I Don't Shine Like One

You win a lot, but you lose just a little bit more than you gained in the end

Nate was visiting the Hollowed Grounds anyway, it only made sense to make a detour before he stepped back through the portal, to visit one of the shrines, visit the Voice. He had even brought an offering, a bottle of high proof alcohol, more fuel than drink, but it felt like something at least. Maybe that's what he'd been doing wrong. Maybe it would just come across as a spite thing. Maybe it was a little bit.

The obsidian glinted darkly in the hollowed out tree, drawing Nate's eye. He set the bottle down by the roots, and clapped his hands together in a gesture of prayer. "I'd like an audience with the Voice. I have... questions." It was hard to not feel like this was talking to himself, and the frustration with that showed, in the tight lines of his posture and the clipped words. "I'd like some answers. About us, the ascended. The bright ones. Please."

NATE

Soon... Her Voice is a balm, but not so much as the sparkle of electricity the shoots outwards from the shrine, invigorating Nate's senses. For all things there is a season some have said, and just now, the Voice's attention is elsewhere. Still, her bright one is satiated by the electric charge.

You win a lot, but you lose just a little bit more than you gained in the end

Soon. Soon. When is soon at this point? How many times has he tried, and been told later. Come back later. It's not time yet. The spark of electricity is accepted, if only because it must be, and it fills one urge, but does nothing to soothe the larger one, the one that gnaws on the edge of his mind, that has for some time now.

Nate doesn't think he'll be coming back, doesn't think he'll be waiting for soon. It seems clear now that no one is actually listening to him, that he's only wanted to a point, and not at all past that. He turns on his heel and heads back to the spire, through the portal.

End~

NATE