912 replies to this topic

[Armoured Priest]

Sethis sat on his haunches for a while, taking deep breaths as his sight returned and the feeling of dizziness began to alleviate. He looked up and down his arms and chest, seeing hundreds of strange symbols and runes etched into his scaly skin as if he was made into a walking book. He ran his hand up his throat, feeling more etched there but stopping at his face. With an awkward stumble in his step, He rose up by leaning on the nearby shelf. "So, what did that ritual accomplished exactly brother?" he asked as he went to retrieved his belongings from a nearby table. "I am also hoping you're going to explain who the woman and...whatever that force or thing was." He added as he slipped on the leather jacket, it's weight and closure making him feel a bit more normal while now also serving to hide the new addition to his body.

[Thugren]

"ALl things in its time....I released mkore of your ability...You were held back by varios binds put on your...NOw you arent."

 

At once all the books burst into flame, showering the air with hundreds of bits of paper like flaming snowflakes.

 

"THat woman was your mother, leader of a cult that ive worked with for a number of years."

[Armoured Priest]

Sethis stood there and ignored the ashes that fell around them, already understanding the reason behind the destruction. "...At least that all makes sense." he said to himself, referring to what he saw and heard during the process. "How....how long did you know this again?" he asked Kraussus with a raised brow, having difficulty keeping back the surprise and touch of anger from his voice that he didn't mean to intone. Then again, finding someone who was the same species as him, let alone a blood relative, was a personal goal he had to set a side for a long since the incident in the vault of the library.

[Thugren]

"i didnt."

 

Krausus says flatly, igniting all the books that had been used except one.\

 

"She always worked in shadows, no names, no faces. She decided to reveal herself for your sake...Not mine."

[Armoured Priest]

"Then were is she now..." he asked himself quietly, looking around the burnt archives for hint or clue but seeing nothing but ashes. So close yet so far. He stood quiet as he calmed his nerves before looking over to Kraussus. "So what do we do now?" he asked him as he glanced at the last remaining book left untouched so far. He doubted the poisons were of any importance now and now knowing getting to know that he has a living relative that makes his abilities look like a paltry puppet shadow show.

[Thugren]

"we have to get to raissa......Shes in drachen blut hands at the moment....Were being requested by their grand master...Alduin."

 

He puts the book in his pocket and looks over his shoulder.

 

"you dont speak of this to anyone..Understood?"

[Armoured Priest]

"Not a word bruder." Sethis acknowledge with a nod as he made sure the coat was securely on, tighter then normal and the collar higher then normal. "This sould prove....awkward at least." he sighed, referring to the rather rock relation that they had themselves with the Drachen blut forces.

[Thugren]

Slowly krausus goes over to a corner and lifts his arms. All  around him desks and chairs clump  up and form a wall from the cold, trapping the two soldgiers inm the back of the library silently. 

 

"Now we can rest.."

 

he whispers, crouching low and grabbing some wood from a shelf.

 

"Some warm will be nice."

[Armoured Priest]

"At least we don't have to worry about the cold killing us anymore like before." he shrugged, refering to their state of life now as he sat on the floor against the wall. He sat there quietly for awhile as he thought over the recent events, trying to find something salvagable out of it. '....What are we even doing anymore?' he asked himself as Kraussus became busy with a more important task. The home they had was gone, and even if it wasn't it betrayed them anyways. Anywhere else they would go, they would be taken in as war criminals at best and experiments at worst. Why even be involved with world affairs anymore.

[Thugren]

"Long before this world was like this......Long ago..There was a general for the fourth reich..His name was rommel."

 

Krausus grunts as he makes the fire.

 

"He didnt need a reason to fight. The state of the world gave him one. And even though he was kileld by the very reich he made.. He fought until the end to protect it."

 

the fire comes to life as krauses eyes glitter in the light.

 

"We fight becasue its waht we do...its waht the black hand has always done."

[Armoured Priest]

"That's because that man held loyalty and passion for his country, not the party." Sethis corrected him. "I hold no love for anything outside of you and Raissa. We fought because we would die otherwise, not because it was what we knew." Sethis said to him, his serpent gaze locked onto his brother. "For so long, we got the short end of the stick by life for most of our lives, even after joining them. Sure, it got somewhat better, doesn't change the situation. The black hand fought at the beck and call of people who are probably dead now, nothing more, nothing less." he said with a curt hiss. "Now, now we can be free of all the lies and abuse, they're all under Aldolfo's heel. We can leave europe for once, with nothing to hold us like damn leashes." he said standing up now. "Don't have to answer anyone, not become a tool for anyone, not be beaten just because I didn't fit the damn "perfect" race! Not be someone else's plaything! I don't care for the reich or this country, they certainly didn't care when they made us into ghouls and excuses for a world war, and to hell with the remnants that want to fight aldolfo, let them squirm under his boot like we had to under everyone else!" 

[Thugren]

For a moment, the air seems to chill. Krauses eyes lift from the fire, and he looks directly into your eyes for the first time.

"Youre absolutely right Sethis....WHen it comes to you."

his hands hiover over the fire and his gaze doesnt waver.

 

"Youre right...we fought for each other...But there is a difference between you and i."

 

He slowly pulls out his trench knife, a finely honed weapon. Oiled and sharpened to inhuman levels.

 

"All i ever knew...was fighting..Its what i understood, its what i loved. I was born to this life, you were dragged by the hair. Though the reich is dead...Though its nothing more than a title, its something i will always carry beside me. YOu dont understand what its like. You can never just turn it off.....When the world goes quiet what do i have sethis ..Other than hundreds of ghosts, killed in a name...I beleive in."

[Armoured Priest]

".....Is this where the subject was always going to head to then?" He said, not breaking the eye contact. "We never squabbled on anything, never had to, but this. We avoided for as long as were with them, but not anymore. You resign yourself to something you can change? What happened to the Kraussus that fought in that alley long before?" he asked. "You didn't believe in anything then, you didn't have to in order to fight." he continued. "And what are you going to do after this war is over, if it even ends in your favour? Why do you believe in something that could care less for you? You aren't human anymore you understand that right? Is that all you really care about in the end, what about me or raissa? Do we not matter without a reich? Is that what you're saying?" he asked him

[Thugren]

Krausus smiles.

 

'I never forgot him seth..I never stopped being him."

 

Krausus leans back and rests against the bookshelf.

 

"When i was young i used to watch them march....Every day in berlins courts......It what i aspired to."

 

He smiles and removes the nazi patch from his shoulder, looking very tired all of a sudden.

"When i joined them.....I became something more than another kid..Another thug..THough waht it wears now is the skin of what it was...I Still want to beleive it means somethbing..SOmething salvageable...And that isnt wrong."

[Armoured Priest]

Sethis was silent for a long time, staring at the patch in Kraussus' hand. "Long before you found me in that ally, with those drachen thugs, I saw executions carried out in an abandon building in the poorer quarter of the city. After all, a few bodies there wouldn't be out of place. Mutagen users, varghens, even just plain humans. The officer in charge was going on about how each one was a traitor for not joining the Nazi movement against the drachen threat, or simply just by existing. How each one was a enemy recruit by default. Some of them weren't of age bruder.... and I was too scared to help them....." He trailed off for a moment. "When you said we were going to be recruited, have a new life, I wanted to run away, right then and there and not look back. But again, I was too scared. Scared that I would be abadoning the only person who wanted to know me at all, let alone be my brother." he said now looking at Kraussus. "But now, I have a choice now and I don't want to have any association with them bruder, not with the idea or its' remnants, not even if you and Raissa are still with them." He told him, his tone emphasizing the last line. "You and I have very different views, something I don't think we can ever reconcile with one another on."

[Thugren]

Krausus smiles, putting a cigarette to his lip.

 

"No matter waht colors we wear...No matter where we go in life, we are brothers sethis. YOu put too much importance on things that dont matter."

 

He stands up and reapplies his arm band.

 

"IF you dont want to be affiliated with them., that is your choice. That is your perogative. You are my brother regardless. But you cannot hope to change how i think. I will not judge you for your choice. Now if you would rather not be affiliated with them in any way, I can respect that. But dont suggest i give up everything i strove for overnight based on your feelings.

 he takes a long drag on his smoke tiredly.

[Armoured Priest]

Sethis laughed, a bitter laugh. "You, to talk about doing things on feeling, and things that don't matter, yet you're doing the same thing right now but don't see it. I don't know if it's because you can't or don't want to." he said, standing up now. "Tell Raissa I said good luck." He said before he shadow jumped to the otherside of the barricade so it wouldn't be disturbed.

[Thugren]

suddenly as if yanked back, you are pulled through the mass of debis and deposited right back beside krausus.

 

 

"Not gonna end like that..YOu know it."

 

HE chuckles and offers you a cigarette. 

 

"We may disagree...But until we figure things out, im not leaving you in the cold....Still my little brother who cant fight."

With a dry chuckle, kraus slowly removes his armbandm and tosses it into the small fire, his eyes dancing in the firelight.

[Armoured Priest]

".....The hell has gotten in you Kraussus?" he asked now pointing at the flame, baffled at why he threw the very symbol he was attached to into the fire. "You were going on about how your patriotism and loyal...." Sethis stopped mid sentence. With his confusion now surpassing his earlier strong urge to be free, he finally started thinking on the conversation they had. "They did something to you didn't they? When you joined the black hand?" he asked, stepping closer. Kraussus end of the argument was more focused on the order, not the reich as a whole like sethis's side. "You didn't make the room cold cause I hit a nerve, you were resisting something." he added.

[Thugren]

Krausus nods very slowly.

 

"Yes...They did brother."

 

He drags the smoke to its filter and lets out a huff of smoke.

 

"I was resisting killing you."