Silver Rain – The Cohort
Digital Devil Saga
Digital Devil Saga, the scenario minus any original characters, and any canon characters, are © to Atlus
Yulia/Garuda is © to myself
Kaamos/Pandemonium is © Drcheerio of Deviantart
Shiv/Morrigan is © Dimitrininjasan of Deviantart
Jed/Vakirauta is © to his player
All original characters not of my creation are used with express permission
Chapter One – Rain
The rain sheeted from the sky, as though some divinity had decided to wash away the world below. A steady drumbeat of rain against worked stone accompanied the eternal mid-light, the water flashing silver where it raced past the faint glow of artificial light. It splashed into pools, ran through cracks in the stone, and still it fell, anything it touched seeming to share its silver luminescence. Beneath the eave of a low built building, within the feeble light cast by a lamp tinted grey, stood the overseer of this domain, the defender of this territory, its longstanding leader. Wrapped in a cloak the colours of aged rubble, dust, and stone, deep hood obscuring the details of the face, goggles fixed over the eyes, the leader watched the rain, the eternal silver rain, and sighed. The rain never ceased, but today it seemed to fall harder, with a vengeance. It would make the usual scouting and trapping more difficult, but the tribe members knew their work; there would be no intruders, no challengers to their right to this place. Bezaid was theirs. It always had been, and always would. The leader turned sharply as footsteps approached, the rain kicked up in the newcomer's wake sloshing back to the ground in flashing silver. Like the leader, the newcomer to this jolly jaunt of rain-watching was swathed in a camo-cloak, with red-tinted goggles over the eyes, and, like the leader, the clothes were marked with matt silver. Their colour, the tribe's colour; none not bearing the Cohort silver had ever gained this deep into Bezaid. The newcomer jerked their head before speaking in a habitual whisper. The Cohort lived by the shadows and the ambush.
"You're going to ruin another pair of boots if you insist on standing in puddles, boss."
The 'Boss' grinned even though the expression mostly hidden by the hood and cloak, though it seemed the newcomer saw it anyway.
"It's worth it to make sure the new recruits are kept on their toes. They think I'm breathing down their necks, they're less likely to be sloppy."
The voice was feminine, though roughened by years of shouting commands over gunfire, and held a distinct edge of command. One who spoke and expected to be obeyed instantly. On closer inspection, one who knew for what to look would see a compassionate leader, one who fought and bled with her men, but on the surface, one saw only a warrior.
Jed, the newcomer, snorted, and jerked his head at one of the 'new recruits', barely visible hunched under his cloak atop the roof, sitting out his unenviable shift of watch duty.
"He's watching you more than he's watching the roads. He's going to get a mighty neck ache if he keeps doin' that."
Jed fixed his gaze on the scout until the newbie abashedly turned back to watching for enemies through the scope of a rifle.
"Hah, still got the killer gaze, Jed."
The wiry scout shrugged, the motion muffled and subdued by the cloak.
"Ah, someone's gotta keep the new 'ns from screwing up. Not why I came here, though. Kaamos was lookin' for you. Says he's made a new trap he wants your opinion on."
A bob of her head, and the leader turned to go. Jed, still looking at the new scout, smiled very slightly.
"Don't get your fingers near it, boss. You won't be too good at your knife-tricks with half yer hand missing."
A cocked eyebrow, quirking her goggles on one side, and she moved past in a whisper of her cloak.