Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yes..." Dr. Gordon shook his head, "And that they fall to superstition instead of fact leads me to question the wisdom of coming here... at least the authorities don't bother us though..."

---

"I believe it goes deeper than that Lance. Dr. Gordon and Ulric represent science and magic. They are almost destined to clash. They just happen to have an army of the dead to do it for them." Adrian said quietly, "But Dr. Gordon scares me quite a bit... if that man knew of us, we'd be caught for experimentation... But Ulric is worse... The dead are his puppets, and we happen to make him stronger by our actions if we drain too much from our... prey..."

Belladonna hurried to the window and watched the spectacle that her master's magic was performing. Her eyes widened, enchanted by the dead rising up outside. True, perhaps to an outsider this would be frightening, but to her, it was beautiful. She remembered, though, that she was supposed to be studying and sat down in her chair once again, trying to figure out how much focus would be needed to control her little cat puppet further.

-- Excerpt from The Science of Magic, given to Nicholas by his granduncle at the age of fourteen.



It was dark and quiet in a small chamber. Scrolls and maps cluttered the room - more than that, it could be described as a sea of paper. A crude table sat in one corner, a flat bed hung from the wall on the opposite corner. The room was no larger than eight by fifteen feet wide. The only other decoration in the room was a broken, wooden chair. The small door and the high window were both barred.

Amongst the sea of parchment - or more like, under it - slept a fully-clothed man.

A clanking, metal sound could be heard outside the stone room, and the door opened slowly afterwards. A bald monk, wearing a white, full-body religious habit, wrinkled his nose in disgust as he entered the room. He did not speak, but left the door open when he left.

The light now entering soon woke Nicholas up. He sat up slowly, dumping piles of parchment and a few books off of his self.

Nearly an hour later, the wanderer stumbled into a dining room inhabited by monks. The nearest one wordlessly handed him a plate holding steaming food. Nicholas sat in silence, eating. He had nothing to say to these charitable idiots.

Through a doorway entered a different monk. He wore golden robes, instead of the others' white habits, and a large hat rested on his bald head. He carried a small, wooden chest, and set it beside his guest. Wordlessly, he walked away.

Nicholas opened the chest, examining the letter within. He left with all the things he cared to keep within the day.

((I'm going to just say that my previous post took place in the past. Here is my plot, you may yea or nay:

Nicholas has been hired - by the mayor, perhaps? - to do something about the problem in the town, which has the trice-fold problem of vampires, zombies, and sorcerers. He knows a lot about holy things and demons - like a cross between Constantine and Van Helsing. Anybody disapprove? I can change it if need be. :3))



Nicholas rode into the village on a gelding. The poor creature was exhausted and frightened. Villagers stared at the newcomer with silent, expressionless gazes.

He wandered around, his horse led by the reins, searching for anyone who would show him to the mayor's home.

((Cue mayor. And I know this borrows heavily from Van Helsing - but how else do you introduce a vampire slayer?))

One of the villagers quietly said to him, a hint of fear in his voice, "I'm afraid the mayor isn't here... I'm the clerk, but..."

(curses! we don't have a mayor! As for a plot, the vampires aren't known about, just the zombies and necromancer... The vampires are quiet about their existance...)

"but you know..." Dr. Gordon took a sip of his coffee, "I'm afraid someday a guy'll burst in here and start trying to kill us..."

---

"Almost, my son," Adrian said quietly, "The sun must first be on the horizon before we can leave..."

---

Ulric looked at Adam, studying him quietly, then answered, "Yes. You can bring water up from the well and dump it in the water pit upstairs..." With that, he continued down the stairs to the third floor, which was simply known as 'the ring.'

The doctor looked at his aide incredulously, "You mean you haven't noticed? I thought one of my aides would see them... I know that the villagers do..."