05-15-2015, 04:02 PM
and when I breathed, my breath was lightning
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
The last place had been the bang. Screaming horses and roaring monsters, cracking earth and boiling sea. But here? Here is the whimper. The world has gone mute, the color drunk from the world. In the distance the sound of static comes, humming ever closer. She knows that is the sound of something devouring the world.
The wormhole drops her into the sea. Her burned flesh throbs insistently now, pain radiating through her to the beat of Gail’s name. With each step her muscles feel as if they tear, her legs weak beneath her. But it’s not over, and she cannot give up now. It’s too much to hold her form as a lioness anymore. She lets go, bones and muscle and flesh returning to their natural horse form. She doesn’t want to meet Gail as a lioness anyway.
She breathes out a sigh, feeling more energized in her normal form without her traits draining her strength. Looking forward, she sees a mare, and knows this must be Gail. Who else would be here, at the end of the world? The current neither pushes nor pulls on Rhy’s legs. The water is still without the sun or moon in the sky. The only movement is the tremor of the earth; the constant ripples of the water. As the sound grows louder, the world shakes harder.
Everything else is still. There is no wind, no smell, no sound other than their own voices and the static. Rhy splashes forward, even the sound of the water beneath her feet muted as if far away. Why? comes the word as the distance closes between them. As the distance between them and the static closes as well. The sound gets louder and louder, an insistent alarm. They do no have much time, but Rhy stays calm. At least on the outside, though the electric inside her rages to hurry.
There’s something about this place though. It feels almost wrong to rush or scream or yell. Gail speaks in whispers. Perhaps from so many years trapped here alone. Perhaps because everything here is so deadened even screams sound like whispers.
We were supposed to die here.
Rhy stops beside the mare, turning to look out into the distance. There’s nothing to look at. No horizon that tempts the mind to imagine what lies beyond. Not even a cloud covered black sky. Only nothing. It is both magnificent and terrifying.
Why should Gail come back? She doesn’t know this mare, doesn’t know what she’s lived for other than Carnage. If there even was anything other than Carnage. If it were Rhy, would she go home to the man that left her? Or would she stay, would she let the monsters devour her? She’ll never love Kratos the way Gail loved Carnage. She’d never follow him to the end of the world, and he would never take her. But she would follow Kora to the end of the world. She would come back even after Kora left her. Hadn't they done exactly that? Not so extreme, not with their lives in the balance. But even when her family left, Rhy chose to live. She found the Jungle. She found herself. And then, one day, she found Kora too.
“It’s tempting, isn’t it?” she asks, glancing to the mare. “To stay here, to be a part of the end of the world. There’s something extraordinary about it.”
Because it is tempting and extraordinary, and she thinks it’s worth acknowledging this option. Part of her wants to know what is coming for them. The death that comes for them is an adventure. There’d be no one to sing their tales. Not in Beqanna, where they have come from. But perhaps in the next life, if there is a next life.
“But there are also so many extraordinary things about the living world. The Falls have healing waters; the Gates have a mother tree that protects them. The Chamber has seen slave pens and their own magic tree for a time. Every kingdom has changed in both big and small ways, all destroyed and rebuilt. There are whispers of magic in the air, magic that we’ve not yet seen. Whispers of new wonders of the world, because there are always new wonders in world full of magic.”
“He’ll never die. But I think you know that.” She says now, finally addressing the last thing Gail said. “At least, he will never die permanently. Gods aren’t prone to staying dead.” She doesn’t know Carnage herself, but she knows the stories of him, of Eight, of Evrae. Of all the magicians that have lived long enough to have died many times over. None of them were dead.
The static grows louder, becoming a clear sucking sound. The tremor of the earth has grown violent, rattling her to the core. She thinks they are facing the monsters. The impossible emptiness before them seems to grow closer. The electric inside her hums, perhaps enough that even Gail can hear. She’s her own alarm. “But he did come for you. In his own way, anyway. And that is something. I know no tales of magicians coming back for anyone. They come, they get bored, they move on. But not you. He’s never forgotten you.” She may have been the most ordinary mare in the world, but to him, she was special. And how often did that happen?
She sees them now, the others that came with her. They are coming from the sea as she had. Had they all landed after her, or does time no longer move in a linear fashion here? Kratos comes, a small beast in a world of monsters. Lagertha as well, a warrior who can face anything. They move as if injured, but they are alive.
If they are to die today, at least they die together.
The sound of the static is almost louder than her words now. Would their Dark God come for them, even if Gail chose to stay? Or would they face the end of the world together? She doesn’t know. This may be the last thing she ever sees, the impossible nothingness and this mare for whom they have risked their lives. “Come home Gail. Come home for you or for him, it doesn’t matter. But come home. There’s so many wonders left to see, so many stories left to tell. There will be no more wonders here.” Just death. Just the devouring of the world. That was the last wonder they had here. And she wasn’t ready for there to be just one more wonder. And now, all she could do was hope that Gail felt the same.
The last place had been the bang. Screaming horses and roaring monsters, cracking earth and boiling sea. But here? Here is the whimper. The world has gone mute, the color drunk from the world. In the distance the sound of static comes, humming ever closer. She knows that is the sound of something devouring the world.
The wormhole drops her into the sea. Her burned flesh throbs insistently now, pain radiating through her to the beat of Gail’s name. With each step her muscles feel as if they tear, her legs weak beneath her. But it’s not over, and she cannot give up now. It’s too much to hold her form as a lioness anymore. She lets go, bones and muscle and flesh returning to their natural horse form. She doesn’t want to meet Gail as a lioness anyway.
She breathes out a sigh, feeling more energized in her normal form without her traits draining her strength. Looking forward, she sees a mare, and knows this must be Gail. Who else would be here, at the end of the world? The current neither pushes nor pulls on Rhy’s legs. The water is still without the sun or moon in the sky. The only movement is the tremor of the earth; the constant ripples of the water. As the sound grows louder, the world shakes harder.
Everything else is still. There is no wind, no smell, no sound other than their own voices and the static. Rhy splashes forward, even the sound of the water beneath her feet muted as if far away. Why? comes the word as the distance closes between them. As the distance between them and the static closes as well. The sound gets louder and louder, an insistent alarm. They do no have much time, but Rhy stays calm. At least on the outside, though the electric inside her rages to hurry.
There’s something about this place though. It feels almost wrong to rush or scream or yell. Gail speaks in whispers. Perhaps from so many years trapped here alone. Perhaps because everything here is so deadened even screams sound like whispers.
We were supposed to die here.
Rhy stops beside the mare, turning to look out into the distance. There’s nothing to look at. No horizon that tempts the mind to imagine what lies beyond. Not even a cloud covered black sky. Only nothing. It is both magnificent and terrifying.
Why should Gail come back? She doesn’t know this mare, doesn’t know what she’s lived for other than Carnage. If there even was anything other than Carnage. If it were Rhy, would she go home to the man that left her? Or would she stay, would she let the monsters devour her? She’ll never love Kratos the way Gail loved Carnage. She’d never follow him to the end of the world, and he would never take her. But she would follow Kora to the end of the world. She would come back even after Kora left her. Hadn't they done exactly that? Not so extreme, not with their lives in the balance. But even when her family left, Rhy chose to live. She found the Jungle. She found herself. And then, one day, she found Kora too.
“It’s tempting, isn’t it?” she asks, glancing to the mare. “To stay here, to be a part of the end of the world. There’s something extraordinary about it.”
Because it is tempting and extraordinary, and she thinks it’s worth acknowledging this option. Part of her wants to know what is coming for them. The death that comes for them is an adventure. There’d be no one to sing their tales. Not in Beqanna, where they have come from. But perhaps in the next life, if there is a next life.
“But there are also so many extraordinary things about the living world. The Falls have healing waters; the Gates have a mother tree that protects them. The Chamber has seen slave pens and their own magic tree for a time. Every kingdom has changed in both big and small ways, all destroyed and rebuilt. There are whispers of magic in the air, magic that we’ve not yet seen. Whispers of new wonders of the world, because there are always new wonders in world full of magic.”
“He’ll never die. But I think you know that.” She says now, finally addressing the last thing Gail said. “At least, he will never die permanently. Gods aren’t prone to staying dead.” She doesn’t know Carnage herself, but she knows the stories of him, of Eight, of Evrae. Of all the magicians that have lived long enough to have died many times over. None of them were dead.
The static grows louder, becoming a clear sucking sound. The tremor of the earth has grown violent, rattling her to the core. She thinks they are facing the monsters. The impossible emptiness before them seems to grow closer. The electric inside her hums, perhaps enough that even Gail can hear. She’s her own alarm. “But he did come for you. In his own way, anyway. And that is something. I know no tales of magicians coming back for anyone. They come, they get bored, they move on. But not you. He’s never forgotten you.” She may have been the most ordinary mare in the world, but to him, she was special. And how often did that happen?
She sees them now, the others that came with her. They are coming from the sea as she had. Had they all landed after her, or does time no longer move in a linear fashion here? Kratos comes, a small beast in a world of monsters. Lagertha as well, a warrior who can face anything. They move as if injured, but they are alive.
If they are to die today, at least they die together.
The sound of the static is almost louder than her words now. Would their Dark God come for them, even if Gail chose to stay? Or would they face the end of the world together? She doesn’t know. This may be the last thing she ever sees, the impossible nothingness and this mare for whom they have risked their lives. “Come home Gail. Come home for you or for him, it doesn’t matter. But come home. There’s so many wonders left to see, so many stories left to tell. There will be no more wonders here.” Just death. Just the devouring of the world. That was the last wonder they had here. And she wasn’t ready for there to be just one more wonder. And now, all she could do was hope that Gail felt the same.
rhy
the electric lioness of riagan and rayelle
