Child of the old blood

You awaken on the alter, soaked in your own blood. The church was filled with shadows, only a small ring of light surrounded you. The church to Nindorian the almighty God of light, protection and justice that had once seemed so familiar to you was now barely recognisable.

"Mother, Farther, please help."

You will find no help here, pathetic thing.​

The words escape your lips. They are filled with terror and despair, just a you are. In the dark around you you can hear the things that brought you here skittering just outside of sight. You are thankful for that at least. You have no wish to once again glimpse those monstrosities.​

How dare those weaklings reduce me to this state! But they are still so foolish.​

They had taken you from your home. Poring in through the doors and cracks in the wools like some sickly black ooze. They had engulfed you, enveloped you in their putrid embrace. Hurt you, cut you. But not letting you die. Not, they had some other purpose for you. A sick and twisted reason for bringing you here. And that alone scared you more than anything else.​

They think me destroyed. Gone and banished. As if they could truly best me!​

"Please, oh great Nindorian. I beg of you, please protect me."​

HAHAHAHA! Do you really think that deluded fool will be able to help you, protect you? You are amusing if nothing else.​

Your plea is met with only a rush of wind and the overwhelming sensation of helplessness. Like a thousand tendrils of pure cold wrapping themselves around you, binding you. Leaving you with no other option but surrender. You feel a squiring sensation on your skin. As you glance down you realise that your own blood is moving. Twisting and writhing atop your skin.​

Normally I would never use of something so useless as you.​

Then the blood within your veins also starts to shift. It hurts. It hurts so much that you could scream. It's an all consuming agony that never ends. Someone is yelling in pain. With a little surprise you realise that it is you.​

But it is misfortune that the sanguinem contraria Umbræ flow most strongly within you.​

Your blood pulses and then tears your body apart. Your last thought is of how much you wished you could have lived.​

You will do. And soon I will have my vengeance!​

​

[ ] Your eyes open to the biting cold.

[ ] Your eyes open to the rushing wind.

[ ] Your eyes open to the shadows.

[ ] Your eyes open to blood.

 

Jonathan was a normal guy.

Spoiler

https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/thumbs/200/1-1438062141.jpg

He was born to a farmer in the village of Runnel and had lived there for all of his twenty five years of life. After his Farther grew too old to work he took over the running of the farm. And that had been that. He married a local girl that he held no particular feeling for so that their families would merge farms and increase crop production. In purely logistical terms it was a good decision. Both families had enough to sustain them and in the future their descendants would live happier lives and have the chance to expand their farm further.

Still he felt like he was just going through the motions, just existing rather than living. Living was apparently reserved for the nobles and the rich merchants who had the money to spare on things purely for enjoyment. The priest in his village said that that he should find happiness in everyday life. But he took that with a grain of salt as he had seen the old man steal from the donation box one to many times to take him seriously.

"Hey Jon, what do you think happened?"

He glanced back at his stepbrother Sam who was sitting behind him in the cart.

Spoiler

http://ami.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/thumbs/200/5688-382138061.jpg

Sam was someone he actually got on well with, despite the boy being ten years younger than him. He had a wit that was more mature than him by several years and never slacked off when working. Add in the fact that he was partially trained as a priest of Yewowian, the Goddess of medicine, made him someone who was both useful and easy to get along with.

"Probably nothing. Most likely their cart broke or a horse injured itself and they didn't want to cross the plains without them."

They were supposed to get a supplies of building material from the village to the north of them a couple of days ago, but they had never come. Jonathan wasn't particularly worried though. It wasn't the first time it had happened. And he didn't blame them if they didn't want to cross the plains. The plains were a stretch of grassland that took around a day to cross with a horse. The problem was that night they had some of the fiercest winds this side of the mountains. Crossing without shelter was, while not suicidal, a stupid move. He have Sam a grin.

"Relax. Our two villages have been doing the crossing for years. There are not any threats, and if there were we would deal with them. We depend on the plains for trade too much to allow them to become dangerous. We’re almost there anyway. Do me a favour, while I am loading the stuff up will you get some of the shops cheese. It’s cheap this time of year and it’s a thousand times better than the stuff we have in our village."

Sam gave him a shaky grin. "Sure, no problem."

The ride continued like that for another hour. But then was brought abruptly to a halt as they approached the village, or what was left of it. Most of the houses had been heavily burned, but tendrils of frost and shards of ice still clung to them and trailed along the path despite the midsummer heat. There was an ominous wind blowing through the village, despite the fact that it hadn't existed until they crossed the threshold.

But they weren't the most horrifying things. Not that was the bodies. Scattered around the inhabitants of the village had been torn to shreds. Their blood had turned the path into a sticky bog. Men, women children even lay scattered around. Not a single one alive. He heard Sam vomit behind him. To be honest he felt like doing the same.

"Jon we should get out of here. Get the priests. Petition the local lords for soldiers."

He gave Sam a quick look.

"That is exactly what we are going to do. After we look around first."

"What? No that is a really bad idea. Leave this to people who know how to defend themselves from whatever did this."

"Whoever did this is long gone by now. And we should check to see if anyone is alive."

And without another word he strode of. But it was fruitless. Every house he checked was filled only with corpses. Then he reached the church. The church to Nindorian was untouched. Perhaps, he thought, some took shelter in here and the God saw fit to protect them. Nodding to himself he threw open the doors. And then he did vomit.

Dozens of bodies hung from the rafters. Their chests torn open and their intestines writhing out, linking with each other. Forming a morbid tangle that slowly swung through the church. But then he looked forwards and realised something. The alter was gone. In its place was a column of spiralling air, twisting around and upon itself, pushing against him with an almost unstoppable force

carefully he walked towards it. Drawn there by an irresistible pull. The miniature tornado buffeted him and forced him back a dozen steps but he dug his feet in and kept going. With one last burst of effort he lunged forward and the tornado vanished, and the body held within collapsed to the ground. A familiar body. Jonathan recognised it as the village Mayor’s

[ ] Son

[ ] Daughter

Then the body began to take short heavy breaths and only then did he realise that it wasn’t just a corpse. Heaving the body onto his shoulders Jonathan headed back towards the cart.

Sam stated when he saw them approach. "By the Gods Jon, who the hell is that?”

"The mayor’s kid."

"What, you mean [ ] Write in."

"That's the one."

"I don't remember them looking like that."

Glancing down Jonathan noticed it as well. They still looked human but the features had been changed. They were more demonic. Taking on shades that were slightly off or that a human would never naturally have.

[ ] Picture or write in for appearance

coming to a decision Jonathan spoke. "Tie them up and stick them in the back of the cart. I don't want to take any more risks."

Sam nodded and grabbed a length of rope. And set to work with his knots. Jumping up into the front Jonathan spurred the horses’ forwards. He wanted to be as far away from this place as possible by nightfall.

 

Character sheet

Name - Samantha

Appearance -

Spoiler

http://static.zerochan.net/Alucard.(Hellsing).(female).full.1489559.jpg

Abilities - ever since you awoke you have felt a power whirling inside of you, like a hurricane. You don't think you should risk using it just yet.


People:

Jonathan - He was the one who found you in the ruins of your village. He seems wary of you in your new state but not overly concerned. Perhaps he could be an ally.

Sam - Jonathan's stepbrother. You know from talk around the village that he is partially trained as a priest of Yewowian, the Goddess of medicine. He seems scared of you.

 

You groan as you come to for the fourth time that day, and this time your are not tied up in the back of a cart. Progress. Instead you are tied to a chair, this time with chains instead of rope and a circle has been drawn around you.

Spoiler

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net..._Fcw3fl.png/revision/latest?cb=20140729172541

You recognise it as the sacred circle of Mlaycran. The God of jailers. It would have been drawn by a priest, while reciting the legend where Mlaycran trapped Thafe the God of thieves within a circle of the same design. The reciting of the God's legend would access the divine power of Mlaycran himself by using the priests faith a link. In short, this circle had become an impenetrable jail cell. The chains were most likely from some villagers who didn't truly understand magic.

You however understood it. As the daughter of a mayor your father had convinced several priests of dozens of Gods to teach you magic. You understood the theory and the process. You just didn't have the faith required to form a connection.

This also meant that you were in hot water. People don't just make circles of Mlaycran for anyone. The ingredients to do so are pretty expensive and it takes a fairly high level priest of Mlaycran to perform it, they would at least need to have began the development of the final stages of their signum fidei.

You manage to gather from your spurts of conciousness on the journey that your appearance had changed somewhat. Your once reddish hair has been turned to a pitch black and you have grown more than a fer inches. Your eyes have also become some shade of red, if Sam's mumbling on the ride to the village are to be believed.

Suddenly you hear raised voices from outside the door.

"Damn it Jonathan, she is obviously not human any more."

"So what, Nindorian decrees that all have a right to a fair trial. It matters little how she looks now. Besides, she may know more about what happened there."

"Jonathan I am the Mayor here and I say we ki-"

"A Mayor in name only. We all know any action you take is for your own best interests and not that of the village. If I speak against you most of the village will follow me and mine."

"The priests will never stand for this!"

"HA! Please the local priest is a corrupt old man and everyone knows it. As for that priest of Mlaycran, He may be the real deal but he inst from around here. You know how people are, they wont like nor trust him."
"Be that as it may the girl is a monster."

"And I suppose we will find that out at the trial. Wont we."

"You picked an awfully strange time to grow a backbone Jonathan. Anyway the girl has a fully formed signum fidei, one that neither priest has ever seen before. She is too dangerous to be allowed to live!"

A signum fidei. On your back. That is rather ominous. Signum fidei, marks that appear on the backs of magic users. There is a different one for each God. The rule behind a signum fidei is rather simple. The more of it that has formed the more powerful the user. Signum fidei form over time as the person uses more magic. The more complete it is the more powerful magic they can call upon. But you never had the required faith to use magic. You shouldn't even have the barest hints of one, let alone one that is fully formed.

Jonathan is apparently unperturbed by this fact.

"So what, the circle that trapped the thief is the most powerful magical prison in the world. Even a farmer like me knows that much."

"What if she has some way to break it?"

"If she is powerful enough to do that then the moment you try to kill her she would kill you."

There is some more muffled arguments before you hear the Mayor storm off. Jonathan pushes the door open and steps into the room. Walking to the side he grabs a stool and then brings it to just outside the circle.

"So your awake. To be honest a lot of people are surprised your alive. Granted it's not doing you any favours. Hell there have already been a couple of guys with relatives in your village that have tried killing you. One should have succeeded even"

The way he words that is odd. Should of succeeded. It bothers you slightly.
"What do you mean, should of?"

"I mean he stabbed you through the heart with a dagger. Everyone thought that you were going to die, but the wound closed itself in minutes. A massive wind picked up and your wound began to close itself. When it healed the wind stopped."
He leans forward then. Staring at you, but never going inside the circle.

"What the hell happened at your village. I hate to break it to you Yvette but your not a normal human any more. You may not even be human. For all I know you might not even be Yvette."

[X] I have a signum fidei?

[X] I don't really know what happened at the village.

[X] What will happen to me?

[X] What is a high ranking priest of Mlaycran doing here?

[X] Write in.



Sorry to any people who are also reading the SV version. But this is another update that is pretty much the same. Hopefully in the next update or two they will begin to diverge.