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//Haven was burning. The heavy rain that drenched her and her army couldn’t put out the fires. Haven belonged to her now. Her Healer’s hands had broken every liquor bottle in the Inn and Keep, pouring each liquid onto the floor, setting each establishment on fire in sequence. In horrid, ghastly delight, she took the extra effort to tie the women and children together, and then coat them in the flammable liquids, before finally setting them on fire as well. She’d let the Dark Army in through the gates. She’d murdered everyone in her path, even though it was her duty in life to save lives, not take them.

As Haven burned down around her, she relished in the screams of her fellow Havenites. Each one who dared to fight back was tied to a tree, and their hearts and tongue were cut out one by one. She looked down at the pitiful creature before her who sobbed in the mud and begged for mercy, mercy to spare her friends. She was looking at herself, that sweet and innocent part of her that loved and respected life in all its forms. Too bad, so sad…so pathetic and irritating!

“Please…take me instead…spare them!” the pitiful creature begged between sobs. Her Beloved was gone, her Twin was gone, and there was no one left to keep her from succumbing to the Darkness Within.

A cold laugh came from Alice’s mouth, yet the deep and cruel voice did not sound like her own. She could feel the acid and malice in the words as she spoke them, “I gave you the choice to spare them, Child…you were a fool to not accept my offer.” The Dark Entity turned her attention to the army that carried out the grizzly and gruesome tasks of destroying all there was left of Haven and its people. “This world is now ours for the taking!” she announced with malicious glee, raising her sword high in the air. The Dark Army gave a guttural battle cry, grinning like madmen as the slaughter continued and the town burned to cinders.

Power was something she could never resist….\\

Alice jolted awake with a start. Someone was screaming. A woman was screaming. It wasn’t until she choked on her own cry and took a strangled breath that she realized the person who had been screaming was her. Embarrassedly, she looked around her room, taking a moment to recognize where she was. Was the dream just that, a dream, and nothing more? Or was it a vision of things to come?

She silently hoped she hadn’t woken anyone else with her nightmare. She wiped away the tears in her eyes, hugging herself about the waist as she deliberately sat up and got out of bed. She couldn’t sleep. Not after that nightmare. Dark circles under her eyes, she pulled out her sewing kit and her new garments and made her way downstairs. Still clad in her forest green nightgown and stockings, she made her way down the stairs of the Keep, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders for warmth. She settled in front of the fire, taking note that there was no one else awake at this hour (or so it seemed). She relished the silence and the peace of it all as she began sewing her garments, her head occasionally nodding in exhaustion, but forcing her eyes to stay open until dawn…she had to stay awake until dawn!

Dallid descended the stairs not long after Alice did and sat at her side.

"Given the horrors witnessed here all too often, I'm surprised more have not suffered troubled sleep more frequently. Much has been overcome, but at terrible cost, and much still threatens. Still, within this town are many friends who support and assist one another - one of the primary reasons to struggle on. Care to talk about it?"

When Dallid descended the stairs, she looked up in surprise.

"Dallid...why are you--?" she whispered. She was cut off by his correct assessment of her condition. At once, her embarrassment stained her cheeks dark pink, and she shrank into her chair in humiliation. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake anyone..." she said thoughtfully. She swallowed. She didn't want to talk about it, but it was kind of him to ask. "I thank you for the offer, but really, I'm fine. Just a nightmare. I have them sometimes. They can be quite vivid."

She hadn't had one like this before, and she knew it. This one had been different...but she wasn't about to admit that to anyone.

"Are you having trouble sleeping too? There were many horrors we faced this moon...army of undead...illusion magic that made us almost kill one another...this moon's events were something I have never even read about in my lifetime."

The sound of the front door closing is barely heard through the talking over those near the fire. A large form is barely seen stealthing through the keep, his boots making not a sound. As they step into the light, those present recognise Jonny wearing a black sheepskin cape to keep off the nights chill.

"I heard a scream, what happened?"

Seeing that neither Alice or Dallid seem ready for a fight, He calms down a bit, putting away his dagger he asks,

"Is everyone alright?"

"No one is harmed." Dallid replies to the blacksmith. "Nothing threatens at present."

He turns back to Alice. "Trouble sleeping? No. I am blessed with a rather broad perspective and a mind that is rather... detatched from this vessel."

"But I know well the isolation of the living mind. Thoughts and emotions swirling around up here," He says pointing to his head, "with nowhere to go and no point of reference save what it defines for itself. Is there any wonder there is so much confusion and fear in the world?"

"And when ideas do intrude from elsewhere, how is the mind to know the source with no external reference?"

"Tell me, Alice, have any of your dreams come to pass later in the waking world?"

(OOC: I just now noticed that your Board Status has you as 'deceased" lol)

When Johnny entered, Alice's cheeks turned even more red in further embarrassment. "Sorry, Friend. I didn't mean to alarm anyone."

When Dallid asked the last question, her jaw almost dropped in surprise. What was she to say? She couldn't lie. Dallid would know. She didn't even know what the dream meant...if it was only just a dream. But how could she explain the truth without inviting further investigation into her condition? She wondered what Legion would do in this situation...

"I'm not a Seer or a Stargazer like Sunny, unfortunately. If I could dream the future like that, believe me I would use it to help everyone here...I simply suffer from very vivid nightmares from time to time. " She gave her fellow Healer her best smile, and though it was an attempt to give him empty reassurance, her smile was still genuine in itself. "I'm fine, Dallid...really. Thank you for your concern."

~: Hadn't meant to wake anyone, but let's face it. Alice's scream could wake him from death, if such was the case. So Legion was roused almost instantly in his room, in some other portion of the Castle. His eyelids flew open, his left hand reflexively grabbed for his belt and he began making a note of what might be going on. His eyes roamed his own room....the vampire longsword in its sheathe...Dani's armor all neatly folded on a chair....Dani himself, still wrapped up just the way Legion had left him in his own bedroll. :~

"Ok.....at least if something is there I can use you as a shield..."

~: So he grabbed the sheathe for the longsword, fixed that to his belt, threw the belt on and hauled Dani up onto his right shoulder. Shirt? Forget the shirt. He still hadn't had new armor tailored to him. So he'd be going to battle with nothing but gray baggy pajama pants and his "twin" as a caterpillar shield. This wasn't the worst off he'd been. At least he had the shield. :~

~: Across the halls Legion jogged, noting how light Dani was compared to him. Still, it was awkward carrying something of equal size even if it wasn't equal mass, and several times he contemplated just dumping Dani onto the floor under a torch. But he wasn't cruel, so he wouldn't leave the little guy to get carried away by the darkness of the Castle. But as he approached the common room he realized he wasn't the first to arrive; voices were abundant it seemed, with Alice's ringing last. :~

~: He slowed his pace to a walk, left hand down by the hilt of the longsword, right arm wrapped up around Dani's midsection with the other Valkyn'Vi's head lolling level with his stomach. Into the common room he arrived, doing a quick head-check and noting of course the emerald-clad Half-Elf, the white-robed healing machine and the smith he'd termed "Jonny Badass." :~

"So, I'm very sure you screaming could wake me from death itself."

~: He said that with a smile, aimed at her as he unceremoniously dumped Dani into an empty chair, shaking his shoulders and cracking his neck as he stretched out a bit. :~

The moment Legion entered the room, a visible calm happiness surrounded Alice's troubled aura. She smiled at her dear friend and said, "I was hoping you'd be sleeping too deeply to have heard me. At least one of us has been sleeping well this night."

She nodded thoughtfully to Danimoth's sleeping form. She couldn't help but smile. Dani looked so innocent and endearing as he slept...like a child at peace with the world. "Has anything changed since last time? Or does he continue to sleep soundly?" she asked Legion.

"Soundly? More like 'silent as the grave.' He's breathing, but even that's difficult to tell at best. Whatever's going on in his head, well, I'd rather not disturb it. I've made sure to hide most of his weapons...but...given how close we both were....let's just say if he wakes up he'll probably be armed rather quickly."

~: There was a nervous chuckle at that as he looked down at his "twin." Such a bizarre turn of events, looking down at, well, the source of his own existence. Did that make Dani his father? Or was he more like a very strange uncle, who had always been keeping him in line? No matter now. Whenever Dani decided to wake up he was free to do as he wished. Hell, Legion had even painted him up with his usual blue and black, if just so that when Dani awoke he wouldn't just outright kill Legion. :~

"Well, ya. At least one of us, that being this guy. I was dreaming about that horde of zombies, the mist. And that crazy guy who made the Anti-Zombie Rod of Justice. Even with all of us going all-out...well...I think that thing saved our lives..."

~: A little shiver, how close he'd come to falling to the mindless horde. Not fear persay; Legion was one of those fearless individuals. More just worry, about this and that and everything in general. But he managed to keep a smile on his face, if just for Alice. :~

"What about you? What has you troubled?"

Alice nodded respectfully as he explained Dani's condition, but she was no longer smiling when he asked the last question. She blinked at him, gazing from face to face and the fire before saying the same thing she said to Dallid.

"Just a very vivid nightmare. I haven't had one in months. This one sorta caught me off-guard. I think this moon's events were particularly difficult for me...but I'm fine now, really. It was just a dream..." She made sure to add that last part to reassure everyone once more, lull them into going back to bed or carry on with whatever business they'd been attending to before she'd alarmed them. At least, that's what she'd hoped to do...

*Gil-galad walks up to Alice, traveling pack on his back and dust from the road clinging to his boots.*

"What HAS happened here, Alice? I'm away for a few days and suddenly everyone's crying 'undead'. Please, explain to me."

Cariel followed behind Gil-Galad, rubbing at her eyes as her tail wagged furiously. It was so good to be home. Racing to Alice, the sleepy girl wrapped the healer in a warm hug before turning to wave happily at Dallid and Johnny. She opened her mouth to speak and stopped, sniffing the air curiously. The wolf-girl turned and froze. Two Legions? Hesitently, she moved to Legion and his sleeping twin. Yes, they were both Legion. They smelled the same, had the same features. She looked at Legion and tilted her head, ear twitching.

"Mister Legion... Why are there two of you?"

"Legion... Is this the one called Danimoth? But how? By what sorcery has his body been broken from your own?"

Alice seemed to be holding something back, but it was clear she did not wish, or perhaps did not know how, to discuss it. Perhaps she would be ready some other time. Meanwhile, Dallid resolved to keep an eye on her as best he could. He realized unfortunately that his attention was mostly diverted elsewhere currently. Thankfully he was certain others would keep far better vigil.

One, or rather two such people entered the room now.

“Greetings, Legion. Can you not yet bear to part with Danimoth? I can’t help but notice how *he* entered the room *first*. Were you using him to test for danger?”

Gil-Galad and Cariel also arrived in the main room. Dallid nodded to each in greeting.

~: Legion...seemed to understand. Or at least he had the semblance of understanding, because as Alice finished he just folded his arms across his white chest, leaned against the chair he'd deposited Dani in and gave a slow nod. He wouldn't press the issue; it wasn't his to prod and pry. Time to be a bit more upbeat though, so he had his smile back and sort of swished one hand through the air. :~

"Well, after the last moon anyone who is anyone is sure to have nightmares. Hell, for all I know Mr. Vegetable here is having some right now."

~: He gave Dani a nudge, the catatonic Valkyn'Vi making no reply, not responding in any way, shape or form. And then Gil-Galad and Cariel arrived, and Legion immediately knew he had some 'splainin to do! Cariel was the first to ask, and obviously Gil-Galad may be a bit on the confused side as well. So he thought up the most reasonable, most simple answer possible, and stated it as blandly as he was capable. :~

"A wizard did it."

~: But of course...well...Dallid just HAD to see behind Legion's intentions should battle have been present upon his arrival. So he had a sheepish grin on his face, and maybe a tiny bit of malice as he replied to the question of why Dani entered first. :~

"Well Dallid, I'm not gonna lie to you. If something was going down...I was going to throw him at the enemy as a distraction, then take advantage with Widowmaker here."

~: And he gave the ugly blade sheathed at his side a pat or two. :~