The door clicked softly behind her, and the overwound Spiritist gasped in fright. The breath sent sweet mountain air pouring into her lungs, as beneath her bare feet the splintery wood of the derelict house made way for soft dirt and ticklish blades of grass. Light bloomed in the distance, and suddenly she was on the mountains on Kalea, lost and alone and pressed in by fog.
She had no delusions of being back in the real world. This was a hallucination, or a nightmare. Or maybe she had been thrown headlong into that strange space her Starfire key key unlocked, only it was furnished not by her safe space but her worst memories.
The thought rolled through her, and her bloody hand unconsciously flew to the space between her breasts where the key usually rested. Leth, the moon god, gave it to her after brutalizing the spiritist for several long days. It was an endless nightmare where she died again and again and again but came back whole and undamaged every time. He gave her that key so she would have a space to reflect on what she had learned through the experience. The self-righteous bastard.
Madeira reached into the pocket of her silk robe and took out the ruby key, studying its lidless eye as it looked back at her. He wouldn't pull the same trick twice, would he?
Holding the key out at arms length, she reached for that feeling right at the edge of the world where she could find her Starfire space. Maybe this was the key out of here.
There was a rumbling off to her left, and her concentration was broken as a massive Okomo careened through the fog. Madeira cursed and stumbled back, staring after the beast. And through the parted fog she thought she could see something painfully familiar.
"Moritz!" she called, at once abandoning her experiment with the key, which she shoved back into her pocket. The word didn't make it far, the sound swallowed by the fog and the unnatural, pressing silence. "Moritz!"
She began to run, leaving flecks of blood on the dewy grass behind her.
This was a God's work. Only they could be this manipulative. If it was an illusion it must be Ionu, if it was about reflection and change this was Leth's domain. If this was some terrible dream then it was the work of Riverfall's dreamlord. Nysol, or Nysel, whatever it was called. As she ran she prayed to all of them in turn, pleading for mercy.
"Whatever you want, you can have it! Whatever you want me to learn I will learn it. But please, please, leave my son alone!"
She didn't check her speed as she approached the door. A tune she knew but couldn't name was leaking from the other side, sickeningly sweet with nostalgia. It might be another nightmare from her past, but petch being cautious. They had her son. Turning the handle of the door she saw Moritz disappear into, she smashing into it with her shoulder, bashing through to the other side.
She had no delusions of being back in the real world. This was a hallucination, or a nightmare. Or maybe she had been thrown headlong into that strange space her Starfire key key unlocked, only it was furnished not by her safe space but her worst memories.
The thought rolled through her, and her bloody hand unconsciously flew to the space between her breasts where the key usually rested. Leth, the moon god, gave it to her after brutalizing the spiritist for several long days. It was an endless nightmare where she died again and again and again but came back whole and undamaged every time. He gave her that key so she would have a space to reflect on what she had learned through the experience. The self-righteous bastard.
Madeira reached into the pocket of her silk robe and took out the ruby key, studying its lidless eye as it looked back at her. He wouldn't pull the same trick twice, would he?
Holding the key out at arms length, she reached for that feeling right at the edge of the world where she could find her Starfire space. Maybe this was the key out of here.
There was a rumbling off to her left, and her concentration was broken as a massive Okomo careened through the fog. Madeira cursed and stumbled back, staring after the beast. And through the parted fog she thought she could see something painfully familiar.
"Moritz!" she called, at once abandoning her experiment with the key, which she shoved back into her pocket. The word didn't make it far, the sound swallowed by the fog and the unnatural, pressing silence. "Moritz!"
She began to run, leaving flecks of blood on the dewy grass behind her.
This was a God's work. Only they could be this manipulative. If it was an illusion it must be Ionu, if it was about reflection and change this was Leth's domain. If this was some terrible dream then it was the work of Riverfall's dreamlord. Nysol, or Nysel, whatever it was called. As she ran she prayed to all of them in turn, pleading for mercy.
"Whatever you want, you can have it! Whatever you want me to learn I will learn it. But please, please, leave my son alone!"
She didn't check her speed as she approached the door. A tune she knew but couldn't name was leaking from the other side, sickeningly sweet with nostalgia. It might be another nightmare from her past, but petch being cautious. They had her son. Turning the handle of the door she saw Moritz disappear into, she smashing into it with her shoulder, bashing through to the other side.
