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Demetria · Adventurer Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 45

Lately it seemed that lots of things were going wrong, though on more than one occasion Demetria thought maybe she was just being a fatalist and spending too much time worrying about things she really had no control over. She was glad to have Shalcross back in the archery game, and it was nice to have at least a little time to think about all the good stuff.

After paying her daily homage to the little slice of Void within the Sepulcher, Demetria stepped into the circle to try casting Arcane Circle. Constantly fizzling the spell was one of the things that was bringing her down lately. Try as she might, it just wouldn't work. With her frustration level teetering on a dangerous precipice, Demetria stalked out of the Sepulcher into the ever-twilight that was Umbra. Looking around to make sure the bad guy wasn't in the vicinity, she noticed miss Sy-wen. The two chatted a while and Demetria went her own way.

Deciding the conversation was just too intense, Deme asked permission to leave and was granted it. She ran away a few feet and murmured "Necros!" , then whistled. Her faithful ghostly steed came to her, always at the ready to take her wherever she wished. The bad guy was another one of her concerns and her mind went back to him. The grown-ups kept talking about him, and warning everybody to be on the lookout for him, but Demetria had no idea what he looked like or exactly what things might be amiss to watch out for.

Killing those big black uglies out by Wind was something that always helped Deme focus, and clear her mind. She figured she'd go there and shoot a few bolts and kill a few nasties then go to the Chaos shrine nearby. Though it had only been a couple of days since she and Shal stopped by to offer prayers to their dark ways, the child felt somehow that she was overdue in paying her respects.

As she and the steed Necros raced toward Wind, Deme changed her mind.

A visit to Chaos first seemed more fitting somehow. The girl heeled her mount around and the two sped along the base of the mountain toward the shrine. Deme didn't realize she was smiling as she rode.

Jonathan Strathmore · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject:

His eyes stole her over a moment as she gazed at the shrine on her knees. The game of search and destroy was coming to a close, and her form was but inches from his grasp.

She was on edge, as she should be, his countenance, clad as a Cappadocian approaching and kneeling beside her. His breathless mind calculating the situation, and making all ready unseen.

She nerved, stood, and moved back. He countered, stood, and moved forward. Deliberate and devised, as though he did this every day.

With his palm over the shrine he spoke the word Bal, the mantra for the eve... Chaos.

Turning back, and with a short exchange, he stole past her and made to stroll away, stopping, though, just feet away.

She summoned her steed, as he readied a drugged rag. She was off guard for just a moment, as she mounted, and his moment had come.

Pouncing upon her, and knocking her from her ghostly mount, pinning her tightly to the ground, pressing the cloth to her mouth and nose.

She struggled, and fought, as any true Umbran child was trained, fighting for her survival, though her strength just no match.

Sinking his fangs deep into her neck, she gave a deep intake of breath. As consciousness slipped from her mind, he set the idea in her mind.

"Surrender to the will of the Cappadocian."

Her rebuttal was short, solid, and unwavering. "Never."

The idea was set, and her mind had accepted the trap. His trip to Vesper, would be all that much sweeter, with her in his arms.

Demetria · Adventurer Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 45

The rest of the words the man said after "Surrender" were nothing but a strange distorted sound to Demetria as she lay in the grass before the shrine. A stench filled her nose and mouth, and pain exploded through her body--pain that originated in her neck. As the child sunk down into the murky depths of unconsciousness she managed her final defiance and the word "Never" issued forth from her lips. In the state she was in, her voice sounded strange. Thick and distant somehow.

From the dark place she was, she was vaguely aware of the pain in her head from the blows delivered by the staff carried by her assailant. She was also aware of being lifted and carried. In that distant place of unconsciousness, the girl's mind begged Gaia to let her death be swift and not humiliating. There were no final thoughts of family or friends, though there was a soft yearning to be home in Umbra.

When the man dropped her from chest height onto the cobbled stones of Vesper, Demetria was blessedly unaware of the further injuries caused by the impact. Who knows how much time passes in the mind versus the clock in the realm of those in the dark sleep of injury? Certainly, to the child laying on the street bleeding and battered there was no timeline.

Regardless of how much time passed in either realm, the next thing Demetria was aware of was being surrounded by people--many of them clad the black and the gold of Umbra's lightbringing neighbors to the west. When she heard the voice of Ceinwyn, her heart thudded and her insides felt like rubber. Not dead, she thought. There was a person kneeling beside her wearing a funny mask. For a moment she thought it was that man Isk from Magincia, but realized instantly the voice wasn't right; she was grateful for that.

Feeling as if she would vomit, Deme tried to remain as still as possible and avoid speaking as much as she could. Bad enough to be attacked, worse to be taken down. And now to find herself surrounded by the lightbringers, she found herself a little more than overwhelmed. With detachment she listened to the conversations and terse words around her. When told to do so, she drank. The potions were awful.

At some point she looked up and saw Shal's dad and tried to warn him. The bad guys had seen Shalcross a few weeks before when the red haired vampires paid a visit to the Matriarch and brought their grisly offer. Shal's dad didn't do much more than nod, then he stepped away and Deme followed him with her gaze. Oh great, the Magincian man really was here!

With a little shake of her head she just laid back against the Matriarch and tried to stop the spinning and aching feeling in her mind and body. Soon she was escorted to the barracks by Elric, and secreted away to be kept abed. There were several visitors who came to question her; grownups always had so many agendas. Couldn't they see she was just tired? It frightened her to hear them talking about whether nor not she would become a vampire. She didn't like feeling such things as fear.

The girl fell asleep amid the conversations, and awoke much later. How later she'll never know. When she tried to slip out of her room she was promptly herded back in by the person standing guard and admonished for getting out of bed. Though bruised and pained, Demetria suddenly felt sorry for herself. She sat on the end of her cot and hung her head.

She whispered to the empty room. "Great. All this and I can't even go hunting."

Walter · Sage Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 618 Location: -=Magincia=-

Seeing Demetria barely conscious n Vesper caught Walter off guard. Walter just stood there next to Isk as the healer knelt down next to the girl. After hearing about the vampires he walked over and crouched down to look at the bite. It was in fact a bite, when Deme looked at him and started talking, more of a soft mumble.

"They seen Shal."

That hit Walter hard, though by his face you would never tell. But as soon as the girl had left and things had been finished Walter took off home, to tell his wife Merri who would surely be upset by the news.
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[20:28] Inkari: walter=chuck norris

"What do you mean I can't sell castle deeds I create on Ebay?" - GM Darwin circa 1999

gypsy_merrique · Journeyman Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 213 Location: Umbra

When Walter came into their bedroom, thought candlelight was very dim, Merrique could see that something had him upset. Possibly, even, furious. She sat up amid the tangled sheets, looking at him curiously. He nodded to her wordlessly, and paced the room. Walter's demeanor frightened her somewhat. Her husband never brought his work home with him and thus it never affected their relationship.

Oh, no, she thought.

She knew better than to interrupt his thoughts and his agitation. Rather, she waited him out with the knowledge that he would, in his own good time, talk to her. Or not.

Eventually Walter came and sat on the edge of the bed. With the same neutral voice and expression that reminded her of the night he first brought her to his home, Walter relayed to Merrique the events of the night. He told her what the Protectorate's ride out discovered, and he told her what Demetria said. Not knowing how to respond, if indeed she were even able to do so, Merrique sat in stunned silence. An attack on an Umbran child? A child!

"Merrique," Walter said to her in that eerily expression-free voice. "I love you. But I love Shalcross too. He and I are leaving in the morning."
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. . . But the dark is very trustworthy.
It's always as dark as you thought it was.
And you don't have to work at staying there.
All you have to do is survive it.
And I've been doing that forever.
from the novel "Dark Debts" by Karen Hall

Ceinwyn ab'Arawn · Transcendent Spammer Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 5017

The meeting had run a bit long, Ceinwyn conceded, but very important topics had been brought up. Just as they were about to head out on the discussed course of action, Ceinwyn noticed Merrique trying to get her attention.

As Ceinwyn listened, Merrique explained that because of the recent situation involving the elven child, Demetria, Walter had decided to keep Shalcross at his side. The reasoning, apparently, was that Shalcross would not be as safe within Umbra. It was ignorant, really, as the child had not been harmed in Umbra, but in Trammel lands.

Well, if that's the way Walter wishes to be...

"Very well, Merrique. Then you and your unborn child shall remain in Umbra. You will not be allowed to leave until Shalcross is returned. But then again, Umbra does not mind which of your children serves, as long as one of them does..."