Utterly Mad

Timeline: Various.

Characters involved: Helen, Helen's parents, Toshiro.

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2. Cast aside your schisms and strife. It has ended countless groups, but it shall not end us. We are brothers and sisters, and we shall respect the gods in equal measure, disparate though they may be.

12 years before the cataclysm.

She remembered being just old enough to start combat training. 14th birthday, expected to join the fight in 3 years. Ensure she and others her age would be prepared for what they must do, by then.

There'd been an argument between her mother and father. Her father, Thane Thomas, was reluctant to explain the nature of one of the enemies that Helen might face in adulthood. He didn't want to be reminded of old friends that betrayed him, not long after their daughter was born.

Her mother, Thane Sophia, insisted on it. It was her right as the daughter of two founding members of The Cleansing Flame. She was the one who taught her those protective spells starting a year before her combat training began.

"They were brethren once. There was a great argument over a dangerous item they sought to use, even knowing the full nature of the item and its magic. Misguided, and I fear their actions have brought them self-destruction. I lost many close friends when we were driven apart..."

"If they are still around, you must be prepared for them, but I still hold hope that it needn't end in violence. They must be made to understand why we disagreed with their actions, and everything we have seen to reinforce our caution."

3. All powers from beyond, and all things worked from it, are a potential threat until clearly understood. Observe in any manner that is safe, but err on the side of caution first and foremost. If determining its nature cannot be done safely, destroy it if you must.

A few months later.

Defender Toshiro was there, along with Sophia. Within the past year, a few months since Helen began her combat training, there had been a break-in. One of their main sanctums, and a damned blood mage had dared to sneak in. This was an act they were usually too cowardly to attempt.

He was clearly not expecting a fight, intent on stealing or spying or whatever his objective was. But he'd found a mere teenager instead. It was either flee with his mission failed, or kill what he thought was easy prey caught alone, and possibly buy time to complete his objective. She wasn't.

Toshiro had examined the items on the sanguinist's body, and one item they found shocked both Defender and Thane. "The image of the goddess Venus, and other old symbols. Some motifs favored by Golden Wind and the Path of the Sun." he pointed out. Arabic inscriptions and the image of the storm god, respectively.

Sophia sighed a bit, before looking to Helen. "They still live, then. This sanguinist was likely sent here, either hired or as punishment for his sins. They were the same brothers and sisters who convened with us to fight the Sanguine Order, and this is what they resort to?" she said, raising her voice. "You shouldn't have to fight profligates like this so early. Go with Toshiro, and I will finish this investigation."

4. Suffer no cowardice, no petty bringandry, no lust for vengeance. We take from others only what is too dangerous to leave in their hands, and inflict no further depredation upon them unless they are a threat to humanity itself. If they are, be they blood mage or bandit, offer no mercy and expect none in return.

9 years before the cataclysm.

She remembered the funeral pyre. And who it was for. A protector of the faith, a skilled user of the rare defensive arts, a Thane who cast aside her old title, leaving only what all members of The Cleansing Flame called each other, Brother or Sister in her case. Her mother.

"She was sent because we found them. We found the gods-damned corruptors of the faith, and attempted diplomacy. She was chosen as the best candidate, and sent alone. They lured her into a trap, and left the corpse for us to find..." her father explained, tears running down his face. They weren't just tears of sorrow though, but of anger.

Brother Toshiro looked away. The day after the blood mage had been discovered, after they were awakened to the true fate of their former comrades, he had cast aside his old title of Defender. "No more attempts at peace, at explanation. They've wasted their one chance..."