By the time Helia caught up with Horus, the door to the library's back room was torn open and Horus had a flame sword in either hand. Helia grabbed her brother's and held it down as he locked eyes with Stone. In the corner, Stone was buttoning the cuffs to his shirt, and he'd found one of the short half cloaks they wore out into the battlegrounds when on patrol. It wasn't embroidered with a house, as Horus often wore them out to the fighting pits and didn't want to be named as a Cinder line inheritor.

"Helia." Stone smiled when he saw her, near oblivious to Horus clutching his blade harder. "These garments make me look like a mage." Stone spun to flare out the cloak, and she chuckled as he settled and pressed down the cravat when it popped out of the suit coat. At least with the layers, Horus couldn't see the muscles built for killing, and Stone wasn't so blatantly an assassin class battleground vampire.

"You have to clip that in," Helia said with a soft sigh, passing her brother and giving him a warning look as she approached Stone.

"I was unsure what this was for." Stone said, bowing his head as he delicately offered her the pin. Horus took notice of the over the top formalities and cocked his head as he shuffled his blades in place.

"Well, people don't use them as much in society, but if you're flying around fighting vampires, you can't be hit in the face with your own fancy clothes. You want to clip it here, in the back but far enough up that you have full range of motion in your neck. No one wants to choke wearing those things."

"Why do you wear something so difficult," Stone asked, and Helia shrugged.

"Beats me. These are worn by guys, and I'm not interested in petitioning for a wardrobe change for battleground mages." Helia pat his chest and then turned back to her brother.

Horus was watching Stone, listening to every word, and assessing him as a threat. While Horus might have a soft spot for Rodney, he was also a battleground-trained grand mage and knew the threat unknown vampires presented.

"Horus, drop your blades. Stone is docile."

"No vampires are docile, Hel," Horus countered, his amber eyes darkening.

"Ones missing their memories after being trapped in the void for hundreds of years are. Stone said that he has no idea who he is but also insists that he's not dead. Said he got lost in the void a few years ago, our time. I want to help him, not gut him, so can you please extinguish yourself."

Horus frowned but dropped his blades back into the magic from whence they'd come.

"Is this your brother?" Stone asked, planting his hands as harmlessly as possible by his sides. With him all dressed up and his hair neat and trimmed, he looked like a naïve acolyte. The absence of dark magic did him favors in blending in, and if he didn't open his mouth or touch anyone, he could pass for human with some of the more inexperienced mages.

"Yes, this is Horus. Horus, Stone."

"Thank you for the clothes." Stone gave Horus the full servitude package, dropping to a knee, one arm on his thigh and the other on the ground as he bowed his head. "I shall take care not to damage them. Helia said my garb was not appropriate for any setting really."

Stone sounded so dejected about losing his clothes, but that slip of fabric was not right. Not to mention that it would have taken Horus one look at Stone in assassin attire before he tried to behead him. While Horus wasn't on board with all of the Cinder malice, he still had a healthy fear of vampire kind.

"Well, for a guy who hasn't showered in a hundred years, you sure don't look grimy," Horus commented as passively as possible. Helia had been so overwhelmed with Sone all over her, that she hadn't even considered that. Now that she thought about it, Stone had a pleasant scent, like dry sand and summer winds.

"I do not perspire, so I am as I was, as long as I'm not dirtied by outside contaminants. Nothing physical can exist within the void, so I am untainted."

Horus snorted, the amusement and sheer pity brightening his amber eyes, and Helia smacked him as Stone shrank from being laughed at.

"Rodney would have a field day with this guy," Horus said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You know you can talk like a normal person, right?"

"Is my manner of speech offensive?" Stone asked earnestly, eyeing Helia for an answer, but she didn't think so. If anything, his eloquent speech was adorable. It was also added a layer of steam from Helia's ears when he said things he damn well shouldn't, but she was not going to tell Stone that.

"Your speech is fine, Stone." Helia sighed when the vampire perked up to her acknowledgement, and the groan didn't fully leave her lips before a door slammed open behind her.

"What is going on here?" Pyre didn't need to raise his voice for it to be terrifying nor commanding, and Helia and Horus spun to their father filling the doorway with his general in tow. Mahogany hair dipping to magma nearer his head whipped behind him in a tightly tied length from his scalp's base, and his eyes burned as dark red as hers when she was angry.

Igneous Terra kept quiet behind Pyre's shoulder, only half Cinder by birth and it showed from his short, dirt hair and eyes. He was just one of many rotating men who trained directly under Pyre. Her father took them in, pruned them, and kicked them out to lead their own.

"Another one of your toys?" Pyre beaming his hatred at Horus, but before her brother could answer, Pyre pushed past them and grabbed Stone by the throat. "What do you think you're doing here, vampire?"

"I–" Poor Stone squeaked off his voice, raising his hands harmlessly like this was a stick up and Pyre was about to shoot him. It was a better reaction than executing her father who'd unwittingly put himself within a vampire assassin's reach, but it didn't bode well for Stone's life expectancy. The guy had just made it out of the void only into death's hands.

"Well, if you want some experience for your little play fights, I have a few dozen generals who'd love to beat a vampire bloody after what they just suffered to defend their own from your scourge."

Pyre dragged Stone right out the library door, up the small flight of steps to the lower training halls, and Horus and Helia chased him. Their eyes met for a moment, and Horus' pallor was grey as he imagined Stone murdering her father in cold blood since he was some void monster. Helia knew better. While Stone had been frightening to start, once he'd understood his situation and settled into his surroundings, he was damn near timid. Whatever assassin he'd been with his memories, that man was not here, and she had to save him from her father before it resurfaced.

"Pyre!" Horus called after him as he caught up to his quick-paced trudge.

Horus tried to stop their father with a hand, but Pyre slapped it off with flame magic that sizzled his son's fingers. After the war trenches, Pyre was in no mood to put up with his defiant son's hobbies. That meant it was up to Helia to stop him, but when she tried to call her magic, it sputtered out at her finger tips. The void spell had drained her, and she was helpless to stop Pyre as he tossed Stone into the main training hall. Stone skidded on the tiles, slipped, and fell face first into the floor. By the time he managed to pick himself up on his elbows, half a dozen mage generals of varying houses had mage weapons drawn.

"Father, stop this!" Helia begged. "I know you don't like Horus, but you really want to kill a man for it?"

Pyre's flame eyes darkened, but he scoffed as he looked away from her. "Killing him would serve no purpose but bloodshed, but beating him to an inch of his life will set a firm line for any other vampire Horus intends to bring here."

Helia ground her teeth, but she knew that outing Stone as something from the void would get him killed. A quick glance to Horus, showed he'd tucked his hands into his chest as he crossed his arms, the gesture to hide how badly they were shaking. Horus was worried Stone might kill someone here but he was loyal enough to her not to squeal. It was his greatest aspect and flaw, his devotion to her even when she got into some poor situations. Horus was always there for her, one grand mage to another, to keep them alive and unscalded by their father.

"Here." Pyre lifted a bucket and dumped it over Stone where he'd barely lifted himself to his knees. The poor guy flinched lower as blue paint poured over him. "My men use this in our training. If you can paint them on a vital point, they're disqualified, and if the paint dries, you've taken too long and are as good as dead. Have fun."

Stone smudged paint out of his face as he looked to Pyre with confusion. "You desire me to demonstrate my combat prowess?" The question had Pyre's lips opened in a sneer that would have had any vampire with memories backing away. Stone just looked lost on why Pyre was so angry and what he was supposed to do in this situation. "These men are not a match for me, so it would prove little."

Horus' quick intake of breath had near all of them looking at him, all except Pyre who looked like he was ready to burn Stone to ashes. It wasn't Stone's fault that he was honest and didn't have the understanding of the situation to back down and plead for leniency.

"These are some of the strongest mages generals in training," Pyre spat, flames sparking around him as his magic flushed into the air around him. It was meant to frighten Stone, but the vampire didn't even pay the flames mind, as if were comfortable among them.

"They are exhausted... and green," Stone answered, thinking Pyre wanted further explanation. "But if you insist, I am at your service." Stone gave Pyre a bow of his head that had Helia's entire body sinking with guilt. This was her fault for summoning him. The man was so polite that he was doing his best to obey Pyre's commands, but they were meant as a scare tactic and aggression that Stone didn't seem to grasp.

Stone disappeared, and Helia jumped to attention at the same time Pyre did.

Every mage general in the room raised a a shield or weapon, but they barely saw Stone as he zipped between them, sliding his blue-painted fingers across the backs of some near the lower spine, while smearing blue over the backs of other's legs. Some of the more exhausted ones in the back ended up with a line of navy across their throats or dotted on their foreheads. By the time Stone stopped, Pyre was in his face again, magic blazing and his hand lifted to put an end to his antics as he perceived them.

Stone lifted his head from his crouched position to Pyre's hand lowering to crack him upside his head, and Helia cringed as she expected him to dart out of the way. Instead, the light left Stone's grey eyes, and he sagged in on himself just before the blow struck him across the head. An audible cry escaped her lips as she took off to this side, cutting Pyre off as she touched the side of his face to see if he was okay.

"Father!" Helia snapped, her flame magic rising with her anger, but Pyre had already taken a step back. There was no satisfaction on his face, as he had seen Stone fade just as she had. There had been no way to stop the momentum of his blow in time, not that he would have, but there was no pride in pummeling an unconscious opponent.

"Is he dead?" Horus asked so callously that Helia wanted to add him to the floor.

"I highly doubt that. He just passed out so abruptly." Helia turned Stone so that his face was up, but he didn't rouse in the slightest.

She raised her eyes to the dome's sky window,and the last light of the sun had slipped beyond the horizon. Had he lost consciousnessbecause the sun had set? Or had he run out of the abysmal energy he'd had fromthe void? There was no way of knowing until he roused, so she relinquished himto Horus's lowered arms. It made more sense for Horus to carry what wassupposed to be one of his fighters, and Helia was too shaky to carry herself.The best she could do was let Stone rest and hope that he wasn't upset when hewoke. This had all gotten out of hand so quickly.

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