The Broken Pieces of Me (Noth)

[Juniper]

Juniper

Night of Cylus 2nd of the 718th Arc

Screams. Where were they coming from? She couldn't move, it was dark. Fear rising in her throat as. She tried to move, tried to pull or push, but this feeling of sinking just got worse. A voice that she thought she'd heard long ago came to her. "You are mine... the skies are forbidden to you."

Her eyes shot open, but she was blinded by light, not blackness. She was not in the dark of her prison. The desk drawer. No.. this place was.. different. Plants that were glowing were all around here. But why couldn't she move? She looked around and watched in horror as a lizard tore off her left arm. She screamed, that's when she realized, the screams she'd been hearing were hers.

She tried to get up, looking around, but just moving a bit felt like it took every bit of effort she had in her. She blinked and looked around. This place, she'd never seen this place before. Something about this place felt wrong. She squinted and tried to call out, but all that come past her lips was yet another scream of pain.

She looked down and part of her left foot was missing. How was it that she lost that? She couldn't remember she felt dizzy for a moment and then suddenly the ground beneath her shattered and disappeared. She flailed, trying to catch something, anything but nothing was there that she could grab. She fell into darkness once more. Falling and falling, further and further until she landed on top of something, or... someone. She bounced off their head, onto their shoulder, and with her right arm she grabbed at their clothing.

Tears stained here eyes as she panted for breath. The tiny being had unknowingly fallen into someone else's dream, she looked around to try and figure out where she was but she didn't know. She didn't understand what was going on. She looked up to the man before her. "I'm.. sorry.. I... don't know where.. I am.. or where I came from..." she looked around. "I.. I'm hurt.. I'm not sure how.. Could you... help?" She looked scared, and confused as she tried to comprehend what was around her.

[Noth]

Noth

Feathered Fiend

"The tyrant confuses those he can't convince, corrupts those he can't confuse, and crushes those he can't corrupt." - Anonymous It was starting to become stuck underneath his fingernails, considered the hybrid as he paused in his work, glancing at the feathered phalanges. The feathers which normally so proudly adorned his flesh had been smeared downwards with the dirt, and it was clear that it had begun to grow hard and crusty, cementing together the occasional loose feather with its partners so that it was becoming increasingly difficult to separate his fingers without needing to tear apart the connection. The Avriel shrugged, casting a glance over at his left for the bucket of water; the only accommodation he had been given to perform his work, and promptly submerged his hands into it, feeling the dirt form once more into slick mud which he cast about the area with a violent shake of his hands.

He figured that this was as decent a point to take a brief break as any, and with a slight pain of relief from having been crouched over for several breaks suddenly crinkling across his spine, the Avriel arose from his position, crimson eyes overlooking the scene before him. The pit had grown rather steadily in diameter as time crept onwards, each trill allowing for another clump of dirt to be removed from the pit. It was, nevertheless, a slow and tiresome ordeal, and he felt as though his skeletal structure was the only thing holding up his weary muscles from collapse. Without even a hint of dignity, the monstrous being collapsed backwards, careful to avoid his water bucket or any of the fresher mud, unworried about the prospects of dirtying up his already filthy garments.

He stared upwards into the great and infinite beyond, taking notice of the pinpricks of light which emanated out, the only figures visible in the oily black which hung above, suspended by some cosmic string beyond comprehension. Were there beings up there beyond their reach? Did living creatures walk among those pinpricks, going hither and thither with their daily lives, or were they alone in the wide expanse? It was a question that could not be answered, at least, one that he could certainly never answer. Perhaps all of the scientifically minded persons and those who thought they understood everything because of their philosophical discussions would be able to better solve that particular question, but if ever the answer reached him, it would be second-hand in nature.

Was there a world where none of this was necessary? Was there a world out there in one of those pinpricks of light where there were no Immortals? That seemed somewhat unlikely, because for all of their faults, the Immortals had been responsible for creating all things, hadn’t they? Noth had never really questioned the subject of where everything had come from before, and he resolved quickly that, much like his previous question, he would be entirely unable to find the answers by himself.

Perhaps it was a sort of providence, a divine intelligence that decided to shatter a portion of the stars above him, to allow them to fall away like a broken window and tumble down to the ground. The Avriel had been familiar with shooting stars before, and had even observed one in his life, and recognized instantaneously that this was an entirely separate phenomena. The glassy night sky fell somewhere off into the woods, shattering with an ethereal whisper that reeked of energy beyond his understanding, warding him away without ever having elicited a single word of threat. He raised himself up from his prone position, crimson eyes peering into the dark, before he felt something soft strike into his shoulder, resting there. At first, he believed it was simply a piece of detritus that had fallen from the heavens unto his shoulder, but then it spoke, and he became acutely aware that it must certainly be a living being which had tumbled from above.

The entity asked for assistance with its injuries, and the hybrid carefully reached upwards to his shoulder, and opened his palm upwards so that the being could fall safely into it. Once it had been sustained on more level ground, he would bring it before him where it could be examined with more scrutiny. In basic appearance, it seemed to him to be a Tunawa, much like one of those he had seen in the past, but the fact that its origin was unknown both to it and to himself hinted at a far greater role than a simple protector of the forest. Could this be the key to answering his questions? He was uncertain.

It had asked of his assistance, however, and he was at least somewhat inclined to help it if for nothing more than to secure a favor from it in return. Yet… “Of course, I will assist you, but… how do I help? I do not understand how you are made?”

[/font]

[Juniper]

Juniper

Night of Cylus 2nd of the 718th Arc

She winced quite visibly as she was moved from his shoulder onto his hand, her legs splayed in a weird way, sap spilling onto his hand as she looked up at him. She looked so broken, so weak. A child that had no knowledge of the world, as she blinked up at him. She seemed to have at least calm down a bit, but tears spilled down and joined in with her viscous sap.

It hurt so much, she didn't understand, but she felt so useless as she stared up at the man before her. She smiled at him though and gave a bit of a laugh when he asked how he could help. "You're already doing so. You picked me up so I wouldn't fall." She looked to the side.

"Moseke made me... and my people. Without her, we wouldn't exist." She leaned forward on her one hand and looked up at him. "I am a creature of the forest. I live as one with it. But, I... want... wanted? To go on a journey.. I think I've embarked on a journey. But it's, not how I hoped to be?" She looked down at her shoulder and then up at the man again.

"I'm.. Juniper. Yeah... Juniper is my name. I'm sorry, things seem so foggy right now. And then the ground broke beneath me... and I fell." She coughed, her whole body shaking. "I, need to get warmer... So my sap hardens. I'm sorry I'm making such a mess." She touched her hand to some of the sap that had spilled onto his palm.

Slowly she started to try and get up, stand on his palm. But she couldn't manage and ended up falling backwards, throwing some of her sap up and behind her. She was a mess of green and gold colors. She laughed sheepishly as she kept herself balanced with her one arm. She looked up at him. "I'd rather not make much more of a mess on you. Is there anywhere you can place me so I don't?" She looked at him in earnest. She wasn't judging how he looked, he said he wanted to help and that was that.

Who was she to judge someone based on looks, she was in pieces and was just a tiny Tunawa. Nothing that she could really do about it. But if someone was willing to help then maybe she would be able to make through this mess. This mess? What mess was she in. She felt like pieces of her memory were missing or weren't filling in correctly. What? She blinked and just sighed looking up at the man to see what he would do.

[Noth]

The Crow HasTurned

The Avriel listened to the slight wince which sounded out of the tiny creature as he moved her, and he paused briefly before continuing, his feathered fingers far gentler than those of the average man. The feathers which covered them came with their own difficulties at times, but perhaps one advantage of them was that they allowed for far less friction in many cases than bare flesh which meant he could be quite genteel if he desired. He had no intentions of harming the prophetic being which had just plummeted from the sky, especially since it might still have knowledge to reveal to him.

He questioned how best he might assist her, and she responded by informing him that he had already assisted her by ensuring that she would not fall. The Avriel had honestly not even considered that he might have saved her from a rather dramatic death. It was strange to be conversing with an entity of such small size, and he found it at least somewhat difficult to understand how she functioned. Was she just like him, but smaller and composed of a different material? Did she feel different things than he felt? He could feel the sap leaking into his hand, making it sticky and clumping loose feathers together, but he did not know whether that was simply a natural effect, or whether it was equivalent to how a person might bleed when they were wounded. The latter seemed somewhat more likely given her relatively distressed status.

The being stated that it was a creation of Moseke. His immediate response was one of disgust that the small wooden doll was little more than another puppet, though she had not technically identified herself as holding allegiance to the Immortal. His people too had been created by an Immortal once upon a time, and he did not hold that against them, nor against any other persons. Everything came from somewhere… everything except the pitiable godlings with their constant sprees of murder and selfishness. The doll spoke further, saying that she had desired to adventure, but that she had found the world outside of her forest to be unlike what she had envisioned. He nodded sympathetically at that, understanding what it was like to leave a peaceful enclave and step into a world filled with vengeance and sorrow.

The doll identified herself as Juniper, and the hybrid felt compelled by the common laws of etiquette to do the same. “I am Noth.” He spoke plainly, avoiding any of the titles that followed him around. It had once been a rarer occasion for the Avriel to so blatantly identify himself, though with the posters showing his face having shown up across Etzos, and presumably even beyond that cities’ boundaries, it seemed to be a needless precaution. Nevertheless, he kept his title, because it was one that carried a modicum of fear and terror attached to it, a promise both of eternal dominance and the kindnesses that he would carry out once he was ruler. She stated that she needed heat in order to warm her sap, and promptly apologized for making a mess of his hand.

“No need to apologize, little one.” He spoke gently, uncaring for the slight stickiness added to his hand. It had been covered in muck and grime mere moments prior, and so this seemed to be a non-issue. If he was correct and the leakage of sap was akin to bleeding, then it would be illogical to be upset anyways; bleeding was not something that could be mentally controlled or quelled, but rather a natural thing which occurred when injured. She seemed to have difficulty standing, though he didn’t make any motions to assist her up. He was actually of the mind that it was far safer for her to simply remain seated upon his hand as opposed to risk aggravating the wound, though, she was insistent that he place her down somewhere where she would be a lesser nuisance. He conceded that he would likely require both hands to create a fire to warm her, and promptly settled her upon a moderately dry patch of ground.

She had yet to react even remotely negatively to his creations, and he questioned whether it was because she was truly in shock, or whether she was simply having difficulty seeing them in the darkness. With a strike of flint and steel, a spark was lit, and a fire was gradually coaxed into existence with breathy and sultry whispers. The flame was aroused into action, and began to burn away at a small pile of wood he had collected, shining brightly in the darkness, and revealing his work in its totality.

They were pits, it seemed, several pits hither and thither that were excessively deep. Yet, if one were to look closer, they would make notice of the caterpillar like forms which filled their bottoms, the linen-wrapped figures which took up the capacity of the holes in the ground.

Graves. Mass-Graves to be exact, and each one had been excavated using little more than his bare hands. That seemed… correct to the hybrid, because, after all, the bodies had been created with little more than those same instruments.

[/font]

Into ALiar

[Juniper]

Juniper

Night of Cylus 2nd of the 718th Arc

She smiled up at the man weakly. "Noth? That's a good name." She smiled at him a bit more. She scooted back away from where he was going to be building the fire, she didn't want to die, not today. She looked at him and then the graves. She shrugged, sure they were strange but maybe it was customary for his people. You know, give back to the land? That kind of thing.

She smiled at Noth once more. "Thank you, it won't heal me immediately, but it should slow the sapping a bit. Just hope no sparks come at me. Fire will kill me." She laughed a bit, though it didn't seem to be a laughing matter. She stared at the fire. A flash of something coming to her mind as she watched it flicker.

Her good hand going to her head. She frowned. "What th.." It happened again, her breath starting to rapidly increase. "What is.." She tried to stand up, this time, with a whole lot of stumbling, she managed, holding her head in her hands. "I can't... something is wrong. Noth... Where... is this?" She looked up to him. "Do you know?" She frowned.

"This feeling.. I'm more than lost... what..." She continued to grip at her head and breath hard. "No one... no one will find me... No one will.. I'm lost. I don't know where to go. Blackness.. what is this?" She frowned more and looked up to Noth. "W.. what.. do you make of it.. I keep.. getting flashes of.. thoughts... But why?"

[Noth]

The hybrid was complimented on his name, and he considered that for a few moments, questioning the legitimacy of it. Was it really the choice of any person to be named one thing or another, or was it the choice of their parents? Really, by saying that someone had a good name, especially when referring to their actual designation as opposed to discussing the figurative ‘name’ that made up their reputation, wasn’t a person simply complimenting their parents on determining a name that they found suitable? In truth, Noth couldn’t quite remember what his name actually even meant, though he understood that it had meant something in the Avriel tongue. His mother had never had the opportunity to name him, and his father likely was ignorant even of his existence if he was even alive. The hybrid eventually just shrugged, accepting the compliment even if he wasn’t necessarily certain that it was applicable.

It was fascinating that she chose not to contradict the grave-digging, because he had met a great many persons who would be disgusted by the prospect that he was simply hurling bodies down into pits by the dozens and then covering them over with dirt and muck. Many people believed that their dead relatives deserved a burial befitting their status, or that the dead would be displeased with the ‘disrespect’ that was showered upon them. Personally, Noth found that idea to be ridiculous since he had no experience with the dead returning to life except for in the case of necromancers reanimating their corpses, and even then their thoughts and aspirations died when their hearts stopped. No, the dead were gone, and they didn’t particularly care where they were put or what happened to them, because after that life force had abandoned them, their bodies were little more than meat containers where once life had resided before it had been spilled out into the ether.

He listened as the twig began to speak once more, stating that her healing would not be immediate; in truth, he had not expected that it would be, because he had not presumed that her race were capable of miraculous and rapid healing, and she further highlighted her fear of being stricken by some of the sparks emanating from the flame for fear that they might ignite her and slay her. The hybrid chuckled slightly at her explanation of her fear, before responding, “You know, being caught on fire does kill most people. I take it that fire has a… different kind of relationship with you then with the average person?”

He continued keeping company with the twig, allowing himself a much needed respite from his muscle-tiring work as he listened intently to her, fully expecting her to suddenly reveal some fascinating or arcane knowledge despite the fact that she had recently espoused that she was lost. She began to stutter to herself rather disparagingly, and the hybrid found himself drawing closer to the tiny Tunawa, outstretching a feathered hand to wrap around her comfortingly as she questioned why thoughts were detonating into her consciousness. Several ideas came to mind, but he settled upon the most reasonable.

“You fell quite far. You might have rattled your brain when you fell, assuming of course that you have one. Beyond that… this is a dark place for dark persons. Perhaps it’s too much for your psyche.” He smiled briefly, nodding off towards the nearest cluster of woods. “There are things here that should never be seen, nor should ever have been created, but their unholy genesis is evident in the fact that they are no longer absent.”

[Juniper]

Juniper

Night of Cylus 2nd of the 718th Arc

She looked up to the large man with feathers on his hands. Something about being held like that both scared her and comforted her. She stood there stalk still as she listened to him. Trying to understand, but it didn't make sense to her. What was he talking about. Things that shouldn't be around but are? A place that she shouldn't be? She frowned at that last one.

"If... It's too much for me, then... why am I here? One moment I was staring at the sky.. the next.. I fell through it... That.. wait.. that doesn't make sense.." She frowned some more and looked at the man before her.

"Maybe.. I escaped here? That..... to escape the truth? But why would I do that?" She closed her eyes and tried to think but her mind was too foggy, she groaned and sighed. "I'm.. sorry... never mind, it's too much for my mind right now.. W.. What about you Noth. Why are you here? To bury the dead? Return them to the cycle? Is that all? Or.. is there some other reason you're here?"

She shook her head and put her hand on her hip, standing awkwardly with part of her left foot and her whole left arm missing. Even without her strange appearance as a Tunawa, she'd be a sight to see. To be honest, it was a wonder that she wasn't freaking out more about missing limbs, the wounds did seem quite fresh.

After some time of silence, she flinched and blinked, turning around to look at the forest. "Hey..." she looked around, as if trying to find something. "Are you.. being watched..." She frowned and shivered a bit. "Or is that just the forest...?"

[Noth]

It was strange how little people ever seemed to understand about the world around them. Of course, certain persons could be excused for their relative ignorance: Children, the elderly who had long since gone senile, and those who had been completely separated from society for a long period of time. Yet, it seemed that people such as that were rarely encountered by the Avriel, and instead he found himself face-to-face on a regular basis with people who were either involved heavily in social interactions, or who ought to have at the very least heard of them.

Still, people seemed never to understand what the world was truly like, and instead they spoke of how things were ‘not like that’ or how ‘they didn’t understand’. It struck him as impressively strange that people did not see the terrible things lurking just outside of their doors. Oh, there were monsters, truly beastly creatures that stalked the woods and the ruinous places and waited for desperate or curious travelers to be lured into their traps where they could be devoured or else torn apart for some unnatural purpose. Even fiercer than those beasts, however, were the men and women who worked to subdue and annihilate their fellow man. The hybrid didn’t fool himself into believing that he was not a monster, and he fully recognized that he was a being of unimaginable cruelty, because it was the work that he needed to accomplish, but it still struck him as remarkable that people ignored the things that happened to their fellow man, that they were so ignorant of what was really happening behind the scenes.

The young Tunawa; he assumed that she was young, because otherwise there was no excuse for her not knowing how things operated, questioned why she was present in the area if it was too much for her. She further spoke of how she had been staring upwards at the sky, and then she had suddenly fallen through it. Noth considered this statement for a solid moment before he came to the conclusion that the poor creature had fallen subject to shock from its lost limb, and that it was in a state of delirium, unable to comprehend the world around it.

The girl attempted to make sense of her circumstances, questioning whether or not she might have escaped to this place in order to run away from… something or another. She seemed to be having trouble piecing together a complex thought which further reinforced the belief that she was suffering from a trauma of some manner, and then she decided to question the Avriel as to why he was present. “Ah. I am a monster of this place. This is where I belong.” He answered simply, nodding his head melancholically at the thought of being an abominable being. “It is not healthy for a man to avoid the repercussions of his actions, to avoid the consequences of all the things that he has done, because it blinds him to what has been sacrificed, and how can someone lose if they know not what they have already lost?” He paused an instant, a wounded smile gripping at his face for an instant. “Apologies, that thought might be beyond your injury-addled mind. Suffice to say that I am here because I must be here.”

The hybrid returned to his work, digging at the nearest pit in the ground as he listened to the Tunawa question whether or not they were being watched. “The eyes of the world are always on us, Juniper. Every deed done is seen by something or another.” He raised himself up from the mire for an instant to ensure her safety and then went back to work. “Fret not, there are other monsters in these woods, but they are afraid of me. They won’t bother us.”

[Juniper]

Juniper

Night of Cylus 2nd of the 718th Arc

She looked at him, confused. Monster? Why would he call himself a monster? The man already was moving on though. Talking about accepting consequences? Sure, to some extent, but for something so horrible to happen to her and not knowing the reason why? That wasn't something that she would have liked.

A deep frown formed on her tiny lips. Maybe he wasn't just saying it for her maybe he was reminding himself of something? Something for himself? It kind of sounded that way. But what was it that made him think that he was a monster? Sure she was huge, but she was also tiny, she wasn't human, but that didn't mean that you had to be human in order to be not a monster. Did he think that he made mistakes? But don't all beings make mistakes?

After a trill she looked up at him as he answered her question about being watched. He was so scary that other monsters and creatures wouldn't come near him? What kind of capability was that? She frowned a bit more. Sliding farther back from the flames. She was warm, too warm. Tired as well. Really tired. That was weird, didn't she just go to sleep? She frowned and looked around.

"None of this is real." She could feel it, a shattering of realization. She blinked and suddenly stood up. "Mr. Noth... I know what happened.. but you won't believe me if I told you...." She frowned and looked up at the sky. She could see it. The glass wall that she had fell through. She blinked and then looked back to Noth. "Do you think.... we'll meet again after this?"

There was this look in her eyes, like she knew something that he didn't, and she wasn't sure if it would be okay for her to tell him, maybe he would disappear if she told him. Maybe he wouldn't, but for some reason, she felt like she wanted to talk to this man a bit longer. She gulped and hoped that this wouldn't be the last time she met him. Even if this was just a dream. Something told her she wanted to get to know this man further. Though she wasn't sure why.

[Noth]

The twilight hybrid had never lied to himself about the inherent wickedness of his deeds. Everytime that a life had been snuffed out, he had been more than aware of the fact that the action was inherently evil. To slay another living person instead of making any attempt to redeeming their own poor qualities, or to assail someone solely because they possessed something that he needed was without a doubt an act of evil, and yet, his cause was a good one. Nevertheless, even with an end-goal that was undeniably a good one, he referred to himself as a monster, because until that new world had been ushered in, that was all that he was, an abomination of the current system.

It was true that the Avriel was speaking as much for himself as for anyone around him. Of course, he was explaining the reason for his being present in the mass-graves, and yet it was just as much a reminder to himself that the purpose for his visit was not merely to create the graves, though that was a necessary action, but rather to remember that with each of his actions there was an irretrievable loss. If he recognized that there was this loss, he hoped that his mind would work to find solutions where the amount of human life sent into the ground was kept to a minimal, and that there would be less overall blood spilled as a result. He was a warrior, fully capable of inflicting death with the simple shake of limbs and shatter of bone, and yet, he did not desire to kill anyone if it could be helped.

He had long learned to accept his role as Prince of Eternal Mercies and all that the title carried with it. It was not an exaggeration to say that the other monsters of the world feared him, because he would bring about the end of all things as they were, and reign in a world that would be filled only with the paradisiac qualities he desired in it. That meant that all such creatures would be cast into eternal oblivion, and it was not uncommon for the Avriel to bring death to such abominable beings with nary a second thought. He was frightening to them, and so they avoided him as best as they were able… consolidating their power, hiding away so that they might combat him on the final trial.

The young Tunawa; he assumed that she was young given her stature and the foolishness of her words, spoke of how nothing was real, and further mentioned that he wouldn’t believe it even if she told him, which was inarguably true. She further questioned whether or not they would meet again, and the Avriel merely cocked his head to the side in silent response, a shrug rattling his shoulders as he warmed his hands by the fire.

“You’re welcome to stay by the fire as long as you need… I need to return to my work. I do hope your injury heals. I’d hate to have to put you with the others.” He spoke grimly, arising, and stepping over to the nearest mass-grave. He never paused in his steps, and vanished promptly into the grave, his dream coming to an end with the stinging pain of having bashed his foot against the wall of his cavernous home in the real world, an apt simulation of what it feels like to dive into a pile of bodies, he briefly considered.