Here are all threads from before the Fall of Emea in 719 and all threads pertaining to the Fall. As of Ymiden 719 (1st June 2019), this forum is locked for new threads and is a repository for old content.
Elyna could feel the tension rising beneath his skin and the steady thud of his heart against her shoulder. Vanity saw her frustrated that he resisted and denied his own desire. It was a dangerous game to play with him, she knew. Yet she couldn’t seem to help herself. Vakhanor was bound by honour and her gaze narrowed as she watched him, her fingers still pressed to his face. They trailed carefully down to the line of his jaw and she watched them, pale against tan skin as her thumb dropped to the line of his neck.
“Why do you say no, when you want to say yes?” She replied. He was right though, she didn’t love him. Guilt and shame though, had long been the force behind her desire. Perhaps there had been a chance that she would leave those days behind, even in her dreams but old habits beckoned and they were simpler and less painful then the life she was currently promised. Better to drown in the past then burn in the future. Duty, honour, responsibility – they were chains to bind her and she had never liked the sense of ownership that came with them.
A child?
Her brows raised in confusion before she nodded slow agreement. That was right, she was having a child. A child that would be so loved they would never feel the need to drown in sorrow.
A husband?
Elyna shook her head, “I don’t have a husband…I thought you knew? I thought they told everyone their secret,” she murmured and her expression fell. Points of her mouth turning down with sorrow. It was good to know he hadn’t been in on all the lies and deception. Maybe he was someone she could trust.
“I don’t want to marry him,” she whispered as though he could hear them, “I don’t want to marry Marcus. I’m afraid Vakh. He’s so angry…he tries not to, but I worry that he’ll hurt the baby.”
Composed behind his resolute mind Vakhanor stood still like stone beneath the touch of her fingers brushing against his skin, he was ashamed of her there as he was in life. "Because I am not what you really want Elyna," the executioner replied with a cool tone as he took Ely's delicate hands and removed them from his body.
There was much that they had been through together in the short time they had known one another and much they would probably go through if Vakhanor chose to befriend her longer than he could. What little pain he had suffered alongside this woman was the result of remembering what it was to be soft again and maybe that was why he was ordered to return to his home. Fate had it that life was full of tough decisions and no matter what kindness he gave, destruction followed in the footsteps of everything he did.
Elyna here said she didn't have a husband, what kind of sick joke was his mind playing on him? He wondered if he wished for that. If there were the single possibility that his mind was reflecting an emotion he had grown to hate. No. The prospect of loving anyone who was human was beyond what he could achieve here, his offer for protection to the people he loved was limited and he had not yet earned the right to be considered among his own race. Humanity was an inferior race, filled with untamed emotion that leads them to both great and destructive things. Like him the woman who stood before him was inferior and so was he.
"Survive," his hand dropped to her belly "You are the pillar that supports this child now. You are a soldier, not a spoilt child. Fight and act like one." Vakhanor's eyes burned with a cold hatred that boiled beneath his skin, he despised this side of Elyna. Placing one hand either side of her waist, he attempted to lift her away from him "Make your life your own."
As a soldier the woman knew when she was dismissed. Hands dropped lifeless to her side in his answer. It confused her. All the heat she’d felt beneath his skin seemed to rapidly cool beneath her touch. He was turning away from her. Maybe there had been a moment, a delicate balance where the tide could have swung either way. Vakhanor however had chosen a deliberate path and he put her aside.
He had pulled her in to comfort him, and now he pushed her away. Elyna took her step back and withdrew, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. The woman collected the gauntlets he’d put down and piled them with the rest of his armour. Keeping herself busy before she returned back behind the bar and folded her arms on the wooden surface.
“You said you came here to help me. Why would you want to Vakh? Why help someone you clearly despise?” Dark eyes searched his expression again and she suspected she’d hit upon the truth. Why wouldn’t he hate her? She had killed his little brother. Pain had twisted chains around them both and would forever bind them together. How could anything beautiful grow from such a poor foundation? There would always be pain between them. To deny it would be to deny themselves.
Vakhanor watched the bittersweet grace of Elyna's movements and mirrored the carelessness of her demeanour and leaned back against one of the stools "That's what you think?" he said, steadily holding her gaze. If that was what Elyna believed then there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise. Every action he had taken toward the woman was on of affection, he'd never truly hurt her like he had the others.
Iron chains slithered like snakes beneath the cracks of the doors and wooden floorboards, encasing around the half-blood’s limbs and like every dream the smith had, he would eventually become encased. Every moment his body became heavier and Elyna had never failed to make him more frustrated.
Why did he dream up a version of Elyna that was so stubborn? Was this what he perceived of her? Elyna knew very little of his past and never failed to ask him about his thoughts to the point it was becoming a tradition of hers to make strange accusations then pull away just as he did to her.
"Cling to your own malice Elyna. Do not project yourself onto me," he said, determination burning in his smouldering eyes. Anchored down by the thousands of tortured souls tethered to his conscience, Vakh took several purposeful steps toward her, pulling his bonds and did not relent until he had cornered her against the bar. Fighting her would be meaningless, so instead he gave into his nightmare "Stupid girl," he growled, seizing her lips into a kiss of wanton fury. Every time they met Vakh and Ely wandered the tight rope of seduction, seeping further and further into a pit of hell where the pair of them would burn, maybe that was what happened when a tornado met a volcano.
“I wouldn’t blame you,” she found that she couldn’t meet his cool blue gaze as an equal, “I wouldn’t blame you for hating me, Vakhanor” the woman admitted. She had liked the Smith on their first meeting. He had intrigued her and he had been kind. It was the snakes of metal that eased out from the floor that unsettled her most. Uneasy she lifted herself back onto the bar and edged back, feet held above the floor and the sinuous advance of chains. Toes then balanced on a spare stool. She hated snakes, she hated their movement and it struck a chord of fear and discord deep within. Something that wouldn’t be simply thrown off.
They wrapped around his limbs and she shivered. He didn’t seem frightened though, only angry and frustrated as he suddenly advanced. He moved with purpose and her stomach knotted but with what she couldn’t be sure. Limbs felt heavy and unresponsive as she was trapped and held in place. Almost face to face with him, knees nudged against his hips and she gulped as the kiss fell. Angry and demanding there was little tenderness in the action. It did little to dispel her suspicion that some part of the man hated her. Her own malice. If her belief of Vakhanor was her own soul reflected, then he was right. She hated some parts of herself. It was hard to separate those pieces from the person she was as a whole and she realised that her racing thoughts were strange to consider, given the circumstances. The crushing press of Vakhanor and his lips on hers.
Shame, remorse and guilt warred within and made her sluggish, cautious in her response. Heart racing she wasn’t sure if she hoped the kiss would end, or if it would continue till they were both spent and the heat burnt out between them. Maybe this had to go to the end, or they’d continue an endless dance, doomed.
Hands flat to his chest she broke the kiss, confused. Face resting against his shoulder, she eyed the chains, “Vakh— Vakh what are those?” Her voice was tight with worry.
Guilt plagued his conscience and yet somehow despite it all, he chose not to fight the relentless nightmare that was the guilt of his pain and temporary desires. Fondness had always bloomed from beneath the blackened soil of their tainted hearts, feeding the blossom of a friendship that had been doomed to share the bonds glued by the pain of Bjorn's passing. "They're not only mine Elyna," he uttered, folding his arms around her thin frame as he could feel one of the coils that bound him extend wrap around them and in the distance the familiar sound of Bjorn's young voice echoed.
"Vakh!," it echoed, slowly growing closer until the child's image stood only a few paces away from them. His innocent brown little eyes looking up at them with a puzzled expression "Is she my new mummy Vakh?"
Pain entered Vakhanor's eyes as he watched the child draw closer, every time he had tried to touch Bjorn, there was nothing there. A restless captive to his to the guilt of his past the chains bound him to the thousands of souls he had killed over the years, including Bjorn "No Bjorn," he muttered, clinging to Elyna as he began to grow tense with unease.
Dreams very rarely held any comfort for the smith and as she held him, he was slowly becoming more and more weighed down. He wouldn't be able to hold on to her for long. The chains were working their way up his body, linking together into a suit of iron armour in an image that reflected who he knew he didn't want to be. A demon.
"You did the mouth thing," the boy said innocently, shifting his gaze to Elyna with a large and cheeky smile.
"Forgotten me already Vakh?" a voice suddenly asked from the end of another of his chains and as he turned, wide-eyed in shock he could see the mangled corpse of Rhea dangling at the end of the chain, crawling across the floor "Why didn't you bury me? Didn't you love me?"
Immediately Vakhanor pushed away from Elyna, with a fearful and confused look in his eyes as he shook his head "DID YOU LOVE HER WHILE YOU LOVED ME?" the corpse roared at him, just like she had when he was alive.
"NO!" Vakh boomed back to her, raging with unkempt fury while Bjorn stood watching in the background, still smiling. "You dare question my honour!" he growled back at her "You cheating whore!"
A slow and nefarious snicker cackled behind the blonde woman's mangled lips "You kissed a married woman Vakh," Rhea's corpse said dragging itself across the floor "She's pregnant too. Much worse than I ever did."
"FUCK OFF!!" he yelled backing away slowly shaking his head, retreating to the side of the image of his dead little brother.
"Kisses are for people you love. Why did you do it Vakh?" his brother asked, looking up at him. There was no escaping the innocence of the child. Kneeling down to Bjorn the smith could only plead with the boy, unable to touch him "Grown ups sometimes do stupid things and the lady will never love me B, it was a mistake."
"She said you wanted it," the little boy countered and shifted his attention over to Elyna "Why did she kiss you Vakh? Did the lady want it too?"
His words struck fear deep within her chest, turning in his arms Elyna pressed hurriedly against the man in fright. The last remnants of a dream faded into a nightmare as he explained that they shared chains. It was a small yelp of fear that passed her lips and she shut her eyes, reluctant to see what she knew was the truth. The serpentine chain that twisted between them and curled around her wrist was a snake of metal. A snake after all. Inching over her skin and up her arm as a second wrapped around her ankle. Trapped in her own terror tears traced silent tracks over her cheeks. She wanted to scream or to run, but with snakes coiling over her skin Elyna was motionless. Shivers running down her spine.
The child’s voice was enough to have the woman twisting a little, eyes flown open. Bjorn. Vakh was in chains that turned to living serpents as soon as they touched her skin. The woman groaned, heart torn by the boy that stood before them eyes fixed on the brown eyes. Another voice crowed, shouting out across the pair of them and Elyna panic. Lifting her hands against her face she gasped for air. Struggling against her sobs her legs threatened to give way beneath her and the woman dropped. Falling away and torn from the dream by her own phobia.
***
Elyna woke to a bedroll on a hard floor. Smoke drifted under the cabin door from the nearby campfire and she sat up and gasping. Hands and legs bound with shackles and chains she suppressed a moan of fear. Leaning forward in the darkness she moaned into her palms, shuddering with fright. She hated snakes.
Knowledge
Vakhanor: A troubled soul?
Vakhanor: Haunted by his past?
Vakhanor: Chained by fallen souls?
EXP Story: 5/5 Collab: 5/5 Structure: 5/5
VAKHANOR
Knowledge
Elyna: A troubled soul?
Marcus: Beats his wife?
Elyna: Haunted by her life?
EXP Story: 5/5 Collab: 5/5 Structure: 5/5
Notes
Due to the nature of dream threads being vague and trippy and not affecting the real world much, I only gave you a few knowledges each. However, I did really enjoy the story and I look forward to seeing where these two go in the future. By which I mean I wonder when Vakh will finally just get with Elyna, cuz....dude, everyone can see it.
