Solo A Question of the Soul

Yours or mine?

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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A Question of the Soul

Postby Adeliz on May 8th, 2020, 3:09 am

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Spring the 23rd, 520 AV


Light rarely filtered this far down through the thick foliage of the Falyndar canopy. Not to say it was pitch black or even dark, but the light that made it this far down was hardly ever whole. It was light, but not quite, more like an idea of light, an almost sourceless luminescence. Only the fact that it came from above made Adeliz think it came from the sun. Right now, Adeliz was cautiously tracking those rarities, actual sunbeams that skillfully wove their way past the seemingly infinite leaves that littered what constituted the jungle sky.

She’d not forgotten the jungle was a dangerous place, but ever since her and Ines’ encounter with the tower in Bala’s Bowl, Adeliz had wanted out of the place. Time and time and time and time again, she’d tried to warn her sister that there was something off about the place, but Ines never listened. In fact, Adeliz was certain her stubborn sister was planning on making the place her home. Thus far though, that hadn’t yet happened, and Adeliz took every opportunity to find herself as far as possible from the tower and the thing inside the tower.

In comparison, the jungle didn’t seem so bad. It didn’t watch her. It didn’t know she was there. It didn’t reach out and touch her. She couldn’t explain it, but that was what the encounter had felt like. Her soul had been violated by the thing, and Ines practically wanted to move in with it.

Out here though, she was the thing unseen. She was the intangible force. Or she would have been, if she wasn’t so afraid of everything. Rather than flit merrily from sunbeam to sunbeam, Adeliz hovered in the shadows, half submerged in trees and bushes in some gesture reminiscent of her time marked by Caiyha. This was different though. Even sharing the same space of existence, Adeliz wasn’t as close to them as she had been before. In pained her to admit it, but the jungle didn’t feel like home anymore. It felt as if as soon as Adeliz had died, her Goddess had abandoned her. She was no longer Goddess touched, no longer marked, no longer wanted. There was no longer any familiarity to the wild. Plants were just plants, and none of them cared at her passing.

So rather than revel in the light, Adeliz stuck to the shadows while she watched the things that moved through the light. Most of them were small, inconsequential things, moths and butterflies and many-legged insects. More seldom, the smaller mammalian creatures of the jungle would scurry through the beams of light, some of them in search for food, some just busy moving from one safe place to the next. If she still had her connection to Caiyha, Adeliz might have understood the motion of the many creatures, how all of them connected together to drive the forward coursing energy of life. As it was though, they were just creatures, animals and insects, moving and milling about with no part to play in the greater whole.

As she flitted warily from the periphery of one sunbeam to another, something else passed along with her, both unaware of the other’s presence. It was the same way that two shadows moved with the light, sometimes crossing each other but never aware of the existence beyond themselves.

Eventually though, the thing that followed the same path as Adeliz lost its unanimity. In a surge of boredom (ghosts were almost always bored, Adeliz had found), she had burst forward, drifting aimlessly beyond several sunbeams, convinced they could be no different from the last, only to find herself curious as to what she may have missed. Turning back, she caught movement just beyond the third sunbeam back. It was there, just for a moment, but dappled coat met dappled light and disappeared entirely.

The illusion of being alone had been broken though, and Adeliz was a creature of caution, above all else. Quietly, shrinking deeper into the nothingness ghosts inhabited, she watched for any signs of its reappearance. Here, on the cusp between existence and extinction, Adeliz found her awareness of the world and its many intricate details heightened. With her eyes focused and soul ready, Adeliz caught it much more easily this time. As if it was birthed by the shadows themselves, a lithe creature slinked down the game trail, not necessarily hunting but stalking quietly in case an opportunity presented itself. It was definitely a cat, but it was large, as long as Adeliz was tall.

Though its occasional stops to sniff-taste the air almost made it disappear, Adeliz had it. It wasn’t going to escape her now. Slowly, she waited for it to approach and pass her.

Rather than pass her though, it stopped, instinctual senses tingling at the presence in their midst. It was a predator, but even predators knew they could be wounded. Liquid muscles shifted beneath the dappled hide, and its stance changed subtly, almost imperceptibly, to make it ready for whatever might come next. When nothing did, it lifted its head tasting the air for whatever might be laying in wait. Finding nothing, it growled into the empty shadows and began to stalk forward again, and Adeliz fell in behind it, the unseen witnessing the invisible.
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Adeliz
Forgotten sister
 
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Joined roleplay: April 25th, 2018, 2:30 am
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A Question of the Soul

Postby Adeliz on October 16th, 2020, 4:00 am

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Adeliz noticed that since death she hadn’t been real great at telling time. It didn’t pass the same for the dead as it did the living. Sure, the cycle of day and night was consistent no matter what side of the grave one was on, but the meaning wasn’t the same. She had found she could lose the entirety of a day in the momentary contemplation of the most insignificant things. Time could fly in ways the living couldn’t comprehend, but it could also drag.

While the living would say they needed sleep, Adeliz was certain they didn’t comprehend what a privilege it was. Nights were terrible, awful things. Existence was already dulled enough without sensations, but when the living left it, even for just the brief time they needed for sleep, Adeliz’ existence only dulled more.

She could lose forever in a moment, and a blink of the eye could hold eternity, depending on her mood. Today, Adeliz lost time. She had just been that caught up in following the jungle cat. Even the muted light of the day that managed to filter through was dimming, and the cat was becoming harder to track.

It was probably only the creature’s pace picking up that really caused her to realize how much the little light had changed. The predator was lithe and limber, a thing built for agility and speed. Even able to drift through the jungle undergrowth the way she could, she was hard-pressed to keep up with it and to keep it in sight. Her bodiless body cut through vines and brambles and tree trunks as effortless as the big cat’s paws weaved its course around the same plant life.

One thing felt certain with this sudden burst of speed. The hunt was on. Adeliz was sure the predator had caught scent of something and was cutting the distance, and she followed, reveling in the thrill of the hunt, though she was neither the hunter nor the prey. Still, there was something to it, something in just the silent witnessing, the willing participation that made Adeliz feel almost alive. That drove her to keep up with the big creature when its pace picked up even more.

It felt all at once as if the world stood still and eternity past, and Adeliz couldn’t say how long they stalked their unfortunate prey before the two of them finally burst into a clearing. Her eyes left the cat for only a moment, searching for the prey. There was nothing there, and that was when she realized her mistake. This was a trap. The predator had been pursuing something by drawing the prey after itself.

It was hunting her!

Her eyes drifted back to it just in time to see its muscles coil as its eyes fixed on where she invisibly hovered. Then, an eon of evolution guided to the perfected hunter unleashed itself, launching the creature faster than any prey could ever hope to move. Instincts, long-muddled and ill-honed by the marvels of society, surfaced sluggishly in Adeliz and told her to throw herself to one side. She chose the right.

What happened next took her by surprise.

As if the world sensed her hesitance, as if it responded to the call of her instinct, it threw itself in its entirety to her left. In the space of an instant, the world leapt a dozen strides to her left, carrying everything with it, everything but her. Even the big cat in mid leap was dragged suddenly sideways, falling far wide of its prey.

Despite her hesitance to show gratitude to any deity, Adeliz was about to thank any and all of them for having made this miracle happen when what had truly happened occurred to her. It hadn’t been the world’s doing at all. The world hadn’t moved. She had. Somehow, someway, with a power her own she didn’t comprehend because she hadn’t known she had it, Adeliz had jumped the distance in a moment.

Striking the ground and coming up empty-handed, the big cat came back to its feet spitting and hissing, fearsome finger-length canines bared and ready to draw blood or whatever ether a ghost might exude. Muscles long-trained for dealing death spun it toward Adeliz, but rather than the cold calm certainty of a predator, Adeliz saw fear in its eyes. It understood that this fledgling power was somehow equal to its lifetime of honed hunting skills. It began to circle her, and matching it, Adeliz materialized poorly, her narrowed eyes a mockery or imitation of its own glare.

For a moment in time, the two searched for a weakness in the other, and neither found it.

Then, whatever it was that held them back fell away. The big cat jumped, and Adeliz, reaching deep into this newfound part of herself, leapt forward to meet him, the world shifting around her. Her blinking soul collided with the flesh and soul of the predator, and she sank into it, feeling herself spread through its body as she felt for the holds on its body.

This was possession unlike she had ever done it before. Her preferred method was understanding and mutual acceptance. This was raw war waged over the soul, will against will. Her new power gave her a confidence she had never felt before, and with it, she was certain she was strong enough to beat the cat in a battle over its own soul. She held tight, clamped herself to its soul and its body, and, in a moment, was thrown away from both.
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Adeliz
Forgotten sister
 
Posts: 48
Words: 68069
Joined roleplay: April 25th, 2018, 2:30 am
Race: Ghost
Character sheet
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Plotnotes


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