A frightful awakening

The courts guide users through the path of Ascension, the process of breaking the duality between the spirit and physical realm. Once the shackle of duality is broken, users awaken to their core element and begin drawing directly from their souls stored energy.
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Kurai
Arcanum Iris
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:42 am

A frightful awakening

Post by Kurai »

Kurai hadn't t set foot in the Sanctus for quite a while. In fact, she hadn't visited the crystals since their first rise. Today she felt compelled.

Lately she had been seeing strange visions and hearing strange whispers. Visages of suffering and destruction. Vague ominous messages like “Only one...No escaping….”

Zeik and Meridia shared odd experiences as well. Not exactly like hers but all delivering the same feeling… Something ominous they would soon enough have address.

It was worrisome to say the least. However, Kurai was certain there was not even an ounce of time to spare towards the chaos of anxious thought. It struck her that it was uncharacteristic of her to not worry. Usually she worried about everything. Overthinking every detail…Facing this threat was different. She was different. There was a refreshing calm about her now. A resilience that brought confidence.

There was definitely something she needed from the Sanctus Imperium to face the looming fate of what Zeik described as the Horsemen.

She decided to leave on the night of a Dark Moon. An alignment treasured by the Nieht Kura as a time when the typically luminescent
Moon turns black. It was always seen as a time best suited for scrying knowledge of the soul. For that reason, it seemed most appropriate.

She departed from her room, slipping through a slit in space, using the last memory she had of the crystal to anchor her consciousness there. As the portal opened to the Sanctus Imperium she could feel a familiar vibration beneath the ground and what seemed like a harmonious humm floating amidst the air. There was no mistaking it...but...

“Hmm…” This time was different than before. Zeik and Meridia were with her… Could she even summon them alone? Doubt paused her for a moment, but then she realized

I wouldn't come here if I couldn't find what I'm looking for.

Her thought was sharp, decisive.

“Convincing.” She admitted to herself. In that case, all she had to do was put her mind to the situation and listen. She closed her eyes, focusing intently.

“How do I, summon what I seek?” The best answers begin with a precise question, she imagined. From here, her thoughts took her back to when she first felt urged to come here. She remembered a distinct chime in her ear that caused a shiver to course through her.

As she focused on the sound from her memory the ground beneath her began to shake. Three stone pillars rose from the ground, covered in markings of a language not practiced for ages in Vescrutias history.

Kurai opened her eyes, and looked between the three. When she noticed her eyes consistently looking at one in particular, she walked towards it. Placing her hand against the pillar, it's meaning began to flow through her.

From the core, speak.

As quickly as it was translated it took affect. Suddenly there was only darkness and the feeling of falling...

It felt like even time stopped for a moment. There was no sound, no sensation, nothing… For an immeasurable moment. When Kurai opened her eyes there were books everywhere. Lined in perfect order on shelves of carved oak. Looking down at herself she was wearing a uniform of some kind.

A….school library?


She started to cautiously look around. So far she didn't see anyone or anything but books, chairs, stairs, and tables. Something felt ominous... Looking up, she could see giant windows placed so high she would have to stretch her imagination to reach them. The sky outside was grey, heavy rain beat steadily against the glass.

An ominous feeling...a stormy sky…

She figured this was some kind of encompassing vision, so she was careful to note any signs that stood out. Life's strange tapestry always leaves clues of its meanings as it weaves onward, after all.

No doors…. only windows too high to reach...pretty creepy so far. She surmised after investigating every edge of the building and finding no reasonable way out..

With the storm brewing outside…Symbols of...entrapment and...chaotic emotions or thoughts? Why a school library though?


It was then she came to a halt. She could have sworn she saw something squirming around. Swiftly she turned on her heels and walked into an open office to follow the possible creature.

Here, a nauseating sight unfolded before her. A string of caterpillar-like creatures about the size and thickness of the average bicep infested the office floor. She watched as they opened jaws that revealed a spiraling row of seemingly endless sharp teeth. Over and over one would bite another and suck the blood from it's carcass. The creature that was bitten would be still for a few moments, and then get up to go on and bite another creature and suck it's blood. They were everywhere! Squirming with their translucent bodies coated in spots the color of mold. Their blood squished around between them and they moved along like it was meant to be a river carrying them on their path to their next victim.

Kurai's body went numb with fright. She clutched her mouth and stomach and turned away. Briskly she walked to where she remembered seeing tables and chairs. Expecting the room to be empty when she arrived she experienced an even greater shock to find the room filled with other people wearing the same uniform as herself. Instantly she backed around a corner, thinking it safer to not reveal herself just yet.

She took a few deep breaths, leaning against the side of a bookshelf for support.

What did I come here for? Why is this such a horror?

Instinctively she looked to her right. Just slightly above eye level a black book was sticking out just enough to break the uniformity of the otherwise perfectly lined shelves. She moved a bit closer to it. Her eyes focused on a series of markings across the cover. Small faded overlapping circles. Her face took a curious shape at the curious sight. Now thoroughly intrigued, she carefully removed a few more books. Most, she found, bared similar markings as the first.

“Strange…” she spoke quietly to herself.

“Are you alright?!”

Kurai jumped inside her skin. Somehow someone had managed to get so close to her without her knowing.

“H-hi” she spoke in a stutter.

Suddenly the air felt very dense. Her stomach started to turn again. It was strange, seeing as the person looked perfectly happy to see her. In fact, they laughed gingerly at her nervous response.

“You're silly. What're you looking at these for?” The person asked, picking one up off the shelf.

Kurai felt compelled to explain. It was strange…Since this person arrived she didn't feel quite herself actually. It was almost like she was playing a part...

“I...just so happened to notice these markings are on a lot of the books. Have you noticed?” She tentatively moved in closer to point out the markings.

“Hmm,” the person examined them carefully. “I see. Nope. Never noticed them before. Weird. But come on. It's your turn!”

“My turn?”

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Kurai
Arcanum Iris
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:42 am

Re: A frightful awakening

Post by Kurai »

Before she could properly ask what for, she was escorted hand in hand back to the room with all the tables and chairs where she had left everyone before. The next thing she knew she was laying on top of one of the tables with the person who led her there sitting on top of her.

Looking up at them she felt a strange mixture of emotions. Something told her she was suppose to be here. In fact, she had the feeling that all her life was leading up to this, whatever it was, and that it was an honor. On the other hand… She felt terrified. Something terrible was going to happen to her. The later feeling screamed at her incessantly, she felt urged to be alert and started to look around. The person on top of her was holding a sharpened pencil and was gesturing for something. Looking off to the side she could see others laid out in different spots across the room. People walking around, clothes bloody with stains centered around the chest.

She looked up to the person sitting over her again. They were smiling still,now holding a book in addition to the pencil in their hand.

Kurai felt that she should just lay back and let it happen. She could see them positioning the sharp end of the pencil over her heart and the book over the pencil. Suddenly Kurai thought of the carnivorous caterpillars she saw earlier. She also thought of the markings she saw on the books.

Eraser marks?

The faded circles on the books were eraser marks? Were they all from people hammering pencils into each other's hearts?

Pencils...writing...language?...used as a way to...siphon life?

She struggled to understand, but in any case...this clearly couldn't go on. How long could this destructive cycle continue?? How long had it been allowed???

“Wait!” Kurai screamed. Unable to go along quietly as she reached the realization that they would drive the pencil into her heart, consume her blood, and leave her to suffer and then enact this fate on another, evermore in this ghastly library.

“Wait!” She pleaded. “This cycle has to stop...”

The person looked concerned for a moment and then gave a faint smile. “You know it's the right thing to do.”

In that moment, she felt overpowered. But… Some part if her was still stubborn. So stubborn it screamed incessantly in the back of her mind even as her body seemed paralyzed, doomed to this fate.

I can't...not in this image...I can't...

The person drew back their arm, ready to drive the pencil into Kurai's chest with all the force they could muster. But just before they could hit the hardcover of the book to the eraser of the pencil…

You see how the bacteria affects everyone?


A voice chimed in her mind, seemingly from nowhere. The person sitting over Kurai seemed to stop in time, fixated on something. Kurai followed their gaze to see, in the middle of the storm, a creature with bright red eyes and all black fur.

There, she made a decision quicker than she could think. Defying the need to analyze if it was possible, Kurai slipt from beneath her captor and leapt from the table, through the air, crashing her body through a sheet of glass.

Shards bursted around her and now
she was falling again. However, this time felt a little different. Her body seemed to float rather gently as opposed to earlier which was a frightful plummeting.

She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing in her graceful descent. When she opened them she saw red again. There was no fear, just an intense stare and a form she could see much clearer now. It was some kind of fox only...it was all black and boasted 6 tales.Possibly the source of the voice she heard last?


Hmm...

As she stared she pondered the moment she first look into the foxes eyes. She remembered feeling helpless one moment… And then boundless the next. It was as though as soon as she caught it's gaze she had a clear vision of her way out of this nightmare and before she knew it, she was already moving towards it.

A grin started to rise across her face.

“It's you, isn't it?”

The fox opened its mouth with a howl, however there was no sound. Instead, Kurai's vision was flooded with an image of the Sanctus imperium and nearly instantly she was back there, standing before the crystal just like before.

“….”

She sat down, for a moment just focusing on breathing and going over that nightmarish vision in her head. What would have happened to her if she had never seen the fox? If she had never touched on the feeling of boundlessness that was the impetus to her escape?

For her, for now, this was just a vision but...it seemed like much more than that.

“Bacteria…” she mumbled aloud. What did bacteria have to do with it? Was it metaphorical or literal? Is that what the horsemen were? Something they caused?

She came here for answers and ended up with so many more questions. Including why she never thought to use myou myaku

“This is progress though… Right?”

She looked to the side of her, imagining the fox sitting next to her though there was no sight of it at the moment. She sighed, wondering when she would see it again and when she would get the answer to her new set of questions. Including why she hadn't thought to use Myou Myaku at all during her struggle...Was she going to have to face the horsemen without her bloodline?

“All in proper time I suppose…” she rolled her eyes with slight irritation,rising to her feet before opening a dark slit leading home. Time had taught her not to rush. She knew if she remained observant and patient all the answers she needed would flow to her. Still, sometimes she wished everything would move along as instantly as her strange escape.

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