Open A Head Full of Monsters

[Cantillion]

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28th of Fall, 514 AV CONTEXTWelcome to the nightmare! Cantillion has an extreme aversion to Zith, but anything can happen in dreams. If you've ever wanted to be a monster, without the hassle of drawing up a character sheet for it, now's the time! Cantillion stood outside of the ruined walls of Castle Xy, the sky filled with rumbling thunderclouds, threatening to poor down on him at any moment. A part of him knew exactly what this place was, and what lived inside, and below. But that part of him was not in control here. This Cantillion was simple and innocent, and the weather was turning rotten fast. "This castle would be an ideal place to ride out the storm," he told himself. Despite his self-assurances, his steps were light and cautious, his instincts not entirely dulled in this strange reality. There was something undeniably uncanny in the air, and in the castle ruins before him, but apart from the incessant waves of thunder, there was not a sound to be heard. As he stepped into the protection of the castle, the rain began to pour down behind him, and what seemed like a maelstrom whipped up outside. He had made it just in time, but there was no way he could leave until the storm passed. For better, or worse, he was... "What was that?" he asked, head spinning towards an exceedingly dark portion of the poorly lit ruins. "Who's there?!"

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[Aislyn Leavold]

28th of Fall, 514 AV

NoteAfter an unfortunate incident with a band of thugs, Aislyn earned herself a fairly bad concussion which has gone untreated for eight days leading up to this. For first part of my post, you can assume Aislyn is awake, just having a severe headache. After that, she blacks out, and the dream begins.

Aislyn’s head hurt.
Really, really hurt.
She felt like her mind was being pummeled from the inside out, as if someone had pushed a knife through the back of her head and into her mind- except she couldn’t escape the pain with death. She was immobilized. And, even worse, she was blind. Was she dead? Dying? The last thing she remembered was going to sleep the night before. Or had it even been the night before? She tried, in vain, once again, to move. Fear sent an upheaval of adrenaline through her system, which only seemed to intensify her pain.
Then, just as quickly as it had come, the feeling was gone.

Unfortunately, Aislyn still had no idea where she was. And, it appeared, she was still blind…

No, no. Not blind. It was just very, very dark. Pitch, inky blackness all around her. Luckily, the noises around her did not mimick that emptiness. Rain, it seemed, pounding down on brick. Was she inside? How had she gotten inside? This definitely wasn’t her home… Where was she?
A clap of thunder confirmed her suspicions. She had to be inside, or else she would be soaked. But the question was, inside where?

Pushing herself up onto her hands, Aislyn tried to look around, to no avail. Everything was simply black, even with her enhanced vision. It unnerved her, not being able to see. Was she sure she wasn’t dead? Surely hai would look something like this. Then again, hai probably didn’t have rain.

Taking a cautious step forwards, Aislyn found her legs untrustworthy, and, unfortunately, collapsed back into the darkness. A soft groan escaped her lips as her head began it’s dull pounding once again.

”What was that?” A voice. Male? Realization raced through her mind with a shock. Someone else was there. ”Who’s there?!” Fear. This man- boy- whoever they were- was afraid. Just as afraid as Aislyn was. But that didn’t mean he could be trusted. He could be faking his fear. Maybe he was the one behind this?
No further sound came. Had she imagined it?

’Hello?’ She wanted to call, ’Is there someone there?’ Her lips formed around the words, her tongue pushed them out of her mouth, but no sound escaped. A breathy gasp came out instead. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. What was she going to do? Ionu save her, she was going to die there.
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Ionu.
That was it. Maybe she couldn’t speak, but her gnosis could. She’d never attempted to manipulate sounds before, but…
There was a first time for everything, right?

She’d heard the sound of her own voice enough- She could project that, couldn’t she? Just like projecting a visual illusion. Like Maya, or Thief. Except.. Sound. She just had to make sure whoever it was who was out there heard her.
The woman furrowed her brow in concentration. Who are you and why are you here? That’s what she wanted.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t what she got.

”Who’s there?!”
The voice that came out of her concentration sounded nothing like Aislyn at all. The voice was much deeper, rougher… More threatening. Petch. She was definitely going to die there.

[Cantillion]

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The bellowing roar caused him to breathe deeply, but he couldn't scream, or yell, or even move. The voice was followed by the sound of wings, ruffling in the dark ahead. "No, not ahead," he realized, looking up to the arching stonework ceilings, obscured by the same unnatural darkness that seemed to close in more with each passing moment. As if to prove him right, a person descended upon him, landing just a few steps in front of his face as he stepped backwards, afraid. Dark crimson bat wings spread, flexing their entire wingspan in a show of strength and power. This Zith was covered from head to toe in a fur the color of hot blood, and he looked down on Cantillion with fangs bared, towering over him easily, crossing his arms with a wicked smile plastered across his face. "What to do with this?" he asked, as Cantillion tripped over a loose stone, falling backwards into a sitting position, now very much afraid.

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