Two of the Same

Chapter Ten *Tyrain*

The storm clouds circled over head with an ominous sense of forbidding as four cloaked figures entered quietly through the open doors of a darkened tower, their coat tails flicking at their feet. The gray stone walls were cast with a haunting light from the torches that burned brightly and lined the length of the hall. As the four figures walked their footsteps resounded loudly all around them; they walked swiftly, their gate smooth, their body language was tense as though they were anticipating confrontation. There was a dark wooden door that stood alone at the very end of the hallway. The leader of the small group raised his leather gloved hand and knocked loudly on the doors surface. There was a moment of pause, not a sound was made as the sound of thunder crashed over head closely followed by the soft patter of rain pelting the roof of the tower. The door opened with a loud creek and a gust of air blew out extingusing the tortches in the hall and dousing everything into darkness. Golden candle light pooled on the ground from the open door as it widened. The one of the figures hissed as the light shined upon them, pulling their hood lower to cover its face. The tallest of the four reached forward and pulled the door farther open, the hand that was holding the door was incredibly large and missing two fingers, instead replacing the missing body parts were two silver claws with multiple layers of small blade; they winked wickedly in the theatrical lighting. The four strangers entered the room silently, moving as one, the door shutting with a light thud behind them. The room was small and circular and had a small table that was already filled except for one chair. At the head of the chair a large creature sat, it was twice the size of the chair it sat in, and its head was covered in long dark fur. Its face resembled an over grown dog and it's snout was long and full of sharp teeth, presented for all to see due to the creatures snarl. Beady black eyes glittered like beetles and twinkled as the creatures let loose a deep raspy laughter.

"It's about time, we were thinking you would never shown." The creature voice was so low that it vibrated the entire table. He lifted his hand and gestured to the empty chair across him, his claws curling over his fingers looking threatening. The leader stepped forward and slipped into the chair without a word. The creature raised its lip slightly out of irritation but said nothing. He smiled at those who sat around the table; however it looked like a grimace of pain instead of an inviting smile. There were four other guests at the table, all of which were curiosities in themselves. A woman, with eyes the color of blood starred unblinkingly at the new arivial. She tossed her head sending her long snow white air flying through the air as she tapped her long metal finger nails on the arm of her chair. She had three other women at her side, ally with the same red hair and strange black eyes whose pupils were surrounded by a small ring of silver. The each had a hand full of their leaders hair and was stroking and braiding it absent mindedly their eyes fixed upon the strangers. On the other side of the wolf was a lone man, he sat in his chair leaning back wards cutting niches into the arm with a long silver knife. He had long dark hair and a dark beard and mustache covered his face. He looked like a shadow, alone and unnoticeable. His eyes flitted up and it looked as though he had the sun captured within them. They burned and glowed with a fiery power that was both transfixing and terrifying. Next to fire eyes was a being that was by no means human. It was in the form of a person but its body was made completely out of what looked to be water and air. Its body was transparent, the water and wind mixing together within him, churning and swirling around to form different patterns and designs. The creature had no face but there were two glowing dots, where eyes would be, they squinted as they inspected the strangers suspiciously, it was accompanied by three other water like figures all of which expanded and contracted as though they were breathing. The final guest was a young girl, she sat quietly with her hands in her lap and her large eyes were half closed, her long eye lashes dusting her cheeks. Her presence amongst such frightening characters was striking but even more so was the large burly man with a grizzly beard and scarred face that stood behind her. He holding a large blood stained club in his hands, the muscles in his arms bulged; the man looked as though he were half giant. His hand was on the back of the little girls chair, protectively as she kicked her legs gently, too short to reach the ground. Her hair was dark black with hues of brilliant blood red, curled softly, almost angelic. All guest sat in silence and all were staring intently at the new arrival to the table, who was sitting still, the hood of his cloak remained low over his face, keeping his identity hidden.