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[color=#E65836][b]KASPAR ELSTRØM VON WENTOFT[/b][/color]

[color=#E65836][[/color] Location [color=#E65836]][/color] | [color=#E65836][[/color] Interactions [color=#E65836]][/color]
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Kaspar focused on his breathing, trying not to think about how utterly [i]fucked up[/i] the current events were as his crimson gaze fell to the windows and barricades of the church. He had never expected to return to Mandelein, but if he had ever dreamed of doing so...This would not have been a feature. The boy nearly laughed, thinking of the irony—of his mother's conviction that the town would tear them all apart if they knew his "terrible secret". 

The townspeople were certainly trying to tear them apart now... But it wasn't [i]his[/i] secret that did this. They were… what, [i]wildbloods[/i]? The whole town? Questions spiraled in his head, but grotesque snarling combined with claws scratching against shaking windows, and the cacophony drove them from his mind.

They were liable to die tonight, if they didn’t pull this together. Laska was shouting for the windows to be strengthened, and he barked out his own suggestion on strategy. Turning to the window nearest himself, Kaspar exhaled slowly and focused every ounce of skill he’d ever possessed. 

It was a close thing—a critical error in the first moment spread their power too thin and the church was nearly overrun, but they managed to correct it, to keep from being mobbed by the hundreds of beasts outside.

Some had moved to the roof—to deal with a [i]cannon[/i], had someone said?—though a defense still mounted inside. At some point, in the blur of the battle, Kaspar felt Baudile’s hands on him, trying to seal his wounds. The student steadied himself long enough to cooperate, his own skill in binding allowing him to aid the healer’s efforts before fighting pulled them apart once more.

Beasts still crawled through the open upper windows, howls turning to pained screeching as their fur came alight with flame. It lended strength and recklessness to their rage, threatening all who had sheltered in the church. 

Kaspar tuned out the agonized shrieks, tuned out the thought that any one of these beasts could be his family. He [i]needed[/i] to neutralize the fiery creatures, or risk falling to the horde. He turned bitter desperation to focus and strength, reached into the whispering void within his own blood, and [i]pulled[/i].

The resulting creature would kill without regret. He could feel that, the knowledge settled somewhere in his cells. His control was great, and this demon not very fickle—but if it came unbound from him, it would happily slaughter the students alongside the townspeople. 

But, in this moment, Kaspar held it with an iron grip. Despite his hopes, though, they were being overrun. Cannon fire shook the church, threatening to bring down the doors, and Kaspar backed himself near the path to the roof. 

With instructions to simply [i]destroy the cannon[/i], his summon was off and out the windows. No more shots hurtled into the walls, but a few more wolves climbed in and one…

Her irises certainly seemed more red now.

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[color=#D0D0D0][indent][indent][i]Kaspar opened the door, stepping into the street. It was growing dim, and night would fall on the town soon. He turned, facing Lark once more. [color=#E65836]“If she turns out like me, if you choose to abandon her too… Send for me. I can and will care for her.”[/color] He hesitated, but the open hostility in Lark’s eyes pushed him further. [color=#E65836]“Even if you don’t, I [/color][/i][color=#E65836]will[i] find her. And I’ll make sure she knows exactly who threw her away.”[/i][/color][/indent][/indent][/color]
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The cold irony met him once again. Had this always been his fate? Would his life be a cycle of being abandoned by anyone without a use for him, while he destroyed all other connections because they didn’t care about [i]him[/i]? Was he too much of a monster to be loved past his mistakes, or to find a connection beyond his usefulness? 

He laughed. Openly, twistedly, the moment their eyes met. Of [i]course[/i] it would come to this. The boy had tried so [i]hard[/i] not to think that his family might be dead, that he may have finally hurt his father one final time. Yet here she was, like she’d been [i]picked[/i] for this. To torment him.

Something dark in him whispered to destroy her—to make it quick, so she would be free from whatever hell Mandelein had become. Or… to make it slow, and prove his own darkness. In a moment where other attacks rained down, he could only think how to deal with her. 

He reached out, pulling at something, instincts quicker than thought and—

And spared her. 

Wrapped her in solid rock, protecting her as a big brother always should. He exhaled, stuttering, surprised at the outcome his reflexes had chosen. His blood spattered the ground and the beasts around him and for a moment he didn’t even care. 

[i]He hadn’t destroyed her[/i]. 

That elation carried him through the fight. Even when the monstrous constable prepared to crush them all, when he plunged once more into the dire darkness within… He forged not a sword, but a shield. 

As they slipped into the tunnel Casii and Christophe had made, Kaspar heard the crumbling of the church walls, set ablaze by the vengeful priestess. He had faith in the strength of his stone, but a hatred boiled through his blood.

He would return when this terrible night was over. He would not leave Mandelein without Lyra—living or dead. 

And if she perished… So too would Laska. 

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