Temple of The Watcher

She couldn't help but feel hopeful, wondering for once if she had been the exception, rather than the majority. But she also knew to be an outsider and pass a test many acolytes had failed would insult many of the people around her. That fact didn't bother her as much as it shouldve. 

Annelise let her gaze drift to the murals, fascinated by the chapel's description of the Diarmid's vast history. The chapel was so incredibly beautiful.

She waited in anticipation for the Priestess' declaration.

"Among this entire group, only one of you took the time to understand the symbolism of the trials. And it was because of that she passed the last trial while the rest of you floundered like helpless children!" She chided as she pointed to Annelise.

"This wondrous outsider was the only one who truly grasped what was taught here. Granted her combat skills need improvement but in her I see potential for our ways." She praised earnestly as she then scowled and looked back at the failed acolytes. "It is more than I can say for the rest of you."

The expressions on the acolytes ranged from shame and disgrace to baleful hatred toward Annelise. How could a mere outsider surpass them in trials made by their people? It was enough to wake the emperors for them.

"You fools, a follower of the watcher is not an ogre, all brawn and no brains. I pity the future of our order if the likes of you are considered apart of it." Her words held venom, as though their mere presence was offensive. This was by far the most acolytes she'd ever seen fail at one time and it was an insult to their way of life. "Be gone. Take your trials again in another year when you are ready to be men and women, not useless whelps!" 

The acolytes quickly made their way out, not daring to incite the priestesses fury further. However more than a few of them glared at Annelise on their way out threateningly.

Ooc ohhhh shit

Ic Annelise listened to the Priestess's words with earnest, carefully avoiding the gaze of the others around her as she did so. She was used to being a target within Kastanika; the Kastinikans and the dhampirs are not fond of humans, especially ones like her who had crossed into both sides of the city, learned their ways, and survived without revealing her affinity to creatures.

"Thank you Priestess, I have been in rigorous training to improve my combat but I know I have a long way to go." She bowed to the older woman, graceful but meticulous in her manner. 

"What advice would you recommend?' Annelise was always eager to learn, especially to make her a more well rounded person.

"Rise outsid..." She stopped herself, "honored acolyte. You have more than earned your place here." Humility was a trait not typically seen in Diarmid's gates so it struck the priestess's eyes as strange to behold. 

The woman lowered her hood, revealing a stunningly beautiful woman that would quickly put an end to the joke among the realms that there were only manish women in Diarmid. Ash colored hair fell over her shoulders and an athletic build supported her strength. Her piercing green eyes seemed to scrutinize every detail they took in, looking for an opportunity to strike like a cobra. "I am Priestess Aloncra, I help to oversee the training of new acolytes, provided they succeed in their trials. As you have done."

"For advice, I would suggest only you embolden yourself. Meekness is the attitude of a slave, not a follower of the Watcher. Think you that our forefathers braved the wastelands timidly when they were exiled?" The woman's voice was like candlelight, soft but also hot with passion for her beliefs.

"Of course not." Her reply was instant, clasping her hands together in front of her. The Priestess's beauty was almost breathtaking, but Annelise knew better than to disrespect someone on the basis of their appearance. 

"The rulers of my area were very much the same. They formed a city after being persecuted for many centuries, and now they have physically evolved to become one with their environment and nature. I have learned much from them, but i must seek my own path now; the one of the watcher."

"I am a lot stronger than i look, but I cannot rely on an opponent underestimating me."

Annelise adopted one of her defensive stances, curling her feet into a sturdy position. She would do anything to prove herself.

"Very respectable And where is it you're from?" Aloncra walked around her, like a vulture studying prey. 

"I find it fair to warn you, these lessons are not for the weak. That is our way, the strong must continually strive to be stronger." 

"And it is because of this you were singled out from the other acolytes. Only the best do we accept. However, you will not be alone in these lessons..."

"The realm of Kastanika. It is a place that has been torn with civil war for many centuries now, where humans and half-breeds such as myself are experimented on. But no more - Kastanika has revealed itself to other realms and no test from my city has crippled me yet."

She tipped her chin up with confidence. "I do not believe I would be here if I was weak. I will make myself ready for the road ahead."

Annelise would not accept the compliment that was her strength. She was aware of her own weak spots during the tasks, and knew she would be further exposed whilst training.

"Will you give me any indication of what lies before me?"

The story impressed the priestess, as she nodded her head with a spark in her eyes, "very impressive. You'll fit in here nicely."

"As for your next step you'll be trained alongside another acolyte who passed today, Degar. I must say, he is real diarmidian strength, Raised from birth to be a warrior. He would've ripped the acolytes you were with to shreds if they were in the same group."

"You've already passed the tests for our philosophy and so now we tailor your curriculum based on the results of your trials."

"Watcher willing, you'll both pass and partake in the great pilgrimage."

She nodded eagerly. "I'm sure me and the other acolyte will get along great. My philosophies should compliment his true strength. I do hope I will partake in the great pilgrimage; it would be the highest of honours."

However, Annelise knew that she would be behind other acolytes in terms of strength. "Maybe I could learn from Degar. Do you believe he would be a willing teacher?"

"Perhaps, I cannot be sure as I only met him today."

"I'd advise you speaking to him. I believe we have a vacant room next to his so feel free to take it."

She waved her hand and three pillars of stone lowered into the floor to reveal a staircase. "Your room will be on the second floor, across from the Hall of Scrolls..."

She nodded, starting to ascend the stairs. "Thank you for your advice ma'am." Annelise resisted the urge to bow, instead offering a warm smile as she went in search of Degar.

One door was open, and she assumed this room would be hers. She had little possessions apart from her amulet and her purse, so she had no reason to unpack or personalise the room in any fashion. Instead she spotted that one of the doors was shut, and knocked on it with vigor.

"Hello?" she offered as means of greeting.

The door opened and out stepped a man in his early twenties. Sulfur eyes gazed down upon her, with short red hair sticking straight up like fire from a pit. He was built extremely well, his impressive physique only being obscured by spiky shoulder armor 

The oddest things one could point out about him were the massive wrist weights that occupied both arms. Each stone ring looked to be nearly a hundred pounds alone. The same rings held down his feet outside his red pants, with a sword hanging from his left side. However to this man, the weights seemed no more a burden than air itself. 

Oddly, he lacked any facial scars that were typically associated with Diarmidian men. Further adding to the oddness was what looked like a brand of a skull of an hawk or falcon on his forehead and other tribal markings along his temples.

"Yes?" He asked as he resheathed his sword and the stray falling to the floor from a dummy left nothing to the imagination of what he was using it for.

Holy sh-


Annelise did not seem to recoil at all, her plain and unassuming figure retaining its neutral posture. Her hair was carefully scraped into a small bun, wisps of dirty blonde hair escaping from their intended place. Whilst short for a Kastanikan, Annelise was quite tall and measured in height compared to other species, but his impressive figure did not appear to deter her in the slightest.

"Hello. I'm Annelise. I'm the other acolyte who past the test."

She made a gesture to bow, a simple yet courteous nod of respect and diligence. "I wanted to know if you would tell me about yourself." Annelise did not want to comment on the obvious strength of the immense being in front of her. Being used to violence, the swordplay was not frightening to her at all; Kastanikans were notoriously bloodthirsty. And so was she, if she gave into such base urges.

Degar grunted, and tilted his head to the side quickly and bringing it back to normal to grant her permission inside. He walked back into the room.

"Guess you're the upstart people are talking about. The one who throughly humiliated those other acolytes." He grunted once more and nodded in appreciation, "Nice work there. If they didn't pass, they don't deserve to be here."

OOC I'm still trying to find his 'voice' so bare with me if I try a few different approaches to his character.

Ooc no worries! Same for annelise

Ic she nodded, carefully agreeing with his sentiment. "I didn't realise I had a reputation; if anything I thought youd be the topic of conversation. After all, your strength must far exceed mine." Annelise had been a subject of rumour in Kastanika too, since no human had ever truly left the city.

She stepped inside the room. "I was hoping you would help me with that."

"Strong people pass here all the time. Comes with the homeland. But strange people, not so much." He told her in his gruff voice as he resupplied a dummy.

"Especially one who leaves such a place as Kastanika." He eyed her curiously. "We've known them a while. Powerful people." 

"And as for strength, you have to get your own. That's how things run around here. If you aren't strong enough to get it yourself, you don't deserve it." Power and strength was everything in Diarmid, and how could it not be with how harsh and unforgiving the land they lived in was? There was one way to live and a million ways to die out there. They managed to turn survival into a prideful manner and this usually put them at odds with more luxurious societies who wanted for nothing.

"I can show you some basics though, what you do with them after is your business. Are you Ignited or Emberless?"

At the mention of her homeland, her ashen grey eyes practically sparked to life. "You know of Kastanika? But how?" She almost leaned towards him, trying to analyse him. "My hometown is one that is awfully isolated.."  Her curiousity was evident.

But at the mention of factions, she shied. "... I am not keen on choosing sides. Civil war has torn Kastanika into three regions, which still haven't fallen. Conflict has been at the root of my torture. " 

Whilst Annelise noted it had caused her physical mutation and her empowerment, she would not willingly choose to partake until she knew more about what she was fighting for. 

"I'm afraid you will have to educate me more on Diarmid customs. I am aware of them, and have researched them myself, but I do not want to offend your people if they are soon to be mine. And with regards to the training, I will do whatever is necessary."

"In Diarmids imperial days, we scoured the realms everywhere to expand our empire. The members of Ra division, my ancestors," he pointed to the brands on his forehead, "fought there once if memory serves. A valiant battle but not without its price. Several souls gained access to Alagor that day."

"Also I think you misunderstand me. Emberless and Ignited are not sides as much as states of being. The Ignited can use what the other realms refer to 'magic' and the Emberless cannot but make up for it with strength of the body."

"There are courses here for both types to maximize your power." Division of the people was unheard of in Diarmid. They believed that a persons honor was the only merit worthy of notice and cared little for money or political convulsions. What a person made as their livelihood was their own business so long as their word could be trusted and their place earned.

"I can show you. Come." He grunted as he made his way to the exit. "Have to learn the people before I can show you much else."

She blinked with surprise, clearly taken aback. The girl hadnt realised that Kastanika was known across the realms already, and she wondered who they had fought for at the time. The Daywalkers like her had tried to enslave Kastanika throughout history, but now civil war was rife.

"The Dhampir in my city unlocked my magical potential, I have affinities that nobody in Kastanika has ever held before. Maybe it is because I am an experiment."

Annelise hung her head, her blonde hair dipping out of its Bob. "I shall follow, for knowledge is my tool."

OOC Moving to the village itself!

Back at the temple, the priestess from before awaited the return of the acolytes...

The girl was hurrying back, now fully equipped with the appropriate attire. She looked similar to the Valkyries that had protected Kastanika in the past, choosing to adopt their appearance.

Upon sporting the Priestess she halted her half-sprint, bowing carefully before her. She hoped she had been punctual.

"Pleasure to see you again, Acolyte Annelise." Priestess Aloncra greeted pleasantly, or at least as pleasantly as could come to her. 

"I have some rather interesting news for you. Normally another priest or priestess here would oversee your training. However given my particular intrigue in your case, I personally volunteered to be your overseer." Her cobra-like eyes gauged her face or her reaction.

Her eyes lit with their astonishment. "R-really? Wow, I didn't realise I was that different..." She was humbled, to say the least.

"Thank yoh Priestess. I won't disappoint you." She at least hoped she wouldn't. "I'm sure your interest will be to my benefit."

"My benefit has nothing to do with this." Aloncra told her, unimpressed by her humility. "This is about your development and betterment. Remember that."

"I think some emboldening is in order first."