No matter how noble the intentions, often times the best laid plans will have some sort of flaw that won't show itself until things are going along in a seemingly nice and orderly fashion. Only then will it sneak up and bite you square in the butt.

Such was the case within Haven. No one could doubt the intentions of why it was established. Haven was indeed a new home for many, a beacon of hope within the recent dark times that have befallen the lands. With their homes destroyed, Haven offered many a chance to begin anew. It was their Avalon, their ray of hope. Haven was their Haven.

Or, at least that was the plan.

Policing an entire world proved to be a difficult, if not impossible task, as Rai had observed. He had learned this lesson shortly after being left in charge of things by the elder Entities, a task that he did not regret, but a task that he did not quite enjoy on the same note. Besides, it wasn't his duty to be the peacekeeper of Haven -his task was to simply watch over things while the Elders were dealing with affairs away from the realm. It would have been a lot more interesting to deal directly with Martosa as they were -in some respects, it might have even been easier. At least with Martosa, Rai knew whom he was fighting. There was no question as to what the evil presence was.

It would have been nice if things in Haven were that clean cut.

Problems such as that tended to arise when individuals are placed within a new local on such short notice. Not only that, it was a little difficult to screen everyone that came in -how could you possibly tell someone that they have to leave their family, stay behind, and most likely die horribly as Martosa's legions made short work of them? It wasn't exactly a task that Rai wanted to deal with, personally. And even with the decimated numbers, there was still a hideous amount of individuals coming in -Rai really didn't feel that giving each a psychological profile would be all that beneficial, much less feasible. There were a few that could noticed upon the outset ('The main reason why we have to keep a close eye on Nox,' he reminded himself), but there was so much potential... Dalsrayon, succubus, demons, there were many names for many threats -and there were many that looked so remarkably 'normal' that any effort to detect them from the outset would be in vain. And like the people of Haven, they had spread out and settled throughout the realm.

Much and many had entered Haven over these pass few years. They not only brought with them their brightest hopes and dreams, but also their worst fears, and their darkest nightmares...

* * * * * * *

[Ardonis]

Patrons of 'The Drunken Dwarf' tavern were all regulars. As far as tavern standards went, it was a very friendly environment. Sure, an occasional brawl or two broke out every once in a while, but they were all in good fun -often, the patrons would apologize by buying each other a drink afterwards, and most would not only pay for damages caused during their drunkenness, but nine times out of ten, they would also slip the tavernkeeper a few extra in gold, not only out of good will, but as a way of saying "I'm sorry, please don't report this to the town guard". Because of little things like this, Graluf Axelord generally was in a good mood.

You see, Graluf was 'The Drunken Dwarf', not literally (most of the time), but he was the owner of the establishment. Business had been good lately -people were drinking more, and there were just enough brawls to not only keep things interesting, but to also keep the gold coming. Graluf was a stout and bearded man, as most dwarves were, who turned from a life of wandering to settle into Ardonis, and to build this tavern. He was quite the mercenary back in the day, but decided to tone things down a tad in his life. Sure, he longed for the carefree days of his youth back on Sukata -the traveling, the adventure, and of course, the maidens -but things were different now. He missed them all, true, but there was something about owning your own tavern, to sort of settle down... very few people could actually retire in his profession. Even though he was supposedly more civil now, his trusty axe still hung on the wall behind him and within reach. Not only as a reminder of those days past, but there for him should he need to keep the peace...

Graluf was standing behind the bar drying a beer mug when the door to the kitchen swung open and Andrea came through, a steaming tray of food in her hands. The young girl paused for a moment to give Graluf a friendly smile before heading towards the main floor of the tavern to give one of the patrons their order. Andrea was a strange one, Graluf reckoned, but she was a good worker. A little after he had built his establishment, she had come to him begging for a job. She had no home, no family -she had lost everything during the attacks on Sukata. Graluf always had a soft spot ('I don't know where THAT came from,' he often jokes), and agreed to provide her with room and board if she helped out around the tavern. He's never regretted that decision -Andrea was one of the hardest working people he had ever seen before. She cooked, she cleaned, she waited on tables, she did everything around the tavern that Graluf knew he couldn't handle himself ('Let's see me get a big tip for wearing something that low-cut,' he also jokes). Sure, she only asked for room and board, but Graluf would always slip her a little gold on the side whenever he could. She definitely earned it.

Graluf put the mug down behind the bar as he noticed Andrea coming back. It was almost time for her to get off for the evening, so he was ready to pay her for the day's labor. "Well now lass, I d' believe that this is 'yers," he greeted with a massive grin, handing over a small pouch of gold.

Andrea giggled as she took it and placed it in her own pouch. Even though she had been working with Graluf for some time now, she would still laugh at his Dwarven accent on occasion. "Thank you Graluf," she responded with a smile. She took off the apron covering her dress and put it behind the bar like she did every night, and began to head to her room upstairs. She suddenly stopped, however.

Graluf raised a brow. "Didya' forget something, Annie?"

Andrea thought for a moment and nodded slowly. "The trash... I forgot to take it out..."

Before Graluf could tell her not to worry about it, Andrea was back down the stairs and into the kitchen. A few seconds later, he heard the back door slam as Andrea went into the alley behind the tavern, where trash was stored between pickups.

"Well now..." He continued to dry the mug. "I'm asummin' that I'll have ta' be payin' ye time and a half for that, lass," he remarked to himself with a smile.

* * * * * * *

The alley was dark as always, but Andrea could sense that she wasn't alone. It wasn't unheard of that a rowdy patron of any of the bars in area would be beaten and left there -in fact, she had seen Graluf do it on a number of occasions. She slowly left the bag of trash next to the building, carefully looking about in the darkness. "Hello?," she called.

Some distance away she heard a response from the darkness. It wasn't any type of discernible verbal answer, but just to hear it made the hairs on her neck stand up.

It sounded like a growl.

Andrea slowly began to back away from the darkness, to head back into 'The Drunken Dwarf'. She merely thought it a good suggestion at first, but as she saw something moving in the darkness, it immediately became a top priority. She reached for the doorknob and turned.

She could feel the color draining from her face. Not only did the door lock behind her, but she heard... something... growl again, a low, rumbling, feral sound. She had accidentally locked herself out a few times -the door would often shut behind her as she left -and normally, she could just go around and come back in through the front of the tavern. Normally. This, however, did not seem like normal circumstances in the least. She turned to head down the alley towards the lighted end at the streets, and as she did so, her guest came a little further out of the shadows.

Andrea instantly froze. She would have screamed, had her heart not been in her throat at that moment. Some distance away from her -several feet, at least -was the object of her fears. A hairy beast, down on all fours, growling lightly and regarding her in quite an unsettling manner. A _large_ hairy beast. It had the look about it of a huge hound, but Andrea unfortunately knew a little better. Having grown up in the forests of Sukata, she had seen her share of wild animals. This, she reasoned, was a wolf.

A LARGE wolf.

Inside of the tavern, Graluf did not know quite what to expect, but when he heard Andrea screaming, he immediately snatched his axe from the wall and literally ran through the door and into the alley behind 'The Drunken Dwarf'. In all of his years, nothing had really prepared him for what he saw.

Andrea was on the ground, screaming, as some large... beast... pinned her down. Her clothes torn from the struggle, there was also a disturbing amount of blood covering them, which Graluf rightly assumed was not coming from the beast. Andrea was alive, but for how long rested on Graluf's actions. The beast looked up at the stout dwarf and snarled. Bellowing an ancient Dwarven warcry, Graluf suddenly swung his massive axe at the creature. The beast ducked the swipe and swung with his own claws, roaring out in rage. Andrea, crying and bleeding, immediately crawled away, frantically putting as much distance between her and the monstrosity as possible.

This could not have been some wild animal that happened to wander into Ardonis. Most creatures knew better than to do something like that. It would appear that this creature had entered the city of its own free will, and most likely to hunt. "Well now," Graluf remarked, half to himself, but loud enough for the beast to hear. "I've got nary a clue as t' why you're here, beast..." He gripped the axe even tighter. "But I'm going t' send ye back t' where ye come from!"

Graluf nearly dropped his axe when he heard the creature speak. "Then I'll see you in hell...," it growled. "But you'll be there before I will..."

Graluf immediately swiped at the beast with the axe, fully intent on splitting the damnation's head in half. He continued to swing at the creature, managing to keep it at bay. The sounds of the struggle attracted the attention of not only the patrons within several of the bars in the area, but also several members of the Ardonian town guard. Upon seeing that it was no longer fighting with only the dwarf (as many steel-bearing types ran into the alley to assist), the beast turned tail and shot off down the opposite direction. Some foolishly thought that the wall at the end of the alley would hold it captive -they were a little more than shocked to see the creature leap over the six foot structure with ease. Several screams erupted as bystanders on the other side witnessed the beast fleeing, eventually disappearing into the forest, according to eyewitnesses.

A thorough search of the area was immediately conducted, but the creature was never found...

* * * * * * *

Even with the trickle of evil that had been seeping into Haven over these past few years, it was nothing compared to the presence that was currently located at Grim Rezal. That particular plane had many names -'home' was not one of those, not by any creature. It was the sort of place where if you were to end up there, it usually wasn't by choice. For one to walk about Grim Rezal, it was probably because they had been banished there. Ages ago, General Martosa of the NetherRegion was one of them. During her unfortunate stay there, she vowed that she would never return to those damned lands -however, as time went on, and after she had taken the offensive against the entire known multiverse, she soon discovered that it could be quite useful. Not as a prison, as she knew the place best, but as her base of operations.

Who in their right mind would want to go to Grim Rezal, anyway?

Those that entered Grim Rezal, be they the banished, the misguided Realmwalker, or the damned, would on occasion return to their own realm (well, at least the fortunate ones would...), and would often speak of seeing a single structure on the horizon -a massive tower of the blackest black, with pointed spires stabbing the very heavens, like deadly bladed weapon, thrust into the air by a bloodthirsty warrior preparing for a kill, or savoring the blood that has already been spilled by their hand...

But those that came too close most likely would never see their homes again, anyway.

* * * * * * *

From time to time, Martosa would actually leave her stronghold. This was one such occasion. Whenever she did leave, there were two things that were understood -one, nine times out of ten she would return with some sort of addition to her armies, be it another recruit, an order of demons she managed to enslave, or an Artifact she liberated from a smaller realm by her own hand. And two, whenever she was gone, that meant Anubis was in charge of things at the Tower, no questions asked.

No one really knew much about Anubis, but he was very much respected within Martosa's ranks. He was among the first to join her campaigns, and has followed her orders without question. Most seeing Anubis would be a little unnerved by the massive creature -his jackal-like head held no features save his eyes, glowing an eerie blue. Most thought that he wore a mask, but that was not the case -it was indeed his face. Even without a clearly visible mouth, the creature could speak -and when he did, all would listen. His skin was blacker than onyx, and almost shined like a polished stone. He wore the black robe, trimmed with gold hieroglyphs that he usually donned during these meetings, his massive frame standing erect as if he were a massive statue, carved from the mightiest of stones. If anyone ever asked about his past, he would have been more than willing to tell them, but most were afraid to even be in his presence.

This was also about the time when his lord Martosa expected a report as to what was going on with the numerous campaigns mounted on her behalf. Her Generals would rarely, if ever, all meet in the same place at the same time -this meeting was no different. Along with Anubis, there were three other Generals -there were only two representatives before him, as was expected. Wargod worked alone and had no minions to send forth.

With only a look, Anubis determined who would be the first to speak. Upon receiving his gaze, a young lady stepped forward. Anubis recognized her as Asp, one of The Sisters, working under General Urbane in Evandalis. By her sisters' and boss's standards, she was the simplest of the lot. Her long green hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she seemed a little nervous about looking Anubis in the eyes. "We thought that we had located the other half of the Talisman," she began, her voice barely audible, much to Anubis's annoyance. "But when we searched the monastery for it, we... didn't find it..."

"I see." Anubis's voice echoed slightly in the chamber, causing Asp to visibly jump. "This is something that I can ignore, but remind your boss that Lord Martosa is not nearly as forgiving as I am." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Remember that he answers to her and not me." Asp paled a few shades, but nodded. "You may leave now," Anubis added.

Asp seemed all too eager to be released, and Anubis honestly couldn't remember the last time he had seen the shifter teleport away so quickly. He was reminded that he still had business at hand by the demonic snickering of the second messenger.

Anubis grumbled to himself. He hated dealing with Grendel, but not nearly as much as he did his followers. While the demon had occasional flashes of brilliance in which he was remotely tolerable, his minions were a different matter all together. The lowest ranking ones were often the stupidest, crudest, perverted, and irritating bunch of... things... he's ever had the displeasure sharing air with. His higher ranking ones were just barely more tolerable, but that didn't stop Anubis from wanting to break a few of their necks from time to time. He recognized the one that had been sent on Grendel's behalf. He didn't wear the long robes as his brethren were accustomed to, but a suit of light chainmail, a sword sheathed at his side. The demon's flesh was a dark shade of yellow, his humanoid dark eyes regarding Anubis. He was taller than most of Grendel's underlings (fully five and a half feet tall), which would probably explain his position as a warrior instead of mage, like so many of his demonic comrades. This was Kilgom, a warrior, and one of Grendel's slightly more tolerable followers.

"And what of the Gems on Sukata?," Anubis questioned.

Kilgom took a step forward and bowed his head, ever so slightly. "It would appear that the Earth and Water Gems have been taken by someone before us, and it is my master's theory that they may possibly not even be on the same realm anymore," he explained, his demonic voice carrying a little more than Asp's.

"I see..."

"...but we would also like to report that there may be more Artifacts on Sukata than we originally thought," Kilgom added, picking his head up. "We've heard rumors of two legendary swords that may be located there. My master would like to inform Lord Martosa that we are doing everything in our power to check on this report."

Anubis nodded. "When she returns, I will relay the message. You may leave now."

Kilgom nodded, and even smiled briefly before teleporting away from the chamber, returning to Sukata.

It would have appeared that Anubis had been left alone in the massive chamber within the Tower, but he knew better. In fact, the reason he was not alone was because of the presence of one of his own.

"Kumassa..."

At the sound of her name, a familiar figure began to materialize before Anubis. A moment later, a young woman stood before him, wearing a robe just like his. Her black hair was cut shortly on the sides, and on occasion, a dark aura would pulse from around her. She had an almost school-girl look of innocence about her, which was the cause of death to many who took it to mean a lack of power and experience...

"I am a little disturbed by Kilgom's report," Anubis began, and proving that he was not made of stone, he crossed his arms about his massive chest. "This is not the first time we've heard of things just up and disappearing..."

Indeed it wasn't. In fact, it was something that Martosa had suspected from the beginning. Whenever they would assault a realm, it was not uncommon to notice that the inhabitants began to disappear after some time. Either the General's reports on the numbers killed were horribly off, or there was something else going on. Martosa suspected that the Entities were possibly interfering, but as of the time being, nothing definite could be established. "Kumassa...," he repeated. "Go to Sukata, and talk to Grendel about his... theory. Find out his grounds for believing such, and report back to me."

The girl bowed. "As you command." She slowly vanished from sight, teleporting away from the Tower within Grim Rezal.

Anubis stood stolid for a moment, fully aware of what he had just done. By sending Kumassa to investigate what was going on, his lord Martosa stood a chance at gaining something she did not have before, an answer to the question that had been bothering her for some time. Anubis stood proudly, content in the fact that he had just sent the most competent and gifted Realmwalker he had ever seen to check on things in Sukata. If Grendel's theory was correct, then there was no doubt in his mind that Kumassa could find out exactly _where_ things had been disappearing to. She had never failed him before, and he did not expect her to start now.

"We _will_ find our answers..."

* * * * * * *

And so it begins. In the beginning, there was light. But there could not be light without darkness, and so both forces would always be present with one another. But the question has been asked, which of those forces would be the dominant? Would light shine, or would darkness choke it away? The stage had been set -it was time to find out.