Inspiration Without Fear

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We are a small group of friends dedicated to immersive story-building, and enjoyable roleplay in a high fantasy setting. We are a private, invite only group.


    Images in the Night - Liniel

    LSG_Amarra
    LSG_Amarra


    Posts : 77
    Join date : 2015-12-22
    Age : 29
    Location : Orlando, Florida

    Images in the Night - Liniel Empty Images in the Night - Liniel

    Post by LSG_Amarra Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:05 pm

    Images in the Night - Liniel Spooks10

    Her breath dissipated in front of her eyes. Trees stretched up above her head and swept past her lazily. She was alone. For a moment, she could feel how slow her breaths were in her sleep before the lucidity faded into the mist. There was only

    Silence.

    She was, indeed, so very


    very

    Alone.

    She wandered, and wandered, and wondered, and wandered. How could one person be so isolated? There were no birds, or critters, or bugs, or worms, or maggots - There was not a single breath of life that joined hers. Not even the leaves crunched underfoot. Her voice made hardly a sound when she called out. "Hello? Is anyone there?" No. Of course there wasn't. Why would there be? Who would want to travel with her?

    A whistle - No. A tune. It flitted and hid in the leaves of the trees, so far away from her. Agonizingly slow, she ran and ran, trying to find the tune. It evaded her. Mocked her. She heard the gasping, ragged breaths so loud in her ears...... Were they really hers...? She looked back, expecting to see something.

    Nothing. No trees. No mist. Nothing.


    And that thought terrified her even more.

    She looked away, ahead, and forgot what she saw, in hopes of holding her life and soul tight. Her lids grew heavy, and her legs ached, but she didn't want to rest. Her feet wouldn't move fast enough, and the tune started to fade. No, She had to know! She pulled at her feet, feeling stuck in the ground, trying to make them go faster. She cried out in effort and frustration. She had to know.

    Her face hit the rough sand, her feet finally relinquished from the pulling of the forest. Sounds of the sea enveloped her, and tears welled in the joy of finally being with something. Or perhaps it was pain. Pebbles crunched as she pushed herself to her feet.

    Images in the Night - Liniel Spooky10

    Water crashed on the rocky shore, slowly ebbing and washing away the shoreline, even though it had yet to over so long. Yet, she was still alone. Just not as alone as before. The tune accompanied her, growing louder as she walked down the beach. Mist still followed her as well, only giving her so far to see. She rubbed her eyes, trying to see further, but no.

    Now, instead of the forest dragging her to a crawl, she eased her way along the shore. She felt more... awake. Which was odd, in a dream. It wasn't as eerily quiet, and she could hear herself much better as she hummed along to the music. Had she not been so calm, the tranquility that dampened her would have scared her. She felt so little, that not even fear could escape the abyss of apathy.

    She looked up from the pebbles and paused. A well... When had she missed that? It sat in the middle of the beach, useless to whoever had once wished to utilize it; the rope was severed and frayed. But it was the young man that held her attention.

    He played a flute, his back to her as he sat on the edge of the well. He had fair locks upon his head and simple clothes. She almost didn't know what to do; She had been alone here for so long. Long? How long...?

    "Hello?" Her voice croaked. He stopped. They didn't move, each waiting for the other to continue. How much longer? For when he finally placed the instrument down and stood, he aged. His hair dulled of its original luster, and his form shifted ever so slightly into someone... older. She barely saw what once was of his face, before she recognized it in its transformation.

    "P... Paul?"
    LSG_Amarra
    LSG_Amarra


    Posts : 77
    Join date : 2015-12-22
    Age : 29
    Location : Orlando, Florida

    Images in the Night - Liniel Empty Re: Images in the Night - Liniel

    Post by LSG_Amarra Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:31 pm

    "I was wondering when... I hadn't expected..." He trailed off and hummed, his hands busying themselves in front of him. "It doesn't matter. You're here." She blinked, her mouth gaping in dumbfounded shock. Paul. Paul.

    She walked closer, and he mirrored her with a raised brow. "You're alive?"

    He blew air out of his nose with slightly more force than usual. "If that is what makes you more comfortable, then-"

    "You left me there..." Something sparked within her. Rage. She balled her fists, recalling the days she spent alone, hiding. "You left me."

    He sighed and finally broke eye contact. Even looking down, his nose was still up in the air. "It wasn't by choice, Liniel. If I had not, you would have met the same fate as me."

    "You didn't even leave a note! You just left me there!" She threw out a hand in a direction, not sure where 'there' had been. "I thought I was going to die, I hid in the closet for three days, waiting for you!"

    His eyes changed to something she hadn't expected; Grief. That alone dampened the flames of her rage, just a bit. "It was not my intention..." But then that hardened over to the cold stern look she was accustomed to. He took a step forward and towered over her - Him being one of the few that could. "But If I had left a scrap of evidence that I had been there and that you accompanied me, they would have come after you too." This close, she could see the blue veins under how pale his skin was. He eased, but the look stayed, "That's why I've been calling to you." He urged, "Have you really not been hearing this? Have you not been practicing like I told you to?!"

    He took a breath, and let it go slowly. "Fine. Be angry." He sat heavily back on the well, rolling up a sleeve, "How long has it been...?"

    Even angry, it was better than being alone. She sat with him with her arms crossed, "Four years." She dug her toes into the gravel and dirt, thinking on his absence. "They burned Estemen. They were looking for Heretics, but..." She shook her head, "They didn't care who they slaughtered..."

    "Then they weren't really looking for anyone." The smell of blood caught her nose, and her head snapped to look at Paul. He cut tally marks into his skin, new ones joining those that have healed. He stared at the crimson dribbles, anxious about the smell. He glanced over. "Hm...? Oh, this..." His eyes returned to the blade as he wiped it clean with a cloth, "There are few who come through here. It is hard to tell time." Soon, she noticed a sick grin creep across his face, one that twisted menacingly in the ether of the shoreline. "Does it bother you?"

    Her eyes flicked down and returned to his face. "No."

    He watched her, with sick amusement. "I don't believe you." He shoved his wrist up to her face with a laugh, and she had a moment to grab his arm and try to move back. He advanced, standing and keeping it close to her face.

    "Stop it!"

    "Does it bother you, Liniel?!" Now he had a grip on her, and she pulled and pulled to try to free herself. She snarled and snapped her fangs at him, and finally shoved him away. They huffed, breath floating into the air and joining the mist. "Do not lie to me, Liniel." he said in heavy breaths, "Do not ever lie to me." But even as he said the words, the specter faded and his own face returned. "I apologize... but do not think of me as so stupid not to know when you're lying."

    Her eyes were wide, still staring at him. What had she just seen...? "I'm sorry." A breeze brushed by her and made her shudder. The subtle movement made her realize how tired she was, and how long she had been wandering. She sat against the well and stretched out her legs.

    He moved, and her eyes snapped open to watch him. "It's fine. Everything is alright." He said, wrapping his wrist in a cloth. His movements were deliberate, and slow, as he knew she was watching him. Even as he sat next to her, she kept her eyes locked on him. "This world is strange. You will see and feel things that are not there."
    LSG_Amarra
    LSG_Amarra


    Posts : 77
    Join date : 2015-12-22
    Age : 29
    Location : Orlando, Florida

    Images in the Night - Liniel Empty Re: Images in the Night - Liniel

    Post by LSG_Amarra Wed Nov 08, 2017 1:59 pm

    She frowned, "What do you mean...? Where are we?"

    "You mean 'where am I?'" He leaned his head back on the well. "This is a realm where the dead pass through."

    "I'm dead?!"

    "No, no..." He grimaced and shook his head. "I merely called you here."

    Her eyes ran over his face. "You're dead?" He sighed and rubbed his face. "You're really are dead... they killed you?!" She finally took a good look around at where they were. Beyond the treeline, she saw the same nothing that followed her earlier, but lingering on the other side of the trees. The sea was black, darker and darker the further she looked out, and the sky was brilliant; the dark sky held more stars than she ever thought possible, glittering and twinking in pale blues and yellows and reds, and a thousand other colors.

    "I don't know when I will speak to you again. I didn't know that I could make you appear in the first place, I highly doubt I could replicate it. But... I have been trapped here." He looked over to the trees, "That is where the most souls go missing and disappear. I have been watching them, one by one being sucked down into the earth. And up there," He looked up and motioned for her to do the same, "Those are the souls of the living. When someone dies, a star dies. Occasionally one will fall into the forest, but... few have made it this far."

    She looked back to him. "And the ones that do?"

    He sighed. "Some wander away. One tried to go back into the forest. A few have tried swimming, but it is fruitless. The sea is the way back to the mortal realm, but there are monsters and beasts that stalk the water. They've all failed, no matter what they believe in, or who. It doesn't matter." He was rather calm for the nihilistic ideas he talked about.

    "What about you? Can't you kill the monsters?"

    A strange look washed over his face, and he looked away. "I would, if I could."

    "But..." She pressed.

    He was silent for a few moments. "I cannot swim." She snorted. Incredible. The scourge of the world, the man of nightmares, can't swim. He barely turned his head to glare at her as she giggled herself into a laughing fit. "Do not patronize me, Liniel." He spat through grinding teeth, "There is no one who knows how demeaning it is more than I do."

    She gasped for air, "A lot of big word from someone who can't swim!"

    "Do you really wish to meet your demise, Liniel? I can provide, if that is what you wish." He growled.

    "Oooooooh, I'm soooo scared!!" She rolled up onto her feet, and jogged to the water's edge, "I need to save myself, let me run into the water," She dipped a toe into the waves and snickered. Once she was done making fun of him she went to go back to the well, "It's so hard for you to be intimidating wh-" She turned and squeaked; Paul, without making a sound, had placed himself directly behind her

    "Mhm. I suggest you keep the next thought to yourself." He said, with the smallest smirk. "Stop acting like a child." He turned and crunched his way back to sit down. Liniel stuck her tongue out at the back of his head, following behind him. "You could be using this time to prepare yourself, or be more pleasant, and yet you're playing games. You have so much capability, Liniel!!"

    Lin huffed, "Nobody else thinks so."

    He sighed and turned to her once she sat down, dejected. "What have I told you before...? You choose whose opinions matter to you."

    She just couldn't believe what he was saying. After coming back from his training, she had been nothing but a nuisance to everyone. Everyone was protecting her, and yet expecting her to be more than what she was; When she tried to be noble, they dragged her away and coddled her, and when she acted like a child, everyone was disappointed. "Why did you bother with me?"

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