» Hauntings & Healings

ERTHË The place was hauntingly familiar. Floods of memory welled up within her as she roamed the winding labyrinth while the writhing whittled away at the barrier between imagination and reality. Erthë thought she could distinguish shapes in that roiling whiteness, faces and forms of individuals loved and lost. It took a while for her to accept that this really was the same land that she had come to know as Helovian, the same Green Labyrinth that so many had died to obtain... and once she did, all the little mare could think of was how she had met her Goddess for the first time. It had been here, somewhere amidst these winding paths, in a clearing that probably could not be distinguished from any other... Yet she couldn't help searching for it, even though it was hopeless. It would be like... like finding another piece of the Lady's body, another proof that it had not all been a dream, another keepsake to remember Her by. The memory of the exquisitely perfect features were still burned onto the insides of her eyelids, still vibrant and clear and strong. But how long would that last? How long, before she started to forget the details of that beloved face, how long until her mind began to fabricate details, twist things around until the Goddess became nothing more than a shadow of Her true glory? Erthë just could not let that happen. And yet, the deeper she came into the green bamboo forest, the more unsettled she felt. Those shapes at the corners of her eyes seemed to multiply, growing more distinct and increasingly familiar the further she went. Then she turned around a bend in the path, and suddenly voices cut through the stillness, shouts and screams and an all too familiar growling voice that nearly brought her to her knees in shock and horror. Erthë ran towards the noise, and came upon the scene with eyes wide and startled, and found herself standing there as if paralyzed, unable to comprehend. But... but they had killed the wolf. Killed it, butchered it, scattered its body across every corner of Helovia. She even carried a piece of him around her neck, a black fang that glowed with a dark aura that was not light but not exactly darkness either. And yet... here he was, or his eyes at least, and that tiger had appeared too for a short while... Did that mean they were not truly dead? If their minds were still lingering, could there be a way to bring them back? It was a strange thing to contemplate, considering how hard she had fought to help slay these monsters not so very long ago. But if their return meant that Kaos' powers would diminish, if it meant she could atone for her part in the destruction of someone else's home - the way Kisamoa had destroyed hers -  then it was worth a try. Even though the sight of the gleaming eyes frightened her. Even though the snapping teeth still haunted her nightmares. Even though she feared Reszo more than any of the other Riftian gods or even Kaos in his twisted, ever-changing nightmare of a body. Dodging and weaving to avoid the attacking spirits, their faces so familiar and precious that the sight of their features twisted into grimaces of anger and hate nearly drove her from her senses, Erthë tried to get closer to the apparition of the Wolf God, in the hopes that the remnant of its body might grant some vestige of power to manifest further, some anchor in this physical world from which to draw strength - perhaps even revive it some. If you ever want to join me, baby I'll be dancing in the dark

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Erthë tries to bring the WOLF GOD'S FANG closer to Reszo, in the hopes that it will give him some strength (and so he can revive and eat Kaos, lol)