i’ve been both a saint & a viper
He feels himself disappearing, piece by piece, encompassed and enveloped by the fog and its master, shuddering beneath its deadly yet oh so delicate fingers. Balto sighs desperately, as if air wasn’t enough to keep his own heart beating and his lungs breathing; dark lids fall over crystal eyes, so tired, so very tired. He can no longer put up a fight against their howling chants that accompany the haunting spectres that surround him, just like he can no longer resist the promise of rest from this Darkness that he has found within his forest.
The shadow dances between them intricately, tangible but gone in a breath, fixating around his body and vibrating with life. A life that Balto knows nothing of - only of darkness and damp stone and putrid musk, of blood and shattered bones, and the warmth of her against him and beneath him and all around him.
There is nothing but subtleties of touch against the blue of his skin, gentle wisps of darkness and shadow that perhaps press a bit more intentional than the rest of the swirling fog. But Balto hears him, his Darkness, despite being unable to truly understand how this Darkness has come to be, and he is nothing but a willing servant.
We will rest, comes the reply and Balto breathes out heavily in relief. Finally.
His own demons are risen awake in a deafening chorus in response, not at all appeased by the events that now unfold before them. They clamor their way through the darkness of the woods and fervently move their way across him, attempting to pull him away from what they once wanted him to be a part of. Despite his demons and their tortures, they selfishly wish for him to remain alive.
Balto smiles - a smile that is tired and distant and muddled - as a sudden pressure takes hold across his throat, his breathing becoming rasping and wheezing. Soon it brings him to the ground and despite the way his lungs cry out for oxygen and how his muscles begin to ache with lack of blood, the smile remains.
Even when the world all turns black, his smile does not fade.
Balto
@[jamie]