[Original] Prison of What Is Title: Prison of What Is Author:trio Rating: G Warnings: Fantasy Word Count: 429 Summary: Eunhi is coping with being forgotten. Author's Notes: Eunhi and Ohru are my characters from a universe I dreamt up solely for this challenge. However, they may just stick around. I kinda like them.
There's a place between the worlds, where the old gods go. The forgotten ones, whose names are not spoken on the lips of any living human and whose reign is not given so much as the bat of an eye even amongst scholars of the past, who pursue true passion in their search for the truth. These are the gods with no power left, but as all things, they do not simply disappear. No, instead, they are brought together, mixed around until no one knows What Will Be from What Was. All they know is What Is, that perfect stasis where they can mingle without ever doing anything of consequence. It is, in fact, rather like a singles' bar, only without the alcohol and smoke. But the noise is still there.
Eunhi stands in a corner, watching the other gods mingle but leaning against the wall, her face set in a slow frown. When Ohru comes up to her, offering his hand and a wry smile of greeting, for there are no real smiles in this place, this prison of What Is, she waves it away, level eyes staring at him until he leaves, a little confused. She understands the confusion. Most of the gods here take some comfort in the others. If it were in their nature, they might rent rooms and hide away together, two or three at a time. But they are everywhere, and they see it all, so renting a room to hide away seems ridiculous. Still, even those who were once hated, rebelled against and shunned, find comfort here amidst their fellows. But not Eunhi.
She knows that she seemed cruel, snubbing Ohru. She suspects he's gone back to the others and told them what a bitch she is, how she rejects the comfort. She could know in a heartbeat, but it doesn't matter, because she's focused on other things, on that little twist and pull in her stomach that tells her someone discovered her temple. She gathers herself up, ready to get out of the What Is and start learning about What Will Be again. But the twist and pull snaps like a rope that's popped from tension, and she can feel herself reel backward. Only the wall, which she'd already been leaning across, saved her from falling and making a fool of herself. But even that doesn't matter, because Ohru is looking at her with a mixture of understanding and pity and that hurts too much.
If she's going to stay forgotten, why couldn't she have done so in a quieter place?