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 Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2025 6:18 pm
Reims didn’t know how to feel about Ganymede knowing nothing about this strange place. It was a little disappointing. A little frustrating. He didn’t particularly want to have memories about whatever caused the stone slab to stain, or the significance of the chains.
He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth and crossed his arms over his chest defensively.
“Do you want me to remember what happened here?” he frowned, looking from Ganymede to the stone and then away. He knew he might not be able to help what he sees -- if he were to get any memories. He’d remembered… something about Yvoire, and found his summon there. But was that a memory from a past life, or just a calling from his summon? He wasn’t sure how it worked.
“Well… now you know it exists,” he shrugged, deciding there was no point in staying in that cursed place.
He was still thinking about the way Yvoire was looking at him earlier. Like he’d seen something he wasn’t sure he’d wanted to see. A memory?
Reims wanted to ask if he was okay. He opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped. His heart felt too heavy to force himself to say something that would just make Yvoire disappointed or upset.
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 1:11 pm
“It’s not a matter of what I want,” Ganymede said, patiently but firmly. She didn’t mind the attitude. She expected it from the younger ones, given what she could remember of being their age. “Of course I don’t want you to remember what this was for, but chances are you’re going to eventually. Unless you’re like Valhalla, who likes to pretend he doesn’t remember half as much as I know he does.”
She followed the stained streaks down the sides of the stone. Clearly the slab was meant for a body and the stone was stained by blood, but what was the purpose? The location, the elaborateness of it—that seemed to imply it was something ceremonial, but nothing she’d remembered indicated any need for a sacrifice. Whatever religion necessitated a cathedral had fallen out of fashion by Liesel’s time.
“Maybe it was before his time,” Ganymede suggested. “Who you would've been in the past. There’s no telling how old these stains are.”Yvoire couldn’t tear his eyes away from the stone slab now that he’d looked in that direction. His heart beat wildly, so loud it seemed to fill his ears. Blood rushed through his veins, throbbing at his wrists. He took a careful breath and nearly choked on it. The smell of the grove filled his lungs. He could almost taste it.
Suddenly he was no longer by the stairs but standing nearer to the stone. Fear and despair rose up from the depths of his memory. The body of a young girl, no older than fourteen or fifteen, laid out over the stone, strapped down by shackles at her wrists and ankles. Long, pale hair fanned out over the sides of the slab. Pale eyes, not quite blue, stared right at him, wide with building horror.
“Ellie! Ellie, please don’t let them do this!” the girl screamed at him, tears streaming down her face. “Please, Ellie!”
Then he couldn’t see her at all. Another figure shifted in front of him, blocking his view. Yvoire tipped forward and put his forehead against the figure’s back, hiding behind a dark cape with sparkling fur. He closed his eyes and brought his hands to his ears, muffling the rest of the shouting until all that remained was a haunting silence.
Yvoire blinked. He hadn’t left the opening to the stairs. He put a hand to the stone to steady himself, breathing shallow and erratic.
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 6:19 pm
Reims didn’t want to know how old those stains were. He didn’t want to think about whoever he was in the past doing anything in that room.
It was beautiful, of course. And terrible. The pink glowing mushrooms looked like something out of a fantasy game. But the feeling of dread definitely put it into the horror genre.
“Evie?” he frowned as he turned from where Ganymede stood, looking at the stone, back to where the other Knight was still standing by the stairs. He looked like he was feeling faint, or -- as Reims knew from experience -- showing signs of the start of a panic attack.
“Let’s go,” he said gently, but with enough confidence to make sure his voice was heard over whatever thoughts Yvoire might be sorting through.
“Can you walk?” he asked, hesitantly holding out a hand to offer support if Yvoire needed it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2025 10:53 am
Yvoire didn’t take Reims’ hand. He stumbled forward, eyes locked on the sparkling fur of his new cape. He fell against Reims and hid his face in the fur without thinking, following compulsions he wasn’t entirely sure were his own.Ganymede turned back to the boys, frowning in concern. She looked between them and the slab, assuming Yvoire might have seen something to explain what it was and why it might have been used, but he seemed so unsettled by it she couldn’t make herself ask.
“I can ask Val about it,” she said, to take that pressure off Yvoire and Reims. If they didn’t want to talk about it, she wasn’t about to make them.
Maybe Valhalla knew already. Maybe he hadn’t learned of it yet. Liesel hadn’t known, Ganymede was sure, but Serge might have.
For now, she left the stone behind and began to usher the boys back up the stairs.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:06 am
Reims was a bit startled when Yvoire stumbled forward and against him. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, but he gently placed them around him.
He avoided looking at Ganymede, but nodded when she mentioned asking Valhalla. Not that he really wanted to know. Right now, he was just concerned about getting Yvoire out of there.
Maybe it would be too much, maybe Yvoire would hate him even more, but the fastest way to get him out of there would be to pick him up.
Which he did.
Reims leaned down to scoop Yvoire into his arms, holding him so he could hide against the fur of his cape until they made their way out of that place.
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