During the short reign of Delilah Copperspoon the people of Dunwall and Serconos were both heavied into a world of darkness and corruption. This is a story of a young boy that grew up in Karnaca, watching the darkness befall over his own home and a girl, growing up as a failure in that same city, born into that darkness and betrayed by it.
The young boy named Tibalt grew up trying to avoid gangs, death and bloodflies, looking up to the great creators, the royal physician, Anton Sokolov, and the great Kirin Jindosh...well, once great. He spent his early years amongst family. His father, a miner, was proud of his work but slowly the duke took over the mine and his father lost pride and replaced it with disgust. The father was soon prone to the drink and the mother was forced into a life of prostitution for the higher class citizens, even servicing the duke at one point. The father and mother both left the boy at the age 12.
He lived on the streets. A poor boy with nothing to his name and had no way of stopping the world falling down around him, watching others fall and other families be left in the wake of corruption. He took shelter with the Howler gang, stealing and scavenging from the broken streets around him.
At the age of 18 he met a unique friend. A beautiful young woman the same age as him that was dispelled from the royal conservatory once. She was taken under Breanna Ashworth's wing for no more than a year until she was kicked out. The royal conservatory was turned into a home for the Brigmore Witches and thus Carina was brought back into the brigmore witches, taking Delilah's blessing once more. But after Emily came down from dunwall and cut the witch's Ashworth connection with the void. Carina was blamed for such tyranny and decided it'd be best if she run off, alone into the unforgiving streets of Karnaca.
She found her way into an alleyway and bawled for days, curled up and scrounging what she could find. She was betrayed by those she looked up to. She tried her hardest and wouldn't stop trying to master some power of the outsider, crying and begging to the ancient god of the old religion to be blessed as her sisters were once but he did not entertain the thought of giving the poor young girl his mark. To say the least she was hopeless and lost.
On a clear, cool night in the port city these two destinies would intertwined. Carina stepped forth from the shadows of some rat infested ally, her long black hair messily tied back into a bun, her clothes in tatters. Her hunched form shivered against the wind.
"W-why me?" She whimpered out from her shivering lips. She looked to the docks and chewed her chapped bottom lip, lumbering towards them, hoping to find an unprotected barge with food. She heard two low gravelly voices, hushed.
"So what should we do with him?" There was soft chuckle, different from the first two.
"Let me go?" a slurred voice spoke up from the other two.
Carina heard a loud thud and winced at the loud noise as the slurred voice grunted and coughed.
"Shut up! You shouldn't talk back to us! That's what got you in trouble in the first place."
She slowly crept up to the boat where the voices were coming from, peering over the edge of the boat. There was a young man tied to chair on the main deck with two heavy set men standing over him. Blood dripped from the young man's lips as his head was hunched down, the blood dripping onto his lap. A smirk pulled at his lips before he turned his head up. His brown hair hung into his face.
"That actually hurt a littl-GAH!" He was cut off as one of them slammed his fist into his gut. Blood spluttered from his mouth. Carina winced and ducked behind the edge of the boat.
"We're going to leave you in a fucking blood fly nest."
Carina shivered at the thought before lifting her head up again to look. She gulped at the sight and nervously pulled herself up onto the deck of the boat. She couldn't just stand by and let these men kill him.
The two large thugs looked to the girl who shivered in front of them. They looked to each other and frowned, raising an eyebrow at one another.
"Hey. Lady? You uhhh...you okay? You lost or somethin'?"
"L-let him g-go." She stuttered and shuffled away, she shrinked back away from the men.
"Listen...you don't know what's going on here so why don't you get out of here?" The two men turned away from her and seemingly froze in time. Carina froze in fear and shuddered, shrinking even farther back.
"Now now...you have no need to fear. You've begged for this for a long time Carina."
She quickly turned around to see a black eyed figure with heavy black hair floating in the air.
"You decided to take a step forward. A step forward into a larger world. You're lucky that you don't have to venture through it alone." The outsider's eyes looked at the bloodied and bruised figure sitting in the chair. "You begged and begged trying to get my attention when all you had to do was crawl out of your dark little ally and take action in a larger world."
The back of her hand burned and she gasped gripping her wrist. "Agh! I-it hurts!"
"That's the price you pay to gain a voice in this world."
And just like that the world returned to its natural movement. Her shivering had stopped and a warmth lingered in her chest.
"W-wait…" She mumbled and turned to face the two men. They turned their heads and the more rotund one raised an eyebrow to her.
"What was that?" The slimmer one stepped towards her, towering over her fragile frame.
"I-I said...wait." She shrunk back for a second before looking at the back of her hand seeing the dark brand of the outsider. They laughed and started to surround the frail young girl.
"Say that a little louder. I didn't quite catch that." She clenched her fist and snarled.
"I said WAIT!" Her voice rang in the air and stunned the two men. The air vibrated around them and her mark glowed bright white before dying away before the two men collapsed. Her eyes widened and she looked down at the two men in shock. Their bodies twitching.
The young man grunted and looked back his brow furrowed.
"Hello? What's going on?" His warm golden eyes locked onto Carina and shot down to the two collapsed forms laying beside her. "Holy shit."
Carina rushed forward and started to untie him. As soon as his hands were freed he stood up falling forward and scrambling towards the other end of the boat, holding his hand up in front of him.
"I don't want any trouble! Thank you for...whatever you did but please. Don't hurt me?" She stepped back, her tattered jacket blew in the wind as she stood over him, looking down at him with her wide blue eyes, glistening in the moonlight.
"I-I don't want to hurt you. Are you okay?" She leaned down and pulled the jacket tighter around his shoulders. The warmth that was once in her chest had disappeared and she hunched over once again, shivering under her tattered jacket.
The young man slicked his hair back and chewed his bloodied bottom lip, wincing slightly. He shakily rose to his feet, leaning against the railing of the boat, still locking eyes with the woman in front of him. She was pale and looked starved, her form was practically glowing a moment ago but now she was hunched over, shivering from the sea breeze alone. He slowly stepped forward and took her shaking hand, he stood over a foot taller than her when she was hunched down. She gazed up at him, looking through a curtain of dirtied black hair.
"My name is Tibalt. Thank you...again for helping me." She nodded, "My name is...Carina." His brow furrowed slightly, looking back at the two passed out forms of the thugs as they stirred and groaned. Tibalt's eyes caught the moonlight and shimmered for a second before scooping up Carina. She squeaked as her shivering body tensed.
"P-put me down!" He threw her over his shoulder, wincing as he jumped over the edge of the boat and landed on the dock, immediately going into a sprint back towards the shore.
"Relax Madam Carina! They were waking up and they would NOT be happy with you or me!" She squeezed her eyes shut and tensed, clinging onto her jacket. "L-let me go!"
"I said relax! I've got a hiding place where the howlers won't be able to find us!"
"US!?" She looked shocked. "What do you mean by US!?"
"They'll be out for your head too! You picked a fight with some of the higher ups in the howler gang and soon enough they'll send bounty hunters to pick us off!" He moved down the winding side streets, the cool wind blowing past them both.
"Y-you keep saying us!" The cold wind was harsh to her, making her shiver even more. All that was on her mind was a warm fireplace and hot meal. She wanted to be put down and stop moving so fast so she could just process the past hour of her life. Her eyes squeezed shut and began to well with tears before she heard a door swing open and the cold fade away. The wind stopped and there was a sigh of relief. "Home sweet h-"
"GET. OUT!" A low voice interrupted his sentence and Tibalt's whole body tensed slightly, setting down Carina. She turned around to see the interior of an old tavern, stained glass across the windows and a checkered tile floor. There was a fireplace roaring to life across the tavern. Large leather smoking chairs were set up in front of the fire and sitting in one was a massive man, his thick beard the only hair on his face. He wore an old guard's uniform from Dunwall with the jacket draped over the back of the chair, leaving him in a button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He stood and turned, His huge form towering over Tibalt's even at a distance.
"You aren't welcome here after last time Tibalt!" He growled as he stepped closer, setting his pipe aside.
"Woah there! George! George! Calm down!" Tibalt put his hands out as if that would stop the massive man.
"Don't tell me to calm down you little street rat!" The large man stomped towards Tibalt and Carina hid behind him, cowering slightly. "You brought the damn overseers here because you stole some stupid animal bone scraps! Now I see patrols of overseers outside my pub every other day! Its driving away the customers you bastard!" George growled down at them both, their backs pressed against the door.
"Uhhh...true! I did lead the overseers here once!"
"AND you lead the Grand Guard when you took a crate of that S&J Elixir!" Tibalt chuckled and looked down, rubbing the back of his neck, avoiding the man's eye contact.
"Yeah...I did...BUT! I bring business with the fishermen and the Batista Mining District!" Tibalt looked up at the bar owner with a smug smirk, crossing his arms. The anger from george's face faded. "AND i've keeping up with my rent with your mother!" The tall man snarled and straightened his back.
"You have?" Tibalt nodded with that same smug grin as George's brow furrowed. "Fine. You can stay here 2 nights."
"Please! At least until the trouble i'm in blows over okay? They look at my apartment in two days. I need a week minimum!"
George sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Pay my mother two months of rent up front by the end of this week and I'll let you stay an extra week. How about that?"
Tibalt grinned. "Sounds perfect!"
"Now clean yourself up. You look like shit…" He stepped back and raised an eyebrow at Carina. "You're protecting another homeless girl? Where'd you find this one?"
Tibalt grabbed Carina's hand and guided her towards a door at the back of the tavern. He pushed open the door and climbed to the very top. Carina whimpered slightly as she left the warm room. "Can't we go back? There's a fire and-"
"I can set one up in our room too and besides there's warm running water upstairs." He continued to guide her up the stairs. She cautiously followed as they climbed up the stairs. At the very top there was an worn mahogany door. Tibalt pushed open the door, the old hinges creaks as he steps in. The room had a high ceiling and a mattress in the center of the room with a large bookcase on one side of the room. A fireplace was on the other end of the room. Tibalt lead her into the room.
"How about you go and draw a bath then I'll go start the fire. Hm?" He raised an eyebrow down at carina and she simply nodded and shuffled over to the bathroom. Tibalt sighed and rubbed his eyes stepping towards the fireplace, pulling off the torn, once white shirt and tossing it aside onto the mattress. He threw two logs into the fire place and taking yesterday's paper.
Holding the paper in his hand he paused, looking down at the front page headline. "Dunwall trade ships raided: Howlers Blamed, No Arrests". The paper crinkled in his hand as he snarled down at the headline before tearing it and tossing it into the fireplace along with a lit match. He looked into the fire as it caught, watching the fire dance and crackle, his golden eyes reflecting the bright orange flame.
He reached up to the mantle picking up red vial, twisting off the metal cap and gulping down the elixir. His body shivered as the bruises and cuts across his body slowly heal. He pulls the mattress towards the fireplace.
Carina sat in the bath, curled up in the water her mind going a mile a minute. 'What is going on? I didn't mean to get myself into any of this. He just...swooped me off my feet.' She glanced down at the old leather trench coat crumpled in the corner. It was all she had from the witches. It came from Breanna Ashworth herself...after she was found collapsed in front of the Oraculum.
All the other brigmore witches were found passed out but Carina had no supernatural tie to Breanna and she found her in front of the occult device. She took her jacket and held it close. Breanna was the closest thing she had to a mother. Carina simply waited for the others to wake up, but when they finally did they all turned on her, cast her out of the brigmore witches, even threatening to kill her the next time they saw her.
The next two years were a blur. A mess of scavenging in the dust district, searching for any relic of the old religion, any way to get in contact with the outsider. She had lived in squalor for so long...it felt wonderful to have a real bath. She smiled to herself, the first time she had in awhile, as she stepped out of the bath and brushed her hair out of her face. She glanced back over the crumpled dirty clothes and chewed her lip. There weren't any clothes in the bathroom except for a tan canvas robe. The canvas was loose around her and almost reached the floor, but she was just happy to have clean clothes on her body. She stepped out and looked to tibalt who was reclined back looking at the fire with a pipe in his mouth, blowing smoke rings into the fireplace, smiling to himself.
She crept out and crawled onto the mattress laying on her stomach beside the young man.
"I usually only see old fishermen or barkeeps smoking pipes...aren't you a l-little young?"
She looked up at Tibalt with a raised eyebrow.
"Well...I sorta picked up the habit from George. I've known him since…" His voice wandered off, thinking back four years ago. He had tried to steal from George's pantry but got caught. Instead of turning him into the guard he turned him towards his mother. She gave him a room in the dust district with monthly rent. George's pub was a safe haven for him. He hid from everything that chased him. The overseers, the gangs, the guard, George always reluctantly housed him until the trouble blew over. Tibalt's silver tongue always found a way to calm him down.
Tibalt scoffed to himself smirking at the memory. "I met him when I wasn't in the best of places. Let's just say that."
"Y-you seem to find yourself i-in a lot of bad places," Carina chuckled to herself as Tibalt blew another smoke ring into the fire, smirking slightly to himself. "My actions just get me in the wrong situations is all." Carina stared into the flames. "Y-you've helped people before?"
Tibalt raised an eyebrow at her for a moment. "Wellll I help people who get wrapped up in my business. They stay here until the trouble blows over and then we go our separate ways. I try find them later but…" Tibalt snickered to himself. "They usually try to avoid me by the end of our time together." He breathed deeply, inhaling the smoke and blowing it out through his nose. "You probably will too! And I wouldn't blame you in all honesty." He chuckled as Carina's brow furrowed.
"You can't be that bad…" His golden eyes caught the light and shimmered before he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow, his eyes moving across at her robed form. 'I hope not anyway,' Carina thought to herself, not enjoying his eyes.
"We need to go out tomorrow and get you some new clothes…" And with that he stood up, tossing the ashes of his pipe into the fire. "So we should probably get some sleep."
He collapsed onto mattress, pulling a pillow close to him, laying on his side facing Carina. She sighed slightly as she pulled a blanket over her and faced away from him. She closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly to the crackling of the fire.
But both of their slumbers were interrupted. Tibalt awoke, not in his room but on a cold stone slab in an gray wasteland. His eyes shot open and he gazed around, similar stones floating in the sky. The ambient call of whales echoed through the empty gray sky. Tibalt scrambled to his feet and gulped the stale air.
"What? Never thought you'd be back here again? Thought you only had to see it once when you joined the howlers? How long ago was that? You were twelve, right?" Tibalt turned rapidly to face a floating figure with its arms crossed, his eyes black and soulless and his hair just as black to contrast his pale skin.
"Yeah. I was. I'm flattered you remember." Tibalt's voice dripped with sarcasm as he settled his own nerves.
"Carina is blessed with my mark. I've been keeping my eyes on both of you and finally you two meet. I know you can't use bonecharms anymore ever since you left Paolo's little rag tag group. You took what you could and ran...and you're still being hunted."
"Yeah. No thanks to you. You could have left me with something."
Tibalt chuckled to himself and narrowed his eyes up at the being, crossing his own arms.
"Well you've made quite a change from the fifteen year old that abandoned the gang. Stealing bonecharms, Runes, hoping they'll work, not to mention all the ademire solution you kept stealing from the gangs. You were selfish...trying to get all those artifacts. But you made a miraculous turn...helping the miners, supplying soup kitchens."
"Well I like to think I do things for the greater good. So." He sneered at the outsider, rolling his eyes.
"You know...not even Paolo was this rude to me. He actually set up a shrine to me."
"Because he kissed your ass to get the hand of an old hag."
"He knew his place. But you…" The outsider laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "You think you can take on the world. Get everyone against one another and just disappear, Hide away...swoop a girl off her feet and change her life for the better. You're still just a naive child." His voice trailed off as he glared down at the golden eyed teenager. "I was going to give you your powers back…maybe give you your own abilities." He scoffed and scratched his chin. "But now...I need you to do something for me and then i'll consider it."
Tibalt sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Okay. What do you want?"
"Make this for her," the outsider said shifting his hand, shadowy whisps drifting of his finger tips, creating a small blueprint in front of Tibalt's eyes. "You'll find everything you need at the royal conservatory."
Tibalt's eyes widen and laughs, leaning back. "You think i'm going back there!? There's too much crazy shit-"
"If you want to actually help her get a better life or if you want your powers back just go there and make this for her."
And just like that Tibalt woke in his room to the morning light, still holding the pillow against his head. "Damn it."