Private Tales The Fog.

[Kyla Scathach]

The Terrorhawk MiMi landed near the once vampire. A scroll would drop in front of her as the massive bird of prey soared away with a flutter of wings and a screech like claws raking metal before it disappeared into the night skyline. The package dropped was a simple, but detailed map and a letter.

Hieke Elsen,

It has been sometime sense our last encounter. I hope this finds you well. I am at the safe house near Vel Anir. Inside this letter will be a map marking the location.

Why the demon has brought Gunhild here is beyond me, but these woods are a dark place, and I fear it’s reasons may have more to them than I originally thought.

I hunted her for the past few months, and after a struggle she has been..Restrained.. Something else is afoot here Hieke. A fog that won’t lift has hung over the area. In my times here I have never seen something like this.

I only ask for your haste and aid if your able.

I will be waiting.


Kyla.


..............
She finished the letter and sent it on its way. The screaming had stopped.

She rested her hand on her chin and her eye lids fluttered closed.

Ever since her capture her sister had been little more than a frothing nightmare. The demon had taken complete control.

The scar on her head now extended from the side of her head to her neck in one direction and to the top of her head in the other in a vertical line. Her skin pale and her vampiric fangs extended.

She had thrown her in the holding cell.

Taken what’s left of her potion leaving her to turn back to her vampiric state. Needless to say she was beyond ravenous. The beast was easy for the demon to control.

Texts she had collected from an old friend she had visited not too long before finding her sister. She had run into a few snags but had caught up with her never the less. She knew what she needed to do.

She was pale. Bags hung under her eyes that spoke to her sleepless nights. Blood covered her body speaking of many conflicts.

She hadn’t been able to bathe.

Her supplies were low..

Yet she wouldn’t go outside to hunt..

Not again..

Not after..



She was stirred from her thoughtful state with a jump as her sisters screaming resumed as the smashing began again. The door holding solid. It was made to keep in her kind after all. Kyla slammed the text shut with and growl of frustration. “Kyla..”

The woman ignored the voice of her sister. “I’m so hungry sister..Let me out..I miss you..” It whispered. It’s tone whimpering in pain. She knew it was a lie.

She had been alternating between the two for the past few days. If it slept Kyla didn’t know..

She doubted it..

She hoped her message would reach Hieke.

Because she didn’t know how much longer she could hold. The fog would let her in just as it allowed her.

It was the leaving that would be a different matter entirely.

She slumped to the table finally giving in to her exhaustion despite her sister reverting back to her screaming.

 

[Heike Eisen]

The first true breath of air in five long years had been an experience of overwhelming joy. But Heike's duty was far from over. It had in fact only just begun.

* * * * *​

The journey back to Alliria with the Templars was like a dream from which she was terrified that she might awake. But, to her renewed rejoicing and amazement each day, it was not. Each morning the light of the dawn's gentle sun touched her flesh and did not paralyze her--flesh that had regained its fair color. Her fingers were not dreadfully elongated claws nor was her hair grayed and deathly and nor were her eyes a ravenous yellow. Her heart she could feel beating in her chest every moment of every day and when the cold of night settled during the journey she could feel as well the warmth of her own body. Most important of all, gone--GONE!--was that abhorrent thirst of vampirism. Once again she could eat and drink as a human being and every single meal that she shared with the Templars was one that she treasured.

Ian Rengheist, the Templar of the Night Watchmen who had overseen her cure along the Chapter's Path of Purity buried in their Sanctum, died during the journey. His nine years of Incorruptibility were up. The final words that he spoke to Heike, his last upon Arethil: "See it done."

Yes. She would. She would see it done. Reikhurst would be reborn, or she would die in the effort to make it so. And now, shed of her terrible affliction of vampirism, Heike was ready.

Yet first, there were other matters to which she needed to attend.

Ferelith, and Kyla.

* * * * *​

Heike, for the first time, entered through the front gates of the particular barracks compound of the Allirian Guard that Captain Bronmarch commanded. She saw him past a column of marching guardsmen. He turned to look, seemed to think that she was someone else, someone that he didn't know and didn't need to know, and turned back to his business with some of the sergeants. Then he looked back again, realizing. Surprise overcame him.

Heike stepped forward with her arms outstretched and hugged him, squeezing him with all the enthusiasm of an old friend reuniting and he, after his surprise faded and he was no longer stunned, did the same. She thanked him from the bottom of her heart for trusting her, for believing in her. And he smiled and nodded, stayed humble in his response: "Of course."

And she asked then if he'd received any word from Kyla or from the Kinniger Duchy. Right as she did though, Bronmarch's eyes spotted something over her shoulder, behind her. "As a matter of fact..." he started, and when Heike faced about, she saw Kyla's Terrorhawk drop the scroll. She read it. On the one hand, it was good that Kyla and Ferelith were alright--so far as surviving the war was concerned. Yet on the other hand, alive they might be, but things were not well. Far from it. And there was not a lot of time.

Equipping herself came next. Heike was but an ordinary human again, save with the costly boon of Incorruptibility she had gained from the Path of Purity. She needed arms and armor. Fortunately, she had the financial backing of the Alanthis Trade and Co., so commissioning the artist and the blacksmiths and the arcane metalworkers to reforge her armor in the fashion of the Order of the Golden Blade was an expensive but rapid affair. A perfect recreation, fitted to her measurements, and with it came the pride of wearing once again a set of armor from an Order nearly wiped out from the face of Arethil, she now its beacon of hope for restoration. A fine two-handed longsword and a dagger for her sidearm would suit for now. She knew where she might acquire a more powerful weapon, one worthy of the cause she was destined to take up, but its acquiring would have to wait until she found Herr Elias.

Lastly, with the purchasing of a horse and equipment for travel, she set out from Alliria to the nearest Portal Stone.

Off she would go to the Falwood Stone, and then north toward Vel Anir.

* * * * *​

Travel through the Portal Stone was as...uncomfortable as ever. More so than she remembered during her time as a knight before her vampirism. The whispers and the heartbeat were of concern, and, unbeknownst yet to Heike, soon a voice would call her and many others to address this threat concerning the Portal Stones. But that was a thing yet to come.

Heike had plenty of time to think while on the road to the Allir Stone and while on the road from the Falwood Stone. Think, and worry. Some worries were a touch silly and unwarranted, spurred on by the days of long travel with little else to do but ride. Worries like, would Kyla and Ferelith even recognize her? What would they say? She even, to her chagrin, became nervous at the prospect for a little while. Yet other worries had an awful amount of merit to them. One of which was the inevitability of telling Ferelith the price of the cure that Heike had paid--news she was certain not to like. Further, she did wonder if she would even have the strength to help Ferelith, to do what needed to be done and, if need be, fight against whoever or whatever tormented her so and triumph. She knew well that she was not a vampire anymore, and though she was greatly thankful for it, gone as well was the strength that came with that unholy affliction. As Ian had said, she was a human, with all the virtues and limitations thereof.

It would be all she could do to trust in the steel that had kept her alive and well through those years of her knighthood.

* * * * *​

Following the directions of the map, Heike, in the gray dawn of an early morning, was on the approach to the safe house that Kyla had mentioned. And Kyla certainly had not been kidding about the fog. The trees about her to the left and to the right emerged from the gray murk and passed by as she rode and were swallowed again in short order. If not for the scant path on the ground, Heike feared she might have gotten lost.

But, at last, ahead and through the fog came the shape of a building. The safe house.

Heike dismounted and patted the snout of her horse and then approached the front steps of the safe house, the familiar and comforting sound of her rattling plate armor as she walked. But it was not the only sound. Muffled shouts and screams were coming from inside, and this sent a tremor of worry through Heike's chest.

Her helm was off. Hanging from the strap on her belt. It was important for Kyla (and hopefully Ferelith, if she was capable of it, though the screams suggested otherwise) to see her face. To know that she had succeeded in what she set out to do. That there was hope for Ferelith too on that front, whether it be through the Path of Purity or some other means, it was indeed possible.

Heike stopped before the door. Rapped her armored knuckles on it. And called out, "Kyla. It is Heike. I've come."

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

The door was thrown open and strong hands seized her yanking her inside!..And into a hug?

“I-I can’t believe it! You came! You really came!” Kyla sounded on the verge of tears. So long had she been suffering the torment of this battle for her sister alone.

Finally someone else was here.



Someone else that she knew cared. She held her away from her getting a good look at her.

The room was dimly lit but warm. It called attention to how cold outside truly was though ones mind might not have noticed it.

Kyla had always been neat but while everything was in order..Blood covered the floors.

Bloody handprints smeared the walls. Cracks in the walls and broken furniture suggested a few fights had occurred.



“My gods! Heike..Your so...different..” Kyla said her eyes wide wing further with ever change they took in. “I feared..It was playing tricks..Heheh..” She laughed in the tired broken way someone close to a cliff’s edge might.

A frayed, hallow sound that had never been the way the confident woman had sounded ever before. Her usually neat armor and clothes were in tatters. Shredded by claws and teeth of some abomination.

The screaming had ceased as soon as Heike had entered. An eerie silence hung over the room at large.

More Blood and a chunk of her hair trailed to the heavy metal door. “Heike? My love!” Ferelith’s voice suddenly came through. A tone of agony and longing.

“She’s kept me here for days! Help me! I’m so hungry my love..Please..Let me hold you..I want you....I need you..” The last line her voice faltered into that of another beings entirely. While clearly still female, the voice was like ice picks to the ears, sending a chill up the spine. Kyla simply sat back down and gestured for Heike to do the same.

“I see you were successful in your own mission..” Kyla said with a tired but genuine smile.

“I wish I had been as successful..But as you can see..I’ve run into some problems..” She said motioning to the door that had gone quiet once more. “She’s been like this since her thirst took hold. The demon used it to take control..” Kyla made a hopeless gesture. “Then it started to whisper. It did so for many days. It was in a language I did not understand though from the sound of it..” She broke off once more.

“I would not care to translate.” She fell silent. “It stopped and resumed its screaming not long after the fog arrived. It’s thick..Unnatural. I have not seen days or nights pass. It feels like I’ve been here for years..And in the fog..Ghosts..” She said finally her voice cracking at the very words.

“I don’t know how but every ghost from my past is there to haunt me..You have come here before..You were a vampire then so I think it may search your own mind..I haven’t had a chance to study..They eat you if you step out to speak with them. Your horse undoubtedly saved you from being eaten when you entered. If you left now you would find little more than horse shoes and bones..” She said with a sad sigh.

After she finished she simply sat. Her lids heavy now that a companion was there with her.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike was caught offguard by the intensity and suddenness of it all, the door swinging open and the subsequent pull inside the cabin and the abrupt closeness of an embrace. Certainly it wasn't something that she would have expected from Kyla--once Heike was able to figuratively take a step back and discern that, yes, it was indeed Kyla. But it was apparent that the letter did not convey the full scope of the vexation that Kyla had needed to endure in this matter.

And upon being released from the hug, and upon surveying the shocking interior of the cabin, it was clear that Kyla had quite severely understated the magnitude of the situation. An egregious amount of blood was splattered on the floor and stained on the walls in the shape of hands, and there were damages to the furniture and the very structure of the main room. Heike was at a momentary loss for words, taking it all in. Her first question would have been how Ferelith had managed to escape her bonds back in the Kinniger Duchy and flee this far, but just the mere sight at this apparent aftermath of the effort Kyla had to undertake to keep her relatively restrained more than sufficiently answered that question.

My gods! Heike..Your so...different..

"Yes," Heike said, still a touch stunned by the suddenness of it all. "Yes, I am."

That It was playing tricks, Kyla said. The demon that was mentioned in the letter. By the Reik crown, an actual demon. Just what in the name of all that was good upon Arethil did Bryn do to Ferelith?? To what end was this wretched and infernal means supposed to strive? Surely even a mind as manifestly twisted as Bryn's own had to recognize the utter madness and folly in engaging in affairs so abjectly wicked. But perhaps Heike afforded Bryn too much credit. Regardless, Heike would never understand it, nor did she care to. She wished only for this nightmare to be over, and for the appropriate justice to be done.

Heike ignored--as difficult as it was--Ferelith's cries from the room beyond the metal door. She knew from before what Kyla had said about the...the thing. The thing which was a full-fledged demon, as it turned out. And once that vile entity was expelled, once Ferelith was herself again--truly and solely herself--then she could gaze upon Heike with her own eyes and her own cognizance and see for herself the woman Heike had always been, the woman shed of the affliction of vampirism, and they could rejoice together, for would not both then have been shed of a terrible scourge?

Heike sat down in the chair across from Kyla, taking her sheathed longsword out from her belt scabbard and laying it across her lap to sit comfortably. And she listened as Kyla continued.

Since her thirst took hold...the demon used it to take control. Heike felt a pang of guilt at this. So much ill had come from a single lapse in vigilance, a carelessness that allowed for this tragedy of Ferelith's affliction of vampirism. Herr Dieter would be scowling with disappointment if he knew.

The fog. Kyla had forewarned her of its unnatural character, but the details she shared now were disturbing, and only underscored Bryn's utter madness for even doing this in the first place--and to her own sister no less. The fog searching one's mind for haunting torments; Heike did not know for certain if her Incorruptibility would guard against such a thing, based on how Ian described it to her. The reading of a mind was not the altering of it--one did not alter a book, say, by the simple act of reading it. But her eyes ought to be protected against foul trickery aimed solely at her. And who knew what other dark, corrupting powers this demon might possess.

Heike took it all in. This, as well as a breath. And started simple.

"I wish our reunion could have been under far better circumstances," she said. "Kyla. You said that you wished you were as a successful in your mission. Does that mean..." She paused. "Do you know of a means by which to exorcise the demon, or has your search for this answer been interrupted?"

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“I found some texts in a few old cult dens I raided a few days ago..Nothing.. Nothing like this..” She said holding her head in her hands. “Until I found this..” She said producing a small black tome. “I know how she did it.” She said with a grim set jaw. She passed the book to Heike.

A strange leather was stretched across the cover. If she was privy to knowing such strangeness she would recognize human skin to be binding the book, but Kyla would not voulenteer the information. What was written within was hard to stomach enough.

“The people Bryn serves wanted a fighting force of unstoppable soilders with the strength of legends. They got that much.” Kyla said leaning forward. “But what they didn’t take into account was why the people that they tortured, experimented on and enslaved would listen to them after being made more powerful. So this was the next stage.” She said gesturing to Fereliths door.

“They began capturing Gunhild and my old gang members. People like us..and trying something new.”

“It seems they made a deal with a demon to help possess these soilders and make them almost a hive mind. The demon is sustained. The heads of department have obedient soilders everyone wins.” Kyla sighed.

“But..No one could host the demon. Even people with our..fortitude.” She would yawn then her fatigue showing through as she looked over another scroll. “But after Ferelith became..Afflicted..” her eyes left Heikes own and found the floor at that statement. “It gave the demon a foothold and bolstered our fortitude to even higher levels it would seem. Gunhild is very important to them now. I’ve run into a few agents, but sense this fog has descended I haven’t even seen my sister herself.

“That scar in her head. It was were they put this..” She said digging into a pile of parchments and pulling out an old stained page.

Drawn there was a metal piece in the shape of a diamond covered in symbols that made people’s skin crawl just by looking at them.

Even if not grasping the meaning it was the mind reacting with instinct in a far more primal way. It just wasn’t right. “Right into her head..So I just have to dig it out..” The slamming resumed once more along with the screams. “Which brings us to now..” She finished.

(I thought I posted three days ago I’m so sorry!!)

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike thought the book to be strange in some manner, but she did not recognize the leather as tanned human skin. She accepted the book, perturbed by the feel of the cover, and did not yet open it. As she listened to Kyla, she stared at the foul tome with a measure of disgust and contempt, for within seemed to be contained the initial catalyst of Ferelith's woes, writings of such evil character that Arethil could only stand to gain from its destruction. Though, even if such wicked knowledge were to be sanitized from the world, Heike had to admit that the resident evil infesting the hearts of people like Bryn would still be there, and would find some new avenue by which to manifest.

Heike scoffed when Kyla said that they wanted a force of unstoppable soldiers. This. This was why Reikhurst offered hope to the world, for it seemed to be solely Reikhurstans who understood the terrible allure of power--magical, political, or otherwise. And what would Bryn and her Ilk do with this "unstoppable" force? The only thing that unrestricted power was concerned with: the acquisition of yet more power. It was an addiction with no end.

The banging and the screaming began again, and Heike grimaced as if a physical pain had washed over her. This needed to end and it seemed, if Heike followed the implication Kyla laid out, that this "demon" was contained within that horrid metal diamond, and that said diamond needed to be removed.

"Just have to dig it out," Heike repeated. "Yet this is sure to be easier said than done. I will assume that Ferelith managed to remove the shackles and rings used to keep her and yourself in check while in the Kinniger Duchy."

"You will need to restrain her. Now, as I am, I will utterly lack the strength to do so." A hard truth, but one that needed to be said. She no longer had the unholy might of vampirism necessary to stand toe-to-toe with a Wolf. Human, for all the virtues and limitations thereof, as Ian had said.

"Kyla," she said, steeling her face to speak another hard truth. "We need extract this demon from Ferelith. We cannot allow her to escape with it still controlling her."

Yes, she already had. But now they had her contained again, and the responsibility once again was upon Heike and Kyla to ensure that Ferelith could do no harm and take no lives. And if they could not stop her...they would have to slay her.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Agreed...I don’t think she would...Want to go on like this if it could not be..Helped..” Kyla managed to say seeming as if the words caused her physical pain. One that did not leave.

“As for her shackles and restraints she ripped off her own arms and kept biting and regrowing her teeth until she chewed through her legs..” Kyla said with a sigh gesturing to a particularly blood soaked part of the safe house.

“I don’t even know what the state of her will be when it is done if we even achieve our goal. Only that if there is a way..It is that..” She stated. Every sentence seeming to wear thin an already thin cord Kyla held to her own sanity. In all honesty she didn’t know how long she had been here. It felt like


Months...

Years..

Pouring over evil ancient text. The kind that really numbed you..and yet Heike stood before her.

As pure as the driven snow.

Her hands clenched.
It was her fault they were even here. Where had she been when Kyla had been brawling with her bloody, shrieking, monster of a sister trying to keep bystanders in city streets safe, or breaking from her from prisons before Bryns forces could retrieve her? Off pursuing her own selfish quest. One that not only failed to help her sister, but also had eliminated most of her usefulness in solving a problem she had helped cause, and now she was ready to kill her sister if she now failed to mend a mistake she had caused.

Kyla bared her teeth in a growl as these thoughts flashed through her mind at a lightening speed. A flashpoint achieved almost instantly.

“She loved you.” Was all she would whisper in her ear as she tackled her to the ground. Drawing Heike’s blade from its sheathe across her lap and severing her head.

Her death instant....

Kyla blinked. She was still sitting in her chair across from Heike. Her sword still across her lap. She looked at her shaking fists slowly opening her hand.

A metal diamond replica she had found in the cult den. She had been going to show Heike so she could know what to look for. She had it clenched tightly enough for it to break her skin. She tossed it to the table quickly like it was a bug. Her logic quickly retaking its place. Everyone had their own journeys.

Heike had her own goals to fulfill and would do so no matter the personal cost.

Ferelith had always known that. It was one of the reasons she had such love for the woman. She had known once her own tasks had been complete she would never stop until she found her. Until she saved her.

Hieke was here now and regardless of her struggles Kyla could endure.

That coupled with the knowledge that should Ferelith be able to be cleansed of this demon she would have a further path to being cured of her further ills helped Kyla calm even further.

“That is something like what we will be looking for.” Kyla said with a deep sigh and barely a glance at the evil thing. The vision of hurting her sisters only true love now shaking her slightly. What was this place doing to her..

 

[Heike Eisen]

As difficult as it was to listen to Kyla speak, the sight of her was worse. She looked haggard. Frayed. Even overmatched, by Heike's estimate. It had to be the heaviest burden Kyla had ever been forced to bear. But this was how the insidious worked, how those possessed of the utmost wickedness conducted themselves, and it was so here. Bryn and her cowardly Ilk would hide from the due justice they knew to be coming to them, preferring instead to hide behind the monster they tried to create out of Ferelith. And it had been Kyla's task to try and contain her sister, to try and find some way of extracting the unholy entity implanted within her. Alone.

Heike did not envy her this. Even now, only so recently entering back into this somber stage with its gruesome play underway, Heike had to distance herself. If she did not maintain a steely demeanor, emotional ruin could well follow. And for Ferelith's sake, whether saving her meant bringing her back or saving her meant stopping that demon still within her for good, Heike could not allow that ruin to happen.

Kyla tossed the replica metal diamond to the table, and Heike glanced to it once it came to a stop. That is what they needed to take out of Ferelith. That is what they needed to remove without killing her in the process.

"Kyla," Heike said, her voice quieter but not softer--such to stave off that ruin. "I cannot imagine what you have been through. But I want you to know that I wish for Ferelith to see me as my true self, as my human self, free of that terrible affliction. I wish for her to see me with her own eyes, uncorrupted by that foul demon. To this end, I will do all that I can for it to be so."

It was an awfully base feeling, but Heike didn't want Bryn to win. She wanted to witness a Ferelith liberated from the now two afflictions ailing her, her vampirism and her demonic possessor. Even if Bryn ultimately evaded their wrath and their justice, if this came to pass then she would forever know defeat all the waning days of her miserable life.

"Please, tell me when you are ready."

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Tomorrow. I..I need rest. Watch her please.” Kyla said with another yawn.

“Don’t speak with it..It’s worse than you think and that’s with full knowledge your talking with a demon before hand.” She continued with a grateful sigh as she slouched into a destroyed bed heavily. Her eyes were closed as she found sleep in a near instant.

Her tattoo gave off a gentle glow that mingled with the sparse lantern light. “Heike...Love..” The voice whimpered softly. “I’m so hungry..Sister can’t feed me because her blood would strengthen the demon..” She whispered her voice seemingly growing more pitiful by the second.

“But your mortal blood will feed us just fine..It screams to us..” She whispered her tone and pitch hitting a pitiful climax her true loves voice would never take.

Ferelith had been many things in their time together. Pitiful was one that had never come close. “Please love? Don’t you love me?” She asked.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! She isn’t here! It’s just more of your stupid tricks!” A new tone far more familiar cut off the whimpering tirade.

One would almost think two people occupied the cell. “Oh this isn’t me or my friends..” The voice responded.

“She’s there. I can smell her. So can you. If your going to be tiring I’ll just go back to banging our head into the door and screaming. It would be less painful than this.”

“She’s a vampire you stupid...” Ferelith shot back.
“Ok. Back to the door banging we go..” came the voice with a yawn.
“Wait..”
“I’m liiisstteenniinngg..”

“Whoever is out there is human. And if you say it’s Heike then that means....” She sounded haggard like Kyla.

The tone of someone forced to carry a heavy load for too long.

“She knows the cure to vampirism..Oooo..bit of a snag that..” The voice chirped. “Being a hybrids the only reason I can even be in your sweaty meat suit, and the only real value you have to me..” She didn’t need to finish the thought. The moment of silence undoubtedly serving as her response.
“Why are you doing this..” She finally asked almost sounding too tired and frustrated to care.

“It’s a living. The job market here is murder. And you think YOU live with cut throats.”
“Your not funny.”
“Charming though maybe?”
“Get out of my head.”

“Your not being fair. Don’t worry I’m sure I’ll grow on you..”

“...”

“I said I’m sure I’ll grow on you!”

“....”

“Because how the scar..”

“...”

“Got bigger..”

“..,”

“Your sister thought my jokes were funny.”

“I once saw her set in stitches watching a baby deer trying to shield its wounded mother while hunting dogs tore them apart. Tell your tale marching off a cliff.”

“You don’t think that’s funny?”

“Fuck you.”

“Well foul language aside I think your just being arbitrary.”

“So.”

“So that’s not fair!”

“Good. Fuck you.”

“Do you even know what arbitrary means you stupid meat slab?”

“....No..”

“Then how do you know it’s good that your being it!”

“It’s making you this angry.”

“That’s it! Back to the door.” The voice said with an angry sniff.

Ferelith’s voice did not respond as the pounding began once more.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike nodded. Kyla put into words what she had been thinking, what had she been seeing in Kyla's haggard expression. It seemed as if she had gone a full year without so much as a wink of sleep. It had been years since Heike could truly feel something similar again, the need for rest, its vital importance. Yet it had come roaring back once her humanity was restored and she had welcomed it.

And now Kyla needed a healthy dose of it before...before what was sure to be a harrowing ordeal. But it needed to be done. One way or another, neither Heike nor Kyla could allow the wickedness of Bryn to prevail. When it was done--and hopefully having gone as well as Heike and Kyla wished for it to go, with Ferelith liberated and doing well--Heike further hoped that neither Kyla nor Ferelith would hold any reservations about ending Bryn for good. She was their sister in all but name and happenstance of birth alone, and by Heike's reckoning she had been nothing but a source of misery for them. Perhaps Kyla and Ferelith would have lived dramatically improved lives were it so that Bryn had never been born. Perhaps they never would have needed to commit all their past crimes for which they had needed to atone.

Heike rose from her seat and secured her sheathed longsword to her belt again. And as Kyla fell almost immediately to sleep, Heike went to stand beside the locked door. She crossed her arms and leaned her back up against the wall, like a jailor who had nothing but time to fill.

She heard what was going on beyond the door. The back and forth conversation as if there were two distinct individuals imprisoned therein. Yet, for all Heike knew, it could simply be the demon talking with itself, making it seem as though Ferelith still held some awareness and could speak on her own. Heike ignored what she could, and weathered what she could not--like the mention of her being a human again, that the thing knew of it. Heike's nostrils flared. If this unholy demon robbed her of the joyous moment of showing her true human self to Ferelith, made light of it...

Heike stopped herself from going too far down that road of thought. Don't allow this wretched thing power over you.

And so Heike stayed quiet. Heeding Kyla's advice, she said not a word.

Her task now was to rid Arethil of this creature.

When the time came.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

She awoke with a start. Her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “You didn’t..” Kyla began to ask before her eyes unnarrowed and her brow unfurrowed.

Heike wasn’t the sort to not take advice.

She doubted she had said a word the entire time. The demon was a hard thing to ignore when it had you all to itself, but Kyla had rarely met men or women like the knight before her. Her mind a steel trap.

Refusing to release something once it latched closed. It had been so as long as Kyla had known the woman. Her human condition before her was proof enough.

She sighed sitting up. She didn’t look much better. Undoubtedly her slumber had been far from peaceful, but needed none the less. “So..” She said sitting up with a yawn.

“Are you ready?” She asked gesturing towards the dented door. The damage seemed to have only increased as Kyla stood. She began to approach before there was a knock at the door that caused her to freeze.

“Kyla?” The voice was smooth and soothing. The kind of calm female voice that many craved. True love and peace seemed to flow from it. “Kyla? Child?” Kyla slowly unfroze turning to the door.

“M-mother?” She whispered in disbelief. “Yes Mechna. It is me.” She said speaking Kyla’s true name for the first time. Even Ferelith did not call her by her true name. The crimes attached to it from her earliest years were...atrocities..Many knew that name and reached for the noose or the axe.. Heike herself may have heard such things. Kyla and Ferelith had loved much longer than what their apparent age would lead many to believe.

Despite not realizing there was no way the voice could have naturally heard her whisper from the door let alone outside of it, Kyla turned towards it. “Mother..You..” She said walking to the door. “I know..Open the door child and all will be explained. It’s so cold out here..” She spoke back. Kyla nodded like this was making perfect sense.

In almost in a trance..

Her hand reaching to open the door.

 

[Heike Eisen]

It had been hours. And time as it usually did during long stretches of guard duty (and this was guard duty of a sort) melted into a thing that had a definite start, a definite end, but an indeterminate middle. But that end had come when Kyla, quite forcefully, awoke.

Heike shifted her attention. Unfolded her arms and stood off from the wall beside the door. The question that Kyla was asking came out half-formed.

"No, I did not. I said not a word." Kyla's advice on that matter had come twice, here and back when it this whole dreadful affair was uncovered back in the Kinniger Duchy. Speaking to this thing, this creature which was not Ferelith yet had in a manner of thinking stolen her body, was folly. Putting aside the stark fact that it was an unholy demon, it was her enemy. Their enemy. And there was no guilt or innocence left to ascertain. It had already been done, and there was but one sentence for the wicked entity.

As Heike had these thoughts, the demon beyond the door spoke again with a sickeningly sweet tone. And Kyla, despite having just awoken from her rest, was immediately transfixed. A simmering alarm brewed within Heike, eyes opening wider and brows raising, as Kyla seemed taken in. By the Reik crown, Heike could not say if her Incorruptibility was saving her or if this tone, these words, had been the key to deftly unlock and undo the resolve Kyla had left, but she was at least glad that not both of them were subdued by the sinisterly alluring words of the fiend.

Heike stepped in front of the door.

Tried to gently guide Kyla's reaching hand down and away.

And said, "Kyla. No. Not yet."

Opening that door now, without both of them completely dedicated to the cause, would be ruin.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

She blinked.

Her hand paused and fell back to her side.

It shook slightly before she stayed it with her other hand.

“I’m not sure I can do this..” She whispered. But help was here. It had to be done. She had to leave this place. One way or another. Silence was at the other end of the door. The quietest it had been in the cabin to date.

The odd combination of the weight of things to come, and yet total tranquility in that very same instant. Kyla glanced at Heike. “I’ll either spear her to the ground or walk by her stomach. That usually holds her long enough when I’m alone. Until she starts crawling up the blade but..with you it should be more effective.

If I can not I will attempt to tackle her and pin her.” Kyla explained. “Don’t not try to aid me in restraint your only goal is her head. Cut off the top of it if you can. Just get that thing out. She will recover or she will not. But it will be finished.” Kyla said bitterly.

“Now ready your self..knight.” She said with a grim smirk and a quick wink.

 

[Heike Eisen]

It worked, and a not so subtle wave of relief rolled through Heike. Had the worst come to pass, if Kyla had been taken in completely by the right set of words spoken by this demon (and whatever sinister sorceries it might well be employing) then the fates of all three of him would have been ill indeed.

I'm not sure I can do this..

"You can, and we must." Small offering of encouragement as it was, but any and every advantage would help. This was a being of terrible unholy power, and it was infesting Ferelith who, all by herself, was possessed of great strength.

Kyla laid out a plan, and Heike gave a terse nod of concurrence. Once through that door, they needed to commit to violence of action, and commit to it with everything they had. She'd but one moment, here in the immediate wake of Kyla saying it, to feel the dread and pain of actually focusing her intent on lopping off half of Ferelith's head. Nauseating to even consider, despite knowing of Ferelith's potent regenerative ability.

Heike drew her longsword, the quiet and familiar whisper of steel leaving the sheath a sound that was comforting amidst the anticipation. Held the blade low and back, easier for it to slip through the doorway.

She shifted her gaze. Eyes to the door. And with a breath, she was committed.

"On your mark, Kyla."

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Alright. Let’s go!” Kyla yelled holding a hand for Heike to stay back. She opened the door slightly only to preemptively slam her shoulder into it slamming it closed as a new dent was put into the door.

Instead of any signal or word she threw the door open. Her sister was usually only stunned briefly.

Every millisecond counted. She only hoped Heikes instincts would serve her in having her follow just as quickly. Tackling her sister Kyla would wrestle her to the ground.

“Heike! Now!” Kyla yelled as Ferelith began to buck against her and break free!

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike followed in quickly after Kyla, the two of them pushing through the funnel of the doorway with the speed and ferocity necessary for this task. Indoor combat was an entirely different beast than combat out on a typical open field, or any outside battlefield for that matter. The extreme tightness hindering the effectiveness of many types of weaponry, sharp angles and corners and obstacles concealing any number of threats, the immediate closeness of it all in combination with the highly limited number of combatants. This all resulted in a shocking ordeal that was frenetic and deathly intimate. One that Heike...highly disliked.

Kyla speared Ferelith with her shoulder. Brought her down. Heike got into position beside them and shifted her feet into a solid stance and raised her sword. Normally in swordsmanship, unnecessary motions that made obvious your intent were terrible form. But Heike did not have the luxury of knowing just how much force she would need to put behind her swing, and counting on a second attempt was wishful thinking at its worst.

Heike! Now!

She wished she could have had the time to apologize to Ferelith. She wished she could have known without doubt that Ferelith would even hear such an apology. But, if all went as she and Kyla hoped, then she still could do so...once Ferelith was liberated from the demon's influence.

Heike saw her mark on Ferelith's head and swung her longsword in a brutal arc down toward it.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Damnit!” Kyla lost her grip in the last second leaving Ferelith to pop up and lunge for Heike aiming to pin her to the wall. Her claws scraped against the woman’s armor as she slammed her back. A vicious grin forming across her features revealing her teeth.

“Looks like you get to tear your love apart. How nice. Some people never get closure li-.” Her words were snatched away as Kyla rolled and grabbed her ankle yanking her away and slamming her into the wall opposite like a club. “We aren’t finished yet demon.” She spat standing up fully. “And I’m the one you should be more concerned with.”

Ferelith responded by kicking Kyla in the face and sending her hurtling towards Heike missing her by inches as Kyla slammed into the solid stone sending a crack up the wall. “Beg to differ sister.” The demon cackled as it launched itself at Heike once more. Using her strength she would once more try to pin the knight to the wall. “Now..Where were we..” Her glowing eyes stared into Heike’s own. Before traveling down to the necklace. “You kept it..” The demon said. The voice was the demon, but the tone was different. Her one of her eyes glowed blue.

A sharp contrast to the pupil-less darkness of the other. “Back down. I haven’t finished with my turn yet.” The demon said in its usual tone. “I missed you..” The voice was Fereliths once more. Even if it was a ruse..The demon was not moving. It’s hands pinning the woman to the wall shaking.

Conflicted.

Kyla was slowly recovering and drawing her knife. If she wanted to save Heike and her sister she would have to wait for the perfect moment.

 

[Heike Eisen]

The wind was knocked out of Heike. And here in the moment of being slammed back into the wall of Ferelith's containment room was the first--and most stark--reminder of her renewed mortality. Such a blow she could have easily shrugged off as little more than an annoyance with the strength provided by her former Slaughtern vampirism. But now she felt the reverberations of blunt force throughout her body, the tightness in her chest, the utter demand for breath that was no longer merely an option.

Small victories: her sword she still had in her grip and she was still on her feet. Still in this fight.

Kyla's intervention was short-lived, certainly not long enough for Heike to pull herself away from the wall before she, once again, was pinned to it. Through the visor of her helm she saw the changing colors of Ferelith's eyes, heard through the tinny steel the apparently dueling lines of speech, and Heike forced herself to think nothing of it. So long as the demon was present nothing could be trusted. The only way to know for certain that it was Ferelith--truly Ferelith--was to exorcise that fiend from her once and for all.

Keep up the fight, no matter the odds, and stay true.

Heike, with no word of reply, snapped her head forward to try for a headbutt, seeking to bash the metal of her helm against Ferelith's forehead.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“You bitch!” Ferelith screeched as her head snapped back. Kyla lunged forward trying to cut off the top of her head.

Ferelith dodged to the left. The blade only claiming her ear. It began to return shortly after. Kicking her away but Kyla kept hold of her leg.

Slamming her elbow into the knee joint and snapping it like a twig. Pinning her to the wall by her throat Kyla turned to Heike. “End this!” She yelled as her sister thrashed about shredding her restraining arm with her claw like fingers. She bore the pain grimly.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike pushed herself off of the wall as Kyla lunged. Got her longsword up as Kyla slammed and pinned Ferelith's body to the wall. And she turned her head and saw through her visor the woman she loved. The woman who had seen past the monster she had been twisted into by the Slaughterns.

Heike's fingers curled about the hilt of her weapon. Her grip tightening to secure it as soundly as she had been trained to do.

Her mouth was made thin by the burden of duty and the pain of necessity.

I'm sorry, Ferelith.

And Heike swung her longsword upward in a diagonal strike, once again aimed at Ferelith's head and at the particular scar thereupon.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

The blade struck true. The sound of blade cutting flesh completely overwhelmed by the screech of agony that tore from Fereliths throat. Her body slumped to the floor. The entire top part of her head starting at the scar gone.

A hand clawed it’s way out of the wound. Like a twisted, disgusting magicians trick A being shrouded in shadows began to pull itself from her wound. “No! This was my chance! Do you know what you stupid humans have done! You mud filled meat suits! You insects!” It screeched as it seemed to fade as it pulled itself fully free. “I curse you! I curse you both to agony eternal should you...” It faded fully as Kyla spat where it had been.

“Demons..” She said scathingly as her mind seemed to catch up with her body. Her sister! She rushed to Ferelith’s body. Blood was everywhere...”She should be healing in a moment..Head injuries..can take a bit..” She said with her confidence wavering even in her tone.

“So come back..No need to keep us waiting lazy girl..” She continued gently picking her up in her arms. The time continued to pass. Ferelith’s body already seeming to grow more limp..

“Any..Any minute now..”

Nothing.

“No...”

Her body remained limp.

“No..nononoNONO!” She held her still limp sisters body close. “Not after everything..Everything I did! You don’t get to leave me here with her! She can’t be all I have left..Please sister..” She wept then. The outpouring of sorrow was immense. The pain was almost spoken falling just short of plain common. It remained that way for many minutes. Finally she halted and took a deep breath. Her mind a runaway carriage she had just regained the reigns to.

There was time for mourning.

But now there were other threats to deal with.

She welcomed the feeling and pain slowly dulling as her mind began to work on the problems at hand. Blissfully ignorant of the hurricane raging in the very back of her mind.
She laid ferelith down gently and began to stand. Her sisters one clouded blue eye still open.

She moved to close it but seemed unable to bring herself to touch her.

The physical touch shattering the fragile stability she was trying to fortify. She placed her hand on Heike’s shoulder before slowly limping out of the holding cell. Her breathing becoming less labored and her limp less severe by the step.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike stepped back and brought her longsword into an Inside Left stance once the shadowy hand came crawling out from the wound. The demon lamented its woes in an earthly, petty way before dissipating--and good riddance. Heike was no authority on the occult, the supernatural, the otherworldy or the demonic, so she could not truly say if the demon was dead, effectively dead through banishment or other means, or if that fading was a trick of some kind. But she had her trust in Kyla's knowledge of the creature, of Bryn and her Ilk, and that was enough for the present.

A cloth from a pouch upon her belt to clean the blade of blood. With a practiced and natural swing of her arm, Heike then sheathed her longsword. And she took off her helm and hooked it to her belt and crouched down by Kyla's side, the two of them both watching with anticipatory bated breath for Ferelith to be roused.

"Yes. A bit," Heike said. Idle agreement and commentary, for her heart and soul were both focused on Ferelith, on watching her eye and waiting for that first glimmer of life restored--liberated from the demon's grasp.

Her regenerative ability was a marvel.

It was.

It was.

Any..Any minute now.

Heike rose when Kyla did, keeping her gaze on Ferelith held in her arms. That gnawing anticipation was giving way now to a chilling concern, an outright worry that furrowed her brow and twisted her mouth into a frown. She looked from Ferelith to Kyla and to Ferelith again.

No...

"What," Heike blinked rapidly. "What do you mean, no?"

But it was clear. Through Heike's disbelief it was clear. Something was not right.

Heike brought a hand up to her forehead, the tips of her armored fingers just barely gracing skin. Thoughts and fears went through her mind as Kyla wept. That there had to be some kind of unforeseen delay of her regeneration, and everything would still be all right in but a few more moments. That there was a trick at play, some sinister parting "gift" from the demon, which was holding Ferelith in stasis. That Ferelith was still in there, somewhere, could still be saved with just a little help from a healer.

Yet Heike's fear was mounting: that she had indeed done her duty, and that it included the slaying of the woman she loved.

Kyla set Ferelith down. Briefly touched Heike's shoulder, to which Heike had little reaction. And she left the room.

Heike slowly descended down to one knee where Ferelith lay. She with steady hands now quite accustomed to intense stresses undid the clasps of her gauntlets and pulled them off and set them down. Bare hands. And she leaned forward slightly. Reached over. Touched Ferelith's cheek.

And spoke with what hope remained her true name, "Gunhild...?"

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Fuck!” She awoke with a start. Total darkness. She was laying on a hard surface but as she felt about it was almost like water. Deep black water.. A woman sat across from her.

“Heike?” Ferelith said beginning to rise to rush towards her.

“No child.” The woman smiled the same way Heike always did. A smile that spoke of slight reprieve from her pain rather than relaxation. It always made Ferelith want to hug her.

“I appear as whomever you find most comforting. This “Heike.” Must be very dear to you.” She continued.

“So who are you..” Ferelith asked hands already clenching to fight.

“Nothing of this world. Not to worry. No demon or mortal will find you here. And if they did I would expect they would be in your same predicament.” She looked at her nails absentmindedly.

“And what predicament is that pray tell..” Ferelith questioned sitting up. It seemed darkness extended indefinitely in all directions.

“Well. Your dead. Very dead. Wet yourself too when it happened if I remember correctly.” The woman responded thoughtfully.

“So what happens now..” Ferelith continued to question even if she slightly reddened at how flippantly her loss of bowel control had been tossed out. “Gunhild. You’ve been here so many times I think you already know. You and your kind are the closest people I have to friends. Most I see once. I’ve watched you and your sister grow up in a sense. You usually have returned by now. I rarely get a chance to say hello.” She sighed.

“So this amount of time. I’m guessing this recent death was particularly....taxing. Or maybe you don’t come back. In which case..”

“I’ll pass to the other side?” Ferelith asked a slight hint of hope in her voice.

“Oh child..” That sad smile played across her face once more. “There is no other side. This is all there is for you. Prices for power are always paid wether that power was asked for or not.”

“So I’m stuck here..” She couldn’t keep the panic from her tone.

“Or not. Maybe you go back a few minutes from now. It’s not in your hands. So. Relax. This might be your only chance to truly die for centuries if you do pull through this. Are you not tired?” The woman asked. She had no opinion. She was neither pushing Ferelith to live or die. Just presenting the facts. “Maybe a little..” Ferelith finally relented remaining seated.

Not even a glimmer of life entered Ferelith’s eye. She remained limp and unmoving. The once beautiful young woman. A princess in times long gone lay broken before her. Beaten, twisted, and finally shattered by the world. Her mouth hung open blood draining from the corner.

It was at that moment the front door withstood the force of a massive weight slamming into the heavy oak.

Kyla stood drawing her own sword.

“Heike! It’s back!” She yelled. Not realizing or caring that Heike had not been with her in her stay at this safe house.

In all honesty Kyla didn’t even know what it was. It stuck to the fog and hunted like a vigilant predator. It used faces, names, visions, voices..But kept its own true form a secret.

It had never entered the house.

But something about the expulsion of the demon left a strange feeling in the air. Kyla felt as if the rules might have just changed.

 

[Heike Eisen]

It was a long, quiet moment.

Full of stillness.

And Heike during the while had drifted down to sit on the floor, her head lowered in respectful reverence and sorrow, the full weight of the latter not quite falling upon her yet. It almost never did, not after she had seen her first dear brother-in-arms die in battle. No, the sorrow was patient, and it would come when Heike least expected it, in the darkness and silence of some night not too far into the future, maybe the morrow and maybe a little further on, but it would come and it would be devastating and it immediately upon arrival it would begin to take its full toll and it would not stop until all had been paid. And then, usually before the dawn was even a glimmer on the horizon, it would leave her with another puncture through her heart, and another memento to carry.

Heike! It's back!

Heike's eyes snapped open, and briefly a rage unbefitting a knight boiled in her veins for this creature that had the audacity to disturb this solemn moment. With a drilled quickness, she donned her helm once more and fastened her gauntlets back onto her hands. She drew her longsword, a light whisper of steel as it left the sheath, and she stormed out from Ferelith's holding room and into the main room of the cabin.

She stopped close by to Kyla. Eyed the room with precise glances.

"If this demon would dare show itself," Heike said, "I would thus see Ferelith avenged."

Heike did not know if her mundane arms and armor would be enough. But such was detail fit for the wayside. Because she try.

By the Reik Crown, she would try.

Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

The door shook. The sound of a massive beast throwing itself at the heavy door with reckless abandon. Kyla’s eyes were devoid of anything.

It was as if her very soul had left her body. She looked with the cold glare of someone with no humanity left to aid her facade. She did not even spare a glance at Heike as she seemed to time the thuds. Throwing everything she had into the door to meet its next thud and shattering the door off its hinges.

The creature was nothing that could be described. Some what a snake, somewhat a wolf, some what a human. It seemed it took both the ugliest, and the most advantageous of each species on full display. A hissing growl met Kyla as it gathered itself up off the ground.

“Monster. I will tell you to leave only once or I will start breaking everything inside that disgusting hide.” She growled just as deeply. It readied for a lunge. “So be it.” She dropped her sword and cracked her knuckles. Her hands clenching and unclenching in anticipation. It lunged and the battle was joined. Meanwhile it seemed another demon was making itself known. Small hands would spring from the ground and move to snatch Heike and drag her away. If successful she would find herself pinned to the ground as a young girl would pull herself from the shadows.

“Hieke?” Ferelith’s voice. The facade was incomplete however. Heikes purity not allowing the demon to take her form, and left the voice sounding like it was coming from the bottom of a well rather than its usual realism.