Sunday 18 January 2015

TSW - Chapter 1: The Feldspar Maw (5) - The Void (1)

The legs and navel of Gur found themselves on solid ground before the rest of the group. The light had cauterised the dissection  that was the total separation of his upper torso. When the group appeared out of the light on the other side, it was in fact green paint they had found slippery underfoot. They had landed, well nearly all, on a large metallic white disk. It was already travelling away from where they had entered. That had been a intricate silver ring around a fading spot of light hanging in the void around them. There was no light, no sound, no wind. Eryn took a brief moment to look for Gur and had assumed he had not arrived with them, but as he looked down he soon realised the situation and tried to turn the attention away from what else joined Gur's legs on the platform. There were chunks of flesh, torn clothing mixed in with bone and green paint.

Eryn directed them to the void around them, and to the metal beam the disk was slowly travelling on. He asked Xera if he had a spare nut or bolt from his experimentations, to which he Xera handed one over. Eryn threw it as hard as he could into the void. It flew as if it had sprouted wings until it crawled to a halt and hung in mid air. It did not fall but very slowly rotated on the spot. Although Jarvi could not see what was going on, he could feel the platform slowing at an unperceptive rate to most . He was about to comment when Danton spotted something out in the dark. It was two cowering shapes in the distance, over three hundred feet away. They were illuminated b a flickering light, one sitting over the edge of the platform, another on their back behind.

Eryn's eyes quickly adjusted to the platform and was able to judge a distance. He summoned up his flaming hand and requested more ammunition. He used his ability to try and catch the attention of the person on the other disk, in a hail of tiny metal objects that may also possibility be dangerously hot. A fact he only thought about after they were in mid flight. They too followed the same pattern as the first, however the extra power behind the throw forced them to shoot over the target and disappear into the dark. Frustrated, he decided the next thing to was go over himself. The lack of gravity, wherever they were, would possibility allow him to navigate over. Gravity seemed to only apply to the disk which was fine at first, allowing Eryn to gain a good distance on the other but the lack of it between caused his flame hand to stutter and drift. He focused what strength he could and tried and tried again until at last he landed with a thud on the other side.

The figure with their legs over the edge of the platform did not seem to notice Eryn, it was as if he was in a trance. Eryn looked down at the other figure and tried to hold back his stomach. An elderly woman lay with her innards spilling onto the disk, there were numerous cuts, some fresh, some healing and some scarred and a ring of purple circled her neck. Eryn instantly reconsidered where he was but this person, despite being a likely murderer, was the only living thing they had seen so far.

The man was still unresponsive until Eryn brought up the woman. Almost like an instinctual reaction he told Eryn that his wife was tired and sleeping and should be left alone. Eryn noticed the man was of a similar age and crouched down to get a better idea of who he was talking to. The man, like the dead woman was scarred, although he had covered up most of his body with a tattered and bloodied purple robe. No matter what Eryn tried to say to the man there was no coherent response. He was adamant he and his wife would escape Hell, it's madness and it's bloodlust. He looked down to the man's scarred hand a ring on finger. It was definitely, at least from this distance, the ring of the fiancée from the girl in the tavern. As he tried to take it from him the man ignited in strength, using everything he had to hold on. For all he had, he still lost to Eryn. He sank into sadness and tears before quickly turning back to incoherent babble. Eryn now started to believe this place not only changed how space worked, but also time.

On the other platform Xera wanted to take a sample, or at least investigate what Eryn was seeing as they were too far to communicate properly. As he too jumped into the void, Jarvi had been left with no information. He had fumbled around asking the darkness around for a stick but to no avail. He did however, find the metal beam and assumed they were all ready to follow and left.

To Danton things could not have been worse. His eyes were stinging and his gums felt as if they were on fire. It was a familiar feeling but each time it was still a struggle to find the cure. His hand tremored while reaching into a pocket and pulled out a small stained glass vial. The shaking of his hands rattled the pills inside. He slowly poured out two pearlescent green tablets and swallowed, pressing his hand to his mouth until the shaking had stopped. The dark was soon a playground of fuzzy colours ,dancing with neon trails. Left alone on the platform ; he watched his own personal light show. From a distance the sun burst into view and started to bear down on Danton, he backed up, crawling over the remains of those before. There were fierce terrifying echoes in his ears like green wood and vipers on fire. The sun smashed down on top of him and pooled into a puddle of flame next to him. He crawled over on his hands and knees, hearing the whispers of his name from a child's voice. He stared into the pool, only to see Eryn's face with serpentine eyes, flashing. His vision blurred, the child started to scream and laugh. He backed away desperately form them flames of Eryn's face as it hissed at him with a flaming forked tongue. There was nowhere to run but to hurl himself into the void.  

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