04-09-2019, 01:49 AM
<link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Allura|Source+Sans+Pro' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><style type="text/css">.kag2_container { position: relative; z-index: 1; background-image: url('https://i.postimg.cc/9fspjT8k/kag2.png'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; background-size: cover; width: 600px; border: solid 2px #000; box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px 1px #000; } .kag2_container p { margin: 0; } .kag2_image { position: relative; z-index: 4; width: 580px; margin-top: 10px; border-top: none; border: solid 1px #000; box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px 1px #000; } .kag2_text { position: relative; z-index: 7; width: 580px; background-color: #00000099; margin-bottom: 10px; border: solid 1px #000; box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px 1px #000; } .kag2_message { position: relative; font: 12px 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify; color: #e8fafc; padding: 20px; } .kag2_name { position: absolute; z-index: 8; font: 70px 'Allura', cursive; color: #93b6b2; text-shadow: 0px 0px 20px #130b22; opacity: 0.2; text-indent: 20px; margin-top: -63px; } .kag2_quote { text-align: right; color: #fff; opacity: 0.7; font: 10px 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 20px #fff; padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-right: 10px; letter-spacing: 3px; } </style><center><div class="kag2_container"><img class="kag2_image" src="https://i.postimg.cc/rwnjQ7SM/kag1.jpg"><div class="kag2_name">Kagerus</div><div class="kag2_quote"> { and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times } </div> <div class="kag2_text"> <p class="kag2_message"> It's dark, where we are. Time passes us by with no indication of direction or speed, a simultaneously dash and stand still. Despite the depth of the blackness within which my wife and I are encased, thoughts billow through our minds every now and again, though they do not form as they usually would within the dreamscape. One lifeform in particular plagues us, the sleepers: that of a small buckskin filly, adorned with blueness and felinity; her aura wavers the thickness of our dream, perhaps when she comes close to where she has hidden us with her illusionism, or perhaps for no reason at all other than that we the sleepers miss our daughter.
Warlight always had her brothers to take care of her. Oriash has no one.
In the midst of the darkness, a soft light pervades. Initially I believe it to be another interruption from the outside as I force time to mend the wounds wrought on Solace's womb. My physical form twitches next to my wife's, a weak attempt at shaking off that which begs wakefulness of me; when the light fades back into nothingness, I settle. The unknowable passage of time will sweep me away again soon.
<I>Kagerus.</i>
My whole body jolts, a bright light inserting itself painfulling into my dreamscape now; desperately I swathe Solace in what folds of dark remain, stumbling like a newborn to hooves that I have not used nor thought of in what feels like time immemorial. Breathless, the nutmeg of my eyes barely presents itself as I squint in the direction of the intruder, barely collecting myself enough to realize that I may very well have to fight the lightform. Demons have used me to portal into this reality before; what with our prolonged stay in what may as well be purgatory, I would not be surprised if a similar being tried their luck again.
<i>Kagerus!</i>
My head snaps forward, eyes focusing as the powerful being draws my attention to it, silencing the rambling of my mind.
<i>Please... We are not yet finished in our fight against the plague.</I>
A dread fills me, a feeling of doom crawling up my spine on legs of needles.
<i>We will keep Solace safe in your absence.</I>
My mouth falls open to cry out in protest, but no sound is made. They have already decided.
<I>Collect the items. Climb the mountain.</i>
My mind reaches for my wife where she lay, wrapped in shadows, not even nearly healed from the tattering of her womb. As a tear drips down from the plane of my cheek on to her blackened figure, the sensation of her dreaming soul embracing mine is the last I feel before I am wrenched away.
<I>Good luck, Kagerus.</i>
The feeling of solid ground beneath my hooves is as alien as walking on water.
Before me, a great mass looms; in the pitch black, I struggle to identify the shape of what appears to be a land-locked cloud. An uncomfortable chur beside me tells me that Panthera has been teleported here as well, and that she also dislikes our new surroundings. Twitching, a snort vibrates the air molecules around us, the scent of disease sending me two paces backward. <i>Send me back,</i> I beg of the spirit who deposited me here, craning my antlered head to gaze into the starless night sky. <I>Please, I am not strong enough.</i>
And it's true; gazing down at my figure, I glimpse flesh that clings to tightly to bones, telltales signs of muscular atrophy from how I had laid still for months now. Dirt still adorns my side, though it falls easily with a rough shake of my barrel. Nostrils flaring anxiously as the contagion spreads closer to where Panthera and I stand, I wait one last moment before submitting myself to the reality of our situation. That we won't be sent back. That we will have to scale the mountain.
<i>Best be going,</i> Panthera thought to me, baring her teeth in disgust. <i>We don't have a choice.</i>
I step forward.
Beside us, four items rise: one for each mission the faeries had sent us on previously. An icicle, a pebble, a wildflower and seashell. In the gloom, I cannot make out their specifics, nor do I try; though my last effort was wrought with hidden meaning, this quest holds none. Collect the items. Scale the mountain.
<i>Here goes nothing.</i>
At first, it seems as though the disease ridden cloud bears us no ill will. The items float next to us cheerily, spinning in the air as what barely constitutes as a breeze slowly churns the contagion around us. My head is bent low to see where my hooves fall beneath the thick fog; when I stumble particularly badly, Panthera darts forward, her keener predatory eyes blinking back at me once before she disappears into the gloom.
<I>I'll scout ahead a few steps. Follow my directions.</i>
And so I do, breathing haggard and body beginning to ache more than I would have expected despite my emancipation. Panthera's guiding voice in my mind helps to keep me upright, but it does little to stop the way the pressure increases detrimentally on the bones of my skull. Eventually the pain becomes such that I must stop where I stand, perched precariously on a steep incline as Panthera's telepathic voice gradually becomes less and less pronounced.
<I>It's been a while, Kagerus.</i>
The sound of my own voice coming at me from the whirling plague causes my innards to convulse, vomit churning in the place between my stomach and my throat. Weakly I call for Panthera, but no reply comes; the plague has separated us, has taken advantage of my toiling, has infiltrated my mind with an intelligence far beyond any I could have imagined at the start of this all.
<i>Ah yes, the start... It was so easy back then, wasn't it? Moving your people to the safeland, hiding there for years as you awaited a cleansed land. Ironic, isn't it, that you would be summoned here at the last, to be infected by that which you most feared? Always like you, Kagerus, to fuck it up in the end times.</i>
No, I mouth into the darkness, scrambling up from where I teeter. The sound of rocks tumbling down the mountainside indicate just how unstable the ledge upon which I stand is, but I pay them no mind, too caught up in the sound the voice which haunted me for so long in times long past. Memories of it haunting my every waking moment bring me to my knees, a warmth pooling there as my head bends toward the mountain. The voice needs not even speak; to myself I am detriment enough.
<i>You fail at every turn. You failed motherhood, suicide, and love; you failed to keep your people safe, to hold your tongue, and to protect your wife. And now, you will fail as you attempt to cure the plague. There is nothing left that can fight what power I have garnered from the last breaths of the dying. Yours, too, shall be added to my arsenal.</i>
Vaguely, I become aware of blood pooling on my knees, filling my nostrils so thickly that I choke with every breath. In my mind's eye, sunlight wavers above me as I sink to the bottom of the lake as I had once intended to. In this version of reality, Solace does not swoop in to save me; I am utterly alone with nothing but the cool water to greet my parted lips.
Beside me, the seashell spins until its shape blurs completely. Hovering close, it gleams despite the surrounding fog; and, with a gentleness, it burrows into the place between my shoulder blades. The memories it holds save me: memories of me bringing it to the top of the mountain. Memories which present themselves to me almost like a dream, one which supersedes that of my alternate reality suicide.
With a gurgling gasp, I awaken atop the mountain. The shell rests placidly in its spot in my flesh, the other three items whirling lazily about my figure. Somewhere in the fog, Panthera yells for me, and eventually finds her way to my side. Laying here, I can't say that I know what will happen next; for now, just being able to breathe is enough.</p> </div> </div> </center>
Warlight always had her brothers to take care of her. Oriash has no one.
In the midst of the darkness, a soft light pervades. Initially I believe it to be another interruption from the outside as I force time to mend the wounds wrought on Solace's womb. My physical form twitches next to my wife's, a weak attempt at shaking off that which begs wakefulness of me; when the light fades back into nothingness, I settle. The unknowable passage of time will sweep me away again soon.
<I>Kagerus.</i>
My whole body jolts, a bright light inserting itself painfulling into my dreamscape now; desperately I swathe Solace in what folds of dark remain, stumbling like a newborn to hooves that I have not used nor thought of in what feels like time immemorial. Breathless, the nutmeg of my eyes barely presents itself as I squint in the direction of the intruder, barely collecting myself enough to realize that I may very well have to fight the lightform. Demons have used me to portal into this reality before; what with our prolonged stay in what may as well be purgatory, I would not be surprised if a similar being tried their luck again.
<i>Kagerus!</i>
My head snaps forward, eyes focusing as the powerful being draws my attention to it, silencing the rambling of my mind.
<i>Please... We are not yet finished in our fight against the plague.</I>
A dread fills me, a feeling of doom crawling up my spine on legs of needles.
<i>We will keep Solace safe in your absence.</I>
My mouth falls open to cry out in protest, but no sound is made. They have already decided.
<I>Collect the items. Climb the mountain.</i>
My mind reaches for my wife where she lay, wrapped in shadows, not even nearly healed from the tattering of her womb. As a tear drips down from the plane of my cheek on to her blackened figure, the sensation of her dreaming soul embracing mine is the last I feel before I am wrenched away.
<I>Good luck, Kagerus.</i>
The feeling of solid ground beneath my hooves is as alien as walking on water.
Before me, a great mass looms; in the pitch black, I struggle to identify the shape of what appears to be a land-locked cloud. An uncomfortable chur beside me tells me that Panthera has been teleported here as well, and that she also dislikes our new surroundings. Twitching, a snort vibrates the air molecules around us, the scent of disease sending me two paces backward. <i>Send me back,</i> I beg of the spirit who deposited me here, craning my antlered head to gaze into the starless night sky. <I>Please, I am not strong enough.</i>
And it's true; gazing down at my figure, I glimpse flesh that clings to tightly to bones, telltales signs of muscular atrophy from how I had laid still for months now. Dirt still adorns my side, though it falls easily with a rough shake of my barrel. Nostrils flaring anxiously as the contagion spreads closer to where Panthera and I stand, I wait one last moment before submitting myself to the reality of our situation. That we won't be sent back. That we will have to scale the mountain.
<i>Best be going,</i> Panthera thought to me, baring her teeth in disgust. <i>We don't have a choice.</i>
I step forward.
Beside us, four items rise: one for each mission the faeries had sent us on previously. An icicle, a pebble, a wildflower and seashell. In the gloom, I cannot make out their specifics, nor do I try; though my last effort was wrought with hidden meaning, this quest holds none. Collect the items. Scale the mountain.
<i>Here goes nothing.</i>
At first, it seems as though the disease ridden cloud bears us no ill will. The items float next to us cheerily, spinning in the air as what barely constitutes as a breeze slowly churns the contagion around us. My head is bent low to see where my hooves fall beneath the thick fog; when I stumble particularly badly, Panthera darts forward, her keener predatory eyes blinking back at me once before she disappears into the gloom.
<I>I'll scout ahead a few steps. Follow my directions.</i>
And so I do, breathing haggard and body beginning to ache more than I would have expected despite my emancipation. Panthera's guiding voice in my mind helps to keep me upright, but it does little to stop the way the pressure increases detrimentally on the bones of my skull. Eventually the pain becomes such that I must stop where I stand, perched precariously on a steep incline as Panthera's telepathic voice gradually becomes less and less pronounced.
<I>It's been a while, Kagerus.</i>
The sound of my own voice coming at me from the whirling plague causes my innards to convulse, vomit churning in the place between my stomach and my throat. Weakly I call for Panthera, but no reply comes; the plague has separated us, has taken advantage of my toiling, has infiltrated my mind with an intelligence far beyond any I could have imagined at the start of this all.
<i>Ah yes, the start... It was so easy back then, wasn't it? Moving your people to the safeland, hiding there for years as you awaited a cleansed land. Ironic, isn't it, that you would be summoned here at the last, to be infected by that which you most feared? Always like you, Kagerus, to fuck it up in the end times.</i>
No, I mouth into the darkness, scrambling up from where I teeter. The sound of rocks tumbling down the mountainside indicate just how unstable the ledge upon which I stand is, but I pay them no mind, too caught up in the sound the voice which haunted me for so long in times long past. Memories of it haunting my every waking moment bring me to my knees, a warmth pooling there as my head bends toward the mountain. The voice needs not even speak; to myself I am detriment enough.
<i>You fail at every turn. You failed motherhood, suicide, and love; you failed to keep your people safe, to hold your tongue, and to protect your wife. And now, you will fail as you attempt to cure the plague. There is nothing left that can fight what power I have garnered from the last breaths of the dying. Yours, too, shall be added to my arsenal.</i>
Vaguely, I become aware of blood pooling on my knees, filling my nostrils so thickly that I choke with every breath. In my mind's eye, sunlight wavers above me as I sink to the bottom of the lake as I had once intended to. In this version of reality, Solace does not swoop in to save me; I am utterly alone with nothing but the cool water to greet my parted lips.
Beside me, the seashell spins until its shape blurs completely. Hovering close, it gleams despite the surrounding fog; and, with a gentleness, it burrows into the place between my shoulder blades. The memories it holds save me: memories of me bringing it to the top of the mountain. Memories which present themselves to me almost like a dream, one which supersedes that of my alternate reality suicide.
With a gurgling gasp, I awaken atop the mountain. The shell rests placidly in its spot in my flesh, the other three items whirling lazily about my figure. Somewhere in the fog, Panthera yells for me, and eventually finds her way to my side. Laying here, I can't say that I know what will happen next; for now, just being able to breathe is enough.</p> </div> </div> </center>
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