Breaking the Dawn.

[Cinnabar]

Fearful eyes cannot help but turn back to watch this battle, for all that they should be leaving as swiftly as they are able, or assisting in that departure. Gasps of shock and fear as Vraal and the Ashfiend are borne aloft, blackened armour ringing on the courtyard's flagstones; cries of alarm as the pair of them crash through the Orphanage's roof, with muttered prayers of thanks that the children were no longer inside.

But no time for spectating, as children are lifted over the boundary wall by hurried Constables, gathering on the other side before hastening away, off to the small chapel hall that had been determined as a reasonable gathering point; the children sit on the pews in bare feet and nightwear chattering fearfully amongst themselves. The harried priest, his preparations for the morning service interrupted by the arrivel of dozens of frightened children, sends the verger off to fetch blankets and something for the orphans to eat from wherever they might be found.

The Constables keep nervous watch at the chapel's doors, gazing nervously back in the direction of the Violet Dawn's compound. Whistles sound in the streets as the forces of law move towards the Orphanage and the Temple, apprehensive of what might be found there.

[Khalika]

"Do I have to dig,
Do I have to Prod;
Reach into your chest
and pull your feelings out?"
-Happy Rhodes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Teron?.... Her words were whispered, as rubble moved from the crash site. The gypsy watched as he rose, his silenced puzzled her till she saw him look to the mirror. She knew in away, what he wanted to see. But she also knew, that it would not come.. There is no salvation for the damned... No going back... One can only move foward and hope...

As he moves now towards the door, she steps as well, towards him...

"Teron?.... What did you expect?


While one waits for the answer another has fallen, through terror and web. Senses overwhelmed and numb. Very soon she is falling towards stone. In a place that is not home, in a place that is filled with alien things, frightening things, everywhere she turns. Her Body shakes, her voice quivers...

"I am the god of my own Fate"

Her montra for strength....For Courage...

[Cinnabar]

The battle ends. The dust settles. The ghoul departs, leaving behind him scattered, shattered fragments of blackened iron, and a certain amount of property damage.

And something more.

The Constables are cautious as they return to the Orphanage, the Temple, the School; wary investigation of each building in turn, checking for casualties and making sure the area is secure before they'll consider allowing the children back onto the site.

And upstairs in the Orphanage, that grisly and... unusual discovery. There's a hurried conference among the Constables searching the building, and a conclusion is swiftly reached; so it is that some short while later, as a contingent of Constables keep the members of the Violet Dawn confined inside the Temple for their own safety another small squad removes a long, dead-weight bundle swathed in dust-grimed bedsheets from the damaged Orphanage building; this mysterious cargo is loaded up onto a covered wagon summoned from somewhere, and driven away with all due haste. It's only once that errand is completed that the cultists are allowed out of the Temple, the Constables apparently satisfied that the compound is free of danger. Well, free of the Ashfiend, at least.

As the day progresses, a tarpaulin is stretched over the ragged hole in the Orphanage's roof, and carpenters and tilers are called in to repair the destruction. Of the combatants who struggled in the skies overhead, no sign remains.

[Teron_Ashfiend]

Covered in sawdust and rubble that clings to armored shoulders, he turned in the doorway that led to the stairs and slowly twisted to regard the gypsy with his burning gaze. The pauldron's lip obscured the pallid length of his nose and separated his eyes in ancient steel while the partial turn of his torso revealed the nearly gutted abdomen in his armor and the shredded garb beneath.

"Teron?.... What did you expect?"

The words stung him as a rejoinder, an indictment for one who should have known better. For all that his wrath seared and scored within his being, consuming body and soul, for all that he had sought to break free from the unending gray of undeath through Vraal's blood; nothing had changed. Where he had expected a sense of triumph he felt nothing.

"Nothing," he rumbled in a dismissive lie as he began to drag himself down the stairs.

"I expect nothing other than for Heath to fall."

[Khalika]

"I expect nothing other than Heath to fall"

*****************************************

Those were his words, she could feel the disappointment in then,even if he denied it. But now with Heath, Heath... Which he covets so, she has manauvered much of Heath, but if he wishes destruction, things could become sticky..

"Having Heath Fall, will do nothing but serve in an attempt to fill the emptiness you feel now. If you wish something..Then we will continue as I have arranged. I will give you Heath. Without on drop of blood falling..