Purging Shadows From Your Heart
Glade 25th, 122nd Year AoS
The days of consistently training were starting to blur together lately, as the wolf and his pack were all experiencing exhaustion at their own pace throughout the day. Though the twins always had someone to look after them, taking care of them wasn't any easier when every muscle and bone ached in places one would never expect. The pack had already finished their routines for the day and been given the evening to rest, which allowed the family some time to talk over their dinner before conducting themselves for the evening.
It would be another early start tomorrow for them, but for Rickter, the wolf could hardly find rest no matter how tired his body had felt. Things were just rampantly on the mind as of late, and over the course of their time here, he had never forgotten where exactly the chips had fallen for him. Baudric would be on his way to the Imperium soon, just as Lyra remained within Zaichaer according to her letter. Initially, he couldn't help but think, upon reading her note at the time, that she'd gone out her way to bed the enemy in her grand scheme of things. He thought of what he might do if he were ever to meet Dante in Zaichaer, how he might go about reaching out to the dark lady if he ever made it there, to begin with.
Yet his heart never committed to the idea, because of the fact his instincts still demanded not to. She was untrustworthy no matter how he looked at her, unclear in her goals and ambitions from the very start. Rickter couldn't help but grimace as he laid there in bed, his beloved laying next to him on the outer side of the mattress. They were infected no less. He hadn't forgotten the fact Whispers lingered within their beings, like parasites waiting to nest within their souls the longer he'd thought about it. Honestly, the thought quite upset the wolf, enough to where that he clenched his jaw over the matter. As much as he wanted to just sleep, it wasn't going to come as easy as he'd hoped.
And so, the wolf carefully rose out of bed to crawl over Telion's sleeping form, before he stepped onto the floor in nothing but a loose cotton shirt draped over his waist. Gods he missed having his own den of privacy, even if he didn't mind sharing such a thing among his pack. When he approached the fireplace the wolf sat on the floor immediately, legs crossed over as he tucked his feet in close to his body. The warmth of the fire had died down a bit over the past hour, so Rickter decided to feed another couple of pieces of wood into the pit. There he watched as the flames started to rise and softly crack as it consumed the wood, and thought heavily about what he were to do if...
The makings of an idea developed in his mind. As he looked down into the palm of his hands next, considering the thought while the glow of the flames illuminated the lines and callouses. If he were to entrap this whisper inside him... he felt confident he could use that to expel the other whispers as well. It wasn't easily something he could do outright though, not without first identifying what the whispers were and where they remained. He had an experiment in mind, since as of late, he'd been busy refining his magic altogether. If I can identify the whisper within me... then maybe I can use my senses to locate it. He did possess Aether Sight and Aether Sense as abilities after all, and though he'd forgotten that he'd picked up Semblance from Talon early last Frost, it was another possible approach to the situation. First though, was the act of identifying this whisper alone.
From what Rickter knew, Lyra's form was black like smoke. When she'd impart a whisper unto someone it was like she influenced their bodies through the mind. How he'd discover something like that within him he wasn't sure, but the wolf wasn't apt to just give up and call it a night now. He thought of everything he could about Lyra, from how she'd looked to the way she'd act and treat him. Yet it never quite dawned on him, until he remembered their first meeting, what the first clue to these whispers might actually entail. Upon her release there was a smell in the air, peculiar in fact, as it reminded the wolf of overly ripened fruit with aether. He didn't realize it at the time, but that was the scent Lyra first had before she lived within Kalzasi.
It was likely possible... Yet he couldn't say for sure. Perplexed by all this the wolf sighed heavily through his nostrils, his eyes never really shifting from the flames before he closed them. Rickter breathed deeply and focused, trying to perceive aether through his senses as he breathed. He could feel the shifting of the Flux around him, the currents that channeled heat from the flames into the room around him. The subtle shifts in the air from whatever drafts leaked into the house through cracks. Rickter could smell the musk and odor each of his pack, and on himself, but he looked past that as he sought another ought. That one scent. He just needed to find it, to retreat deeper within and...
He could smell the ocean all around him now. Rickter opened his eyes to find the waters that were familiar to him lapping about gently, the depths of his being stirred by the arrival of his visit within. "I need to look deeper." He noted as the waters around him rippled in response to the whim, glowering lights rising from deep within as they reached the surface around him. One by one there came to be five solidified forms of wolves, all shaped from this water and light, as the entities that encircled him approached to sniff at his hands. What were they, he wondered, and what did they intend to do here?
After the pack around him sniffed for a few seconds, the water-like wolves scattered and bolted in separate directions. Within moments they were gone with the tide they generated, and the waters of his soul soon stilled as they had before. Yet Rickter sensed things that took place elsewhere, his eyes lifted to the sky as he realized he could share senses with these other entities. Were they... pieces of him? He didn't understand it. But, what he did understand was that through them, he could experience whatever it was they experienced. Everything they saw, heard, and even smelled; all resonated back within him somehow. They were looking...
I see... if you can help me, I need to find anything that bears a specific scent. He requested of the pack as he could see glimpses in his thoughts. Glimpses of an evergreen forest that stretched for miles, of a steep pass along a snowy mountain, the gardens of a massive castle, and even the never-ending plains that went on for eternity. Even within the depths of the ocean he stood atop of. Scented memories began to bubble in his mind as he held onto the one, just the one, he needed to use to locate the source he sought within. Though something did seem to well up it was faint, almost so subtle that the memories themselves nearly blanketed the scent. But it was there. After all that trouble, he finally found a lead and with it, he opened his eyes to the partly clouded skies above.
Yet the scent remained hidden away, seeking new corners to hide within as it avoided him altogether. The wolves though, they were determined, eager to hunt down this scent as of now. They had identified his prey and in doing so, hunted for it while he walked across water with patience. "Where are you running off to?..." He wondered to himself quietly as though he were looking into another landscape, the ocean around him gradually diminishing as the world around him turned into a dark and familiar place. He stepped on stone next. The mosaic of a wolf found beneath him as he noticed at the center, the shining blade that had been Howling Fang still thrust deep within the foundation. Rickter hadn't been here since... that night.
And still, the original incarnation of his Pact blade resided here, cracked from stem to hilt with a radiating silver light. This isn't what I came for... He remarked to himself before a shift within the abyss around him stirred his senses. There! Twisting around the wolf threw out his hand, projecting aether from his form only to find the environment itself responded entirely to his whim. Chains formed within the air around him, silver chains that lunged out into the open space of black that loomed overhead. Until finally, their links snagged and ensared something, the target that smelled sweetly familiar to ripened fruit as he'd hoped. The wolf's eyes widenly focused on what he'd snagged, the chains reeling it closer into the light of his soul as the entity frantically swirled about in desperation. It did no good however. Rickter was born and raised a fisherman, and once he'd successfully snagged something on a line, he often never let it go without a fight.
Finally, exposed to the light of his soul, a aetherial bubble encased the dark smokey wisp that danced frantically within it's prison. Chains of aether continued to bind into the bubble, empowering the seal that Rickter steadily wove into it to reinforce the fabric. He found it! He actually rooted out the cursed thing, and now, neither he nor his pack were going to be at the mercy of Lyra's own influence. "I should've done this weeks ago." Admitted as he'd felt like a fool for never realizing that he could, the achievement hardly as fruitful as he hoped now that he'd accomplished the task. "Then again I should've just purged you from the start."
Could Negation really have purged this thing from him? It wasn't impossible now. He had a literal blueprint to blocking out Lyra's power, yet at the same time, he would be amiss if he didn't try to understand that power as well. He had decisions to make from here... Decisions he didn't wish to commit to outright, not without some considerable measure of thought. Plus... how wasn't he sure Lyra would notice something? What if she didn't already? The uncertainty stirred a combination of haste and hesitency within him. He got what he needed though and now that the whisper was trapped here, all that remained was to address the other lingering problem outside this world of his. "Well Lyra, how about it?" The wolf mused to himself quietly as he reached toward the chained barrier, focusing on the whisper as he channeled more aether throughout himself.
"What say we even the board... just a little." The foundation of the mosaic he stood on glowed brighter now, the cracks emitted lights that danced in a sway from blue to green. With the clench of his fist toward the prison he'd created, aether began to surge from within his core, and fill the prison that his whisper had been contained in. He could feel it's desperation for escape now, an eagerness to hide or even warn its master of what occurred. But all signals were now blocked. The wolf severed those ties with the prison itself, and now, with it he sought to channel aether from that prison. Sensing the aetherial signature that remained tied to the smell, Rickter closed his eyes and began to focus on the next task ahead.
From where he sat in front of the fireplace Rickter's eyelids lifted open, his gaze shifted toward the chair near him where Hannah had sat down. "Couldn't sleep?" The rogue teased with her arms crossed over her nightgown, the revealing nature of her thighs suggestive, were Rickter or somebody else clearly in that sort of mood.
"Not at the moment." He answered plainly as the Negation rune on his shoulder glistened brightly, the wolf's aura already subjectively filling the abode as he merely looked into the fire. "Sleep is easier with peace in mind, thankfully, I'll be gaining just that in a moment."
"What?... What are you?" Hannah trailed off as she realized he was doing something, whether it was the smell in the air or just the feel of his aether.
"Of the six of us, which do you think has been infected by Lyra?" The question threw her off as Rickter's eyes narrowed intensively into the flames. "Patrick is fine I can say that much. But what of Telion? The twins? What of you?" He hadn't forgotten the whisper Hannah accepted down in the Warrens, even if at the time Lyra seemed intent to use it for aid in their expedition. "I'm done allowing her to meddle in places where she's wanted."
"Rick... Now I don't mean to be chicken shit here... but you're starting to scare me a little." Hannah remarked as she shifted forward, the gaze she held on him riddled with concern as he never moved from his spot.
"Sorry... But you have nothing to fear. Not any longer." He answered somberly before he fixed the task of his aether, his aura set to cast out the other whispers that might've shadowed his companion's hearts. Right away the rogue leaned into the back of her chair, something within her struggling as she pressed against her chest quietly. She breathed heavily now but it wasn't panic, just mere alarm that struck Hannah, as Rickter could feel his aether essentially burn away the whisper in her heart. It happened for Telion as well. And the twins, in the event they weren't safe from Lyra. Everyone within this house would be set free from her tonight, Rickter made sure of that himself, before the waves of aether he emitted finally waned enough for his aura to settle once more.
Hannah looked to reclaim what small comfort she had in her chair, clearly shocked at what she felt when the wolf cleansed her of Lyra's wickedness.
"From this night on," the wolf quietly remarked to her and to himself, "we're no longer slaves to the whims of another."
For tonight they were free.
Glade 25th, 122nd Year AoS
The days of consistently training were starting to blur together lately, as the wolf and his pack were all experiencing exhaustion at their own pace throughout the day. Though the twins always had someone to look after them, taking care of them wasn't any easier when every muscle and bone ached in places one would never expect. The pack had already finished their routines for the day and been given the evening to rest, which allowed the family some time to talk over their dinner before conducting themselves for the evening.
It would be another early start tomorrow for them, but for Rickter, the wolf could hardly find rest no matter how tired his body had felt. Things were just rampantly on the mind as of late, and over the course of their time here, he had never forgotten where exactly the chips had fallen for him. Baudric would be on his way to the Imperium soon, just as Lyra remained within Zaichaer according to her letter. Initially, he couldn't help but think, upon reading her note at the time, that she'd gone out her way to bed the enemy in her grand scheme of things. He thought of what he might do if he were ever to meet Dante in Zaichaer, how he might go about reaching out to the dark lady if he ever made it there, to begin with.
Yet his heart never committed to the idea, because of the fact his instincts still demanded not to. She was untrustworthy no matter how he looked at her, unclear in her goals and ambitions from the very start. Rickter couldn't help but grimace as he laid there in bed, his beloved laying next to him on the outer side of the mattress. They were infected no less. He hadn't forgotten the fact Whispers lingered within their beings, like parasites waiting to nest within their souls the longer he'd thought about it. Honestly, the thought quite upset the wolf, enough to where that he clenched his jaw over the matter. As much as he wanted to just sleep, it wasn't going to come as easy as he'd hoped.
And so, the wolf carefully rose out of bed to crawl over Telion's sleeping form, before he stepped onto the floor in nothing but a loose cotton shirt draped over his waist. Gods he missed having his own den of privacy, even if he didn't mind sharing such a thing among his pack. When he approached the fireplace the wolf sat on the floor immediately, legs crossed over as he tucked his feet in close to his body. The warmth of the fire had died down a bit over the past hour, so Rickter decided to feed another couple of pieces of wood into the pit. There he watched as the flames started to rise and softly crack as it consumed the wood, and thought heavily about what he were to do if...
The makings of an idea developed in his mind. As he looked down into the palm of his hands next, considering the thought while the glow of the flames illuminated the lines and callouses. If he were to entrap this whisper inside him... he felt confident he could use that to expel the other whispers as well. It wasn't easily something he could do outright though, not without first identifying what the whispers were and where they remained. He had an experiment in mind, since as of late, he'd been busy refining his magic altogether. If I can identify the whisper within me... then maybe I can use my senses to locate it. He did possess Aether Sight and Aether Sense as abilities after all, and though he'd forgotten that he'd picked up Semblance from Talon early last Frost, it was another possible approach to the situation. First though, was the act of identifying this whisper alone.
From what Rickter knew, Lyra's form was black like smoke. When she'd impart a whisper unto someone it was like she influenced their bodies through the mind. How he'd discover something like that within him he wasn't sure, but the wolf wasn't apt to just give up and call it a night now. He thought of everything he could about Lyra, from how she'd looked to the way she'd act and treat him. Yet it never quite dawned on him, until he remembered their first meeting, what the first clue to these whispers might actually entail. Upon her release there was a smell in the air, peculiar in fact, as it reminded the wolf of overly ripened fruit with aether. He didn't realize it at the time, but that was the scent Lyra first had before she lived within Kalzasi.
It was likely possible... Yet he couldn't say for sure. Perplexed by all this the wolf sighed heavily through his nostrils, his eyes never really shifting from the flames before he closed them. Rickter breathed deeply and focused, trying to perceive aether through his senses as he breathed. He could feel the shifting of the Flux around him, the currents that channeled heat from the flames into the room around him. The subtle shifts in the air from whatever drafts leaked into the house through cracks. Rickter could smell the musk and odor each of his pack, and on himself, but he looked past that as he sought another ought. That one scent. He just needed to find it, to retreat deeper within and...
He could smell the ocean all around him now. Rickter opened his eyes to find the waters that were familiar to him lapping about gently, the depths of his being stirred by the arrival of his visit within. "I need to look deeper." He noted as the waters around him rippled in response to the whim, glowering lights rising from deep within as they reached the surface around him. One by one there came to be five solidified forms of wolves, all shaped from this water and light, as the entities that encircled him approached to sniff at his hands. What were they, he wondered, and what did they intend to do here?
After the pack around him sniffed for a few seconds, the water-like wolves scattered and bolted in separate directions. Within moments they were gone with the tide they generated, and the waters of his soul soon stilled as they had before. Yet Rickter sensed things that took place elsewhere, his eyes lifted to the sky as he realized he could share senses with these other entities. Were they... pieces of him? He didn't understand it. But, what he did understand was that through them, he could experience whatever it was they experienced. Everything they saw, heard, and even smelled; all resonated back within him somehow. They were looking...
I see... if you can help me, I need to find anything that bears a specific scent. He requested of the pack as he could see glimpses in his thoughts. Glimpses of an evergreen forest that stretched for miles, of a steep pass along a snowy mountain, the gardens of a massive castle, and even the never-ending plains that went on for eternity. Even within the depths of the ocean he stood atop of. Scented memories began to bubble in his mind as he held onto the one, just the one, he needed to use to locate the source he sought within. Though something did seem to well up it was faint, almost so subtle that the memories themselves nearly blanketed the scent. But it was there. After all that trouble, he finally found a lead and with it, he opened his eyes to the partly clouded skies above.
Yet the scent remained hidden away, seeking new corners to hide within as it avoided him altogether. The wolves though, they were determined, eager to hunt down this scent as of now. They had identified his prey and in doing so, hunted for it while he walked across water with patience. "Where are you running off to?..." He wondered to himself quietly as though he were looking into another landscape, the ocean around him gradually diminishing as the world around him turned into a dark and familiar place. He stepped on stone next. The mosaic of a wolf found beneath him as he noticed at the center, the shining blade that had been Howling Fang still thrust deep within the foundation. Rickter hadn't been here since... that night.
And still, the original incarnation of his Pact blade resided here, cracked from stem to hilt with a radiating silver light. This isn't what I came for... He remarked to himself before a shift within the abyss around him stirred his senses. There! Twisting around the wolf threw out his hand, projecting aether from his form only to find the environment itself responded entirely to his whim. Chains formed within the air around him, silver chains that lunged out into the open space of black that loomed overhead. Until finally, their links snagged and ensared something, the target that smelled sweetly familiar to ripened fruit as he'd hoped. The wolf's eyes widenly focused on what he'd snagged, the chains reeling it closer into the light of his soul as the entity frantically swirled about in desperation. It did no good however. Rickter was born and raised a fisherman, and once he'd successfully snagged something on a line, he often never let it go without a fight.
Finally, exposed to the light of his soul, a aetherial bubble encased the dark smokey wisp that danced frantically within it's prison. Chains of aether continued to bind into the bubble, empowering the seal that Rickter steadily wove into it to reinforce the fabric. He found it! He actually rooted out the cursed thing, and now, neither he nor his pack were going to be at the mercy of Lyra's own influence. "I should've done this weeks ago." Admitted as he'd felt like a fool for never realizing that he could, the achievement hardly as fruitful as he hoped now that he'd accomplished the task. "Then again I should've just purged you from the start."
Could Negation really have purged this thing from him? It wasn't impossible now. He had a literal blueprint to blocking out Lyra's power, yet at the same time, he would be amiss if he didn't try to understand that power as well. He had decisions to make from here... Decisions he didn't wish to commit to outright, not without some considerable measure of thought. Plus... how wasn't he sure Lyra would notice something? What if she didn't already? The uncertainty stirred a combination of haste and hesitency within him. He got what he needed though and now that the whisper was trapped here, all that remained was to address the other lingering problem outside this world of his. "Well Lyra, how about it?" The wolf mused to himself quietly as he reached toward the chained barrier, focusing on the whisper as he channeled more aether throughout himself.
"What say we even the board... just a little." The foundation of the mosaic he stood on glowed brighter now, the cracks emitted lights that danced in a sway from blue to green. With the clench of his fist toward the prison he'd created, aether began to surge from within his core, and fill the prison that his whisper had been contained in. He could feel it's desperation for escape now, an eagerness to hide or even warn its master of what occurred. But all signals were now blocked. The wolf severed those ties with the prison itself, and now, with it he sought to channel aether from that prison. Sensing the aetherial signature that remained tied to the smell, Rickter closed his eyes and began to focus on the next task ahead.
From where he sat in front of the fireplace Rickter's eyelids lifted open, his gaze shifted toward the chair near him where Hannah had sat down. "Couldn't sleep?" The rogue teased with her arms crossed over her nightgown, the revealing nature of her thighs suggestive, were Rickter or somebody else clearly in that sort of mood.
"Not at the moment." He answered plainly as the Negation rune on his shoulder glistened brightly, the wolf's aura already subjectively filling the abode as he merely looked into the fire. "Sleep is easier with peace in mind, thankfully, I'll be gaining just that in a moment."
"What?... What are you?" Hannah trailed off as she realized he was doing something, whether it was the smell in the air or just the feel of his aether.
"Of the six of us, which do you think has been infected by Lyra?" The question threw her off as Rickter's eyes narrowed intensively into the flames. "Patrick is fine I can say that much. But what of Telion? The twins? What of you?" He hadn't forgotten the whisper Hannah accepted down in the Warrens, even if at the time Lyra seemed intent to use it for aid in their expedition. "I'm done allowing her to meddle in places where she's wanted."
"Rick... Now I don't mean to be chicken shit here... but you're starting to scare me a little." Hannah remarked as she shifted forward, the gaze she held on him riddled with concern as he never moved from his spot.
"Sorry... But you have nothing to fear. Not any longer." He answered somberly before he fixed the task of his aether, his aura set to cast out the other whispers that might've shadowed his companion's hearts. Right away the rogue leaned into the back of her chair, something within her struggling as she pressed against her chest quietly. She breathed heavily now but it wasn't panic, just mere alarm that struck Hannah, as Rickter could feel his aether essentially burn away the whisper in her heart. It happened for Telion as well. And the twins, in the event they weren't safe from Lyra. Everyone within this house would be set free from her tonight, Rickter made sure of that himself, before the waves of aether he emitted finally waned enough for his aura to settle once more.
Hannah looked to reclaim what small comfort she had in her chair, clearly shocked at what she felt when the wolf cleansed her of Lyra's wickedness.
"From this night on," the wolf quietly remarked to her and to himself, "we're no longer slaves to the whims of another."
For tonight they were free.
"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Telion" "Hannah" "Patrick"
"Rickter" "Telion" "Hannah" "Patrick"
