29th of Summer, 511 A.V. A bright gray sky the same colour as Talen's eyes greeted him as he walked out the door of his little house. The air was a little heavy, and Talen guessed it'd rain later. He was wearing leather armour, shield on his back and sword at his side. He had a few dark rings under his eyes - Most of the Watch had been set to scour the streets in the night after the murder at the Chapterhouse of Radiance, and he'd been one of many who continued long through the dark hours. It had all been in vain. He'd felt desperate that night, walking around with torches had given some direction and purpose and allowed him to distract his thoughts from the horror of what had happened. He'd hoped and prayed that he could do something, perhaps catch the person or creature who did it; but at the end of the night he'd returned to his house beaten and hopeless. There was something terrifying about not being able to do anything, to leave it all unfinished. He'd felt hopeless and helpless, incapable of finding out anything or doing anything about what had already ocurred. It haunted him, images of blood and dread of more deaths ocurring that he, they, would be powerless to prevent. He felt anxious and annoyed this morning, sleep had not come easy even long into the night because he couldn't shake the feelings of inadequecy and worry. He prayed to Priskil in the night; "Give me hope so that I might light the way for others with your blessing." Yet there was no reply and nothing seemed to change. He sighed started to shake off the dark thoughts by thinking of today's duty - A contradiction in itself because his duty was to stand guard outside The Chapterhouse of Radiance, to prevent anyone from ruining the blood writing on the walls or be scared out of their wits by the sight. A dready, miserable duty that he wanted to escape yet of course couldn't. Cursing his luck, he started running through the streets in a moderate pace, shield and sword banging merrily away at his back and hips. He was abit late again, but usually managed to make up for lost time by running to whatever task for the day, if any. Sometimes the guard was not terribly busy, yet with what had ocurred guard duty had been intensified and there was a great deal of investigation and action being taking by the brighter and higher minds of Denval society. Talen just stood watch. That thought annoyed him, and he hurried through the streets abit faster, holding onto the hilt of his sword to steady it. Skidding past a pretty stash of blue flowers matching a golden house with a blue roof, he ran up to another guardsman. The man was slightly older than him and grinned with a rumble as he saw the sweaty youth speed through the streets to replace him on this drab task. He laughed, said a joke about Talen eventually being skinned alive by a sergeant for lack of punctuality, and clapped the boy on the shoulder as he left his post. As soon as he left however, the smile he'd kept was replaced with the frown he'd been wearing most of the morning. He was still breathing heavily as he walked up to the bloodied front of the Chapterhouse. It seemed eerily clear in the pale sunlight, the writing in blood spread over the doors and steps that he'd seen in the night were as saddening as ever, though not as terrifying and ethereal as in the dark of night. He sighed, and walked over to the corner of the houses, awaiting any citizens or strangers to approach the site and be showed away 'lest they had business there. He felt bitter and helpless, and without anything else to think of dark thoughts were all he had to entertain him untill his time was up. |