Open Chronicles Hellsfeld

[Szesh]

"Who are you? Show yourself,"

Szesh's head snapped towards the mill, his stygian eyes wide. Heike was calling out to something, and it was not him. His mind raced back to the clawing at the walls he had heard earlier, the attic intruder that had seemingly vanished. Had they been there all along after all? Or was this a new threat?

He pushed himself out of the water as quickly as he could, but it was clumsy. Starting waist-deep, his limbs dragged against the water. Half the energy he put into moving forward was being directed down into the soft mud. Eventually, with cacophonous splashing, he stumbled ashore, picked up his spear, and ran to the mill.

He could feel it again, the cold dread. It hadn't truly left since that afternoon, but he had pushed it aside, thinking it nothing. Foolish. And now his comrade was in trouble.

It was a peculiar feeling. He knew first hand that Heike could defend herself, in truth he would be terrified to face her himself. Yet he still felt a certain... responsibility. It reminded him, joylessly, of being a soldier. Every one of his companions had been just as capable a warrior as him, yet he would still rush to their aid at a moment's notice. It was not about them needing to be saved. It was about duty. It was about you wanting to save them.

And as ill advised as it may be, he wanted to help Heike. There were so few who did not recoil at his approach. There were even fewer who knew what that felt like.

Heavy footfalls broadcast his approach as he barreled through the door, slamming it aside. He stopped short in the main room, scoring deep streaks in the wooden floor with his claws. No one here, but the kitchen door was open. He moved to it in three strides, keeping his wings and head tucked low.

"Heike!" he hissed breathlessly as his huge frame filled the doorway. He glanced around the room... confused. Only the vampire was here.

"Where... who is here?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

It was moving, the voice. Was it invisibility? Some sort of voice projection? Something magical without a doubt. Her inner Reikhurstan stirred, finding the suspected magic strange and dubious. Such was the prevailing culture of Reikhurst, a general (though admittedly lukewarm) mistrust of magic. This sentiment resurfaced in a flash in the presence of a likely hostile entity whose true presence was shrouded by some means.

Heike found herself snapping her gaze toward the voice as it sounded, in whatever new location it seemed to originate from, and it occurred to her that this might be some manner of strategy. An attempt at misdirection. She stepped briskly to the center of the kitchen and kicked the table away to open more room; at least now she stood as far from the walls as she could. Glances around. This way, that way, over her shoulder, a quick turn of her body. But nothing, she saw nothing.

Figure out what I am, the voice had said. She didn't care much for riddles, though she had once known a fair number of people obsessed with them.

Your Draconian friend. So the voice knew about Szesh too. Disheartening, but not surprising; the voice had won the waiting game. It seemed inscrutable, the owner of the voice and his motives.

"What do you want?" Heike said, suspicion thick on her tone.

Was it the wizard? Come out of his tower, knowing through some arcane means that Heike and Szesh had interfered with his scheme and sought to interfere further? Perhaps. If the wizard was as old as wizards tended to be, it would explain him calling her "youngling."

Heike!

So focused was she, tunnel-visioned in a manner Herr Dieter would also likely not approve of, that Szesh's voice caused a fair bit of a surprise at first. She quickly looked to him in the doorway and then back to the walls and corners of the kitchen at large.

"I don't know. Watch your back," she said, a notch louder than normal.

A scent lurked just beneath her nose and bobbed up from the murky waters of subconscious awareness. A scent that had been here for a while, not long after the knock at the door. Stronger now. A very peculiar scent.

One she was unfamiliar with, yet felt she ought to know. Her inexperience with her enhanced sense of smell causing a small measure of frustration.

 

[denheim]

Arathos suppressed the burgeoning laughter that threatened roar out of his throat - the Draconian's reaction was way too funny to just ignore. The reptilian creature seemed to have barged in at the best moment - though not before clumsily trudging through the muddy river banks outside, judging by the dark brown and grey stains all over its arms and legs. The vampire youngling seemed far more reserved - not at all how he'd imagined she'd react, considering her age; most others would've just started lunging and biting at the air in an attempt to catch him. Obviously, she was already well-trained in the combat arts before she was transformed into a vampire. They were both of them warriors; his hunch had been correct - they were very likely a duo of adventurers here on some grand quest to stop a great evil or collect a few items, or kill a notorious outlaw, etc.

'What do you want?' The youngling asked, and Arathos had to pause briefly to ponder the question.

Beyond messing with her head, ruining her day, and maybe instilling a lesson on how to better control her senses, he wasn't really 'wanting' anything from them - well, maybe spook the Draconian a little more, but that was besides the point.

Humming softly to himself, the ancient vampire drifted out of the shadowed corner of the kitchen - passed by the Draconian, who seemed very alert and confused - and entered the living room, where the stench of blood and grime was ever prevalent. And yet there was something else here too - the scent of some strange magic hanging in the air, just at the tip of his nose. Unlike other strains of vampires, Arathos wasn't particularly gifted at sniffing out magic in the air - at best, he could detect its arcane presence; at worst, he could not detect it at all. The stronger the source of the magic, the easier it becomes to sniff out. The fact that he could detect this faint magical stench in the air made it clear that these two had come in contact with a potent magical artifact of some kind.

'Curious...' Perhaps it was an item related to their quest?

Standing just a few meters behind the Draconian, Arathos spoke. "You've made contact with a powerful magical artifact...I can smell it lingering on the both of you...are you on some quest?"

He'd heard of a very recent missive coming from a certain wizard - whose name he can't remember - calling out to search for certain magical artifacts in exchange for a large sum of money. He never took interest in the missive as his preferred jobs were those of the more lethal kind, but he did note the number of mercenaries and adventurers taking note if it.

Shrugging, Arathos bent down, picked up an acorn and threw it at the Draconian's head.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh was confused. Was the intruder hiding? The kitchen was empty save for the two of them, and surely nothing large enough to pose a threat could conceal themselves here. The shadows were unusually dark, but that was surely a trick of the dying light outside.

He took Heike's warning seriously. She was not foolish, someone was here if she said they were. He listened, hearing nothing. He felt a shiver run down his spine suddenly as Arathos passed him, but knew not why it had occurred. It must be from the cold water that still dripped from him. The water he had trailed with him through the mill.

He took a step into the kitchen, looking at every corner of the room, straining to listen to any sound. The voice that spoke behind him took him entirely by surprise. He whirled around to face the door, a hissing growl escaping him instinctively. There was no one there. The kitchen and the main area were still empty. A snarl took shape on Szesh's face, he did not like being toyed with, least of all by some spirit.

It knew about the catalyst, or at least part of it. Its question would go unanswered. "Reveal yourself!" Szesh bellowed, taking a half step back to the front, his spear at the ready.

A blur and a flash as something small struck him. An acorn? Anger started to swell. It was toying with them. "Come out, spirit!" he growled, and swung his spear in a wide arc in front of him, hoping to catch whatever ethereal being was taunting them.

 

[Heike Eisen]

There wasn't anything for a while. No voice. There was the peculiar scent, but this one--though stronger now than before--was one of a few that she could smell and not readily identify, and these unknowns were vying for her attention same as all the scents she did know.

But the point was...where had the voice gone? Did she imagine it? It would certainly be embarrassing--this with a hint of appearing foolishly alarmist--if she had cried "enemy at the gates" in error.

No. She wasn't in error, and an odd sense of relief came with the validation that she had heard what she heard, that her ears and her mind were trustworthy. Szesh spun around to face the voice that had spoken behind him and out the kitchen door. He heard it, she heard it, and there was no doubt: they had company. Unseen company.

Heike hurried over to Szesh and patted him firmly on the back twice with her palm, announcing her presence with touch at the same time she did with her voice. "I'm at your back."

And Heike herself turned around. Went back-to-back with Szesh as much as she could, given the wings. The kitchen felt cramped, small and claustrophobic and abounding with leering corners and sinister shadows, but the two of them could maintain the highest degree of vigilance like this. Herr Dieter may have frowned upon her winding up in this situation to begin with, but perhaps may have offered a grudging nod of approval for endeavoring to rectify her previous failing.

Szesh bellowed. Swung his spear, but that was that, nothing coming of it. Heike maintained her side of the watch, covering his back.

A spirit. Of that Szesh would know far more than Heike, but it seemed possible. She still suspected the wizard, or a minion thereof. Whomever--or whatever--the voice belonged to, Heike knew this: that there was a stark difference between how she had been approached by Szesh, and how this voice approached the two of them now.

Szesh, despite his sudden appearance into the thieves' meager camp, had shown himself. Spoke clearly of his intent and did not play games. He had a candor Heike appreciated, and because of all these qualities she was glad to have him along. This voice, despite the plausible claim of the number of ways he could have killed her and clearly having decided to not (yet) do so, harbored at bare minimum a trickster's guile. A being, if not outright hostile, then mischievous and difficult to trust.

An unknown entity in every sense.

Another facet to consider. Inside the mill, the voice definitely had the advantage. However it shielded itself from their sight, it could only be aided by the relatively tight quarters, with all the walls and doors and corners. Heike and Szesh ought to move outside, where Szesh's flight could be leveraged if needed; this, among other good tactical considerations. If nothing else, perhaps the sight of her and Szesh making for the exit would draw the owner of the voice out.

Heike reached back without looking and pressed the palm of her left hand to Szesh's back, there to stay with him and feel his movements.

"Szesh. Start walking. Outside."

 

[denheim]

'Come out, spirit!' The Draconian bellowed, and Arathos could only barely suppress the wheeze that would've surely revealed his position - only his centuries of training and experience kept his composure intact as he moved once more to strafe around the pair. The youngling vampire and the Draconian had thought to better defend themselves from assailants by standing back-to-back - a classic move, but not at all ineffectual, especially considering their current situation. But they needn't; he had not come here to hurt them - well, as long as playing pranks on them wasn't considered as 'hurt' then definitely. Still, the youngling was definitely not trying to use her natural gifts - still too caught up in her human instincts to truly give in to the powers that lay dormant inside her.

A shame, but understandable; after all, he wasn't too different when he first transitioned into a life of vampirism. Arathos sighed; his shadow meld would last near indefinitely as long as he inflicted - or was inflicted - any bodily harm. Throwing a few nuts and acorns and berries at someone's face didn't exactly count as bodily harm.

'Szesh. Start walking. Outside.' The youngling said to her companion, and Arathos nodded in agreement; a prudent move. This place was definitely to the advantage of one, who was well versed in the arts of stealth and assassination; the darkened nooks and crannies, and the shadows that hung closely in the air, all played to his advantage.

'She's a sharp one...' He realized; this youngling was definitely a warrior before her transformation. Unfortunately, that made it more difficult for her to accept her gifts - her true powers and her true nature. He wondered what drove her to this place - to where she stood now - and what choices she had to make to deny the eternal hunger and thirst for mortal vitae.

He shrugged; it was the same journey for nearly every vampire, he supposed. There was always a period of denial and self-loathing; a phase where the younglings would often kill themselves by flinging their un-aging bodies off of cliffs and into sharp rocks at the very bottom, dying horrible deaths. She would have to find her own way in the world, like every other vampire, but - hopefully - not without learning how to use her senses.

Irritating younglings and mortals, however, was just too fun and - with that in mind - Arathos bent down, grabbed a peanut, and flung it towards the young vampire's forehead.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh did not trust magic or the ethereal. He had said spirit, but meant the word as a truly broad term for the supernatural. Anything that could speak from invisible places and move without physical form was beyond his understanding, and thus part of the realm of superstition. He was strong, he was fast, and he could best his foes with skill and strength and real, earthly talents. But magic cheated. Magic broke rules. His scales, while very resistant to natural fire, had unpredictable success against magical flames. His body, naturally tuned to endure harsh climates, could very easily freeze if the ice were conjured.

If it were not for the shared story of exile and self-loathing, his partnership with Heike would have been far more difficult to forge. Vampires, while flesh and blood, were not "natural." Something dead should not walk, that was the way of things. Yet these aberrations were becoming more and more frequent in the world, and he would do well to start accepting that. He did manage to give himself some solace by simply knowing the limits of his understanding. People more clever than him would work out the why and how, he would learn just what he needed to know.

Like, for instance, what was harassing them. Heike stood at his back, and for a time the two of them stood at the ready, waiting for something to appear from thin air or leap towards them from the shadows. Nothing came.

Without words, Szesh accepted Heike's orders. The two of them made their way to the door, keeping back to back. The floorboards creaked and the door swung lazily in the soft breeze from the outside. They had nearly made it, when another tiny object flew towards them. This time it hit Heike, and Szesh quickly traced it back to a rough area of the room.

They were leaving anyway, and with the door behind them Szesh belched a plume of flame to where he presumed the peanut had come from. He swept his head from left to right to cover a larger area of the mill, and for a second the room glowed orange and red. Small patches of the floor and ceiling caught, and the mill took on a flickering life with shadows dancing between the sacks of grain, the millstone, and walls.

Making sure Heike was still behind him, he took the last few steps out of the mill. The building would likely burn for some time and they had best be on their way. He opened his wings half way, staring intently at the glowing doorframe from outside, watching for anything that might be trying to escape.

"We should leave."

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike moved with Szesh, walking backward, her steps measured and directed by the guidance of feeling the motion of his massive body with her palm. Surprisingly, it seemed their exit wasn't going to be met with any resistance. Perhaps the owner of the voice had already grown tired of their--

Bop.

Heightened alert, at first. Then, as she heard the quiet clatter of the peanut on the wooden floor, Heike registered what happened. A peanut. Had struck her. In the forehead. Bewilderment set in, followed near immediately by indignant offense. Such a childish act, a blatant show of disregard and disrespect, was...well...belittling. Nothing short of it. Despite not wanting any trouble from their unseen intruder, Heike still found that not being seen as a worthy opponent was more grievous a wound than any inflicted upon the body.

Most of her knight-superiors would have chastised her for conduct unbecoming of a knight, but Heike always felt that cheap jabs deserved cheap jabs.

Still walking with Szesh, she said in a dry tone, "Was that one of your hundred ways to kill me? Should've tried it with your strong arm: the one you pleasure yourself with."

And Szesh had a great counter to possible invisibility: saturate the entire area with fire. Heike still had her coat off and folded over in the crook of her right arm. It might have made for a good tool of misdirection if combat erupted--much like a handful of sand thrown in the eyes of one's opponent--and it may well have been useful to toss and see if it draped over any unseen entities. But Szesh's solution was likely to be far more effective. The intense heat of his Draconic fire-breath she felt against the coldness of her skin.

They reached the outside, sans any more...peanut...attacks. Oh for the love of home and hearth, it sounded ridiculous!

At least the sun had retreated beyond the ends of Arethil, leaving only a yellowish wake in the west and a deepening blue in the east. One less thing of which to be concerned.

We should leave.

"Agreed."

Heike stood close, held up her hand for Szesh to take, as before. They could simultaneously make up for the lost time today and escape the trickster voice with Szesh's flight.

A spot of black humor amused her: would have been nice to have mutated out a set of wings along with the claws, should she always have been destined to become afflicted. A small sweetening of a rotten meal.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh's black eyes soaked in the fledgling blaze that was starting to take hold of the mill. Dark smoke pooled at the ceiling and was not making its way out of the uppermost windows and through the poorly thatched roof. No figure had emerged from the doorway, but then again, no figure had appeared to be anywhere.

He did not care for magic. He did not care for jesters. He certainly did not care for magic jesters. After a time, it did not seem that the poltergeist had followed them outside. With some reluctance, Szesh slung his spear around his back once more, and took Heike's hand, holding her close to his scales once again.

She was light, as far as passengers went. If their previous flight was any indication, they could stay airborne for some time. Szesh was hungry once more, but his thirst had been slaked and he had managed to rest for a few hours at least. With Heike's direction they would likely be able to reach the tower, or at least the portal stone, before daybreak.

When he felt confident that the danger had momentarily subsided, he spread his wings fully once more. It felt good after the confinement of the mill, and he allowed himself an extra second to stretch the limbs out as far as they would go. Then, after crouching low, he sprang into the air with a loud whoosh of wind, sending a harsh ripple through the grass around them as they took off.

Szesh climbed with purpose. Perhaps the spirit that harassed them could fly? Perhaps they would latch onto his tail at the last moment? Higher he went, until the river below them was a shimmering ribbon next to the sunset. Finally, he leveled off and they soared away from the mill.

How had the spirit known of the catalyst? How had it tracked them? How had it remained invisible? All of these were questions burned in Szesh's mind as hot as the mill below. Soon any evidence of their passing would be naught but ash, and he told himself that he would do well to similarly dispose of these questions. They would not be answered.

He scanned the horizon, pupils dilating wider and wider as the sky grew darker. The dimmer stars had emerged, and while he could use them to navigate, he was still not entirely certain where he was going.

"Which way to the tower?" he growled above the rushing wind. He held Heike close beneath him, her head near his heart which was beating powerfully as he pushed through the skies.

 

[Heike Eisen]

She could get used to this. The pull of Arethil seemed twice as heavy during takeoff, going from standing still to suddenly in quick motion, but it was no different than her own great leaps made while exerting herself. And flying was just more fun. Those leaps had to slow and send her sailing back down eventually, and she could never jump as high as they were flying right now.

They left the burning mill and, hopefully, the spirit or invisible entity or whatever it truly was behind. If it was some agent of the wizard's, then they might be in for a measure of trouble once they arrived at the tower. Provided that the wizard, knowing through arcane means that they were coming and that one of his catalyst deliveries had been compromised, didn't simply flee.

Right now, she could only hope--as meek as that was--that this would not turn out to be the case. Captain Bronmarch had placed his faith in her. And, even before that, had at great risk trusted her when first she approached him. Like Szesh, he was one of the few friends that she had. She would not betray that faith, that trust.

Which way to the tower?

Given the nature of how they were flying, with her by necessity pressed to and held against Szesh's chest, it was somewhat challenging to maneuver her head around to see the emerging stars of the night sky; upside down and sideways glances were the best she manage. She was no expert stargazer, not even close, but she knew the basics of navigation: the positions of some major constellations and their relation in the night sky to the Northward Star.

Satisfied with her reckoning, Heike slipped out her free arm with which to point. Said, "North by northeast. Should be that way. The portal stone is in a large clearing, but, if what the thief said is correct, then we ought to be able to see the tower nearby."

After another moment had passed, she noticed something. Szesh's heartbeat. Strong and powerful in his chest. Surely she had, at least on a level just beneath the surface of conscious mind, noticed this when they had taken flight before. But this time she had become acutely cognizant of it.

And with the awareness of it, the raw sensation of feeling it against her cheek, came a pang of envy and sorrow which quieted her. Stole away the simple joy of enjoying flight as she had before.

 

[Trajan Meng]

The second catalyst had been delivered.

Rennegast was working on it, encasing it in the proper enchantments to prepare it and keep it stable in the presence of the other catalysts.

And Trajan sat still in that same chair on the top floor of the wizard's tower, his work study. The six men he had gathered sat at a different table together, eating, conversing.

The Luminari had achieved great gains in recent times, yes, but had also suffered terrible setbacks. If this operari went through as planned, if Alliria could be rallied to abandon its dangerously cosmopolitan ways and adopt a more Anirian mindset, then that alone would serve the cause well.

He had to keep the faith.

He had to.

What he was doing in the present was a terrible, terrible thing.

But from this grave seed would rise a righteous bloom.

He had to keep the faith.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh hummed an acknowledgment of Heike's directions, one that was more audible through his chest than from his mouth. A slight tilt and they were gained the correct heading. Szesh could only see forest stretching before them, and so he continued.

The night air was cooler than the daytime, and he had fewer thermals to work with. He did his best to soar as much as possible, conserving the energy he had left. He did not know what awaited them in this tower other than vague details of a wizard. His spear felt cool on his back, and it gave him some reassurance. Wizards were just men, after all, and men could bleed.

There was no sound up here save for the rushing of the wind. Szesh was not discomforted by silence, as so many humans seemed to be, yet without other distractions he found himself pondering Heike's condition, her mission, and her seemingly indomitable will in spite of her affliction.

"You say you hunt the guilty," he stated abruptly, "but not for coin, not for glory." What was it she had said? Through them I may live without remorse. He did not understand. The lives he took, he job he did, they were distractions from remorse, certainly, but not a cure. They occupied his mind in place of regrets, but did little to sooth them. What sort of remorse could be soothed by the pursuit of justice for justice's sake alone? How could she be so confident that she alone could judge righteousness and evil? If she knew the things he had done, would she hunt him as well?

And so he asked a question he knew to be deeply personal, and he knew it was unfair of him to ask when she quite literally had nowhere to go to avoid it. But he told himself it was important for him to know. They may die together in a few hours, after all.

"Who were you before?" Before the curse, before the claws and the black eyes and the cold.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Only the wind. Whipping against the contours of her ears. The fluttering of her hair lightly against the same. It would be a while in flight like this, and such was fine.

The body heat of another was a comfort she cherished even more in the wake of her affliction. The feel of a heartbeat. She could just close her eyes and allow herself that innocuous illusion for a time. That the heat which warmed her body was her own, that the heartbeat she felt was the same. The truth would find her again all of its own accord. For now she could simply permit herself to melt into the fantasy of a better time...

A better time...

Szesh spoke. Caught her attention. And though the night seemed unchanged, it occurred to her that she did not know how much time had passed.

Who were you before?

She smiled. The overwhelming majority of those she encountered couldn't give a damn about who she was before; they saw her only as her affliction and nothing else. A creature, not a person. They cared not for the mementos she carried, those jewels of the life she loved and lost. It was not a sorrow to speak of them. It was a joyous pleasure.

"Herr Heike Eisen, Knight-Valiant of Reikhurst and the Order of the Golden Blade. Citizen and warrior, loyal servant of the Reik crown, and proud daughter of Albrecht and Sieglinde Eisen. This is who I was before, and who I am now. Tragedy has befallen my home, yes, but I persevere. Because I am sworn. Because it is my duty. Because it is who I am, and who I will always be."

Her chest swelled with pride, and her hand tightened in Szesh's own. She knew well the shame that had come with failing to defend Reikhurst with her life, as had her fellow knights of the Golden Blade. But her circumstances differed through theirs, her path forking from theirs, her test of a character none save her were tried against. And though her affliction caused her great suffering in ways both significant and miniscule, she endured. Yes, she endured. And the day would come when she felt herself prepared to take the fight to the vampires who had destroyed her home and slaughtered its people. In this she was honorbound, and--this time--she would not fail.

"Yes," she said. "I hunt the guilty. The Oath of Justice that I am sworn to so demands it. I did so before my affliction, and I do so now; it remains one of my duties as a knight. The difference is that, now, the stakes are raised. I am always in a race against the abhorrent thirst spurred on by my affliction. In this..." The truth, Heike, "...I often fall short. The thirst is too frequent, the guilty too elusive and widespread. Hence, my remorse when it is that I must feed from the innocent. I..."

She paused.

The truth.

Heike.

You are sworn.

"...find this ever harder to justify."

She decided to change the subject.

"And what of you, Szesh? If you could undo your exile and go back to your home, would you? Was it a better time for you then?"

 

[Szesh]

Heike’s candor was, again, unexpected, although he really should have been used to it by now. She seemed to take comfort in speaking of her past life, focusing on the qualities that shaped her, defined who she wanted herself to be. Szesh disliked speaking of his past. For him, it was only a reminder of what he had lost. How did she not feel an even greater loss? Her home, her people, her humanity… yet she spoke not of who she was, but who she is.

It was much to think on, and Szesh found himself again acutely aware of how limited his mind was for such matters. What was clear was that Heike did not define herself by her vampirism. Rather, it was just another aspect of herself. She had been a knight, and now she was a knight and a vampire. While bizarre, this he could attempt to understand.

His neck prickled at her mention of “the thirst,” although the apprehension had diminished over time. He had not even thought about how cold her hand had been when she offered it to him at the mill, nor how still her body was against him without breath or heartbeat.

It was a difficult situation, to be sure. Predator and prey were innate concepts to draconians, being top predators themselves… but what happens when your companions become your prey? If food had vanished from the mountains… would his people turn on each other? It was a thought too horrible to entertain, and suddenly Heike’s dilemma was painfully clear.

He should also have expected her question in return. He almost replied immediately that he would. Of course he would… wouldn’t he? After all he had spent so many years in shame and anger because of his exile… wouldn’t he do anything to go back?

But something Heike said made him pause. She did not believe that her vampirism erased her former self. Unfortunately, that was precisely the purpose of exile, to erase someone. But… how much of that was up to him? Could his exile simply be an addition to his life, rather than a replacement?

...No. He did not think so. Heike was blameless in her story, but he… he had brought this upon himself. He had betrayed his people’s trust of his own accord. They had cast him out quite definitively.

”Yes,” he finally answered. ”I would.” It was the answer he had expected to give, but it had not come nearly as easily as it would have just moments before. And it was not a complete answer, for there were many things he had done in his life that he would never have done without his banishment.The problem with not wanting to think about your previous life was that you rarely considered how good it actually was.

”I have travelled much,” he continued, ”I have faced fearsome foes… these things I do not regret. But the shame, the loss of home, family… these I would undo.”

He looked wistfully into the horizon, and something caught his eye. Strange but unmistakable.

”There, just ahead,” he said, louder. ”The Tower.”

 

[Heike Eisen]

The knight and the Draconian, sharing more than one thing in common. He, too, would go home; and likely would have it such that it was as if he never left, a clean erasure of woes suffered and an unbroken continuation of a life lost. It was how Heike felt, and she suspected the same of him. There was an appreciable futility in wishing the world was some other way, when it in fact was only the way it ever could be. But these small indulgences, these gazings upon the mementos she carried, they were inseparable parts of her humanity. And, as Heike knew now, of Szesh's own Draconian nature. More akin were they than she ever would have thought before, having never left Reikhurst and never met a Draconian.

Yes. That was another point, clear to see and feel now, was it not? For Szesh it was his travels and his tests against fearsome foes. For Heike, it was having met extraordinary people; people whose strength of character, whose capacity for seeing the inward good beyond the outward monster, far surpassed her own in life--these were the people who inspired her. These were the people she cherished as irreplaceable treasures. It was true that a great tragedy--a catastrophe which burned away her entire world--befell Reikhurst. But it happened and she could not stop it; it was the one determined way of the world, playing itself out. And while her unbeating heart was crushed under the weight of grief and sorrow and rage, she could see the small glimmers that came as a result of it.

For had it not happened, she would not have met Szesh. One of the few who saw the inward good. One of the few she cherished.

And this she did not regret.

There, just ahead. The Tower.

Heike arched her neck so she could look forward. Arethil was upside-down, but she could see through the darkness clearly. She saw the Tower, same as Szesh.

And she was struck by a startlingly simple idea.

"These wings of yours are awfully handy." A sly smirk, and a tone to match, "I didn't feel much inclined to climb a tower's worth of stairs anyway. What say you to dropping in on the top floor through a window, uninvited, hmm?"

It stood to reason that the wizard was, if not in the uppermost floor, then close enough to it. Why have a lone tower at all if that were not the case? And who knew what traps or guards of some sort lay in wait down at the ground entrance? Coming in through the top would be the most unexpected route. Not completely out of the question, but more so than the front door below.

Heike's demeanor shifted. A steely preparedness.

"We'll take them. Alive if possible. Dead if necessary."

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

Ferelith was bored. This happened often in protection jobs. Wizards, Nobles, Dukes...It never changed the boredom. Just the location and the amount of lavish surroundings her boarding she received. After taking a job not too long ago Fereliths reputation had gotten a big boost.

Not to mention the large chest of gold she now had tucked in her Elbion apartment suite. This had deterred her from taking such a common job as protecting a wizard in a tower...but earning a few favors to keep her life comfortable was a small price to pay to keep guards from from breaking down her door and dragging her in for past misdeeds.

So she had accepted albeit at the point of a sword.

She sighed catching the knife she was tossing lazily by the blade.

Ever since the job with the dragon she had struggled to fall back into her own life since returning home. Guilt was something she seemed to deal with a lot lately.

Stealing, killing, and general cut throat-ery had been getting harder to preform as of late without keeping her up at night. It’s gotten to the point that even some of her past misdeeds were beginning to wake her up coated in a cold sweat.

Names..

Faces...

They were starting to haunt her. That damn baby dragon must have gone and given her a moral compass.

Damn her.

“Well?” The question shook her from her thoughts. Catching the knife once again by the blade she allowed it to slip between her fingers as she sheathed the 6” blade smoothly.

“Didn’t know you were in such a hurry to lose. Keep your shirt on until you lose it to me will you.” She quipped to the detail of guards sat around the small table they shared in the bottom room of at the base of the tower. She threw her cards on the table.

Allowing them to float gently to the table before landing neatly where they were meant.


“Damn it.”

“Fuck!”

“There goes MY share of the pay.”

“Shit.”

“I’m done.”

Came the chorus of dismay as Ferelith raked the pot in the middle into her already fat coin purse.

“Now now lets not result to language. Besides this just means when this is over I won’t collectively beat you all to pulps and take it anyway.

This way I know you’ve got nothing.” Ferelith said with a smirk as the guards fell silent. While her tone and expression were jovial not one of the guards could shake the memory of the pint sized mercenary beating their previous captain into just such a bloody pulp with her bare hands after he had drunkenly grabbed her ass.


“Well might as well go check the area. Make sure no goblin hordes are coming to ransack our tower.” She joked again to no response. She resigned her self to the long climb up, but anything was better than cooling her heals in that room. All those men in armor made it smell like a bog skunk rats went to die in, and she had been raised in slave pits that almost smelled better.

Besides..ever since flying on a dragon she felt a certain connection to heights that had once been fear.

Now replaced by a longing to feel the air and see the sights.

Maybe not everything she had gotten from her last job had been so bad.. She made it to the top finally. Taking a deep breath of fresh air she stretched her arms wide enjoying the openness and lack of company. Just a few more days and she could be on her way.

That was when she saw it. Something coming their way. Too small to be a dragon or a terrorhawk so it wasn’t Freya or Kyla..her hand moved to her bow. Pulling it free she notched an arrow and took aim. Waiting for the identity of the fast approaching anomaly to be revealed.

“Careful what you wish for old girl..” She whispered to herself. She hadn’t wanted things boring and by the looks of it, and if her gut feeling was correct as usual things were about to get very NOT boring in the least.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh grunted his agreement with Heike's plan, and a familiar excitement overtook him. They hadn't had a proper fight since the direwolves, and those had been but beasts. He did not wish to think of what magics this wizard and his accomplices may have. He suspected fire and lightning, perhaps tricks of the mind. The tricks of weak men whose bones were but glass beneath paper skin.

His wings tipped down just a hair, and they began to pick up speed in a descent. More details of the tower came into view as they approached. Much was still masked by the darkness, but certain things were clear.

The tower was immense. What had seemed like a single guard room at the top was in fact a sizable chamber, lined with many windows and a fine balcony. Atop this room was a wide open area, from which one could see almost as far as he and Heike could now.

They were close now. Szesh squinted. Something there, on top of the tower...

His eyes widened and he immediately dove sharply, holding Heike tighter to him. "Archers," he hissed. He swooped down and shot back up. He tucked in a wing and rolled to one side, then the other. It was too dark to see any arrows that might be coming towards them, all he could do was be as difficult to hit as possible.

When they were within a few hundred meters he again dove low. Flying at half the tower's height they careened towards the black walls. One hundred meters. Fifty. Twenty.

"Be ready."

Szesh pulled up again, and the pair shot up alongside the stone walls. They burst over the top of the tower like a shark leaping from the waves. As they cleared the balcony Szesh let Heike go. A missile of tearing claws and hungry teeth.

He had expected more. Was there only one lookout? He landed heavily on the wooden flooring, feeling a beam splinter beneath him. He whipped around. Where was that archer?

 

[Heike Eisen]

At near the same time as Szesh said it, Heike saw it: archers. Or an archer, rather. A stark figure standing alone on the wraparound balcony of the tower's top floor. Her vision was such that the night was a world of clear grayscale, and the figure stood as a brilliant white against the cold gray of the tower's stone.

They gained tremendous speed as Szesh dove. And, despite the urgency of the matter, Heike couldn't help the pleasant overwhelming sensation of being gripped tighter by him. Much of her body had already been warmed during the course of their flight, but it was the closeness made ever more so by the tightening that brought on the delightful arrest of her mind. All her thoughts shifted to a singular acknowledgement: how much she missed the simple joy of amiable contact, and how much she enjoyed it now. Touch. The feel of another in a context which was not violent or abhorrent. Yet another quiet treasure of living mostly stolen away by her affliction.

Be ready.

This refocused her, and that simple joy vanished like a parched blade of grass held to a flame. Violence was coming. Just violence. For everyone present in the tower bearing a weapon or wielding magic in defense of the wizard was guilty by association. The wizard was the top priority, and it would likely take both Heike and Szesh to subdue him, and to keep him subdued.

This did not bode well for that archer on the balcony and however many others the wizard had in his employ. While Heike would like nothing more than to march the lot of them back to Alliria for Captain Bronmarch's judgment, such would not be feasible with only the two of them.

She had said it herself: Alive if possible, dead if necessary.

So would it be.

Heike fell through the air and rolled once she hit the balcony and sprang up to her feet and, seeing the archer, exerted herself to inhuman speed to dash toward and slash at her with a terrible swipe of her claws.

Ferelith Scathach Szesh

 

[Trajan Meng]

Trajan looked up from his seat in the top floor of the tower, the wizard's work study. Rennegast continued weaving his enchantment over the second catalyst. The six Luminari warriors were in prayer together, led by the youngest and most devout among them, offering up their thanks to Metisa and Nykios.

He thought he had heard a noise. Outside? Where the blonde-haired mercenary had gone?

He wasn't sure.

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

She let the shaft fly as the dragon man neared her.

That what it had been after all.
A man dragon?
Dragon man?

She didn’t know the correct term and had never seen his kind before even if she knew it existed. Knowing they existed was one thing. Seeing one coming at you in the air was another all together. He was carrying something but Ferelith didn’t have time to ponder as the shaft flew through the air to strike...

Nothing?

She blinked.

He had just been flying at her hadnt h- a rush of wind greeted her as he pulled from his dive dropping something. Ferelith dropped her bow and was beginning to draw her sword as the dark mass hit the stone of the tower gracefully with barely a sound before it sprang to life and came at her with such speed it was mind numbing.

Her tattoo glowed slightly as she caught the clawed hand moving towards her in a blur. Catching it by the wrist she grunted as the force of the suddenly halted attack fractured both bones in her forearm. Her grip tightening in the wrist like an iron vice she looked at her attacker.

Claws and speed.

Vampire.

She could smell it on her attacker. Her bones already beginning to reform the grip tightened further.

“You know.” She said biting her lip as the fractures mended back together with audible snaps. “You really should get more sun.” She said glancing at the pale skin of her wrist pointedly.

“Your as pale as death. People might think your sick.” She chided before slinging the woman by the wrist and releasing her to fly into one of the ramparts that lined the edge of the castles tower.

“Stupid leeches.” She cursed taking the time she bought herself with the throw to hopefully fully draw her large claymore.

“But leave it to some blood sucking immortal parasite to not know when it’s out classed.” She said with a confident smirk.

Swinging the claymore with a few practice swings with speed and in a manner one would use a much smaller blade.

Her tattoo lighting up the darkness around her as it seemed to pulse with arcane power.

“Well my bloods not coming out of me unless you earn it so step right up.” She said with a genuine chuckle.
Then her friend landed.

With enough force to split we one of the beams on the floor beneath them. Rather than being taken aback the blonde merc grinned wickedly.

Worthy opponents.

Finally.

“It’s been awhile since a man of your...” she glanced meaningfully at his more private area. “..Stature.. has graced me with their presence. You want to both die together or one at a time. I’m not choosy.” She joked her expression never changing from confident and ready. Her eyes however seemed to shift as she sank into a ready stance.

Cold as a glacier.

“Security breach you stupid pigs pretending to be men. Get up here!” She yelled over her shoulder as deeper in the tower there was a clatter of armor and weapons being readied.

“Your move.” She spat eyeing them both up and down.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh turned, pivoting on his claws to face the lone figure on the rooftop. He just managed to catch Heike and the woman locked together, the latter’s tattoos glowing brightly in the night. She flung the vampire across the tower with ease. What magic was this? She was downright puny, even by human standards, yet she wielded a greatsword with the ease of a foil. Szesh snorted his distaste. More trickery of this wizard, no doubt.

Bearing his teeth, Szesh resisted the temptation to roar. She had called reinforcements already, but there was no need to warn them of what they were up against. A little intimidation never hurt, and he would use their momentary surprise to his advantage.

For now, though, he had this one to deal with. His wings still half open, he pushed them back hard to give himself a head start into a charge. He held his spear at the ready, but only to deflect that claymore if it came down at him. He had no intentions of running this woman through, not unless she forced his hand.

No, he aimed to tackle and bowl her over the edge. Even if her strength protected her from the impact, she had no wings.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Stark surprise, despite Heike's efforts to keep it concealed, leaked out in a momentary widening of her eyes.

She expected nothing more than--and it pained her even to think of it this way--a normal human. Simple hired muscle, much like the thieves she had caught yesterday. But it was not so. Not only were this girl's reflexes abnormal, but also her strength and--from the sound and look of it--her ability to regenerate quickly.

The girl made her quip and, with a show of that unexpected strength hardly matching her small frame, sent Heike sailing back across the balcony to a hard landing. She springboarded back up onto her feet. Stood her ground and kept eyes on her opponent and flexed her claws as she waited for Szesh.

She would need him. The girl could match Heike's own reflexes and strength, which she predominately used to rapidly overpower her foes, thus nullifying her sole advantage. Add to this that she had brandished her own weapon and was possessed of some kind of magic. Her ability to regenerate far surpassed Heike's own, for it was quick and could be done in combat and hers was neither of these. She also knew that Heike was vampire, and if she or any or her allies tried fire (magic or not) or light magic against her, it would be disastrous. Heike did not know how the girl's magic and physical capabilities functioned, but Heike knew her own were dreadfully finite--each use of inhuman strength or speed would cost blood. And too much use of it would leave her weak. Crippled and thirsty.

The conundrum. Spend too much, leave nothing for the wizard. Spend too little, die before ever seeing him.

Hence, why she would desperately need Szesh in this fight. And the hard crash upon the wood of the balcony announced his arrival.

Well my bloods not coming out of me unless you earn it so step right up.

Heike scoffed. Thought to perhaps wipe that arrogant smirk off the girl's face.

To Szesh she said with a slight gesture nod, "Look. It's a claymore wielding a slip of a girl. Poor choice of weapon for the claymore, wouldn't you say?"

It’s been awhile since a man of your...

Despite the severity of the situation and the out of place nature of the girl's comment, Heike couldn't help the flash of anger and jealousy directed at the girl for remarking as such. The raw strength of the emotion was arresting for a powerful couple of seconds. Then she smothered it. Refocused.

The girl summoned reinforcements. It was going regardless, whether by her voice or the sound of a window crashing had they come into the tower that way.

Szesh charged. Heike considered briefly watching the door, ambushing any who came out through it. Thought against it; good for one kill, but then the rest--however many there were--would be upon her. The girl with the arcane tattoos was the most clear and present threat, and together Heike was confident they could swiftly end her--if the girl's own arrogance didn't do it first.

So she ran with Szesh, a little behind and off to his side. Maybe she would swing the claymore and she and Szesh with his spear would be caught in the bind, maybe she would miss or Szesh would deflect and thus she would be tackled. Either way, Heike thought that while Szesh went high, she would go low. Szesh could occupy her weapon and her hands, and Heike could grab at her legs. Attempt to hoist her up and assist Szesh in toppling the girl over the edge of the balcony and send her spiraling down the Tower's height to the ground far below.

So Heike would try just that. Szesh aimed for his tackle, and Heike went low and clutched with her claws for the girl's legs in an attempt to gain a hold and take away the girl's balance and lift her up and send her falling down to her fate.

Ferelith Scathach Szesh

 

[Trajan Meng]

Trajan heard the call from outside on the wraparound balcony. He shot up from his seat, and his warriors interrupted their prayer session and rose to their feet, all looking where he was looking.

Rennegast grumbled and said in an annoyed manner, "My work is not yet complete, and I refuse to be interrupted. Deal with the trouble."

The Luminari warriors made a motion to head toward the door to the balcony, but Trajan lifted his hand. Stilled them. Said, "Stay here and guard Rennegast. If this commotion is a feint, I'll not leave Rennegast undefended. I shall go, and the mercenaries from below will come and assist."

The Luminari warriors did not question him. They trusted his judgment, and they all took up positions around Rennegast and his work table and stood with their weapons drawn and their shields up and kept vigilant for any deceptions.

Trajan hefted his warhammer up and into both hands and stepped toward the door. He couldn't allow this plan to be undone. As terrible and grave as it was, such was necessary. For Mankind slumbered, painfully unaware of the threat of xeno encroachment. Great tragedies spurred forth the will to act, a coalescing of community, two of the very things needed for humanity to see the purity of the Luminari's cause.

Yes, good men and women would die. But so many more would be saved in the years to come.

And it all started here. With the defense of Rennegast and the disposal of the interlopers who had somehow caught wind of what was transpiring here.

Trajan shouldered open the door to the balcony. Stepped out onto it and into the cool night air. To his left, the backs of a woman and a Draconian charging the blonde mercenary.

He wouldn't make it to the mercenary before the two charging her. But, if she could hold out for a few seconds, he could aid her. If not, he could avenge her.

Trajan lifted up his warhammer into a striking form and dashed after the woman and the Draconian.

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

“You guys just don’t get it.” Ferelith said with a smirk swinging her blade as they charged her. Her blade clanged off the spear but the force of the blow itself was enough to hopefull knock the dragon man aside.

“I’ll be able to- huh” she was cut off mid quip as her eyes searched for the vampire seeing too late her figure as Dragon was knocked out of the way. She tried to swing down as her legs were taken out from under her. Her claws sank into her flesh and breath was driven from her lungs as the vampires shoulder drove into her stomach as she was hoisted up.

This bitch was going to try and throw her off the side. Her claymore clattered to the ground as her other hand moved to her belt. Drawing a knife she jammed it into the vamps back before pulling it out and stabbing her in the side. Hopefully slowing her down enough to hit the rampart rather than being fully lifted over it as she slammed into it.

Her back fractured as they hit the stone. She cried out in agony struggling with legs and arms that wouldn’t work for a moment. A feeling of numbness slipped over her entire body from the neck down. The vampire still clutching her, blood began to pool underneath her.

The leg wounds she received were bleeding pretty badly and were sealing up slowly as the main focus of the healing was putting her back back together.

Her blood looked slightly glowing blue itself as it seemed charged with the same power as her tattoo. Her eyes widened in realization and a cold chilling fear as she realized she was defenseless and bleeding in clutches of an injured vampire. There was a small click in her back forcing an agonizing scream from her throat once again.

“Don’t..bite me..” She struggles out. Feeling beginning to return with each click in her back as her spine slowly clicked back together.

“P-please..” She said in her most pitiful voice. Her small size and pretty looks were usually able to make people hesitate in situations like these even if just for a few moments. Another trickle of blood began running down her nose.

Powerless to wipe it Ferelith sat and awaited rescue or her fate. Her eyes never left those of the vampire. She heard the clash of battle around her but for the moment it might as well have been just the two of them.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh had expected the claymore to come at him, to meet his spear and push it aside. He had not expected the force that it would come with. The metal blade sparked off the shaft of the spear and knocked both it and Szesh to the side. He was just able to catch himself on the rampart and keep from going over himself. By the time he looked back Heike was already wrapped around the woman’s waist and crushing her against the wall.

The woman’s tattoo’s glowed brilliantly, and even her blood seemed to sparkle with some unknown energy. Question upon question entered his mind, but he pushed them aside. Some things were better left unknown.

He could feel anger rising. Despite her obvious enhancements, Szesh was abashed to have been pushed aside so easily by so small a person. Heike’s joke had been amusing at first, “a slip of a girl.” Now it stung. A low rumble escaped through bared black teeth as he strode over to the pair, spinning his spear into a stabbing position.

”Don’t… bite me… please…”

Pathetic. Cowardly. Weak. These thoughts satisfied his earlier embarrassment as she begged for her life. He raised his spear and was about to plunge it through her heart, when he heard the heavy footfalls behind them.

He whipped around just in time to catch a blow from a warhammer that reverberated up his spear and through the bones of his arm. Reinforcements had arrived. Szesh kicked out at this newcomer with heavy talons, bellowing a beastly roar.

He was tall for a human, but not by much. Despite this, something about him radiated strength. Perhaps it was his age. The night sky was dark, but the few torches around the tower walls amplified the creases in his face. That a clear warrior had survived so long was impressive, doubly so as he moved with youthful vigor.

Szesh swung his spear in a wide arc. He was not aiming to strike this newcomer yet, only to push him away from Heike and her prey. If she killed the blonde woman quickly she could assist him here.

More footsteps to the side as several figures in mismatched armor burst up out of the door from below. Szesh recognized them immediately as mercenaries. They would not be organized, nor would they fight fair.

He instinctively opened his wings, shielding Heike from view. He couldn’t say why he did this, she certainly didn’t need his protection. He chose not to dwell on it.

Instead, he called back to her to alert her of the small army amassing beside them. He thought fondly of the human leg he had eaten the night before.

”More food!”