Sarevok
Lord of the Underworld
She pushed through thick brush and scrub. Panting heavily, the girl ran forwards. For how long she had run now was lost to the dark miasma that enclosed her mind. Time, the world, everything….it was as nothing now to her, one bleeding into the other to become nothing more than a painful blur of imagery and sensation that mattered little to her in the painful fugue of her interminable existence. Indeed, in truth she had been running for so long now that a life doing anything but was but a distant dream that, try as she might to cling onto it with outstretched fingertips, was an impossibility. One step, then the next, again….and again. This was her life now, her existence. To run, and run as fast and as far as she could before the twisted ones claimed her for their own.
Overhead, the blue sky was obscured by the treetops surrounding her. The tops of the great oak trees blocked the sun from shining down on the world below them. Around her, she was surrounded by dark, impenetrable shadows. Shadows, that she believed as she looked out from the corner of her eyes, reached out to entwine her within their incorporeal embrace.
And yet she continued to run, casting a panicked glance behind her, to where she saw nothing but the dark, shrouded woodland trail that she had been fleeing down.
Her lungs started to burn as she gasped in short lungfuls of air. Then….. sudden pain, shooting up and down her leg. Wincing, the girl fell to her knees, sprawling onto the dirt path. Rolling onto her back, she raised her hands up to ward off the attack that she was sure was about to come.
An attack that never did fall.
She was alone.
Around her, the woodlands were silent. There was not even the sound of birds chirping to keep her company on her panicked flight.
Astra. My name is Astra.
Closing her eyes, she took in deep lungfuls of air. Her name was Astra, and for as long as she could remember, she had been running for her life. A life that had long since ceased to take any sort of meaning for her, it had been all about survival. Survival in a barren wasteland of an existence that once, long long ago, had been worth more than the emptiness that now consumed her. Astra gasped as she closed her eyes.
There Is little worth in living a lie, and watching as the world slowly bleeds of its colours into a silhouetted tapestry. There is little worth in persisting a falsehood as the grains of sand trickle down in the hourglass and the days bleed into each other as part of an empty vacuum.
Around her, her body ached, sending small needles of pain lancing up and through her. Blood trickled from innumerable cuts and scratches. Groaning, Astra slowly climbed to her feet, ignoring the burning agony in her left leg. Right now, her need was more immediate than running from the demons she believed pursued her. Right now, she simply needed to survive.
Astra had seen terrible, terrible things with her own eyes. Ghostly whispers, and terrible, twisted beings who hunted her for what she had and what she knew. Dark shadows who could take form with taloned claw and sharp fang to rend and tear flesh from bone and heart from chest. Limping over, Astra picked up her oaken shortbow, and shrugged her backpack onto her shoulders.
She had to survive. There was nothing else left to her, even as her life slowly withered away from her.
The grains of sand trickle down in the hourglass and the days bleed into each other as part of an empty vacuum as it all dwindles Into nothingness.
Turning, she limped onwards, unable to put weight on her wounded leg.
"I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live."
It became her chorus. Her mantra. As she took one pained step after the next, the words became more than a litany to her. They became her only link to reality. As the hours continued to pass, and as Astra continued to breathe and survive, the chant warded off the terrible, hallucinatory images that threatened to destroy her. Terrible, screaming banshees leapt at her from the shadows, conjured up by her own fractured mind. They looked to devour her heart, destroy her soul. And all of them.....every single one took on the twisted visage of…..
Finally the vegetation and the foliage began to recede, and it was the appearance of the sun that finally banished the demons that were assailing her shattered mind.
Astra came forth. She came forth into the light of the sun, beating down on her.
Sun.
Was this terrible, unceasing nightmare about to end?
The road angled down gently, leading to a collection of simple thatched huts. It was no more than a dwelling, yet to Astra’s tortured eyes, it was the most beautiful sight imaginable. Limping slowly forwards to life……blessed life once more, out of the darkness of her world and her broken mind and soul.
She saw….saw the people going about their daily business, blissfully unaware of the fact that their lives were about to be turned upside down. And as one, they turned to regard him with widened eyes.
She held out a shaking hand, and her broken, whispered voice carried forth,
"Help......me....."
She could not see who it was she had asked. Her grasping, trembling hand reached out…almost as if she was reaching out for salvation itself.
Then she collapsed, for the earth to claim her once more.
Overhead, the blue sky was obscured by the treetops surrounding her. The tops of the great oak trees blocked the sun from shining down on the world below them. Around her, she was surrounded by dark, impenetrable shadows. Shadows, that she believed as she looked out from the corner of her eyes, reached out to entwine her within their incorporeal embrace.
And yet she continued to run, casting a panicked glance behind her, to where she saw nothing but the dark, shrouded woodland trail that she had been fleeing down.
Her lungs started to burn as she gasped in short lungfuls of air. Then….. sudden pain, shooting up and down her leg. Wincing, the girl fell to her knees, sprawling onto the dirt path. Rolling onto her back, she raised her hands up to ward off the attack that she was sure was about to come.
An attack that never did fall.
She was alone.
Around her, the woodlands were silent. There was not even the sound of birds chirping to keep her company on her panicked flight.
Astra. My name is Astra.
Closing her eyes, she took in deep lungfuls of air. Her name was Astra, and for as long as she could remember, she had been running for her life. A life that had long since ceased to take any sort of meaning for her, it had been all about survival. Survival in a barren wasteland of an existence that once, long long ago, had been worth more than the emptiness that now consumed her. Astra gasped as she closed her eyes.
There Is little worth in living a lie, and watching as the world slowly bleeds of its colours into a silhouetted tapestry. There is little worth in persisting a falsehood as the grains of sand trickle down in the hourglass and the days bleed into each other as part of an empty vacuum.
Around her, her body ached, sending small needles of pain lancing up and through her. Blood trickled from innumerable cuts and scratches. Groaning, Astra slowly climbed to her feet, ignoring the burning agony in her left leg. Right now, her need was more immediate than running from the demons she believed pursued her. Right now, she simply needed to survive.
Astra had seen terrible, terrible things with her own eyes. Ghostly whispers, and terrible, twisted beings who hunted her for what she had and what she knew. Dark shadows who could take form with taloned claw and sharp fang to rend and tear flesh from bone and heart from chest. Limping over, Astra picked up her oaken shortbow, and shrugged her backpack onto her shoulders.
She had to survive. There was nothing else left to her, even as her life slowly withered away from her.
The grains of sand trickle down in the hourglass and the days bleed into each other as part of an empty vacuum as it all dwindles Into nothingness.
Turning, she limped onwards, unable to put weight on her wounded leg.
"I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live. I am Astra and I will live."
It became her chorus. Her mantra. As she took one pained step after the next, the words became more than a litany to her. They became her only link to reality. As the hours continued to pass, and as Astra continued to breathe and survive, the chant warded off the terrible, hallucinatory images that threatened to destroy her. Terrible, screaming banshees leapt at her from the shadows, conjured up by her own fractured mind. They looked to devour her heart, destroy her soul. And all of them.....every single one took on the twisted visage of…..
Finally the vegetation and the foliage began to recede, and it was the appearance of the sun that finally banished the demons that were assailing her shattered mind.
Astra came forth. She came forth into the light of the sun, beating down on her.
Sun.
Was this terrible, unceasing nightmare about to end?
The road angled down gently, leading to a collection of simple thatched huts. It was no more than a dwelling, yet to Astra’s tortured eyes, it was the most beautiful sight imaginable. Limping slowly forwards to life……blessed life once more, out of the darkness of her world and her broken mind and soul.
She saw….saw the people going about their daily business, blissfully unaware of the fact that their lives were about to be turned upside down. And as one, they turned to regard him with widened eyes.
She held out a shaking hand, and her broken, whispered voice carried forth,
"Help......me....."
She could not see who it was she had asked. Her grasping, trembling hand reached out…almost as if she was reaching out for salvation itself.
Then she collapsed, for the earth to claim her once more.
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