East

The east side of the city is the very heart of Sacrosanct - it's unique skyline is a clash between modern sky rises and small Victorian-inspired storefronts. In the heart of downtown, the sleek colored glass buildings reign supreme though their old-world roots can be seen in the most peculiar places from the lamp post styled electric street light to the stone sidewalks. The old world architecture slowly returns the further from downtown you travel, however. It's here that magic thrives, it hums in every stone and can be felt in every breath. Often, newcomers to the city may become overwhelmed by such sensations but, eventually, it becomes an ever-present feeling that's hardly noticed.

What You'll Find Here

City Creek Center
Dark Hunter Department
Inner Sanctum
Red on the Water
Starlight Tower

Something wicked this way comes: open


Posted on April 16, 2018 by Sorcha Northwoods
East
How to tell when your life sucked: first, something bad happens. Cue my parents double murder. Second, obtain what you dream of and then promptly lose it. Cue my store being sacked in the middle of the night and threatening notes left with pigs blood on the walls. Oh, let's not forget my cat disappearing in the aftermath. Third: have something even more sinister Trump the loss of everything prior. Cue being drugged, spelled, and dragged off to the country side and being forced into an initiation for a coven that I was pretty damn sure was the cause of all of the above.

I was to be their strength, their core, the base of operations. With the powerful blood of my parents running through me it was only a matter of time before my shadow magic manifested in full strength. It was the best sort of magic to use with blood rituals, so they said, and they managed to cut my arms a few times to drain some blood. They did something to me. A curse, a geis, whatever you wanted to call it. The Coven leader tied my power to her - if I tried to work my craft outside of shadow magic then the curse would drain me to the point of fainting. A magical technique to train me so that I would manifest fully. Meanwhile the bond milked my strength and replenished theirs.

If only I had agreed to stay with them to begin with, they said. Things would be simpler, kinder, they said. But I could see the hint of covetous light in their eyes. They used my power to keep their youth and wickedness alive. Whatever games they dabbled in, they weren't good ones. Still, my strength could only do so much, and when the brought forth a young girl taken from the heart of the city, squirming, crying, I had screamed as they plunged a curved dagger into her heart and each drank from a chalice of her blood. The effects had been immediate - a spine tingling electrical thrill, the instant erasing of wrinkles and smoothing of flabby limbs.

Their bodies healthy while mine turned to a sickly pallor and my cheeks sunk in, my body with but not nearly as lissome as before. More broken, wasted.

It had taken skill and a powerful surge of shadow magic, just as they wanted, but I had escaped. My clothing was filthy, dried blood at the hem of my turquoise blouse. My jeans were scuffed at the knees and Nike's covered in dirt.

The shadows ensconced me, carried me silent back to the city, the earth trembling in my wake. My emerald eyes were wild and eldritch as I darted down alley ways. Running to.. where? I find myself stopping across the street from the corner store that I had rented. It's busted windows were boarded up and a small sign for renovations was up - the land owner wouldn't turn a profit to ignore it. One hand rests against the rough concrete and brick wall behind me as I lean back, a fey look about me, my mind trapped and beating as I try to gain my bearings. Where do I go now? How did I remove this blood tie?

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