08-14-2020, 05:25 PM
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cinzel+Decorative|Yanone+Kaffeesatz&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"><div style="box-shadow:0px 0px 5px #000,0px 0px 10px #000;margin:auto;background:linear-gradient(to bottom,rgba(0,0,0,0)100px,rgba(31,32,31,1)400px),url('https://i.postimg.cc/3JX2MMcJ/13-Heron-Cendre-Vivienne-B.jpg') top no-repeat;background-size:600px auto;width:580px;border:1px solid #000;padding:200px 10px 0px 10px;">
<div style="text-align:center;padding:0px 0px 80px 40px;font:72px cinzel decorative;letter-spacing:60px;color:rgba(250,250,250,0.25);">echis</div>
<div style="border:3px double #eee;border-radius:35%/35px 35px 0px 0px;border-top:0px;border-bottom:0px;padding:10px;color:#999;font-face:times new roman;"><div style="font:12px yanone kaffeesatz;text-align:center;padding:5px 5px 10px 5px;">“ I will love you until we run out of mornings. Then I will love you in the dark. ”</div>
The air feels cold and stale across her skin, like an old cellar that has fallen into disuse. She perks her ears at his words and tilts her head as he explains her goal just a little further ahead, in the thick fog looming before her. A shiver crawls through her bones when he laughs but she steels herself against the building fear. She must not sink into the despair of this world.
Echis steps forward into the fog with her chin held high. It doesn’t take long for that insectile buzzing to find her. Initially, she doesn’t find it so bad. Why had Carnage seemed so hesitant about it? She squints as though it might help her see better when she feels a pinch at the back on her thigh. A squeak of surprise finds her lips and she spins to see what has assaulted her. Yet, there is only more fog. Her small ears lay flat against her head.
“<I>Please do not do that,</i>” she insists, slowly turning to continue on her way. A second pinch, then, to her side. She skitters away from the nip and a shameful whimper leaves her. The thick feeling of terror oozes over her. “<I>I’ll bite you! I really will!</i>” Her voice quakes noticeably.
Somewhere in the fog, a shriek cries out in pain. Echis startles and bursts into a run in the direction of the buzzing noise, as its maddening tune is decidedly better than whatever pursues her. She can hear its footfalls galloping behind her as the beast continues howling in agony and rage. Sobs rattle through her as the buzzing burrows deeper into her mind and devours her every thought. It leaves no room for her to think or plan, only to flee with fat tears rolling down her small face. Her scales emerge in waves across her body but the afterlife peels them from her skin so they scatter like flower petals on the wind. There is no safety to be found here.
Echis spares one look behind her and the terrible beast is only a few paces behind now. It looks like it had been a normal creature at some point, but that horrible buzzing chews the thought apart as quickly as it occurs to her. Her basest instincts tell her only of its snapping jaws and the sickly sweet smell of rot. It would have her become one with it, to share in its despair.
The buzzing grows too great until she can hardly focus her eyes on the steps ahead. She tumbles to the ground just a few steps shy of the sudden cliff. Echis cries out in fear and braces herself to be devoured by the awful thing, but its lumbering form is too dire to stop in time to snatch her up. Instead, her pursuer throws itself right off the edge. Somewhere between the deafening buzzing and her spinning head, she can hear it as it plummets to some infinite descent, crying out for help until it has fallen too far to be heard any longer.
Echis lays there a while longer and lets her aching sobs roll through her still. The buzzing consumes the last of her mind as she dumbly stares over that cliff’s edge, not even realizing she’s rising onto her hooves.</div></div>
<div style="text-align:center;padding:0px 0px 80px 40px;font:72px cinzel decorative;letter-spacing:60px;color:rgba(250,250,250,0.25);">echis</div>
<div style="border:3px double #eee;border-radius:35%/35px 35px 0px 0px;border-top:0px;border-bottom:0px;padding:10px;color:#999;font-face:times new roman;"><div style="font:12px yanone kaffeesatz;text-align:center;padding:5px 5px 10px 5px;">“ I will love you until we run out of mornings. Then I will love you in the dark. ”</div>
The air feels cold and stale across her skin, like an old cellar that has fallen into disuse. She perks her ears at his words and tilts her head as he explains her goal just a little further ahead, in the thick fog looming before her. A shiver crawls through her bones when he laughs but she steels herself against the building fear. She must not sink into the despair of this world.
Echis steps forward into the fog with her chin held high. It doesn’t take long for that insectile buzzing to find her. Initially, she doesn’t find it so bad. Why had Carnage seemed so hesitant about it? She squints as though it might help her see better when she feels a pinch at the back on her thigh. A squeak of surprise finds her lips and she spins to see what has assaulted her. Yet, there is only more fog. Her small ears lay flat against her head.
“<I>Please do not do that,</i>” she insists, slowly turning to continue on her way. A second pinch, then, to her side. She skitters away from the nip and a shameful whimper leaves her. The thick feeling of terror oozes over her. “<I>I’ll bite you! I really will!</i>” Her voice quakes noticeably.
Somewhere in the fog, a shriek cries out in pain. Echis startles and bursts into a run in the direction of the buzzing noise, as its maddening tune is decidedly better than whatever pursues her. She can hear its footfalls galloping behind her as the beast continues howling in agony and rage. Sobs rattle through her as the buzzing burrows deeper into her mind and devours her every thought. It leaves no room for her to think or plan, only to flee with fat tears rolling down her small face. Her scales emerge in waves across her body but the afterlife peels them from her skin so they scatter like flower petals on the wind. There is no safety to be found here.
Echis spares one look behind her and the terrible beast is only a few paces behind now. It looks like it had been a normal creature at some point, but that horrible buzzing chews the thought apart as quickly as it occurs to her. Her basest instincts tell her only of its snapping jaws and the sickly sweet smell of rot. It would have her become one with it, to share in its despair.
The buzzing grows too great until she can hardly focus her eyes on the steps ahead. She tumbles to the ground just a few steps shy of the sudden cliff. Echis cries out in fear and braces herself to be devoured by the awful thing, but its lumbering form is too dire to stop in time to snatch her up. Instead, her pursuer throws itself right off the edge. Somewhere between the deafening buzzing and her spinning head, she can hear it as it plummets to some infinite descent, crying out for help until it has fallen too far to be heard any longer.
Echis lays there a while longer and lets her aching sobs roll through her still. The buzzing consumes the last of her mind as she dumbly stares over that cliff’s edge, not even realizing she’s rising onto her hooves.</div></div>