KORBIN
Leave my loneliness unbroken!
- quit the bust above my door!
- quit the bust above my door!
The raven did not slow down. But it did not pick up more speed either. It could be the raven? It already was the raven, and did not need permission to continue. It could have the carcass... well it did not want the food anymore. The site was tainted now with a memory of fear, and memories were to be cut off, left behind and forgotten. There wasn't actually anything worth remembering, so looking back - looking inside - was just a waste of energy. Nothing there to see. Nope. Not a thing.
The bird did not speed up because it couldn't. Already going as fast as it was able, the clouds seemed impossibly far away. Too high, too thin. The wind was cutting at this altitude, fast and thin and dangerous. Flying too high was reckless, but what option did it have when the pursuit would not relent?
Turn around? There was nothing behind it that the raven wished to see. But as it was backed into a figurative corner, the options were growing scarcer by the second. Fatigue was setting in, the mountains still distant. Below, a frozen desert without any spots to hide. Normally, a game of tag between predator and prey would have been over by now - the winner decided by death or escape - but not so this time.
Something shifted in the mind of the raven then. Hardened, with a steely resolve like a sobbing child clutching a knife in trembling hands. That was the only warning the bat would get before the ink-feathered avian acquiesced and looped up and around... turned... and lashed out with taloned feet at the one who refused to listen.
No choice, no choice. Please just go away.
The bird did not speed up because it couldn't. Already going as fast as it was able, the clouds seemed impossibly far away. Too high, too thin. The wind was cutting at this altitude, fast and thin and dangerous. Flying too high was reckless, but what option did it have when the pursuit would not relent?
Turn around? There was nothing behind it that the raven wished to see. But as it was backed into a figurative corner, the options were growing scarcer by the second. Fatigue was setting in, the mountains still distant. Below, a frozen desert without any spots to hide. Normally, a game of tag between predator and prey would have been over by now - the winner decided by death or escape - but not so this time.
Something shifted in the mind of the raven then. Hardened, with a steely resolve like a sobbing child clutching a knife in trembling hands. That was the only warning the bat would get before the ink-feathered avian acquiesced and looped up and around... turned... and lashed out with taloned feet at the one who refused to listen.
No choice, no choice. Please just go away.
Quoth the Raven,
"Nevermore."
"Nevermore."
