Chapter 1: Sanctuary

The Durmand Priory’s headquarters stood out like a beacon of refuge in the distance. The massive stone stronghold had been built into the western mountainside in Lornar’s Pass, and it served as both a monastery and a place of knowledge since its creation in 1105AE. It housed numerous volumes of information recorded over the years, including records saved by members of the Order of Whispers during the flooding of Lions Arch in 1219AE. It was also home to countless artifacts which had been catalogued and filed away for safe keeping. The highest-profile ones were buried so deep, they never saw the light of day unless the Steward deemed it so.

Nienna Valar let out a relieved sigh as soon as she saw the Priory’s blue and silver flags dotting the massive stone walls. She and her people had been walking since daybreak, and now the sun had already begun to set. They were all exhausted and travel worn. As they trudged along the snow-covered road, the flags waved gently in the mountain breeze, beckoning travelers in need of rest for their weary bodies. After everything they had all been through in the past twenty-four hours, Nienna and her people were desperately in need of sanctuary.

There had been no opportunity for any of them to rest since the attack on their home in Lion’s Arch. Lord and Lady Byrne had come for the blade, reducing their hall to a charred pile of rubble in the process. There was no doubt the smoke would draw onlookers. Before they could be questioned by the Lionguard, Nienna and her people gathered what they could and left. They were lucky enough to find a reliable messenger on the road to deliver two missives: one to Alena’s contact at the Priory to let them know they were coming, and one informing Captain Danae Morgan of their next intended location. Danae and her crew had come to their aid during the attack. However, her ship had been badly damaged. They would likely take the vessel to the aerodrome if they could, so Nienna instructed the message to be delivered there.

Nienna abruptly stopped in the snow and bowed her head. Danae had not only nearly lost complete function of her airship; she had lost a dear crew member as well. She had not seen the captain in such pain and anguish since her hardest day training with the Order of Whispers. Nienna shared in her agony, then and now. Ships could be replaced, but lives could not. They all lost people they cared about, and their deaths weighed heavily on Nienna’s heart, but she silently shouldered the burdens. She didn’t want the others to see how much she was hurting inside. A good leader never did, and that was what she needed to be right now.

She scoffed. A leader—I was never meant to be such a thing, she thought.

For years, Nienna had been on the run while protecting the blade, but craved a place to finally set down roots. When her new friends Rhys and Sir Fendall proposed an idea to create a safe place for those who needed it, Nienna was skeptical. It was supposed to be a home for those who didn’t have anywhere to go, but she saw each possible inhabitant as a combined risk. If they were to let people into their home, the godly weapon she had been charged with keeping safe would be vulnerable. But as the three of them continued talking, an idea grew in Nienna’s mind and her view changed. Under the right circumstances, these potential recruits could unknowingly serve as guards for her precious charge. She had been so tired of running, of having no roots of her own. She desperately wanted a place to settle down, and what her friends were proposing was enticing, but it was an idea she had now come to regret.

When Dee realized she no longer heard her friend trudging through the snow behind her, she stopped and turned around. “Nienna?” she called to her friend, “you doing all right?”

Hearing her name pulled Nienna from her thoughts, and she looked up at the large norn woman eyeing her with worry. She managed a reassuring smile. “Yes, sorry. Just a little tired.”

Dee furrowed her brow, wrinkling the permanent band of grey tattooed over her eyes.

“I’m fine,” Nienna assured her as she took a few steps through the calf-high snow. “See? It’s just been a long walk, that’s all.”

“You’re telling me,” Alena slung her staff over her shoulder and rubbed at her tired eyes. Her long, pointed ears hung low, mirroring her weary, slouched posture. She yawned deeply, revealing two rows of small, pointed teeth. “We’re almost there though. If he got our message, he should be out to meet us any moment.”

“You sure it’ll be safe?” Clarkus eyed the Priory’s facility suspiciously as he adjusted the heavy bundle he was carrying on his back. The charr warrior’s striped tail whipped sharply back and forth as his long ears twitched anxiously. He had been on edge ever since they had departed Lion’s Arch.

They all had.

Tuborg patted the large charr’s broad shoulder. “If Alena has promised it so, then it shall be.” The thorns along the sylvari’s cheeks flexed as he offered Clarkus a comforting smile.

“Tuborg is right. Besides, we don’t have many safe places to go right now—not with it still in our possession,” Nienna pointed out. “The Priory should be safer than any other option for the time being. But still, we should never let it out of our sight while we’re there.”

Dee nodded. “Agreed.”

Dhuum’s scythe, referred to as the Eternal Blade by Nienna’s family, had been in her family’s care for generations, and now in her own for nearly two decades. It was once whole, but a moment of desperation led her to try something she wasn’t even sure would work. She had been stranded in the bay after the battle, and agents from the Order of Whispers were on their way to rescue her. She couldn’t let them know she had it in her possession, so with the axe she found hidden in the bowels of the Chantry of Secrets, Nienna severed the blade into three pieces small enough to hide in the coat Quint’s long overcoat.

Her plan worked, but the fact that it had worked left her with even more questions.

Pulling the large leather garment tighter to brace herself against the brisk Shiverpeak wind, Nienna followed the others as they continued on toward the Priory’s headquarters. Once her former adviser revealed he had been sent after her by the Order of Whispers with the order to kill her if needed, their bond of trust was immediately thrust onto unsteady ground. In that moment when she had fallen into the water and lost the blade, he could have ended it right there and brought the divine weapon back to the Order. Instead, Quint wrapped the blade in his coat and pulled her to safety up onto a large rock. Nienna was grateful, but there was no time to reconcile. He had stolen from an Order of Whispers Preceptor, and an act like that would not go unpunished. Quint disappeared into the water before she was rescued, leaving his coat and the blade behind. She could still feel the rough edges of the folded papers tucked safely in her undergarment—the papers he jeopardized his own safety to give to her. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to read them yet.

And what of Seren and Salara?

They had risked their lives to set her free, only to be taken by the Byrnes at the end of the battle. The clever sylvari had only just recently found out about the sisterly tie between Nienna and Seren, and she couldn’t help but feel this strange sense of loss for someone she barely knew—a part she hadn’t realized was even there. Had I always known? Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, did I sense it? Was that why I decided to bring her in to be a part of this group? She poured through countless memories of the young guardian, all the way back to the day they met.

Oh gods.

Her heart broke into a sprint as the realization sunk in. “He knew,” she murmured to herself. “That’s why he showed her to me.”

“Hrm?” Dee uttered. She had chosen to remain in the back of the group and keep a watchful eye on Nienna as they continued on. “You sure you’re okay? You’re exhausted and mumbling strange things to yourself now. Am I going to have to carry you the rest of the way?”

“You’re not carrying me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes,” Nienna scoffed. “Save me my dignity at least. I just—something suddenly made sense to me.”

Dee raised an eyebrow. “You want to share?”

“During Scarlet’s attack on Lion’s Arch, I was there helping to clear out her thugs from the city. I found Seren defending a group of young children in the promenade.” Nienna suddenly stopped walking, “I saw Grenth there, standing over Seren. He knew who she was, and in his infuriatingly cryptic way, he was trying to tell me. That son of a bitch—he should have just told me instead of- “

She suddenly doubled over as searing pain shot through her head. Her hands suddenly ached as if they had been kept submerged in icy water. Looking down at her hands, she discovered a sheen of frost covering the fingertips of her black gloves. She immediately clenched her hands into fists and brought them up to her mouth to blow warmth onto them, but her breath felt as cold as her hands.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m—okay,” Nienna replied as she worked to steady her ragged breathing. “It’s fine. I’m just tired is all.”

Dee pursed her lips in disapproval and leaned in closer. “You are not okay,” she insisted, keeping her voice low so the others could not hear. “Ever since you used that weapon, your body has been reacting. Have those lines on your arms gotten any longer?”

“No, they haven’t,” Nienna replied firmly. “I’ll be okay. It’s just temporary.”

“How do you know that?”

Nienna flashed her an uncertain glance. She didn’t really know for sure. Nothing like this had ever happened to her, but she also didn’t want Dee to worry. She didn’t want any of them to worry. They all had enough on their plates.

“Who’s that?” Tuborg called out as he pointed off in the distance.

A lone figure emerged from over the crest of the next hill. Nienna narrowed her eyes, studying the stranger as they neared. They were tall, and not seemingly imposing, but their heavy Priory robes hid most of their build. “Is that your contact, Alena?”

“Yes,” the asura answered with a smile. She did a little joyful hop in the snow and pointed the top of her staff at the approaching stranger. “That should be him now!”

Dee’s dark faded band flexed as she raised an eyebrow. “Who are they?”

Clarkus looked down at his asura friend. “You didn’t tell them?”

Alena shrugged. “The exact details of his make, appearance, and relationship never really came up.”

“Ho, travelers!” the stranger announced with a grandiose gesture as he neared. He was an older man, with a silver frosted beard and bright kind eyes. “Kiddo! It’s good to see you!”

“Jakob!” Alena’s long ears perked up, and she waded through the snow toward him with her arms outstretched. He picked her up and gave her a warm hug before setting her back down in the snow.

“Are you Alena’s Priory contact?” Dee asked as she placed her hands on her hips. She narrowed her hazel eyes at him suspiciously.

“Jakob Maru at your service,” he replied with a polite bow.

“Maru,” Nienna murmured thoughtfully. She looked over at Alena. “He’s your-.”

“My guardian, or rather my father in terms you’re more familiar with,” Alena replied. “He adopted me when I was a progeny.”

“I believe I have some questions,” Tuborg chimed in.

“I think we all do,” Nienna added.

The group was surprised to find this man neither long-eared nor grey-skinned. He wasn’t an asura at all; he was a human man. “Yup, I’m Alena’s guardian,” he confirmed with a warm smile that reached his eyes.

Nienna knit her brow. “I knew you were adopted, but I guess I didn’t realize he wasn’t asura.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your birth parents?” Tuborg asked Alena.

Jakob shot Alena a concerned glance, but she replied with a reassuring smile as she patted his leg. “It’s all right. I don’t mind him asking.” She turned to the curious sylvari and said quietly, “I just don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Tuborg smiled and nodded. “I understand. Maybe another time if you wish.”

Clarkus let out a soft chuff. He curled his tail around his hind paws, the end flicking slightly as he crouched down next to Alena and spoke in a low voice. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve got all of us know.”

“Ah! You must be Clarkus,” Jakob said. He brightened a little and offered his hand to the charr. I’ve heard a lot about you from Alena’s letters. Don’t worry, all good things. Thanks for having my girl’s back all these years.”

The charr straightened himself, dwarfing the man with his height and broad frame. Hesitantly, he took Jakob’s hand in his large paw, careful not to scratch him with his claws. His tensed muzzle relaxed, and he managed a smile flashing a set of sharp fangs that might otherwise appear threatening. “She’s the one who’s had my back.”

“Ha! That’s my girl!” Jacob patted Clarkus’ striped arm before letting it go. He then turned his attention to Nienna who had been content at remaining towards the back of the group all this time. “Lady Valar, I presume?”

She nodded, and still concerned with the unpredictable state of her hands, she remained where she was and offered Jakob a polite nod. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said, “as well as your discretion.”

“It’s no problem, really,” he replied. “Any friend of Alena’s is a friend of mine. You all look like you’ve been through one hell of a night. Let’s get you all inside quickly. We had a strange airship fly by rather low last night. Don’t know who might be lurking about out here.”