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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    Desolation comes upon the sky; ALL Nerinians + Tournament Participants
    #5
    The next breath she inhales suddenly makes her throat feel scratchy and irritated.  Dark eyes snap open upon the unwelcomed intrusion as her head lifts upward, forcefully coughing on the assaulting sand granules that grated against the back of her throat.  With a final heave of air, her coughing fit subsided, leaving her mouth feeling raw and dry.  Wide eyes scan the area around her dazedly from the vantage point of where lay upon the cool evening sands of the Nerinian coast.  There was no recollection of having finished the Tournament, or making her way back to her home land. Why am I sleeping out in the open?, she chides herself for such a poor tactical decision.

    Rising from the pillowy sands, she shook her frame out to rid herself of the lingering particles, while her dark eyes looked first to the sea, and then to the depths of the forest  that claimed the heart of the kingdom. Where was everybody?  Not a single person seemed to be around, and immediately her stance shifted to one of rising alarm.  Something was definitely off and her nerves began to alight with adrenaline a new.  With the rising tide of hormones, the steady ache of her body rapidly declines, seemingly dragging an undeniable compulsion to keep moving to the forefront with it.  But where?, she asks herself.   As if they acted on their own accord, she feels the heavy rhythmic falls of her own hooves churning the sand beneath her, carrying her towards the lumbering pines.

    What exactly it was that made the leopard woman traipse into the familiarity of the forest, she couldn’t say, but the aura of the woods themselves seemed just as off-kilter as the one on the beach, she carried herself with increasing caution.  With each pass deeper inward, the temperature declined, taking the dimming light further into nothingness with it.  The absence of any thing audible was perhaps the most eerie part of whatever was taking place;  there were no sounds of hungry gull’s, or the crash of waves in the distance, or even the rustle of a breeze running through the winding wood.  But there would be no stopping however, her limbs declining to obey the logic that tried helplessly to force her betraying body back the way she had come.  A simple fear of drawing unwanted attention towards her kept her from calling out for help.

    A final step shifts the dying light into perpetual darkness as her body halts, not before seeing one last final expulsion of air accumulating in vapors in the frigid chill of the air.  The blackness envelops her; its embrace is disturbingly welcome as though it had been expecting her this entire time.

    Heat begins to swell in her chest, followed by a sudden deafening pounding within her ears.  The onslaught is enough to elicit a wincing cry from her charcoal lips.  Shaking her head, Breckin tries in vain to steady her ragged breathing as it was becoming increasingly harder.  The pounding in her ears she comes to realize is the frantic drumbeat of her heart, rising to the heated orchestra of panic that was penetrating her very existence.  Anxiously, she turns about her, trying to find a way to get away from whatever was overtaking her her, but it was futile.  There was nothing, nothing, nothing, but everlasting darkness.

    A minute, an hour, a decade passes, she had no idea-there is no way to tell time- before the assumed makings of a voice overtake the haphazard beating of her heart.  At first it’s difficult to make out through the strain of her hearing, the noise seems to be echoing around her.  But the amplitude magnifies until at last she begins to formulate the makings of the words.  Wait, not words, but a single word.

    Surrender.

    A single word, issued with enough force behind it meant to break the confidence of those weak-willed.  ”Surrender,” she repeats to herself with a whisper, the sound of her own voice sounding to her own ears.  Breckin knew this word, knew the voice that had said it, knew the uneasy feelings that would accompany it.  It was an internal battle she faced on a daily routine, only this time the war was the most tangible experience she could imagine.  The depths of her eyes begin to glaze and her rigid body begins to wilt under the weight of her own self-doubt.

    You’re useless, unskilled, unworthy.  Nerine doesn’t need you.  No one needs you.  You’re weak, forgettable, a nobody.  You don’t even know you are.  You don’t belong here, Breckin.

    The words echo around her, not coming from her own mouth, but they could have been; her own personal mantra.  Like a subtle poison the words fed upon her each day. Each strike at her confidence was like a blow to the head and heart, tearing at her core and sanity alike.  A trail of tears fled along the curve of her cheek as her head dropped lower with each passing second.

    Breckin knew then, she must have died and been in limbo before going to her own personal hell.
    Just go, said the voice. Turn around and leave.  It’s the easiest way out, it said again with a kinder air.  The warmth of a rising sun washes over her then, her head turning behind her to see a widening aura of light beckoning to her.  Time to move on, Breckin, and get what you deserve.  Feeling exhausted, powerless and defeated, she turned towards the light, looking upon its brilliance before moving towards the source.  Smart girl, the voice praised smugly.

    Trance-like she continued towards the light, until the voice began to say something else.  It didn’t matter though, her mind was made and whatever sick words the voice was trying to toss at her now would simply fall upon a numb conscious.

    Surrender. a quieter, angrier voice whispered behind her ear.  It was enough to draw her up short of the growing light.  The glazed depths of her eyes hardened and narrowed, casting about her with sheer agitation, ”I DID ALREADY, what more do you want from me?!  You win!”

    Surrender, the voice repeated, fear.  Spinning a tight circle, Breckin glances around her in angered confusion, trying to figure out where the different voice was coming from.  It did not echo or attempt to consume her, she realizes before stilling once more.  Straining her ears and closing her eyes, she tried to hear it one more time.  Surrender your fear.  Clear as day, the voice rang within her mind, not around her.  Something deep within her shifted then and her eyes reopened to the light washing over her.  Fear and self-doubt had plagued her, exhausting her, but the revelation that her personal fears had been entirely misplaced.  She had been so readily willing to die, so unafraid of what lay beyond the unknown.  Why should she be so afraid to live?

    In the only act of resistance she could bring to fruition, her worn hoof pawed the darkened ground before letting loose a scream of defiance at the now sputtering light.  The glowing orb began to hiss in displeasure, before spinning 180 degrees towards the belly of the darkness.  Kicking her legs into a full-blown gallop, she flew into the awaiting darkness as the brilliance of the light behind her heaved and shattered in a burst of energy, the heat of the onslaught seemed to scorch her pale back.  Not daring to look back, she gathered her muscles into a leap of faith, letting the momentum of the shockwave carry her into the void.

    The crunch of her hooves meeting gravel pervaded all her senses as the leopard woman skidded to a halt in a clearing, the only thing keeping her from pushing on was the sudden appearance of Scorch in front of her.  Moonlight washes across Breckin’s spotted frame, further rooting her to where she now stood while her sides heaved achingly.  Wild eyes turn to look upon the other’s gathered around Scorch before tracing back to where her friend now stood.  Flickering ears rotate to attention as the barren mare speaks to them.

    When her breathing eases, and the haze of her mind clears, she is able to assume that whatever had just taken place was likely a test of their will.  As her turn comes to pass, her eyes meet with each of the other’s around her before finding the hoarseness of her voice, “I don’t know my past or who I am.  Only who I am becoming.”  

    Then with an open heart and mind, she commits herself fully to the Sisterhood, ”By land, sea, and whispers in the wind we remember — the first and last, the sword and shield. By our land and our history, we stand strong in our duty. May the spirits of our predecessors guide and watch over us as we, a proud kingdom, dare to dream of a future with equality. We live by the law: we did, we can, we will.

    My people, live a good life and die a better death knowing we conquer those who threaten us. Bound by nothing we lead the future by our history. Remember to always be feared, as we become a shield for the weak.”


    Breckin then falls quiet, listening to the dying rage inflicted upon herself, ready to face the repercussions of her own internal battle.


    Messages In This Thread
    RE: Desolation comes upon the sky; ALL Nerinians + Tournament Participants - by Breckin - 07-02-2018, 10:22 AM



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