Sanctuary of the Damned IC

The mansion stood against the dark sky, a warm and inviting refuge. Gleam leaned on his crutch, looking up at the mansion. Was this the right choice? It was too early to tell at this point. Gleam hissed a sigh, and hobbled back to the house. The stairs were a bit difficult, but he had defeated harder challenges.

In the foyer, Gleam shook off his cloak, and closed the door. Since he lost his leg, he was crippled until his regenerative property kicked in. He had agreed that he would stand guard over the sanctuary, and help care for those that found their way there. It wasn't a glorious job, but it was one he could do. He hobbled upstairs to the balcony, and sat down on a chair by the firepit. He hissed again, and looked up as he heard the door open...

Celeste felt some joy and color return to her bleak and grey world as she had found what she was looking for. She had found the mansion that was a sanctuary for beings such as herself. The days had increasingly worried her as she followed the rumors of this place. She had to dig far and dig deep to get anything on its location. Here she was, standing before the door of a haven for the damned. She adjusted her choker and her clothing to ensure she was looking her best. She knew the eye patch would affect things, but she wanted her first impression of the place to be a good one.

She hesitated and then opened the door. It made a small squeaking sound, but nothing too terrible. However, it was loud enough for anything nearby to hear. She felt a little worried as she entered, hoping that she had found the right place and that her information was right. There was a time when she didn't need a sanctuary, but those days were gone along with the coven she was a part of. She was the only one that survived the slaughter of her coven, and that was because she wasn't there when it happened. That night of hunting took too long and she had to find a safe place to spend the day and she returned the next night to see her entire coven beheaded or slain by silver bullets. That memory still hurt like a fresh wound although the incident happened two years ago.

She closed the door behind her and made her way into the foyer. She looked around curiously, but did not leave the room. Exploration would come later, but right now she wanted to wait for a greeter to appear. She hoped that she had found the right place.

She ran.

Dodging nimbly over root and ditch, she made her way through the forest. Every once in a while she would look up, quickly checking for the brightest star to guide her way. They were close behind her, and she could hear their every breath as they cursed her. She ran faster, her breath hitching in her throat and the cool air burning in her lungs.

She hissed a hurried prayer to the Creators under her breath. She knew they would catch her. The pursuit had been going for almost an hour, and she knew they would not give up. She could not even return home, now that they had seen and identify her. Barreling between two large oaks she forced herself to backpedal, staring over the edge of a cliff.

“No, no…” she murmured to herself. She must have gotten turned around somewhere. Fumbling for her map, she jumped backwards as it was shot out of her hand, the arrow piercing through the thick parchment and taking it over the cliff. She held up her hands, turning to face the armed guards ringing her in, more than a dozen of them, more than she could take in a straight fight.

“Kill the whore!” the leader called, dropping his arm and point at her. His second in command, a thin man with wicked eyes, aimed at him bow at her, pulling back on the string. She glanced over her shoulder, eying the long drop down to the river below. She spun on her heel, but not quite fast enough.

The pain was searing, the arrow slicing through her shoulder and coming out a few inches about her left breast. If it had been just a little closer she would been dead already. The commander called out again, but she did not wait to die. Closing her eyes, she stepped off of the cliff. She spun around, midair, to watch up as the soldiers lined up to fire down at her. But she was moving too far too fast and their arrows went wide.

She curled up, bracing herself for the hitting the water. From such a long fall she would probably break a few bones, but she just might make it. She hit the water hard, foolishly landing on her arm and hearing it snap loudly. But she did not sink.

Opening her eyes, she found herself at the foot of a large mansion, the door closed in front of her. She grabbed her shoulder, the blood seeping out and coating her fingers. Dazed, she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled to the door. She pounded on the door, once, twice, three times, before her feet fell out underneath her. The whole world went sidewise as she hit the ground again.

A flaming spear tore through Kyuso's body as he feebly tried to flee his attackers. He was the defender of this section of the woods, and the vanguard of an army was marching through it, causing great damage to it. It was his duty to stop this, regardless of the reasoning behind the military invading his realm. His fight was going extraordinarily well at first, with his advanced weather manipulation and speed easily overwhelming the first wave that entered. They were unable to even get close enough to land a blow, with the intense winds, rains, and storms pushing them back for every step they tried to take towards Kyuso. The second wave had spell casters with it, however, and one of them was skilled in kinetic magic. As Kyuso conjured a massive hurricane to knock the invaders off their feet, the man sent a barrage of pebbles at his face, speeding them up magically. The hurricane knocked most of the larger ones off course, but several smaller ones hit their marks, peppering Kyuso's face with shrapnel, and blinding him when several hit his eyes. Without his vision to detect incoming attacks, he was left helpless as a barrage of magical projectiles were launched at him, hurling him across the clearing.

With no hope of victory, he leaped into the air and unfolded his wings, flying in a random direction in an attempt to get away from his attackers. As he fled, he heard a loud roaring behind him, and despite twisting to the side to dodge what ever was coming, the conjured spear of flame pierced his lower side, knocking him out of the air. His fall ended with a crash into a fairly deep lake that he had flown over top of, and he slowly lost consciousness in the water.

Several hours later he awoke, finding both that his bleeding had lessened to the point of not being life threatening, (probably from the magical nature of his species) and that he had washed up on the shore of the lake. He was still in pain, however, and his blindness appeared to be permanent. A disgraced tengu who failed his duty, Kyuso started to stumble forwards into the woods, not really sure where he was going, but only knowing that he had to keep moving if he wanted to live. The stabbing pain emanating from his side made it incredibly difficult to move, and he was about to give up and resign himself to the fate of being found and killed when he heard a dull voice inside his head.

Brave soul, wounded beyond measure... Follow my directions... you are welcome inside the sanctuary when the rest of your species rejects you...

A flood of information started to bombard Kyuso's mind, and he hobbled forward as fast as possible, trying to find this sanctuary that would offer him salvation. He nearly tripped several times, and narrowly avoided trees many more, but with the directions of... what ever was guiding him, he eventually set foot on a stone pathway, leading him up some stairs. The pain in his side was getting worse, and approaching the level of unbearable. He took a couple more shaky steps forward, his outstretched hand coming in contact with a wooden door.

You are here...

With that, the voice in his mind deserted him as Kyuso opened and limped through the door. At this point, his wounds overwhelmed him, and he crashed to the floor in a crumpled and bloody heap.

Celeste turned as she heard knocking and then the door opened again. She noticed the outdoors had changed significantly from where she came in from. She could see though, that the porch had stayed the same. She let out a scream as she saw a tengu collapse onto the floor bloody. She timidly approached the unconscious bird man and as she neared the door she could see another body outside on the porch. She was worried about them, but she was also worried if she tried to help she'd only hurt them more. Maybe even kill them. She was afraid though, if she left the body on the porch whoever was there would get hurt even more by whatever was after her. This sanctuary was rumor to protect those within it, but was being on the porch in the sanctuary or not?

She stepped around the injured tengu trying no to look at his body and made her way to the elf that was laying on the porch. She grabbed her arm and tried to carefully drag her into the building. It took a lot of time as she wasn't all that strong even for a vampire. When she got her far enough in, Celeste closed the door behind them. She cried out. "Somebody, help! Please!"

Gleam looked at the figure who had walked through the door, but was unable to pay her much mind. "Somebody, help! Please!" rang through the otherwise still night air, and Gleam was up in a flash. He hobbled down the stairs, the young girl trailing behind. When he spotted the newcomer, Gleam hissed, "What-" He noticed the bodies. "Get the bird inside. Sanc, Help me with the other one."

The little girl nodded, and skipped over to the elf, and helped Gleam carry her into the Foyer. Gleam recognized her as an Elf. Not another one... Tonight was exciting. A Tengu, Elf, and a Vampire all walk in to a Sanctuary...

((My apologies for having it so long, most of this can be freely skipped until the dotted line.))

Ragged breathing, the sound of steel-plated feet impacting on the ground in irregular intervals...

"Thequest..." an utterance brought force by a rough, yet choked voice, exhaustion and pain obvious "Thequest...", the massive knight's legs stubbornly, if forcibly, keeping on going, clouded eyes beneath the helmet staring straight ahead, not really seeing where he was going, but simply trying to give the addled brain a semblance of focus to keep going.

From an outside perspective, the knight's form, armored from head to toe as it was, featured no obvious injury. The only thing telling of his ailing was the trail of ashes he left in his wake.

But neither that, nor his stench, that now was only comparable to a crematory, kept Navi, the small fairy from flying before his helmeted head, trying to give his hazy vision some sort of guidance, but even that was not enough as the steel-clad behemoth sank to his knees in exhaustion.

Navi, staring in shock for a moment, caught herself, landing on the knight's shoulder, the place where before she had always been perched as the two conducted their travels and would stare out onto the world with curious wonder, resting safe in the knowledge that her knight would keep her safe.

Now, however, it was the knight who needed something to rest upon, something that the fairy, as she begrudgingly had to admit to herself, could not grant. But, she was not helpless. Desperately, she lightly tapped the side of his helmet, trying to get his attention, her lips quietly moving as she spoke to him.

Slowly, the knight's helmeted head turned towards his companion, and for a moment, just looking at her, he forgot the overwhelming pain that was filling the entirety of his flesh.

Slowly, he led up a hand, armored fingers lightly stroking her little head, before his voice intoned "I... I do not know... how much longer... I can keep... going..." him being forced to take a deep breath after every few words "I have... already lived... for far too long..."

Carefully, he grasped the fairy, lifting her from his shoulder "But you... you must go on...you must endure..." slowly, he set her down on the ground before his form "Go...", his now-free hand gesturing for her to leave "Live... and think of me... now and again..." he gave another painful, ragged breath.

But Navi did not move, silently she stared up at him, tears running freely down her cheeks. Smiling sadly behind his helmet, he lightly wiped her tears away with his hand "Thank you... for being my friend."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And it was in this moment of clarity that he heard

Quote:

---

"Somebody, help! Please!"

---

, the voice, female it seemed, dimmed...

Head rising, for the first time his hazy vision recognized what appeared before him... a mansion, of sorts, standing illuminated against the darkness surrounding it, how had he not noticed this before?

No, no matter, the voice, was coming from inside...

"The quest..." he uttered, teeth clenched, as before his fairy, he rose, slowly, but steadily "What is sickness... against the body... of a knight-errant..." the ragged breathing increased, but yet he stubbornly set forth on his way "No matter... wounds... no matter... how often he is struck down...", reaching for the mansion's entrance "For so long... as there are innocents crying out... the knight-errant shall...", voice however renwed with vigor "-shall rise again and woe to the wicked!"

Navi, tears still fresh on her face, could barely believe her eyes as the knight walked anew, happily her wings took flight again as she perched herself anew on her knight's shoulder, like so many times before.

Safe in the knowledge that his friend was with him again, the knight slammed open the door, the frame thankfully high enough to allow even his massive frame entrance, exhausted yet stubborn voice shouting "Who cries out for help? Who does villainy threaten... today?"

Flakes of ash fluttered behind the knight-

, as he laid his helmeted gaze onto the apparent inhabitants, an elf, unconscious... another human, though strangely pale and one-eyed... then a bird-man... and another wounded bird-alike, also unconscious...

Kulrath stalked up the tiled walkway towards the palace where Sulan lived. His muzzle was pulled back to bear his blood stained fangs at any who dared approach him. The wound on his left fore leg forcing him to walk on two paws irritated him. While it was something they could do, and often ceremony forced them to, it was not his ideal form of travel. The wound, however, was deep and until he could enter a grove it would take time to heal. The other slashes that were staining his fur a bloody pink could wait. None of them were life threatening and the countenance he wore and the livid anger in his eyes scared off any would be attackers. That and the fact that he was supposed to be dead. The Ursaal of Tenyodo could be a superstitious lot.

Betrayed! Left to die by my own Daimas! I'll tear him limb from limb for this. I'll rip his heart from his chest and dump him off the highest cliff into the ocean! His thoughts devolved into swearing and bloodlust as he neared the palace door. The guards, seeing Kulrath who was a fifth circle Tensho and in a frothing rage, backed hurriedly away. He growled at them for good measure but this was ruined slightly as his wounds caused him to stumble. The guards took no notice of this in their haste to get away. Kulrath moved up to the door and with all of his incredible strength slammed his paws into the doors intending to knock them off their hinges, pain be damned.

"Sulan you filthy cub of a who-" Kulrath began to roar as he crashed through the doors. Instead of the inner palace circle there was another room before him, one he didn't recognize. The doors that should've been smashed to pieces on the floor bumped slightly against the walls as if blown open by a gentle breeze. Kulrath, ignoring the tearing pain his leg, dropped to all fours, the fur at the back of his neck rising and his lips pulling back in a snarl. "What is this?" he growled softly.

Nostrils flaring, he could smell the presence of several others. One smelled of death, one of a bird, one of steel and ash, one of a reptile and one he couldn't place and over all was the smell of blood and violence, unmistakable no matter what species it came from. They were blocked from his view so he stalked around as quietly as a twelve hundred pound bear wearing full todu-uken armor could, which is to say not very quietly at all. The scene was a strange one and while there were obviously injured parties and this was a strange place that did not sit right with him yet, he did not attack. His honor prevented him from attacking anything that had not yet attacked him.

Pacing back and forth a safe distance away he asked again, this time addressing those assembled in what he could now see to be the foyer to a mansion of some kind, "What is this place? Why am I here?"

Noise... SO much... NOISE. "Everyone just be silent for a moment!" Gleam looked around. The charred knight looked slightly familiar, but Gleam didnt remember where from. He had a fairy with him. She and Sanc would get along well, in all likelihood. The bear, on the other hand, he could be trouble. The way he barged in... Gleam was certainly going to keep an eye on him, redundant as that phrase was for him. "I don't know what all the uproar is about, but this sure as hell isnt the place for it! Have you any idea where you are?"

Celeste stepped forward and nodded. She knew exactly where she was, or at least she believed so. She suspected she'd be able to confirm if she was right with the being that came to help. "Believe I know where I am. This is the Sanctuary. I have spent two years of my existence looking for this haven..."

She trailed off remembering the pain from the loss of her coven. It surprised her sometimes how time hadn't done much to heal this wound. She put her hands up to her chest. "My name is Celeste Asteria." Her face wore a sad expression. "I am the last of my family."