Fanfic:Sanatarium of Sanity (Shades of Truth RP)

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Sanatarium of Sanity (Shades of Truth RP)
Author(s)
  • Kenneth Edberg
Character(s)
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The forest was grey as stone, and all shadows darker than he remembered from the real world.

Threading with great care in the thick vegetation, Caden Ives had his blade out. The fighting never seemed to end, as he battled his sins in this place. He knew it as his own sanitarium. Shafts of sunrays escaping from above did little to drive out the darkness. The shadows were alive in this place. Very alive. Icons of his past could leap out behind any trunk, faces and forms familiar to him. His foster-father, uncle Tharenwo, master Elrion, Urikanu Gaidin, Leanna, Deacon - his real father - or Jenna Larithan. The last stepped forward now from an ancient oak, her bleeding form wailing high about what he had done to her. She was just a distraction, he knew it as sure as he knew he was damned. He circled with his blade in front of him and there, a shadow took form and attacked him with a raised blade.

He intercepted the blow, but in the dreamworld, he was never as fast as he used to be. He let the blade glance down along his own and swept it around to behead the figure of darkness. However, he found his blow stalled and the next moment he had locked horns with the silhouette. Only then he realised it was Deacon he fought, the bearded face - so alike his own - was unsmiling. ???Wake up son, now is the time to break free,??? he said before he used the Grapevine Twines and sent Caden's blade flying. He was startled, for this was the first time his father had spoke directly to him since he had approached him on that battlefield. He could not say how long ago it was, for dawn was always a century away in the dreams. They lasted forever. And awake he was trapped, as a spectator through the eyes of a mad creature. ???Wake up, and kill them all for me.???

With those words, Deacon drove his monstrous sword through Caden's abdomen.


The Runelord awoke, gasping. Its mouth and throat were dry, and it carefully wetted cracked lips.

Lying on the damp, cold stone floor - its hands and feet were fettered to the wall opposite the one with the door. The cell's walls had grown very familiar to it now, their towering angles letting small trickles of earth-soiled water trail their way to the floor, where it coated the adamant flooring. The only source of light was the narrow slit beneath the iron door. The dampness and the cold had given the creature a fever, and it shook where it lay in its rags. Its once elegant Tairen clothing was torn open everywhere after the battle with Urikanu shin Larithan, sodden through and soiled, stinking of mould, and bitingly cold to its dirty skin. The thick chains made it impossible to rest in a comfortable position, and the muscles of the Isha'shan's arms and back were as hard and as the chains and painfully sore - reminding themselves with each ragged breath.

It blinked away blonde strands of hair from its green eyes and raised its head a little. It heard sounds. Conversation. And then the door opened, sudden light stinging his eyes shut again. The Runelord grimaced as it pushed itself up to its knees, and looked upon the visitors.

Two men, one remaining in the doorway - as a lookout - the other entering the temporary den. Recognizing the Asha'man, Durent Antian, the shadowspawn known as Caden Ives drew back its lips. ???You,??? it said, the word bitter and cold. Since the cell was three men across, it couldn't reach the blonde man. It rose to its feet, slowly, muscles protesting against the attempt. It's limbs were all tight and cramped, but thy were commanded to obey. ???You took my powers away.???

Its feverish glare was relentless as it folded its hands into fists. ???Give them back, human. Else you will know pain unlike any before.???

Durent nodded, "And I see that you're in such a great position to do so Caden." He took a breath before continuing. "Look Caden, I need to know what's going on here."

"Your pety needs do not concern me, human," it said and bared its teeth. "You only need to know that you are to die. When the attack comes, I will be the unbound and triumphant one. What will you do then, Durent Antian? When all hope fails and the Shadow fall over this place? Tell me, what do you need of your bane?"

Giving a tentative tug on its chains, the anthropod named Caden Ives glared at the Channeler. "All you need to know, is that there is no more Caden Ives, Ji'alantin of the Grey Tower. He is just a distant dream, haunting me when I sleep. Me is all that truly remain. Me, me, me. Isha'shan. The Betrayer Lord, created in the Age of Legends." It gave a more violent tug on the steel that boudn it. "The Runelord! Do you understand, mortal? Caden is not here. Caden is dead! Caden gone!"

Durent sighed slightly as the Runelord spoke, and he appeared to consider what the man was saying. "I will not let it happen, Runelord. Caden may not be the being at the surface, but I have to believe that he is still in there somewhere! And if you won't help me, I know he will."

"What are you doing?" it asked, tugging again at the chains. "Do you think you can bring that pitiful young man back to life? Do you really want to? He has lied to you, he has kept secrets from you which could have altered the course of all this? Do you still think you can trust him?" It felt the unseen fingers running through its torso, and a low guttrual noise escaped his throat. "You have no comprehension about what you are doing, channeler. Leave it be, it is all for naught. Even if you manage to bring him back to life, I will always resurface. Can you really risk that?"

Isha'shan found that it could no longer talk and began to violently tug at the chains. It wanted to rend Durent's body asunder! To goat out his eyes and drink from his skull! To tear open his ribcage and sink it's teeth into his heart! To pry loose arms and legs and beat the torso bloody with them! How dared he try to seal it off from it's body! Yet he had found something in it's chest now, it could feel it, for the world began to waver before the Runelord's eyes. It found that it's limbs didn't obey anymore. Someone else waited to take over. Caden Ives??? Yes, the body's former master fought for control now. With a final attempt to come loose, it wrenched its resolve and body weight upon the fastenings of the chains. If it could, it would have roared. The arteries of its skin stood out upon its limbs and chests, and the rags that covered it's body was torn even more in the animal like attempts to freedom.

Yet it was too late, for the Runelord finally found itself sealed of as a spectator from within, once again.


Caden's body slumped to the floor, the chains slacking.

His chest heaved like the bellow in a forge. He blinked away blonde strands of hair and raised his head awkwardly, shaking all over. Durent Asha'man stood there, probably waiting for a sign that he had succeeded. Yet Caden couldn't muster strength to voice anything first, even though the gag was removed, and he had to recover for a few seconds before even pushing himself up from the decay and mould of the floor.

It felt like he had awakened from a nightmare, from a dream where his body was controlled by a beast of the Shadow. A dream that had lasted since the he saw Durent on the battlements days past. And the most frightening thing was that it was exactly what had happened. Though the beast remained still. The taint throbbed in his chest and reverberated in the rune on the back of his right hand. Sealed??? he thought, not quite ready to stand yet, ...but not gone. He was still not human, he had never been, though the person that he had been shaped into during his life in Arad Doman, Tear and the Grey Tower had now surfaced again. Humanity escaped him yet. It was still only a dream.

He looked up to meet Durent's eyes. ???Thank you,??? he rasped, ???Yet I'm still damned. Isha'shan will eventually break free. He has only temporarily been sealed away. And when he breaks loose, he will have his revenge on you.???

Drawing another ragged breath, he watched the blood that ran from where the chains had dug into his wrists. Watched, but didn't register. ???You must kill me before it happens. I'm to no use anyhow when my powers are Shielded. I cannot be trusted, believe me. Leave me here or kill me right away.

???I'm beyond hope.???


To be concluded...