Ashes

Wind tears past Casper's body as he jumps from the crater, back towards the city. 

He needed to get back to the girls, he needed to make sure they were alright. He needed to save them, protect them from this, from all of this. Even if they hated him after he was done, he needed to ensure they would live through all that he would do next. 

The distant walls meet him in an instant and his body effortlessly carves a path through the stone walls, sending a shower of debris exploding out from around him. 

He can hear the screams, the screams of the people who now know what is upon them. 

Segment of the city wall collapses behind Casper as he steps through the streets, dust rolling over him only to be burnt away just as quickly with the heat his body radiates. 

Guards scream, trying to guide the quickly frenzying civilians away. 

A few try to be heroes...

Casper doesn't even look in their direction. Their weapons cut through the cloth of his clothing only to shatter against his skin. The pressure wave of each of Casper's movements is enough to send them flying backwards to crumble against the surrounding buildings, or sucked under the torrent and crush of a mod all trying to flee. 

It takes Casper only a moment to return to the castle, his eyes flicking between the last legion who have now created a shield wall near the base, the dragon who roars above and the worried Duke atop it all. 

He looks at the women in their cages, his heart breaking slightly, as he notes the terror in their eyes as they watch him. 

By the fates he wished they wouldn't look at him like that. He wish he could tell them it would all be alright, that he would never hurt them, but he needed to do this. 

His attention drifts towards the exterior castle walls, where Engee, flanked by Peter, Zesstra, and pounce make their way to fill the space the screaming civilians left. 

Casper had to hope they were there to try and free the women, and not fight him. 

"I will get them Casper!" Engee shouts moments before her voice is drowned out in the boom of her strike against the walls of the castle. 

A cloud of dust and debris erupts from the point of impact as she slides inside the castle, followed by the others, who spare quick glances in Casper's direction, their expressions unreadable. 

Of course Engee would look out for the others, and he was grateful to Peter for joining her, but right now he had other things to focus on. 

The last legion gives a grunt, as their weapons become visible from behind small breaks in the shield wall, and a faint building of energy crackles somewhere even further behind. 

The last legion were specifically created to hunt the marked, it would make sense that they had some tool that would enable those efforts. 

Unfortunately for them, Casper was much too fast. 

Time crawls to a familiar, near stop as Casper channels more of the mark, and gets to work. 

Rushing in to meet the shield wall directly, Casper swipes his hands through the center most shields and watches as they melt away like butter at his touch. 

The soldiers of the last legion have yet to register the attack, even as their bodies rip and tear apart, bones shattering, metal armor shredding. 

Casper strolls through their ranks with his arms outstretched, sending twisting shrapnel through their ranks, all moving in slow motion. 

The blood isn't even given a chance to escape their torn limbs and punctured bodies. 

It was insulting that these people killed his village. These bags of meat so easily broken without so much as a passing thought, being the ones responsible for the loss of everything Casper had ever known. 

To Casper, it is a few seconds. To the straggling onlookers not yet convinced of his power, it is fractions of fractions of seconds. 

Time resumes its flow just long enough to watch as several dozen men turn into a mass of mangled corpses. The sequences of concussive blasts rippling through their ranks and sending all that remains of what was once men through the walls of the castle as if they were cannonballs. 

The earth rumbles, the skies boom, and the Dragon descends from atop its perch at the Duke's panicked orders. 

The dragon seems reluctant almost, scared, no, horrified, yet it obeys. 

The mass of red scales blot out the sun moments before it's mass lands in the courtyard. Its incredible talons carving grate gashes into the stone roads, its wings spanning across its entire length. 

Fire builds in its chest, the heat radiating from its body melts the nearby buildings, sets fire to any civilians not yet far enough away, ignites the very air around itself as power builds in its ancient chest. 

The red dragon drops its head, inches from Casper, and time slows once again. 

Casper watches, as the sparks build inside of its throat. It's open mouth poised to incinerate his body. 

He finds himself looking into the dragon's eyes for a moment. 

Much like Rathiel, this dragon had a chance. A chance to walk away, a chance to leave him. And instead it allowed its fear to guide its actions, fear that whatever the Duke would do, would be worse than what Casper would do. 

Casper walks nearly inside the mouth of the dragon, its head larger than a single house. Its mouth is yet to open all the way, allowing him to grab hold of part of its snout with one hand, and the bottom of its jaw with the other. 

In two quick motions Casper forces the mouth of the dragon shut, and then tears it open again. 

The dragon's jaw is forced open wide, at such an incredible speed it begins to rip. First the jaw dislocates from the rest of the skill, then the tough hide tears in a line along the length of its mouth, ripping its throat apart, sending a ripple through the rest of its body that ejects bone, shatters scale and rends muscle as Casper tears the dragon in half. 

The fire still building in its chest crackles violently, the dragon no longer in control of the reaction. The magic within builds to an unstable level and detonates. 

A wave of heat consumes the space, followed by a pressure wave. Casper is nearly lifted off his feet as the explosion expands outwards, crashing over him like a wave, shattering windows, tearing roofs off of buildings, lifting up the earth, ejecting anything left around the nexus not yet turned to ash, out into the rest of the city around them. 

Time resumes as Casper's speed decreases, the echoing sound of the explosion and the tearing of flesh fills his ears in time with the far more distant screams. 

Casper turns, and looks the duke in the eyes. 

The man has yet to register what has happened. 

That was alright, Casper would make him understand. 

Casper jumps up to the balcony, landing with such force the structure begins to rumble and crack. The rush of air sends the Duke tumbling backwards and onto the ground, his frail body braking against the stonework. 

He screams, a sad, pathetic, wailing scream. A begging scream. 

Casper walks several dozen feet to meet the duke on the ground. 

The man scrambles against the stone, broken fingers clawing at any grip in the floor to try and drag himself away.

Casper stomps his foot down on the duke's calf, splattering it against the ground and pinning him in place. 

"You don't have to do this!" The duke shouts, tears streaming down his face, his lips quivering, words bubbling out of his mouth along with spit and bile. 

"All of this could have been avoided if you just left my village alone." Casper says casually. "Everything that happens next? Is your fault." 

The duke's eyes go wide, he wants to say more but Casper doesn't let him. 

With a single motion Casper punches the duke in the head, shattering his skull and sending his brains and blood spattering around the ground, cracking the stone beneath. 

Casper sighs and stands, flicking his hand to clear the blood, as he stares at the corpse of the man responsible for the death of his family. 

Maybe he thought he would feel more cathartic, maybe he thought he would feel satisfied. 

He was satisfied, with the result at least, but there was something else eating at him. 

Casper casts his eyes upward, watching as Engee, Peter, Pounce and Zesstra work to free the women from the cages, cages meant to lure him here, to get him riled up. 

Looking back down at the duke's blood as it soaks into the stonework, he had to admit... It worked. 

Though he looked down at the blood for a different reason. 

Each and every one of the women's eyes were locked on him, watching him. Horror in each hitched breath. 

He lets out a long breath, the heat still building off of him. 

Engee guides each and every one of them down, they cling to her, their fear of Casper far outweighing any fear of Engee. 

They descend quickly, having to pass by the level Casper occupies in their escape. 

They say nothing at first, as they meet his gaze. 

Behind Casper, the bells ring and screaming mods crush and kill one another to try and escape. Fire rips through the buildings, the explosion from the dragon having been the catalyst for the blaze. 

"Peter, Pounce, Zesstra, run quickly, grab wagons and our supplies, before the blaze spreads!" Engee demands, and they obey, though they each take cautious steps backwards, and make sure they are out of Casper's sight before turning their backs to him.

Alex shakes violently, her knees wobbling, unable to stand Nephinae helps her remain upright as she hugs on to the elf. Annabelle shrinks away under his eyes, Elisayra hiding behind her. Laihal smiles wide, a devil's smile, fear and elation in equal measure working their way across her face. Engee holds out a hand, saying something, her mouth moving in a familiar way. 

Her calm doesn't work on him at this moment though. Not as he watches the women he had grown to befriend watch on with abject horror. 

They must think he is a monster... no, they now know he is a monster. 

The fire roars behind him, the screams only grow louder, the bells fading as even the remaining guards abandon their posts in the city below. 

"I swear I won't hurt any of-" Casper starts, only to have the words catch in his lungs. 

Elisayra rips herself away from Annabelle, the bandit woman shouting for her to come back to safety as she runs to Casper, and wraps her arms around him in a hug. 

Her tears evaporate the moment they fall from her face. She presses her face into his stomach, arms locked tight around him. 

"It's okay Casper... It's okay...." she cries, burying herself into him. 

Annabelle looks as though she is about to watch Casper murder the half elf, Nephinae pleads silently for mercy, Alex appears to be on the brink of passing out. 

Casper is floored, his arms uncertain of what to do as Elisayra cries into him. 

So he does the only thing he knows, and hugs her. 

Annabelle screams at the motion, fear and panic and distress in her cries. Nephinae flinches, her eyes closing. Engee gasps, Laihal's smile widens, as nothing bad befalls Elisayra. 

Each and every one of them looks on with a new type of fear and confusion, as Casper hugs Elisayra, letting his body curl over her, so that his head can rest atop of hers. 

"You must have been so scared... so worried for us.... We are safe now Casper, it's okay, we are safe now." She cries, her hug tightening around him. 

The mark leaks from Casper, dissipating slowly around him at her words. 

His legs feel weak now, the strength leaving them. 

Casper collapses to the ground, taking Elisayra with him, but she still holds on. Her arms shift to encircle Casper's neck. She nuzzles her face into the crook of Casper's neck, her tears still falling onto his bare skin, one hand moving up to stroke the back of his head. 

"It's okay Casper, we are okay, you don't have to do this any more... we are safe." She continues, her words so sweet, so genuine, so concerned for him it twists a knot in his heart. 

"I am sorry... I am sorry for what I am." Casper chokes on the words, the reality of them all having seen him crushes his heart like no other. The sinking, dropping pit forming in his stomach only widens as he feels Elisayra's hands in his hair. 

"You saved us, you saved us again and again. Thank you so much Casper." she continues, her hug so much warmer than the heat the mark creates around him. 

Casper looks up as Elisayra breaks the hug, though still she holds onto his shoulders.

Staring back at the others, Casper watches as Annabelle takes a half step backwards, and then falls to her knees as well. 

Her chest heaves up and down, fear still gripping her. 

"After all I have said about the marked, what I did to Engee on the boat, after she saved us... you saved us, and I've done nothing but speak ill of who you are." her voice shakes. 

Annabelle pulls her arms around her, hugging herself, eyes wild, fear and acceptance now in her body. "Casper please... I beg you to find it in your heart to forgive me, my transgressions, I owe you my life so many times over and still you allow me to be here despite the horrible things I have said and done..." 

Annabelle scrambles forward on the ground, lunging for the duke's discarded sword resting on the hip of his corpse. 

"Annie no! Please!" Elisayra tears her hands away from Casper's shoulders and throws herself at Annabelle as the large woman draws the sword and places the tip of the blade against her throat, blood already trickling down. 

"Say the word and I will see myself punished for what I've done and said!" Annabelle cries the words, guilt now replacing any other emotion.

"Please don't do this!" Elisayra cries, her eyes jumping between Casper and Annabelle. 

"You really are a fool." Casper lunges forward, channeling the mark enough to meet the distance before she can do anything stupid. 

Casper swipes at the blade, shattering it and sending its fragments across the stonework. 

Annabelle gasps, her eyes wide, locked with Casper's as he stands, and extends a hand to her. 

"Get the hell off the ground. You of all people should know by now that I would never ask you to do something like that." 

Annabelle raises a shaking hand, grabbing Casper's with it. 

He pulls her up off the ground, and meets her gaze at her full height. 

"I forgive you Annabelle, and all I ask is you forgive me too." 

"Forgive you?" 

"For... being this way." Casper looks down at his hands. 

"Casper...." Annabelle whispers. "I..." Embarrassment now, as her eyes scan the ground, looking at the pieces of the sword. "Even now, I guess I still believe the marked are evil... I know you, I know you well enough to know you would never ask me to kill myself yet I believed then for a moment you, as a marked, would" 

Annabelle hangs her head, "But my love for you far outweighs my fear of the marked. Please, be patient with me..." 

"Of course..." Casper offers, his head spinning from their acceptance. He looks over to Nephinae and Alex next. 

Alex has recovered slightly, though fear still radiates off of her more so than anyone else. 

Nephinae settles down significantly, recognizing there is no threat, instead she appears to be almost reverent. 

"I knew there was something special about you." Nephinae says softly, her lips curling up into a faint smile. "I do not appreciate being lied to, however. The aura of bloodlust..." 

"I didn't lie so much as not tell the whole truth." 

"A handmaid is only as good as her knowledge of the person she serves. Had I known sooner, perhaps I could have been better for you." 

Casper can't quite figure out if she is joking her not, she doesn't appear to be, but then again her sense of humor was always a bit on the dry side. 

"Mistress Alex...?" Nephinae asks, looking down at her. 

"Alex? I swear I won't hurt you, you must believe me." Casper tries, taking a tentative step forward, though Alex responds by taking a single step backwards. 

"Please don't kill me!" Alex begs, her legs giving out and sending her to the ground next. 

Casper's heart breaks then, watching as she trembles, eyes wide, nearly inconsolable. 

He takes several steps backwards, hands up to show he means her no harm, but she still refuses to believe it. 

Nephinae, Annabelle and Elisayra all move to help her but she doesn't let her eyes leave Casper. 

"We will take care of her Casper, I swear to you she will come to understand." Nephinae ensures him. 

"We need to get out of the city, you might be able to survive a fire but the rest of us can't" Annabelle notes. "Laihal, can you meet up with Peter's party to help get everyone moved to the east wall?" 

Laihal nods her understanding and leaps from the balcony. 

"Casper." Annabelle calls his name. 

"Yes?" 

"Don't you have more of the last legion to kill?" 

Casper's eyes widen. 

"They killed your family, didn't they? Your village? There are still many in the city... if you want your revenge, you should take care of them before they all escape." 

Casper's face twists into a smile, as he recognizes the understanding in her eyes. 

"I will meet back up with you all soon." Casper confirms, leaping from the balcony after Laihal and landing on the ground with a crash. 

The screams are still echoing through the city, warped by the rising blaze that grows as it leaps from building to building. 

Expanding his senses, Casper locates several gatherings, holding up in gate walls, waiting, waiting for him. 

More heroes then... he had already made a habit of killing those he supposed, and Annabelle was right. Aside from Alex, the girls accepted him, they understood. 

Now he could do what he wanted...

Casper rushes off through the city, leaping up through the air to land inside of burning builds, bringing death with him. 

He had no intention of killing innocent civilians, though it was easy to locate the guilty.

Mobs press through one another, crushing others underfoot as they try and force their bodies through the gates. 

Casper rips his way through the nobles, trying to bring their carts of wares with them in the escape, relishing in their quick deaths. 

He tears apart the men trampling children, the soldiers beating their way through women, each one painting the ground a new shade of red with each swipe of his open hand. 

Soon the press is dispersed enough, enough for Casper to launch himself up through the masses, into the walls and sending them crashing down around him. 

Bodies of the last legion drop through the ruined floors and exploded walls to land on the mud and grass outside, grass quickly painted with even more red as Casper tears through them. 

With a massive hole breached through the wall, those who survived his initial slaughter rush through, desperate to flee as the fire builds even higher inside the city. 

Looking back, he decides it would be best to just remove all of the walls. 

Casper sprints along the base of the walls, swiping his hands back and forth and sending the structure falling all around him. By now nearly everyone had left their homes and were struggling to make it through the gates. 

The walls collapse around him, and from the collapse, more people flow, desperate to escape. 

Along the way, he rushes small gatherings of the last legion, smashing their bodies together, throwing them deeper inside the city, crushing them under his feet as if they were bugs. 

Casper spends quite a while working his way through the city, following the scents of plate armor and leathers to locate and exterminate as many of the last legion as he could, making extra stops to free any civilians that had been unfortunate enough to be trapped early on in the panic. 

Despite their initial fears, they leave, and some even thank Casper as he removes barriers from doors and clears collapses blocking roads. 

By the time the flames flick around the very edges of the city, and the black smoke blots out the setting sun, Casper figures it is a good time to get a move on. 

He Teleports to the docks, watching as dozens of ships sail off, all desperate to escape as well.

Looking around, it doesn't appear as though their boat stuck around, in fact, Casper can sense the trace scents of Thodhan and Dorain on the waters. 

It looked as though Rathiel had managed to rope them in as well. Casper had no doubt they were sailing to warn the king or some other equally foolish plan. 

There was no scent of Celeste or Micha, meaning those two likely teleported away. Celeste would have been so useful to keep around, it was a shame that Rathiel's fear poisoned them as well..

Loose ends he would have to deal with, eventually. 

Following the scent of his party, he locates them nearer the east wall, and teleports there as well. 

Appearing with a faint puff of black smoke on the wall above, Casper jumps down to land among his friends, friends who managed to gather two wagons, several horses and all of their supplies in the chaos. 

Pounce shivers at Casper's approach, Peter keeps his eyes close to Casper, offering a wary smile that is only half returned, while Zesstra sticks close to Elisayra.

"I hope it wasn't too difficult to gather all this... If I had the foresight I wouldn't have caused so much destruction knowing we would need to leave..." 

"It is alright, Annabelle and Laihal managed well for the rest of us." Nephinae offers. 

"Where is Alex?" Casper asks, looking around for her. 

Laihal frowns slightly. "She was... a bit too overwhelmed. I put her to sleep with some magic, so that she can sleep it all off on our travels." 

Guilt once again returns to Casper as he looks at the wagon containing her scent. 

"Don't look so guilty about that, she will get over it." Laihal coos softly. 

"You should instead be guilty about forcing us to be ran out of another city. You promised." Annabelle teases. 

"Sorry..." 

Annabelle approaches Casper, examining his body "Did you do it? Did you kill them all?" 

"I did, every single one I could find." 

"Are you done then? With your revenge quest?" 

"I think... I might be, though there is a problem." 

"A problem?" Elisayra cuts in. 

"Peter and his party left, it's possible they turned on us..." 

"They did, it was Celeste's portals that brought us to the duke's cages." Annabelle confirms. 

Casper clicks his tongue. "And Thodhan and Dorain left via our boat. Also likely to tell other nobles of what happened here." 

"What did happen with Rathiel?" Elisayra asks. 

Guilt again returns, though this time in a much stronger bout. "I... I had to kill him. He wanted me to allow myself to be executed." 

Solemn nods come around the girls. "That must have been hard for you as well..." Elisayra offers, making her way over to a wagon. "I think, maybe you should rest Casper... you look exhausted." 

Casper felt exhausted, letting the mark leave his body, he realized just how much he had done. He had kept the mark active for an incredibly long time, much longer than normal, and he desperately needed to try and sleep all of this guilt off. 

"Great idea, there is plenty of space inside. Come." Annabelle insists, helping guide Casper to the wagon. 

Inside, he finds a nice spot laid out for him, a bedroll behind a few boxes of their supplies. 

Laying down, Casper stares up at the covered white top, and listens to the sounds of the others loading up, getting on horses, and beginning to move out, watches as small dots of soot land against the top, as clouds of smoke blot out the sun in passing waves.

The more he tries to let his mind wander, the more he notices the ash that falls around them, the ash he created. 

It felt a little dishonest, to be leaving so quickly after claiming he would rebuild from the very ash that lingers in the air around them... but then again he supposed a lot more needed to burn before any real change would be seen.

Perhaps the ashes that linger, slowly vanishing to be caught in the trees as they move to the familiar comfort of the forest, should bring him more catharsis 

After all, the very thing he had set out to do was done. The duke was dead, the last legion all but eviscerated, most of his friends and companions had accepted him, but it all felt so empty 

Or maybe anticlimactic, he thought. Being so much stronger than anything that could possibly stand in his way made the actual act of killing the duke a walk in the park. No more complex than breathing really. 

The image of the duke's corpse burns into his mind, the blood pooling into stonework...

It felt good, knowing his father had been avenged, his village avenged, but it didn't feel like a victory

Watching out the back of the wagon, the city vanishing into the distance, to be hidden behind the trees and hills, he realizes why it doesn't feel as satisfying as he had hoped. 

The duke might be dead, but the law of the land remains. The last legion might be dead, but the dark star still strikes fear. 

It was only a matter of time before the duke was replaced, more legions formed.

It wasn't enough to get revenge on the man responsible for the death of his father, he needed revenge on the very systems that had called for it to begin with. The very foundation of the kingdom's twisted morality still stood tall. Of course he wouldn't feel totally cathartic.

A single wasp had stung him, and he did well to squash it, but the rest of the hive remained, and it needed to be burned too.

He knew this, he had always known this, it was why he had killed Rathiel for fates sake, but he had hoped at the very least killing the duke would help offset the hole burrowing in his chest. Fill the void even just a little. 

It didn't, and it probably wouldn't until the entire kingdom fell...

Annabelle and Elisayra move from their horses and join Casper in the wagon, letting the animals walk alongside their caravan. 

Casper sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly as the wheels bump against stone, the pain in his chest not wanting to give him rest. 

"Back on the road again..." He muses, hoping to drive the thoughts from his mind with conversation instead.

"Where are we going exactly?" Elisayra asks. 

"No idea...." Casper admits, and closes his eyes.