Welcome to Gaia! ::

Storming into the castle and sloshing rain water all over the floor of the reaper retreat home, Nar made her way noisily across the floor and up the grand staircase. She moved quickly up the stairs and to her room as a watery trail formed in her wake. The door to her room was wrenched open and then slammed as she fled inside and threw her coat off on the floor. Her hands were covered in blood as were her clothes and her mouth, and it was apparent that somebody had met the wrong end of her wrath not too long ago.

But the anger had subsided for the most part in the female vampire. Only a void was left within her as she cleaned up what mess remained from her last crusade of anger. It was never good to let the rage be stored away for some time, nor was it good to unleash it all at one time. But because it was how she delt with things and how the anger fell at a bad time the woman was forced to unleash all of it somewhere. Too bad it had to be on innocent humans that had no effect on anybody important at all.

She stripped down to nothing and dug out the darkest clothes she could find in her closet before sliding into them and flopping down on the floor. In the center of her room was a pentagram of sorts, but it was nothing like the witches used. Created long ago by the ancient vampires, this symbol was an alter of sorts, and allowed the ancients to perform mystics for various uses. Each of the five points of the internal star contained a different symbol for each of the five ancients who helped create the pentagram. Outside of the star was a pentagram spelling out in ancient writing what each of the elements were: Time, Energy, Matter, Wisdom, and Vitality. Around that were rings of old sayings used by the ancients that produced different effects depending on how it was read. Finally spreading out from the rings was a star burst effect containing many titles and names for each of the ancients in a random order to confuse those who knew not of the symbol and its power.

It was here within the safety of the emblem of her childhood the vampire queen closed her eyes and let her chin rest on her chest as she traveled wherever in time her spirit wished to go and be free. Most of the time it traveled to grassy landscapes or lush forests, but at this particular time Narssissuss found herself in a void of darkness. It was darker than a moonless night and colder than the frigid arctic on Earth, but it matched the void felt within the woman. She breathed and felt the world ripple around her in reply.

But she was not alone. She was never completely alone.

"You are letting him get to you like you let most lovers get to you," a voice from the corner of the void stated. Coming into view was a nicely dressed woman striking a strong resemblance to Nar, but she had short spiked jet black hair and sharp male features. Despite how sharp she looked as far as features and dress, her expression was soft as she looked on from his post.

A flash of amusement ran through Nar's eyes as she gazed at the figure across from her. "You know how I am, Nicky" she purred softly to her look-alike that represented her dear twin brother Nickolas James Lee. He was an ancient like herself, but he had the power of vitality. He was the businessman of the group and strived to have his hands in everything. Then when things did not go his way he would take another approach. "I grow attached to those who seem too powerful for their own good and I watch them take the fall for their lack of self control."

"Or you help them along," another voice stated as a second figure appeared. This figure, also taking a strong resemblance of Nar, was wearing long robes decorated with swirls and patters of color that were absorbed by the void so only the outlines remained. With hair of a lighter tint of gray due to the lack of color and worn loosely on her shoulder, the figure stroked the hair on her chin and added, "you were always the more unpredictable one of the group."

"Look where that has gotten me though, Herman," Nar retorted, even more amused at the fact that the ancients thus far all resembled herself with their features. The newest addition, Herman Anubis Maddox, was the ancient of energy. By far the most colorful ancient of the five, Herman resided in a different time period from the one she was currently visiting.

"You are one of the only ones still alive, sis, so he does have a point," Nickolas pointed out with a small smirk.

Nar looked from Nickolas to Herman, then stated with much surprise, "you mean you are dead, Herm? How did this happen?"

"Accidentally took my own life. Funny how flames still affect our bodies even though we are immortals," Herman scoffed. "My house was on fire and I ran inside to save my love. Sadly I did not make it out before the house exploded and collapsed onto me. By that point there was no way I would have survived with my wounds, so I lay silent until I passed on."

"Wow....I am sorry to hear that, my friend," Nar commented softly as she tried to reach out to Herman. Finding that she could not force herself to move, she just sat looking at him sadly to show her sympathy.

"It happens, I guess," Herman commented with a shrug as he looked between the twins.

"Yes, but there are multiple ways to avoid it," a voice purred as yet another figure stepped into the void. Again, the figure looked so much like Nar, but the rest of the features were different. More built than the others, the shaggy black hair rested loosely on her head and the tattoos on her arms were only black outlines. Clad in only a sleeveless t-shirt and tight jeans, the figure rested on a piece of void and watched the group. "For instance, you could have recited any incantation to save your life, or called upon us to come save your sorry a**."

"Yes we know there are other ways to avoid death, Kash," Nickolas rolled her eyes with annoyance.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us, Kashmir," Nar purred, even more amused that her earlier observance was a fact. Kashmir November Hellfire was the ancient of wisdom, and with that wisdom came great patience for those who were not so thankful to be informed of things they did not know. Kashmir was the dark one, not really what the humans would call emo, but he was definitely close. "Is Raziel on his way as well?"

"Yes, Raziel is coming as well. Cannot have a reunion without all of the ancients," Kashmir replied as she rested her hands behind her head.

"Raziel is here," the last figure stated as she appeared not too far from Narssissuss. Standing quite tall because of her boots, Raziel had long flowing hair that would have been a soft blue-purple color had the void not been present. Dressed like any nobleman of medieval time, Raziel was considered the rebel of the group. She had taken to piracy in her human lifetime and continued it after she had become a vampire.

Smiling wide, Narssissuss colored slightly upon seeing Raziel. He had always been a favorite to the only female ancient and they had a few romances throughout time. "Hello Azriel. How are you holding up?"

"Well enough me thinks," Raziel replied with a grin.

"Now, why are we all here again?" commented Kashmir from afar.

"Nar has run into trouble with a guy again. Another powerful creature of sorts," Nickolas stated as she straightened her suit coat. "We are here to decide what to do about it."

"No, guys its fine," Nar explained earnestly to the group. "I do not need help, its just that we got into an argument and it escalated out of control. No harm done, really."

"You say that now, but that is how problems arise in a relationship, Nar," Kashmir commented with a smile.

"But she says it is fine, so I see no reason to step in and do anything," Herman cooed as she played with her hair.

"Aye, let the lass be," Raziel added. "She be fit enough to deal with her own problems." With that she winked at Nar.

"I am! I just wanted to retreat somewhere for awhile so I can collect my thoughts, that's all," Nar shouted over the comments that were beginning to pour out of everyone. The void became quiet as all eyes rested on Nar while she spoke, "please, if I need help I know where to go look for it. But I think I have my thoughts gathered, so I should return to my own time. Nice to see you all, though."

"Indeed," they all replied in unison as the void seemed to expand and consume all the ancients.

Opening her eyes, Nar found herself still sitting in the figure on the floor. Before her candles were lit on all the emblems except her own. She looked about the room but found nobody there. Strange, I know they were not here before, she thought silently as she watched the fire of the candles softly dance about before her.

Hearing some talking in the nearby hallway, Narssissuss stood up slowly and glided across the room to her door. Opening it slightly she poked her head out in the hallway to see Devon walking around the headquarters. "Yes, Devon, I believe the whole spirit world could hear you with that voice," she teased as she stepped out into the hall and rested in her doorway. "But I do not think anybody else is here other than me,"

"Well what do I know, then..." Nar hissed as she rolled her eyes. "If you knew what was going on then why are you parading around the place hollering if anybody was home?" She stayed in the doorway as she felt annoyed by the mere presence of the young reaper. Thought it probably wasn't Devon's fault; any living presence probably would have annoyed the female vampire at this point.

((It is to someone who has been around for more than twice as long. *smiles*))

Rolling her eyes once again, Nar stepped back into her room and slammed the door behind her. Moving across the room, the vampire swept the candles off of the symbol and recovered the emblem with the kashmir floor rug she had obtained from a time far away from this one. She replaced the candles on the dresser in the exact spots so it looked as if nothing had been disturbed before she scooped up a book and saddle bag as she stepped out onto the balcony of her room. She lept off of the stone ledge and landed on the ground two stories down before taking off into the shadows, heading for another desolate and abandoned part of the headquarters: the graveyard.

((yay! Thank you Moon! Now I can post with Nar again. ^_^))

The graveyard, located at the far end of the reaper headquarters, was a safe haven for those who had fallen in the service of the darkness. Not only did it contain the remains of those who used to be reapers, but it also contained important figures of darkness throughout history like Rasputin and Pol Pot. Passing through the graves, Nar ran her hand across the tops of some she knew well in life before she paused to duck a few low hanging cobwebs from the twisted and lifeless charred trees. Finally she came to an opening within the center of the graveyard where a little park used to be. In the background were large mausoleums for special burials, and to either side were rows of old gravestones with ornate headpieces. In the dead center of the park used to be a fountain with a large gargoyle vomiting water into the basin around his feet. But as time went on the gargoyle had crumbled and all that remained was rubble within a basin full of spirits forever trapped within the grasps of the reapers. Sometimes wails and moans could be heard as the spirits tried to claw their way to the surface of the pool, but most of the time the graveyard was deathly silent. Not even the occasional wind that blew through uttered a noise or left a trace of passing other than the chilling feeling on the skin as if someone was watching from afar.

Sitting down near the dead pond Nar opened up her satchel and withdrew a dark book from it. It was not the same as the book of reapers, but it wasn't light like the book of shamans. Instead, the book looked like it had weathered ages and would fall apart if it was opened. Bound by cracked and roughed brown leather, the pages within were feathery and decrepit. The ink upon the pages was a vibrant green color that seemed to glow in the dull light of the dead pond. On the outside cover was the faded picture of a skull with a sword through the center of it. Around that was an ancient looking rune of an A without the center. The whole image was a deep green like the ink and the ribbon that held the spot on a particular picture of interest. Opening to that page, Nar silently began to read to herself for a bit before she knelt forward to the pond and rested her fingers within the waters as she chanted something.

Slowly a spirit began to rise up out of the waters. It twisted about for a bit before finally taking the form of a young man in his mid-twenties. Stepping out of the waters, the spirit turned and smiled at the woman before sitting down at the edge of the pond. As he sat the spirit became more of a solid state before he was a complete human being. "It feels so good to be out of there," he commented with a toothy smile before he leaned forward and hugged Nar.

Nar hugged the man back with her own smile and whispered, "It is good to be able to hug you again, Kashmir. How I have missed talking to you my dear friend."

"Indeed. It feels good to be back here with you, even for a short while. How is my descendant doing?" Kashmir asked as he sat back upon the edge of the pool and watched Nar.

"Great from what I have seen of him. He is always busy, you know," she grinned as she leaned back to see the man better. "He is more like you than the others have been in your line, but he will never be you. I doubt I could talk to anybody else like I used to talk to you."

Chuckling, Kashmir replied with a smile, "Maybe you will find someone someday, my dear friend. You have plenty of time to, that is for sure."

"Oh aren't you witty," Nar laughed as she poked the man's sides and watched him jump. "Sometimes I wonder why you aren't still alive. You were a god after all."

"Me too, Nar, me too...."

((I'm inserting my own little personal time skip. You guys keep on going from the time you are in now and I will just consider it as Nar using her powers to stop time in the graveyard.))

Rising from her spot on the ground by the pool, Nar gazed into the spot of where her best friend in life had been moments before. The area around her seemed to groan as it returned to a normal time with the rest of the castle. The hour or two within the control of the woman seemed to have made the place darker and creepier than before. Taking no heed to the area Nar closed her book and slid it back into hiding before turning from the pool to gaze out over the variety of headstones. The trees nearby groaned again as the wind circled through their lifeless limbs and howled along between the long-standing reminders of those who had already passed as well.

"I will bring you back one day, Kashmir. You and the rest of the ancients. We will rise up once more and take control of our people. We will teach them the respect and dignity we once had, and put down those who try to stop us. Then we can be one once again with life and death and dance our macabre with those who crumble beneath us," she eulogized with a cold stare into the darkness. She could feel the spirit of her brother flow through her as her mind turned to darker matters.

"One day very soon indeed, Nar," Nickolas purr in her mind as he stepped forward from the deep pool of darkness. "Your skills of necromancy are nearly perfect. Now the hunt for those vessels worthy of our spirits begins."

Nar smirked on the outside, but in her mind she replied softly, "I may have found a few vessels worthy of the ancients already, Nickolas. But I have acquired another way to restore you to your original bodies."

"That would require the help of a full-fledged shaman, Nar. You really think he can learn all he needs to know before time runs out? And what if he is not willing to help you?"

"Oh he will...." Nar laughed. She began her ascent back up to the reaper castle, her mind plagued with the dark thoughts of her brother and her own lighter thoughts twisted within them. "Love is a powerful motivator, and he will help if he wants to be with me."

"He better, and you make sure he gets his training done quickly, otherwise it will be impossible to do either ritual," Nick growled deeply as he sunk his fingers deep into the mind of his sister. "Now, I am in need of a body, so I will borrow yours for now. Do not worry, I will return it unharmed."

Pausing, the body of the woman began to shift forms from a woman to a man as the spirits changed places. Blinking and looking about the vampiric man who took over continued to walk to the castle. He lept up the side of the wall to get to the balcony of Nar's room before entering and crossing the floor. He took off the carrier of the necromancy book and slid it out of sight before moving the carpet from off the symbol of the ancients. He stepped onto his own symbol and murmured a chant to himself as he removed the powers of his sister from the body and replaced his own. Stepping off of the symbol the eyes of the vampire changed from a light blue to a solid emerald green color as he opened a worm hole and stepped through it.

((Nickolas to the dragon garden. This will tie back into the storyline from before.))