Returning to the End
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 10:01 pm
☬ 52nd of Glade, Year 123, A.o.S ☬
☬ Despair. It hung so thick within the air it could suffocate the unprepared. Dreyfus was, for lack of a better term, exhausted. He had been pushing himself from Ecith all the way back home. He had been given a mission by Skarnor, and after listening to the demigod's speech he knew what exactly he was supposed to do. But that would have to wait till he could embed himself into the new government. However, his first order of business was to return home.
The walk there was.....enlightening to say the least. How many people died in the year he has been gone? The city was nothing more than a shell of itself, remnants of a city long since past its prime, as he approached. He took a moment to collect his thoughts as he wasn't all too sure what awaited him. He had experienced so much since the fall of the city, but he knew nothing else could be gained until he restored his family name.
As he ventured closer to the desolate city, the scent of blood filled his senses. The source wasn't too far from him, and he couldn't help his curiosity to see just who could be fighting out here. As he moved towards the source, he wondered if it was mist spawn fighting or shadow beasts. He was confident most of the citizens within the city either died or fled, and those who were unlucky enough became mist spawn. Looking up, the fact that the rift still remained was proof things hadn't changed and more likely than not, the hobgoblin tasked with closing it had failed.
He wasn't prepared for what he saw, as a group of refugees were fleeing an encroaching mist spawn. Its lumbering form and writing tentacles were being fended off by two men Dreyfus never thought he would see, but he was relieved to see they were alive. His former mentor an academy instructor Victor Tepish, and his long-time childhood friend Donivan. His eyes widened as he watched both men fight for their lives against the hulking abomination. Dreyfus found himself conflicted, however, as he had sworn that mortals were beneath him.
They were fickle creatures, unworthy of the air they breathed. He found that they were prone to betrayal as they he saw with Dimitri and the state of Zaichaer. His intent in coming back home was to bend the city-state to his will, but he knew he couldn't do so alone. He would need capable people under his will, and these two would serve to be more beneficial to him alive rather than dead. The sound of gunfire and Donivan being knocked to the side alerted him that their situation was getting dire, as he watched Victor fend off the many tentacles and appendages.
As if instincts had kicked in, Dreyfus wasted no time to clear the distance between him and his mentor, coming up behind the abomination. Creating platforms of compressed aether, Dreyfus launched himself into the air, pushing himself forward within the flux, amassing a concentration of the flux around his fists. Forming another compressed platform, he landed on it and pushed directly into the beast, landing several punches along the left side of its form. Rolling across the ground he scooped up Victor and pushed them a few feet back from the creature as he lumbered its way to them only for Dreyfus to turn and glare at it.
"Die!" he growled, a snap of his fingers causing the holes he had punched within the flux of the abomination's left side to implode or explode, creating creators along its form, and a roar of anger and agony to escape its maw. Standing there he looked back to see both Victor and Donivan looking in astonishment as one would swear they had seen a phantom, and in their case, Dreyfus was just that.
Looking over his shoulder he met their gaze, a look of sincere concern and a small part of relief that they had survived the rift and its destruction. However, his relief soon turned to annoyance as the Hulking beast was not finished, clambering to its feet as he roared and defiant anger at the vampyre. Its roar seemed to call forth several smaller abominations. Six in total, it roared once more sending them forth. Dreyfus didn't seem phased by the new additions as they were nothing more than fodder.
Concentrating, he focused on the aether flux belonging to the six monsters and consciously began to slow the flow around their ravenous forms. The closer they got to him the slower their flux became until finally, they seemed to struggle to move. Ice began to form around them, engulfing their writhing forms until their horrific wails were muffled and then muted. With a smirk, Dreyfus pooled a mass of kinetic force around his hand and with an arcing motion sent it out to smash against their frozen forms, shattering them.
All that was left now was the hulking terror roaring at him, before charging at him. Eyes and aether focused on the flux around the beast, Dreyfus dodged limbs and appendages, tentacles and claws. He found himself on the defensive, looking for an opening in its flailing. Flipping out of the way he had to make sure its attention was solely on him, running and sliding from attacks and into its blind spot, but knowing he couldn't keep that up forever. So he decided to put an end to the farce with the last bit of his arcane strength. Sliding out of the way of a vicious slam of its many arms, Dreyfus gripped the flux around it, lifting it into the air.
With both hands, he gripped the left and right sides of the abomination and began to pull on it. Victor and Donivan along with the many refugees they seemed to have gathered watched as the vampyre brutally pulled the beast in midair. It roared something vicious as one could see its body being pulled beyond its limitless, writhing in pain as it soon began to tear from the head and like tearing a piece of paper in half the beast found itself split in two halves as the kinetic force ripped it straight down the middle.
A loud thud echoed as the ground shook from its corpse impacting the earth, Dreyfus panting as he expended what reserves of aether he had, given he had been using a large amount of his aether just to make the journey from Ecith back to the mainland, and then cover much-needed ground from the mainland to the northlands and near Zaichaer. After catching his breath, he turned and looked to the group who had begun to gather, though at a safe distance behind him in fear of his magic. Victor and Donivan however approached, and blade and rifle both trained on the Vampyre.
"I don't know where you are, or what you are, but I won't stand for you impersonating one of my students. Reveal yourself now." Victor ordered, both hands gripped tightly around the hilt of his longsword, his stance poised to clear the distance and take Dreyfus's head in one clean slice. Donivan had circled to his left, the rifle aimed right at his skull, at a close enough range that there was no error for him to miss. Dreyfus seemed to sneer at them both, the wind blowing strands of his hair to obscure part of his face.
His crimson eyes fell on the older swordsman as he clasped his hands behind his back. "I can assure you Sir Tepish, I am no imposter." "Bullshit!" he hissed, the tip of his blade coming to rest under the vampyre's chin. "If you really are him, then prove it." he demanded to which Dreyfus sighed, looking between both men, finding that this was trivial, but he didn't expect them to believe him just off words alone.
"A little bit after I joined the Order of Reconciliation I was cornered by some of the senior officers who drugged me, abused me, and raped me. When I finally told you what happened you killed all those involved. It was the reason you left the order, and Zaichaer for that matter. You swore me to secrecy and it was something I regretted for a very long time." he divulged, a look of relief and latent shock coming over Victor, and tears running down Donivan's face.
His childhood friend threw his gun down and embraced Dreyfus, which caught the vampyre off guard, but he eventually reciprocated the hug as well. "It's good to see you both are alive too." he whispered, patting his friend on the back. ☬
"Common Speech"
"Silandris Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"
☬ Despair. It hung so thick within the air it could suffocate the unprepared. Dreyfus was, for lack of a better term, exhausted. He had been pushing himself from Ecith all the way back home. He had been given a mission by Skarnor, and after listening to the demigod's speech he knew what exactly he was supposed to do. But that would have to wait till he could embed himself into the new government. However, his first order of business was to return home.
The walk there was.....enlightening to say the least. How many people died in the year he has been gone? The city was nothing more than a shell of itself, remnants of a city long since past its prime, as he approached. He took a moment to collect his thoughts as he wasn't all too sure what awaited him. He had experienced so much since the fall of the city, but he knew nothing else could be gained until he restored his family name.
As he ventured closer to the desolate city, the scent of blood filled his senses. The source wasn't too far from him, and he couldn't help his curiosity to see just who could be fighting out here. As he moved towards the source, he wondered if it was mist spawn fighting or shadow beasts. He was confident most of the citizens within the city either died or fled, and those who were unlucky enough became mist spawn. Looking up, the fact that the rift still remained was proof things hadn't changed and more likely than not, the hobgoblin tasked with closing it had failed.
He wasn't prepared for what he saw, as a group of refugees were fleeing an encroaching mist spawn. Its lumbering form and writing tentacles were being fended off by two men Dreyfus never thought he would see, but he was relieved to see they were alive. His former mentor an academy instructor Victor Tepish, and his long-time childhood friend Donivan. His eyes widened as he watched both men fight for their lives against the hulking abomination. Dreyfus found himself conflicted, however, as he had sworn that mortals were beneath him.
They were fickle creatures, unworthy of the air they breathed. He found that they were prone to betrayal as they he saw with Dimitri and the state of Zaichaer. His intent in coming back home was to bend the city-state to his will, but he knew he couldn't do so alone. He would need capable people under his will, and these two would serve to be more beneficial to him alive rather than dead. The sound of gunfire and Donivan being knocked to the side alerted him that their situation was getting dire, as he watched Victor fend off the many tentacles and appendages.
As if instincts had kicked in, Dreyfus wasted no time to clear the distance between him and his mentor, coming up behind the abomination. Creating platforms of compressed aether, Dreyfus launched himself into the air, pushing himself forward within the flux, amassing a concentration of the flux around his fists. Forming another compressed platform, he landed on it and pushed directly into the beast, landing several punches along the left side of its form. Rolling across the ground he scooped up Victor and pushed them a few feet back from the creature as he lumbered its way to them only for Dreyfus to turn and glare at it.
"Die!" he growled, a snap of his fingers causing the holes he had punched within the flux of the abomination's left side to implode or explode, creating creators along its form, and a roar of anger and agony to escape its maw. Standing there he looked back to see both Victor and Donivan looking in astonishment as one would swear they had seen a phantom, and in their case, Dreyfus was just that.
Looking over his shoulder he met their gaze, a look of sincere concern and a small part of relief that they had survived the rift and its destruction. However, his relief soon turned to annoyance as the Hulking beast was not finished, clambering to its feet as he roared and defiant anger at the vampyre. Its roar seemed to call forth several smaller abominations. Six in total, it roared once more sending them forth. Dreyfus didn't seem phased by the new additions as they were nothing more than fodder.
Concentrating, he focused on the aether flux belonging to the six monsters and consciously began to slow the flow around their ravenous forms. The closer they got to him the slower their flux became until finally, they seemed to struggle to move. Ice began to form around them, engulfing their writhing forms until their horrific wails were muffled and then muted. With a smirk, Dreyfus pooled a mass of kinetic force around his hand and with an arcing motion sent it out to smash against their frozen forms, shattering them.
All that was left now was the hulking terror roaring at him, before charging at him. Eyes and aether focused on the flux around the beast, Dreyfus dodged limbs and appendages, tentacles and claws. He found himself on the defensive, looking for an opening in its flailing. Flipping out of the way he had to make sure its attention was solely on him, running and sliding from attacks and into its blind spot, but knowing he couldn't keep that up forever. So he decided to put an end to the farce with the last bit of his arcane strength. Sliding out of the way of a vicious slam of its many arms, Dreyfus gripped the flux around it, lifting it into the air.
With both hands, he gripped the left and right sides of the abomination and began to pull on it. Victor and Donivan along with the many refugees they seemed to have gathered watched as the vampyre brutally pulled the beast in midair. It roared something vicious as one could see its body being pulled beyond its limitless, writhing in pain as it soon began to tear from the head and like tearing a piece of paper in half the beast found itself split in two halves as the kinetic force ripped it straight down the middle.
A loud thud echoed as the ground shook from its corpse impacting the earth, Dreyfus panting as he expended what reserves of aether he had, given he had been using a large amount of his aether just to make the journey from Ecith back to the mainland, and then cover much-needed ground from the mainland to the northlands and near Zaichaer. After catching his breath, he turned and looked to the group who had begun to gather, though at a safe distance behind him in fear of his magic. Victor and Donivan however approached, and blade and rifle both trained on the Vampyre.
"I don't know where you are, or what you are, but I won't stand for you impersonating one of my students. Reveal yourself now." Victor ordered, both hands gripped tightly around the hilt of his longsword, his stance poised to clear the distance and take Dreyfus's head in one clean slice. Donivan had circled to his left, the rifle aimed right at his skull, at a close enough range that there was no error for him to miss. Dreyfus seemed to sneer at them both, the wind blowing strands of his hair to obscure part of his face.
His crimson eyes fell on the older swordsman as he clasped his hands behind his back. "I can assure you Sir Tepish, I am no imposter." "Bullshit!" he hissed, the tip of his blade coming to rest under the vampyre's chin. "If you really are him, then prove it." he demanded to which Dreyfus sighed, looking between both men, finding that this was trivial, but he didn't expect them to believe him just off words alone.
"A little bit after I joined the Order of Reconciliation I was cornered by some of the senior officers who drugged me, abused me, and raped me. When I finally told you what happened you killed all those involved. It was the reason you left the order, and Zaichaer for that matter. You swore me to secrecy and it was something I regretted for a very long time." he divulged, a look of relief and latent shock coming over Victor, and tears running down Donivan's face.
His childhood friend threw his gun down and embraced Dreyfus, which caught the vampyre off guard, but he eventually reciprocated the hug as well. "It's good to see you both are alive too." he whispered, patting his friend on the back. ☬
"Common Speech"
"Silandris Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"