Flashback The Liriah of Old: Generation I: Falling from the Stars

[Liriah]

1st/Spring/O A.V. Absence. Everything was painted in the black of absence. There was nothing, no air, no sound, no light, only her and the constant feeling that she was falling, or was that rising. She couldn't tell, and all she could do was wait. Time felt irrelevant in this place, Tanroa's touch warped and stretched out, and the girl didn't know what to do or how to end it. She just kept on falling, rising, and floating in this barren landscape of black. Snapping her eyes open, the naked girl gasped for air, her need instinctual and Primal. The roaring of the waves and splintering shout of the lightning storms coursed through her ear, the sounds a physical and mental assault on the girl. She had to swim upwards, the air was always beyond the waters, but which way is which, her sense of direction scrambled by the tossing and rolling of the sea. It was futile, even if she tried to swim, the waves will only pull her back down, into the depths of Laviku's realm. Her lungs filled with water and her skin rubbed raw from the friction of the salty waves, she had already came to the conclusion that she was doomed. Her eyes were open, but she only saw oblivion. Her body was struggling, but her mind was at rest. If this was how things would be, to escape the infinite darkness only to greeted by Dira, then she would not fight it. Laughing, she opened her arms wide, welcoming death for what it is. She wasn't afraid, not before, and not now. Tanroa and Lhex had a different plan for her, however. The darkness was closing in. Her body was stilling, her thoughts were cloudy, and the waves were rising. As oblivion became imminent, the wave which carried her crashed onto a shore. Gasping from the impact, the sudden solidity of the sand beneath her a great surprise, the girl's body leaped upon the chance at survival. Coughing and hacking, her body working to its very limits to expel the water from her airways, she breathed in the air. It was the sweetest thing she had ever experienced, heightened and amplified even further as the realization that she had been pulled from Dira's embrace. Digging her feet into the sand, the girl pushed her body off the ground, her energy returning from the tumultuous ordeal. She was still weak from her near death experience, her entire body and soul shaking with the effort of keeping herself from collapsing to the ground. Her energy was returning, but too slowly for her liking. Her eyes stung, blinding her and forcing her to blink surreptitiously, and her body was beginning to take notice of how cold it was. With a sufficient amount of rest, the girl was finally able to stand, she gathered enough energy keep her on her two feet. Opening her eyes, the salt removed by the tears activated by the sting, the girl watched in horror and shocked surprise. Only a few moments before, she had glimpsed signs of society. Now all that she could see was destruction and devastation; jagged and brutal mountains had risen where the constructs were, sending them flying into the sky. Rooted to her spot, the girl didn't even take notice as large chunks of debris, wooden beams and objects fell in her direction, missing her by a hair's breadth. Snapped away from her shock, Liriah's mind returned back to the two most important things to her at that moment; survival, and getting over the mountains to see what has happened to the survivors. Looking around her, the girl searched for something which would serve the purpose of covering her naked flesh, her eyes skimming through the sight of ruination spread out before her. Walking along the scattered debris, careful to avoid any jagged bits along the sand, the girl kept an eye out for any paths she could use to climb over to the other side of the mountains. There, partially covered by cloth and debris, was an open chest. Its lid had been completely removed, the hinges torn from the body of the chest upon impact, and its content spilled over the sand. The folds of simple white and brown cloth was all the coaxing she needed. Having scavenged what she could from the site; a set of underclothes, a brown dress, an old and battered, but full, backpack, a pouch of coins she recognized from her previous life, dark leather boots and 2 books which had survived the disaster; and placed whatever she could afford to carry in the backpack which she had laid claim to, the girl began to look for a way over the mountains. It was impossible. The climb was too steep and the mountain face was jagged with protruding rocks and stones. These were too dangerous to use as foot holds, their sharp edges were murderous and they seemed too....unstable . Collapsing to the ground in defeat, she ran her eyes over the mountain once more, the brief scanning only serving to dishearten her. She was going to die out here without even knowing what had become of the people she saw. She couldn't handle having their horrified exclamations and despair filled eyes become her final memories of civilization. Picking herself up, she gathered whatever fragments of courage and foolishness she could, adding her smattering of bravery and courage into her hotpot of determination. She wasn't going to let despair get the better of her. She was going to defeat this mountain and bring hope to those mortals.

[Liriah]

"Almost there," the girl managed through her gritted teeth, tears and pain lacing through her voice "we're almost at the top of this accursed mountain." Heaving and panting, her breath coming in sobs, the girl had finally reached the leveled area of land that marked the top of the shortest portion of the mountain range she could find. The shortest one which had actual hand holds, anyway. She had found it after a grueling walk down the shore, keeping an eye out for sharp objects and anything else she could use among the polluted sand, half a bell away from her original location. There weren't any signs of civilization here, only the shore and the newly created mountains. This mountain was almost as steep as the first mountain she saw, practically a cliff, but it would have to do since it had the most hand holds and it very, very subtly curved inland. Sitting down on the flat, earthy surface, the bleeding from her numerous shallow cuts slowly ebbing, the girl contemplated what she would do next. She was on top of the shortest mountain available, which was the first step to getting to the other side of this mountain range, but now she was stuck without any path downwards. She was back to the beginning all over again. Crawling on all four, wincing occasionally as her wounds were opened again, the ethaefal moved over towards the edge of the small clearing, looking down to see what her options were. Spread before her was a rolling land of broken greens and a dozen shades of brown, a twisted version of the land her handful of memories recalled, jagged mountains and treacherous hills sprouting from the once gentle plains. The mountains were everywhere, their jagged peaks piercing the sky as their bodies cut off access to the seas. Snapping her eyes from their roaming journey across the changed land, shock still registering within her body, the Lethborn Looked down towards her immediate surroundings. Below her was a relatively gentle slope, the path ridden with small protruding stones and loamy soil rendering it a risky path downwards, but maybe there was another way to ground level. Rising to her feet, careful to not disturb the loose soil and plunge herself down to her own demise, the girl pushed her orange hair behind her ears, the cold air and oncoming storm inciting the tattered remains of her dress into a bizarre dance. Done with moving her hair out of her vision, she began to search her location in earnest for any paths downwards; if there weren't, she'd just go down via the dangerously loamy way, but it was best not to risk her life. As the storm winds began to increase in their ferocity, the girls wounds began to numb from the cold: a much welcome relief from the throbbing heat of her cuts. Her boots were still in one piece, and her backpack was still there, so she decided to discard the torn mess that adorned her flesh. Flinging the dress off, she knelt down to where her backpack was placed and removed the spare dress she had taken, her body shivering as the cold seeped through her underclothes. Pulling the white dress on to shield her body from the storm, she sighed as no other ways down appeared before her. None that she took notice of. "The shredded dress might serve useful," her golden eyes shone as foreign ideas moved through her mind "I could tear it up into strips and use it as rough bandages. It would have to do." Curling her fingers around the straps of the backpack, the girl swung it across her shoulders and onto her back, where it firmly clung to the hollow between her shoulders, and stalked back to the place she had thrown the dress. Pulling the tattered cloth from the odd stick protruding from the surface, laughing at her stupidity at throwing the dress away without thinking about what it could be used for, she began to rip the remains of the dress into strips. Caught between her teeth and two hands, the tattered and worn material had no choice but to comply to the applied force. With her more serious wounds covered by the makeshift bandages, she moved back to the edge of the mountain, the loamy soil path the only way down that she knew. Tilting her head to see if she could make out the group of humans she had glimpsed, the girl began her descent of the mountain once more, the encroaching storm hailing the beginnings of disaster.