The claws were scraping deeper on her skin and she started to feel blood running down her skin. Terror shot through her veins as she tried to get away, she tried to escape, but they were stopping her now. Her claws scraped futiley at the ground as she tried to run past Father as his voice laughed in her ear and his claws held her down tighter and tighter...

Asimona roared into the darkness and, just a moment later, a single light illuminated in front of her. She froze and stared ahead, the light almost like a saving grace in this world of darkness. She reached forward, but the claws were holding her down. She struggled again but there was no escaping, not now. Her breaths were coming fast and uneven as she continued to struggle against Father's merciless claws. But there was no escape. Not yet.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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She kept squeezing through, her huge claws were scrabbling at the ground, throwing up bits of dust and rocks as they carved into the stone below. She heard his voice in her ear... "You can never escape me. You will never escape me."

And, for some reason, that gave her the strength to keep trying. She felt anger within her, defiance. She wanted to prove to herself, and to him, that she could do whatever she wanted. That she could be strong on her own. So she gritted her teeth and pulled harder, pressing her claws against the rocks around her and, finally, with a final tug and scrape, she freed herself from his claws.

There was a growl of anger behind her as she finally managed to free herself and she whipped around. She couldn't see what was behind her, it was too dark, but she knew he was gone now. She had no idea, in fact, that the claws he had gripped her with had been the stone wall all along.

So with no better ideas, she turned around and walked towards the light. breathing heavily and with triumph light in her chest.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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notes:

The single dim light in the pitch black flickered. It dimmed, faltering, and then--as if in struggle akin to Asimona's--flared back up. Tiny plink sounds accompanied it, echoing muffled through the darkness.

Something shifted just beyond the light, in the pooled shadows beyond.

The faintest echo of a deep laugh through the narrow passage reached the white dragon.

It sounded like Father's monstrous voice.

@Asimona

As the light began to flicker, Asimona froze as she felt a chill ride over her body once again. He was here, he was in front of her. How did he do that? He was behind her, wasn't she? She thought she had thrown him off. She thought that she had escaped him for now. But it seemed she was wrong...he was still here.

But as the light burned strongly, she felt the determination and triumph return. She had convinced herself before. She had managed to beat him. That was it, wasn't it? Conviction. She had to believe in herself and not think about him. He wasn't there, right? He wasn't real. He wasn't real. She had to convince herself of that.

Even though she was shaking with fear and her wings quivered, wanting to launch her into a sky that wasn't there, she managed to step forward. He's not real. He's not there. He's not real. He's not there. You can do this, Asimona, you can do this!
She spoke to herself over and over again, stepping from the light into the passage in front of her. She could feel his breath on her neck and she flinched, but she brought her thoughts forward. She could see his eyes in the darkness, but she told herself that he wasn't there. She brushed past him and she swore that she could feel his huge body impossibly fitting into the tunnel beside her. "I'm here, Asimona..."

"No, you're not!" She growled into the empty tunnel, her voice strong, but there was, perhaps, still some doubt in the back of her mind. It was really difficult to convince herself, but she managed to get past him, for now.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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notes:

As the white dragon struggled onward, the blackness seemed to engulf her. Only the pool of light ahead existed--and whatever lay beyond, in the even deeper shadows past this.

As she pushed her way into the light, and then beyond, she'd find herself in a suddenly more open space--and something looming right before her. Something physical, something she might even bump into, just past the light itself.

It was a series of shattered statues: many with fangs, claws, leering grins. Some danced on cloven hooves, others seemed to reach for her with their own draconic wings spread behind. Many were crude in their etching, as if created by clumsy hands: misshapen or lacking detail where detail should have been. The overall effect was surreal, and bizarrely out-of-place--but there, on the ground, was a broken piece with a familiar scent.

Among the damaged statues and their pieces lay a single right leg, ending in a cloven hoof. Asimona had found her prize.

Perhaps even better news was that this space was, if only barely, large enough for the dragon to at least turn around in--though she'd need to squeeze her way back out through the narrow passages again.

@Asimona

The light ahead was her guide and her safe haven, if only she could reach it. If only she could get there! It seemed to take an eternity for her to finally make it to the pool of light and, when she did, she felt her claw bump into something. She looked down. It was a piece of rock, a rather large rock. But...wait, it looked like it had been part of something else.

She looked up and breathed in deeply, excitement filling her chest at the familiar scent. There was a large pile of stuff just beyond the light and she didn't hesitate to begin sifting through the pile. Until she found her prize, drenched in the scent that had brought her all the way here. Another piece of the stature. Triumph filled her and she turned to give Father a good hissing remark, but he graciously hadn't decided to show up.

Now all she had to do was get out of here. Thankfully, this cave was big enough to turn around. She gently picked up the statue piece in her jaws and managed to get herself facing the way she came and began the journey back to Canis, this time taking a bit longer, as she wasn't running in fear from anyone. But she eventually managed, with much struggling and pushing and gently maneuvering the statue piece through, to get out of the tunnel. Once she was back in the open air, she breathed the dark scents of Canis as if they were the cleanest, coldest Pisces air and took off into the sky. She wondered if anyone else had managed to collect more of the statue pieces by now.

*exit

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes: