Enchroaching from the Edges {darkest_fate&The Fringes}

[darkest_fate]

Fae sighed as she shifted her hands, altering arcane wards. The redhead certainly didn't look like someone who should be upkeeping magical wards. A glance at her wouldn't reveal the magical powers or aptitudes that lay within. no, from a glance, she simply looked like a young woman in her late teens/early twenties (even Fae couldn't say with anything like certainty how old she actually happened to be). Her demon leather dress did indicate to any who looked that yes, she did happen to be a demon hunter. It also happened to show a fair bit of white skin, the paleness almost blindingly noticeable. Heeled, reinforced boots kept her literally on her toes, creating a pretty nice arch. In point of face, several had noticed the mage's rather fine build, even if she did have a tendency to hide some of her curves behind lace and fringe. Her youthful face probably helped.

Said face had scrunched while she examined the mystic symbols. Light trailed off her fingers like dripping paint, vanishing halfway between perfectly manicured nail and the ground. She tapped the air a few times, her nails creating vibrations in the air. Someone had... twisted the wards. They'd warped magics in a nearly masterful way, a way that, as far as Fae knew, only two people in the entire city could actually accomplish.

New Sanctuary had been a bastion protecting several thousand people from the encroaching demon hordes since they're sudden appearance all those years ago. The exact timing and history had been sort of fuzzy: for several years bordering on a decade everyone had been focused mostly on staying alive and not being transformed into monsters or consumed in blood or who knows what. Eventually people had come to realize that with the demon incursion came other abilities. Some were stronger. Some had unique skills, could channel chi or other energy. Some, like Fae, were born with the gift of magic. That magic and those skills had gone into keeping several cities together. New Sanctuary just happened to be the biggest, the largest, built out of several old world structures that impressed the younger generation like Fae.

The redhead sighed, reaching up to tap again. She frowned and swirled her finger, watching the magical symbols right themselves. her master had been diligently beating these sort of lessons into Fae for years. It didn't matter that she'd proven to essentially be a magical prodigy, boasting far greater skills than he had and barely an adult now. No, he still had to ride her. In fact, ever since her powers had developed and he'd agreed to her training, he'd controlled nearly every aspect of Fae's life. She had nearly constant supervision, and woe betide any boy or girl that mentioned having anything resembling interest in the pretty redhead. Apparently, "sexual conduct will kill the gift," and of course her master had to check regularly if she was engaged in it, something that Fae definitely didn't want to think about right now. He'd even picked out her underwear, and she still didn't know why she had to wear the lacy things. Ever since her breasts had become noticeable and she'd started her monthly bleed, he'd been putting her in far more uncomfortable undergarments than she'd like. At least she'd whined enough to get out of those "thongs."

"So who messed this up?" she asked as she flicked her wrist again. It wasn't her; it wasn't her master, and nobody else should have been able to do this. The reports had come in, and she'd insisted on checking herself, figuring it would just be a simple checkup. Yes, this was a border; the demon territory was just beyond this street corner, but she hadn't planned on being there long. Now Fae had already spent close to an hour in this spot, working magics. She might as well have sent up a flare.

"Just calm down,' she told herself, fingers working through the air again. "Calm down, finish the job, and you can go back and enjoy some cocoa or something," she gestured with her hands, mumbling under her breath as she started yanking harder and harder on magical strands, pouring all her focus into righting the wards and ignoring the world around her.

 

[The Fringes]

“Is submission not preferable to extinction?” The universe had always been what it was. An incalculable pretext to mystery and mysticism. Layers upon layers of enigma that had always intrigued and mystified the staunchest of astrophysicists and astronomers alike. The galaxy held its enumerable secrets at the behest of riddles. Of an never-ending multiverses, or series of universes that were all crafted to keep away from each other -- far, far away from each other. Explorers could never fathom the truest scope of the universe, or how it contributed to the many different dimensions and realities that existed. But to someone like him, the universe had only become child’s play to him, a measure of his vast playground.

When Ardruk ascended from the depths of both the Underworld and Hell, the demons knew that the humans were on borrowed time. Infiltrating the major cities of the world, the fearful humans attempting to band together in hopes of curving this threat. There was a particular violence in the air that called to him. The stirring between humanity and the scourges of the underworld. The vice of death echoed serenely, but with the perfect combination of sheer power and seductive darkness, which alerted the other demons to his presence. Before long, a dark shadow soon crept within the embrace of the coven, darkening the inside of the sanctuary. A torrent of smoke soon bellowed forth, and before long, the taut and mysterious demon stepped out of the haze. Ardruk stepped forth and immediately caught the horror-inducing scent of blood. Peerless purple eyes glanced around the haven, taking note of the fanged demons, far many that the eyes could spot.

Most of the demons clearly looked the part, with their twisted horns, their glaring red eyes, and their hulking bodies, perfectly fit to break the human race physically, as well as sexually. But Ardruk, at least at a glance, did not seem to have the same sort of requisite ferocity. No, he looked more like a wealthy businessman than a terrorizing demon. A sleek midnight blue blazer adorned his torso, along with matching pants, neatly pressed and ironed as if going to work. But instead, the humanoid merely surveyed the scene that was slowly developing, where dozens of bodies were seemingly piled on the streets in front of him. Perhaps as an unspoken means of praising their lord and Demon King, the demons carefully constructed the bodies as a sort of reverence, despite their blooded and battered position. Of course, it was also a means of signaling any human who was smart enough to surrender, unless they too became a casualty.

Ardruk had spent a great deal of time in observing humans, both as a shady serpent of the dark,as well as a bright and informative businessman. He knew of their weaknesses, but more importantly, their strengths. See, it would’ve been easily to target them where they were at their weakest to let them know that they were exposed. That is what some of his demonic underlings preached what they should do. Ardruk, on the other hand, saw things very differently. It was their strengths that he wanted to target. Because there was nothing like bringing down their ultimate strengths to show humans how hopeless their situation was, and how the demons were the next step in evolution. From what he had observed, and from what reports he gathered, these ‘demon hunters’ played into their strength and their resistance. Immediately, that was where Ardruk took to demolishing humanity.And now, right as he stood at the street corner that barely protected New Santuary from him, the mystical wards that previously held back his demon forces were rattled, unstable in their magic, fleeting in their arcane protection. There was power here. Unmistakable power. And Ardruk fully intended to tap into it. The demon casually licked his lips, adjusting the blazer that cupped his form. To many, he would’ve appeared as nothing more than a charming, handsome human. Dirty blonde hair, somewhat of a beard with the sideburns connected. Very debonair, very dangerous. But you could see the dark glint in his eyes, and the resulting tremor of his announcement that the demon king was anything but human.

 

[darkest_fate]

The wards rippled. Fae could feel them pulling and yanking, wanting to dissipate entirely. she frowned, fingers tightened as focused her grip, both physical and metaphysical, pulling at forces and keeping them locked in place. The young magical genius studied the wards with a keen, critical eye. Her gaze flicked and darted from ward to ward, noting the connections and following magical energies. Something had tugged at it, no, was warping it, changing it. What was...

someone approached. Fae's eyes widened, her hands tightening again for a few moments. She was too wrapped up in the wards to do too much extra casting, not at this moment. Nearly every demon in existence would be thrown back by the arcane energies. Those that could break through, well, she probably wouldn't have been able to deal with them on her own anyway. They'd have triggered wards and sent signals to all of New Sanctuary if they got within miles of the place though; they did on almost a weekly basis. There were humans, but most humans didn't want to fuck with mages, either out of some primal fear or from the very real knowledge that there weren't that many expert magic users about, and most of them were the key defenses against the demonic forces.

The girl blinked and stared. "Is that--- hello?" she called, feeling the magic pull at her yet again. Something in this new arrival was sending the wards all a quiver. "Look, I need to adjust these wards are--" her eyes narrowed as Fae tried to look out into the dark. Was that a person? or a demon playing a trick? What exactly was going on here. "If you're human, you need to get your butt over here, like, in a hurry," the mage said, jerking her head. she turned, pouring more energies into the wards and attempting to finesse them into place. "the demons are getting really restless right now, and they're probably, well, you can see them," she shrugged and jerked her head slightly that direction.

If the guy didn't make a break for it, Fae was going to have to go out or in and save him (she still wasn't sure which direction he was actually coming from; working wards was incredibly distracting work). That would suck, not least of all because the chances of her getting captured along with him were pretty damn high. If he got at least within range though, well, she could actually extend the wards out for a moment, or blast any demons that got close or try a dozen different other little tricks.

Guy had to get within range though. Assuming he wasn't already. Fae grunted and pulled at wards again, feeling them buck against her like a wild animal.