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Quest For Truth [Fancycat]

Started by Ethereal-Star, November 12, 2014, 01:35:01 PM

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Ethereal-Star

Quest For Truth

It was that dream again.

The same one she'd had for many years. Over and over again. The barren, rocky landscape cut with jagged mountains in the distance, blue streaks of lightning flashed overhead. The storm was always present here in this place, this dream place. Dilwen had no idea where 'here' was, or if the word 'here' simply held no meaning in this forsaken landscape.

The mage walked along the rocky ground, bare feet treading lightly so as not to step on any jagged, pointy rocks or stones. Her white gown swirled around her in the eerie stillness though there was no breeze to speak of. Only the storm raging above and barrenness of everything around her. No landmarks for as far as the eye could see. There was simply nothing here at all. No towns, no people, no wildlife, no plants, no nothing. It was as if the life here had simply vanished into thin air, never to be seen or heard from again.

The dream had been with Dilwen since she was a little girl of ten winters. For thirty years, she dreamed  of this place, off and on, never having any clue to what its meaning was, what it was trying to tell her.  Yet for some reason, Dilwen felt a strong ancestral connection to this place, odd it may be. She supposed it to be not that unusual as she was only half-human, her other half a complete mystery to her and everyone that knew her. Never knowing her parents, who they were, or where they came from and why they left her. Where they went to afterward. Were they even still alive? Dilwen did not know, though she suspected this dream contained some of these answers she so desperately sought to find.

So she continued her way like she normally did, walking along and hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything out of the ordinary. Finally Dilwen stopped and stood still.  She thought but couldn't be sure, that there was a faint figure in the distance some 300 feet away, possibly more. The mage started walking again, picking up her pace to see who, or what this form was. Soon she was able to get a good look at it.

((Open for dream-associated characters, characters who can cross worlds and dimensions or any kind of character that would fit the setting. Perhaps a lone survivor of this strange place?))

fancycat

   Tanglemane lay comfortably in her nest.  Her hunt had gone well and her victim had sated her hunger with a single silver pendant.  She had left him laying on the ground with torn clothes but no real injuries.  It was fitting punishment for one who had failed a riddle.  She rather liked this one for he was quick to agree with her that it was preferable that she eat the jewelry rather than him.  Pesky sphinx indeed.  Now her eyed closed and she let her spirit slip from her body.
   For half an hour she soared in her spirit, gazing down at the moonlit land below.  Shadows and darkness were the norm.  But, the twinkles of campfires and lanterns gave her plenty of targets to swoop down upon.  Very few could perceive her as her spirit passed overhead, and those that could perceive her would know instinctively that she was little threat in this insubstantial existence.  It was the unwary that were the most fun to spy upon, especially when her voyeuristic streak needed a scratch.
   It was similar odd whims and desires that often dictated her direction.  Off in the distance to the east there were the flashes of lightning.  They rippled across the horizon from magnificent clouds which would illuminate in momentary monochromatic glory.  That is where she would go tonight.  The lighting and the clouds often held mysterious things; things of darkness and shadow but also things of light and noise.  She fluttered among these things for some time, searching for something to stroke her curiosity, but not finding.  Finally, with mild annoyance she dove for the ground to seek some landscape of consistent form and substance to spy upon.
   Alas, more disappointment.  Such a bleak terrain.  Perhaps it would be best if she snapped back to her body.  She crouched on the rocky cliff side while enjoying the opportunity to sulk.  Grrr.  Only rocks and clouds and lighting.
   But wait!  What IS that?  It wasn't there before when she circled.  A figure, coming towards her.  This one could perceive her.  The spectral sphinx rose  to all four paws and and shook her wings and waited peacefully.  She'd already had her way with one traveler so perhaps it would be better to be kind to this one.
   Rather than roaring she instead purred like a cat,  "The mountains are dark and the clouds, they are gray; the lightning connects them in its own stabbing way.  Yet you travel this path, in the fierce of the storm, what do you seek here, oh two legged born?"

Ethereal-Star

Dilwen blinked in surprise and confusion when she saw the creature before her speak, in a riddle no less. Examining the being before her, she noted it had the features of an eagle and a lion, complete with a young woman's head. Now if that wasn't downright strange..., she thought.

Looking more closely at this strange hybrid of animal and human, the storm mage struggled to recall what sort of being this was. There had been something her mentor had told her about, of a creature not unlike the one looking at her now, expectantly awaiting an answer. It was called a sphinx if her memory served her then, a paradoxical creature who enjoyed various riddles and puzzles. Why one was here in this place was a strange thing to Dilwen, but then again this whole situation was not exactly normal anyway. She figured she'd better respond soon before it got impatient with her.

"What I seek..." she began, searching for the proper words to complete her sentence. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I've seen this place many times, having visited many times before but not of my own free will. It's like...." she paused again, trying to think. "It's like something's calling me here, trying to tell me something. Something important. And I don't know what that is."

Dilwen hoped that whoever this sphinx creature was was friendly and wouldn't do anything threatening. Looking around once more at the barren rock which made up the very foundation here, she hesitated before speaking again. "Can...can you help me out? I'm rather lost and don't know what I should do."

fancycat

   Tanglemane sat back on her haunches as she looked up at the woman's stormy eyes.  She could see the confusion and the hope.  She tipped her head curiously as she wondered why this one would put any hope in her.  How strange.  The sphinx curled her tail over her front paws and spread her wings apart and lifted them so that they would shield this two legged from the wind. 
   "I see," the sphinx replied gravely as Dilwen admitted to being confused by this place.  The sphinx closed her eyes and was still, and the awkward moment of silence may have seemed an eternity as the half-human before her contemplated what to do. 
    "Help you?"  Tanglemane's eyes opened wide and her ears tipped back with some surprise.  "I do not exist here.  You may be beyond my ability to help."  She turned her eyes downwards with genuine regret, then admitted, "I do not know what you are.  I do not know why the storm above follows you.  It seems to me that your spirit should be filling the clouds because they are empty."
   The sphinx rose to her paws then and she folded her wings against her sides.  She gazed at Dilwen for a moment and then turned as if to abandon her.  But, her steps were slow and she looked back after a moment, "Walk with me?  If you tell me what you are, perhaps I can tell you where you are."  She paused mid stride, one huge paw in the air and she whispered coaxingly, "Don't be shy.  I do not exist here.  I can do you no harm.  I will even walk before you so that you needn't be wary."
   And so the paw settled on the ground and the sphinx begin to walk slowly.  The direction wouldn't matter.  The sphinx knew her own way home, but otherwise she was utterly lost in this place.

Ethereal-Star

"This is but a dream." Dilwen whispered quietly, so quietly the sphinx may not be able to hear it, unless she had really sharp senses. "I do not exist here either."

After only a moment's hesitation, she followed the sphinx as the other walked ahead of her. "I do not know what I am. Or at least that part of me that isn't human. My real parents, I know nothing about them, having never met them before."

Dilwen thought about what the creature had said to her and while she didn't understand the last part, the part about the storm following her made the storm mage healer glance up at the sky as though she couldn't do otherwise, the feeling was so compelling then. The blue streaks of lightning did indeed seem to follow her, as the storm was much more evident where she and the sphinx stood, yet none of the electric bolts hit the ground, her or the sphinx woman at all. Which of course was rather strange, and it only gave further root to the fact that this place had an important connection to not only her past, but her powers as well. She had always wondered about the source of her abilities. This dream seemed to be the one thing that could point out what that was, if only it weren't so empty of life and any sort of answers. Yet there was one thing which stood out, a feeling rather more than anything else.

"This place...I feel a sense of loss here. Loss and sadness. And also death." Dilwen replied, still following behind Tanglemane. "I don't know what it means though."

fancycat

   Tanglemane continued the slow walk as she contemplated this strange woman.  Every now and then she would look back over her shoulder to make sure she was still being followed by her.  The silence wasn't as awkward so long as steps were being taken and it gave both spirits time to think.

   "You had no parents then?"  The sphinx paused, then turned, stepping back to peer up at Dilwen.  "I was hatched from an egg.  Though I had no one to tell me what I was, I always knew from the moment I broke out of the shell.  I knew my name was Tanglemane.  That that is what people would call me."  Her tone was innocently naive as she asked the other, "Do you know what your name is then?  If not, I shall give you one."  The sphinx lifted her front right paw off the ground and extended it to Dilwen as an offering of acceptance of her.  Can one really shake hands with a sphinx?

Ethereal-Star

Dilwen accepted the handshake, taking the paw in her hand and lightly gripping it. Tanglemane's paw felt strange, as though she weren't entirely there, somewhere in between solid and incorporeal. It seemed to shift one way or the other with every second that passed. Dilwen smiled gratefully at the sphinx.

"My adoptive parents who found me gave me the name of Dilwen. It means 'truly blessed', as that is what I was to them. A gift and a blessing, since they told me they could not have children of their own. They are still alive thankfully, and I thank Kia every day for that. I have no reason to doubt their words, as they are the only family I've ever really known. My adoptive parents are Serenian, but I am not."

The blue and purple-haired woman smiled at Tanglemane as they walked along. "I appreciate the gesture though."

fancycat

    Tanglemane's paw flexed gently, toes spreading as she in turn waggled that outstretched paw just slightly.  "Hullo then, Dilwen."  The big sphinx put her paw down and prowled around Dilwen in a circle, inspecting her a second time with greater scrutiny.  Such a stalking can unnerve some, but surely the sphinx is less threatening than the storm.

   "Names.  I think the storm wants to tell you your real name, Dilwen."  She looked up and smiled then, "Dilwen is your real name."  A forking bolt of lightning rippled directly overhead then, noisy and perturbing the sphinx into rustling her wings before continuing.  "But, I am sure it is not the name you were given at your hatching."

    The sphinx turned away to walk some more and she led Dilwen another quarter mile to purchase time to muse.  Her intuition that at least some aspect of this storm was about a name just grew stronger in her heart, especially as Dilwen had spoken of her adoption.  The walk stopped abruptly as the sphinx crouched down, sphinxishly, only her tail moving as it flipped slowly side to side.  What could...  No, what SHOULD she tell this biped?

    "Come sit for a moment.  We've walked far enough.  You may sit on my paws if you worry about your garment."  She quirks a smile.  She's sure that Dilwen realizes her gown is just a figment too and not worthy of worry, but it is such fun to test for responses.  "If you tell me what it was like to have adoptive parents, I too will share a secret.  Do they love you?"

Ethereal-Star

Dilwen wasn't sure what to think of the sphinx walking around her slowly in a circle, as though to examine a strange specimen the other couldn't quite comprehend. She was only a little unnerved though by this.

"The storm wants to tell you your real name, Dilwen. Dilwen is your real name." the sphinx had told her, while looking at her with huge golden cat eyes. She then said it may not be the same one as at her birth, or her 'hatching' as the creature put it. Dilwen chose not to comment that humans and pretty much all humanoid races for that matter were not born from an egg, but rather their mother's womb. Instead the storm mage just walked on silently with the sphinx, taking the time to contemplate what she could.

The storm above could not harm either of them even if it struck, as this place only existed in the mind and subconscious understandings, a surreal sort of mirror image, yet not. The two tread on ground that was uncertain to both, the feeling of sadness and loss only getting stronger as they went onward into the gray nothing. Something had happened here, there was no doubt. The question was what, and why.

Looking down at her gown, Dilwen knew it too was just a figment of this place, and not real. This fact was further proven because it bore no dirt or stains on the bottom edges of it or anywhere else for that matter. It remained as pristine as ever. Sitting by Tanglemane's side, she got as comfortable as she could on the hard ground, and began speaking of her parents and her childhood. "My parents are very loving, they allowed me to do many things as I grew older. They taught me the basics that every Serenian should know. I was given an education, reading many a book on various topics. Subjects of math, history, culture, economy, reading and writing, literature, and other things as well. They taught me much about what I needed to know, what I needed to become a successful member of society. I had a mentor who taught me how to control and hone my magics, as well as a few friends and acquaintances too. It was a happy, normal Serenian life and I knew of no other way to be. Still, I wondered about that missing piece of my life, whether it was during happy times, sad times or somewhere in between, I would wonder all the same. The dream, this dream makes it so I cannot ever forget. Even though I never knew what it was to begin with." Dilwen paused for a second as she thought of what else to say.

"As I became of age, my parents wished for me to find someone to settle down with, but so far I haven't found anyone I can connect with on that level. It is like part of me is of the mortal plane while the other part of me is from somewhere else. But not the same as the fey peoples that my countrymen and women are descended from. So for now, I am content to just live my life and seek out what I can. Whether it will lead anywhere, I do not know."

They walked along some more and Dilwen sighed to herself. At least she had someone to talk to here.

"Daughter... Dilwen, honey..." A surreal voice from within Dilwen's mind spoke then, and she started, confused, looking around for the source of the voice. It sounded female to her, and the fact that it called her daughter made her wonder if her birth mother was here somewhere. However she saw nothing and no one, just her and Tanglemane walking alongside the other, the rock and dark clouds the only thing besides them present here.

Looking at her companion, she asked her if the sphinx too had heard the voice, although Dilwen somehow doubted it. It wasn't purely an external voice, but rather it seemed to come from both inside her as well as the stormy clouds above. "Did...did you hear that? A voice, calling out to me."

Listening again, she could hear the voice saying something faintly, but she couldn't understand what it was. Then all went quiet again and Dilwen frowned at this. "I don't understand!" she called out.

No answer.

Frowning again, she turned back to Tanglemane. "There's someone here, but I don't know where. I think...I think it is my mother..."

"I love you..." Then silence came, and the voice was heard no more after that.

fancycat

   Tanglemane rested peacefully as Dilwen sat beside her.  She raised the wing on that side and arched it over the other as if to shield her from the storm, though such was rather unnecessary with the lack of wind and rain.  She would comfort her what little she could.  She gazed at her as Dilwen explained her past, just nodding and silent for the most part.  At the end as the two rose to walk again, the sphinx's only comment was a soft spoken, "I wish I had a book."  Is that all the sphinx heard?

   The two walked along some more, this time side by side rather than the sphinx leading.  Tanglemane paused as Dilwen did.  Did you hear something?, the biped had asked.  Tanglemane just shook her head, "I did not.  But, I felt something stir my feathers."  Tanglemane sat back on her haunches and watched silently as Dilwen shouted out to the lightning.  She could hear no reply.  Not even an echo, but again, something barely perceptible tickled across her feathers.

   Tanglemane waited patiently while watching the expressions on her new companions face, the passing moments just making her tailtip twitch with subtle curiosity.  She had met lost souls before, but this one wasn't so much lost as searching it seemed.  Searching in places hard to search.  She could sense the other's sense of loss, and she lifted a wing, cupping and cloaking Dilwen with feathers.  "I never knew my mother either."  And then she could see Dilwen gazing up as if hearing something new.  Something had changed.  She could feel it in the ground under her paws.  The sphinx knew she couldn't remain much longer.  Like a long sigh, soon to be over, she would be expelled.

   She lifted her paw and patted Dilwen gently with it.  "Dilwen.  Dilwen."  When the woman looked down the sphinx whispered her name with a sudden intensity, "I am Tanglemane.  Call my name when you dream.  I would still tell you a secret."  But the sphinx was gone now, and there was only the lingering sensation of that paw touching for a moment longer before it too was gone.


*** Back in her cliff cave nest, the sphinx opened her eyes as her spirit returned to her.  She climbed slowly out of the nest and prowled to the ledge outside her cave to gaze out over the sea beyond Serendipity.  The sphinx heaved a sigh as she watched the sun begin to rise and she thought to herself, "Oh, Dilwen.  So much loss and sorrow.  Surely you are the echo of your mother."

Ethereal-Star

"I never knew my mother either." Tanglemane had told her as they walked, no clear destination in mind. A paw was put on Dilwen's shoulder, before the sphinx suddenly disappeared from sight.

Dilwen stared at the now empty spot for a long moment before she sighed a weary sigh. Hopefully some answers would come to her soon. She could have sworn the voice had been that of her mother's. But there was no way to know for sure now.

After a couple minutes more of wandering, Dilwen felt her actual body back home begin to stir. It was time to wake up. Awakening in her bed, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes but did not get up just yet. It seemed her dream would continue to remain a mystery for now. The woman with eyes of stormy gray wondered if she would ever find her answers, or if they would continue to elude her for her entire life. She recalled the last words of the sphinx before the creature had vanished. "Call my name when you dream. I would still tell you a secret."

While she doubted the sphinx had any real answers for her, she still wanted to hear what it had to say. But that time had already passed, having gone with the last whispery threads of the dream, as well as the final words of her mother which still echoed inside her head.

"I love you..."

((The End  :) ))