• Closed • In The Garden of Death

[Nightshade Eld]

Vhalar 15th, 716

Silver moon light pooled in a field of pure white flowers. A flower garden full of shadows and lies, as darkness danced in the corner of the vision of those who came calling. The best way to describe it would be the garden of death. Flowers twisted into grotesque forms. Red flowers flowed in the outskirts like blood, brittle white flowers cracked underfoot like bone. Towards the center of the garden things took on a strange kind of normality as a circle of pitch black flowers guarded those who found a home in the center of death and decay. The scene was completed by a form in the center of the garden, lacking a cloak her wings and legs were put on full display leaving a form similar to an angel or a harpy.

Nightshade hummed quietly, a sorrowful melody that rose and fell as the shadows danced along the corners of the garden matching the tune. She didn't seem bothered by it at all upon first glance. But a haunted look burned in the corners of her eyes. Her wings curled around her body almost like she was trying to protect a flower she was tending, but the flower needed no protection. It was she who needed to be protected. Nightmarish beings twirled about, the shadows screeching out a medley of horrifying songs that almost covered up the sweet notes of the girl at the center of it all.

Despite all of this, the girl remained protected. The circle of black flowers though slowly fading stayed strong in their purpose, forbidding the passage of all things in the garden. All things but one, a watcher who had stumbled into a bad dream. A watcher who the woman at the center really needed right now.

[Mal]

Truth was absent the shadowy whispers that flitted through the paradise in Eld's mind, and the proud Hyx brought that with him as he strolled through the gate, drawn by familiarity. This place, it bore her scent, the half-Avriel Nightshade Eld was here, he knew her to be. With every step, light seemed to pour forth from his pads from the point of impact, wispy tendrils of light ripping into the nightmares. He wanted them gone, they no longer bothered him for the past few nights, so why should he let them exist?

The color in this dream-woven oasis returned as the Becomer sat before his prize, those black flowers at her feet achieving chrysalis, wrapping up into buds, their pigment warping before his very eyes before they unwrapped noisily into bountiful roses of crimson, one of which he leaned down and plucked, breaking the circle. That flower between his teeth, he presented it to Eld, a single offering as his eyes wandered toward her wings, their detail and glimmer amusing him.

Pressing her nose to his chest, he dropped it whether or not she received it, and then sat back. Loamy clouds lazed through blue skies above, not a dark soul in sight set to haunt the dreaming pair. "Perhaps you will find peace as I have, flower-girl?" Mal wondered out loud, sitting back until he was nearly a foot taller than her, smiling with his chin held high. That stupid grin was rare, for him. The wilderness afforded no amusement, especially without the freedoms he craved, now soiled by the Etzori.

Birds flitted through the grove, manicured trees sprawling through their arboreal wonderland as far as the eyes could see within the dreamscape, wildflowers everywhere, anything and everything beautiful the two had seen in their lives. The song of nature played in high hymns and melodic, chilling sonnets, trying to tear their attention away from one-another, to make them drift apart. But Mal remained focus, pulling the quite heroic woman into his attentions so as to hold her as the focus of his dream. "Dreaming of you is the highlight of my night, as of late," he openly admitted. It helped him deal with the march, that he would soon be fighting those he knew nothing about, fighting a war for those he didn't want to serve.

[Nightshade Eld]

Nightshade often showed little emotion past the basic ones. Sometimes anger, sometimes sadness, and mostly nothing at all. Rare were bursts of joy, but Mal seemed to have a strange ability to evoke them. She was unfamiliar with why or how, she had never been close enough to another living being for them to actually make her happy. Hence why happiness was a rare thing. But when she looked up to find Mal her eyes lit up and a smile actually crossed her features. "Hello to you too, my favorite Hyx," she said. She happily took the rose and twined it into her long silky black locks behind her ear. The rose though covered in thorns strangely enough didn't hurt her.

She moved forward slightly wrapping her arms around the great creature before her. Her mind was blind to all the beauty that tried to pull the pair apart, her central focus on Mal and Mal alone. "I have to say I agree, I'm not sure what the last day would have been like if I didn't have the hope of seeing you again tonight. I joined The Journey to Ne'Haer, I have to say I'm still kind of scared. I don't like the idea of working with immortals let alone the fact I might have to fight against one if my luck truly takes a nose dive like it has been the last couple of days. To make matters worse none of my 'comrades' seem all to fond of me!" She laughed slightly, her eyes glinting with a strange kind of amusement. There was still a distinct aura of fear and self hate around the girl, but it was truly weak compared to the glitter of joy that danced in her eyes from simply being around someone she could share her burdens with.

"But you're here, so that makes things better. And when we're both done we'll see each other again. Right?" She said looking at him with a curious tilt of her head, a mix of fear and hope mingling together in a painful waltz that left her both dying for and fearing for his next words. In a way she had been asking for him to come back to Etzos and see her again if at all possibly, if he got the chance to be free she wouldn't blame him for never meeting again. At the same time, it was a plea for a promise that he wouldn't die. Her mood had become slightly dampened at the idea.

[Mal]

Even in passing fancy, Mal still found the touch of another somewhat uncomfortable. He was raised not to touch without vile intent, and to be touched in a way conveying such friendliness... it made him nervous. For all his bravado, it melted away in an instant, and he grew warm against the bird-girl. “Surely you would have been sulking again, as you usually do. I can’t bear to torture myself for that long.” He brew a warm breath against her hair as he sighed, nudging his nose to play at the scent he could remember, coaxing it into his mind.

Their last dream had been muddled and fragmented by the fickle nature of Emea, but now the pieces seemed to fall in place. He could remember more now, the emptiness, the cold. It sent a chill through the glade for a brief moment, threatening to ice over the realm, but Mal shrugged the thought away and fought back with cheeriness. “A journey? To Ne’haer? I was born there, it’s teeming with Immortals and their influence. I wonder if this has anything to do with the Mist Men, the Shadows that plague us?”

His grin shrunk to a concerned frown, cheeks low as his voice dimmed to that of a whisper. “I do hope you’ll make some friends along the way, and that you remain safe. I admire your freedom, but I would be hurt if I found you’d rushed into the fray foolishly against something as terrifying as an Immortal.” Her laugh gave him respite, sharing in her joy as he brought up a paw to hold against her back, something he thought he wouldn’t do. He knew she was still caught in a thick miasma of her own pain, but he couldn’t conceive a way to help.

“Mmm... I like to think I’ll be around for Arcs to come. I’m a survivor, or at least that’s what I tell myself. Lately I’ve fancied the Sea, and at times I consider Becoming a fish. Other moments, the Sky is my purview, and I dream of flying as gracefully as you.” He chuckled harmoniously with the occasion, her head-tilt somewhat demanding to him, even though he charged it like a moth to flame. “We shall, we shall... just promise me you’ll stay alive so we can share a chat.”

Mal’s answer gave him a brief interlude of introspection. I said that? It was unlike him. New feelings swirled, even forming within Emea though he didn’t yet know it was a dream. I’ve never really cared about anyone before, or missed their company...

But she’s right here.

Strange...

[Nightshade Eld]

"The immortals came to beg us aid. Eventually Etzos for reasons I can't seem to understand gave in. The immortals came to Etzos themselves and pleaded that we came to help. And as it's in my nature I was one of the first to show up to the rallying call," she said in a quiet voice allowing her head to rest against his chest. "I'll try and keep myself safe. If there's anything I've been good at it's saving my own skin and finding a way out of harsher situations. Even if I come away with a couple of scars for foolishness. They'll make sure I don't make the same stupid mistakes the next time," she said with a gentle yet slightly bitter laugh.

She listened quietly and smiled at him. "I won't fight an Immortal, at least not on purpose. I might be an overly brave idiot sometimes, but the least I can say is that I'm not that kind of idiot. If I find myself face to face with an immortal I promise I'll turn tail and fly away fast enough to leave little more than a breeze in my place," her tone with light and playful but there was a certain degree of real fear that mingled with it. The idea was one she had thought about before, what if she came up against an Immortal? The idea was in fact a frightful one. She had no intentions of dying any time in the future. That was honestly a fate she wished to avoid. But if she came up against an Immortal how easy or hard would it be to keep herself alive. What if she was given a curse? In her mind that was one of the worst case scenarios right next to dying.

She fell silent and continued to listen as he gave something good enough as a promise. Her eyes danced with a happy light at the idea of Mal Becoming some aerial beast. "If you became a bird I promise I would teach you how to fly. Not sure how I would feel about a fish, but it would be nice to go flying together. I've never really gotten the chance considering how loving and close I am with my Avriel family," she made a sour face, the kind she just had to laugh at herself for.

She curled closer against him, for the first time in a long time seeming blissfully happy.

[Mal]

The news of Immortals in Etzos was startling to hear. It was almost unheard of, and the idea seemed distant, a finely woven tail. And, Etzos supported the cause? They hated the Immortals with a passion. It was peculiar, but why? A recognition of their weakness, that they held little power due to the fact that they now sent a large portion of their forces south?

He listened to her promise, a modicum of relief glinting across the pond of worry that flooded his mind. “I’m glad,” was all he could say, his mind drifting to process other things. The normally bizarre nature of a dream seemed to stabilize for a bit, their two minds working together to form a sort of false reality. An idea crossed his mind, though he would soon forget it, and why he had that idea in the first place.

Most of what he would remember would be about Eld, after all.

Staring down into her eyes as she stared up into his, Nightshade stroked just the right sense of giddy glee with her offer of a little flight preparation. “Perhaps we shall, someday soon, Eld....”

For many bits, did he enjoy her touch, though he seemed to fall silent for awhile. The landscape changed with that of his mind, thoughts torn asunder as their reality intermingled until the ground fell away. They still stood upon a solid surface, but wind breezed by, that garden far below carrying the visage of little dots. “Curious...” Mal remarked, breaking his grip to look down, testing the surface with one paw.

When he stepped down, he found himself falling.

“Eld!” he yelled, body flailing. That sense of falling sent his physical body into shock, and he suddenly vanished from Emea, leaving the half-Avriel all by her lonesome.

Mal awoke clutching his chest, breathing heavily as the thought he might hit the ground shook him to his core. “Eld,” he muttered between breaths, remembering that part of his dream. “I hope you’re okay, wherever you are.”

[Nightshade Eld]

Night reacted quickly but apparently not quickly enough. She reached out to Mal spreading he wings in a vain attempt to try to catch and carry the much larger Hyx. But before she could grab him he was gone. The thought made her entire body freeze up and she felt herself begin to fall. However, for her the sensation was a bit different. Falling, it was something familiar she did a lot. A good number of her aerial feats required her to take a small drop. If anything the sensation was comforting because she was confident in her ability to never hit the ground.

She simply let herself spiral downwards with a bitter sigh pulling her wings in slightly. She was a little more aware of the situation than Mal had been if only for the fact the reality of her current situation still pulled on her. She knew it was a dream, but she allowed herself to forget and bask in the pleasant sensation of being close to one she cared for. This thought that it was all just a dream was the only thing keeping her from panicking all the way out of the dream in fear for Mal. She pulled her wings in completely allowing her body to accelerate in a downwards spiral, a little test to push the laws of Emea and see how the world would push back.

Worry started to hang heavy on her for Mal. She couldn't worry for herself, she felt safer on the journey than she thought Mal was at war. Even though she was the one who would be facing immortals if luck decided to turn against her, and she would be the one without any kind of comrades to watch her back, she still worried for Mal far more. She closer her eyes for a couple bits before opening them again. She was falling through darkness, but no complete darkness. Shoots of light like little stars dazzled her vision and at times made her flinch as they shot past. She could feel herself plummeting out of the sky. The ground below slowly started to reach out towards her, a land littered with strange flowers that looked more like corpses. The garden of death wished her to visit once more? She wouldn't have that, the sweet moments with one she cared for would be sullied if she allowed herself to enter that garden once more as a visitor. She wondered what it would be like to become part of that garden. "Be safe Mal," she muttered.

Nightshade jolted upright after her dream self hit the ground. She quickly almost desperately started to reach for a small book pressed close to her heart, a journal. With frantic motions she attempted to write down everything that had happened in the dream.

[Pegasus]

Nightshade Eld

Points!:

Story: 3/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

NA

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Mal

Points!:

Story: 3/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

NA

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Comments:

Hi both. This is a really interesting thread, and I loved reading the relationship between the two pcs, which is well written and very sweet.

However, I had to detract points from your story as you have fundamentally not adhered to the rules of writing in Emea. Examples I would specifically use are:

Mal remained focus, pulling the quite heroic woman into his attentions so as to hold her as the focus of his dream. "Dreaming of you is the highlight of my night, as of late," he openly admitted

"I have to say I agree, I'm not sure what the last day would have been like if I didn't have the hope of seeing you again tonight"

Their last dream had been muddled and fragmented by the fickle nature of Emea, but now the pieces seemed to fall in place. He could remember more now, the emptiness, the cold. It sent a chill through the glade for a brief moment

The whole premise of this thread, in fact, is that you are consciously using Emea as a means of telepathic communication over the miles, which is absolutely not what it is intended for. You need to be very careful in the future with this as this is not something that can continue. I have consulted with other staff members to be sure that I'm giving you the correct advice and they agree ~ Emea / dreams are not to be utilised this way. That said, I really enjoyed the interplay between your two pc's and you made a very real and honest emotional connection. I hope to see more of your threads together.

Please do PM me if you think I've missed anything or you have any questions!