Voided Heart

DragonSlayer4 · November 6th, 2015, 6:52 am

OOC: For those of you interested in Zeke, his powers, my evil plans...or just messing around with your characters...jump right in. First come first serve though, three can join, one or two characters per person if they wish, three if you really think it'd be important. I'm winging this with a vague idea, so feel free to throw in your own twists too. Also, I won't go into too gruesome detail in this post but uh...if violence and gory torture bother you, stop here or skip my entry post. Like, not R rated or whatever, don't think I can do that on SF, but if you don't care for stuff like that, yeah. Also, long entry post, apologies. Oh and Darkie, you can join too if you want, it just made sense for Zeke to tell his family to hide away, someone can always sneak out and stay or come back. XD

IC: He should feel anger. Rage, or fury. Something beside this blankness that swallowed his being whole and left him with...nothing. First it had been Jia. His precious sister had obviously been tortured before he found her. The scent that hung around her was still fresh, so thick with her terror and agony that he almost feared that she might still be alive from it's potency. But the sharp jolt he'd felt a few hours ago, her string going dark when he looked at their connection with his Sight, it could only mean one thing. Jia was dead.

Then, he had felt rage. It had consumed his mind and he had tried to track down her murderer, to no avail. Her Rider, Ka, was no where to be found, no matter how hard Zeke had looked, and he really had looked everywhere. If the Reaper wasn't dead too he suspected that the man had probably gone mad with grief. Maybe not, but the bond between dragon and Rider was a deeply embedded thing, and no matter how old the Pair grew, madness was always a threat as a result of loss.

The next had been Sarai, Jia's daughter. The creature before him barely resembled a dragon let alone the beautiful dragonness that he had come to know and love as his niece. His rage at this loss was shorter, not for a lack of grief but a lack of ability to hunt the murderer. But two similar murders of his family had made him alert. Something, or someone, wanted his attention. They had it.

The third and fourth had struck him in the heart. Felecia, the ex-Rider of his brother in arms and the sister of his own beloved, yet departed, Rider. Not only was the frail Elf bloodied beyond recognition, but beside what had been her head lay the shattered remains of a Heart of Hearts. Ebony's. Filled with grief in his heart Zeke hunted with renewed vigor, but not even his Sight could strip away the barriers that this enemy had very carefully erected. There was just nothing for him to find. No scents, no specific brand marks....absolutely nothing.

And then he stumbled across a fifth victim. It took seeing the color of the empty irises to know who it was. Tel'aeír, his son. Zeke howled and he howled and he howled his grief. His son, his son was dead. This was a nightmare that he'd stepped into, this wasn't real, it couldn't be. But no matter how many times he tried to wake himself up by running into a solid object, he was still here. His son was still dead.

He started to gather up his friends and family and telling them to go no where alone, ever. At first they asked why, although they knew about the deaths. His haunted expression must have given them an idea of how afraid he was, how serious this was becoming, so they agreed. Not even a few weeks later, he found another. Zeke keened and wailed and rocked with the mutilated body of his daughter, Sofranir. He didn't move from her side for a week, starving himself in his grief. The anguish was only renewed when he told his mate. Terrified for the rest of his family, he told Savania to take Zeuk, Quasar, and her side of the family and run, to leave Alagaesia and not come back until he knew they'd all be safe. It spoke volumes when she agreed without her usual stubbornness to stay at his side.

And he roamed the lands alone with only a single goal in mind; revenge. For a while he didn't come across anything new. That came to a halt at a small human like form. It was Jessa, Ka's little sister. He didn't even know Jessa that well to begin with which just stung him deeper. Whoever this was really had a vendetta against him.

And then came the straw that broke him. This one had been tortured too, but kept intact so he would identify them instantly. A dainty dragon-like form with lavender-blue scales and blank Lapis-lazuli eyes. Taylia, the Healer that had replaced Rasima within the Tribe. His precious Tay-Lee. Zeke wept. When his eyes were finally clear once he'd lifted his head, his gaze were just as blank has hers now were.

He'd buried them all in one place that he thought would be safe, the woodland of the elves. He'd asked the ruler to protect the graves with every possible magic they could muster; he didn't want his enemy trying to reach those he'd already snuffed out.

All of this had taken place over the course of a year. He'd warned as many of his friends as he could, but that was all he could do. He'd tried to make them leave this land to protect them, but some, like Phal for instance, had flatly refused, and he couldn't force them without his powers, which he refused to do.

Now it had been another year since he'd found Taylia. No new deaths, no threats, no messages. Silence. He patrolled the land constantly for any sign whatsoever. He hadn't seen any of his family for a year and a half, and he refused to contact them until he knew for certain that he wouldn't lose anyone else. And then one day when he passed by the mountains that led toward the Tribe, something dark reached out for his mind and wrapped around it like the thickest wool. It didn't stay long, he barely had time to identify it as a threat and react before it retreated, leaving not trace in it's wake.

Except now there was a piece of it inside him. And he couldn't dispel it. It stuck to his essence, his mind, like tar. It was rancid and burned at him like the lava had burned his tail so long ago, it altered his scent, just a little, enough to make his nose wrinkle. But he could feel it move and ripple and stretch, like it was alive and sentient, feeling him from the inside out.

Zeke raced for Illrea, the renamed Uru'baen, reaching down every string toward his friends that he could manage. He didn't want to endanger them but if this....Taint could gain in strength and take over some of his power? Great Dragon help them all. He should have been angry that this had happened but his mind, except for the dark spot deep in the corner, was clear, empty, and strangely calm. He pulled especially hard on Phal and Temias, desperate to have one or both of them near to control him if he needed it. He didn't need to send words to relay what his frantic tugs meant. 'Help!'

Voided Heart

Who is online