Silver Cove Quest - Part 2

[Kagerus]

{ and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times }

I waste no time. Quietly calling to the shadowy figures of the babes who followed me and Aegean since the beginning, I greet them each individually, pressing my nose to their foreheads if they will allow. Their mothers are not here, and I am used to such a crowd; not one goes without attention.

Once they are soothed (though my heart beats wildly), we travel towards the bay via the shortest possible route. I do not falter in my step; after all, this is my kingdom and it has been since it resurfaced in Beqanna; no one else knows this place like I do. Initially, my path seems counterproductive, and I suspect that few others besides the children will follow. We traverse directly north for what seems like too long. I hold my nerve, ignoring the slamming in my throat, and finally I cut due east into a mostly hidden canyon which leads directly to the obsidian beaches. No ups or downs for us through here..

A rock clatters.

I've been waiting for you.

Shrill but fearsome, a scream tears from my lips as the eldritch creature leaps from where it had hidden in the rocks above. I am immediately on my hind legs, forelegs swinging defiantly at the black thing, trying to gain us some time - I cannot be responsible for the death of these children - before it draws any closer. My first instinct is to call for Panthera, who assuredly lurks nearby; but when I reach for her with my mind, only silence greets me.

Silence, which rapidly grows into the sounds of screaming and crying - all within my own head.

The beast circles us carefully, with barely enough room to pass due to the narrow canyon walls. Though my blood races with the need to attack, I only pin my ears at the monster as it comes round once more. Air billows from my nostrils in rapid succession; before I begin my persuasion attempt, I realize that I am hyperventilating.

"Please listen," I begin, the whites of my eyes showing as I try to stand in such a way that the children are shielded behind the bulk of my body. "Before you do what you must, please, allow me into your mind." I speak evenly and without tremors, though a great neediness still seeps through the words. Staring at the beast and trying not to fixate on the decaying blood around its maw, I nearly sob when it finally gives a slow nod of agreement. I cannot read whether it is pleased or displeased with my begging - but I do not wait to find out.

Mentally leaping to attach myself to the monster's mind while it is still willing, I induce a state of sleepiness within it. Nearly no time passes before we both stand in the same place physically, but dreaming; my hold on our lucid dreamscape is minimal, but enough to convey the information I need to.

As the dreams of hundreds display themselves on the canyon walls surrounding us, I pray silently for my life, and for the lives of the people I love.

Shown on the walls and heard between them, the pain caused by the plague presents itself to the beast. Dying loved ones, the already dead, and the chaos of this sick existence are shown; more abstractly, the specific feelings of fear, hopelessness, and helplessness mingle in the air, causing a physical nausea in both myself and the beast. Gagging, I hold on to the dreams of those I have surveyed across Beqanna for as long as I can, willing it to be enough to shake the beast and to show him the truth of why he shouldn't kill us.

Gasping, we awaken where we stood.

"Please," I choke. "Beqanna is sick - you must understand, you must see that her dreams do not lie. Please let us pass. Please let us save what is left of our dying world."

KAGERUS

Caretaker of The Sanctuary
Lover of Solace
Immortal, antlered Dreamweaver

Word count: 659
Trait regained: dream manipulation
Tactic used: persuasion