08-31-2021, 09:56 PM
Cheri could hear the dead silence around them, permeating her words and making them softer than they ought to be. Somehow it made Sorren's voice louder. A liar, he called her. The filthiest of words and one she particularly never associated with herself. That’s why it stung so perfectly, without the aid of his barbed tail. For a moment she forgot he was sick and possibly delirious, that he needed her help, and the pang of sorrow from his betrayal needled its way into the world of its own accord; the tiniest bit of magic leaking from the cracks of her interior.
She swallowed down the bitter pill.
“He doesn’t mean it.” She told herself, trying her best to fight past this new wall between them. Declaring aloud as well as to herself that she would save him, hearing the vicious snarl he rumbled in response. His resolve weakened and her fear of failure bubbled up.
“Murder is senseless, and the only green things I eat grow from the dirt.” He says, and there is a chuckle in the low sound of his voice as his feet knead the tufts of grass beneath them. “And anyway, I have the sneaking suspicion that you are a little too spicy for my palate.”
She forced herself to remember. By sheer willpower she superimposed the same face from that first night over the current one stalking closer with a deadly snarl curling its lips and baring its teeth. His barbed tail had flashed in the dim light of his glow, that much was the same, but the eyes had been burning with an auburn-colored laughter and his voice had been a purr, not a growl.
“Are you calling me chaos?”
Cheri couldn’t change her face just like Sorren couldn’t turn the tides or bring the moon down from her throne in the sky. She hardly had time to think about what he meant when he claimed her, his movement was too fluid and her legs were too still. She did, however, close her eyes.
At first she felt his weight, heavy and unbalancing. The phantom touch of his teeth on her black fur came a second afterward. Expecting them, her throat lifted toward the embrace. Cheri had been ready, consensual with his desire for her flesh because she didn’t fear a pain she’d already experienced before, it just so happened that his final statement was actually what surprised her most. I wish you were her, he kissed her.
Faintly, Cheri could just make out the sound of his wings unfurling. She opened her eyes with a blinding flash of eerie green sparks, just in time to watch him fall away from her and land in a crumpled heap on the ground - wings bent and his proud forepaws curling into his swollen chest. The dark mare with eyes like glowing hellfire stared down at him, silent for one or two of his laboured breaths. Sorren might’ve thought his words had gone unheard, but he was dead wrong.
“I am her.” Cheri said at last.
A light bloomed from nowhere. It could’ve been seen from a half mile away, so potent were its gleaming rays caught between the bare and twisted branches of the forest. At its source no mortal eyes could look - the white color was pure and drenched in her power. It was Sorren; he’d been a key to unlocking it. Drawing it out of her through desperation and love, the manticore was enveloped by the glow and gentle cradling of her outspread wings.
“Sorren.” She called out to him from that dark place, where death waited for him on the other side. “I won’t let you go, no matter how tired you are.”
No matter how tired he was of this life, no matter what he’d done or what had happened to him in their time apart, she refused to let him sleep.
“Arise.” She commanded his spirit, flushing his system with her healing until she thought the infusion would make headway over the poison clogging his veins. The normal care she’d usually taken with a patient had vanished in her urgency to bring him back, and Cheri proceeded with careless regard for any pain he might or might not experience during the interaction. She only cared that he could feel. “Come back to me.”
I can’t lose anyone else, she thought as the light extinguished and the forest grew dark once more.
She swallowed down the bitter pill.
“He doesn’t mean it.” She told herself, trying her best to fight past this new wall between them. Declaring aloud as well as to herself that she would save him, hearing the vicious snarl he rumbled in response. His resolve weakened and her fear of failure bubbled up.
“Murder is senseless, and the only green things I eat grow from the dirt.” He says, and there is a chuckle in the low sound of his voice as his feet knead the tufts of grass beneath them. “And anyway, I have the sneaking suspicion that you are a little too spicy for my palate.”
She forced herself to remember. By sheer willpower she superimposed the same face from that first night over the current one stalking closer with a deadly snarl curling its lips and baring its teeth. His barbed tail had flashed in the dim light of his glow, that much was the same, but the eyes had been burning with an auburn-colored laughter and his voice had been a purr, not a growl.
“Are you calling me chaos?”
Cheri couldn’t change her face just like Sorren couldn’t turn the tides or bring the moon down from her throne in the sky. She hardly had time to think about what he meant when he claimed her, his movement was too fluid and her legs were too still. She did, however, close her eyes.
At first she felt his weight, heavy and unbalancing. The phantom touch of his teeth on her black fur came a second afterward. Expecting them, her throat lifted toward the embrace. Cheri had been ready, consensual with his desire for her flesh because she didn’t fear a pain she’d already experienced before, it just so happened that his final statement was actually what surprised her most. I wish you were her, he kissed her.
Faintly, Cheri could just make out the sound of his wings unfurling. She opened her eyes with a blinding flash of eerie green sparks, just in time to watch him fall away from her and land in a crumpled heap on the ground - wings bent and his proud forepaws curling into his swollen chest. The dark mare with eyes like glowing hellfire stared down at him, silent for one or two of his laboured breaths. Sorren might’ve thought his words had gone unheard, but he was dead wrong.
“I am her.” Cheri said at last.
A light bloomed from nowhere. It could’ve been seen from a half mile away, so potent were its gleaming rays caught between the bare and twisted branches of the forest. At its source no mortal eyes could look - the white color was pure and drenched in her power. It was Sorren; he’d been a key to unlocking it. Drawing it out of her through desperation and love, the manticore was enveloped by the glow and gentle cradling of her outspread wings.
“Sorren.” She called out to him from that dark place, where death waited for him on the other side. “I won’t let you go, no matter how tired you are.”
No matter how tired he was of this life, no matter what he’d done or what had happened to him in their time apart, she refused to let him sleep.
“Arise.” She commanded his spirit, flushing his system with her healing until she thought the infusion would make headway over the poison clogging his veins. The normal care she’d usually taken with a patient had vanished in her urgency to bring him back, and Cheri proceeded with careless regard for any pain he might or might not experience during the interaction. She only cared that he could feel. “Come back to me.”
I can’t lose anyone else, she thought as the light extinguished and the forest grew dark once more.
@sorren