#day242020

[aerdendios]

Daily Writing Challenge Day 24 - Rescue

When he was little his mum would coddle him, kissing his bumps and bruises while still trying to shield him from his ‘father’.  Casienna wasn’t always successful, but she always tried to take the brunt of the abuse.

When he was a pre-teen his best friend would always come to his rescue.  Aerden had spent much of his childhood being bullied for being so small and a ‘momma’s boy’, but Parvil protected him whenever he could.

When he reached adulthood and joined the military, his unlikely friend had literally saved him from death.  From then on, Dajjalen watched over him like a real father would with his son.  Aerden knew he would always have his back.

When he found out the truth about Pollux, while awkward at first, their relationship blossomed and he had a family once more. Pollux would do anything for him, even kill for him, and Aerden trusted him.

He had learned many lessons over the years from these four, one of the most important included how to be strong for others when they cannot be strong for themselves.  It was a lesson he took to heart and tried to apply to his own life now as often as possible. He no longer felt as if he were the one that always needed to be saved, but now he could do the saving.  He had found a strength in himself that he never knew was there before, he could stand up for himself and be independent. For the first time in a long time, he was proud of himself, and he knew those four were proud of him too.

@daily-writing-challenge​ @dajjalen​ @polluxhale​

[xylaes]

Day 24 - Treason @daily-writing-challenge​

A sharp pain to the back of his head woke him with a sudden jolt.  Hands balled up around sweat-soaked sheets, tossing them to the floor before gradually rising to settle himself at the edge of the inn’s bed.  Fingertips raked back through dirty blond locks, tracing a familiar scar that was the source of the pounding headache. Ugh, not again. 

He hobbled towards the balcony, the scar on the back of his ankle giving him another nice reminder of the past. It was a dreary, overcast day, and it had obviously been raining for a while given the large puddles scattered about. It was comforting to him; after spending a decade locked away in a prison, he always preferred being outdoors in any kind of weather.

He flopped down onto a patio chair, lighting up a morning smoke, and suddenly realizing then that it had been some time since he had the dream.  But it wasn’t a dream, was it?  It was a memory playing on repeat with small changes to confuse his waking mind. It was difficult to recall the exact sequence of events, with every year more and more of the details slipped away or turned into something completely different. It never got any easier.

This time, instead of keeping his face turned away from his surroundings, he looked.  Not towards the carnage he himself had created, he couldn’t stand seeing the faces of his brethren all mangled and twisted in death. He had to keep reminding himself that these were not the good, upstanding men everyone thought them to be; even if once upon a time he had trusted them and considered them friends. That was the risk of the job, you slowly lose yourself, and every time you go home you’re just a little more detached than the last time. You become a pawn to the game, and eventually you get tired of someone else moving you around. When it came down to it, accusing one person of treason rather than an entire squad of soldiers was much easier, but they were no longer here to defend themselves.

Instead, he looked at and cradled her; it was always so rare that he touched anyone in this dream. Even now he could almost still feel the weight of her limp form on his lap; this woman that he loved, that he still loves, and that bore his child. It was his fault that she laid there dead in his arms and even though some would say his vengeance had been taken, it wouldn’t be complete until he too was gone from this world. 

Her face was becoming difficult to remember, with every dream her features were more obscured than in the last. He had already forgotten how she smelled and the sound of her voice, he didn’t want to forget this too. But time has a way of washing away details, and eventually entire memories.  

[talthorn-sylvoran]

Comforting

Day 24 - Rescue

‘Every time I close my eyes, her face is there....'

'I can still hear the whisper of her voice.... '

'I don't understand what it was that I did to have her leave....'

'Why could she not believe me outside of that illusion....'

Months had passed since Ellanore had left him and he still had these roaming thoughts in his pursuits to find someone that no longer wanted to be found. It had left him with an indescribable emptiness and sadness that he still carried with him. 

Part of him expected to wake up wherever that was and he would return to a life that he wanted. 

Where there was no need for illusions to depict a happy life of acceptance and love.

Why did it have to be so difficult to accept what he offered was true?

But what was true....

Wasn't seeing behind the veil supposed to give him what he wanted?

Talthorn didn't know the answer to that as much as he thought. Right when he decided that what she wanted to give to him, was what he was missing inside? She accepted one day, and rejected him the next. It was if her personality had fractured in two and the days she lashed out had him hold on even tighter. There had to be a way they could rescue each other instead of reliving this cycle of pain and abuse. Nothing he could say or do, was powerful enough to stop her self hatred and doubt. It was as if she wanted him to suffer when looking upon her with everything she would make him watch her do to herself.

Looking back, their entire relationship from the very beginning, spanning over those years of time, was always a complete disaster. Their perspectives were never in sync with one another. She felt so deeply for him, and he was so blind to it for he never felt the same. He simply looked at the world and people differently then, not understanding anyone's frivolous needs in the aspect of romance to the point they would lose all sense. 

Compromising one's self, should never happen in his mind. But that was his disconnection, not understanding what that really meant when you find someone you want to share yourself. How it did not have to mean you deny who you are in the process. Only being given half the picture with everything he was discovering now. 

It made him feel there was something deeply wrong with him. He did need to change if he wanted to grow past this point that he found himself in. 

Right now, he didn't know how. 

So he would push forward in attempts to seek her, and to find answers that he felt she would possess. The ghost of what she could offer haunted him horribly. He was shackled to this hope, this hurt. There was comfort in this. 

Talthorn had to keep going. He had to try to rescue them both from their own darkness.

@daily-writing-challenge

(( This scene is set back a couple decades, when this happened in Talthorn’s life. It’s a pain point in his life for certain as the only closure he received was from his own resolve. This fracture did expand more of his world for sure! But how he got there, is always so heartbreaking. 

I will always be proud of this character, for continuing to grow no matter how much time has passed. I am happy to watch his life blossom with all of his hard life lessons learned.))