The End is Where we Begin

May 17, 855 AMC

'On this day, a large storm had come in from the coast. It brought with it much rain and wind, knocking down many trees. In the early morning, somewhere around 2, I heard a knock on the church's door. Many people came to seek shelter from the storm that night. As I opened the door, I was mortified by what was standing before me. He was what seemed to be the remnants of a man. He wore a large black cloak, and was carrying a large covered basket. As I looked to see his face, all I saw were the remnants of a face. All his flesh was gone, only leaving the muscles and bones. But his yellow eyes remained, staring at me deeply. But I didnt see a sign of bloodlust, rage, or fear in his eyes. They were quite cold at first look, but it was a look I knew too well- Desperation. But even as I knew this solem look, I could no more than stare in horror. He looked up at the cross before the doors of the church, and only spoke 3 words: "Save my children". And just like that, the once raggedy man had faded into dust. I assume he was holding onto life by some spirit or blood rune, so I was thinking whether or not just to leave his things their till the priest awoke. But that's when I looked down at the basket, from which I began to hear crying from. As I looked inside, I saw two baby boys. They couldn't have been more than 8 weeks old, and they were most certainly twins. Slightly darker skin, black hair, and vibrant green eyes. In all my 60 years of seeing people and children, they had the oddest combination of features. One child was a bit bigger than the other, length wise, but was certainly smaller when it came to stature. His brother, who was not as long, was quite a bit more sizeable. On the blanket that was on them, it read two names written in what I believed to be the man's blood: Andy and Brendon. As I looked through the man's things quickly, I found: two odd looking blades, 13 gold coins, 28 copper coins, and two black necklaces that held the cross on them. As I brought the children and the items inside, I found that the priest had awoke.'

"Jenny, I just had prophetic dream, that we would be greatly blessed this nig..." but before he could finish, he could see the terrified look on her face. She was pale, her brown eyes as wide as possible, and holding items that he would only deem as the consequence of her expression. Her white and black attire was soaked through, holding very tightly to her body. "What happened Jenny?"

Before she would answer, the placed down the items along one of the benches the ran most of the church's width. The church was fairly large, having 15 rows of seats before the steeple. Jenny looked at the 200 or sum odd people inside, who were ever the more shocked to see her expression. She had ran the orphanage out of the church for 20 some odd years, seeing all kinds of terrible accidents and scenes. She had helped the priest heal many townsfolk and travelers, some of which had lost limbs. But what she had just seen, was far beyond that.. she didn't know how, didn't know why, but she believed she just starred down the devil. She then sat down, and wiped her face with a handkerchief. "I opened the church's door to find what I can only describe as a demon or spirit, who told me to 'save his children'. The spirit then turned into ash, and I found these items with him, along with what I can presume is twin boys."

As the priest went over to see her, he noticed that she had no emotion in her eyes, almost like she did just seen a ghost. He looked at the money, as was instant overjoyed about the funds. In recent times, the church hadn't seen many donations. The town of Drinsdale was a summer home for the rich, but had very little happenings in winter and spring. After counting the money, he then bent down to look at these twins. He quickly noticed their odd features, but was struck by the blood writing on their blanket. He then looked back at Jenny, and ran to the church's large front door. As he opened it, he only found a soaked pile of clothes, which was now leaking this odd black liquid. He quickly closed the door once again, and went to go see if these kids were alright. Even though he could see it as a donation, if this spirits dying gift was for them to tend to his kids, this would be more than enough money to do so. Hours went by, and then the storm began to subside. As the morning sun cast its shadows over the trees, the townsfolk began to asses the damage. It was the worst storm in many years, as it damaged many homes and businesses. That morning, John the priest had decided to help Jenny in tending to the orphanage. On the back side of the church, was a home he and Jenny had created about 25 years ago. They only had enough room for 40 kids, but adding two new boys didn't seem like much of a hassle. Many of the kids there had helped them tend to other children, which gave him time to look at these things they were given. The coins were self explanatory, so he then moved onto the necklaces. They seemed to be made from an odd black rock, but he scanned it with magic to be sure. The priest had awoke organic magic from a young age, which helped him become a famous healer. The crosses seemed to be made from either coral or bones, so he just believed it was coral. But as he moved over to the blades, he could feel an odd presence coming from them. He knew the feeling very well. 30 years ago, before establishing the church, he was a medic on the battlefield. The country of Alstenzia was at war with the neighboring country of Soleanna. The war raged on for 5 long years, seeing both sides take heavy losses. Even back in those days, he knew the very reason for their conflict. The country of Alstenzia was the only country who permitted legal use of spirits, which were completely different from magic or Runes. In short, they were dead souls who would bind themselves to people in exchange for, something. Certain spirits requested nothing, where other needed the blood of 7 baby's every year. Many spirits had fairly simple requests, but the queen at the time had a contracted spirit who requested the lives of 10,000 men. The king knew if she didn't oblige, she would either die, or become a demon. And what was the easiest way to gather the dead: War. Halfway through the war, Soleanna had an emmense upper hand. They had many more soldiers, as well as a much better understanding of Runes and magic. That was, until the emergence of the four apostles, or how the Soleannan's called them: The Four Horseman. They were soilders who contracted insanely storng spirits, who were also extremely skilled at magic. Though, John knew what the cost of that power was. In the night, these 4 horseman would feast on the bodies of the fallen, allied or not. Before the war ended, he knew he wanted no place in a war when he was fighting with demons. After the war ended, spirits became extremely restricted. You could only get them once a year in large cities, which would all be overseen by the government. There was hefty entry fee, and not every person who would attempt to contract a spirt be able to do so. Along with that, 1 in every 100 people who contracted a spirt would be killed for contracting a

demonic one. And as he looked down at those blades, he felt the same presence he felt on those wretechd nights. He decided to keep them anyways, as they were the last items those boys would have from their parents. It would later be up to them for what they did with them. As the early years went on, Andy and Brendon developed quite quickly. They learned to walk at four months, and could speak and begin reading well at three years old. By the time they were five, they were teaching older kids how to read and write.