Shtahl-ing the Inevitable -M- [GoblinFae]

[Zane]

Atlas arose to the sound of scratching on glass. Opening his eyes just a little, he immediately told the noise- and the vice is head was in -to fuck right off. The Clockwork City was by no means a bright city, but something about the soft light of the Star Stones through the windows- what little of it there was -made his head explode into brilliance and pain. Oh so much pain. The Ranger pulled the covers up over his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, cursing audibly at the scratching noise. Unaware that is was Nex, the Master Shadow's Shadow Spirit, with a summons for him.

[GoblinFae]

After the ranger had managed to tuck the young man into her bed she had soon taken to removing the majority of her clothes to sleep on her now abandoned couch. Clothed in only a loose tunic and a thick wool blanket, Rowan had spent hours staring off into the stoked fire before her until sleep at last claimed her.

It was not to last though as an incessant tapping woke her, causing her to growl and glare at her ceiling in frustration. With a growl she pulled herself to her feet and padded her way into her bedroom to see what her guest had managed to get himself into that would cause such a racket.

"Atlas? Do you need help?" she murmured softly from the doorway.

[Zane]

Atlas didn't reply, couldn't if he wanted to as he had fallen back asleep. A deep sleep devoid of thought. The tapping at the window, however, persisted. Perhaps even becoming stronger. But the young ranger slept through it, aided by the hydration robbed of him in the alcohol from the night before.

The summons that Nex carried, while the loyal bird tapped away incessantly, was for Atlas to make his way to the tower post haste to the Clockwork Tower for the Ranger Trials.

[GoblinFae]

Rowan sighed heavily as she entered further into the room to find Atlas fast asleep and burrowed under her warm covers. With a shake of her head she moved towards the shuttered window where tiny pinpricks of light still shone through.

With a gentle rap on the window she whispered hoarsely to who she guessed was on the other side. "Go back to your master, Nex. If he wants to talk then he can do his business himself instead of sending others as his little messengers." Her words were kept quiet so as to keep from disturbing Atlas but still harsh in tone, belying the anger she still felt towards the Shadow Master.

[Zane]

If Rowan had opened the window, she might see Nex giving her something resembling a death glare. Even so, in the next minute, the bird was gone. Atlas stirred to adjust his body make breathing a little easier, leaving room for Rowan there on the bed should she wish to take it.

[GoblinFae]

With an aggravated groan she found herself dragging her overtired and sore body back to the comfort of her bed, uncaring that it was already occupied by her guest. She flopped onto the mattress, yanking part of the covers over her body haphazardly before getting comfortable with her back to the window. Rowan had no doubt it would not be long before Alucard came pussyfooting his way to her door and she wanted to at least shake part of the ache that had settled into her bones after so long fighting. While Atlas would eventually regret his alcohol consumption, the elder ranger regretted their sparring that not left her still mending leg screaming in protest.

[Zane]

Alucard found is already fowl mood was souring even further as he made his was to the house of one Rowan Alvar. He wasn't there for her, oh no. He was there to collect Atlas, the young ranger who was the only outsider of his fledgeling class, and the only of his class to survive the battle. It was time for his Ranger trials, and it was long overdue.

So it came to some surprise when the summons was outright ignored. When the Master Shadow's spirit has informed him to Atlus' location, it was all the more surprising. Not a pleasant surprise. Not in the slightest. Alucard's knuckles rasped harshly against Rowan's door. He also has a small roll of paper, it had Ranger Alvar's tasks for the day. Two birds, one stone.

[GoblinFae]

It seemed that Rowan had been truly wicked as sleep was not hers to be had. A new set of rapping, disturbed her, this time from her front door. "Persistent bugger," she hissed, flinging the covers from her body and onto Atlas. For a moment, Rowan had contemplated telling her caller to leave but propriety demanded otherwise.

She was slow in dragging herself out of bed though, not even bothering to pull on a pair of trousers as she limped her way to her front door. The bolts that locked it were opened slowly before the door itself was pulled open enough to see who called without signaling an invitation to enter.

[Zane]

Alucard kept his face to the passive neutrality that he'd perfected of many years. One that Rowan has somehow snuck past on more than one occasion. Needless to say, maintaining the mask was no small amount of effort on his part. "Ranger Alvar, I have come to collect Ranger Atlas for his Trials. It seems he has been otherwise waylaid and was unable to receive his summons. I have also brought you the tasked assigned to you for the day." The master shadow produced a small scroll sealed with a paper adhesive, unique to the clockwork city and nigh impossible to forge. He offered the scroll out to her.

Alucard considered, with how disastrous his last interaction with Rowan had been, it best to give her space, and keep their interactions formal, in a hope of perhaps mending things when tensions and stress weren't so high.

[GoblinFae]

It was as if a mask had been slammed onto her face at his words. She was expressionless as she accepted the scroll from him and turned her back on him as if he were not even worth her time to invite in personally. Rowan did her best not to show her limp as she walked towards her kitchen. Her pride demanded it after all.

"He's in the bedroom," she called icily over her shoulder. "I trust you remember where that is."

[Zane]

"Aye." Was all that came from the Master shadow, he quickly made his way and and jostled the sleeping form of Atlas with a rough shake of the shoulders. The young Ranger shot to alertness, almost headbutting Alucard it the action. He would have, had the Shtahl not had a firm grasp on the young man's shoulders. "You have fifteen minutes to get to the second floor of the Tower. Someone has sponsored you for your trials, if you are late, you fail."

The shock of the dark man's words surged though Atlas like rolling thunder. The ranger scambled- nay -leaped from the bed, and was almost out the door before Alucard called after him again. "You need to be clothed." The young ranger looked at him incredulously, his suddenly conscience mind not realizing the fact that he lacked a shirt. The Master Shadow sighed and picked a rather large shirt off the ground, it was partially hidden underneath the bed. By the weight of it, Alucard realized it was one of his own. His clothes were made of metal threads, stronger than even the most Mastercrafted of chainmail or platemail.

Atlas quickly put it on and was out the door- out the small house, in a flurry. Alucard wondered how long that shirt had been there, shaking the thought away, he walked back to the main room. "Rowan?" His voice fell away. He wanted to ask her if she would meet him at Dimitri's, if she was still angered with him for reasons that he didn't quite understand. "May your tasks see you to the shadow of dusk." But he didn't ask anything. He feared that she might rebuke him. Marvelous though that was, the mighty Shtahl feared something after all. The feeling was foreign to him and he didn't quite know how to treat it. In place of the question, he gave her an idiomatic phrase, one that had been popular when Alucard first came to take notice of the hard working she-elf. It had meant something along the lines, 'I hope you have a good day' but the phrase had fallen out of use some decades ago. Without waiting for a response, Alucard turned and left, making his way to Altas' Trials.

------

Atlas finally burst into the room where his trials were to be held, officially referred to as the Chamber of Trials. Atlas had always found it quite dramatic. Somehow, the Master Shadow had beaten him to the room. Some part of the Ranger's brain clicked, He'd teleported, Altas realized, glad that some amount of logic was returning to him. Quick glances about the room told him that more than half of Umbra Regiment was not present. A grim thought passed over him, he'd heard somewhere that the Umbra had suffered the greatest casualties. They had stayed in the fray for longer bouts, damning themselves to fight multiple opponents at once to allow battle weary Penumbra and Antumbra the ability to make a tactical retreat.

The Ranger also noted several dozen prominent members of Penumbra, which made sense. One needed a sponsor from either of the regiments in order to move forward. Lastly, Atlas noted the presence of the Shadow King. The Ranger lowered his head in deference.

"Antumbra Ranger Atlas, Third in his year. First in his name, First in his line among the Vigilant Shadows." Atlas stiffened a bit, hearing the King announce his full title in a surprisingly loud voice. It gave his rank, how his placed among his Fledgeling Class when he graduated, and his lineage among the Vigilant. The last of these marked him as an outsider. "Where is your Sponsor?" The question was not to him, but rather those in attendance.

[GoblinFae]

Rowan gripped her counter with tightly clenched fists and a bowed head as Alucard went about his business. An archaic phrase and he was once more out her door, a glass bottle flying across her kitchen to smash against the opposite wall, signalling her displeasure with the entire situation. Not one word for her as if she had not been worth his time or effort, as if they had not shared many nights in each other's beds or working closely side by side.

Add to her troubles that her tasks were a punishment in and of itself. A grueling day of hard labor was ahead of her that she could not shirk in completing. Determined to push through the pain of her leg and her heart, she strove to serve her penance in silence. It might kill her in the end but she would succeed without Alucard's help or notice. At the end of the day which could not come soon enough she would retire to the darkness of her rooms to lick her wounds in privacy.

~~~

"I sponsor him," a voice readily rang out into the room, filled to the brim with self-assured calm and confidence. "Umbra Ranger Marcus Avron, first in his year. First in his name," the man paused offering a slight smirk as he nodded his head to Atlas, "first in his line." For a moment Marcus looked about the room at his gathered comrades, men and women he had fought side by side with over the years. There was pride in his voice to stand there as a sponsor though he found it bittersweet. There were others who should have been here with Atlas. There were good children barely of age themselves who had been lost in the merciless bloodshed. One look at Atlas though told him all he needed to know. The boy would do his class proud.

"Will you accept our claim?" he called back, head held high as if to challenge anyone who would deny them Atlas' right.

[Zane]

Atlas was stunned. He was being sponsored by Marcus Avron. THE Marcus Avron. Most- if not all -members of the Vigilant had heard of him, the man who took on Missions that would take most anyone else years, only to come back in mere months! Rumors about him were extravagant and hysterically exaggerated, but for his part, Marcus did his best to neither confirm or deny any rumor. Most he didn't even acknowledge. The things that Atlas had heard of this man alone made the young ranger want to put him on a pedestal. But beyond that, Marcus was undoubtedly a prodigy with a weapon. Any weapon! Atlas found himself suddenly wondering if he were the butt of some joke. There was no way that a man like Marcus even noticed a lowly Antumbra like Atlas.

King Kinder let his voice boom across the chamber once again. "We shall see. Shadows, to what Trial will you see Atlas Overcome?"

"Combat!" Someone shouted.
"Are you daft?! We've seen enough combat of late! Diplomacy!" Someone countered.
"Cunning!" Offered a third.
"Decisions!" Came another.

Kinder raised a hand to silence the room. "Sponsor, it falls to you, how will you showcase your protege?"

[GoblinFae]

Marcus perused the room with pleasure, enjoying the command he had over the moment. Atlas was not the only one honored on this day, as the elder ranger too was blessed at being able to sponsor such a capable and young fighter.

"It is true we have seen enough combat for a lifetime. Atlas has proven himself worthy in that respect a thousandfold and I dare any man or woman who would call his strength and courage into question to cross steel with me." His eyes scanned the room not expecting anyone to make good on his challenge.

"Nay, the challenge I choose is closer to home," he continued, "closer to heart. A challenge of choice, of what is hard and what is impossible, what is right and what you can live with." Marcus turned from the gathered rangers to meet Atlas' eye once more.

"Atlas of the Vigilant Shadows I set to you the Trial of Decisions. What say you?"

[Zane]

"I accept." Came the young ranger's reply. In truth, he felt almost numb, like his body were preparing for battle.

Alucard took up the mantle of questions immediately, "You are on a time sensitive mission of great importance. Yet when the objective is finally within reach, you and your ally come against heavy resistance. You can complete the mission, but you notice that your partner is engaged and is slowly being overwhelmed. Do you complete the mission or go to the aid of partner?"

Atlas answered without hesitation, "I trust in my comrade to hold out- if not overcome -against the opposition while the mission is completed." Alucard noded, accepting the answer and allowing for someone else to ask.

[GoblinFae]

Another voice soon rang out not long after his answer, barely giving the boy a second to breathe before he was faced with his next test. "While on a mission of great stealth and importance you are briefed that you have but one opportunity to eliminate a target before he commits another heinous crime. However, when you come upon him he is not alone. The target is surrounded by his five young children. Your time has run out and it is now or never. Your choices are retreat and fail in your mission, or eliminate the target as well as the potentially innocent lives of his offspring in order to ensure the safety of your people, yourself, and countless other innocent lives. Which do you choose Ranger Atlas?" the voice queried coldly as all awaited the young man's answer.

[Zane]

Altas rounded on the direction of the voice, the dim lighting of the room and the close nit congregation of rangers made it quite difficult for Altas to pick out who was talking, "I choose to wait. If his children are innocent, then they will have no part in the crime, if the man leaves, I will pursue him, and if the children do take part, then they too will go into the Night." This answer caused some heads to nod briefly, it hadn't been a presented choice, but sometimes you needed to make your own outcomes.

Another voice called out from behind his shoulder, "A warrior comes at you with a heavy, two handed war ax, his intent is to kill you. How do you respond?"
Atlas looked over his shoulder and summoned forth his chakrams, "I don't give him time to close the gap. Seeking to incapacitate, I would like to find out why he was trying to kill me."
A quick reply to his answer came from somewhere to his right. "The man is a brigand. What then?"
"Then I snip his gripping tendon in his right hand and maim his left heel, leave it to god to sort him out."

This time, The King spoke, "Why wouldn't you kill him?" Atlas turned to face the king, "Banditry is a result of a hard time. Wars, chaos, and general discourse encourage men to seek a life of hurting others. My punishment makes him into an ill fit warrior, to continue life as a bandit would be to give up his life in the next skirmish. I cannot force him to walk the straight and narrow but I can pray that the man will see the extent of his injuries and decide to leave banditry behind him, maybe become a break maker or something." The king nodded, motioning for the trial to continue.

[GoblinFae]

Marcus raised his arm, commanding silence as he claimed Atlas' final test and question for his own. He kept his back to the young man as his head was bowed in thought. When he at last spoke, his voice was low and somber. There was no trace of his usual smug mirth that anyone who had ever met him never forgot.

"With the powerful and weighty responsibility of defending our world, comes even greater sacrifice. It is the burden we all agree to pay when we take up arms in the name of peace as shadow rangers. Yet, in order to do this sometimes we must make decisions in which there is no true correct answer. Life is not a test where there is always a right and a wrong."

The weathered ranger turned to face Atlas, his eyes hooded with the shadows of lives lost and lives saved, all by his own hands. "Given the choice to save the many or to save the one which would you choose when the many is an entire city of innocents? Innocents who more often than not will not even thank you for your good will. In fact they very well may curse you for it instead. But the one," he swallowed thickly, his voice dropping to a softer tone before continuing, "the one is someone you care for deeply, a loved one, a friend, your fellow ranger even who is downed and incapable of saving himself.

"Before you answer though," he raised his hand once again to prevent the young man from answering immediately. "Know that there is no other option than choosing. You cannot sacrifice yourself. You cannot save only some of the city to help the other, and you cannot save both. It is all or nothing.

"So which do you choose Atlas? The ungrateful many or the one you keep close to heart?" Marcus turned away once more, walking towards the other seated rangers in order to join them. "Choose wisely, this is your final question."

[Zane]

Atlas was silent for a long time, not that anyone could blame him. It wasn't a silence of a man trying to find the right words, nor was it a silence of uncertainty. Rather, it was the rare obscure sorrow that existed whenever everyone in a group shared the same pain. After several minutes the Shadow king breached the silence, "We need your answer, Atlas." The old man prompted gently.

Atlas looked to the Ranger who sponsored him, looking Marcus in the eyes. "A week ago, I would have- without hesitation -proclaimed that I would save the innocent people, no matter the cost. My every morality along with all my teachings growing up tell me that is the choice I need to make. But a week ago, I didn't know the depth of despair found in the death of someone you care about. I didn't know the weight of the silence once filled with the sound of friend and acquaintances. Nor did I know sudden absence of people who have been there your whole life can ebb at your mind, or the gnawing unsettled feeling of something that will always be missing." Altas cleared his throat. "I don't know what I would do in that situation. I know what I want to say what I would do, but I don't know if that would be entirely honest. I pray I am never faced with such a choice outside of hypothetical situations."

This time it was Alucard who stepped forward, "Very well Atlas, please step outside while we discuss the result of your Ranger Trial." The ranger gave a slight bow before stepping out.

[GoblinFae]

Once Atlas had exited and the door had closed firmly behind him, Marcus rounded on Alucard. His gaze was for the Shadow Master alone but his voice projected clearly for all to hear. "I defy any man, or woman," he added with a wink to some of the lady Umbra rangers, "to give a more truthful answer to that question. Atlas has proven himself in skill by surviving what even some of our far more experienced brothers and sisters were unable to. You may call it luck. But that answer was from the heart and spoke of the same sorrows we have all faced in the field. Perhaps real life is not as dramatic but in my defensive of him I know of no better man than he to be granted a place among the Penumbra rangers. Though I do not say this lightly, I might even go so far as to say that despite his youth, he may have earned his place as an Umbra class ranger."

Marcus gave a short bow to all in attendance out of respect. "Having spoken my piece, I leave the decision in your capable hands dear friends."