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Re: Glass Spiders
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2022 8:20 am
by Lyra
For a brief moment, there was genuine surprise at the depths of Rickter's conflicted emotions. She could not hear the symphonies, nor could she feel even a drop of empathy for the man, but the expressions he made and the steadily dropping temperature spoke louder than any words. Surprise melted to contempt, but a smile was forced back into place.
"It is not I who is forcing you to choose.", Lyrielle laughed derisively, "Child... It was you who let yourself be overcome with emotion and lash out. You abandoned your family, forced your so-called companions to pick up the pieces of your mess, and even when time and time again you fail because of thoughtless actions you still leap into danger without care or concern for others."
Her form dispersed to flow around Rickter, a hand cupping his cheek gently as Lyrielle's warm breath whispered in his ear, "The wolf who chases two rabbits catches neither. Why must you choose between them? Because you have made it a choice."
She withdrew and reformed in the air in front of Rickter, crossing her legs and resting a hand on one cheek, "You are owed a single favor in payment for your aid in Zaichaer. Will you use it to help rescue Talon, or to ensure the safety of your loved ones?" Her eyes shone a scarlet gold as she leaned forward, knowing what it was Rickter feared, as she could taste it in the air and feel it reverberating through the mark of obtenebration on her chest, "What is more important to you now?"
Re: Glass Spiders
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:45 pm
by Rickter
Glass Spiders Searing 52, 122nd Year, A.o.S
Everything that he heard had a semblance of truth he couldn't deny, no matter how much he wanted to, every one of his actions were a farcry against everything he strode for. Her laughter brought the sting of bitterness within him as he clenched his teeth harder, the fact he'd so brazenly thrown himself at every obstacle not a lost fact as of this moment. How blinded he had been this entire time, driven by the rage and pain inside his own heart, while those he wanted to protect endeavored to do the same for him.
He felt the warmth of her hand on his moist cheek and it sent a chill down his spine, his shoulders sent into a shudder before her words sank into his thoughts. Two rabbits? A metaphor was it? Clearly, even now he was so fixated on circumstances, that he had yet to ponder the reality of their situation. Until now. She reminded him of his payment and presented it in the form of two options, ones that the wolf took considerable time to think about. He wanted to be able to do both, yet he hadn't forgotten the very memory that ruminated on just when Aoren followed after him. Trust in his comrades. Trust in his pack. Rickter wanted to more than anything, but the fears of losing what all he had left hung heavy on his heart.
"Why do you hesitate even now?" From the air to his right he felt the voice of the knight Echoing through, as Alistor manifested into an apparition as though he were stepping toward the wolf. To Lyrielle she would see a young man bearing startling resemblances to the wolf, donned in an ancient uniform of the knights of Dawn. "It's like the Nameless One has said. You fight your own destiny, yet hurdle yourself into it's wake." The Knight shook his head with a sigh before he looked up to Lyrielle, aware that She could probably see the silver chain interwoven between their souls. "Maybe instead of doing that, you should focus on the path you choose."
His path? Ever since this road had started he'd experienced nothing but hell. Yet obstacle after obstacle he carried on, hoping one day that he would get to see the Dawn once more. It had been the path he chose for himself, and for a moment he questioned himself, until he looked from Alistor back into the eyes of Lyrielle. The wolf had a lot to sort through both within his mind and his heart, but, he had finally come to a stable mindset to finally consider the options before him. There was a moment were it felt like he were just breathing, but each breath allowed Rickter to calm down long enough to finally give the word on what his choice might be.
"Save him." He affirmed with only a shred of confidence. "Save Talon."
"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Alistor"
"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."
Re: Glass Spiders
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:02 pm
by Lyra
The shifting of his thoughts were clear even without her magic. Fear, uncertainty, anger, worry... a spinning web of misery that made the man's soul shudder. To her eyes he was a sculpture of ice, but cracks had begun to form at the joints. A wolf who was cowed by a larger predator, or perhaps his own self doubts. Exquisite was this taste that she licked her lips in anticipation for his answer.
Oh if I could bottle this sensation. Lyrielle mused as she shifted in the air, Twisting hearts of mortals give off the sweetest aroma.
Almost she had forgotten this feeling. The visceral, lush sensation of a mind that resisted the influences of their own warring desires. The chaotic noise of his mind must be defining, overwhelming. Some would break if given such a demand, but Lyrielle knew Rickter would not.
He is neither noble or kind, She thought with a widening smile, But the weigh he creates his own burdens is delectable.
A shimmer to Rickter's left drew Lyrielle's attention, and her eyes locked on Alistor's as he appeared. A man of similar appearance to Rickter himself, but with the garb unfamiliar to her. She studied him as he spoke, eyes narrowing at the title he gave her. Lyrielle continued to stare until Rickter spoke, her eyes focusing the real person once more.
"Very well. We shall save Talon." Her smile was still present, but somehow the sense of satisfaction was now lost, replaced by a mild annoyance. The intrusion of the specter had soured Lyrielle's fun. She had wanted Rickter to squirm more...
Raising a hand she pointed at Alistor, her grin returning in full as she looked at Rickter, "It appears you carry a parasite."
Dispersing into smoke once more Lyrielle formed around Rickter, her eyes locked on Alistor before she reached out. The rattle of a chain drew her attention, and with a bit of amousement she grabbed the silver chain. It was cold and gave off a feeling of electricity to her senses, but ignoring this Lyrielle pulled Alistor closer, grabbing his soul as easily as one might snatch an apple out of the air. Her eyes sparkled as she looked down at Rickter.
"Should I remove this from you?"
Re: Glass Spiders
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:48 am
by Rickter
Glass Spiders Searing 52, 122nd Year, A.o.S
Even Lyra's thoughts were an enigma to the wolf right now, as she not only scrutinized the feelings underneath the surface of the wolf, but discerned the presence of his ancestor as well the moment that he had appeared. She agreed to save Talon in the end, however, a word that hardly delivered any real solace to the wolf's mind even after hearing it. To have struck a bargain with Her of all people, how low he truly must have fallen to wound up in this disposition.
In almost no time at all, she went from compromising back to her old self, quickly fixating her attention on the present spector next to him. Rickter had always believed that, with the exception of demigods, others couldn't really see or hear his ancestors once they came through. Yet that did not seem to be the case, as the moment she pointed out this so-called 'parasite' he possessed; Rickter's eyes moved from her toward Alistor with pure look of confusion. She could see him?
"Mind your tongue, you craven-" The stark demeanor his ancestor possessed quickly washed away, when Rickter saw the smokey lady whisp herself near Alistor and pluck him by the chain. She pulled him close and for a moment Rickter's ears felt spiked with a ringing sensation, one that dulled his hearing as he felt both his mind and core react to the sensation of her grip. A coldness he never knew felt born within his soul for a moment, as it felt as though the ancestor had been yanked from his tether without even breaking it.
How- When has she been able to see souls like this?! He immediately pondered with a hand clasped around his sternum, the depths of his core shuddering as he looked grimly toward the Lady of Whispers. Alistor also looked highly displeased with the disposition that he found himself in, his jaw clenched as he even hissed like he might've felt pained somehow. Yet was supposed to be dead. Could souls still feel pain even in the afterlife?!
"He's not- a parasite!" How her grip around the chain somehow pained him was also unknown to Rickter, but the longer she held onto it, the greater the magnitude of electricity she felt from simply holding it. Until finally, Lyra felt a sharp sound resonate throughout her entire being, and the resonance bled through into her instead of Rickter as intended. She began to see thousands of short-lived glimpses, each and every one of them crying out as the feeling of entrapment started coiling around her. The most immediate of the memories she soon started to experience, being that of the very knight who's chains she currently held in her hand.
► Show Spoiler
An shambled skeleton clawed out as the one within the vision reeled back in desperation, the grungy bones of the undead creature nearly clawing as it raked over the legs of the boy who scrambled to get away. "Alistor!!" Odison's voice rang out over the cacophony of fire and screams that overwhelmed his auditory senses, the young knight-to-be saved by the boot of a well placed kick as the skeleton's upper half recoiled back from the force.
Having been pulled back from the clutches of the undead, still half-buried as it emitted an eerie roar from it's bony jaw, Alistor felt Odison pull him onto his feet before the tug led into the direction of his left shoulder. "Run, brother, run as fast as you can!" The warning felt accompanied with a sense of dread, as Alistor looked to the older sibling who looked caked in dirt and blood. Blood that wasn't his own thankfully, but the thought of it still stirred feelings of others now lost. Family. Friends. Loved ones.
Above them the Dread Mists beckoned before spiraling downward, threatening to coat the burning ruins of their village as the boys sought to flee. They needed to find safety and shelter, fast, if they ever hoped to survive the attack that destroyed their home; if they ever hoped to avenge everything that had been taken from them.
Though the first glimpse receded just as quickly as it surfaced, Lyra felt the rush of other memories fill her mind not a moment after. Alistor's memories of becoming a Dawnmartyr, of the days he spent training with his brother, and of the event where Odison became a soul cairn filled her thoughts. She experienced the dread of a lonesome existence fill her within these memories, before the blended days of knighthood filtered through after, and another powerful memory seared its way through her mind.
► Show Spoiler
"Back there on the mountain," a gruff baritone voice addressed him as Alistair rested his armor on the chair near his bed, the barracks of the citadel lit up with flaming metal braziers as the knight looked upon a rigid Orkhan, "you were looking for more than just those blood-blighted plants. Weren't you?..." The radiant yellow in his eyes was a gentle pair, matched with the green complexion of his skin and dark hair.
"This again, Bar'el?" The knight pondered with a sigh, relieved to finally have the weight of his cuirass off his shoulders. "It matters not, whatever blight soured that mountain is gone now."
"And still, you have no answers to aid your quest." The Orkhan reminded him with a fold of his arms, Alistor could only grimace at the reality of the situation.
"... It'll be a while before we find any more of those cultists. Besides, I'm worried about my brother more than anything." He admitted as he pulled the strap to his blade off from his belt, the blade he had dubbed Braveheart as his older sibling would've wanted. "If I can find a way to reverse his condition, then perhaps he can be free of this curse."
"You really believe you can bring him back?" Bar'el gave him an honest look of surprise, the unsure yet determined nod all the more inspiration for the Orkhan. "Well... I wish you luck in that regard."
"L̵̨̯͔̹̙̺͖̜͎̣͌̐̀̋̉y̷̨̛̱̹̠̺͇͍̼̹̲͌̂̎͛́͠ŗ̷̨̡͖̦̰̤͓̣͊̏̍̍̂͂̐̚"
The longer she held on the hotter the chain grew in her hand, as the rest of Alistor's campaign became revealed to her in a near instant. She would see the struggles and hardships he shared with his comrades, the loss of close allies on every battlefield, every hardened and waking moment pushing himselt beyond the limit; only to feel the backlash of every battle that Alistor conquered. She'd feel the crippling weight he carried as his life-long search led to no answers, to the point where a fight against the Cult of Mending led to his near-death experience.
She'd feel the weight of guilt sink within her just as did with Alistor, knowing he had lost his brother's soul cairn to those left on the battlefield. Learning what had happened to him as the birth of Oblivion led to the shards she now possessed, and ultimately, the untimely demise of the Dawnmartyr knight as darkness consumed him moments before he nearly cleansed Odison of his corruption.
"L̶̢̢̘̻͕̗̫̠̞̖͙̦̜̞͍̣̲̣͔̥̱̟̫͉̼̈̐̅̄̆̽̄̌̀̄̑̀͊̅͘̕͝y̴̡̢̧̱̤̲̤̠̩̦͙͉̯̫̟͉͇̳̩͗̋̋́̌̒̈́̄̃̀̾̈́̋̍͂͆͂̚̚͠r̶̡̧̡͕͈͎͕̪͔̖̙̗͎̠̲̅̓̈́̈́͛̀̉̈̉͒̐̿̕͠͝͝͝ͅi̶̡̥̻̰̩̲̺̦̭̩̠̪̺̦̻̙̯̻̥̜̘̟̟̞̪̤̙͙̝͋̏͗̍͊̓̏̚͘͠͝e̸̗̜̬̩̘̮͓͌̐̉̈́̿ḷ̷̡̛̪̣̜̞̝̞̳͇̟͉̼͎̜̾̊̌̾̽̓͊̐̀͋͊̌͐̉̇̈̒̇̾͂͘͝ḻ̶̡̢̡͓̬͔̗̥̼͎̰͓̦̲̳̠͕̮͚̟̲̜͂̐̌̂͋́̃̐̑͊͆̓́͂́̑ề̶̡̛͓̖̭̙̮͇̮͔͖̼̟͔̫̲̤̅̾͒̆̍̈́̒̐̑̂̏̓̐̃̋̃̋̏̃̂͘͜͝͝ͅ"
Another presence then filtered through the connection between her and Alistor, and for a moment, a sense of dread overcame Rickter and Alistor as they both dropped to their knees. The voice that reached out to her felt familiar, almost reminiscently so, before the heat in her hand turned into an extreme burning sensation; and the emblem of Eminence shone brightly from Rickter's left forearm.
"I need him, Lyra!" Rickter had urged her as he was completely unaware of the voice that called out to Her, just the overwhelming heat he felt coursing through his soul from where the tether lingered between her fingers.
"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Alistor"
"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."
Re: Glass Spiders
Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2024 8:48 pm
by Chronicle
All Participants
Points: 10 XP (+1 XP thread for Aoren to claim in his seasonal XP)
Loot: N/A
Injuries: Fractured hands and splintered knuckles for Rickter, though given the length of time since this took place, such injuries would have healed with continued application of healing magic and medical treatment.
Comments: Sorry this fell by the wayside, hopefully we'll pick up on the dynamics of this in a more current point of time. <3
