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Nightmare

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Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Entry 5.3:

Braelynn stands atop the tallest rock on Mt. Illapse, from a vantage point that can be shown a great deal of the city. She stares straight ahead, her facial features passive. The mountain wind whips her hair around her, but she does not notice.

Once vibrant violet eyes give way to dark abyss pools of unfocused expression. She squints, shielding them with a hand from the glaring Illapse sun. She can’t seem to focus on any particular thing, but she thinks of her roses. She can always find the roses, except for today. Right now, her thoughts are clouded with memories of a very dark, calculating person she encountered back at the Ice Palace that was a devastating contradiction to the loving, adoring one she had left there just thirty minutes prior.

She struggled to comprehend. Her eyes glazed over as she recalled stumbling blindly back down the Basin, wondering what it was she did wrong to incur such unexpected wrath. He couldn’t look her in the eye. His gaze, that of a stranger, fixed itself above her head as he spoke words that sent her fleeing the Palace, her heart shattered. She considered returning, but she was afraid.

She stands there still in the hot sun, burning. The wind kicks up even faster, creating an invisible dust devil that surrounds her avatar, flitting her dress about her and flipping her pendant with its precious cargo about, causing it to jingle. The sound momentarily distracts her from her nightmare, and she reaches down and grasps the pendant with a hand, calming it.

In a daze, she wanders back to the House of Light, hoping to find respite there. Wandering around the façade, she purposefully avoided her garden. She sees Rage standing nearby with a concerned look, but keeping his distance. Mindlessly standing on the stairs, she fixed her unfocused gaze on the statue that permeated the bridge, too exhausted and emotionally drained to object to its ridiculous placement.

The silence was shattered by a cry coming from North Wind, at the Sepulcher. She located WishBringer in that area. Braelynn’s eyes widened with panic, and fear, her heart pounding. Something was wrong.

“We have to go.” She said, and translocated.
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
User avatar
Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Re: Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Entry 6.1

Upon arrival after North Wind’s cry for help at the Sepulcher, Braelynn was met with a scene straight out of chaos. She could sense WishBringer’s presence, but she couldn’t see. She heard some sort of growling in the direction of the darkness. Her heart pounds with a fear she had never felt before, and she trembles.

Liolira spotted her right away. “Brae, help him. He keeps collapsing by a bogrom and soul evoking himself.”

“I can’t see him,” she replied, scanning the area with dark eyes, searching. For a brief moment, he was visible, but unrecognizable. His skin was dark, and mottled. He emitted a strange growl and tried to attack anyone who came near him. He ran around erratically, making strange noises.

Nocvem Oneirsom spoke from somewhere. “Where is my brother.”

Pure Rage, clearly annoyed, repeated what he’d been telling him since the day before. “Are you being obstinate for a specific reason? You yourself agreed that he was hiding inside BladeSlayer, and that was not even twelve hours ago.”

“Where is my brother?” Nocven said.

“Same answer,” says Rage.

“No more games,” Nocven’s voice rose. “NO… MORE… GAMES.”

Liolira, in a panicked frenzy, whispers to Braelynn. “True love’s kiss, will bring one out of darkness.”

Braelynn shakes her head at Liolira. “I don’t think that will help him, now.” She keeps her eyes on WishBringer, watching him flit from spot to spot chaotically, and she feels helpless.

“No more games!” Nocven shouted, and darkness filled the room, blinding everyone inside.

Braelynn heard WishBringer’s screams and she cried out in the direction from which she heard it, but she couldn’t see. When her vision returned, it was just in time to see Nocven plunge the Obsidian Blade straight into WishBringer’s soulsphere, DreamStriking him.

In utter grief, she fell to her knees and let out a bloodcurdling, anguished scream. She felt as though her soul was ripped from her avatar and she grew cold, that fear that started somewhere in the center of her spread and she gasped for air. She crawled through the sludge and muck, sobbing, toward the spot where his soul essence lay. She dug through the mud until she grasped it, and put it away quickly. Not wanting to further endure, she fled the Sepulcher in sheer panic with the soul essence, heading toward the House of Light.

~~~~~

Some unknown number of hours later… the Ice Palace is cold, and a slight chilly breeze filters in through the open windows. Everything looks tidy and in place. The lone dreamer inside is clad in night, and stands just in front of the portal, looking around. Braelynn takes a few more steps inside, but pauses. She removes his soul essence from her satchel, and holds it in her hands delicately. She is overcome with emotion, yet again, and tries to calm herself down. She still has a lot of unanswered questions. There is little she understands right now, but hopefully soon ... she will.

On a pedestal in the center of the room, sits his locket. Upon touch, it is warm – the only warm thing in the room, at present. She reaches down with unsteady fingers and touches it, and imagines she can feel the pulse of his heartbeat with it. She closes her eyes, but tears do not come. She has no more to shed today.

She swears she can hear his voice. "Love of loves. Feel it, and know. You don’t have to second guess. Just know. Simply know." She reaches up and rests her hand on the key, attached to her pendant, and she nods to herself.

Braelynn places the soul essence back in her satchel and rests her hand on the locket for a moment, feeling its warmth. “When it is time,” she whispers, and quietly slips out of the portal. She ambles down the Basin, taking her time. She moves through the portal to Illapse, where her Night Rose garden greets her. Her eyes for a brief moment flash violet as she inhales. She reaches down and plucks one from the ground, and holding it close to her, wanders back up to the House of Light, with a very faint smile.
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
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Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Re: Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Entry 8:

Braelynn stood on her rock at the top of Illapse, staring out at the city. Her arms were crossed and she was drumming her fingertips on them, as though she was deep in thought. The glaring sun beat down on her and she flipped the hood of her cloak back over her head. The long sleeves kept the healing wounds on her arms hidden, but it was uncomfortably hot now. It was time to go.

She ambled down Illapse at a snail’s pace. She arrived at Threshold Way and paused to gaze at her flowers. Was it her imagination, or did a few more appear? She could not tell. She stood in the center of the room and inhaled slowly, her eyes flashing violet with cracks of jade before returning to their grief-stricken abyss. She evoked a quick locate, just to see his name.

She passed through the portal to the Basin and started her daily trek to the Ice Palace, where she had been leaving flowers she created with her own hands. Always a love note, or some message. If he could reach her from where he was, as he often did with his voice on the wind or in her ear, she had some manner of hope that he would hear her. Silly, she knew.

Once inside, she untied her cloak and let it drop unceremoniously to the floor and started her usual pacing around his locket, and soul essence. Her mind was racing; she was thinking about their last day in the Guild Hall. “Prepare for anything, love of loves,” he had said, almost .. a warning. “My love will endure through anything. I will see you on the other side of this no matter what ugly is thrown at me.”

She paused in her movement. He always told her they would have to weather storms, but she never anticipated this one. “The happily ever after, has some more darkness to move through.

His voice in her head became jumbled as she plucked memories from her thoughts. They all came together in one giant, loud montage and then suddenly.. silence. She found herself stopped in front of his locket, and she reached down and touched it. It was warm.

“It wasn’t over for me… it still isn’t over.” She said out loud, yanking the key from her pendant.

It was time for this nightmare to end.
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
User avatar
Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Re: Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Entry 9:

Darkness.

It was like being thrust into a thick dark blanket of nothingness. An endless spiderweb from which one could not untangle or searching for a single grain of sand on a thousand-mile beach. She had heard that somewhere before, probably Mandus. It was true.

She heard noise, but she did not know which direction it came from, or what it was. She did not know if she was flying, or walking, or both, or neither. She felt fear, but something else that far outweighed any fear. Her mind wandered as she scanned around, hoping to find something familiar in her sight.

A suggestion at the FreeSpirit meeting several days prior had made up her mind, once and for all. She would not allow anyone to shut him up in the chaos forever. Over her dead body. She had whispered to her sister, Tember, who stood next to her. “Did I hear her right? She suggested shutting them up on their dark path, forever?" Sadara had looked panicked at that suggestion, as well.

Tember had looked her square in the eyes. “Isn’t it about time you do something, then?

That forced her into action. Repercussions or the fact that she had no idea what she was doing did not matter to her. She had nothing to lose.

Now she floated through nothingness, in the search for her soulmate. She would not let him stay in here forever, no matter what it took.. she was going to pull him out of there. With Ravyn, preferably, or without. She did not care.

She reached up for her key, feeling its warmth in her palm despite the chaos and The Fear that now threatened to overtake her. Panic crept slowly upwards as she threw her head back and howled loudly...

"WISHBRINGER!!!!!!"
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
User avatar
Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Re: Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Entry 10:

A mixture of relief and panic set in as Braelynn found him, bound and gagged by some sort of campfire that was not upright. WishBringer’s eyes were wide as she reached him and started clumsily pulling at whatever was keeping him silent.

Before she could even speak, he said, “Shhh,” so low that she could barely hear him. “Don’t move. It’s time.

What? No… we have to go!” She pleaded, pulling at the binds that tied his hands together. She managed to free one of his hands and he reached out for hers, gripping it and stopping her movement.

It’s time,” he said, staring into her eyes, his voice barely audible but projecting a calm that confused her.

Wh.. what?” She did not understand, but that was nothing new.

He reached over and with lightning speed, swiped the key off her pendant quickly and tucked it somewhere on him. He tore his eyes from hers to glance behind her before whispering, “I’m sorry.” Braelynn turned slowly around, the hairs on her arms prickling as she came face to face with Eldryck, who carried a smirk.

Your happy little reunion all you thought it would be?” He grinned mischievously, as he advanced toward her.
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
User avatar
Braelynn
Dreamer
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:56 pm
Character Name(s): Sidari Kai

Re: Nightmare

Post by Braelynn »

Final Entry

February 2021
The Ark of Duke


Two dreamers stand in this room on the bridge. Two ruby halos twinkle in sync as the pair stood facing each other, in what appeared to be an extremely emotional, intense conversation. They shared the same sorrowful look as they gazed each other, with tears brimming and threatening to fall as they inched closer to each other with each word.

“I owe you so damn many words,” he said. “Every time you dreamt, I didn’t know what I needed to be to keep you. It was like I put you in a glass case and didn’t interact – not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know how. I was afraid of me, of losing you, of saying and doing the wrong thing. Which was so much worse. You would be there, and I would be so… god, full of fear and love. Love because I did. Fear because I was afraid the next thing I did.. I would lose you. So I blanked, so much. And I blanked so often that it became normal… and you didn’t say anything. You just took the nothing that I gave you. We faded to nothing because I let it. And I hated myself because of it. And I am so, so sorry.”

A few moments of silence passed, as they stared at each other. She closed her eyes for a second before she spoke.

“I spent a long time wondering what I did wrong. Were you bored.. tired..? I spent a long time blaming myself for why two dreamers, who clearly have a ridiculously long, emotional history just couldn’t keep it together. I don’t have a history with anyone else. I never will. I don’t know what it is about you and me,” she said, her voice trembling. “I can’t explain it, and I never could. But there is and always will be that part of me, that space in my heart that is reserved only for you. It will never belong to anyone else. I don’t know if it will ever be whole. Our paths keep crossing, but I just wish I knew how to keep them aligned.”

She reached for his hand and took it into both of hers, squeezing it to her. “If our paths are meant to cross again, they will… right?” She stared up at him, her eyes knit with a mixture of sadness and hope. He nodded to her, unable to speak at that moment. She let go of his hand and took a step back, tears flowing down freely now and she ignored them. “I should probably go.”

“Our paths will cross again someday. And when they do, I am never letting you go. But for now I will wait. A lifetime, if I must." He backed away from her reluctantly and moved back over toward the tree, sitting near the water. "I don’t even know how it screams inside of me this loudly still. I will never understand.” He turned his gaze back to the water. “God, I still love you so much.”

She moved toward the portal slowly, her tear-stained face red and raw with emotion as she barely choked out the words, “And I love you still.” And then she fled through the portal, where she collapsed to the ground outside in emotional sobs… before picking herself back up and taking her time going back to the Luminous Mountain where shadows of doubt now awaited her.


April 2021
South Haven, Lost Caves


Dina and Tember listened to Braelynn recount her story. They both looked at her with empathy as Braelynn stumbled through it. “… so you see, that is why I reject the bullshit notion that Ravyn somehow mind-controlled WishBringer into saying those things to me, or doing what he did. Ravyn wasn’t around twenty years ago when we got married the first time. He wasn’t around the second time either. And he certainly hadn’t been messing around with him when we went to the Ark of Duke and had that first conversation after Tember opened up that can of worms in the Market place. Or even the weeks after!”

Tember looked sheepish as she threw up her hands to evoke an art she was improving. “Sorry, not sorry.”

The girls chuckled in unison for a moment, before Braelynn’s expression turned dark.

“Nobody understands.” She said, pacing around the dreamsoul pad. “We have this history. It is -there-. It -exists-. This isn’t just some passing fancy for two random dreamers that happen to meet. This is two decades of love.. of emotion.. of loss and devastation. It is and was everything and it hurt, oh boy, did it hurt. But I can’t ignore it. It won’t go away, ever. No matter who or what manages to come along.”

Tember paused in her evocation to speak quietly. “I remember.”

“I’m sorry I keep talking about it, I just.. miss him.” Braelynn continued, reaching up and twirling her pendant around. She paused and detached the night diamond ring from it and held it up. “You know, he told me that one day, he would put this back on me himself. That’s why I don’t wear it on my finger.” She put it back on the pendant where it clinked gently with the key that was also there.

“Don’t be sorry,” Dina told her. “He will be back, I know he will.”

“I don’t know,” Braelynn said, with a long drawn out sigh. “I feel like I should just go in there and yank him out myself because nobody else is doing anything.”

Tember raised her eyebrow. “Maybe you should.”

May 2021
Darkness


“I am foolish,” Braelynn said, squinting her eyes and attempting to focus. The color of them flickered between violet and black as though they could not decide which to remain. “But I didn’t have a choice. I thought you were going to be locked in here forever, and if that were the case, I would not let you be here alone. But now we need to figure out how the hell we are going to get out of here.”

WishBringer could not be angry with her. “What happened with….” He asked with uncertainty.

She didn’t hesitate in her answer. “I chose you,” she replied. “Every day after you were struck, I chose you. Every day sunk me further into grief and nobody could pull me out of it. Nobody could ever know that kind of pain. And I pushed Rage away, because all I wanted was you. He most certainly didn't deserve what I gave him, but... he knew how I felt. I told him. And I accept the blame for that, but...."

She paused for a moment, reaching up absentmindedly for the pendant that now only housed one item. "Don’t you see? For me..... it’s you. It’s always....been.... You.”
Owner of the infamous Night Dress and WishBringer's heart
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