09-21-2023, 05:27 PM
The aftermath of the nightmare settled like silt on a lakebed. The Sandman surveyed the carnage with shrewd study darkening his red eyes. They settled soon upon one husk of a body in particular where the chest of the figure was ripped clean open. The splatter of blood marred his pale, delicate features; his expression forever frozen with the horror of betrayal.
The Sandman moved past the human victim of Mara’s pets to collect the bloody organ that was ripped from the body. The heart was small in his oversized palms. The claws that extended from his fingers curled around the heart and afterward closed tight, and the heart disappeared from the Dream.
In that moment, the Sandman himself transformed. A mirage of light flowed across his body as he took on a new form. From the mask of his new face, a tentative smile broke his lips as he peered back, quite alive, at Nox.
“Hello.” He spoke with Rafael’s voice. He moved with Rafael’s form. In every way that mattered, he was Rafael, even if a copy of himself lay in the dirt nearby.
The Sandman moved past the human victim of Mara’s pets to collect the bloody organ that was ripped from the body. The heart was small in his oversized palms. The claws that extended from his fingers curled around the heart and afterward closed tight, and the heart disappeared from the Dream.
In that moment, the Sandman himself transformed. A mirage of light flowed across his body as he took on a new form. From the mask of his new face, a tentative smile broke his lips as he peered back, quite alive, at Nox.
“Hello.” He spoke with Rafael’s voice. He moved with Rafael’s form. In every way that mattered, he was Rafael, even if a copy of himself lay in the dirt nearby.