[WP06] Evenfall, Grave

[Aric Val]

5. At first it seems as though nothing has changed. And then you realize: the phantom wind is a real wind, stirring your fur. It blows harder and harder until you are pushed inexorably back towards the stone, and then into it. If you are not a Legendary, there is no pain this time, but there is definite and sudden blackness, and a lingering moment of consciousness before you sleep, heavily. If you are a Legendary, you are swallowed up in the memory of a foal in the sac or the egg or the womb, until you forget who you are.

The tower that neared actually looked very -- peaceful, fitting for their end. It was a huge stone tower of no real obvious purpose but it called to them and they answered it. Upon closer realization the light that came from it looked like the moon, and Evenfall was once again comforted by the promise of being back with her brothers and sisters in the sky.

Though she could not understand the symbols that surrounded it, she was very much convinced that she and this buck were to have their last walk, a long moment of contemplation as she walked in silence in this void. The only sounds were their hooves on the floor and the thoughts in their heads, a quiet walk in this place that had a lot of nothing except the tower and the road. But, she was accepting of it. "Ah," she smiled when the bone buck spoke up. Evenfall knew she didn't know the name of the buck, somehow liking how mysterious it was -- yet facing this together, she thought it only fitting. "I thank you for your company for this time, and I do wish to know the same of you. I am called Ev---"

And as soon as she uttered those words she felt a terrible chill, the wind picking up and suddenly practically knocking her off her feet and she had barely caught her balance. Her fur was ruffled by the suddenly cold wind and though she tried, she was having a hard time keeping her footing. Was the wind from the tower? But it was pushing towards the tower! Would that be their final destination after all?

Chrystali

 

[Chrystali]

For some reason, he'd never expected his end to be so...well, quiet. Grave had thought, perhaps, he'd meet the many souls he'd put to rest, or perhaps ancestors -- that he'd walk with beings that he'd imparted some sort of wisdom upon, or who had perhaps done such for him. Blue eyes sliding to the side, looking at the doe that was instead his company...he wasn't disappointed. Just surprised. A little dismayed her time had come too, but at least he has a pretty last view.

The tower loomed within view, peace settling into his bones. This place was older than him, and even if it wasn't his end, there was something very final about it. As the doe began to speak, the ear closest to her swiveled in her direction, his eyes slowly running up the length of the tower to the moonlight at its tip. So this was it...

...except...something was off. Something was changing.

Grave snapped his head to the side as the wind actually gave him chill, ruffling his fur and pushing it the wrong way - towards the tower. As the doe almost lost her balance, he bowed his head and caught her against his neck, attention immediately shifting to the tower. Despite the cobbled floor, despite the static nothing there'd been mere heartbeats before, where they were was all but collapsing in on itself - or so it seemed. The tower was drawing them in!

He opened his mouth to speak, but his breath was snatched by the frigid, howling wind, drowning out all sound and starting to drag his hooves against the floor against his will. Grave tried to angle himself to support the doe, but there was no reason for it -- he couldn't stop it, he certainly couldn't save her, and he wouldn't even if he could. He just...he suddenly felt the grip of not wanting things to end like this. It wasn't right!

Grave tucked his head towards the doe, trying to offer one helpless means of comfort at the end. It was all he could do, all he'd done in his life to honor the dead. It was the last thing he could do, to spare that comfort to her before it was all over.

Aric Val

 

[Aric Val]

And there really wasnt anything she could do as the strong violent wind started to take her, take them both. Her eyes looked back at him with the same intensity-- she wasnt scared anymore though, just -- a little saddened she would not know the name of this buck in this mortal life of hers, a second opportunity taken from them. But it was a grateful thought to know that they would face the end together and meet in the life beyond this one. The wind surprised her as the buck moved in front of her to buffer it, but the unavoidable strength of what seemed like the tower sucking them in was more than either of them could withstand! There was no fighting it, and as the cold win pulled them, she stopped trying to fight it.

When she felt him against her she couldnt help but press her face against the bucks coat, one last thought that he felt very ...safe. Even with the wind and the cold, it was ...nice that he was there, stranger to the end. Their last walk in this place had been a comfort, peaceful even if they hadnt know where there were or how they got there. She felt it was bittersweet and strangely fitting that their last moments be together. Her last moments were of these wonderful feelings and she was thankful she had met him.  

[Chrystali]

Inexorably, eventually, they were going to come in contact with the tower. Grave would have preferred to meet it on his own terms - he'd been trying to do just that, after all, before the wind started - but it was so harsh and cold now, he couldn't have made his way towards it on his own four hooves even if he tried. It felt almost less like wind and more like an inevitable pull, the same way the land pulled down on one's body when they jumped, and the center of it all was the tower. Grave didn't know what he'd expected at the end, but it wasn't this.

He felt the doe tuck against him and in response, a gentle sort of peace that came with her presence. It was reassuring, and took out some of the uncertainty in all that was transpiring. Grave bowed his head over her, hooves scraping, wind howling, and as he'd anticipated, they were pressed against the tower --

-- blackness --

Awareness trickled briefly through him as he felt himself meet the cobbled stone, the doe against him. The last thing he thought was that he hoped to find warmth in the next life, and the heavy sleep took him.