the heart of creation - Printable Version

The bone-white altar shimmered almost beautifully in the voidlight. What was black was white. Their colors, reversed, were unrecognizable in the pale, blinding-bright cavern.

Enoki's touch connected, as if with something waiting, lurking, something coiled to spring. And spring it did: a fire along their forelimb, lightning up the nerves, a choking paralysis burning through their body. The sensation of a great GAZE staring down at them was overpowering. THEY WERE SEEN.

THEY WERE WATCHED.

THEY WERE... RECOGNIZED.

"THIS ONE?" The voice was an earthquake. It was a storm. It shattered the world and split the rock and sent Enoki falling through horrid nothing, through twisting purple smoke and into pitch blackness. In the distance was the Mother: red and spotted, writhing in the darkness, screaming. Her voice was raw with pleading. Desperation. There was no dignity in it, only mindless, broken terror. It was wretched. It was pathetic. It was weak.

Then there was power. Chaos. Lash your magic like a whip. Spin its effects into dying fractals. An action blooming into glorious madness. Uncontained. Unconfined. No fear, here; what were consequences? What was care?

One was the screaming victim, clinging to unwelcome Order.

One was the grinning master, architect of their own Fate.

"WHICH," the voice boomed, and hissed, and whispered, "ARE YOU?"

Enoki was dropped from several feet high: the smoke shrouding them was pale, the wrong color, and as it dissipated they fell.

The smoke and vision faded. But the whispers remained: the urge to wield that whip, to invite the shadows in, to embrace them before being overwhelmed. To wield them. Not to submit to them. To embody the chaos, and not the dying prey... But was there horror, too, at what they'd seen? The whispers curled through their ears, their mind, maddening, unclear.

Listen to them.

You will not understand.

Listen to them.

Enoki's first sensation upon touching the altar was pain, and then panic as they realized that they could not withdraw their arm. Their nerves howled and their muscles locked tight, like lightning in their veins and fire burning them into nothing. It saw them, and the predator felt like prey.

It was like their legs had been kicked out from under them -- suddenly, they were falling. The pain was gone, but next came the feeling of weightlessness and terror. How long would they fall? Where was the floor, the ceiling? It was walking through the tunnel, without the sound of Edric beside them -- it was fear incarnate.

And then. And then.

SCREAMING.

Enoki's eyes were locked on, watching -- watching her? Her? Their throat felt tight, their heart -- was their heart beating? There was a feeling behind their teeth like-- like--

B̸̡̨̧̛̫̲̫̤̹͚̖̙̬̘͇̬͙̊͛͑͐̌̃̉̌̃̚̕͠͠͝͝Ļ̴̗̩̙̩̩̺̰̍̒̆́͐Ơ̶̬̗̫̤̬̟̊̾̉̑̌̊̃Õ̷̥̻̬̭̠̱̤̰͎̫̜̦̙͚̲͇̯͑̀̑̃͌́͊͘̚͘͝͝D̵̞̜͓̲̹̯̥̾̌̅̒͋͐̍̄͑̚̚͜T̵̡̡̧̛̪̝̠̻̤͕̩͖͍̪̜̱̃̓̒͌͑̓̎̇̀͜͠H̷̡̧͎̮̱̗̹̪̝̻͍͛̾̒̓̈́́̃̔͑̏̋͘͘͠͠͠͝I̵͕̲͓͉̦̜̞͛̍́͒̆̑́̽̀̕͝Ŗ̶̛͙̰̹͎̯̈́̀̒͒̌̕S̶̩͉̼̋́͋̀͐̿̇̍̽̽́̕T̴̢̡̜̙̟̻̳̯̬̹̜̘̫̣͎̯̎̓̓̐̌͊́͗̇̍͑̓̓̑͠

"Mama?" Enoki whispered, a choked and desperate sound, and then. And then, they saw the weakness. She was weak, writhing and begging when she could take what she wanted, when she could bite and tear and rip and CONSUME

Something seemed to howl -- not the Voice, not the Altar, no. Them. This was all them, wasn't it?

Y̴̳̋̈́͆̏͆͋̑͑̿̚͘Ǫ̵̞̭͎̖̎͒́̏͌̊̾̎̎́̑́͠Ư̷̧̢̡̧̢̺̬͖̩̣̠̤̇́̽̈̈́̈́́͘ ̶̢̫̰̼̭͕̤̺̯̱̳̅̈̅̂̐̈̿̏̐̀̇̾̕͝͝͝͝Ã̵̡̗̤̝̻͍͎̐̔́ͅͅR̴̨̡̤̺͇̫̹̺̻̮̪͋̓́̏͝Ë̴̢̫͍̤͔͉͈̯̇̍ ̶̡͍̞͖̦̙̯̥͓̜̹̗͉̣̳̼͇͛̎̊͂́̊̂̐̌̋̅P̷̨̤̙͈̥̲͕̰̿̃̉͆̂͗̆̀̈́̍̚ͅÖ̴̳́̓̈̀͑́̐̓̕W̴̧̨̟̠̺̼͔̠̮͙͉̽̂̔̽̈́̈̂̓̿͂̆̕͠E̵̢̢̛̪̙͕̰̬̝̹̪̬̤̲͒͂̄͗͜͠R̸̘̖̟̬̜̟̣̿͜,
Enoki Enoki Enoki
Enoki LISTEN TO ME
ENOKI
Y̸̛̮̑͐̓̃̔̉͋̋̏̿̅͛͐͋͘͝Ơ̵̖̞̤̹̱̜͓͍̰͎̞̬̇͌̍̃̂̅̀͆͆̈́͝͠ͅƯ̵̡̢͈̫̬̣͖͍̖̻̙̼̘̗͌͗̀̈́́̄̊̈́̽̿̈́́͒ ̴̛̛̫̲̳̠̤̭͓̫͎̥̖̥̱̪̣̾͐̉́̄͑̓̋̇̍͗̉͂̚A̷̛͈̿͐̿́̃̅͗͒̈̚͘͘̚R̴̡̛̳͎͙̪͉̰̯̟͎̅͛̊̓̊̀̈̎̓͑͋̚͝͠͝͠E̷̡͕̰̩̪̤͂̿̈̍͌̏̔͠ ̷̗̼̗̦̟̳͑̊̕̕C̷̡̧̛͕̩̖̘̺̳͕̝̞̮͑̃̉͆̔̉̽̓̋̏̔̕͜͜͝͝H̷̢̺̤͕̠̞̚À̴̢̡̛͉̰̫̹̉͒̌O̷̩̪͙̹͓̱͙͈̼͋̋̐̿́̊ͅS̶̨̠̻̪̯̲͚̼͆́͂͐̽͂͊̿̄̃͐̈̏͊̏̈́̚!̸̧̡̮̰͕̭͖͔̖̟̀̎̆͆́̐̈̚̚͜͝

And abruptly, it was gone. They were falling. The ground rushed up to meet them, and they tried to twist in mid-air -- straining their body, catlike and agile, and they severely misjudged the distance to the ground. Enoki hit, hard. Harder than they would have otherwise, to be honest, and a smidge of annoyance hit them -- that would've been cool, damnit! -- but they hauled themselves to their claws.

Their eyes were wild in the voidlight. There was something feral behind them -- something powerful. The vision had touched Enoki deeply, and they were half-crazed with it. Desperate, and aching to sink their teeth into something. To take the whip. To rend the unworthy and win.

And, distantly, there was distress. A low, pulsing anxiety -- to hear their mother screaming so desperately, it set them in a foul mood. And the urge to KILL was stronger, with it -- stronger now.

Enoki made a high-pitched noise, somewhere between a caterwaul, a howl, and a scream before dissolving into an eerie sound not unlike laughter. It could have sounded humorous, or even frightened or nervous -- but Enoki was a hyena, at least in part. That sound was a threat. It was a battle cry, a furious noise of dominance and destruction -- claws gouged uselessly at the ground and bounced off without doing much harm.

The creature was breathing heavily. Pain from the fall, pain from scratching stone, whispers and anxiety and malcontent -- but exhilaration. Enoki screamed, a rough and piercing and energized sound that filled the chamber. It was not a scream of terror, or of fear, but of glee.

Finally, they turned to Edric, wild-eyed and grinning. "Let's go fucking kill something."

There was a flicker of reason in Enoki's chest at the question as they paced in a tight circle, still on the verge of lunging for Edric. They needed to sink their claws into something fast, even as the chaos started to thrum a little lower in their veins. A flicker of rationale -- if they went to Canis, then Mama (WEAK) or Bayo or Chitin or Damask or anyone could see and then-- then-- their claws gouged into the stone again, a growl deep in their throat.

"Orion." They gave a shudder and looked back at Edric, blinking for a moment -- they'd almost forgotten that his colors would be inverse, down here. That this darkness had become light. "Race you?" they grinned, well aware that they'd probably beat him by a long shot, before Enoki lunged for the exit. Unfortunately, they scrabbled at the slope and slipped back down to the entrance with a frown.

"Hrm. Maybe we do need to go a little slow."