BrokenCircles/AmaranthRiver

BrokenCircles/JustBeforeYouStartScreaming

Prelude

Everyone remember Amaranth River? Bit of a stunner, Tarazed's latest conquest. Yes?

Good.

Now for a few more details.

19. Startling violet eyes, just like her mother and sister. Long black hair, quite tanned, always seemed nice but a bit somber when alone, though Tarazed's arrival in her life seems to have brought her out of her shell a bit.

Father's name is Jaguar, mother's name is Chalice. They've kept mostly to themselves. Her sister, Flair, is an owlish twelve-year-old, always staring in wide-eyed fascination at one thing or another and saying very little.

Why is any of this relevant?

Earlier, when the Wyld Hunt arrived, they asked where the Anathema were. All the villagers, of course, were under strict instruction to tell them the truth and send them straight over, but River had other ideas.

She was first out there, and told them you'd gone to Wandersend to get supplies. In fact, she nearly had them convinced of this, but the one in black decided to make sure. He grabbed her, set his claws at her throat, and told Jaguar that he'd kill her unless he told them the truth.

So Jaguar told them, and the Immaculate let her go... And then backhanded her across the throat before she could run back to Jaguar. She just crumpled to the ground, didn't even make a sound, and lay there while the Hunt left.

Since then, she's been moved indoors, her bed moved into the front room rather than risk carrying her upstairs. It's at this point that the Circle is likely to start prodding and poking to figure out what's wrong and how they can help.

Diagnostics

Mortals don't have Essence pools as such, but Essence nonetheless flows through them - just like it flows through everything else in the world, really.

It isn't flowing through her, though, and what little residual Essence that remains within her seems stagnant and lifeless.

Possible reasons:

She was struck in the throat, one of the body's main energy centres. It's possible, albeit unlikely, that such a strike could set the whole body's essence flows out of balance.

It's possible the Dragon-Blooded used some kind of essence-paralysing strike or hearthstone power on her, but also unlikely - while it may be possible to achieve such an effect with martial arts, it doesn't seem probable that any of those DBs had such a degree of power.

It could be some kind of side-effect of growing up so close to an unstable and uncapped demesne, on top of the foundations of a first age fort. That can screw you up royally, and not always in fashions that become obvious until certain conditions are met. If that's the case, the essence flows of others in the village might not survive much punishment either.

Or it could just be her, being some kind of weirdshit thing you've never seen before. In which case, just about anything's possible.

Certainties:

She's alive. She's still breathing reflexively rather than consciously, and her body does show some signs of healing, at least the beginnings of it, though she may never recover fully even if she ever regains consciousness.

Truths

In case you hadn't already guessed, lil' miss Amaranth has changed a little. She's gone from being a moody, manipulative girl that nobody really paid much heed to... to someone who managed to get the attention of a Wyld Hunt, and almost turn them away... only to be struck a killing blow by their leader. Of course, having already fallen for Tarazed - someone she knew to be Anathema - she thought she'd already damned herself, and being killed by the champions of her own faith just confirmed that.

These reasons pale in comparison to the true motivation which drove to accept the bargain offered her in her final moments however - ultimately, she was simply too self-centered and cowardly to die, even when the price was pursuing the death of Creation itself.

And so she sold her name and destiny to a Deathlord.

The future

It will be at least a week before she regains consciousness, and perhaps another few days before she realises it wasn't just a nightmare; that she really has made the biggest mistake of her life. If she can, she'll try and escape the village before long, though she does not know where to run.

And soon, her new master's other servants will arrive to claim her for him, and she will be gone from the world for a time. Perhaps a year, perhaps more, perhaps less. But one day, Amaranth River will truly be gone, and Screams Amidst a Godless Elegy will be all that is left.