MAEA
There were no lilies here. Sighing, Maea wiped sticky blood off her hands and pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand. She could feel it smear onto her forehead, and sighed again; she would need a bath after this. The plain shift was not so clean anymore either. After wading through the river with crimson up to her knees it was more red than white and the hem dragged heavily after her as she sloshed her way back towards the bank. Motes of fire danced around her, casting her shadow wide across the rough cavern walls and offering just enough light to see by. Perhaps that should be something to consider, when she searched the next cavern. Rae's lilies might be enchanted enough to grow without light, but she felt like there ought to be some, at least. And fresh water. Whatever managed to grow in here... would probably be dedicated to Dygra, not Rae.
She was scrabbling her way up the steep bank when a sharp pain stabbed into the bare sole of her foot. Dropping to hands and knees she felt the skin break against jagged stones and let out a low whimper in agony. Her foot - whatever she had stepped on was still in her foot, sharp and painful. Sucking in breath through gritted teeth she gingerly sat up, feeding the fire with a breath of magic so she could see what the hell she had stepped on. And more importantly, to see so that she could get it out of her sole.
Fortunately for her, it was only a rock. A very sharp, jagged, protruding rock, that slipped clean out of her flesh as she raised the foot with both hands. Cradling her foot to examine it more closely, as she guided the flames around, a peculiar shadow made it look like there was a face in the rock. A snarling, fanged, too perfect looking face. Huh, strange. Blinking, she looked again. And again. Thoroughly distracted from her pain as the details in the stone surface became easier for her eyes to pick up, Maea's mouth fell open when she realized what she'd stumbled upon. A statue, a person, an Ancient trapped in stone, just like she had been only a year prior.
Shifting around so she could see them better, the expression on the face - male, she thought, or something adjacent - made her shudder. She should... free them, right? But what if this was one of the cruel lords Danta had told her about? What if they regained their senses only to wreak havoc on the world? More importantly, what if they hurt anyone she cared about?
Ah, but what if it was someone just like her?
Biting her cheek, she picked up that jagged piece of rock, still red from her own blood, and tried to chip at the stone surrounding the statue. It came away easily enough, crumbling like sandstone or shale at her touch; it took a long time to free even half of them. Even longer before she could pry off a final layer of stone, to reveal the entire figure. The rage on the face remained unsettling. Deciding that it might be best not to stay too close to this person when they woke up, she dug her hands in beneath rocky shoulder and rockier hip, and heaved them over and into the blood, thick and warm and abundant; if that wasn't enough to wake 'em up, nothing would word.
And then Maea scrambled off out of arm's reach, into a shallow alcove in the cavern wall. Extinguishing the flame she hoped to remain undetected, prayed that she wasn't making a terrible mistake here... forgetting, alas, that her black velvet dress still lay on the shore beside her shoes, betraying the presence of someone there in the darkness.
She was scrabbling her way up the steep bank when a sharp pain stabbed into the bare sole of her foot. Dropping to hands and knees she felt the skin break against jagged stones and let out a low whimper in agony. Her foot - whatever she had stepped on was still in her foot, sharp and painful. Sucking in breath through gritted teeth she gingerly sat up, feeding the fire with a breath of magic so she could see what the hell she had stepped on. And more importantly, to see so that she could get it out of her sole.
Fortunately for her, it was only a rock. A very sharp, jagged, protruding rock, that slipped clean out of her flesh as she raised the foot with both hands. Cradling her foot to examine it more closely, as she guided the flames around, a peculiar shadow made it look like there was a face in the rock. A snarling, fanged, too perfect looking face. Huh, strange. Blinking, she looked again. And again. Thoroughly distracted from her pain as the details in the stone surface became easier for her eyes to pick up, Maea's mouth fell open when she realized what she'd stumbled upon. A statue, a person, an Ancient trapped in stone, just like she had been only a year prior.
Shifting around so she could see them better, the expression on the face - male, she thought, or something adjacent - made her shudder. She should... free them, right? But what if this was one of the cruel lords Danta had told her about? What if they regained their senses only to wreak havoc on the world? More importantly, what if they hurt anyone she cared about?
Ah, but what if it was someone just like her?
Biting her cheek, she picked up that jagged piece of rock, still red from her own blood, and tried to chip at the stone surrounding the statue. It came away easily enough, crumbling like sandstone or shale at her touch; it took a long time to free even half of them. Even longer before she could pry off a final layer of stone, to reveal the entire figure. The rage on the face remained unsettling. Deciding that it might be best not to stay too close to this person when they woke up, she dug her hands in beneath rocky shoulder and rockier hip, and heaved them over and into the blood, thick and warm and abundant; if that wasn't enough to wake 'em up, nothing would word.
And then Maea scrambled off out of arm's reach, into a shallow alcove in the cavern wall. Extinguishing the flame she hoped to remain undetected, prayed that she wasn't making a terrible mistake here... forgetting, alas, that her black velvet dress still lay on the shore beside her shoes, betraying the presence of someone there in the darkness.
Bleeding out for you
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
