01-09-2021, 08:17 AM
[div style="margin: auto; max-width: 475px; padding: 5%; min-height: 20px; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 17px;"]Unstable the foundation, new fledgling the peace erected in the burning wake of combat, keen for the first touch that may dismantle and leave only ruin once more. False cycle the supposed absence, held breath all it seemed, tranquillity but a rose tinted cover for the rot.
Brief their time of relatively assured calm, the storm quelled by uprising conducted upon their own soil and elsewhere, exchanged celebration for the effort of repair. Such may not dismantle the entanglement his thoughts had grown, thorn laden those strands lashed together in taunt draw, capable of ignorance when the day permitted means of distraction. Different the night that drew close, nothing there to act as ward, solitary his examination of each in turn. Given once more to them the overactive passages of his mind, a cacophony that grew within volume, the static crackle grown indecipherable white noise.
Realisation slow, unawares caught and forth bubbled sound laden with such, choked that wheezed laughter adorning heavy tongue. Dream the light painted against far wall, a flickering kaleidoscope bearing warm hues, the sharp crack and infrequent pop. It was her voice, above swelling until central piece of the horrendous chorus, the creaking groan accompanying heralding forth the crash as support beams gave. Answer dies on tongue, miniscule and twisted, a broken groan falling from lips curling. There is no aid of thought, propulsion performed with the memory of muscle alone, dark the vision that skirted along halls wreathed in shade. Banished the darkness as threshold is crossed, ravenous the flames that lick along the underbelly of the sky, envelope and consume all it may.
"Elsweyr…" No movement beyond the flame, that cruel cloak that writhes about exposed surface grown blackened beneath wandering sparks, almost beautiful as spat a shower into the still air. Impossible to tell when the cascade began, nor when his throat closed about rejection of reality playing out before until only a whimper fell from clenched teeth. Present others, vein the attempts staged as though quenched may be the flames assured of their feast, the hours drawing each away in turn, spectators all as proven the futility behind their efforts.
Long since gone the last tear, dry now the cheeks he rubbed, a heavy touch once more forcing open lids that wished only to close. The soft strokes of first light allowed silence to bloom, heavy as the final embers burned among the rubble left. Nothing present beyond remains fallen into ash and fragmented portions holding false shape, among the little that may be left, that was if the flames had been kind enough to permit anything survive. Proven false this thought in manner that drew head upwards with a sharp jerk, briefly closed eyes as the world twisted into a mess of colour, a haze given no definition. Spoken her name, remarked upon an impossibility, the movement now of own volition, cranium roughly shaken.
She was gone. The flames had stolen Elsweyr when nothing else may, that which lodged beneath her skin, rested there along veins and heartstrings, dormant as awaited the correct accelerant.
Deny laced tongue as eyes arose, swallowed as she spoke. Changed the voice threaded across her own tongue, the dialect solely her own, remnant of her people held with a pride of teaching begun young and upheld for uncountable days. "No, she died." Sure his conviction, even as voice broke, grown a rasp as the toll of his sorrow grew apparent. Closer did he step, worn now his rage, this impostor incapable of acting as she had though supposedly perfectly performed her speech. "You aren't her."
Brief their time of relatively assured calm, the storm quelled by uprising conducted upon their own soil and elsewhere, exchanged celebration for the effort of repair. Such may not dismantle the entanglement his thoughts had grown, thorn laden those strands lashed together in taunt draw, capable of ignorance when the day permitted means of distraction. Different the night that drew close, nothing there to act as ward, solitary his examination of each in turn. Given once more to them the overactive passages of his mind, a cacophony that grew within volume, the static crackle grown indecipherable white noise.
Realisation slow, unawares caught and forth bubbled sound laden with such, choked that wheezed laughter adorning heavy tongue. Dream the light painted against far wall, a flickering kaleidoscope bearing warm hues, the sharp crack and infrequent pop. It was her voice, above swelling until central piece of the horrendous chorus, the creaking groan accompanying heralding forth the crash as support beams gave. Answer dies on tongue, miniscule and twisted, a broken groan falling from lips curling. There is no aid of thought, propulsion performed with the memory of muscle alone, dark the vision that skirted along halls wreathed in shade. Banished the darkness as threshold is crossed, ravenous the flames that lick along the underbelly of the sky, envelope and consume all it may.
"Elsweyr…" No movement beyond the flame, that cruel cloak that writhes about exposed surface grown blackened beneath wandering sparks, almost beautiful as spat a shower into the still air. Impossible to tell when the cascade began, nor when his throat closed about rejection of reality playing out before until only a whimper fell from clenched teeth. Present others, vein the attempts staged as though quenched may be the flames assured of their feast, the hours drawing each away in turn, spectators all as proven the futility behind their efforts.
Long since gone the last tear, dry now the cheeks he rubbed, a heavy touch once more forcing open lids that wished only to close. The soft strokes of first light allowed silence to bloom, heavy as the final embers burned among the rubble left. Nothing present beyond remains fallen into ash and fragmented portions holding false shape, among the little that may be left, that was if the flames had been kind enough to permit anything survive. Proven false this thought in manner that drew head upwards with a sharp jerk, briefly closed eyes as the world twisted into a mess of colour, a haze given no definition. Spoken her name, remarked upon an impossibility, the movement now of own volition, cranium roughly shaken.
She was gone. The flames had stolen Elsweyr when nothing else may, that which lodged beneath her skin, rested there along veins and heartstrings, dormant as awaited the correct accelerant.
Deny laced tongue as eyes arose, swallowed as she spoke. Changed the voice threaded across her own tongue, the dialect solely her own, remnant of her people held with a pride of teaching begun young and upheld for uncountable days. "No, she died." Sure his conviction, even as voice broke, grown a rasp as the toll of his sorrow grew apparent. Closer did he step, worn now his rage, this impostor incapable of acting as she had though supposedly perfectly performed her speech. "You aren't her."