[Nasylum] Flashback/Walking on the west side of Nasylum

[Shade]

OOC: This quest is closed to me, Forsaken (possibly, not sure about that), and the mod going to be playing the DG (Hysteria).

IC: It has been many days' travel since Shade first left Deshkin and landed in Nasylum. Her thoughts go to her family and how they might not have survived the...invasion. Her family has always been peaceful; in fact, they paid little to no attention to the Divine Guardians, even when they started doing executions, figuring that they would be left alone in forests of Nibbana. But, naturally, they were wrong.
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Her family had always been a peaceful one, never participating in any tournaments. In fact, even though Shade had been given swords, at fourteen, when she nearly killed a friend in a friendly spar, she had gone to the church and swore a vow of nonviolence. She kept the swords with her, just in case something would happen, but even then, she would run and hide--which she became quite good at--rather than stay and fight. She also bought a mask at around that same time, thinking it to be neat if she could creep her family out by jumping out and yelling "BOO!" at them, which worked several times. Her family was completely friendly with nature, only taking what they needed, and nothing more, and always making sure to give back, and for that, the Trents and other animals left them alone

It was an early morning, when Shade was 24. The week before, there had been several tales of people being abducted from their homes and several more of frequent occurences of the strange slurping noise a Trent makes when it swallows its food. But the sorceress and her family paid it no mind. The family had just settled down for a breakfast of eggs, when suddenly a knock came at the door.

Her father got up and went to the door, asking, "Who is it?"
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Shade shivers again from the cold and shudders as she begins to recall what happened once the door was opened.

(OOC: Okay, Hyster, your turn)

[Hysteria]

There was a pause, both loud and silent the answer seemed to be contemplated before being presented in a tone that as well as being monotonous was absolutely normal.

"Carpenter, I know I am a bit late, but better late than never right?" The lie, thinly hidden behind a plausible veil carried our from behind the door. On the other side battered by the cold winds of an early morning forest there stood a single man. Clothed in plain leather he just stood without tool or weapon. Unconcerned with the cold his bare arms showed no sign of the freckled goose bumps that would normally perforate on the skin of those in the cold.

The man's hair was plain like the rest of him. Brown and cropped slightly to the side it held none of the normal rough features that one would expect from an early morning visitor fresh from sleep. His eyes were green, a deep emerald hue that sparked out a singular possible abnormality. The eyes of the lean figure did not sway from the door, they locked and waited.

[Shade]

"No!" Shade calls out as the next memory begins to come, an event that would forever change her life, and possibly change that of her family's...for worse, definitely worse. She has heard tales of how these--Divine Guardians? Is that what they're called?--things could turn a human into a...thing.
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The room was well-lit for a house, the fire pit glowing off to the side. The white interior gave hope to Shade and her family, hope that this would someday die down. But yet, as she heard screams through the night, Shade had her doubts. The windows were open on this fine summer day, rays of sunlight beaming through the house, giving it a warmth, a warmth that the sorceress had long since been accustomed to.

"Carpenter, I know I am a bit late, but better late than never right?"

What? Thought the father. Ever since the rumors had been going around, they stopped seeing visitors, not by their own choice, of course, for the others were too afraid to leave their house and often heralded the family for their "bravery," when in fact, they were just going on being themselves. I don't think anyone wanted to come...
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"DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!" Shade screams, as though she is in a nightmare. But, she recalls, it was too late. Nothing could prevent what was about to happen, nor would it have been prevented had the door been opened, now that she thinks about it.
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"Um," The father, Shadow, said, opening the door a crack. The man he saw had no features in common with any of the people he knows, so it made him slightly suspicious. His hand strayed to he sword for but a moment, then retracted it. "I don't believe I know you?"

Jade, Shade's mother, noticing how her husband's hand strayed to the sword, got up and whispered to Shade. "If this is what your father thinks, I'll tell you to run."

Shade, still infantile in her mind, having not yet matured...maturation of the mind was expected to be around the age of 27, yet doctors had said that her mind might not ever fully mature...something to do with the way she was born...says, "Why, mom?"

Jade says quietly, "Remember what I told you?"

"About what?"

"How to just accept what I say sometimes?"

"What about it?"

"This is one of those times." Jade says simply, and Shade positioned herself near the rear door and got ready to run while her mother, hand on her sword, approaches the door. "What can I do for you, good sir? Are you lost?" Her mother asks.

[Hysteria]

"I don't believe I know you?"

Eyes, green and seductive swayed down over Shadow though the crack in the door. A darkness hidden in the light of normality crossed over the hidden man's face for but a second. His eyes then turned away and light took back the man's face.

"What can I do for you, good sir? Are you lost?"

"I am carpenter, you know I make stuff with wood.” The man’s voice was clear and precise. His hand rested on the door frame lightly and his leaned like a bird of prey picking its target.

“So, like are you going to let me in or am I going to have to try and fix your stuff from out here? Hey, you guys did ask for me didn’t you?” The words cool and easy, the prey so close.

[Shade]

Shade shakes her head and continues walking, a few tears falling down her cheek every now and then. She would've fallen for the trick, but her parents didn't--but made the fatal mistake, in her mind, of not closing the door then and there...and there was nothing she could've done about what was about to unfold.
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“So, like are you going to let me in or am I going to have to try and fix your stuff from out here? Hey, you guys did ask for me didn’t you?”

Shadow and Jade simultaneously shook their heads, the man making them more suspicious than before, though why they did not know. Jade tentatively, very unnoticeably, turns her head slightly in Shade's direction and peers from out of the corner of her eye. Her daughter had positioned herself, or at least that's what the lack of a body standing behind her said.

"I don't believe we have anything 'broken.'' Was Jade's short reply, secretly praying that this wasn't a Guardian or, at worst, someone coming to kill her daughter. "I believe you have the wrong house. One of our neighbors complained of a dented roof yesterday. Perhaps that's the house you want? He's just two doors down."

Shadow, in the meantime, shrank as the man leans forward towards him. Something about this man is definitely not right. He thought. "Yes," He concludes. "We don't need any repairs."
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Shade continued to trudge along the white snow, her coat pulled tight to her as she walks...somewhere.

[Hysteria]

"We don't need any repairs."

The man lent his head against the slightly open door and stared though the gap. His eyes dull and lifeless his mouth broke into a large smile. The smile turned into a toothy grin, and the tiniest of laughs came out. Then the laugh turned into a cackled and the man reared back his head. His babbling cackling screams erupted all of a sudden with the similar eruption of blood along the man's face and arms. The black boiling stew streamed down his arms in a cascade of sickening darkness. At once his laughter stopped and he stood just behind the door as a black figure of chaos.

Green eyes slid from the face of Shadow to the door's hinges. The black creature reared backwards and punched forwards at the hinge. With a lighting-like crack the door splinted and fell backwards on Shadow. Again the cackling laugh broke the silence of the berserker.

"Something’s broken now."

[Shade]

Tears begin to rapidly stream down SHade's face now as she walks along. To where, she doesn't know, but the further away from Deshkin she goes, the better off she will be.
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"SHADE!" Screamed Jade as the door fell down upon her husband. "RUN!"

Shade's eyes went wide as she saw what had happened. At first, she stood there, noncomprehendingly, when suddenly, Jade's words stirred her to action. Without a second thought, she took off from the house, out the back door, and through the forests of Nibbana. The animals looked at Shade funny as she passed, as if to say, "What's going on?"

But Shade didn't stop for anything, at least not until she reached the docks. There, she began to search for a ship that was readily available to take her away from this place. A few days until that one leaves, She thought, looking at a boat to Naan. Besides, bad things are there....that one leaves in a week, She thought, looking at a boat to Rurian. This one leaves in an hour...that's too late for me... Shade thought, looking at a boat to Linmotar.

"All aboard!" A man shouted. "Next stop, Nasylum!"

Fortunately, Shade had had the presence of mind to take with her a heavy jacket, which she carried on her shoulder. Without a second thought, she leapt onto the boat as it just began to depart.

The captain of the ship approached and asked for money. Tearfully, Shade recounted the tale, and the captain was nearly tearstruck himself...there was to be no fare for this little woman, none at all.

The boat took off, and she was on her way...

OOC: Okay, Hyster, do your turning thing...

[Hysteria]

Moments, less than seconds and the berserker had taken in the surroundings of the house, the father, under the door, the mother, screaming, and the child. The child… the face of the girl shone momentarily on the green eyes of the berserker before he whipped into action. His right hand shot out towards the mother Jade. Blood, a dark cold jet sprouted from the thrusting appendage and struck the close woman in the stomach. Without a thought of remorse the berserker had punched its left hands at the wooden door which covered the father, Shadow. The door splintered and cracked in half, revealing the figure of Shadow. The berserker’s hand wasted no time in continuing forwards and producing another sprouting growth of corrupted black blood into the father's stomach. As both the father and mother buckled over on the ground as thick red blood oozed from the deep wounds the berserker reeled his attacks back. Again the creature was back to its bloody black state. Its walked forwards passed the destruction it had created and looked for the little girl. Alas for the nefarious reasons for wanting the girl the berserker would not be subsided today.

Moving in its shallow gate, the dull thud of its boots on the floor echoed though the small room where Shadow and Jade lay dying. Without a thought the blood started to pool over the berserker’s hands as he reached towards his targets. The Linians though had reached their hands out too, and as the doom of the otherworldly came at them they touched together in a bond as fragile as glass, but as strong as steel.