• Graded • The Maze: Round 5: Max and Toraj

[Pegasus]

Round 5

I can feel it coming in the air tonight...
...

Aesthetics, though, believes all Art
Intends to gratify the heart:
Rejecting disciplines like these,
Must I, then, go which way I please?......

Sleeping minds often find that there are snippets left behind. As though they seek to make more clear, what they saw, or what they hear. As the crow let out a cry, the slumbering man opened his eye. But yet, he had not fallen awake, sleeping still, his mouth agape...

The lights fell around the sleeping form of Anthropos Apteros - his time between worlds was lessening, he knew that. There was a moment, fast approaching, where his future ~ every future ~ hung in the balance. One of those coming towards him would choose. In choosing, they would decide. In deciding, they would act and that action?

..... it began a chain reaction which ended in judgement.

"Jim, are you seeing this?"
"...,"
"Jim? What's the... JIM!!"
"....."
"Immortals, Jim, say something!! MEDIC!"
"...."
"..."


Both of them were quick to action, decisive and sharp in their movements. They did not hesitate or pause, both of them lifted the mirror they held. It absorbed the light and the orb did not in any way impact them as individuals. Or, at least, not physically. But it also exploded in a massive explosion of light. It was like an incredible display, a light show the sort of which had never been seen on Idalos. Briefly, just for a few trill, it blinded, and they heard a series of strange, random and eerie sounds.

Then, there was the music. Ghostly, haunting. Just out of reach and beyond their grasp.

Which was a shame.

Because in there, the answer lay.

As they both felt their vision returned, in very few blinks of the eye, they also noticed that it had gone black. Pitch, night time, midnight black.

Darkness wrapped around them both, yet they were more than aware of the fact that there was someone else there.

Both of them had held up their mirrors, deflected the light. This led to very similar experiences, a blinding white light, a brief moment of blindness and then, blinking their way into realizing that it was night time pitch darkness. As the pair of them blinked, they caught sight of one another, each noticing the other.

There was also, of course, that other little thing that they both noticed.

As Max wondered who she was, where she was, what was going on, Toraj remembered. In a strange synchronised moment, Max forgot and Toraj remembered.

Not everything.

Far from everything. But they gained and lost significant proportions of their lives in that moment. The equivalent of a few years, certainly.

"It's simple really," their animal companions suddenly spoke in an eerie, perfect unison. "A moment in time. A choice. Choose a direction," it seemed that left or right were their options there, "Choices now lead to consequences later. Who wants to remember? Who would prefer to forget? "

Before them were two choices, indeed. Left or right?

As their companions motioned, both Max and Toraj might notice....both of them held crystals which were, strangely, glowing. Hmmm.....



Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. Both of you: All Must Do Objectives from Round 4 met.

OOC Info

Things to note!

• Sincere apologies: for the delay. Normal service has now been resumed....
• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Wednesday 5th December
• For this round your companion may be NPCd by you in your post.
• Oh, yes. One last thing. Max has amnesia. Toraj has memories. How much, how many, what type / severity... up to you!!....

Objectives

!	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
	Please note: You can use items you have previously picked up - they might help you! Explicitly state what you are going to do (if anything) about this whole "swap" Explicitly state which direction you are going. PLEASE NOTE: You need to both have crystals in order for you to progress (one each). From this point on, all your posts will be together, so this is your new (and final!) thread!

!	Message from: Can Do Objectives
	Write your post with every sentence starting with only vowels.

[Max]

One trill she was bracing herself beside a stranger to see if the tiny mirror would do anything to beat back the orb of light. In the next she was closing her eyes as the world around her turned bright with a stunning explosion of colors. As beautiful as it was, it was just as blinding. Unsettling sounds filled the backdrop. An uneasy feeling came over Maxine as she listening, the haunting, eerie echoes teasing at her ears something she couldn't understand. Everything was as confusing as it was inexplicably bizarre.

Emea? Is this the sort of dreamscape Kura had been talking about?

If she wasn't just higher than intended, she was definitely not exactly in Scalvoris Town anymore. Ironic how a concept so crazy breaks ago was sounding less so by the bit now. Illuminating light show and music subsided, and in its place, her surroundings had contrasted the vibrant experience with utter blackness in its place. All-consuming darkness was something that filled Maxine with both comforting familiarity and morbid dread. Escaping the endless shadow realm in The Beneath had been a feat in itself, and for as strong as prison had made her, she was not so eager to return to anything of its likeness. It was bad enough that the darkness from Slags Deep haunted her now, but to suddenly realize she wasn't alone in it? It wasn't lost on her that, historically, only one of them was going to walk away alive.

"I'm only gonna ask this once: who the fuck are you?" the wary ex-convict demanded of the silhouette beside her. Industrious mind turning its cogs, Maxine ventured back to the arcs prior to her landing in Scalvoris. A man from those eras had a saying for moments like these. It was...it was. It was something once on the tip of her tongue, now lost as though it had never been on her mind. Alarmed, she fished her memories to find what she'd been trying to remember. Unfortunately, the effort was in vain. Events between Etzos and landing in Scalvoris were wiped clean from her memory. In their place, a gaping black hole as dark as the shadows encasing her. Arcs of her identity...gone.

Eyeing the pair of animal companions who spoke riddles while holding glowing crystals, Maxine's fists balled into tight fists. Amnesia like this didn't just come out of thin air. Illogical as it might've sounded, she became wholly convinced someone or something was to blame. A person out there was messing with her; messing with her very mind. Enough people had done that before. Another could not be tolerated. Irate as always, the confused woman decided right then and there she'd find that someone to make them pay. It seemed, however, she first needed to appease the animals.

Angry and slightly dazed, Max trudged over and swiped the crystal from the Badger's hand. Innocent little Beatrice had lost her trust despite her kindness. It seemed nothing and no one in this vision could be trusted. A revelation of that caliber included the stranger and their animal companion as well. It wasn't lost on her that they could be just as stranded in this weird world just as she was though.

"You," she addressed him as she moved through the dark. "I'm going left. You can follow me or not. It's your choice." And as she acted on her decision, it seemed like she was remembering less and less of her life with every advancing step she took. As if she really had a choice in the matter.

[Toraj]

As if it wasn't already enough to be thrown out of one scenario into the next yet another time, this time the change was much more dramatic as light and then darkness followed to let the scene around him (and Spirit) change so drastically... A moment ago, he'd been alone, but the agitated voice of his new companion drew his attention out of his haze and Toraj snapped his eyes to the woman who he found himself sharing this ethereal and strange space with. It didn't take long for him to remember---not who she was, but her face. A face he'd seen once before stared back at him with a scowl that made him recoil, but a face he recognized nonetheless from the moments after this mutual nightmare first began. It must mean something, he reasoned, but it didn't seem to dawn on him exactly what it could be... Either way, they were stuck together this time and like he'd done with Tio, he'd have no choice but to make do and see what happens next in hopes of finding a path out of this maze, whether it was alongside her, someone else, or... alone.

Unbidden and unwelcome thoughts started to crawl into his mind before he knew it, flashing before his mind's eye and involuntarily stopping his words in his throat as his lips parted to reply to his unwitting companion. Images emerged through the fog that had wrapped itself so thick and stubborn around his mind until that very moment, some of it retreating away to let bits and pieces stumble out in a scattered, haphazard fashion with no rhyme or reason or sense of chronological order. In spite of the lifting fog, his memories seemed still veiled mostly in an impenetrable darkness which stuck to the skin like suffocating humidity, the barest of awareness flashing by of the shadows that moved through them and eyes that watched his every step with a sadistic gleam---always prepared for a single misstep and missed breath. An invisible noose tightened around him as the flooding thoughts threatened to steal his breath away, fear surging up from recesses deeply tucked away and long since forgotten.

"I..." Anxious, Toraj turned his eyes to Maxine again with an apologetic expression as he bowed quickly to placate, or attempt to. "I'm sorry, mistress. You as confused as me, I'm sure. I'm Toraj."

It didn't take a smarter man than Toraj to see the distress in Maxine's face as she started to fumble about her own mind, though he couldn't clearly identify why that was. If she was experiencing something similar, he couldn't readily tell nor did he have a good way to communicate it.. A guess that wasn't so far fetched, perhaps, was that their situations were reversed in some fashion. Amnesia wasn't exactly commonplace and he doubted the likelihood of two individuals with the same misfortune stumbling upon the same dream unless it was, of course, a cruel joke. Even as the fog in his mind lifted, he couldn't shake his unease and the guilt that surfaced alongside it. It was wrong, and he didn't want to keep these memories, nor did he ask for them in the first place... Especially not if it meant stealing from somebody else, and he found himself wishing for the fog to settle again over his mind. Only recovering partial memories would hurt him more than not in the long run, as well, he figured. A fractured mind wouldn't serve him well here, and being a blank slate was perhaps preferable even to the alternative.

As Maxine's attention turned, however, Toraj noticed the crystals in the hands of their animal companions. Observing his companion as she snatched the crystal out of her Badger's paw, he followed suit soon thereafter to retrieve the crystal from Spirit in order to look it over. It was a curious thing, and something nagged at the back of his mind as he reached into his attire to retrieve the star-shaped crystal he'd received not long before. If there was even a chance that there was a clue in the crystals they'd been picking up... Arriving at a decision, he put the pair of crystals together, holding them in his hand---and whether this would result in anything or not remained to be seen, though his attention returned again to Maxine when she called out to him.

"I will not leave, not alone. If you go left, I will go with you." It was really a simple decision in his mind, considering the circumstances, and he'd follow her to the left as a result. A thought crossed his mind, however... "Your crystal." Eyes passing between both of their glowing crystals, his brow furrowed slightly before he refocused on her again. "I think we should trade... You take mine, and I take yours." It was a shot in the dark, but it was nonetheless better than taking no shot at all. Even so, he would pursue Maxine whether she agreed with the switch or not, beckoning Spirit the Hare to follow.

[Pegasus]

But my dreams, they aren't as empty, as my conscience seems to be...
I have hours only lonely. My love is vengeance that's never free...

Such reasoning is only true
If we accept the classic view,
Which we have no right to assert,
According to the Introvert.

His absolute pre-supposition
Is – Man creates his own condition:
This maze was not divinely built,
But is secreted by my guilt.

Anthropos Apteros grumbled in his sleep, almost awake and he saw them. Each of them as they grew closer and closer. He could almost taste them and he quivered with excitement and anticipation. They were on their way and soon, one of them would replace him. Become him.

And he would, at last, be free. Blue eyes fluttered, almost open for a moment and then, closed once again.

"What do you think happened here?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to miss Jim"
"Yeah, he was a good sort"
"Definitely"
"Whatever did this, it was some kind of monster, though"
"Yeah"
"I hope they catch him, soon."
"Yeah"


Toraj and Max had a strange, utterly bizarre experience where Max lost memories as Toraj gained them. It was like a strange, siphoning process and surely would have ended with the complete amnesia of one and full memories of the other.

But it didn't.

Because, it was when Toraj suggested that they swapped crystal that magic happened. At the moment that they had hold of each other's crystals, they both felt their bodies light up with sensation. Not quite pain, but certainly not comfortable - rather like being dipped in static electricity for such a short space of time that you don't get to really realize it happened.

Sort of.

And then, they were back to themselves. Max had all her memories back and Toraj... well, he kept hold of the ones he'd gained. Come to that, a few more fell in, here and there, over the next trial or two.

They both held on to their crystals, both noticing that said item was glowing. As they chose the direction left, both of the crystals started to thrum and the light within pulsed. It was a slow, pulsing heartbeat and the two of them might notice that their crystals glowed and pulsed in unison.

And then, they turned.

There, in front of them, was an impossibly tall wall. A dead-end, the like of which mazes are, of course, prone to having. There was a wide open space before this dead end, where the maze opened up. Large enough for ten people to sit around a table and have a picnic, or for a group of children to play a game of bladder-ball, that space was. Wide and open and it most certainly could be inviting.

Of course, it wasn't.

It was dark and filled with brambles and gnarled roots, twisted vines and the overwhelming smell was of decay and death.

The two animals with them again spoke in unison in that strange voice they shared. "Nearly there. Someone approaches Anthropos Apteros. He will awaken."

There, in front of them, was a path to the very middle of the clearing - it was path-like, at least. Certainly they could go that way if they chose. Both the animals with them moved, walking solemnly and slowly down that bramble-covered and twisted path. Then, they stopped when they got to roughly the middle and they turned to look at the two.

Again, they spoke in unison.

The centre that you cannot find
Is known to your unconscious Mind;
You have no reason to despair
Because you are already there.

Your problem is how not to will;
They move most quickly who stand still;
You are only lost until you see
You're lost because you want to be."

At that point, as the final syllable echoed and reverberated around them, everything fell silent and still. The animals stood, unmoving, no leaves or brambles moved and there was no wind. No sounds permeated the stillness and even their breaths were muted.

The world, it seemed, waited.


Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. You both met all "Must Do" objectives!
2. You both met the "Can Do" objectives!! Well done! Rewards for you at the end!
3. You ALSO swapped crystals. As it was Toraj's idea, he'll get a reward at the end!!!

OOC Info

Things to note!

• Sincere apologies: for the delay. Normal service has now been resumed....
• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Friday 28th December
• For this round your companion may be NPCd by you in your post.
• You may post as many times as you like between now and my next post. Please make sure, however, to let me know very clearly what your characters DO

Objectives

!	Message from: Objectives
	The next post I make will take some of you into the middle of the maze to see the Wingless Man. It will have consequences for all, from both action and inaction. Where will you be? Please make sure to tell me what your character is doing - detail is important.

[Max]

He was a pretty man with a pretty name, this man she'd been inexplicably sullied to: Toraj. He wasn't like the apparitions that had been hunting her so far. He didn't appear to be a piece of her and whatever world they walked in, as Beatrice had claimed to be. He seemed independent. His suggestion they switch crystals alone made her believe he was a man of his own, too. Most importantly, he looked just as confused and uncomfortable in this journey as she did. Maxine wasn't prepared to let her guard down. Not by a long shot. What she was willing to accept, however, was that Toraj was not another pawn in this strange scape. He was trapped. Just like she was.

Maxine was considering the idea she might indeed have an ally when she felt it. Something happened in her nerves again when they swapped crystals, and the ex-convict found herself again cursing whatever fate had dropped her in this wretched maze. The discomfort didn't last long, thankfully. When it was over a wave of relief washed over her, the memories she'd desperately tried to recall trickling back into her mind as though they'd never left. Max let out a long exhale and shook off the anxiety that came with the experience. Her caramel eyes drifted down to the pulsing crystal in her palms. Her brow furrowed, the light from the object bouncing off her drug-dilated pupils. The silent thrumming of radiance matched the same rhythm as the one Toraj held.

Odd. But what does it mean?

The pair turned the corner only to be met with the dead end. Her expression darkened. Of course it couldn't have been a sunny, well-lit road ahead paved with even cobbles and welcoming folk. They were greeted with a mangle of foliage that looked keener on tearing their flesh apart. The stench was one all too familiar to Maxine, but it wasn't nearly as unnerving as the animals speaking in unison. She could never look at that honey badger with anything but suspicion now.

Anthro-whatever better hope that someone ain't me. I'll wake him the fuck up alright.

Max watched the animals eerily moving down the gnarled path until their beady eyes looked back at the mortals in their web. The ex-convict crossed her arms while she listened to their riddle. Immortals how she loathed riddles. Already was this maze a mind game she was far from happy to play. She'd just gotten out of one prison only to be thrust into another. She was supposed to be hitching a ride with Sephira and Rey'na to Rynmere. She was supposed to be hunting down Francis and giving him what had been coming for oh-so-long. Instead she was here being victimized by word puzzles too cryptic for her blunt brain to entertain.

"For fuck sake," Max grumbled, uncrossing her arms so she could throw her hands up in the air instead. She took a couple paces away from Toraj and the animals, self soothing poorly before stomping back. "This shit makes no damned sense!" Her frustration was bounced between Toraj and the animals, the former in hopes he shared her irritation, and the latter purely to berate them for not speaking plain. "If I know where the center is and I'm already there, why do I have to worry about moving to it? How am I supposed to move anywhere if I'm not moving at all?"

Suddenly she looked out toward the bramble-laden path and violently drew her gladius from its sheath. Max turned her caramel stare to Toraj and gestured out toward the path that reeked of death.

"I picked left. Maybe you'll make better luck for us it you choose what we do next. You think we should stay, we stay. You think we should press on? I'll hack the shit in our way to bits."

[Toraj]

None of this made a lick of sense to Toraj, but at least his leap of faith had paid off. The crystals were traded and Maxine's condition was restored, though he couldn't claim the same thing. Memories he hadn't asked for still floated about in his mind and he clenched his eyes shut for a moment in a vain attempt at pushing them to the back of his mind, trying to shove them back into the fog to little tangible effect. They defied his attempts and he growled quietly to himself in a way that surprised even him. He blinked and looked around as if looking for an outside source of the sound he'd made. Finding none, he accepted that... quite simply, he wasn't making sense of it anytime soon. At least Maxine had returned to a relative level of comfort compared to before, so that was a good start.

Much like Maxine... Toraj did not understand riddles. He had no frames of reference to work with in this case and he had to go back to something simple. Very simple.

Stand still, you're not lost, you're already there.

Squinting, the man tugged out the parchment he'd found earlier. The map, or something looking like one. Glancing to Maxine with a pointed shrug, he spread the map over the ground in front of him and peered over it to try to make sense of it all. See if the map could point him in the right direction or at least tell them if they'd reached the center of this Maze or not. Whether or not anything immediately came to him, he peered again at the pulsating crystal in his hand. Reaching down, he placed the crystal on the map, letting it rest there for a second before he stood up straight and stared down at the parchment and crystal resting there...

He lifted his foot.

Casting a glance back to Maxine again, he gave her a short look of someone about to make a drastic and potentially monumental choice... before he sent his heel crashing down upon the crystal, hoping to try to shatter it underfoot, on top of the unfurled map. It was another shot in the dark, but they were the only kinds of shots he had. The Son of Light took another leap of faith in hopes that it would lead him somewhere, quietly humming under his breath as he recalled the melody of some time ago... the sound of 'home'.

Because he was already there.

[Pegasus]

A morning mare rides, in the starless shutters of my eyes....
The spirit of a misplaced childhood is rising to speak his mind....

If this should fail, perhaps I should. As certain educators would,
Content myself with the conclusion; in theory there is no solution.

All statements about what I feel. Like I-am-lost, are quite unreal:
My knowledge ends where it began; a hedge is taller than a man.”

Anthropos Apteros' eyelids fluttered, his head twisted from side to side and he cried out in equal parts pain and ecstasy. As they drew closer, he felt his physical body form more solidly, become more real.

Then, with a loud gasp, he sat up.

Blue eyes regarded the world.

It was a strange thing. Max gave the choice of what to do to Toraj and he, in turn, did a lot of things. But yet, they remained where they were.

Beatrice looked at Max and there was a slight sense of a smile from the companion. "You can't fight this, love. I'm sorry." If asked, she was clear. "I don't know how I know, I just know."

Half, meanwhile, looked at Toraj and hopped over to look at him. The small creature said nothing as Toraj did strange things with the map and then, the hare looked on in amazement as Toraj suddenly stamped his foot down on the crystal. It shattered and light exploded, shards of glass flying out in all directions (so Maxine and both the animals got peppered with them, causing small cuts to flesh) and Max might certainly notice that there were a sight more shards of glass than there should have been. Of course, the only person not to be injured by this action was Toraj, being in the epicenter and all that.

Before anything else happened, they might want to deal with that. Assuming that they did they would discover something...

Half the Hare lay, dead, a shard of crystal in his small neck. There was a pool of blood around him and, it must be said, Beatrice suddenly emanated fury. "That's... Max... I want to get out of here. Can I come with you?" Beatrice, it had to be said, looked disgusted. She motioned with her head. "There?"


Against the wall, that had been a hedge and a wall and many other things during this dream, or reality, there were two doors. Big doors. The kind of doors which made a Very Tall Person look like a child. Both doors had signs on them. Like the sort of signs shops had to show whether they were open or closed. But these two signs had different words written. Identical doors had identical hanging signs on them; on one side of the sign the word DREAMS and on the other, the word REALITY

Two doors, two mortals.

"You think that sign's important?" Beatrice asked, ignoring Toraj completely.


Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. You have NOT made it to the middle of the maze. However, you have got a decision in front of you which will potentially have significant consequences for your pc, and others.
2. Half the Hare is dead. This is because of the destruction of the crystal and is irreversible. Max, you have a number of cuts and scrapes which simply don't heal while you're in the maze. No matter what.

OOC Info

Things to note!

• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 6th December
• For this round - Max - your animal companion may be NPCd by you in your post - Beatrice is as confused as you.
• You may post as many times as you like between now and my next post. Please make sure, however, to let me know very clearly what your characters DO
• I will be keeping an eye on your thread, but will not be posting daily UNLESS one of you does something that requires it. I will check daily, though. Feel free to PM with any questions and if you do anything which might cause the voice-swap to change back I'll let you know the next day.

Objectives

!

Message from: Objectives

!  Message from: Must Do You must: 1. Pick a door 2. Tell me very clearly whether you walk through the door you've picked. 3. If you do walk through the door? ----------- Be clear about whether you close the door behind you ----------- Inform me what you do with / about the sign. 4. If you don't walk through the door - what do you do?  !  Message from: Can Do Let me know what, if anything, you do with poor ole Half's corpse.

[Max]

Oh, I can't fight whatever this is?

"No?" Maxine challenged the badger with a dangerous, somewhat unhinged laugh. "Watch me." She nearly about to kick Beatrice in the teeth when she felt the crystal shards rake against her skin. She flinched away at the sound but it seemed the damage had already been done. Small cuts ripped open along her skin, far more than had appeared when she was too close to a shattered rum bottle. The ex-convict glanced down at herself with a risen brow before turning her attention to Toraj. Naturally, he was unscathed by his own destructive actions. His hare companion laid slain. And they were no closer to the center of the maze than they had been moments before.

For fuck sake!

"If you want to get something done," the ex-convict scolded herself with a sigh and an irritable shake of her head. "Do it your damned self." Beatrice's complacent emotions had ramped up to something resembling Maxine's level. The marked woman scoffed. Maybe there was a piece of her in that impossible creature after all. She looked down at the creature and pursed her lips. "For now. Any creepy bullshit and I'll finally have a use for this. Got it?" She gave the crystal in her hand a little shake before moving toward Toraj. She glanced from the slain hare to the fair man with an almost apologetic expression. "I think it's best we choose our own fates from now on. Best of luck and all that."

Maxine stomped over to the pair of cartoonish doors looming over her. She crossed her arms, glancing between her options. The doors appeared to be mostly the same. She stopped. She listened. Yet the doors were just, well, doors. Doors with signs she couldn't read. It was as though her circumstances could not get any less unfortunate. If the pattern stayed true, things would probably continue to get worse before they got better. The longer she stood there, thinking, the more Max became aware of what she really wanted. All that time to stop to think really amounted to little more than a bit. When it was over, Maxine had arrived at her decision.

"Fuck it," the ex-convict threw up her hands and stormed forward with a quiet Beatrice at her heels. Andrew. Anthony. Anthrops. Whatever his name was, Maxine had made it her personal mission to find and do exactly what Beatrice had claimed she could not. She was going to march into the center of that maze with her fist clenched and throttle that sleeper. He'd wrenched her from reality, played with her mind, and the real torture was wandering through this Emean nightmare maze on a quest she never agreed to. Oh, yes. For all of that, he could play catcher to her right hook.

So, with utter confidence, the angry, illiterate woman marched through one of the doors that had been clearly labeled "Reality." She left the door wide open behind her with no regard to the fact the signs could be manipulated or easily flipped. She was a one track mind. And in search of the sleeping bastard, she moved. This time with a sword in her hand.

[Toraj]

Sometimes you take a leap of faith and it backfires. Things won't always go your way, and Toraj had known that somewhere in the back of his mind.

Not that he ever thought it'd end like this. When the crystal shattered and the far too many pieces scattered to slice into the flesh of his companions, he was stunned. He hadn't imagined such a dramatic reaction. It took a while before it truly registered in his mind how dramatic it'd been, once the pain of Maxine and her companion really hit him and, then... he spotted Spirit. The intrusive chill of dread and guilt pierced him soon thereafter once he saw the amount of blood pouring out of the inert hare. The little creature's body was battered and the crystal shard was lodged deep within its head. It looked like he'd been killed immediately by it, but that offered no real comfort once the reality of his death really hit home. It hit him like a sledgehammer right in the gut and it took all of Toraj's willpower to not double over when the nausea hit him. Max's disdain and frustration could be felt in him as it crawled up his spine and he realized what a serious and dire mistake he had made. How could he have possibly known this would happen? Everything in this place was deceptive and illusive, a nightmare like none he'd dreamed in the past... and yet the death of Spirit pulled at something in him that scared him beyond belief. Something had died. There was no question about that, and Max and her companion's disdain for his decision and his actions.. that was real. It was more real than he wanted it to be.

Max chose to move on without him. He couldn't blame her. Not after what had just happened. His eyes were glued to the body of the poor hare and he couldn't bring himself to look away. The song playing in his head had stopped without him fully realizing it.

But he didn't have time to let himself be paralyzed by his fear, now.

Pushing himself to move, to act, he reached down to scoop up the body of his companion, someone who'd followed him through his nightmare up until just a few moments ago. It made his stomach churn, but it was the least he could do, to bring him with and find someplace to put him. If he could find soft soil somewhere, he'd bury him. Someplace here, in this dream reality, he'd find the soft soil to bury Spirit and put him to rest, for good. The hare deserved at least a gentle sendoff after offering him company and companionship at least until now. He'd have been lost in this Maze, if it weren't for Spirit's presence.

Gently wrapping the hare up in his tunic and holding him to his chest with one arm, he approached the pair of doors, walking to the one opposite to Max's. It said "Dreams", but Toraj was none the wiser. Like Max, he was illiterate. Perhaps it was fitting, however, as the Mortalborn opened the door and pushed himself through with the hare still cradled against him, closing it again behind him once he'd stepped through. Max was going her own way, and so would he. Perhaps it was safer that way, for both of them. Closing the door had to signify that, in his mind, as he turned forward to walk into the darkness beyond, into "Dreams"; beyond, he hoped to find a spot of soft soil somewhere, where he could give Spirit the little bit of peace he deserved by means of a proper burial. Perhaps this realm would be kinder to him than Toraj had been. The shame and guilt weighted heavily on his shoulders and in his gut as he moved on forward.

Off Topic

I dunno if you'd already started responses, but since I hadn't seen posts anywhere, I figured I'd try to squeeze mine in. If you already started all responses, just disregard my post since I'm aware I'm way late. I'm very sorry!

[Pegasus]

For you both, it ends... here

Please, follow me.

I will review this thread asap.