Post by electriclemon on Dec 14, 2020 19:59:18 GMT -5
<Written in Latin> You expect at least a loud bang the moment you are truly separated from your body but what I got was simply a deafening silence. Sabetha was gone, Gutka was gone, even I felt... Gone. An incorporeal conscious drifting through the plane of dreams and memories like a broken boat. The last thing I remembered was that dark forest, then one I retreated to, to run away from my past. The one where I saw Gutka hide. I made a mistake, and I needed to find her but when I woke up, I woke up to the evening sun retreating behind the horizon. The skies painted in a violent mix of purple, orange, and red. I drifted on an old wooden boat down a calm river. The red sand shores meters away from both sides. This river was not natural. Skeletal arms poke the surface, wailing to be saved. The boat could only hold one, I reassured myself as I continued past them, fending off those that would try to climb on.
The river broke into many fingers but the current kept me going down one way. Branches from the mangroves stretched over me, and some would lash out at me with their poisonous stings, hoping to drink from my blood. Fending off these vampiric plants reminded me about the beast, and its hunger. I thought about it and tried to draw from its strength but like from Gutka, the only reply I got was nothing. As I continued to drift down the river, unable to steer in any meaningful way, I could sense the prowling eyes of a predator following close by. The leopard hopped from branch to branch, narrowing down the distance between it and me. I tried to follow it with my eyes, raising my hands to parry it but the creature was unavoidable. It crashed into me, throwing me off the boat and on to the river. Its teeth sank into my flesh, as it tore away at my throat. Yet, that was not the worst of it.
The waters of the Styx are acidic and the second I fell, I could feel my skin slipping off my bones. The pain excruciating despite the leopard on my throat, as it pulled me back from the river and on to the boat. It carried me with ease, and took me to the shore before pulling me up onto the trees. There was no death, just endless suffering as it continued to drag me across a vast distance. From my head to my shoulders, I was all bones. My hands were bones. It did not care, simply it set me down and grabbed me from another angle. Eventually though, a bigger prize presented itself and the leopard released me in a ditch and went hunting.
I pulled myself and crawled away from the ditch, defrauding the beast from its meal. Here, in this new place, the sun never left its position at noon. The river Styx's red sands stretched across the mountains, covering an once lush green land into a dead wasteland. I could not hear the beast but the hunger was still there. My mouth felt so dry that I couldn’t muster a word. Not that it mattered, as I traveled for what felt like years and had not seen another soul. I walked east, with the red sun on my back. Blood pulled from the pores of my skin, as the desert demanded I pay tribute to Helio.
Unable to walk any farther, the leg bone of a man stuck out from the sand. I grabbed it and used it for support. Unaware that it marked the hunting grounds of another hunter, a lion. This one was not stealthy like the leopard. I could see its silhouette on the hills in the distance. It waited for me to arrive and when I did, without giving it a chance to speak, I struck it with the leg bone on the head, cracking it’s skull. One hit was not enough for me, despite it lying unconscious on the ground. I kept hitting it over and over again, turning its head to mush.
I did not stop, until the sound of laughter behind me became louder than the smack of my club. I turned to look and it was a she-wolf of red fur. She laughed and greeted me, giving me a moment to then feed on the lion. Now at full strength, I rose to meet this she-wolf but she convinced me that together we would be better off. She introduced herself as Capuchin (or Laz among her friends), born in the time of Julius Caesar and lived under Augustus, and asked for my help in finding lost members of her pack. They were betrayed by her alpha and scattered across the Shadowland with no way out. I joined her and together we made it to the Gates of Hell.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Read the inscription on the gates but this was not enough to dissuade me and Capuchin from crossing through, determined to rescue the rest of Capuchin’s pack. Battered by the anguished screams of the Uncommitted, Capuchin and I faced off the countless barrage of indecision and mental exhaustion. As we sat to rest for the first time since my journey started, we met a Pope. Pope Celestine V whose crime of cowardice was the door in which so much evil entered the Church. The man was familiar to me, for I had used his church many times for my own selfish needs. We spoke for years and after finishing my seminary with the Pope, I found the strength to leave.
Capuchin had fallen to the ills of amotivation but with my newfound faith, I was able to raise her and we continued walking down the shores of Acheron. Hungry, we had been feeding off each other. Rationing who eats on what day. This worked when it was just the two of us but as we walked, we found Capuchin’s packmates. Those that were not driven to hunger frenzy joined us and slowly regained their health. We had been successful in reuniting Capuchin with her packmates. We would feed from kindreds too gone to the frenzy and when none of them could be found, we fed from each other. Being careful not to over indulge. Did mistakes happen? Yeah, not all of us could count on years of experience. Capuchin told me about how her people were betrayed by their sire. Those that managed to escape were trapped here in the Shadowland. Many of them being neonates.
Fighting angels and other mad creatures, we had gained reputation and power but it was assaulted from the inside as many of Capuchin’s Harbingers were driven mad. I stayed to help out but it was evident that if we did not keep moving, we would fall prey to the many threats that surrounded us. We abandoned our fortress in Acheron, a place that to many of us was a safe harbor and a place of learning. It was good that they listened because the place was promptly overridden by swarms of wasps and hornets, loathsome maggots and worms that fed on our blood when we slept.
It was through the disease that these maggots brought upon us that I fell ill. Capuchin did not abandon me, neither did the Harbingers. I was baptized by the Styx and they respected that. They made a sleigh of bones and carried me on it, all along the Acheron river. When we reached the Ferryman, he rejected me, but Capuchin was able to convince him that despite still being alive, the state I was in was only momentarily and that I would die. Charon, the ferryman was not pleased but Capuchin, being a scholar herself, called on all laws, declaring that if it is willed and there is power to do, then one has let it happen.
They loaded me onto the ferry, and Capuchin asked that if I am able to make it out, to find a way to rescue them. Even sick, I swore to her that I would, and then Charon took me across the Acheron, into Hell… When we reached the shore, I rose to Charon’s lament who warned me of the dangers on the other side. I thanked him for his help and paid him the only coin I had on me.
The river broke into many fingers but the current kept me going down one way. Branches from the mangroves stretched over me, and some would lash out at me with their poisonous stings, hoping to drink from my blood. Fending off these vampiric plants reminded me about the beast, and its hunger. I thought about it and tried to draw from its strength but like from Gutka, the only reply I got was nothing. As I continued to drift down the river, unable to steer in any meaningful way, I could sense the prowling eyes of a predator following close by. The leopard hopped from branch to branch, narrowing down the distance between it and me. I tried to follow it with my eyes, raising my hands to parry it but the creature was unavoidable. It crashed into me, throwing me off the boat and on to the river. Its teeth sank into my flesh, as it tore away at my throat. Yet, that was not the worst of it.
The waters of the Styx are acidic and the second I fell, I could feel my skin slipping off my bones. The pain excruciating despite the leopard on my throat, as it pulled me back from the river and on to the boat. It carried me with ease, and took me to the shore before pulling me up onto the trees. There was no death, just endless suffering as it continued to drag me across a vast distance. From my head to my shoulders, I was all bones. My hands were bones. It did not care, simply it set me down and grabbed me from another angle. Eventually though, a bigger prize presented itself and the leopard released me in a ditch and went hunting.
I pulled myself and crawled away from the ditch, defrauding the beast from its meal. Here, in this new place, the sun never left its position at noon. The river Styx's red sands stretched across the mountains, covering an once lush green land into a dead wasteland. I could not hear the beast but the hunger was still there. My mouth felt so dry that I couldn’t muster a word. Not that it mattered, as I traveled for what felt like years and had not seen another soul. I walked east, with the red sun on my back. Blood pulled from the pores of my skin, as the desert demanded I pay tribute to Helio.
Unable to walk any farther, the leg bone of a man stuck out from the sand. I grabbed it and used it for support. Unaware that it marked the hunting grounds of another hunter, a lion. This one was not stealthy like the leopard. I could see its silhouette on the hills in the distance. It waited for me to arrive and when I did, without giving it a chance to speak, I struck it with the leg bone on the head, cracking it’s skull. One hit was not enough for me, despite it lying unconscious on the ground. I kept hitting it over and over again, turning its head to mush.
I did not stop, until the sound of laughter behind me became louder than the smack of my club. I turned to look and it was a she-wolf of red fur. She laughed and greeted me, giving me a moment to then feed on the lion. Now at full strength, I rose to meet this she-wolf but she convinced me that together we would be better off. She introduced herself as Capuchin (or Laz among her friends), born in the time of Julius Caesar and lived under Augustus, and asked for my help in finding lost members of her pack. They were betrayed by her alpha and scattered across the Shadowland with no way out. I joined her and together we made it to the Gates of Hell.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Read the inscription on the gates but this was not enough to dissuade me and Capuchin from crossing through, determined to rescue the rest of Capuchin’s pack. Battered by the anguished screams of the Uncommitted, Capuchin and I faced off the countless barrage of indecision and mental exhaustion. As we sat to rest for the first time since my journey started, we met a Pope. Pope Celestine V whose crime of cowardice was the door in which so much evil entered the Church. The man was familiar to me, for I had used his church many times for my own selfish needs. We spoke for years and after finishing my seminary with the Pope, I found the strength to leave.
Capuchin had fallen to the ills of amotivation but with my newfound faith, I was able to raise her and we continued walking down the shores of Acheron. Hungry, we had been feeding off each other. Rationing who eats on what day. This worked when it was just the two of us but as we walked, we found Capuchin’s packmates. Those that were not driven to hunger frenzy joined us and slowly regained their health. We had been successful in reuniting Capuchin with her packmates. We would feed from kindreds too gone to the frenzy and when none of them could be found, we fed from each other. Being careful not to over indulge. Did mistakes happen? Yeah, not all of us could count on years of experience. Capuchin told me about how her people were betrayed by their sire. Those that managed to escape were trapped here in the Shadowland. Many of them being neonates.
Fighting angels and other mad creatures, we had gained reputation and power but it was assaulted from the inside as many of Capuchin’s Harbingers were driven mad. I stayed to help out but it was evident that if we did not keep moving, we would fall prey to the many threats that surrounded us. We abandoned our fortress in Acheron, a place that to many of us was a safe harbor and a place of learning. It was good that they listened because the place was promptly overridden by swarms of wasps and hornets, loathsome maggots and worms that fed on our blood when we slept.
It was through the disease that these maggots brought upon us that I fell ill. Capuchin did not abandon me, neither did the Harbingers. I was baptized by the Styx and they respected that. They made a sleigh of bones and carried me on it, all along the Acheron river. When we reached the Ferryman, he rejected me, but Capuchin was able to convince him that despite still being alive, the state I was in was only momentarily and that I would die. Charon, the ferryman was not pleased but Capuchin, being a scholar herself, called on all laws, declaring that if it is willed and there is power to do, then one has let it happen.
They loaded me onto the ferry, and Capuchin asked that if I am able to make it out, to find a way to rescue them. Even sick, I swore to her that I would, and then Charon took me across the Acheron, into Hell… When we reached the shore, I rose to Charon’s lament who warned me of the dangers on the other side. I thanked him for his help and paid him the only coin I had on me.