Post by Swell on Nov 5, 2021 19:18:52 GMT -6
Everything was so fresh, so new, but perhaps most new of all was the sensation of feeling dwarfed by his surroundings. Where the city seemed to close in around him the twist and turns of the caverns enveloped him, they made him feel small. Somewhere between fear and awe he’d sat transfixed by the creatures in the sky, crawling across the rock, in the churning waters far below.
While his descent had been hindered by near constant wonder the hall had called to him, pulling him further into the canyons. Swell had only navigated the paths here a handful of times, but his every step felt familiar to him even in this strange land.
“This has been ordained…” He thought of his companions, the blue and golden serpents that called “his” cavern home. The water serpents had seen his coming, foretold his presence, known that he’d been sent to them as a comrade in need of a balm for the spirit. They’d seen his steps, and now more than ever he could feel the gravity of their words.
He vaguely remembered nodding respectfully to the keeper as he entered his steps becoming all the heavier as he moved through the halls like a sleepwalker. After what seemed like an eternity he found it, his door, without so much as a second thought he pushed through into the unknown…
The ocean rushed in crushing him in its embrace, he was suspended, floating, falling. Around him he could see those he’d left behind, faces obscured in the shifting of the water and the cloak of darkness. Grandfather. Mother. Brother. Faceless, falling with him through the darkness just out of reach. His hand reached out, but the space only grew with each feeble attempt pushing them farther and farther away.
They fell faster and in their wake he could see the rich dark stain of ichor in the water, a sense of dread overcoming him as he turned his body and saw the grave of a great whale. Each collided with the soft silt in the darkness sending great plumes of marine snow into waters above, settling in for what would be their last rest. He tried to cry out, to shout, but could only feel the roar of silence and the crushing weight of the dark.
They were illuminated now, eyes clouded with the finality of their slumber.
He gazed into the blind orbs sitting in the face that was once his grandfather’s, a scarlet veil emanating from the wreck of the old man’s throat obscuring his gaze only momentarily. He tried to turn again, but he could not. He could feel the pressure tightening, choking, strangling. He could feel his heart as it fluttered and banged about in its cage of bone seeking escape. Prayer came unbidden, invocations for forgiveness, pleas to some higher power to excise this crushing guilt. He’d do anything, he’d fulfill any pact. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He'd do anything to make the pain stop.
Just as he thought he’d reached his limit a mournful song broke through the silence and the dark causing the water around him to shake.
The scarlet in the water changed in an instant metamorphosing into a shining light. It engulfed the resting forms of his family and the great beast. Time sped up below, life bloomed as their forms shrank and withered. Multicolored corals and fish grew over the last white of the bones of his family, the silt and sand replaced by mountains of pearls and nacreous shells, the cetacean skeleton covered now in the bright hues of the corals.
The tears came in earnest now. He could feel his heart swell, that such beauty could come from tragedy. The song came from above causing the fabric of creation to shake. Craning his head skyward he caught a glimpse of the source. Above him swam the largest creature he’d ever seen in his life, its form made of the same light from before a stark contrast to the bones below. Its brilliance grew as he stared, the creature called out again as the the light took his vision.
Release...
They fell faster and in their wake he could see the rich dark stain of ichor in the water, a sense of dread overcoming him as he turned his body and saw the grave of a great whale. Each collided with the soft silt in the darkness sending great plumes of marine snow into waters above, settling in for what would be their last rest. He tried to cry out, to shout, but could only feel the roar of silence and the crushing weight of the dark.
They were illuminated now, eyes clouded with the finality of their slumber.
He gazed into the blind orbs sitting in the face that was once his grandfather’s, a scarlet veil emanating from the wreck of the old man’s throat obscuring his gaze only momentarily. He tried to turn again, but he could not. He could feel the pressure tightening, choking, strangling. He could feel his heart as it fluttered and banged about in its cage of bone seeking escape. Prayer came unbidden, invocations for forgiveness, pleas to some higher power to excise this crushing guilt. He’d do anything, he’d fulfill any pact. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He'd do anything to make the pain stop.
Just as he thought he’d reached his limit a mournful song broke through the silence and the dark causing the water around him to shake.
The scarlet in the water changed in an instant metamorphosing into a shining light. It engulfed the resting forms of his family and the great beast. Time sped up below, life bloomed as their forms shrank and withered. Multicolored corals and fish grew over the last white of the bones of his family, the silt and sand replaced by mountains of pearls and nacreous shells, the cetacean skeleton covered now in the bright hues of the corals.
The tears came in earnest now. He could feel his heart swell, that such beauty could come from tragedy. The song came from above causing the fabric of creation to shake. Craning his head skyward he caught a glimpse of the source. Above him swam the largest creature he’d ever seen in his life, its form made of the same light from before a stark contrast to the bones below. Its brilliance grew as he stared, the creature called out again as the the light took his vision.
Release...
Name: Pontus
Body Type: Whalelike
Affinity: Absolution
Nature: Forgiving
