Dark Light

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@enmuni@The Muse

Valgo

---

Eastern gate

---

With his back to the wood he continued to nonchalantly peek around the wall at the new arrival. He only look away to stare down a young runner coming back without his torch. No words were exchanged as he pass. Turning back, torchlight now banished the shadows that once hid details of the blight-born. As the guard with a torch move aside to study the creature, Valgo to could finally examine her. Near instantly he was transported back to another time.

Four years earlier

@SkeankySnack
Wilds of Lunaris

---

The leather bound shaft of a crude spear let out a whining squeak under the viscous white-knuckled grip of its powerful wielder. In one hand the weapon was held upright, it's butt dug into into the cold snow that blanket the earth and its sharp stone point directed at the moonless sky above, the stars concealed behind a thick canopy of trees. All around the silent warrior more spears were held in similar fashion. The air filled with an eager and violent anticipation.

In the other hand a loop of string was held. From that string hung a hand crafted pendant. There was no mastery in its craft, simple and crude construction of various materials, but that is where its value lie. With a silent prayer the particularly large barbarian tuck the treasure away in his belt and then peer out around the last tree.

He could not wait much longer. The cold was starting to seep into his and his peoples bones. Fingers were growing numb, muscles tightening. Not ideal conditions to be fighting in. His deep blue eyes ran over the vast snow covered clearing and across the frozen body of water to the distant torch lit village beyond. He search desperately for the sign. Waiting for that indicator, that marker. Confirmation that it was time to go.

Standing there in silence, pressed against a wooden tree, peering around and focusing all his senses on the distant target, he saw it. Above the town just beyond where the torch light reached, a shadowy form blocked the stars behind it. He could not see them but knew the creature had large dark wings and could tell they were flapping by the way the stars beside it flicker in and out of existence.

Instantly a bird whistle left his pressed lips and then, without checking on the others, he was moving.

Blinking himself back to the current moment, he saw no signs of concern. The gnawing pit in his stomach, the feverish fears, the anxiety of dreaded anticipation, all proved unwarranted. Letting out a deep sigh he regain his composure and stood tall, looking back one last time before walking off back towards town.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@enmuni@The Muse

Aliseth

---

Eastern gate

---

If Aliseth was startled by the sudden voice of the second guards, he did well to hide it. Keeping his focus on the blightborn ahead, eyes glued to those four glowing slits of lavender in her face. Unlike anything he had ever seen before. How she could see or what the world looked like through them he couldn't even fathom. He remain still and silent, listening as she talk, his face giving nothing away.

Without taking his eyes off her he side step towards Zeph and twist his torso back to the gate house where he held out a hand. "Torch!"
He command, letting his voice and armor carry his authority. As he wait for a runner to comply he whisper softly to his fellow guard. No hint of familiar recognition in his serious voice.

"There has been a... " He pauses to find the right word to describe the situation "an incident." He finally decides, punctuating the word with an emotional exhale as he turns his head to his brother noting the glowing light of the torch bearer approaching.

"Blight-born attack. The princess is missing. The other. My par. It killed him. We need to get control of the situation and inform the others. This one." He turn his head back to the haunting presence of the newcomer.
"This one will just have to wait. I have a few more questions anyway. The timing... He lets his thoughts trail off as he takes the torch from the runner who delivers it with a nod and then quickly turns to return to his post.

Walking towards the woman, Aliseth takes steady slow steps. "So Nesna is it. Sorry to say but your timing is terrible. You are right to assume Dawnhaven offers shelter and opportunity for all that obey its laws, but before you can enter I am going to need to ask you a few more questions. Do you mind following me out of this cold?"

His voice remain level but strong. The question wasn't really a question. He walked up beside her keeping some distance as he held the torch up, bathing her in its light as his eyes scrutinised her entirety. "This way." He gestured past the other guard in a direction towards a door in the gatehouse.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@The Muse@enmuni

Valgo

---

Eastern gate

---

With a low snarling grunt, two huge sacks of grain were tossed from the high heights of the barbarians strong wide shoulders and thud down heavily onto the floor of the small narrow stable in the eastern gatehouse. Only one torch illuminate the room, although that was all that was needed. The room housed only one horse. A nimble powerful beast. Nothing like the blight beast Valgo had seen his own son astride, images of that dark creature still haunt his waking dreams, but this one here was a fine specimen none the less.
Well trained and always saddled, ready to ride out in a moments notice carrying what ever urgent alert it's rider had.

The small giant of a man went about his duties, cleaning the secured room and tending to the horse. Checking it's straps, refilling it's food and giving it some petting. Prior his arrival two guards would do the duties he now did alone. Donkey and cart were once used to haul the supplies that he now carried around the town. He didn't do it this way to show off or because it was quicker (which it was) but more because for him the conversation about getting a donkey was far more difficult than the hard heavy labor of lifting.

As he was finishing up his duties, he heard something that drew his attention. He tried to ignore it but like a blur in ones peripheral, he couldn't but help turn his attention to it. It being the whispering words of guards in the room above. It seemed a new person approached the gates and something about their appearance had the guards in a hushed debate. A knot formed in the large barbarians stomach. That familiar feeling of anticipated dread. That constant gnawing fear. was it time already? While the Barbarian tried to ignore most things that went on in this crazy little town, he could not ignore the presence of a new monstrous looking blight born, not without first examining them.

Quietly he left the small stable and closed the door behind him. Barring it as he was instructed to do. Then, as subtly as he could, he casually made his way to the corner wall and peer around it and down the road. Sure enough a guard he didn't recognise stood blocking half his vision, but he saw enough of the person beyond to know how the guards above could be certain this was a blight born. Not yet having enough detail he gently and slowly caught the wind and pull it his way, dragging any conversation between the two on the road directly to his ears too.

Silently, like a towering statue, he rest against the wall and listen.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@enmuni

Aliseth

---

Eastern gate

---

He was a guard, a Royal Guard. One tasked with personally protecting the princess at that. Now she was missing, and the the blightborn was still out there somewhere. He had failed. Royally.
Had he his memories in tact he might of known where she would go but as it was he had no clue. It was perhaps a race against time of who could find her first. Not that he could do much without his weapons.

With heavy breaths coalescing in the cold air and the crunching of snow and ice beneath his long stride, Aliseth jog to his destination, all the whilst his eyes and ears focused on every dark shadow as he remain alert and on the lookout for signs of commotion. It took him a while to reach the eastern gate but he was nothing if not fit. Determination driving him on and his pace remaining steady the whole way.

The tall wooden structure loomed over him blocking out stars, brightly illuminated by torches. There were the obvious signs of people going about their business and from inside the town he could see the backs of watchmen looking out over the gate. Peering through the open portal he saw what had their attention as it stole his too. There on the path a disheveled woman, who looked like she had been sleeping in ditches, approached with her hands out in front of her. However none of that took his focus like the large figures shadowing her back. It took him a moment to realise what they were. Wings.
With the combination of those and the horns protruding from her head she looked like a monster from the tales told before there were actual monsters. A demon some would say.

She had spoken but the words were lost to him as he stare intently at her, not realising that his feet had continued to carry him forward putting him between her and the large wooden gate. It was not his job, not his duty nor his responsibility but some unrecognised swirl of emotions drew him forth. One hand still marred with the stains of blood hovered near an empty scabbard. His hazel eyes held a fierce gaze but despite his own personal opinions on the blightborn, Dawnhaven was a place they were welcome.

He fought to unclench his teeth and hide his emotions from his face as he steadily raise a hand. "Halt traveller! You have reached Dawnhaven. Declare your name and intentions." He bellow in a firm commanding voice. Torchlight glimmering on his worn Lunarian armor as he stood tall before her, a gentle breeze picking up from nowhere and running past him through the gates, rustling his disheveled dark hair as it pass.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@The Muse

The tamed savage

Valgo

37 | Male | Lunaris | Stablehand | Human

appearance

Magic:
A master of air, a student of illusion.
He is more than just a manipulator of wind, throwing powerful blasts and erecting protective barriers.
He is attuned to the very air around him, every vibration in it, every scent floating through it, it's density, it's temperature. It is not a sixth sense but more an extension of all others, of himself.

He can control sounds, silencing, distorting, copying, or even recreating them from nothing. It is from these later abilities that he delved into illusions to add visual figments and detail to the sounds and forces he could already create.

Short Bio:
Valgo was born in a small village on the far edge of Lunaris territory, deep in the wilds. The land was harsh, its winters brutal, but it made its denizens strong and this was no exception for Valgo.
Son of no one, Valgo was destined for nothing. Despite this he rose to reputation and respect among his people. Taking multiple mates and siring many children.
His clan was one of the forgotten ones, deemed uncivilised and wild. They spoke little of the common tongue, participated in strange sacrificial ceremonies and worshipped unknown gods.

Unlike everyone else, they embraced the blight upon its arrival. Their leader being one of the first to turn. They sacrifice people to it, use it in rituals and revere those who turned and survived. While their numbers dwindled, their strength grew. Survival of the fittest. Soon they were leaving their sacred territory and attacking other villages and tribes.
Not all in the clan liked this new direction.

Valgo believed in his own strength and the might of his self honed magic. He refused the blight and would not risk death for power despite how much he was pushed to. He watched as those around him, some his own children, succumb to the temptations and pressure. Dying in the trials, becoming monsters or pointlessly falling to the newly turned.

While he cared little for most his children, as was the way of his tribe, he did have one particular favourite. His youngest, a daughter to one of the völvur. A woman who was not his mate but enticed him with whispers of destiny and fate. She is the one who passed on their tribal secrets of illusion magic. He favoured their child above all others. As was the völva's dying wish, he took the young child and fled to the civilised world.

He traveled far, putting a great distance between himself and his home land. For his daughter he had to let go of his old ways and this meant forgoing violence as he learnt about this new world. After a time he realised he was not fit to raise her in this environment so foreign to him and her best chance was with someone else. Eventually he found good people he trusted to take care of her while he himself return to the border or civilisation and the wilds, waiting.

Misc:
* He once was in a raid against Ivor's village where his brother died.
* His second son had become a powerful blightborn with Magic's that surpassed his own. His ideals of blight born supremacy is strong and he holds much spite for his fleeing father and long lost sister.
* Valgo has a sparrow hawk named Rogh who helps him work the stables. Since grain is becoming a precious commodity, Rogh keeps the vermin away from it.

Rogh

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@SpicyMeatball
@PrinceAlexus

Aliseth

---

Murder scene

---

Aliseth's mind was still muddy and he was slow to react to what was happening around him as he contemplated heavily on the recent events. Weighed down by indecision he did nothing as he watched Lord Coswain disappear from sight before slowly turning his gaze back to the priestess. His eyes were pulled down back to the headless corpse once again. He couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt and responsibility as he look over his former friend, if only he had done things differently, or been quicker.
He couldn't allow himself to dwell on such things. It easily could have been him lying there on the floor without a head. Who was he to question the cruel machinations of fate.
He had little option but to get up and get on with it.

Taking a deep breath he lift his head and found the priestesses eyes. Looking into them, seeing them in a way he never used to be able to. Almost looking through them. He spoke softly.
"You're going to be ok. I, I have to keep going." He spoke with heavy assurance and confidence but his words seemed to be more for his own benefit than hers.
With that said the guard chose his direction and head off alone into the endless night, pulling out a rag or strip of clothing and attempting to clean his hands as he walked, following a line of torchlight.

A new guild

And then the inevitable came to be. A loud 'thwack' rung through the air suddenly creating a pregnant pause of commotion as a stunned silence took the room. Time seemed to have frozen until interrupted by a subsequent crash, and just like that the bubble was burst, stillness and silence gone as all manner of chaos and violence ensued. The tavern erupting into brawling ground.

Shouting and tussling ensued, tables and chairs upturned and broken, cutlery and plates scattering about. The room was filled with ruckus every which way. Opponent and ally loose and interchangeable terms. An empty mug clang against the wall uncomfortably close to Galen's golden hair. Wide eyed he shot up from his seat cursing and belittling all before him, much to old Al's worried disapproval.

For most Gallens outburst was ignored or lost amongst all other noises but it did get the attention of three mischievous scraggy looking lurkers circling the outer fray of the commotion like hyenas waiting for easy pickings. Spotting the table of women, old men and a haughty noble, they found it. If they could just avoid the smith. The first man flashed them all a crooked smile as he crack his knuckles and glance at his friends behind him.

The second man, a bald stocky man nodded to the first as if silently agreeing to an unsaid plan, showing familiarity between these scoundrels, as he step to the side and pick up a stool. The third man looked to be the youngest but also tallest. A lanky kid with a crooked nose. His hands already raised fists.
They said nothing as they approach menacingly.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@SpicyMeatball@PrinceAlexus

Aliseth

---

Murder scene

---

Aliseth stared at the priestess before him as her reply lead him to wonder what manners of torment she had endured. Her findings did not surprise him although they offered little answers to the situation.
He let out a sigh of relief as the nobleman left without things turning to violence. Still, he seemed intent on causing chaos. Aliseth wondered if that would come back to haunt them later. While he didn't admire the man at all, he could however understand his disdain for the blightborn. They were monsters after all.

Returning his focus back to the task and the remaining people standing beside one another, he listen to Coswain's words. The whispers between the two were unsettling but he acted like he hadn't noticed. Of course they considered him a suspect. All he could do to convince them otherwise was agree and go along.

"I don't wish to disagree with you, but, I believe it is imperative that the scene remain secured.
We don't want bystanders to come by and panic or cause a commotion." His eyes moved to the direction Ayel had left in. "Any more anyway." He added.

He stood tall. "The body should be covered and guarded or at least brought with us." He said firmly, looking between the man and the woman, trying to gage their reaction. Searching for support. He wasn't sure if it was a sense of duty that forced him to hold tight to that cause, or a sense of guilt and respect for the dead. Either way, his eyes shone with determination and his stance was firm as his ideals. He could only imagine what would happen if more people stumbled across this scene.

"What ever your choice, it should be made in haste. And I assure you, I am here to help how ever I can."
While his words were for both, his dark hazel eyes were on the priestess.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@PrinceAlexusAyel @SpicyMeatball Kat & @PrinceAlexus Adonis

Aliseth

---

Murder scene

---

Before the man's reply, a woman approached the gruesome sight, not with horror or disgust but with caution and curiosity. Aliseth watched, frozen in disbelief as she knelt down near him and seemed to, with interest in her brown eyes, examine the dead man.

He studied her features intently, trying to determine if he was supposed to know her. As her prayer fades away he carries on. Words soft, barely above a whisper.
"Does this not bother you? What sort of priest are you?" Were his next questions as he sought some level of understanding. Understanding was something Aliseth was greatly lacking in right now.

His attention goes back to the man clad in similar fashioned armour. At mention of his own bloody hands he looked down at them as if only now just noticing. Closing his hands into fists as resolution filled his eyes, he stood up tall.

"I'm sorry. I will aid how ever I can. But... I do not remember what happened here... and I do not deliberately withhold my name. I, I just can't remember it."

He let Lord Coswain address a seemingly confused nobleman as he once again retreated into his mind, wading through the mud.
"It was a blightborn attack!" He suddenly blurts our. "Myself and." He looks to the headless body. "this man." The ache of not knowing his name evident in his voice. "we were.... I think we were on duty. We were protecting someone." he says as he slowly pieces things together.

His eyes run over the scene, searching for more clues, for more memories. Then realisation struck his face. "By the divine moon, the princess!" He suddenly exclaims. "We have to find the princess and make sure she is ok!" Urgency flood his voice, his deep seeded sense of duty calling him to action. Instantly he was wound up and ready to go. But, he didn't know where to direct this focus or where she had ran off to, only that he had to find her and make sure she was safe. His job and duty was the only identity he had and he cling tightly to it. Fearing he had already failed her once he was desperate to find her well, hoping she would be able to tell him more about what happened and who he was.

In no time he found the freshest tracks in the snow leaving the circle of ice and began to follow. "This way! After we secure her highness then I shall go to the captain."

A new guild

Looks like the first job could be collecting horses