grim29

[xcziel]

.

[a-memory-of]

The landscape around her had changed. A large, stony plaza stretched out before her, ancient buildings rising on each side, silhouetting a sky burning bright with gold and white.

The place felt different. Odd. Visions shifted out of the corner of her eye, as though anything could change in an instant once out of view. The soft sound of ticking could be heard. While at first it would be difficult to determine where it was coming from, she would soon realize it was coming from...everywhere. In the cracks of the cobblestones in the floor and walls, she would see clockwork gears turning.

Above her, a vibrant sun shone, large and bright. However, a small blue star twinkled beside it, its own hue not lost in the radiant sky. In the center of the plaza was a large summoning circle, old and broken. The runes were ancient and unreadable, although its purpose seemed clear enough on its own.

On the opposite side, she would find the body of Ruran Vas sitting on a tall stone throne. His head hung down, golden light flickering behind the white mask. He was garbed in ancient robes, and the marble mask was much more ornate than the one the knight always wore. A long scepter leaned loosely against the crook of his thumb and forefinger, resting against the throne. An aura of power emanated from him, despite being unmoving.

Ellere Valahan remembered reaching out for Ruran, knowing the feeling of a tell-tale teleportation spell being cast. But the light was blinding, and her hand only brushed the air. The next she knew, she was somewhere else entirely. A place she had no name for. She looked up first, the bright sky, the sun, the star. It was enough for her to determine this place was not any that she knew to be real.

Her gaze drifted down, over the buildings and catching on the turning gears. Her head shook, unconsciously, confused. Then she saw him across the way. The stuttering sound of the beginning of his name left her lips as she stepped forward. Looking down at the runes beneath her feet for just a moment, Ellere closed the distance between them.

"Ruran..." she whispered, frantic, partially kneeling at the foot of the throne and her hand reached out over his.

As she crossed the circle, the sky shifted like a heat wave, but it was far too sudden and organic, as if a wing had stretched over the air. At her touch, the light in Ruran's eyes flickered. A quiet inhale, and he began to rouse. "Ellere..?" It was Ruran's voice, quiet and slow with confusion. "Wh--where..."

She spared the sky a brief glance, noticing the change. But the sound of Ruran's voice drew her attention away. It was soft, it was his. It was one of the few familiar things here. Ellere shook her head, taking his hand between both hers. "I do not know," she looked up at him. "I remember the light took you. And then I woke here."

Realization seemed to finally strike him, and he sat up straighter. "No--" The scepter in his hand dropped and clanked against the stones. "This is not--I should be--" His eyes pinched shut, and he took a few moments to gather himself. "I don't understand..."

"Hush," she gently soothed him. Ellere bit down on her lip and shifted her weight to retrieve the fallen scepter. She kept one hand firmly in his, as if that contact would keep granting her whatever this was, keep him there. "I... do not either. But I am here. And so are you. Let us take a breath, and focus on that. Then we shall find out why."

Ruran nodded. "Y-yes, of course." He did his best to push aside his concerns. He lifted himself from the throne and took a few steps forward. His attention turned to the scene around them, the summoning circle and the ticking walls. But the words that followed were unrelated, "I never thought I'd see you again," the knight murmured in her direction. "I am...relieved."

Ellere pushed up to her feet herself, giving him space to stand. He looked so different, clad in such formal robes and mask that caught the light of the sun as it did. She breathed out, a small quiet laugh. One that was probably to keep her from crying instead. "As am I... we had spent so much time together, yet, I knew it would never be enough. It would never prepare me for when you..."

________________________________

With @weepingknight

Ruran frowned. For all he knew, he could be leaving this world. Or was gone already. He put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "You have always been strong, and you always will be." There was no stone around his neck, notably. 

"There you are," a voice suddenly spoke. Standing where Ellere had first entered, and woman with tanned skin with light brown hair was smiling. She wore an outfit typical to a casual resident of La Noscea. Behind her, a portal of white light shone.

Ruran froze. Behind the ornate mask, his eyes widened. Slowly, he turned his head to look toward the figure. His breath had stopped.

Ellere doubted the strength he spoke of. Experience had taught her enough. But it did not make it easier. Not this, not with him. The voice startled her, both hands gripping the scepter. She looked across the way, not recognizing the woman. The way Ruran had tensed beside her told her he did. "Ruran?"

The sky shifted again but remained bright and vivid. Ruran stared straight ahead. If Ellere could see beyond the mask, she would have seen the color drain from his face. 

"Ruran? You must mean Locke. My husband." She smiled again, too sweet. The woman held out one hand to beckon him to her. "Come along, Emma is waiting."

An image appeared in the portal behind her. It portrayed the scene of the inside of a house, and a small girl playing with a stuffed moogle toy. She had wavy blonde hair, and her eyes were a striking blue. Ruran took a step forward, as if by instinct.

Something about the woman seemed...off. It was difficult to put a finger on. The scepter thrummed with power in Ellere’s hands.

Ellere's eyes widened. Slowly she put features together and remembered, the young woman in the visions at the workshop. But she also remembered what else she had saw. It made little sense why this woman would be here. Another vision, yes, just like the buildings and the sky perhaps. It was different, however.

Reaching out, Ellere grabbed Ruran's closest hand. Her heart ached. She could see it, what lay beyond that woman. She knew Ruran had wanted it. Knew he deserved it. But something was telling her to hang on to him. "Ruran, this... it doesn't feel right."

As Ellere spoke truth, small blue flowers began to sprout at her feet, pushing their way up from between the stones. Ruran glanced toward their hands, although his attention was still focused forward. "I gave up everything..." His quiet voice whispered. "To protect our family." 

"You did," the woman smiled. "And you have done well, and fulfilled your oath. Your time in this world is over, Locke. Come here, embrace us. Embrace her." She motioned to the girl still playing behind her. "She misses you dearly." 

Ruran took another step, but then he paused. Ellere's words remained with him. Ellere's presence, too, made him conflicted. He looked back to Ellere, searching her expression. His hesitance caused the woman's arms to cross, impatient.

"I know, I know you did," Ellere dropped her eyes a moment, pinching her brow together. This was cruel. When she opened her eyes, she saw the flowers at her feet, unsure. He stepped forward, and she did not. Her hand held his, stretching her arm as far as it allowed. "There is no one more deserving, but... the workshop, Ruran, what we saw."

She looked up at that, meeting his gaze. "Why would they be here now...? They knew nothing of what you did for them. This," she squeezed his hand, "This is all that feels real in this place. And to let you go-- ... everything in me is screaming not to."

More flowers bloomed at Ellere's feet, spreading outward. Ruran's eyes flicked, searching his thoughts. She spoke sense. Her hand was comforting; it always had been. He gave the barest of nods, considering.

The woman watched, and her posture tensed as Ruran deliberated. "Locke," she said again, her voice harder with the smile gone. "You would forsake your own daughter? Your own wife? Come here. Now." Upon closer inspection, cracks had begun to form in her visage.

Ruran's gaze didn't leave Ellere, even as the command rung in his ears. Were he just a bit weaker willed, he would have obeyed. "I do not...want to..." He quietly murmured, the words of rejection unfamiliar on his lips.

It was not easy, watching him. Had Ellere herself been given such a choice, in another time, she knew her own heart would be conflicted. "Whatever this place is," Ellere began, taking her own steps forward now through the blooming flowers. "Whoever they are. Your heart knows the truth."

Ellere closed the gap, releasing his hand only to draw him into a tight embrace instead. "You did not forsake them. You kept them safe. You fought and bled, for them for so long." The words were spoken low, near his neck, as her arms wrapped around his shoulders and gripped his robed back.

Ruran put his arms around her middle, pulling the hug even tighter. The blossoms at Ellere's feet had followed her, sprouting up wherever she stepped and expanding beyond. The sky shifted again.

"Locke!" She bellowed, but there was a change in her voice. Grinding and metallic. 

"--No." Ruran's voice held resolve. He turned his head to look toward the woman, still keeping hold of Ellere. "I will not go. I want to stay." This was the first time Ellere had heard him utter those words aloud. He wanted to stay.

The woman's teeth grit together. At her joints, the woman's skin began to separate into clean lines, exposing metal beneath. A mammet. The image in the portal disappeared, reverting back to a disc of white light. "Then I will take you!"

Ellere's breath caught, a stuttering sound against the fabric at his shoulder. He wanted to stay. She remembered what she had swore to Ari'doram. If he wished to stay, then she would do everything, and anything, to keep him from the fate he believed he had.  Pulling back, she looked to what the woman had become, and then down at the scepter.

She did not know what it was, but she could feel the power in it. "I will not let you," she spoke low at first, then repeated it again louder and looking to the woman. It was silly perhaps, praying to some power resting in a scepter that was not hers. But she asked it a simple request, please, help me protect him.

The mammet's limbs elongated and rose taller, and its face twisted and parted in various places, exposing gears beneath. It sprinted forward on all fours and lunged. Ruran readied himself to take any blows to protect Ellere, keeping himself between them. The look in his eyes held determination.

The scepter thrummed in Ellere's hands. "I hear thy prayers." A chorus of Ari'doram's voices came from all around them. That same fuzzy feeling spread up her arm as when she touched Ruran's hand during the final stone. In a burst, golden aether spread outward, forming a magical dome around them that she was quite familiar with casting. Every ilm of ground within the barrier sprang up with vibrant blue blossoms. The barrier would remain up even as Ellere's attention would focus elsewhere.

The mammet crashed into the barrier with a surprised screech, then began to claw desperately at it. "Return to us!" it repeated, over and over. Ruran looked at Ellere in surprise and awe.

As the mammet lunged, Ellere was halfway into trying to conjure a barrier of her own. But she had no idea if magic could be called here. She had not her globe, nothing on her person. It was not needed. She heard the familiar voices, felt the power, and then they were protected.

She looked back to Ruran, equally as surprised, but also with a hard look of determination in her eyes. "I never gave up hope," she finally said. "Even now, in this place that may not be real, knowing you want to stay.... it was what I needed to hear. I swore I would fight for you. I have to believe all this means something."

The word 'hope' ignited something in the sky. The blue star burst, growing brighter than the sun beside it.

"It must," Ruran agreed, his gaze locked on hers. "This...cannot be the end. Let it not be." He placed his hands on the one which she held the scepter. The dome began to expand, and the mammet let out another shriek as the aether began to eat away at its form. The barrier shot out at all sides, the flowers following after it and filling the space, until all the ruins were gone. All the sand was gone.

They were standing in a field of blue flowers that stretched endlessly to all sides, with a clear sky ahead, and the star shining bright. The shifting in the sky that had been present began to condense, shifting into a massive humanoid shape suspended in the sky.

Details emerged—a large sword and shield in its hands, and a ring of five masks slowly rotated around a glowing, featureless head. The being was adorned in plated armor, ancient and divine, and two pairs of long semi-translucent wings stretched over the sky like a barrier unto itself. 

"Thou hast kept thine oath." Ari'doram appeared to be addressing Ellere.

Ellere looked to the endless field of flowers. It was beautiful. When she looked up  to the sky, and saw the star, her eyes stung. A flurry of emotions that she could barely hold back. The swirling form drew her attention from the star, and her lips parted in awe. 

Whatever she had expected of the being that resided in the soulstone, it could not compare. "Ari'doram," she let the name out on a breath. Ellere looked to Ruran, their hands together over the scepter. "Thank you."

Ruran followed her gaze from the star to Ari'doram, and his eyes widened. He was struck speechless by the entity's form, its presence so familiar yet the appearance far more than anything he had expected. "What does...this all mean?" Ruran between Ellere and Ari'doram, his fate still uncertain.

Ari'doram dipped its head to Ellere, then turned its attention toward Ruran. "Thy duties yet continueth."

Ruran tilted his masked face, and then his brows rose as if some sort of silent agreement had been realized. The edges around everything began to fade, each petal of every blossom parting into a myriad speckles of light. Whatever this place was, it would be gone soon. He looked back to Ellere, one hand leaving the scepter to touch the side of her face. 

"Find me," Ruran instructed with newfound understanding.

"In the place where thine oath was made," Ari'doram finished.

Flecks of light danced on the edges of her vision. The flowers in the distance scattering away. Her mind was feeling distant again, as she remembered when Ruran had first disappeared in that flash of light. Whatever blessing she had been given was ending. But it no longer felt final as it had before.

"I will," she promised him, a hand covering his. "And I will not tell you goodbye. Not now. And not ever, Twelve willing." Her hand left his, reaching up and carding fingers through his hair and tucking some behind his ear.

"I will see you soon, dear," and as the flickering lights came closer, she leaned in and placed a soft touch of her lips over his polished mask.

A soft smile shone in his eyes, and he reached to hug her again, tight. Ari'doram had faded into the light, and soon everything else did too, with the two of them being the last.

[imagination-marvel]

Beyond The Unknown - Yon-Rogg

~PART ONE~

Summary: After being separated from everything you know and love, you meet Yon-Rogg, a Commander of the Kree Starforce who saves your life after finding you adrift in space. You then find yourself on Hala, the Kree homeworld where an unlikely relationship begins to form, a relationship that will be tested beyond its limits when new threats emerge.

WARNINGS: N/A - Set through Infinity War and Endgame.

The escape pod hurtled violently through the vast expanse of space. With the lack of any propulsion system, there was no way for me to at least stabilise the pod enough so I could figure out where exactly I was, and what I was going to do. My mind still raced as the events from earlier came rushing back in a harsh wave causing my breath to catch in my throat. Thanos had killed half of the entire Asgardian population, I had witnessed him murder men, women and children mercilessly, the mere thought of it bringing tears to my eyes. I had no idea if Thor, Loki or Bruce were alright, and I had no way of knowing if any of the Asgardians had survived the explosion of the Asgardian ship.

The hull of the pod was incredibly damaged, and the oxygen levels were depleting fast. Different coloured lights were flashing everywhere as my mind raced a million miles an hour. I had no idea what I had to do. There had to be something, anything that would at least give me a chance of survival, as the distress beacon I had miraculously managed to activate had been transmitting for roughly four hours now, with no sign of a response. I began to feel incredibly light-headed, as the lack of oxygen slowly began to take its effect. As I tried to stand in the limited space the escape pod provided, I suddenly collapsed to my hands and knees, coming to the realisation that the oxygen supply was depleting faster than I thought.

“Miss Stark, your heart rate is increasing!” F.R.I.D.A.Y. panicked, causing me to roll my eyes and completely dismiss her statement. “I know, it’s because I’m struggling to breathe...” I responded, once again trying to stand before collapsing onto my back, clawing at my half-destroyed armoured chest. “I’m trying to find a way to boost the signal in order to increase the range so we will have more of a chance to-” “F.R.I.D.A.Y. it’s okay...” I somewhat mumbled, managing to pull myself up into a sitting position, sighing loudly as I realised that I could not avoid the inevitable. “Could you do me a favour and just turn off...everything?” I asked the A.I. calmly, a somewhat strange feeling settling in my chest as the interior of the escape pod became silent. Stars began to dance across my vision as my gaze drifted down to the rest of my body, slowly examining the beaten and battered suit of armour covering my form. A large gaping hole sat opened just above my stomach, as bits of broken metal stuck outward from where Proxima Midnight had torn through and ripped away a large chunk of metal. There were other cuts and slashes, especially the gaping hole just near the arc reactor on my chest, but I otherwise wasn’t too badly injured. 

“I’m sorry Miss Stark...I wish there was more that I could do” F.R.I.D.A.Y. mused sadly, her voice dropping in octave as she too knew that the inevitable was approaching. A small smile formed on my face, despite the fear that enveloped my entire being. “It’s okay F.R.I.D.A.Y., none of this is your fault...not in the slightest” I responded, taking a deep breath whilst ignoring the pain in my chest. The corners of my vision began to blur, as my head fell back against the interior of the pod. The impending thought that I was going to die terrified me. Fond memories ran through my mind, of my brother Tony, of Steve, of Nat...of everyone that I knew back home. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Would you be able to do me a favour?” I asked dryly, feeling my limbs slowly becoming heavier as my body began to lose all feeling. “Of course, what can I do for you?” the A.I. asked softly, her tone somewhat comforting in the deafening silence that covered the interior or the escape pod. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, allowing myself to be lulled into a false sense of security by the awaiting arms of eternal darkness. “Will you be able to tell Tony what happened...and that I’m okay?” I asked her, as the world around me slowly began to fade. “Of course, I promise...” she mused, “...Good luck, Miss Stark” she finished, before the interior of the escape pod fell completely silent once more. 

I tried to focus on nothing but the darkness that would eventually consume every single one of my senses, selfishly wishing that the oxygen would run out faster. However, in an unexpected turn of events, a bright light suddenly flooded the inside of the escape pod, causing my eyes to slowly flutter open, only to squeeze shut at the harshness of the light. Once my eyes become adjusted, I turned my gaze towards the cockpit of the ship, seeing the silhouetted form of a large unknown ship of unknown design, hovering only a few metres in front of my small, somewhat destroyed escape pod. A sudden surge of hope formed in my chest, as my body began to haul itself up into a standing position before stumbling toward the front of the pod, silently praying that this was not a figment of my imagination. Before I could reach the cockpit however, my limbs decided to completely shut down, causing my body to land harshly on the floor.

By now, my body began to convulse harshly from the lack of oxygen entering my system. I rolled over onto my back, absentmindedly watching the stars dance across my vision in mesmerising patterns. I could feel the darkness looming in the back of my mind, slowly taking hold of my body as every muscle relaxed and laid limply on the floor. I could hear my heart beating loudly in my ears, as my breathing began to slow. It was then that despite my body being numb, I could feel the escape pod jerk slightly, as the interior of the pod was consumed in darkness. The door to the escape pod was pried open, the sound of metal scraping against metal causing my head to turn in that direction to see a light green glow, which slowly dissipated to reveal the figure of a man wearing a green, silver and black uniform. The figure approached me slowly, his golden eyes standing out amongst the darkness of the escape pod. As the figure knelt down before me, I could make out the features of a man, who wore a concerned expression on his face. 

As my eyes fluttered closed, I could feel a slight pressure applied to the area underneath my jaw where my pulse should be. I could distantly feel myself being lifted from the floor and into the stranger’s arms before I lost all complete feeling in my body.                    

Tag List: @mell-bell