Into the Void IV
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2024 4:41 pm
44th of Ash, 124 AS
Continued from here.
Lyra's hand gently caressed the cracked stone of the pedestal, her long nails lingering at the edges of the small sliver of voidrillium which was embedded at its center. It was cool to the touch, as most stone was, but when she pressed her fingertips against its rough surface Lyra felt a warmth flutter up from deep within.
"How ironic," A small smile played across her lips, "I made you to contain a life... and now you may very well help to free another."
The Cradle had been a culmination of all her efforts, a masterwork of her craft and a feat of sheer magical brilliance, if she did say so herself. She had spent countless hours in its construction, sourcing every stone, carving every rune, and it had served its purpose flawlessly. Her daughter had been kept save, away from those who would harm her, and now she was with someone she trusted. Now the Cradle served no purpose, and Lyra had allowed it to simply crumble away once the magic holding it together was spent. The power it took to pin a small portion of the Void to the Prime Material realm had been staggering, and thus it was inevitable that the link would crumble once the focal point of all the magic was removed. In all honesty Lyra had not given much thought to what would occur here once her daughter was removed. That oversight had turned into fortune, for in the forgotten wreckage of her once masterpiece were fragments which she could now make use of.
Glancing around the falling dome of trees Lyra first tried reaching out to the magics they once contained. The trees gently swayed at her probing, but what aether she could sense was too small to be of much use. Still, she drew it into herself and the black wood withered and crumbled to dust. She has thought she might be able to pierce the veil back to the prime material realm from here as she had done before, but there was not enough aether left in the scripts to make it possible. She also could not supply the excess needed to fuel such a spell, and the reality was there was little point in it. She already knew that were she to try and step foot outside the void she would be drug back into the prison by force. There was no escaping through the shadows, not in her current situation.
Instead she looked around at the rest of the rest of her reflected demesne. It was faint, but she could feel the connection with this place in the Prime Material realm. Because the void was a mirror of that realm, she also held a certain amount of sway over this place as well. It was a shame it was not closer to her prison. The distance was a problem... but perhaps nothing more than a nuisance she could overcome with time.
A sound from her side drew Lyra's attention back to the tiger that was emerging from the shadow of a tree a short distance away. She was surprised as she had not even sensed its departure, but she noticed it carried something in it's mouth. It did not appear to be one of the shadow spawn. It did not move, and seemed small in the creature's teeth. There was also a scent that wafted from it which caused her hunger to rise to the forefront of her mind once more. As he drew nearer Lyra recognized the red color which dripped from the thing in the tiger's jaws... It was leg, or rather a severed half of a leg that ended just above the knee.
Suddenly Lyra's mouth felt like sandpaper, and she looked at the tiger that looked back at her with a knowing gaze. It dropped the limb and sat back on its haunches, licking the blood from its whiskers as it did so. That was all the invitation Lyra required as she all but lunged for the grotesque thing. Without thought, without considering what she was doing, Lyra tore into the still warm flesh and drew out the ruby liquid within. Her rune flared hot as she consumed the blood, resisting the urge to moan as her chin dripped with the warm liquid. Every last drop was consumed, and when she had licked her lips cleaned she even went so far as to draw out the remaining blood within the flesh with her magic, collecting it into an orb of red which she quickly swallowed as well.
Sitting back Lyra traced her fingers through the wispy strands of her hair, her eyes closing in ecstasy as she felt the faintest bit of relief from the hunger that had plagued her for ages. It was not gone, but the edge had been tapered off and for the first time since her capture she felt as if a fog was being lifted from her mind.
"Thank you." She croaked, her voice heavy with emotion as she looked at the tiger. He tilted his head and almost seemed to smile before curling up and resting his head on his paws. Once more Lyra felt the presence close to her, and she looked at the tiger with renewed compassion as she realized she was not actually alone.
Lyra was not certain how long she sat there, simply enjoying the feeling of having fed. With the blood and the vitality it provided she was able to resist the pull on her soul dragging her back into the prison, and she took the time to simply be for a time as she knew she would have to return to the demon stone eventually. After considering the wards and the sensations she felt from the prison, Lyra came to the conclusion that, when they captured her, they had somehow managed to trap a small segment of her soul within the prison wards themselves. She had not proof of this, of course, but the sense she got from the steady drain was similar to what she felt from one of her soul fragments. Perhaps the connection was looser, or less refined than what she could do herself, but still it meant she was tethered to that stone. It also helped explain how they were able to draw out her power so easily. A part of her was woven into the fabric of the wards themselves, and thus they were able to filter out her 'self' from the power as it was passed through the foci to the world beyond.
She thought on this topic for a while, and reflected on how much easier it was to resist when she was even partially fed... and then another thought occurred to her. Where had the leg come from?
"Are there things besides shadow spawn in the void?" Lyra asked her companion.
One of the tiger's ears flicked and he raised his head slightly to look at Lyra. He seemed to consider the question, and then dipped his head in an oddly human gesture of acknowledgement. That simple movement turned the entirety of Lyra's understanding upside down. She had never considered that there might be other people in the void, creatures made of flesh and blood, pupping full of vitality and strength. Her thoughts then returned to the dark demesne around her and the few scattered souls in its depths.
"Others cross into the Nyxus." She said, looking at the tiger as she asked, "Do things from the outside come into the Void? Do they stumble in, or perhaps brought here by the shadow spawn?"
The tiger did not answer, but Lyra got the sense that she was on the right track. Bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees Lyra considered what this all meant. Before the Eclipse, the Void was not accessible by normal means. It was only when her Em'bra ascended that the Nyxus became reachable from the outside. It seemed like something akin to a cosmological dumping ground of sorts, a place where things simply entered to never leave, but that had changed with the creation of the rune of Nyx. Suddenly it became possible for Warlocks to pass to and from the Nyxus, and more importantly for things in the void to pass into the Prime Material realm.
During the Eclipse the shadow spawn had been ravenous, terrorizing anything and everything they came across. It was not a stretch to think that some would pull things from the outside back into the void. Living creatures once they were killed would be consumed, and their souls trapped in the Void. Without a place to go they were drawn to her demesne, where souls were able to exist without a proper form.
Thoughts tumbled over one another. It meant that it was possible to collect not only blood, if she could find living creatures in the void, but potentially even harvest more souls to her dark demesne to use for her purposes. She could gather more power within the Void itself.
Lyra tempered her excitement, returning her focus to her surroundings. It could not all be done in a single night, but there was more options now than she had before. She could feel the power of the fresh blood flowing through her, and an idea came to her. Raising her hand, palm upward, Lyra began to focus her power there. A thin slit formed over her palm, allowing black blood to bubble up to float between her fingers. Power flared inside her as both Nyx and Vitalis were activated, and faster than she had before Lyra crafted another, much larger blood crystal. Standing she set it on top of the pedestal, imparting the sliver of her soul to finally complete the crystal.
The hunger surged again as she used up the power of the blood she had consumed, but still she smiled a wicked smile. She would need more blood, and many, many more souls.
Continued from here.
Lyra's hand gently caressed the cracked stone of the pedestal, her long nails lingering at the edges of the small sliver of voidrillium which was embedded at its center. It was cool to the touch, as most stone was, but when she pressed her fingertips against its rough surface Lyra felt a warmth flutter up from deep within.
"How ironic," A small smile played across her lips, "I made you to contain a life... and now you may very well help to free another."
The Cradle had been a culmination of all her efforts, a masterwork of her craft and a feat of sheer magical brilliance, if she did say so herself. She had spent countless hours in its construction, sourcing every stone, carving every rune, and it had served its purpose flawlessly. Her daughter had been kept save, away from those who would harm her, and now she was with someone she trusted. Now the Cradle served no purpose, and Lyra had allowed it to simply crumble away once the magic holding it together was spent. The power it took to pin a small portion of the Void to the Prime Material realm had been staggering, and thus it was inevitable that the link would crumble once the focal point of all the magic was removed. In all honesty Lyra had not given much thought to what would occur here once her daughter was removed. That oversight had turned into fortune, for in the forgotten wreckage of her once masterpiece were fragments which she could now make use of.
Glancing around the falling dome of trees Lyra first tried reaching out to the magics they once contained. The trees gently swayed at her probing, but what aether she could sense was too small to be of much use. Still, she drew it into herself and the black wood withered and crumbled to dust. She has thought she might be able to pierce the veil back to the prime material realm from here as she had done before, but there was not enough aether left in the scripts to make it possible. She also could not supply the excess needed to fuel such a spell, and the reality was there was little point in it. She already knew that were she to try and step foot outside the void she would be drug back into the prison by force. There was no escaping through the shadows, not in her current situation.
Instead she looked around at the rest of the rest of her reflected demesne. It was faint, but she could feel the connection with this place in the Prime Material realm. Because the void was a mirror of that realm, she also held a certain amount of sway over this place as well. It was a shame it was not closer to her prison. The distance was a problem... but perhaps nothing more than a nuisance she could overcome with time.
A sound from her side drew Lyra's attention back to the tiger that was emerging from the shadow of a tree a short distance away. She was surprised as she had not even sensed its departure, but she noticed it carried something in it's mouth. It did not appear to be one of the shadow spawn. It did not move, and seemed small in the creature's teeth. There was also a scent that wafted from it which caused her hunger to rise to the forefront of her mind once more. As he drew nearer Lyra recognized the red color which dripped from the thing in the tiger's jaws... It was leg, or rather a severed half of a leg that ended just above the knee.
Suddenly Lyra's mouth felt like sandpaper, and she looked at the tiger that looked back at her with a knowing gaze. It dropped the limb and sat back on its haunches, licking the blood from its whiskers as it did so. That was all the invitation Lyra required as she all but lunged for the grotesque thing. Without thought, without considering what she was doing, Lyra tore into the still warm flesh and drew out the ruby liquid within. Her rune flared hot as she consumed the blood, resisting the urge to moan as her chin dripped with the warm liquid. Every last drop was consumed, and when she had licked her lips cleaned she even went so far as to draw out the remaining blood within the flesh with her magic, collecting it into an orb of red which she quickly swallowed as well.
Sitting back Lyra traced her fingers through the wispy strands of her hair, her eyes closing in ecstasy as she felt the faintest bit of relief from the hunger that had plagued her for ages. It was not gone, but the edge had been tapered off and for the first time since her capture she felt as if a fog was being lifted from her mind.
"Thank you." She croaked, her voice heavy with emotion as she looked at the tiger. He tilted his head and almost seemed to smile before curling up and resting his head on his paws. Once more Lyra felt the presence close to her, and she looked at the tiger with renewed compassion as she realized she was not actually alone.
Lyra was not certain how long she sat there, simply enjoying the feeling of having fed. With the blood and the vitality it provided she was able to resist the pull on her soul dragging her back into the prison, and she took the time to simply be for a time as she knew she would have to return to the demon stone eventually. After considering the wards and the sensations she felt from the prison, Lyra came to the conclusion that, when they captured her, they had somehow managed to trap a small segment of her soul within the prison wards themselves. She had not proof of this, of course, but the sense she got from the steady drain was similar to what she felt from one of her soul fragments. Perhaps the connection was looser, or less refined than what she could do herself, but still it meant she was tethered to that stone. It also helped explain how they were able to draw out her power so easily. A part of her was woven into the fabric of the wards themselves, and thus they were able to filter out her 'self' from the power as it was passed through the foci to the world beyond.
She thought on this topic for a while, and reflected on how much easier it was to resist when she was even partially fed... and then another thought occurred to her. Where had the leg come from?
"Are there things besides shadow spawn in the void?" Lyra asked her companion.
One of the tiger's ears flicked and he raised his head slightly to look at Lyra. He seemed to consider the question, and then dipped his head in an oddly human gesture of acknowledgement. That simple movement turned the entirety of Lyra's understanding upside down. She had never considered that there might be other people in the void, creatures made of flesh and blood, pupping full of vitality and strength. Her thoughts then returned to the dark demesne around her and the few scattered souls in its depths.
"Others cross into the Nyxus." She said, looking at the tiger as she asked, "Do things from the outside come into the Void? Do they stumble in, or perhaps brought here by the shadow spawn?"
The tiger did not answer, but Lyra got the sense that she was on the right track. Bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees Lyra considered what this all meant. Before the Eclipse, the Void was not accessible by normal means. It was only when her Em'bra ascended that the Nyxus became reachable from the outside. It seemed like something akin to a cosmological dumping ground of sorts, a place where things simply entered to never leave, but that had changed with the creation of the rune of Nyx. Suddenly it became possible for Warlocks to pass to and from the Nyxus, and more importantly for things in the void to pass into the Prime Material realm.
During the Eclipse the shadow spawn had been ravenous, terrorizing anything and everything they came across. It was not a stretch to think that some would pull things from the outside back into the void. Living creatures once they were killed would be consumed, and their souls trapped in the Void. Without a place to go they were drawn to her demesne, where souls were able to exist without a proper form.
Thoughts tumbled over one another. It meant that it was possible to collect not only blood, if she could find living creatures in the void, but potentially even harvest more souls to her dark demesne to use for her purposes. She could gather more power within the Void itself.
Lyra tempered her excitement, returning her focus to her surroundings. It could not all be done in a single night, but there was more options now than she had before. She could feel the power of the fresh blood flowing through her, and an idea came to her. Raising her hand, palm upward, Lyra began to focus her power there. A thin slit formed over her palm, allowing black blood to bubble up to float between her fingers. Power flared inside her as both Nyx and Vitalis were activated, and faster than she had before Lyra crafted another, much larger blood crystal. Standing she set it on top of the pedestal, imparting the sliver of her soul to finally complete the crystal.
The hunger surged again as she used up the power of the blood she had consumed, but still she smiled a wicked smile. She would need more blood, and many, many more souls.