HiDE, Aoi!Latest Draft Chapter 11 And So He Fell; Dressed In Sky
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He was short of breath, bright red and heaving. Wincing as he galloped. He flashed a rapid, fugitive gaze over his shoulder–
Just get as far away as fast as possible!
The forest was a blur of greens, ever repeating. His injured leg supported by the rather impressive conjured bandage as he rushed from the unseen terror following him.
I maybe have fifteen minutes left
The collective strain of maintaining the bandages magic, and the battles both before and in the dungeon, lack of sleep, nutrition, water, neurotoxicity and copious blood loss had brought him to the very edge of his life. His mana detection's viable range was pitiful. Blurred from tears yet somehow dry from keeping them alert, his eyes were burning as he searched for any sign of his stealthful attacker.
None, but it doesn't matter–
A shockwave of malicious intent flooded the treeline and lingered on his tail. He darted his head left and right and back over each shoulder to no avail. It had been chasing him and he hadn't seen it once, and this time he was actually looking.
A great shadow descended upon him from above, moving in sync with him. There were two hunters now, and he was prime for the picking. The great beast in the sky seemed to envelop him from above, as its shadow cast heavy and dark. A horrible clenching racked through his muscles.
He was paralyzed, stood still. He was dead, he was fresh meat.
Why..
Both experts in stealth and deceit had lured him into a vice grip.
..does this shit happen to me?
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The chamber reverberated from the powerful magic he released, his vision blurred by the preceding weight of the moment, and the cleansing white light of oblivion.
He wiped the remnants of tears from his face, but they just kept coming.
I was lucky this time.
He held out his hand as he allowed the remainder of his own guilt to leave through his eyes as dedications. Each of the horrors he witnessed, the love he felt and lost; fraught memorialized as tears before they rolled off his face to disperse to their subjects' final resting place. It was, in a way, portentous, though Aoi had more immediate concerns to tend to.
Gather; air and space converge. Cover; lay sweetly upon thy dream. I, the Weaver, cast as web.
His hand luminesced, a fluorescent nectar pulse bathed his wounds, shimmering valiantly in the pooled tears in his eyes. He had expected that his wounds would've barely progressed since the technique was released and he was incredibly correct.
"Eiligilthelit"
A delicate, nurturing array of coral light manifested, interlocking and weaving from opposite directions to complete itself with flourish and elegant cursive, reminiscent of the incantation itself, latiscent runes and glyphs. The atmosphere obfuscated in a transparent sheet thirty centimeters in width and about fifty in length. He willed it to take hold of his leg, the meeting of heavenly conjuration to skin was met with a soothing rush which only then made him realize the tremendous amount of pain he'd been enduring.
OmgwowthisissoniceIneedtogetthefriggoutofhere
"Immediately."
He launched himself to his feet triggering a violent searing of his wound that was mere child's play compared to how he had felt just after those fangs sunk into him.
It's manageable.
"FRIGG!"
I can run.
He could walk, limp, really, and only in minor terrible discomfort, and dull aching pain.
This is good
"How in the FRUCK do I get out of here? This place makes no sense."
Having limped down the hallway repeatedly, consistently passing the destruction left by the magic he used to free the trapped souls he began to ruminate on the structure of his would-be mausoleum.
There seems to only be this one hallway, but those people….they were in another area completely?
Aoi walked around in circles endlessly it seemed, though it was acclimating his pain threshold, it was also torture.
"Spatial distortions? Maybe…"
There has to be some sort of trick to it.
Ume isn't responding and I can't sense the outside world
"This is a dungeon.."
I wouldn't necessarily call it a Dungeon, proper..
Just then he shrewdly discerned a distant, very faint tugging. Not dissimilar to the uncomfortable tug of stashing items or interacting with his personal domain.
No. This was a happy tug. A guiding voice. A friend..
Ume
The roots that were called forth into the obstructed gap grew massive, pushing aside the trees grown upon his fall, cleaving a space for it to hold fast.
The tree roots stretched toward him, wrapped themselves in a gentle tendril around Aoi's damaged leg, coiling itself, and leaving the cutting to tend to him, and reinforce the damaged limb.
Thank you.
The tree was not complete in its assistance quite yet, for greater roots stretched to grapple and caress Aoi, gently pulling him to safety.
The air was fresh and sunlight gently kissed his face. Before he could exhale great, awe inspiring roots seemed to expand further and further, digging themselves deep into the forest floor. Flashes of greens, then browns. A small pulse of pink as plum trees began breaking through the earth all around him. Watching time itself race on as they grew first taller then thicker and reached out high spreading their branches. Budding then blooming. Pure white, opalescent as if conjured of moonlight. Filling all gaps in the circumference around him. The flowers fell as confetti, littering the sky.
I'm safe for now
The fruit began to green on the stems. Turning yellow, then orange until finally settling to a gorgeous congo pink. He was humbled by the somehow ancient yet freshly born forest surrounding him. The largest grew plump fleshy plums, bending her branches, dropping them, bestowing a gift.
The taste was inexplicably refreshing and tart and sour but sweet and lush. He would've eaten more but he felt as though he should leave. I'm starting to feel better I think, maybe eating food helped or leaving the dungeon. He ate more plums.
In the end I couldn't figure out the layout of that dungeon or the trick to traversing it.
Feeling the most nourished, ironically, that he'd been since the beginning of this nightmare, he stood, leaning a hand on the closest tree and gently rested his forehead.
"Thank you for always saving my ass."
The accompanying trees swayed side to side as the mighty tree — the one Aoi pressed his forehead to in gratitude — shook its remaining plums to the ground and gave way to a clearing in the newly grown grove that encircled him, nourished him.
An opening in the canopy, a small break in the trees seemed like the right direction to head. He was finding his way off this bizarro island in the clouds come hell or high water.
Click
Click
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Snip
Aoi drank in, finally, in full force the horrific predator that had stalked him. Eight large legs, riddled with hair. A top row of two black eyes, followed by a row of closely spaced smaller black eyes, four. And on the sides of its face a menacing black eye surrounded by red colored fur. The fangs were painted in slick venom and saliva, undulating at his pheromones, she was starving. Tapping her pedipalps tauntingly. The menace's cloaking spell dissipated revealing her gruesome details, terrifying and anatomical though they were, the light of day dissolved the mystery.
Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman think think fuck fuck think
"ESKIFICISMO!"
I HATE SPIDERS
He looked up to the literal vulture circling the skies above, its shadow a shark, and baby there was blood in the water. The shadow caught his foot and grabbed hold. His feet were cemented in place.
Shvrr-tump. tump. tump.
Three blade-like plumes slashed through his left arm, black, festering they marked flesh. His deltoid, tricep, and forearm stung electric.
Shvrr-tink. tink. tink.
In a blaze of brilliant blues, sweat on his brow, Aoi conjured three economical ethereal hexagons, blocking the stalking avian beast's projectiles from their target.
Aoi raised his right hand high with his eyes following the line of his hand to the space in the air between himself and the devil bird.
I, Phoebus, nourish life and claim this space. Upon my face dark recedes. I nourish life and claim this space. Thy core is warmth, thy breath is grace. I nourish life and claim this space.
Bright, silver, phosphorescent and angular, an array drew itself into existence right at his line of sight. Once it was completed it began to write a smaller replica of itself stacked on top of the left side of the original larger array, and upon its completion a third and smaller replica stacked itself on the right side of the array and a warmth filled the air. A tear ran down his cheek.
Plumes flew toward him and the spider tapped its feet closer, undulating its salivating fangs as the feathers, blackened iron blades, stuck in the earth before her. Murderous intent flooded the radius.
A little something from a coffee Cultivator
"Stralendrenne"
The shining array burst into three distinct model sized suns, shone brightly and sent a wave of hopeful warmth and brilliant sunshine banishing the massive bird's shadow, freeing his feet to move.
Shvrr-tump. tump. tump. tump. tump.
Five plume blades, black and reflective, stabbed into the ground in front of him. The avian nightmare could track him regardless of sight, he knew that.
"Fuck this place."
He grabbed one of the vicious condor's razor-edged plumes in his hand, slicing into the heel of his palm as he picked it up.
PAIN.
Arbiter of Iron Legs, Earthen Foot, Crown of Gold, Breast of Silver and Bulk of Brass. Torn in decline, He weeps. Betrayer, auscult the forsaken.
"Kokytos"
The words rang through the silence of the forest.
PAIN.
He yanked the feather across the inner width of his wrist, bright red blood dripped from the wound immediately. Both spider and bird tensed and released an ever increasing amount of bloodlust. They were enraged but smart enough not to approach though fuming and starved for their bloody meal.
A great array, at least five meters in diameter began to form, burning frozen flame in the earth beneath his feet. The condor, enraged by the new swelling of Aoi's magic, dove straight for him. Aoi who was cornered between ledge, and spider; one of which was clicking and hissing, drooling and undulating its fangs. It was cautious, and it had every right to be. Aoi closed his eyes.
PAIN.
Dragging the heavy incised plume across his wrist once more releasing a trickle of blood, the two gashes formed a small river that fell to the cold flame at his feet. He held the feather in his hand, head bowed, until it vanished and a familiar distant yet internal tug unsettled him.
Opening his eyes to look up through his brow. A single tear fell as he spoke.
"Antenora"
The clash of his words boomed and permeated the forest, bringing along with it a wailing blizzard. The cries and screams were heartbreaking but he had already shed his last tear.
"This should only hurt for a second…Sorry!" He forced an awkward half smile to his face.
The spider was hit first. Steaming frost started to harden atop its limbs. Slowly and gracefully it devoured the spider's legs, abdomen then finally its horrific face. Frozen in place.
The bird was just as quick to freeze, and as the hellish cold crawled to stiffen its wings the beast released the most horrific wail for help, the menacing condor, now a statue falling to the canopy.
He took his chance, the moment of safety he bought himself and limped toward the edge.
The soft crackle of ice cracking and defrosting caused him to turn around. The predators had already begun to struggle free. He continued on limping haphazardly with casual glances toward his backside where the edge of the precipice was. He was resolute.
The sounds of the rainforest gave way to the rush of wild winds. His tattered clothing swaying in the wind along with his muddied locks.
Gather; air and space converge. Cover; lay sweetly upon thy dream. I, the Weaver, cast as web.
"Eiligilthelit"
He didn't look, didn't need to know that the air behind him began to take shape, the winds were trapped in a cloth weaved of raging high altitudinal zephyrs. He stared at the prisoners, encased in ice. Crystal gleaming as the sun began to make its transition to the ultraviolet glow of twilight.
"Yaya would be proud of this application of her spell."
Smile on his face he wrapped his arms around himself and tilted back on the precipice as the loving tender blanket of sky encased him with life giving oxygen and wild magicks.
And so he fell; dressed in sky to tierra oscura below.
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Stralendrenne (strah lahnd roon uh): the spell to conjure Parhelia, refractions of the Sun
Kokytos: Antenora (koh-ki-tohs ahn-teh-nor-ah): the spell to invoke the Second River of Lamentation
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The spell wrapped itself around Aoi, a translucent veil as the world tipped.
The rough mountainous terrain of the nimbus reef's precipice became constellation-spattered rivers of pale greens and purples. Each photon lit, radiating, emanating the otherworldly phosphor of twilight. The cotton candy clouds of sunset became electric blue and silver, silk strewn phantasms.
All of this, naturally occurring phenomena, fixed into an obscuring swaddle.
The atmosphere itself hugged him, with intentionality.
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He fell to untold depths.
Yet the violence of the plunge didn't dare reach for him.
The enchantment clung, a second skin, humming with its caster's mandate; Protect, preserve. Deliver. He should have heard only a deafening roar as he fell through raging winds, he saw, instead, the air tearing past him, silent. He felt only the warm heavy compression of the Universe engulfing him, safeguarding his mad descent.
After the endlessness that was the cacophony of the rainforest, this quiet was a sanctuary.
His eyelids drooped heavy as lead.
Just need to wait until
The velvet warmth of the starlight swathe narcotic on his weary bones.
He drifted..
"Stay…awake."
He was so lost, and so hurt, and so alone.
His eyelids droop–
..awake
…fight gravity…
Closer..
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Two baby tortoises crawl over one another, Mamoru smoking a cigarette with a suspiciously small salamander on his shoulder. Yaya cackling into her fourth chalice.
"These lady fucking geniuses seem to somehow stabilize temporal discrepancies, see the bigger girl–"
"Yaya, they are called Stewart and Zero."
"Yes baby, you're right." She stared directly into his eyes.
"B, they're gay boys, look at the big one mountin–."
"Can you shut the fuck up Asshole! I'm trying to have a mom–
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..to the ground..
Why was it that he had not a worry as the sky deepened. The tears on his face cooled as wind passed through his drapings as a light breeze.
Why is this so familiar
The sky was sprawling a never ending expanse yet wrapped in the silk of sylph and nautical twilight he felt only comfort in the empty space, he was safe he knew, now, for even just a moment as his eyes fell closed again. He allowed his hands to unclench, feeling the miles of sky stream between them in a rush.
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"It's time to reap what you've sown, Mary." Her voice echoed in the recesses of his mind.
The weightlessness of oblivion embraced the child of everlasting Spring.
"Isn't it fabulous?"
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