Strange Illusions, Strange Meetings

[Anadwen]

Trees croaked with the strong wind, bending their trunks and branches, and rattling their leaves. A fire burned between them, shielded by a few large bushes, on the shore of a thin stream. He yawned, staring into the kindling flames, and poked them with a twig. He wasn't too sure whether he wanted to go to sleep yet, or rather keep awake for a while...

He pulled his cape to his shoulders, and his mouth opened wide in a yawn once again. His hand softly moved a wisp of golden hair, which has fallen into his face, away, and he straightened his back. The night was very silent, even the small river was only quietly flowing down the large rocks under the masses of water. It was making him sleepy...

Beginning to hum a silent melody, he put his hand into and out of the fire, softly chuckling as it changed its color from orange into green, and back to the warm hue of flames when his ghostly white fingers left the flame. He repeated the trick several times, making the fire glow in all colors of the rainbow. A simple form of amusement, but enough to keep him awake.

He was tired from walking all day, something his fragile body wasn't too used to, and he was quite hungry, too, but knowing that he's already on the borders of Connlaoth was satisfying.

Eventually, he let the fire die out, and laid down onto his cape to get a rest. When not wearing a robe, it was far easier to simply coil up on the ground and cover yourself with a cloak. He was thankful for the tight leather armour he wore, and his eyes soon closed, welcoming the embrace of sleep.

[Brisinger987]

A gentle breeze began to blow, and a faint, faint, unidentifiable sound seemed to resound in the distance. It sounded like a whistle, but more grainy, the texture more rough.

Then, as if by some heavenly miracle, the stars themselves seemed to begin falling from the sky, coming down as sparkles and fairy dust. And from these sparkles, purple light began to emanate.

The sound emanated in the distance again, eerily hollow, and a presence filled the air in the camp. It was pure chance that this was where it was to happen. Pure bad luck. The sparkles reached the floor, and sensed the dreaming elf.

The light flashed red, and in Thranuilas' dreams, a horrific image would flash. One of torture, and perverse pleasure.

Then, the sound occurred again, slightly louder this time, but no louder than a whisper to Thranuilas.

The light flashed a darker red, showing another horrific image, and it decided Thranuilas was a perfect choice. The light flashed red with his heartbeat, the horrific images increasing in pace, frequency, and graphic content.

Then, right next to Thranuilas' ear, the sound occurred one final time, revealing itself as a nightmarish scream, now raw with terror and pain.

[Anadwen]

Flashing images appeared in Thranuilas's dreams... No, not images... Memories. He twitched on the ground, muttering something from his sleep, and rolled over. The images continued, showing much more from his youth than he'd like. He could have sworn he even saw his parents...

All of a sudden, he awoke, staring at something incredibly strange before his eyes. It was blazing with sparkling light, as if a star would come down to earth, but the presence was deathly cold, terrifyingly unearthly.

The elf shook the horror of the dreams off and quickly sat up, shaking the cape off his shoulders. "What... What the hell is this?" he muttered, gasping.

[Brisinger987]

The sparkles reacted to Thranuilas waking up, and began to dance, creating spectacular patterns as they did. However, the light began to change to red, going through the spectrum, and the patterns began to seem chaotic. Off in the forest, a horrific scream resounded.

More screams resounded, the sounds of girls and women tortured and hurt beyond belief. The air grew smoky, and the deathly presence seemed to change, going from one of pure dread to one of lust, and desire.

The smoke enveloped in a cylinder around Thranuilas, the sparkles turning into black, smoking dots, the smoke blood red. It swirled around him, the screams seeming to be right outside the vortex now.

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas, struck speechless by what was unfurling before his eyes, could only cover his ears at the terrible sounds. His eyes closed to stop the smoke from burning them, and he coiled up on the ground in a desperate attempt to stop perceiving all the horrors.

He didn't have any idea about what is happening, but it was terrifying. There was no explanation for this... It seemed like a fae illusion gone terribly, terribly wrong, and he didn't want to be there, but he couldn't climb back up at his feet and crawl away.

A scream escaped his own mouth. "Stop! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" he shouted.

[Brisinger987]

As if by command, the smoke exploded away from Thranuilas, revealing Araxaz, who looked around confused. Along with Araxaz, stood several demoness', chittering in their native tongue.

"Hello there. Do you have a mirror? I would like to examine my form, if you will..."

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas blinked at the demon before him in wonder. He didn't appear terrifying... Actually, he was beautiful.

He gave him a faint nod, scrambling to his feet. "I do have some mirrors..." he muttered, searching in his pockets. Eventually, he found a small round mirror, and handed it to the demon, curiously eyeing the creatures, standing around. What strange things!

"Don't break it, I'm going to need it." he warned him, before letting go off the silver plate.

[Brisinger987]

Araxaz smiled, looking at himself in the mirror, before adjusting his hair. The demoness' only just now seemed to notice him, and suddenly they flocked to him like a gang of girls round a celebrity.

"I do look good, don't I..."

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas chuckled nervously, checking out his own reflection in the mirror. "Yes, I have to agree." he nodded. He scowled at one of the demonessess that stepped too close, and ran through his hair with his hand to straighten it.

[Brisinger987]

The chittering grew wild, and they seemed to whisper into Araxaz's ear, and Araxaz gave a deadly smile.

"No, go off and find another prey. Go on girls. I'll be here when you get back." The demoness' went off, looking to catch food clearly, while Araxaz continued to groom himself.

"Hmmm, something's missing..."

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas raised a brow, relieved that the crowd was gone. "What? I don't see anything missing. Except for my mirror, which is in your hand." he replied, pointing at the round mirror.

There wasn't anything odd about the demon's appearance... Not anything that would strike him, at least.

[Brisinger987]

At this present point, Araxaz's eyes were human, with full pupils, and a distinct lack of colour changing. He decided to fix that, and add horns on his head while he was there.

His pupils dilated, and horns materialised on his head, and he smiled.

"Perfect. As always. Ugh, I look so much better than all these mortals around. Tell me, be you a demon?"

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas shook his head. "No. Elf. And yes, I must agree, humans look shamefully bad." he chuckled, taking his mirror back.

The change seemed to suit this creature better than its former, more humanoid point. Thranuilas wasn't even too surprised now.

[Brisinger987]

"Oh. An elf. So are you a mortal, immortal, or half mortal?" Araxaz seemed demeaning in his tone, as if he was sure that Thranuilas was far beneath him upon hearing this.

"Humans? And those are?" Araxaz seemed to know relatively little about the life forms around him, only seeming to care about those that had some element of feeling.

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas winged off. "Immortal, off course. Humans? Humans are the most common things you find around... Live short, are ugly, and fairly stupid." he explained him, with despise and disgust at the human race in his voice.

"And you are...? A demon, I presume?"

[Brisinger987]

"An immortal... Everything mortal is ugly." Araxaz added, hearing the screams of a woman in the distance, and smiling.

"They found food. Good." He returned to the conversation again.

"Yes, a demon. 100% immortal beauty."

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas chuckled. "I can see that. Lovely hair, to be honest." he admitted, reaching into the wisps of his own long hair, and tilted his head aside.

"I think you're right... Humans are terrifyingly ugly when they grow old, you know? They look like withered dry fruit."

[Brisinger987]

"Of course it's lovely hair. It's mine." Araxaz's boastful, vain personality began to shine through, although his aura portrayed a different picture. His sphere of influence would begin to take it's toll on Thranuilas, planting perverse and disturbing suggestions in his mind, and promising ecstasy and infinite indulgence if carried out.

"So, tell me. How weak minded are these mortals?"

[Anadwen]

Thranuilas laughed. "That depends which one you pick at! Some are indeed really stupid. Some aren't as much... There are ones that are only a little more clever than cattle, you can shove them around with a stick." he joked.

"And then you have those so-called guards and soldiers. Those are just trouble..." he shook his head, and sighed. "All chains and executions."

[Brisinger987]

"Soldiers and guards... Hmmm." Araxaz seemed deep in thought, before one of the demoness' came back, dragging a limp, dead human behind her. The rest followed, and they violently dismantled the corpse, feasting. And they continued until one of the demoness' got too violent with a leg, and flicked blood onto Araxaz's face.

Then all hell broke loose.

That demoness' got a mace to the abdomen, and then had her skull pierced by a flaming javelin. And Araxaz, now in his armoured form, held the corpse up as a warning to the others, who cowered behind each other.