Sanctuary II

Years ago, in the Imperial Capital of Aranei, in the Halls of the Imperial Academy, a young Varla had just finished her classes for the day, she watched a boy of her age walking by, looking lonely and sighed, she still couldn't find the courage to talk to him. She shrugged and headed down the steps of the Academy to the speedrail train station.

As she made her way through the crowd, in the square that sat at the bottom of the long stairway from the Academy, she gazed up at the Grand Imperial Palace, coated in darksteel it towered over the city below. She soon boarded the speedtrain and headed home, watching the city fly by outside the window.

The train soon came to a halt in a small suburb, the autumnal trees were shedding their leaves, which made the pavement slippy in several spots. Varla didn't mind, she liked this time of the year, she soon reached her house, a small white wood panelled home, with a few dwarves in the garden.

As she opened the door she hung up her purple coat on the coat hanger and undid her scarf.

"I'm home!" She called out.

"Dinner will be ready before long! It's your favourite!" Her mother called back.

"I'll be out in the shed!" She replied.

"Okay, don't get your clothes dirty" Her mother replied. Varla headed toward the back door and opened it, the lawn in the back garden was mowed neatly and a small tool shed sat out in the far corner. Varla quickly made her way to the shed, and headed inside, locking the door behind her.

She turned the light on, and knelt down to the floor, lifting a small rug, below the rug there were about four loose floorboards, she lifted them up, revealing a hidden room below, tiled with mismatched white tiles. In the corner of the room, sat a Hubun teen boy, around the same age as Varla, he was beaten and bruised, his hands were tied together and his mouth was covered.

"Wanna say sorry yet?" Varla smirked. The boy muffled something that sounded vaguely similar to 'Fuck you', this made Varla chuckle a quiet laugh. "Good" She winked, as she picked up a wooden bat and slowly walked toward the boy.

Two years later, in the days following the fall of Terrana...

Varla and another student were sparring in a combat class, in the Academy. Unlike the other Academies, the Imperial Academies forced expert class students to fight with sharpened blades, citing that only real danger revealed true strength.

The other girl swung her blade at Varla, narrowly missing her, the watching students clapped, the sad looking boy that Varla saw all those years ago didn't, though he watched intently. Varla returned the swing, but the other girl blocked the blow with her sword, before trying to kick at Varla's feet.

Varla growled at the other girl, and stopped holding back, launching a flurry of attacks, the girl blocked the first few, but the blade broke and went flying across the floor, Varla refused to relent, as she kept swinging at the other student, blood splattered across the watching students as they looked on in horror. Varla grinned and looked up at the sad looking boy to see him giving her a disgusted, and shocked look, she looked down at the girl and back up, and the face of the boy was no longer there, instead it was a female student, giving her the same look of disapproval. Two tutors pulled Varla back from the other student, one of them punching her across the face.

Another two years later, in the months following the fall of Pyre Academy. Varla had finally graduated, and was trying to enroll as a Crystalliam Knight at the local Marauder's Guild. Nearby that same sad looking boy was leant against a wall, watching. It was Keegan.

"Keegan? What are you doing here?" Varla asked. Keegan just shrugged, and walked away, refusing to answer. Varla watched as he walked away.

"Next" The attendant at the counter called over, he was a large fellow, with two rabbit like ears sticking from his messy hair, a Hubun. Varla snapped out of her daze and stepped forward to the counter.

"I'd like to be a Crystalliam Knight" Varla smiled, as she handed over her graduation papers. The attendant sighed as he read over the papers.

"Sorry, no can do" The attendant shrugged, handing the papers back.

"What?! Why?" Varla grunted.

"We don't allow graduates with a history of violence to join the order" The attendant shrugged.

"Isn't that a bit dumb? Knights fight" Varla frowned.

"They don't murder comrades, or should I say, butcher" The attendant shrugged. "Go join the Imperial Legion if you're that kind of person, they're always recruiting for those Dreadnought ships" He added.

"Whatever" Varla glared at the attendant and stormed out.

Later that night, as the attendant was locking the guild doors, Varla approached him from behind, and grabbed one of his ears, pulling him to the ground, with her other hand, she covered his mouth.

"You'll be my third kill, you know" Varla smiled. "My first was that dumb Hubun classmate of mine, he thought it'd be funny to send a prank love letter, so I killed him" She reminisced. The attendant looked at Varla with fear in his eyes.

"Next, there was Abigail, that stupid Glacial transfer student. Constantly lording it over everyone as Little Miss Popular" She continued. "That said, I didn't kill them because they wronged me" Varla grinned, as she leant down to the attendant's ear.

"I did it because it was fun!" She whispered loudly, before driving a blade into the attendant's chest. The attendant gasped for air as blood poured from his mouth. Varla grinned and stood up.

"I took your advice by the way" She said gazing down at the man. "I'm joining the Valkyrie" She winked, as she turned and walked away. As she rounded the corner, she looked in her reflection, in the shop window. She jumped, as she could swear she saw a face behind her... Keegan, looking at her with that same look of disapproval.

"You know what, Keegan? I don't care what you think of what I've done. I did it for me, not you. It feels good to kill, it makes me feel alive" She whispered. "I thought I could find that feeling with you, that we could kill together, but it seems that is not meant to be" Varla sighed, as she took one last look at the reflection of Keegan, she spun around to see nobody there.