Closed [Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Aoren on November 4th, 2014, 10:36 pm

89th of Fall, 514 AV
Late Evening

Aoren sat down upon the bed with a heavy sigh. Toeing the heel of his boot he kicked it off then removed the other nudging both off to the side with a foot. Gingerly he reached down grasping the hem of his shirt pulling it up over his head. He had been quite active that day and his muscles were a tad sore. It was a good kind of ache but nearly an entire season at sea and being consumed by studies for a season prior he had lost some of his athleticism. He was going to change that now that he wasn’t so buried in his studies or living under the law of rations. Bringing up his legs he removed his pants folding them neatly. He set both his shirt and pants on the floor near the foot of the bed then slipped under the blanket. Isikai padded up to the edge of the bed curling up on the floor with a yawn. Aoren pat him on the head gently with a small smile.

The season was coming to a close. The air was tinged with Morwen’s chill and it wouldn’t be long before she brought Winter to the world. Leaning over to the end table he cupped the flame burning brightly atop the wick of the candle. With a final glance around the room he blew it out plunging the room into darkness. Laying back Aoren took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. There in the dark those thoughts and memories that he often fought the hardest to ignore often whispered to him. His brow furrowed but he closed his eyes anyways beginning the nightly ritual that he so often partook in.

100, 99, 98, 97, 96…

After a while Aoren’s thoughts settled and he managed to drift into sleep suspecting what awaited him there but hopeful that this night he would be left in peace.

It was a vain hope.
------------------------------


Running. Aoren was running as fast as his legs could carry him. He could feel the burn of exhaustion clawing its way up his shins and drilling itself into his thighs. His breath was coming in great heaves. He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Desperate. He was desperate to get away but no matter how far he ran the beast was right behind him. He could hear the ominous flapping of leathery wings. Behind him the screams of dying men berated his ears. He wanted to help them. It was his duty to help them but there was nothing he could do to save them from their fate.

No one could save them from that fate.

He jumped over the gnarled roots of a twisted tree landing hard upon the dirt that lay beyond it. So hard in fact that he stumbled on his recovery delaying his escape. The beating of the wings drew nearer. He had to run faster. He had to find some place to hide, to escape the beast that hunted him.

“HELP! GODS PLEASE HELP ME!” Aoren flinched jerking back as the plea for aid came to him. He stood there in the dark of a forest with no name wrestling with himself. From between the trees Aoren could see a man stumble and fall. Aoren’s internal struggle ended as he took a step toward the man. It was a step too late as a vicious roar ripped through the sky. The man was suddenly struck in the chest by a viscous material. He screamed trying desperately to brush it off of his body only serving to exacerbate his own demise. With a sickening sizzle and pop his flesh began to bubble. In mere moments Aoren watched in horror as skin melted to reveal the red of blood and muscle. The grotesque scene intensified as another globule of the fluid splattered against him causing firm muscle to drip and pool with the growing puddle of melted bone and flesh at the man’s feet. He screamed in agony as his slow, terrible death consumed him.

And Aoren couldn’t move.

He was frozen in terror. Afraid that if he moved this death would fall upon him. Afraid that if he didn’t move the same would come to him that much sooner. His decision was made for him as the air was filled with a screeching roar and the next stream of acidic fluid splashed upon the trees above him. Aoren bolted skidding in the dirt even as the screams of the dying man became gurgled and choked. He HAD to escape. He NEEDED to find shelter, to get away from the doom that awaited him. He was mid-stride when something wet splashed against his lower right leg. A tortured scream tore itself from Aoren’s chest as the acid burned through his lower leg. He stumbled falling face first in the dirt the only sound in his ears being his own anguished cry of pain. Every nerve in his leg begged for the misery to end.

Aoren managed to flip himself over as he desperately tried to crawl away leaving behind the melting half of his lower leg. The remaining stump oozed droplets of flesh, muscle and bone as remnants of the acid continue to eat away at him. Above him the beat of wings ushered his death knell. His gaze turned skyward.


Gods help me…

---------------------------


Aoren writhed in his bed. He had broken out into a cold sweat. He gripped the sheets of his bed, the muscles of his body standing out in stark contrast as he fought with the wraiths that haunted his dreams. Isikai stood in the darkness of the room whimpering as he watched his human companion fight with the nightmare that had consumed him. The dog emitted a high pitched bark followed by another to no avail. Whatever dream Aoren was trapped in it had complete hold of him. The memories Aoren had been suppressing up until that point had clawed their way back to the surface. The memories of the beast, the creature that had nearly been the death of him and several others.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Caelum on November 5th, 2014, 3:27 am

Nights did not typically find Caelum at Alements. Despite the expansion of his business and the second floor addition that brought in private bedrooms and a bath, he maintained his household at the Sanctuary and within the gorgeous apartment afforded him above Kavala's healing clinic. It was high up and safe within fortified walls, perfect for his peace of mind when it came to his daughter. She slept, in fact, at the Sanctuary even now. Larik had come into the city to Alements after night fall to meet up with Elise, and the two of them had escorted Lillian home. On a normal day, Caelum would have accompanied them, but Treza'lin was sound asleep in his infirmary. Widow of a Kuvay'nas who had fallen in a recent zith raid, she was a regular at Alements whom Caelum had befriended and often concocted a special sleeping aid for. Tonight was the anniversary of her marriage, and she had over indulged in wine. Caelum had tucked her into an infirmary bed with a kiss to her brow and idled the past pair of hours experimenting with a new flowering herb in both powdered and paste form.

It was there that he heard Isikai. Hands dropped, dusting against the thighs of soft cotton pants. He had changed out of the leathers and linen in which he had tended Alements most of the night and was now barefoot and dressed for bed. A sleeveless, fitted undershirt sagged against his waistband and revealed the intricate series of windmarks decorating his arms. A glance was tossed toward Treza'lin, but she slept soundly and the doors were barred. He made haste up the stairs, through the green and copper shadows of his home, to ultimately try the handle of the door to the room he had gifted Aoren Skycrown.

He hesitated, but Isikai barked again. Ever cautious, he slid a wicked looking dagger from the thigh sheath into his grip. It at ready, he nudged open the bedroom door and slunk inside, silent as a shadow. This beloved a Syna could be terribly stealth by night. This failed to fool Aoren's loyal hound and fluent Pavi spilled out, hushed and apologetic.

"Be calm, Isikai. It's me. I mean no harm. I am here to help. Caelum. Friend -- " And he dropped fluidly down into a crouch to sheath his knife, having seen no danger within the room, and hold out a hand to Aoren's dog. Isikai snuffled at his hand and growled a warning in the back of his throat, but it was not meant for Caelum. Understanding that, Caelum unraveled back to his feet to pass the dog with a whisper of fingers to the top of his head and approach the bed.

A frown twitched over Caelum's face as he peered down at the nightmare-tossed Aoren, watching as he sweated and writhed. If Isikai's barking had not woken Aoren, then he dared not attempt it himself. One hand lifted to rub over his mouth, slow with consideration, and finally he stepped away from the bed to commandeer the armchair squatting in the corner of the room and move it closer to the bed with a groan of wooden legs. He fell into it, flopping down more than he sat, and dark velvet eyes were on Aoren's and his tossing even as Caelum sank with a stretch of long legs in front of him by the bedside.

"Guard," he whispered in Pavi to Isikai, nodding to the door, and then closed his eyes. The world swirled and settled until he located his center and proceeded to sink into sleep with a practiced speed. It left his heart drumming a few bewildered beats before resttling. Nysel's gnosis mark glimmered beneath the fall of dark hair and twisted, Drykas braids, but the prone and useless body was already left far behind.

The Chavena rose up to meet him, chavi stabbing fingers of light and power all around him. His cloak of the night sky swirled, settling over a bit of daylight dust that framed up to shape the man that he was even as he sped through the familiar halls of the Dreamer. Dawn flared up all around as Caelum tumbled right into the pocket of dreaming that held Aoren in its fist, and he dropped like a comet to the floor of that nightmare while the balicani swooped and laid waste. He watched Aoren crawl, and listened as his friend screamed in agony.

Back at Alements, Kasb'el-called-Caelum slept seemingly useless, sprawled in a chair at a bedside; but in the realm of dreams, he was powerful.

"You're safe." It was a quiet word, but firm even as he appeared in front of Aoren, standing over him in a shift of shadow that glimmered. It twinkled dully as a piece of the night sky, the cloak he always wore in dreaming, since he had used the walls of heaven for the mortar to brick up a citadel for Dream.

He reached down, and over, and he grasped the very grass below to pull it up and over like a curtain sweeping over the scene. The world whirled, rolling over itself and ultimately into Caelum's arms, into Caelum's personal dreamscape. The night, the screams, and certainly the acid and agony dissipated into a gentle dawn light that suffused everything. Knowing hand were on Aoren, careful and smoothed down his cheeks to his shoulders, holding him so lightly that he could escape with hardly any effort.

Aoren would find that he laid in a soft patch of grass on a pond's edge, a weeping copse of trees surrounding as color saturated the eastern sky with the sunrise. He rested at least partially in Caelum's lap, the dreamwalker frowning down at him with concern with his cloak of stars fading slowly around him with the encroaching day.

"I've got you," he murmured. "You're safe."
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Aoren on November 5th, 2014, 11:46 pm

Time seemed to slow. The gaping maw of the encroaching balicani, a phantom from Aoren’s memories. As the stream of acidic venom flung itself forward intent on burning through his body all was suspended in the span of a moment. Aoren watching him drop from the heavens. Silhouetted by the darkness of night and decorated with a crown of stars he was a being unlike anything Aoren had ever seen. Fearful eyes studied the heavenly being.

You’re safe.

And so he was. With a wave of his hand this being brushed aside the nightmare as easily as swatting away the strands of a cobweb. In a swirl of light tinged with the muffled music of a realm distant and yet familiar, Aoren was welcome by the warm rays of a gentle dawn. Confusion imprinted itself in Aoren’s mind as he tried to make sense of everything that he was experiencing to no avail until he flinched as he felt fingers gently rub at cheeks. The weight of strong hands came to rest on his shoulders before the world tipped once more and he found himself looking up into the calming pre-morning sky. Syna was just beginning to paint the heavens with her soft caress. As his vision focused a figure began to take shape in his line of sight.

Cae-Caelum?” Aoren was confused. His chest was still heaving. The pain was gone. The terrible burning that ate away at him, it had been alleviated almost immediately. For an incomprehensible moment Aoren just stared into the eyes of the man above him before emotion welled up inside of him. He couldn’t forget what he had seen or what he had felt. Was he dreaming? He wasn’t so sure anymore but it had been real enough to him. The beginning of a sob welled up in Aoren’s chest. He reached up grasping one of Caelum’s arms holding onto the Ethaefal tightly. Caelum’s soft murmurings reached his ears even as the floodgates opened. He tried to contain it but the memories had all come back to him, so he clung to Caelum all the tighter. His whole form shook with the effort he made to stay quiet even as the tears beaded out of the corner of his eyes.

I can still see them.” His voice was little more than a whisper. “I can see them. Their faces and I can hear them screaming.

The scene continued to play out in front of Aoren’s mind. The day he fought that terrible creature and the lives he hadn’t been able to save. He was haunted by it on a very deep level. Many things about what he believed in had been brought into question that day. It had been an awakening on many different levels. He had walked away from that day a changed man. He liked to believe it had been for the better but there were days when he wasn’t so sure about it. He took in a few shuddering breaths.

I still think back on that day.” Aoren managed to calm himself down after a few moments. He swallowed but he did not lessen his grip on the Ethaefal. For the time being it would have appeared Caelum was the only thing anchoring Aoren from slipping back into the claws of his nightmare.

If the beast hadn’t shown up, I’d either be dead or a slave to the Drykas. When the beast did show up it swept down upon us with barely any warning. Death came just as swiftly.” It had been terrifying to watch the strong Drykas warriors get reduced to little more than puddles of melted muck. The trees had been cut down as easily as grass beneath the sweep of a sharpened blade. Silence fell between the two of them as Aoren leveled out his breathing. He lay there in the comfort of Caelum’s arms, his head resting upon the man’s thigh heedless of the fact that he might have appeared weak. He couldn’t bring himself to care about displays of bravado at the moment. He was just thankful for the Ethaefal’s presence. It brought him comfort and that was precisely what he needed at that particular moment in time.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Caelum on November 6th, 2014, 12:43 am

Strong arms caught Aoren when he dissolved into tears. The hand that smoothed down golden hair was calloused but gentle; and the dreamwalker exhaled slowly. Need shimmered through him even here, in the protection of his personal dreamscape that was walled by the four corners of the world. Dawn light glowed around them, blushing the bank of the pond that held a fat yellow moon in its center. It seemed to float just below the surface of the water, full and faceless. This was the sort of moon at which wolves would howl.


He made a wordless noise of encouragement when Aoren's tears lessened to make way for words, and he listened with all the patience of the time-stilled light. Day did not increase, the sun did not continue to ascend. All was still save for a quiet wind that rushed through the tall grasses, bending them in an endless undulation and casting slow ripples across the pond. It stirred dark hair at his brow, and when Aoren mentioned the Drykas slavers, the gold flecks in otherwise dark eyes gleamed dangerous bright. They echoed the color of his imprisoned moon. Caelum had been forced to free the daughter of his heart from slavery at the hands of his own people. A great many sins swelled in the wake of the Djed Storm, and he had been privy to many of them.


"You must tell me sometime about these beasts," he murmured, words pitched low. The found the shape and flow of Pavi, but Aoren might not immediately realize it because he understood it all with perfect fluency far beyond his usually basic grasp. Here, Aoren could do, could be, anything.


"Here, look at me." The request nonetheless held a certain degree of expectation. It was a weight, and it echoed through his words in the way it might in those of any trained leader. It was not a command. It did not need to be. When Aoren lifted deep blue eyes, Caelum held up his right hand.


Golden opalescence shone there in evidence of Rak'keli's mark, gleaming across already windmarked flesh. It echoed the gnosis mark scrawling beautifully across Aoren's face. His cloak spilled back, revealing that beneath he wore a richly embroidered tunic the hue of sapphire. The black thread embroidering at the v-style collar and hem echoed the patterns found in some of his windmarks.


"This may not be your only weapon, Aoren, but it is your best one for this. You need to seal this wound in your heart." He tilted his head to one side, then the other, considering, and humor climbed up into his face with a wry smile. "Which will take time, and probably a few good dreams to block out the petching bad. Yeah?"
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Aoren on November 9th, 2014, 12:49 pm

Aoren answered Caelum’s request with a tilt of his head. He peered up at the shining mark upon the Ethaefal’s hand. The gentle music of familiarity echoed across his consciousness. Aoren was struck with a profound realization then. It was something he hadn’t placed much thought on until that moment in time. He was never alone. Not truly. The marks that shone upon his body were as much a gift as they were the gentle touch of the goddesses that had blessed him.

Avalis and Rak’keli were always with him guiding him through troubled waters wherever he might encounter them. That didn’t lessen the difficulty of the road Aoren faced in dealing with his own nightmares but it made the task less daunting. Aoren shared a laugh with Caelum. It was still a little unsteady but he wasn’t feeling as lost as he was before. With the unrelenting fear born of the memory turned nightmare gripping him he was able to relax.

A wounded heart is slow to mend. Or so I once heard.” Aoren shrugged his shoulders then sighed softly as he pushed himself into an upright sitting position. He sat slightly off to the side of Caelum then so that his profile was to the Ethaefal. Turning his head he studied the man across from him. This was the Ethaefal in his mortal form. Kasb’el. Strong and commanding in his presence with the story of his life written across the surface of his skin. Aoren had to admit that he was just as captivated with Caelum like this as he was when Syna was high in the sky.

How do you do that?” Aoren’s voice held a note of weariness mixed with awe. “How do you just appear and suddenly I feel calm? How do you make me feel safe when I could find comfort in nothing else?

Aoren scoot closer to Caelum observing him with a blank expression on his face. That was perhaps the best word to describe Aoren right then. He simply was. He felt no burning desire to have answers to his questions nor was he gripped by his grief and panic. He was drifting through his stream of consciousness. He felt no strong need for anything being quite content in the moment. He took no notice of the strange scenery that surrounded them. He didn’t seem to care. His attention was held by the man that sat beside him who banished the darkness with a wave of his hand and the caress of his words.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Caelum on November 18th, 2014, 1:10 am

Tonight there was no song sweeter than the silencing of terror. Even the nearly constant stir of Nikali's divine chains anchored through the core of him was quiet in the dawn light. There was no pressing need laying handprints on his skin, trailing fingertips through the surface of his soul. His fellow dreamer required nothing that was not already given and Caelum's lashes sunk low to better absorb this hour of peace.

"I'm a dreamwalker," he confessed, and his words caused ripples to patter across the pond's surface. The wind was in his breath, leashed by his lungs into a gentle breeze. "The god Nysel has granted me this ability repeatedly through many lifetimes. When I felt you --"

His hands came up, and gestured outward, toward Aoren while dark eyes opened. Of course he meant when he felt Aoren's need and terror through the rattle of ranuri, but it did not occur to him to explain as much. For years now he had kept the mark of his darkest goddess a secret, one that was kept safe by a very select few. It was now habit that he steered his words around it. Even here. Yes, even in his own dreamscape where absolute power was granted him through the love of the Dreamer.

Even here, Caelum feared. He had good reason.

"Isikai was barking and I knew that if that had not woken you, Aoren, it would be foolish to try and just shake you awake. Not when I could find you in the nightmare, and pull you safely free of it." He grimaced a little, eyes narrowing on the pond and the imprisoned moon. He was retracting his steps through dreaming. "I could have done it with a little more elegance. My apologies. That was rather abrupt, wasn't it?"

A smile hooked sideways and he scrubbed a hand up the back of his skull, disrupting the typically heavy knot of braids there. The strong line of his shoulders sagged, but that was because his fingertips were starting to grow cold and he could felt the petals of frost flower gently over his insides. He had been a bit heavy handed with the dreamscapes tonight.

"I'm glad you feel safe. You are safe here. This --" He spread out his arms and the starlit folds of his cloak spilled back, smile finding a deeper glow. "Is my dream. We can change the scenery, if you'd like." He cocked an eyebrow, tired but always adventurous. "Take a turn exploring your chavi. If you want. Or anything. I'm not kidding. We can do anything here at all."

Old eyes studied Aoren's face with a sudden intensity. He was looking for something, like the full life version of a long faded memory.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Aoren on November 23rd, 2014, 12:16 am

Dreamwalker. The word held a weight to it that Aoren couldn’t quite explain. It sounded powerful and as Caelum explained its connection to the God of Dreams, Aoren understood why. It was a blessing bestowed upon mortals by Nysel. At Caelum’s admission the Drykas man could only chuckle.

I thought you were a god come to visit my dreams, to be honest. It was a little confusing but…” Aoren reached out lacing his fingers together with the former Ankal. He shrugged then rubbed his thumb along the edge of Caelum’s hand in an attempt to assuage the Ethaefal’s embarrassment. He felt the chill in Caelum’s hand and closed the space between them wanting to impart a bit of warmth to his fellow dreamer. Unbidden Aoren spoke in response to Caelum’s mention of safety. He couldn’t help it. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

I feel safe because you are here, Caelum.” Aoren blushed realizing how silly that must have sounded. He cleared his throat and looked away retracting his hand to place it in his lap. He folded his hands together twiddling his thumbs silently chastising himself.

Can we just talk?” Others might have jumped at the opportunity to exploit the offer that Caelum had just made. Its meaning was not lost on Aoren. He knew full well the kind of knowledge, the secrets and the power that the Chavi held. He had spent many hours sifting through the Chavi of others to uncover such knowledge. He simply wasn’t interested in pursuing such endeavors right then. He was more interested in the man in front of him. Aoren knew about Caelum’s past. He knew parts of it at least. What he didn’t know was Caelum himself. That was a subject of much more rapt fascination than anything that lay buried in the distant past right then.

As for the change of scenery, I would like to wake up now. Dreams and Chavi, lost knowledge and the unimaginable can wait.” Aoren wanted to see and feel Caelum in the real world. He was still partially convinced that all of what was happening right then and there was just the product of his own imagination. Was he aware that he was dreaming because he was being told he was dreaming? Or was that simply part of the dream itself? It was a little boggling to contemplate so he pushed it aside for the time being. If anything, he felt more at ease and would more easily be able to awaken with the hurt and fear of the nightmare banished.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Caelum on November 23rd, 2014, 4:06 am

"That's just smart," Caelum pointed out. It was in reply to Aoren remarking that he felt safe because he was here. A smirk shot across his mouth with a wealth of startling charm as he teased the seer. After all, there was no safer place for the friend of a dreamwalker than in that walker's private dreamscape.

With the warmth of Aoren's hand just fading from his own, Caelum rolled to his feet in a fluid movement. One hand absently dropped down to offer Aoren aid to his feet, perhaps worried that he was still shaken by the intensity of his wretched nightmare. Caelum's other hand made a sweeping gesture toward the pond and the water of it rolled back like a rug to reveal the smooth, pale grey stone of Aoren's bedroom floor at Alements and the edge of the bright rug that layed over it. In short order there was a section of the bedroom floor in the place where the pond had been imprisoning the moon, settled among the grasses and in the long green shadows of the copse like a jigsaw piece from the wrong puzzle.

"Sure, we can talk." It was an agreeable sort of reply, shoulders shifting in a shrug that rippled his strange cloak until the stars glimmering within the folds began to wink out one by one. Surprise was in his face, however, as he looked away from the bedroom floor and back to Aoren in the time-locked dawn. "We can explore some other time," he added almost gently, thinking of acid rotting flesh. It slid shadows behind his eyes.

A wind began to rise around them, rushing in from the spill of the surrounding prairie. Stalks of grass flew out like oversized dandelion seeds to plume over the suddenly ripening sky. Time, by the dreamer's hand, was allowed to continue on its inevitable trek toward the end of itself and he pulled Aoren after him off the bank and into the spot where the pond had been. The flying grasses swirled above them in a rippling storm of celadon and wheat, yarrow and heather, and ultimately settled into the shape of Aoren's bed. With a hint of wicked in Caelum's smile, he gave Aoren a push onto the bed and by the time Aoren opened his eyes again the dream would be gone.

Vanished.

It was replaced with his actual bed in the room on Alement's second floor and no more was there an all powerful dreamer who held the moon captive for it's secrets. Instead there was just a man slumped in an armchair at Aoren's bedside, somehow younger and yet cursed with age's frailty all at once, stirring from his sleep.

"Voila," he mumbled, smiling with faint humor.
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Aoren on November 27th, 2014, 1:34 am

Aoren shivered taking in a deep breath as he awoke from the land of dreams. The room was dark but his eyes were mostly adjusted to the darkness especially with the feint light streaming in from the hall just outside the door. Sitting up he brought a hand up rubbing his face gently. He could feel the chill of the oncoming Winter brushing against his skin and the edges of the room. For the briefest of moments he was drawn back into the touch of the garish nightmare that had consumed his evening. He shivered again rubbing his shoulders before he became aware of the fact that another person in the room situated right next to his bed. Caelum’s voice reached his ears and a surprising amount of calmness washed over Aoren. A small smile touched his lips as his eyes fell upon the Ethaefal in his Drykas form.

So that was real.” He was of course referring to the surreal part of the dream when Caelum had descended from the heavens to rescue him from his own past. Isikai whined from where he stood at the foot of Aoren’s bed. The Drykas man smiled at his faithful hound.

I’m okay, boy.” That had not been the first night where the dog had remained by Aoren’s side as he suffered through the agony of a twisted nightmare. Several times it had only been through the comfort of Isikai that Aoren had managed to get any rest throughout the night. He’d clung to the dog using his companion as an anchor to stave off the impending bad dreams. There had been several of those during his time in Zeltiva. They seemed to be becoming more frequent as of late. Shivering once more, the blonde haired man pushed aside his blanket directing his focus on the man beside his bed. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Aoren stood up slowly coming to stand in front of Caelum. Several emotions flittered across Aoren’s consciousness. Each of them was felt as strongly as the next.

The first of them was shame at his own weakness. Aoren always strove to be as strong as he could despite the events that played into his life. A large part of him hated showing emotional weakness in front of others. He felt relief. He was relieved because he’d been spared another night of tossing and turning, being clawed at by memories he’d suppressed. He was grateful to Caelum. But of all the emotions passing through him the one he felt the strongest he couldn’t put a name to. So he simply acted on what he felt.

Reaching forward Aoren leaned forward cupping Caelum’s face. He brought a knee to rest on the cushion of the chair in-between Caelum’s legs as he brought himself closer to the Ethaefal. Aoren felt no hesitation but he did pause. He ran a thumb over Caelum’s cheek staring the man in his dark eyes for a long moment before leaning in to press his lips to Caelum’s. The kiss was soft at first, tender with Aoren’s gratitude and the warmth that he felt in his chest. It soon became insistent. Aoren pressed himself closer to Caelum. His hand slid up to thread itself in the Ankal’s hair. His other arm slid around Caelum’s waist pulling the Ethaefal near to his body to stave off the chill of the room and simply to feel him. A very different sort of shiver went up Aoren’s spine as he kissed the man. When finally he broke the kiss he pressed his forehead to Caelum’s allowing himself a few moments to breathe.

Never has a dream been so sweet than one I shared with you.” The words came unbidden to Aoren’s lips. They made him blush. Where had they come from? Aoren suddenly felt rather small. So many different emotions were surging through him. It was not that he didn’t know how to handle them it was simply that he hadn’t let himself experience any of them for any length of time. Too many times had he been hurt, spurned, or simply stripped of what he cared for. On many levels he had closed himself off to feeling much of anything. He felt contentment in his life but not because he was content but because he didn’t believe there was anything more. Until Caelum.

I’m sorry.” Aoren began untangling himself from the man in front of him. He was a little confused. He wanted Caelum. He wanted to be near him. He wanted to run his hands along the Ethaefal’s body. He wanted to brush his lips along the strong lines of his neck. He wanted to be as close to the man as he could. But he had no idea he would want those things so strongly.

You…you awaken something in me, Caelum. Kasb’el. I didn’t…I thought…it’s hard for me. I feel…” Aoren struggled to find the words to give voice to everything he was feeling at that moment.

He couldn’t.

He didn’t have any words because he couldn’t find them. He sighed frustrated with his inability to sort through his own thoughts. So he just stared at Caelum, searching his eyes. Just waiting because that was all he could do.
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Aoren
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[Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

Postby Caelum on November 27th, 2014, 2:26 am

A laugh dusted the back of Caelum's throat.

So that was real.

It warmed and grew to glowing like embers stirred. Truth was that although the ethaefal laughed far more now than he used to, it was still not enough. Often it was dampened with darkness or muted by the thunder of a tide constantly turning. Tonight it was rich and weary, lending the sound a familiar color that stole itself from somewhere in a sunset sky.

"Dreams are real, Aoren," he murmured. It was not a gentle lesson, for all that he tried to make it so. "No, there are no acid-spitting beasts in this room with us; but they were there, in your dreamscapes. They existed in the same way the moon was truly trapped in my pond. What are those things called? Bloody terrors. I'll clear them out for you." A shadow spilled over his face and he grimaced a little before shifting to sit up somewhat, the chill lingering in his joints. Dreamwalking took its toll on the dreamer, and he had not been kidding when he mentioned how heavy handed he had been. Ripping apart an entire dreamscape and literally absconding with the dreamer to his own was not actually as easy as he made it appear.

He grew silent, curious, as Aoren rolled out of bed and came to a halt before his chair. Heavy lidded eyes dropped, cast out like anchors to moor him at Aoren's feet. He stifled a sigh and took his time to enjoy the slow travel of his regard up long, bare legs, following the lines of all that muscle with admiration allowed to make itself plain in his face. By the time he got there, Aoren was already moving toward him. Heat rose like a fist clenching low in his belly and that was as much thought as he had time for before being kissed.

Desire sang through him. It stretched long fingers and climbed up his arms to pool in his throat and encourage his mouth to open beneath Aoren's, for him to return the kiss, meeting it with both heat and expertise. He couldn't help the expertise. Not after all the this time. Aoren's wants rolled against his own as they moved through him and he sat up and into the man, one hand sliding along the cage of his ribs around to his back. Fingers bent, gripping warm muscle and his breath caught hard when it seemed like so suddenly Aoren was letting him go. Dark hair, half in braided in Drykas style, the other hand almost unraveled, feathered down when Aoren's fingers left it, but the bright, iridescent glimmer of Nysel's intricate gnosis mark was visible and warm as a beating heart for more than long enough. The Dreamer had placed it there, on his scalp and invisible save from the most intimate of touches, for a reason.

He was still more secret than story.

He blinked and attempted to separate Aoren's desires from his own, but as Aoren spoke he gave up. Relinquishing the effort, a funny smile hooked itself on his mouth and he listened to the confession placed before him. It was with fond patience, and when Aoren was finished he gripped the arms of his chair and shoved himself up to his feet. The flecks of gold in his eyes had brightened, casting light through the darkness, and instead of speaking, instead of helping Aoren find his words or diverting attention elsewhere, he stepped up to him. A hand closed over the jut of Aoren's hip and he stepped closer again, close enough to urge him back and bring their bodies to brushing.

"Good," he answered simply, and to the point. Then he caught Aoren's mouth in a kiss that was held more heat than it did gentleness and urged him one more step backwards, every intention to tumble them right into bed.
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