Eberrune, Mistwatch
Eberrune is a nation with Foggy coasts, dense forests and their most notable trait is Naval dominance, shipbuilding. It is a nation that houses most of the Tidepath system bearers, it is led by one of the twelve rulers Viscountess Helene Eberrune.
The people of Eberrune are know for their peaceful nature, although it is not always like that. In the capital of the nation, Mistwatch, a young man named Edmund Hawthorne was on his way home from the library.
He wore sandals, a pair of shorts and a vest. His damp short red hair stuck to his forehead, he wore two earrings on his left ear and he also had two piercings on his right eyebrow. His lazy grayish eyes were focused on the book he was reading, with his looks one would have expected him to be a delinquent but reality was often deceitful.
The young man was a historian, and also a scholar who privedes research and system knowledge. He was a well known figure in Mistwatch, currently he had his interest piqued by the Conspiracy and their behavioral patterns.
He was searching throughout history to find a pattern, he was also convinced that the Conspiracy were not some mindless entities that they had been at odds with for thousands of years.
Although these beings that they called the Conspiracy were a mystery, Low-ranking
Conspirer appeared to be created directly from
darkness, they boast monstrous forms, nightmares,
or twisted animal-like shapes; they posses
simple predatory abilities; high
lethality and they are the reasons behind the mass killings; they are the merely foot
soldiers, dangerous but unintelligent
They seem to draw power from darkness, manifesting as: Shadow manipulation, Soul Devouring and Illusions and fear projection. These were the abilities the low ranking Conspiracy possessed.
Researchers had found out that they entered our world through gaps in dimensional spaces, but to Ed that was some bullshit to cover up the really nature of these creatures. Nothing about the existence of these creatures made sense, even after thousands of years most of the information the human race possessed was merely recorded from speculation.
The reason he had his interest piqued by these creature was because of the incident that had supposedly happened in Vanderholt, his trusted source of information said that a high ranking Conspirer descended in Ardenthall the capital of Vanderholt.
Rumor has it the Conspirer had killed a noble man, although he highly doubted the man's words the topic had really piqued his interest. What if there were Conspirers capable of eradicating mankind all on their own? In the era they were living in the Conspiracy rarely attacked, especially in the past few years the number of recorded Conspiracy attacks per nation had fallen to 50 a year.
Which brought about the question, what are they planning? Looking at the rates of the attacks and the locations, their attack pattern showed that the attacks were planned.
Although the church and the leaders of the nations pushed an agenda telling the masses that the humans were finally eradicating the Conspiracy.
For a respected scholar Ed lived in the outskirts of Mistwatch, so the walk back home was a good hour. He lived with his girlfriend, Clara Montfort a Tidepath System bearer and a noble related to the crown and also his childhood best friend.
Ed closed his book because of the fog and began jogging to his place, the architectural design of Mistwatch was beautiful. The buildings were built out of limestone, and had an aquatic design. The streets were made from cobblestone, and a few cars and trucks would pass heading to the direction of the city gates. They were probably headed for the factories near the coast, the street lamps were on helping citizens navigate through the fog.
It was quiet at this time of the night, only a few people were on the streets. Jogging past an alleyway Ed abruptly stopped having oicked up on a peculiar scent, sniffing the air twice for confirmation he deduced it was metallic smell of blood.
Going back towards the dim alleyway, he stopped at the entrance and observed. In the darkness he saw a towering humanoid silhouette yet something about it felt off like it wasn't completely human. His instincts screamed danger, yet his curiosity refused to let him go sithout satisfaction.
He took a step forward, a move that he knew was definitely stupid yet he couldn't stop himself.
"Hey, are you alright?"
He called to the owner of the silhouette, and then something eerie happened. He suddenly felt naked, as if something was peering directly at his soul. The feeling was unsettling and that is when he saw a frightening scene, the towering silhouette hidden in the darkness began shrinking while moving towards him. He could hear the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing, and a pained growl coming from the thing approaching him.
After a few seconds he found himself face to face with a naked woman, although the darkness made it hard to see he could make out its perfect features. But the one definitive feature that he noticed were its eyes, they were like miniature suns glowing in the dark.
Ed was trying by all means to suppress the terror he felt, cold sweat rolled down his back. And he swallowed hard, the thing moved closer to him to the point where he could feel its cool breathe on his face and the it opened it's mouth.
"forget about me, are you alright?"
Its soft, soothing voice shocked even more. He was a thousand percent sure this thing in front of him was a Conspirer and yet it had notg ripped him to shreds... Yet.
He hurriedly took a few steps back, it tilted its head a bit observing him. And then it raised its hand and turned them with a curious, it then flexed its fingers. Ed stared at the scene horrified, this had to be a high ranking Conspirer. Unfortunately for him he was not a system bearer and there was literally nothing he could, he stood petrified waiting for his death.
[Clara always told me to come back home early... I should have listened.]
The Conspirer finished inspecting itself and the turned it's attention back to him, its curious gaze unsettled him.
"Where am I?"
It asked looking around curiously.
"You are in the outskirts of Mistwatch the capital Eberrune." Ed hoping to save his skin replied quickly.
The Conspirer tilted it's head again and asked in a manner he would have found cute if a human female had done it.
"Eberrune?"
"who am I?" it added pointing to itself
"Huh?"
The question baffled him, what was this situation? Was it playing games with him? Or did it truly not know it's identity? From the rumors these things murdered humans on sight yet he has been in the presence of one for more than 10 minutes.
"I - I don't know."
Unsure of what to do he took of his t-shirt and gave ii to the Conspirer but it just looked at the shirt curiously without taking it, he moved closer and spoke softly.
"Here, let's cover up."
He helped it wear the t-shirt, now came the hard part.
[Should I call the inquisitors and let them deal with her-it.]
For a short while he stood not knowing how to proceed, he looked at it his mind racing yet he could not leave it unattended so he decided to take it to his place and observe it and he also had a very powerful system user at home.
"Come with me, that is if you want to."
He offered it a hand, it looked at his hand for a while before nodding and grabbing. Its hand was soft like a newborn's, he quietly headed out of the alleyway and continued home with a monster.
...
The apartment was quiet—too quiet. The only sound was the faint hum of the refrigerator and the distant murmur of the neighbors nextdoor.
Three figures stood frozen in the living room.
Ed , with tired eyes and his hands shoved deep into his pockets, leaned against the wall near the doorway. His jaw was set, as if bracing for a storm.
Across from him, a young woman one of the two women in the apartment with him glared at him with a fire that could have burned through steel. Her arms were crossed tightly, her body angled just slightly away from him as though even the air between them was tainted.
Her eyes seemed to scream: "ARE YOU INSANE. "
He kept his gaze on the floor not daring to meet her eyes, he could feel the intensity from her gaze and frankly he was finding it hard to breathe.
The other woman, standing by the window, didn't seem to share that anger. Her gaze drifted across the apartment—the half-open books on the table, the coat draped carelessly over a chair, the faint scent of old coffee in the air. She had very curious eyes, like those of a child when encountering something new.
"I can explain."