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cakeinthevoid · 2 years ago

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Cry, Baby, Cry

A short story I wrote to procrastinate on what I should be doing (please help me). Imma be honest... literally just thought of this rn. had to get it out of me. might polish it... maybe... if... okay enjoy:

“I’m not going back!” She sobbed, straining under the pressure of maintaining an energy field. Pale blue light surrounded her, twisting and shimmering like molten metal, but cracking like glass under the force of his magic.

“You’re unnatural, Iana!” He cried out over the roar of his dark burgundy magic gushing like a fierce stream of knives from his redwood wand. “Can’t you see you’re a danger to others? To yourself?” His gaze softened momentarily behind the haze of red growing around him, but his moves were calculated and cold. “This will protect you. Protect your friends! Don’t you care!?”

He punctuated his word with the strengthening of his magic, wrapping around the shell Iana formed around her crumpling form.

“Stop it!” She said furiously.

“Don’t you care!?” He repeated.

“Please, Kayin!” The boy flinched.

The hitch in magic output was enough. Iana dropped to one knee and sweeped her arms out, expanding her dome and repelling the red haze that had begun to seep through.

“Witch!” Kayin spat, already recovering from a stumble into his casting stance. “Jacob! Neomi!” He yelled to the skies.

Iana felt her eyes widen and heart turn to stone in realization. Even though she could already taste blood in her mouth, she knew Kayin could never beat her on his own. His magic was like fire; it needed something to burn in order to, well, burn. It pulled from everything around the caster—the air, the water, the earth—which is why the once lively meadow in the far courtyard was now a husk of dry grass and dead flowers.

By contrast, her energy was made to last, to outlast.

That’s why the only way to truly stop her was to contain her.

To imprison her.

Kayin was going to seal her away. Just like his father.

She felt ice in her chest again.

“Iana Meryan,” Kayin began, brown eyes deepening with red.

“No!” She panicked, eyes jumping wildly across the field, searching for Jacob’s blond curls or Neomi’s long braids.

“I, Kayin Talabi,—”

Where were they? Surely one of them held the containment item. There were few artifacts capable of containing such powerful energies, so as long as she destroyed the artifact—

“—son of Opeyemi Talabi—”

The back of her neck prickled.

“—Master of the Arcane Arts—

She sent a blast of white-hot energy behind her, phasing through her forcefield, and choked down a hysterical giggle as she heard Jacob’s voice cry out “bitch!” followed by the distinct sound of a swat landing on the back of someone’s head and the same voice crying out ‘ow.’

Before they could retaliate, she compressed her barrier, bringing it close and tightening the spaces between shimmers. All their direct magic attacks sprang right off it.

Iana tried to catch her breath in her dense cocoon. The roaring sounds of magic were muted within the walls. The only light came from the glow of the walls themselves. But she could only afford a few seconds in this relative peace, lest they bind her with her own energy. She would not risk the chance that Opeyemi refined his method and taught it to his son.

She drowned all thoughts about her friends—they weren’t her friends, not anymore—and focused on the energy in her mind, soul, and veins. Bringing her arms to her chest in a cross, she gave herself one moment before executing her signature high-risk move.

The banishment speech was long, anyway. She had heard it all before.

In a single exhale, she pulled her arms apart, splitting her cocoon in a calculated move to create sharp edges blades of dense matter that unfurled like wings of scythes, spiralling outward in a radiant burst and exposing her for all.

Kayin’s eyes widened as a blade unfurled at him—and flinched as it exploded into white butterflies inches away from slicing him open.

His speech hardly stuttered then, but went hollow with shock when his gaze jumped to Iana.

Stupid, she thought to herself as she stood there, arm outstretched and tears streaming down her face. And yet, for another stupid moment, she thought—

“This isn’t you, Kayin.”

“—forgotten whispers in the night—” The words rang hollow.

“It’s not too—” Iana cut off with a gasp and dropped to a roll, dodging a yellow blast from behind where Neomi was—arm holding a delicate wand already lowering as she pulled herself back to her feet.

“Remember what he told you!” She shouted to Kayin across the field.

In a moment that felt both too short and too long, the uncertainty in Kayin’s features twisted into resoluteness.

Iana moved to build a defense once more, chastising herself and twisting her hand upwards only for—

“—by ancient power—”

—a whip of lime green—

“—and steadfast will—”

—to wrap around her wrist, snaking down her arm.

“—the blood of ancient reign shall chill—”

She tugged, twisted away from Kayin and his ringing words to face Jacob and his vine-like chains of magic, only for her to cry out in pain as a shock of pain burst in her back.

“—lakes to ice—”

She raised a wall of pale blue matter between her and Neomi and Jacob, but Jacob’s green vines snaked around it. Yellow vines bit into her other arm. Without her dome, the red haze had begun to engulf her, dimming the bright afternoon sun.

“—sand to stone—”

Kayin’s words suddenly reached her. He was nearing the end, but she just needed to listen, then she could destroy—

“—may this mirror be your throne!” Kayin spat the words like poison, but Iana was going to go mad with laughter.

All of this, all of this show, and they thought some mirror could bind her when it took a painite-lined crystal-ice-ball for Talabi the Innovator to trap her.

She was a breath away from a truly evil cackle when Kayin whipped an ornate handheld mirror from his coat. A mirror she recognized.

It was hers, after all.

Her breath left her as though someone had kicked her in the stomach. They may as well have.

She was looking at the one thing she couldn’t bring herself to destroy from her years as an apprentice.

Hand carved wood, deep golden amber, glass she blew herself all those years—decades—ago. And the mirror. Her first perfect reflection.

How could she have been so stupid?

“Iana Meryan,” he began with a voice of red hot iron, red red red like his magic, the haze, the sun, his eyes.

“No!” she screeched, writhing with a newfound panic and fury. Not like this, not like this!

“You echoes will fade into oblivion.” He tightened his grip on his wand.

“I refuse!” She thrashed against the bonds, using her rabid gaze to plead with Noemi, to beg with Jacob.

Noemi was looking at the ground to her left, cringing.

Jacob had his brows furrowed in anger and lips pursed in pain.

They… they weren’t going to do anything.

Her fate was sealed.

The subconscious acceptance burned within her.

“Iana Meryan,” he said her name for the third time. He pinned her with a steely gaze. She stopped thrashing as thick dread settled in her bones, her core, her soul.

He looked pained, in this pause between words.

“Kayin…” she tried for the last time.

“I banish you beyond our realm.”

His words were not cried out, but they rang with the strength of a hundred oaks, of a pride of lions, of generations. The swirling red haze concentrated into streams and began zipping towards her like snakes.

She sobbed in pain as red knives cut into the fabric of her very being. She fought against it, slashing with all her power, but the knives were lined with her own energy; they were being filtered through the mirror she had made herself.

Still, she fought—she fought every second of if, no matter how fruitless—because every last painful second of her existence was worth it to breathe fresh air, to see cloud-spotted skies, and to feel the warmth of the sun.

She kept her head raised and eyes open until she completely vanished into the mirror.

——————————————————————————————————

It took less than a minute for Iana to be cast into the mirror.

It was the longest damned minute of Kayin’s life. As the last of the red haze was sucked into the face of the mirror, sealing Iana within, he took a shaky breath in.

And promptly fell to his knees.

“Kayin!”

The earth was packed, dense beneath his knees. It should have hurt to land, but he couldn’t feel much of anything. His redwood wand was pressed between his right hand and the dead grass. Under his left, face down, was the mirror. He curled his fingers around it and dug his nails into the earth.

“Dude, are you good?” Jacob dropped onto the ground to his left. Kayin saw out of the corner of his eye how he raised an arm as if to rest it on his back, only to pull back. “That was… a lot,” he said instead.

“We should get him to the med office.”

That was Neomi. Kayin blinked and realised her studded derby shoes were right in front of him already. He felt like everything was going in slow motion

“I’m fine,” he tried to say, only sounding a little slurred.

“Definitely med-office,” Jacob agreed. “Say that again, bud? Or maybe not? We’ll get some responders here to take you—”

“Shut up, he’s trying to say something.”

Truthfully, Kayin didn’t know what he was trying to say. He was more so just trying to work his mouth. After reciting the banishment, his words sounded off—his voice sounded off.

“Aaah,” he tried and shuddered. He felt like throwing up.

“Dude,” Jacob chuckled nervously, “you’re kinda freaking me out— ow!”

Kayin finally looked up to see Neomi shaking out her hand: the hand she had just presumably knocked Jacob upside the head with.

She crouched down, ignoring his muttering, and looked Kayin in his eyes.

“It’s over. I know it was hard. It was hard for all of us. But we did the right thing.”

When Kayin said nothing, she added: “Your dad will be proud.”

At that, Kayin looked back down at the scorched earth, avoiding looking at either the mirror or his wand.

Neomi sighed and stood up, cracking her back.

“Come on,” she said. “Let's get out of here.” She huffed a too dry laugh. “Guess we should at least call the groundskeeper if not the responders.”

“Christ, tell me about it,” Jacob said. “I’ve never seen your magic go so hardcore, dude. Not gonna lie, you looked epic, like a real mast–”

“Epic?” Kayin’s head jerked up. “Epic?” he repeated, looking between Jacob and Neomi, who suddenly looked tense.

“Do you realize what we just did?” He asked when neither would hold his gaze. “We banished our—our—a human,” he said instead, “to a void in a mirror.”

He shuddered, a sudden ache echoing in his being. “She was… was begging me to stop��I could feel everything. I didn’t know it was like—it was like we were connected that entire time. All her thoughts and feelings—I felt them.”

His friends were silent as he panted, choking on the weight of the air.

“She was so scared and broken and hateful and more at the same time and I didn’t know what to—” he cut off as Noemi dropped onto her knees and wrapped her arms around him, dirtying her neat pants.

Something in his core recoiled at the touch, like he didn’t deserve it, but he couldn’t bring himself to shove her away.

A moment later, he felt Jacob wrap his arms from the side.

“Dude…” he said, but didn’t elaborate.

“It’s okay,” Neomi continued instead, and horrifyingly, Kayin’s eyes began to sting. “We’ll get help, Kayin. We’ll talk with your dad as soon as we can. He can help—he’s done this before.”

She pulled back to look him in the face. He turned his head aside, knowing that his eyes were likely no longer red with magic, but with tears.

Gently, she put her hand on his cheek and turned his face back towards her.

“You did great. You were great.”

He pressed his eyes closed, feeling the tears roll down his face.

“How do you know?” he asked, voice rasping hardly above a whisper.

“Because you didn’t try to kill her.”

Unexpectedly, he snorted—an ugly and wet sound as a result of his crying. “You know we couldn’t have killed her, right? People stronger than us have tried.” He swiped at his eyes, trying to wipe his tears.

“Yeah, but you weren’t blinded by rage, or anything,” Jacob piped up and added in a dramatic voice.

“Is the bar that low?” Kayin asked through a wet laugh.

“Yes,” Jacob replied solemnly.

Neomi looked at him and snorted. “Okay guys, great heart to heart, but we should really get out of here. People are coming towards us.”

Jacob looked up and Kayin ducked.

“Yikes, let’s dip.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Teleport?” Jacob asked hopefully.

Kayin recoiled at the thought of using more magic. Neomi seemed to be of the same opinion.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “We’re going the old fashion way: walking.”

Kayin had just enough time to pick the mirror and his wand up before his friends tugged him up to his feet. A few wavering moments of unsteadiness later and he could walk in a line, if a bit crooked.

“Let’s go, terrible trio.”

And so the trio made their way to the services building just off the turf beyond the courtyard.

Quartet, Kayin thought in the back of his mind, holding the mirror a little tighter.

——————————————————————————————————

#writing in the void #in the void #iana #kayin #jacob #neomi #new ocs??? maybe. my friends. may.be.#whump #captivity #magic whump #betrayal #my cake

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blarghsandblurbs · 3 months ago

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What do you see

As i stare right back

Reflected in my eyes

As shadows wrap around

Like the blackest night

The deepest ocean

Can't begin to surface

The depths of devotion

More like

Ob.session

Life's greatest lesson

Is the ones we repeat

Turn tables turning

Scratch a record

Broken, skipping on the grooves of the beat

Of the drum, walking in step

About face and step away

From the marching steep

Steeple, i dreamed of you again

An old baba yoga

And a depraved man full of sin

My crone self knows

What the maiden cries out for

Dont abandon me again

So why try to let them in

You say i always say

The right things

I always know

Know

Except for

How to make a simple friend

Let me share shards of my heart again

When it was so broken

I couldnt care but to force myself to care

And the minute i can

I rip such a fragile thing apart again

I cant help but to care and care

My loyalties are like being tied to the tyrant

The saddest thing i ever begged for

Was simple kindness

You showed up like a thief in the night

I can still hear you call my name in dreamstate

And as i masturbate

I pretend you want me the same way

I can hear my sobs echoing like a child

As i jumped into your arms

It was like a picture.show

Unreal

My life a novella

Of monsters and demons and angels and saints

Murders, rapists and demigods

You wouldnt believe in the ghost stories i told

Unless i spoke of them like legends

Walking the in-between like a shakespearian tragedy

Only I'm a woman who finally broke

Cracked egg like humpty dumpty

But in real life you have to put it back together again

With duct tape and dark humor

And smiling like that was the end for me

The sun never stops the course skyward

Horizon bound

And you breathed into me

There was color in monochrome

And how far does that carry me

I'm alive because of you

I would have died of it wasn't for you

And I'm living

What f.or

May.be there was more

There's mo.re

Ships in the night

But the blight of scurvy

In silence we're dying

Cause the pain in my head is loud and blinding

"WHY"

「なぜここ寝？」

I cannot find an answer

Except you werent scared of me

It's you who saw me

Only you

And what does it mean?

「なぜここいるの？」

「。。。！」

Why are you here?

I have begged the heavens

To please free me

If i belong elsewhere

But thats not the story that unfolds

Remove me from your sight

Struck blind

Hollowed aloneness in purgatory might be better than being blind

Henceforth to myself i cannot lie

My biggest dream is sleep

But bed is such a hollow existence

And i dream of truly standing at a peak

Lazy days on a river

Timeless ponderings

The laughter of others is sometimes empty

And i smile a mask of nothing

"I'm tired" was the mantra of my life

And I'd rather see river dolphins

And bioluminescenct currents

A shallow river of a million stars

An otter running across the street

A gator thrown into the water

And blessed

Silent

Peace

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