Xalypsis
This Clamor for Lucidity - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: This Clamor for Lucidity (/showthread.php?tid=157)



This Clamor for Lucidity - Royal Phoenix - 07-11-2017

The entirety of the island was engulfed in light, despite the small piece of sun rising over each peak and setting the ocean and land mass aflame with brilliance. Dawn was a momentous occasion in Eshteth I had come to learn, each hindered concept I attempted to learn forever bathed in the symbolic luminescence beneath which I basked, and accepted each challenge of agony with graciousness. My sickness gave way to this form; as I looked upon myself in each reflecting pool of water I passed, I began to become more accustomed to this appearance. 

I found that in correlation with my canine physiology it was an apt, and ample manifestation of my original configuration. Ever still, I knew not what to describe as beautiful when it came to the creatures who once vastly assumed these forms. I ached to know their world, to know their ways of life. I ached, to link myself to them. Somehow, I felt it was whoever the creator of this land's desire that I seek out, hungrily, that which sings to me in my sleep, and remains dominant during my waking hours.


I knew I must hunt.

And so I prowled during the hours
after the blessed sun had risen
so I could pick up the 
telltale trails of whatever
prey would fall victim
unto my growing strength. 
My sense of smell was diminished,
my hearing slightly muted,
and my vision while detailed
was located at the front of my skull,
so a more panoramic view
would be impossible.

I gazed at the ground, finding the tracks.
Sapient animals such as myself 
had always relied on our acute
five senses to attain our nourishment, 
but bipeds must have used mostly their vision...

Before long I picked up the trail.

I had spent the hours before daybreak 
chiseling a spear out of a thin tree trunk
I had wrenched from the ground,
and as I crept closer to the beast's hiding place
I readied the weapon, gripped it firmly
atop my shoulder and aiming...



Sweat drenched and exhausted
I lay at the edge of the brush
that lined the pristine white sands of
the fabled beach which brought me
and so many others into the graces
of this divine, sacred place. 
With fatigue settling over me
in a hazily gradual fashion
I reverted back to my wolven form. 





RE: This Clamor for Lucidity - Ivandriel - 07-12-2017


Ivandriel

have a lovely life in your chosen hell



Twisting, turning, spiraling through the air with no solid ground in sight. Not that I could see much to begin with when the world was in turmoil. Panic caused my heart to flutter, slamming against its cage like a rabid avian seeking freedom. My legs jerked, sweeping beneath me and my eyes widened when the roiling surface of darkened waters surged up to meet me. I barely had time to take in any oxygen before the waves embraced me. My body sank down, down, and my legs were kicking again with newfound vigor. The will to live was potent, pulling me on a fierce leash I was having difficulties keeping up with. My eyes were shut tight against the salty sting, each time I lunged for the surface seeming to set me back. Where was it? Lungs were on fire, screaming for reprieve until I was certain they would burst.

Suddenly my head was above water, golden eyes snapping open and jaws parting in a violent struggle to grab a mouthful of air. I gasped loudly, trying in vain to calm myself. Everything felt so wrong, corporeal form feeling stretched and used in ways I had never experienced in my short life. It would become even shorter if I did not find solid ground, churning waves slamming into me and sending me adrift. I cast my gaze across the waters, frantically searching for any signs of a shore. 

There. 

Upon the horizon it sat, teasing me with its near distance. Adrenaline spiked, flowing through my body and I began to paddle my way against the currents towards it. Like a beacon of life it stretched, patiently waiting to greet me. I hacked, something thicker than water in my lungs, and nearly lost my forward motion. I didn’t pause to see what ailed me, eyes stinging with the salty spray and muscles burning like fire. Luscious land tempted me, foliage vivid even from this distance from it, and unease settled heavily in my mind. All that I could hear was the roar of the sea, and closer did the pristine shores grow in size. As if standing against me nature caused the waters to swell, buoyant form riding the wave as it rose and curled over me. Heavy liquid crashed onto my head, shoving me beneath the surface yet again in distaste for letting me go so easily. 

Weakened body gyrated in disorienting swirls, water filling my lungs and reflex had me taking more into my mouth. Something jagged and hard slammed into my side, leaving me completely in the will of Mother Nature when it sapped the remaining strength from me entirely. Darkness closed in on the edges of my vision, despite how miniscule my visibility was to begin with, and I cursed the cloaked man who had forsaken me to this doomed existence alongside an island I did not even recognize. Would this be it, then? Would I die alone once and for all? He said he would find me, but it would be too late by then. 

I was lost in my reverie, consciousness slipping further and further away. The sea decided to relent, then, shoving my ragdoll body to kiss upon the softened sand of the shores. And there I lay, washed up and drowning even though cool air breezed over me. Thin layers of foamy water swirled around me when the tide ebbed, already eager to take my lifeless body back into its depths. My body convulsed, one giant aching wound, and I succumbed to the sweet darkness where the pain could not be felt.

"Speaking"

Table © Chickadee



RE: This Clamor for Lucidity - Royal Phoenix - 07-25-2017

 
When I first saw him wash ashore
I did not rush out to meet him as I 
had done for others.

For the aural imminence attached
to his sea-battered form was that
of desperation, of the utmost breed
of exhaustion that can easily take
a life from this world onto the next.

Perhaps death was what he desired;
perhaps he ran from the life he led out there, 
beyond the confines of his island
and beyond the confines of what
cryptic logic such a place
could only graciously offer. 

He did not move for some time
and it was that moment I had chosen
to wander cautiously to his side 
to merely inspect the damage
done unto him by the ocean. 

I touched his shoulder with
my deft paw gently, my caress doing
nothing to rouse him from the deep
unconsciousness that now plagued 
surely a once acute cognizance. 

Gingerly, I grip the tuft of his fur 
as tightly as my painless ministrations 
would allow betwixt my jaws
and drag him through the sand
further away from the small foam
tides ever still washing ashore. 

I nudge his side to turn him over 
and find he is a handsome specimen, 
one bursting with youth and an already
violent plethora of experience. 

I try to rouse him once more, 
this time with my voice. 

“Are you alive...? Can you hear me?”



@Ivandriel


RE: This Clamor for Lucidity - Ivandriel - 07-29-2017


Ivandriel

have a lovely life in your chosen hell



--an you hear me?

Crystalline voice sliced through disorienting darkness and saturated my mind. I clung to the words, to some semblance of lucid consciousness, and found it to be difficult. Slowly I stirred, painstakingly so, muscles screaming protest against any movement as I attempted to do just that: move. I groaned, realizing that the source of the voice had said something else I hadn’t processed at the time. ‘Are you alive…?’ I thought on the inquiry for a moment, truly wondering if I was. I think so. Golden eyes rolled open, instantly assaulted by the bright light and squinting against it. My vision was blurred, and I also realized I hadn’t said what I intended to say out loud. My jaws were parted slightly, water and thicker things trickling from it. My tongue felt heavy, sitting like a rock in my mouth and I weakly lifted my head. Tears found my eyes at the irritation, still trying to correct my sight and blink away the blurriness. There was a ringing in my ears then, a steady din of noise that caused me to wince as pain blossomed in my stomach and I started to cough again. Everything hurt. My head fell back into the sand, and my eyes finally found the one who had spoken.

She stood warily, brightly colored feathers dusting the shore and onyx gaze drilling into me with veiled concern. I dragged my cheek across the sand, wondering if this was all real. Perhaps when I passed through the portal I didn’t make it and this was the afterlife. What a strange and twisted concept of Eden if that were the case. I lifted my brows, and tried to offer a shaky grin. "I think I am alive, yes." I attempted to move again, then, limbs curling to gain leverage and I got halfway up before another coughing fit gripped me. It weakened my stance and I collapsed onto my stomach, sand grains hissing against one another as they shifted and rolled out of my way. The grin faltered when I saw the vivid crimson of blood droplets contrasting with the pale shade of the shore. "What is this place?" What’s wrong with me?

"Speaking"

Table © Chickadee



RE: This Clamor for Lucidity - Royal Phoenix - 08-05-2017

“Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always known in thought. You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams."


“I think I am alive, yes.”

My meandering touch graced his wet, sopping flesh whilst he remained distracted by the scenery in their midst and the vast fatigue which now coursed through his exhausted form. Tenderly, I pressed my paw across his bodice, checking for broken bones and deep lacerations beneath the skin that could be causing internal bleeding. A smile had unknowingly crept upon my lips as I continued to survey him while he gained more consciousness with each passing second. He was a man of hearty spirit, a will that had carried him somewhat safely across waters so dangerous she once proclaimed herself insane when she sought to brave them. 

Did he wash upon these shores by sheer accident, or was it tied into that ever so elusive entity called 'destiny'? He seemed ignorant to the land upon which he now found himself, somewhat flabbergasted that he was both alive and surrounded by a realm which held no meaning to anyone who set foot on it, until they endured its fatal, yet enriched throes of treasures and growth. What development this man had seen in the years before would soon come to shock him as it did me; he knows not what pulses secretively therein his sacred core. 

He tried to rise, and then collapsed beneath his own weight. I promptly came to his side, nudging him gently with my nose and trying to help him garner enough of his own strength to follow me. In some cultures such courtesy and hospitality was considered a great insult, but I decided to risk interpersonal conflict by following what I personally believed. And this was, that no one deserved to fade into death just because they expended what was left of their physical strength. I was, and am a caretaker, for the sick, the poor, the rich and the strong. Perhaps this man would never understand why I felt so compelled to assist him, but perhaps when he was more comfortable and aware, I could attempt to explain it to him. 

“What is this place?”

Quite the loaded question from lips so tired they were barely able to form the words. I knelt down next to him, lining my body against his own and pressed into it, coaxing him to lean on me and try to walk. 

“A question of the ages, sir...I will try to explain it as best I can...but for now we must move you out of the intensity of the sunlight and water. Please...lean on me? I promise, I will do you no harm.”

Heed, and listen closely.
▼ And contemplate that which is spoke. ▼



@Ivandriel


RE: This Clamor for Lucidity - Ivandriel - 08-30-2017


Ivandriel

have a lovely life in your chosen hell



The nameless woman’s touch was anything but brutal, though upon my weary and exhausted body there was a slight uncomfortableness I couldn’t figure out why. The origin was unknown to me, and my addled brain had little attention span to delve into the thought any deeper than that. Her paw pressed gently, violet plumage brilliantly dark against the almost surreal brightness of our surroundings. The heat from the sun was almost too much even to a body chilled by the ocean’s frothing waves, and I began to think it was a fever above all else. I felt like hell and continued to curse Illex for tossing me into the unknown as he did. Unknown woman hastily came to my side when I tried, and failed, to stand. The faint smile that had stretched over her maw dissipated into reflexive concern. Well, at least it isn’t pity. Her nose prodded tentatively at my side, attempting to bolster me into rising and there was a small dark thought in the back of my mind that she was aiding me with some sort of cost forming in her mind. 

The disorienting feeling was fading, albeit painfully slowly, though as the adrenaline wore of I could really feel the extent of my wounds. Many of them were simple bruises, strained muscle wanting nothing more than to rest yet I was not about to give into that impulse again. Distant inquiry seemed to fall upon deaf ears, though there was recognition in her obsidian gaze as it lingered to travel across my struggling frame. Her weight pressed into me, shoving firmly and providing enough leverage for me to finally remain standing. As I did so I was rudely reminded of the gash upon my right shoulder, sand and saltwater having pressed into the gently weeping wound.

A question of the ages, sir… I will try and explain it as best I can… but for now we must move you out of the intensity of the sunlight and water. Please… lean on me? I promise, I will do no harm,’ she said finally, dismissing the question and favoring more pressing issues first. I eyeballed her warily, though in the state I was in even if she wished to do harm there wasn’t much I could do about it. I leaned against her, although I did not care to admit how much, cut stinging slightly when I pressed it against her and took a tentative step forward. For that I was somewhat apologetic when the blood smeared along her golden pelt, marring the clean canvas, though I decided against pointing it out. "Fair enough," I huffed as she began to match my pace. Legs wobbled like a little fawn and irritation was the next feeling to swirl in the medley of emotions within my mind. I was far too exhausted to act upon it, though, and instead focused on staying upright as we passed from scorching sand to cool shade. 

Without warning I pushed off of her and slid to my belly against the refreshingly cool grasses the second I passed the threshold that led into the dense jungle. With a satisfied groan I let my head drop and worked on catching my breath. Another coughing fit threatened to take hold and I buried my mouth against the lush grass in order to stifle it. My eyes were watering when I lifted my chin, looking at the stranger once more and rolling halfway onto my left side. "As they say, out of the fire..." I hummed, golden eyes closing against a wave of nausea. "Now, where the hell am I?"

"Speaking"

Table © Chickadee


@Royal Phoenix