Legends of the Garou

"Eye of Anubis"

Spilling of the Blood

All of the Gaian warriors who held the rank to participate in this fight had armed themselves to the teeth. Heart of Anubis had been charged with leading the battle. Their target was a warehouse in the industrial district of Portland – a warehouse known for housing meat products.

Rites were performed, fetishes were grabbed from the arming room and talens were being created by the Theurges as just on the other side of the complex the Ahroun were leading an Anthem of War. Anub'ru, only a kinfolk in a midst of great warriors was seemingly unsure of what all was going on. While he had the guidance of his Past Lives at times, it wasn't enough to show him what truly was happening. He didn't understand the reason for all the hubbub, but all he knew was that he was going with.

Finally the hour came upon the Garou of the Sept. Some piled into vehicles while others took to the Umbra. Heart would lead the way for the Umbral group while Neo lead the charge for those who traveled within the physical world. Trotting alongside his father, the little jackal-wolf Anub'ru would follow along. Heart had given the order to one of the Theurges to give Anub'ru a talen; a small piece of deerskin leather which when bitten into would phase him across the Umbra into the real world once. So he trotted alongside his father, a Strider who was born of unbroken lineage to one of the greatest Striders ever known; Anubis. All of the commotion had the young ling scared, but he knew that he would have to do what he could... the question was, what could that be?

Unseen by most of the Garou there, an Owl spirit was soaring high above their Umbral war party. Spirit Wards kept most of the other spirits away, but this one was above such small measures. It was there to support Anub'ru, one who if he lasted long enough would one day be a great Silent Strider.

Finally they arrived at their destination. The Umbral landscape was littered with sickeningly twisted memorials; spiritual images that represented all of the misdeeds that had taken place. Banes flooded the area within the building, and it was deemed by communal convergence of the Theurges that the best tactic would be to place a Spirit Ward on the building, thus forcing them out. The fight would be bad enough with a slew of vampires to beat down, but to have wage a two-fronted war would almost be suicide.

They set to work performing the Spirit Ward which allowed time for the rest of the Sept to arrive in the physical world. At the activation of the ward, a great glowing glyph appeared on each of the faces of this Umbrally-dessicated building. Bane spirits began to flee the building left and right, all fleeing as if their own lives depended on it. This was just as the Theurges had planned... then they began to work their way into the building, immediately beginning to follow the path to the most corrupted areas.

The others waited outside of the building, perhaps but a block away. They were waiting for contact from the Umbral scouting team. Neo paced back and forth, obviously knowing that bloodshed was bound to occur and that he might lose a number of warriors from the Sept. But such would happen as it was Gaia's will that they combat the Wyrm wherever it dwells. And this time, they had made it personal.

Finally a signal beacon that Neo was holding onto began to show blips on the virtual map. He knew this was a marker for an entry point on the building. A second blip appeared, marking where the gathering of vampires was being held within the building, and the number 21 appeared on the screen to indicate the number of visible hostiles. It seemed strange that there were 20 Garou who were along for the mission, with 1 Kinfolk. The numbers just didn't sit well with the Glass Walker who was running some calculations within his mind. Snapping out of his reverie, he lead the group over to a small sub-floor entry.

As the physical war party beat the door in and began to shred away at the lowly peon who was guarding said door, it became evident that the local group was not without their guardians. A cluster of Shambling Hordes filled the hallway; while this wasn't really a threat to the enraged and battle-tested warriors, it was enough to make a ruckus to alert the other gathered Sabbat to their presence.

The Bishop had been holding a sermons of Caine just as the warriors breached their complex. Immediately their Marshal pack grabbed some weapons and headed out into the hallway. At the sight of the raging lupines, these Cainites began to yell back to their compatriots, alerting them to the nature of the attack. Just as they lifted their guns to fire at the wall of flesh and fur, Neo called upon a spiritual gift to jam all local technology, thereby rendering them useless. Clicks were all that were heard as they attempted to fire their weapons, and the pack threw them down to prepare for a melee and brawling fight.

Meanwhile, the Umbral squad all filtered out of the Umbra in a room adjacent to where the Bishop was holding his ritae. As they called upon their gifts, a swarm of fire elementals appeared and set out to wreak havoc through the hallway and into the Bishop's gathering. His eyes went serpentine and he grew into the form of a Typhonic Beast as the others gathered either frenzied or began to fight these otherworldly creatures.

Combat seemed much like a blur, and as it turned out these Sabbat weren't lacking in training. While their weapons were ineffective, their claws and fangs were less so. Casualties were being seen on both sides, though more on the part of the Cainites. Anub'ru, who was uncertain still what his reason for being there was prowled into the room where the Theurges were commanding their Elementals. When he got there, he found his father swinging a Klaive at the Bishop who merely took a blow while staring into the raging Crinos' eyes. Suddenly he stopped fighting as if entranced by the being. It was then that the rest of the Bishop's pack descended upon the Strider, and suddenly the tide was turned as his flesh and fur were being ravaged. Blood spurted out of claw and fang wounds, he was burned by torch-weapons and otherwise unable to act.

Anub'ru looked around in fear of the idea of his father's life being lost, and suddenly his eyes went milky white. No longer did fear control him. Rage began to bubble up within the young ling and his form began to change. Bones cracked as he made his ascent into his Hispo form, and he howled an eerie howl. Just then apparitions of ghostly individuals began to appear from the woodwork; the Sabbat members were being barraged by unseen forces and Heart was grappled across the Shroud only to begin levitating to all appearances. A Harbinger flew to the ceiling with Heart who had suffered some grievous wounds, and even he was taken aback by this. Struggling to free himself to no avail, he growled and clawed at the air around him.

The young one who had just made the first change leaped right at the serpentine Bishop. A small army of spirits of the dead was beginning to make work of the other pack-mates, this Serpent of the Light was still standing. The Strider cub leapt at him at a speed far beyond what the Serpent's eyes could track and he set to ravaging the snake. Claws landed in vicious blows just as teeth would sink into vital spots. Taken aback by the fury of this young one, the Serpent fell back a few paces and reached to batter the Dire-wolf form. Clubbing him over the head, he seemed unshaken by the blow only to return with his fangs at the throat of the Serpent.

Turning with the idea that escape was necessary, he reached for his pocket to withdraw a piece of chalk. He fell to the floor and started trying to draw what looked like a box, but Anub'ru was interrupting his movements with his savage attacks. The hastily-drawn door finally opened and the Serpent began to slip into the Shadow Lands, but he hadn't intended for Anub'ru to be attached to him at the time. The Strider's jaws had sank into the leg of the snake, and both of them tumbled across the Shroud into this dark and dank world. Looking around for anything that might be his salvation, the Serpent saw the number of dead who were there. Desperately trying to command one to his aid, he was only capable of earning their ire for even being present. The distraction from the pain and wounds inflicted upon him by the still frenzied Hispo were bearing down upon him. Just as a wraith drew close to the Serpent, seeming as if it were about to pull him from the attacking Garou, the massive jaws of the cub close down over the head of the offending snake. With a sickening crunch, the brain-matter soon decayed into naught but dust and ash and the frenzy subsided... tired and sore, the Hispo instinctively reverted to his Lupus form.

Still dazed from all that had happened, he cocked his head and looked up to realize that he was seeing things in a place that he usually could see, but that he wasn't seeing the normal overlay of the physical world.

Frightened he turned to run only to bump into the Harbinger that had helped his father. Bearing his fangs as instinct took over, the Harbinger merely grinned and commanded "Silence, whelp!"

The milky eyes had faded from the cub before ever finishing the fight, and now he was left to his own wisdom. Hearing the command of the denizen of the Shadow Lands, he ceased bearing his fangs and sat, looking upward.

"What have we here?" The wraith inquired.

"I know just as well as the rest of us here that the Quick have no place in our world. Charon's law dictates that we should not speak to you, and yet... I've never been one to follow such dictations."

The Lupus listened, not truly understanding the words that were spoken, but trying not to offend the one who had, after all, saved his father from death.

"But what to do with you? You can't stay here... you've got to go, son!"

It was just then that the figure of Anub'ru's father appeared with crossed legs seated on the ground just beside his son. Grabbing his son by the tail, he looked toward the Harbinger and spoke. "We apologize for our breach of your laws, oh Spirit. We shall take our leave."

And before the Harbinger could react, he once again phased across the Shroud with his son in his grasp. Reappearing in the physical world, Anub'ru could see the carnage that had been waged in his absence. A few of the Garou had fallen within the room in which he stood, but many more were the corpses and piles of dust that littered the area. Heart was wounded and still bleeding in a few places, and a nearby Theurge came to his aid, utilizing mother's touch to heal him of his most grievous wounds.

"This is a day of victory for Gaia on multiple fronts! For not only have we dispatched of a great Wyrm threat, but we have seen the enemies try and flee from our righteous might! But did that stop our onslaught? No! Even the lowest warriors among us proved their mettle today!" He motioned downward at his son, Anub'ru.

"I give unto you now the newest child of the Silent Striders. A newly forged Warrior of Gaia! One who felled an Elder Vampire whilst he sought his escape from our mighty talons! I give you Anub'ru!"

A pained cheer passed over the group who were assembled. It was a celebratory tone, and yet many of them were so wounded that they could not muster anything further... others were grieving for their lost comrades. Neo stepped to the head of the room. "Warriors of Gaia! Hear me!"

The assembled Garou brought themselves to attention as best they could, staring at their Alpha with pride and pain evident on their faces.

"Heart is right! Victory has been achieved! Let us take our fallen brothers and sisters and give them proper respects. Let us celebrate our victory!"