05-27-2019, 02:31 PM
The power of the Eye blinded Valeriya with such ferocity that she trembled with fear. It struck her face, that bright light hotter and whiter than when the sunshine first prickled her skin. The skeletons flaked to ashes, swallowed by their cage of vines. The burn sizzled her face, but she did not turn away. She wanted to scream, but her mouth was an open maw of silence. Pain dug claws through her face, a hot-poker digging into her eyes. She would go blind if she did not turn away! But the white light consumed them all, and she was horribly fascinated with the shape it began to take. A pillar taller than the skies with branches wider than a mountain and the white coiled to yellow, then orange, and finally red.
As a child she saw blue ceilings and green towers, things of imagination that would horrify her brethren. More of the same filled the Eye, terrible and powerful things she did not understand. She huddled upon herself, arms wrapped tight around her knees, raven hair spilled as she buried her face downward. Tears leaked her eyes, but one was on fire while the other leaked water. Pain rippled with horror. The world she newly discovered was doomed to destruction, and she was powerless to stop it.
The Eye blinked and the spell broke, but Valeriya’s tongue was frozen to the roof of her mouth.
It slowly came unglued but she did not yet lift her face, “light brighter than the sun,” she whispered, “you are trapped, beloved. You’re trapped together,” her crying continued but wet only one side of her face.
Hands pulled her up, her beloved’s strong, determined hands lifted her like a leaf. When she peered upward, it was with half the light that once filled her view.
She clasped Rowan’s hand, but with the other, gripped Armande’s. “The falling stars will blind the world,” she touched one eye gently, finding the skin around the socket puffed and swollen. Strangely, no pain remained. It was numb.
“But in that destruction comes cleansing,” she blinked, somber for the understanding. “I only now found the Above. I will do anything to prevent losing it. I will never be buried again!” Her lip curled, eyes roaming circles in their sockets as though she tried to view all of existence at the same time. Her neck craned backward as her hands clamped upon the fingers of her beloveds, “We will fight anyone and anything. The Above must be protected at all costs.”
As a child she saw blue ceilings and green towers, things of imagination that would horrify her brethren. More of the same filled the Eye, terrible and powerful things she did not understand. She huddled upon herself, arms wrapped tight around her knees, raven hair spilled as she buried her face downward. Tears leaked her eyes, but one was on fire while the other leaked water. Pain rippled with horror. The world she newly discovered was doomed to destruction, and she was powerless to stop it.
The Eye blinked and the spell broke, but Valeriya’s tongue was frozen to the roof of her mouth.
It slowly came unglued but she did not yet lift her face, “light brighter than the sun,” she whispered, “you are trapped, beloved. You’re trapped together,” her crying continued but wet only one side of her face.
Hands pulled her up, her beloved’s strong, determined hands lifted her like a leaf. When she peered upward, it was with half the light that once filled her view.
She clasped Rowan’s hand, but with the other, gripped Armande’s. “The falling stars will blind the world,” she touched one eye gently, finding the skin around the socket puffed and swollen. Strangely, no pain remained. It was numb.
“But in that destruction comes cleansing,” she blinked, somber for the understanding. “I only now found the Above. I will do anything to prevent losing it. I will never be buried again!” Her lip curled, eyes roaming circles in their sockets as though she tried to view all of existence at the same time. Her neck craned backward as her hands clamped upon the fingers of her beloveds, “We will fight anyone and anything. The Above must be protected at all costs.”
The Eye of the Khylsty