A Brother No More

[INDK]

(solo, unless some member of the old Brotherhood that is not going to be a member of the BB wants to join. If you fit those categories and are interested in a quick thread. PM me).

Lornius was hot. Damon didn’t care for it much. Especially now that he was stuck outside a bar with people smoking pipes all around him, the noxious smells all around him were practically nauseating. It made him feel hotter, and it made breathing more uncomfortable. Had the boy been a bit more violent, he would have taken his machete and attempted to slice through one of the pipes, but as it was it seemed that he would have no choice.

The boy was waiting for Ashiakin and it had been a while. Fifteen minutes and thirty two seconds by Damon’s count, and it was likely that he’d missed counting a few seconds in here and there. If his LCC partner didn’t arrive soon, Damon figured that he would go off and seek a bit of adventure of his own. After all, it was hardly likely that the boy was going to be needed. As far as Damon was concerned, there had been no great challenge to him yet in Lornius, and the time he had now would be better spent trying to get more weapons. Right now he had the long sword and machete, but the boy had begun to notice the large variety of weapons that were present in Lornius. Just nearby, among the people that were smoking, Damon could see a battle axe, halberd and pillum.

“Wonder where people get these,” the boy thought. His current stash had been stolen, the longsword taken from a dwarf beaten by Ashiakin, while his machete had been lifted at a Corone bazaar. Later, Damon had been notified that both processes of weapons gaining were considered unacceptable by more distinguished members of society. Thus, with no way of knowing where it was where he could get the weapons, Damon figured that he would have only one solution.

He would ask the people with weapons.

“Hey you,” Damon said, looking at the nearest smoker. “How’d you get that axe there?”

The smoker was a grey dwarf, with a weathered delhar axe covered by his belt. He merely grunted “me paps” and gave a haughty hrumph that suggested that Damon wouldn’t be welcome to ask any more questions.

The way that the dwarf’s nostrils flared made Damon decide that the dwarf was too surly to bother any more people. That had been the pattern so far with dwarves, and now Damon figured that it was a pattern that would continue.

The boy shrugged and moved on to the next smoker, who was equally uninterested. However, the third smoker, perhaps out of a desire just to be rid of the questioning boy, suggested that Damon search out by the harbor, that there would be adventurers there searching for weapons.

“Well then,” Damon replied with a smile. “I think I’ll be off then. Tell Ashiakin that I’ve gone to get us more weapons!”

“Yeah… uhh… sure, I’ll say that kid,” the smoker replied. “You have to go now though or you’ll miss the boats.”

Damon nodded solemnly, and soon he was off on what he hoped would be a simple adventure.

[INDK]

(For reference, a change in post means a change in perspective between Sevviel and Damon)

Sevviel Lan'Tiros had never found herself after hearing of Damon’s untimely death in Raiaera. It had seemed completely unfair that the Aegis of the Brotherhood would die a continent away, in the arms of people who had probably never loved him. Among his brothers and sisters, at least Damon Kaosi had been loved. Sevviel knew this well, for she had loved him. She’d loved him even before he had rescued her from the angry Ghauntyrr’stra, and having served as his secretary had given her a particularly intimate knowledge of his disciplined daily life. And she swore, she had loved every last bit of it.

The only problem was that Damon had never loved her back, nor had he even considered her in any capacity other than his secretary. He had been in love with a girl named Skie, one who had helped him save Eluriand. “Eluriand,” Sevviel thought with a sigh that was as much despondent as it was whimsical. “It seemed like our Aegis always spent too much of her time there.”

Still, when Damon had been in charge, for all its flaws the Brotherhood had remained intact. Now, it was little more than rubbles. Empty buildings, enchanted golems and items too heavy to remove were all that remained. That, and Damon’s personal inventory. Sevviel had refused to let it be touched, perhaps because of a false desire of hers that somehow the boy would reincarnate. She had always known there was something celestial about him, especially because it would have been rare for her to be attracted to a mortal otherwise. After all, Sevviel Lan’Tiros was an angel, and it was rare that angels ever found themselves loyal to the mere creatures born of earth.

However, now she merely wandered aimlessly, ending up in Lornius to test her fortunes in the new tournament. She was neither an experienced fighter, nor did she really expect to seek glory there, but the idea of a team made her feel like she would have had an opportunity to belong to something again. The best times in her short angelic life had been as Damon’s secretary, and she had just wanted to feel needed again. However, she had arrived in Lornius to late, after the registration slots for the tournament had been sealed.

Still, Sevviel had managed to take one bit of solace. Right next to the name of the wretched Prince of Panic had been that very name that she thought had faded away from Althanas, none other than Damon Kaosi. She had seen his match, and witnessed nothing more than a confused boy. It was hardly worth it, coming to Lornius was a wasted trip.

Aimlessly she now wandered, bordering the monolith forest as she headed towards the harbor. It would have been fastest to travel through the foliage to get towards the lighthouse, but Sevviel was well aware that Lornius’ weak state made its woods a haven for brigands. By staying out in the open, the angel at least hoped that she was safe.

Her hopes were in vain. She was being watched. By multiple people.

[INDK]

Damon had been one of the people watching Sevviel, but he was the one that the angel had the least to worry about. The boy was only interested because he noticed the dagger she was carrying. He had noticed her on his way towards the harbor, and would have merily continued on, had it not been for a familiar symbol on the blade of the angel’s dagger. It had looked reminiscent of a symbol from the boy’s forgotten past. One of two memories that Damon had managed to hold on to before everything he had once known had faded away. The dagger contained a small stylized “B” on it, one very similar to the one that Damon had drawn into the ground. While the boy could not remember the significance of it, he hoped at least that the angel could.

However, Sevviel was moving rather quickly, and Damon struggled to keep up with the angel’s brisk pace. Afraid to call out to her for fear of startling her, Damon tried to catch up with her, but there was little he could do without outright running to make up the lost ground. The angel had long legs, and her gait was both brisk and agitated. She seemed like she would be easy to startle, and thus Damon was particularly mindful and opted towards caution. While he didn’t understand why, it seemed that people on this island were considerably jitterier than they were in Corone.

“I guess I could just run up to her,” the boy thought, though he was well aware that the angel’s wings could allow her to fly away. “She’d have nothing to fear from me… and if she’s scared, then maybe I could help her.” The boy had no idea as to what her problems were, but had he been unable to offer her much in terms of aid, he was certain that his LCC partner, the esteemed Salvarian noble Ashiakin, could help.

Damon’s thoughts were soon interrupted by the others who had been watching Sevviel, though this group of brigands had considerably more malevolent intentions. They wanted to rob, without a doubt, but the lewd look that their leader gave Sevviel suggested that they wanted something a bit more. The angel shrieked, and Damon shuddered, even though he was still unsure about the difference between thievery and legitimate business transactions. The boy saw Sevviel’s fate a minute from now, her being tied up and dragged into the woods by the rough group of thieves around her, unable to mount any resistance.

While he was very naïve, even Damon could tell that Sevviel was soon in need of aid. Quickly, the boy unsheathed his longsword and ran straight towards the brigands. He unleashed a war cry meant only to distract, and it was soon clear that the thieves knew of his presence. One of the five knocked an arrow into a longbow and prepared to take a shot.

[INDK]

Surrounded by five brigands, Sevviel could hardly believe her luck. She reached for her dagger for a moment, but then decided that it’d be foolish. Each one of the thieves around her was armed, three of them with short swords and the two other with short bows. Sevviel might have gotten lucky and stabbed one of them, but otherwise she would have been completely overwhelmed. Unlike most Althanians, Sevviel had always been a bit dainty and never really learned to defend herself beyond the basics. Thoughts of entering the LCC had been made out of desperation for lack of focus, and now she was realizing how overwhelmed she would have been in the tournament when it was hopeless for her against five Lornian brigands.

“So, whaddve we got ‘ere,” the leader of the brigands asked, mockingly tapping his chin as he examined Sevviel like she was nothing more than a piece of meat or a stray cattle. “Eh… she aint too bad to look at, aint she?”

“Yer right there boss,” one of the two archers said, his tongue hanging coarsely from his mouth like a hyena in heat. “She’d bring some fun t’nite…”

“I’d think yer right,” the leader replied, snatching Sevviel’s dagger from her waist.

The angel gulped. The brigands were all a nasty sort, but their leader was certainly the worst. Rough and smelly, their leader was a bawdry blond man, with hair so dirty it had taken strands of black. Unshaven with no sense of style, the wicked thief had an uneven beard that was just short enough not to conceal an intimidating scar upon his face. Damaged teeth lined an open mouth, made all the more disgusting by the way that the thief ran his tongue over them.

A slight shudder passed over Sevviel’s body as she looked into the brigand’s eyes, well aware of what was going to happen to her. Later that day, she would be dead, and with her, she feared the memories of Damon Kaosi would be lost. Much of the general’s prized possessions had remained in Raiaera, but there had been one that the angel had been sure to keep with her when she’d learned of Damon’s illness. Now, it was likely to be lost in the wilderness of the monolith forest, or otherwise used for ill purpose by the thieves. Desperately, Sevviel clutched the book, wondering if there wouldn’t have been some way with which she could have escaped had she thought about it earlier.

“Please…” she begged, even though she knew it was in vain. A loud laughter from the thieves confirmed her suspicions.

“Ye, ain’t gonna ‘mount to nothing jus’ beggin,” the leader of the brigands continued. “An ye won’t save yer readin’ either…” He snatched the book from the angel just as his archers were alerted to the presence of another young man.

“Cap’n” one of them said, bow all ready after an arrow had been released. “We’ve got ourselves a hero.”

The brigand leader looked on to see a boy who couldn’t have been more than fifteen, with monochoromatic black eyes and an otherwise unremarkable appearance. “Jus’ take care of ‘im” came a most irritated reply. “’E’s barely ole enough te hole that sword there…”

As a few more arrows fired out towards Sevviel’s rescuer, the brigand leader’s attention turned back to his captive. He took a dastardly step forward and rubbed a calloused hand down Sevviel’s soft face.

[INDK]

Damon was surprisingly good with the sword for the little practice he had with it. Almost perfectly, the boy timed his sword so as to deflect the arrows coming his way, moving quick enough so that neither of the bowmen had the time to get off more than a couple of shots. Both of them were quickly felled, humanely but resolvedly with the broad side of Damon’s sword smacking both archers in the temple. The boy grinned. He didn’t care much for violence, but he was willing to use it against anyone who needed defending. Almost immediately, the rest of the three brigands attempted to surround him, moving in a crescent formation so as to try and catch Damon unawares. However, the boy’s senses were too clever for that.

Quick visions primed Damon of where the strikes were coming from and Damon parried them all off with ease. The angel had backed away from the battle, giving Damon all the time he needed to work. He could frustrate the brigands easily, and at the moment the boy cared more about helping a person in need than he did bringing any the thieves to justice. Thus, he merely blocked at their parries, anticipating each one before it came with an amused smile on his face.

“Tired yet?” he asked, aware that the two bowmen would not stay down forever. He probably had the patience to keep the three thieves at bay, but Damon feared being overwhelmed with five. Thus, he was going to have to solve this battle simply, and he began to spin around, his skin hardening over as a maelstrom of lasers and debris appeared all around the body of the boy. Hot steam flew off of the tornado, and the thieves, already having been vexed by Damon’s uncanny ability to counter their blows, now raced quickly away, dragging their groggy friends with them.

Damon chuckled, a bit surprised that he had been able to deter five grown men that easily, but figured it boded well for the LCC. He was not all that familiar with the way the tournament worked, but he was aware that he and Ashiakin would never face more than two opponents at a time. If five were this easy for the boy to handle, Damon doubted the LCC would pose more of a challenge. “I can even let Ashiakin rest during most of it,” the boy thought with a moment of pride.

Anyways, this task complete, Damon only now registered a moment of frustration in that the thieves had left along with all their weapons. Though the boy had failed to plan for it in advance, he would have liked to have grabbed one or two of the swords that the thieves had wielded. Even though he had been told not to take weapons from people, the boy figured that the thieves actions had necessitated that forfeiture. Either way, the thieves were gone now, and it was quite a tragedy. Had he gotten the weapons, then he would have been able to have ended his search for weapons right then and there and moved on to more pressing matters, like taking care of the angel who had been nearly assaulted. As it was, he was going to have to combine the two tasks now.

[INDK]

Sevviel had watched the entire battle with surprise. Her dagger taken from her, the angel had been rendered essentially defenseless, and she watched on as a boy had taken up her case. Immediately she was struck by the confidence shown by the child, the way he anticipated attacks was similar only to one other person who she had known before, her former Aegis, Damon Kaosi. By the time that Damon had unleashed the laser tornado, Sevviel couldn’t help but think there may have been some kind of a connection. Immediately, she remembered the LCC registry and the team of Ashiakin and Damon Kaosi. It had made little sense then, but now, she was beginning to sense intrigue.

Still, Sevviel couldn’t help but to feel nervous. The Damon she knew would have never found an ally in a manipulative ice demon, and she would have hoped that he would have come back to the Brotherhood… or at least Raiaera. There were other reasons to be skeptical, the child before her looked practically nothing like her former Aegis. In as much as the boy resembled any of Althanas’ common races, her rescuer most resembled a human. Damon Kaosi had been a half elf. Additionally, this boy was pale and his eyes didn’t seem to have the same earnest sparkle that had always been a trademark of the former Aegis. As she had read celestial signs, Damon’s return would have been likely, but Sevviel had always expected Damon to return looking a bit more like himself.

Almost afraid to give the book back to him, Sevviel clutched her Aegis’ old songbook close to her, and smiled weakly, unsure of what was to happen now. It had seemed like the boy had saved her, but in Lornius, there were so few hapless victims that thieves would often time attack other thieves.

“Uhh… hello,” she muttered. “Thank you for saving me.”

The boy with monochromatic eyes smiled when he replied. “My pleasure,” he said. “I’ll help you… but I also need to get weapons.”

Sevviel was taken aback by the comment. “You… you need weapons?” she asked, wondering why on earth that would have been motivation for the boy to have come to her rescue. “I- I don’t have any, the thieves had taken my dagger.”

With a smile that seemed like it intended to put her at ease, the boy shook his head and replied. “I don’t want your weapons. Ashiakin told me not to take weapons from people unless they deserve it… if you want, I can even go into the woods and get your dagger for you.”

The mention of Ashiakin caught Sevviel by surprise. This boy… he shared the same name as the Damon Kaosi she knew. “It’s quite alright…” she said. “I don’t need my dagger for now, if you can help me get back to the harbor I’ll be able to take a ship back to my home… to Sanctuary.”

She added the last line to see if it added any interest for her rescuer. Trying not to seem too eager that she wanted the phrase Sanctuary to mean something, she waited, restless on the balls of her feet as it looked like the boy was taking his time to think of what to say.

The wait felt like it was killing her.

[INDK]

Damon had taken a few minutes to think before answering the angel. It wasn’t because the term “sanctuary” had caught him off guard, but because he was just a bit overwhelmed by the entire situation. Earlier, he had only intended to ask this angel about the “B” on her dagger, perhaps get any advice she had on procuring weapons and then move on. Now it looked like he’d have to take her with him to the harbor, and the boy was unsure as to whether or not having the angel along with him would make his task any easier. He couldn’t afford to be gone for too long, Ashiakin was likely waiting. The boy had merely intended to go off for a little while and come back with another weapon.

However, given how distraught it seemed the angel was, Damon knew that he’d have to take care of her first. Getting weapons wasn’t nearly as important anyways now, after seeing how easily he’d disposed of five brigands, the boy couldn’t help but to wonder if he’d be fine in the LCC with just his longsword and machete. Instead, he decided to question the angel on her dagger, because it was the first real connection he had to any kind of a memory of his past.

With little regard for the earlier direction of their conversation, Damon finally blurted out a response. “What about that ‘B’ the one that was on your dagger… I saw it before and you have it there too- on your jacket- I know that B I remember it from the past… but I just don’t know what it means… You have to tell me… please…. I’ll help you get to the harbor, but you’ll have to tell me this… I just really need to know…”

With the exception of pauses for breaths after phrases, the boy had spoken his entire piece like it was a big clump of thought. It was completely oblique, but the desperation and honesty in the way he said it was easily apparent. The angel’s eyes watered up, and she looked on at Damon like she had met a long lost friend.

“My name is Sevviel Lan’Tiros,” she said. “Formerly of the Brotherhood.” Her entire face now seemed watery, like a painting that had been out in the rain too long and was weakened to the point where it would break. “And your name is?”

“Damon Kaosi,” the boy replied. “Though sometimes I let people call me Glen Lambert.”

Sevviel broke down on her knees and cried. For his part, Damon was very confused and felt that he ought to apologize.

[INDK]

(For convenience sake, I am no longer switching point of view after every post)

“It- its fine…” Sevviel managed after Damon had came over to console her. She hugged the young reincarnate to her and sniffled as she tried to curb her tears of relief. It was as if all of a sudden, she had gone from dead to having her life returned to normal. The angel had not done well since the fall of the Brotherhood, and now it seemed like she finally would have some respite. “You’re Damon… Damon Kaosi reborn, aren’t you?”

The boy’s face fell the moment the angel had asked the question. He looked at her nervously. “I- I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just me… and before I was someone else. I might have been Damon Kaosi… at least sometimes I think I am…”

“You’re Damon,” she said, more like she needed to confirm it to herself than because she needed to confirm it for the boy. Almost impulsively, Sevviel then shoved the book she had been keeping with her into Damon’s hands. “Take this,” she said, though it had come off almost like a command.

Sevviel looked on as Damon took the book, almost expecting him to open it immediately to the twenty third page and belt out one of the book’s most powerful songs. However, the boy merely looked on at the book curiously, holding it as if he wasn’t sure what to make of the gift.

“Is it a weapon?” the boy asked quizzically, raising his eyebrow as if to show how skeptical he was of its utility. The only reason he would have expected a book from the angel would have been because it could have been used as a weapon. Damon had been informed as to what books were by Ashiakin, and the boy had found that he was able to read in at least three different languages. However, that didn’t mean that he found reading to be nearly as useful as weapons. Never before in battles had the boy seen someone strike at an opponent with a novel, but swords he’d found came quite in handy.

“No…” Sevviel said, a bit taken aback by the question. “It’s the Slayer’s Songbook, only you are able to do the spells in it Damon.” Doubt began to creep into her mind. Even if this was a reincarnation of the Damon she knew, even if he had saved her, that didn’t mean that times hadn’t changed. The Aegis she had known was a man of integrity, not the partner of an ice elemental. The celestials had ways of working that were not as easily apparent to Sevviel now that she had descended down to the mortal sphere.

“Try it,” she urged, almost pleading. “Try any spell in there… an easy one even…” Only Damon would have been able to learn the spells in the book, lest he willingly taught them to another. It wouldn’t have mattered had the boy chosen an easy or a hard one, the true Damon Kaosi would have learned the spell just the same.

Still, Sevviel was uncertain. Who was it that she had given the book to? If the book ended up in the hands of one such as Ashiakin, the angel was fearful for the future of Althanas. However, there was something oddly serene about the boy’s eyes that when she looked into them, made her feel a bit more confident about letting him try the spell.

Though monochromatic, they seemed to possess a subtle hue of sincerity.

[INDK]

Damon had flipped his way towards the end of the book, so he looked at a spell that had seemingly been scribbled in by handwriting similar to his. Curiously, the boy inspected it, mumbling the words out loud as if merely going over the song in his head filled him in on the way it was supposed to sound.

“Is this right?” he asked Sevviel, humming a few bars. “If its right, then I can take us both anywhere we want to go… that’s what the song says. We can go to the harbor, or to the Sanctuary, your home.”

Sevviel nodded. “I would very much like to go to Sanctuary,” she said, solemnly, well aware about how bitter sweet a homecoming it would be. The place had once been vibrant with life, love and activity during the times when Gild and Damon had been the Aegis. Bringing Damon back wouldn’t fix anything, and the angel didn’t even know if the boy would be willing to stay. Still, tainted as it was, it would be a homecoming for her, and Sevviel had just been so devoid of happiness lately that she would accept even tainted joy. Plus, she was so overcome with the joy of being reunited with Damon, she could have hardly been blamed for being unnecessarily optimistic.

Damon nodded. He slipped his hand into Sevviel’s and then began to sing, asking the earth beneath him to guide his journey as his body began to discorporate. The lyrics of the song were poignant and narrative, but they were of the kind of poetry that couldn’t be heard by mortal ears. Even Damon couldn’t hear his own voice, and it barely seemed like his lips were moving as he sung.

Sevviel heard the words though, her angelic ears were sensitive enough to feel the intricacies of the boy’s silent singing. Also, her body was made of stern enough stuff that she could bear to hear the words of a Truth that mortals could not handle. It had been for their own protection that Althanians were not granted the hearing of celestial beings. Had they been given such a boon, it would be likely that entire nations of people would be sitting in corners, hugging their knees to their chests just wishing that the voices would go away. Such was the plight of the gods, an incredible amount of wisdom, but no one who was ready to listen.

Most importantly, Sevviel knew that Damon was back, and that his heart was pure. The song was a little different than it had been before, earlier Damon had always sung with a passion that could have always been his undoing. It was almost as if Damon had loved Althanas so much that the love itself could destroy him. Now, his love seemed much more stable, fully committed but somehow cosmically imbalanced.

Irregardless, Sevviel couldn’t explain it nor did she care to. She just smiled as hers and Damon’s bodies began to discorporate, and they headed through the earth towards the Sanctuary that they had once called home.

[INDK]

In what seemed like less than a few minutes, Damon and Sevviel rematerialized in the Commercial Fields of Sanctuary. Had the boy been cognizant of all the work people like Gild, Ghauntyrr’stra, Dan Wilmhearst, Godhand and so many countless others put in to building the place, he would have immediately been ashamed to see what it had become. In was still a safe place, multiple golems had made sure of that, but for a place once so full of solidarity and brotherhood, the entire area seemed dim and gray. Only a few people remained at Sanctuary, and they were the ones who had no where else to go. Ironically, they were the ones that Sanctuary had been built for, the helpless, the needy, the people with whom both Gild and Damon had hoped to create the one paradise on Althanas. Now, that dream had died. The poor lived in Sanctuary like refugees while those that could had already moved on to greener pastures.

But the boy didn’t know this. He didn’t understand why tears were beginning to brim up in Sevviel’s eyes, or why the people at their tents seemed to look on towards him with nothing more than the apathy of total submission. There was only so long before Damon’s triumphant smile did fade. He was so confused, he’d done what Sevviel had asked, returned her to Sanctuary and did the spell, and now she was miserable. In a weak voice that revealed a fear of being responsible, the recently reborn child turned to Sevviel and looked up at her with increasingly uneasy eyes.

“Why… why are you crying?” Damon asked weakly. “I- we did the spell, you’re home now.”

Sevviel couldn’t respond for a moment, she was too busy choking back tears. The angel wouldn’t have thought she would have been so overwhelmed, but Sanctuary had continued to degenerate even since she had left for Lornius. It was increasingly a place of old people, old people and their grand children who stayed behind while the able bodied went off to work in nearby towns in Raiaera. To the angel, the irony was just too hard to bear, even after Damon’s death, Raiaera had won, Sanctuary had lost.

“No… its not your fault…” Sevviel finally managed. “Your song was beautiful… it was just what I needed.” She tried to smile for Damon, but it just came out watery. She soon stopped pretending, for faking a smile just made her face feel awkward and that much more fragile. It had been a whirlwind of emotions for the angel, and she didn’t see it likely as stopping any time soon.

“Just… lets just be happy here,” she said. “I’ll show you some things about your past… and then we can figure out what to do… rebuild this. Don’t worry, you’ll be happy here soon…”

Clearly, the angel had meant the last line for herself, and not as much for Damon.

Damon knew he was going to have to get back to Lornius soon for the LCC, but not unlike his former self, he was completely unable to say no to a person in need. Ashiakin would just have to wait.

“Okay,” he said solemnly, taking a deep exhale. “But since I can now sing that song and move around, can I go back to the LCC for the tournament?”

Sevviel wanted to say no, but she didn’t have the heart. If it wasn’t Raiaera now, it was Lornius. Either way, it seemed like Damon could never wholly belong to Sanctuary. Perhaps more embittering to Sevviel was the thought that Damon could never wholly belong to her. Still, the angel knew that mortals deserved to be free, despite the chains they place on each other. She would add nothing more to Damon’s burden.

“You do what’s best,” she answered. Finally, Sevviel managed to smile weakly.

Damon, suddenly relieved, grinned broadly. He would be able now to both help this angel in need, and fulfill his promise to Ashiakin. “I will,” he promised sincerely. “Can I go back to Lornius now though?”

“In a bit,” came Sevviel's response, though it had seemed even more reluctant than her first reply. “I need to show you things first... you need to stay here for a bit.”

Even though he would have just as soon gone back to Lornius, Damon nodded obediently. He was afraid of there being more tears otherwise.

[INDK]

Sevviel and Damon moved in through the outer layers of Sanctuary with a solemn air of silence. Sevviel would occasionally point out what she considered to be the things about Sanctuary worth saving, the people that lived there, the few buildings and walls that had not yet entered a state of disrepair, and perhaps most importantly, the weaponry. A good amount of wealth had been left at Sanctuary, because it was more than the people there could carry. Some of it was in statues, others in weapons that had little use to people trying to make a daily living. However, Sevviel was aware that Damon’s initial quest had been for weapons, and she was desperately thinking of things that might have pleased him.

“There is your own special vault…” she said. “No one else could get into it, it was guarded by a golem, but a whole bunch of weapons that were yours have now been held there, if you want you can go and get some of them back…”

Finally, Damon’s ears perked up. He had been too polite to say it, but most of the talk about walls and people who were still committed to a cause that the boy had yet to understand had completely bored him. However, the idea of getting a bunch of weapons had certainly caught Damon’s attention. He had spent a good amount of the time when Sevviel was describing the different fortifications wondering about what Ashiakin would say about him going off on this adventure. However, Damon was certain that if he returned with a bunch of weapons (all of which he would graciously share) the ice elemental would not be nearly as perturbed.

“I’d like that please…” he said politely, remembering his manners. While Damon’s voice didn’t betray his emotions all that much, it was clear to Sevviel just how much more attentive the boy was as they moved through Sanctuary’s concentric circles. Eventually, they made it into the heart of the city and into Damon’s underground office. The place was cooler than the rest of Sanctuary, though it had fallen under a bit more of disrepair. All the furniture in it had been covered with a thick layer of dirt, and the candle that had once lit the room had long run out of wax.

Damon bit his lip, he didn’t care much for the darkness, and as it was, he was barely able to see a few steps in front of him. He could hear a creature stirring, but when he looked up nervously towards Sevviel, she only smiled back.

“Don’t worry,” she assured. “That golem knows you, it won’t attack.”

The boy still gulped. While he was yet to be aware of it, Damon’s abilities were severely limited in the absence of light. Sevviel hadn’t been aware of it either, given how embarrassing a weakness it was for a vampire hunter, Damon had kept it a secret from everyone. Perhaps at times Ghauntyrr’stra had come close to guessing it, but Sevviel was just confused as to why Damon seemed so reluctant to move into the darkness.

“You sure?” the boy asked, as his steps forward down the stairs now grew more tentative and shorter. “Just leave the door open though, I could use the light.” There was something primordial about the darkness that he seemed to fear, as if there was an instinct somewhere in his body that told him that he should be frightened, just as his instincts warned him against poor swordsmanship.

Sevviel smiled and shook her head, figuring that Damon was just being silly. “Yes…” she said. “I’m sure.”

The boy took a few more steps forward until he was fully enveloped in the dust and darkness of what had once been an Aegis’ office. “It’s not so bad,” he tried to convince himself as he held his hands out to feel his way around. He grinned a bit. “My weapons are right straight ahead, right?” he tried to confirm. The golem stirred a little and Sevviel nodded.

“Well then, time to get it done,” the boy mumbled, feeling a bit better about the situation. After all, if the golem was there to protect him, Damon doubted that there really could be any dangerous creatures lying in wait. Anyways, there was little reason that anything would be waiting for him here. He was just being irrational, afraid of the dark and because the soil under his feet was moist and uneven, not like what he was normally used to. The boy tried to grin. He knew he was supposed to be confident, he had every right to be.

All that was before a quick shudder ran down Damon’s spine, for a vision of the golem attacking now played before his eyes.

[INDK]

While he was surrounded by darkness, the vision in Damon’s mind was as clear as day. A giant bear, at least more than two feet above his height, was about to take a swipe at his head. Figuring that had to be the golem, the boy waited cautiously. “Don’t say anything,” he whispered to Sevviel, knowing that while it was dark he would have to go by noise. There were a few stray strands of sunlight still trickling in from the door, but their light didn’t radiate out as far as the boy would have needed to engage this creature in a battle.

Unknowing of the golem’s intentions, or whether or not the giant bear even was the golem, Damon figured he would have to lure his assailant towards the light. There would be no other way that the boy’s fighting ability would be on par with that of the creature. From the steady sound of heavy footsteps, Damon was well aware now that the bear seemed to have no trouble finding him.

The golem roared, Sevviel screamed. Damon wasted no time and ducked. A giant paw, replete with sharp claws lashed out through the air, eventually getting itself embedded on the Aegis’ old talymer desk.
Taking a deep breath, Damon rolled away, hearing the sounds of the bear as it began to grunt deeply, struggling to get its paw out of the mess it had created.

“Get some light… get it now,” the boy said tersely, his request sounding very much like a plea. The boy had known little pain in his life, and knew not of mortality, but every instinct in his body told him what he needed to do.

Sevviel nodded instinctively and replied with a simple yes. The angel wasn’t sure as to what she could do, but there had to be torches somewhere in the Inner City, and she hoped that there would be some way that she could find them. Otherwise, she was useless. The angel’s one ability had been to change her appearance, and that skill had suffered from disuse after being expelled from the Shadow by Ghauntyrr’stra. Thus she scurried for the door, loathe to leave Damon with the golem, but seeing few other options.

“Pie’s gotten mean” Sevviel surmised, knowing that unlike many of the other golems on the island, the bear was not constrained by nearly as many spells. It had been on its own volition that Pie had guarded Damon’s vault, for the golem had the sentience of any of the members of the Brotherhood. While the creature stayed in a stony state most of the time, it had likely grown increasingly temperamental with the abandonment that had happened with the fall of the Brotherhood. For all Sevviel knew, there might have been no safety as long as the creature was still alive. Had Pie sought to avoid conflict, it would have recognized Damon, or at least her. As it was, the boy was left with an unenviable fight against one of Sanctuary’s strongest golems. She shuddered. Sevviel didn’t want to think that she’d brought back a reincarnation of the Aegis just to watch him die. With no other ideas, she scurried off for anything that would bring light.

Damon himself didn’t nearly know the history that Sevviel did, but he had bit his lip and prepared himself for a fight. The boy held his longsword in both hands, held in a position that granted him quick movement. Unlike his expectations, his towering assailant was also quick and agile, putting the boy at a severe disadvantage. He would be able to preempt the bear’s attacks, but Damon wasn’t sure if his counters would be effective blows. Now, as the bear struggled with the desk, Damon merely wanted to regain his wits.

Nervously, the boy waited, keeping equal weight on each foot and his sword aligned with his solar plexus. There was no opportunity for a cheap hit. The bear still had a forepaw free, and feet powerful enough to do damage. As it was, the powerful golem had given up on trying to pry its hand free, and was instead banging the talymer desk against the office’s dirt walls, trying now to break the piece of furniture. Dust began to fall down from the ceiling, and the office looked like it was becoming increasingly unstable. Somehow, he would have to lure the creature towards the light. There were weapons in the vault, and Damon was going to get them. He knew little about the consequences of death, and only acted upon impulses in battle that told him to fight. He sought to avoid pain, nothing more, and the boy didn’t want to imagine the effects of what had amounted to more than a five hour journey at this point with little to show for it. As such, Damon was obstinate in getting what was his.

That didn’t mean he was any less frightened. Eventually, the desk snapped under the bear’s constant abuse. Damon gulped and prepared for battle. A new vision had flashed before his eyes. This one was worse than the first. Unable to get the desk fully liberated from its paw, the bear’s hand had practically turned into a sharp talymer spike, one deep and broad enough it would be more damaging than most swords.

The boy cringed again, because he knew if he wasn’t careful, it would soon be embedded in his skull.

[INDK]

Instead, Damon darted to the left when the bear struck down at him. In the darkness, there was limited opportunity for him to actually glimpse his foe, but even in the limited light a seven foot bear was highly visible. The boy had managed to dart away from another attack, but any kind of a counter he would have tried would have been going against his momentum and would have caused him to loose his balance. However, it meant that now the bear had managed to get two strikes in towards him while he had yet to mount an effective counter. Damon frowned. His dodge had moved him back into the darkness as well, and this time there wasn’t nearly as much opportunity to collect his thoughts as the bear followed up its first attack with another, cuffing Damon on the chin with the back of its hand.

The boy spit blood, his teeth knocked loose and tears swelling in his eyes. He had never tasted blood before, and it was difficult for him to get used to the overwhelming pain that shocked through his body.

“Sevviel!” he screamed. Damon had no idea what the angel could do to help him, but at that moment though, she was the boy’s only hope. He staggered back, almost punch drunk because of the hit, just able to get his wits about him in time to dodge another blow from the jagged talymer shard.

“Whew,” he exhaled, spinning out of the way obliquely, watching with gratitude now as the bear had once again found itself stuck. However, the boy was well aware that the talymer shard would not stay embedded in the dirt for long, and that any moments of thought he got now were precious ones that could not be wasted. Still, Damon was swimming in pain and distracted by the iron taste of blood in his mouth. It made it hard to concentrate. It made the boy desperate.

With a yell that was full blooded if not full voiced, the boy charged forwards, swinging his sword wildly as he hoped to get in some kind of a blow. He managed, slicing into the bear’s forearm, but not just as a mighty paw had knocked him once again to the ground. This time, it hit his chest, tearing through his shirt and scraping into the skin. The wound was shallow, but none the less severe, especially for a boy who was still locked in battle. The worst was now he’d lost his sword. Damon couldn’t be sure in the darkness, but he believed that his weapon had ended up embedded within the arm of his foe.

The bear howled a blood curdling yell, as if it was equally surprised to have been hurt in the fight. That just made Damon shiver, especially as more dust fell down from the roof. By now, the entire underground floor was coated in a fresh layer of plant debris and dust that used to be on the ceiling.

Crumpled on the ground, the boy was running out of options. He could fight some how, with his machete, or stumble back towards the light and hope that the bear wouldn’t follow. Neither option appeared appealing. The bear had broken loose again and now stood between the little light that the place had to offer. By bad luck and poor planning, the boy now found himself having shrunk into the office’s darkest corner.

While Damon didn’t understand death, he certainly could tell now he was in a lot of trouble. Even the instincts that often guided him now had no idea what to do.

[INDK]

As Damon huddled desperately in a corner, teared up, wounded and with so many emotions running through his head that he had essentially rendered himself invalid, Sevviel was looking for light. “Anywhere, anywhere,” the angel urged herself on as she moved through the Inner City. Everything now had been closed down and in disrepair, earlier it would have been no trouble to snatch one of the torches lighting the path towards Etheran Sanctus. As it was she was panicking, combing the ground even for sticks that she would be able to light up with a flame from somewhere.

“Come on, come on,” she fretted to herself, overthrown with guilt for what she had done. Sevviel knew that if it hadn’t been for her, Damon never would have ended up in a battle with Pie. The boy had been nervous to step into the darkness, perhaps because of a warning that he’d received in a future vision. Whatever the reason, she had almost forced him down there, and had promised him weapons.

More importantly, Sevviel didn’t know what in the heavens had demanded that Damon Kaosi be brought back to Althanas. One lifetime certainly should have been enough given all that he had achieved. He’d been a general, Champion of Ahriman, but more importantly, Damon had been a hero. He’d spent his entire life moving quickly from place to place, rarely ever realizing what he had because it might make him think that he would want to stay.

And now, if Damon died, Sevviel would have felt like she was ruining Althanas’ last chance at a hero.

Thus, she ran all the way out into the outer circle, desperate, hoping that the golems themselves could help her. None of them were as strong as Pie, and all of them were limited by various enchantments. Still the angel knew that one of them, somewhere would have had to have been able to do something that could help. Her first thought was Sepento, the dragon golem that only awoke when the members of the Sword guarding the inner circle had been killed. However, now it seemed that the golem had gone too.

It would make sense, the Sword no longer guarded the tower, it made little sense for Sepento to be bound to any spell that called upon the Brotherhood to perform their duties. Perhaps the dragon had even been liberated from the spell out of kindness. That left Sevviel with only one last option for finding fire. Frantically, the angel ran down her options and knew there now there was only one left. She was going to have to head for the commercial fields and see what the last living people at Sanctuary could manage to give her. It might be too late, but at the moment, Sevviel was stuck with this as her only chance.

The only problem was that back in the Aegis’ headquarters, the bear was now sufficiently enraged to tear a helpless Damon Kaosi to bits.

[INDK]

Damon gulped. It would be in darkness that he would end his life. He picked himself up, ready to dodge, but his tear stained eyes were now blurry and his whole body trembling as he saw a vision of the way the bear was going to tear his insides out. The boy had grown weak with blood loss and pain, especially since he wasn’t used to either sensation. He spit, for no reason other than he wanted to die with the horrid taste of blood gone form his mouth. It was to no avail, the wounds inside his mouth were bleeding too profusely.

“H-h-help…” the boy managed again, though this time he was blubbering with pain and regret. He didn’t know that he was about to die, but he knew there would be incredible pain in store for him. “I- I- I don’t wanna…”

Just then, a shadow blocked the entrance, locking the room in complete darkness. Damon could see little of what was going on, but it was the dragon, Sepento, who had come to the boy’s rescue. Damon wasn’t sure why, or how the creature had found him, nor did he care. Damon was just grateful to be alive. A huge billow of flame erupted out from the mouth of the creature, and the bear shrieked in pain as its entire back erupted in flames. Shielding his eyes with his forearm, Damon looked through his fingers at the bright lights and watched now as the bear collapsed in pain.

“Thank you…” he said, grateful for his rescue. “Thanks… I needed that…”

The dragon looked pleased with its work and took a few steps towards Damon. The boy smiled at it, and the dragon smiled back. Damon then knew he was safe. Still on the verge of collapsing, the boy staggered forward and was overwhelmed with gratitude when the dragon let the boy drape around its neck. Sevviel came in soon afterwards, surprised by what she’d seen and then helped the boy up onto the dragon with a caring smile.

“You’re alright!” she gushed. Sevviel had finally come, and while she’d brought a torch with her, there was nothing left to do but help Damon onto the dragon. Loyally, Sepento acceded to the boy climbing onto his back and then with the help of Sevviel’s hand to balance, helped Damon out into the sunlight of the inner city.

“You can get into Minas Toror’Megil… don’t worry about it,” Sevviel said, running her fingers through Damon’s hair sympathetically. “We’ll heal you and have you back in time for your round.”

Damon just groaned a reply. The LCC, Ashiakin and everything else was far from his mind. He just wanted the hurting to stop somehow. He ran his hands down the dragon’s scales, noticing how they had both the give of skin, but a hardness of stone underneath. It was an odd mix, but the boy didn’t care. He had been saved. It didn’t matter that he was still within the crumbling ruins of an old dream, or that the angel with him was doing everything in her power from avoiding crying about her broken dreams. He was safe from more pain now, and with the Inner Circle’s loyal guardian now attaching itself to Damon, the boy would be free to get back to the LCC once his wounds healed.

Sevviel, overwhelmed once again by the situation, torn between relief and the realization that nothing could ever be the same again. The golems had fought each other. That could have never happened at Sanctuary’s zenith. The magic imbued into the city by Gild would have been to strong. With decay, weakness had crept in, and individuals with petty goals like Pie had taken advantage. The dragon, Sepento had remained loyal, and to that, Sevviel was eternally grateful. However, herself, Sepento, a reincarnated Damon and a million good intentions would not be enough to turn Sanctuary around, and Sevviel saw that.

She looked at the dragon and sighed, slightly heartened because Sepento was such a noble beast. The dragon had been liberated, but had apparently stayed close enough to Sanctuary that it was aware of what had transpired in the Aegis’ tower and had come back to save Damon. No members of the Sword were left, but for a moment, it didn’t matter.

“Come on,” Sevviel said, guiding Sepento with her hand on the back of its head. “We’ve got a former Aegis to heal.”

(Spoils= All of these spoils are former posessions of Damon's, save for one update I want to an ability. I would like to request he be regranted his quickening ability, his Slayer Songbook, and a plynt kriss dagger that signifies membership in the brotherhood. I'm leaving the most of Damon's inventory for plunder in Yari's quest

Here is the spell I am hoping to recover, but I would like to have one addition made. The addition will be in red.

The Quickening (Initially level 6) – This ability causes ground of a 5 foot radius to suddenly quicken, absorbing anything living within it, transporting them through Althanas to wherever they desire. However, this process takes five minutes, and a person quickening can not move unless the process is terminated, making them vulnerable to ranged attacks outside of the five foot radius. Basically, it’s rapid intercontinental transport. Additionally, Damon's reincarnation has allowed him to discover a variation of the ability where he can become noncorporeal for a whole minute. Anything that is considered a posession of his becomes noncorporeal if he's touching it, but the spell does not hold for anything else. Also, this variation is useable only once a day (meaning once a battle, or only once between rests in quests) without Damon risking entering back into realms of the dead.)

[Zephyriah]

A Brother No More

Introduction – 6 – I’ve always liked it when people participating in tournaments would make a thread that logically tied in tournament participation with their actual storyline. Some people simply enter a tournament just because, and that’s fine, but I especially like the extra work that people do to make it more meaningful. You did a pretty decent job here, with clearly stating your reasons for going on this simple quest. The weapons angle was simple, albeit well done.

Setting – 4 – This was the weakest area of the thread. I found it difficult at times to visualize the environment that Damon and Sivviel were in. It’s a shame really, since I did enjoy the character interaction.

Writing Style – 7 – I think this is the first solo you’ve written since you’ve been back. I’m pleasantly surprised to see that there wasn’t a bit of rust to work off here. You’re writing was fluid and easy to follow, no grammatical errors and all that jazz. Good job.

Strategy – 4 – I don’t always like to weigh strategy on the action of a thread, but in this quest its hard not to considering the fact that both of the battles that ensued here were instrumental in moving your quest further along. With Damon being a near amateur in his fighting abilities after his reincarnation, I expected him to think of more clever ways to defeating the robbers in the beginning. You took them all out and made mention to the possibility of all opponents in the LCC being as easy as the robbers. However, this approach could’ve still been taken with a more creative way of defeating the enemies. The battle with the golem was slightly better, but mainly in the sense of how Sivviel and Damon responded to their respective situations. However, I’ll save further comments for the character sections since that is where I’m going with this.

Rising Actions - 5 – This was a short quest and it was made apparent that the ultimate goal was to get weapons. Because of this, I felt that there really wasn’t room for a gradual building up of suspense. Not to say that there wasn’t any, but suspense never really rose to reach a dramatic point, but instead had its moments. For the most part things stayed on an even level.

Dialogue -8- You’ve always written good dialogue and here was no different.

Climax – 6 – With Damon’s life being threatened by Pie, and Sivviel looking for fire to combat the golem, I was interested in seeing how he would get out of that dilemma. Sepento coming out of nowhere to save the day bothered me at first, mainly because in the post prior (post#14), you stated: “ Her first thought was Sepento, the dragon golem that only awoke when the members of the Sword guarding the inner circle had been killed. However, now it seemed that the golem had gone too.

It would make sense, the Sword no longer guarded the tower, it made little sense for Sepento to be bound to any spell that called upon the Brotherhood to perform their duties. Perhaps the dragon had even been liberated from the spell out of kindness.” This led me to believe that the dragon was gone. But with you expressing how loyal the dragon was to the Sanctuary, it made sense to me why he’d know of Damon’s danger and would try to help. The only thing that I wonder about is the strength of Sepento and Pie. Do they not have the same amount of strength or do they vary in power? This doesn’t effect the score or anything, but simply an inquiry of mine. Overall though, a decent job.

Character -9- I loved the way you played Damon’s gullibility. Throughout the entire thread, this the was strongest character point, since it drove the story. Sivviel’s main motivation was to get things back to the way things were, but with Damon’s simple-mindedness coupled with the fact that he had been freshly reincarnated without a majority of his memories, it was only natural things turned out the way that they did between them. Excellent job with this aspect.

Conclusion – 5 – Nothing earth shaking, but you ended your thread effectively, leaving a sense of hope as if one day the Sanctuary would return to its former glory.

Wild Card – 6 – It’s strange seeing Damon like this, but with this thread you did a good job of introducing this new guy. I look forward to learning more about him.

Score – 60

EXP - 1,950

Rewards - Damon gets all of his spoils and the ability he’s asking for. Also, Damon gets 300 GP from Sivviel to help him buy what he needs for the LCC.

[Thoracis]

EXP and GP added!