Day # 46 Theme: fashion challenge: vampire goth Time spent: ~45 minutes
Comments:
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:22 pm
Day # 47 Theme: kratos Time spent:
Dark smoke and shadows swirled around me before coalescing into a new scene. I was on my hands and knees, staring dully at a blood-soaked floor. I could hear a choking, ragged sound, and it took me a moment to realize I was the one making the noise, my body heaving with sobs. From the corner of my eye, I could see a dark form. I tried to turn my head to look, but instead, I continued staring at the ground.
Ah, right. This was a memory. I was bound to the actions I had taken in the past.
Someone tsked above me, and I slowly lifted my head. Two people stood in front of me. I immediately recognized Lindi--her dark hair lying loose around her shoulders; gray eyes narrowed down at me, not angry, just greatly annoyed, like I wasn’t worth her time.
The second person’s face was a swirling mass of black, concealing his identity, though I didn’t actually need to see his face to know this was Kratos. Clearly the spell keeping me from revealing any information about him also blocked his image from my memories.
I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or not. One the one hand, I didn’t want to betray Kratos, even if he’d already turned against me, but on the other hand, I was terrified of what was going to happen to me if Carson didn’t get the information he wanted.
Lindi leaned over Kratos’s shoulder so that her mouth was right next to his ear.
“Kill him,” she said. “And no one will stand in our way.”
Kratos gave a single nod and stepped forward.
I shrank backward, eyes widening.
“Please,” I said. “I don’t want to die.”
Kratos paused, tipping his head slightly to one side. “It would be kinder for me to kill you,” he said, voice emotionless, detached.
I shook my head desperately.
He lifted a hand and pointed to my left where that dark form that I could just barely see was. “Do you really want to live alone, remembering that?”
My head turned toward where he pointed and quickly turned away again, but it had been enough for me to see what was there--or rather what wasn’t there because as it turned out, it wasn’t a black form I had seen, but a black void.
Kratos knelt down in front of me. “Do you really want to live the rest of your life knowing your entire family is dead, that you must continue on without them, completely alone?”
I stared at him, my body trembling, as I tried to comprehend what was happening. What was the connection between my family and the void?
“Do you really want to live?” Kratos asked.
“I…I don’t want to die,” I said.
It felt disconcerting not to be able to see the expression on Kratos’s face as he watched me. What was he feeling while he contemplated killing me?
“If you live, you will suffer,” he said. For a moment his apathetic voice cracked, and he sounded genuinely sad.
Irrationally, I wanted to reach out and touch the face I couldn’t even see. I imagined pain in his eyes, and I wanted to lessen that pain, but of course, I wouldn’t have had that same desire back then, so my hands stayed firmly against the blood-stained floor.
“Kratos.” Lindi’s voice was sharp, almost threatening.
Kratos didn’t move.
“Might I remind you,” Lindi continued, “that he’s an obstacle we can’t afford to let live. When he’s older--”
“Then you do it,” Kratos said, half turning to look back at the demon.
Lindi was quiet for a moment, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “You know I can’t directly involve myself in their deaths,” she said, her voice icy. “Now finish your job.”
Kratos turned back to me. “Are you sure you want to live?”
I turned to look at the black void again, my eyes fixed intently on the nothingness that was there, and I felt a sob catch in my throat.
“You can die with the rest of them,” Kratos said. “You don’t have to carry the burden of living on.”
As I stared, I realized the pool of blood was flowing from the void, and finally, I understood. The void was not something that actually existed. Like the shadows concealing Kratos’s face, this void was all that remained of the memory of my family--they had been completely eradicated.
“Please,” I said. “I don’t want to die.”
I turned away from the void and found Lindi quickly approaching. She stepped past Kratos, and her hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of my hair. I yelped, as she tugged me onto my feet. She kept lifting until only my toes grazed the ground. I reached up, grabbing her hand, fingernails digging into her skin as I tried in vain to get her to let go.
“You can’t kill him,” Kratos said.
“No,” she said, “but I can make sure he never poses a threat even if he lives.”
“What are you going to do to him?”
“Remove any unnecessary parts of him.” Her eyes were dark and poisonous as she watched me struggling in her grip. “That way he’ll be useless to her.”
Even knowing this plan of hers didn’t go through, seeing as I was perfectly functional in the current time, listening to her say such a thing, with such a callous voice, scared me. A quiet whimper escaped my mouth and I shot a desperate look at Kratos.
“He did say you would suffer if you lived, didn’t he?” Lindi said.
“I can make sure he’s useless,” Kratos said.
Lindi paused, her gaze swiveling toward him.
“Really?” she said, sounding skeptical. “You’re going to hack the boy you just spared into pieces?”
“There’s a simpler solution.”
Lindi jerked me around so that I stood between her and Kratos and finally released her hold on my hair. She shoved me hard, and I stumbled forward, falling against Kratos.
“Go ahead,” Lindi said. “If you can solve this problem with killing, I don’t care if he lives or dies. What exactly are you proposing to be done?”
Kratos held onto me as I stared down at the ground through watery eyes.
“We just need to erase his identity.”
“That’s only a temporary solution. If he ever finds out, through other means, what he can do, our entire plan will have been in vain.”
“He won’t have a chance to find out if I keep him with me,” Kratos said. “Polis is now the foothold of your kingdom; if he stays secluded here, he’ll never learn the truth.”
“You’re being far too optimistic.”
Kratos sighed. “Fine. If there’s even a remote possibility that he’s begun to learn the truth, I’ll kill him. No questions asked. Does that satisfy you?”
Lindi tsked.
“Besides,” Kratos continued. “We don’t even know if your plan would even work.”
“Fine,” Lindi said. “Turn him into a blank slate and keep him. He’s your responsibility.”
I heard the sound of her footsteps receding. “And at least add some precautions,” she called.
I looked up into Kratos’s shadowed face. My legs felt shaky and I was pretty sure that if Kratos let go of me, I’d collapse onto the floor.
“This is for the best anyway,” he said. “That way you won’t have to suffer--” He looked toward the void. “--that memory.”
“I--wait.”
He looked at me again.
“I don’t want to forget.”
“Why? It will only bring you pain. Trust me, I know. I lost my family too.”
This information left me dumbfounded. All the time I had spent with Kratos, and he had never once mentioned his family in any way, shape, or form. This was the first time I had learned anything about Kratos’s past.
My past self didn’t share the same shock and continued on, completely oblivious to the fact that one day, he would find this information shocking. “There are good things to remember too. I don’t want to lose all of that.”
Kratos was silent for a long moment and then he released a long sigh. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t compromise anymore. If I don’t remove all your memories, then I’ll end up having to kill you. Would you prefer that?”
I stared at Kratos for a second and then looked away. “No,” I said.
“Okay, then this is your only option.”
I was silent.
Kratos pressed his fingertips to my forehead. His touch felt cold for one brief moment and then the flow of magic brought a wave of heat, that first washed across the surface of my skin, and then wormed its way through my head.
I felt my mind drifting, and a burst of fear and adrenaline shot through me. “No, wait. Don’t!”
I pushed against his chest, shoving myself backward so the connection between us broke. Pain spiked through my head as I plummeted to the ground, and I knew it was already too late. The edges of my vision turned fuzzy, and I hit the ground hard.
The last thing I saw was Kratos, the shadows concealing his face look far more sinister than they had when the memory had started.
Comments: A scene from one of my stories.
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 8:04 pm
Day # 48 Theme: nyx Time spent: ~1.5 hours
Comments: My OC Nyx.
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2021 7:57 pm
Day # 49 Theme: spirit challenge Time spent: ???
Comments: stare
Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:37 pm
Day # 50 Theme: finish/improve (day 49) Time spent: ~2 hours
Comments:
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:10 pm
Day # 51 Theme: color palette Time spent:
Comments:
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:15 pm
Day # 52 Theme: personify water Time spent: ~1.5 hours
Comments:[
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:34 pm
Day # 53 Theme: genderbend an anime character Time spent: ~2.5 hours
Comments: Finally made something I feel good about.
Day # 55 Theme: color palette Time spent: ~2 hours
Comments:
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:27 pm
Day # 56 Theme: Dietes Time spent: ~4 hours
Comments: Okay, so I misread dietes as deities... Yeah, so... huh, I don't know if this will count or not.
Well...Jata looks awful (at least her face--I have yet to figure out how to draw eyes at this angle and still I keep trying), but I'm happy with how my fire goddess turned out.
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 8:14 pm
Day # 57 Theme: art collector request Time spent: ~1.5 hours
Comments:
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:07 pm
Day # 58 Theme: color palette Time spent:
Comments:
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
mythological irony
Blessed Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:10 pm
Day # 59 Theme: panda Time spent: 1 hour & 45 minutes
Reply
