[The Sanctuary] Origins (Serrif)

[Kavala]

Kavala was in shock. There wasn't much for her to think because her mind kept churning the events that just transpired over and over and over again. Crescent had killed her own father to defend Tizack and hadn't even known it. She watched the man to see if he'd tell the girl, but he did not. Kavala couldn't tell if it was because he didn't realize it or if it was because he wanted to keep the truth from her. Kavala watched on, curious and undecided.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Crescent's Life ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Crescecnt followed him back to the mediation chamber and through it to the bath house. She avoided the tub though, saying very little. To answer his question, Crescent shook her head and glanced at him. "I don't know. I don't think so. He seems so familiar though. I just can't remember." She said softly and moved across the room to the tiled corner where a very large shower head stood ready to dispense warm water from a roof cistern. She slipped off his now bloody shirt and stepped into the spray. Putting out a hand, she simply leaned against the tiled wall and made no other move to wash herself. The water streaked blood down her body from her hair and chest, though he could see nothing but the long expanse of her back and legs from where he stood.

"Its still a blur. All of it. I can kill without thinking, but trying to actively remember how to do something and it confuses me. Your man will drag the body away... I'll wash the blood off... and no one will even remember who he was or how he died... does he have a family somewhere? Did the little girl?" Crescent blinked suddenly, glanced over her shoulder at him, and didn't seem to realize she remembered something from before.. how she'd killed the child. Her face was intent, even with her long ebony hair plastered to her skull and shedding blood down her face like macabre tears. Her intense blue eyes met his and then glanced down. "You are covered in his blood too. The water is still hot. You should shower too. I must have gotten it on you. I'm sorry for the mess. You should make me clean such things up so I remember to be more careful next time." She said, turning away from him and resuming her posture of leaning against the tiles, back towards him, bleeding crimson that was not her own upon the bright white tiles. She was unconscious of how she looked - a mixture of deadly vulnerability - and how easy it would be to join her and turn the whole event into something other than the aftermath of an assassination attempt.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Tizack’s Life=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

She had shown dedication and loyalty to him. In a way he had brainwashed her just as much as her father and the Ruv’na had. He had made her a killer, but for a different reason. She was to help him now, protect him. And she had done just that. But in the process she had killed her own father. Her body still remembered, her mind still had deep dark thoughts harbored inside it. There was only so much he could do but he knew in time that everything would eventually be ok. That the memories would fade and she would slowly become more and more the person he wanted her to be. Taking her away from the Ruv’na forever. There was nothing that could be done to help her now, he was going to hold her close and keep her his. Gently forming a new life with her forever; she would become part of his life and he would become part of hers.

He watched her and knew she believed they were lovers; where was the harm in indulging her making these memories that more real for her? Making her previous life’s memories fade into the past where he wanted them. He was objectifying her and he couldn’t stop himself. Was he really justifying this? Was this really ok? He had taken her from a life of death and blood and brought her here. He planned on teaching her a great deal but he knew that he could never teach him his true purpose. Because if she ever found out what he did…she would likely never forgive him; and leave him. He loved having her around, even though she had only been here a short time. Watched the water caress her body and he tried to center his lust for her.

Even with the scars her body was absolutely beautiful. She had a wonderful toned body from years of training to be the assassin she always was. She was going to make a wonderful bodyguard, and an even better lover he could only assume. But he didn’t know this for sure because he did know she had never had anyone show her love before now. He was going to open her eyes, and she would experience things she never thought was possible. Again he tried to control himself as he looked over her wounds. She had a few slashes on her sides and one on her arm. He wore only his loose black pants as he gently reached around her body and pulled her body into his. He focused bringing Rak’keli’s gift to bear on her nude form. His hands were warm and callused; under his hands her wounds cleansed and healed shut like they had never happened. She had likely never experienced this however it was only the beginning of these foreign feelings for her.

With a strong movement he brought her around and brought his lips to the nape of her neck. His right hand found her hip and his left trailed through her wet hair like a comb. He could feel how soft and vulnerable her neck was. How wonderful she tasted…it had been a very long time since he let himself enjoy anything like this. He pressed into her body somewhat pinning her against the white marble of the shower as the warm water cascaded over them. He gripped her hip right tight and sighed a warm breath against her pale skin. She could feel just how strong he really was bringing only a part of his muscles to bear on her. It was like she was trapped there with him in that moment. He didn’t know what her reaction would be but he had an idea that it wouldn’t simply stop here.

[Kavala]

Kavala felt like an eavesdropper on her own life, one she'd given up a long time ago. In traveling down the chavi, she'd skipped over Crescents death and how it had all ended. This was the more important part, the part of how it had all began. Assassin turned Cytali, whatever that truly was. There was so much more she had to learn, so much more she had to understand as she watched her past and understood some of her current feelings.

The man, the leader, had broken her, erased her past, and remade her into something else. And now he was taking it a step further. Tizack, Kavala decided, didn't do anything half way. He took what he wanted for his own reasons and made it into what he needed. The girl had no clue. And in many ways she had no choice. And in a way what Kavala was for the Akalaks in a way heavily mirrored what Crescent was for Tizack - or soon would be - if the man's actions were any indication.

The girl knew nothing. Kavala could tell by the way she reacted and by how she saw none of it coming. Blindsided with a past undoubtably full of abuse, the girl didn't have a chance. She'd be what the man wanted her to be because that's all she knew out of her life. Sleep when they wanted her to sleep, eat when they wanted her to eat, kill when death was required. No complaints, no compromises, no thinking for herself.

Kavala watched on.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Crescent's Life ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Blood was blood. She was used to it. But what startled Crescent was the man's hands on her body. They were lovers - she knew that - but her body jerked as if she were not used to being touched. Warmth filled her as his hands heated on her, a foreign power filling her, easing the burning in her hip and the knife wounds on her back and side. Pain was a familiar friend and its absence woke her a bit from her post violent daze. Suddenly the man whose body she'd almost recognized didn't matter. All that mattered was the big man standing behind her staring at her as if he were a starved creature.

He wore clothing, pants only, and they were soaked in an instant. Even as he turned her around and pulled her into him, she knew what he wanted. His heat burned against her bare skin, the water from the roof cistern only warm at best. He was so big compared to her, so strong, that she felt like a child. Everything about him oozed authority and now something else, something more primal, as he nibbled at the nape of her neck. Hands on her hips held her pinned to him as another touched her hair, dragging his fingers through its wet length. Crescent shivered. So much maleness, so much warmth, when she herself felt so cold inside. It was almost an awakening. Something felt wrong about it, as if she weren't allowed to have emotions or experience feelings of lust or passion. That in itself caused her fear, though her carefully schooled expression gave none of it away. She didn't know what to do, what needed to be done here, other than yield to him - give in - obey his rank and his title. Her body was his right. Her life was his right. She knew the rules, even if how she did or who had made them was vague within her mind.

Tizack pinned her and she looked up at him for direction, tilting her head slightly as he still worked her neck, nibbling and nipping his intentions. Crescent didn't know what to do with her hands, which were only moments ago removing blood from her body. Awkwardly she reached out, uncertain, and laid them on his hips as well.

How did she do this with him? What did he like? Was he a lover or just a man that wanted release? Crescent had no idea and it frustrated her that she couldn't remember. She'd been taught about this, of course, and preparations had been made in case she was ever in a situation that her life required this in order to survive.

His pants. He wouldn't need them or want them. Fingers traced the waistband and found the fastenings, opening them and sliding them off his hips. If this was what he required, this was what he'd receive. But there was no emotional investment in it... no arousal on her part. She didn't know about such things and had been trained extensively to make nothing personal.

It would have to be another thing the Cytali would have to deal with, to fix, reconnecting the girls emotions with her physical actions. Too much training had gone into the severing.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Tizack’s Life=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He knew what he had to do to make her his. Only then once her body aligned with what was happening could he really make a difference in her life. He didn’t want her to be a tool, but he knew for now he had to make her believe she was a tool. He had to align everything her body knew with her new environment. This wouldn’t be easy by any means, and in the end he knew that he could make her a woman. A real woman, a free woman. But to get there…he had to do things he knew he would disown himself for. But sometimes the ends did justify the means. He would have to show her who the Alpha was because having walked all her memories he knew she was a Beta. She needed a strong leader to follow, he had to establish himself to her. And this would take time. He knew if he did not do this she would rebel and likely start to remember her old memories. She would rebel and not even know why; she would be confused and then he would lose her completely. He didn’t want that, he would have to carefully craft her and he knew this. And for now, he would have to become the Alpha. Internally he was fighting this but externally he knew he couldn’t show weakness to her.

He nibbled on her neck and then started kissing some. She would know what he wanted; her training told her as well as the figments of her imagination. He wanted her and he would have her; because as far as she was considered she belonged to him. Her mind, her body, her all was his. She spent her nights in his bed, and his days by his side. He took on an almost separate mentality while around her now. Knowing well that he would be a sweeping change in her mind and body from here on out. He knew he would likely spend a good amount of the night in meditation adding even more memories to her mind. Because he had implanted nothing about their love life together. And he knew he would need to do this.

He could tell there was no emotion in her actions; her body was still detached from what she did. Her training had been implanted in her from years and years of conditioning. Everything was severed from her and he was working to change her. But for now he would have to give her what she was used to. And gradually shake things up. He gently traced a hand down her leg into the inside of her thigh and began to gently feel her warmth. She was cold in comparison to his warm skin. He smiled and then gently placed his hands on her hips and picked her up, demonstrating his extreme measure of strength to her. She was up high enough for him to insert into her body gently especially if she wrapped her legs around his waist.

He spoke gently into her ear as a whisper. “You ready?” But his question seemed more like a warning to her than anything.

He wasn’t proud of what he was about to do, but he knew that if he didn’t enforce what she believed here that it would all only end in tragedy for him. That she would runaway and likely find the Ruv’na again. And they would make all of this make more sense than he ever could for her. And then she would tell them everything about them. Everything they learned and he knew that if they learned of his abilities then they would kill him and his with even more extreme prejudice than before. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let her go. He would instead keep her here with him. Where she could be of real use to him.

[Kavala]

Kavala had never watched a man loose his soul. But to her, that’s what Tizack did in his training with the girl – the girl that was herself in a generation before. He stole her, took her memories, replanted new ones, and molded her into what he wanted. He manipulated her emotions and loyalties until she served him like a dog would serve a beloved master. And then as she gazed on Kavala saw him take his reward in the form of sex, expanding out the girl’s role in the man’s life. Kavala was angry in that moment, incredulous that he’d go so far and be so bold even in the first hours of her capture. She watched the bodies entwine and knew in that instant how men saw women – as tools. Kavala couldn’t anticipate Tizacks thinking or his thought process. She wasn’t walking his Chavi, not in that instant. She was walking Crescents and as such experienced what the girl experienced. There was absolute trust, obedience, and momentary pain as the Cytali bridged the gap between impersonal and personal. Her younger self – older? – didn’t even flinch at the big man’s actions, at his invasion.. Pain was a part of her life, something she was trained to ignore so there was nothing but silence, quiet acceptance, even though the man had to know what she was even as he was changing that fact. The girl followed the Cytali’s cues, saw to his needs, and let him take her there on the tiles roughly without question and without even a whimper.

Kavala didn’t understand it. Was every life she lived going to be made up of unwanted situations and scenarios where she had no choice? It wasn’t that Tizack wasn’t unattractive, but he was a stranger to Crescent. He was a mentor that was crossing the line between teacher and student. What happened when Crescent found out? What happened when the truth was clear? These people were dreamwalkers. She could feel the marks on Tizack and his staff all around her, even through the chavi, and knew sooner or later Crescent would get one and know the truth.

Unless…

The option, the only option Tizak had, was to keep her unmarked her whole life if he could somehow swing a Gods’ interference or interest and sway it to the lack thereof. The thought enraged Kavala even as she boldly watched the two bodies couple knowing the man needed a release after having his life threatened and almost forfeited and the girl needed it to somehow reinforce the falsehoods the man had planted in her memories.

The Dreamwalker didn’t know what to think. She wondered, almost absently, what the other dreamwalker would think if he knew that she’d come back, curious, and was watching what he did and knew the whole truth of it. Was Crescents life better here with the Cytali or with the Ruv’na where she’d come from. What were Tizack’s true feelings on it? Did he hate what he did? Did he enjoy the manipulation and what she equated to rape? The thoughts behind the focused man’s mind would make all the difference.

Kavala would watch. She’d learn. She’d understand. If he enjoyed it, she’d find him in this life, cut off his testicles, and feed them to him. If he hated every minute of it but did it because he felt he must, she’d thank him even if he didn’t know what for.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Crescent's Life ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The feeling of the man lifting her up was so foreign, so alien, Crescent froze for a heartbeat, then two, before she reacted. She flailed for a purchase and then wrapped her arms and legs around him, afraid of falling and not immediately recognizing what was happening. He asked her a question, but his words were lost on her. All she could feel was his maleness, his enormous size, his will. His words and actions were gentle but they left no room for her to say no… not that she would. Crescent belonged to him, more than a dagger or favorite shirt. Her memories told her that as well as told her they did this a lot even though everything about it felt foreign. Her mind whirled, though he gave her no time. Suddenly she was held against him, tiles pressing into her back, his body within hers and her whole world narrowed to what they did.

Pain filled her, but she did not question it. Pain was an old familiar friend that she’d long ago learned to welcome. Tizack himself had helped her with her pain tolerance, exposing her to various forms of it and teaching her to ignore it to get the job, whatever job it was she was doing, done. It made her feel alive and had become something she could call her own. Her mind told her this was familiar, comforting, and that she enjoyed it, though she wasn’t sure why. Her physical body disagreed. It felt ripped, torn, unaccommodating, though the sensation didn’t last. He wasn’t unskilled in his actions and though his resolve made him unyielding, Tizack didn’t hurry through the act, but took his time with her. She adjusted, slowly, and was almost comfortable as the warm water sluiced their bodies and the Cytali took his pleasure. She couldn’t know it wouldn’t be like that a second time or a third time… or all the rest of their time together.

She loved him. This was supposed to be how it was. Crescent wrapped her arms around the big man’s shoulders and hung on giving him what pleasure she could, as unschooled as she was.

It was over too soon though, just as she’d gotten used to it. That was how her life was lived these days. One abrupt act, then another, then another… Crescent longed for stability and the ability to coast for a while without having so many drastic changes. Only… she couldn’t remember why she thought there were so many of them. Her lover gently lowered her to the ground and bent as well, wincing to pick up a sponge still soaped up and began to wash the blood that was not his own off him as well.

She said nothing for a long time as she saw to his bathing needs.

Crescent knew she hadn’t been as she remembered being with him in her mind. Free, engaging, spontaneous… leading as much as he was. She looked up at him, offered him a soft smile and said almost breathlessly. “I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t really… engaged. I just hate it when they try for you. It makes me so angry. If I am slower or your men are less aware…any one of us could make a mistake… and that’d be that. If I hadn’t heard him on the roof tonight…” She trailed off, turning away from him, ashamed that the assassin had gotten so close.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Tizack’s Life=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
He couldn’t show her any weakness. He knew this, he was the Alpha. But inside he knew this was too far wrong to be anything else. But that didn’t excuse his actions. No, he couldn’t demean the action at all…he knew it was rape. No matter what he made her think or what he made himself try to believe he couldn’t justify it. Even though he knew he was pressed to perform it he knew if he could he wouldn’t. But he needed to solidify her place with him. More than anything it was becoming apparent that he actually needed her. Because his own people were going to fail him in his protection however Crescent would not. She was far more skilled than anyone he had ever met and he was surprised he had overpowered her the first few times she had attempted his life. He still didn’t know how he had overpowered her, but there had to be divine intervention of some kind involved…that was the only thing that explained it entirely. The entire act Tizack was detached. Knowing this was something he had to do. Something that only he could do. He couldn’t implant these kind of memories in her. They had to be lived…

He took her gently, as to let her adjust as he knew her body had never been this intimate with anyone before him. He understood that he couldn’t force himself on her, but at the same time he knew in a way he already had. In a way the morality of the act couldn’t be suspect to him. He had to do this. He had to be her Alpha and maybe someday she would understand. He would let her make these decisions for herself. And he knew he had more than much work to do with her. He wanted her to become more than she ever could be before him with the Ruv’na…more than she had ever been. But for this to work he had to gently adjust her. Or she would rebel, confused by the conflict between her memories that he crafted for her to believe and the actual muscle memory that he body held. He finished a bit sooner than he would if he was actually enjoying himself but he was glad the act was over. He lowered her gently to the ground.

He then finished actually washing himself and cleansing himself of her father’s blood…An act that still had itself burned in a very special place in his mind. Somewhere dark where he knew only he knew the truth. Not even his followers knew the man’s true identity. But He did…And it haunted him now. How could he relay this information to her? Could he? He didn’t even know how to frame all of this for her. So he didn’t at first and instead toiled over all of it in her mind. While her back was turned to him he shook his head, obviously hating himself for what he had done to her. It was about now that he was pondering if he should just have killed her instead. Was this really any better? What if it didn’t work out like he wanted? What if she thought she was his harlot instead of his companion…wait was that what he was going for? What did he really want from this woman? It was clear in this moment all over his body that he hated himself, but still stood strong in the decision he had made for her. He straightened himself back out, he couldn’t show weakness.

He could make her ANYTHING and he chose this? He wanted her to be his bodyguard, her unique place within the Cytali. Mostly because that was where her real skills laid. And it would be the memories that fit best with the ones she already had. He had instead intertwined himself into her chavi. And somewhat effectively so. He didn’t want her as a lover but at the same point he believed it brought her closer to him. And eventually he knew he would give her a choice in the matter. Maybe eventually once he had given her more freedom she could be who she wanted to be. And maybe…if somehow she gained Nysel’s favor she could learn to forgive him. But it was much more likely that she would instead take his life. No matter how hard he worked to make her the woman she actually wanted to be. Because as the assassin of the Ruv’na she wasn’t a woman…she was a tool. But here she would be allowed to live and thrive. He would make sure that she would be free eventually, maybe even free from him as well. But he had to make sure that she didn’t earn Nysel’s favor too early. That she had a chance to really see what he had done for her before she discovered what he had done. That would be a day to be avoided until he knew she was ready.

He now carried a great burden, of this woman’s future. He had made the decision to mold her like clay and he now was responsible for her in more than one way. She apologized to him and he simply laid a caring soothing hand on her shoulder. “You are wonderful Crescent, I would trust my life to none else but you. Because I know Crescent that you will give me your all and protect me to the end.” He said as he gently brushed back some of her wet hair and looked into her eyes. She could see how much he meant what he said to her. How much truth weighed on his soul. What a heavy weight it was indeed.

“That man you killed tonight meant something to you. I could see it even if you don’t know who he is he meant something to you. And as such we will bury him on the grounds Crescent. Such is proper.” He said as he then smiled to her and nodded.

“Now the night is still young and you need sleep as do I lets retire for the night.” He said as he then took her to bed and laid her in his arms. Once she fell asleep he still gently ran his hands through her long hair like a lover should…or maybe like a father would. He wasn’t sure which he was anymore. He gently got the tangles out of her hair and gently mouthed words he knew he never could speak to her.

I’m sorry…so sorry…so sorry…. Crescent was asleep but there were others watching this memory.

[Kavala]

Her life seemed to circle in spirals. What once was happened again. Kavala was shocked at her history, of knowing what she had been once born and raised to be, and yet knowing that someone had taken that pre-made tool and not only used it but remolded it to fit his parameters. As Kavala traced the Chavi forwards she watched the rest of Crescent's life. Tizack had promised himself that he'd tell Crescent eventually who she was. But the problem was his lies were so carefully woven into her psyche and she became what he made of her so effortlessly that there reached a point where there was no turning back.

He molded her into a bodyguard, one that would never betray him because all of her belonged to him. He molded her tastes to fit his, not meaning too but doing it inadvertently because he was new into his power and she was his first real long-term alteration. And because she became so thoroughly what he needed he fell hard for her and it tore at him each time she risked her life saving his, which happened frequently in the early days.

But the Cytali learned. They captured. And those they were unwilling to kill they altered and so slowly the Ruv'na lost power. Their great assassins' who took a lifetime to mold and a second to unmold became something less fearful and endangered, falling away completely with the Valterian. In the years that passed, Crescent's services as a bodyguard were less and less needed and he got her with child once, then twice, until the whole of his organization was passed down to his blood and hers. She taught them to fight and how not to physically be broken. He taught them dreamwalking and thanked Nysel almost daily that Crescent never seemed to earn the Dreamlords attention. He eventually died of old age against a heart condition Crescent could guard against and she fell not many months later in that winter, slipping on ice striking her head so hard it turned her silvered head to red. One could not hold on to grace, strength, and fortitude as the years passed. It was a lesson both of them learned.

Tizack never told her she was Ruv'na born. Crescent never knew to ask.

Kavala half wondered if that was why she was reborn a healer, for she felt how badly it destroyed Crescent when Tizack passed and how much she longed to rejoin him in the afterwards, even though there was more for both of them than another life together.

Later... Kavala passed up Tizack's Chavi, past his death, curious. She saw his inactivity, where he was passed beyond in Dira's arms, and then later his rebirth. Serrif Von Chatlyn. Mura healer and before that Ravok slave. She combed his life ruthlessly, startled that they were so similar in this life and yet so different in the other. She would remember his name, his current face, everything about him. If she saw him again, she wondered if he'd know her too. If. They lived together in the world at the same time. They were almost the same age. He was so painfully human though and she knew it was a choice she'd never make again. Would they meet? It was fate she hadn't been on Mura when he'd arrived there to heal. And she'd sensed after all that she'd witnessed of his life, that he was broken in this one, more than he'd ever admit.

Tizack admitted very little, even though his heart had always been in the right place and he held regrets where a normal sane man should even for all the darkness he'd committed in the name of light. Some of it just couldn't be helped.

Kavala wondered how much Serrif differed from him and if she'd ever get a chance to know.

FinI think that's a wrap, don't you?

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Kavala XP Award: Investigation +5; Philosophy +5 Lore: Past Life: Crescent, Tizack (partial), Ruv’na Philosophy, Cytali Philosophy, Dreamwalking Level Two Additional: Key to Serrif’s Chavi Serrif XP Award: n/a Lore: Crescent (partial), Past Life: Tizack, Cytali, Ruv’na, Rak’keli, Healing, Nysel, Dreamwalking Additional Notes: Hello! So Kavala was able to earn some XP due to her self-aware activities as a Dreamwalker, but since Serrif was just dreaming one of his past lives, all I could award was Lore. I’m assuming Serrif too remembers this dream, and so he can have lore. I tried to award what might prove useful. If you want anything else, we can discuss. Well done! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!