Shrike's Heart (#3)

[idolpro]

The woman before you is beautiful—fair of features, with lovely golden skin and luxurious long black hair, petite. You have the immediate and distinct impression that she's just let go of your hand, and she steps back, and smiles.

It's not quite a happy smile.

"I'm sorry," she says. "There's just nothing I can do, as things are. But the way is there; it just needs to be lit."

You open your mouth—maybe to say something, or to express confusion—but you have to cough, and taste something metallic, spattering black blood onto the ground in front of you. Then you realize—blood seeps from opening wounds in your arms, your chest, your stomach, your face. It rims your eyes and trails from your nose and you feel like you're dissolving—

—and you fall through the ground like it's the surface of a lake, and go down, down, down.

> Wake Up

Comments

Re: > START

[420blazeit]

[ as soon as she realizes there are idols among the corpses she's going to freeze. seeing her own dead face doesn't seem to do as much as seeing that of her friends. she's chilled to the core, and she feels her stomach churn as her mind races with a million different explanations... and none of which make sense. ]

W- What the fuck... [ she shuts her eyes and grits her teeth, forcing herself to take another step. she'll be taking a few swords, but from each of the corpses she takes from she'll kneel down, shut their eyes, and, in her native tongue of korean, says a small prayer; we pray for those we love but see no longer. grant to them eternal rest. let light perpetual shine upon them. a- and... and may their souls and the souls of all the other departed rest in peace. ]

Re: > START

[handpuppets]

[ You say what blessings you can, and gain +1 WILLPOWER. It feels right, somehow; like you've given them some measure of rest. Under one arm, you gather their swords, and you carry on.

What else can you do, after all? ]

Re: > START

[420blazeit]

[ she's going to head toward the running water, since it seems like there's nothing else can be done here. here's to hoping the fallen can find some peace... ]

Re: > START

[handpuppets]

[ The voices grow louder as you attempt to follow the water, occasionally parsable as distinct words in a wide array of uncanny voices—the odd thing is, they feel different and memorable, but trying to describe what sets each one apart feels impossible—

embrace what you desire

—nearer and nearer still. the only way out is—

a house stands on rotted foundation—

Somewhere in here you also find Kohime, but as you chase after her, the voices rise in an overwhelming crescendo, but the louder they get the more impossible it seems to turn from your path. And then you see the hole.

It's only the rush of water that gives it away, in the darkness—a wide, circular hole in the ground ahead, the dark water falling down the edges in sheets, the roar blending with the voices until it's overwhelming. Regardless of where you intended to go, you find yourself walking right up to the edge—allured, almost—frozen on the precipice, unable to advance or retreat. ]

Re: > START

[420blazeit]

[ jumping into things she shouldn't is something she's great at... #yolo. let's do this. ]

Re: > START

[handpuppets]

[ You intend to, but—you find yourself still frozen in place by the pressure of... maybe it's the enormity of this place, the vastness of nothing on the other side of the hole, or the pressure of... a feeling of being watched by something very large, all around you.

There's something surrounding you, in a ring around the hole—impossibly large, maybe they're... buildings, or—faces? But it's unsettling, uncomfortable, in a visceral way, to contemplate for too long.

The voices fill your ears, and then there's just one, and a moment of silence around it—a woman's voice, or maybe a girl's.

Give your name. ]

Re: > START

[420blazeit]

[ she had been 110% prepped & ready to yeet herself into this hole, because self preservation is for LOSERS or something, but she's stopped, and once again the feelings of dread set in. ]

D.Va. My name's D.Va.

Re: > START

[handpuppets]

[ Your voice emerges, but the words are muffled, garbled, warped, and swallowed into the nothingness that surrounds you.

What was your name? You don't remember, anymore.

But then... ]