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 Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:41 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:24 pm
Though the scent of smoke had left him long ago the tattered Angeni reeled as images of the place that had caused him and countless others great harm danced before his sightless eyes. The screams of those who had suffered the same fate as he had grown silent, but still he could hear them as though they were carried upon the breeze. His breathing was erratic and harsh as he ran for the first time in what felt like decades, every one of his muscles desperately screaming out against the sudden and extreme exertion. The sound of his heart thundering in his skull reminded him of the loud booms he had heard before making his escape, each beat causing him to flinch. Though he ran without sight a fear so deep and strong that he was certain it would consume him drove him onward. Surely a spirit must have been guiding this broken soul for he neither tripped on a stone nor met with a low hanging branch that would have hindered his path.
Without his sight he lacked the ability to judge the passage of time with the use of the sun and therefore could not even guess how long he had been running, nor could he gauge the distance. All he knew was that he had to get away; he had to leave the place that reeked of pain and terror far behind him for if he were to return he would surely perish. A primal instinct to survive had taken over his bodily functions and he allowed it to remain in command until he could bear it no longer; until his muscles gave way beneath him and he finally came crashing down in a great heap of despair. The absence of movement appeared to do him more harm than good as he writhed on the ground and was assaulted with varying emotions, sounds and smells. The wall of darkness before him stood so high and thick that he was sure it would crumble and bury his soul.
The voices of those he had been imprisoned with cried out to him for help, questioned why he had survived when they had perished, and spoke of all of the torments the had had to endure. His heart split in twain with each syllable conjured up within his mind and he sobbed without restraint. He was sorry, sorry that he had lived while they had died, sorry that he had not made good on his promise to free them, and sorry that his sacrifices had not done more for them. He had used his body to shelter them and still that was not enough, he had used his soul to soothe them and even that still was not enough. He had failed them and though they no longer had to feel the metallic bite of the blades wielded by their captors, he was incapable of feeling relief.
A dark emotion unlike any he had felt before crept over his entire being like ominous sap coating a defenseless insect. The color red flashed before the hollow sockets of his eyes as he thought of the beings that had hurt him and the others. They had removed him from his home, taken his mother and father from him, taken his sight, dealt pain without the slightest bit of hesitation and relished making those they held fear them. They were monsters, monsters that deserved pain and torment equal to that they dealt. They deserved to squirm in terror as they anxiously awaited the day that would be their last; they deserved to live in a constant state of fear, to awake each day expecting it to be one filled with anguish. His chest rose and fell quickly in tandem with his breathing as the dark emotion pushed him further and further into the gaping hole opening beneath his wrecked body. A hole that threatened to swallow him up and destroy everything that he had once been for good.
But amidst the darkness he could sense a light, a light that fought against the dark sensation that told him he was not to give in. A sound so soft that he almost missed it accompanied the light and he soon recognized it as the voice of his beloved dam. She urged him to move away from the maw that had parted beneath of him and to step into the light. She reminded him of what he was and of his purpose and told him that hatred was not for him to feel, that he could not feel it. She soothed his worries, eased his pains and told him to listen. To open his ears to more than the sounds of the past and to once more reconnect with the world he had been separated from.
And in that moment, the darkest moment of his life, he listened. The stench of fear was replaced by the warm scent of sunlight and the sweet fragrance of flowers and grass. The voices screaming for help turned into the delicate and cheerful sound of birds on the wing and the rhythmic motion of the leaves dancing in the breeze overhead. The feeling of constant pain gave way to the sensation of grass tenderly caressing his scarred flesh and of the sun warming his dark coat. Sobs gently faded away as he allowed nature to enfold him within her arms, and the edges of the threatening pit grew together and closed. The feelings of hatred that were not to be felt by an Angeni evaporated into the atmosphere and he was able to relish a long overdue moment of peace.
All was not mended but the threat of ultimate destruction had passed.
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:26 pm
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