[b][centre][H2][color=9e0039]A mistress rose.[/color][/H2][/centre][/b]
[b][centre][H2][color=9e0039]The Cult of Shadows.[/color][/H2][/centre][/b]
[b][centre][H3][color=9e0039]A Initiation.[/color][/H3][/centre][/b]



[color=9e0039]"A matriarch shall rise"[/color] Callina plunged her dagger into the older man's heart, fangs latching on his neck sending blood spurting over her skin and dribbling down her chest as she drank deep dealing the last beats pulse though her mouth of his soon to be dead heart. 

Elsewhere the old guard died as Janus looked on, his currently well his anyway watched with no emotions. They had won. Years of work, treason and plot. They ruled now. "Did you have to kill him practically naked?"Janus deadpanned as he guarded her while she fed. 

[color=9e0039]"The old pervert did not see the dagger, besides I'd not ruin my rare nice clothes"[/color] Callina gave him a savage grin as she stood up dressed in mostly blood with fangs still dripping sated and now the Matriarch watching the crowd kneel before her. [color=9e0039]"He tasted sour anyway"[/color] Wiping the blood from her chin that dripped down. 

Mistress we serve. Rang out in a disjointed, somewhat irregular but meaningful reply as she pushed the body from the chair placing it at her feet and resting her legs slowly and symbolically over his cooling corpse. [color=9e0039]"To survive we must expand. We must change. We must look inward. The storm is not stopping. We must find new lands. The truth is clear. We must survive."[/color]

Callina had her Victory. 


…


Over the past few years little had changed but a lot had. The world changed slowly, the 4th ring was always damp, always doomed and always the dregs. 

There was only one way to go. Inwards. 

Callina walked through the cult's underground home, safer than being above ground. The old stone was not pretty nore was it refined and airy like the inner districts but it was home. A home for many who had no other place to call such. She was one of them, in a chamber youths trained in various arts, in another a couple. Or several as it turned out engaged in one of the only free pleasures the 4th had. But people could still do that, now matter the lack of this, that, or almost every luxury the inbred spire dwellers. That was one thing they could not take or restrict and ration. 

The stone and earth sheltering their home least kept the temperature cool. But down here it never got really cold. This perhaps before the storm was one a place of beauty and luxury. Its walls had long faded and artwork was a shadow of its former form. Grand columns were now buttressed and bolstered in whatever stone work could be recycled. 

But it was their home. They would make the best of it. 

…Later on…

[color=9e0039]"Was it a success?"[/color] She enquired of one of her trusted hands who she had set to oversee the work. The trainee was sent to slay a debtor who had played one too many people against each other. Now the Void had come to collect. 

"Yes Mistress" the man spoke for both of them, a man and a woman whose skin has almost a scaly shine. The storm touched many here. "A Beast's claw. Or that's what they will see" The woman spoke. It was better that way. Few cared about a death, a relative might, or a lover. The Cult had nor existed this far by being just some murderous thugs, unthinking and careless. 

[color=9e0039]"Come, we shall initiate you. You have now passed your test"[/color] Callina stretched her hand out and lifted the younger woman's chin. [color=9e0039]"First we will clean you and then you will be risen"[/color] Callina spoke formally as she gestured to the woman to rise. [color=9e0039]"You have faced pain, now the reward is pleasure."[/color]


…


Fate was unstoppable. 
So would their survival.