04-14-2023, 09:14 PM
{T H E L I G H T B I N D S M E. I C A N N O T D I S O B E Y.}
The words repeated. There was no inflection to them and she couldn’t tell if it was a separate answer or a glitch in whatever enabled the translation. As she stared up in wonder, a thousand questions swirled through Thalia’s mind. Did the creature have a name? Did she remember dreaming of them too? The curiosity blossomed with such earnestness she only ended up sitting unusually mute. Everything she wanted to share and everything she wanted to know drifted into silent acceptance of the moment, and a hope the guardian understood why they had come.
Meanwhile Tristan stood, and Thalia’s attention diverted to watch what he did. He was moving slowly, both quiet and thoughtful. When he knelt she recognised what he’d discovered, and the sight of it tightened in her chest. The egg looked different in the flesh. A tracery of light webbed its surface, bound in tiny whorls and knots that were resonating just like the walls, though the shapes were different – and this time she daren’t answer the call. The reverence with which Tristan placed his hand against it soothed fears she couldn’t even name. Yet above them the guardian had fallen into predatory stillness, her eyes flared wide. Her lips remained peeled back from sharp teeth.
Thalia’s expression finally drew into concern when he lifted the egg from its stand, though she continued watching on in wary trust. His gold gaze swept them all like witnesses, expression heavy with burden. But as Thalia trusted the unknown journey, she trusted this too. The softness in her gaze spoke of faith. It had to; she’d been the one to bring him here.
Though she only understood what his intention was the moment he hoisted it above his head.
She flinched bodily at the impact. As the egg shattered the threads binding it snapped free, and when the jagged pieces of shell fell they abruptly disintegrated into piles of sand around the motionless creature that had been within. With a disturbed swish of its forked tail, Neme immediately bolted from its perch on Thalia's shoulder and darted back into the darkened archway, just as the guardian screamed and thrust herself deep into the pool. Every tentacle slammed down hard.
The waters rose fast.
Thalia gasped as an ice cold tide swept up over her lap. She tried to find her feet but when the wave returned the momentum dragged her forward like a riptide, washing clean the wet piles of sand and claiming the creature birthed within. Translucent tentacles began to writhe with life as it unfurled to the water’s pull. Thalia slid alarmingly with it until its mother’s thick tentacle gently barred her a moment before she would have slipped right off the edge. The wriggling infant disappeared below and Thalia tried to catch her breath, eyes saucer wide in awe. She searched for Tristan, relieved to find him safe.
{T H E P R O M I S E I S F I N A L L Y F U L F I L L E D}
The disembodied words intoned around them. The guardian’s black eyes were still intent on Tristan, while beneath her a small pale shadow zipped through the water. She was half reared out again, her crown flared wide and protective. Despite her form there was no recognisable human emotion on her face, just a striking ferocity. Her scales rippled with colour as she moved, as slow and reverent in her actions as Tristan had been moments before.
{M Y D U T Y I S Y O U R S}
She laid something carefully down on the edge of the pool. Then she dived.
Silence descended in a swift and sudden rush. Just the persistent lapping of the water remained. And to Thalia’s own ears at least, the rapid beating of her heart.
In somewhat morbid curiosity she crawled forward a little, wondering at what point the ground actually fell away into what she imagined must be a fathomless drop. The ends of her hair swirled on the still roiling surface, at which point she considered that face-planting into oblivion was not a wise lifechoice. Already there was nothing to see below but a distortion of her own reflection. It left her feeling stranger than she thought. Satisfied, but sad. She’d told Tristan she’d wanted to find some lost connection in this search, but all she discovered was ghosts. A world unphased with her own, which wasn’t even whole in the first place.
The guardian was gone, and Thalia realised that somehow she had thought she would stay. That this was different from the pinecone and its burn box or Patricus and his warnings.
Tristan had come to likewise peer down at the pool’s edge. She felt his feet splash the shallows; saw the wavering of his reflection beside her own. “Imagine how long they must have been kept apart,” she said. Her fingers trailed the surface before she sat back. The realisation warmed her when she put it into words, whatever of her own emotions stirred. The enormity of it was only just dawning; that they had done something good here. She grinned and leaned a little to try and read his expression. “You did it,” she told him.
The words repeated. There was no inflection to them and she couldn’t tell if it was a separate answer or a glitch in whatever enabled the translation. As she stared up in wonder, a thousand questions swirled through Thalia’s mind. Did the creature have a name? Did she remember dreaming of them too? The curiosity blossomed with such earnestness she only ended up sitting unusually mute. Everything she wanted to share and everything she wanted to know drifted into silent acceptance of the moment, and a hope the guardian understood why they had come.
Meanwhile Tristan stood, and Thalia’s attention diverted to watch what he did. He was moving slowly, both quiet and thoughtful. When he knelt she recognised what he’d discovered, and the sight of it tightened in her chest. The egg looked different in the flesh. A tracery of light webbed its surface, bound in tiny whorls and knots that were resonating just like the walls, though the shapes were different – and this time she daren’t answer the call. The reverence with which Tristan placed his hand against it soothed fears she couldn’t even name. Yet above them the guardian had fallen into predatory stillness, her eyes flared wide. Her lips remained peeled back from sharp teeth.
Thalia’s expression finally drew into concern when he lifted the egg from its stand, though she continued watching on in wary trust. His gold gaze swept them all like witnesses, expression heavy with burden. But as Thalia trusted the unknown journey, she trusted this too. The softness in her gaze spoke of faith. It had to; she’d been the one to bring him here.
Though she only understood what his intention was the moment he hoisted it above his head.
She flinched bodily at the impact. As the egg shattered the threads binding it snapped free, and when the jagged pieces of shell fell they abruptly disintegrated into piles of sand around the motionless creature that had been within. With a disturbed swish of its forked tail, Neme immediately bolted from its perch on Thalia's shoulder and darted back into the darkened archway, just as the guardian screamed and thrust herself deep into the pool. Every tentacle slammed down hard.
The waters rose fast.
Thalia gasped as an ice cold tide swept up over her lap. She tried to find her feet but when the wave returned the momentum dragged her forward like a riptide, washing clean the wet piles of sand and claiming the creature birthed within. Translucent tentacles began to writhe with life as it unfurled to the water’s pull. Thalia slid alarmingly with it until its mother’s thick tentacle gently barred her a moment before she would have slipped right off the edge. The wriggling infant disappeared below and Thalia tried to catch her breath, eyes saucer wide in awe. She searched for Tristan, relieved to find him safe.
{T H E P R O M I S E I S F I N A L L Y F U L F I L L E D}
The disembodied words intoned around them. The guardian’s black eyes were still intent on Tristan, while beneath her a small pale shadow zipped through the water. She was half reared out again, her crown flared wide and protective. Despite her form there was no recognisable human emotion on her face, just a striking ferocity. Her scales rippled with colour as she moved, as slow and reverent in her actions as Tristan had been moments before.
{M Y D U T Y I S Y O U R S}
She laid something carefully down on the edge of the pool. Then she dived.
Silence descended in a swift and sudden rush. Just the persistent lapping of the water remained. And to Thalia’s own ears at least, the rapid beating of her heart.
In somewhat morbid curiosity she crawled forward a little, wondering at what point the ground actually fell away into what she imagined must be a fathomless drop. The ends of her hair swirled on the still roiling surface, at which point she considered that face-planting into oblivion was not a wise lifechoice. Already there was nothing to see below but a distortion of her own reflection. It left her feeling stranger than she thought. Satisfied, but sad. She’d told Tristan she’d wanted to find some lost connection in this search, but all she discovered was ghosts. A world unphased with her own, which wasn’t even whole in the first place.
The guardian was gone, and Thalia realised that somehow she had thought she would stay. That this was different from the pinecone and its burn box or Patricus and his warnings.
Tristan had come to likewise peer down at the pool’s edge. She felt his feet splash the shallows; saw the wavering of his reflection beside her own. “Imagine how long they must have been kept apart,” she said. Her fingers trailed the surface before she sat back. The realisation warmed her when she put it into words, whatever of her own emotions stirred. The enormity of it was only just dawning; that they had done something good here. She grinned and leaned a little to try and read his expression. “You did it,” she told him.
![[Image: thal-banner-scaled.jpg]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/thal-banner-scaled.jpg)