Re: The Relentless Slaughter [Round 2: S'kkoi]
02-27-2012, 08:56 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by whoosh!.
“Do you think you can survive this game of the Tormentor's? Do you think you could kill us all? I think we should find out.”
Dorin followed Ke's gaze to the ruins. In the ensuing silence eldritch song scratched at the door of their consciousness, the rising, keening wail of all that should not be known.
“You can't be serious. We can't...”
“I see no reason why not. We are all powerful creatures here, Dorin. Combatants with weapons, however they choose to manifest themselves: steel, soul or brushes with the divine. And something or someone will die, sooner or later.” She somersaulted thoughtfully, glowing tentacles trailing behind her.
“That's still no reason to chase actively seek out fights with... things, things like that.”
Dorin.
Shik'skara snaked into view, his crystalline form no less beautiful underwater. Don't forget your duty. Dorin, having forgotten precisely that in addition to his presence, snapped back from him as if stung. Still he continued. The ritual remains incomplete, and your only remaining hope – for a meaningful death, for a fulfilled duty – is to survive this and return.
Suddenly pale, she uttered a single somewhat unimpressive word: “But...”
Do you understand, Dorin?
Ke had drifted backwards from the pair, nervous as to their relationship and her intruding presence. Even so, she saw with perfectly clarity as Dorin began to tremble and turn towards the inky ruins. She heard, faintly but just as clearly, her utterance of agreement. Her short mollusc tentacles closed around her, flame red hair entwined with pale skin.
“Ke?”
The arachnid in question drifted anticlockwise around the Exempt, peering hesitantly at her pale face.
“I am here, Dorin.”
“I'm ready. What do we do now?”
“You turn around slowly and do what we say, lackeys of the Sisterhood of the Eternal Claw,” a voice rasped from behind them. It was a voice quite derelict of any warmth or joy, or even willingness to see the recipients survive the day.
The three of them complied beautifully.
They found themselves facing a chitinous behemoth, inky-black blue and glaring at them with beady eyes. Some kind of coral spear was grasped in its claws and held very pointedly towards them.
Not a word was said. Dorin, however, found purpose in raising her hands into the air with deliberate slowness, palm faced towards the lobster. Ke didn't bother to attempt to follow suit. They watched each other, until the obvious question became too difficult to leave unasked.
“Who is this Sisterhood?” Ke said it slowly, as if she feared even talking too fast might provoke the creature.
It merely sneered back.
“Don't play dumb. You're not one of the esteemed Brotherhood, so you're one of them. That's how it works.”
It narrowed its eyes.
“I'll admit that you look a bit freaky, but maybe that's what that damnable Sisterhood does to you.”
Suddenly, a keening cry pierced through the darkness. The lobster cast a glance over his shoulder, but jerked its head back immediately as Ke began to move. She stopped again just as quickly, only flinching as the lobster matched the cry.
Several others appeared out of the gloom, armed similarly to the crustacean. There were a few fish, a seahorse and an eel. Aside from their weapons and a stormy countenance, they didn't seem too imposing. The chances didn't look too bad.
Ke dashed backwards, twisting and darting away from the group as fast as possible. She was as fast in this new form as she had been in her old, and if she could just-
One of the fish appeared in her path, blocking Ke. She veered suddenly and avoided crashing into them, but they effortlessly swooped in front of her again. She kicked at it, pushing herself backwards and staggering it.
A hurried rush of prayers could be heard, slightly garbled by panic and filling the water like a swarm. Dorin. Ke twisted around, trying to figure out where she was, but only succeeded in getting rammed by the fish. It's teeth snapped at her shell, fortunately glancing off. Taking advantage of its confusion, Ke lunged forward and clamped her mandibles around its head. It struggled, so she wrapped her half forgotten tentacles around its body. Its flailing weakened, and she took the opportunity to bite down hard and pull.
For a moment, not much happened. Both creatures strained against the other, but Ke held advantage. Blood began to cloud the water, blocking her vision in lazy streams. The thickening prayers boomed in her skull now, each name uttered a white hot brand, and between those words and her rising blood lust she could hardly think. It didn't matter.
She was winning.
Something cracked. And suddenly, in one glorious, slow moment, the head of the fish tore free. Ke could see nothing but a red haze, but how much was blood and how much was violent euphoria she couldn't say. She didn't care. The fish was dead.
Then she became very aware that the prayers had stopped. It was, in fact, utterly silent.
Triumph fading and panic rising, Ke spun around. She clawed at the bloody murk, but there was nothing to see.
She realised it was getting darker. The sea here had never been well lit, sunk beneath the waves as they were, but there had been some light. Now, however, it had most certainly faded. And as she stared on, the darkness became more and more complete.
Ke broke free of the blood and ploughed through the tarnished light. Long pale limbs pushed out in front of her, questing into the dark, but she saw and felt nothing but ocean.
She was certain she was going to suffocate.
Instead, she whimpered. The darkness was absolute now.
Ke couldn't tell if she was sinking or rising, moving or remaining in place. Expending the last of her hope, she spun around for the last time.
There!
Relief exploded over her at the sight of the light. Golden and unwavering, its divine nature was unquestionable.
“Nyame?”
Her voice sounded weak, and there was no response. She hesitated in the dark, just for a moment, but she had no alternative but to go closer. She did so.
Very quickly, everything clicked into place.
Dorin stood at the centre of the light, godlings wrapped around her raised arms like exotic bracelets. Ke couldn't see her face, but the human stood tall and straight, all signs of wavering or weakness removed barring a slight tremble in those arms. Corpses of cultists floated nearby, the sigils of numerous deities still glowing around them. For threatening their ward, the gods had exacted unflinching vengeance.
The bodies, however, were not what Dorin faced, nor were they the cause of the all-embracing darkness.
It was an eye. Or perhaps many eyes. Ke stared at the spot where this sight should be, but her mind refused to let her comprehend what she saw. It was not something to be understood by lowly creatures such as she. The overall impression was simply of being Observed: not just now, but everything Ke was, everything she would be or had been, were Observed and Known, all in a single glance of this... this thing. It wasn't even focused on Ke.
It was looking at Dorin.
The presence that lurked behind the eye, of which the eye was only a small and meaningless facet, began to speak. It spoke in the voice of fallen empires, shattered planets and extinguished stars. It spoke with the voice of the Void itself.
And the Void demanded sacrifice.
All through the ocean this voice thundered, from the sunlit shallows where flying fish leaped, to deepest trenches were nightmares slept. All heard, and all understood.
Soggoth had been called, and Soggoth had been awakened. But still the Way was Shut, and only the offering of a god would clear the Way. Or several.
The Void demanded Sacrifice, and it demanded Dorin.
One of those who heard was currently admiring the slaughter before him. He didn't know exactly who they were (although some had screamed about the everlasting glory of the Brotherhood of the Burning Fin or some such in their last breaths) but Vulm'mram'Vuul was certain his god would be pleased.
When he heard the bone-shuddering voice of the Great One, he was convinced.
He smiled as he received his new duty.
The corpses of the cult already forgotten, he turned swim away with only sacrifice on his mind.
“Do you think you can survive this game of the Tormentor's? Do you think you could kill us all? I think we should find out.”
Dorin followed Ke's gaze to the ruins. In the ensuing silence eldritch song scratched at the door of their consciousness, the rising, keening wail of all that should not be known.
“You can't be serious. We can't...”
“I see no reason why not. We are all powerful creatures here, Dorin. Combatants with weapons, however they choose to manifest themselves: steel, soul or brushes with the divine. And something or someone will die, sooner or later.” She somersaulted thoughtfully, glowing tentacles trailing behind her.
“That's still no reason to chase actively seek out fights with... things, things like that.”
Dorin.
Shik'skara snaked into view, his crystalline form no less beautiful underwater. Don't forget your duty. Dorin, having forgotten precisely that in addition to his presence, snapped back from him as if stung. Still he continued. The ritual remains incomplete, and your only remaining hope – for a meaningful death, for a fulfilled duty – is to survive this and return.
Suddenly pale, she uttered a single somewhat unimpressive word: “But...”
Do you understand, Dorin?
Ke had drifted backwards from the pair, nervous as to their relationship and her intruding presence. Even so, she saw with perfectly clarity as Dorin began to tremble and turn towards the inky ruins. She heard, faintly but just as clearly, her utterance of agreement. Her short mollusc tentacles closed around her, flame red hair entwined with pale skin.
“Ke?”
The arachnid in question drifted anticlockwise around the Exempt, peering hesitantly at her pale face.
“I am here, Dorin.”
“I'm ready. What do we do now?”
“You turn around slowly and do what we say, lackeys of the Sisterhood of the Eternal Claw,” a voice rasped from behind them. It was a voice quite derelict of any warmth or joy, or even willingness to see the recipients survive the day.
The three of them complied beautifully.
They found themselves facing a chitinous behemoth, inky-black blue and glaring at them with beady eyes. Some kind of coral spear was grasped in its claws and held very pointedly towards them.
Not a word was said. Dorin, however, found purpose in raising her hands into the air with deliberate slowness, palm faced towards the lobster. Ke didn't bother to attempt to follow suit. They watched each other, until the obvious question became too difficult to leave unasked.
“Who is this Sisterhood?” Ke said it slowly, as if she feared even talking too fast might provoke the creature.
It merely sneered back.
“Don't play dumb. You're not one of the esteemed Brotherhood, so you're one of them. That's how it works.”
It narrowed its eyes.
“I'll admit that you look a bit freaky, but maybe that's what that damnable Sisterhood does to you.”
Suddenly, a keening cry pierced through the darkness. The lobster cast a glance over his shoulder, but jerked its head back immediately as Ke began to move. She stopped again just as quickly, only flinching as the lobster matched the cry.
Several others appeared out of the gloom, armed similarly to the crustacean. There were a few fish, a seahorse and an eel. Aside from their weapons and a stormy countenance, they didn't seem too imposing. The chances didn't look too bad.
Ke dashed backwards, twisting and darting away from the group as fast as possible. She was as fast in this new form as she had been in her old, and if she could just-
One of the fish appeared in her path, blocking Ke. She veered suddenly and avoided crashing into them, but they effortlessly swooped in front of her again. She kicked at it, pushing herself backwards and staggering it.
A hurried rush of prayers could be heard, slightly garbled by panic and filling the water like a swarm. Dorin. Ke twisted around, trying to figure out where she was, but only succeeded in getting rammed by the fish. It's teeth snapped at her shell, fortunately glancing off. Taking advantage of its confusion, Ke lunged forward and clamped her mandibles around its head. It struggled, so she wrapped her half forgotten tentacles around its body. Its flailing weakened, and she took the opportunity to bite down hard and pull.
For a moment, not much happened. Both creatures strained against the other, but Ke held advantage. Blood began to cloud the water, blocking her vision in lazy streams. The thickening prayers boomed in her skull now, each name uttered a white hot brand, and between those words and her rising blood lust she could hardly think. It didn't matter.
She was winning.
Something cracked. And suddenly, in one glorious, slow moment, the head of the fish tore free. Ke could see nothing but a red haze, but how much was blood and how much was violent euphoria she couldn't say. She didn't care. The fish was dead.
Then she became very aware that the prayers had stopped. It was, in fact, utterly silent.
Triumph fading and panic rising, Ke spun around. She clawed at the bloody murk, but there was nothing to see.
She realised it was getting darker. The sea here had never been well lit, sunk beneath the waves as they were, but there had been some light. Now, however, it had most certainly faded. And as she stared on, the darkness became more and more complete.
Ke broke free of the blood and ploughed through the tarnished light. Long pale limbs pushed out in front of her, questing into the dark, but she saw and felt nothing but ocean.
She was certain she was going to suffocate.
Instead, she whimpered. The darkness was absolute now.
Ke couldn't tell if she was sinking or rising, moving or remaining in place. Expending the last of her hope, she spun around for the last time.
There!
Relief exploded over her at the sight of the light. Golden and unwavering, its divine nature was unquestionable.
“Nyame?”
Her voice sounded weak, and there was no response. She hesitated in the dark, just for a moment, but she had no alternative but to go closer. She did so.
Very quickly, everything clicked into place.
Dorin stood at the centre of the light, godlings wrapped around her raised arms like exotic bracelets. Ke couldn't see her face, but the human stood tall and straight, all signs of wavering or weakness removed barring a slight tremble in those arms. Corpses of cultists floated nearby, the sigils of numerous deities still glowing around them. For threatening their ward, the gods had exacted unflinching vengeance.
The bodies, however, were not what Dorin faced, nor were they the cause of the all-embracing darkness.
It was an eye. Or perhaps many eyes. Ke stared at the spot where this sight should be, but her mind refused to let her comprehend what she saw. It was not something to be understood by lowly creatures such as she. The overall impression was simply of being Observed: not just now, but everything Ke was, everything she would be or had been, were Observed and Known, all in a single glance of this... this thing. It wasn't even focused on Ke.
It was looking at Dorin.
The presence that lurked behind the eye, of which the eye was only a small and meaningless facet, began to speak. It spoke in the voice of fallen empires, shattered planets and extinguished stars. It spoke with the voice of the Void itself.
And the Void demanded sacrifice.
All through the ocean this voice thundered, from the sunlit shallows where flying fish leaped, to deepest trenches were nightmares slept. All heard, and all understood.
Soggoth had been called, and Soggoth had been awakened. But still the Way was Shut, and only the offering of a god would clear the Way. Or several.
The Void demanded Sacrifice, and it demanded Dorin.
One of those who heard was currently admiring the slaughter before him. He didn't know exactly who they were (although some had screamed about the everlasting glory of the Brotherhood of the Burning Fin or some such in their last breaths) but Vulm'mram'Vuul was certain his god would be pleased.
When he heard the bone-shuddering voice of the Great One, he was convinced.
He smiled as he received his new duty.
The corpses of the cult already forgotten, he turned swim away with only sacrifice on his mind.