Sanctuary
Shadowpuppet

Avadey, two years ago...

The city was engulfed in the flames of endless dragonfire, Arranthian flew over the city as the ground shook. An Academy teacher crawled out from the crumbling ruins. She stumbled over the rubble, but tripped and broke her ankle. Feeling helpless, she laid down and stared at the black abyss above, the starry sky.

"Marin! Get up!" A voice shouted. The teacher sat up, and saw her husband, Denys calling her over. Somehow he had managed to escape the chaos. Marin pulled herself up, and stood on her good leg. Denys ran over and helped support her as the quickly made their way out of the city centre.

The dragons would not cease their onslaught, buildings that had stood for decades tumbled down, crushing innocent people. The deafening roar of the furious Arranthian cause the ground to tremor.

"Why is this happening?" Denys asked. "Did something happen at the Academy? He continued. Marin sighed deeply and frowned, before turning to look at Denys.

"It's gotta be Lumina, it has to be. She won't cease until the world falls to light. That colossal dragon..." Marin began, as she pointed into the sky, at Arranthian. That must be the dragon of legend, the protector of the light soaked Kingdom of Utopia, Arranthian" Marin explained.

Denys looked lost from the explanation, unlike Marin, he was not a native of Avadey. He had grown up in Raryst, far away from the tales of dark and light.

"It is the legend that Andre Spectra spoke of when he last visited the city. The one that had been passed down his family through the generations" Marin continued.

"Come on, we best keep moving, if we hope to escape" Denys sighed.

"Right" Marin nodded. As Denys and Marin made their way through the streets, they eventually came across an undamaged church, that had been sheltered from most of the fire by the tall buildings that surrounded it.

Denys pushed the door open an helped Marin to one of the pews, she gazed ahead at the statue of Abyssia the Architect, the founder of Avadey.

"I'll go and replace some kind of first aid box or a crutch" Denys smiled before kissing his wife on her cheek. Had they known these were their final moments together, they would have exchanged much more meaningful words.

Alas, the hands of fate saw fit to kill Denys in a freak accident, in which an injured dragon crashed through the ceiling and crushed Denys instantly. Marin however survived, and as luck would have it, was found by some of Andre's Faithful, who wished to usher in eternal dark.

Modern day, in an unknown location...

"Oh, the shadowy hands of fate do work in mysterious ways, don't they? The city that had been felled by Roisin's brother, had directly led us to these circumstances" A sinister sounding male voice chuckled. The shadowy figure grinned as he knelt down to two prisoners who were sat in front of him. Abyssia and Araneia. Abyssia scowled at the man.

"You harm a hair on her head, and I'll tear you apart, like Lumina once did to Treleva" She roared. "Crystalla or not" She added.

"You forget, I control the hands of Fate, what I say goes" The Crystalla of Fate chuckled.

"You should never have been given this power, I demanded to the Gods above that no living being could harness this power and control it" Abyssia growled.

"And that's why you slaughtered them, like a good like Harbinger" The Crystalla of Fate grinned. "The irony" He added.

"I slaughtered them because they were reckless, I slaughtered them because their idea of a perfect world was nothing but a prison, no free will, no space for human minds, a paradise maybe, but even paradise can become a nightmare if you live it long enough" Abyssia shook her head.

"You aren't going to change my mind with philosophy. I have reasons for doing the things I do. I love this world as much as you. It is my sandbox, and everybody is my puppet" The Crystalla of Fate grinned.