Drenched in sweat, Aki twisted in her large and moonlit bed...ears creased with the long lines of pillow seams, and cheeks flushed with fear. Tangled blonde hair shadowed her eyes, clenched shut against the swarming nightmare.
For every wave of sickening fear that rocked the murmuring elf, the stone sunk deep in Aki's shadow was pulled deeper. Vague images danced, like kelp in a dark tide, tugging and taunting and taking hideous shape that Coral was powerless to hide from. All was nothingness, cold and constricting, hauntingly familiar and so unlike the darkness of the bedroom she'd been nestled in.
Sun and flesh and wind and lies and- Oh, how Coral tried to drive back the aching infestation, pushing deep past the chill for strength, into memories of a place that Was. Away from the yawning hunger, amorphous and twisted with rage, away...
...from the abyss.
A single point of light cut the darkness, and Aki's form stilled. For her, it was comfort. For Coral, it was a warning. The bond between them shook as the stone sought to burrow deeper, but there was no escape. It was not light, but a single bone pale protrusion...and another, and another, all splintering outward from the heart of her. Sweet white bones, shattered and leaking, curling outward with ill intent as the stone was sundered with a deafening crack.
In the darkness of Aki's inadequate shadow, Coral hung silently...light playing across her surface. The nightmare had closed its fist around her, and squeezed tightly. No more light, no more darkness, nothing but pressure and dull throbbing terror. This was the way it had always been, reaching up from the depths, silent and cold, to drag the light back down.
The delicate stone shuddered, and the shadows among the detail of the intricate carving began to deepen. Coral was lost in her own labyrinthine spiral, turned fully inward and unable to stretch, even for the bond she'd so nearly completed. With a gentle, slipping touch, the stone dropped from Aki's shadow and landed heavily upon the bed.
The evening was still, and quiet wind stirred the trees outside of the arching windows, causing the light to dance. Something had woken her, and Aki found herself staring along the horizon of her bedding...tired gaze wandering the hills and valleys of rumpled covers as her mind settled into some sort of fuzzy order. She'd had a bad dream, perhaps, something cold and...
Just thinking about it brought a flash of the images back, vivid and creepy. Something cold settled into the base of her stomach, and Aki pushed herself up on both elbows to stare into the corners of her room. Her delicate ears cocked the slightest bit as she listened, eyes bright and troubled in the darkness.
Nothing there. Just the moon, beyond the thin curtains, and Coral upon her pillow.
Several moments passed as she gazed at the motionless stone, the obvious trying desperately to register with her sleep addled mind as she was filled with a sense of unease. Coral was just laying there, like a simple stone...not floating, nor burning with that almost invisible aura.
That wasn't right.
Gently, Aki scooped the artifact into her cupped hands, lifting it to her face. It was cold, heavy...and trembling ever so slightly. It felt, for all the world, like a tiny struggling egg. Adrenaline shot through her, hands stiffening in shock, as a crack appeared upon the surface of the intricate stone. Coral was breaking!
"Stop. STOP!" Aki shrieked, panicked for them both. The bond between them was flooded with worry, terror and disbelief singing high. The crack was obscene, rending and widening as though forced asunder. Points of light, bone white tips, shoved out of the darkness and Coral leapt out of her hands...writing in mid air as milky tentacles boiled outward from the wound.
It was just like this, Coral could feel it. That same sensation, wrapping around her, pulling her down...shoving outward from the depths of her dreams and into her reality. It was a breach, not a crack, and the wisp tried desperately to force the last of it out. It was sickening, the very feel of it...every ounce of her fear ejected in tangled desperation.
Curling in on itself, falling to the bed, the monstrosity writhed and clattered. Aki was back, pressed against the headboard as she called Coral to her with every ounce of will she could muster. Slowly, flickering and lurching, the wisp fled to her companion, disappearing gracelessly into Aki's shadow for hollow comfort. It was here. It had finally come for her.
Shoulders shaking, Aki stared at the nightmare beast with her face twisted to the side...pressed as far away as she could get. It had come from Coral, clawing its way outward, but it was terrifyingly real. The blankets bunched under it as the creature unfolded its tangle of limbs, the soft rub of fabric clear in the still night. She couldn't make sense of what she was seeing...it was a colorless abomination, moving like an octopus with a spiders sharp grace. It was all things drowned and long rotting, bleached and stiff with rot and salt. Round black eyes, and a pink sucking mouth were almost hidden by a crown of spikes, netted with a fan of thin white tattered skin. It moved the way it had emerged, shoving its front legs forward to tangle in the blankets, and pulling the rest of the body into place with fluid rippling.
Her breath had been snatched away, lungs locking as she prepared to scream. Without thought, Aki's hand dropped to her shadow, willing it to close around Coral and keep her close. Coral was drawn by the same, rising into Aki's hand and pulling hard to settle against the elf's chest. Any moment, they'd wake up, and the nightmare spawn would vanish.
That, or it wasn't a dream. It just didn't seem to be going away, dragging and smacking its way closer. So small, the size of a man's fist, but surrounded by that hideous tide of sharp legs that drew it relentlessly on. Slowly, as she struggled out of the covers and off the bed, Aki realized what the feeling in her stomach was. It was coming from Coral, a memory of a sensation, and Aki's stomach fluttered again.
Falling. It felt like falling, down and down, into the deep. The pink mouth opened silently, gaping and bottomless, as Aki finally screamed.
