[Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Printable Version

Blinking away the last of the spots of light, the dog looked over as the cat called for their attention. He trotted over, peering at them closely. They looked... almost like a spider? Sniffing, he looked at it closer - the stag seemed to agree, asking if it was a spider, and the dog said "I think so." eyes going to Thothaga, for a moment. Surely it was not she, although he wouldn't put it beyond the Masked Merchant.

But before they could speak more, the kitten had gone. Yoosung grimaced, and moved to follow her - he couldn't let the kitten get harmed by wandering off - taking a moment to make sure that someone had grabbed the stone, planning on grabbing it himself if no one did. But the massive spider had scooped it up, beginning to cover it in silk, and so he trotted after the kitten.

His stomach dropped into his paws as they walked through the blackness, unable to see even his paws before his face, until they came upon a wall. It was a sheer one, and he knew that several of them would be unable to climb it - but there were pillars for them to jump to.

The kitten seemed unbothered, and Yoosung whined, prancing in place as he watched Wilder easily make her way up to the top. The spider didn't need to bother, easily making her way up the vertical wall. And then the hybrid leaped up, and the stag took his turn. The dog could only watch in horror as Pride skidded, and fell, his white pelt like a beacon as he plummeted into the shadows. He whimpered, and shivered, tucking his tail and trembling.

Yoosung trembled, whining, and stared at the pillar that had taken one of his companions. He feared being the second, but he could not turn back, and there was no other way he could go forward.

Backing up, his heart raced in his chest, he kicked off the ground, and bounded forward. At the least second, he leaped, chest slamming into the pillar as he dug in his blunt claws, hind legs scrabbling as he hauled himself up. Yoosung took a moment to breathe on top of the pillar, closing his eyes and panting, before backing up until his paws were almost falling off the back of the pillar. Only then did he run forward, kicking off at the last second to leap to the flat ground. He skidded to a stop near Thothaga, Wilder and Shango, eyes wide and vaguely panicked, shivering.

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

THE SECOND LEAP

Terror Manifests

Pride fell. There was a long moment of silence where he had fallen, and then--far below--a distant heavy, bass sound. It was the sound of a large body falling into water, though muffled by distance and a thick, unnatural fog. Perhaps recognizable; perhaps not. Pride would find himself plunged into deep, black water, nothing visible all around him at first, though the current carried him slowly forward. But the water was strangely warm, and thick, and scented strongly metallic.

On the heels of the distant splash came a low, bass rumble, which echoed throughout the cave. There was a thump behind the group. Should they look back, the entryway was now sealed--as if there had never been a hole. Only smooth black stone remained.

There was no way to go but ahead.

Yet in the darkness--visible on the next pillar, and on the ledge above--ghostly shapes became half-visible. One had to focus on them to truly see them; they could, with effort, be ignored. But once looked at, they might be disturbingly difficult to simply look away from.

They were Wilder, many Wilders--small, black forms writhing, lashing out, their claws tearing into indistinct shapes around them. These shapes piled up, dead bodies in the dark, and then melted away, slicking off the edges and out of sight, only to be replaced by more. The cat would, at least briefly, be siezed by the idea that she would soon enter a trance--and lash out at those around her, disbalancing their precarious hold on survival.

There were other things, too, in the dark--things that only individuals would see, or hear, or feel.

Thothaga would hear a distant hum, and then a rumble--and feel a strange certainty that somewhere, far ahead, the Spire was crumbling. Magicka was fading from the caves, and she--she was locked here, unable to aid, unable to help. It was all over. She had been lured away, and it was too late.

Miru would feel her sight slipping. Her hearing, fading. The world became distant, dimmed and muffled and dulled, as if her senses were failing her. She would feel a certainty that soon, if they did not hurry, all of these would die--her touch, her taste, her nose--and she would be left in her own distant realm of nothing. Here, yet nowhere; unable to see, or even to speak. Should she open her jaws, even, she would find that her voice would come only with effort, and even then, hoarse and croaking.

Yoosung would find himself feeling more and more alone--as if the others could not see him at all, as if they intended to leave him, and would forget him. It was no malice of theirs--it was the dark magic here. But he would feel certain that he was about to be left alone, left behind, left here in the eternal darkness--locked away to die.

And Shango would feel the cave drying around him. The darkness closing in, the walls becoming visible and shrinking ever-closer. There was no water; there was no air. All was stifling, and still, and lifeless--and it always would be. He would spend an eternity here, apart from life and storm. It would never rain again.

Far below, Pride would slowly see the vague figures of others forming and dispersing around him, like wispy smoke, drowning in the darkness--their eyes rolling in fear. His children. Mercurius. Envy. All known to him, and all dying there in the darkness, and he unable to aid.

___________

The Gembound must ascend the second ledge to continue. With the added distractions, they must now roll a Successful or higher roll to successfully make the jump from pillar to ledge. Those that can fly and climb need only roll to aid others.

Wilder watched the others carefully, as the spider crawled up the wall easily, to stop next to her, and the hybrid thing jump, fly, and land on the ledge. She thought that Miru was going to make it up as well, with the hybrid's help, but it seemed like it wasn't going to work.

And then, when the white stag made a running leap for the pillar, he missed and Wilder cried out, leaping towards the edge to watch him fall into darkness, the bright white being swallowed by black. A loud splash and he was gone.

Was he dead? Was there a lake down there? Wilder could imagine...his body, broken from the fall, floating in the water lifeless. The thought ran through her like a shiver and a strange feeling passed through her. It was a familiar lightheadedness and she turned away from the ledge, trying not to think about it. She couldn't afford to get distracted.

But then she saw all of them, the copies of her, so perfect that for a second she thought that she was staring into the reflection of water. But she wasn't. There were too many and there were everywhere. And they were fighting. Fear welled in her chest as the lightheadedness returned and her vision began to blur. She was going to space out. She was going to forget and in her trance she was going to hurt her new friends. Just like she did with Aure.

No. NO. She couldn't do that. She couldn't. She couldn't! She had to get away from them, and quickly! The next ledge. She needed to get to the next ledge.

Without saying anything to the others, she wobbled towards the edge of the walkway and burst into a run. She leaped but, like Pride, she had misjudged her distance. Voices were screaming in her ears and everything just seemed blurry, pressing down on her, darkness clouding her vision. She felt her claws scrape against the rock and she immediately tried to latch on. She barely caught herself but she was slowly losing her grip. She scrabbled at the rock, crying out in terror, trying to stop herself from falling. She managed to stop herself for a few seconds, but there was no chance of her getting back up now. She meowed loudly and cried for help as she futilely struggled to get her grip back.

The fall was an unblinking, unbreathing, frozen moment of terror. He saw the world spinning away above him, the distant light fading rapidly into nothing. When the water closed over his head, he found himself drowning in the black--no light, no sense of direction, no anything. Only an inhaled lungful of water, and the sticky, strong stench of blood.

He kicked out, frantic, struggling to gain air--and gain it he did, breaking free of the surface with a series of choking coughs and gasps. His hide stung, his back already sore from the impact--hitting the water from that height had almost been like hitting solid ground. It hurt. He struggled, briefly submerging once more before managing, for now, to stay afloat.

Where the hell am I?! Was he to be the reclaimed stone, then..? Fear gripped him, and he fought back panic as he choked and spat the strangely-warm water, trying to catch his breath. It's blood, it's blood and I'm swimming in blood--I can't breathe--
The current was taking him, though where he could not say. He was half-tempted not to even attempt to summon light--to do so might draw predators toward him. But what if there was shore, somewhere near? What if there was a fall, and he didn't see it in time in the pitch black? He didn't think he'd be able to concentrate on magic in his fearful, panicked state, but he had to try. Adrenaline didn't seem to fuel his magic the way it did his muscles--it seemed to break his focus, usually.

"Come on--help me--" he choked, tone pleading. He wasn't sure who he was talking to. With the first, his magicka. With his second-... Himself? He didn't know, he only knew that his eyes were rolling in terror and his feet struck nothing beneath the water.

I don't know how deep this is, he thought in a fragmented way, and the idea terrified him. What if it were nothing but infinite black, and he grew tired, here? What if there were no way out?

As his wisp erupted into light above him--bringing a fresh surge of terror, and one of relief--he saw the water around him. It was black--pitch black. Some distance to his left was the base of the column that he'd missed, towering up into the sky above--and it was slowly drifting back behind him as he was taken forward, parallel to the walkway from which he'd fallen. He peered into the darkness ahead, willing the wisp higher, further, as he struck out with the current.

A face.

He started, rearing back, half-submerging again for an instant--Was that Azizos?! The image had been brief--a lolling pale head and neck floating over the surface, glaringly-lit in the wisplight, its eyes dead and white.

Pride gathered himself, treading water and trembling, but for a moment, there was only empty darkness around him.

Then he saw--very distinctly--Mercurius in the dark ahead, for a brief second, and it somehow seemed as though he were hunting him. Were you brought here..? Did you lose your mind? Mercurius--did you kill our children? Before he could think on that further, the body of Arsu--lifeless and bloated--floated past beneath the surface. Covered as it was by the dark water, it was eerily indistinct, but it was clear who it was. The silvered horn and antlers tilted downward, the belly rolled up, the legs hanging stiff and still.

Pride tried to scramble away, thrashing in the water, lost in his own nightmarish hell--far below the others, who were to him, already, forgotten.

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Thothaga sat back, grooming her fangs nonchalantly as she watch the white deer attempt the pillars. "You are big and strong, you can make it." She reassured him. If little Wilder could cross, then Pride should have no problem either. She waved away his request. "I will save my silk." Then, Thothaga ate her own words. Like a big-pawed oaf, Pride stumbled and fell, his white coat disappearing over the side. "Stag!" She gasped, surprising even herself. Thothaga leapt to the edge of the bridge and peered down into the dark abyss. Her gut twisted with guilt. His he... dead? After a moment of silence, she heard a faint splash, followed by the sense that he was... still intact. Thothaga sighed with relief, it was not bottomless after all. "Clumsy fool..." She muttered under her breath, and back away from the ledge. She wondered if they would see him again.

Thothaga turned back to the rest of the gembounds just as a low rumbling beseeched her senses. The way they came was closing up! Not that she didn't expect it. Ha! Scared we'll run away? Not I. She wondered if the Masked Merchant could hear her thoughts. After seeing what became of Pride, her Maiden heart wanted Him to hear. She wanted to show her resolve, that she was unyielding, worthy!

The others had made it safely across, but Thothaga loathed to risk anymore to the dark abyss. What good were they to her down there? The only one who could fly hardly spoke. She did not want to be stuck with a half-mute. "'Tis unfortunate you vertebrates cannot climb walls, wait here, I will weave an easier way." She began laying down a frame of leaning silken cords along the walls.
The spider continued to attach more silk when a small, black figure, pelted behind her. Thothaga saw it happen in her posterior eyes. Wilder leapt towards the pillar, her pink eyes wilds with fright. "Wilder no-!." Thothaga cried out, but it was too late, the kitten had fallen from her view. The spider hissed. Another one claimed by the void, and apparently, idiocy.

Just as Thothaga turned back to work on the web, a familiar hum traveled through her legs, followed by a rumble. Thothaga paused, she felt it in the air, like ominous wind. The Spire!-Father! Someone is destroying Him! She could feel the magick dying all around her, dying within her as the great Spire crumbled outside. The spider witch hissed, tearing the threads of her web between claws, trembling, angry. "He tricked me! He tricked me! He tricked me! He lured me here! That beast-that FIEND!! I have to leave, I have to leave NOW!" Venom dripped from her flexed fangs. "The Spire-!!." Cold fear gripped her abdomen. Was this it? It's this what death felt like? Father, forgive me!

Suddenly, The Collector's voice rang through her head. "...He will aim to overthrow you all from within... Be on your guard... once it tampers with your mind, only time can mend it--usually, not even that." Thothaga paused .The spider witch saw through it, clear as a lucid dream. This is not real. She found herself relaxing. She had almost forgotten about the mind games. This being knew her deepest darkest fear. She wondered what else he might know Clever. I almost fell for it.

"The Spire.. is not in any real danger.." She finally said. Thothaga continued spinning the web, unimpeded by the false fear grappling at her mind. None of this is real She reassured herself. When she finally finished the Thothaga stepped onto the next ledge and peered down at her handy work. It looked something like white net, slanted upwards towards the higher level, strong and sturdy, with thought poured into her companions' pawsteps. Hopefully they where limber enough. "Climb." She directed, bluntly. As she watched them attempt their ascensions, Thothaga noticed that, despite overcoming that fear, there was still a nagging feeling in her gut. Ominous, foreboding, trying to plant seeds of doubt in her head. The thought of crumbling Spire haunted her, and something told her that the Masked Merchant wasn't quite finished with her yet.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

Shango prepared to make his own way up--though flinched, heavily, as Pride fell. The magic, behind him, faded; the warm wind blowing upward fell still.

He crept to the edge, peering after the stag, but could see nothing. As he stared down, listening to the others move and speak, he was gripped with a sudden sense of claustrophobia. He looked up, sharply, as the cave seemed to grow dry--the air stifling, empty of water.

The hybrid--so attuned to rain and storms--grew uneasy almost at once, and when he saw the cave walls growing closer, he squealed in fear. "It's coming!" he yelled, incoherently--there was no explanation, no logic to it. He meant the walls, of course--the walls were coming toward him--but he was so frantic to get out of here that he didn't think to explain.

A quick glance around him saw Wilder hanging by her claws, and he did his best to snag her as he spread scaled wings, leaping upward.

He missed--a bare snatch, but she was out of his reach, now. There was nothing he could do--he couldn't fly down, and then back up. His wings were not suited to that. Panic drove him as he turned, a beat of those wings taking him up to the ledge, where he didn't look back--he bolted off along the pathway, desperate to escape the closing confines of the choking cave.

As she began to hurtle back toward the ground the jetstream she had been riding rallied against gravity. Tossing and twisting uncontrollably Miru was tossed up past the precipice of the first wall, landing ungracefully upon the upper part of the path.

The small fox remained on her side for a brief second before rolling over and looking around at the group. Only the deer had fallen prey to the trap, and even they from the sound of the splash may have found a way to escape death.

Of course they aren't dead she thought to herself, steadying her stance and looking out to the path ahead, The master of this realm surely has much worse plans for us.

Movement ahead, upon the wall. Not clear as a living being would be but foggy, ethereal... ghostly. Had they truly wandered into a world of spirits? As she stared at the disturbances a strange sensation over took her. She couldn't feel her breath! She was still breathing in and out but the subtle feeling of air clearing her maw was no longer present. The soft padding of feet from the group became more and more distant and even the color of the world began to drain away, getting grayer and darker by the moment.

No sight, no sound, no feeling nor scent. No fatigue nor sickness but an all-encompassing isolation from the world. Miru's heart began to beat faster, though she could not feel it. Her breathing became short and shallow though she could not tell. Time was passing without end but with nothing to see or hear or feel was there even time at all?

In a flash the world returned, only not at all. It was as though Miru stood in two places at once, with one half of her mind trapped in a hellscape of nothingness and the other half vaguely aware of what was going on around her. The connection was tenuous, as though she had stumbled into the eye of a storm and soon there would be nothing left to anchor her away from that state. Death, as she suspected, was not the worst fate that could be brought down by this shadowy realm.

What visions were granted her with the half that perceived were none to pleasant either as it was. The fated one whom she called friend had been the first to try to ascend the second wall to confront the ghosts, only like the deer the kitten had missed their mark and was currently clinging to a sheer surface that would give way in seconds. The spider as before climbed the wall, but this time provided a lifeline for those below. The flying beast tried to save Wilder but being afflicted by a similar status as her own was unable to do so before all hope was lost.

Only one was left, a strange dog with deep brown eyes. As the entranced fox gazed deep within those orbs an impression fell upon her. Intellegence, clear communication. Could that be right? In this state of half-awareness and with the odd angle of the dog's eyes there was no way to tell. If it was right, however, this individual would be an invaluable asset in helping the others.

"Eyes of mind and tongue," she addressed the other, her voice falling like an echo in the distance upon her own ears. "Take the spinner's net to safety. Do not tempt oblivion's grasp."

Numbed paws shuffled as she turned toward the pillar ahead. "We must proceed with haste. If I am to make it on my own it will save precious time. If I fall to the depths it wouldn’t be the first time my destiny has crossed the same road as the Wild One."

With nothing to lose but possibly her life Miru bolted toward the column, feeling the sensation of the moment as though watching it through a light-user’s illusion. The air rushed through her fur as she gracefully made the first jump, wasting no time in spinning around and hurtling herself toward the top of the wall.

It worked… the darkness below had not laid claim to her. Here she stood where the ghosts had tread among the other gembound who had gone before. The dog would be safe thanks to the spider, but the deer and the fated one would have a different path to tread below.

Though my thoughts are my own
"This is my greatest tool to hone"
Tags: @Yoosung
Note: RWQS

The stag fell, and fell, and fell. Yoosung shuddered, ears flattening against his skull. He wanted to listen, to ascertain the stag's fate when he finally landed, but then again he feared what he might hear. Would there be a splat, as he landed on something hard? A squelch, as he landed on something sharp? But, no, there was a splash. He flinched, stepping back, shoulders rolling down and belly touching the floor, tail tucking.

Almost as soon as the stag had hit the water, though - from the sound of it, at least - there was a low, low rumbling. He raised his head, looking back over his shoulder only to see that the entryway was sealed. His ears flattened, and his mantle raised. They could only go forward from here. He licked his lips nervously, nausea rising in his stomach, tasting bile on his tongue.

Something caught the corner of his eye, and for a moment he thought it was simply another of his hallucinations. There were a great many black cats, just like Wilder, lashing and writhing, catching at the corner of his eyes. But then the kitten was reacting to them, too, and he straightened up with a shudder. His eyes followed the kitten, then, and he moved to speak, only for his stomach to twist.

They... they were going to leave him, weren't they? He was useless, weak. Any second now, he could drop into a fit, slow them down. And they would leave him while he was unable to move, or see, or hear, or help himself. "Pl-please, n-no." he whimpered, shaking his head. The walls seemed to be closing in on him, the other Gembounds seeming to rush far, far away from him, and he sobbed, cowering as though from a blow as he whimpered "내가 한 짓이든, 미안해!" His eyes were wide, and he staggered forward as he watched Thothaga disappear over the edge. "Pl-please, don't leave m-me!"

It was only Miru's voice that drew his attention, and he barely processed the words, bolting forward and setting his paws into the spider's web. It was a struggle, dull claws fighting to find purchase, muscles straining as he hurried up the side of the wall. He scurried passed the fox and the spider, tall tucked and back hunched, before whirling to face them. "I'm sorry, 죄송 해요, I'm sorry, please don't leave me." he panted, licking his lips.

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

THE CORNER, SPIRAL, DROP

The Way Is Unclear

Wilder fell.

The fall was interminably long: a dizzying, spinning plunge into the pitch black. At its bottom she would find the strangely warm, sweetly metallic-scented water--also black, and shimmering with the light of a wisp a short distance ahead of her. The white back of Pride was barely visible above the water, his branching antlers turning this way and that.

Above, those still on the ledge would find the long, narrow passage continuing off ahead. Their fears lingered, tormenting them--and those below. The walkway--and the river below it, paralleling it--stretched off into the dark, curving first sharply left and then leading straight, for a ways. It was eerie, how it seemed to simply go on and on, the Gembounds' light sources giving a glaring light that only stretched so far, a light that felt as if it should not be here. As if light might awaken something.

But to go on in utter darkness would be impossible.

There was a third ledge--and columns, as well--but this ledge was crumbled, and could be easily climbed. Then came a very sharp left turn, and a spiral stair downward, its steps worn and unsteady.

This seemed almost to go on forever. And throughout, the fears remained--shifting, taunting.

At last, the Gembound would come to a drop-off. This plunged into blackness far below--and the bottom could not be seen with the naked eye.

Pride and Wilder would reach this too: far below the spiral and the ledge, yet they faced a similar drop, apart from the others... and their own ledge of dry land upon which to clamber and rest before deciding which way to go.

Wilder scrabbled at the pillar for a moment longer, but her grip eventually failed her. With a wail, she plummeted down, out of the reach of everyone, and, a moment later, crashed into a river of dark water.

The smell and taste, the heaviness weighed down on her fur and suddenly she knew that she was in a river of blood. It didn't matter what it actually was - it was too late for the poor kitten. She was already on edge, wobbled by her fears, and a single moment in that river threw her over. She kicked and struggled to the surface, completely out of control. As she breached, she let out an earsplitting screech. "B̵̦͉̹͑͒͒L̶̞͇̔Ö̸̮̥͙́̂͒͝O̷̠͇͒̏̓D̶͙̉̆͊!̸̗̲̰̿ ̷͚̟͋̓͂I̷͕̽̒T̴͎̥͚͈́͗'̷̝͔͉̒̍̃͝S̷͓̟̮̗̃̕͠ ̸͈̮̑̄̕B̷̪̒̍̒Ļ̴͓̭̹͛̌Ọ̴̋̓̚O̶͙̖̊̕D̶̛̳͙̑!̴̳͉̀͌͝ Ẃ̵̖È̷̝̙̂ ̸̙̟͓͐W̴̟̓I̴̺̻̗͒Ḷ̶̢͎͍̌̽͆̕L̴̜̻̼̤̆̈́̍̕ ̸̠͗̈̕͠D̵̛̫͚̤̂R̸̡̒̕O̴̫̪̩̎W̵̛͈̃͝ͅÑ̸͎̳ ̴̡͙̝̼͐Í̸̯͌N̵̡͐̈̍̓ ̵̮̩͂̄͝B̵̯͆L̴̹͑O̵͓̍̏O̶̦̦̅̀D̶̛͍̋̉!̵̬͚̥̔!̴̦͈̝̉́̕" She continued thrashing aimlessly yelling out mindless, wordless garble as her body tried to swim. In the back of her mind, it was almost a relief that she had fallen - down here, her episode wouldn't cause damage to anyone.

She continued like this until she suddenly felt solid ground. Without hesitation, she threw herself forward and collapsed onto the dry spot, heaving and coughing up dark water. She couldn't see anything, nothing at all, but it didn't matter to her. She started to crawl forward, away from the river, when her paw suddenly stepped into nothing. With yet another wail, she jerked back away from the ledge. In her hazy, half-conscious state of mind, she tried to reach for magic as an answer. Ask it what was going on. Try to divine meaning from the situation and a desperate attempt to ask what to do but all she received was a terrible searing pain that split through her head. The last few minutes replayed in her mind, warped and twisted horribly and she mewled and curled into herself, shivering and terrified, trying to block out the images and the pain.