Visions in Blood

[Twiggy]

Dense fog rolls in from the water obscuring the land. Annoyed with her impaired sight, the vulnerability of it, Ahleera squints, turning in the swirling mist as her eyes adjust so that she can barely make out the line of palm trees nearby. Her body jerks as her gaze snaps back....Palm trees...in the Duskwood? Slowly her eyes trail up the tree, a frown creasing her brow, before turn to raking the land once more in growing confusion. The sound of water lapping assails her from all directions as she moves slowly forward through the grass. Water, deep fathomless blue, surrounds her. The mists part revealing the surface of the small island as Ahleera struggles to remember how she came to be here.

We were in the Duskwood, Alendir and I...sharing reverie...*rubs her temples*...nothing...there is nothing beyond that...Her eyes sweep the island again,Alone...Alendir...where... The fog moves closer, converging as a shape emerges, a familiar figure steps from the mist. Heart tripping, she bounds forward. "Seva!" Ahleera rushes to him chest pounding, drinking in the sight of him whole and alive. Frantically, she runs her hands over his armored chest assuring herself he is indeed unharmed before reaching up to cradle one cheek in her palm. Pain tightens her face as she looks up into hollow eyes staring past her, the face in her hands is cold, so cold to the touch. An ache spreads through her chest, hitching her breath...No...it cannot be...this cannot be real... His voice, flat and empty, splits the silence. "I cannot see. I am blind. Blind and..."

"Where are you? What happened?!" Desparation strains her voice as she searches his face.

"Alone." Fresh pain wracks her body, her mind screaming in protest. "Alone now yes...Just I. Just...blood."

Spreading her hands along his icy cheeks, she stares into his lifeless eyes. "No! Not alone, never! I will find you!"

"Blood...so much..." His voice trails to a mere whisper as he vanishes into the mist once more.

Whirling, searching the deepening fog, Ahleera cries out in equal parts pain and fury, "NO!" Her vision blurs as the pale gray fog shifts becoming more oppressing, more sinister. Bracing her legs apart, she blinks to focus, one hand dropping smoothly to the comforting weight of the scimitar at her side as the mist swirls rapidly taking on the red hue of freshly spilled blood. Turning a circle, straining to part the mist with her eyes a wave of dizziness washes through her. The world spins.

Through the swirling chaos, a speck of clarity shines. Forcing her eyes open fully, breathing through the dizzy sickness, she sees a decaying cell, a vision of Seva lying clasped in irons, shackled to the hard metal floor...caged like an animal. Rage tears through her body as she struggles forward "NO!!" The crimson void that encapulates the vision fades to become one with the endless, swirling mist of blood.

Caught in her anger and frustration, several moments pass before Ahleera registers the heat assailing her. She swipes angrily at the dampened hair sagging into her eyes as rivulets of perspiration stream from her face. The mists slow as the world once more comes into focus...another world...the island is gone. Stumbling back, straining for breath in the heat choked fumes, her eyes scan the land in growing horror. The air runs thick with all manner of venomous poisons, the rivers heavy with blood, everlasting fires scorch the arrid landscape black as coal. Overhead the swirling mists have become a crimson sky, pulsating with her every heartbeat. Screams echo in every direction...women...children....begging for mercy...for help.... She clutches her hands tightly over her ears, trying in vain to block the cries of agony tearing at her mind. Through the myriad of voices, an achingly familiar one rings through...Seva. "So much...," his voice whispers along the torrid wind.

On a wrenching cry she drops her hands, turning toward the voice, she stumbles forward. "Seva!"

Again the whisper fills her tortured ears, "So much blood...."

"Where are you?!" Panic and terror lace her voice as she struggles to keep her footing on the uneven ground, rushing heedlessly through a frothing river of blood. "SEVA!!" Clawing her way up the bank, the voice tears through her mind again. Suddenly he is before her, body braced for war, knee deep in an undulating pool of blood.

"So much....they will pikin pay....all of them...blood..."

She clutches his shoulders, trying desparately to break through. "Seva...who Seva?! Tell me who does this?!?!"

Slowly his head turns, his dull eyes turning away, staring at something unseen in the distance. "He calls." Shifting, trancelike, he wades from the pool.

Wildly Ahleera pulls at him, straining to halt his resisting form. "No...not again. Do not listen damn you!!!"

"He calls." His words ring out with terrifying finality as he breaks free of her and begins marching toward a mountain in the distance. Breathless, defeat edging in to crush her will, Ahleera dashes after him. To soon, the mountain towers ahead, the peak lost in the murderous fog of the sky. Without halting Seva begins to climb, struggling up the slope. Frowning as shapes in the structure catch her eye, she reels back in horror at the monstrosity before her. The ground rises, composed of twisted, torn, and charred bodies. Countless faces with hollow eyes, contorted for eternity in unspeakable agony, stare back at her. Seva's voice tears her mind away from the abomination, "Here....here he is..." He stands before a stair hewn into the mountainside, the steps laid out by bones, gleaming white against the charred surface. "I must go."

These words tear her overwhelmed mind from the heinous landscape, swallowing bile as she begins to climb. Struggling toward him, she sees his armor falling away to expose the fragile flesh beneath. Once more she grabs his shoulder, clutching desperately. "This is not you Seva! Fight this!!" Shrugging her off, he tears frantically up the stair, naked now as the last piece of armor falls away. Abruptly his form is swept up as if unseen wings carry him toward the summit. Digging her fingers into the morass of corpses, mindless now to their misery, so caught up in her own, she claws her way toward the peak, terror lending speed if little grace to her assent.

Finally, she gains the summit and skids to a halt. A figure, a demon with leathery wings, stands basking in a pulsing crimson glow. Before him Seva stands motionless as the demon turns a smile on him, "Come to me."

Heedless, Ahleera rushes forward blocking his path. Throwing her hand out she slaps her palm to his chest, a silver ring, the symbol of their bond he placed on her hand so many years before, gleams in the ominious light, its elven inscription bright against the growing dark . "No! You cannot leave me after all we have been through! You are stronger than this Seva. We are stronger!" Slowly Seva raises his hand, an identical ring visible on his finger. The ring shimmers dully before melting from his hand in deep red rivulets of blood. A slow ache begins in her chest, an emptiness spreading.

"It is gone. I am gone." His voice, devoid of all emotion, rends her heart. "I am...who am I...I do not know..."

Ahleera stares back, her face pale with pain. "No. I know."

Blankly, he looks through her. "There is only blood now."

"No! You are Seva Six-blades! Remember!!" She fights for strength as the hollowness of their broken bond spreads, a darkness consuming her.

"I cannot...unfamiliar...the blood."

On a last attempt born from fury and despair, she pounds a fist against his chest pleading, "No! Listen to me! You are Seva Six-blades! Sky Pony! You are mine and I WILL NOT LET YOU GO!!!" Blackness overtakes her as Seva fades from sight. Lurching upright, Ahleera wakes screaming.

[Misty]

*shiver*

I love it.

[Inwintersshadow]

Nice work:)

[Mord]

Should provide for some interesting RP moments that.

I love what you have done with it.

[Twiggy]

Souvenir of the trip. Mental anguish a la Mord!

[Inwintersshadow]

Ohboy

[Mizbiz]

Chilling

[rudy2688]

+1 heheh