GoldenCat/SorrowDance
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Dance in Sorrow
It has been seven months since Kanti last saw her master, the one who opened the gates of heaven and of the Cerulean Lute for her... who made her a respldent champion of the lotus, a knight of heaven.... and since when she lost him, and got to know her mistress. The Vestal of the Livid Lamasery, who flayed her soul and made her kneel. Who used and broke her mind in a thousand humilliating ways. Kanti thought that was hell. But that was before. Now, it has been three weeks ever since Calibration.
Ever since the day her mistress decided to be artistic with Kanti, and placed her in the hands of the Lamenting Parishioner of Maladies. Together, they played with Kanti. Together, they weaved necromancy in her flesh, while the Weaver of Voices made her pain into a garment. On the Palace of Whiteshield it happened after the takeover, one of the many screams there, to bring darkness to its light. But certainly the loudest screams, the greatest pain... and a power that by far exceeded most other tortures.
Her mistress went away then, to do other things... and leaving her to be tortured more, even after her screams were already her garment. And weeks of pain and then, solitude passed, with the other slaves handling the newcomer. Weeks in a kingdom of pain and death, as lessons were dealt, she heard it outside her luxurious chamber, covered in silks and pillows, all in the red of the Vestal, where the Vestal's pretties tended to her and pleasured her.. while everything flt cold, and the images of the torture on body, mind and soul kept coming back.
Three weeks until today. Cold winds blow outside, as Maera, another dragoness, comes in. One of the farvored nuns under the Vestal, and one of the few that is not treated as just a pet or a livestock. She smiles at Kanti, seeing the same beauty as the Vestal on her scarification. "Our mistress has returned, Kanti, she wants to see how you are now... in your lovely dresses and pretty marks... have you been well-tended to?"
Kanti: Kanti looks up at Maera with haunted eyes, shivering as she does, wondering how her mistress could be back so soon ... far too soon... she closes her eyes and curls around her knees, taking her last moments of solitude, before she looks up at Maera
"...Yes, Maera, I was we-well cared for." she says in a broken voice not really sure what had happened to her these past few weeks ..whether she had slept or not ..what was dream and what was real but, she couldnt get the others into trouble, so...
"I-I am happy ..she wants to see me..."
as she stands carefully, going over to the dresser and pulling on her robe, flinching as she hears her own screams playing in her ears, fighting the urge to have the dress cover up any more than it has too, knowing that niether Maera nor the Vestal will approve ... and she really does want the Vestal to approve ... more than anything else in Creation ...
Maera: The Ebon Dragoness smiles in approval. Her gaze to Kanti is that of a lioness looking over fallen prey. 'Mine, if I want'. But that would have to wait. Her hair falls down her face, ondulating like clear, scintillating seaweed. Her eyes are as aquamarines, and her flesh betrays the slight tinge of the sea in a summer day. She walks up at Kanti, flowing on the air, and caresses her face, like a pet. Such a beautiful pet...
"Come then. She will love to see you in it... your own beautiful screams. You look good in them." And so, she walks out of the room, turning around as if she had forgotten Kanti, walking through halls filled with armed and armored undead... a place that was once the base of the Cult of the Illuminated, now where the Vestal places her pretties and plays.
Kanti: Kanti trembles softly as her cheek is stroked, hating the way Maera treated her, when she had done nothing that gave her that right .... unlike her master ...who had given her over to this ...
More than that, she hated the way that even now, she still loved her somewhat ... would still help her if she were hurt... would still fight to protect her...
A mumbled "Thank you." and the slightest nod ...and then she was moving, following after Maera, sticking close to her, still not comfortable in these halls, trying not to look about her too much
Maera: "You are welcome." She smiles again... and keeps on, to the street... where you see so much... blood, on the streets. Houses burnt, and people toiling under the watch of the armored nemessaries. In many places in Whiteshield, life went on. But in its capital... it had to be crushed. Crushed beyond recognition. A walk on the street to the carriage Maera walks towards shows a public torture, and heads on spikes. And that is to walk accross the streeet.
And then, comes the carriage, all black and red, like the Vestal, tended by fanged, red-eyed horses of the Shadowlands.... Maera hops in, two of the Vestal's common maids there to tend to her, as she looks down to Kanti. "Come up, darling."
"Would you like anything?" One of the maids ask, a basket of fruits on her hand and several bottles of many drinks on the walls of the carriage....
Kanti: Kanti looks about herself in horror .. the screams she had heard but ...It...couldnt have been like this...but...it was this bad...
She shudders softly and hurries after Maera, seeking ..comfort in her presence, trying to black out all the hurt and pain she is seeing.
She looks up at Maera and climbs swiftly into the carriage after her, pressing herelf up to her ... throughly unsettled by the bloosdshed in the streets. She looks to the maid and shakes her head "No..no thank you."
Maera:The Carriage goes on, through the burned streets, and past the broken, open, crucified Orichalcum Warstrider at its gates. It goes through the countryside roads outside the walls, and, true to a country in the north, it becomes quite desolate a few dozens of miles out of the walls - and even those miles know they deal with something... bad. The peasants on the outside seem largely intact - the Abyssals came from the inside out, and the destruction of the shining capital is enough of an example for them.
And out, comes the wilderness between the cities. Whiteshield tried to make it as safe as possible, with resource constraints, but close the Fair Folk walk, and the Shadowlands abound on the north, where winter reaps 5 among 10....
Through the few hours of the trip, Maera played with her handmaids, flirting shamelessly, tasting strawberries out of their mouths and touching the heat between their legs. At any time, it seemed like she would call for Kanti, but she did not, seeming glad than Kanti watched... but then she stopped, narrowed her eyes, and, cheeks flushed, seemed ready to... taking her hand, and coming to kiss Kanti's neck...
And then, a sword goes through the carriage glass on Kanti's back, the blade a few inches from her head. Droplets of blood fall on her shoulder, coming from where the blade pierced the driver's neck.
Arrows hit on the black shadowland wood, heard even thorugh the red velvet from the inside... and behind the curtains, many a shadow. And a voice, booming with command, "Come out, in the name of the Shield Maiden. Come out in the name of Amaranthine!" the voice calls, echoing the name of the Shield Goddess of Whiteshield, sister of Dayshield, now destroyed.
Maera simply sighs.
Kanti: Kanti watches the flirting with a mixture of hunger and relief...she...she wants to please Maera but ... she isnt sure she could take the feeling of her fingers... tracing over the scars as Maera so loved to do...
And now...Maera wanted her... she leaned forward, powerless to resist the hand drawing her in, pulling her towards the eyes that she could drown in ...
Then the window shattered ... and she ducked desperately, looking up for approval in Maera's eyes, feeling a little pain as she sighed and then ....
"I await my lady's instructions."
Maera: Maera sighs, leaning back. "You can never get quite rid of those, can you" She sighs.
"But it is to be expected, I suppose... even with the General's aura, it has been a little less than a month...."
She takes something, then. Something that remembers Kanti of heaven.... bracers of Red Jade, twisting and flowing in the shape of flame. A gift from heaven, written in the wisdom of its greatest sifus. The Flow Flame Guides. Maera leaned foward, licking Kanti's neck as she wrapped the bracers around her forearms, her tongue trailing on the scars she loved so much to see her Mistress inflict on Kanti, side-by-side with Berengiere.
"A gift, to show how much our mistress cares." She smiles, as she finishes licking, "Go out. And beat every last one of those idiots. And each one that survives will feel worse than you did..." She touches Kanti between her legs for a moment, eyes narrowing, "I will tell Mistress if you do good. I will tell her you did very, very good..."
Kanti: Kanti looks uncomprehendingly at the guides for a brief moment, before the memories come back in ... her training ... the gift from him as she completed it...
She looks up at her as she sides them on, her gratitude in her eyes, supressing a shudder then as Maera's tongue roamed her scars. Even now .. it felt far too good to real ...
She gasps as Maera touches her between her legs, momentarily weakening
"I..I will! I want you both to ... to be pleased with me..."
With a last look for acceptance she rolls out of the carriage, looking about herself as she assumes the Radiant Viridian form, arcs of flame and red essence dancing about the bracers.
When she finds the attackers she studies them briefly "Please, do not struggle too hard ... I do not wish to do this to you ... but you have earned the displeasure of my Mistress and so I must fight you. Please ... let me grant you a painless death ... I could not bear to see you at her mercy."
Shieldbearer: Around her, she sees about 20 mortals... dressed like militia, leather armor and a plethora of military robes - threw over their inconspicuous vests for the action. They carry swords, mostly crested as military material as well.
One of them stands out. His hair is golden like sunlight, not just blonde, but a gold like it shouldn't exist, and he dresses in an armor of shimmering white light of dawn, two small shields hovering around him. He looks at Kanti in disbelief. "And we do not wish to do this to you. But we cannot tolerate you here. So, we will take the goods you have there, and take all of you for ransom. I am sorry, and I see you had to suffer... join us, then... displease the mistress that murdered so many here, including my mother, and help us free more from her mercy!"
Kanti: "I...I can't ... I'm sorry...she...she will find me...and what she has done to me before will be as nothing..."
She looks at the leader with her haunted eyes "All I can grant you is a swift and painless death..."
Then she starts her run towards the leader, iris blossoms lighting her steps as she moves in time to beat only she can hear, two bright lotuses bursting as she leaps, no sound for three beats.
Then she lands, her fists bluring in time, one beat, two, three.
And then she sinks back to a defensive posture.
Shieldbearer: The God-Blood son of the Maiden of the White Shield moves with a pale speed of the gods, trying to block each of the blows.... but failing. But, even going through his shields, they simply stop on the Celestial Armor he has about himself. "My mother still protects me, dragoness... her shield wants revenge." He closes his eyes for a moment. I am sorry."
His eyes open, and the blade spins in his hand, "Get the treasures and the people in the carriage! Let me deal with this one alone, like the Crystal Lord requires!" And so, he twists the large sword of diamond and white jade on his hand and brings it down....
The blade goes towards Kanti... mercilessly?
There is no hate on his face. None at all. How can he strike her... when she looks so....
...Innocent? Peaceful? Even if she struck him, how could she... how could he bring himself to strike her? He just... couldn't...
He stops mid-air, and his stance breaks. "I can't..." The blade falls from his hands, the momentum sending it away, his stance open.
And when he looks around and sees the eyes of disbelief of his compatriots, and remembers what he should be doing, that he should not let himself be swayed as such... it is already too late.
Maera: Some of the brigands go into the carriage. One leaps in. A moment. And he flies out. His body falls to the ground, gushing blood on his every breath, blood coming out of his ears, as if it just decided to run rampant on his body. And she steps out, transcendant in her dark robes. As conservative as any nun's... and none would know if they did not know her. Specially when the face of the Immaculate that she was returns. "You let them get in here. Bad Kanti..."
Kanti: "...Thank you." she lets out the whisper as she sees the blade fall from his hand, drawing herself back to strike him three times, her feet blurring as she lands the powerful, painless kicks on his chest.
Maera's disappointment cuts across her like a knife as she leaps backwards, landing less than gracefully in a poor defensive stance. Then she centres on the music. And moves back into a perfect form.
Shieldbearer: He blossoms in light then. Unarmed, but not defenseless. White light explodes from him, and all around him, the image of his mother's shield appears. He moves with this light to try and stop her blows, his small shields stopping her feet as his whim. "I am sorry... but I can not follow the rules. I have to do what I have to..." He closes his eyes as the shields move within the great shield anima to stop her... "Take her down." He speaks to his soldiers.
.....but like him, they are not able to strike her. They stop, except for two.... too vicious? Too determined? It matters not, for theri strikes avail them nothing.
And the God-Blood simply runs to his sword, taking it up in one beautiful movement and swinging the diamond edge towards Kanti...
Maera: Maera takes a few steps out of the carriage, surrounded by five of them. "Come, inferior knaves..."
She moves in a flowing way, smiling at them as their blades flow past her robes, and all of them simply fall to the ground at her feet... with little effort from her.
With little thought, her foot comes down on the poor bastards. It crushes their writsts, it crushes their legs. But it leaves them alive. She wants them alive...
Kanti: Her mistress had been attacked...and this man stood before her, wrapped in the protection of his god and she could not penentrate his armour....
She crouched and bowed her head.
1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ...5
Then she exploded into a flurry of perfectly timed blows, pummellling him from all sides, as she spins and twists around him, her fists carressing his armour...
He ... had been kind to her ... he had to die, lest the Vestal get him.
Shieldbearer: The man tries to parry... moving his weapon like mad to avoid all the blows, so swift, good... but not good enough. The blows go in, making him step back, unable to do anything but to be hurt....
Maera: Maera waits not for them to come to her, this time. Angered for what she just did with five of their compatriots, another five come to her... but she just goes to the back of the carriage, and throws something. Something that lands heavily near Kanti, incensing the air... her spear. "There, my pretty Kanti... deal with them like they deserve. Make the mistress proud... you already let too many of them get to me. Bad Kanti. I will have to tell the Vestal...!"
Kanti: She... she had failed now...she murmured briefly for forgiviness, and then picked the spear up...feeling its comforting warmth, feeling its comforting scents ...
She takes the briefest of moments to center herself, letting the spear flow into her posture, then she leaps high into the air , hanging there against the weak sun before she lands, spear flashing with red and green jade, incense trailing from the tip, powering it's way through the man's armour, leaving deep, painless wounds in his flesh...
"Please forgive me... I don't want you to suffer...."
She sweeps the spear around as she lands in a wash of sandalwood scents, eying the men that press her still....
Shieldbearer: He tries to stop the strikes of that pacient, heavenly saint... but is unable to. Twice the tip of the spear hits only his blade. But twice, it hits his flesh.... making blood run from his lips. He touches it... as it flows from his wounds... but... so orderly... calmly. Time seems to slow down. "Am I...?" He asks her. Feeling neither pain nor enmity, the same caring for her he had just a moment ago.
Kanti: "You're dying yes ... it is the only kindness I could do you..." she whispers softly.
"I told you it would be painless...rest in peace."
She closes her eyes slightly, two tears running down her face. She shakes them away, regarding the milita around her.
"Come then. I promised all of you a pain free passing."
Militia: Despite her words, they hear not. They try to feel hate... but it is hard.
So very hard, when looking at such a saint. So very hard...
But yet, they try, to avenge the man who was a bullwark of courage, faith and determination for them, as his body, covered in light, falls to the ground....
Maera: Maera runs from her pursuers, laughing, just as Kanti's saintly attittude, calm mien and relaxing incense stops any to ever try to strike her. Cornered on both sides behind the carriage, she jumps, in a fashion one would never expected by someone shrouded in such heavy robes... landing over the head of one of those she had crippled, exploding it like a watermelon. She looks at Kanti in disapproval.
Kanti: Kanti winces at the disapproving look.
She returns the look with tearstained eyes, then she closes them, knowing where they are, feeling the dance.
One breath, one step, one iris blossom, one strike. That is the beat to which Kanti dances, wrapped in clouds of calming incense.
Scant seconds later the milita is dead on floor around her, leaving just her and Maera standing there...
Maera ...alone ... and her with a weapon in hand....
She could....
Maera: Maera walks towards Kanti, angry. Her form still wavering like water, leaving small droplets on the ground around her, she gets to Kanti...
And slaps.
"Just what do you think you were doing, Kanti? They got to us. They got to me. You made me spend some of my power, while you were playing with the godling."
"Well?"
Kanti: Kanti takes a ste back at the slap, coming from Maera as it did it hurt far more than the slices the milita head dealt her before she had killed them
"I..." she looks up at Maera with fear in her eyes .. fear and regret ...she had failed her...
She drops the spear in her hands, then falls to her knees
"I...I'm sorry Maera ... it...it's been so long ...since....please ...forgive me..."
Maera: Her hand touches Kanti's face, her fingers like the claws of a dragon... as they had been... before. She helped the Parishioner to cut Kanti... passing her razor-edged nails over the scars on Kanti's face in the same way.... and, as she holds Kanti's cheek, the forces until a crimson droplet falls, and the gesture seem to echo,
Remember what I did to you. Remember what we can do to you.
"You could be like them there, Kanti... like thos poor creatures I just crippled, and will hook to our carriage so we hear their screams on the rest of our trip, knowing our very movement flays their unworthy carcasses. You could be like them! You are not because our mistress likes you. Because she believes in you. Because she has faith in you. Do you want that faith to disappear, Kanti? She did this... we did this... to improve you. If you displease us, you will know true torment my dear Kanti... is that what you want?" She asks holding Kanti's hair and pushing it back, "Is that what you want?!?"
Kanti: Kanti trembles as Maera's hands trace over her face, looking up into those cold, hard eyes, searching for the forgiveness that must be there ... not finding it...
"No...no...no...no..." she repeats the word over and over, tears streaming down her face.
"I...I...I'm sorry....I..I don't ever want to displease you ...or...or her"
She rubs her face on Maera's hand, shivering still.
"Please forgive me..."
Maera: The nails stop raking, and she enjoys Kanti rubbing on her hand.... oh, to tame another dragoness so. It made her so proud... even her, who always thought dragons her equals. Her mistress, then, who was once human... oh, how Kanti would delight her... like one day, Maera herself had. She smiles, a smile that seems so real, so true... giving forgiveness in the softening of her expression and her touch. "Good... that is how you must be... good. You should not try to displease us. You should just... not. Ever." She comes down a little, kissing Kanti, then holding her hands.... "Such pretty hands... those of a wood dragon, is it not? You can make severe wounds become just scratches us chosen can simply shrug in a few hours, right?"
Kanti: Her face lights with a mixture of relief and joy. Maera had forgiven her!
She didnt let the hatred reach her face...she could never show that to Maera, she didn't deserve her hatred...but...how could she not hate her a little ... for what she did ... she wsnt so stong as to to avoid that...
She nods as Maera talks to her, taking in her words. Returning the kisses tenderly then looking up at her
"Yes, Maera...are you hurt..?..I'm sorry...I should have asked...please, let me help you"
Maera: "No. No, I am not, Darling..." The Ebon Dragoness says, caressing Kanti... her hands going within her loose, open robes, as if feeling her screams through the fabric... and she whispers, her voice like a calm, flowing river, "But you will when I have finished punishing you. And I would hate to deliver you to the Vestal with scars that she herself did not place on you."
For hours, Maera worked her art on Kanti's flesh.
Hot breath on her throat, laughing, Maera finishes... already past sunset, after commiting so many indignities with Kanti’s body.... afterwards, she just had Kanti cure herself, and threw her, pained, on the Carriage. The men that had survived, she hooked in chains to the carriage, screaming, and they screamed for two hours while while one of the handmaids drove for them. Two hours until they were too flayed to be alive anymore. Or at least, to scream.
And through the night the Shadowland horses raced, towards the Vestal....
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