Privet RP 2

[The Eternal Chronicler]

LuvDragon

Of all the things she expected, direct physical aggression was not one of them. As Astrid charged her, the matriarch took note of the diminishing flames and although she raised a hand to intercept the flying kick, it was unsatisfactory and she quickly found herself sprawling from the impact. True to her nature however, she was quick to rise back to her feet and turn with retaliation of her own, and in a single sweep of her hand, an arcing series of lightening streaks falling from the ceiling and weaving out in Astrid's direction.

"You're holding back." She observed, raising an eyebrow. "You could have finished me by now... why haven't you?"

[LuvDragon]

Astrid wasn't really expecting to land the blow. Nor was she expecting Emily of accusing her of holding back. It was true that she didn't like to fight. But could she really have finished her off so quickly? That brought up another would she? Al the could, would, should questions wouldn't do her any good if she didn't do something fast.

Emily was already striking down with another eclectic attack from the ceiling this time. Astrid gasped ad yelped at the first of the attack stick, leaving a slight fleshy singed smell in the air. But as they lighting raining down, she rolled under a few burning tables.

"Fine, you want me to end this so badly... I will" She was angry and unsure. All she knew what the woman was right. Maybe in all her fears she had been holding back. Astrid let out a slow sigh before rolling out from under the table , trying to blast Emily with all of the fire she could manage to conjure.

[The Eternal Chronicler]

LuvDragon

Emily's eyes widened - not with alarm, but with excitement as the gush of flame reached to put her to the torch. She responded rather simply, a rush of wind extending from her body to keep the flames at bay between them, though her resistance slowly began to fade back. "Rage." She purred, her defensive gust still holding. "Your power ascends with your descent into darkness. Fascinating..."

With that however, her stance faltered and her wind barrier fell, leaving her in the inferno for several moments with an ear-piercing shriek before she fell to Astrid's raw force, leaving behind only a pale blue image of herself which looked down on her burnt body with a quiet sigh. "Well, that was... anticlimactic." She chuckled, wandering back to sit at the table at the library's center. "I must commend you. You're learning quickly." The image nodded. "You should go. I doubt you would want to be in my company much longer." She offered with a knowing smile. "Do send Kalrael my regards?"

[LuvDragon]

Astrid yelped as the woman before her burst into flames. Emily seemed to be so much stronger than her yet she was killed so easily. "I am not deciding into darkness. I will not become my sister." But even as she said those words, she knew better. Killing for any reason was wrong. If if one had to kill then killing to stay alive had to be the better of reasons. Still, she was the one who came looking for a fight.

She looked down as her hands as she put out the flames once more. "I guess. It was just a charm. The only real magic I used was a half baked protection spell." in truth, just using the charm her grandmother put on her hands was more than enough to start waking the inner witch. Old forgotten and sirpressed memories where starting to surface.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you knew Kalkael." Astrid added as she turned for the exit. "After all, he did say this was his home once."

[The Eternal Chronicler]

LuvDragon

The only exit from the library had also served as its entrance; the very mirror now looking out into the entrance hall that Astrid had come in from. Emily's bluish silhouette gave a quiet chuckle at the witch's assertion but shook her head. "Darkness and villainy are not always the same." She offered sagely, all traces of malevolence gone from her voice. "If you've seen Kalrael at all, you should know that. I wasn't always... well..." She paused for a moment before indicating the charred corpse that had challenged the fledgeling witch. "I wasn't always that, you know. Eight hundred years ago, I wasn't much different from you. A young witch learning her own power, trying to take on something leagues beyond herself... I told you the castle demands sacrifices."

"I thought to sacrifice the castle to itself. It wasn't always the same. I stumbled into the library, found its shelves stocked with more magic than I could have imagined, more power and I thought I could use that to my advantage. I was wrong." She shrugged, conjuring up a small ball of sparks in her hand that seemed to hold no effect whatsoever on the material world around her. Again, she cast a knowing glance to Astrid. "Even if I still begrudge him killing me three times, Kalrael Lekira is a good man. But I shouldn't hold you up. I do have one question though... what's this about a sister?" She wondered, raising an eyebrow.

Clearly, though the image was not the monstrous matriarch in whole, the drive for knowledge had not been induced by her corruption.

[LuvDragon]

"My sister is not up for discussion!" Astrid quickly snapped. If she would hurt the apportion more then she would. But as it were, there wasn't anything more she could do to Emily. Not as much as she didn't want her talking about Amanda, she liked the way she talked about Kal even less. "I think you have a miss guided perception of dark. I don't think he is either. I think he is just scared to feel anything anymore."

Three times... did she really say Kal killed her three times? " If you devoted yourself to evil then I'm sure it was well justified to stop this place." With that Astrid turned. She was trying to get into her head. Worst was the fact it was starting to work. "I have another matriarch to kill." She sighed, not looking forward to another fight.

As the fire reached an untouched shelf, the flames would flair sending a renewed waive of heat through the room. "I need to go before I get trapped." with that she started walking once more for the way out of the place.

[The Eternal Chronicler]

LuvDragon

Even as Astrid passed beyond the mirror and back into the entrance hall, Emily's last words to her could be heard; "I meant no offense, but I do hope you can succeed where I've failed."...

Of course, since she had died, she had never been given a choice, and perhaps it was best that remain a secret, she realized. The longer Astrid realized it wasn't their own doing, the longer she could hold to the illusion...

As the entry hall reasserted itself onto reality through much the same warping sensation as the library had minutes ago, a distinct sound of breaking glass and a soul-rending screech could be heard as the still-living soul of the fallen matriarch was altogether rent apart in the aftermath of her demise. The reflections in the Pride and Wrath mirrors showed nothing, nor seemed to offer any paths into their respective holds; clearly, the plan to come to the rescue was not going to work out after all, nor were Kimberly or Kalrael doing as well as Astrid had predicted.

Three mirrors remained unoccupied and unbroken; Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth....

[LuvDragon]

Once back in the main hall, Astrid all but collapsed into the floor. The cool floor was welcoming to her aching body. But as she looked around she could tell, only a few paths remained. She was behind it seemed.

Hmm.. Gluttony. Well, she was a glutton for punishment. Sloth, she was unwilling to learn about herself or her powers as it were. So... envy. She didn't really envy anyone or anything. she cherished her sister but that isn't really the same.

"Envy it is..." Astrid moaned as she slowly picked herself up and headed for the mirror. Unlike the first she didn't hesitate to walk through. But she wasn't so sure what she would find. Greed was trapped in a library. So what would envy be trapped in? Would this be another female? Somehow she wouldn't be surprised if it was.

[The Eternal Chronicler]

Darkness. Nearly black at first, but not entirely solid. In the excessively dim light, only the crimson glow of a pentagram scribed into the floor seemed visible at first, obstructed in part by the silhouette of another that quickly faded, leaving the mark clearly visible. After nearly a full minute to adjust however, the remainder of the room became visible. Eight pillars surrounding an inlaid circle wherein the pentagram had been inscribed, but the unholy ward was the only source of light in the room; the shadows beyond each of the pillars were indeed solid black. A faint giggle sounded throughout the room, greeting Astrid with nothing short of an eerie laugh as the silhouette stepped out from a shadow, wearing barely more than enough to avoid an explicit image, but without incredibly much to show behind it either. Be it by a trick of the dim light, but she even lacked the pale complexion of the vampire-kin the castle itself had become home to.

"How naive." She giggled, her every word seeming equal parts seductive and poisoned - and both in great measure. By comparison, Emily had been remarkably subtle - if indeed subtlety was her goal to begin with. Clearly, the same did not apply here. "It takes someone of impressive fortitude to come as far as you have." In the blink of an eye, the figure vanished, reappearing behind the witch with a single finger tracing behind her shoulders before shifting again out of reach, eyes seeming to shimmer with anticipation. "But even the most fortuitous have their falls, and you my dear... know yours all too well." She giggled again, stepping silently along the shadows again.

"But you're not here for small-talk, are you?" She purred questioningly. "No doubt you plan on spoiling any chance of entertainment before you make me kill you? Do you even know who I am?"

[LuvDragon]

As she came out of the mirror, Astrid paused. What in the 9 hello did she walk out into. The room reminded her of the room Amanda put together. A shiver ran down her spine. There was something offsetting about the voice. Then again, there was something not right about the half dressed woman before.

"No, I don't know who you are and right now it don't matter." What mattered was getting out of that places as quickly as she could. She didn't like it, not one bit. "And I'm not as naive as you think." She just wasn't told about the so called monsters she would face.

"Getting this over with quickly would be idea." She said with a nod. But her charm was spent for now. Astrid would have to rely on her own powers somehow. Or hope that Kal or Kim would happen by. But with 2 more doors still, she didn't think that would happen.

[The Eternal Chronicler]

"Indeed?" The voice giggled, and for a moment the pentagram in the center of the room pulsed, the darkness of the very air so thick it may as well have threatened to poison the soul. "If you were not so naive, then you would not have come." She pointed out matter-of-factly, stepping out from behind a pillar again with a cruel smirk barely visible in the darkness.

"But you have something to accomplish." She noted, giving a flourish with her arm as a wash of what appeared to be dark purple-and-black flames covered in the wake of the motion. "Something to prove - not to me, not to your friends, not even to you." She beamed, stepping closer. "But to prove it, you first have to disprove it. Oh, I know, darling." She purred.

"Not the details, maybe, but everyone has their idols. What about yours?" She smiled, skirting just out of reach before vanishing yet again, her voice abruptly heard only as echoes around the room. "Fallen from grace, perhaps?" She did know - or at least she knew more than she should have. As the sigil in the middle of the room pulsed again, another giggle resounded eerily through the room.

"Ah, of course. You're not here for them, nor for us. You're here for her." In that moment, a flickering image of Amanda appeared over the pentagram, but it faded as quickly as it had come - and in its place, the matriarch appeared again. "But you know the truth. You didn't come here to prove you weren't her. If anything, you've proven you are. What does that say about you, dearest, that your desire to surpass the falls in your own blood has led you down such a twisted path?" Her eyes nearly shimmered with delight.

And she was enjoying every second of it.

[LuvDragon]

As the image of her sister formed, Astrid took a few small steps back and quickly shook her head no. "You don't know anything about me. Why would I want to prove I was her? I don't like killing or hunting. I don't even like the arcan." But her reasons for shunning magic was always kept hidden.

Still the woman did hit on a point, why was she really here? Was she really doing this for a reason other than the reasons she told herself. "Do you even know who that is? And to through your question back.... Do you even know who I am?" it was so hard to be brave with the image of her sister staring at her. The person she always looked yo to have fallen so low. Would that be ger fate to.

"you are the proof some people are worth saving. Kalrael saw good in her. So surely she wasn't as dark as her sister. But everyone keeps saying she was on her way. Was it true? Astrid could feel the doubt feeling her. "no... I'm not heading down a dark path. At least not in the since you keep saying. Kalrael believes in me."

[The Eternal Chronicler]

The matriarch laughed a cruel, wickedly-amused laugh as she appeared in place of Amanda's image. "My dear, you wound me!" She mocked, before falling into a confident smirk. "Your sister has informed me well of everything I would ever need to know. After all, I was the one to guide her fall." She smirked again, a sadistic delight playing across her expression.

"The grand monster huntress of the valley." She declared theatrically, even giving a grand sweep of her arm. "So obsessed with her ability to play judge and executioner that she nearly jumped at the chance to destroy a perceived threat to her beloved family." Again, her eyes glistened. Not only did she know; she had orchestrated the whole ordeal. "A pity she had to die, though. She would have made a fine addition here, and imagining the reunion with you two at each other's throats?" She purred with nearly orgasmic glee.

"Oh, what a thrill." She smiled. "You can say anything you like, my dear, but words mean nothing with as much blood as you have on your hands. Your sister died because you made it so. Not by your hand, but you did condemn her to death, did you not?"

"And just think for a moment on what you've done since then." She went on, stepping close and jabbing a finger at Astrid's chest - which carried extraordinary force for her small stature. "In the wake of your ordering your own sister to her death, you even abandoned a friend for dead. A friend who proved invaluable to raising this very castle to its glory. Oh yes..." She purred, delighted. "Your failure resurrected Necross as surely as it will cost your life. And you say you aren't the same... well, perhaps you're right."

In a puff of smoke, again the sadistic matriarch vanished, only to appear behind the young witch, leaning close against her back as she whispered. "But I think we can agree you're no better."

[LuvDragon]

"Astrid... why are you running away from this? " Her grandmothers voice echoed. "CHild, just because you and your sister are twins doesn't mean your powers are the same." the tiny old woman leaned over the child, kissing her lighting on the forehead. "what happened isn't your fault, you just need to be more careful. All powers have a darker side to them."

Astrid slowly shook her head as she stepped away from woman. "Don't touch me!" She cupped her hands to her ears as she tried to drowned out the voice. She didn't want to hear it, not form some monster that couldn't really know what happened, know Amanda. "I never claimed to be better than her. I wouldn't dare." She hissed in replay. But did she truly leave Kimberly? The end of the fight was a blurr. In truth she didn't even remember leaving. Only waking up at home. Still, there was a truth she couldn't run from. She did give the ok to kill Amanda.

'That wasn't my sister." Astrid stood by that fact. The woman looked and sounded like Amanda, but in the end, it wasn't really her. Not in spirit anyways. "My sister was dead already." Astrid's chest tightened as she spoke those words outloud. God it hurt. She still hated herself for even saying those worlds. Even knowing that Amanda was beyond saving. Her entire body started to shake with anger, sorrow, despair.

[The Eternal Chronicler]

The outburst was as predictable as it was petty in the matriarch's eyes, and she began to circle Astrid just out of arm's reach, her steps altogether silent in the gloom. "How curious." She purred, coming in front of Astrid and giving her a look that suggested she found the young witch to be adorably naive. "Has it never occurred to you how very alike your sister and Kalrael are? Face it, Miss Astrid: your fear has long since gotten the best of you~"

"But you have no reason to believe me, so I will let the examples of the past elaborate. Her abrupt leave after meeting your rescuer, sudden and nearly silent, issuing nothing more than a warning. Her acts at the hold where her friends were slaughtered to the last and she betrayed your trust, and all she wanted was to leave. Your sister, so obsessed with her strength... or so she wanted you to believe, and yet she was still formidable. Tell me, do the strongest of humankind break apart and divulge their every moment of shame? No... they retain it, bury it behind layers of anger and loathing. She knew what she had done, and she was silent." She chuckled, returning to her slow circling. "I can only imagine how many secrets Kalrael has kept from you. How long before he suffers a similar fate, hm~?"

"But you are not your sister. Her weakness was in the exploitation of her power and its excessive use. Such an easy flaw to puppeteer, dancing on the very strings woven by the mother of the man who swore to protect you." Kalrael's mother; the mistress of Wrath. "Only when we saw fit to recreate the scene did she finally snap, but she was still very much your sister. Not even the proud warrior she once was, but she died for nothing, because the same woman she wanted to protect had ordered her execution. And now, here you are, to finish the job she started."

"What do you think will happen?" She cooed, stopping for a moment. "The castle was raised, but as it is right now, it cannot fall. A master has not risen to the throne, not yet. My work is done, and the stage is set; killing me will only further the plans you set in motion for me. And when the others are gone, and you see everything fall into place..." She stopped, considering for a moment how to express best what she wanted to say. "Your faith will be tested, my dear. Tested... and shattered. So tell me, do you still have it in you to strike me down?"

Her challenge was an utterly pointless one; Astrid would still be unable to leave so long as the matriarch remained standing. "Or, as I dangle everything you ever wanted in life right before your eyes, will you be willing to walk away?"