the sapphire

[0ut-of-my-head]

ÇAĞLAR ERTUĞRUL in Teşkilat (1)

[echionx]

"Who's joking?" Echion dismissed, "I won't go to another brother's funeral; you're not just shortsighted Hyperenor, you're blind. You always have been. It's another thing that makes you a weak, easy target." Maybe their paths would cross in another four thousand years; Hyperenor and Udaeus could frolic about whatever half-baked plan they might devise, but for that to happen, the former would have to get over himself. Maybe they'd even drag Pelorus out of his self-induced pit of lazy depravity. Hyperenor had this foolish notion that he could manage anything on his own, though, so the only place that either of Echion's other brothers would end up was at the Saphhire's funeral. Intentionally cutting, whatever was stunted about the Pearl kept any notion of sentiment at bay; at his core, he was grieving, and the thought of losing another brother was too unbearable. Cutting ties felt better than standing by as they approached an executioner's blade. "Try not to do anything stupid on this crusade of yours."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Gritted teeth, flared nostrils, and a piercingly cold gaze were Hyperenor's only responses. Blind? Weak? He rejected the suggestions outright. He dreamed of vengeance for thousands of years and was now the only one left carrying the torch. If they weren't bloodying their hands then why should they continue to live at all? He refused to teeter over that edge and become a pit of despair like the brother before him. So war it is... Between the vampires and the Great Old Ones, Hyperenor had enough pent-up rage to keep him going for lifetimes. "I wish someone would target me. I could use the practice. This city is overflowing with vampires and when I break down and let myself rampage like I'm itching to do, I want to be in top shape." Any warning from Echion fell on deaf ears, a certainty from how Hyperenor growled as he brushed past. He wasn't interested in letting the vampires proliferate any further. Their time ended with him. "Save your advice for someone who cares to hear it. My only regret now is ever listening to you in the first place."

[healerswanford]

"If I am a cockroach, what does that make you?" She snarls, barely constrained rage swelling as any attempt to talk evaporates on his mindless rage. Isabella has seen plenty of people like him, hunted them and took them down for the Senate's sake. By the Inferno, she had been one of them, stuck in mindless rage after her death and seeking to raze those who had betrayed her down to the ground. She had burned and destroyed those men, and she has never regretted it quite as much as she should. For that, she knows she is not so different than Hyperenor. Rage and hate had driven her to destroy, and she had done just that, but her revenge as a vampire had been self-contained in a way. Once done, she had stopped, but she does not see the man before her stopping until he burns the world down around them. It's not something sustainable, and the part of her that sees herself on his rage wants to help. Unfortunately, she is just the right species that doing so is nearly impossible.

She disperses into mist, escaping the mineral spikes and reforming to the side, just in time for one of the bullets to find it's way to her side. She stumbled on a moment, pain distracting enough to keep her for turning back into mist, so she hisses instead, fangs dropping as another bullet hits her and she realizes she is danger. She has not fed in a week, and if she keeps getting hit and bleeding out, she will begin desiccating soon. "Don't delude yourself into making me the monster here, when all I have ever done is protect myself and my family."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Hyperenor would not stop. Nothing else mattered to him except moments like these. When he first awoke and made his way to Rome, before he had bothered to even learn about the complexities of this era, he had torn vampires to shreds as if it were instinct. Shoving his arm through ones chest provided a sense of balance he lacked doing anything else, and that surge of satisfaction washed over him now. What does that make him to her? The boot of course.

When he went to war, Hyperenor saw nothing but his enemy. And when he ripped them to shreds his gaze would seek out the next enemy. He was Echidna's favored monster because of his ability to shed everything except his viciousness. Hyperenor held no delusions about who he was. Monster he'd be again, and proudly if it was the name her kind would refer to him as. "You know nothing of family!" Firing off bullets wildly, Hyperenor empties his magazine in a flurry only to discard it for a full one. "You and your kind are deceitful plagues! You have no right to life, none!" He fires a few more rounds before stopping himself. Slowly, Hyperenor begins his approach keeping his firearm raised. "At the end of the day, your reason for being is irrelevant. What you truly are is worthless. It's those you came from that I want. Making you suffer in your last moments is a small consolation prize for me. You alone can't satisfy my hatred, but ripping your heart from your chest will bring me peace for a night."

[thedopple]

The Wolf inhaled sharply, despite being technically dead. In a way to calm themselves, to really understand the situation better. So that man wasn't human, but another creature entirely. Shaking their head ever so slightly as to not touch the blade one more time, the Wolf's eyes were widened, and yet, a grin appeared on their face. "Too bad, you could've asked first. Else you would've found the answers you were looking for. No vampire, sorry to disappoint." Shoving the other away by also bending their body backward, as far away as possible, the Wolf remained on guard. "The fuck's your problem? You can't just attack people on the street, possibly carve out their hearts and then decide if the kill was worth it or not." Props to him, the Wolf would've probably done the same. "Who are you targeting anyway? Like, you got me excited there for a hot minute."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Flesh was flesh, a wound was a wound. On the field of battle, it didn't matter what lineage someone hailed from. Every enemy had their fatal spots no matter how immortal, so strike and strike until they were dead. Someone like Hyperenor couldn't see the day-to-day in life as anything but an extension of a warzone. He never let his guard down. "I'm not going to apologize. I doubt I could've harmed you anyway. You're fine, though as I stated lucky. Collateral is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. If I have to slaughter a thousand innocents to off my target, then I will. That's what it means to be a soldier." But that was only the most appropriate label Hyperenor could identify for his aspirations in this era. Monster was what he had been for Echidna, and Monster was what he wanted all vampires to recognize him as. "Nightwalkers, leeches, scourges that have plagued this realm for far too long," he says truthfully, seeing no need to hide his intentions. Hyperenor had no interest in terrors. "Vampires, so if you have connections with the creatures, I'll spare myself some future trouble and dispatch you now."

[pelcrus]

Pelorus bent over backwards for his brothers more often than most of them would ever truly notice. They were the people he cared about most in every life he could possibly have. After Arachne of course, but they were right there in his mind when he made any decision in his life. They'd just woken up into a new world where they had nothing but chips on their shoulders. And they'd failed. They had set out to do one thing and they had failed. The brothers spartoi were down one again and it felt so much worse now than it had before. Still, he would have preferred his brothers do whatever the hell they wanted if they felt like it. He'd just have to turn a blind eye now. "Did you have more to say, Hyperenor? Every time we speak, it's the same old shit every single time. You don't want us around. You want to do all of this alone. Then I tell you to do whatever the fuck you want and you find a problem with it. What the fuck do any of you want from me, huh?" His voice rose as he shoved at Hyperenor. "What the fuck do you want, huh?"

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

"Maybe if the rest of you made some real fucking changes, I wouldn't have to waste my breath toting the same line. Did you ever think about that?" Blow for blow, Hyperenor's frustration and anger surged with his brother's. He felt a deep loneliness that made no sense and it wasn't until he awoke in this era that Hyperenor could properly process what dwelt in his heart. He fought longer and harder alongside a false god than any of his brothers had, and when the truth came to light he fought again beyond their bounds. Always the last one standing, Hyperenor's rage craved companionship he believed should've been found in at least one of his brothers. So far, none came close. "Aren't you pissed? Aren't you full of hate? Aren't you willing to risk everything to balance the scales? Don't you hate the vampires? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Hypernor shoves Pelorus back, but he doesn't stop with just one push. All the anger and pain he's harbored boils over as he shoves Pelorus over and over. "I want you to do something! Get mad, take action, like we were born to do. What's the point of our existence if we aren't at war? You think I want to go into battle alone? I don't, but what choice have you left me? While we slept, they proliferated like a virus and your answer is to screw around and sulk? I want to tear down what they built, to destroy the legacy of blood the Originals built on our backs. I want them to suffer a hundred times more than we have. So why don't you?"

[turkishdizis]

Teşkilat 4

[xmaddcx]

There was a quality to the other, a sense that he demanded some level of respect by simply being. It reminded him of someone else. Maddox had never felt such things, he believed that it was always earned. A fact that he had learned a very long time ago, when he had been considered something far less. It seemed that perhaps this outlook had sparked some reluctance from the other, until the list was being produced all the same. The tiefling plucked it from the spartoi's hand, before his gaze slipped across the quite extensive list. Some would be easier to gain than others, but when his payment soon manifested, Maddox found a bit more excitement within the challenge. "Any sort of weapon? Human made, as well?" Though, that wouldn't necessarily be the easiest part. Maddox had one unique talent that happened to be very handy when pleasing those with an otherwise complicated request.

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

While he was still acclimatizing to the modern era, he was glad that some things remained constant, like a tradesman's ability to put the bottom line ahead of everything. Hyperenor's abilities were the most beautiful of all his brothers and the fact that his creations held intrinsic value no matter where or when he went. Business was business. "The hands that were laid on the weapons before me of are no consequence. I'm a craftsman of incredible skill. There will be no previous trace of someone else's design by the time I'm through. But they need to have been forged with the materials magical in nature. I have enough standard weapons as it is." He could see it in the other's eyes. They would strike up a deal and both parties stood to benefit. "Do a good job and you'll have a repeat customer. I'm always in need of rare material."

[healerswanford]

"If it's death what you threaten me with, go ahead, it wouldn't be the first time I died," Isabella spits out, sharp eyes taking in the slow movement of his scales across tense arms as they grow to swallow him whole, and she wonders. How much is a defense mechanism born out of fear, born out of loss of control, and how much is self-recrimination about his inability to protect. There is no way she would voice those questions out loud, but that does not stop her from narrowing her gaze, expression firm even as the necklace around her neck begins to weight on her. Confrontation is unavoidable, but she has to hope he has enough sense not to cause irreparable damage to the fragile peace that has settled upon Rome. They can't afford that. Not right now. "Do your worst," she sneers. No matter what he does, it will be nothing compared to the betrayal and agony of her first death, after all. "But know that I won't make it easy." Slowly, she takes a step back and shift her weight, settling into a defensive position while keeping her hands empty rather than reaching for the daggers hidden within her clothes. She doubts they will be able to penetrate the scales, so her best choice is to get close enough to get the manacles on him. "I have far too many people to protect to make it easy."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

tw: violence

"No need to remind me how similar you are to a scuttling cockroach. I know that lesson well. Hard to put down, but not impossible. Not for me." She wasn't his first vampire fatality since awakening and she wouldn't be his last. Hyperenor's worst would extend her death for at least the next few decades. She'd suffer day in and day out as he chipped away at her body until there was nothing left so she existed in excruciating pain until the end. A liability to knockoff wasn't deserving of his worst. This was simply business as usual. In a typical move, jagged, spinning mineral spikes populate and fire at Isabella at lightning-fast speed with enough force to tear through even her immortal flesh, but the onslaught was a distraction. It didn't matter if Hyperenor hit her with his magic or not, because from this distance his guns were his weapons of choice. Wooden bullets embedded with sapphire dust filled his magazines, and being the quick draw that he was Hyperenor was able to fire off the rounds with precision. They weren't fatal, not with a handgun at least, but they would certainly inflict a hell of a lot of pain to any vampire hit, even incapacitate them for a while if he managed a headshot. "Don't you try to use that deceitful tongue of yours to catch me off guard. I know you are only capable of lies. People to protect? Who are you fooling? Monsters don't protect anyone but themselves."

[adamoromerof]

Adamo nodded his head, somewhat sorely amused that these spartoi were clearly more than a little off after their thousands of years of slumber, the thousands of years where they'd spent surrounded by baneful violence supporting that, too. He couldn't fault Pelorus, the man seemed stuck in a perpetual, borderline, viking haze; this one seemed more put together on the outside but as soon as they spoke Adamo could only chuckle. "He's persistent, he thinks we'll be great friends," the Cold obviously thought he was being hilarious now. "I don't think he'll interfere with your work," this spartoi was highly suspicious and abhorrently vague.

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

"Great friends? Did he say that? Interesting ... I understand the situation now. Seems he's ... sampling the local cuisine." Pelorus did always love to indulge himself. Hyperenor had met many of his brother's "great friends" in the old days. It didn't surprise him one bit that he'd resume his games in this era. "No, I imagine he won't, not if he's already distracting himself," he responded, studying the lycan very closely. Normally, he could count on Pelorus' inaction no matter what happened, but he didn't know his brother as a part of the Senate. Hyperenor figured there was no harm in covering his bases by ensuring Pelorus had plenty to keep him occupied besides what his brothers were doing. "You speak as if you don't want to be his friend. What's wrong with my brother? Do you not like his company?"

[seeingvivianne]

Spartoi; she knew as soon as she saw him. There were 5 in the legends, and one that had perished. All brothers, all born naturally from the same blood, earth and bone. While she was the new fifth, Vivianne could not and would not see herself among a family that she did not know and that did not know her. She was only hopeful and expectant that they might somehow accept her existence and unnatural rebirth peacefully.

"I'm not your sister," Vivianne corrected, as patiently and as calmly as she could. Despite what she was now, these brothers were legend and it was intimidating and almost worrying to be speaking to one now - at least one that seemed more confrontational. "Just as my mother was made into a dracaenae, I was made into this... Not born. You have nothing to worry about from me, spartoi."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

"Is that so?" he challenges harshly, making no consideration of her personal space as he sizes her down. "How long ago were you "made"? I'll take a wager and say it wasn't after the world fell to shit." A haunt exists behind Hyperenor's blue eyes, one that wasn't there before he lost control of himself. They were demigods, which meant divine beings saw them as vessels. Fuck that. "Blood spilled on the battlefield is thicker than the water of the womb. They got you too, didn't they?"

Being taken over was hell for someone like Hyperenor, and he would never be able to forget it. Because of that, he would go to the most extreme lengths to protect himself. "And when some old God descends and decides to snatch your body because you're some ignorant child, what then? I'd be shit out of luck if they target me for a sibling or something." It couldn't be helped. A spartoi clueless about how to put up a proper fight was a liability, which meant... "It's your lucky day. You're mine now. Let's go, we have work to do, little sister."

[udaeusx]

"Time was always on our side." Their brother was literally able to help with that, but he knew what Hyperenor was going to say even before he said it. "You're a one trick pony, I know that. But we're not better off working solo. This is how our brother died, and if you'd like a one way ticket to be buried beside him, then go ahead." He puffed his chest out, snatching a mulled wine from a nearby stranger, "The originals are closer than ever, and you think you can defeat one of them without one of my plans?"

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Hyperenor didn't appreciate the reminder of what was lost, evidenced by his low, threatening growl. It wasn't Udaeus' fault and he really wanted to avoid fighting with his brother, but what was Hyperenor to do? He only wanted one thing and it seemed the only time vampires' hearts got plucked from their chests was when he worked alone. "Like I keep telling you, Originals are just the desert. They'll suffer first, as I eradicate their sire lines one by one. Every vampire is as good as dead." Hyperenor would figure out his steps toward killing an original after he destroyed everything they'd built over time. "I have magic, an arsenal, and more wooden weapons than I'll probably need. They're all dead, plain and simple. Yeah, that's my one trick alright, sending vamps to hell."

[echionx]

No one had asked Hyperenor to stop fighting, if it got him killed then that was entirely the Sapphire's decision. "Whatever." Came the Pearl's noncommittal response, for the first time in an age he had no plans, no designs, no ambitions, and no real hope. As Hyperenor raged and threw his fit, Echion slumped back and took in the stars instead. He considered wandering, the spartoi were a rare breed and much of the Otherworld was left an undiscovered mystery. He considered mending things with some of the relationships he'd broken, but spartoi didn't fix anything. They destroyed, it's what they'd been sewn for, and what they'd sprang from the earth to do. He considered picking up old habits, hunting monsters for sport - but even that held less significance than it had in the past. Echion was listless, and when his thoughts wandered to what Cthonius would want or what he would have done, he only settled further into his despair. His brother was dead, he no longer got a say. "Just don't look for me at your funeral."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

For all the despair and emptiness that filled Echion, Hyperenor was filled with determination and hatred in equal measure. He was stubborn, perhaps to the point of being seen as foolish by his brothers, but redemption for the past would only be found on a path of blood. He had no choice but to persevere, no matter how dangerous or lonely the road became. "I don't have time to waste on stupid jokes, so spare me," Hyperenor spat, rejecting Echion's notion outright. "I'm not dying, especially not by some bloodfiend's hand. I'm going to kill every last one of them, so I'm not allowed to die until my work is done." It was too much to try and care about what his brothers thought was best. Clearly, they were wrong, but Hyperenor wasn't one to let some hindrance stop him. Just as he wasn't one to give up on something important. "One loss is enough for me. I refuse to lose anymore. This 'whatever' attitude isn't like you, so if you find yourself with your back against the wall, hopefully I make it to you in time." He pauses before adding, "Dead or alive, I will always keep an eye on you, brother."

[xmaddcx]

"The price of disappointing you? Oh, that statement alone is purely priceless," he couldn't help the laugh that trickled through his grin. Maddox quite enjoyed when others tried to flex at him, so to speak. To prove that in some capacity they could do anything to him that warranted some ounce of fear. One wrong move by the other, and Maddox could leave this body behind. Find another that would prove useful to him. "You'll be quite pleased to know that I'm good on both. So how about you tell me what you need so that I can acquire it for you."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Hyperenor folded his arms across his chest and sized the other up. Not exactly the demeanor he'd prefer from any associates, but beggars can't be choosers. Resources weren't as plentiful as they had been in his day, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, Hyperenor needed Maddox. So he hands over his list without a word of protest or complaint. "The Golden Spike, thorns of a snap dragon, crystal coral, and Ring of Regeneration are the top priority but I'll need everything on the list eventually. Any weapons you can get your hands on I'll also purchase. I'm going to melt them down to reforge anyway." And just to prove he was good for any payment regardless of how much effort the other expended, Hyperenor conjures a small, high-carat stone in his hand. "Cost is no issue."

[pelcrus]

Why did it feel like all Hyperenor ever did when speaking to him was tell him how he wouldn't be speaking to Pelorus? The spartoi was tired of hearing it and he was tired of trying to get his brother to believe that they were better together. If Hyperenor wanted to work alone, then he could work alone. He wasn't going to grovel and beg the man to stay around them when it didn't even feel like Echion or Udaeus wanted to be around each other either. His brothers were all so damn frustrating, he felt he'd pop a blood vessel sooner or later. "Do whatever you want, Hyperenor. I no longer care."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

Hyperenor's response was a mere curl of his lip, but nothing beyond that at first. "No longer care, huh?" He found Pelorus' phrasing strange, almost laughable, and for a second he looked angry enough to pick a fight, but he shook his head thinking better. An argument wasn't the intention of him seeking Pelorus out. "I'm pleased to have your go-ahead, but I worry how long that'll last. Can a cog in some bloated bureaucracy really be permitted to not care about my warpath?" Hyperenor had outright rejected the "inclusion" the Senate extended to him and those like him. He was disappointed to hear Pelorus of all people didn't have the same reaction.

[healerswanford]

"I am sure you would," Isabella exhales slowly, tone prim but just with enough judgment that she makes her own disbelief clear. As much as her heart grieves for his loss, she is less enthused about the sheer idiocy his grief had driven him towards. The healer on her wants to reach out and offer him a path away from grief, but the survivor on her realizes that it won't work. Not now, and perhaps not ever. It will not stop her from trying, but she has too much to worry about to make him her whole focus. "I thought our past encounter would have dissuaded you from such notions, but if not, let me be clear: I am not one to betray those who hold my loyalty for something as simple as pain." She scoffs, even as she keeps her hands primly before her and on reach of the manacles she carries on her bag. "You mean the necklace I had no voice in choosing," she mentions dryly even as her eyes glance down to look at it. "I would feel flattered, but alas, I far prefer emeralds." She lies unabashedly with a shrug. "As for your question, well, I did ask Echion about it, but must you describe it like that?"

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

It was good to finally have his answer. After all, Hyperenor was sick of ill-fated plans. As useful as she could've been, this rat wasn't the right cog in his strategy. Time to wipe the board clean and start over, a resolution as easy to arrive at as it was for him to blink away his crystal blue irises to expose the true yellow glow of his eyes. "The fault is mine. By letting you carry on as normal I avoided suspicion, but it also fueled your delusion. I've let you forget what you are. I won't make that mistake with the next one. Pain was never my threat, just a consequence of your insubordination." Scales slowly began to sprout up his arms which remained deceptively by his side. Hyperenor's body language was firm and defensive despite how open he appeared. This was a standoff, and he was prepared. "Hostages don't get the privilege of choice, though your status as one hinged on your ability to be an asset. Now I see you're just a liability." As his fingers curl, the stone in her necklace glows, gaining more mass without size. As it becomes denser it becomes heavier, weighing Isabella down like the shackle Hyperenor intended it to be. "Don't you dare speak my brother's name!" he roars, nearly adopting his full draconic form out of sheer rage, but he maintains some control of his shape still, not wanting to lay all his cards on the table yet. "I warned you the cost of disappointing me. Keep your loyalty and poor taste, I'll take your head as an example for the next rat."

[echionx]

"Then go." They'd burned their dead brother's body and then scattered the ashes, for Echion that was the last thing that he intended to do alongside them. Pelorus could go sleep or let another God crawl up his ass for all Echion cared, Udaeus could take up a career as a fortune teller, and Hyperenor could go ahead and be the next brother to die. Echion was done. Naturally he loved them but for the second time nothing had gone according to plan; Hyperenor and Udaeus could team up to kill vampires, or they could not, it didn't matter to Echion either way. When last they five went their separate ways they were reduced to four, who could say what this next century would hold. "I don't care what you do, Hyperenor."

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

"Good. It's about time I take matters into my own hands," he responded curtly, literally committing himself to the wood in his hands. He says nothing else for a while, carving away until the force of his frustration shatters the incomplete round into splinters. Hyperenor roars and chucks them into the distance, huffing through his nostrils. Nothing was as it should be, but despite his unyielding anger, it didn't make him feel any better blaming kin for his shortcomings. "I do care about you Echion. I care about all of you. But not even love can quell my hatred for them. I can't stop." It was the most honest Hyperenor had been about his feelings in a very long time, but it was those very cracks in his proverbial armor that would lead to his ruination if he wasn't careful. "So what'll you do now?"

[aristonsilvester]

Ariston's preferred family of animals to shift into were vermin, he could become an actual rat to dart in between dumpsters and find food piles -- he also turned into the largest rodent a capybara but that was neither here or there. He tried to find friends in the Lycans and Pluto vampires because of his abilities but he found they were a cliquey bunch and stuck to his own company most of the time. He was enjoying an apple core in one of the remaining dumpsters in his raccoon form when a flap of wings collapse the metal tin and exposed him during his snacc time, a squeak of surprise and he went running. Four paws hitting the ground at full speed as his tail stood straight up in fear.

[hyperenor]

❇💎❇

The manner of rat mattered little to this Great Old One. Any target would've been beneath him, but he did appreciate this one's ability to at least make the chase engaging. One large claw struck the earth, shooting debris in Ari's direction. Then, both heads pointed in away from each other and emitted a clangorous, shimmering roar. Mountains of beautiful stone sprouted where the beam made contact, and as the heads angled towards each other the sapphire heaps closed to form a wall. Debris rained down in the entrapment and the great dragon rumbled in approval. At least the pitiful creature would get a blinding blue show before getting torn apart.