((Gaia was a snot, so we finished this on AIM. XP))
Luciel sniffed the air, lithe fingers grazing the trunks of the trees. Her nose smelled blood, but not that of a human. Then why was she drawn here? It could not have been for a meal, like all the times before.
Something was...calling.Strange. The mancubus had never felt such a pull, such a strain. Something intangible was here.
Her horns brushed against low-lying limbs, her bare feet crunching atop dead leaves.Luciel couldn't help but hazard a guess aloud. "Is someone...here...?" she almost whispered. She felt very uneasy...
Anen walked as silently as he could, following the draw of the Talisman. Why now? Why here, of all places?
The tangle and snarl of threads and the faint lingering scent of blood told him what this place was. It made his ruff prickle uneasily and his spine crawl.
The crunch of leaves made him jump, and he turned quickly at the sound of someone approaching. "Who's there?" he said quietly.
The mancubus snarled by instinct, turning and crouching to face the voice. Someone taller than she was here, someone she did not recognize.
She bared her teeth, but somehow, she did not feel threatened by this strange presence. She slowly stood up, brushing away a limb or two. Peering through the brush, she could not see who it was.
"I am Luciel. Who are you?" she spoke clearly, but not loudly. She did not want to disturb the serene forest.
"I am Anen. I mean you no harm." Anen shifted uneasily. There was something about this woman, a familiar feel, a familiar sensation ... Anen frowned faintly, trying to figure out what it was.
He stepped forward so he would be more clearly visible. Three of his hands were empty. One held something, but what it was was unclear.
She backed up, gazing over his strange appearance. Nver before had she seen anything, other than herself, with four arms. Was he an insect? Still, she did not fear him. Instead, she stepped closer, eyeing what was in his hand.
Whatever it was, it was important to Anen. Luciel did not want to touch it, for fear of ruining something. "Anen... Why?" She could not form into words the feeling she had in her stomach. She was beyond confusion.
A few minutes away, the seeking power lashed again, sensing... beings? life? Something to latch on to? One of them... the power explored around Anen, visible to the spider Fa'e as a sudden sear of light through the lines of possibility. It turned away with a jerk, finding no hold, no purchase.
The other... the other.... it twisted over Luciel next, tasting, licking at her mind. A feeling of nausea might rise within her. It was definitely very odd, and there was something subtly wrong about it.
Lu released a gut-wrenching gurgle, clinging to a tree trunk as her knees gave way. The feeling was unpleasant in the least. What was this?!
"A....an...Anen!" She shook her head and tried to rise again, gray eyes widening. She didn't think he had anything to do with it, but did he feel it too?
Anen blinked the flash of brilliance out of his eyes and moved to help support the staggering woman, feeling a little dazed.
The sensation of familiarity was intensifying and building, though there was something wrong. Something off. "Are you okay?"
He looked to the tangle of threads around them, trying to read them, see what was going on.
She clung to him for but a moment, too proud to lean on the insect man for too long. Her knees steadily became stronger as she stood. She growled again and scratched at her head. Something had touched her!
After a bout of furious head shaking and scratching, Luciel sighed. "I'm alright, but... Did you feel that?
Gray eyes scanned the forest, her nise searching for something. It had to be here. "What was that?"
"Possibility. Fate. Destiny," Anen said, almost absently. "Luciel, why did you come here?"
The power intensified.
There was something there, something to... not feed on, not exactly, but something to grab hold to. A dream, a link, a tie to the same place this power had once plucked a moth-winged baby so long ago...
With a sudden surge, the power flared red and latched on to Luciel's very soul, clinging to it like a limpet, so hard that the line of power connecting the Mancubus to the bloodstained clearing sprang into clear visibility for
anyone who was watching, not only Anen.
Luciel's gray eyes went wide again as something pulled at her very being. Was it light? Magic? The sensation was overwhelming. Swallowing the urge to panick and scream, the mancubus leaned on another tree trunk, wandering forward.
"Anen... what is this feeling...?" she breathed slowly. The blood called to her, but unlike it had ever called her before.
It was unmistakable now, and so familiar Anen could have kicked himself for not knowing. The Guardian bond. There was a Fa'e child here, this Luciel's dream.
From - the blood? Strange and unsettling. He hadn't wanted to think about what the blood meant, not with the funeral still so fresh in his mind. "There is a Fa'e child here," he said aloud.
"Fa'e..." she breathed again, eyes growing blank as her feet began to move without her knowledge. The feeling kept pulling, pulling her towards the blood. Not like the hunger she felt for so long. Her feet crept over limbs and rocks, not even caring where they went. The mancubus just kept walking, her eyes only averting to see if Anen, her new companion, was there.
"Do you...feel it?" she asked.
"I see it," Anen said. The thread was so powerful that he thought perhaps it might be visible to ordinary sight; it hurt his eyes to look at.
He followed towards where the beacon of the thread led, grounding into the stained earth. He thought he might be beginning to understand.
The scent of the warm earth and crimson stains filled her nose as they continued to walk. Not even alert enough to brush away the treelimbs, Luciel turned to Anen, blinking.
Gradually, the trees becan to thin, the scent and the energy growing stronger as they walked. The mancubus stopped suddenly, backing up a bit. What was here?
As Luciel and Anen finally drew near to the place, the power reacted even more strongly - pulling forcefully at the link it felt between Luciel and the place it had brought the first child from....
The ground that had been soaked in blood began to glow, and more lines of light began to connect Luciel to the place of power.
Suddenly, something flickered in the glow - a face? A baby's face, eyes closed, not moving nor breathing, white wings encircling it, flickering in and out of existence.
Whatever it was, the power of the blood and the dream alone were not enough to bring it home...
Jaw slack in awe, Lu crept closer to the bursting light. She stood a few feet from it, crouching to desperately see more. A child was within, and she felt the strange connection surge again.
She tried not to shield her eyes, but instead squinted. Lu threw a panicked glance back at Anen. "What should I do?"
This wasn't - this wasn't right, somehow. Anen approached slowly, trying to focus on the still small face he saw, trying to keep from focusing on the sense of death here.
But the bond was there, unmistakable and powerful, and the sense of potential was overwhelming, even if it was faintly sour, vaguely tainted. He hesitated.
It wasn't enough, it wasn't enough... the mindless power lashed out again. It had only one goal, one instinctive purpose, and it was failing.
It trickled around Anen again, looking, looking... and there it was. With a lunge, the power struck, trying to twine around the Talisman.
Anen pulled back, alarmed - this definitely wasn't as it was supposed to be, the potential was dormant until he acted on it - He must have made some sound, but he wasn't aware of it.
"Get back," he said fiercely. Was this dangerous? God, he hoped not.
She did as she was told immediately, rearing up to retreat next to a large stone. She would panic had she not Anen's instructions. Whatever was going on, he knew. He knew...
She didn't want to disturb him, but mouthed her protest silently. Why...? What is happening?
The power writhed and whined, a high-pitcked crackle of complaint as it lunged for the Talisman again and again, and was denied.
Finally, it pulled back and coiled into itself, obscuring the face of the child from view, fading away, crumpling at the edges....
Anen acted on instinct, stepping forward to touch the Talisman to the almost-quiescent tangle of threads. Control, now. He had no idea what would happen if the bond began and then was broken, but it couldn't be good.
"Be ready," he said to Lu. It felt more right, now, though he was still shaken with the strangeness.
There was a rush, as the power imploded, pulling at the strength within the Talisman and at the dream within Luciel's heart.
There was a blinding light and then... A cry... a baby's cry...
As the light faded, Luciel and Anen could see a baby laying on the earth, the blood gone now, stripped away from the earth as though it had never fallen....
http://studiotamago.com/b/gallery/callix_baby.jpg Anen bent to pick the child up, and turned to hold her out to Luciel. "He's yours," he said simply.
Luciel gingerly stepped forward, blinking curiously at the baby in Anen's arms. "M...mine?" She held out shaky hands.
Anen laid the red-haired baby in the woman's arms. "He is a Fa'e, a child reborn out of myth and connected to your dreams. You are his Guardian, and he needs you."
Luciel nodded, shocked. "Yes... of course... " She had no idea what she was talking about, but it felt...correct.
"And I will take care of him no matter what, Anen..." she sighed happily, watching the winged redhead. "A Fa'e..."
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