[Reader Warning:]
|| Themes of character mental instability and nightmares are involved ||
[Hence title]
———-
Chittering.
Infestations..
The swarming stings..
The hallowed horrid buzzing, the chomping of maws, the irritable hum of fluttering wings.. the wrapping of tentacles, slinking of flesh and crack of bones as they twisted beyond bend. Sounds of rancor filled her ears as her mind was assaulted with the twisted thoughts and black water. A chiding of voices not belonging to her own in restless slumber caused the woman to toss and turn beneath silken sheets. Slowly her eye pried itself open, her body pulling itself up out of the warmth of the bed to sit on the edge of it.
It was quiet, and yet, her mind in a clamor of disarray, the only other sound in the darkened bed room were the gentle purrs of her partner. Their prosthetic metal tail wrapping around her arm in the gentle silence. A silent calm help for the weary and restless. Bella lay still for but a moment before shifting again, trying to push her thoughts away, to try and fall back asleep.
The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.
Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.
The further she moved, the longer the hallway seemed to stretch. The windows lining every other space yet still leaving the dim light in their places. Whispers turned to growls, the growls to snarls as puffs of breath at her ears turned to heavy pants that trailed down the back of her neck. Voices every manner of them echoed in different volumes, all a cacophony and ill-boding symphony of one singular word…
“RUN”
“̀R̡un. ͘R͢U̸N.͏ ̸RUN͟ MO̸ŖE͠! Run f͏a͡s͞t̨er͜! I̸t’̡s beh̴in͞d͘ y͜ou.҉ It’s aĺm̀os͝t her̛e͞! It̸’s ́here̴! Įt’̴s ͝h̷er̵e. ͘I’m͏ ̀he͞ré! RUN͡ ̵F͏AST̀ȨR̶.̸ ̀WE’ŖE ͟RIGH͜T ҉BE͘HÌND̶ YOU̕~"͠
"͢Why d͢o͡n’t̀ ̶ýou͘ j́oin u͝s̢?͢!̷ ҉W͘ḩy̢ d͡o͘n͠’̛t y͟ou͘ ̵w̨a҉n̨t us?̧!͠!? We ͡c̕a̛n ͘b҉e w̵h҉ol͜e̛ ̀a̡g͜a͟in!!҉!!!!̡!͢!"͞
The voices were yelling, screeching, cascading behind her as she raced down the hall. Beads of sweat rolling down her face as her heart thundered in her chest. The heat of their breath was ever relentless as it brushed down her back. Claws and fleshy tendrils thumped and chased after her, scratching and thudding just only moments behind. Hurried footsteps clamored down the elongating hallway as the elezen finally let out a panicked cry.
With every blink of her eye, wipe of sweat from her brow, things around her changed. The wood and stone walls turned to metal sheets. The silver ghost lights from the windows turned to hues of red and blue as the bubbling of the ocean floor surrounded her. Haven… safe and warm was now Whisper Ridge… cold and dark… alone. The only thing left were the door at the far end of the hall.
As she reached out with a leap ahead her fingertips just out of reach of the door knob to her home, the black claws and flesh of death wrapped around her sight, holding her there as it started to eat away, to cover her body up and pull her into the open dark that lingered behind her.
Bella could only muster up a choked up scream as her hand frantically reached out for the low iridescent light. The echoing laughter and whispered rushing… assaulting her mind as the colors of this dim existence grew black and dark till suddenly a breath of air hits her lungs. Her eye shoots open as she sits up in a panic, heart racing at breakneck pace.
There was a cold sweat along her body, silken bed sheets covering up her and her partner still some. Trembling and on the brink of weeping, she sat there, a face in hand, trying to force herself quiet again. It wasn’t working. Slowly now, her partner reached over, it were different, a hingan’s hand placing it atop of Bella’s and squeezing firmly.
The elezen turned some to see her, the woman of raven black and snow white locks laying in the bed next to her. An ageless smile coming to the sleepy hyur’s lips as she whispered something in her foreign tongue.
"Another one?”
With a saddened gulp, Bella sniffled before gently lowering herself back down, the warmth of her partner reaching her against the cold mattress and sheets in the late, late evening. This wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last. Nightmares… whispers… horrid thoughts plagued her every night, endlessly, and relentlessly, yet no one knew save for those who shared her bed. From one heart to the next, one lost, another found, they would know she suffered but never knew the cause.
Slowly she drifted back to sleep. Another long set of nights pass, and through it all, the nightmares never ceased. The weeks go by, and then night terrors continue, the whispers getting louder, the thoughts getting worse… fear of loss turned to outrage and possession… The dream whispers get harder to differentiate from reality as the days change…
————————————–
One night, and with a low growl, the elezen huffed in her sleep.
“̨Th͢ey̵ ̨çan͢’̡t͡ h͠av͜e i̧t͝. ̵The͟y͡ w͢o̧n’t̶ ͟h̨a͝ve it. Ǹo ͏on̶e̴ wil̴l h̸av͘e ̕it͠.́ It’s ͝m̀in̵e͝.͘ ̴I͝t̢’̷s mi͡n͢e̡..͟. It̸’s͠ MI̢NE҉,̷ ͟it̴’s ͘ALW̡A͢YS̕ b͜ee̕n͘ ̀miǹe.̵ Not͢hinģ w̢ill ̧b̵e ̵t͡ak̨en͢.͢ T̕hey҉ w̶on’́t ͜t҉a̢ke it.͢ ͞T̀hey ́CAN̸’T take̛ ̧i͡t.҉.͡. ̷"̸ Whispers in the dark turned to yells as they cascaded across the dreamscape.
Their voices raising higher and higher as her heart raced again. The elezen’s eye shooting open once again, just as the nights before now. She were in bed with her partner again, her face buried in raven and snow white locks. It was quiet again, the idle crackle of a hearth filling the air solely. Bella moved to press a soft kiss to the woman’s head beside her before pulling away gently. Slowly she scooted herself to the edge of the bed, sitting up right.
The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.
Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.
”Mine.. Run… It’s mine. RUN FASTER..! It’s always been mine. Run away with it… Hide it! They can’t take it. No. NO. They won’t take it… We can become whole with it…“
As she reached the door at the end of the hall, her hand pressed against it’s knob before reaching for a secondary panel on the side. Red numbers and sigils glowing on the combination dial as she turned it quietly to the left, the right, and left again. Those symbols pulsing blue as she moved to the knob and pushed.
Walking through the dark entry way, she found herself no longer in the safety of Haven, but out at sea now. The washing of The Bounty’s waves below echoed out against the large metal foundation of the platform she stood upon. It was dark out, the sky filled with millions upon billions of twinkling lights that reflected on the shimmering ocean.
This was her lab, a place just for herself. Few knew of it, fewer knew how to reach it. Through metal door after metal door, she walked through the empty facility, going lower and lower till she reached a small lift. The elevator lowering itself past the deepest point of the facility to go even further below… The Ocean floor.
Blips of light dotted the sandy sea bed, indicating where small buildings were, connected by hallway tubes. The trip itself was quick, even for such a long distance between the surface and here. The lift stopped at a welcoming station, the facility still ever empty. Empty… save for one voice.
"Greetings User Belladonna! It is I, S-1-E-R-A, Siera. It has been approximately four days, twelve bells and thirty-two ticks since you last visited this outpost. Would you like an status update on containment?”
The elezen stepped forward with a small frown, her head giving a firm nod.
“Very well. Your ‘gift’ is still in containment. All systems nominal. Would you like to see it?”
As the Allagan node poised its question, the door leading onward into the rest of her facility opened up to reveal the singular hallway that connected to containment. Without hesitation, Bella raced through the entryway. The voices still lingering in her mind and in the hallway now too… Her voice coarse and growling.
“They won’t take it. They can’t have it. It’s mine. Run… Running.. It’s MINE. My tek… my home.. mine. ALL OF IT…. Mine.”
Slowly her voice went silent as she reached the next room. It was a medium sized metal room, spotlights gently washing over a center table, and on the table sat a small opened parcel, it’s wrappings of black still housing the box.
There, on satin cushions sat a small glass bottle. Within the box itself, in crisp and perfect detail, sits a little scene. Wide expanses of rolling farmlands nestle a house, and around it the tiny movements of magicked farm animals grazing and running and playing can be seen all frolicking around a picturesque little farm, a home Bella knew ever so intimately that the details within it were impossibly accurate.
Belladonna’s voice was nothing now, her hurried and panicked expressions from before were muted to a smile as she rested against a railing that overlooked the table and bottle.
“…No one will take it..”
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 