon had grabbed Evans along through the Mirror, leaving earth and entering Tellus...

Aryana Bradley

“Evans!” Aryana screamed as she watched her brother disappear through the mirror. With green eyes wide, Aryana stared as the mirror started to crack and begin to break. She stood up suddenly, her auburn hair tumbling around her shoulders. Panic over took her at the thought of never seeing her brother again. Without any hesitation, without even a second thought, Aryana jumped into the mirror after her brother and the demon that took him.