[private] the crushing weight of paradise

[Kagerus]

Kagerus

{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

Who knew that an apparition could command such ruin.

A crown of flowers crushed.

"SOLACE! PHASE!" The words tear from my lips just as what must be Svedka shreds the image of Panthera. How -- how could this be Svedka? But I do not have time to consider the worried voice in my mind, the reflexes of my warrior self overriding the anxious woman within me who fears for the unborn lives of my children, and the life of the woman who carries them.

My restraints find him just as his paws pass through Solace's immaterial body. Thank the Gods. Animalistic anger surges through me to know that this monster attempted to harm my wife -- but the thunder crack of that same wife's voice stills the urge I have to slit his throat where he stands.

Around the lion's shoulders, wrists, paws, knees, throat, mouth, spine, and tail, earthen restraints press. Iron pulled from the depths of the earth below to entrap the predator who laid claim to Svedka's body and mind. As the blizzard which surrounds Solace finds its way back to her mane and tail, I remind myself that this here, in my chains, is my brother in law.

I cannot be the reason that Solace loses a second brother.

Gritting my teeth, I widen my stance and pin my ears, concentrating on holding the lion while Solace moves forward. What ought to have been a voice of interrogation comes out as one of sisterliness and love... One glance of my eyes to her protruding barrel undoes one layer of my cool.

"Give him back you wretch!" A snarl curls its way on to my lips, the ivory of my teeth lengthening into fangs. "Or I'll keep you here until your eyes cross with exhaustion and then I'll rip him out from you in your dreams! And I promise to make that a very unpleasant experience for you." As my sentence ends, the pitch of my voice drops, the nutmeg of my eyes taking on a dangerous red hue.

@[Svedka]