Until Death Do Us Part - (Breathe) - 10/12/19 - Menace
Jan 4, 2020 23:46:12 GMT
BB, Milo Brightmane, and 1 more like this
Post by Ian (Menace) on Jan 4, 2020 23:46:12 GMT
This is the end.
The revenant’s shriek echoes through the back alley. Mace’s blood freezes in his veins, as the familiar battle cry of the revenant announces its attack - part rage, part triumph at having found its prey. He breathes in, and time slows down, his heart beating in his ears. As if passing through water, he sees himself reaching out for Two-Finger Jess and pushing her aside, shouldering past. Her eyes go wide as she realizes that she is now closest to the on-rushing revenant, but Mace does not see; he does not look back. His legs move sluggishly, pushing on with extreme effort, the hard breathing of Ishmael and Bald Joe behind him as they try to keep up.
Jess screams in the distance.
“What the hell happened there??”
They are catching their breath after a mad dash through the back alleys. Furtive glances are cast about, but the revenant hasn't caught up to them - yet. “Where were the lookouts?” “Fuck that, what happened to Jess?!” Mace waves them off. “No time for that. Jess knew what we were up against, and she was too slow. Could have happened to anyone.”
Ishmael and Joe exchange a look, pregnant with doubt, but they say nothing.
“Lets disperse. The thing can't track us all at the same time, and may lose the scent. Meet up again tonight at the pawnshop.” Mace makes to go, but Ishmael hesitates. “Shouldn't we at least circle back and look? Maybe Jess got away?” But he doesn't finish his thought as Mace rounds on him, snarling. “The fuck are you doing, questioning ME?! Disperse, I said!!” and he stalks off, his two henchmen hurriedly going separate ways. He can still feel the blood pumping in his ears. He maintains his composure long enough for his henchmen to get out of sight before he breaks into a run again. Get away! get away! get away! every instinct screams in him, while his body groans from the effort.
Rounding another corner, he reaches the New Town plaza, and the Flourished Hook. “Safety in numbers…” he murmurs, and makes for inn, where he finds Sheryl and Matthew discussing their next performance. He sidles up into the booth, plastering a smile onto his face, while willing his heartbeat to slowly return to normal. "Just breathe. Just breathe…" he half murmurs to himself.
They are soon joined by Gegrun and BB, Taz and Kalta. Gegrun hands out a number of flower&fruit baskets, adorned with haphazardly scratched thank-you notes. Note to self: teach Gegrun how to read and write properly. That half-orc sure is terrific help in a fight, but I need to get him to follow written instructions. Plans for when I'm… less preoccupied.
They soon leave the inn, ambling toward the beach, Mace making sure to always be covered by his unsuspecting friends. Safety in numbers.
This is the end.
Kalta is yelling at him. They all are. Taz has just felled the giant crab that emerged from the sea, but it brought his nemesis with it from the cold, dark depth: Impaled on one of its legs, the giant crab had dragged the revenant from the water, and it threw itself at Mace. The fear is back; that nameless horror that freezes his blood and makes everything slow down. He can see the others mouthing words, but they make no sense; no difference. The revenant is rushing at him, face twisted in triumph and hatred. The shriek pierces his mind. There is no escape.
Cold fists smash into his jaw, chest, abdomen - throwing him backward. His ribs crack with a wet crunch. He sees the steel-grey sky spinning above him, as his pierced lungs fill with blood. Suddenly, Sheryl is above him, lifting his head. “Breathe Mace, just breathe!”
He sees Taz and Gegrun chopping into the still writhing revenant. But its movements become slower, ebbing away with the receding tide. The deed is done, the debt is paid - and he knows it.
His eyes wander upward again, to that steel-grey sky. Vast. Empty.
And it seems to him that this vast grey emptiness flows into his mind, filling him, as his life drains into the pebble beach below.
This is the end.
“Breathe Mace. Just breathe.”
He comes to, gasping for air. Brick walls, adornments, altar - it’s a temple. The face of high priest Donovan swims into focus. He does not want you here. His thoughts begin to connect, focus.
“Get up. We brought you back. You died, but your friends (he enunciates the word) have brought you to us in time.”
He is being led out of the temple of Umberlee, the giant tortle Onno nodding in respect. Outside, his friends await.
“Mace!”
“How are you?”
“Everything alright?”
He can feel all his limbs and digits, but feels strange nonetheless. That voice in the back of his mind stirs: So we are free of this nuisance, finally?
They ask him about the revenant - about the deception; and the threat to themselves.
Small minds, asking small questions.
But of all of them, it is Gegrun, the child at heart, that connects the dots: “Say Mace - that cleaver; is it not the same as we found in that murder house?”
He struggles as they take it from him. Taz has him pinned on the floor, while Gegrun slowly, but deliberately, peels his fingers from the handle.
DON’T LET THEM TAKE ME!
Don’t let them part us....
The mage Mystigon casts his spell, draws the curse from his body. The pain is nothing like he has ever felt before - cutting a limb from him would not have hurt more.
When it is done, he feels drained. The voice has left him. Where there used to be a reassuring companion, there is only a black void. Mentally touching it hurts. He opts to go, and rest.
When he reaches his room in the Seashank, he sleeps. It could have been a day, two - maybe an eternity. He wakes, and he knows, he is not the same. Splashing cold water in his face, he remembers the past days. And the voice - it is gone.
A strange feeling.
Silent.
Empty.
He regrets his actions of the past moons. How much of it was due to the voice? The cleaver?
No matter - the voice is gone now. All that is left is him.
Him and his thoughts.
He clasps his hands to his face.
The voice - the cleaver - it offered power - a shortcut to vengeance!
Does he still want that? Does he still seek vengeance, now that the voice is gone?
Hello, brother.
He slaps himself.
More water is what he needs.
This is an echo, a memory! - nothing more.
I have always been here.
He dunks his head into the water basin, until his breath is spent.
As he rises from the water, drawing breath eagerly, he catches his reflection in the beaten bronze plate he keeps as a mirror.
Yes. I am here. I always have been.
“You are an echo! A figment of my imagination!
YOU ARE NOT REAL!!!”
I have always been with you. I have always been here. Your dark impulse. Your protector.
He breathes heavily. That voice is new. Yet old. Feeling strange, yet oddly familiar.
“I don't know you.”
Yes, you do.
“Who are you?”
I saved you once.That night in the rain. And I will do it again.
He screams at the mirror:
“WHO ARE YOU?”
The face in the mirror smiles.
I am Malice.