methuselah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
singmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
singillatim2024-01-01 12:12 am
singmod) wrote in singillatim2024-01-01 12:12 am
Entry tags:
- *mod post,
- alluri rama raju: xil,
- benton fraser: lorna,
- bigby wolf: jelle,
- billy gibson: jelle,
- damian wayne: cass,
- edward kenway: effy,
- edward little: jhey,
- erichthonios: fey,
- francis crozier: gels,
- harry goodsir: karin,
- kate marsh: cheryl,
- kieren walker: cheryl,
- konstantin veshnyakov: jhey,
- lanfear: carly,
- levi jordan: cirape,
- nicholas wolfwood: joe,
- randvi: tess,
- renny oldoak (tav): jay,
- rorschach: shade,
- ruby rose: josh,
- thomas jopson: kota,
- tim drake: fox,
- tobi (lone wanderer): coeurl
prelude
How will you face this quiet apocalypse?
— Raphael van Lierop.
As the old year falls and the new year begins, the skies fill with light. An Aurora comes on the last day of December, and with it the usual signs of it: the ethereal noise, the cracks and pops in the air, the stuttering of electrics as they struggle to power on and then blare and flicker. It is, as Interlopers have come to know, business as usual — in terms of the Auroras within this world. However, something a little different happens this time.
Interlopers will fall asleep all over the town of Milton. Even the ones who fight sleep and try to stay up into the small hours of the night will find themselves drifting off for a short while — as if their eyes just feel too heavy to keep open, and their minds slip into a deep kind of quiet darkness without their realising. And at first, there is nothing — nothing but the quiet dark. Something peaceful, almost.
A dream comes.
The first thing you notice is blood in your mouth, the cold in your bones, the deafening din in your ears — as if you are caught in static and the sound of howling winds through pine trees. You are afraid. At first, you do not know why. You find yourself on your knees in the snow. The skies are filled with green light, the air is thick with smoke. And then the realisation comes:
This is the ending of all things.
You look up, to the sight before you: a huge, shapeless shadow. Towering above you, over you. A head peers down at you: a cluster of three wolf skulls, eye-sockets glowing green and terrible, and their three open maws, dripping with more green. The sound it makes is unnatural, you cannot put it into words. The darkness draws in, you are so cold, so tired.
This is the ending of all things.
It is so hungry. You are so tired. The world falls away, you cannot see the stars, the dark hiding them from view. Were they even there to begin with? Or did they go out? You have forgotten. And you know, you know—
This is the ending of all things.
The skies glimmer, licks of strange, colourful wisps curl above — a voice screams out your name, from the static and winds. Through the noise. A woman’s voice. You have heard this voice before, in the lights and noise. Do you see? What could be? What you could become?
Can you hold on? Please. A hand grips your shoulder, but as you turn — the dream ends.
For some, they snap into waking with a shout or cry. Some will shudder awake to find tears in their eyes. All over Milton, the Interlopers wake: shaken, unsure, afraid. They will awaken to the dark: the Aurora is gone — slowly fading from the night skies into an otherwise calm and clear night.
It is a new year.
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"There was a voice...but it felt like someone else."
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A log crumbles into ash in the fire, sending showers of sparks floating up into the darkness around them. "What makes you think it was a god?"
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"I see. Well, that's possible, of course, but what would one of your gods be doing here? Do you think this is your world?"
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"But even if it is the god you think it is, we don't know yet if it will turn out to be anything other than a dream, Levi."
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In fact, the possibilities are almost endless. Fraser takes up a stick and nudges at one of the burning logs, funneling more oxygen to the flames below. "You know, I find myself sometimes having trouble accepting that, although this place looks very similar to the area where I grew up, it's a different one entirely. Some of the rules are still the same, of course, and much of what I learned there applies here. But not everything."
The smile he offers the young man is warm and kind. "The trouble is in determining what is the same, and what isn't. And it helps, of course, to hear others' perspectives. For instance, I never would have considered that the presence in that dream could be some sort of god, if you hadn't stopped by. So I'm grateful to gain a new perspective, and in that way, I hope, come closer to the truth."
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"But while we're waiting, I need to go and check my traps. Would you like to come with me, Levi? I can show you some of the techniques. And if you're willing to share, I'd like to hear more about your theory and this god. You never know what information might come in handy down the line. And perhaps you'd like to hear a little about the gods familiar to the people where I come from... the Inuit believe spirits and gods are as much a part of the world as you or I are."
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About his gods, though...he has no desire to learn about any religion. But he doesn't want to be rude... "Um, okay, if you don't mind talking about them."
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He's searching in a pack for extra cord and wire, speaking without looking over. "I'm more curious to see if there are any other similarities to discern between what you know, what the Inuit speak of, and what we saw in our dream last night. You never know what might be helpful."
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He waits for Fraser to gather whatever he needs, then will follow the man out into the wilds.