• Graded • A Living Nightmare

[Darius Baer]

Arc 720, 16th of Ymiden

Darius' eyes stung as soon as he opened them. The sulfur, which had already invaded his nostrils, and had made his throat feel as though he had swallowed a mouthful of ash, was so strong that his eyes began to water, his already clouded vision becoming blurred. As he squinted, forcing his eyes to remain open, he saw that smoke surrounded him in every direction. It shone with an orange glow, and seemed to originate from nowhere and everywhere all at once. It gave off a heat that threatened to suffocate him, though it never quite followed through, and his lungs strained to be filled.

The human felt something shift beneath his feet and his startled gaze dropped down to investigate. He suddenly realised that he was standing on a narrow rock structure that stretched so far into the distance that he could not see its end. He turned around to find that he could not see its beginning, either; just a seemingly endless tightrope made of rock...

His foot suddenly slipped, and Darius felt his heartbeat thumping against his chest. Somehow, he was able to catch himself as small pieces of rubble crumbled away from beneath his feet and fell into the dark abyss below.

He did not hear them land.

Just as panic threatened to set in, a familiar voice called out, the words echoing their way through the vast chasm.

"Don't fail us, lad."

"Da?"

Darius spun around, hopeful that he might see his father, and the smoke began to part. In the distance, beyond the bridge, he saw a figure, but he couldn't make out its features. Even though his vision was strained, he instinctively knew that it was not Josef Baer who stared back at him.

"Da!" he called out all the same, desperation in his voice.

But as he went to move closer to the figure, his foot slipped again, and more detritus tumbled away into the darkness. And then, barely a trill later, the apparition disappeared into a cloud of orange smoke, and Darius was all alone once more, stranded on a narrow bridge and surrounded by sulfuric heat.

[Yeva]

10 Ymiden 720

She ran through the endless dark, tunneling deeper into the abyss, stumbling over rock and remnants of Faldrass. She could not see the bodies lining the cave walls but she could smell them. Burning. Rotting. As if lit by a fire that had no light. These figures had possessions too, piles of forgotten and abandoned supplies, remnants of the lives they had lost, scrapping, and cracking as the walls inched inward and swallowed their corpses to ash and dust. So she ran. Down the hidden path, fighting with every step that seemed hindered by yet another item of memory. Every breath burned.

There was no hope, but there was a path to take.

She felt it beneath her feet, a soft vibration, and with every echoing footfall, there seemed to be a sparking flame far in the distance. Brighter, hotter. She ran towards it, drawn, and although she tripped across the legs of death, Yeva cried out and threw herself upon the flame and suddenly there was light.

Yeva sat upon a ledge of black rock. There was a tall man looking out across an endless pool of lava. His shoulders were broad, she could not see his face. Beyond him stood a bridge, thin, familiar, fatal. The stench of sulfur burned her nose, made her cry. She rose to her feet as a voice called out that stole her breath. Recognition ignited in her eyes and she searched, squinting through the mirage of heat. The shadow blocked her path, she did not know this figure. Yeva reached out, to brush her fingers against his back, and he vanished in a noxious cloud of salamander smoke. It burned. Yeva recoiled, coughing, eyes stinging. Her vision was blinded by the fog and she swung her arms wildly.

"Da?" the voice shouted, raw.

Scared.

Hands cupped around her mouth, "Daaaari!" she roared, fighting through the smog, "Daaaaaari!"

Lungs constricted, her throat was raw.

She clawed towards the bridge and she could see him. Alone.

In danger, "It's Yeva! I'm right here!" she shouted with fear in her soul, "Just focus!" her breath shuddered, she put her hands on the thinning mouth of the bridge. She tasted tears, pleading, promising, "We'll get through this!"

[Darius Baer]

Darius attempted to blink away the tears that had formed at his eyes, but they resisted his efforts. So he tried to wipe them away with the backs of his hands, but the stinging only worsened. He coughed, his lungs straining for air but feeling as though they were burning from within.

He looked to where the figure had stood, and saw only an orange hue, unable to distinguish one blurred shape from another. Desperate, he cupped his hands to his mouth, even as the rocks shifted beneath his feet, and cried out.

"Da!"

The word felt raw as it left his mouth, and for a few trills, all he could hear was its echo.

'Da...'

And then something else reached his ears.

'...ri!'

The realisation that his name had been called sent a jolt of hope through his body. And there was only one person who called him by that name.

"Yeva?" he yelled back, though the sulfur constricted his throat and only half of the word escaped his lips.

But then he heard her yell again, and he forced his eyes to open wider, leaning forward as if doing so might help him to see further into the haze. He saw more orange, but this time, there was some degree of substance to the shape. A figure faced him, but this was not the one he'd seen earlier. This was a slender female form, and the orange that surrounded her was not the glow of flames but a crown of copper curls.

"Yeva!" he yelled again, and this time he began to move.

His boots struggled to find purchase on the loose rocks that littered the bridge as he scrambled and stumbled, sending scree over the edges of the stone causeway with each attempted step. Breathing became even harder with the exertion. He felt a salty taste on his tongue, and realised that his tears were running, just like he was.

He reached out towards Yeva, but he didn't seem to be getting any closer to her. He squinted as he looked down to confirm that his legs were moving, and they were - faster than he could imagine - and yet the safety of the other side seemed perpetually distant.

And then, just as he was beginning to feel a renewed sense of despair, he heard a rumbling. The bridge itself shuddered, and there was a loud CRACK as large portions of masonry behind him began to crumble and fall away into the abyss below.

[Yeva]

10 Ymiden 720

The cave cracked like thunder, piercing her chest and she jerked. To her horror, the bridge was beginning to crumble, biting after Darius' heels like a game of cat and mouse. Great chucks of dark rock fell, splashing into the lava below to be devoured by acrid smoke and fire, "Run!" she screamed, panicked, the haze of the cavern straining her eyes. And then, before her feet, just as it had in the waking Faldrass, a path before her glowed, from her boots, down the narrow walkway to Darius' and even further, along a a walkway that no longer stood.

She did not think - she should have.

Yeva took a couple steps back and ran without looking down. She ran with fear - fear not of falling, but of not reaching him in time.

She had to trust the way.

Her footsteps fell in perfect alignment to the bridge, impossibly so and she was a force of confident salvation. She sprinted forward, closing in quick and jumped towards Darius, expecting to her feet to touch the magic pathway, but as her body ran into his, they road she so clearly saw fazed away beneath her shoe and her eyes widened at the trickery.

Together, they fell.

Outside of Emea, her body tried to jolt; her eyes struggled against weighted lids.

Yeva spun in the air, eyes widened as she realized she would be the demise of them both and towards the lava they dove from her folly. Closer, hotter.

Consumed. She screamed.

She choked, the burn shocked by ice.

Water, dark as Cylus night surrounded them both as she kicked and flailed in the ocean water. Salt filled her mouth, she broke the surface to breath as a another wave crashed upon her and pulled her deeper into the abyss. A million stars above, she caught only a glimpse. Swim, she realized.

Swim.

She clawed towards the air, gasping, drowning. Where was Dari? Once deep in Faldrass' core, now she struggled to stay afloat in an expanse so dark and endless, it felt as if the world was swallowing her whole. And it was so cold.

So.

Cold.

[Darius Baer]

The panic in his voice was matched by that of his close friend as they scrambled to run towards each other. His fear grew as the ground beneath him refused to let him to get any closer to her, but there was redemption with flaming red hair rushing towards him. He reached out as she leapt, willing himself to catch her, and then...

...then what?

There was too much urgency to make plans. They could only react; instinct would be their guide.

Darius stretched his arms towards Yeva but she fell out of sight as the ground beneath her gave way. He soon followed her, tumbling into the darkness, the sting of sulfur rushing against his face forcing him to clench his eyes shut, though he dared only do it for a trill. When he opened them again, he couldn't see Yeva.

He took a breath, hoping to call out for her, but gravity insisted that the freezing liquid enveloped him and swallowed his cry.

All of a sudden, eyelids that could barely stay open were now wide apart, his body jolting in shock at the chill of the...

...water?

How could that be? It made no sense, and yet, somehow, it made total sense.

The water was dark, but clear. His eyes, cleansed of the sulfur and seemingly stuck open in the freezing waters, could see the icy, white foundations of an island, and, despite having never seen it beneath the waves before, he instantly recognised it.

Ishallr.

He tried to get a sense of his bearings, and he looked up to where he could see shafts of light penetrating the water. He frantically swam towards them, breaking the surface just in time for stone shards to plummet into the water either side of him; remnants of the walkway that had teased them both with salvation.

He gasped, trying to fill his straining lungs amidst the howling wind and angry waves. He felt the taste of salt on his tongue as the distant night stars silently watched his struggle, refusing to intervene. Somewhere far above him, he recognised the flaming wings of Katara, but the diri was flying away, seemingly abandoning him.

His time above water was brief. An unseen wave tossed him back underwater, the currents sending him floundering and twisting as though he weighed nothing and offered no resistance.

Beneath the surface, everything seemed surprisingly calm. The roaring of the waves had been reduced to a mere rumble; the water, as cold as it was, at least shielded him from the freezing gale. The wild flailing of arms and legs that had begun when Darius had first encountered the howling tempest soon slowed.

And then, swallowing his panic in an attempt to avoid swallowing water, he swam upwards again, his movements much more controlled than before. As he did, the shafts of light shifted, and he saw a shape nearby. Pale limbs struggled beneath copper tendrils, and he moved to intercept the woman's descent. Surprised by his own calmness, Darius reached Yeva, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close to his body as he kicked his legs, slowly guiding them in their icy embrace back towards the surface.

[Yeva]

10 Ymiden 720

She tried to speak, to scream.

Her lungs constricted, she couldn't move, her body became a million frozen needles. She felt suspended, and then-

Shattered.

Yeva kicked and coughed, gasping against the waves, focused on the sky. The clouds fading in the darkness. She was choking on the fear. Something grabbed her. She jerked, reaching at the hold. Fingers. Arms. They broke the surface again. Darius, "Ah-ah," she wanted to say something, but the words cut off with every pained breath. He held her and she clung to the lifeline, paddling alongside him as her fear became hope. The wind screamed in rage around them, the salt of the water stung her eyes. They reached the shore and while far from any salvation, they were alive.

She stumbled out of the water, tripping as the water hardened to ice and rock. Her clothes were drenched and each footfall squelched. Great shivers racked her body and then turned to reach out to the man who had saved her, "W-W..." Looking around, she was struck by a sense of ominous wonder. She had never seen this place, but their arrival was only a mild curiosity compared to what stood before them now, "Where are we?"

It struck Yeva that they were no stranded upon a frozen rock and she hugged her arms to her chest. He had answers. She didn't know how she knew this, but trusted him, "W-w-w-w-we need to get out of the w-wind."

We need fire.

We need shelter.

She scanned the shore and then seeing Darius standing against the ice, felt her heart swell with relief. He looked okay, but there was a sense of knowing that lingered. Teeth chattering, she struggled to pinpoint the memory but he had once told her, yet she asked all the same, "You've been here before, haven't you?"

[Darius Baer]

Darius could feel the smaller form of Yeva struggling and fighting his embrace. He could feel her fingers desperately trying to pry his away. He wanted to stop her; to to cup her face and turn her head and show her that he had friendly, familiar eyes.

Perhaps that would help to calm her.

But in order to do that, he would have to stop focusing on swimming. His legs were fatigued, begging him for a rest, but he knew that that would mean they would go numb and fail him.

If he did anything other than swim towards the surface, they would both be doomed.

Mercifully, they somehow reached the surface, and Yeva finally stopped fighting him. No longer opposed, they struggled together, gulping for air as they floundered within the currents and edging themselves towards the icy shore.

At one point, Darius saw a topsail clinging to the mast of large ship. He turned towards it, but a wave washed over him, and the next time he surfaced, the ship had vanished.

Fear gripped him as he and his Rharnian friend struggled to get to Ishallr. Cliffs of ice towered above them, even when they were still at sea; their giant forms loomed over them all the more as they got closer.

In the chaos of the choppy waves thrashing themselves against walls of ice, Darius' grip on Yeva loosened and then slipped. Desperately, he grabbed at her, but she eluded him. By the time he reached the shore and clambered onto his hands and knees, he no longer knew where she was.

So it came as an immense relief that he saw her, already upon Ishallr and waiting for him. She looked as though she might freeze, with her clothing soaked through and her teeth chattering. Her hair, which usually shone copper in the sunlight, was a deep, dark red that clung to her scalp and face. Similarly Darius' blond hair and beard had become matted, and he looked down as freezing salt water dripped onto the ice below.

He was still on all fours when his friend asked him where they were, and without looking up, he spoke the name that had been echoing through his mind since shortly after he'd landed in the water: "Ishallr."

Somehow, then, he forced himself up onto his feet, and he approached Yeva, whose trembling form belied a resilience that Darius knew to exist.

When she spoke of fire and shelter, he nodded in silence and, without another thought, he reached out, took her hand, and rushed towards a nearby cliff. The winds that had thrown waves over them at sea now swirled around the steep walls of ice, howling an incessant and almost deafening lament.

As they neared the cliff, flakes of snow clinging to their wet forms, the entrance of a cave began to reveal itself. The mouth began as a small, dark shadow against the large, white backdrop, but it grew as they neared it, and it soon swallowed them into its promise of shelter. Immediately, the wind released them from its grasp, its howling still audible, but seemingly distant.

Darius gasped, suddenly feeling the exertion of what adrenaline had allowed them to endure. He released Yeva's hand, but pulled her into another embrace borne of sheer relief.

After his heart stopped thumping, he was able to make out another sound. The crackling of a fire echoed from deeper within the cave, and it was only then that the mariner realised there were orange lights and tall shadows dancing on the walls of the cave. He broke the embrace, turning to see a tall tree, more than twice his height, its branches ablaze. Somehow, the flames did not consume its branches, but gave off enough warmth to give both of them an opportunity to regain feeling in their extremities. Recognising it from an earlier expedition, Darius stared up at the Yellow Dragon Tree for a few trills before he began to feel its heat.

At the base of the tree, safe from the flames, sat two sets of clothing. They were identical in every way to the attire that Darius and Yeva wore, except that they were neatly folded and decidedly dry. Without thinking, the bearded blond began to remove his coat before sending an awkward glance in the redhead's direction. He stopped, then, and gestured towards the clothing on the ground. He wished he could disappear somehow, but all he could do was turn his back to the tree and stare out at the storm so that she could have a modicum of privacy.

[Yeva]

10 Ymiden 720

Wrapped in Darius' arms within the cave, Yeva tried to steady her breathing by listening to the rhythm beating from the sailor's chest. Thump, thump thump. It was a soothing sound, an echo of life. Of survival. She let it drum away from the fear as the word loomed around them, her eyes peeking past the protection of his embrace to observe the ice around them.

Ishallr.

Yeva pulled back and followed his gaze to the orange glow, shimmering like a sunset on the glass. Most remarkable the enormous tree burned with radiant warmth as if it had been there all along, waiting for them. They moved in silence towards it, Yeva in awe, as she reached out to gain feeling in her fingers. She stepped closer, leaning into the heat as it kissed her cheeks. At her side, Darius' moved, his clothing squelching loudly as he peeled off his coat and dropped it into a soaked pile. She began to wring out her hair, looking down to see the answer to her unspoken question.

Immediately, it made sense.

From her peripheral, Yeva could see Darius turn away from her and she knew without asking.

Clothes.

Time to get dressed.

Quickly, Yeva began to peel away the cloak and clothing, fighting as it clung to her skin. Each article removed was a weight lifted from her skin and the cold tepid air sent goosebumps along her exposed flesh. She shuddered and then crouched, shaking open each piece, half-naked as she pulled up her hair and wrestled the blouse over her head. Her boots were removed next, her fingers fumbling with the laces before she straightened to kick them away and wiggle out of her pants. Socks were torn from her bright pink toes and she glimpsed over only once when it sounded as if her companion was quieting. Was he already done? Yeva caught only a glimpse of skin, cast in orange silhouette- hip or ribcage, maybe? - she tore away her gaze before she could come to any realization and shivered as she finished the last of her dressing.

"I-I'm decent," she announced, focusing on the fire before she could be tempted to looking again. Yeva had never seen a naked man outside of the Order's clinic and she certainly hadn't stripped and redressed in the vicinity prior. In spite of her curiosity, Darius had shown her respect and she would offer the same. She lifted her hands to cover her eyes, removing any sort of temptation, "You can turn around," she said, nudging her wet clothes to the side with a barefoot and settling amidst the dry patch of ground by the fire, face still covered, "I trust you."

[Darius Baer]

If the flaming tree itself hadn't been enough to keep Darius warm, then his blushing cheeks might have sufficed.

He hadn't intended for things to be this way, of course, but as he turned away from the tree and began to wring out his clothes, the cave wall was lit up by the flames and a silhouette flickered and danced upon its icy surface. The bearded blond let his eyes linger for longer than he would have liked to admit, as the figure removed its coat and began to peel off the next layer of clothing. Despite the discomfort of the situation, his breath caught in his throat. There was a way in which the shadow shifted; its curves and the flow of movement. Darius was taken back to the night he and Yeva had met, standing outside the Knight's Rest, and how pretty she had appeared through the thin haze of alcohol...

A pang of guilt sent his gaze down to his feet, and for a few moments he remained there, static, sniffing frozen by the very ice that surrounded them. But the dripping from his clothes drew his attention back to the present, and he slowly peeled his sodden layers from his broad frame and dropped them onto the floor of the cave. Despite being protected from the wind outside and with the warmth of the burning tree at his back, there was still a chill to the air that wrapped around his naked form. It sent a shiver through him as he bent down to collect his alternative set of clothing and as he pulled each article on, he could feel the warmth of tree, as if its very flames were imbued within each individual stitch.

The sudden change in temperature sent a sensation through his form, starting at his shoulders and moving downwards, his back muscles twitching as warmth slowly enshrouded him.

Only one or two trills later, he heard Yeva's voice, and, at her invitation, he turned to face her. With both of them now fully clothed, Darius joined his friend and banished his earlier thoughts of the dancing shadow. The flames of the tree remained unabated, basking them both in its orange glow. He began to relax, relieved to be safe from the storm and from the waves and the sulfur before it, and a gentle grin began to stretch across his face.

But then a light beyond the tree caught his eye, and then another, and then a handful more. They were small, like the stars in the night sky, and green, and they had quickly captured his attention.

"Can you see those lights?" he asked Yeva, his voice barely beyond a whisper. "Shall we take a look?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the mariner began to move slowly around the tree and further into the cave, towards the luminous spots beyond.

Darius reached out for Yeva's hand but felt nothing. Curious, he turned to look at her, but she was no longer there. Only her soaking clothes remained, neatly folded in a pile and with a puddle of water forming around them.

Confused, the bearded blond turned back towards the lights, and found them to be larger, brighter, and far more numerous than before. He lifted his hands to shield his eyes, and the light was so intense that he found himself taking a step backwards to brace himself.

In doing so, he tripped over a root of the tree and tumbled. But the ground did not catch him. Instead, it cracked apart to form a ravine, as if Ishallr itself was trying to duck out of the way.

Freezing wind stung Darius' face and roared in his ears as he tumbled head over heels, over and over again. He opened his eyes just in time to see the dark ocean rushing up to meet him, and he tensed his body for the inevitable impact.

The Scalvorian cried out in fright. His eyes shot open. Darkness surrounded him, but there was no wind. And then he realised he was not tumbling at all. In fact, he was lying in his own bed. His heart was racing, and the only moisture he felt was the cold sweat that had formed in his sleep.

He stated into the darkness, and tried to calm his breathing. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon.

[Jackalope]

Experience: +15 xp

Knowledge:


Skillplay: Appropriate to level.

Loot: No..
Injuries/Overstepping: None.
Renown: None.
Wealth Points: None.
Collaboration: no
Magic Experience?: No.

Comments:

Having had a PC in that thread with Yeva and Darius under Faldrass, reading the opening part of this thread was a blast from the past. And the surreal, nightmarish elements added to the setting were quite effective.

As happens so often in dreams, things just go from one to the other without any particular rhyme or reason. The transition from infernal fire and brimstone to the frigid, dark waters of Ishallr was suitably jarring and scary. Describing how Yeva initially tries to fight off Darius’ attempt to pull her out of the water was a believable touch and added suspense.

The scene in the cave, with its awkwardness and sexual tension, was good. Darius catching himself watching Yeva’s silhouette made me smile.

It seems like you guys had to cut this thread short, even though it feels complete enough.

Enjoy your rewards!