It was deep in the night, roaring under the moon over the desolate world. Midnight as it were, the world was veiled behind curtains, their fabric being the essence of darkness. The silver light was bright, perhaps brighter than ever before and yet, still, the world was drowning in the cold embrace of darkness that was quite simply, inescapable.
In the distance, a mighty crackle was heard. One could call it thunderous, and there would truly be no better description of the streak of broken light, of the audacious sign of its long vanished presence. Desecrating the tranquillity of the night it boomed, a loud thunder. With it was yet another following close by, mercilessly stomping on the lifeless land not so far away. Their accomplice did not relent, nay, the strong downpour battered against the corroding ground, filling all with the sound if its determined assault. As if rejecting all life the storm raged on, invading the minds of those who were subjugated by the sensation of uneasiness which were these signs of nature's anger. Truly, none would be brave nor stupid enough to venture under the unforgiving darkness of that night. And yet there was one.
A lone figure battered by the rain, heavy steps spattering the weakened ground. A single man condemned to roam to dark, dark world, but he was no man, indeed, that was his contradiction. Perhaps a being, an entity... a creature, which once was a man during times immemorial, now a veiled existence, skulking in the shadows under a cowl weaved from the fabric of self-loathing and pride. Yes, a contradictory thing indeed, it knew not of past nor present, of neither black nor white. It felt not an emotion it could identify, perhaps emotions were the cost of survival, thus it could not understand the simplest of questions.
'Why?' - Why indeed. But the answer lied hidden behind another question, one which stood baseless and vague. How must one answer something so incomprehensible? He could only be left questioning, doubting, wondering and ultimately dying, a cycle that has repeated itself for so long. Dead it was, still dying. A festering corpse, barely distinguishable, what truly was it? It carried only a name, it was its only truth for it held only questions. A sightless monstrosity doomed to forever wander through a cold, dark night. And regardless it still hid, perhaps it was hope which drove it to do so. Hope it could not even understand, but surely it must be nice. It was, after all, hope, was it not? For that sole reason it still hid its pitiful bare form. Yes, driven by hope it yearned to be what it was never meant to be, thus it hid its own decayed self from the eyes that were not even present. It... he... roamed as the image of what it used to be before the end of its second cycle of desecration.
His journey was endless, but the night stood eternal in spite of his damnation. Perhaps that is where his hope stemmed from, a false light at the end of his tunnel. It was never real, but even so Raziel embraced it and in return he was led to what came after the end; a new beginning. Cold steel meeting colder stone, his armoured feet marched on, dreaming of what comes after perseverance. Thus the vampire walked on, scaling through the endless mountains in search of what he had yet to learn of.
Suddenly, the rhythmic clanking ceased.
"Hmm." - a structure stood tall, blocking his path. A building he knew not of, it seemed different than others of the same era. A peculiar structure of, perhaps, foreign architecture, a surprisingly massive one at that. The vampire ran his eyes across the huge figure, nothing stood out.
'An abandoned fortress, perhaps.' -he thought, his eyes peering into a single gaping hole on the fourth floor. Raziel had seen many such things before, but not one that was built in such a manner. As he stared at the open window high above, his curiosity urged him to enter. It only took him a moment to dispel the hesitation from his mind as the out-of-place creature knelt down.
A small gust of wind blew past, the figure of the creature now gone. Indeed, within a moment he had scaled the face of the odd building, his body landing softly before the open window as his now revealed wings folded behind his back and soon disappeared once more. From this close he could see what lied on the other side of the window, albeit partially. The room seemed barren, no furniture could be seen inside, only a single stool and something large next to it. 'Deserted, clearly.'
The vampire carefully entered the room. Despite his steel greaves, his steps were so light they could barely be even heard, something all predators are capable of. What made him sneak, however, was not the another's presence, but the atmosphere within the building. It felt so very, tranquil, distanced. It was a strange feeling, even as the storm raged outside it would not waver. With that strange sense the vampire slowly walked on, the wooden floor lightly creaking beneath him. There were cobwebs around him, indeed a place which hasn't been tended to in a long time, though there were no traces of missing furniture or pictures. It was as if the room was always this empty, but why? Raziel's curiosity drove him towards the centre of the room, towards the large object.
"Ah... Is this..." - silent words escaped his mouth as the hunter of the night gently caressed the object's surface with his clawed hands. He walked around it, to where the stool remained.
"...Mm... indeed."
He lightly stroked one of the many white segments the object had on that side, and sure enough a sound was heard. A piano... and it was still working. Raziel looked at it for a moment, at the dusty instrument. He closed his eyes for but a brief second as a lightning illuminated the room. He couldn't seem to shake off a certain feeling, lingering deep within. A light sigh escaped his lips, indeed it could not be helped.
The vampire sat down and straightened his back. Slowly, his hands reached for the instrument's keys. His claws began playing along the white and black surfaces, dancing gracefully to the rhythm of his cold heart as Raziel believed he truly was alone within the deserted building and thus... once more... he played the song of the heart he could no longer understand.
In the distance, a mighty crackle was heard. One could call it thunderous, and there would truly be no better description of the streak of broken light, of the audacious sign of its long vanished presence. Desecrating the tranquillity of the night it boomed, a loud thunder. With it was yet another following close by, mercilessly stomping on the lifeless land not so far away. Their accomplice did not relent, nay, the strong downpour battered against the corroding ground, filling all with the sound if its determined assault. As if rejecting all life the storm raged on, invading the minds of those who were subjugated by the sensation of uneasiness which were these signs of nature's anger. Truly, none would be brave nor stupid enough to venture under the unforgiving darkness of that night. And yet there was one.
A lone figure battered by the rain, heavy steps spattering the weakened ground. A single man condemned to roam to dark, dark world, but he was no man, indeed, that was his contradiction. Perhaps a being, an entity... a creature, which once was a man during times immemorial, now a veiled existence, skulking in the shadows under a cowl weaved from the fabric of self-loathing and pride. Yes, a contradictory thing indeed, it knew not of past nor present, of neither black nor white. It felt not an emotion it could identify, perhaps emotions were the cost of survival, thus it could not understand the simplest of questions.
'Why?' - Why indeed. But the answer lied hidden behind another question, one which stood baseless and vague. How must one answer something so incomprehensible? He could only be left questioning, doubting, wondering and ultimately dying, a cycle that has repeated itself for so long. Dead it was, still dying. A festering corpse, barely distinguishable, what truly was it? It carried only a name, it was its only truth for it held only questions. A sightless monstrosity doomed to forever wander through a cold, dark night. And regardless it still hid, perhaps it was hope which drove it to do so. Hope it could not even understand, but surely it must be nice. It was, after all, hope, was it not? For that sole reason it still hid its pitiful bare form. Yes, driven by hope it yearned to be what it was never meant to be, thus it hid its own decayed self from the eyes that were not even present. It... he... roamed as the image of what it used to be before the end of its second cycle of desecration.
A once noble vampire... a figure battered by the rain, its heavy steps spattering the weakened ground.
His journey was endless, but the night stood eternal in spite of his damnation. Perhaps that is where his hope stemmed from, a false light at the end of his tunnel. It was never real, but even so Raziel embraced it and in return he was led to what came after the end; a new beginning. Cold steel meeting colder stone, his armoured feet marched on, dreaming of what comes after perseverance. Thus the vampire walked on, scaling through the endless mountains in search of what he had yet to learn of.
Suddenly, the rhythmic clanking ceased.
"Hmm." - a structure stood tall, blocking his path. A building he knew not of, it seemed different than others of the same era. A peculiar structure of, perhaps, foreign architecture, a surprisingly massive one at that. The vampire ran his eyes across the huge figure, nothing stood out.
'An abandoned fortress, perhaps.' -he thought, his eyes peering into a single gaping hole on the fourth floor. Raziel had seen many such things before, but not one that was built in such a manner. As he stared at the open window high above, his curiosity urged him to enter. It only took him a moment to dispel the hesitation from his mind as the out-of-place creature knelt down.
A small gust of wind blew past, the figure of the creature now gone. Indeed, within a moment he had scaled the face of the odd building, his body landing softly before the open window as his now revealed wings folded behind his back and soon disappeared once more. From this close he could see what lied on the other side of the window, albeit partially. The room seemed barren, no furniture could be seen inside, only a single stool and something large next to it. 'Deserted, clearly.'
The vampire carefully entered the room. Despite his steel greaves, his steps were so light they could barely be even heard, something all predators are capable of. What made him sneak, however, was not the another's presence, but the atmosphere within the building. It felt so very, tranquil, distanced. It was a strange feeling, even as the storm raged outside it would not waver. With that strange sense the vampire slowly walked on, the wooden floor lightly creaking beneath him. There were cobwebs around him, indeed a place which hasn't been tended to in a long time, though there were no traces of missing furniture or pictures. It was as if the room was always this empty, but why? Raziel's curiosity drove him towards the centre of the room, towards the large object.
"Ah... Is this..." - silent words escaped his mouth as the hunter of the night gently caressed the object's surface with his clawed hands. He walked around it, to where the stool remained.
"...Mm... indeed."
He lightly stroked one of the many white segments the object had on that side, and sure enough a sound was heard. A piano... and it was still working. Raziel looked at it for a moment, at the dusty instrument. He closed his eyes for but a brief second as a lightning illuminated the room. He couldn't seem to shake off a certain feeling, lingering deep within. A light sigh escaped his lips, indeed it could not be helped.
The vampire sat down and straightened his back. Slowly, his hands reached for the instrument's keys. His claws began playing along the white and black surfaces, dancing gracefully to the rhythm of his cold heart as Raziel believed he truly was alone within the deserted building and thus... once more... he played the song of the heart he could no longer understand.
![Master [1000]](https://i.imgur.com/AQXM4xC.png)
![Senior [500]](https://i.imgur.com/Nmfn8cD.png)
![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
