Post by Sadori on Dec 31, 2008 10:41:39 GMT -8
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly, yet nothing stirred about her. Her hair did not move, no breeze against her flesh. An eternity passed, and she could not remember who she was or where. Only uncertainty. Fear.
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet. Chilling, uneven. Surroundings materialized about her. Mists and shadows wound together to develop the scene with shocking clarity. A cave. Cold, damp. Ahead of her she heard water trickling over stone, behind her a golden light flickered in the distance...torchlight. It danced and grew against the wet sides of the cave. An unnerving clacking and growls echoed down toward her. Utter terror gripped her heart within her bare breast. She turned and ran from the approaching hunters. Hunters? How did she know? Forever in darkness...stubbing her toes, falling to scramble up with renewed fear. Her chest ached, her throat burned, she could feel trickles of warm blood running down her arms and legs to congeal and cake against her white flesh in dark lines. She wanted to scream, but could not. No time, no air. Get away!
She clutched at the rough stone walls rounding a sharp corner, nearly falling once more in her surprise. Ahead was a faint bluish light. Escape! Trembling she ran for the light. Stooping now...and more, as the light got brighter. Now crawling, roots tore at her flesh and hair and....wings? No time to wonder! The hole was getting smaller. She was on her belly now. Roots and rocks clawing at her exposed flesh, but she could see beyond...light, filtered through a rushing waterfall. She knew there was a clearing beyond that. Safety. How she knew, she could not remember. Just a bit further. She could feel the cleansing spray on her face. CRUSHING! The tunnel was closing about her, squeezing her. Her chest creaked and something gave. Something cold and strong wrapped around her ankles and tugged sharply. Then it was black again.
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly, yet nothing stirred about her. Her flesh stung, her body ached, her head reeled. An eternity passed, and she could not remember who she was or where. Only confusion. Dread.
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet. A blood spattered flagstone. A golden glow stretched out around her, flames. The flames diminished and from them appeared pillars and stones. Mangled and decaying corpses littered the floor. Piles of decimated bodies. Limbs tangled amidst each other as if embracing their hell. A rotting hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. An eyeless skull turned to cackle at her, decaying flesh hanging from it grotesquely. She screamed.
A table. The same room. Torches burned in sconces about the walls making the shadows dance eerily. The rattle and grinding of bones echoed, increasing in intensity until it was deafening. Then it ceased, suddenly, without warning. Clacking. Growling...no...CHANTING! Five stood about her. Robes of brown, faces concealed behind oval wooden masks carved with cold frightening tribal faces, hair of straw framed the masks and covered the heads of their bearers. She was on her stomach. Rusty iron manacles bound her to the unforgiving slab of marble. Cold leathery hands poked and prodded her, seizing the unfamiliar appendages on her back, stretching them out. Four hands held them stretched. Six hands tore handfuls of black feathers from her and tossed them aside. The masks said nothing. The only sounds were the clacking and her own hollow screams. Why? What did I do? Forgive me! Help me! Blood trickled warm and wet over her back and sides, the foul stench of carnage and death assailed her senses like the odor of rotting flesh making her stomach convulse. A rumble and mocking laugh sounded in the alcove beyond her. Yellow rimmed, red eyes stares out at her and the hulking outline stepped forward...NO! Not again! Not this time!
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly, yet nothing stirred about her. She felt nauseous, and battered. Her head reeled. An eternity passed, and she could not remember who she was or where, only the memory of the Shapeless One. Fear tore at her belly with sharp claws. Falling. NO!
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet, marshy, sucking at her. A dark wood grew up around her. She ran. Safety! She did not know where, only a brief hint of a memory she could not fully remember. A flash of light, there! The smell of lavender, the tinkling of chimes... A wall materialized before her. Before she could stop she fell against it. Blackness. Cold tiles. She turned, terrified. A blue door stood before her. Voices called out in cacophony from the stones of the walls, the ends of the walls bending to encircle her. The solitary door remained. She stared at the brass knob and felt as if she should remember it. Why? The voices screamed in warning. Souls trapped in stone. Voices all at once familiar and strange. Walk with me. She took the handle in her bruised and purpled hand. The door opened outward and she stepped through. A garden of light and beauty. Birds sang, a stream chuckled, a swing swayed empty from the bough of a mighty oak. Home! Safe! She laughed and stepped forward.
Darkness. She turned for the door, and screamed as it disappeared into a lichen-covered wall. A rumbling growl sounded behind her. A brief moment of hope dashed as she turned to face a half a dozen troll-like beasts with a hideous skeletal dog. A grotesque gnarled hand gripped her throat and crushed as she clawed at the vice. Bones popped and her voice was a shallow gurgle.
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly. Pain wracked her delicate frame. She felt bones knitting slowly, agonizing. The waterfall. The garden. She was supposed to remember something. Pain. Terror.
The ground solidified beneath her feet and she fell to her knees. Smooth. Cold. A wide hall of dark granite surrounded her. The horrendous stench of death and rot assailed her senses once more as the yellow/red eyes and hulking form materialized at the end of the hall. The grey outline of the hairy master towered, dwarfing everything as it rumbled, roaring, laughing.
"When will you learn?"
A cold calm voice spoke behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw him. Majestic, perfect. Long black hair, perfect pale flesh, startling silver eyes, robed in purest white and graced with glorious golden wings. She stood to face him. Dread. Anger. Fear.
"Who are you?"
His hollow laughter filled the enormous hall.
"You really don't remember? We shall have to remind you."
The image faded and in its place was a mirror. A fragile beauty of palest skin and greenest eyes. Silver tresses framed her glowing face, her form was graced with deepest onyx wings, feathers shot through with strands of silver and blue. Over her body she wore a thin gown of white silk. She gasped at the marvel before her. He laughed again. The image changed.
"Looks can be so deceiving. Do you honestly think a creature such as you could ever posses such beauty?"
The image before her now was broken and bruised. Her hair was matted and dull grey. Her eyes were hollow and black. No cloth covered her battered and bleeding body. Wings were now leathery pieces of grey-black flesh stretched over a frame of sticklike avian bones. Her anguished cry died quickly as she fell once more to her knees, her eyes riveted to the ghostlike distortion before her.
"How could you forget your miserable existence? Who told you, you could seek happiness amongst the truly living? Your lot is greed, hate, sorrow, jealousy, pain. It is your purpose to bestow your curses on the outside. Do NOT forget what you are!"
"NO! That is not me!"
The mirror shattered and the hot stinging bite of a lash upon her back brought forth screams of pain. Her heart shuddered and ached as she struggled with the truth of her existence. Warm, wet blood trickled from her lips as she bit them to hold back her screams, and ran freely from the accumulating gashes and wounds across her back and arms. Blinding pain assaulted her time and again. A million voices cheered and called for more. Images flashed before her empty eyes through a stream of tears. Beauty and light. Love and peace in the arms of another...who? Safety...safe...place...where? A sword...a light...a word... a touch... healing... Who?! The images dimmed and she struggled to hold on to that touch, that voice that healed her...Darkness prevailed. Forever the darkness. Her own voice swallowed by the cacophony of a million screams of amusement and delight.
~~
"Dori! Dori!... Mirshann. Wake up! I have you now!"
Cold sweat soaked the sheets and plastered her hair to her neck and forehead. Her throat ached. Had she screamed? It seemed so real, as if she had lived it. A sob ripped past the rawness in her throat as she clung to the Celebrant who held her.
And despair and doubt descended like a shroud, as her hopes were shattered by the velvet voice of the Angel.
"You cannot be more than what you are. Soulless. Shaith. You do not belong."
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet. Chilling, uneven. Surroundings materialized about her. Mists and shadows wound together to develop the scene with shocking clarity. A cave. Cold, damp. Ahead of her she heard water trickling over stone, behind her a golden light flickered in the distance...torchlight. It danced and grew against the wet sides of the cave. An unnerving clacking and growls echoed down toward her. Utter terror gripped her heart within her bare breast. She turned and ran from the approaching hunters. Hunters? How did she know? Forever in darkness...stubbing her toes, falling to scramble up with renewed fear. Her chest ached, her throat burned, she could feel trickles of warm blood running down her arms and legs to congeal and cake against her white flesh in dark lines. She wanted to scream, but could not. No time, no air. Get away!
She clutched at the rough stone walls rounding a sharp corner, nearly falling once more in her surprise. Ahead was a faint bluish light. Escape! Trembling she ran for the light. Stooping now...and more, as the light got brighter. Now crawling, roots tore at her flesh and hair and....wings? No time to wonder! The hole was getting smaller. She was on her belly now. Roots and rocks clawing at her exposed flesh, but she could see beyond...light, filtered through a rushing waterfall. She knew there was a clearing beyond that. Safety. How she knew, she could not remember. Just a bit further. She could feel the cleansing spray on her face. CRUSHING! The tunnel was closing about her, squeezing her. Her chest creaked and something gave. Something cold and strong wrapped around her ankles and tugged sharply. Then it was black again.
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly, yet nothing stirred about her. Her flesh stung, her body ached, her head reeled. An eternity passed, and she could not remember who she was or where. Only confusion. Dread.
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet. A blood spattered flagstone. A golden glow stretched out around her, flames. The flames diminished and from them appeared pillars and stones. Mangled and decaying corpses littered the floor. Piles of decimated bodies. Limbs tangled amidst each other as if embracing their hell. A rotting hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. An eyeless skull turned to cackle at her, decaying flesh hanging from it grotesquely. She screamed.
A table. The same room. Torches burned in sconces about the walls making the shadows dance eerily. The rattle and grinding of bones echoed, increasing in intensity until it was deafening. Then it ceased, suddenly, without warning. Clacking. Growling...no...CHANTING! Five stood about her. Robes of brown, faces concealed behind oval wooden masks carved with cold frightening tribal faces, hair of straw framed the masks and covered the heads of their bearers. She was on her stomach. Rusty iron manacles bound her to the unforgiving slab of marble. Cold leathery hands poked and prodded her, seizing the unfamiliar appendages on her back, stretching them out. Four hands held them stretched. Six hands tore handfuls of black feathers from her and tossed them aside. The masks said nothing. The only sounds were the clacking and her own hollow screams. Why? What did I do? Forgive me! Help me! Blood trickled warm and wet over her back and sides, the foul stench of carnage and death assailed her senses like the odor of rotting flesh making her stomach convulse. A rumble and mocking laugh sounded in the alcove beyond her. Yellow rimmed, red eyes stares out at her and the hulking outline stepped forward...NO! Not again! Not this time!
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly, yet nothing stirred about her. She felt nauseous, and battered. Her head reeled. An eternity passed, and she could not remember who she was or where, only the memory of the Shapeless One. Fear tore at her belly with sharp claws. Falling. NO!
The ground solidified beneath her bare feet, marshy, sucking at her. A dark wood grew up around her. She ran. Safety! She did not know where, only a brief hint of a memory she could not fully remember. A flash of light, there! The smell of lavender, the tinkling of chimes... A wall materialized before her. Before she could stop she fell against it. Blackness. Cold tiles. She turned, terrified. A blue door stood before her. Voices called out in cacophony from the stones of the walls, the ends of the walls bending to encircle her. The solitary door remained. She stared at the brass knob and felt as if she should remember it. Why? The voices screamed in warning. Souls trapped in stone. Voices all at once familiar and strange. Walk with me. She took the handle in her bruised and purpled hand. The door opened outward and she stepped through. A garden of light and beauty. Birds sang, a stream chuckled, a swing swayed empty from the bough of a mighty oak. Home! Safe! She laughed and stepped forward.
Darkness. She turned for the door, and screamed as it disappeared into a lichen-covered wall. A rumbling growl sounded behind her. A brief moment of hope dashed as she turned to face a half a dozen troll-like beasts with a hideous skeletal dog. A grotesque gnarled hand gripped her throat and crushed as she clawed at the vice. Bones popped and her voice was a shallow gurgle.
Falling. She felt like she was falling...slowly. Pain wracked her delicate frame. She felt bones knitting slowly, agonizing. The waterfall. The garden. She was supposed to remember something. Pain. Terror.
The ground solidified beneath her feet and she fell to her knees. Smooth. Cold. A wide hall of dark granite surrounded her. The horrendous stench of death and rot assailed her senses once more as the yellow/red eyes and hulking form materialized at the end of the hall. The grey outline of the hairy master towered, dwarfing everything as it rumbled, roaring, laughing.
"When will you learn?"
A cold calm voice spoke behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw him. Majestic, perfect. Long black hair, perfect pale flesh, startling silver eyes, robed in purest white and graced with glorious golden wings. She stood to face him. Dread. Anger. Fear.
"Who are you?"
His hollow laughter filled the enormous hall.
"You really don't remember? We shall have to remind you."
The image faded and in its place was a mirror. A fragile beauty of palest skin and greenest eyes. Silver tresses framed her glowing face, her form was graced with deepest onyx wings, feathers shot through with strands of silver and blue. Over her body she wore a thin gown of white silk. She gasped at the marvel before her. He laughed again. The image changed.
"Looks can be so deceiving. Do you honestly think a creature such as you could ever posses such beauty?"
The image before her now was broken and bruised. Her hair was matted and dull grey. Her eyes were hollow and black. No cloth covered her battered and bleeding body. Wings were now leathery pieces of grey-black flesh stretched over a frame of sticklike avian bones. Her anguished cry died quickly as she fell once more to her knees, her eyes riveted to the ghostlike distortion before her.
"How could you forget your miserable existence? Who told you, you could seek happiness amongst the truly living? Your lot is greed, hate, sorrow, jealousy, pain. It is your purpose to bestow your curses on the outside. Do NOT forget what you are!"
"NO! That is not me!"
The mirror shattered and the hot stinging bite of a lash upon her back brought forth screams of pain. Her heart shuddered and ached as she struggled with the truth of her existence. Warm, wet blood trickled from her lips as she bit them to hold back her screams, and ran freely from the accumulating gashes and wounds across her back and arms. Blinding pain assaulted her time and again. A million voices cheered and called for more. Images flashed before her empty eyes through a stream of tears. Beauty and light. Love and peace in the arms of another...who? Safety...safe...place...where? A sword...a light...a word... a touch... healing... Who?! The images dimmed and she struggled to hold on to that touch, that voice that healed her...Darkness prevailed. Forever the darkness. Her own voice swallowed by the cacophony of a million screams of amusement and delight.
~~
"Dori! Dori!... Mirshann. Wake up! I have you now!"
Cold sweat soaked the sheets and plastered her hair to her neck and forehead. Her throat ached. Had she screamed? It seemed so real, as if she had lived it. A sob ripped past the rawness in her throat as she clung to the Celebrant who held her.
And despair and doubt descended like a shroud, as her hopes were shattered by the velvet voice of the Angel.
"You cannot be more than what you are. Soulless. Shaith. You do not belong."
