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 Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:48 pm
Another task, another summon. It was in a casual pace Viae approached the Shrine, taking in its pillars and stonework as she drew in towards the center. Two pedestals, one statue. Lifting a brow, she crouched to read the plaque.
The Goddess, wrought with Paranoia, created ====, her last and final project before ====. It was then that she discovered how to replicate ====.
She scowled slightly to see some of the words missing, and after peeking around the pedestal a little more, realized she'd receive no clue to what was scratched from the plague. Paranoia. One of the goddesses whose statues had first greeted her upon walking through that door.
Straightening, she wasn't sure if she was surprised to find the goddess standing there. Before her. There in the Shrine, it... was fitting? Made sense? Where else would she expect to encounter one of the divine? "Goddess," she greeted the other softly, bowing her head. An instinct? No time to dwindle and ponder, she took the bag that was handed to her without more question than a raised brow.
"Go on, open it up. I have a gift for you."
That was... unexpected. Viae did as commanded, curious to see what would lay within. Only to find an empty bag staring up at her.
The goddess was not pleased by this? Did not know it would be empty? Viae listened to the instructions given, withholding comment. It wasn't her place to question the divine, even if she was confused what these.... failures were. Hearts? Scissors? She took the item of course, but cast the goddess a hesitant glance from under her lashes.
"They don't need theirs after all.... they didn't quite make it."
Those words echoed around her head as she bowed, conveyed she would return shortly. The goddess smiles, and Viae left the room as relaxed as she entered. These... failures. They were not her. They were not here. Her goal was set: retrieve a heart.
The thunks, steady, unnerving, were ignored to the best of her ability as she stepped through the opening.
Her eyes blinked, once, twice, staring at the trio of doors before her. None asked her name, none spoke. But each gave off a... sense. Viae found her eyes rolling at the cheery pumpkin, brow furrowing to the many scratches over the reverse spiral hook-- The tree though. Nothing about the door or the symbol felt.... inviting. Her feet still took the necessary steps towards it. Her eyes still refused to look away from it.
The malice and terror drew her.
Viae stepped through the third door head held high. She had her goal to seek out, nothing else mattered.
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Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 6:35 pm
The moment she stepped through the door, it slammed shut behind her, locking her in darkness. The muscle in her jaw clenched, and it took her a moment to work it back into smooth place. Viae had been blind in the fog. She did not... appreciate being submerged in darkness again. Blinking rapidly, a reflex as her eyes fought for any sliver of light, she began to move slowly down the hall.
How long would it stretch? Each footstep--barefoot, she realized after a moment, the first time it occurred to her--echoed in chorus with the whispers. A drone, repetitive buzz that had her mind itching in familiarity. Try as she might to shake her head, shake the sound away, nothing worked. No lights met her eyes, and as she stumbled blind through the hall, she felt a fool. The goddess needed her to complete this task... how was she to do that, with no sight or reasonable sound? Where was she?
She did not remember the Shrine being this large. Was she under the water? Under those hauntingly still waters? Perhaps she was going out under the fog. She shivered, disturbed by the idea of being underground. Not that she had any understanding of why this bothered her so... but her pace quickened. The sooner she got the heart for the goddess, and got out, the sooner she'd feel at peace again.
Her feet--and knees--crashed into the crate, making her hiss. The resounding thump was followed by another thump, one she was positive she was not behind. A resounding thunk from the contents, then? It was the only concept that made sense. Trying to move past it proved impossible--it was far too large. There was enough light for her to somewhat see something... sticking out? Red met her eyes. Even in the blue glow of her core, the red stood out. Lowering herself slightly to try and get a better view, she realized the large shape sticking out was, in fact, an arm.
A pale arm, dark veins twining up and down beneath the flesh. Dark scales broke through the skin here and there, forming patches that shined iridescence against her blue light. The thuds continued, beneath her, around her. In front of her. Her eyes lingered on those scales and dark veins.
It reached for her, swaying, waiting. Her clawed hand clutched it.
Silence exploded around her, her head turning this way and that at the loss of the thuds. Returning her attention to the arm, she let her other hand slide down it, noting the muscles that should have held strength. More scales met her finger tips, clinking under her claws. The arm met to another figure, another shape. Firm, warm, black. More scales glistened, more dark veins probed her skull.
Thump-thump
Thump-thump
Thump-thump
Red glowed, blooming from under the black scales and pale flesh. Viae crouched, bringing herself ever closer to the warm red heart. What the goddess sought, what she sought. The empty weight of her bag ate at her. Her claws ran tender over the place where the heart glowed so brightly. The scissors in her hand felt sturdy, comforting. More so than the darkness around her, closing on her ever further. Suffocating.
There was little hesitance as she plunged the scissors through the scales. The heart pulsed beneath, waiting. The sounds, the rips, the tears, the warmth and gushing... they did not make her pause. Not long anyways. At first she cringed, unsure for a moment why she'd plunged so swiftly through and in. But the heart continued to pulse, continued to glow. When her hand slipped through the hole, she felt a shiver slip down her spine, across her limbs. She felt frozen. Just as quickly, the sensation sped away, allowing her to continue on. She had a task. She would complete it.
It was her reason.
"Agsilved!"
The booming roar deafened her, rattled her skull. Male, large, here. Her head shook, trying to clear the sound. Not trembling. No, not her. She was not trembling like a hatch...ling----
"Do not make me call you again, hatchling." His voice rattled the stones around them, an unnecessary act. His body was slick with ink, those piercing gold eyes peering at her from under a miasma of purples, blues, and greens that glistened in the black. Larger, so much larger, than herself. Ovfeimal smiled, silver fangs slowly reviled as tendrils of ink dripped and pulled away from his maw. He had her backed into a corner, her own body pressed low against the sun baked rocks. He was going to kill her. "Did you think I would not recognize your work? Really, little Aggy---"
Each cut, each snip, each rip and break. She moved onward, movements becoming more fervent as she went on. That booming voice would not shut up. Each movement became more hostile. She became aware of her growing snarl only after it'd been vibrating through her chest for a stretch of time she could not comprehend. Cut away, pull away, snap away. The pieces began to fall, slosh out and drip away. Her hands felt warm, up her forearms. A strange taste pulsed through her nose and into her mouth.
As her clawed hands covered over the heart, she breathed a sigh of relief. So warm. Hers. She pulled. It came loose.
It stopped beating.
Her chest contracted, body seized. That large body moved in her mind's eye, so much larger, so much bigger....
The clan elder was dead. His essence had been scrawled into the last page, the last tomb. Or so it should have been. All had seen his ink, his essence, him as it was cast into the wind. Splattered against the rocks. So many were painted black, glistening under the splitting sun. His body was taken away, and she knew it had been tossed into the water.
She'd followed those that dragged their elder's body away. She'd seen it. Cast him out, cast him down. As if he had any more ink by which to revive himself, any will to live on. They'd ripped his body to pieces in the water, let it take away whatever remained of him.
It was in this fury she returned, wings slicing the air as her screams pierced the sky and echoed off the rocks. Nestmates could not silence her, snarling and spitting as she was. She wanted answers, demanded vengeance for what he had done. Worm, insignificant, traitor. He ripped their clan asunder and felt no guilt for it.
He told her as much. The large male dwarfed her young self, though she'd raised her fangs without hesitation. He had laughed. Ovfeimal. Trust-- fade-- destroyer. He would destroy their clan. She knew it in her bones. Ovfeimal only laughed. He always laughed when he gazed upon her after that point.
"Show respect as deserved to your clan elder, hatchling. Know your place."
"I am no hatchling. I am Agsilved. Know me for what I am!"
"Agsilved..? Unfitting. Unworthy." Her roar of rage was met with a sickening smile. He had no right to deny her identity as given by the clan. He would dishonor their tradition? Their identities? "If you are so attached, I can call you something more appropriate. A... nickname. Aggy. It is kinder than Ag, is it not? I can be kind, Aggy. To those who know their place within my domain." His claws had struck so deep. Even ages after, she did not understand how she survived those wounds. Had he?
Viae sucked in a screeching breath, fumbling backwards from the crate, the body. She shook violently, trying to clear the thoughts--no, the memories from her head. Ovfeimal. Why was he here? How? Why this form? Why now? At some point, she must have pushed the heart into the bag and closed it. She did not recall when, or how.
She could barely stand, but somehow she managed. Shaking, trembling, she turned back. She had to return... It was impossible for him to be here.
...it occurred to her she should be sickened by the weight of his heart in her hand.
Viae--Agsilved--was not.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:22 pm
Head swimming, pulse erratic--it was the first time she even noticed she had a pulse, or was it echos of the heart in her bag?--Viae trudged back the way she came. Or at least hoped it was the way she came. It was in the opposite direction of that accursed box. In that moment, that was the only defining factor she cared about.
It was likely only her bare feet that allowed her to notice the shift in the terrain as quickly as she did. The slick surface made her squint down, knowing this was not what she walked through originally. But what other way was there? There were no turns, no corners. Yet unlike before, she had to watch her balance, be careful of how she put her foot down with each step she took.
Water? Sloshing met her ears. She paused, hands pressed to... a wall? This was not here before. But the dead end refused to allow her passage. A tug in the water, and she realized she could turn a corner.
"Please give it back."
Her head whipped around, angled back to where she'd just walked from. Pulse in her throat, she stared, eyes jumping from side to side. Nothing. Her body relaxed, head shaking as she moved onward. Deeper into water, she tried to ignore the pounding in her chest. She'd heard nothing. Nothing had been there when she turned around. Nothing. Nothing. Just return to the goddess, give her this heart....
She recalled how the goddess had told her the heart would be from a failure. It took her a moment to realize a smirk had settled itself over her lips at seeing Ovfeimal labeled a failure. It took a few moments more before she was able to kick the thoughts away.
The water rose with each step she took, wading further and further into the darkness. Her limbs felt heavy, not made for swimming--in fact, she felt the distinct taste of panic on her tongue the further out she went, though Viae was unsure why. Yet the further out she went, the deeper the water got, the more her panic rose. She was not a fan of water. Not at all made to trek into the abyss.
The water rose up around her neck. Her hair splayed behind her in the water, and her limbs felt like weights pulling her ever further down. Viae tried to swim, tried to keep a lock on the heart. Return to the goddess. It was a chant in her skull at this point. Get out. Get out. Get out.
"Please--"
Viae's eyes widened before her brow snapped down, a snarl ripping from her throat. Wings thrashed, tail lashed. Claws bit into her palms. That voice.
"--give me back my--"
She hadn't even the time to turn around. Hands. Strong, clawed, covered in black veins and scales and pale flesh, locked around her shoulders. Skimmed her neck. She felt a weight against her back, pinning her wings. Those strong hands pushed her down, thrusting her head deep below the water. Her claws bit into the hands that held her, her body thrashed and wriggled with all her strength. Every nerve, every fiber in her being, screamed to get out. Burned to fight, to rip, to tare. Even trying to slam herself back into the body behind her did nothing--the body wasn't there.
The hands still held strong. Her chest burned. She needed air.
Grey eyes, hazy by a film, glassy despite the water around them, jutted forward. Framed by jet hair that floated in the water between them, accented by the scales that glistened in the glow of her core, those dead eyes bore into her. Ovfeimal stood before her, his hands kept her submerged. If only she'd the air to spit and snarl and curse his hide to the brink, she would be doing it right now.
"Give me back my heart."
Viae screamed, roared into the water--
Pain spiraled through her flank, just as she knew ink was leaking from the wound. She pushed the coat of ink she wore into the wound, trying to block more of her life liquid from spilling out. That was the conundrum that was her kind. They wore excess ink as a shield around their bodies, but could it help replenish what was lost in a battle? No, no not really.
Of course, he knew that.
His own body, large, solid, as consumed by ink as hers, stood high above her. Silver fangs were glazed with ink--her ink. No smile curved the edges of his maw or displaced the ink upon his face. His eyes, golden and burning, flickered with an array of emotions she refused to place. She refused to acknowledge the look of superiority, undeserved sneer. Condemning laughter.
"Stand up. My bite was not so deep. Surely you are not finished yet." Those burning eyes pierced her, staked her to the rocks. Her leg buckled as she tried to stand again, using her other three limbs for the support of her weight instead. Her snarl ripped through the air, a low hiss that wound through the cracks and crevices. Venom she wished she possessed. "You erased my scroll. Did you think I would not retaliate? You grow too bold for your own hide, hatchling." Great claws gripped the rocks as he slithered down towards her. He moved far too silently for his size. It unnerved her. Frightened her.
Thrilled her that someday she would possess such size and yet such grace. Woe to youth and inexperience...
Her fangs snapped in the air, the tissue of her cheeks bunched and pulled back from the extent of her razor filled mouth. Tendrils and tendons of ink pulled between the expanse, dripping to the hot ground, only to swirl anew in the air, rejoin her shifting mass. "One of many I will erase. Anything to be a pain in your side." Her tail cracked in the air, snapping down hard over a boulder that splintered by the impact. Her goal had been his tale. His memories. His essence as each of their elders scribed to be housed in their great halls. She'd only managed to get her claws on a minor scroll, a few minor recollections she knew he cared little for. It was on principle he attacked her. Agsilved sneered, wings flexing as a hiss coiled in her chest. "Bit by bit, I will erase you... Fei-fei."
The glint in his golden eyes, the burn that scorched and roared... it had been worth the pain of his fangs in her back, the new tares in her wings' sensitive membrane, the humiliation of her throat in his mouth. It had been his mate who intervened, sent her back to her mother broken and oozing. But to see his eyes in that moment... She told herself it was worth the pain. It had to be worth the pain. She had nothing else to show for her antics.... She covered the scars save the rips in her wings. She refused to show those to his burning eyes.
--and continued to thrash. She had to beat him. She was no hatchling, no longer.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:39 pm
Her claws sliced into scale covered flesh, ink darkened the waters around them. Burned her eyes. Choked her water-logged throat. Never did she look away from those glassy grey eyes. His silver fangs glinted in the darkness, those hands refused to let her up for air. Wings and tail lashed, thrashed, fought as she struggled. He had always been stronger. Bigger. Older.
He'd tried to kill her before. He'd drawn ink time and time again. She was no longer the hatchling unable to fight back. Unwilling to break that final tradition. He was a traitor, but he was her clan elder. A pulse in her skull, and she could see so clearly the vision of the goddess. A higher power. A stronger power. A leader that had saved her from the darkness and fog.
She was to die here by him, before she could return to her goddess..?
Metal cut into her palm, and her eyes darted to the side. The first time she allowed herself to look away from the monster before her. Metal glinted, sliced and burned. The scissors. His maw opened impossibly wide, roaring despite the water. Shook the rocks and rattled her bones. She snarled. She hissed. Into the water, into the darkness. Choking, the last of her air. Defiance. Anything to be a pain in his side.
Or a pain in his chest.
Her arm was free to move. It struck. It plunged. Metal vanished into black, burrowing deeper and deeper into the cavern she'd emptied before. Somehow, this seemed to cause him more pain than when she'd carved him open. Ovfeimal's head shot back, an awkward angle that would have made her cringe if not for her red-hazed view on the world. A shriek--how, in the water, she wasn't sure, but the sound was not muffled by their surroundings--
And then nothing.
No Ovfeimal.
No water.
She was collapsed on the ground, body shaking violently as it expelled the water from her lungs and throat the only way it could: by forcing it and every bit of her remaining air out. It took a while for the black spots to fade from her vision, for her lungs to refill greedy, needy, with painfully sweet air.
It took longer for her to understand some of her misplaced vision was due to the light coming from ahead of her. A door. The door. The door.
Struggling to her feet, coughing up the last bits of vile liquid from her lungs, she surged forward. The weight at her side confirmed she still had the heart. It had remained. She had not failed. The goddess would receive her requested gift.
A flicker. An urge to turn as her hand clasped over the edge of the door. From darkness into light for a goddess. Her eyes moved back, towards where moments before she'd been about to drown.
He stood there, clutching the scissors. His lips were drawn thin, grey eyes wide. Ink dripped from his hand where he held the scissors. His great wings and tail were limp and tattered.
Agsilved--Viae--let out a low hiss that rumbled through the hall and shook her very form. "Know your place. Fei-fei. Fade." Her claws clicked on the ground as she moved through the door. She was ag. She was burning. And she felt no guilt for it.
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:18 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:24 pm
"You cannot escape forever."
Viae stood before the goddess, body stiff, alert. Waiting. She understood why she was brought back to the Shrine. Another task. She'd done as instructed before, returned with the heart. How exactly she'd gone about it... she didn't remember exactly. Pushed it away as an afterthought. Unimportant. Why else would she have forgotten it? What was done was done.
And here she was again.
She eyed the scythe the goddess wielded, a spike of envy flitting through her system before it vanished. Unnecessary. Unwise. This goddess was different, one she recalled seeing as a statue, but not the one that called to her. Now the goddess spoke. "You must face your Fears. Eat or be eaten. That is the way of it here. Were it another time... I wonder which one you would be?"
Indignantly her body bristled, form straightening, tightening, as her eyes narrowed and lips curled ever so slightly. What sort of question was--
The goddess approached her, and Viae squashed down her rising temper--somewhat--and took the offered weapon. The jeweled dagger felt strange in her grasp, and slowly she turned it this way and that. It was... lovely. Her other hand toyed with the hanging claw.
"---judge for yourself what it means to sacrifice--"
Viae heard all the goddess said, but that particular line made her glance up, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed. Sacrifice? What did she even possess to sacrifice? As the blade began to rust in her hand, Viae frowned further. She felt insulted, this questioning of her... capabilities? She wasn't even sure where her anger stemmed, but she knew she was burning to prove herself worthy. Strong. Viae bowed her head to the goddess and moved off through the thin opening.
With a start, her eyes flew open, before wincing closed once more. Too much... light. She groaned, a sharp pain throbbing through her skull. Why had she been asleep? When had she fallen asleep?
Better yet, where?
Her back ached, and as she gingerly sat she understood why. A metal table was no place for her to rest. The additional aches in her spine confirmed as much. She swung her legs over the side after a moment of recuperation and stood sturdy. Nothing of interest greeted her flickering gaze. Nothing but white. Empty, blaring. Boring.
Only the sound of the humming lights told her there was anything beyond her here. And that's all they were. Lights. No other figure or being. Lights.
Maybe she should have been shocked to find the door unlocked. Maybe she should have paused before going straight into the hall, and done more than take a simple glance around before moving down the hall. The slam behind her only received a minor glance. And a perked brow. The door was still open..? Viae shrugged, bare feet pounding on as she continued. She wanted out. She was all too aware of the dagger at her hip, that the goddess had sent her.... somewhere. She would seek her answers. No point in lingering.
That she could see an exit so far down the hall only fueled her. Yes, out. Leave, and continue with her task. This spotless infinity would drive her mad, and the lights made her head throb all the more....
Thud.
She glanced behind her again. Nothing. The door was still ajar, she was still alone except for the lights. Her eyes moved back to the exit.
Thud.
A black figure stood behind her. Tall. Powerful. Ominous. Chilling. Viae felt her blood run cold, muscles tense and freeze for a split second before instinct took over the moment she realized the sounds were its footsteps towards her.
A flash of rust in the lights, and she spotted rusted scissors, watched as it scraped against the ground. Her ears felt like they might bleed from the sound.
Snarling, Viae turned. Bolted. No holds, no limits. Every fiber in her being made it perfectly clear she did not want to get remotely close to that..... thing.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:55 pm
"Open!"
Her snarl was like thunder in the otherwise silent hall. Her pulse ran rampant beneath her skin. Her fists slammed into the solid surface of the door. A passcode. It needed a passcode? A roar of frustration ripped through her lips, eyes frantic as she looked around. The figure was drawing closer, step by step.
Gaze narrowing at the figure, she began to blink. The lines of the body blurred, darkness giving way to pale flesh and dark scales. Golden eyes burned into her--
"I am not here to be your slave--"
"You are here to serve me. That was the bargain. Your service for the scrolls you erased."
Her hackles rose, and she felt the ink against her scales flickering and shifting in her irritation. She wanted nothing more than to lash out at him again with ink and claws and fangs. Her wound had mostly healed, she could already see the scar tissue that would remain. She longed for him to bare a similar mark. "I never agreed to the bargain! It is not my ink on the page--!"
Ovfeimal laughed. The sound grated on her nerves, rumbled the rocks, and echoed sadistic pleasure from her distress. "You are correct. It was your mother whose ink sealed the contract."
Her roar burned her throat--set fire to her heart--as it howled through the cavern.
--before Viae returned to trying to figure out what to do about that damn passcode.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:13 pm
Frustration mounting, Viae struck her palms, her claws, her damn tail and wings against the door.
Logic dictated nothing would happen. She supposed she just had this minor hope logic wouldn't win in a place like this. It certainly wasn't winning against a dark figure dragging rusty scissors towards her.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:14 pm
There had to be something she could use to open the door. Anything. Her eyes flickered about, trying to find something--
She had never been one for heavy labor. That was why she kept the tiny drakelings and other soft, furry, obedient creatures. They did labor for her. Even in the libraries, her clan at times enlisted the aid of outsiders to assist them. It kept their claws in their work, instead of lifting and hauling and such.
Never had she viewed the heavy work as demeaning. It was necessary labor. Someone had to do it. She just was used to others doing it for her. Her strength was in fighting, sparing, never mind her art.
As she arranged the great boulders and slabs that served as his various work desks, moved the massive books and scrolls to and fro as he worked on them--or just wanted to watch her struggle with the weights--she felt humiliated. Her eyes never stopped burning as they would stare at Ovfeimal, always lounging, perching, nearby so he would best watch. Bark orders. Dismiss previous ones last minute just to give her more work. Throw out lists and lists of meaningless tasks.
A voice nagged. She was a creature of knowledge and creation, not grueling labor. In the caverns, in the scorching sun... her worst moments were when she was aware her nestmates watched her. Her head was held high during those times, refusing to allow herself to show weakness. But inside? Inside, she burned from the inescapable sense that she was beneath them.
--but nothing came to her outside of the blurry vision. She shook her head, trying to clear her head.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:03 am
The screeching of the scissors against the floor echoed louder and louder, joined by the footsteps that kept her heart pounding painfully in her chest. She raised a glance, and blanched to see the figure was halfway down the hall.
Halfway to her.
Viae slammed her fists harder on the door, finally turning to squint up at the ceiling, the walls, anything to search for a damn clue--
Ovfeimal was standing beside her mother. A few of her nestmates had gathered behind the elder female, whose pale pink eyes were sharp as a sunrise piercing through storm clouds. An effect only strengthened by her ink and dark scales. As of late, those eyes were usually narrowed in disappointment whenever they looked at her.
And full of reserved fury when they gazed upon Ovfeimal.
As if cued by his name ringing in her thoughts--ones that were smug at her mother's distaste for their clan elder--he turned his burning gold eyes on her. His maw dripped, ink tendrils shaping a wicked smile upon his face. "So much concern for your hatchling's welfare. So much concern," he repeated, gazing out over those who flanked her mother. Her own body stiffened. She'd been on the approach, unsure of what they were conversing. But itching to know.
She should have known it wouldn't be anything healthy for her.
"If your hatchling is as strong as you have claimed before, and so honorable, then I see no reason for you to dispute me. She will go. She will hunt the thieves who have stolen so much from our archives--"
The ink in her veins chilled, froze, before sputtering into fumes as a new rage tore through her. Thieves? In their archives? Her mind hadn't comprehended the rest of what he had said until the last bit finally drove home.
"--and if she is worth of her name, she will kill them."
--nothing. She found nothing.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:23 am
All of her searching finally paid off. Now that she'd finally stopped uselessly banging on the door, anyways.
It was so small, drifted off to the side of the hall, that she wasn't surprised to have missed it time and time again. Crouching, trying to ignore how much closer the figure was--she refused to look at it, refused--she snatched up the paper and scanned its limited contents.
A C E G
A name?
A code?
She glanced at the keypad awaiting its passcode. Four letters would hardly get her the nine digit code. Snarling, she crumpled the paper in her hand. It was useless.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:34 am
She was starting to get a tad bit frantic at this point, it was true. Looking this way and that, her fist curling around the strip of paper she'd found. Nothing else caught her eye near it. It was the only one? That couldn't be! She needed more!
Panic seized her, made her uncrumple the paper in her hand. A C E G. Nothing changed. No new information was written across the scrap. The figure was getting closer. He was getting closer.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:36 am
There.
Sitting. Right. There.
Viae nearly dove for the second scrap, drawing it to her eyes frantically. He was right there. So damn close. Every inch of her body was tense, ready to fight, needing to fight. Those memories that flickered through her brain, every moment of pain she suffered by this male, burned her to fight.
Yet seeing this second scrap sent such spirals of relief crashing through her.
A = 0, B = 1, C =2.
For a moment, wasting precious seconds, she just stared at it. Blankly. Dumbly. Her mind did not seem capable of processing what was in front of her. Letters were equal to numbers....
Doh.
Viae pulled out the first scrap she'd found, scanning it, re-reading that same code that should be burned into her mind at this point. If letters were numbers... She flicked her gaze to the keypad, did some quick counts and...
0 - 2 - 4 - 5
Click.
The door opened. It opened.
Viae didn't stop to even glance behind her. She felt the icy presence behind her, far too close. Just inches behind her. Before he could plunge the scissors into her back, she ripped open the door and raced through. With pleasure, she made sure to slam it behind her.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:52 pm
The shift had been so abrupt, it caught her more than a little off guard.
Through the open door and.... straight into a grey, foggy forest.
Viae took only the barest of glimpses behind her. Yep. He was still coming. Snarling, she turned forward once more, bare feet slamming anew against dirt. She fled through the trees, keeping her wings close, tail holding her balance. Every now and then she'd use her wings to bank hard left or right, decelerate faster than her limbs alone could do, twisting and turning between trunks and under branches with additional ease. Instinct pushed her on, willed her to move in these particular fashions.
Habit.
She had little time to ponder this. Behind her, she could hear Ovfeimal's footsteps. Far behind, but still steadily coming. He spoke about... a heart? His heart?
"You took so much from me.... but my heart? Really? How foolish are you, hatchling?"
The way he laughed set her teeth on edge, upper lip curling. She longed to turn around and rip out his throat--"I'll rip out your ******** heart if you keep mentioning it," she snarled to the winds as she raced onward--but knew better than to stop. She could still see him holding those scissors. She'd rather keep them away from her body.
His further comments about taking her heart were lost to the winds--and her disgust--as she tore out from between the last of the trees. Wide-eyed, she stared at the bridge ahead of her. It looked like a good huff of air would send it toppling down. Viae bulked, taking a hesitant step back, before the echos of Ovfeimal's laughter caught her and her spine stiffened.
Just... had to be quick then.
Race. Run. Never look back.
Survive.
It wasn't like anyone else had ever watched her back.
Snarling, Viae raced forward over the boards. For a moment, she thought all would be well. In the clear.
Then the crack rang out. The snap. The sensation of her stomach being up in the air where her chest was, and her body dropping ever lower. She landed with a crash on the wooden boards, crying out as she grappled to stay on the rickety bridge. It swung dangerously, and Viae gulped down air. Tugged at her leg that went straight through a rotten board. Ovfeimal had just about reached the bridge. His wings stretched out, nearly eclipsing the forest from her perspective.
When it became painfully--oh, oh so painfully--clear her foot was not coming out from between the board... She only had one option.
Survive. Fight. Do what must be done.
The dagger was in her hand before she really stopped to think about what she was doing. Act. Don't think. Act. Instinct. Survival.
But the pain...
Fog, not ink, flowed freely from the wound. She recognized it was odd, but didn't stop to ponder it.
The pain of moving, of trying to hobble, keep her weight on her other foot, was nearly paralyzing. Her wings thrashed, keeping her somewhat off the ground. Made it a bit easier to move. To hobble, to hop. The pain of feeling the foot grow back--she couldn't stomach looking at it for long, watching as bits and pieces popped and grew and.... Viae shuttered.
Shuttered from the pain. The cold. The sounds of snipping and clipping at her back. She could feel his cold breath at her back, at her wings.
She pushed herself to run.
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Kaefaux rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-6)
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:27 pm
"You are unworthy. You are not even worth the breath of hatchling."
In retrospect. She should have known how this would turn out.
Attacking him like that.
Standing in front of that haunted house, confused and uneased by the strange shadows cast from the rickety building, she'd heard him approach. Felt him draw near. The dagger glowed red. Waiting. Wanting. Longing.
It burned in her grasp, fueling her as she turned to face him. "I am worth far more than you can ever comprehend. I always have been." Her voice dripped venom, a low hiss emanating from her chest the entire time. There was nowhere else to run. There was nowhere else she wanted to run.
Ovfeimal stood before her, large, imposing. Deadly--
He was going to kill her.
There was no doubt of this in her mind.
She'd done it. Struck him. Hurt him. Humiliated him.
In front of all. In front of the clan, the elders, her nestmates. Her mother. His own mate had drawn back from him as he'd fallen.
Fallen from the air. His wing had been broken. Unable to bear his weight, the other had given out, and he'd fallen to the rocks below.
It was only by the grace of the powers that be that he hadn't fallen into the lake. She'd snarled at that.
Now, pinned under his ink, his might, his rage, she kept her eyes level as she snarled back at him. He was going to kill her. Already she could feel her ink leaving her scales, lifting from her flesh and exposing her body to the open air. A disgrace for an ink dragon, to show such vulnerability. It left her without her armor, without her shield and bandages.
"I will look beyond your traitors behavior no longer."
She'd laughed. Laughed. Her? A traitor? "Have you taken a good look at yourself recently, Fei-fei?"
The crushing weight of his ink around her body choked off any further commentary or laughter. Still, she felt the mirth and delight coursing through her, and knew by how he snarled he could see her mockery of him burning in her eyes. She would die laughing. Die knowing she'd toppled him from the air. A hatchling.
The traitor feared a traitor. She'd done no less than he, attacking her clan elder.
And that was why he was going to kill her. Out of fear. She laughed.
"The punishment must fit the crime. Ours is not an unlawful society, we are not barbarians. We a dragon. We are wisdom. We are strength. We are pride. And we are honor." The way he spat the word at her made her assume he was trying to say she was without honor for attacking him as she did. Again, she could only find amusement. He'd done worse. He knew it. Everyone did.
His maw twisted into a smile. Sick, mangled, sadistic. Her laughter grew. He thought he could scare her with death?
"A fitting punishment. For one so entombed in the clan. For one who clings so foolishly to traditions."
Death. Death was tradition.
"It makes such perfect sense."
Her eyes trailed towards her mother. The dragoness looked shaken, a millennium older than she was. She smiled towards her mother. It was okay. She'd done what she had to. His vengeance meant nothing. She would join her elders in the archives. Her mother would see to that. See that her final essence was kept safe. Her body relaxed, accepting of what was to come. She could see how she'd imbued the others with doubt. Sewed the seeds necessary. Oh he would topple again.
Her actions were the catalyst.
"Exile."
Her eyes tore open, staring agape at Ovfeimal who stood smiling like he was the source of all knowledge itself. "I banish you, Agsilved. Never again shall you fly with your nestmates. Never again will you gaze upon the archives and our elders' glory. Never shall your essence be held by us, for you are forgotten.
You are erased."
"Agsilved!"
-- . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Now you kill me."
Her lids felt heavy. Her body empty. A dark figure stood before her, faded and blurry.
"Don't worry, it only hurts once," he'd snarled as he plunged the scissors into her chest. She lifted her gaze, trailing it up until she found him. Found her heart. Pulsing. Beating. Thriving. Fighting.
So far from her.
Agsilved--Viae--laughed. Weak, but there. She laughed. She laughed long, hard, and each breath was used to fuel the sound. The pain was gone. He was turning to leave. With her heart.
She burned. Burned.
Burned out.
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