A Reflection In The Water

This is a storyline that took place in the Platinum Instance during 2018 - ONGOING. Official title is "A Reflection in the Water".

A Reflection in the Water

10 Charlatos:

<2 weeks ago...


A soft gurgle bubbled up from the young man as he fought not to choke on his own blood when yet another blow landed on his dislocated jaw, flinging spittle and more than a few teeth from his swollen mouth. A single, darkened green eye gazed upon him with disdain as he tried to force his eyes open enough to convey his plea for mercy, his jaw no longer functioning well enough to speak. Not a flicker of change in her expression to indicate an acknowledgement of his predicament came from the fiery woman standing on the bank of the Charl's Quay.

How he wished he had not come across her path that day on the trail from Wehnimer's Landing. It seemed, however, this would be a short-lived day for him as he was fairly convinced this was to be his end at the hands of this angry red-head.

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Anger, dark and fiery hot, coursed through every fiber of her body as she felt his hands come around her neck. She had passed him on the trail to Wehnimer's Landing and thought nothing of it – had even waved at him. She preferred to walk the trail rather than use the portals - they made her queasy and she despised using the magical means Jaired often employed to "fog" them to far off locations. It was a nice day and she enjoyed the scenery. Walking this path was something she tried to do daily. The quiet and isolation from the world helped her improve focus.

Focus was something she fought hard for lately.

His cry of surprise was muffled quickly as Leiana grasped his forearm where it wrapped over the juncture of her shoulder and neck, his fingers digging into her windpipe so that she gasped for air momentarily. Giving a heave of effort, she lifted the offender over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground before her, planting the narrow tip of her boot heel on his own windpipe as she stood staring at him with an angry, glittering gaze. Quite before she realized it, her heel was digging fully into the soft hollow of his throat. He clawed desperately at her calf and managed to land a solid blow on the back of her knee with his own as it lifted in desperation.

Quite before she realized it, she had toppled next to him as her knee gave out. Her hand shot outward toward him to hover mere inches from his face, not touching him and yet her fingers clenched closed and he was without breath, choking and clawing at his throat while staring up at her in terror, uncomprehending of her power. And it felt good to her. So good that she was even smiling ever so slightly as she watched the skin turn blue and his eyes bulge when she twisted her wrist, increasing the magical grasp she had on his throat. For a moment, the urge inside her was free and unchecked - she was enjoying the feeling of being untethered from the rules.

And then she saw the same fear in his eyes as she had seen on others' faces - those of her friends and people she had known her whole life. People now unable to comprehend what was happening to her and distrustful of her.

Her hand dropped and her fingers relaxed, releasing him to gasp and choke, gagging and coughing up blood as he cowered next to her. Slowly she stood and reaching down, grasped him by the arm to drag him to his feet. A few quick movements and he was bound at the wrists, stumbling along in front of her as she encouraged him with brief pushes of her will behind him - hand extended as the air seemed to obey her commands, shoving him along as they made their way back toward Solhaven. She wasn't sure where that would take them until they ended up at Charl's Quay, standing on the beach as he sobbed for her to let him go. Offering all manner of gems, treasures, and loot in order to sway her from deciding his fate this day.

There rested the golden cage that she would place her new found toy within. It had once held a great man, one whom she felt was family - a man whom everything had been taken from, including his life. Today it would hold this deviant instead - be used for what cages truly were meant to do. And so in he went, the doors locked behind him as she shoved it into the water and watched it begin to sink. The water was just short of being enough to take away his life - for now. Soon the tide would come in and he would find no comfort from it, just as Izaar had found no comfort when his life had been taken at the snap of a hand around his throat. She'd found no comfort when everyone else moved on after his memory was gone from the Landing. This was a way to find comfort now.

As she bent to take the chain for the cage from the water's edge, she caught sight of her reflection on the surface. The sludge, that dirt that had covered everything when Izaar died was spreading. It was all over her now.

And she smiled.

Credits

Leiana - GM Naionna