04-25-2019, 09:19 PM
[font=trebuchet ms]/tw: blood, mentions of death, allusions to suicide
/tl;dr: last four paragraphs
The ashes of the remnant had long since blown away.
The Ascendants had passed on. Though, at least Elysium had been born of its union with Sunhaven. It still had a continuing history, and people to keep its essence alive.
The same was not true of her old home, and she suspected now that it never would be. No one was left, the last one disappearing months ago. Not even the ghosts remained to tell her to join them or else move on.
Every fiber of her being just wanted to sleep- maybe temporarily, maybe forever. Yet sleep evaded her. She had one last thing to do before it all ended, before she might possibly have peace.
What she wouldn’t give for peace. If she could just go home again… not just to the location, but to its former inhabitants. If she could see the bonfires, hear the ukulele music, feel the others’ presences again. If she could meet those whiskey-colored eyes again.
Would everything be okay then?
Her eyes drifted upwards towards the stars, who glared back at her with a similar sense of exhaustion. Even stars burned out eventually. Nothing could last, be it god or mortal or inanimate object.
The moon’s judgmental glare, seemingly unaware of its own temporality, bore down on her as she entered the open field, the scorched ruins of the building looming in the distance.
At this point, her life could take several different directions, but neither would lead far. She might stay here, guarding the remains of her family’s past, until eventually the underworld rose to consume her. She might be struck down by the vengeful spirits the moment she crossed the threshold. She might decide that rejecting her predecessor’s example was... no longer worthwhile.
Breathing in her old home’s air one more time would make it clear which way she would go, she thought. Not for any particular reason, but because she couldn’t think of anything better.
She stepped over a steel beam and into the boundaries of what would have been the hospital.
The moment her paw hit the dirt, a surge of power filled her veins.
Blinking, she glanced up at her surroundings. The ground was littered with arrows, scattered about like acupuncture needles. The walls, floor, even the remaining fallen beams had been turned to pincushions. Feathers, falcon feathers in fact, painted the ashes white.
She stared down at her paws, and the arrow lying at her feet. Without thinking, she willed it to rise into the air. Slowly, it levitated upwards until it reached eye level, and then remained there. Watching it intently, she pondered for a moment.
With a shout, she flung it at the beam across the clearing. The projectile fell a few feet short, and at an angle from the direction she had meant it to fly in.
Still… she had made it fly.
She raised another arrow into the air, and shot it at the beam again, this time landing just a few inches before the actual beam- and more in line with the direction she had intended. Then again, this one hitting the bottom of the beam and bouncing off. Then again, the next one actually sticking to the edge of the beam.
A meaningless ritual, but the arrows had to be here for a reason, she thought as she continued to fling projectiles over and over again at the same beam. And that reason, she suspected, was more than just for herself.
--
A month had passed.
Nighttime was for shooting. With each shot, the arrow felt lighter in her telekinetic grip, and hit closer to its target. Daytime was for sustenance, sleep, and the occasional spar, be it with a stack of boulders or her own shadow. Her strikes grew faster and more precise, and while they would never match the sheer killing potential of a barbed projectile, getting better at close-range combat was never a bad thing.
The sun was low in the sky, the air golden with its light. The water beneath her feet was clear. On its surface, she could see herself. Her features had grown thinner, her figure leaner. Her eyes had a fire to them that she had not seen in a long time. Why? She wasn’t even sure what her goal was. Was her life so lacking that the mere practice of archery was enough to revive it?
She knew the answer to that question the moment she thought of it.
She heard a loud bark from a few dozen yards away. Lifting her head, she furrowed her brows. Within the forest, under the shade of the trees, she saw the glowing figures. Hunting dogs, tall and proud, their eyes a pure white set in their silver pelts, glared back at her.
She did not look away. “What do you need,” she said aloud, as casually as if addressing an ambassador. They were almost certainly here to kill her, but if that was the case, no point in fleeing.
They spoke in unison. “The Huntress awaits you. Neither will leave here until one is slain.”
The Huntress- the figure associated with the moon, as she recalled- wished for a duel. Maybe that was the reason for her newfound abilities- a desire for a “fair” fight, as it were.
She nodded. When the time was right, they would come to regret everything they had sent upon her home.
--
She had stopped keeping count of the days. She had little use for measurements of time; no outside purpose beckoned her. All that was left, at least right now, was herself and the Huntress.
The night before had ended with bullseyes coming as naturally as the killing blow one might use against a mouse. She would never be truly ready to face down a goddess, even a fallen one, but she was as ready as she would be.
The moon was full, and the sky was clear. It was the perfect weather for a duel.
Rin sat in the center of the grounds, her eyes closed, her breathing steady. Arrows surrounded her, ready to be fired off at a moment’s notice. She was alone.
It came in flashes. The stench of smoke. A face-off. Screaming, yelling, crying. A remorseful embrace, one that could never quite last between the two of them. No one ever really stayed long enough.
Yet, once she heard hoofsteps, she immediately opened her eyes, her mind focused.
Across the clearing stood a doe, tall and haughty. The two’s eyes locked, emerald green on sterling silver. “You’re looking well,” spoke the Huntress, her eyes narrowing. “Certainly breathing much more easily.”
Rin narrowed her eyes in turn. “There’s no ceiling to collapse on me this time,” she remarked, standing up and lifting one arrow into the air. “Think you can kill me under the open sky?”
The Huntress laughed, low and harsh. Two arrows lifted from the soil to settle comfortably by her shoulders. “I have no need to keep your soul intact this time. Luckily for you,” she punctuated by spinning both arrows, “blood loss kills quickly.”
Rin did not offer a verbal response, instead flinging her arrow at the Huntress’ chest.
The Huntress swiftly sidestepped, letting the arrow fly past her. “Tsk, tsk, you think you can best a goddess at her own craft?” she taunted, and with a burst of wind shot both of her arrows at Rin. Rin rolled out of the way of one and narrowly dodged the other, its fletching brushing up against her fur. Yanking another arrow free from the ground, she backed up and focused her gaze on the Huntress.
The Huntress casually plucked three- four- five more arrows from a nearby beam. Without a word, she shot the first one at Rin, who jumped over it; then the second, which she sidestepped; then the third, which she ducked under; then the fourth, which she rolled away from; then the fifth, which she dropped her own arrow and lifted a fallen branch from the ground to block.
Dropping the branch and lifting the arrow again, Rin flung it as hard as she could at the Huntress’s front leg. The Huntress, in the blink of an eye, melted into the form of an owl on the ground. After the arrow passed harmlessly over the owl’s head, she took off into the sky, and sent another arrow towards Rin, who stepped back to avoid it.
Gritting her teeth, Rin pulled the used arrow from the ground and fired it at where she predicted the owl would be. The Huntress jerked back, startled, and dropped down to ground level- shifting back into a doe and landing on her feet.
“Not bad,” the Huntress remarked with a smirk, striking out with a hoof at Rin. Rin rolled out of the way, then lashed out at the doe’s side, slicing three shallow gashes into her flank. With a grunt, the Huntress kicked out and landed a hoof square between Rin’s ribs, knocking her away.
Winded, Rin inhaled sharply, scrambling to her feet and assuming an unsteady stance. Another shot flew in her direction, and she ducked to avoid it. Grabbing another arrow, she started running in a circle around the Huntress, who was preparing another shot.
Focus.
With a shout, Rin fired.
In that moment, time slowed down. Rin watched her arrow soar through the air, then plant itself firmly in flesh- the Huntress’ shoulder. Drops of blood spattered from the wound in her general direction, but the Huntress did not cry out in pain, the only sign that she had felt anything being the sudden narrowing of her eyes.
One step landed false, and within the blink of an eye Rin was falling- pain exploding in her front leg. Time seemed to snap back to normal as she landed roughly on the ground, a harsh hiss escaping her. Struggling to stand back up with her other three legs, her gaze flickered briefly to her wounded limb, and the arrow sticking out of the seam between her black and white fur.
She slipped and fell back down, biting back a cry of pain. Her eyes lifted to the Huntress, who sauntered almost casually towards her, one arrow lifted into the air. Despite the blood flowing profusely from her shoulder wound, the Huntress wore an almost pitying smile.
“It really is a shame,” she said, “that you were not nearly as strong as you appeared to be.” With a grunt, she flung the arrow directly at Rin’s skull.
Rin shut her eyes. She couldn’t die here. She still had so many people to avenge. Even if they would never forgive her, she couldn't let the overwhelming injustice against them go unpunished.
Her eyes snapped open, and the arrow slowed to a stop in front of her face.
With a loud cry, she flipped the arrow around and shot it straight into the Huntress’ neck. The Huntress staggered back, then fell to her knees.
With a pained grunt, Rin managed to slowly get to her feet and limp over to the fallen doe. “You could have killed me right then,” she said softly, “yet you let your pride get in the way. Shameful.”
The Huntress glared back up at her, eyes burning brightly with spite. “Do you take any sense of glory from this?” she growled. “Defeating a weakened spirit, at her lowest point?”
Rin lowered her head, but did not take her eyes off of the Huntress. In spite of the pain in her wounded leg, a small smile split her face. “Of course not,” she answered, twitching her ears. “I’m not here for glory. You’re just a means to an end.”
After a moment, the fury faded from the Huntress’ gaze, replaced by what Rin could only identify as satisfaction. “I may have overestimated myself- I may even have underestimated you,” she said, with narrowed eyes, “but my siblings will know better. Enjoy this one... dubious victory of yours. It will be the last.”
The doe’s aura dissipated into mist, leaving only an ordinary flesh-and-blood corpse behind. Rin could hear the howling of the dogs outside the borders. Their echoes grew softer and softer, until they too ceased to exist.
Removing the scarf from around her neck, she looked carefully at the arrow stuck in her forelimb. It didn’t appear to have sunk that deep, at least not enough to bury the arrowhead. While removing it was probably not the best idea, the alternative was traveling several weeks to find help with an arrow stuck in her leg- a surefire way to develop an infection and die.
She was going to have to risk it. Steadily pulling the arrow out of the wounded limb with a wince, she then placed the scarf on the wound and pressed down to staunch the bleeding. As she held down the fabric, though, a sudden wave of exhaustion struck her.
Curling up into a ball in such a way that the pressure would remain on the wound, she shut her eyes and steadied her breathing. She had to be okay. The Huntress had spoken of kin- ten others still in need of slaying. They had to die, if only so that the souls they’d brought to ruin could be at peace.
Whether she could join them or not, she owed them that much.
—
She did not dream that night.
She opened her eyes to the bright world above her, the sun lighting the grass golden around her. Looking down at her wound, she could see that the bleeding had stopped. The odds of finding actual bandages around here were slim, but cobwebs would serve as a substitute.
Glancing over at the arrow that she had removed from her skin, she focused her attention. Sure enough, the arrow lifted into the air and flew across the clearing.
With a satisfied smirk, she turned and walked towards the other side of the territory.
The flower fields yielded enough marigold to apply to the wound, and the trees enough cobwebs to bandage it. It was a temporary fix, but it ought to prevent the wound from getting infected until she returned to civilization.
Passing back through the field of arrows, she plucked six from the ground and took them up in her jaws. Any more than that would be difficult to carry. Bringing along her satchel might have been wise, had she thought of it, but then she hadn’t expected to be coming back.
She departed the hospital grounds, for slightly newer territory.
--
Elysium was the most logical place to go for now.
If she was to continue on the warpath, she could not stay in the mountains. This was her fight, not worth getting any innocent people involved in. Still, she needed a place to rest, and ensure that the wound in her leg was healing properly. Several weeks had passed and it had not become infected, but illness could creep up at almost any time.
After a few days, she could leave, and take to wandering. If she was alone, the fallen gods could not use anyone against her.
With this in mind, Rin halted at the border of the mountains and sat down, setting the arrows she had been carrying down on the ground. Tugging at her scarf, she called out, “Hello?”
/tl;dr: last four paragraphs
The ashes of the remnant had long since blown away.
The Ascendants had passed on. Though, at least Elysium had been born of its union with Sunhaven. It still had a continuing history, and people to keep its essence alive.
The same was not true of her old home, and she suspected now that it never would be. No one was left, the last one disappearing months ago. Not even the ghosts remained to tell her to join them or else move on.
Every fiber of her being just wanted to sleep- maybe temporarily, maybe forever. Yet sleep evaded her. She had one last thing to do before it all ended, before she might possibly have peace.
What she wouldn’t give for peace. If she could just go home again… not just to the location, but to its former inhabitants. If she could see the bonfires, hear the ukulele music, feel the others’ presences again. If she could meet those whiskey-colored eyes again.
Would everything be okay then?
Her eyes drifted upwards towards the stars, who glared back at her with a similar sense of exhaustion. Even stars burned out eventually. Nothing could last, be it god or mortal or inanimate object.
The moon’s judgmental glare, seemingly unaware of its own temporality, bore down on her as she entered the open field, the scorched ruins of the building looming in the distance.
At this point, her life could take several different directions, but neither would lead far. She might stay here, guarding the remains of her family’s past, until eventually the underworld rose to consume her. She might be struck down by the vengeful spirits the moment she crossed the threshold. She might decide that rejecting her predecessor’s example was... no longer worthwhile.
Breathing in her old home’s air one more time would make it clear which way she would go, she thought. Not for any particular reason, but because she couldn’t think of anything better.
She stepped over a steel beam and into the boundaries of what would have been the hospital.
The moment her paw hit the dirt, a surge of power filled her veins.
Blinking, she glanced up at her surroundings. The ground was littered with arrows, scattered about like acupuncture needles. The walls, floor, even the remaining fallen beams had been turned to pincushions. Feathers, falcon feathers in fact, painted the ashes white.
She stared down at her paws, and the arrow lying at her feet. Without thinking, she willed it to rise into the air. Slowly, it levitated upwards until it reached eye level, and then remained there. Watching it intently, she pondered for a moment.
With a shout, she flung it at the beam across the clearing. The projectile fell a few feet short, and at an angle from the direction she had meant it to fly in.
Still… she had made it fly.
She raised another arrow into the air, and shot it at the beam again, this time landing just a few inches before the actual beam- and more in line with the direction she had intended. Then again, this one hitting the bottom of the beam and bouncing off. Then again, the next one actually sticking to the edge of the beam.
A meaningless ritual, but the arrows had to be here for a reason, she thought as she continued to fling projectiles over and over again at the same beam. And that reason, she suspected, was more than just for herself.
--
A month had passed.
Nighttime was for shooting. With each shot, the arrow felt lighter in her telekinetic grip, and hit closer to its target. Daytime was for sustenance, sleep, and the occasional spar, be it with a stack of boulders or her own shadow. Her strikes grew faster and more precise, and while they would never match the sheer killing potential of a barbed projectile, getting better at close-range combat was never a bad thing.
The sun was low in the sky, the air golden with its light. The water beneath her feet was clear. On its surface, she could see herself. Her features had grown thinner, her figure leaner. Her eyes had a fire to them that she had not seen in a long time. Why? She wasn’t even sure what her goal was. Was her life so lacking that the mere practice of archery was enough to revive it?
She knew the answer to that question the moment she thought of it.
She heard a loud bark from a few dozen yards away. Lifting her head, she furrowed her brows. Within the forest, under the shade of the trees, she saw the glowing figures. Hunting dogs, tall and proud, their eyes a pure white set in their silver pelts, glared back at her.
She did not look away. “What do you need,” she said aloud, as casually as if addressing an ambassador. They were almost certainly here to kill her, but if that was the case, no point in fleeing.
They spoke in unison. “The Huntress awaits you. Neither will leave here until one is slain.”
The Huntress- the figure associated with the moon, as she recalled- wished for a duel. Maybe that was the reason for her newfound abilities- a desire for a “fair” fight, as it were.
She nodded. When the time was right, they would come to regret everything they had sent upon her home.
--
She had stopped keeping count of the days. She had little use for measurements of time; no outside purpose beckoned her. All that was left, at least right now, was herself and the Huntress.
The night before had ended with bullseyes coming as naturally as the killing blow one might use against a mouse. She would never be truly ready to face down a goddess, even a fallen one, but she was as ready as she would be.
The moon was full, and the sky was clear. It was the perfect weather for a duel.
Rin sat in the center of the grounds, her eyes closed, her breathing steady. Arrows surrounded her, ready to be fired off at a moment’s notice. She was alone.
It came in flashes. The stench of smoke. A face-off. Screaming, yelling, crying. A remorseful embrace, one that could never quite last between the two of them. No one ever really stayed long enough.
Yet, once she heard hoofsteps, she immediately opened her eyes, her mind focused.
Across the clearing stood a doe, tall and haughty. The two’s eyes locked, emerald green on sterling silver. “You’re looking well,” spoke the Huntress, her eyes narrowing. “Certainly breathing much more easily.”
Rin narrowed her eyes in turn. “There’s no ceiling to collapse on me this time,” she remarked, standing up and lifting one arrow into the air. “Think you can kill me under the open sky?”
The Huntress laughed, low and harsh. Two arrows lifted from the soil to settle comfortably by her shoulders. “I have no need to keep your soul intact this time. Luckily for you,” she punctuated by spinning both arrows, “blood loss kills quickly.”
Rin did not offer a verbal response, instead flinging her arrow at the Huntress’ chest.
The Huntress swiftly sidestepped, letting the arrow fly past her. “Tsk, tsk, you think you can best a goddess at her own craft?” she taunted, and with a burst of wind shot both of her arrows at Rin. Rin rolled out of the way of one and narrowly dodged the other, its fletching brushing up against her fur. Yanking another arrow free from the ground, she backed up and focused her gaze on the Huntress.
The Huntress casually plucked three- four- five more arrows from a nearby beam. Without a word, she shot the first one at Rin, who jumped over it; then the second, which she sidestepped; then the third, which she ducked under; then the fourth, which she rolled away from; then the fifth, which she dropped her own arrow and lifted a fallen branch from the ground to block.
Dropping the branch and lifting the arrow again, Rin flung it as hard as she could at the Huntress’s front leg. The Huntress, in the blink of an eye, melted into the form of an owl on the ground. After the arrow passed harmlessly over the owl’s head, she took off into the sky, and sent another arrow towards Rin, who stepped back to avoid it.
Gritting her teeth, Rin pulled the used arrow from the ground and fired it at where she predicted the owl would be. The Huntress jerked back, startled, and dropped down to ground level- shifting back into a doe and landing on her feet.
“Not bad,” the Huntress remarked with a smirk, striking out with a hoof at Rin. Rin rolled out of the way, then lashed out at the doe’s side, slicing three shallow gashes into her flank. With a grunt, the Huntress kicked out and landed a hoof square between Rin’s ribs, knocking her away.
Winded, Rin inhaled sharply, scrambling to her feet and assuming an unsteady stance. Another shot flew in her direction, and she ducked to avoid it. Grabbing another arrow, she started running in a circle around the Huntress, who was preparing another shot.
Focus.
With a shout, Rin fired.
In that moment, time slowed down. Rin watched her arrow soar through the air, then plant itself firmly in flesh- the Huntress’ shoulder. Drops of blood spattered from the wound in her general direction, but the Huntress did not cry out in pain, the only sign that she had felt anything being the sudden narrowing of her eyes.
One step landed false, and within the blink of an eye Rin was falling- pain exploding in her front leg. Time seemed to snap back to normal as she landed roughly on the ground, a harsh hiss escaping her. Struggling to stand back up with her other three legs, her gaze flickered briefly to her wounded limb, and the arrow sticking out of the seam between her black and white fur.
She slipped and fell back down, biting back a cry of pain. Her eyes lifted to the Huntress, who sauntered almost casually towards her, one arrow lifted into the air. Despite the blood flowing profusely from her shoulder wound, the Huntress wore an almost pitying smile.
“It really is a shame,” she said, “that you were not nearly as strong as you appeared to be.” With a grunt, she flung the arrow directly at Rin’s skull.
Rin shut her eyes. She couldn’t die here. She still had so many people to avenge. Even if they would never forgive her, she couldn't let the overwhelming injustice against them go unpunished.
Her eyes snapped open, and the arrow slowed to a stop in front of her face.
With a loud cry, she flipped the arrow around and shot it straight into the Huntress’ neck. The Huntress staggered back, then fell to her knees.
With a pained grunt, Rin managed to slowly get to her feet and limp over to the fallen doe. “You could have killed me right then,” she said softly, “yet you let your pride get in the way. Shameful.”
The Huntress glared back up at her, eyes burning brightly with spite. “Do you take any sense of glory from this?” she growled. “Defeating a weakened spirit, at her lowest point?”
Rin lowered her head, but did not take her eyes off of the Huntress. In spite of the pain in her wounded leg, a small smile split her face. “Of course not,” she answered, twitching her ears. “I’m not here for glory. You’re just a means to an end.”
After a moment, the fury faded from the Huntress’ gaze, replaced by what Rin could only identify as satisfaction. “I may have overestimated myself- I may even have underestimated you,” she said, with narrowed eyes, “but my siblings will know better. Enjoy this one... dubious victory of yours. It will be the last.”
The doe’s aura dissipated into mist, leaving only an ordinary flesh-and-blood corpse behind. Rin could hear the howling of the dogs outside the borders. Their echoes grew softer and softer, until they too ceased to exist.
Removing the scarf from around her neck, she looked carefully at the arrow stuck in her forelimb. It didn’t appear to have sunk that deep, at least not enough to bury the arrowhead. While removing it was probably not the best idea, the alternative was traveling several weeks to find help with an arrow stuck in her leg- a surefire way to develop an infection and die.
She was going to have to risk it. Steadily pulling the arrow out of the wounded limb with a wince, she then placed the scarf on the wound and pressed down to staunch the bleeding. As she held down the fabric, though, a sudden wave of exhaustion struck her.
Curling up into a ball in such a way that the pressure would remain on the wound, she shut her eyes and steadied her breathing. She had to be okay. The Huntress had spoken of kin- ten others still in need of slaying. They had to die, if only so that the souls they’d brought to ruin could be at peace.
Whether she could join them or not, she owed them that much.
—
She did not dream that night.
She opened her eyes to the bright world above her, the sun lighting the grass golden around her. Looking down at her wound, she could see that the bleeding had stopped. The odds of finding actual bandages around here were slim, but cobwebs would serve as a substitute.
Glancing over at the arrow that she had removed from her skin, she focused her attention. Sure enough, the arrow lifted into the air and flew across the clearing.
With a satisfied smirk, she turned and walked towards the other side of the territory.
The flower fields yielded enough marigold to apply to the wound, and the trees enough cobwebs to bandage it. It was a temporary fix, but it ought to prevent the wound from getting infected until she returned to civilization.
Passing back through the field of arrows, she plucked six from the ground and took them up in her jaws. Any more than that would be difficult to carry. Bringing along her satchel might have been wise, had she thought of it, but then she hadn’t expected to be coming back.
She departed the hospital grounds, for slightly newer territory.
--
Elysium was the most logical place to go for now.
If she was to continue on the warpath, she could not stay in the mountains. This was her fight, not worth getting any innocent people involved in. Still, she needed a place to rest, and ensure that the wound in her leg was healing properly. Several weeks had passed and it had not become infected, but illness could creep up at almost any time.
After a few days, she could leave, and take to wandering. If she was alone, the fallen gods could not use anyone against her.
With this in mind, Rin halted at the border of the mountains and sat down, setting the arrows she had been carrying down on the ground. Tugging at her scarf, she called out, “Hello?”
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