ultraviolet had tried to make this trip, once. how close he had been. he could have tasted it, the slick of oil on his tongue and the thrumming of the womb, he had been so close... but his longing for the Altar, for the place he had known all his life, had kept him from the last few steps.

that was not a problem any longer. the larger feline at his side, with her face framed in white and her mask of unknowable emotion, guided him on this journey. when he grew hungry, desperate and weak, she urged him forward. he was starving by the time they reached the place where voidlight grew strong once more, stepping through the aperture with nothing but oil slicking his insides.

she did not tell him such, in fact, she did not say much on their journey; but he believed that this... this was what he had been told by the voices he couldn't understand. that this was the place where he would come to understand, that through destruction and chaos would he finally-- finally. the grand spire rose ahead of him, his void-lidded eyes blinking in the fierce green iridescence.

"this is it," he rasped softly. here, he took the lead, trodding down toward the heart of the breathing Spire that thrummed with power and life. his face was washed over with its immense light, and as he drew closer, he could feel the heat of a sun he could never imagine. reverent, the alien's eyes closed and he bowed his head-- to the Spire, to elayne, to the very presence that he could picture Beyond. "thank you."

Elayne had humored this trip. She had scouted the caves for sources of Corruption, and when the raving little leopard insisted that there was some great pilgrimage, she encouraged him. He was naive, missing pieces of a puzzle like a mad man who thought he knew of the rapture.

To his credit, she was still... discovering, for herself. This one had proven loyal enough, and so she barely batted an eye as they went through the tunnels together like some sort of... pair, as if just a thing could be claimed. If he thought that of her, then he was thinking too highly of himself. He was not an inconvenience yet, and his desires were easy enough to align with her own. Soon enough, he would be nothing more than an extension of her own purpose.

She paused as the feline slowed, inky pelt flashing with a slow shimmer of yellows and purples. His words received a slight cock of her head. "You're welcome." Presumptuous, perhaps, but she had led him here.

"There's something more," she murmured, drawing closer to the Spire along side him. She raised a paw, her digits rolling along her palm, and gingerly she let one of her claws hook under his cheek. She nudged up his chin, staring down at his face of reverence. Her tender words were a promise, "Something more you can do."

up until this point, elayne had not come to him with task or askance, and when her sharp claw hooked close to his throat, his eyes flickered open. he met those cold, metallic eyes and felt an unholy chill down his spine. something in him knew, then, that this was... a point of no return.

did he dare accept?

but ultraviolet had been born a humble gembound, cradled close to the nest of the altar but far enough away to be of his own free-will. he was not as she was, and though he did not know it-- could not know it-- there was an instinct. one that begged, in the back of his mind, for a scrap of his soul to be saved.

yet, he had been born into this life. he had all but tasted it since birth, had the whispers breathing down his neck for cycles. he had been nursed, raised, and praised by the deadly promise of chaos. it was all he had known. when he looked upon elayne, upon the altar, upon the spire that burned to even stand close to, he wanted. it was his sin, one of greed and desire.

his stomach plunging to his feet, the alien closed his eyes once more.

an echo of perfection. the voice had claimed him. no. become perfection. he prayed, there, and his lips parted. "what must I do?"

The feline creature closed his eyes.

It really was that simple, wasn't it? What a fool. For trusting her, for putting his fate in this thing he didn't understand, for offering his throat to her as though she wouldn't spill his guts before the Spire. He was lucky, too. She had no such intention... At least, not in such a mindlessly cruel fashion. Elayne looked toward the Spire.

No, no. Perhaps this was worse, after all. It was a shame. Expressionless, she let him breathe for a moment longer, letting his heart rate settle until it wasn't quite so loud beside her. Was that his heart or hers? She withdrew her paw from his chin, drawing it back over his shoulder.

Then, she sunk her claws into his back, and her tendrils snapped forward, grasping at his limbs. There was some struggle: his black eyes flashed open to look at her, and all she could do was "shhh," shush him, as her body twisted and lurched. She hefted him into the air, and shoved him into the very Spire itself.

Her metallic eyes shimmered.

Surprisingly, she felt nothing at all.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

death

gore

The body would quickly be lost within the ever-moving, ever-changing Oilstone Spire. There may have been, briefly, the cry of pain, a scream of fear—but even if there had been such a sound, it was silenced by the crunch of bone and the glass-like shattering of gemstone. Blood mixed into the oil dripping from the shifting stone, guts and flesh peeled and pulled between pieces, stretched and folded not unlike the way taffy was made. It would not be long before the entirety of Ultraviolet was reduced to only a stench, and even that soon dissipated.

But it would not be gone forever. In one of the pockets below the Spire bloomed a new Oilstone chrysalis, shimmering with the faint hint of new growth inside of it. Here, Ultraviolet would be reborn; its memories would be faint, like hard to hear echoes, but its design would remain the same.

While it stewed in the Oil beneath the Spire, it would receive visions and dreams of CHAOS, it would not forget that it was CONSUMED and it would feel compelled to do the same: in its dreams it hunts, and eats, and hunts, and eats... It is an endless cycle, like the rebirth itself. Its dreams would reach a fork, the Fork of Rebirth, and all roads led to HIM. Each time Ultraviolet found itself in HIS presence, they would know. They would know. HE tells them: "THIS?" HE says, holding the hackmanite in HIS hand until it is crushed beneath the force of HIS grip. "THIS IS DEAD. THIS IS WEAK. YOU—" and Ultraviolet knows HE is speaking directly to them—"YOU ARE CHAOS. MOTHER VALKHOUND. AWAKEN. AWAKEN." The body of Ultraviolet is consumed by Oil. On its tail grows Oilstone. "AWAKEN." It dies again. The Dream repeats. Hunting. Eating. Dying...

@Ultraviolet has died and been reborn: it will hatch June 6th with Oilstone as its stone and Corrupted as its element.

Elayne's work here was done. Her metallic eyes gleamed, watching the bud of the chrysallis form. "Do you like my gift?" She whispered to the Spire.

It was what he had wanted. Apparently, He accepted.

Good for him. She had no way of knowing what would come of it, but she would keep an eye out. Maybe she could make use of him yet.

Regardless, she had other things to attend to. She turned away, and made her way out of Draco, leaving the Spire behind. Rejuvenated, and ready to unleash hell.

elayne exit