Fin Returns
29 Apr 2022 02:59 - 29 Apr 2022 03:14 #19
by Fin
Fin Returns was created by Fin
She knew when she had passed into the homelands. The taste of the air was different, her senses sharpened with each step. Every edge felt sharp enough to cut through into the Vision, letting it ooze into the bright sunlight and reshape the world around her. She could feel the wolf spirit within her shift, press against her skin in unease but she smiled. It was sharp edged and hungry, a hunter returning to her domain.
How long had it been since she’d been exiled? She almost couldn’t remember anymore, she’d lived a lifetime since then, her fingers curling around the leaves hanging against her chest. He’d given her the token before he disappeared and she’d worn it every moment. Was it to immortalize him or to simply remind herself that love was a fool’s path? She didn’t know anymore and it didn’t matter, not anymore.
She could see the towering city in the distance, her smile almost a grimace now as she noted the changes. News had traveled to her, as it had through the lands. News of the miraculous cure, miraculous healing but there were other rumours. Rumours of the corruption and horrors that seemed to have followed these miracles. But she was not here to seek out demons and vampires, her small efforts to continue her lost mate’s work. She was here to test out this miracle, this life altering elixir. She was sick with something that was eating her life away, she could feel it and none had been able to help her. It felt as if her very spirit was sick, her wolf always trying to claw its way free of the plague within her.
Fingers tightened around her pack, she felt brittle from the journey. She knew her appearance showed the sickness within, she’d watched the wasting away with detached interest. It had started with the fading of her wolf’s influence on her looks, the return of her born face manifesting first, the unique elven lineage an almost welcome sight. Then it was just a curiosity, the wraith’s spell had been insidious as it wormed into her very core...the blood in her lungs, her body’s inability to recover from wounds...the slow wasting away of her physicality. Even shifting was painful beyond comprehension and she’d spent more than a few moon rises nearly incapicated from the constant bleeding.
Nurem called to her as she stepped to the entrance, fingers tracing the carving in familiar wonder. How much of her life had been spent coming to this very door, had been spent guarding it during the wars? She’d gotten word that the fighting had stopped years ago, that her people had been victorious and a new age had come to her home. As she pushed her way inside, her gaze swept the cavern kingdom, seeing the old and new as it thrived beneath the golden light of the Sun Stone. For a moment, her heart groaned as it swelled and ached, overwhelmed with sensation. She was home.
….
The NightRoot Elixir. Even its name haunted her, the warmth it radiated from its very color seemed to promise life and health and wellness. So much had changed, yet it felt familiar enough that she hardly noticed the edges as she slipped into the current of her old life. She’d been there for months now, getting stronger and weaker. Her wolf had seemed to recede further and further as she moved among her family and her people. The Umbra, how she had missed them and the golden twilight they resided in. It had taken her time to re-adapt but now it was if she’d never gone. They had been making plans for her, certain of her promised restoration at the Prior’s hand. She had sworn to become Aedola, sworn to join her kin in fighting the abominations that had begun to appear and threaten the prosperity of the kingdom. Her time was coming and she felt the first stirrings of hope.
They brought her to The Order at the new Moon. The room was little more than a cell but they had warned her that ingesting the Elixir usually brought a strong connection to the Vision and wanted to keep her safe. A hooded figure brought in the syringe and she watched in fascination at the shimmering within. It called to her, vibrating with power and the gifts it could bestow upon her. She barely flinched when the needle pierced her skin, watching in fascination as the Elixir pushed into her veins, glowing patterns lacing beneath her skin as it worked its way into her. The last thing she remembered was the innate recognition that its color matched her own golden gaze...then sleep took her.
Darkness. It was nothing but darkness as she swam into awareness. She knew what this was, even within the dark. The Vision had pulled her inside, her awareness shifting and sliding, skewing through the void. But, she was alone. She’d not been alone since being turned and she reached out for her wolf in confusion, finding only the dimmest sense of it. Its spirit was curled on itself, almost dormant in a way she found disconcerting. Pulling it close, she wandered the dimness until there was light. She was and she was not, all of these things she saw as she moved into it. Her wolf curled close to her breast, Thanos’s leaves had curled around it, holding it close and keeping it safe, her own hand resting gently over them both.
She did not recognize this part of the Vision. Her people came into this world often throughout their lives, their Shamans nearly lived with one foot inside. But this space was unknown to her, it was stronger than before; she could feel its power humming in her very veins and it took a moment for her to realize what was actually happening. The golden patterns had spread up her left arm, twining its way into her heart. With every beat, she could see it spread further and she watched in fascination as dark spots were illuminated and destroyed. She knew it was healing her but she could feel it changing other things, things she had not sought to be changed.
When the Seed reared up before her, she was not ready. The Elixir had worked its way through her until it had found the old scars and there...there it had begun to seep into her wolf. Her wolf was struggling, its spirit trying to flee and she struggled in turn, seeking to hold it close. Disbelief and panic had filled her, the Vision warping to reflect her new state. And then Esus itself arrived.
Tendrils wrapped around her, pulling her upright and apart, each limb spread out fully within Esus’s grasp. Her wolf was a shining amber orb, its spirit trapped within the light and drowning. Thanos’s leaves were twisting, the metal ran like liquid and engulfed her wolf, trapping it deeper in the light. Horrified and helpless, she watched as Esus lifted the orb as if it were floating on its own shimmering.
‘Finuviel…’ its voice was sibilant and warm, like the Elixir flowing within her ‘you have been gone, yet you have returned, tainted. Yet again, you seek to cling to this taint when you have come to be cleansed, to be elevated’ she could not see Esus, it was not truly a thing to see in any way she could understand. The god did not expect her to answer, she could not even if she wanted to. Her only option seemed to be a shaping of the Vision itself and she struggled to convey her feelings, to blast them at the god before it destroyed every part of her.
‘Do not worry, Finuviel...’ She could feel it now, feel the Elixir in every fiber of her being and it began to burn, fire racing along nerve and blood and bone that was pure agony. ‘Your trinket shall not be taken from you...’ a noise like laughter...screaming reshaped the Vision, blood spattering down upon her. ‘But it will not be as it was, just as you are not as you were. I am not offering you a gift, Finuviel of the Umbra. You have stolen blood and such a thing does not come without a price’
The orb rose higher, she could feel the chain parting as Thanos’s token went with it. The Vision touched the orb, unknown pain ripping through her as she screamed, the only noise she’d been able to make since Esus’s arrival. She was being ripped in half, her spirit rending within her and her wolf. ‘Your trinket is mine now, as you are. No longer will it live the purpose it was created for. Now you both serve only me...’ The light from the orb changed, the leaves pulled away to reveal her wolf. But this wolf was not the same, it was gaunt and hungry and tainted, Corrupted. ‘Someday, you will succumb fully to this creature. You will lose your very being to it and you will be Hunted down as all others are...’ Esus laughed again, that awful noise rippling down her spine. ‘But you are no longer a slave to the moon either. See how I care for you, little thief. Go back, you are cleansed of your sickness and your taint. Live your life, use my blood to heal. I will see you again’
She came awake screaming, the cell muffling her cries. She did not stop screaming until her throat gave out, raw and aching. Thanos’s necklace was gone, her wolf was there but it was not the same. She could feel it lurking within her, terrifying and hungry. She knew it would be a boon in her Hunting, she could sense the difference as she huddled in the corner, darkness creeping over her vision.
At dawn, they came for her.
How long had it been since she’d been exiled? She almost couldn’t remember anymore, she’d lived a lifetime since then, her fingers curling around the leaves hanging against her chest. He’d given her the token before he disappeared and she’d worn it every moment. Was it to immortalize him or to simply remind herself that love was a fool’s path? She didn’t know anymore and it didn’t matter, not anymore.
She could see the towering city in the distance, her smile almost a grimace now as she noted the changes. News had traveled to her, as it had through the lands. News of the miraculous cure, miraculous healing but there were other rumours. Rumours of the corruption and horrors that seemed to have followed these miracles. But she was not here to seek out demons and vampires, her small efforts to continue her lost mate’s work. She was here to test out this miracle, this life altering elixir. She was sick with something that was eating her life away, she could feel it and none had been able to help her. It felt as if her very spirit was sick, her wolf always trying to claw its way free of the plague within her.
Fingers tightened around her pack, she felt brittle from the journey. She knew her appearance showed the sickness within, she’d watched the wasting away with detached interest. It had started with the fading of her wolf’s influence on her looks, the return of her born face manifesting first, the unique elven lineage an almost welcome sight. Then it was just a curiosity, the wraith’s spell had been insidious as it wormed into her very core...the blood in her lungs, her body’s inability to recover from wounds...the slow wasting away of her physicality. Even shifting was painful beyond comprehension and she’d spent more than a few moon rises nearly incapicated from the constant bleeding.
Nurem called to her as she stepped to the entrance, fingers tracing the carving in familiar wonder. How much of her life had been spent coming to this very door, had been spent guarding it during the wars? She’d gotten word that the fighting had stopped years ago, that her people had been victorious and a new age had come to her home. As she pushed her way inside, her gaze swept the cavern kingdom, seeing the old and new as it thrived beneath the golden light of the Sun Stone. For a moment, her heart groaned as it swelled and ached, overwhelmed with sensation. She was home.
….
The NightRoot Elixir. Even its name haunted her, the warmth it radiated from its very color seemed to promise life and health and wellness. So much had changed, yet it felt familiar enough that she hardly noticed the edges as she slipped into the current of her old life. She’d been there for months now, getting stronger and weaker. Her wolf had seemed to recede further and further as she moved among her family and her people. The Umbra, how she had missed them and the golden twilight they resided in. It had taken her time to re-adapt but now it was if she’d never gone. They had been making plans for her, certain of her promised restoration at the Prior’s hand. She had sworn to become Aedola, sworn to join her kin in fighting the abominations that had begun to appear and threaten the prosperity of the kingdom. Her time was coming and she felt the first stirrings of hope.
They brought her to The Order at the new Moon. The room was little more than a cell but they had warned her that ingesting the Elixir usually brought a strong connection to the Vision and wanted to keep her safe. A hooded figure brought in the syringe and she watched in fascination at the shimmering within. It called to her, vibrating with power and the gifts it could bestow upon her. She barely flinched when the needle pierced her skin, watching in fascination as the Elixir pushed into her veins, glowing patterns lacing beneath her skin as it worked its way into her. The last thing she remembered was the innate recognition that its color matched her own golden gaze...then sleep took her.
Darkness. It was nothing but darkness as she swam into awareness. She knew what this was, even within the dark. The Vision had pulled her inside, her awareness shifting and sliding, skewing through the void. But, she was alone. She’d not been alone since being turned and she reached out for her wolf in confusion, finding only the dimmest sense of it. Its spirit was curled on itself, almost dormant in a way she found disconcerting. Pulling it close, she wandered the dimness until there was light. She was and she was not, all of these things she saw as she moved into it. Her wolf curled close to her breast, Thanos’s leaves had curled around it, holding it close and keeping it safe, her own hand resting gently over them both.
She did not recognize this part of the Vision. Her people came into this world often throughout their lives, their Shamans nearly lived with one foot inside. But this space was unknown to her, it was stronger than before; she could feel its power humming in her very veins and it took a moment for her to realize what was actually happening. The golden patterns had spread up her left arm, twining its way into her heart. With every beat, she could see it spread further and she watched in fascination as dark spots were illuminated and destroyed. She knew it was healing her but she could feel it changing other things, things she had not sought to be changed.
When the Seed reared up before her, she was not ready. The Elixir had worked its way through her until it had found the old scars and there...there it had begun to seep into her wolf. Her wolf was struggling, its spirit trying to flee and she struggled in turn, seeking to hold it close. Disbelief and panic had filled her, the Vision warping to reflect her new state. And then Esus itself arrived.
Tendrils wrapped around her, pulling her upright and apart, each limb spread out fully within Esus’s grasp. Her wolf was a shining amber orb, its spirit trapped within the light and drowning. Thanos’s leaves were twisting, the metal ran like liquid and engulfed her wolf, trapping it deeper in the light. Horrified and helpless, she watched as Esus lifted the orb as if it were floating on its own shimmering.
‘Finuviel…’ its voice was sibilant and warm, like the Elixir flowing within her ‘you have been gone, yet you have returned, tainted. Yet again, you seek to cling to this taint when you have come to be cleansed, to be elevated’ she could not see Esus, it was not truly a thing to see in any way she could understand. The god did not expect her to answer, she could not even if she wanted to. Her only option seemed to be a shaping of the Vision itself and she struggled to convey her feelings, to blast them at the god before it destroyed every part of her.
‘Do not worry, Finuviel...’ She could feel it now, feel the Elixir in every fiber of her being and it began to burn, fire racing along nerve and blood and bone that was pure agony. ‘Your trinket shall not be taken from you...’ a noise like laughter...screaming reshaped the Vision, blood spattering down upon her. ‘But it will not be as it was, just as you are not as you were. I am not offering you a gift, Finuviel of the Umbra. You have stolen blood and such a thing does not come without a price’
The orb rose higher, she could feel the chain parting as Thanos’s token went with it. The Vision touched the orb, unknown pain ripping through her as she screamed, the only noise she’d been able to make since Esus’s arrival. She was being ripped in half, her spirit rending within her and her wolf. ‘Your trinket is mine now, as you are. No longer will it live the purpose it was created for. Now you both serve only me...’ The light from the orb changed, the leaves pulled away to reveal her wolf. But this wolf was not the same, it was gaunt and hungry and tainted, Corrupted. ‘Someday, you will succumb fully to this creature. You will lose your very being to it and you will be Hunted down as all others are...’ Esus laughed again, that awful noise rippling down her spine. ‘But you are no longer a slave to the moon either. See how I care for you, little thief. Go back, you are cleansed of your sickness and your taint. Live your life, use my blood to heal. I will see you again’
She came awake screaming, the cell muffling her cries. She did not stop screaming until her throat gave out, raw and aching. Thanos’s necklace was gone, her wolf was there but it was not the same. She could feel it lurking within her, terrifying and hungry. She knew it would be a boon in her Hunting, she could sense the difference as she huddled in the corner, darkness creeping over her vision.
At dawn, they came for her.
Last edit: 29 Apr 2022 03:14 by Fin.
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