The Silvermoon Academy

Sunday, January 17th -- 6:00 pm

The Academy courtyards were quiet the evening of the grand parade.

Many of the students and staff had left the campus for Kalimdor, hoping to catch sight of the roaring machines and impressive steeds that the parade-goers rode on. Others were retiring to their dormitories to prepare for another long week of class. The cafe was closed. The library's lights were dim.

A thick ring of blood stained the grass around the courtyard's center statue.

It was one of the few monuments within the school that was salvaged from the siege. The statue was that of the first headmaster from the Sunsail family -- he stood, chiseled out of marble, in finery atop a granite base. His hand was lifted sky high, pointing to an invisible zenith of sky, learning, and infinite wisdom. On his forehead was a gilded diadem, the gems wrought in stone to appear like a phoenix with wings flared.

Strapped to him were two dead bodies.

Kelaehn Nightflame and Belynne Lightwing, gutted and slashed across the throat, slumped in bloody disarray at the base of the statue. They were tied to the stone with cords of stinking sinew -- their eyes were gouged away, their hands limp at their sides and marked with the signature calling card that had so greatly disturbed the investigators to the murder case.

No fingernails.

Flies buzzed. The stain of sanguis was fresh.

Beneath them, beyond the grass that was moated with drained blood, something was written in the ground. It was curiously lain there, as if carved by a blade into the sod and grass. The words were in Common -- a tongue rarely spoken on those school grounds.

I tether you to the vanity of your kind,
I tether you to their fate.
I tether you to an open wound that never heals.

(Edited for timestamp)

Penny's time spent patrolling she viewed more as one of her mundane tasks than actual attentive duty. After all the streets had been relatively silent lately. So it was without due caution she walked nearby the statue along her usual route home and without escort of another nor with her were her two loyal canine companions. No, what walked beside her light footsteps was Bantarion, though only in her distracting thoughts. Her eyes watched her feet above a daydreaming smile, hands clasped behind her back. The upcoming classes were an echo of concern which is why she doesn't notice the ring of blood that she steps over. She does not notice, that is, until she feels herself bump into someone. With a startled gasp she steps back.

"Omigosh!" She announces. "I'm so sorry! I didn' see-" it's in that moment the sensation of something wet registers on her face. "What the.."

Her hand ascends to wipe her brow with her expression turning confused. Pulling her hand away she scrutinizes what she'd wiped on her skin. Her heart stops for that moment only to begin again in a rushed pace. Her eyes widen slowly and her jaw goes slack. From her stained hand, almost anticipating what she is about to see, she ascends her gaze and beholds that the one she had bumped into is, in fact, suspended by her feet from the statue. Her breath becomes a prisoner in her now aching chest. She recognizes what remains of Belynne's face. Tunnel vision widens to take in the entirety of the horror that remains before her and she looks from Belynne to her bloodied hand and back again, subconsciously trying to cope with the knowledge that the crimson stain has decorated her smooth features.

In all the time she'd spent in Ironhall and in the field, nothing could prepare her for seeing one of her own succumb to such a demise. Someone that she knew, specifically. Her hands began to tremble and she staggered back a step only to plant a foot on the bloodstained grass and slip, landing roughly on her rear. It's that impact which reignites her breath in quick, fright-filled panting, her wide eyes scanning from one body to the other and to the ring of blood that had been the culprit to her union with the grass. Every emotion culminated into one fateful burst of energy and she could do nothing else but emit a piercing scream..

Her arms reached for the ceiling of the lab as she bend backwards in her stool, her back cracking and muscles flexing from her movements. How long had she been sitting there, writing in her lab notebook and with her microscopes analyzing her Nagrand samples? Too long, and it was the weekend for that matter! Her eyes moved to the clock and she frowned, knowing that it was now too late to do anything worthwhile at the Bazaar since everything closed early that day, and most cafes would be just about ready to wrap up their business. With that in mind she decided it was time to move along, the idea of just catching dinner on the table igniting her further to gather her things and leave the buildings. The night was pleasant, thankfully enough, and quiet as she moved about all alone as she typically did. Her mind was numbed from the note-taking, number crunching and reference reading that feeling the slight wind of early evening upon her cheek was blissfully beginning to clear her mind and the weight of another busy, but successful, work day from her shoulders.

And then she heard the scream.

Leltrandi froze, her ears and senses suddenly alert. Her book-laden arms clenched around her belongings and her eyes, now widened, scanned her surroundings. It couldn't have been far, from where she had been walking from the labs that evening but her heart suddenly started to race. She swallowed, her feet scaling a slow-rising set of marble stairs that led towards the central courtyards from the side, and then it hit her. Everything happened in what felt like quick, sudden moments in her eyes. The old statue, a prized jewel of the Academy, the bodies tied dreadfully to its once-pristine surface now stained with blood, the smell in the air, a woman on the ground, screaming at the sight before her, and the blood...

She dropped her books and they hit the ground with a clatter, her hand moving to her mouth as bile rose up from inside. Leltrandi's legs began to fall from beneath her and she braced her body against a wall nearby as she felt her body tremble. The smell, the sight, everything made her want to wretch as she looked away. Her heart felt so hard and fierce in her chest as it pounded.

Help! She wanted to scream, to wail at the top of her lungs, but she was so disgusted, so frightened, so paralyzed. Someone, for Fel's sake, Help me!

Zin'di marveled at the halos surrounding each lamp post as she made her way back to the dorms from the tavern. She'd finished her homework early and decided to blow off some steam before bed. Much to her disappointment the inn was relatively empty so she had a few drinks and chatted up the bartender before paying her tab and heading home.

That's when she heard the blood curdling scream. The sound gave her goosebumps. She couldn't tell if the waves rushing from deep within her stomach up to her head were that of fear or excitement. Either way her lips curled upward at the noise. Something to see, she thought. Zin'di picked up her pace and rounded the corner. The street opened up into the courtyard.

There it was.

She stopped a distance away and saw two figures slumped next to the statue. She saw two silhouetted figures standing. She thought she heard weeping or whimpering. She turned her gaze back to the slumped bodies and as she moved closer saw the mass in it's entirety.

It is beautiful, she thought. She felt no sympathy for the fallen. She didn't know them herself. She was envious. Zin'di had performed her fair share of ritualistic killings on animals but nothing quite like this. The body positioning, the ring of blood, the way they were gutted and the note. It was art. She'd be sad when they cleaned up this "mess".

Although she felt nothing for the dead she had duties to perform and one of which was to say a prayer for them. They were part of something greater now and she thanked the Gods that they'd now be free.

Hezzah Skullcrusher was tired. She hadn't slept well in the past few days and furthermore, her prized mechanohog had started to sputter sickly without much reason. The day had been spent parked outside the small engineering shop in Silvermoon with her toolbox open and goggles strapped firmly to her face. Engine grease spotted her clothing and stained her hands.

Her shoulders and back ached from leaning over the machine. Knots and pain stiffened her muscles, making it almost painful to continue her work. With a sigh, she rested back on her rear and wiped off her tools with a tattered rag. The sun was starting to set and she would need more light to continue her maintenance.

Once everything was put away in it's rightful place, she started up the machine. The engine roared to life before lowering down to it's usual rumble. The orc circled the machine, straining her ears for the return of the mysterious sputtering noise.

Instead, she heard a scream.

Hezzah jumped, her stomach flipping. For a second, she thought her beloved machine had uttered such a bloodcurdling noise. Of course, she quickly realized that her 'hog could never make such a noise of dispair. She looked up in the direction she had heard the noise, ever the cautious.

"From the Academy...?" She mumbled in a bit of surprise.

She quickly straddled the machine and kicked it into movement. Ground flew underneath her wheels and the orc made a sharp turn around a corner. She rode up to campus, slowing down considerably lest Aelianna yell at her again.

Hezzah could see the forms of others as she rolled up, only recognizing Penny and Zin'di.

Her goggles were pulled off when her hog came to a full stop. Blue eyes widened as she looked up at the gruesome scene. Hezzah was no novice to gore and violence, but it was never anything like this. She soaked in each horrific detail before ripping her gaze away with a low curse.

A profound frown curved around her large tusks. She stared down at the ground, thinking it to be a safe spot. There was blood on her wheels, she noted with a grimace.

"Shit."