(Previously...)
A̴̔́ ̷̌͐ n̸͐̊a̸͌́m̵̛̽ê̶͠ ̸̚is NOTHIN͗̚Ǵ̷̯.
The final word shattered the air like a thunderclap, shaking the cellar to its bones. Glass trembled, shelves shivered, and bottles smashed to the floor.
Then—stillness. A fragile, unnatural quiet, broken only by the warlock's breath.
And then, a laugh. Low. Hollow. Distant, yet suffocatingly near. It slithered into her mind, curling through the cracks in her resolve like a tide against brittle stone. A taunt? A test?
Â̴̅ ̸̉̐ n̵̈́̅ã̶͑m̴͛̄e̴̔̽ ̷͒ f̊a̶͊̅l̸̿̚l̸̛s into̅͝ ̷͂͠ṅ̶̅o̴͊̈thing.
Another wave surged against her defences, daring her to stand firm.
Then—a flash.
A thousand eyes, blinking into existence, pits of abyssal blackness piercing through the void. Staring. Watching. Then, gone.
Silence.
H̵̅͒e̶͛̃ ̷́͛i̵̍͊s̸͌͌ ̷͉̆f̷̅ond ̈́o̶̐̄f̷͛̈ ̵͛́ỵ̸̀o̶͉͋ǘ̸͂.̷ Protectiv́́e̵̾͘.̵̅ Even ͝n̴̋̄ò̶͆w̷̽͊.̷̪͌
Then, another flash—this one more visceral. A wretched thing, gaunt and trembling, curled in the dark. Chains coiled around it, glinting with something ancient and cruel. A prisoner? A warning?
The chains slithered toward her, inviting—no, daring her—to reach.
Then, gone.
K̴̀́i̴̿͝s̷̎͝s̶̒̾e̵̊̂d̸̋̒ ̴̑͋b̴͗͌y̶̑̃ ̷́͑t̶̄̀h̵̃e void.
ʏᴇᴛ̈́͝ ̴̀͝ʏ̸͊͘ᴏ̴ᴜ ᴍᴀꜱ͆̍ᴋ̸̂̀ ̴̘͑ɪ̷̀̐ᴛ. ʙᴜʀʏ ɪᴛ̵̿̚.̵̙̏.̸̿̀.̵͆̓ ̵̈́͌ᴡ̶͂́ʜ̴̈ʏ?
Safrona startled at the sound of wine bottles crashing to the cellar floor around her as the voice bellowed its denial in her mind. Wine pooled like blood among glinting specks of glass. Rivers of red cutting around her own feet where she stood, rolling off into light-less spaces. Like veins had been opened in the walls of her sanctum, made to bleed. It had been a shattering, an emotive response of pure power.
Familiar. Had it been her?
Her breath shuddered into the cellar as its many eyed-gaze found her, feeling its slithering consciousness rush against the felfire walls of her fortified mind, hoping it burned at the soul with every endeavor. She forced herself to calm, to concentrate. She would not let it through. She would not feed it.
And then came its tease. A secret. An offering in a flash of imagery. Someone trapped. A name. A name, a name, a name. She reached for the thread of offering, opening herself for a mere moment before she felt an anchored misery become insidious chain set to lure her. Another wave of flame flared around her mind and heart to further fortify her defense, but she felt the tendril slither through to know her, and grimaced.
“Yes,” she muttered with her answer, somewhat defeated, cleaved to her calm despite a desire to burn the voice’s influence to nothing. And yet…there was a suspended relief here, so long had she built a habit of trimming her truths, hiding behind the veil of empty, serviceable smiles. A relief of being truly known. Acknowledged, beyond the flesh.
“Only just ’kissed’ by the void,” the Lady Shadowsun divulged with a careful tension. “I am much more than some impending Vessel of the Great Dark. I will always be more.”
Despite the core of her being revealed, there was more of her world she seemed to cloud, where ethereal threads webbed out into a dense fog manifested of her own will, obscuring more of her secrets. It had none of her trust, only a curiosity soured by animosity for their breach.
{ @allasticus }
