Guardians of Innistrad
Violeta
Chapter 1
Sitting quietly in the corner of her library, Violeta Petit-Fontaine was reading a section out of a particular favorite book of hers. The Spells of Geists. She stands up and looks out the window. Her jet black hair, long and straight reaching mid back waved as she stood. Her eyes, a dark brown, and her skin, soft like velvet stood out against the dark backdrop in which she lived. Violeta lived a quiet life mostly. In a secluded section of Nephalia reserved for the wealthy criminals. No one knows where she came from or why she is there but they do fear her. She has an air about her that says my beauty will haunt you forever. She can have men grovel at her feet in an instant and has no care to be with any of them. Nephalia, home of the criminals of Innistrad, was perfect for her to hideaway to. She had heard of this place back in her home land. The last thing that her home had heard about her is that she was a suspect in the assassination of the queen. It was quite unique how she did it. She actually did not harm her at all. It was all geists, spirits of the dead, that she commanded to suffocate the queen. It was all so simple to Violeta but no one would ever know that.
As she stared out the window the grey streets of Nephalia were crawling with scum and low-life criminals that she knew were coming to her home to beg for someone dead or some kind of monetary payout. She would not fulfill most requests but today she was feeling rather kind and decided to select only one task that would benefit her. This is how she gained her power in Nephalia. She is the unofficial queen of Nephalia. The self-proclaimed queen and no one said one word against it. The men had not seen such a beautiful being unless they were vampires. Most human would not touch the vampires for fear of receiving the curse. Many of Nephalia’s criminals were men scraping on the ends of society to get by. Not Violeta, a woman with so much mystery that no one questioned anything she said. No one knew her secret. Her ability to bend geists to her will was unique to her, and she was determined to keep it that way.
As she walked down the spiral staircase out of the library to the grand foyeur, her hair moved with such ease, as if another force was holding it. At all times she had some geist following her, doing her bidding as she wished. As she approached the door she merely spoke one word.
“Open.”
The door opened slowly as the first of many men came to her feet groveling. This man was typical. Scraggly beard, short, hunchbacked with no form of hygene. He was wrinkled around his eyes and hair wirey, like that of a mane brush for a horse. His teeth were falling out and his clothes old and disheveled.
“My lady,” he says as he looks down at her feet, “I ask of you to please grant me my one desire.”
She stared at him with the same emotionless look she gave all men of his degree. She did not speak.
“My lady,” he begins to beg, “please does not let me go without a word. I ask of you to please end my life painlessly. I have too much at stake to continue my worthless existence.”
She opens her mouth as if to speak, and as she does the man’s eyes close shut and is carried away to the cemetery to the rear of her grand mansion.
She turns around to go to the living area. She lights a candle and then enters the room. A blood red room with a chair, she sits and just looks at the walls. She stares intently at one point in the walls; she is looking at a geist. The man whom she just killed as his spirit walks with the rest in her house. He mouths at her, thank you, and floats to the attic. She stands and goes to the door.
“Open.”
The door opens and she steps out into the grey street. The road of the wealthy is only three houses deep. It turns into the main road with all the shops, inns, and taverns of the town. Nothing is safe from corruption here. Every business is shady and if the customer decides to fight the corruption, they died. The corruption ran the town and it will remain that way, Violeta would make sure of this. Her power was unheard of in this town and before she arrived it was anarchy. Theft, murder, and rape all occurred on these streets until she arrived. Anyone who broke her laws were killed on sight. Not by police, not by gangs, by Violeta herself. Her power was unmatched and she knew this.
She arrives to the local inn and enters. The inn-keeper looks up and immediately turns a ghostly white.
“Ma-ma-ma-madame Petit, what can I do for you?”
“Why must you men fear me?
“Madame, we do not fear you?”
“Do you lie to me?” She begins to stare at him.
“N-n-n-n-n-no madame, we fear you because you are powerful. This is why we fear you and oblige to you.”
“Good. Have any spoke against me. Do any wish to have their fate ended early?”
“Not as far as I know. No one wishes to disregard your beauty madame.”
“Good.” She starts to leave as she notices a man in the corner.
“You, in the corner, why do you not rise as you see me? Why do you continue to drink your drink and think your thoughts while I am in the room? I am the queen!” She turns and begins to walk towards him.
He stands up, keeping his head low and approaches her. He does not speak a word but rather hands her a letter and leaves.
“What is this?”
He continues to walk away. She watches him walk away and raises her hand.
“He doesn’t care.”
She turns.
“He’s in here from time to time and he’s a good customer. Doesn’t talk much, just enough to get what he needs.”
“What is this?” She hands him the letter.
“I don’t know madame but it looks rather important.”
“Well then. I must go. Thank You.”
Shocked the inn-keeper replies, “Your welcome.”
She leaves the inn and goes back to her home quickly. She does not even speak open to get the door open. The geists just know when she is on a mission and open the door for her. She moves to the library. Covered in books, the library is where she spends most of her day. It is her where she learns to understand the geists and how they are able to be manipulated but this envelope was more important at the moment. She opens the letter. It is addressed to her.
Dear Madame Petit-Fontaine,
We are obliged to inform you that you are selected for a particular request. This request cannot be said in a letter so we must ask you to meet us in a secure location. This request is from above us and we know not of the location. Only in a written one-word response of your decision will give you the location. Please reply quickly using the same correspondence in which you received the letter.
With regard,
Anonymous
She stared blankly at the letter. It was short. It almost instilled a form of fear in her, an unknown source sending her information about an unknown task. She was renowned for her mysterious quality but this was almost fearful in nature. It was official looking enough. On parchment, in ink, addressed properly with the correct wording, should she accept? She sat in her chair. Her hair moved again. She asked the geists of their opinion but gave no response. She quickly got up and stared out the window. Her sleek body moving rapidly, her hair flowing with every step, and with such grace, she stared. She looked below at the scum that filled the streets and wondered. Is this from Nephalia? Is this from my homeland? No. It cannot be.
“Damn.”
She looked around for some form of an answer. The letter was almost too official. She grabbed her pen and parchment and quickly wrote down one word.
She quickly left her home and went to the inn.
“Madame, you are back so soon!”
“I know but this is urgent. Give this to that man tomorrow.” She hands him the folded parchment.
“Madame he may not be in for some time.”
“He will be here tomorrow and if that letter is not passed to him by tomorrow or your eyes even glance at the parchment your life will be mine.”
His eyes grew wide. “Yes madame.” he spoke quietly as he took the parchment.
She left the inn and walked quickly.
Instead of walking home she walked to the tavern across the street. This was the first time since she arrived that she had been in the tavern. It was not a place a lady should be. Especially a queen, but if it requires information it was necessary.
She walked in. The doors flew open and everyone went silent. It was hazy from smoke. Vampires screeched and fled to the alleyway. Only humans remained. It was dimly lit and the barkeep seemed to fear the light, possibly a half-blood, who knew. In this town anyone could be anything but no one questioned it. It was law. You let people be. That was law. You did not speak about anyone’s differences. That was law. You did not ever speak ill of the queen. That was death. All laws broken were punishable by death and even in the dim light everyone knew they had broken laws already that day. They all had the same fear in mind. Even the vampires in the alley feared their lives were to be cut short. Their eternal existence erased by one thought of the queen and they feared her. They all feared her. She spoke one word.
“Death.”
All those who had committed crimes that day scrambled and screamed and all those who had broken laws and had gotten down on to their knees and begged forgiveness to the queen. Some even prayed to Avacyn that she would spare their lives. Violeta looked around at the men.
“You all fear me. You all have committed crimes against laws in which I made! You all fear me but broke these laws I set in place! If you fear me then why commit these acts?” She calmed down. Her face slightly flushed from anger she spoke again.
“Is there anyone in this room who has not broken a law?”
No one stood. No one moved. All was silent.
“Well then. I guess there is only one thing left to do.”
She raised her hands up, palms towards the men, and began to open her mouth. As she did so one man spoke.
“I have not.”
She stopped and looked around. No one had stood.
“Who dares speak while I grant blessed sleep on this isle of restless dead?”
No one stood. No one whimpered or moved. Not one thing could have moved with the amount of power she controlled. All was still.
“WHO DARES SPEAK!?”
She was officially angry and yet she calmed just as quickly.
“I do.”
Still no one stood. The whole room began to shake and quiver as the men began to feel cold but one. Finally he rose from the depths of darkness, and he looked at Violeta.
“I speak because I have the ability to. You have set forth laws that are not unlawful but unjust. You set forth rules that cannot be broken and yet are broken daily. You filthy rotten beast of a woman, I know who you truly are and I know why you are here!”
She turned to face him and looked at him.
“Is this the case? You dare speak ill of your queen?”
“My queen is not you. My queen is the one who is dead. I am here to collect.”
“Collect what?” She began to tremble ever so slightly. Had someone really figured out where she had gone to?
“Here to coll-“In an instant the man dropped to the floor and began violently shaking. He sputtered in an attempt to breathe but the more air he took in the less he could breathe. He was shaking, legs flailing and arms twisting and no one moved. Everyone knew what was happening. It was like the day she arrived. The man who attempted to rape her endured the same agony. No one knew why it was only those who seemed to target her that died but they all were afraid that would happen to them. It was legend that the geists actually worked for her but no one said that. It was merely fallacy that geists worked for a woman. If they worked for a woman shouldn’t a man somewhere also be able to do the same but no one questioned it. They just knew that those who spoke ill of Violeta died on the spot.
She looked around. Not one man would move. After that incident she knew she had complete control of all those men. She knew she had all that power and it would not stop her from ruling over them. She began to walk out.
“No one dare whisper ill of me or I will take your life into my own hands.”
As she walked away one man rose and another and finally they all stood in awe of what had happened. After a few minutes they checked the now soulless body that lay on the floor of the tavern. It laid there. No blood. She made sure of that. It was like that day back home. That day in which the queen laid there at her feet, denied of life, void of existence and Violeta knew what she had done. Violeta continued walking to her home, remembering the day she had to leave her homeland and come to this vile place of a town. Ever since she was a little girl all she wanted was to be treated like a queen, but her parents had neither the money nor the time to put up with Violeta’s dreams of being queen. As she grew into her teenage years her aspirations became obsessions, her wants desires, her dreams crushed by her parents. That is why she killed them. She killed anyone who dared stand in her way of her dreams of being queen even if that meant eliminating the queen herself.
As Violeta whispered to open the doors to her home she heard the men of the tavern screaming. She stopped. Why were they screaming? She quickly ran inside and shut the door and set all five locks on her door. She started breathing quickly. It cannot be she thought. She began to go up to her library and again locked the door with five locks. She shut the curtains and sat in her chair and grabbed her trunk. She began to look for something.
“Aha!”
She found the book. The Book of Monsters and Vile Creatures: A guide to Nephalia’s worst beings. This book was no ordinary book. This book contained names of beings so vile they could only be whispered to her by her geists. She opened the book and the pages immediately began to move about. She glanced over the pages and they finally stopped moving.
The geists whispered, “Proc-arc-na.” Her perfect face for the first time since that dreaded night displayed true fear. It was all becoming a reality. That thing she had escaped from her homeland. That thing that had cursed her had returned! That being that had given her this power had returned and all the people knew. This time she could not run for it was too close. She had no other options. She needed to fight. Quickly she went down the spiral staircase and to the living area and she sat. She sat and for the first time in her life cried. She knew that her power was coming to an end and there was nothing she could do.
Sitting quietly in the corner of her library, Violeta Petit-Fontaine was reading a section out of a particular favorite book of hers. The Spells of Geists. She stands up and looks out the window. Her jet black hair, long and straight reaching mid back waved as she stood. Her eyes, a dark brown, and her skin, soft like velvet stood out against the dark backdrop in which she lived. Violeta lived a quiet life mostly. In a secluded section of Nephalia reserved for the wealthy criminals. No one knows where she came from or why she is there but they do fear her. She has an air about her that says my beauty will haunt you forever. She can have men grovel at her feet in an instant and has no care to be with any of them. Nephalia, home of the criminals of Innistrad, was perfect for her to hideaway to. She had heard of this place back in her home land. The last thing that her home had heard about her is that she was a suspect in the assassination of the queen. It was quite unique how she did it. She actually did not harm her at all. It was all geists, spirits of the dead, that she commanded to suffocate the queen. It was all so simple to Violeta but no one would ever know that.
As she stared out the window the grey streets of Nephalia were crawling with scum and low-life criminals that she knew were coming to her home to beg for someone dead or some kind of monetary payout. She would not fulfill most requests but today she was feeling rather kind and decided to select only one task that would benefit her. This is how she gained her power in Nephalia. She is the unofficial queen of Nephalia. The self-proclaimed queen and no one said one word against it. The men had not seen such a beautiful being unless they were vampires. Most human would not touch the vampires for fear of receiving the curse. Many of Nephalia’s criminals were men scraping on the ends of society to get by. Not Violeta, a woman with so much mystery that no one questioned anything she said. No one knew her secret. Her ability to bend geists to her will was unique to her, and she was determined to keep it that way.
As she walked down the spiral staircase out of the library to the grand foyeur, her hair moved with such ease, as if another force was holding it. At all times she had some geist following her, doing her bidding as she wished. As she approached the door she merely spoke one word.
“Open.”
The door opened slowly as the first of many men came to her feet groveling. This man was typical. Scraggly beard, short, hunchbacked with no form of hygene. He was wrinkled around his eyes and hair wirey, like that of a mane brush for a horse. His teeth were falling out and his clothes old and disheveled.
“My lady,” he says as he looks down at her feet, “I ask of you to please grant me my one desire.”
She stared at him with the same emotionless look she gave all men of his degree. She did not speak.
“My lady,” he begins to beg, “please does not let me go without a word. I ask of you to please end my life painlessly. I have too much at stake to continue my worthless existence.”
She opens her mouth as if to speak, and as she does the man’s eyes close shut and is carried away to the cemetery to the rear of her grand mansion.
She turns around to go to the living area. She lights a candle and then enters the room. A blood red room with a chair, she sits and just looks at the walls. She stares intently at one point in the walls; she is looking at a geist. The man whom she just killed as his spirit walks with the rest in her house. He mouths at her, thank you, and floats to the attic. She stands and goes to the door.
“Open.”
The door opens and she steps out into the grey street. The road of the wealthy is only three houses deep. It turns into the main road with all the shops, inns, and taverns of the town. Nothing is safe from corruption here. Every business is shady and if the customer decides to fight the corruption, they died. The corruption ran the town and it will remain that way, Violeta would make sure of this. Her power was unheard of in this town and before she arrived it was anarchy. Theft, murder, and rape all occurred on these streets until she arrived. Anyone who broke her laws were killed on sight. Not by police, not by gangs, by Violeta herself. Her power was unmatched and she knew this.
She arrives to the local inn and enters. The inn-keeper looks up and immediately turns a ghostly white.
“Ma-ma-ma-madame Petit, what can I do for you?”
“Why must you men fear me?
“Madame, we do not fear you?”
“Do you lie to me?” She begins to stare at him.
“N-n-n-n-n-no madame, we fear you because you are powerful. This is why we fear you and oblige to you.”
“Good. Have any spoke against me. Do any wish to have their fate ended early?”
“Not as far as I know. No one wishes to disregard your beauty madame.”
“Good.” She starts to leave as she notices a man in the corner.
“You, in the corner, why do you not rise as you see me? Why do you continue to drink your drink and think your thoughts while I am in the room? I am the queen!” She turns and begins to walk towards him.
He stands up, keeping his head low and approaches her. He does not speak a word but rather hands her a letter and leaves.
“What is this?”
He continues to walk away. She watches him walk away and raises her hand.
“He doesn’t care.”
She turns.
“He’s in here from time to time and he’s a good customer. Doesn’t talk much, just enough to get what he needs.”
“What is this?” She hands him the letter.
“I don’t know madame but it looks rather important.”
“Well then. I must go. Thank You.”
Shocked the inn-keeper replies, “Your welcome.”
She leaves the inn and goes back to her home quickly. She does not even speak open to get the door open. The geists just know when she is on a mission and open the door for her. She moves to the library. Covered in books, the library is where she spends most of her day. It is her where she learns to understand the geists and how they are able to be manipulated but this envelope was more important at the moment. She opens the letter. It is addressed to her.
Dear Madame Petit-Fontaine,
We are obliged to inform you that you are selected for a particular request. This request cannot be said in a letter so we must ask you to meet us in a secure location. This request is from above us and we know not of the location. Only in a written one-word response of your decision will give you the location. Please reply quickly using the same correspondence in which you received the letter.
With regard,
Anonymous
She stared blankly at the letter. It was short. It almost instilled a form of fear in her, an unknown source sending her information about an unknown task. She was renowned for her mysterious quality but this was almost fearful in nature. It was official looking enough. On parchment, in ink, addressed properly with the correct wording, should she accept? She sat in her chair. Her hair moved again. She asked the geists of their opinion but gave no response. She quickly got up and stared out the window. Her sleek body moving rapidly, her hair flowing with every step, and with such grace, she stared. She looked below at the scum that filled the streets and wondered. Is this from Nephalia? Is this from my homeland? No. It cannot be.
“Damn.”
She looked around for some form of an answer. The letter was almost too official. She grabbed her pen and parchment and quickly wrote down one word.
She quickly left her home and went to the inn.
“Madame, you are back so soon!”
“I know but this is urgent. Give this to that man tomorrow.” She hands him the folded parchment.
“Madame he may not be in for some time.”
“He will be here tomorrow and if that letter is not passed to him by tomorrow or your eyes even glance at the parchment your life will be mine.”
His eyes grew wide. “Yes madame.” he spoke quietly as he took the parchment.
She left the inn and walked quickly.
Instead of walking home she walked to the tavern across the street. This was the first time since she arrived that she had been in the tavern. It was not a place a lady should be. Especially a queen, but if it requires information it was necessary.
She walked in. The doors flew open and everyone went silent. It was hazy from smoke. Vampires screeched and fled to the alleyway. Only humans remained. It was dimly lit and the barkeep seemed to fear the light, possibly a half-blood, who knew. In this town anyone could be anything but no one questioned it. It was law. You let people be. That was law. You did not speak about anyone’s differences. That was law. You did not ever speak ill of the queen. That was death. All laws broken were punishable by death and even in the dim light everyone knew they had broken laws already that day. They all had the same fear in mind. Even the vampires in the alley feared their lives were to be cut short. Their eternal existence erased by one thought of the queen and they feared her. They all feared her. She spoke one word.
“Death.”
All those who had committed crimes that day scrambled and screamed and all those who had broken laws and had gotten down on to their knees and begged forgiveness to the queen. Some even prayed to Avacyn that she would spare their lives. Violeta looked around at the men.
“You all fear me. You all have committed crimes against laws in which I made! You all fear me but broke these laws I set in place! If you fear me then why commit these acts?” She calmed down. Her face slightly flushed from anger she spoke again.
“Is there anyone in this room who has not broken a law?”
No one stood. No one moved. All was silent.
“Well then. I guess there is only one thing left to do.”
She raised her hands up, palms towards the men, and began to open her mouth. As she did so one man spoke.
“I have not.”
She stopped and looked around. No one had stood.
“Who dares speak while I grant blessed sleep on this isle of restless dead?”
No one stood. No one whimpered or moved. Not one thing could have moved with the amount of power she controlled. All was still.
“WHO DARES SPEAK!?”
She was officially angry and yet she calmed just as quickly.
“I do.”
Still no one stood. The whole room began to shake and quiver as the men began to feel cold but one. Finally he rose from the depths of darkness, and he looked at Violeta.
“I speak because I have the ability to. You have set forth laws that are not unlawful but unjust. You set forth rules that cannot be broken and yet are broken daily. You filthy rotten beast of a woman, I know who you truly are and I know why you are here!”
She turned to face him and looked at him.
“Is this the case? You dare speak ill of your queen?”
“My queen is not you. My queen is the one who is dead. I am here to collect.”
“Collect what?” She began to tremble ever so slightly. Had someone really figured out where she had gone to?
“Here to coll-“In an instant the man dropped to the floor and began violently shaking. He sputtered in an attempt to breathe but the more air he took in the less he could breathe. He was shaking, legs flailing and arms twisting and no one moved. Everyone knew what was happening. It was like the day she arrived. The man who attempted to rape her endured the same agony. No one knew why it was only those who seemed to target her that died but they all were afraid that would happen to them. It was legend that the geists actually worked for her but no one said that. It was merely fallacy that geists worked for a woman. If they worked for a woman shouldn’t a man somewhere also be able to do the same but no one questioned it. They just knew that those who spoke ill of Violeta died on the spot.
She looked around. Not one man would move. After that incident she knew she had complete control of all those men. She knew she had all that power and it would not stop her from ruling over them. She began to walk out.
“No one dare whisper ill of me or I will take your life into my own hands.”
As she walked away one man rose and another and finally they all stood in awe of what had happened. After a few minutes they checked the now soulless body that lay on the floor of the tavern. It laid there. No blood. She made sure of that. It was like that day back home. That day in which the queen laid there at her feet, denied of life, void of existence and Violeta knew what she had done. Violeta continued walking to her home, remembering the day she had to leave her homeland and come to this vile place of a town. Ever since she was a little girl all she wanted was to be treated like a queen, but her parents had neither the money nor the time to put up with Violeta’s dreams of being queen. As she grew into her teenage years her aspirations became obsessions, her wants desires, her dreams crushed by her parents. That is why she killed them. She killed anyone who dared stand in her way of her dreams of being queen even if that meant eliminating the queen herself.
As Violeta whispered to open the doors to her home she heard the men of the tavern screaming. She stopped. Why were they screaming? She quickly ran inside and shut the door and set all five locks on her door. She started breathing quickly. It cannot be she thought. She began to go up to her library and again locked the door with five locks. She shut the curtains and sat in her chair and grabbed her trunk. She began to look for something.
“Aha!”
She found the book. The Book of Monsters and Vile Creatures: A guide to Nephalia’s worst beings. This book was no ordinary book. This book contained names of beings so vile they could only be whispered to her by her geists. She opened the book and the pages immediately began to move about. She glanced over the pages and they finally stopped moving.
The geists whispered, “Proc-arc-na.” Her perfect face for the first time since that dreaded night displayed true fear. It was all becoming a reality. That thing she had escaped from her homeland. That thing that had cursed her had returned! That being that had given her this power had returned and all the people knew. This time she could not run for it was too close. She had no other options. She needed to fight. Quickly she went down the spiral staircase and to the living area and she sat. She sat and for the first time in her life cried. She knew that her power was coming to an end and there was nothing she could do.