In Heart Doth He Yearn
Searing 89th, 124th Year, A.o.S.
After she'd crossed over the threshold into the other room of that open doorway, the brightness of the otherside lessened while her eyes had grown adjusted. Yet no doorway remained there once Telion had crossed to the otherside, instead, she stood in a circular room that looked to be something like a cavern of sorts. Icy structures rooted from the ceiling above as the lights that shone within danced throughout them with no singular pattern, but rather a kaleidoscope of color that resonated throughout the entirety of the room. Strangely enough it felt chilly to Telion which gave her a taste of surrealism within the dream, and when she noticed padding over her hands after an attempt at rubbing her arms; she realized she was in her wintry garb instead of the blue suede dress she'd found herself in earlier.
The Land of Nod was a strange place to dwell indeed. Yet as she looked about the room, Telion noticed that there remained five arches etched upon the stone, as if they had been doorways or passages that led to somewhere else before. "Telion?" The blonde stopped in her observations at the familiar voice she'd heard, almost certain she had just heard him say that he would not be able to cross through that doorway. Yet as she turned to gaze upon him, the sight of Rickter in his fur padded vestments stood as a central figure of the room. The poor lady had been so caught up in absorbing everything, that she either failed to notice him right away, or he simply hadn't shown up until now. "You're... really here, aren't you?"
"Rickter?" She started with a half step taken toward Him, before realizing by the glow in His eyes, that the way He presented Himself wasn't the same as before. "No... You sound like him but you're different." He thought to say something but held His tongue, a moment with His lips spent briefly agate before He closed them to swallow hard for a second. Telion gazed upon Him sharply as she thought back on it, from the moment she'd felt her memories come back, to the final night before Rickter had fallen into this seasonal slumber of his.
"You're not Rickter but you've been acting like him..." she pointed out directly with an indirect stroll to walk closer to Him. "Ever since our memories came back, I've always wondered because... You'd seem like him but then you also weren't."
"And what gave that away?" He then inquired with a raise of his eyebrows in thought.
Telion averted her gaze toward the room once more, considering her observations and what had taken place prior to her arrival here. "Rickter always had a disposition he'd maintain with others but you... You acted toward everyone, literally, with mannerisms not unlike him... just differently." To that He nodded in consideration after having spent the last few months reliving memories with Rickter, yet that didn't change the fact that only one of them would likely be reawakening soon.
"It's actually funny because I... I thought I was just reading into things too deeply. But then I saw him and..." His eyes grew sharper when He'd been a witness to what Telion admitted. "Now it's actually dawning upon me. You're the other one, aren't you?" The other Him as she'd come to known in their brief time spent together shortly after meeting Hilana and Athalia.
"I am." Lykos confirmed with a slight angle to His head. "You said that Rickter reached out to you? As in... just now?" Telion's eyes widened a bit at the state of surprise Lykos seemed in, a reluctant nod given in response as He stroked the whiskers of his chin in heavy thought. "Well that's different. First in weeks he's said or done anything..."
"Can I ask..." Telion finally weighed in still with uncertainty in her tone. "What exactly is going on? He asked me to help guide him back but... I need to understand what's happening first."
"I see," Lykos murmured with an aversion in his gaze, "so he's figured something out then..." Just as Telion stood in the light with Lykos, her wary eyes looked upon Him with a sense of familiarity and confusion. This led the Lupine Draegir to exhale steadily through his nose, before approaching the lady with a deeply sympathetic gaze. "Rickter has been kept in a state of dormancy since our memories have returned. For a brief time he and I were able to speak together..." Yet somehow that changed the closer to the truth that Lykos grew within their memories, and for whatever reason, Rickter appeared less and less prevalent the closer He drew to it.
"Something is keeping him in this state, Telion, and while I've gone over the one memory in question that should have all the answers..." His head hung down a bit in frustration.
"You mean, you haven't found the reason or the source?" The other Wolf shook his head slowly in admittance of defeat. This led the woman to gaze around the room once more, curious as to the feeling she was having now that she stopped to reflect on herself. "So then why?..." One of the archways of room began to glimmer with familiar lights that often accompanied the North Wind she'd come to know, particularly when he would often utilize his Negation magic before her. "Why do I feel an unusual warmth when I look upon this doorway?"
As she approached it Lykos gazed upon both her and the stone wall, curious as to what she meant when she expressed this warmth. "That leads to another part of Rickter," he started, "or rather, a part of us that represents who he and I are inside."
"Yet, where does it lead exactly?" She pondered as she placed a gloved hand on the surface, surprised to see that the stone beneath her touch started to glimmer also. Lykos had no answer for her, only surprise when He saw the reaction at hand. The stone wall within the archway lit up with an array of lights that shone in different patterns, brightening until a new doorway had glistened open before the mother and her fellow investigator. Cold. A deep and menacing cold threatened to seep into her skin, and yet, even as she felt the brisk drop in temperature the warmth within her kept safe. "Strange... It feels like... a blanket is around me. Comforting me even as I'm about to enter frigid temperatures."
"I think... He wants you to see it too." Lykos then weighed in as he stood next to her protectively. "The moment when he became lost and I was the one to take the mantle." Telion looked upon Lykos with widened eyes as she realized what truly remained ahead of her, as she hadn't forgotten the stories that Lykos shared with her upon restoring their memories last winter. Her heart pulsed erratically at the prospect of it, and while apprehension weighted her belly, the blonde looked from the icy room ahead toward Lykos in turn.
"Show me then," she insisted with a sense of courage in her tone, "show me everything you need me to see. I'm ready." He then looked at her with a sense of fascination before He came to smile with His blue eyes honed ahead. It was with a gentle nod that Lykos encouraged Telion to step forward, in that He would proceed to follow her within, and reveal to her the same memory He'd repeatedly visited numerous times to understand where things had changed for Rickter.
Searing 89th, 124th Year, A.o.S.
After she'd crossed over the threshold into the other room of that open doorway, the brightness of the otherside lessened while her eyes had grown adjusted. Yet no doorway remained there once Telion had crossed to the otherside, instead, she stood in a circular room that looked to be something like a cavern of sorts. Icy structures rooted from the ceiling above as the lights that shone within danced throughout them with no singular pattern, but rather a kaleidoscope of color that resonated throughout the entirety of the room. Strangely enough it felt chilly to Telion which gave her a taste of surrealism within the dream, and when she noticed padding over her hands after an attempt at rubbing her arms; she realized she was in her wintry garb instead of the blue suede dress she'd found herself in earlier.
The Land of Nod was a strange place to dwell indeed. Yet as she looked about the room, Telion noticed that there remained five arches etched upon the stone, as if they had been doorways or passages that led to somewhere else before. "Telion?" The blonde stopped in her observations at the familiar voice she'd heard, almost certain she had just heard him say that he would not be able to cross through that doorway. Yet as she turned to gaze upon him, the sight of Rickter in his fur padded vestments stood as a central figure of the room. The poor lady had been so caught up in absorbing everything, that she either failed to notice him right away, or he simply hadn't shown up until now. "You're... really here, aren't you?"
"Rickter?" She started with a half step taken toward Him, before realizing by the glow in His eyes, that the way He presented Himself wasn't the same as before. "No... You sound like him but you're different." He thought to say something but held His tongue, a moment with His lips spent briefly agate before He closed them to swallow hard for a second. Telion gazed upon Him sharply as she thought back on it, from the moment she'd felt her memories come back, to the final night before Rickter had fallen into this seasonal slumber of his.
"You're not Rickter but you've been acting like him..." she pointed out directly with an indirect stroll to walk closer to Him. "Ever since our memories came back, I've always wondered because... You'd seem like him but then you also weren't."
"And what gave that away?" He then inquired with a raise of his eyebrows in thought.
Telion averted her gaze toward the room once more, considering her observations and what had taken place prior to her arrival here. "Rickter always had a disposition he'd maintain with others but you... You acted toward everyone, literally, with mannerisms not unlike him... just differently." To that He nodded in consideration after having spent the last few months reliving memories with Rickter, yet that didn't change the fact that only one of them would likely be reawakening soon.
"It's actually funny because I... I thought I was just reading into things too deeply. But then I saw him and..." His eyes grew sharper when He'd been a witness to what Telion admitted. "Now it's actually dawning upon me. You're the other one, aren't you?" The other Him as she'd come to known in their brief time spent together shortly after meeting Hilana and Athalia.
"I am." Lykos confirmed with a slight angle to His head. "You said that Rickter reached out to you? As in... just now?" Telion's eyes widened a bit at the state of surprise Lykos seemed in, a reluctant nod given in response as He stroked the whiskers of his chin in heavy thought. "Well that's different. First in weeks he's said or done anything..."
"Can I ask..." Telion finally weighed in still with uncertainty in her tone. "What exactly is going on? He asked me to help guide him back but... I need to understand what's happening first."
"I see," Lykos murmured with an aversion in his gaze, "so he's figured something out then..." Just as Telion stood in the light with Lykos, her wary eyes looked upon Him with a sense of familiarity and confusion. This led the Lupine Draegir to exhale steadily through his nose, before approaching the lady with a deeply sympathetic gaze. "Rickter has been kept in a state of dormancy since our memories have returned. For a brief time he and I were able to speak together..." Yet somehow that changed the closer to the truth that Lykos grew within their memories, and for whatever reason, Rickter appeared less and less prevalent the closer He drew to it.
"Something is keeping him in this state, Telion, and while I've gone over the one memory in question that should have all the answers..." His head hung down a bit in frustration.
"You mean, you haven't found the reason or the source?" The other Wolf shook his head slowly in admittance of defeat. This led the woman to gaze around the room once more, curious as to the feeling she was having now that she stopped to reflect on herself. "So then why?..." One of the archways of room began to glimmer with familiar lights that often accompanied the North Wind she'd come to know, particularly when he would often utilize his Negation magic before her. "Why do I feel an unusual warmth when I look upon this doorway?"
As she approached it Lykos gazed upon both her and the stone wall, curious as to what she meant when she expressed this warmth. "That leads to another part of Rickter," he started, "or rather, a part of us that represents who he and I are inside."
"Yet, where does it lead exactly?" She pondered as she placed a gloved hand on the surface, surprised to see that the stone beneath her touch started to glimmer also. Lykos had no answer for her, only surprise when He saw the reaction at hand. The stone wall within the archway lit up with an array of lights that shone in different patterns, brightening until a new doorway had glistened open before the mother and her fellow investigator. Cold. A deep and menacing cold threatened to seep into her skin, and yet, even as she felt the brisk drop in temperature the warmth within her kept safe. "Strange... It feels like... a blanket is around me. Comforting me even as I'm about to enter frigid temperatures."
"I think... He wants you to see it too." Lykos then weighed in as he stood next to her protectively. "The moment when he became lost and I was the one to take the mantle." Telion looked upon Lykos with widened eyes as she realized what truly remained ahead of her, as she hadn't forgotten the stories that Lykos shared with her upon restoring their memories last winter. Her heart pulsed erratically at the prospect of it, and while apprehension weighted her belly, the blonde looked from the icy room ahead toward Lykos in turn.
"Show me then," she insisted with a sense of courage in her tone, "show me everything you need me to see. I'm ready." He then looked at her with a sense of fascination before He came to smile with His blue eyes honed ahead. It was with a gentle nod that Lykos encouraged Telion to step forward, in that He would proceed to follow her within, and reveal to her the same memory He'd repeatedly visited numerous times to understand where things had changed for Rickter.