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Overlord of Night- Shadow
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 Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:01 pm
To the west, the setting sun cast long shadows over the rooftops of the buildings of Eyris. The people of the city were completing their daily business, and going on their way home, to sleep in their beds safe with their families; or, at least, some of them were. Many others, however, would return home to kneel by their beds and weep themselves to the comforting black of unconsciousness. The crisis was over, once again, due to the valiant efforts of the members of FEF. But for many of the citizenry, the pain and the anguish would never go away. It would stay with them for the rest of their life.
A figure stood upon a rooftop, the golden orb setting behind him. The pure white cloak fluttered softly in the wind, revealing clothes that were torn and tattered, little more than rags wrapped around the body, held together by strips of white gauze. One hand rose slowly to his face, adjusting the ornate copper mask over cool grey eyes that swept across the civilians slowly. None of them noticed him. None of them even looked up, away from their daily lives, away from the grind and the work and the rut they had driven themselves into. And for what? A group that had forced their way in, that had overthrown their country's government, that had destroyed their way of life? A soft, high-pitched laugh escaped the man's lips. He would fix that, now wouldn't he? There would be a lesson coming soon, a lesson for those who considered themselves the saviors of this land. They would soon see how wrong they really were.
Here, in this alley. This was a perfect spot. The assassin hopped down into the darkened space; the body was already waiting for him, that of a woman, coming into middle-age but still retaining her features. The knife flashed up, from the assassin's belt into his hand, and he set about his gory work. First her shirt, then the flesh of her body was severed; he was looking for something in particular that he needed, and he was going to collect it. With a careful motion, he cut apart the lungs and throat from the rest of the tissue, removing it from her body, though leaving all else intact... for now.
It only took a few more cuts, and he had the body prepared for his first exhibit. How perfect. He wished that he could stay to see the faces of the Watch that was to protect this town; but he couldn't do so. That would pose too much of a risk to himself, and what he was to do. He would see their faces, soon enough, when they would come to see him personally. For now, a thin wire passed from one building to the next served to anchor the corpse high in the air, and from it hung a short note, the handwriting on it scrawled in a rather pretty script. They had all they needed; and the game had started. From here, it would only pick up speed until it had finally reached the climax.
Across the roofs the assassin fled, holding his gruesome prize close to his chest. He was not seen; he was never seen. To those below, he did not even exist. They were not even on the same plane of existence... he was an artist, and they were the paint with which he would cover his canvas, with a beautiful masterpiece to teach those who did not understand. His lips quivered, then peals of laughter echoed out across the town, eerie and haunting... they didn't sound quite human.
And then he was gone, vanished into the night. Until the next time...
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:01 pm
The dark of night had passed in what seemed like a second's worth of time for someone who just needed every second of sleep they could possibly get. A month had passed since the 3rd anniversary of the FEF clan, a month since that grave ordeal involving Heroes, morphs, and Dark Druids.
And Leon was still taking down the records from those incidents! Too much had happened, and getting it all in one report was proving to be a grueling task. Not to mention there was repairs to be made, in both the walls and people's trust.. the latter being far beyond the former in difficulty.
The darkness of sleep, that which would have taken him away from the stressful duties he was to face was fading, fastly, fastly fading until a sun ray poked itself inside the Lieutenant's window like a playful child attempting to wake an adult. Bright, noticable. Daybreak was here.
Leon shielded his eyes. Not mornin', not yet... he didn't know if he grumbled it out loud or not, but he sure was thinking it.
He was prepared to roll out of bed, slowly and maybe easily go into his armor... when he heard it.
Knock knock knock!
In chainmail only, the Watch member made a dash for the door, answering it. He knew that someone who knocked those three times... they had to be... "Messn'gr? This early? Better be 'mportant..." Leon was still half-asleep upon opening the door to his residence right across the street from his workplace, his hair unkempt, eyes still open halfway...
"Lieutenant, normally, we wouldn't give you the message until you've arrived on duty, but... on the south side of town... there's been a murder..." the messenger stood in the doorway, nervous of what the knight's reply would be. He shifted slightly...
"I see. Be there soon as I can be..." Leon muttered, halfway grumbling again how it was way too early, but... duties were duties. Another murder case. He had grown quite used to these, being here for seven years now... it was surely something he couldn't handle! This time, he'd learned his lesson though. He first dismissed the messenger and then he fitted his trademark black armor on, and then clipped on the violet-shaded cape with the griffon-crest, the thoughts came further. Dun try an' take this 'un on 'lone, strange things be happenin' in Learania lately... it may be somethin' unusual 'gain. Also bring Anri. I wanna be gettin' there fast.
And he was prepared for this to be another battle too. Luckily Anri was in his own stable rather than Leena's. The Watch Lieutenant had an awful feeling he would need his one and only steadfast companion for battle once more.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:07 pm
"You can't blame yourself. Blaming yourself and falling into depression, it won't change anything.
You have to look →forward→. Remember what you have here now.
Just think; if you hadn't come here, you wouldn't have met anyone here from Elibe or anywhere else!" XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}Okay, the early morning watch stinks.
Amelia yawned into her gloved hand and leaned against a chest-high wall that had been conveniently built along the side of the path as she paused in her rounds. She had been designated to perform patrol work from midnight until late morning, and with still some hours to go, Amelia was ready for some sleep. There was still work to do, and even though there was few people going along this path, she couldn't just nap in a bush somewhere... but oh, was it tempting.
Amelia ran her hand through her hair. Things had calmed in the month since the incidents raised by the Heroes and Loki's presence. The townspeople (What a fickle bunch, lot of bloody morons...) trusted them once more, damages were being swiftly repaired, and the guild was back in its place. The dead was still dead... but only so much could be restored.
Amelia had to shake off the temptation to regret what had happened in their final battle, focusing her gaze on a pair of women hurrying into a building off in the distance. Brooding accomplished nothing. "You just look like you're suited to cutting your wrists instead of performing anything worthwhile," Amelia murmured. She ran her gloved fingers against the fletching of one of her arrows; she had left her lance in her room at Fefga's, opting to only keep her bow on her person while on watch. Sometimes you had to slow burglars or possibly kill approaching brigands when you were on watch at the edge of town...
She paused when she heard rapidly approaching footsteps. One of the younger Watch members, one whom she recognized as a message runner, was gunning right for her. Amelia straightened her spine and tightened the strap across her breastplate, holding her bow neatly at her back. "What's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost," Amelia said, watching as the boy panted and leaned on the wall.
"S-Sorry, miss, I... three miles from here, south end of town, there's a murder...! A dead b-body... hanging in th-the air...! People are panicking!"
Amelia's eyes widened, but she recovered swiftly. "Explain more. Start running again; if that's three miles from here, we've got some ground to cover." Without another word, the General sprinted towards south Eyris, the messenger close at her heels.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Graceful Spear}XXXXXXXX"What... I mean is... Being a member of the holy order doesn't mean you can't put your own wants first sometimes. The goddess is supposed to be all‑forgiving, right? You've worked hard and you deserve to do some things that make you happy.
I think she'd forgive you for it."
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:21 pm
Leon had long ago mounted Anri, not that he needed the steed to cover the distance between his own house and the Watch House. With him he'd taken his usual weapon load: his infamous poleaxe, the deadly Killer Lance, and of course the javelin. It wasn't long after he'd even thought of dismounting though that he was already given the orders to check out the mysterious slain person in the south. Couldn't he be given more of a briefing?! Wait, of course not, as he was the only recordkeeper besides Magnet, whom had likely been frantically sending out the messengers to all whom were available to respond.
The numbers 'able' were quite few indeed, so maybe heading out straight to the scene of the crime wasn't such a bad idea.
"Anri, let's go." he muttered. The war horse, proud to be in action (possibly!) took a gallop in a prideful way, as if to let everyone know that he was just as much a battle-hardened warrior as his own rider. And of course he knew what came after being sent into action. Leena. Sugar cubes.
Both very great for motivation.
And on his way to the infamous scene, more and more details flowed in from the messengers to other Watch members, details Leon overheard.
"Body hanging over... parts missing..."
It was only when Leon looked skyward that he saw the sight with his own eyes. What was hanging was once a woman, but now was nothing more than a twisted corpse that had obviously been more than killed. Leon grew disgusted quickly, sending glares all around him. He didn't know or care who's company he was in... "Will ya stop gawkin' at th' lady and get 'er down from tha' place?!" he shouted, a frown upon the Lieutenant's face while his brow furrowed in irritation. "For th' love o' th' Goddess an' Hero Anri... get 'er some lil' dignity in bein' dead!"
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:23 pm
In the castle of Eyris, Isadora was walking down the corridor clipping her cape underneath her shoulder armors. It was barely dawn, but she needed to go the garden and picked some flowers.
Somehow, this had started to become her morning routine after battling with Loki and welcoming back to Eyris. After having the gravestone made for Father Renault three weeks ago and placed it near FEFGA's house, the paladin came by every morning to pay a visit to the deceased friend with flowers. She made sure to throw away the old and withered flowers away.
It wasn't easy for the paladin since she knew him the longest than everyone else. In fact, she sometimes went to Victoria for comfort and needed some guidance of the St. Elimine spiritual ways. She would go to Lucius, but she had no idea where he went. Though the process of mourning and trying to move on in life was a long and slow process, she admitted that it did help out.
Now walking down the stairs, Isadora greeted the morning to the servants who came to do their morning chores. She wondered when would some of her crew members be awake. So far, there were things that they needed to do. Planning the next event. Collecting some gold and prizes for the next contests. Even other stuffs around in the guild such as accepting new members and moderate the guild.
The paladin exited out of the castle and headed into the garden. The black velvet was intertwining with the dark blue in the sky. It won't be long before the mixture of color would blend in when the sun rose up. Another day, another life of duties to perform.
Isadora looked around at the garden bed. Which flowers would she take to Father Renault's grave? It was good thing that it was still summer and the flowers were still blooming. Otherwise, his grave would be empty.
Suddenly, she heard a voice. Isadora turned around to look. Who could it be at this early morning? She thought.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:34 pm
"...Cut 'er doon."
Using a ladder, Javert climbed to a rooftop. Brandishing a pair of scissors, he cut the wire, and the body tumbled to the ground, landing with a sickening thud.
Javert's face was grim. Ghis' face was unreadable, eyes just staring down at the corpse as men came to cart it away to the graveyard. As they passed him, he reached to her side, a gauntleted hand removing a now blood-spattered note. He couldn't exactly READ it, though. Sure as heck didn't want to with the bumpkins standing around, but if this led to more killings, then they likely needed to know.
"You need that thing read?"
A man garbed entirely in black stood off to the side, staring at a nearby wall, facing away from Ghis. It seemed strange, perhaps even suspicious, but that watery-eyed look suggested he was trying to keep his breakfast down.
"Give it here, and I'll read it."
"...Try anythin' funny..." Ghis warned, and handed the note to Jin, who began reading quietly so only Ghis could hear...
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:42 am
Geez, disgustin'! That was all that Leon could think, from a hanging corpse to people just staring at it, not doing anything except borderline desecrate someone's memory.
Then the question came up. A note? Surely he could read it too, but the priest (or was he really a priest?), Jin, the very same Jin whom helped FEF in the pursuing darkness of the Guildaversary was reading it. Curiosity drew Leon and Anri closer to the words being said though. To be honest, the Lieutenant wanted to peek at the note from atop his steed...
And he did just that. His desire to know what was on that note defeated any other emotions he had, and maybe that was a bad thing? Maybe not...
It be Anri's fault jus' as much as m' own, wha' ever I find out... 'e carried me here!
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:45 am
"You can't blame yourself. Blaming yourself and falling into depression, it won't change anything.
You have to look →forward→. Remember what you have here now.
Just think; if you hadn't come here, you wouldn't have met anyone here from Elibe or anywhere else!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}Three miles. Three stinkin' miles.
Amelia was panting heavily as she rounded a corner, the path briefly shifting to dirt as she continued along her southbound path. The messenger, still clutching tightly onto her pace behind her, was sucking in air like a drowning man. Amelia didn't slow down, though, paying no heed to that. "Are we still going south?" she managed to shout over her shoulder.
The messenger only wheezed and managed a nod Amelia caught when she looked over her shoulder.
"All right..." Amelia turned back. The armor wasn't helping her endurance with this running, but she was still able to move, and as she skidded to a halt near the offending alleyway, she found Javert clinging onto a rooftop. He sliced something Amelia couldn't see, and the body fell right to the ground.
Gravity at work, children.
"Goddess, that looks foul..." Amelia breathed, still drawing air into her lungs as she approached Captain Ghis. She managed to get her panting silent as Jin started to read some sort of bloody note. "Was that off of the body?" Amelia questioned. She approached and tried to read the note from over Jin's shoulder. The messenger, meanwhile, was sitting laying sprawled across the path, sucking air into his poor, oxygen-deprived lungs. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Graceful Spear}XXXXXXXX "What... I mean is... Being a member of the holy order doesn't mean you can't put your own wants first sometimes. The goddess is supposed to be all‑forgiving, right? You've worked hard and you deserve to do some things that make you happy.
I think she'd forgive you for it."
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:56 am
"'Twas off the body, 'Melia..." Leon turned his attention to his subordinate, that looked like she had been running the whole way here! Now he felt like he was less of a chivalrous knight, not staying and letting the unmounted get onto Anri to not tire themselves!
But enough of that...
He looked again curiously at the note. What did it say?
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:13 am
If the body had been normal, it wouldn't have been so bad.
The body had been swinging in the air; this was true. But that was not all; no, not nearly. The real horror stood in what had been done to the body. Every piece of flesh attached to the ribcage had been severed; the ribs had then been swung outwards, and kept in place by more small bits of wire. Instead of covering the organs, as they should, the ribs now stood out at an angle behind the woman's corpse, looking nearly like wings. The other oddity was the eyes... They had glazed over in death, but not only that. The pupils of both eyes had also turned a milky white....
The note in Jin's hands began rather simply - it was an explanation.
"So, you've seen the opening move of this game. There are only a few pieces on my side of the board, and many on yours; yet, I doubt you will be able to stop this from coming to its conclusion. So, I will do you a service. I will give you a few hints; if you can decipher them, perhaps you will find me before the end. If not... after the seventh, I will reveal all."
The writing changed here. The script became more pronounced, a flourishing hand that had an odd beauty. What was this... a poem?
"I am a man who craves much attention
Give it me, and perhaps if you listen
This game will be simpler and you'll have your chance
To win, to stop me before I have planned
The first clue is this: What makes a life
Worth keeping and living, whatever the strife?
Then, why do you kill? Answer me this
And my motive is shown with a soft angel's kiss"
The rest of this side of the note was blank. However, the back revealed a few other pieces of writing, oddly enough. The first was in a careful, steady hand.
"Look... do you see the angel, dancing in the sky? Can you hear her? She's singing her sad song..."
A reference to the body above perhaps? The wind whipped through it at that moment, and the sound caused by it echoing through her ripped corpse nearly resembled that of a woman wailing...
The second line was like the first one, though less formal and more of a casual writing.
"Don't worry... they'll all be angels soon."
The final line was much more violent; the dark strokes were on the verge of ripping through the page.
"Why can't I breathe, my angel?"
"Hmm... so you've been giving him flowers, have you, Dame Knight?" A quiet voice spoke, with a sort of calm entertainment. The cloaked assassin stood within the garden, looking at Isadora with his hands held easily at his sides. "What a nice gesture. But you know, it won't do anything for him, I'm sorry to say. I know that it's a ceremonial thing, but there isn't any point." He began to walk, strolling back and forth, hands going to clasp behind his back. "... Things are changing in this city. Soon there will be a beautiful climax. And I would like to see you there when it happens. Soon enough... you may see that man again."
The assassin turned to her with a quiet smile. "My name is Tura. You should remember that. And there is one more thing." He stepped closer to the woman, looking at her silently. "A gift, from that man." He leaned forward, and with a swift motion graced Isadora's lips with a soft kiss. A moment later, he was gone in a swirl of cloak; a graceful exit.
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Overlord of Night- Shadow
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:24 am
"You can't blame yourself. Blaming yourself and falling into depression, it won't change anything.
You have to look →forward→. Remember what you have here now.
Just think; if you hadn't come here, you wouldn't have met anyone here from Elibe or anywhere else!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}Amelia could only stare at the note, having finally finished reading the note left behind by the killer, then looked up and over to where the body now rested on the ground. She had to swallow down a little bile that began to crawl up her throat, then turned back to the note. Other authorities would arrive soon; the messenger and a few other Watchmen were busy blocking off the alley from passersby, and soon the body could be taken out of the public area.
"What makes a life worth keeping and living, whatever the strife..." Amelia murmured. "Why do you kill..."
Amelia ran a hand through her hair. Love... and to protect... Amelia closed her eyes and sighed. There was no way to know if those were right, and even then, she had no idea of how these were to help them find the killer.
The General looked over to Ghis and Jin. "If this goes on farther... more people are going to get killed. We should place some sort of warning to the townspeople, shouldn't we?" Amelia stood up straight and checked her quiver; none of her arrows had fallen out. "And these clues aren't enough to help us find the killer." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Graceful Spear}XXXXXXXX "What... I mean is... Being a member of the holy order doesn't mean you can't put your own wants first sometimes. The goddess is supposed to be all‑forgiving, right? You've worked hard and you deserve to do some things that make you happy.
I think she'd forgive you for it."
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:28 am
Leon knew how to read well enough. He knew what letters, words syllables, what it all meant. But by the Hero Anri, did he hate riddles. Every once in a while, he'd deal with them, but this one was special. It was as if it had been planned for a while, planned for when the Watch wouldn't be such a large force due to most of them suffering injuries against Loki, the Morphs, and the Heroes.
A clever plan.
And that's all the Lieutenant could get out of it, sadly. He was good with words that made sense, but not so good with riddles.... which is why he loathed them. He knew the plan was good, well thought out, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
Amelia's suggestion came out, and that's when Leon's mind clicked. First priority, keep 'em safe.
"A warnin', ya." Leon nodded to his subordinate from atop Anri. "Dun wanna cause a panic though, we dun need 'nymore riots 'ere. Add this to th' message while yer at it, 'Melia. We're gonna catch 'em, whoever be behind this."
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:02 pm
Where ever I wander, where ever I roam,
There's only one place I'll ever call 'home'The Dual-Wielding Master Lord, Roy  A hooded figure wandered into the town of Eyris. A decent size of 5 feet 11 inches and male, judging by his stature and the way he walked. But beyond that, it was difficult to determine anything more about this mysterious person, for the cloak had done quite a good job of covering the face (making it tough for him to see of course. Why didn't they make cloaks actually fit people like they used too?), and it was impossible to tell if the figure was armed or not. The figure could hear bits and pieces of gossip from the local townspeople. By the sounds of it, someone was murdered. But no one knew who the murderer was or their intentions. Clearly a mystery. Too bad he didn't know any crime-solving Paladins that would have solved the case in an instant. He sighed before he pulled the hood down, revealing a familiar redhead. Why was it that every time he came back from his journey, something happened? It always made things more difficult for him, having been weary from all his travelling in search of an enigmatic family member. How long had it been now since he had started his search: months...years...maybe since last Halloween? Well, however long ago he started was, he was still at it. After inquiring some information from some gossiping Eyrisan girls with his natural ability to flirt with women. (Command: Talk), he learned the whereabouts of mentioned dead body and hurried over. And lo and behold, what did he find? Watch members, and an Amelia. He approached them casually. "So...I hear we have a dead body on our hands. Mind if I take a look at it, as well as anything the killer might have left behind?" asked the young lord, putting on his best Sherlock Holmes face. 
I'm a dual-wielding Master Lord on an epic quest
Hurt my family and you'll be impaled by my Magic swords, you pest.
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:11 pm
"Aye." Ghis agreed with Amelia's suggestion. "People be needin' t' know..."
Clues? A game? Oh, great, one of those deranged psycho killers who think they have some great philosophical statement to prove. Ghis snorted in disgust. Still, there were a few clues already thanks to the nutjob.
"Tha' penmenshep in partic'lar--looks like somethin' a noble may write. An' th' word choice--'ee's got a lot o' schoolin'," Ghis observed. Those two facts alone crossed out almost all of Eyris' population as suspects.
As for the "clue", Ghis was strongly inclined to raise a certain finger at whoever made it, but couldn't avoid thinking about it. His answer was far more self-centered: Drinkin' an' stealin' an' fightin', tha's the reasons fer livin'. Killin' is jus' part o' th' fightin'.
Jin had to agree with the things Ghis said thus far. Being familiar with shadowy trades, he could also add to it.
"This was planned out, too. Maybe not the person, but definitely with the wire. It would take a long time to set up before the slaying... whoever it was set up the wire first, then waited for the victim. At the very least, they can move around on rooftops. They might even be using them to move around. ...I could be wrong on that part, though."
...What DOES make a life worth living? That was actually a good question to the Priest. He'd already lost his former comrades and past life on Elibe. He still regarded himself as Black Fang, and thus was aloof in his dealings with other people. Rhys recognized his skills as a healer and so Jin interacted with the outside world that way, but...
On the other hand, if there was nothing to live for, why live? Perhaps it was because nobody really knew what happened when you died. Perhaps what made life worth living was... the world. You knew bad could happen, but you knew good could happen, too. You knew what you had.
As for why? Well, that was easy: To make a statement, of course. Nobles had power, and power corrupts, and the next thing you knew, nobles did whatever they wanted, gorging themselves on the finest meats while their vassals starved to death. Someone needed to stand up for them. Someone needed to spread the message that such behavior...
"...To make a statement," Jin spoke up, mostly to himself. "His motive's to..."
"Spread some stupid little message 'bout how th' world be garbage an' soceety be overrated," Ghis finished rudely. "Ah think we know THA' one."
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