(( title comes from this song; relevant pages if you want to see them are here (added warning for more gore!): 12345678 ))
Mithrun is - which is to say, you are - lying on the surface of the ocean. The water is firm under you, repelled by a layer of magic wrapped around your person, and the dark water is staining slowly darker as blood pours from a golf ball-sized hole through your thigh.
It hurts, of course, but that’s of less consequence than the loss of mobility. You still need to scale the crumbling tower standing over you, still dripping as if it just rose from the sea; you need to get to the oddly-dressed woman standing on its balcony.
You need to stop her or kill her. If you don’t, everything will end. If you fail, there will be no reason for you to have lived this long.
“Getting pierced through by an undine sure is painful, isn’t it?” The woman stands tall, but you recognize the strain in her posture and expression. “It was pretty painful when you stabbed me in the belly with that horn, too.”
You set a hand over the hole in your leg, mumbling an incantation while she speaks. Mustering the energy to heal it pulls at your veins and aches in your lungs, but you can still do it. You stand.
When you take a step toward the tower, the woman raises a wooden staff with a jolt, shouting down at you. “Just leave us alone! Surely you don’t have the strength to teleport any more!”
Paradoxically, you smile. A quiet, dry huff pushes from your overtaxed lungs. You keep walking. “You’re nothing more than its puppet now.”
The woman hesitates, just for a moment, and you continue.
“The demon has stoked your desires, and is now in full control of you. You may think that you’re acting under your will, but you are being manipulated.” You glimpse something moving behind her, and anger burns in your chest at the sight of it: A golden lion, with broad wings and curved horns. It whispers something to her, and you see her glance suspiciously over her shoulder at it.
Good. She shouldn’t trust it.
“Even if one of your desires is fulfilled, the next one will make you suffer. You’ll experience horrible thirst and hunger… and what’s more, those feelings can never be sated.” You point at the thing lurking behind her. “Your shallow desires are nothing but delicious snacks to that demon!”
You may have said the wrong thing - assuming there was ever a right thing to say. The woman bristles, floating orbs of water like the one that shot you before swelling and bubbling around her. There’s no option to back down. You have to see this through, even if you already know how she’ll answer.
You pick up a sharp, spiral horn from where you dropped it on the water’s surface, and extend your free hand, palm up. “Now, choose. You can die here and now, or you can relinquish your power to me!”
The woman leans over the balcony railing, gripping the stone under her free hand. “Relinquish my powers?! If I do that, then what’s going to happen to my friend? Are you guys going to bring her back to life instead?”
She keeps going, but the rest… it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you say to her, what you promise or argue or prove. There’s no more discussion to be had here, and there probably never was. “I see.”
You breathe out, and in again. You fix your good eye on the woman. “So you have chosen death.”
You take off at a run, aiming for the tower. The undines floating around it rise and fire again, bullets like that that had hit you before converging on you before you focus and cast, setting off one final surge of mana to teleport directly behind and above her. You drive the unicorn horn down toward her for what should be a lethal blow--
--And, instead of flesh, it meets feathers.
The winged lion’s eyes lock on yours as your one weapon - your one chance to take down the mage before you, and the lion with her - lodges uselessly in its wing. The fury you should feel at the sight of the thing dies in your throat, sinking into resignation.
After everything you’ve done, it still won. And… “I’ve failed.”
The woman screams, and magic crackles up her staff.
You hear the beginning crack of a concentrated explosion - and the memory cuts short.
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branchandroot
STRANGE DAYS; [SPOILERS]; CW: blood/violence, death
Date: 2023-10-19 10:57 pm (UTC)Mithrun is - which is to say, you are - lying on the surface of the ocean. The water is firm under you, repelled by a layer of magic wrapped around your person, and the dark water is staining slowly darker as blood pours from a golf ball-sized hole through your thigh.
It hurts, of course, but that’s of less consequence than the loss of mobility. You still need to scale the crumbling tower standing over you, still dripping as if it just rose from the sea; you need to get to the oddly-dressed woman standing on its balcony.
You need to stop her or kill her. If you don’t, everything will end. If you fail, there will be no reason for you to have lived this long.
“Getting pierced through by an undine sure is painful, isn’t it?” The woman stands tall, but you recognize the strain in her posture and expression. “It was pretty painful when you stabbed me in the belly with that horn, too.”
You set a hand over the hole in your leg, mumbling an incantation while she speaks. Mustering the energy to heal it pulls at your veins and aches in your lungs, but you can still do it. You stand.
When you take a step toward the tower, the woman raises a wooden staff with a jolt, shouting down at you. “Just leave us alone! Surely you don’t have the strength to teleport any more!”
Paradoxically, you smile. A quiet, dry huff pushes from your overtaxed lungs. You keep walking. “You’re nothing more than its puppet now.”
The woman hesitates, just for a moment, and you continue.
“The demon has stoked your desires, and is now in full control of you. You may think that you’re acting under your will, but you are being manipulated.” You glimpse something moving behind her, and anger burns in your chest at the sight of it: A golden lion, with broad wings and curved horns. It whispers something to her, and you see her glance suspiciously over her shoulder at it.
Good. She shouldn’t trust it.
“Even if one of your desires is fulfilled, the next one will make you suffer. You’ll experience horrible thirst and hunger… and what’s more, those feelings can never be sated.” You point at the thing lurking behind her. “Your shallow desires are nothing but delicious snacks to that demon!”
You may have said the wrong thing - assuming there was ever a right thing to say. The woman bristles, floating orbs of water like the one that shot you before swelling and bubbling around her. There’s no option to back down. You have to see this through, even if you already know how she’ll answer.
You pick up a sharp, spiral horn from where you dropped it on the water’s surface, and extend your free hand, palm up. “Now, choose. You can die here and now, or you can relinquish your power to me!”
The woman leans over the balcony railing, gripping the stone under her free hand. “Relinquish my powers?! If I do that, then what’s going to happen to my friend? Are you guys going to bring her back to life instead?”
She keeps going, but the rest… it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you say to her, what you promise or argue or prove. There’s no more discussion to be had here, and there probably never was. “I see.”
You breathe out, and in again. You fix your good eye on the woman. “So you have chosen death.”
You take off at a run, aiming for the tower. The undines floating around it rise and fire again, bullets like that that had hit you before converging on you before you focus and cast, setting off one final surge of mana to teleport directly behind and above her. You drive the unicorn horn down toward her for what should be a lethal blow--
--And, instead of flesh, it meets feathers.
The winged lion’s eyes lock on yours as your one weapon - your one chance to take down the mage before you, and the lion with her - lodges uselessly in its wing. The fury you should feel at the sight of the thing dies in your throat, sinking into resignation.
After everything you’ve done, it still won. And… “I’ve failed.”
The woman screams, and magic crackles up her staff.
You hear the beginning crack of a concentrated explosion - and the memory cuts short.