"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
02-10-2018, 01:21 PM (This post was last modified: 02-10-2018, 01:22 PM by The Creator.)
The author stopped, eyes shifting across the pages that help the last of his Crew of characters. His pen fell to the floor with a clatter from a hand that had gone limp. His breath short in a chest that was tight from the turmoil he had just witnessed. The little notebook he was taking notes in was void of his previous scratchings. A few notes litter the page but then a long, wobbling streak of ink across the page from when he froze from the depth of morbid terror in the stories.
He looked from one to the other.., Ceara, Valensia, and Aurora, frail curled up on the flat of the page.Ceara laid lifeless against the stark white of the journal, still caught her her death from within the story. Valensia was rocking terror upon her face and tear stains upon her cheeks, while Aurora looked as if she were pleading, desperate for hope, but finding none.
This was not the Author’s intention. He wanted help-- he hadn’t realized that the creatures upon his page would be affected so. He thought of how he made them into humans, and how he made them do his bidding, dismissing those that didn’t fit his liking, or just sending them off as if he didn’t need them. But these final three-- maybe he could fix them in the same manner he had made them into his pawns.
He thought of the fairies and how they had instructed him. He wishes them back to their normal forms and watches as they shift back, but they stay broken before him the spirit and life behind their eyes dulled from how it had been at the start of the evening. He had made them live a lifetime, some several in a matter of hours through the darkness of night. The fairies instructions echoed in his head once more “Write a stories beginning or a story prompt on a page and sit back to see what happens.” He thought of that statement and wondered if he could undo the pain, sooth them in a final written statement. His mind wandered to his grandmother who used to have this saying… and she would say it to him at night when she tucked him in, the last words before she would click off the light. It had always comforted him, helped him know, that come morning, things would be better.
He reached down for his pen, eyes glassy with the residue of emotions he had from the last prompt written. He pressed pen to paper and wrote the old saying, praying it would help the lady-horses upon his page.
May the dark clouds of the night shadow all your worries. May the shining stars illuminate your dreams, and may the soft moon be a soothing balm to all the troubles in your life. Good night….
But he paused for a moment before adding a final note, placing his pen down when he finished knowing that it would never be enough.
Go, return home….I’m Sorry.
Without waiting for the magic to happen or to see them fade away he exhaled and rubbed his tired face with a calloused hand. He spun his chair away from his desk and stood, kicking balled up papers across the floor as he walked to the door. His hand rose to the light switch and hesitated there. A small sad smile on his face he looked to the journal but they were gone. He flipped the light and closed the door and the little office faded to black.
The Creator
--The Author--
@[Ceara] - For your themes of red, fire, burning and smutty heat I have gifted you Thermokinesis. Genetic, of course. Give an update if you wish to keep it-- if not, do nothing
@[AuroraElis] - For your themes of healing, empathy, and being a nurturing caring lover I gave you Healing. Also genetic-- please place an update if you want to keep, or do nothing if I have chosen poorly
@[Valensia] - As you are young and have been through so much, I wish to help you protect yourself into your future. Therefore, I have gifted you Diamond Armor Generation. Genetic, send an update if you wish to keep it.
Also, I forgot 1 last round… there should have been a 5th.
@[Faulkor] for 5th you get Raven Mimicry (bird mimicry), genetic please send in update if you want to keep along with the 3 characteristics you choose. If you don’t wish to keep it then do nothing. Sorry, I forgot you last round!
All my exiting questers-- you may return to your lives traumatized, or be soothed by the man’s final written words to you…. Or anything in between.
Thank you all for your lovely words and the time that you put into it!