Rowan Godfree's Story

Rowan remembered the first time he had to hunt on his own. A spoiled, rebellious brat too eager for autonomy to see how good he had it. For the first week or two, large servings of rats were enough to hold him, but his cravings demanded more quality meats in greater abundance. The hunger of a young, unrestrained Ghoul knew nothing of the complexities of Humankind. It was because of this lack of discrimination between a person's social or economic standing that led to him being the face of a city-wide manhunt. Needles to say, people don't take kindly to prime political candidates being devoured.

That was years ago. Rowan was smarter now, more selective in his hunts. It was the same hunger that brought him to the Phantom Quarter this night. The place reeked with the stench of festering cadavers. You could almost see the death in the air. To Rowan, this was the ideal hunting ground. An ever-increasing population of homeless whose disappearance wouldn't be questioned by those who governed. He liked to think that he was doing the city a favor. A quelled appetite for him, and lower homeless rates for Lutetia. Everybody wins.

Rowan had just finished the last bite of his latest victim when the normally blue sky changed to a nauseating mix of green and purple.

"What's this?" asked Rowan in a curious tone. "Let's see what lies in the distance."

He arrived on the seen to witness the back-and-forward shifting of the being lying in the pentagram. What annoyed him, was the sight of the scorched bones that surrounded the strange creature.

"I'm not sure who or what you are." Rowan's brow furrowed in frustration. "But this is my turf, and I won't have anyone killing my feed."

His Kagune suddenly flared, taking the form of two tendril-like arms that sprouted from his shoulder blades. The one on the right sprang forward to skewer the pulsing figure with a clawed hand.

There would be no motion from Zeban as Rowan arrived in the area. The flickering form seemed to remain still and not make a move as the tendril shot forward. Once the Tendril entered the pentagram, the pentagram flared an angry red.

There would likely be a painful reaction as demonic energy attempted to stop and trap Rowan's attacking appendage. Throughout this there would be no response from Zeban as he still flickered in between forms it would likely be another hour before he came to.

Rowan hissed at the pain now firing through the tendril and yanked it away instinctively. "That actually hurt." He frowned while glancing over the stranger's body and its immediate surroundings. The only thing he could was the furnace-black stone, the scorched corpses, and the pentagram etched into the ground around them.

Perhaps it had something to do with the latter. The five-pointed-star was a popular symbol of the more rugged Rock genres and their followers. He could remember more than one group of kids from his grade-school years who revered the symbol for its alleged "mystical capabilities and connection to the realm of the supernatural."

"Is this what's causing such a commotion, then?" he inquired, eyebrows raising in genuine curiosity. Although he'd never had a personal encounter with anything that could be considered magical, he supposed anything was possible.

"HEEEEY! Penta-man! Wake up Penta-man!" If his kagune wouldn't work, maybe his shouting would.

It would be about 20 minutes before the flickering stopped and Zeban finally stirred. He opened his eyes slowly only the slight glow of the pentagon illuminated the area briefly before going out.

Zeban slowly propped himself up. "W-where am I?" I said aloud and looked over to the figure next to him. "And who are you? Are you with those bastards that took my little girl?" He asked weakly. As he said this the hold on Rowan would stop freeing the Ghoul.

Rowan clenched and released his fists as control over his limbs gradually returned. He paused, stroking his hairless chin while trying to recall the faces he'd seen recently. "Nope, can't say that I've seen a little girl." he replied. "I prefer older meat so a kid wouldn't do me much good."

"You're in Lutetia City, Penta-man. And that magic display of yours went and fried some perfectly good hobos." Sure he wasn't planning on eating them right now, but he could've gotten to them later.

"What was that about, anyway?"

Aldous arrived in the Phantom Quarter, much to his chagrin. His mouth was covered with a rebreather, an air-filtering apparatus that served to mitigate the potency of the foul air that surrounded him. Reports of what was assumed to be illegal practice of magic had come from around this area, and he had been charged with investigating it.

Scanning the environment proved difficult; everything around here looked the same. It was a decrepit, shabby place one would not dream of being caught dead (or undead) in. The dark of the night made it quite hard to discern one patch of dirt from the next. He procured a flashlight, pumping a UV light through its lens, and shone it on the area about him, and walked along.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first. He saw no evidence of magical malpractice in the area. However, turning a corner led him to a string of bodies, people he could only surmise were homeless. They had been charred, their flesh burned black and their faces unrecognizable.

Only when he looked up from their scorched beings that he saw something that was of interest to him: a pentagram, drawn in the ruins of a now-decimated building. Even more curious was the man standing within it, his looks of confusion as he badgered a nearby ghoul with questions.

"Well, what do we have here?" Aldous said quietly, and to no one in particular.

Zeban nodded slowly, "Luteia city? I think I heard a few mentions of this place back in Wing City." Zeban said in Luteian. At first he didn't notice it then it he said something else. "How do I know this strange language...and why is it making sense to me..." Zeban muttered.

"That damned she witch I should have never agreed to her terms!" Zeban muttered quietly. He looked up just as Aldous spoke looking to the man, but not saying a word. He waiting to see what Rowan's response to the man would be.

So he was from Wing City, meaning he was at the very least familiar with Terra. "What's the last thing you can remember? So a witch did this to you?" He'd never met a witch himself, but he'd heard enough about them to have a basic idea. "Gotta be careful with those witches, you know. They're always causing trouble. Same thing with Djinns."

His lips were poised to speak again but the unfamiliar scent beginning to flood his nostrils managed to capture his attention. He fixed his gaze to the east and waited. The beam of the flashlight was the first to pierce the darkness, and its carrier came into view shortly afterward.

"Hello there." Rowan waved to the new arrival, greeting him with a bright smile. "Just trying to figure out what happened with this fellow here." he lifted his hand and pointed in Zeban's direction.

"He caused quite the commotion, and I my intrigue got the better of me."

Walking into the overall perimeter, Celiara observes the nearby group of people with interest before feeling her heart leap in shock at the word “Witch” exiting a gentleman's mouth, spoken in a way which she could tell was laced with displeasure.
It might have been considered quite stupid for her to listen in on somebodies conversation, but if this was the Witch who cursed her with small height in the first place, maybe she could find out who the evil Sorceress was to begin with. Standing at only three inches tall (and cursed to be that way since before her birth) she couldn’t fathom the thought of passing up an opportunity to put things right again.

Trying to gain a bit more courage, she quickly walked closer towards the group and called out to them with building hope. “Hey, what do you mean by Witch?” She yelled out with burning lungs. Keeping her head held high, she tried to make herself known by jumping up and down on the concrete below them. If only she wasn’t so small, she could’ve already been planning her quest against the evil Sorceress as of that very moment. The only thing that made her nervous on the matter though was whether these Humans were evil or nice. . . Celiara couldn’t have imagined defeating anybody with only a few poison arrows.

Aldous' ears perked up. The situation got even more serious at that moment, throwing any patience Aldous had out of the window. "What did you say about a witch?" he began, "If you know anything about what happened here, it would be in your best interest to tell me everything you know."

His hands were ready to fly to his weapons should he need them, and he kept his wits about him as he surveyed the two before him.

"She wasn't an actual which...just an expression she was worse than that. But I doubt you will be seeing her in this world so you can just drop the questions right there folks." Zeban said as a third being arrived.

"Now as for what happened 'ere I was in a failed mishap. " Zeban said, "I've had a long exhausting day so if one of you would be kind enough to point my way to the nearest soup kitchen I think I'll be on my way." Zeban said with an irritated glance towards Aldous' he had a feeling the man wasn't about to let him go though.

Rowan quirked an eyebrow as his gaze fell on Aldous, "A little demanding aren't we?" After taking a second to size him up, he took note of the weapons on his person. A hunter no doubt, or at the very least some form of law enforcement. He shrugged his shoulders lightly and returned his focus to Zeban.

"If not a witch, then a vengeful former lover then?" he inquired. "Don't worry, guy. I think we've all had that problem before." For a second he thought he heard the voice of another, but he found nothing when he looked around. Maybe his ears were just playing tricks on him.

Celiara sighed deeply, straining her voice the louder she called out towards the group of three Giants. It was quite the struggle to project her own voice, but it seemed that she was able to force out more of a whisper then any other vocal range she could ever comprehend. In all truth, she was more or so frightened because they didn't hear her to begin with. What if they stepped on her? That fear tore her apart by the seconds which passed.

“Hey, I'm down here!” She screamed out towards them again, watching with intent that one of them would take notice of her beckon call.

"That's a pretty neat trick you got there."

A voice rang from the booth closest to the bar. Rowan sat in a slouch with his leg kicked over his knee.

"What else can you do?"

A reddish-orange appendage resembling and octopus' tentacle slither from underneath his coat, retrieving two drinks as one of the specters floated by. He plucked the olives from the glasses before taking a sip of the first drink. All the while he kept his eyes on Ilvette.

Ilvette eyeballed what had reared its head from beneath the boy's coat and rose a very long, thin eyebrow. She held up one finger and wagged it from side to side.

"Uh-uh, I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going," she chided, smirking lightheartedly. "I'm just an invoker here. I'm still being taught all the neat magic tricks. I know how to channel energy and make things float." She rose her fingers and twiddled them, hooting spookily.

"And what's that you've got under your coat? Or should I ask?"

"Hey now, what kind of guy do you take me for?" He quipped.

Rowan gathered his drinks and moved to a seat that placed him right in front of Ilvette. "You familiar at all with Ghouls?" He asked. "It's called a Kagune." Just then, three more tentacles of the same color and design appeared from his coat.

"Think of them as extra arms."

He took the final swig of his glass and placed it upside-down on the counter top. "I'm Rowan, but you can call me Ugo."

The young woman leaned over the counter, hip against its edge, elbow on a coaster. "Ghouls? Can't say I am. I know about werewolves, witches like me, avorians like my boss, but unless you're some kind of specter, I don't think I've ever seen something quite like you off the TV screen," she told him. Though she eyed the tentacles, she held out her hand with a bright smile.

"Alright, Ugo. I'm Ilvette, but I often go by Ilvey. Less syllables." she laughed. "Can I get you anything?"

"Doesn't surprise me, we aren't the largest bunch. I can't remember the last time I saw another Ghoul. I'm probably the only one in Lutetia." He mirrored her, extending his dominant hand to shake.

"It's nice to meet you, Ilvey." He smiled.

Rowan paused to glance around the bar. "You have a pretty diverse here, yeah? Can you recall there ever being a member of the Ardelean Society in here?"

Ilvette stuck her pinky into the corner of her mouth as she thought, eyes rolling to the top of her head. She hummed. "I don't see a lot of the Society come in here, but my sister's a member. She's a ranger and works in the woods, though, so she doesn't do much with the city. She makes sure everything out there... doesn't get in here. Pretty cool job, but it's not my thing. Why? Keeping an eye out to avoid them?"

Rowan shook his head while tracing his finger around the top of his second glass. "Looking for potential employers." he replied. "I just got fired from my job at the local morgue, and the rent isn't going to pay itself." He still couldn't believe he ruined such a sweet deal. Maybe if he wasn't so greedy, he'd still have the job today.

"I love my fair share of action, so I figured that'd be the ideal place for me."

Ilvette grinned. "Ahh, you're one of those types, hmm? Bold decision. Though I honestly didn't think a kid would be working for a morgue. I guess it shouldn't be weird in Lutetia. City of the dead, right?" She rolled her eyes. "If you want to get in with the Society, you want to go to Mandragora university. It's not an easy job, though. You have to go through a lot of training. You have to face dangerous supernaturals. Think you can handle that?"

Aldous stepped in Zeban's path as he made an attempt to leave. He still had questions, and no one was getting away from his sight until they were answered. "What do you mean she wasn't an actual witch? If she had the ability to make you do...this," he said, stopping to gesture at the destruction that lay mere feet away from where the trio stood.

"...then she must have some degree of great power. What do you know about this woman? A name or description perhaps?" Aldous had to press hard for the facts. For all he knew, this man could be lying straight to his face, and using some woman that he supposedly was not able to interact with on this plane of existence as cover for his own horrendous crimes.

"Any information you have will be highly useful."

Walking closer towards the trio, Celiara heaved in a deep breath of air before calling out into the open – praying that her voice could be heard over the loud surroundings (due to her small height, of course) and for this reason she refused to speak any softer.

“If you are seeking any information, I can say much about this Witch,” she pauses in thought for a few moments before replying, “It isn’t uncommon to hear many bad happenings revolving around this Sorceress. Mind you, it was she who shrunk ‘me’ down to begin with”

Pulling out a piece of paper from her satchel, she quickly runs towards a man she supposed was Aldous, and tried to get his attention by waving the piece of paper frantically around in the air, “May you read this, for I believe it can tell you what is needed”

Written in bold words across the piece of paper, it reads ‘”Northern, Terra: Criminal search for Sorceress unknown to authorities since last winter’” and for this reason, she hoped it was a clue to the Witches whereabouts.

Rowan's shrugged his shoulders as he was ignored, choosing to take a rear seat in the conversation. Shortly afterward, the voice he'd heard before returned to him. "Alright, that definitely wasn't me." he said to himself. His eyes fell upon the eensy teen who gazed up at them from the pavement.

"Look." he pointed, watching the girl run over to Aldous. He moved over and plucked the sheet of paper from her tiny hands. He looked over it, and read the words written aloud. He then passed the paper over to Aldous.

"Looks like we've got an adventure on our hands. I'm down." His lips stretched into a mischievous smile.

"Yeah." he laughed. "Longevity seems to be a given here." He was hardly a kid. Although he maintained the face and springy step of a young adult, Rowan was nearly a century-and-a-half. That was nothing compared to some of Lutetia's residents, but it was old nonetheless.

"Doesn't sound too hard." he responded with a shrug of the shoulders. "What isn't dangerous on this planet? I think being able to live her qualifies me enough." Mandragora University. He'd only heard of it once or twice during his stay. Mostly good things, but the thing that stuck with him the most was the raid on the university by supernaturals.

He downed his second glass and let his his muscles loosen as the alcohol soaked into his blood. "So how long have you been in Lutetia City?"