• Logout
  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    [open quest]  Part Three: The Divergence
    #3
    Glean
    She watches as if through the fevered haze of a dream.
    There is peace, at first.

    Or, at least, a thing that might pass as peace in a world of differing opinions. (Look hard enough, she has learned, and you will always find something worth fighting over. Something worth fighting for.)

    In the earliest days the conflicts were mild. Minor disagreements resolved swiftly.

    And then.
    As soon as she sees the children, she knows.
    It puts an ache in her heart simply to see them. They are important, these children, their youthful faces all full of promise. They are innocent, the pair of them, oblivious to the roles they will play in the breakdown of the world around them.

    How desperately she wants to call out to them. A feeling that only intensifies when she notices the Giant Roc. The mother-bird who peers down at them while they play. There is a shift and Glean understands with a surge of horror. “No!” she calls to the bird but it is too late, the rocks tumble.

    Down, down, down.
    Then, in the silence, a sickening crack and the colt crumples. Her breath catches hard in her throat and she watches in abject terror as the colt falls and the filly follows. Her heart constricts and Glean chokes out a strangled sound as the filly sinks.

    Down, down, down.
    And she blinks and the scene is different. The elders have arrived. They have salvaged the broken bodies from the surf. They lock furious eyes. 

    Suddenly she is alone with the elders. 

    It was an accident!” she cries, uncertain if they’ll hear her or if she is merely a ghost here, too. But they turn their furious gazes in her direction and she blinks in surprise. “It was only an accident,” she says, a little quieter, acutely aware of the heat of their grief and their rage.

    The Roc,” she says and looks up to the ledge where the bird-mother has returned to her nest. “You did this!” she calls to the bird, which merely tilts its head at her, guilt-less, shameless. “Come down here and explain yourself!” But the Roc merely turns her head away.

    They were playing,” she tries, desperate, shifting her focus back to the elders, “they were friends! She tried to save him! The Roc disturbed the rocks and he was struck, thrown into the water, and she tried to save him!” She sucks in a shaky breath.

    You have to believe me,” she pleads, “you have to believe me or one day there will be nothing left of the world but ruin.
    Reply


    Messages In This Thread
    Part Three: The Divergence - by Random Event - 03-08-2023, 02:19 AM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Viszla - 03-11-2023, 07:55 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by glean - 03-12-2023, 04:20 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Marten - 03-14-2023, 05:12 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Rezza - 03-16-2023, 09:43 AM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by sleaze - 03-17-2023, 08:23 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by assailant - 03-18-2023, 02:43 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Famkee - 03-19-2023, 01:16 AM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Ea - 03-19-2023, 01:55 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Glaw - 03-19-2023, 03:11 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by Narya - 03-19-2023, 03:27 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by lystra - 03-19-2023, 03:58 PM
    RE: Part Three: The Divergence - by animus - 03-19-2023, 04:43 PM



    Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)