There was nothing left for Alexandria Lior in Yharnam. She had never been from Yharnam in the first place, but the thought of returning to Mirra without her twin never crossed her mind. Yet, the red-haired prospector still had to return to Yharnam on occasion, usually for a check-up at the clinic, although with word of Iosefka being dead, Alexandria wasn’t sure who she was to see – nor had she decided how cooperative she planned to be, as the scent of blood mingled with the lavender in her mask. It punctuated it too clearly, that she drew her arm up to press against her nose, in spite of how unlikely that was to help.
She had come into Yharnam in armor. The scent never left it, no matter what she tried, though by now that might have just been her delusions. Still, she knew better than to travel into Yharnam without armor, without weapons, at night. Especially when the moon hung so low in the sky. ‘If they called me back on purpose….’ Well, she already had a lot of strong words for the Vicar.
A few more wouldn’t hurt, as she made her way towards what passed for her residence, near the looming chapel. She had rank enough to live in luxury, but that wasn’t the real reason. The Church just wanted to keep her close.
She knew too much.
The clatter of horse’s hooves on the cobblestone still made her flinch, and she turned to give that irritating creature a glare, only to realize a moment later that there were two, and they were galloping with a carriage attached to them, as wild-eyed as any hunter. The reason became fairly obvious in the form of a beast rounding a corner in pursuit.
It was not a standard, wolfish creature, although wolfish it was – covered in a silver fur, but tufts of it, not fully. The face was more human than wolf, neck crooked, and ribs fully revealed. The huntress had seen enough of these in the labyrinths, but never in Yharnam. ‘Did I leave the labyrinths? Am I dreaming?’ How difficult it was to tell, sometimes. Her actions were still as fluid as if her life depended on it, drawing what at first seemed to be a slender blade – though as it caught the light of the moon above it began to reform itself, drawing that light into itself and growing in size, but never in weight.
A single slash sent a wave of blue energy from the tip of the blade and cut the galloping horse free of its carriage. It evaded her as its carriage crashed into the ground, and served as a stumbling block for the beast ahead. The beast didn’t continue to come at her, but dug its claws into the door of the carriage instead, ripping at the door and pulling it off its hinges.
The huntress moved swiftly forward and plunged the blade into the open chest cavity of the fiend, another radiant blast of light shooting through the beast and knocking it backwards. She spared a glance into the carriage, noting two passengers, a woman and child. The woman’s head was now bleeding, though the child seemed relatively unharmed, just shaken.
No time to talk.
The huntress moved after the beast, but it was quicker this time around, and in way she did not anticipate. She watched its hair stand on end, she felt the change in the atmosphere – and then felt the collision as a bolt of electricity hit her square in the chest and sent her back against the carriage. She wasn’t sure if her spine hitting the carriage hurt worse than the lightning, but she knew the currents in the electricity were going to have a lasting impact, even as she leaned forward and tried to get her bearings before the beast.
It was a bad night to do any exploration, and yet that also meant it was the perfect night. Hai Ts’ao knew he would not be pursued by hunters or others of the church on this night, and so it was the only one he’d have to check out the clinic where Iosefka had once worked. He knew it had remained abandoned, rather than restored, or given over to someone else. At least, that was the story that went around Yharnam. Hai did not believe it; he was certain something was going on there, with the way Iosefka’s death was covered-up.
The young man from the East traversed the streets of Yharnam with his hood up, walking in the alleys and otherwise dodging sight of anyone – human, beast, hunter – as best he could, moving as silently as he could, on his way towards the clinic. He was lucky in that regards, no one came upon him as the moon sat heavy in the sky.
Hai had started to learn what nights were mostly like to cause some issue.
It never happened in the morning. ‘Maybe we just need to kill the Moon.’ A ridiculous thought, for he knew they wouldn’t have problems, moon or not, if they stopped taking in that old blood. Yet, it was still Yharnam’s most popular solution to everything, and he had yet to figure out a way around it.
Or a way to remove it.
It still sung within him, and he wrapped his scarf tighter around his face as he drew closer to the clinic. The black iron gate leading into it was locked, but that was no issue for him. He drew his blade, the chill coming from it causing the air to start to steam around it. He slashed at the lock, and watched it take that cold. A few more strikes, and it was brittle enough to crumble and fall away, giving Hai passage into the yard.
‘Singing?’
There was a humming in the air that was strange, and sent a tingle of energy through his veins. It was familiar, drawing up images in his head that he couldn’t quite recall in full. The sound was like a bell – if a bell could actually sing, or hold and change notes on a whim. No words, or at least, none he could make out, as he crept closer towards the clinic doors.
Locked.
More than that, barred.
He looked to the windows and found all of them barred, as well.
Hai let out an irritated huff, and began to walk around the clinic, looking for an entrance that was still accessible. The other gates were at least open, so he was able to walk around the back of the clinic, sparing a glance for the tombstones. ‘At least you are at peace now.’ Unlike the rest of Yharnam’s citizens.
A flickering bit of light drew his attention up – and just in time to realize there was something falling from the roof. He rolled forward, and a fiend with fly wings and many eyes upon an enlarged head landed roughly on the ground where he’d been standing. He was quick to pull his gun and fire at the kin, causing it to let out a piercing scream as it withdrew from the onslaught of bullets.
Hai was going to rush it, when he realized the singing had gotten louder. He turned in time to see what looked to be a brain atop a manikin, ‘A doll!’ and many odd creatures woven into the creases of the brain, ‘Messengers!’ the recollection, the bell-like song, something in it all snapped in Hai, and quite literally, too. That old blood within him seemed to react, as if near an epiphany, near something, but unable to reach it.
All it could do was cause Hai harm, doubling him over as it spurted out from wounds inflicted by that treacherous blood, staining his blue attire, before the kin with the large head grasped him in its hands, pulling him off of his feet as he tried to regain his senses. The pain at least helped with that, but now he felt significantly weaker. ‘What was going on here? Iosefka?!’ He wasn’t going to get answers…was he?
Death was in front of him, in the form of this twisted and grotesque monster he found outside of the clinic, providing him with far more questions than answers.
She had come into Yharnam in armor. The scent never left it, no matter what she tried, though by now that might have just been her delusions. Still, she knew better than to travel into Yharnam without armor, without weapons, at night. Especially when the moon hung so low in the sky. ‘If they called me back on purpose….’ Well, she already had a lot of strong words for the Vicar.
A few more wouldn’t hurt, as she made her way towards what passed for her residence, near the looming chapel. She had rank enough to live in luxury, but that wasn’t the real reason. The Church just wanted to keep her close.
She knew too much.
The clatter of horse’s hooves on the cobblestone still made her flinch, and she turned to give that irritating creature a glare, only to realize a moment later that there were two, and they were galloping with a carriage attached to them, as wild-eyed as any hunter. The reason became fairly obvious in the form of a beast rounding a corner in pursuit.
It was not a standard, wolfish creature, although wolfish it was – covered in a silver fur, but tufts of it, not fully. The face was more human than wolf, neck crooked, and ribs fully revealed. The huntress had seen enough of these in the labyrinths, but never in Yharnam. ‘Did I leave the labyrinths? Am I dreaming?’ How difficult it was to tell, sometimes. Her actions were still as fluid as if her life depended on it, drawing what at first seemed to be a slender blade – though as it caught the light of the moon above it began to reform itself, drawing that light into itself and growing in size, but never in weight.
A single slash sent a wave of blue energy from the tip of the blade and cut the galloping horse free of its carriage. It evaded her as its carriage crashed into the ground, and served as a stumbling block for the beast ahead. The beast didn’t continue to come at her, but dug its claws into the door of the carriage instead, ripping at the door and pulling it off its hinges.
The huntress moved swiftly forward and plunged the blade into the open chest cavity of the fiend, another radiant blast of light shooting through the beast and knocking it backwards. She spared a glance into the carriage, noting two passengers, a woman and child. The woman’s head was now bleeding, though the child seemed relatively unharmed, just shaken.
No time to talk.
The huntress moved after the beast, but it was quicker this time around, and in way she did not anticipate. She watched its hair stand on end, she felt the change in the atmosphere – and then felt the collision as a bolt of electricity hit her square in the chest and sent her back against the carriage. She wasn’t sure if her spine hitting the carriage hurt worse than the lightning, but she knew the currents in the electricity were going to have a lasting impact, even as she leaned forward and tried to get her bearings before the beast.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
It was a bad night to do any exploration, and yet that also meant it was the perfect night. Hai Ts’ao knew he would not be pursued by hunters or others of the church on this night, and so it was the only one he’d have to check out the clinic where Iosefka had once worked. He knew it had remained abandoned, rather than restored, or given over to someone else. At least, that was the story that went around Yharnam. Hai did not believe it; he was certain something was going on there, with the way Iosefka’s death was covered-up.
The young man from the East traversed the streets of Yharnam with his hood up, walking in the alleys and otherwise dodging sight of anyone – human, beast, hunter – as best he could, moving as silently as he could, on his way towards the clinic. He was lucky in that regards, no one came upon him as the moon sat heavy in the sky.
Hai had started to learn what nights were mostly like to cause some issue.
It never happened in the morning. ‘Maybe we just need to kill the Moon.’ A ridiculous thought, for he knew they wouldn’t have problems, moon or not, if they stopped taking in that old blood. Yet, it was still Yharnam’s most popular solution to everything, and he had yet to figure out a way around it.
Or a way to remove it.
It still sung within him, and he wrapped his scarf tighter around his face as he drew closer to the clinic. The black iron gate leading into it was locked, but that was no issue for him. He drew his blade, the chill coming from it causing the air to start to steam around it. He slashed at the lock, and watched it take that cold. A few more strikes, and it was brittle enough to crumble and fall away, giving Hai passage into the yard.
‘Singing?’
There was a humming in the air that was strange, and sent a tingle of energy through his veins. It was familiar, drawing up images in his head that he couldn’t quite recall in full. The sound was like a bell – if a bell could actually sing, or hold and change notes on a whim. No words, or at least, none he could make out, as he crept closer towards the clinic doors.
Locked.
More than that, barred.
He looked to the windows and found all of them barred, as well.
Hai let out an irritated huff, and began to walk around the clinic, looking for an entrance that was still accessible. The other gates were at least open, so he was able to walk around the back of the clinic, sparing a glance for the tombstones. ‘At least you are at peace now.’ Unlike the rest of Yharnam’s citizens.
A flickering bit of light drew his attention up – and just in time to realize there was something falling from the roof. He rolled forward, and a fiend with fly wings and many eyes upon an enlarged head landed roughly on the ground where he’d been standing. He was quick to pull his gun and fire at the kin, causing it to let out a piercing scream as it withdrew from the onslaught of bullets.
Hai was going to rush it, when he realized the singing had gotten louder. He turned in time to see what looked to be a brain atop a manikin, ‘A doll!’ and many odd creatures woven into the creases of the brain, ‘Messengers!’ the recollection, the bell-like song, something in it all snapped in Hai, and quite literally, too. That old blood within him seemed to react, as if near an epiphany, near something, but unable to reach it.
All it could do was cause Hai harm, doubling him over as it spurted out from wounds inflicted by that treacherous blood, staining his blue attire, before the kin with the large head grasped him in its hands, pulling him off of his feet as he tried to regain his senses. The pain at least helped with that, but now he felt significantly weaker. ‘What was going on here? Iosefka?!’ He wasn’t going to get answers…was he?
Death was in front of him, in the form of this twisted and grotesque monster he found outside of the clinic, providing him with far more questions than answers.