by C S » Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:37 am
The armored figure moved through the underbrush with a low rustling everytime he passed a shrub or bush in his way, following his ears as he tried to find the source of a soft Earthen song. His wandering through the vegetation brought him to a place where the plants thinned out, and the song grew louder. A trickling stream, shallow and running clear, laid before Desrium. His crimson eyes flared up, glowing brighter for a few seconds at the prospect of quenching his thirst. His throat was so dry, if he talked, his voice would be even lower and more hoarse than usual. Who knows how a human would have reacted to that. The notion amused him and he chuckled, though the sound was a gruff and would be mistaken for wheezing. Desrium moved over to the stream's edge, dropping onto all four's and dipping his mouth into the water, his jaws hanging open lazilly. He let the water flow in freely, swallowing when his mouth was full- suprisingly, there was a lot of water per mouthful- and it wasnt long before his thirst was sated. He pulled away from the stream, now kneeling with water dripping from his helmet's fangs and his finger tips on the ground. He felt a strange puffiness in his neck...why would that be? It lingered for a moment, afterwardsthe feeling subsided, leaving Derium confused. There was no sudden reveal in his head as to what had just happened, which left him with a sense of yearning. He wanted to know what happened, why it happened. What was this thing about him? What was with this metal shell that kept him contained and isolated from the world?
His head jerked, in an instant his gaze was locked onto something across the stream. It was a strange animal. Something the size of a deer, with a black pelt. Its body was like a slender horse's and its four feet were scaley talons, not unlike an eagle's. There was a silver lining of fur on the leg above them. Its head seemed avian in appearance; a long snout with a yellow beak, blank golden and green eyes lacking pupils. There were long silver feathers where the head met the neck, two on each side pointing back in a gentle curve. Its tail was whip like, with long strands of black that ended in vibrant cyan and green feathers. The strange creature had pushed past the line of shrubs to the stream much like Desrium had, dipping its beak into the water and taking in the cool liquid to quench its thirst. Its beak lingered in the stream for a while before it finally lifted its head. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone again. Desrium watched the creature leave in a trot, momentarilly forgetting the odd feeling he felt. His mind was wrapped around the thought of something seeing him…and not fleeing. It was a good feeling. It made him have a sense of…belonging
There was a voice. A pleasant voice. A feminine voice, but he couldn’t make out the words. He only knew he felt…happy when he heard it. Content. At ease. Like he belonged. Like-
The flashes of light. Searing pain. Excruciating. Then…the cold. A dreadful cold that was applied to his body all at once, and it was uniform all around. He was numb in seconds. He remembered. He was looking out to the robed others surrounding him, figures cloaked in shadows despite the brightness that engulfed him. He was standing in some glowing ensignia carved into a rock floor. He wanted to scream to the heavens but no sound escaped him. He glanced down to his hands, turning them over to look at his palm. A glare shone off of them as another light flashed, blinding him temporarilly. Then there was the thud around his head. Darkness. Then, a light. A red light that filled the darkness, before that too disappeared and he felt himself immersed in water. The depths of the ocean, where the bright, tranquil surface hung tauntingly out of reach and the dark deep below harbored unspeakable horrors. It was from here a gray and white shape shot up at him, its mouth agape and its triangular teeth on full display. His body would have ran cold if it wasn’t chilled beyond belief already
Then his mind was blank. Again, Desrium felt a sense of longing. The sense of comfort he got from the voice…he wanted that…he wanted it almost as badly as he wanted to know what, exactly, did he just remember…
