icmasticc

The Worn

_Name

_{Jaheim Jabulani}

_Appearance

Jaheim

_{Standing at 6’3 with a frame of 215lbs, Jaheim Jabulani is what most people would call a big man. Most of this weight, muscle and height in equal measures, came from the military training and diet. Bronzed ochre complexion spreads across his skin and highlights the sharpness of his grooming—thinly trimmed goatee on his face and a sponge-curled fade on top of his head. Jaheim takes personal hygiene and grooming very seriously due to the standards of the US military and because of his routine his skin is smooth and free of blemishes and his grooming is impeccable. Tattoos adorn his arms and back, identifiers from his active duty days and a rebellious answer to his parents’ desire for their son to be completely clean cut.}

_Age

₃₆

_Gender

_Male

_Nationality

_{South African}

_{Chaos Magic Ability}

_{Through the dual bonds of trauma and personal belief, Jaheim came to be able to harness the ability to summon weaponry. Once summoned, he is able to telepathically control said weaponry if he does not opt to grab hold of it and use it conventionally. These weapons are borne of both myth and legend and can be used in a variety of manners only subject to Jaheim’s whims. As a cost of harnessing Chaos Magic, Jaheim’s ability limits the number of weapons he is able to summon and control at one time. The greater the number, the more physical strain his body takes before vitality itself begins to be sapped from him. Summoning an army of weaponry may sound grand, but it would significantly shorten Jaheim’s lifespan and leave him in critical condition as well.}

_History

<sub>The beaches of Camps Bay in Cape Town, South Africa are where Jaheim Jabulani originally calls home. Born to a doctor mother and a military father, Jaheim’s life seemed destined for where it would end up. As a child, his home was all he could ask for. Situated in City Bowl about a half hour from the Bay, the Jabulani’s family home was tucked neatly between other apartment buildings and subject to the hustle and bustle of the city. It was the noise that Jaheim loved the most. Waking up to the sounds car honks, blended voices outside on the sidewalks, and public transportation really brought him to life. It evoked a vigor in him not dissimilar to the highs one gets from the gym when working out. But it was Camps Bay that really brought the kid out of him. His mother would take him every weekend to the beach so he could feel the sand between his toes and appreciate the clear blue waters. His father would join them when he could between tours and when they were all together, they had the best of times. Things changed when Jaheim turned six years old.

The beginning of the demon invasion was the worst part of the entire ordeal. No one knew where or how the creatures came to be, only that there had been a massive explosion in the atmosphere visible from everywhere on Earth and from that explosion, monsters crawled through the holes left behind and began to viciously attack humanity. South Africa was invaded not long after the initial explosion. The creatures tore people apart and even as a child, Jaheim was subjected to seeing things he shouldn’t have seen at such an impressionable young age. Due to his father’s military connections, Jaheim and his family were able to secure a way out of South Africa fairly quickly and the Jabulanis emigrated to the United States that same year. As part of the deal however, Jaheim’s father’s military unit was loaned out to the US Marines and they were to conduct joint operations together.

Every day became a horror. Jaheim would witness men, women, and even children torn apart on his way to school and he prayed for his father’s safety in the ongoing fight daily. By this time the angels had appeared and were helping humanity to destroy the beasts, but it was a slow going affair. There were protocols citizens had to follow in order to live somewhat normal lives and even with these adjustments, Jaheim always felt dangerously close to meeting the fate of any one of the unfortunate victims he’d seen in the past. He continued his education in the US school system, skipping a few grades here and there and dual enrolling in high school and college courses when the time came. Though he studied criminal law in school, he dedicated himself to physical training outside of it if only but to find a way to ignore the outside world for a few moments and pretend everything was still the way it had been.

When the news finally came that his father would never return, Jaheim became broken. He was twenty seven and the world was shifting even more quickly than it had been at the onset of the invasion. The angels had taken twenty years to eradicate the demons, but they had now turned on humanity choosing to punish humankind for frivolously wasting their lives in needless wars over resources and power. It turned out that Jaheim’s father would survive hell itself and the demonic invasion only to be slain by the betrayal of the angels. Jaheim was broken, but he was also determined. He never went into the depression that threatened to consume him because the goal was clear. He needed to kill the angels, no matter what the cost. He enlisted in the US Army the next year and chose to become the tip of the spear, an infantryman.

Jaheim was shipped all over the world during his tours of duty. He fought in South Korea, Afghanistan, Africa, China, Russia, and more, eager to go wherever they’d send him to fight back the angelic invasion and get revenge for the killing of his father. At age thirty three, Jaheim’s life took a different turn. As he was completing a tour of duty in Italy, he unknowingly uncovered a ring of believers hailing from The Vatican. The Vatican had been destroyed by this point in time, but their remnants still held out in parts of the country. It came to Jaheim’s attention that this ring of believers were helping the angels in exchange for sparing their lives and their eternal devotion. Jaheim was outraged. So outraged that he murdered each person in the ring in cold blood.

Though he plead his case at his military tribunal, he was sentenced to a life in prison for killing human beings at a time when humanity was being slaughtered by supernatural forces. Jaheim had no choice but to accept his fate and serve out his sentence in a brand new experimental city called Seraph’s End. Three years later, Jaheim serves his sentence dutifully with the same sort of dedication he gave to the military when he was enlisted. There are rumblings that Seraph’s End will soon be hit by the invasion of angels, but as it stands it has not happened yet. The only things that occupy Jaheim’s mind are his mother who went back to South Africa after it was cleared of demons and somehow managed to survive the angelic onslaught thus far. His weekly calls to her are the only thing that keeps him going in a life where all he has to look forward to is his cell.</sub>

The Worn

@Qia@Dark Light@Durandals

OOC is up! Feel free to transition to that thread going forward!

The Worn

_{An Original Roleplay By
icmasticc}

---

---

_{”All wars are sacred to those who fight them. If the people who started wars didn’t make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?” - Margaret Mitchell}

---

---

_{Our end was perpetrated by our saviors}

---

_{Our world was never the greatest place. Maimed by endless wars for resources nobody had a rightful claim to, it was the war we never saw coming that brought about the apocalypse as we know it. An event only known as The Big Bang broke the barriers between heaven and hell and brought demons to the realm of humanity; they were ruthless. They hunted down the human race regardless of man, woman, or child and served only retribution and an insatiable hunger for flesh. But they weren’t our true punishment. The angels descended from on high, feathered wings outspread, fully armored and prepared for the battle they had waited millennia for. They fought back the demons until they made sure they were all but extinct. That’s when the tables turned. They turned their blades, spears, and all manner of heavenly weaponry against us and that was our end. Little did we know we had committed the highest offense. We had wasted our lives fighting amongst one another and now it was deemed that our lack of progress, of true innovation, meant we were condemned to death. So the angels attacked. And that was supposed to be our end. The final blow struck from heaven, from the gods themselves. But they never counted on that group. The absolute worst of us was set to become our saviors. This is their story. This is how those four fought back.}

_{The Concept}

---

<sub>Hi there and welcome to my original roleplay concept, The Worn. As you’ve no doubt guessed from the teaser above, this is an apocalyptic RP taking place in contemporary, modern times. The world hasn’t quite ended just yet, but it’s on the verge thanks to the onslaught of angels who have an axe to grind with humanity for being frivolous with their lives. Our story centers on four individuals, all ex-military of some sort (the details will be up to the player), all of whom have been imprisoned at the start of the narrative. For reasons yet unknown, these four are granted the ability to use chaos magic to fight back against the angelic invasion. The conceit is that these four are also some of the worst humanity has to offer. Now that doesn’t only mean worst as in criminal scum, but also worse for wear. They’ve been through countless wars of their own, possibly jaded by it all, and their exploits have taken various tolls on their bodies. While the magic helps them fight against foes stronger than humans, it doesn’t do anything to heal or amplify their physicality. They’ll have to fight through the pain, be it mental and/or physical, as well as through hordes of angels in order to discover the truth of the invasion and a conspiracy that’s larger than they could have ever seen coming.

While this is the overarching narrative, the RP itself will be take place in an episodic format including slice of life elements. It isn’t all fighting all the time. At the start of the story it will have been ten years since the angels attacked and they don’t attack relentlessly. There’s pockets of invasion all over the globe and people still have to live their lives even in these end times. So this RP will tackle plot threads both on the mission and off allowing for a character-driven experience that highlights player contributed lore and world-building elements. That’s right, you’ll be able to help build the world and contribute to the lore as you see fit. This isn’t a sandbox style roleplay, but your contributions will be key in immersing everyone in the world and plot.

This will also be a darker, more mature style roleplay. It will include adult themes and it’s gritty in its depictions of the world at large and daily life. That’s not to say there isn’t room for humor or levity as there will definitely be some more lighthearted moments to break up all the darkness, but for the most part this is serious in tone—most jokes will likely fall under the realm of black humor or deadpan style comedy—and serious in plot.

I’m looking for three dedicated and excited players who would be down for the long haul. This is a small group roleplay so I’m looking to create a small, tight-knit group who will do their best to see this through to the end. This will not be a first come first serve selection process either. All character sheets submitted will be considered and the three characters that seem to have the best fit will be chosen.

You can submit your characters via PM to me as the selection process will be private. Once approved, you're okay to post your character under the character tab. Please do not post characters in the character tab unless approved by me.</sub>

_{The World}

---

As I said above, this takes place in modern times and thus our setting is a massive mega-city metropolis.

Seraph’s End

In the lore of the roleplay, Seraph’s End is an up and coming mega-city in the central United States. Because the architects really wanted to draw people to it, there’s all manner of entertainment, district, and activity nestled within. If you can think it, Seraph’s End has it and even through the siege of Angels, some people are doing their best to make what amounts to the last years of their lives count for something.

This is a great example where player contributed lore comes into play. The setting is modern Earth so your characters can come from anywhere on the globe with the only conceit being that they all ended up imprisoned in Seraph’s End by the start of the narrative. But beyond that, feel free to add to Seraph’s End or the world at large at your leisure. All ideas are welcome and most, if not all, will be implemented in some form for a truly collaborative experience.

_{Character Sheet}

---

<sub>So I’m not big on super detailed character sheets as I believe that most of the info you’re providing can be shown via the IC thread. It also helps character development when you can naturally, organically delve into aspects of your character through dialogue or events or introspection. Thus, my character sheet consists of the info most necessary to get a feel for your character and how they may interact with the world and other characters rather than a bullet point list of their every trait.

Character Sheet:
Name
Appearance (A simple picture will do. No anime please. If you’d like to describe them as well, I have no problems with that.)
Age
Gender
Nationality
Chaos Magic Ability (You have creative license here. As long as it’s nothing too overpowered, flex your brain. I’ll rein it in if need be.)
History (Everything from before, and up to, your character being imprisoned in Seraph’s End.)

Feel free to format it in the style you like best.</sub>

_{The Rules}

---

<sub>1. Guild rules apply, respect other players
2. Posting requirements are once every two weeks. If life comes up, as it so often does, just shoot me a message in the OOC or via PM. We can always make adjustments if you can communicate.
3. Communication is very important as exampled above. Be communicative please.
4. GM has final say. Obvious, but I’ll still put it out there in case there are arguments or anything of the like.
5. This is an Advanced level RP, but I’m a quality over quantity kind of guy. I expect posts with effort put into them, but don’t stress if it’s not a million paragraphs. Write until you post reaches it’s natural end, but let’s set a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs at least. That way everyone has an adequate amount of material to work from when posting their own advancements.
6. If further rules need to be added, I will do so.</sub>

Icmasticc’s Character Vault

Jaheim Jabulani

_Name

_{Jaheim Jabulani}

_Appearance

Jaheim

_{Standing at 6’3 with a frame of 215lbs, Jaheim Jabulani is what most people would call a big man. Most of this weight, muscle and height in equal measures, came from the military training and diet. Bronzed ochre complexion spreads across his skin and highlights the sharpness of his grooming—thinly trimmed goatee on his face and a sponge-curled fade on top of his head. Jaheim takes personal hygiene and grooming very seriously due to the standards of the US military and because of his routine his skin is smooth and free of blemishes and his grooming is impeccable. Tattoos adorn his arms and back, identifiers from his active duty days and a rebellious answer to his parents’ desire for their son to be completely clean cut.}

_Age

₃₆

_Gender

_Male

_Nationality

_{South African}

_{Chaos Magic Ability}

_{Through the dual bonds of trauma and personal belief, Jaheim came to be able to harness the ability to summon weaponry. Once summoned, he is able to telepathically control said weaponry if he does not opt to grab hold of it and use it conventionally. These weapons are borne of both myth and legend and can be used in a variety of manners only subject to Jaheim’s whims. As a cost of harnessing Chaos Magic, Jaheim’s ability limits the number of weapons he is able to summon and control at one time. The greater the number, the more physical strain his body takes before vitality itself begins to be sapped from him. Summoning an army of weaponry may sound grand, but it would significantly shorten Jaheim’s lifespan and leave him in critical condition as well.}

_History

<sub>The beaches of Camps Bay in Cape Town, South Africa are where Jaheim Jabulani originally calls home. Born to a doctor mother and a military father, Jaheim’s life seemed destined for where it would end up. As a child, his home was all he could ask for. Situated in City Bowl about a half hour from the Bay, the Jabulani’s family home was tucked neatly between other apartment buildings and subject to the hustle and bustle of the city. It was the noise that Jaheim loved the most. Waking up to the sounds car honks, blended voices outside on the sidewalks, and public transportation really brought him to life. It evoked a vigor in him not dissimilar to the highs one gets from the gym when working out. But it was Camps Bay that really brought the kid out of him. His mother would take him every weekend to the beach so he could feel the sand between his toes and appreciate the clear blue waters. His father would join them when he could between tours and when they were all together, they had the best of times. Things changed when Jaheim turned six years old.

The beginning of the demon invasion was the worst part of the entire ordeal. No one knew where or how the creatures came to be, only that there had been a massive explosion in the atmosphere visible from everywhere on Earth and from that explosion, monsters crawled through the holes left behind and began to viciously attack humanity. South Africa was invaded not long after the initial explosion. The creatures tore people apart and even as a child, Jaheim was subjected to seeing things he shouldn’t have seen at such an impressionable young age. Due to his father’s military connections, Jaheim and his family were able to secure a way out of South Africa fairly quickly and the Jabulanis emigrated to the United States that same year. As part of the deal however, Jaheim’s father’s military unit was loaned out to the US Marines and they were to conduct joint operations together.

Every day became a horror. Jaheim would witness men, women, and even children torn apart on his way to school and he prayed for his father’s safety in the ongoing fight daily. By this time the angels had appeared and were helping humanity to destroy the beasts, but it was a slow going affair. There were protocols citizens had to follow in order to live somewhat normal lives and even with these adjustments, Jaheim always felt dangerously close to meeting the fate of any one of the unfortunate victims he’d seen in the past. He continued his education in the US school system, skipping a few grades here and there and dual enrolling in high school and college courses when the time came. Though he studied criminal law in school, he dedicated himself to physical training outside of it if only but to find a way to ignore the outside world for a few moments and pretend everything was still the way it had been.

When the news finally came that his father would never return, Jaheim became broken. He was twenty seven and the world was shifting even more quickly than it had been at the onset of the invasion. The angels had taken twenty years to eradicate the demons, but they had now turned on humanity choosing to punish humankind for frivolously wasting their lives in needless wars over resources and power. It turned out that Jaheim’s father would survive hell itself and the demonic invasion only to be slain by the betrayal of the angels. Jaheim was broken, but he was also determined. He never went into the depression that threatened to consume him because the goal was clear. He needed to kill the angels, no matter what the cost. He enlisted in the US Army the next year and chose to become the tip of the spear, an infantryman.

Jaheim was shipped all over the world during his tours of duty. He fought in South Korea, Afghanistan, Africa, China, Russia, and more, eager to go wherever they’d send him to fight back the angelic invasion and get revenge for the killing of his father. At age thirty three, Jaheim’s life took a different turn. As he was completing a tour of duty in Italy, he unknowingly uncovered a ring of believers hailing from The Vatican. The Vatican had been destroyed by this point in this time, but their remnants still held out in parts of the country. It came to Jaheim’s attention that this ring of believers were helping the angels in exchange for sparing their lives and their eternal devotion. Jaheim was outraged. So outraged that he murdered each person in the ring in cold blood.

Though he plead his case at his military tribunal, he was sentenced to a life in prison for killing human beings at a time when humanity was being slaughtered by supernatural forces. Jaheim had no choice but to accept his fate and serve out his sentence in a brand new experimental city called Seraph’s End. Three years later, Jaheim serves his sentence dutifully with the same sort of dedication he gave to the military when he was enlisted. There are rumblings that Seraph’s End will soon be hit by the invasion of angels, but as it stands it has not happened yet. The only things that occupy Jaheim’s mind are his mother who went back to South Africa after it was cleared of demons and somehow managed to survive the angelic onslaught thus far. His weekly calls to her are the only thing that keeps him going in a life where all he has to look forward to is his cell.</sub>

The Worn

Did someone say chaos magic?

Where did these powers come from and how common is it for people to wield some form of magic?

How long has it been since the initial demon invasion?

@Dark Light

I certainly did haha.

So where the powers come from is actually a relatively big plot point that I don’t want to spoil, but suffice it to say they come from somewhere quite unexpected. Magic is unheard of in this world. To explain a bit, in the world of The Worn the angels are invading Earth and every country’s military or defense force is doing their best to fend them off (conventional weapons can cause damage, but angels are intelligent so they fight with dynamically evolving tactics). The reason why the magic is such an important plot point in the narrative is because no one else (presumably…) can use it and it really gives our player characters an edge in the fight.

Good question. It’s been 30 years since the initial demon invasion took place. The angels took twenty years wiping out every last demon before turning their attention to humanity for the next ten years leading up to the start of our story.

The Worn

T h e W o r n

_{An Original Roleplay By
icmasticc}

---

---

_{”All wars are sacred to those who fight them. If the people who started wars didn’t make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?” - Margaret Mitchell}

---

---

_{Our end was perpetrated by our saviors}

---

_{Our world was never the greatest place. Maimed by endless wars for resources nobody had a rightful claim to, it was the war we never saw coming that brought about the apocalypse as we know it. An event only known as The Big Bang broke the barriers between heaven and hell and brought demons to the realm of humanity; they were ruthless. They hunted down the human race regardless of man, woman, or child and served only retribution and an insatiable hunger for flesh. But they weren’t our true punishment. The angels descended from on high, feathered wings outspread, fully armored and prepared for the battle they had waited millennia for. They fought back the demons until they made sure they were all but extinct. That’s when the tables turned. They turned their blades, spears, and all manner of heavenly weaponry against us and that was our end. Little did we know we had committed the highest offense. We had wasted our lives fighting amongst one another and now it was deemed that our lack of progress, of true innovation, meant we were condemned to death. So the angels attacked. And that was supposed to be our end. The final blow struck from heaven, from the gods themselves. But they never counted on that group. The absolute worst of us was set to become our saviors. This is their story. This is how those four fought back.}

_{The Concept}

---

<sub>Hi there and welcome to my original roleplay concept, The Worn. As you’ve no doubt guessed from the teaser above, this is an apocalyptic RP taking place in contemporary, modern times. The world hasn’t quite ended just yet, but it’s on the verge thanks to the onslaught of angels who have an axe to grind with humanity for being frivolous with their lives. Our story centers on four individuals, all ex-military of some sort (the details will be up to the player), all of whom have been imprisoned at the start of the narrative. For reasons yet unknown, these four are granted the ability to use chaos magic to fight back against the angelic invasion. The conceit is that these four are also some of the worst humanity has to offer. Now that doesn’t only mean worst as in criminal scum, but also worse for wear. They’ve been through countless wars of their own, possibly jaded by it all, and their exploits have taken various tolls on their bodies. While the magic helps them fight against foes stronger than humans, it doesn’t do anything to heal or amplify their physicality. They’ll have to fight through the pain, be it mental and/or physical, as well as through hordes of angels in order to discover the truth of the invasion and a conspiracy that’s larger than they could have ever seen coming.

While this is the overarching narrative, the RP itself will be take place in an episodic format including slice of life elements. It isn’t all fighting all the time. At the start of the story it will have been ten years since the angels attacked and they don’t attack relentlessly. There’s pockets of invasion all over the globe and people still have to live their lives even in these end times. So this RP will tackle plot threads both on the mission and off allowing for a character-driven experience that highlights player contributed lore and world-building elements. That’s right, you’ll be able to help build the world and contribute to the lore as you see fit. This isn’t a sandbox style roleplay, but your contributions will be key in immersing everyone in the world and plot.

This will also be a darker, more mature style roleplay. It will include adult themes and it’s gritty in its depictions of the world at large and daily life. That’s not to say there isn’t room for humor or levity as there will definitely be some more lighthearted moments to break up all the darkness, but for the most part this is serious in tone—most jokes will likely fall under the realm of black humor or deadpan style comedy—and serious in plot.

I’m looking for three dedicated and excited players who would be down for the long haul. This is a small group roleplay so I’m looking to create a small, tight-knit group who will do their best to see this through to the end. This will not be a first come first serve selection process either. All character sheets submitted will be considered and the three characters that seem to have the best fit will be chosen.

With all that said, who would be interested in this concept? I went ahead and added basically what amounts to the OOC in the interest check thread so you have all the information, but feel free to ask questions and I’ll answer everything you need or want to know! When enough interest is shown, I’ll create an OOC thread and transition this over there. That’s when you can begin submitting character sheets and asking more questions if you need. Please do not submit character sheets in this thread as this is simply the interest check in spite of what I’ve added to it.</sub>

_{The World}

---

As I said above, this takes place in modern times and thus our setting is a massive mega-city metropolis.

Seraph’s End

In the lore of the roleplay, Seraph’s End is an up and coming mega-city in the central United States. Because the architects really wanted to draw people to it, there’s all manner of entertainment, district, and activity nestled within. If you can think it, Seraph’s End has it and even through the siege of Angels, some people are doing their best to make what amounts to the last years of their lives count for something.

This is a great example where player contributed lore comes into play. The setting is modern Earth so your characters can come from anywhere on the globe with the only conceit being that they all ended up imprisoned in Seraph’s End by the start of the narrative. But beyond that, feel free to add to Seraph’s End or the world at large at your leisure. All ideas are welcome and most, if not all, will be implemented in some form for a truly collaborative experience.

_{Character Sheet}

---

<sub>So I’m not big on super detailed character sheets as I believe that most of the info you’re providing can be shown via the IC thread. It also helps character development when you can naturally, organically delve into aspects of your character through dialogue or events or introspection. Thus, my character sheet consists of the info most necessary to get a feel for your character and how they may interact with the world and other characters rather than a bullet point list of their every trait.

Character Sheet:
Name
Appearance (A simple picture will do. No anime please. If you’d like to describe them as well, I have no problems with that.)
Age
Gender
Nationality
Chaos Magic Ability (You have creative license here. As long as it’s nothing too overpowered, flex your brain. I’ll rein it in if need be.)
History (Everything from before, and up to, your character being imprisoned in Seraph’s End.)

Feel free to format it in the style you like best.</sub>

_{The Rules}

---

<sub>1. Guild rules apply, respect other players
2. Posting requirements are once every two weeks. If life comes up, as it so often does, just shoot me a message in the OOC or via PM. We can always make adjustments if you can communicate.
3. Communication is very important as exampled above. Be communicative please.
4. GM has final say. Obvious, but I’ll still put it out there in case there are arguments or anything of the like.
5. This is an Advanced level RP, but I’m a quality over quantity kind of guy. I expect posts with effort put into them, but don’t stress if it’s not a million paragraphs. Write until you post reaches it’s natural end, but let’s set a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs at least. That way everyone has an adequate amount of material to work from when posting their own advancements.
6. If further rules need to be added, I will do so.</sub>

A Heart Scarred And Embered

Post up! Thanks for the last line, it worked out well haha. A battle begins! Feel free to take this in whatever direction you want, I left some setup for you as you’ll see in the post. I have an idea of where this could lead, but I’ll react to the direction you take it in fully, there’s multiple paths here.

A Heart Scarred And Embered

<sup>Visions assaulted his senses, dancing around his mental sanctum sanctorum. Ash, acrid and pungent, burnt his nostrils as woeful memories took on intangible personifications. Blood, bodies, and cries of slain enemies filled the space of his mind’s eye. Force and willpower kept his eyelids closed; training and perseverance allowed his center to remain intact. Realities of present and past merged in a push pull battle of entanglement for superiority. The memories were long past yet their vices haunted him throughout his present. Nasiru understood his circumstances though even if he didn’t agree with them.

He allowed the memories to consume him in that moment. He watched with particular disdain as events played out before him in void space. Wispy lines flitted and coiled into three dimensional actors playing the parts of all those involved. He watched himself, a collection of translucent lining, dance around the void swinging dual short-swords with technique and precision. He bore witness to lined demons he slew and evaded in tandem. This memory was yet another reminder of his failures disguised as triumphs. An Archangel was supposed to relish in the throes of battle. The windfalls of combat. Yet he despised the translucent lining that mocked his ethereal form. It served only to remind him of how far he’d fallen in the thousands of years that had passed. How far he’d been distanced from the things that were truly important. Hazy and blurred, but just beyond the void space, just beyond the amalgamation of faintly glowing lines, he thought he could see them…

Ru’s eyelids flew open, but his body did not move. He sat against dilapidated, angled shingling of a rooftop. His arm rested on a raised leg while the other gave balance behind him. It wasn’t the ideal positioning for meditation, but he had long since given up formal traditions. Formal traditions had stolen his livelihood and brought about his current circumstances, after all. His wonderment shifted to the haze. Thousands of years passed yet they were still at the forefront. Almost. Just. So close. A darkened hickory arm slowly ascended from its resting place on his leg and extended out towards the waning sun. Long, thin digits gripped at the orb in the sky, but made no purchase. Ru exhaled and pushed himself to standing. Yellow pupils stared directly at the setting sun and took in its imagery. He thought for a moment he could see them again, but their forms had completely disappeared.

Lemon irises shifted from the sky to the layout before and below them. Rotting, abandoned homes lined the broken asphalt like husks who had lost their spirits long ago. Flora curled and claimed halves of the old buildings, cracks and crevasses in the road, and created a tree line on either side behind the houses as if someone from the old times had built a neighborhood running straight through the middle of a forest. There were trees taller than the houses just to their rear and they stood like watchful guards of the new era. Ru took it all in before exhaling again. The visions, the memories, and the haze didn’t matter all that much. Not in the face of his current circumstances. He took steps towards the edge of the roof until he walked into the air and dropped straight down to the ground, landing right in front of the door of the home he had been perched atop of. He saw Ana in the distance with Enzo. He smiled. Enzo was a beautiful horse and had he remained mortal, he would have found himself slightly jealous of his owner.

Ru began a slow stride towards the pair. They had agreed to search the neighborhood upon their arrival and, even though he’d taken a break to meditate, he had done his part. There was nothing to be found here, not in the way of supplies or anything indicating where the demon hellspawn decided to go upon leaving. That was a disappointment, but only the latest in a very long line of them. Ru had been searching an entirely different corner of the Earth for millennia and had found nothing to say his task had been worth it. It was only upon meeting Anaïs and Enzo that he had begun to finally make any sort of progress at all. Warrior he was, but tracker he was not. As Ru neared the pair, Ana’s voice echoed into the still air.

“So. What do you think? It’s likely been four or five days since anyone’s been here. Means we’re not too far behind…” she said.

Ru approached the shire and its owner and sighed heavily. He looked back and forth between searched houses and then back to Ana. She was taller than average at 5’9 for a mortal, but Ru stood heads and shoulders above at 6’6. His eyes met hers. “I share your assessment,” he said in deep baritone. “Five days have certainly passed since our quarry settled here. And I know not where they intend to run to.” He tried to temper the inflection in his voice, but he couldn’t quite his frustration. He never thought this would be the area where he would find the object of all of his ire, but he did think this would be where they would be able to make a significant advancement in their search. His frustration only lasted a few minutes.

It was faint, but the sound was distinct. Ru noticed Ana’s acknowledgement and nodded to her when she turned back to face him. “Five days have passed… But we may have good fortune yet,” Ru said, a smile creeping across his face. His hands instinctively reached behind himself near the small of his back at the waist. His dual short-swords rested in their curved sheaths, sleeping giants in miniature form waiting to be awoken for their next meal. Ru slowly unsheathed each and brandished them at his sides, briefly creating an x-formation as he did so. The blades bore a matching shape to their sheathes, silver metal etched in crimson runes from bottom to top. Each hilt was ornate and bore a panther’s roaring head on the butts of them.

At that moment, the figures rushed from the tree lines on both sides of the neighborhood. They resembled humans but their complexions were reddish hued, single or dual horns sprouting from their foreheads, and claws replacing nails on their hands. They moved quickly and each wore the remnants of what looked to be some sort of body armor, similar to what Ana wore though Ana’s was in much better condition. None of them had weapons which suggested they were the mindless variety. The very bottom of the barrel in terms of demon hierarchy. That was a disappointment. Another in a long line of them. It meant they would be getting no information from these types as they did little else but roar and scream. But it gave Ru one point of singular hope. As he rushed past Ana and towards the fast approaching group, he thought on this point in the void space of his mental sanctum sanctorum.

At least he could take out his frustrations in the proper manner.

He slid to a halt in the middle of the broken road. As part of the group rushed past him heading towards Ana and Enzo and another part stopped to snarl at him, challenging him to take them on, a final figure emerged from the tree lines and sauntered over to the group that had now surrounded Ru. The way he moved, the way his body language displayed, there was no mistaking it. This was a superior demon. One step above the mindless, but one who was intelligent enough to speak like a human and understand logic and reason. They weren’t the top of the food chain so he was undoubtedly not the one both Ana and Ru searched for, but fortunes had turned in their favor. He would be the one to show them the path forward.

Ru gripped the hilts of his dual blades and bent at the knees. Brought his center of gravity lower and spread his feet shoulder width apart. The basic tenets of combat as taught to him by the angels.

“Do you heed me, demon? You will tell me of the one called J’zir,” Ru said menacingly.

The superior demon broke out into a wide, toothy grin and almost laughed. “Come. Come and find out,” it answered.</sup>

A Heart Scarred And Embered

Thanks for saying that, I appreciate it haha.

And what a sheet it is, I like the creative liberties adding to the world. Nice touches.

Lol, take your time it’s all good. I’m gonna be thinking on my post the same as you when it comes time ya know.

A Heart Scarred And Embered

_{A H e a r t S c a r r e d A n d E m b e r e d}

_{An Original Roleplay By}

_{c o r n e r e d b l i s s x i c m a s t i c c}

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_{”The shattering of a heart when being broken is the loudest quiet ever” ~ Carroll Bryant}

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