until my dying day

So much time on the other side
Waiting for you to wake up

Shifting had been painful. Flying was excruciating.

If owls could limp, then Sohalia would be doing so. She flapped haphazardly from the fight, leaving her friends behind, all because she’d been too weak to be of use. Tarak trailed her, his panic through the bond overwhelming. Maybe if she could get to the Citadel, if she could tell someone what was happening out there… maybe there was still a way she could save them.

The edges of her vision darkened, the slices from the yeti’s claws pouring blood down her ivory feathers. The image she cut across the sky was grotesque, but at least she was still able to fly. At least she wasn’t dead.

Even if she should be.

Pain was all she knew as she crossed the Citadel walls and her wings gave out. She crashed into a snowdrift, leaving smears of red in her wake. Gods, she didn’t even know which was was up and which way was down. She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t even know what she was anymore. She was starting to lose feeling in her extremities. That couldn’t be a good sign.

Help, she gasped through the Attuned bond, though she wasn’t sure there was anyone around to hear her. Please.

Maybe I'll see you in another life
If this one wasn't enough

Sohalia

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame The guards were shouting, calling over the Citadel portions, until all the clamor reached his ears. Alarmed, the Sword had rushed through from plans and outlines on his desk, striving to encompass ways they’d get rid of the void tarnishing the Tundra, without having to put so many at risk. Volunteers had always been helpful, but he, perhaps foolishly, hadn’t believed any would have joined anytime soon. Of which, he would admit, he was wrong. One glimpse towards the gates showed no purple – though perhaps the corpse of something massive. His soldiers were still calling to one another, the information rapidly spreading in either falsehoods, tall tales, or other filaments he couldn’t yet decipher – long strides carrying him on a brisk run towards the aperture, and then to the bloodstains in the snow. The vague help called in a familiar voice – even if he couldn’t recall ever seeing her as an owl. Sohalia? he answered in return, trying to figure out the shape of occurrences and happenings. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

So much time on the other side
Waiting for you to wake up

Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. Time meant nothing through the haze of pain and shock.

Tarak crouched beside her in the snow, his tail lashing back and forth as he screeched, hoping to draw the attention of someone, anyone, who could help. It was too much effort even to shift. The wounds on Soh’s chest and stomach bled sluggishly, a stark, bright reminder of all she’d gone through. She should have known better than to get involved. Her presence had done nothing. She’d only been a liability.

A familiar voice rang through her mind, and she was dimly relieved that it was Deimos. Deimos, she said weakly. The tundra - the Void - there was a yeti - Words slurred, blurring together in her mind as she struggled to explain. They’re still out there. Melita, and Zavien, and Alys.

She didn’t know Zavien was dead. She hadn’t seen him fall through her own hasty flight from the battleground.

Her breath came in a wheeze. Was this what it felt like to die slowly? Maybe it would have been better if the blow had simply killed her. Maybe then she could have passed to Mort’s halls in peace. Could have seen her parents, could have seen Auden, could have seen Harper… but instead she was here, slowly bleeding out into the snow.

Maybe I'll see you in another life
If this one wasn't enough

Sohalia

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame His focus wasn’t wholly upon her; not with the shouting going on, the streamline of people wavering back and forth, headed to peer along the gates. Only her explanation seemed to pulse through the bond with any sense of what was transpiring – and reality struck a cold, hard truth in his mind. A group had gone out there. Had likely heard the broadcast. Wanted to help. Had gotten in over their heads. His jaw fixed into a hardset, determined line. He’d found out more in mere moments; likely from the soldiers upon the wall, but given her wounds, things hadn’t gone well. Okay. Taking another long, deep breath, he crouched beside the snowy owl, summoning his companion from where he’d dashed away. Zuriel can heal you, and then we will figure things out. Reassurance, at the very least. The footsteps of the unicorn came thundering along cobblestones and snow covered paths, snorting with a distinct toss of her head; visibly unimpressed. Deimos didn’t render any other emotion, perhaps still too startled, too stunned, or too apprehensive about the whole ordeal. But the mare lowered her head, her blue horn beginning the healing process as it touched lightly upon the owl’s wing. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

A razor-sharp breeze carries a faint echo that almost sounds like a whisper. Each step feels heavier, as though the cold itself anchors you in place. A prickling unease gnaws at your thoughts—a sensation of being examined by something unseen. You glance around at shifting snowdrifts, yet you can’t shake the sense that hidden eyes never blink.

---

This does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention.

So much time on the other side
Waiting for you to wake up

Saying that things hadn't gone well would have been an understatement, and as Sohalia lay there bleeding in the snow, she realized that nothing she'd done lately had seemed to go well. Her capture, her disappearance, her reemergence... had it all been for naught? Was she going to die here in Halo, so far away from the home that she loved, and all because she'd tried to help and failed?

But it seemed that death was not in the cards for Soh - at least, not today - as Deimos summoned his companion and the unicorn touched her horn to the snowy owl's wing. Zuriel's magic trickled into her slowly, knitting muscle and skin back together. It was a painful process, but not nearly as excruciating as the knowledge that beat against the inside of her skull like a drum: failure, failure, failure.

She hoped the others had gotten away. She hoped that her flight hadn't signed their death warrants.

Thank you, she said distantly as the wounds began to heal and the pain began to clear. She might have deserved the death she'd have faced at the hands of the yeti, but she was glad all the same not to be succumbing to her wounds. I'm sorry. Who she was apologizing to, or why she was apologizing at all - that wasn't clear even to her. But she said it all the same, hurting from more than just the lacerations across her chest, knitted together now and leaving only jagged scars behind - but from the mental burden of her cowardice.

Maybe I'll see you in another life
If this one wasn't enough

Sohalia

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Zuriel worked and Deimos guarded, his eyes flickering back and forth from the rush of chaos near the gates, and the owl being mended. He knew what it meant to feel foolish and inept, to rush into something with all the intent, purpose, and drive in the world, and for it to go horribly awry. Another sigh flickered through him, and he shook his head. You do not need to apologize. I think all of Halo appreciates you trying. Because it took some steadfast notions, all embroiled in the folly and rashness. But sometimes, we have to acknowledge when we are not ready. A lesson he’d learned in caves and Spires, in poisonous air and fumes and fire, in nearly dying multiple times across multiple lands. And while he wouldn’t wish it on most, out here in the frozen world, they were difficult, and often painful, reminders of how Caido could blend wisdom and sagacity into incautious efforts. Or that we have to take our time. Whether or not he was speaking to the current notions, or her plans for revolution, went unsaid. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed

Deimos's words did not fall on deaf ears. This had been a lesson learned the hard way, and as the snowy owl was healed in the snow, she considered that for all her good intentions... it wasn't enough. She wasn't enough, not yet, and the only way that she ever would be would be to try harder, to push herself to the very limits of her strength. To train, to learn, to grow.

All things that she had the opportunity to do, because she had lived.

That blessing wouldn't be taken in vain.

It wasn't until she sat in the snow as a human once more that she looked up at Deimos and Zuriel, fully mended, and murmured a soft but steady, "Thank you," to the unicorn and her bonded. Soh rose unsteadily to her feet, stumbling a bit but managing to stay upright, gritting her teeth with determination that she wouldn't need help just standing. Still, it was an effort as the blood rushed to her head, pounding in her ears as adrenaline and pain gave way to shock, nausea, and exhaustion.

"What do we do now?" she asked, shifting uncertainly where she stood and looking around at all the commotion. "I don't know if they're still fighting - Zavien told me to go, but - I don't even know if they're okay."

You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleedin'

Sohalia

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame There were always times to push. To try. To strive. To do something other than mire in complacency. But those opportunities could be in safer areas and modes; away from the scene of imminent death. No one was infallible. Mistakes were made, knowledge was acquired. But gods, what a harsh and unrelenting learning curve upon the Tundra today. He wasn’t going to ask anything – not with her in this state – but the questions were neverending in the annals and swiftness of his mind. Zuriel snorted at her thanks, and Deimos rose from his crouch, searching in his pockets for treats, and patting the unicorn on her head as she daintily grabbed and munched like a queen. “We can go see what is happening,” and he inclined his head towards the city gates, where hordes had already gathered. “And what needs to be done.” Long strides went sweeping, and the unicorn followed, expecting the Luminary to follow, as fellow citizens leered or stood on top of the walls, desperate to see the action across the purple landscape. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed

Sohalia had been through enough trauma in her life to know that she was going into shock, even after Zuriel’s healing magic. She swallowed back her nausea as she followed Deimos, stubbornly remaining on her feet even though her head swam and the horizon tilted. She followed the Warden silently as they worked their way through the crowd and towards the violet-tinged snow outside the gates.

She was determined not to be useless, and falling victim to shock would make her that. If she just pressed on, maybe she could forget the terror and pain that had wracked her body mere moments before. Maybe she could shove the memory of her near-death experience into the back of her mind, locking it in a box of other unpleasant things she didn’t want to think about, and ignore its existence.

Deimos was taller than her, and perhaps he could see over the crowd. Soh could have shifted, she supposed, but she was not so inclined after her recent experience of crashing into the snow. ”Can you see anything?” she asked as she squeezed between a few people, hoping and praying for good news.

You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleedin'

Sohalia

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Both Deimos and Zuriel could detect moments of shock to the system – the former for having experienced it, and the latter for having healed it. The unicorn quietly bent her horn again as they walked, touching gently upon the Attuned’s shoulder so that it might seem as nothing more than comfort; sending another wave of healing through. It wouldn’t, however, erase the trauma and experience. That would be something Sohalia would have to work through. As for her question, he stood over many, and sidled around so he could incline his head over and around some portions. Eventually, sighing and weighing his options, he called out to his guards on the wall. Yeti’s gone, sir! they mustered, and his brows furrowed, turning to Sohalia to relay the message. “It has been defeated, apparently.” But then there was hordes of conversation, and even the Attuned would be able to pick up on the excitement of the Tundra being cleansed, and others having already gone in and out. Which meant, in this audacious display, the infection was gone. Sending out a long, low breath and piecing together a thousand different meanings, he tilted his head back towards her. "You are welcome to stay in Halo, if you need a place to lay low." Mend and heal, figure out what the next steps were. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed

The remnants of shock - at least, the physical portions - faded from her system when Zuriel once more touched her horn to the woman's shoulder, and Sohalia spared a grateful glance for the unicorn. She waited, holding her breath, as Deimos assessed the situation. When they heard a cry from above - Yeti's gone, sir! - Soh swayed in place, suddenly swamped with both relief and exhaustion.

The crowd around them was excited, and the palpable feeling in the air had Soh shrinking away. They'd succeeded, then, but at what cost?

She nodded in response to Deimos's offer. "Thank you," she said, doing her best to swallow past the lump in her throat. Did Melita live? What about Zavien, who had sworn to fight beside her? And Alys? Gods, if something happened to her, then Tal would be devastated... "Laying low would probably be a good idea," she added with a mirthless laugh. "If there's anything I can do, please let me know." In the meantime, she would rest and try and reconcile her feelings.

fin

You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleedin'

Sohalia