Flashback Storm.

[Alva]

Spring 01 512 AV

The patrol around the opening of Zinrah was both tedious and nerve wracking. They were surrounded by the same old jungle on all sides, closed in by mystery and what could be death waiting for them guarding a hole to a pit filled with serpentine vermin. Guard was all they could do since Caiyha had brokered for the uneasy truce the Myrians had with the Dhani. It was said the Snake Lady had approached Caiyha in the first place for peace so her snake babies wouldn't be killed.

Alva hated being posted on guard duty, especially when she had to guard Zinrah. Her Fang were competent people but that didn't take away from her restlessness and uneasiness. It was easier to die out here than it was patrolling closer to home. That was her firm belief. She would rather patrol the coast or explore deeper into the region than stand guard over this stinking pit. It reeked of the snakes down below, the scent tangling in her nose and making her feel ill.

"Alva, stop pacing. You'll wear a groove into the ground," the captain of the Fang said gruffly. She didn't even look up from her current fascination with the depths of Zinrah. A few bells ago she had claimed to have seen eyes peering at her, reflecting back Syna in the gloom, but now nobody was concerned. She still believed something was watching them, but nobody was concerned. If there was a Dhani down there just waiting to burst up and gobble the whole lot of them up, the horrible snake would have more than it could handle with the armed and armoured group.

"Go and circle the perimeter if you're that restless." The woman gave her a hard look as though to reinforce the idea that she really didn't want to be distracted right now and Alva shrugged. At least a quick patrol would give her something to do and take away from her boredom somewhat.

She strode to the perimeter of their patrol, passing a handful of men gambling, and began her patrol. She went at a suitably slow pace, staring into the scrub of the jungle with an unwavering, cold gaze. She didn't trust those trees, wanted to run in their branches, and felt like there was more out there than what she could see and smell.

[Ayatah]

"Eypharian, go circle the patrol. You look like you’re falling asleep.”

Probably because I have to listen to you drawl on about your sister’s kids. The half-blood’s obsidian eyes met her comrades steely glare, but shifted onwards all the same.

Ayatah had patrolled the entrance to Zinrah near a hundred times, and only on a handful of occasions did anything actually happen. But still, the potential consequences of not guarding the snake pit greatly outweighed any boredom, or so Ayatah likened to think. Her military service ended a while ago - had it truly been three years? - but she still appreciated the duty of servicing her Goddess-Queen. As such, she accompanied the army on the odd one or two patrols, when numbers were low or she had nothing better to do. It kept her weaponry sharp and her muscles strong

Patrolling also gave the half-Eypharian time to think deeply, and she had long perfected the facial expression that implied deep concentration, and meant anything but.

So she began to make her way around the wide circle that stood at the edge of the snake city. The heat was close and humid, so it did not take long for Ayatah to work up a thin layer of sweat on her delicately gilded skin. Armed with her composite longbow and a wooden-handled double-bladed dagger, she set off her own personal patrol --

-- Only to be distracted ten or so chimes in. Burnt red hair, pale skin; the tiger Kelvic that Ayatah knew from previous patrols. It was always pleasant to spend time with someone else who, like herself, was not perfectly Myrian. ”Alva,” She said, catching the attention of the Kelvic, ”how are you?” The words were warm, and a smile was on those full lips.

A pleasant distraction from a mundane day.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Tinnok]

Zinrah. Was it strange that she rather hated the place, but didn't mind the way the word rolled off of her tongue? It was full of her brethren, but her comrades knew by now that she held no qualms in killing them, a fact she was glad for. Slowly, but surely it seemed that she had gained a strange sort of respect, mixed wit disgust and disbelief. She should have been marked by Myri by now, and it was quite a point of contention with her mother that she had not, yet upon her shoulder lay the mark of another Goddess just as revered if not in the same way as their Queen. So sometimes they called her 'witch' instead of 'snake spawn.' Whatever helped them sleep at night with a half-breed she supposed.

She watched Ayatah go off into the woods, and figured there would be no point in asking if she could join on the patrol, two was a good number, three was borderline inefficient. The snake snorted and kept her eyes peeled, not on the entrance, but on the surrounding forest. She knew better than to think they would just swarm out of the front door now.

Her eyes scanned lush foliage, noticing the distinct lack of birds in the trees along with their calls. It made for a rather silent post as watch, but she imagined all life knew better than to stay near when the giant snakes could slither and climb to perches, stealing egg and bird alike in clawed grasps. The hum of insects was still there, however, and she felt herself lulled into a strange form of thoughtful meditation as she focused only on the sound of insects, eyes trained ahead and to the side of the entryway, leaves becoming a blur before her.

[Alva]

Alva's eyes narrowed as she was greeted, and she turned to see who was approaching, a smile crossing her face in pleasure as she saw a familiar Myrian making her way over.

"Ayatah," Alva said, much kinder than she usually was. She had many occasions to get familiar with the woman, as she had with the others of her current fang, and was glad to see a face that she didn't associate with the harrassment she had gotten from others. "Come to join me on the patrol?" The answer seemed an obvious one, with the other's approach. She welcomed the companionship and opportunity to work with somebody she knew wouldn't look at her with mocking eyes or speak with a short temper. She opened her mouth to speak more, but closed it quickly and whipped her head around to look at the jungle wall.

Her nose wrinkled as a scent invaded it on the next breeze, and she scowled at it. She couldn't even begin to imagine what would have such an offensive smell, for it was neither Dhani nor Myrian. Was it an invading force closing in on them? Every Myrian worth their stripes had heard of the savage people that lived outside of the jungle to the north and east, across tall, jagged mountains and endless waters.

If she had been a tiger, she would have looked fiercesome as she snarled at the idea that there was an invading group of people approaching them. She looked around to get a good direction on which way the liberating breeze was blowing, but didn't see anything but trees rustling and colourful plants waving. She snorted and glared at the foliage. It was very confusing that her nose would say something her eyes couldn't detect, but she heard it. That silence that fell over the jungle and the hushed sounds of animals retreating into a hiding place.

She looked at Ayatah, a great amount of concern written on her face, and then back to the loitering members of their fang, seeing that a good amount of them, perhaps the more alert ones, were on their feet with weapons drawn. Maybe they felt what she was feeling. She wanted to retreat to some dark hole and wait out whatever battle was about to fall upon them. The scent grew, and so did the silence, but achingly slow. She knew what this was. The calm before the storm.

She gripped her weapon tighter and curled her lip in an attempt to intimidate by showing her teeth.

[Ayatah]

”Of course,” Ayatah replied coolly, one hand resting on her hip as she sauntered over to the Kelvic, ”don’t want you getting lost out here by yourself.” There was an easy grin on her lips, a friendly glint in her eye. The two women had familiarised themselves with each other over the years, and the Kelvic was far less judgemental of Ayatah’s heritage than her pureblooded comrades.

The half-breed would have said more witty remarks, but the other woman’s sudden silence and furrowed brows concerned Ayatah. She watched the Kelvic carefully, not sure what exactly was disturbing her friend, but knowing well enough not to doubt the Kelvic’s senses. Nothing seems particularly amiss, Ayatah thought to herself, but there were things that Alva could smell or hear, and maybe even see, that Aya could not.

”What’s wrong?” Her voice was low, close to comforting in tone. The rest of their fang would perhaps be less trusting of the woman’s gut instincts, but the half-Eypharian was not about to be quite so dismissive, ”is there Dhani nearby?” Her dark eyes glanced downwards, to Alva’s fingers that seemed to tighten around the handle of her weapon. Ayatah placed four gentle fingertips on the Kelvic’s forearm. She wanted to ease her friend, but as she stood and listened, even Ayatah realised the jungle was becoming eerily quiet.

Something was wrong, and this did not feel like the Dhani. She cast a look back towards the rest of their fang. They too looked wary, some pacing back and forth and others readying their weapons as if to fight an invisible enemy. ”We should head back.”

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Tinnok]

She felt the tension rise between her and her comrades, one not born from her mixing of bloods. The air was so still... but the half breed could still brush it off as mere paranoia. No Dhani would be foolish enough to attempt to breach the blockade in broad daylight. Her vision slowly came back into focus as she realized the insects too had grown silent. Her eyes scanned the cave, but somehow knew the problem did not arise from those unfathomably dark depths.

Almost instinctively Tinnok reached out to a shrub, a commonplace plant with leaves that were good for crushing up and using the paste to enhance the color of dyes. Her finger tips slid slowly over the leaves, and she sought comfort in the peacefulness she would find there. Only to be shocked to find that there was none. The plant seemed to be practically humming with a strange sensation of life and energy, her connection with Nura giving her strange quick sensations that generally only crossed between her when she was communicating with birds or termites.

Her hand shot back as if she had been struck by an electric current, and she glanced in the direction Ayatah had gone. Her body tensed, and her hand gripped her dagger. Tinnok was about to make her way to the fang leader, when she realized she had nothing she could truly say, and no suggestion to go along with it. Her hands casually brushed a couple more plants and felt the same strange energy coursing through them...but below the surface, as if gathering in preparation. How exactly was she supposed to explain that sort of thing?

So instead she stood motionless, poised for battle though she had no idea the kind, hoping Ayatah and the other scout...the Kelvic, would come back soon. This certainly could be nothing but trouble.

Then she heard the distinct sound of someone puking in the wilderness. Nervous chuckles and guffaws radiated around the group at the imbecile that couldn't handle their liquor, and a smile even pulled upon Tinnok's lips at the thought of the embarrassment that lay ahead for which ever fang member it was.

As the two scouts returned Tinnok waved them over. At the very least her friend would understand the half breed's worry.

oocJust building a wee bit more tension,

[Alva]

Alva didn't respond to the woman at her side, standing as still as a stone as she just stared into the foliage, listening and inhaling deeply. She had never been so unsettled before. She had never felt something so strange, something that was building up like water at a dam.

"We have to go back to the group, Aya," she finally said, using Ayatah's nickname, something the Kelvic didn't often do for anybody. She looked to the taller woman, surprised to notice her hand on her arm. She looked back up at the woman, meeting her eyes, and shuddered. She heard the sounds of distressed stomachs back around Zinrah's perimeter and did not envy them their response to the atmosphere. She responded in her own ways and if she were in her true body, she would have been rippling with fear, anger, and protectiveness for her Fang.

As they returned, Alva leading a hurried pace, the trees began rustling with ominous purpose, the noises assaulting her ears all at once. It sounded like a fierce wind were suddenly trying to bow down the tall trees all around them. She knew she could even see the sky if she were to look up, but there was no desire to do so. The sight of it where she should only be able to see tall trees would startle her further.

They arrived back to the group to see the faces of their comrades in various expressions of fierceness, worry, and anticipation. She could smell the fear and snarled under her breath for it, knowing she likely smelled as strongly of it as the Myrians that reeked of it.

She felt a mite safer among the group, like there was truth to the statement "there is strength in numbers", but it didn't help her feel any more comfortable. The air itched at her skin as the wind pushed over it, like it was trying to knock them over as well. With the wind came a heavy smell of something sweet, but bitter, in the air that only grew stronger the longer the wind pushed. She felt like there was colour to it, texture, and when the now unsettling faint light of the sun beat down, the air shimmered like the scales of a fish and rippled with the power of a Tskanna.

She lost awareness of what her comrades were doing, finding herself focused completely on the strange air and the sensations of it. She might have heard pain behind her, if the wind had not possessed a thousand voices of it's own, screaming so loudly it hurt her ears and made her roar at the pain of it, and then making her shudder with fear at the power behind it as it roared back. Like it was alive, too, and knew exactly what she was doing, but she didn't believe in the wind being alive. She fought the truth that it might be even as he paining ears ached and trickled blood and her voice grew hoarse before finally dying, the blood from her battered throat now silencing her.

She fell down to her knees and cowered, unable to summon back her pride and fearlessness in the face of so much power, unimaginable and vast, that had no beginning nor end. If she had known where it had come from, and who was doing this, she would have been more likely to fight, but she knew when to fold and take the beating. She wasn't even aware of Ayatah or her Fang, hoping they were still there behind her.

Her eyes closed and she curled up in the smallest, most meaningless ball of skin and leather she could become to wait out this unnatural event, aware of things brushing her skin and electrifying her hair, making it shiver with static and change in it's own way. Burning, then freezing, and then back to warmth, her body experienced changes she didn't know and didn't want to see.

[Ayatah]

Now Ayatah was not confused or worried. She was downright fearful. The sudden change in her friend’s stance was palpable, but annoyingly, Aya did not share the heightened senses of a Kelvic to understand what was happening. And if anything, not knowing what was wrong was worse than sensing the changes Alva clearly could. She may as well be blind, dumb and deaf.

She didn’t say a word as Alva led the way back to Zinrah’s entrance, to join the rest of their fang. Their comrades were all standing in the same places as they had when the two women had left, but something had changed amongst them as well. Ayatah could see the beginnings of discomfort and concern on their faces. They knew something was wrong, too.

The jungle is too quiet… Where were the birds, the insects?

Her eyes scanned the row of warriors, watching each face carefully as if the answers to their many questions could be found there. Her gaze caught Tinnok’s, and when her old friend signalled them to come over, Ayatah stepped forwards.

She never reached the other half-breed. The wind caught in her hair, billowing it out like a great fan and whipping it into her eyes and mouth. She paused to push the strands out of her face, more annoyed than anything else. But still the gales came, knocking her sideways with some strange unnatural strength. Ayatah didn’t need the gnosis of Caihya, or the heightened senses of a Kelvic to know that whatever the hell was causing this storm was not natural, not… right.

Glancing upwards and peering beyond the dense jungle overgrowth, the half-Eypharian expected to see dark rain clouds, ready to burst and cover the jungle with an unseasonably late rainstorm. But the sky was blue, and empty of even a whisper of cloud. Syna stared down, bright and white and normal as ever.

Another punch of wind knocked Ayatah to her knees, and she looked wildly about her, eyes wide and terrified. Alva was also on the floor, curled into a tight ball like some poor scared animal. She opened her mouth to speak (though the screaming wind would have stolen her voice before her friend could hear it), but her were replaced by an agonised cry.

Both hands to her flew to her stomach, discarding the two daggers like unwanted toys. Now her eyes were closed, mouth slack as a feeling she would later describe as ‘a ripping sensation’ tore through her body. It started in her middle section, right in the place where a tiny life had just begun in her womb, but soon her legs and hands felt as if tiny needles were stabbing into them. She was on her hands and knees now, one arm holding her up whilst another was wrapped around her waist. Her whole body was shaking, fighting this strange internal battle to save her own life, and that of her unborn child.

Was the wind still blowing? Ayatah had forgotten; the pain that gripped her body was too great. She could barely see, and for a panicked second she thought she had gone deaf. Another wave of pain, so great that she let out a second scream. Something was trying to escape from her, she was sure. The arm that propped her up gave way, and she tumbled the ground, twisting so she landed on her side and not flat onto her stomach. After altering her position, she lay on her back, staring up at that calm blue sky whilst everything below it changed and living things struggled to survive.

|| Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||

[Tinnok]

None of it made any sense at all, and when another figure puked...no one was laughing anymore. Tensions were high. It wasn't a Dhani trick, it couldn't be... the half breed was sure that no Dhani was powerful enough to silence an entire jungle...or at least the space around Zinrah...and create such strange patterns with the plant life.

Tinnok got eyes on the Kelvic, and saw her curling up into a ball...out of fear, confusion, the half breed couldn't tell.

She saw Aya's face contort with pain as the canopy rushed with life, but even as she took a step forward to lend a useless hand...the same pain grabbed her own...something. It wasn't as if it was in her stomach, or her lungs, or even her heart. It was a strange rending feeling, as if something had crawled into her body, and wanted to pull apart her blood vessels, or crush her from the inside.

She could barely even scream in pain, so tight the sensation was upon her very being, and soon the entire clearing was on their knees, retching up their stomachs, crying in pain...

But that was not the scariest part of the scene. That came an instant later. There was a moment, a massive drop in air pressure, when the sky darkened visibly, and everyone's ears popped like the joints on a toy. For the half breed time seemed to slow, and though she felt as if she rotated her head at the speed of sound, all she could have done was slightly rotate her eyes to see the majority of the combined fangs.

Strange lights raced across the sky, at once beautiful and terrifying, crawling like strange fingers made from lightning across a deep grey sky that had moments before been blue. She was not a magical entity, but Tinnok would someday learn that her Djed stood at attention that day, the magical energy that comprised her, simultaneously fighting to keep her alive, while warring with the part that wanted to rip her limb from limb. The wind was so strong it bent the trees and moved bodies feet over the earth, slamming a couple people against trees.

But it was still not the scariest sight, for that one was reserved for the mystery all would try to unravel afterwards.

They vanished.

There was no blood nor spatter, no matter at all unless they had loosed their bowels or puked beforehand...except for clothing. Tinnok could not pay much attention, too pained was she, screaming when her lungs released enough to let air through her mouth and out into the howling wind currents only to be swept away. But before a moment all the Myrians, pure bloods or no had been bent over and struggling, and then...nearly all of them were gone.

A moment of anguished panic went through Tinnok then, to think of the fierce Kelvic who she had hunted Dhani with...and her best friend had disappeared...but there they were, curled up upon the ground.

She had to crawl to them. This was a noble idea, one with great merit, but was strangely hard to execute under so much strain and pain. She lay upon her stomach, then instantly recoiled, finding herself in a miniscule ball as tight as she could go. If she could form coherent thoughts she probably would have just stayed there anyway. What would crawling to Aya do anyway? Allow them to hold hands as their bodies were torn asunder? Petching doubtful. But the abomination did not have such coherence to her thoughts, so instead she cried in a ball upon the ground, because there was absolutely nothing else she could do.

[Alva]

Time crawled by at the pace of a slug, both painful and endless. Alva cowered beneath her arms, using them as the best approximation of a shield she could get them to be, and her eyes were shut tightly against the lights and colours and sounds and smells and screams. For the brief few moments when they were open and she was able to make sure her Fangmates were still nearby, she imagined seeing their pain and her own as a multihued haze blotting out features of the landscape. She didn't know if she was sick or what, but soon after she had decided it was best to look down and close her eyes just in case she saw anything else.

Time moved much, much too slow. Everything felt strange and similar all at once, from the breeze to the mud. The silence was deafening, the screams piercing it having faded all at once as some unseen force sucked away the bodies of the full blooded Myrians present. Not that Alva saw it.

Her skin crawled as spiders ran over it. Slimy, scaly, itchy, hairy spiders that wriggled and writhed as they jerked their legs, sending jolts of pain up and down the length of her body. She felt extremely light at one point, as though filled with an excessive amount of air, and couldn't breathe. The feeling passed, to her relief, but it wasn't the last thing she would feel.

It started with a burning, tingling sensation as noise returned, deafening in her ears, and the scent of scorched leather flooded her sensitive nose making her gag. She felt like her bones were crawling out of her skin, and the pain was enormous. She screamed at it, roared even with the voice of her tiger self, before her voice cracked and she was silent until it ended.

In reality, not much more than ten chimes had passed, but in the end the jungle was deathly still. Like it was some great beast waiting to inhale, the sense of anticipation the jungle's atmosphere bred into the Kelvic made her want to spring to her feet and bolt for the trees.

She waited a good few more chimes before lifting her head. She found that the vicinity was relatively still, without even a breeze to move the leaves, and it was quiet but for faint moaning and sobbing coming from behind her where Zinrah was. The keening was horrible. It felt like her hearing had grown more sensitive and the slightest noise her companions made gave her the desire to scratch at her ears until they bled and heard no more. She turned around to snarl at them, her Fangmates and companions, but fell silent.

Most of them were gone.

Piles of armour and weapons littered the former blockade around Zinrah, abandoned when their bearers had disappeared without a trace. At first, Alva suspected a Dhani trick. She thought the Dhani had cast some sorcery and sucked away everybody with indescrimination, but when she saw the remaining people weren't entirely Myrian, she hesitated. It must have been the Dhani, even so, but the sheer strangeness stunned the Kelvic. How would they know which ones were fully Myrian and which ones weren't? It can't have been normal at all. Maybe their Snake Goddess intervened and helped them, she couldn't ever know.

She rose to her feet, or attempted to, but collapsed before her legs had even properly righted themselves beneath her, stumbling to the beaten ground and grunting. She was content to lay there. It felt nice after the flaying she had gotten just before.

oocI described how Alva saw the storm. You guys can describe it differently. She isn't Myrian so she had a very different experience with that alone.