- HEY ⊰ SOLO im ) ☪ ◟
INLOVEWITH ✫ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . YOUYOU ━━━━━ ✦ YES Fevered Dreams
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After the Yaeli earthling, Beowulf had done all that he could for Aselia, he had helped her return to Elizra where she was quickly taken in by Dira and Shiari. The pair of young Elarian mystics had whisked her up into their shared quarters where they continued to tend to Aselia's expansive injuries where the purple haired earthling had started. Shiari, being the older of the two did her best to perform most of the work while Dira hovered under foot. Just as eager to learn the skill Shiari herself was still trying to perfect.
It had warmed Aselia's heart to see how eager Dira was. In a way it reminded her of when she and Kydirye were learning under Eshe. The reminder pained at her heart and it wasn't long before Aselia found herself drifting into a fevered dream. While Beowulf had done well to start the initial healing, infection had set in. A cold shiver ran down the Mystics spine, her body temperature rising to fight off the infection.
The girls had set various herbs to simmer, filling the room with an almost hypnotic scent. One generally used for prayer. Did that mean she was going to die? Was her condition really that serious? Aselia struggled to hold back her rising panic. The girls lifted a strange liquid to her lips, waiting patiently for the older mystic to swallow the fluid.
Cold. The sensation gripped her, filled her and then became her. She was cold, and for a while that's really all she was. And yet, she welcomed it, even as grogginess invaded her senses began to shut down. A faint voice, too faint to worry about woke one of her senses. She was too sleepy to care now, welcoming the the floating that eased and slipped her further into oblivion.
Warmth. It burned, scalding her, drawing her out even as she fought against it. Her lips tingled, shooting heat throughout her body and setting it aflame. Then the sensation was gone, the warmth however, remained. She could no longer feel the night's chill, hear the patter of the rain against the leaves in Elzira's branches or feel the wind against her skin. Something was dragging her down into the depths she wasn't familiar with. The comforting presence of both Aisha and Elzira engulfed her, as if offering up a loving embrace. Tears pooled against the bridge of her nose, her heart ached. She wanted to stay within their tenderness.
Then it was gone, ripped away like a petal from a bloom. Aselia tried to call out to bring them back, but her lips couldn't move. She tried to reach out into the dark floating world she found herself in distraught to realize her limbs also failed to move. Where they leaving her? Abandoning her? No! This wasn't fair, after all the love and care she had poured into them.
Come back, her mind mentally screamed. Anguish tormented the unintentional mystic, dragging her further into her unconsciousness. She had heard someone call her name as the blackness took her deeper.
"Damn, You're a hard one to crack, aren't you?" Smothering her gasp, Aselia spun sharply around to face the owner of the strangely familiar voice. Her jaw dropped as she realized just who had addressed her.
"You should be dead by now! I've sent enough assassins after you. There's no way you should still be living. Leave that hybrid girl to rot!"
The wispy shadow chuckled venomously in her direction. "Should I really be dead? Or were you never really meant to be in the first place. Perhaps your life force is now becoming mine."
Another cold shiver ran through Aselia's spine as she eyes the shadow. I'm a mystic! I'm not helpless! Without her hand axes however, things were not looking too good. Yes the shadow made no move towards her. He just stood there and stared. Thoroughly confused Aselia was about to ask what it was that he wanted. The shadow flicked a blade in her direction, it's movements too fast for Aselia to react. Then just as the shadow was upon her she felt the agony of the blade in her shoulder. The blood dripping into her hands, then pain, blinding, excruciating agony. Pain so unbearable it felt like her bones were melting from within. She had screamed out, then nothing. Aselia frowned, something here didn't make sense. How could she be dead when she hadn't suffered critical wounds.
"Where am I?" She hissed, allowing her mystic aura the chance to flare out just slightly. Hoping to intimidate the arrogant shadow standing befor her. The jerk just smirked even wider.
"What, you don't recognize your own mind? Though I suppose you wouldn't considering how I've made a few, grand alterations."
More confused that ever, Aseliad tried feebly to make sense of the situation. Am I inside my own mind? So, i'm not really here. You're not really here. Seemingly oblivious to Aselia's shift the shadow wobbled and rippled, like the flames dancing around a fire.
"This rebirth power really was extraordinary. The way a single feather collected just for you had the power to restore your bloom. To bring your dying body back to life, giving you the chance to live. Granting you some amazing gifts in exchange. How is that hardly the ideal situation."
The shadows flickered into wisps of smoke. Forming to enact a scene before her. An Alkidike of magnificent stature shifted to hold out bright red feathers that gleamed blindingly against the dark monochromatic world of the shadows. Aselia had to shield her eyes from the magnificence of the feathers. Suruhama feathers? Aselia wondered.
It's time to quell that rebellious flame of yours little one.
Aselia nearly burst into tears at the warm familiarity of the feelings. Spinning in place to search the darkness for the warm familiarity, it felt like Aisha. A presence she so desperately missed. Though there was no one to be found in the vast empty dark she found herself in once again.
Looking around, Aselia began walking forward. It was a strange type of walking. Where her feet never touched ground to move her forward. "Come back!" The unnatural mystic screamed out. Her arms crossing over her abdomen with the effort. Eyes closed while she pushed every ounce of strength she could into the scream. Her throat tingled with the action, pulling herself back up into a proper posture Aselia opened her dark orbs. The efforts rewarded her with the startled look from the shadow appearing back before her. "What is your intention in showing me this!? Why remind me of the Surahama?"
The shadow responded with a humorless chuckle fading in and out like the pulse of smoke being blown about by the wind. "Isn't it obvious? If you become lost in the illusion, your mind would lay dormant forever. The power that isn't rightfully yours would flow back to it's source. Giving strength to someone else. That would be the best course for you. You've hunted her for far too long."
Aselia's expression turned contemplative, her mind following the trail of the female hybrid she despised so much. Remembering how her body lay in the forest of Yael, left for dead. Then something pushed against the memory. Some unknown force, strong and resolute, was gripping her. Forcing warmth into her frozen limbs and dragging her back towards the bight light of the Surahama.
The feeling of something rubbing against the side of her cheek, her eyes widened, her hand coming up to cup the welcome presence. A figure that so closely resembled her lost companion Popoie, only it wasn't Popoie. The Surahama, Aselia surmised. Watching as the bird shifted and took flight away from her. Screaming dying with each flap of its wings then exploding into a puff of lost feathers a single dagger floating in it's place. Her smile was brief her principal emotion shifting back to anger again. That creature, how dare they, how dare they take away her bird. It was bad enough the hybrid had wronged her, but now her fury had doubled, tripled even. Her mystic energy flashed and sparked around her, beginning to push back the grey, revealing a luscious patch of freshly fallen leaves and petals beneath her feet. The shadow took a nervous step back, before going on the verbal offensive yet again.
"Don't look so mad! I showed you what you were looking for didn't I? You wanted to meet the great legendary bird. Even though it's essence already courses through you." Aselia looked towards her thighs. Noting the gleaming shift of the red markings. Markings that made her unique, a reminder that Aisha and Eshe had pooled their efforts to keep her alive. Reminding her of her importance within the sisterhood. "We could take that away, we could turn that essence into something else."
Aselia felt the tingling of her skin. Rippling from each marking as the crimson color faded from her body. Leaving the natural blue she was meant to be, behind. Droplets formed in the air around her swirling, shifting, dancing. All before converging into a single form. "Wait no! I don't want that, leave my markings alone. Leave my body alone."
"But why?" At Aselia's shocked expression the smoky shadow continued to berate her. "Oh, yes, young Mystic, all your memories are open for me to gaze upon. It's sad really, your shallow, deceitful notion of love. You claim to love Aisha, and yet you curse her children. Hunting them as if you yourself had the right to choose who should be considered worthy of blooming. Thinking your markings aren't the actions of one of those condemned children. You are a tremendous liar, little girl. Here you are seeking refuge with Aisha's daughter tree Elzira ins-"
"Shut up!" Aselia yelled, trying not to let the masculine hybrids harsh words get to her. She would be hard pressed to admit that there was a measure of truth behind them, a truth that weighed heavily on her. "You're wrong!"
Several laughing voices surrounded her. Each one recognizable as the hybrids she had stalked, tormented, hunted and killed. Each one danced about her before being absorbed into a singular hybrid.
Aselia looked up to meet the gaze of the face looking down on her. Shrinking back from the intensity of the expression she was met with. A tall male hybrid loomed over her. Pale shifter skin, dark black dread locked hair tied back out of his face to expose his mismatched eyes. The right one was home to the familiar dark orbs of the Alkidike women the other a haunting silver belonging to the earthlings of his decent long antenna marking his superiority among the sisters. The figure held his singular hand out in front of him, as if asking for something from the Mystic. His very form sent chills of fear through to her very core.
Puzzled Aselia stood still, quizzically looking around the leaves and petals around her. Then the dagger caught her eyes in the distance. It wavered, like the visual line of heat rising from the sandy dunes. Exploding once again, this time into tiny ribbons of light. Soaring towards her like arrows aimed to kill.
The figure reach out further with his hand, as if calling the light there. Each ribbon converged on the next, and Aselia watched with horror as each fragment shifted and turned till it had taken on the shape of the famed Surahama feathers. In an instant Aselia found herself several feet away from the hybrid, his outstretched hand offering the feathers to Eshe.
Hybrids should never have existed. Our very world is tainted with their weak abilities. And we should eradicate each and every one. Along with their lines their offspring. Wipe this forest clean of every single one, remove their history and all that they have done.
Aselia gasped, remembering with crystal clarity how she had screamed out that cursed phrase as she riled up the extremists. Having ignored the fact that her own life, her very existence, was a blessing only because of a hybrid and the trials he had to endure for her. The Alkidike Mystic found herself suddenly feeling shame, and the flickering form in front of her showed no mercy.
"You're drive to purge hybrids would have destroyed this man. Your very savior. You live because of the hybrids who call Aisha their mother. Who claim sisterhood within her branches. Who were born of her blooms, just as you were. Where do you think you would be right now, without the efforts of this hybrid?"
The man before her faded back into shadow, and Aselia watched as it twisted and writhed. Devouring the color from the leaves and petals that surrounded her. Eventually forming into the wilting form of a blossom.
Aselia closed her eyes against the sight, tears falling freely as the bitter accuracy of the voices accusations set in. When she opened t hem again the gray had returned full-force growing ever darker. The shadow was wavering before her, slowly fading into the distance as the blackness closed in on her. Their diabolical laugter drifted to her ears, as well as what was intended as their final comments.
"That's right, little girl. Just give in, I promise you will feel no more pain. Be at peace now. For you, like the hybrids, are not a pure sister either. Your own existence should go with them."
Peace. The notion was so tempting, to run away from her shortcomings, her pain, her guilt. Elzira and the rest of the sisters really would be better off without her.
A single feeling passed her mind, causing her to cease her descent into the oblivion that so eagerly welcomed her. The warm calming embrace of both Aisha and Elzira, reassuring her that everything was alright, that though her choices in the past had led to many grievous errors. She could still learn, grow, adapt and accept who she was and the gifts she had. Images of Shiari and Dira's happy play as they learned and explored the studies that made them Mystics. She had found a peaceful home with them, under Elzira. Neither girl was showing emotions akin to Aselia's in regards to hybrids. As both girls were the first to offer up taking care of the unique blooms that Aselia refused to tend. Maybe those girls really had the right idea from the start they resembled Eshe in better ways than she could. They outshone her, and the Mystic couldn't be prouder.
The reaffirmation of her deepest feelings gave her strength, and she summoned the full measure of her Mystic powers, fueling them with the integrity of her heart the love she stored there. Quickly the curtian of black surrounding her turned to grey, then opaque to white. The shadow was there and Aselia took small delight in the look of fear gracing it's features as it struggled to maintain the integrity of the bubble it had enclosed them in. But it was futile, bursts of Aselia's energy punched through as if it were made of paper, revealing all manner of vibrant colors in the background. As the shield imploded and finally collapsed completely, Aselia's breath hitched in her throat. Laid out before her was the single most beautiful, breathtaking landscape she had ever seen. It was truly a spectacle of nature, the wide flowing valley, covered in lush green. Rolling hills expanding for miles until the edge of a distant forest, which slowly climbed upwards towards the base of mountains, rising gracefully to snow-capped peaks that disappeared into the clouds. She felt humbled as she took in the magnificence, the sheer vitality of it all. In front of her stood hybrids of all forms, earthlings sharing idea's and trade. Values and traditions. Aselia found herself wanting to be a part of the life she saw before her. Remembering herself Aselia turned to regard the shadow once more, the fury radiating off it standing in the stark contrast to the tranquility of the valley.
"Damn you! Tainted thing of the suruhama." It growled, brandishing razor sharp hand axes menacingly. "I tried to do this the easy way. but looks like i'm going to have to use force after all! Prepare yourself while I eliminate the unnatural blood from you."
Aselia didn't flinch as the shadow reflected her form. Charging towards her leaping in preparation for a single, killing blow. She raised her hands just as the shadow swung her arms. A horrid screech of pain broke the busy life of the valley, the smell of charred flesh overpowering even Aselia's senses. For several seconds the shadow just hung there, suspended inches away from her outstretched palms by a fiery torrent of Aselia's energy. Then it was flung back. Exploding once again into the flash of shimmering red.
Choking back a sob, the woman watched as the red sheen, shifted, separated and reformed into Aselia's markings. Each one returning to it's proper place.
All are welcome here under our branches, if they seek shelter it is up to us. The strong ones. To give them aid and shelter. It is not our need to seek purity, we need to seek warmth, kindness, and harmony.
Aselia could feel the pressure of several hands on her body, shaking her lightly. "Sister Aselia, Sister please you've got to wake up."
"I told you Dira, you gave her too much. You've probably killed her." Shiari chastised.
"No I didn't!" Dira insisted indignantly stamping her foot into the ground. "I used the right mixture. I know I did it right maybe you used the wrong healing method. It's your fault."
Groaning against the sound of the bickering girls Aselia slowly clenched and released the hand on her once injured arm. The pain that was there before was now gone
"You saw her face, she went pale as a ghost!" Shiari continued. "She's probably dying."
"No, that's your fault. It happened while you administered to her shoulder wound. She probably lost too much blood along the way." Dira whimpered, her focus set upon Aselia. "No. hey, look. Aselia!" The youngling bounced, throwing herself at Aselia as the older woman shifted into consciousness. "You're okay. We did it. We did it. You're okay."
Aselia felt herself winded as the youngling hugged her tightly. Bringing one hand to stroke the youngling hair maternally. "Did you two help me all by yourselves this time?" Aselia asked. Smiling at the nodding heads from both girls. "You've both done an excellent job. It wont be long before you don't need me anymore."
((3093 words - 10 points))
52 total points
