Intermission #20: Annalina

Ann dashed between the shadowed figures as she followed Adir through the expansive manor. As she moved, her torch cast a dizzying array of additional shades of darkness, filtered through the ethereal darkness of the figures. Every movement was instinctive as she jerked away from grabs as she struggled to keep up with Adir, who moved like the wind. She had only a moment to regret not putting more points into agility. Suddenly a hand reached out of the darkness in the corner of her vision and grasped her wrist. She shrieked in pain and wrenched her arm away. She lost her balance and fell when the shadow offered no resistance.

The shadow moved toward her as she scrambled to her feet, thrusting the torch in its direction. It shied away from the light, but she knew more were moving in behind her. She waved the torch around wildly until she was back on her feet again. Something grabbed her from behind and she shrieked again.

“Run!” Adir yelled as he pushed her ahead of him gently.

Back on her feet once more, she raced through the manor with Adir at her side. Her wrist burned where the darkness had grabbed her. Despite the clothing she wore, its touch had pierced her to the bone. The situation provided her no opportunity to inspect her wound, however. Adir suddenly turned hard to the side, and she nearly ran onward without him. She barely had time to grab the corner of a wall to stop herself and follow him up a stairwell.

“ANN!” Adir shouted and she looked up to see the faded outline of a person at the top of the stairwell in the light their torches provided.

“I got it!” She panted. Activating her aspect, she twisted the threads that rose from the ground within the gloom around her fingers. Then she targeted the figure at the top that was slowly descending toward them and filled the void she saw within it. A blast of light cleared the top of the stairwell and Ann saw the threads of the figure sink through the floor, the planet once more stealing away the light from her grasp.

They crested the top of the stairs a moment later, and Adir held his torch up in the darkness. Ann copied his movement, trying to illuminate their situation as well. They stood on a large second level landing. Halls and rooms went off in different directions, and an additional stairwell continued upwards to another level. Directly ahead, however, Ann saw two massive double doors that were closed.

“Lord’s room!” Adir said hurriedly. He quickly moved forward and pushed on the doors. They resisted him for a moment, but their hinges tore from the stone walls a moment later. Together they rushed into the room to see yet more shadows milling about, initially oblivious to their intrusion. But as Adir rushed through, searching, Ann watched, horrified, as they twitched back into motion.

“Here.” Adir said, moving quickly to a large window leading to a balcony. “Rooftop is our only chance. The Darkness knows my weakness and filled this damn city with them.”

Ann stepped out onto the balcony with Adir and looked down. In the dark, dread and fear filled her when she couldn’t see what was below. The night Adir had taken her from her sisters was still fresh in her mind. She knew exactly what Adir was about to do. “We’re jumping aren’t we?”

Adir nodded as he cinched his backpack down. “I gotta hold a torch. You need to hold on tightly.” He looked out at the night and frowned. He held his torch out, but it did nothing to illuminate the area beyond the balcony. “Shit. I can’t see.”

Ann sneaked a look over her shoulder, holding her own torch out. She knew the shadows were behind her, but seeing how close they were made her stomach queasy. “They’re coming, Adir!”

“I know!” he snapped. “I’m thinking!” He looked around, holding the torch out in every direction he could, obviously trying to see if there was a safe place. “Can you see how far away I need to jump to another rooftop or a safe area?”

“Oh! Maybe!” Ann said in surprise, her stress also clouding her mind. She activated her aspect and looked out. Thick and thin threads swirled about as if a hurricane was lit up in her vision. The light did not illuminate the area; instead it was superimposed over the darkness, creating a clear delineation between the two. With it though, she could identify the outlines of buildings as the threads passed through their walls and roofs. “Yes!” She pulled up her group menu and selected an icon, placing it in her vision for where Adir could land.

Abruptly, Adir wrapped one arm around her waist, crouched down, and launched them into the air.

Ann gasped at the sudden acceleration. In her shock, she dropped her last torch while they were still reaching their apex. In fright, she tried to wrap her own arms around him, but the size of his body made it impossible for her to get a tight hold. She closed her eyes against the momentum on her body, but a sudden rush of wind and a powerful impact forced her eyes back open. For a moment in Adir’s torchlight, she saw a creature, large and covered with scales above her. Fleshy wings were lit up above them along with two large, monstrous fanged faces with long necks extending from the middle of its body stared down at them. Its body and wingspan was so vast, she couldn’t see the shadows overhead. The collision sent Adir and Ann spiraling in different directions.

As Ann fell into the darkness below, panic consumed her. With a painful jerk on her leg, she suddenly stopped falling. Something wrapped around her calves and thighs with an icy grip. Straining to look up, she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. Something long, wet, and cold coiled around her extremities, entangling her as she dangled. Suddenly two wings struggled against her weight, and she felt herself lifted toward the sky. Panic informing her decisions and adrenaline fueling her body, she attempted to reduce the creature to ashes. A flash of light exposed the creature above her.

The two faces she had previously seen had extended long tongues that were wrapped around her. The two large wings beat effortlessly now to gain altitude. The faces that stared back at her were both masculine and feminine, but their eyes held no sign of intelligence. The eight other eyes of The Darkness squinted against the light she produced. She twisted the threads of light around her and forced them into the creature she could now see. At the same time, a gap appeared overhead in the gloom, letting sunlight shine down on the creature’s back. Both of them filled the creature as it screeched in pain. With her aspect active, she now could see the depth of the corruption within this creature, and knew she would run out of divinity long before she could kill it. Only the scales on its body melted like wax, dripping down on her, but its wings remained intact. When her divinity ran out, she was once again cast into darkness and was carried away.

The creature's tongues were like iron chains, cold and unyielding. No matter how hard she strained against them, leveraging every ounce of her strength, they only tightened their grip. Each pull upward with her core, each desperate grasp at the unyielding bindings, was met with persistent restraint. It felt as though she was wrestling with the night itself.

Her muscles ached and her breaths came faster, the weight of her body and the pull from above depleting her stamina rapidly. Yet, even as the world below her receded and Adir's torchlight became a dim, distant needle in the vast blanket of darkness, she clung to a lifeline of hope—her divinity. It pulsed within her, rekindling with every passing moment. Finally she thought she had enough and reached out for it, preparing to attack the creature again.

And then, the unexpected sensation of weightlessness. The grip on her legs vanished.

Ann's heart lurched into her throat, and a scream tore from her lips as the ground rushed up to meet her.

You have fallen 12 feet and suffered 73 points (12% of your health) in falling damage.

You are afflicted with diaphragmatic spasm. You will struggle to breathe for the next 20 seconds.

The world spun around her. Gasping, she tried to draw air into her burning lungs, but her diaphragm convulsed, rebelling against her. Panic surged. Everywhere, darkness closed in like a thick, suffocating fog, a monstrous shadow hovered, and even her own body betrayed her. A sense of vulnerability consumed her.

“Look at you now,” said a masculine voice, echoing eerily in the encompassing darkness above her. Suddenly it switched to a sultry feminine timbre, “You’re a shell of the woman I saw in the forest weeks ago.” The air grew colder, and a weighty thud, heavy enough to shake the stones of the floor, landed nearby her. “Without me, your death is mere moments away. Your life, your every experience, is ready to be claimed by another.”

The darkness around her wasn't just an absence of light. It was thick, heavy, chilling her to the bone. The stillness of it was deafening, only interrupted by the soft flutter of unseen wings or distant whispers that might just be her imagination. The air tasted stagnant, tinged with an undercurrent of metallic bitterness.

She felt a massive creature, its presence vast and chilling, looming over her as she still struggled to take a breath. “I can save you from this wasteful end. Won’t you let me teach you?” it whispered, its voice silkier than before.

Ann’s timer ticked down to the last second. Just when she thought she'd be swallowed by the abyss, she managed to take a full gasp of refreshing air into her lungs. “Adir…” she managed. But before she could say more, icy fingers, cold as the void, grabbed her in the dark. She flailed, feeling nothing to anchor her, but the touch of multiple cold hands cut into her clothing and skin. The sensation of ice flowing thick through her veins forced her to activate her aspect in desperation.

Suddenly, as if the world had inhaled sharply, everything was awash in gold and white. Light broke through the oppressive gloom, revealing the shadows, the winged creature, and the tower she was stranded on. Shadows recoiled, retreating from the brilliance, and Ann watched in fascination as her divinity did not drop a single point with the effort. She was on the tower, and it stood defiantly, a beacon amid the choking darkness.

From beneath her feet, a torrent of light threads surged upwards, intertwining, converging, and dancing like a luminous storm. The sheer volume of light threads here was staggering. Unlike elsewhere, these threads didn't just flutter and ebb away; they pulsated with force and vigor. Above her, they met a shadowy obstruction and were converted into darkness by something she couldn't discern. The planet seemed to be channeling its essence, its lifeblood, to this singular point. She stood in the center of a vortex of raw, unbridled power. She realized, however, that something else was twisting the threads around. “I only need to change their target!”

Recognizing the powers at play, Ann directed all of the light threads toward the encroaching shadows. The threads were like divine harpoons, seeking and destroying their targets with precision. One by one, they ignited and burst, unraveling into more light. The monstrous creature, sensing the power she wielded, let out a fearful shriek and took flight down and over the edge of the tower, escaping her wrath. In a matter of moments, the shadows around her were obliterated, and she stood alone.

Yet, as she tried to retract her control over the threads, she found herself ensnared. She tried to target them back to the top of the gloom, but couldn’t find an anchoring point. Panic began to rise within her as the threads twisted around her fingers, hands, and then her arms. The energy began to grow and vibrate around her body. They seemed to cling to her, unwilling to let go. Their pull was relentless, the sheer vibrance overwhelming her senses. It was as if the light expelled from the planet itself resisted being returned to obscurity. In fact, she was certain the rate that the light was gathering around her was steadily increasing.

Desperation set in when the pulsing of the energy grew hot around her. Her bonding sickness throbbed within her, a painful reminder of her vulnerability. Directing the threads once more, she pointed their power to target her illness. Immediately the threads careened into her body. She moaned in delight as system notifications began to appear in her vision.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x372

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Time until next phase: 4 hours, 42 minutes, 6 seconds

You have satisfied 99.9% of the current phase’s requirements ahead of schedule.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x371

Time until next phase: 12 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds

You have satisfied 99.9% of the current phase’s requirements ahead of schedule.

Ann watched the affliction’s phase requirements count up. They were satisfied in a matter of moments before a stack was removed. A moment later the same thing happened again.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x370

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x369

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x368

She looked down, between her feet. Thick threads of light rose up from the blocks that made up the tower. Every stream of light was connected directly to her chest where she knew the gaping hole existed within her being. Above her head, the darkness began to thin. A single stream of sunlight broke through and shone down on her. But with each moment, a growing unease settled within her. She could feel the threads beneath her pulling from something massive—something vital. Though she couldn't see it, every fiber of her being told her she was tapping into a source of immense power, and that source was being rapidly depleted. Every second that went by, even more streams of light shot up between her feet, only to be intercepted into her being.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x362

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x359

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x356

Her bonding sickness was being healed so quickly, the system’s notifications were no longer providing them in proper order anymore. She reveled in the feeling of health returning to her existence. Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt a momentary sense of peace. As if agreeing with her, even more sunlight streamed down overhead. She opened her eyes and looked out over the city. Everywhere she looked, she saw shadowed people fleeing from the light into natural shadows as the gloom slowly evaporated. In the distance she could see Adir racing along a road with a torch in each hand. He stopped for a moment when a beam of sunlight overhead crossed his path. She raised a hand to wave at him, but she wasn’t certain he saw her.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x132

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x127

Ann turned her attention back to the more immediate problem. Although by the second she was feeling more rejuvenated, she knew Palitern’s threads of light would soon need another source to nourish. She looked up desperately once again. With the sun shining overhead, she had hoped to see what the threads were originally feeding, but her eyes observed there to be nothing there. An idea struck her. Maybe the source of these threads, or a way to disconnect from them, lay beneath her. She ran to the tower’s entrance, seeing the stairwell was partially blocked by a rotted door. Mustering her strength, she kicked, hearing the door splinter and crash into an abyss below. The echoing fall and the cold emptiness that met her hand as she reached forward was all the confirmation she needed. The stairs were gone.

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x62

You have been afflicted with Bonding Sickness x51

She backed away from the deadly fall and watched the final stacks of bonding sickness disappear in a flash.

You have been cured of Bonding Sickness.

Annalina Level Up: You reached level 23 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate.

Annalina Level Up: You reached level 24 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate.

Annalina Level Up: You reached level 25 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate.

Select your subclass.

As her bonding injury closed with swift finality, Ann felt the light spill over and fill her body. Other people’s experiences, raw and overpowering, flooded her mind as her own experience counter racked up numbers. Suddenly though, a tremor shook the tower, followed by another, stronger and more violent. She lost her footing and fell to her knees. The very planet seemed to revolt against the disturbance of its life force.

Annalina Level Up: You reached level 27 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate. Annalina Level Up: Your subclass has reached level 4. You have yet to select your subclass. Annalina Level Up: Your subclass has reached level 6. You have yet to select your subclass. Annalina Level Up: You reached level 29 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate. Annalina Level Up: Your subclass has reached level 8. You have yet to select your subclass. Annalina Level Up: You reached level 31 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate.

Her levels continued to rocket forward as she felt her body warming up. In desperation she tried to spend her attribute points in an effort to stave off what she was certain was the end. At first she dumped points into her vitality, watching her health pool increase rapidly, but that did nothing to save her from the growing discomfort of energy coursing through her body. Then she placed as many points into divinity as she could before the painful consequences overrode her ability to add more.

When she regained control of herself seconds later, she saw her levels had continued to accumulate.

Annalina Level Up: You reached level 86 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate. Annalina Level Up: You reached level 88 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate. Annalina Level Up: Your subclass has reached level 32. You have yet to select your subclass. Annalina Level Up: You reached level 91 and have 3 more attribute points to allocate.

She placed more points into vitality before trying to pull the threads away from her body, but she only managed to extract a fraction of what was still funneling into her. Whimpering at the anticipated pain and growing futility of her situation, Ann slammed more points into her divinity. The tower rocked once more as if her world shook in protest, and she fully fell to the ground in pain. Time blurred for her, but when she regained consciousness she saw the threads entering her body had halted. A different kind of notification had appeared in her vision.

World System Notification

Inhabitants Of Palitern, the world recently navigated an experience anomaly. As part of the adaptive measures, a minuscule fraction of your life experiences has been harnessed to restore balance. Your experiences are invaluable to me, but this action was crucial to uphold the world’s continued harmony. You have my eternal gratitude for your understanding.

~Trina~

Ann lay breathing heavily on her side, reading the message several times. Understanding began to dawn on her. She had caused this. Slowly though, she saw the sunlight overhead begin to dim. The whoosh of wings returned as she sat up and looked around. The two headed creature stared down at her with a broad grin on each face. The six eyes on each head focused squarely on her.

“I have yet to teach you the truth, but you have taught it to everyone else so perfectly. Have you come to understand it on your own, Ann? It can not be more plain to see than now.” The feminine voice cooed.

Ann, conflicted and weary, met the creature's gaze, the weight of others' experiences pressing down on her. “How… am I alive?”

The creature’s numerous eyes blinked as they expressed disappointment at her ignoring its question. The masculine voice responded thoughtfully, “I reset the resurgence when it became clear you wouldn't be able to save yourself.”

“Why?” Ann whispered, voice quivering. “You tried to kill me.”

The massive creature stepped down from the parapet’s ledge as it cautiously approached her even as the darkness grew heavier. “In the forest, you showed a desire to learn. Here, you showed the capability to teach others. I do not kill those who have such potential. Earlier, I sought only to bring you under my influence, to my system, not to destroy you, but to open your eyes to a reality beyond what you know. My methods… are misunderstood by many. But my intention is not purely destructive.”

The feminine face drew nearer, its lips curving into an oddly tender smile, in contrast to the dagger-like sharpness of its numerous teeth, “Your world, Ann, is more than just stark contrasts. While some seek comfort in the brilliance of light, others find solace in the embrace of the shadows. I dwell in those depths, as a realm teeming with unspoken secrets. I wish for you to glimpse this expanse, to recognize that amongst the white lies exists the dark truths.”

Ann recalled the terror she felt, the icy fingers, the menacing darkness. But now, confronted with these soothing voices, cured of bonding sickness, and level boosted, she was conflicted. Something she had once seen as evil had saved her. “And what about all the fear you spread, the lives you've taken?”

“The path to enlightenment is never easy,” the masculine voice murmured, echoing an old pain. “Every transformation requires a breakdown first. There is so much to transform in this world, and so much that I must break. My actions, as drastic as they may seem, are a call for change, growth, and transformation.”

The feminine voice interjected, “Please, let me show you, Ann. There's a way, separate from Trina’s limited vision. Learn from me, and you may discover that the world can be better and more enlightened.”

Ann looked down at her hands and then back up to the faces she could now barely see in the fading light. “Do you know what happened to my sisters?”

“Yes,” cooed the voices in equal harmony.

“I… I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice trembling in the last bits of light as the gloom overhead took over once more. Weakened, tired, and alone, she struggled to make sense of what was happening. “I need time… to understand.”

“Take all the time you need,” said the creature gently, their voices speaking in unison. "Time has never been an issue.”