Sanctuary: Jesyl Introduction part 1

When Jesyl was a baby she lived on the outskirts of a large and wealthy city. She had a mother and a father of considerable class and they were respected highly as privileged citizens. They lived in a white stone house overlooking a vast sloping green valley. From their many windows the valley looked like a ocean of green flowing down from the mountains that surrounded like giants. When Jesyl was still very young she and her mother would take walks down from the house to the valley below. It was always warmer in the valley than at the house and flowers bloomed there well into Fall. Jesyl and her mother would have picnics on sunny days and they would spend all day picking flowers to place on the table. She was a very happy girl and a joy to her mother.


Jesyl had what some would call a perfect childhood. Her father was wealthy so she was raised in comfort but not enough luxury to completely spoil her. She was taught right from wrong by her mother and became a very good girl. When other children would be getting into mischief and bullying she was minding her studies and spending time with her family. Which most of the time was just her mother since her father had to spend most of his time away to keep the family wealthy as it was. Even though she was a good girl and treated everyone fairly or perhaps because of her impartiality, Jesyl didn't make friends easily as a young girl. She had children who talked to her and played with her but no one she felt she could call a friend. Her mother was her best friend and Jesyl became her shadow. When her mother would take up a hobby Jesyl would show similar interest in the topic. The only time they spent apart was when Jesyl went to school and when her mom would sometimes climb the mountains around their home. Her mother was always adventurous and Jesyl always wanted to follow her up into the cliffs. She thought her mother was so brave to go up into the mountains all alone. Even through they were close to a large city it was still common to hear about beasts in the mountains coming in from the wildlands.

When Jesyl turned nine her mom and herself went on a long hike into the mountains up far over the valley until everything seemed so small. She could see her house and the valley seemed less like an ocean and more like a splash of green paint in the center of an ever expanding canvas. After a long day of climbing and walking they rested on a flat wide rock to look down at their progress. Jesyl was still far to young to make such a trip on her own but her mom had climbed the mountain dozens of times and knew all the dangers and obstacles. Her mom kept her close and warned her of dangerous spots in the terrain before they got to them. She also took the time to show Jesyl plants that could be eaten and plants that would make you sick. They camped in a clearing far above the valley below where the grass looked more like a beautiful jewel that could be held in a pair of greedy hands. In the night Jesyl heard a sound and as children are apt to do she wondered off without waking her mother. She had never been a timid girl even for spending so much time within the safety of her mother's gaze she had never felt afraid to step out un protected even at this age. Stepping lightly over loose granite, she made her war to a spring in the rock. Water was splashing off a flat rock making a slight noise that she hadn't heard during the daytime while she was so busy talking to her mother and asking questions of everything they saw. She reached out and the icy water splashed over her small hands. She squealed and pulled her hand back, drying it off on her dress. She turned to head back to the clearing when she saw the hulking beast that lay by the sping. It was as large as three horses strung together with flesh blackened and eyes shining in the moonlight. Raising up on two massive tree trunk like legs it roared and Jesyl screamed. And, for the first time feared leaving her mother's gaze. Running frantically she ran towards the clearing where they had camped but the beast was too quick and bore down on her. Raising a massive claw that was almost bigger than herself it brought it down to crush young Jesyl.

"Real" Friends

So, I've been having an increasingly hard time telling the difference between my on-line friends and my real life friends. They are starting to blur together like school days. It's bothersome to remember that sometimes you have never met someone no matter how much you know about the person. I don't much like these introspective blogs and I usually only find myself doing them at one in the morning when I should already be asleep and when a poem should be springing from my fingers. I guess I'm doing this mostly because I made a promise sunday that I would start updating this thing on a regular basis again whether or not people still read it.

I've got hopefully a bonanza of poems and even more hopefully I will be updating all my stories... even stuff I have never put up here. From Death Walker all the way to Sanctuary... I've been thinking how absolutely unfullfilled my dream to become a writer has become and so I've decided to attack this thing with new gusto. I figure if I can start writing at least a chapter of something a week... it'll be better than before. The last post wasn't quite a complete chapter so I need to step it up a bit more than that. I'm sure my month's of absense have scared off my 2-3 fans from back in the day so... maybe these introspective stories won't do the same thing to anyone who just happens to be wandering onto the page.

In other news I got a court date for later today so I really have to get some sleep so I can get up and talk to that nice police lady so she will cut my ticket down some at the court house tommorow. I hope you all are sleeping well and i hope to be on here again very soon writing an actual story and or poem.

Heaven's Home

The small figure of a woman lay under a layer of thick blankets for a full week with only shallow breath to signal life. She barely moved as the woman washed the sweat from her fevered brow was rewarded only rarely with her eyes flickering open. Even with the mysterious woman being nearly unconcious; she had become the talk of the town after being found in the middle of the desert barely covered by scorched clothing. It was no question that the woman was indeed beautiful and many of the young village men boasted of future conquest against her virtues. However, none of these boasters had enough courage to get close enough to the old healing woman's house to get more than a peek before being chased off by a stern look.

The healing woman had two daughters one was engaged to be married to a merchant who visited their humble market once a month. He had managed to come into the daughter's good graces with nearly worthless baubles that jangled from the daughter now where ever she walked. The daughter liked the attention and now spent many hours in front of a mirror or bathing herself in perfumes. She was a beautiful woman but what natural beauty she had was covered by pastes and powders the merchant had given her. The healing woman sighed as she heard the jingling of her daughter leaving the house.

Turning to her younger daughter she asked "Has Raul come to town already or does she plan on waiting all morning for him in the market?"

The younger daughter looked up from crushing herbs together in a small wooden bowl. "I heard his caravan horn not long past. His tents should be standing by now and he is sure to have trinkets a plenty for dear sister."

"Hush." The old healing woman chided her daughter gently. "It is good that she is marrying to a man that can take care of her and keep her happy. You would do well for yourself to find a man."

Having heard this line often enough since she had turned sixteen the younger daughter went back to her grinding until the herbs made a fine paste without comment. The smell of the crushed herbs was a robust heavy smell that seemed to fill the entire room. The old healing woman looked up at her daughter as the sound of wood against wood stopped and was replaced with a stifled gasp.

Bringing the blankets up around her bare figure Heaven the goddess of the moon slid backwards against the wall. Her eyes were so brillantly silver that they seemed to glow in the shadows of the small room.

"Dear oh dear. Don't move so quickly! Rebecca go and fetch some water quickly."

The wooden bowl clattered onto the floor as the younger daughter raced to fetch water from the common well the was only a short walk from the healing house. She came back with a wooden cup half filled with water and wet sleeves from splashed water. She handed the cup without hesitation to her mother who leaned in closely to the strange woman.

"Drink something but drink slowly. " She raised the cup to the woman's now chapped lips and began to gently pour a sip into her long dry mouth.

"Thank you." Heaven closed her eyes after the cup was finished and Rebecca was sent to fill it again. She leaned back against the wall and let out a soft groan.

"You have been asleep for a long time. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Heaven opened her eyes and looked at the old woman sitting in front of her. Memories of fire and darkness danced behind her eyes but she was having trouble remembering what it all meant any more. A handsome man dressed in fine clothes standing over her limp form. He was laughing a soft laugh seemingly without malice but somehow she knew that he was something truly horrible. At the same time she felt a longing to be with him.

"Are you ok?" The old woman reached up to touch Heaven's forehead.

"Yes. I don't remember everything. I was attacked, I think. "

"Do you have a name?"

Heaven paused for a moment. " I think it's..."

~~~

Swirling dust and biting sand walk through the desert like a bloated giant. The lumbering cloud tore through the desert with a determined pace; the small trading village in it's path was doomed. Dirt and rocks kicked up and flew in all directions as sand furrowed out a path through the dunes. Rumbling voices spilled out across the sand; chanting echoed off rock under a grey sky. The sand billowed up and ran across the length of desert like a wave of water breaking against the beach. Hot sun shone through the cloud of sand reflecting off the sand and causing a rippling mirage to radiate off of it. Few plants grew in the desert and none truly thrived, but the few that stood in the way of the swirling storm were cut down.

For a long moment the occupants of the small trading village were unaware of the looming swarm of rock and sand. Almost as one they turned their heads and gasped. A shadow spread out like a blanket; blocking out the sun moments before the sand came crashing down. Out of the belly of the beast came a battalion of horsemen; vomited out into the crowd of dumb struck peasants.

Heaven's Path (temp blog)

Her heavy boots bit into the sand as her path led down the dune into the Valley of the Fallen. Brilliant silver eyes peered out from under the cloth wrapped firmly around her face to keep out the wind thrust sands. She stepped down onto glass; it shattered under her foot. The sun was setting now behind her and the wind tugged hard against her cloak as if to warn her away from this place. A caravan of traders had taken her this far, but not even the bravest man or the stupidest beast would enter these lands. Here the ghosts of a thousands soldiers dwelled forever without rest.

Hundreds of years ago fire boiled up from the sands here. Here mortal men assaulted the gates of Hell themselves, led by the half god Rayne, and they where burned alive. That was a war of greed, and an attempt to wrest power from the jeweled demon Talin’Gagh. The glass at her feet radiated heat unnatural even to the sands of the desert she pressed on to the center of the smooth glass as the fiery sun rested on her shoulders for a moment before plummeting out of sight, and throwing the world into darkness. From her pack Heaven removed a torch and lit it with a whispered prayer crossing her lips. In the darkness the corpses of a thousand dishonored dead had gathered to feed on her living flesh. Holding the torch high above her with her left hand she threw back her cloak and revealed the naked blade of Seran-dal. The curved blade glimmered in the torchlight, and Heaven stood her ground. The undead creatures howled out in one voice echoing hundreds of years of sorrow. One by one they fell to their knees pitifully begging for merciful death.

Rotting armor hung from their limp forms as they prostrated themselves before here. The air was thick with the smell of their burnt and flaking skin. Faces of fallen soldiers turned up to her, some of them were almost recognizable as human. She felt nothing for these pathetic creatures who let greed lead them into this world of undying suffering. Heaven stepped back as a skeletal soldier reached out to grasp at her leggings. One blue eye looked up at her, the other was black and ozzing puss.

Seran-dal was royal steel, and a thing that could kill even those beyond the boundaries of death. The corpses ahead of her slithered aside as if a strong wind had pushed them back, but at the moment the night air was deathly still. The corpse of Rayne the half god appeared before her. His mane wreathed in flames he appeared as he did in life: a vision of beauty and strength. His eyes however were empty sockets where maggots could be seen crawling, and then he blinked.

“Who dares come to the entrance of Hell!?” Rayne bellowed, his handsome features unscathed by time, sand, or even death.

“I am called Heaven, daughter of Jorn Prince of the Moon Chariot.” She replied calmly but with a voice that conveyed power. “And, you will step aside.”

“I am Rayne, son of thunder, brother of …”

“You are not a mystery to me dead god!” Heaven interrupted. Unsheathing Seran-dal, she stepped forward mere inches from the towering embodiment of strength.

“Know your place girl, or I will strike you down!” The dead half god said, and the sand beneath their feet shook from the strength of his voice.

The sand at her feet kicked back into the warm night as she leapt into the air. All time stopped for a moment as she arced towards the ancient god, silvery moonlight blazing from her blade. The torch left her hand and fell towards the sand. Her boots planted on Rayne’s right knee, but she was already running up the length of his muscular body. His face twitched as she stopped on his shoulder, but that might have just been a trick of the light as the torch hit the ground and extinguished. In the dark Seran-Dal sang its prideful song and blood splattered upon the broken glass.

Moments later the torch ignited in her hands. The sands all around her was void of the undead corpses of the fallen. Rayne laid dead at her feet his hollow eyes staring up into the night stars, and his face still proud with a half smile crossing his lips. Ahead a hole in the glass vented hot steam into the cooling night air. Her silver eyes stared into that hole, and she smiled one last time before entering Hell.


Heaven fell into the darkest pits of hell. The light that she brought with her illuminated places that had remained shrouded in void since before the beginning of time. Blind eyes gazed up towards the light as she fell further and further downward, into the pit. Shadows shattered into a thousand pieces under the silver gaze of this woman as she landed atop a mountain of bones. Her step was light and she quickly began descending the treacherous structure. The guardians of the pit rose up then to destroy her, and there were many of these demon hounds. Their eyes glowed blood red and their teeth were like daggers. Their coats where black as night and seemed to absorb the light that shown from Heaven. They smelled of smoke, and freshly spilled blood. They let out roars that made the bones beneath her feet violently tremble. Visions of these fearsome creatures would cause the bravest man to tremble and fall to his knees. Heaven did not even bother to draw her blade.

She was among them like a ghost. Running up and down the mountain of ivory bones she dismissed them and threw them back out into the pits. Their necks broke and skulls shattered under her boots, and their souls smothered by her whispered prayers. Her raven black hair whipped audibly through the darkness, but the bones did not make a noise where she moved. The sickly noise of necks snapping and the pitiful yelps of the hounds died. Only one hound remained. He roared and the bones shook. He roared and all of the denizens of hell sang out his name. He roared and a king woke in his soft bed holding his sweat soaked chest. He roared and Heaven waited patiently for him to finish. This was more than a simple hound. She saw now, that he wore a crown of darkness and he took the form of a man then. Black energy swirled around him, and armor formed around his muscle bound body. A sword forged by Thorn, the God of Death, was raised high into the air. The demons all about cheered his name, and beat there gnarled fists on the ground. The sound of their chants echoed a while longer after they were suddenly silenced. The warrior had fallen.

Heaven walked past the fallen champion of hell. Seran-Dal sang in her hand as blood ran along its edge to fall into the piles of bones. All was silent. None challenged the woman as she strode with purpose into the palace of Talin’Gagh.

The jeweled demon was waiting for her there in his palace courtyard. Here the shadows did not stay as long and the courtyard seemed quite welcoming. Talin’Gagh stood to welcome her to his home. He was beautiful for a man. Long flowing black hair fell over the shoulders of his silk robe. He had smooth pale skin on a sleight frame that had first attracted Heaven to him. She had not known he was a demon at the time, but she wonders now if it would have mattered.

“My dear Jasmine,” he exclaimed as if seeing a friend he thought lost.

“I have come to take your life,” she responded coldly and she held out Seran-Dal

There was a moment then that seemed to hang forever between them as if reality itself had been broken. Moments end so quickly that she almost missed it, but this moment did last. Then they both moved like lightning. The peaceful courtyard fell to ruin as their battle destroyed trees, and the beautiful creatures scattered in their wake. A flock of snow white doves flew past them as she brought the sword downward. A tree shattered, but Talin’Gagh stepped nimbly aside. She fell to one knee and tears were streaming down her perfect face. She did not hate him. But, she knew he must die.

“I love you”

His eyes were filled with surprise as she sheathed her sword and he fell to his knees. Not knowing that he was already dead he tried to struggle to his feet. He slipped in the pool of his own blood and fell on his face, trembling once before he died.

Heaven reached out and found her preborn son’s soul in the mists of hell. She brought that soul, tainted with sin, into her self. The soul purified within her body. Souls came into the world with sin when they still had lessons to learn. Heaven could not allow her son to know this pain. Now only Heaven can not return to her place in the stars.