To Neseraph, from Anima ((M))

[Anonymous]

Neseraph... how long has it been? I hope this letter gets to you before I do. I don't think you understand just how important it is to me that I get to you. Why? Because it's killing me. The truth is kill-ing-me. And you know just what it is that I am talking about, don't you. Of course you do, you're the first among us, the first Neseraph to discover the truth of who he really was.
When they came to me, the Angels that is, and told me the truth, I couldn't believe it. I absolutely COULD NOT believe it. My whole body filled with rage and anger... and I struck them down. And I kept on beating the most beautiful among them, long after the others were dead. I tore at his face, over and over and over, ripping his perfect flesh apart as he screamed for mercy. I struck at his face until my fist met solid ground, and there was nothing left of that pretty, youthful face but a empty husk of bone and blood.
Only then, was I certain that he had nothing left to hide from me.
I will find you... I've been following your shadow, trying to catch up to you. I know that you have come to Arca recently, and I pray to find you in The Exquisite. But if not, I will keep looking, and I will not stop... not until I find you. Because I need you. I need to get to you. I don't think you understand just how important it is for me to GET TO YOU.
I know that you have loved ones. Friends. Company. Maybe even people you just walked past. If I can't get to you, then I can certainly get to them. Maybe then I can get you to follow my little bloodstained bread crumb trail... if I can't get to you, then I can get YOU to come to me.
Keep an eye out, Neseraph, because it's going to start right now... with this receptionist. Mmm... what a lovely face...


-- Anima

[Anonymous]

I'm slightly disappointed with you, Neseraph...
You were not at the hotel, as I had hoped. Seems that I was too late, and you slipped away. A pity, but I'm starting to find the sport to be very fun. Oh yes indeed.
Take for instance, that receptionist from my last letter (Her name was Charity, if that detail escaped you, Neseraph). As I approached her, I couldn't help but to stare; stare at that luscious, pretty, untainted face of hers... and what I longed to do to it. Perhaps, in those moments, I had forgotten about you and your truth.
I asked her about you, Neseraph, and she said that she knew nothing. Ironic, however, considered what happened later. And as she stood up and turned around to get the key to my room, the poison dart hit her in the back of the neck. I was walking out the doors of the Exquisite just as the terrified screams for help rang out.
But she wasn't dead yet, oh no; Merely asleep as two guardsmen carried her out. I wasn't about to let them get away, and when they were mostly alone, I attacked. Quick, ruthless kills they were. A simple slice of the throat sent one guardsmen down, choking in his own blood; the other needed his jaw punched off to go down.
Charity was all mine at that point.
She came to not long after, and I couldn't wait. She tried to scream, but only wetted the gag across her mouth. I asked her if she liked her face, her gorgeous face, and if she would hate to see it mutilated. Of course, she replied "Yes," so I was more than happy to oblige.
I started with the left eye very, very slowly, gradually working the knife into the ocular cavity. I jerked it around, casually piercing every nerve that I could and encouraging more blood to trickle down her lovely cheek. She wouldn't stop screaming into the gag, but her muffled agony was the orchestra to my conductor. Finally, a nice, clean slice sent the first eye out onto the floor. I followed up the right eye, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as that first cut.
And when I began to ask her about you again, she sang a different tune this time. Turns out she did remember you! And a few others you were traveling with! Ah, the value of truth: it would have saved her life.
Now, I was free to do as I pleased. Strangely, I found that I could not bring myself to destroy her beautiful face, for it had become another thing of beauty entirely. The unseeing eyes, the twin streams of blood, the frozen look of everlasting fear and agony... all of which could have been avoided by a simple little "yes" and some details two hours earlier. It's quite the trophy, mind you, maybe even a symbol of the Neseraph.
Well... Goodbye, Charity.
I'll see you in Adela. Don't wander too far, Neseraph.


-- Anima

[Anonymous]

Tonight was a good night, Neseraph.
I had finally arrived at Ketra, but from there, my lead ended. All I knew was that somewhere, in this city, you were hiding from me. Maybe one of my previous letters found you, maybe not, but I certainly had no place to look. My only option then was the social hubs of this day and age: The taverns.
Luckily, I need only visit one.
Not quite the usual selection of sloven drunks looking to drown their problems in alcohol. No, as I strode into this bar, so named The Secret Oasis, I got the feeling that these were people of all different sorts. Still downtrodden, but with at least a variety of woes.
Pathetic. All of them.
But these are the people with their ears to the walls, so I began to ask each of them about you. It wasn't hard to get them to talk, but none of them had anything useful to say of you, Neseraph. Though I wished each and every one of the drunkards a slow and blood-drenched death, I managed to focus all of my loathing onto one particular man.
Markus. He struck me as the worst of the lot, the pennacle of worthlessness. Not only was he of absolutely little use to me, but he continued to hinder my efforts after I spoke with him. I desperately desired to rip his vocal chords from his throat, but I soon thought of a fate fittingly enough for old, drunk Markus.
I bought him a drink. Haha! I laced it with a dash of some destructive sorcery, and watched with glee as he quickly imbibed my gift. It didn't take long for Markus get a sickly look on his face and topple out of his seat. As a few others came to his aid, I simply triggered the sorcery, and watched as Markus burst into a living flame. As I made my exit, I closed and barred the doors behind myself; why should just one person suffer when the whole tavern proved useless to me?
The citizens of Ketra eventually started to crowd around when the building itself caught on fire. I blended in with them, a phantom, and watched the tavern burn. Oh, but that wasn't the best part: It was hearing all of the others locked inside that building scream in terror and agony as they were torched alive. The smell of burnt wood and flesh was intoxicating. It actually invigorated me in my search for you, Neseraph.
And, to my surprise, the fires drew someone that I would have never expected. Just like that, I had my lead to you again; all it took was two dozen charred bodies and one inferno. Nothing of any worth.
You'll never guess who I found there, Neseraph.


-- Anima

[Anonymous]

Well, well, look what I found, Neseraph.
Good things may come to those who wait, but better things come to those who act. In this case, all I had to do was burn down that tavern and those people. Collateral damage, really. And just look what I got out of it.
Our dear friend Martyr.
You remember Martyr, right? Short, glasses, blonde, closet freak... a fellow Neseraph. As my luck would have it, she made sort of a living up here in Ketra after she was awakened. She came out of curiousity to see the fire, but by the end of the night, I think she realized that that was a mistake. How's that old adage about cats and curiosity go?
Well, maybe not entirely. You see, I did have a little use for her.
After following her back to her residence, she put up a mild fight when I came in. Such hospitality! Anyway, after ripping her kneecaps out of her legs, needless to say she was a little more willing to simply relax and listen. And what luck! She remembered you! And actually met you after your own awakening! Oh how that made me jealous!
She didn't know your current whereabouts, but she gave me something to work with: Names. Two, to be exact. The first of which was Zekial, a Blood Angel, whom is persuing not you, but... your current girlfriend? You disappoint me Neseraph! Ha ha, not really. It's only too bad that she could not remember her name -- I'm sure I could have gotten your attention with her in my grasp.
The other she could remember was Tesri. He doesn't like you too much, but he worked with you when you blew up that building full of Angels. Now that's more like it, Neseraph!
That made my hands full, looking for two obscure names on Earth, so I decided to enlist her help in finding you, Neseraph. I injected her with a slow-working, degenerative serum, then sent her on her way. Perhaps the fear of slow and painful death will drive her search to be a little more fruitful than mine. Oh, you should have seen her crawling out of her own house, leaving such nice twin trails of blood. She won't be able to walk, but let's give her a chance to work those wings, shall we?
I sure hope you can cure the venom when, or if, she reaches you. She doesn't have very much time.
It begins today. I know you're out there, and you just don't understand how important it is for me to get to you! But, one way or another, I will find you.
See you soon, Neseraph.


-- Anima