Adusta
whispered in dreadful longing
Recent 
17th-Jan-2011 08:30 pm - bring down the heavens (leironuoth, aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, leironuoth, singularity, skandra tyullis]
A gold base. Circular, sloping upward to form a smaller circle. In that smaller circle rested a single wax candle. Hard wax, if his eyes did not deceive, the kind that they made in cities. Skandra didn't know precisely how far they were from a city who made hard wax candles. Not something you liked to use if there were another option in the summer. Hard wax candles were winter things. He would assume then that it was winter. The gold inlay on the candle holder spoke volumes of its origins. He thought it was a pattern of leaves and vines. The sort of code language that had been used once upon a time to communicate if there were humans about. Elves used that script. Strange to see it marking a candle, but there were other oddities before he asked about the candle.

Many other oddities. )
13th-Dec-2010 10:39 pm - the alchemist (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
Sound was roaring through his ears. Skandra could hear voices screaming together. A thousand of them. A million of them. Too many at the last for him to count. Was this death? That was what Gershul had been trying to warn him of. This was death, and Skandra was in the process of that death, experiencing it fully on his way to the depths of hell. This was the only explanation that flashed through his mind. He was falling, alone, in a sea of infinite black. Nothing there to help him. Nothing there to save him. Only the fall, and the screaming as he soared deeper into the abyss. He should have been terrified. Instead what he felt was a strange sort of peace. If this was the end... it was an end he deserved. It was an end that he should have seen coming, long ago, when the knife had been clutched in his hand and the faces around him were jeering for his death.

The first, but not the last. )
26th-Nov-2010 12:10 pm - a door between here and there (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
From the abandoned house to the second scaffold was not far. Skandra did not worry that his limbs were going to give out on him. They were close enough now to Gershul, to the gateway that had started all of this madness, and Skandra was not going to turn his back now. One of them was going to die here today. Skandra was going to be sure of that in the only way that he could. If it meant that Skandra died, too, it was a price worth paying. He thought of that as he peered into the darkness, waiting to arrive wherever this scaffold was going to take them. Even a few years ago, if you'd asked him, he would have said that he wouldn't give his life for anything except... because no matter how awful things seemed, it was never so bad as it first appeared. There was always something else worth living for.

Today, he couldn't see it. )
13th-Oct-2010 10:56 am - killers (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
Above them stood that spire, unlike rock in texture but in firmness, second to none. Skandra wanted to know where such a spire could come from. And why it was this place to which Gershul continually drew himself. Something in his nature? Something about the way he summoned portals to other worlds? There was enough here that Skandra didn't know. And he did not see how things were going to be any different, later. This doorway was going to close. And Skandra was going to find a way to kill Gershul, no matter what it took. Yet it wasn't fear, so much as it was about ... what? Vengeance? Maybe Aeotha was right to look at him that way. This didn't matter. Skandra wasn't going to let himself be stopped because Gershul was still loved by his idiot of a father. Shantar was a fool if he thought Gershul was still within reach. The man had escaped that reach long ago, and he'd never fucking looked back.

Who would, if they were Gershul? )
22nd-Sep-2010 04:35 pm - touching the sky (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
The first thing he noticed about those ominous spires was not the color of them, or the status of the elven houses - quaint little things of wood and stone - that were seemingly hung on the side of the things. It was the texture that he took note of. Running his hand over the surface of it, even through his gloves, felt like nothing he'd ever witnessed. The surface was soft, soft enough that it had give. But it still felt like stone so long as you did not put pressure on it. Rock had never behaved that way that Skandra was aware of. As wide at the base as ten houses grouped together, gradually growing thinner near the top, silver-glowing in color, with those houses hanging from the sides of them as hairs might.

It still made his skin crawl. )
15th-Sep-2010 03:54 pm - prettiest little piece of nothing (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
Of course, talking and climbing proved a very difficult mix. Especially when the climb was sheer, with little in the way of handholds, and part of him worried that they were simply going to slide back down to the bottom of the basin. There was no reason to think that something like this occurred naturally any longer - Skandra doubted such precision could be achieved by nature, even if nature intended it that way. By the time they reached the top of the thing, his hands felt as tired and creaky as the rest of him. Dust covered him from head to toe, he was certain that he was bleeding in several places beneath his clothes, and the stench of... something he didn't recognize... was clinging to his every inch of skin. If this was an adventure, he wanted to go back to a tavern, where at least he knew all the smells and he had his choice of women. Aeotha was like a canker, lanced and bleeding him dry.

Of course, that wasn't really true. )
3rd-Sep-2010 07:50 pm - altered worlds (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
Skandra grimaced at the nothing that greeted his face. More blackness. Only... no. He was lying on a bed of cool polished stones; that much he could feel from the pressure on his cheek. Skandra pressed his palms into the stones. They were just piled; one on top of another, just like you might see in a river bed. Must have been piled pretty deep, too; there was no give as he pushed off with his hands. Every creak in his bones reminded him that he'd been falling once. And might be again, if the strangeness of his surroundings was any guide to what the hell was going on. Skandra was standing tall before he realized that he'd left his had on the ground. Bleary eyes blinked furiously as he stooped down to pick it up. It was only then that he realized precisely what he was standing on. And precisely why this all seemed so unusual. Instead of the drab gray he was expecting, Skandra found himself staring at smooth stones that appeared to be made of glass.

Well, fuck. )
29th-Aug-2010 11:19 pm - barren (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
He was seated at a table. Fine oak passed beneath his naked fingertips. It was stained, glossed with lacquer, until it was the image of perfection. A thousand carpenters could toil for a thousand days and not make something so fine as this. They were eating dinner here. With their fine ceramic plates, also glazed fine, and gold forks. Gold spoons. There was nothing more decadent that he could imagine, with its sloping high walls and its domed ceiling. Servants must have climbed ladders to light the oil lanterns hanging in a circle above them. They not only lit the room with bright orange light, but illuminated that mural strung across the dome. Skandra stared at the plate in front of him. A slab of meat, cooked proper, still sitting in its own juices, smelling divine.

It was the face that greeted him which he couldn't credit. )
25th-Aug-2010 11:35 am - ex nihilo nihil fit (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, singularity, skandra tyullis]
One knee in the dirt, one raised near his stomach, Skandra took a moment to gaze across the untainted grass which surrounded them. Tall enough - because no one had any reason to cut it, out here - that wind would lay it flat. Which the wind was doing, at this very instant. Tugging on his hat at the same time. Stirring his coat around him. There were clouds in the sky, as smooth as the gray stones in the river they'd crossed to arrive here, but the threat of rain was just that. He could not imagine milder weather. And if he weren't focused on the black sphere which rested ominously in the valley below he might have been content to take a nap. Back to a tree, whiskey in his belly, and he could have slept for a thousand years.

There was no whiskey to be had. )
27th-May-2010 01:27 am - in life, in death (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
These were the things he was never prepared for.

All that morning spent fussing over which coat to wear, which cape accented it perfectly. In the end he'd worn black trousers, stuffed into the tops of tall black boots. The coat was wool, of a fine cut, high collar brushing his jaw. There were too-large gold buttons adorning the front of the green monstrosity - and as a point of deference to the king he'd allowed the five white slashes of his rank to be sewn onto his exposed right sleeve, from cuff to elbow. A mirror of the slashes enlarged rested on the left side of this fine and well-tailored coat. A green cape was pinned to the left shoulder, front and back, sweeping down and covering his left side entirely. It also covered the ornate hilt of that fine sword his father had left for him. Today the sword felt heavier than he could ever remember it being. Perhaps there were great deeds left to sing of in this world, but he could not recall any of them in that instant.

This was a day of celebration. )
26th-May-2010 06:57 pm - knights of the realm (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
It was a tired hand that seized the knot, but somehow he managed to hoist himself out of the passageway and into the tunnel. Since the incident on the river not a single soul had troubled them. Ilúvatar did not know whether to be troubled or pleased by that fact. Certainly it was cause for concern. And certainly he did not need to mention that fact to anyone else. From heel to hairline they were all a tangle of nerves and apprehension. Even the normally calm Eibhear was scowling at everything that moved in his direction. One thing to hope you would make it out of something such as this alive - another entirely to be on the verge of doing it, and suspecting that whatever quiet you feel and see is nothing more than a trap. They were all weary of suspecting it, even now when the air was the cleanest it had been in ... a long time. Strange to think a Dwarven mine's putrid mix of coal and sweat, blood and copper, would somehow be the most pleasant thing one had smelled in days.

He didn't trust it. )
25th-May-2010 03:32 pm - carry me home (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
A blackened, ruined tangle such as this one had never been more bleak than it was when his arms began to protest. When his heart suggested that it would, at last, surrender. When every fiber of his being made its case for death. Ilúvatar was not a creature of darkness and surrender, but for a moment it was tempting. Then Nindë injured herself. A simple thing, that any untrained girl might do. Despite the angry intensity with which Fenrir berated her Ilúvatar was quiet, and so was she. She hugged her arms around his neck. She breathed against his hair. But she was silent, and still, as he carried her. Perhaps not believing that a twisted ankle might have doomed her to death - or worse - if not for the soldiers who had come to retrieve her. Or perhaps not believing that any of this was possible simply because she had kissed a king on his cheek.

It was more than possible. )
28th-Apr-2010 08:20 pm - blades of light (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
How must a Drow feel when they looked upon such a thing? The incautious spectacle of it was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Works before Lorien, white towers and grand public structures, were always built with... more restraint. This looked as though it should have been a tower, cylindrical in nature and massive as Ceranarad itself - but it was lying on its side, posed there as though some great hand had toppled it to the ground intact. What was the point of building a structure so massive and stretched when you had no use for it? One could approach the side, actually touch the black stone, and through his gloves it felt like nothing else he'd ever seen or felt in his life. It felt like madness and death. Strange to think that a week gone, he was supervising additions of stone to his own home. More than a week now, wasn't it? Without the sun judging the passage of time was not as easy as it had been.

To be this close. )
28th-Apr-2010 07:53 pm - watered by the blood of martyrs (aeotha, leironuoth) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, leironuoth]
"Well," Pol said quietly.

"He isn't here," Ilúvatar answered.

Somewhere on the plains of Astarii the hands of the gods had done work that few mortal minds could properly frame. A flat stretch of grass, each blade of grass a solitary emerald, between two foothills that may as well have been mountains. These were the burial grounds of Caoimhin, the resting place for their ancestors dating back for longer than Ilúvatar had been alive. Wind sent by the dragon flowed down one hill and up the other, brushing the heads of those magnificent blades. Each one swayed in time with those around it, a rolling sea somehow on dry land for the occasion. There were no tombs here, no masoleum. They were surrendered to the earth which bore witness to their creation and their destruction, but anonymously. Only the marble tablet in the center of this otherwise empty field bore the name of Caoimhin. Their family pride encased in a single immovable stone, which stood unchanged since before Eibhear's birth. An incredible thing.

There was an apple tree, now that he thought of it, but Eibhear had once joked that it would not bear fruit again until it drank once more of Caoimhin blood. Developed quite a taste for it, he said. Sure enough the tree towered over the marble slab. Thick with leaves, but not a single red fruit in sight.

Eibhear was not as funny as he pretended to be. )
25th-Mar-2010 01:05 pm - blackguard (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
It was strange to think that he'd existed all of this time, and there still was something in this world he had not seen. Ilúvatar did not like to think of himself as inexperienced or even foolish, yet the first sight of it took his breath away. Light stunned the Drow, caused them great pain, and yet here in the city of their creation was light. Not a great deal of light, to be sure, but enough. Enough to see pale hair topping black skin, with red eyes that glistened hate in the darkness. He felt also a strange sort of excitement. As though this could be the moment of his death, or the moment in which he felt most alive. It was always the same before a battle. And like any battle, in this exchange, there would be blood. Getting into a city of Drow might not be as difficult as first imagined. Getting out, on the other hand, was probably going to be quite the trick.

There would be no grand charge. )
11th-Mar-2010 11:23 am - brave (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
There was only one thing to do.

Ahead of them, on flat black rock, there was but one figure standing proud. Alone. Ilúvatar knew it as soon as he saw the figure - Talmus. But his instincts were not confirmed until they were closer. Until the traitor was staring at them, face twisted. Eyes seemingly darker with hate. Ilúvatar did not know if that was something that his mind added or something that was actually occurring. Only that, for a moment, he felt something like repulsion at the sight. Only a moment. And then the battle instinct was upon him. Eibhear had the lead, but his steps were slowing, and the look on his face was one of conflict. Even Pol did not seem eager to fight, or eager to confront the one who'd nearly killed them. Fenrir was nowhere to be seen. If he was still alive, he had to be nearby, but Ilúvatar didn't know when or if he would shoot Talmus. DId he want the fellow dead badly enough to strike from the shadows and think about honor later? Or would he strike to Talmus' face? Time would answer that question.

Time, and a dead body. )
16th-Feb-2010 03:33 pm - void (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
Living in Ellothorien, you grew used to a great many things. Lights were abundant, forever changing in color. Forever changing in pitch. Mirrors were found with equal frequency. Fountains, endlessly surging, flowing water into deep mirrored pools that one could use for moments of reflection no matter where one went. Ilúvatar did not like thinking of home when he was out on campaign. only because he usually despised it when someone reminded him of what they were capable of in their best moments. Instead he was here, close to dying if not extremely so - for the moment. And though he did not fear death Ilúvatar often wondered what would happen if they lived in a world without war. More than likely he would have taken up a more honest trade. Farming, perhaps. Sheep herding. Living in the forest, training in the games, none of that would be possible in a world without combat. Their athletic prowess would not have been needed then, to help the monarchy emerge victorious in conflicts. Certainly he would have done his time in a temple. Learned affection for the goddess they were all supposed to love.

In the main he felt anger. )
9th-Jan-2010 02:40 pm - corruption (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
Boots collided with stone, a thundering herd of soldiers throwing themselves at the ruinous terrain with all the fervor of a priest who prostrates himself before the gods. Ilúvatar had abandoned the massive axe that was his trademark. Somewhere, on a lonely rotting hill in the midst of the Underdark, it sat collecting dust. Or perhaps it would be used by one of those fiends chasing them? It hardly mattered, either way. The axe was too heavy for the flight in which they currently engaged. So he'd abandoned it and in its stead used the twin axes of his people, the axes held aloft when one returned to the forest, to show that you'd returned as you'd left - a warrior for the Sylvan Elves. They were his pride. And if he died, he wanted to die with those weapons in his hand and a smile on his face.

The smile was the harder of the two. )
26th-Dec-2009 08:35 pm - courage without fail (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
What he could see gave him no reason to hope for anything but death.

The Underdark was as barren a realm as he'd ever visited. Most of the surface upon which they walked was dark, and rocky; overrun in patches with dirt covered by moss. Unlike the moss of above, green and welcoming, this moss grew angry and red. Like the roots of the trees it gave a soft glow that illuminated only barely. That red light bathed the bark of the trees which grew into the caverns above their heads. Tress that grew upside down. He thought now that he'd seen everything. Ilúvatar's steps were hesitant upon the wretched surface as he stared ahead. And up. Those trees were unlike any he'd seen before. Bark black as night, standing out only because the hideous dark stone that formed this cavern was lighter. They were as talons reaching out from the dark. His grimace was the only sign of emotion that he gave. That, and his hard stare, which reached out to touch the trees. They did not wither but seemed fuller beneath his gaze.

Almost as though they could feel his malice. )
15th-Dec-2009 06:37 pm - crawl (aeotha) [aeotha easaahae, ilúvatar voronwé, the shadow ride]
One long step beyond the jagged mouth of the cave planted his feet firmly in the Underdark. A part of Ilúvatar felt as though there should be more than that to mark the barrier. Only a sudden chill gave him notice that could not be seen. What could be seen, of course, was incredible. Ilúvatar did not think such a collection of simultaneous horror and wonder existed anywhere else in the world. Rock caverns twisted downward in a never-ending spiral that vanished bleakly into total darkness. The only thing that kept the darkness from reaching them here, now, was a spiderweb of dark blue veins that clung to the sides of the walls. Ilúvatar took a hesitant step forward, the double-headed beast of an axe in his hand. Ready to strike. Only there was nothing there to strike, nothing at all save a vague ethereal blue that coated his skin and his clothing. Armor. He truly should have invested in armor. It was the only thing that made sense.

Armor only slowed you down. )
This page was loaded Mar 29th 2024, 1:44 pm GMT.