Sanctuary... what was it?

Over a thousand years ago, Ainsley created a special hold within Northpoint that was neither here nor there. It was a small room that Ainsley conjured in a pocket of time that would last forever as long as she wanted it to. Such portals were summoned with advanced and ancient magic, magic which came from Ainsley's time. Sanctuary kept and protected powerful spellcrafts, weapons, relics and so much more. No one knew how to access it, except for herself. Two of her loyal advisors and friends - Felicia and Viktor - knew the approximate location of one of its many entry points and where to protect Sanctuary should the need arise. Those two, however, had been dead for quite some time and now the only one who had knowledge of it was Ainsley and perhaps... Maxim.

Elijah Bluefield, when she had married the werewolf, used her young and romantic heart against her to try and gain access to the portal. It was her own foolishness that believed Elijah and the Bluefields might be able to change - that together the Redmont and Bluefield families could become a united and very strong force to reckon with. She was wrong. Somehow he had found out about Sanctuary and attempted to gain access to it, killing Viktor who was guarding it at the time. Elijah had been too hasty and Ainsley had caught him in the process. She wasted no time dispatching him, burning him to a near crisp with magic and then kicking him in the mouth as hard as she could. The Bluefield Lord was lucky enough to leave Northpoint somewhat alive.

About a year later, Elijah returned to her, looking for blood and... a child. As Elijah revealed the details of his failed, master plan to her, she could only help but laugh. On their wedding night, he had slipped a potion into her wine, a potion that would increase the chances of conception. The therianthrope had it in his insane mind that if Ainsley had a child - something of her blood - that he would be able to use said child to open the gates to Sanctuary. The downside to his plan was that Ainsley never told Elijah that she couldn't have children; her womb was in every sense of the word dead and barren.

Eventually, this scene resulted in first Elijah's death and then Ainsley's. Time passed on and Sanctuary was forgotten. Never by her, however. She wandered the earth aimlessly as a spirit, not able to enter Sanctuary in this form. It was quite a long time before she was able to take over a body - Aubrey Redmont's - and bring herself back to life. When Ainsley did, one of the first things she did was to go back into Sanctuary. She found it just as she left it, everything in one place, securely tucked away into that portal she created. Again she left it, with the intention and promise to Maxim that should the Redmonts ever need to use Sanctuary's contents, she would then open it.

That need never came up, but here on Arthuran as she stood along the mountain path and watched the snow fall, Ainsley began to think about Sanctuary again. She stepped forward and disappeared into the air, the wind replacing where she once was. Inside Sanctuary, it was quiet and an unlikely looking haven picked by a Redmont. Ainsley had chosen the appearance of this room. The ceiling rose into a dome shape, decorated with all sort of murals and paintings (mostly colored with red), depicting some of the Redmont history. The walls were white marble and on two sides elegant columns ran towards the ceiling. One of the walls was completely open and here a balcony hung high in the air, a display of lush green rainforests and waterfalls lying beyond it. Wild, exotic birds flew by in graceful flocks, calling out as they went. Though the place was hauntingly beautiful, it did not exist anywhere.

It had taken her a long time to come to terms with what she needed to do with Sanctuary. After all, it had been her livelihood, her entire life's work. Right now though, there was nothing she wanted more than to destroy it all. Ainsley had told Maxim once that if he needed it, that he would be able to use Sanctuary and everything it contained, but once again, the Redmont family had proved themselves a bloodthirsty lot. Perhaps in a way, this was her fault. She watched them fight each other and eventually fall. If growth was essential for this family, it would not be sought with the powers that lay in Sanctuary; it would be obtained through knowledge. Ainsley was no longer giving hand outs.

The Redmont Witch looked at her hands, palms that contained a patchwork of scars from everything she had collected for Sanctuary. For a moment, she closed her indigo hued eyes and then after opening them, she trashed the room. Every dangerous potion, spell book, enchantment, artifact, weapon and armor was broken, thrown on the floor and eventually burned by use of her own magic. Explosions erupted from where these ancient relics collided. Black magics and hexes sizzled as she banished them, their powers no longer accessible to anyone. The beautiful marble walls around her began to collapse and the balcony fell from the room into one of the many waterfalls below it. Right before the room caved-in and was completely destroyed, Ainsley stepped from the portal that used to be Sanctuary and returned to Arthuran where she was previously.

It was almost as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. All that remained of Sanctuary was a speck of white colored dust, sparkling briefly, that fell from the sky. Ainsley caught this in her hand and between two fingertips she rubbed it away. Sanctuary was now but a memory. It seemed too easy and simple to get rid of it when she had spent tireless years creating it. While it may have appeared to be a waste, in getting rid of Sanctuary, Ainsley felt stronger. But more importantly, she felt alive.