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Silence, peace, it was over? A sigh of relief, he felt lightened, no longer crushed beneath the weight of the energy. He felt complete, as if he had suddenly found a part of himself he had not known was missing.

He belonged here, this was home, her among the tribes of the horsemen, this was--NO! This was not him, this was not his land, not his clan, he was not a horseman! He did not want this!

His eyes snapped open, suddenly again very aware of where he was, of the crushing force and the agonizing echo in his ears. Jack, jack, jack, what had just happened!? Had he--no, no, no! He had to get out, he had to get to his feet!

Still determined to make it to the top of the observatory point, Riley returned to claim victory regardless of any spears or arrows in her way. What she found instead, however, was that the base of the observatory had opened into something new. She looked around, hoping for one of her fellow students to give her some insight into what she was seeing, but she was alone for once. It was an eerie quiet, as she had been so used to being around several of her kind trying to scale the observatory in the past few days. But now.. she found herself alone, and unwilling to be afraid of whatever lay ahead. So she entered the small open door, moving in carefully and keeping her eyes open for some kind of trap.

Careful, tiptoed steps down the stairs led her into the room, but her steps came slower and slower as she closed in on her destination. She felt something ominous from within - she shouldn't be here, she told herself, and yet that thought alone kept her walking forward, as if the mere thought of being somewhere she shouldn't was spurning her on. But the Fear that flickered in the air warned her that this wasn't worth the thrill of discovery, and tried to convince her to turn back with every step she took. As usual, Riley's stubbornness won out, and she kept walking.

The walls began to show carvings that captured her interest and kept her from worrying about the dread that seeped into her from the vibrating Fear against her skin. She reached up and ran long fingers across the figures, captivated by the scenes portrayed there. Every archaic symbol and crude picture was embedded into her memory, and would soon be public knowledge for any mindflayer to witness once she meditated with her hive later on that night. New information.. they would be pleased. She was pleased, if nothing else.

But as she thought about it, her eyes began to fog up and flicker with sight that wasn't hers. She saw before her the lit up room, the glyphs that littered the floor, and the foreign Fear that froze her in place. She knew she couldn't move, but she didn't want to. All she wanted to do was look.. and ignore the strange feeling that she was being pulled apart at the very seams of her existence.

When she faded, she'd hardly even noticed it was happening.

Suddenly, the visions came. The clansmembers that walked into the room filled her with a sense of longing. She registered the cages, and the bloodied hands reaching out from them; but the entire scene, as gruesome as some might think, just made her think of home.

And she was content.

((45 cool )

Stumbling out of the cavern, Riley barely managed to get to her feet until she reached the exit of this terrible place. Once she felt the edges of the doorway, she grabbed hold, and pulled herself out. She fell to one knee, and crumpled down to rest against a rock, laying there for quite some time to catch her breath. Her eyes never left the archway that held the door, and if anyone came to investigate, she would immediately tell them to stay away. But no one did, and eventually she managed to lift up with her wings, dragging her body up into the air and heading back to the dorms.

There, she would instantly fall asleep on her cot, and her dreams would be filled with regret.

((884 words))

He was so exhausted he couldn't move. He touched the tears again and ponered what they meant. What had he just felt? What was he missing in his life?

And then the FEAR hit him hard and he crumpled to the ground. He felt like his body was being trampled under a thousand hooves and every effort he made to fight it left him wracked in more pain.

His eyes drifted downwards, on the verge of closing, and he saw glowing red markings like warnings. They told him to go, leave, get as far away as possible. Could he fight? Did he have it in him?

It called to him it was almost as if the feeling the simple vibration of the place lead him lie a mouse following the simple notes of a melody. It lead him to the base of the large tree, typically idea such as invading other’s people space were not of his particular interest yet the humming of fear still called. It called from behind the small door, and without a second thought he opened it not consiering if the such a place was really any place for a student to even visit. Pausing a moment he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness, when he could at least see his own hand in front of the face h moved down the stairs. It wasn’t until a chill started to crawl up his back that he noticed that the stairs had changed from dirt to stone. The walls started to open up as the stairs ended, it was a room with paintings decorating the stone. Upon closer inspection he realized that they were rather horrific in nature, as bloody scenes of death erupting that would only appear in his own nightmares.

It was only as he tried to read the stories that he noticed the small alcove, and as the humming pulsated drawing him even closer to it he found himself unable to move. The amount of fear emanating from the glyphs of the horsemen. His vision started to blur, the glyphs starting to blend in to one another as his knees started to shake underneath him. He tried to grab something anything to keep him steady but there was nothing but air.
Then it started over the buzzing, the screaming echoing in his head as the artwork on the walls started to swim through his visions. It was unbearable, the noise the screeching the wretchedness of whatever human or creature that was being tortured.

“STOP….STOP IT…” He screamed trying to cram his hands over his ears.

But the feeling didn’t last, instead the buzzing started to grow. It grew even more intense as it had before as his head started to cloud his mind again. The feeling of perfect bliss was evaporating as he clutched his ears with his hands.

The screaming started again. This time it was even louder even more oppressive then it had before, as the artwork on the walls started to swim into his vision. It was as if the figures on the wall itself was screaming in torture begging to escape what was being done to them. He tried to grab a hold of something, but instead he it caught nothing but air again leaving him tumbling into the dirt. He was crouched on his knees.

“Please.. please.. please make it stop… please stop…..” He whispered as tears almost started to linger on edge of his eyes, he could only hope that the feeling of numbness would come quick again.

Nadia was disgusted with herself. How could she miss two whole days of training, just because she was a little sore from battle and a little lost?! Such a disgrace! You came to the island to train, not to sit around feeling lost! The Reaper walked slowly, giving her time enough to berate herself mercilessly. Her destination was the Observatory - she wanted to climb it at least once, to prove that the four days on the War Island weren't completely useless.

When her inner voice finally stopped chewing her out, Nadia sighed sadly and started looking around, hoping to find something, anything, that could get her out of her miserable and self-hating shell. The forest didn't make her wait long. The day was, like all of the days before, stunningly clear. The wind laughed and giggled, racing itself through the tree trunks and branches, playfully tugging on Nadia's ponytail. She could hear the birds singing cheerful songs to each other, and the scurry of small animals through the canopy. The sound of the waves, carried by the ever-blowing wind, just barely reached her ears. The splendid forest surrounding her, Nadia felt her mood lift just a little, and the ugly frown on her face just started to disappear. And then she came out to the Observation point.

She couldn't quite tell what exactly made her skin crawl. All she knew was that the little door at the base of the trunk lead to something very, very powerful. And whatever was inside was pulling her in. Nadia carefully approached the door, glancing over her shoulder for a reason she couldn't explain. Later, as she remembered the events of those terrible hours, she would find the explanation. Everything was silent. No bird songs, no chirrups, no chatter or scurrying, no wind. Nothing. It seemed like even the sun itself had dimmed, as if covered by a cloud. But when Nadia looked up, there were no clouds in sight, just as there haven't been any clouds for the last few days. And that's when Nadia pushed herself into the small doorway. Whatever evil was waiting for her in there, it was better than the nothing outside. Even if the stillness was only caused by the... Fear, coming from inside and oppressing Nadia's every breath. Nadia tried to breath in deeply and meditate, but it was no use. The ancient and foreign Fear was simply too strong. Having run out of options, Nadia licked her suddenly dry lips and started her descend into the darkness.

The further she went, the stronger the Fear got. It seemed like it was even getting harder to breathe, although Nadia knew that it was probably her own body reacting to the unbearable tension. A second later Nadia realized that the slight dirt covering under her feet had turned into stone, and it was all she could do to stop herself from whimpering in fear. The soil was a last comfort, the final reminder that there was a ground above, and that the sun could shine and the wind could blow, and now... Now there was nothing. Just the stone and the dark and the FEAR. Nadia jerked her head to look at the stone wall, desperate to find something, anything, that could tell her that she wouldn't be stuck here forever. And when she found it, she instantly regretted it. The cave wall was covered with pictures of destruction. Through fire, plague, arrows, swords, starvation, Fear, the horseman on the walls destroyed. They murdered, no, slaughtered humans and the human world, ripping it apart at the seams. Nadia continued walking, unable to stop looking at the terrible, glorious pictures that seemed to go on forever. Until they didn't.

Nadia turned her head achingly slowly, the Fear paralyzing her movements. Each movement of the muscle was pure agony, and tears streamed down her face as Nadia desperately tried to defy the terrible Fear that resided in this sun-forsaken place. The tears and searing pain fogged her vision, but Nadia could just about make out a circle of pulsing Horseman glyphs surrounding a Symbol. But then the humming that echoed through her head grew louder and she forgot about everything because she started to disappear. First her arms started fading, then, slowly, her legs. Sheer terror overwhelmed her, and it was all she could do but scream with her mind: No!