forum Arcworld (Electric City)

Started February 16, 2022 by Deleted user

tune

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Lucitius woke to his own wheezing, twitching his fingers as he fought to wake up. One blue eye opened, but the other refused to.

With a groan, he shifted an arm, then a leg, crawling out from under a slab of rubble. He coughed, red and blue blood dripping from his lips. Then, he noticed the crack running down his chest, blue fire swirling inside the wound.

He wiped a hand across his face, wiping dried blood from his face, and opening his other eye now that it was freed. Once that was done, Lucitius slowly stood, stumbling a bit.

His eyes were slow to adjust, but once he saw the carnage, he wondered if he’d done it, or if someone else had. Lucitius shook his head, moaning sorrowfully. He then quickly summoned his staff to balance him as his legs started to give out.

“By the skies…”

A burning sensation then became apparent across most of his body, a sign that the Diamond was being touched. He looked down at his hands to see gauntlets. Gauntlets? He had never worn armor!

Sahlonek wakes up theirself, feeling their form move from the actions of another. He lets out a metallic creak.

What. . .? they think as they recognize the sensation of someone touching them; the odd burning sensation was unfamiliar, though, and they looked down at their chest, noticing they had much more mass than they usually did. Slowly, they bring their hands up to their face, confused. They feel. . . heavier than normal, almost as though. . .

Oh gods above, no. No no no. Nonononono. I can't- this can't be happening.

Lucendi gets up groggily, and rubs her head, looking around her at the destruction. What the hell. . .?

She sighs, and closes her eyes, rubbing her temples with circular motions. She had a pounding headache, almost as though she had someone else in her head. She extends her senses out, and feels Sahlonek and Lucitius, almost as though they were. . . Oh, gods, what did they do?

She checks her own head, and groans. Oh, gods. Oh, no. It had to be Qûs'ÿltn.

Qûs'ÿltn slowly comes to himself, and sighs. Why can't I see? Why is it so dark?

As he's thinking this, he nearly gets beaned by the thoughts that fly past him.

Oh. Hello, Lucendi. he snickers, leaning back. How are we feeling, hmm?

Lucitius stared at the gauntlets in confusion, but his vision quickly started to blur. His wheezing grew louder and he collapsed to the side. Blood leaked from his eyes and mouth.

“Synthia. Mine love?” Synthia? Syn…

Lucitius coughed again, grunting in pain as his wound tore slightly. The blue fire within still whirled, but never came out of the wound. Though, there was plenty of blood pouring from it, which explained why he didn’t have the balance to stand.

“Synthia, I beg you,”he breathed, barely holding onto consciousness.

Sahlonek panics, quickly healing Lucitius's many wounds. Don't die, don't die, don't die, don't die. . .

It took a while to do, but they got it done. Oh, thank the gods. Now all I can do is wait.

And wait they do, watching carefully for any signs of an attack. Their eyes alight on a golden figure approaching, and they sigh in relief. There's Lucendi. Where's Qûs'ÿltn?

Lucendi groans. WHY are you in my head?

She has a thought. Oh. . . oh no. No, no no. Nuh-uh. I will not have a debt to pay off.

She growls and stalks towards Lucitius, but something is. . . off about him. He's wearing what looks like Sahlonek's armor. But that can't be right.

"A-are you guys okay?" she calls.

Sahlonek's helmet takes itself off of Lucitius and shakes its head. No, Lucendi, we're not.

A hollow, metallic sigh comes from the helmet, and it nudges Lucitius. I'm not sure he's going to be okay.

Qûs'ÿltn gives Lucendi a mental snort. Why do you think?

Too late! he says gleefuly, dancing a jig. Oh, this is too rich.

No shit. How'd you figure that out?

He watches intently though as what is left of Sahlonek makes eloquent gestures.

Lucitius burst into a coughing fit as Sahlonek healed him, coiling and hissing in agony. His lesser wounds healed quickly, but the crack was stubborn. Eventually, the crack mostly closed, but it was clear that it wouldn’t be going away easily, if at all.

He was unaware of the helmet coming off of his head, but the moment it nudged him, he burst into action, blindly lashing out with his devilish claws. It was obviously reflex, as he collapsed again immediately afterward, his body shaking.

“Synthia? I hope that was you, and that I did not hurt you,”he mumbled, his voice steadier than before as his eyes looked around. He recognized nothing around him, though it didn’t help that his vision was still heavily blurred.

Qûs'ÿltn laughs his ass off in her head. She sighs. This'll be hilarious!

"No, that was not your dear wife. That was Sahlonek. And you need to get up. Now." Qûs'ÿltn said, using Lucendi as a mouthpiece; her voice implies that Lucitius has no other choice.

Sahlonek jerks back and gives Lucendi/Qûs'ÿltn a reproachful look, even though they had no face. They float into Lucitius's view.

"It was me. Now get the hell up." he snarls.

Lucendi is yelling at Qûs'ÿltn in her head. Presently, she says "Don't give me that look, Sahlonek. You're the one who is only alive because you somehow managed to merge with Lucitius."

Lucitius, too delirious to understand what was going on, flopped onto his back, blood tears draining from his eyes. Who was Sahlonek? Where was Synthia? He needed her!

“Synthia, where are you, mine love? Why have you not answered me? Can you not hear me?”he pleaded amidst his tears, speaking in the gutteral, lisping language of drāckonians.

Sahlonek snorts, then turns back to Lucitius.

"Synthia isn't here, Lucitius. She's home, where she's supposed to be." he murmurs.

“She should be here. Synthia always comes to mine call. We are linked. Or… we… we were,”his voice grew shaky as Lucitius came to the realization that maybe he had lost the connection with Synthia, or worse, he had died.

He then realized that the same could’ve happened to the rest of the drāckonian race.

“No. No! I must return! I… cannot lose them. I cannot!”he gasped.

Lucitius rolled onto his side and attempted to stand up, but before he could get proper footing, his knees gave out and he fell again. A whimper came from him, followed by more tears.

“Oh, Synthia, forgive me,”he breathed.