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 Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:47 pm
In mere moments Fenrys had dissipated Sati's rage. This was rather inaccurate in that he had not so much caused the fury to go away, but rather, allowed it to take residence inside himself, renewing the once dwindling anger that fueled even his most basic ability to stand upright. As Sati collapsed, Fenrys whirled around to face Siofris, making contact with his frantic eyes at the same time the gas made contact with his widened (panicked) nostrils. Before Siofris could even stumble backwards in a futile effort to avoid being poisoned Fenrys thrust his hand through the miasma and clutched a handful of Sio's robes and held him from falling over.
"You will get the pleasure of sleep when I allow you to have such things you do not deserve." Fenrys snarled, making it very clear the Archbishop was going to suffer for his black deeds this day. "You will give me answers. And when I deem fit. THEN you may sleep. And when I'm done with you, SHE will grace you with the cold embrace, or perhaps after what she's done, the reprieve of death."
"Fenrys, what I did today was for you." Siofris stammered, trying to appeal to someone who was acting much more beast than man. "Even I could see you were trying to fight a doomed war. I did my best to avert that and aid your efforts today. You even had a brilliant alternative! The Enforcers could investigate the demonic threat, which as we've both just learned is very real!"
"What do you mean? You were in cohorts with that...that demon! That DOG! He killed three of our own and you shed not a tear!"
"I swear! I knew nothing of the demon or his plans! My plans were arranged with a councillor in the Queen's court. A close childhood friend of mine! LaGoupagous! Look there! Those are two of his personal escorts!" Siofris, still hanging pointed desperately at the two guards who had just come through the now ruined entryway. Fenrys wanted to pummel the old man until he could no longer breathe, but he could see he was being genuine. Battling his furious instincts, he spoke once more with gritted teeth.
"Then you'll be more than happy to do a little research. I'm going to find out where those lupine prints outside the church lead. When you awaken, I'm going to send you to that place, and you better pray to the gods that you are still in their favor, because you had better return to me with an archive's worth of information."
"Yes. Yes of c--"
"Shut up." Fenrys spat, pulling Siofris into the floating miasma of sleeping gas, knocking him unconcious instantly. "Lieutenant Lasbard, Corporal DuLane. Go outside, follow those pawprints. I want to know where they lead. Return to me tomorrow morning. Godfrey, have those two lackeys help you bury Corporals Ezralia and Sermus. Everyone else? I'm comandeering control of the church and all it's activities. Anyone affiliated with the Church of Zatalus is to abandon their post immediately and seek shelter and safety within Fort Zeakden. Anyone who disagrees with my ascension to power may leave now." Fenrys' earlier orders to stand down had brought the entire room to a standstill, but instantly everyone burst into motion. Fenrys took a moment to kneel down at Sati's side, examining her wounds, then staring at them with fierce intensity until the blood stopped hemmoraging and the wounds sealed themselves. In this moment, Fenrys saw beyond Sati's flesh and into her heart, and finally understood what had caused her bloodlust. With a whispered "Sati...I'm sorry..." the energy that had kept Fenrys fighting vanished from his eyes and he collapsed to the stone floor, falling into a deep slumber. As he drifted off he thought only of Zeakden, where he would surely awake.
Fort Zeakden, located on the northwestern most edge of Zatalia was unique in two ways. Firstly, it was located at the edge of the safe zone created by Zatalian civilization, putting it perilously close to the bitter colds of the outlands. Secondly, it was a stronghold installed to guard the only mountain road in or out of Zatalia. As such, it was nearly two thirds the size of the royal palace, was incredibly difficult to assault because of surrounding terrain, and made an ideal place or Fenrys to rally all his troops for a desperate bid at survival. Fenrys and Siofris both passed out of conciousness to images of a massive and gruesome war.
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Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:51 pm
“What is this?” A town guard, in the middle of his patrol hours, caught a glimpse of the suspicious confabulation between woman and thing. The man frowned and focused in hopes of deducing whatever its gender was, but the figure was clad in swarthy shadows and its form seemed almost as hazy and inchoate as a wraith’s, fazing between the physical realm and the netherworld. He shuffled to a stance, his heavy armor clanking and grating at its hinges, and readied with soldierly efficiency his short sword which was still hanging from his waist only moments ago.
Sapna commended his training, but feared that the stalwart guard would not fare so well in the heat of battle. “Oh, we are merely discussing matters of politics, but thought it wise not to inconvenience our fellow citizens with our views; we tend to digress into rather heated conversations.”
She had spun the lie quick and nicely, and it rolled off her tongue with such delicacy and innocence that whatever discrepancies there might have been in her words, the guard would be oblivious to it, quite too smitten and light-hearted to even care. “Ah… Y-yes, of course. I’m quite sorry for having incommoded you.” The sheepish guard sheathed his blade and shuffled back out of the alley, but halted, uttered an amused ‘oh’ and turned back to follow generic protocol. “I’ve forgotten to ask your names.”
A golden reflection of his own terror was the last thing he ever saw. Run through, chest punctured, spouting ridiculous amounts of blood. The snow underfoot sloshed as it melted and became tainted with fresh cruor. Whatever weapon had been used against it had felt so strange, neither warm nor cold, but so incredibly sharp, as if it were the pure physical embodiment of the quality itself. His trunk was sectioned, and he toppled to the floor in the clashing of metal. Sapna’s face was broken with fear, and she stumbled to the dead man’s sides, leaning over his face with her hands extended, yet unable to touch to graying skin, and all she could do was quaver from the cold in the dead of night.
“No one must know.” The Prophet was not a creature of many words, but as such he was an efficient orator, supporting his affirmations with the persuasiveness of his actions.“Rise.” When Sapana did not execute the order, he stepped up and moved his gloved hand in a deliberate arc. There was a momentous burst of some indescribable color, and the young woman felt a blade chafe her neck, threatening to cleave her head if she refused to comply.
‘What have I done?’ she asked herself in dismay, glazed eyes still riveted on the corpse in the alley as she was slowly being led away from her snow-battered home.
‘The master sends for you.’ Vaizar had not gotten anything else from the unseen watchman that kept the subsidiary entrance to the opera house inconspicuous and, if failing that, impenetrable to any intruder. He didn’t expect much from a watchdog anyway. The Prophet nodded, a gleam of trapped sunlight escaping from his hood, and promptly proceeded inside the demonic headquarters.
In the main hall, he was intercepted by an oversized arthropod, jittering on its jointed legs as it communicated Ardus’ message directly into Vaizar’s mind. The prophet flinched and withdrew as a reflex. His mask glowered down on the creature, as if to say ‘Give me a warning next time, or you’ll end up pinned behind a glass display’. Needless to say, the Prophet got his point across: he always did. He watched in bland amusement as the insectoid scurried off, but noticed that no one had told him where to find the canine beast of a demon. 'Unreliable pricks'. Vaizar took a guess, and headed toward the ‘dungeon’, if it could be called that way. It was actually only a section of the headquarters with rooms to spare, and each was refurbished with lavish decorations and luxurious furniture to accommodate any of the resistance’s guests.
The Prophet did not want to question Ardus’ summons, but it was a rather big stick in the gears of his plans. It would be precious time wasted, but he couldn’t very well shirk his duties, could he? The Word of the Demons was to be spread, and that fell right into Vaizar’s area of expertise. He quelled the course of his thoughts for a moment, and knocked onto the one door that was closed shut and, from the doorknob’s stiffness, locked. “It is I.”
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:51 pm
"...And did you really have to take these from me?" Andre asked, after finishing his story and catching the clothes Ardus tossed to him. Among these were, for some reason, the robes he'd deposited in the secret castle passage.
"Of course I did. I'm interrogating you. It was a humiliation tactic, alongside the "c**k" thing. I also thought that it would be fun to say it that way, since I would at least get some amusement out of you if it turned out that the only acceptable way to deal with you was by killing you." Andre was embarassed at this. Not only did he fall so easily for such base wordplay, but he failed completely to prevent his body from physically exhibiting his embarassment, making him blush. Andre tried to wrest his sleeves and pants onto him, but the shackles and chains restraining him to the wall made this a fruitless endeavour. The onlooking demon sighed in frustration, then made his way across the makeshift prison cell to unlatch him. "You have two choices," he said, domineering over the relatively diminutive man. "Cooperate with me and I will allow you to continue your research. Refuse and I will kill you now. Die now or take your chances later. It's up to you."
Even Ardus could see the need for his magic in coming times. Zatalia would not support life for much longer and given that it was the most habitable area available, this boded ill for human and demonkind alike. If what Andre had told him turned out to be true, his research would be key to sustaining life as it existed. Andre, not knowing what his captor could possibly be thinking, was baffled. He fully expected to die, or at least be tortured, but here this demon was helping him?
"I... I don't understand."
"Yes you do. I gave you two options. Pick one."
"Well, I want to live, of course!"
"Then it's settled."
The disheveled man wrapped himself up in his familiar, unassuming robes. The feeling of cloth was a welcome alternative to the hard floor and cold metal. "I'm not killing anyone."
"I don't give orders to people who can't carry them out," was Ardus' only reply. "Besides, what would you do? Chuck mist at them? That just puts people to sleep and you can't control it. It just happens when you try to create life."
Andre felt that odd mix of relief that he would not need to kill combined with indignance and brief depression at his abilities being insulted. He even felt his eyes tear up slightly, but managed to stop himself of his own accord, outside his metabolic control. He had figured by now that the unusual nosering he could not remove was preventing him from exercising his powers. While normally not an issue, it was especially jarring to him in such an unusual situation, with a thing indistinguishable from a monster talking to him so casually, despite the situation being far from casual.
After a brief silence, during which Ardus gathered up what documents he had brought in concerning Andre's past, a knock and call came from the other side of the room's only door. Vaizar had apparently returned.
"H-Hey wait. You're not wearing any clothes." remarked the not-so-captive, as his new boss, for lack of a word, turned toward the door.
"I don't need them. None of them fit anyway."
Ardus exited the room and locked the door behind him once more, placing the heavy, metallic key on a small table near it. After a second, verifying Vaizar's identity, the demon lord let himself go, breathing a sigh of exhaustion, and scratching his head near to his right horn, making a strange, hollow clanking sound as his hand collided with bone material protruding from his skull.
"The human in there. I need you to bring him all our forbidden texts, even the ones only those of your rank and myself are allowed view," he added, not checking for any sign of protest, though he was somewhat sure that, even if Vaizar did not show it, he would not be well with such a prospect. "He is no threat, even as far as humans are concerned. Do not harm him. His life is mine, and I will be the arbiter of his life or death." Ardus drew in a toothy yawn, exposing his fanged maw, before he added, "Before I retire, I need a report on where you've been."
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