10-14-2021, 09:18 PM
Content Warning
This post contains content that may be unsettling to some readers, including:- Death, gore, miscarriage
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the staff team luvs u
The sickness had grown in her.
It rippled through her, burning along her veins. It froze, shrieked from within her, sent her rolling with feverish chills. She was hot to the touch, ice below and around her limbs melting as she lay in the cold, panting. She had not eaten in days - could not - could not even think to put anything but snow within her mouth. If forced by others' jaws, it would return, a soggy mess on the ground, wasted, covered in bile that toiled within her shrunken stomach.
The offspring within her had died. Those that had been born had been buried, eaten, she did not know. They had been witnessed by their father, by @Caligula in the swamps to the south. She knew his fury, his grief, but she could not bear it, so she had turned north to the unknown.
She had not known there was one more.
It had died within her, a final son. It lay between her paws now - barely recognizable as a child. What fur of it remained was wispy, cream and brown curling against what loose skin remained. She had finally borne him and had named him with a whisper that none but she would know. His eyes were never to open, his ragged limbs never to hold weight. She wondered if she had ever felt him within her in his life - had he kicked? Had she felt this latecomer, this bastard child? Had he been quiet in his wait, patient for a life that would never come?
She wondered if he would have looked like his sire had he lived - would her daughter have known? Would she have seen him running and known of the deceit, the cruelty that she had not dared to mention aloud to the woman who now held claim to the Plains?
Would @Flynn ever know that he had killed her by granting her this last gift? This Cain, this mother-thresher. This life that had taken her own and had not even the power to remain long enough to take breath, rotting inside her body until she, too, rot from within.
She wondered of @Zagreus - was the man nearby? Had he heard her panting breaths, seen the smears of blood as she had wandered through the mountains to her lonesome grave? Would he seek her out and end her misery? Would he mock her for her failure to survive this? She knew she would not - it was deep, this knowledge in her soul.
Was @Riannon - known to her as Aerith - near, did she hear? She faintly recalled the woman, the pride the two had. Their joyous pact - two pale women, ready to take on the world. Was the woman well, did she have her own kingdom now? What would she think of Andraste in this state, a fellow-of-name taken by the earth?
What of @Exalted, of @Misha - of the rest of Sanatorium who she left behind? Would they know - how would they know? She could not go to them, could not prepare her body for them. Could not grow strong enough even to move her head. Would they think she had abandoned them? Their mother, these poor orphans... Would they thrive in her absence?
Would they make her a god unseen, or would she be forgotten as her fellow's forgotten god had been when she abandoned him?
She lay among rocks, eyes vaguely aware of the ripples of colour above her. The flags fluttered before her, danced upon the waves of the wind, clinging desperately to the strings that held them. Why did those strings hold, what power did they have over the flags? What power did they have over the wind that grasped and tugged at that colourful cloth?
She exhaled her last shuddering breath, a pitiful whimper escaping her lips.
Andraste was no more.
Yet, the story was not over. For while breath left these lips and sent ripples into the sky, breath would soon find the desert once again.
It rippled through her, burning along her veins. It froze, shrieked from within her, sent her rolling with feverish chills. She was hot to the touch, ice below and around her limbs melting as she lay in the cold, panting. She had not eaten in days - could not - could not even think to put anything but snow within her mouth. If forced by others' jaws, it would return, a soggy mess on the ground, wasted, covered in bile that toiled within her shrunken stomach.
The offspring within her had died. Those that had been born had been buried, eaten, she did not know. They had been witnessed by their father, by @Caligula in the swamps to the south. She knew his fury, his grief, but she could not bear it, so she had turned north to the unknown.
She had not known there was one more.
It had died within her, a final son. It lay between her paws now - barely recognizable as a child. What fur of it remained was wispy, cream and brown curling against what loose skin remained. She had finally borne him and had named him with a whisper that none but she would know. His eyes were never to open, his ragged limbs never to hold weight. She wondered if she had ever felt him within her in his life - had he kicked? Had she felt this latecomer, this bastard child? Had he been quiet in his wait, patient for a life that would never come?
She wondered if he would have looked like his sire had he lived - would her daughter have known? Would she have seen him running and known of the deceit, the cruelty that she had not dared to mention aloud to the woman who now held claim to the Plains?
Would @Flynn ever know that he had killed her by granting her this last gift? This Cain, this mother-thresher. This life that had taken her own and had not even the power to remain long enough to take breath, rotting inside her body until she, too, rot from within.
She wondered of @Zagreus - was the man nearby? Had he heard her panting breaths, seen the smears of blood as she had wandered through the mountains to her lonesome grave? Would he seek her out and end her misery? Would he mock her for her failure to survive this? She knew she would not - it was deep, this knowledge in her soul.
Was @Riannon - known to her as Aerith - near, did she hear? She faintly recalled the woman, the pride the two had. Their joyous pact - two pale women, ready to take on the world. Was the woman well, did she have her own kingdom now? What would she think of Andraste in this state, a fellow-of-name taken by the earth?
What of @Exalted, of @Misha - of the rest of Sanatorium who she left behind? Would they know - how would they know? She could not go to them, could not prepare her body for them. Could not grow strong enough even to move her head. Would they think she had abandoned them? Their mother, these poor orphans... Would they thrive in her absence?
Would they make her a god unseen, or would she be forgotten as her fellow's forgotten god had been when she abandoned him?
She lay among rocks, eyes vaguely aware of the ripples of colour above her. The flags fluttered before her, danced upon the waves of the wind, clinging desperately to the strings that held them. Why did those strings hold, what power did they have over the flags? What power did they have over the wind that grasped and tugged at that colourful cloth?
She exhaled her last shuddering breath, a pitiful whimper escaping her lips.
Andraste was no more.
Yet, the story was not over. For while breath left these lips and sent ripples into the sky, breath would soon find the desert once again.
Tags for reference! This is quite far from the Temperate so I don't expect Caligula to have come.
[/narrow]the staff team luvs u
