Shrike's Heart (#4)

[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: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[um. what.

what.]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ hey buddy how's that solar exaltation feel ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[ w h a t

w h a t

why is this happening?! he knows what he is and it's not this!!!]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ WELL YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT FAST BECAUSE YOU ARE GETTING ATTACKED BY KNIFEHORSEWOLVES!!! ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[okay he will be perturbed later. time to...deal with the knifewolves then.]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ there are approximately two of them trying to squeeze themselves in through the door and not being terribly successful about coordination, but one of them surges forwards, teeth bared. ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[and gracefully tries to stab the knifewolf, then, blade flashing out in a graceful arc.if he...this power, now, he might as well...do something with it?]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ your sword is sharp—it pierces through fur and skin and muscle and bone like scissors cutting through paper, and the creature rears back, yowling with a piercing screech that manages to shake the room.

it bleeds green, splattering on the floor, and slamming itself back into its companion, who'd just been trying to get in behind it, causing a momentary distraction while they snap at each other. ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[sadly momentary distraction not good enough to try to get away, and going to try to intimidate the night-creatures with the sunlight sword to get them to go.]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ the nearest one recoils back again—it's not smart, but it remembers that it hurt, and it's trying to get back out the door. The other one doesn't quite understand yet, and is trying to get around it to get to you. ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[will poke the other one with his sword, then. to encourage it to leave, too.]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ even just a gentle prod cuts, spilling droplets of greenish blood onto the barracks floor, and it howls, snapping angrily, but another jab forward of the sword and it recoils back as well, following its fellow out the door, creating... a slightly larger, knifewolfhorse-shaped door in the process.

and, impossibly, outside, the sky is lightening; the sun is beginning to rise. ]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[forgottenmercy]

[oh. oh. honestly going to...take a moment to breathe and watch the sunrise, before he will shake the blood off this sword and pick up the parasol, taking the hiltless sword out of it to replace with this one, still watching the sun rise as he does so.

he's usually never up this early to see this.]

Re: THE BARRACKS

[handpuppets]

[ the light fades from you, and from the sword—though it keeps that sharp edge, and seems... newer. you were right, that it's not who you are, right now, but...

well, a little of the feeling stays with you. You gain +1 WILLPOWER, and, soon, the pastel hues of sunrise give way to a clear blue, dotted with a few white clouds. It's going to be a lovely clear day.

and before you, a path unfurls. ]