01-23-2019, 10:28 AM
The ground beneath Nocturne shook, jarring him awake from his drugged sleep. His eyes jerked open wide, and he scrambled to still-stone feet, looking around frantically for the cause of danger. But it was hard to run when danger was everywhere, echoing around him like thunder, making the world itself tremble and crack.
Maybe it was for the best he’d left Ember behind.
The earth thrust open beside him, a gaping scar of brown slicing through the vibrant green and flower-studded landscape, and he let out a startled scream and hopped sideways away from the fracturing fault in the ground as lava bubbled up, splashing violently and starting to spread. Ahhh! Fuck! A stray glob struck his shoulder as he stared at the molten rock in horror, and the pain jolted him into action.
So he ran. Away from the slowly spreading pool of liquid death that seared the earth and devoured it, away from the rumbling and shaking and quaking as the ground was consumed by fire. But a little voice in the back of his head reminded him of his purpose, the childlike voice of the fairy that had summoned him to the Mountain for the third time.
And so, even in the midst of fleeing disaster, he snatched up flowers, one red, white, fuck, what were the colors? Red, white, yellow, something something….hell! Okay. Green? No, no green flowers, just grass, and no blue ones either, bu there was pink! Sure! He nabbed that one in passing, and then paused just long enough to look around and see what other colors of flowers he could find.
Orange. Oh right. But naturally, the only orange flowers he could find were right in the path of the spreading lava. Fuck. He really was becoming fond of that word. Ember had taught him well. He took a deep breath to steady himself - fate of the world and all, got a fuckin’ job to do, not gonna let one little lava flow stop him - and charged back into the burning and the shaking and the dying earth to snag an orange goddamn flower.
He almost made it, too. Almost captured one last bloom by the stem, one last thing before he could race away back to the Mountain and deliver his prize to help save the world from the plague that was slowly overtaking it. But in opening his mouth to snag that orange flower, he dropped the other ones, and scrambling to pick them back up cost him precious time. A much larger spray of lava struck his side, sending him falling to the earth, writhing and screaming in pain.
His ice tried to save him, cooling the lava and making it fall to the earth as nothing but hardened stone once more. But the burns were immediate and far too deep, and as he struggled to get back to his feet the lava spread inexorably on, devouring him bit by bit as it devoured the shaking earth.
He woke with a scream, his body shaking and quaking from shock as the earth had been, and scrambled to his feet in a panic.
Maybe it was for the best he’d left Ember behind.
The earth thrust open beside him, a gaping scar of brown slicing through the vibrant green and flower-studded landscape, and he let out a startled scream and hopped sideways away from the fracturing fault in the ground as lava bubbled up, splashing violently and starting to spread. Ahhh! Fuck! A stray glob struck his shoulder as he stared at the molten rock in horror, and the pain jolted him into action.
So he ran. Away from the slowly spreading pool of liquid death that seared the earth and devoured it, away from the rumbling and shaking and quaking as the ground was consumed by fire. But a little voice in the back of his head reminded him of his purpose, the childlike voice of the fairy that had summoned him to the Mountain for the third time.
And so, even in the midst of fleeing disaster, he snatched up flowers, one red, white, fuck, what were the colors? Red, white, yellow, something something….hell! Okay. Green? No, no green flowers, just grass, and no blue ones either, bu there was pink! Sure! He nabbed that one in passing, and then paused just long enough to look around and see what other colors of flowers he could find.
Orange. Oh right. But naturally, the only orange flowers he could find were right in the path of the spreading lava. Fuck. He really was becoming fond of that word. Ember had taught him well. He took a deep breath to steady himself - fate of the world and all, got a fuckin’ job to do, not gonna let one little lava flow stop him - and charged back into the burning and the shaking and the dying earth to snag an orange goddamn flower.
He almost made it, too. Almost captured one last bloom by the stem, one last thing before he could race away back to the Mountain and deliver his prize to help save the world from the plague that was slowly overtaking it. But in opening his mouth to snag that orange flower, he dropped the other ones, and scrambling to pick them back up cost him precious time. A much larger spray of lava struck his side, sending him falling to the earth, writhing and screaming in pain.
His ice tried to save him, cooling the lava and making it fall to the earth as nothing but hardened stone once more. But the burns were immediate and far too deep, and as he struggled to get back to his feet the lava spread inexorably on, devouring him bit by bit as it devoured the shaking earth.
He woke with a scream, his body shaking and quaking from shock as the earth had been, and scrambled to his feet in a panic.