The Devil's Cry

[Caligo [Inactive]]

We are... falling... the light is calling... tears in-side me... coming down...

A man atop a lonely tower. A tower atop a lonely piece of earth within the abyss.

A ruined tower.

I have no home...

Where there should have been a sanctum with windows of stained glass and depictions of dragons, a peaceful grove of grass atop the tower, was now only scorched stone. Shattered glass and a single door hinge adorned the roof now. That, and a single man carefully swinging a massive sword with practiced precision. The twin blades whistled through the air, singing their deadly melody into the vast expanse of nothingness.

I have no home...

He finished and stabbed the sword into the solid stone; the enchantment of protection upon it apparently shattered. He stared out into the violent midnight sky, cloak of black pushed back behind his bare arms blowing in the winds of an oncoming storm.

I have no home...

[lassus]

"Broken. That is what the world is, now. But I wonder, can you find her, brother? Do you have the heart?"

The man turned to see a figure, a figure in a black longcoat, gunblade in hand. He knew the figure was his brother, Matthews, but he had not been there, had not fought the invasion. Why did he have the nerve to show up, now? And here, of all places?

"Hold up the darkness in your heart, brother. And show me the power of your light," Matthew said, gunblade over his shoulder. "Come at me."

[Kai! Kai!]

A watcher sat upon what remained of the one proud tower and observed this exchange between the two. It remained so still one might mistaken it for a pice of the structure body lost ot the shadows where only its luminecent silver-green eyes watchnig with a keen and cold inteligance. Was it human?

No..

It wasn't even close to human, perhaps once long ago it might have been, but the spell that bound it to this form was cast so long ago memories of that time had long since faded into the obscurity of the past. Memories fade and are as always replaced by memories of the present.

Its tail twitched and its horned head, shifted revealing the shilloutte of something lost between wolf, wildcat and demon. The wings on it back streatched out as if releasing the tension on a cramped muscle and then it was gone, taking off inot the overcast heavens above its animalistic dark body melting perfectly inot the drakness. It would watch and wait...

[Archangel]

A flutter of soft wings came from above, and a raucous cry floated through the air, made harsher by the nothingness of the Abyss. It was a loud "Caw", and was unmistakable. The loud caw of Crow.

A small, dark shape settled on an outcropping of stone at the top of the tower. Just a small shape, black against the blackness behind it, nearly invisible. The shape of a bird. It settled itself into place, and looked down at the two men below it.

There is a medicine story that tells of Crow's fascination with her own shadow. She kept looking at it, scratching it, pecking at it, until her shadow woke up and became alive. Then Crow's shadow ate her. Crow is Dead Crow now.

Crow is the keeper of the sacred Law. Crow keeps the Law, and other beings follow it. This is what she does. This is why she exists. All sacred text belongs to Crow. All knowledge passes through Crow's judgement. All of time, of life and death and everlasting nothingness, is under Crow's Law. Such is the way of things, even in the Abyss. Crow lives in the void, and has done so for eons. And as keeper of the Law, she may do with it as she wishes. Bending the Law is nothing to her, so long as it does not break. Shape means nothing to Crow. Space means nothing to Crow. Time means nothing to Crow. Only Law means something to Crow. And Crow is an omen of change.

The dark shape of Crow flowed like liquid shadow as it sat atop the jutting rock. Swirling, twisting, it changed, shifted, became different. Soon, the swirling mass dropped to the ground, where it splayed crooked fingers of blackness onto the scorched stone. Gathering itself like a sigh of darkness, it stood up straight, growing taller, thicker, more real. And suddenly, it was there again. A woman, fair of face, but dark....so dark that blackness was her skin and bones, so dark that a shadow would lighten her beautiful features. Dressed only in a dark robe, with a heavy cowl that drifted low and deep, voluminous sleeves that hid the dark-skinned hands from sight, Crow stood in front of the two brothers.

"Crow comes to watch. Crow must be sure that the Law is followed. Crow always watches."

She spoke, and her voice was not the raucous cry of the bird, but the soft dulcet tones of a lover. She was an observer. But she was also something more. An enforcer. The Law was made to be adhered to. Here, in the Abyss, would she watch for the Great Creator, and should Law be broken....Great Creator's wrath would be terrible.