|
|
| (4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| − | She remembered the sudden wash of sadness, the subsequent tears, and the deep sense of need that tugged at her heartstrings. Feelings led to rumors led to chance and luck... and one day, Lilith the Owl Woman was reunited with her long-lost companion and mate.
| + | #REDIRECT [[DarkheartOne/IdeaDump]] |
| − | | |
| − | It was only after much passionate lovemaking and quiet sessions of embracing that she pondered how it could come to be that he had returned. She had not seen any other signs of the Solars' return, no ramping up of the Wyld Hunt, no whispered words passing through half-empty taverns that her inhumanly-sharp ears could hear. Nor could she explain how, even though the fire of passion within him was strong, the rest of his persona seemed... muted. Quiet... distant, even.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She did not have much time to ponder this. Her husband had offered to take her to the place where he had been 'born anew', as he put it. Something about the request worried her, but she nonetheless found herself standing beside him, her hand in his own, as he focused on the setting sun. At the very instant where day and night embraced, she felt... a tugging. The world around her suddenly felt stifling, dim. Her very quicksilver Essence began to scream warnings of pain, of death, of things best left unencountered.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She did not let go of his hand.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Even as he led her through what she readily knew was the Underworld, the land of the past-dead, the place of the so-called Deathlords. Many things, both seemingly-human and massively alien, watched the two pass along, doing nothing save for letting their dead eyes bore into Lilith.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Still, she did not let go.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The gates of Stygia itself behind them, she finally found it within herself to speak. "This is death's domain. Why here?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | He did not answer, at first. As they reached the center of the city, he pointed towards a stairwell ringing the curious, wide pit that lay before them. "I will let you know in time."
| |
| − | | |
| − | Lilith looked, and her heart froze. Her very soul begged her to flee from the man who was more definitely not the man she had loved anymore. Her mind readily agreed.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Still, she did not let go.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The trip down was surprisingly short, or at least it felt that way. The oppresive death-force of Stygia weighed heavily on her, making each step more difficult than the last. But their trip finally came to an end, before a simple door made from the Material of souls.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Beyond this door is the Answer. Beyond this door is all the explaination you will need, Lilith." Almost on command, the door opened. Beyond it... Lilith's eyes, mind, spirit, her very existance refused to accept what she saw.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Within the massive, yet simple room, was a caged-off section that took up nearly all of the rotunda, not unlike what one could imagine a lion the size of a Behemoth in. Within it was... was... she could make out an immense spherical shape, but what it consisted of was...
| |
| − | | |
| − | "It is called the End. The Void. The Abyss. I imagine you have heard of it." It was Nothing. Emptiness. A tiny little point, perhaps the size of a man's fist, that was tugging all of reality in its direction, from the looks of things. Even the bars of the cage itself seemed to bend in its direction.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She let go of his hand.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She let go, and thoughtlessly struck out at him with the other, wearing the skin of a deadly owl-warrior. To her surprise, his only action was to catch her wrist and shove it past him, between two bars of the cage. A single talon fell within the reach of the Void.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I am sorry it has to be this way."
| |
| − | | |
| − | That talon proceeded to simply bend, tugged inward towards the empty center of the hungry sphere, steadily drawing Lilith's very being into its tiny maw in a thin, twisting strand. Her owl-eyes wide with fright, she desperately pulled away--- which mattered little, as the steady unraveling of her arm continued. Another thoughtless act, and her severed limb was pulled greedily into the Maw, just as more strands of her being began to feed into the vortex from various points on her body.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "All it needs is one taste. One touch. There is no escape after the fact." He smiled coldly, even as Lilith reached for him with every intention to pull him in with her. He simply stepped back three paces, watching as the Abyss continued to devour her, bit by bit, and kept her just out of reach of him.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Still, she clawed at him with her remaining hand before it, too, vanished. A choked-out, "WHY?!", mingled with the cry of a dying bird, echoed through the room but once.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Because, my love... I answer to a higher calling now. When things are renewed and I have my Masters' blessing, you will understand." His caste mark, for the first time, appeared on his forehead, the ring-and-circle crackling with a faint purplish energy. It did not pour forth light, however... instead, it seemed to eat it, leaving not an absense of color, but an absense of *anything*. Lilith, deep in her heart, prayed that he was right.
| |
| − | | |
| − | With a final screech, the Owl Woman completely ceased to be. The room was silent, and the reborn man that had once been Lilith's lover in the First Age stood there. After a moment's pause, he reached into his cloak and produces a small sheet of paper.
| |
| − | | |
| − | 'Cleaning up loose ends', it read.
| |
| − | | |
| − | It was a shame that he could not even remember who it was that he had just fed to the End, he thought. Nonetheless, there simply was no room for distractions now. He and the others had much work to do.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Feeling the favor of his patrons all around him, the man retitled A Song Before Fading began the trek out out of the doompit.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ----
| |
| − | | |
| − | * back to [[/RisingForce|Rising Force]]
| |
