Amaranth: A Dream

[idolpro]

Once, there was a maiden...

...whose battles called her far from home.
She slew the thing she feared most, and conquered the land that feared her.
As she fought, far away, she knew her children needed guidance.
She knew they faced tyrants.
She knew they faced fear.
In her homeland, things were broken.
So, she held up her hand before the sun, and cast a shadow on the world, and drowned the troubles of her home in darkness.

"Survival's a long reach," she said.

Comments

Re: yikes.

[worthathousand]

[ Amaranth's voice is soft. ]

This... is not why I fight.

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

It's not why anybody does. But it is what tends to happen.

Re: yikes.

[worthathousand]

[ She considers this a long moment. ]

.........I suppose that means that the war is ended.

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

So it has. The carnage should not surprise me so, yet... maybe it's good that it still gets to me.

Re: yikes.

[worthathousand]

Is it such a natural thing? Armies may call their retreat, or surrender, rather than being slaughtered to the last.

[ she closes her eyes; breathes out long and slow, almost like a sigh ]

...And with the war, so ends the Cause as well.

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

It was not... my intention, that it end this way. I just wanted to defend you.

The Cause?

Re: yikes.

[worthathousand]

[ She looks at you, then, expression soft but bleak. ]

I am War embodied. I tried to leave it behind, but it never really left me after all, I don't think.

[ A last sigh—and then she, too, dissolves into ash on the wind. ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[hey what the fuck]

Re: yikes.

[fallingflowers]

[ The earth trembles beneath your feet once more, and at last cracks with a wail of grinding stone that sounds almost like a human cry.

From somewhere within, something small glows faintly red.

Now what? ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[bending down to examine it]

Re: yikes.

[fallingflowers]

[ ...It's a seed.

Larger than a normal seed would be—almost enough to fill the palm of your hand. The main bulb of it is the source of that red glow, which pulses from within almost like a heartbeat.

At its base, the seed extends into a long, thorn-like spike. ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[Taking it!]

Re: yikes.

[fallingflowers]

[ The seed is gently warm, the blood-red glow pulsing like a slow yet steady heartbeat.
Resting in your hand, it doesn't feel like an evil thing, exactly. But it is heavy as a stone. It feels like anguish. It feels like not being enough.

Hey Sekhmet, describe how good and cool you are at assembling information, understanding things, or solving puzzles. ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[Definitely good at it! She has a very good memory, is a quick thinker, analytical, and looks at problems from multiple directions at once. She's detail oriented and plugs away at problems making steady progress, rather than having singular eureka moments.]

Re: yikes.

[fallingflowers]

[ You turn the seed in your hands, feeling the faintly raised ridges of its veins beneath your fingers; the sharp prick of its thorned end.

Find the seeds of what is true, your phone had said. And cultivate them to help her wake.

Whatever your goal is, here, planting this is definitely connected to waking Amaranth up. ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[She takes the seed, tucking it carefully in her back, and thinks about where she should go next.]

Re: yikes.

[fallingflowers]

[ In the distance, towards the meadow where you began, you can still make out the sound of the river, and the dark outline of three figures at the shore. ]

Re: yikes.

[nihilmancy]

[Hurrying over to the shore!]