CW:

AWNYA POV! Then Lyra POV. Violence. head wounds. capture and being tied up!

We’re sitting in the entry room alone. A tray of fruits and the weird spiced cider of her manor before me, a tray of some of the same before her. The tome laying between us. She’d let me verify it was the correct one before we’d even sat down.

“Now…” She lounges back in her chair. “Tell me what happened to My Lyra.”

Dreamer’s Tits her grin and… and how she still calls her my Lyra just… just makes me want to toss aside our truce and watch her big horrid soul melt away.

But… I… I can’t. However much I’m glad to be away from my kind… I’m still Fae. Still rooted in the desire to help life thrive. And I can’t risk my death or… or losing this book. I need to swallow this old hatred so I can free my watcher.

So I keep it simple, leaving out a ton of details. Including how Tretion is alive and well and what piece I used to arrive at the manor. Just the story of a little servant that survived shared with me. How my lover wailed some horrid Dreadsong after losing someone she cared deeply about, and how she was swept into the Blighted sea beyond the Rifts.

Quick, simple, and with a very obvious desire to be free of this city and my host as soon as possible.

“And the Fae? How did they take this news?” Thendra asks softly after a few silent moments.

I glare down at the untouched fruit. “Some would have thought me lying to protect her if I didn’t give them a promise of truth in song. But… after so long? I assume they’ve accepted her death and moved on.”

Thendra tilts her head.

“I only keep in touch with a few.” I lie. Chide myself for… for almost letting her know that no one would come for me if I never left Theradas.

Then I stand, take up my stave. “Is that enough?”

She smirks, nods. Eyes dancing in amusement as she gestures to the book between us.

“Good.” I snatch it up and turn to leave but… pause, turn back to give her my hardest glare. A thing I’d used to make a few slaves and their guards cower in fear. “You’re a cunt, you know that? Lyra deserved so much better than you.”

She doesn’t reply… just… still has that infuriating smile.

Deep breath, Little Sparrow. I can very nearly hear my dad sigh at my shoulder as my fingers brush the dagger at my side. Feeling the scales brush against flesh. She’s not worth it. Not worth risking your lover's freedom and the future of those within the manner over very justified spite.

I jerk around to open the door while my strongest hiding song wraps around me, Amwella already gathered and ready for the Riftwalking song on my lips.

Time to go home.

Spiced streets of Theradas wash over me, and I can’t help but take one final breath of the wretched city as my song twists and wiggles, basking in the thought of never returning to this horrid city that devoured my–

Then a monster tears through the bubbling Riftwalk song, shoves her hand down my throat, and wraps my Amwella in horrid soul tendrils as she tackles me to the floor.

I only have a second to react as a hiss of foul purpose begins to rumble from this thing's lips.

Can’t sing, can’t… can’t bubble my Amwella into the stave and melt it to avoid the horrid tendrils at the same time!!!

So I crack the anklet of Dream-Splitting but… can only twist it into a minor thing of shifting! With this things tendrils around my soul it could drag itself into following me home!

A pop, then a snap, and I’m crashing down onto some random rooftop. Ugh… and then the vertigo hits me like a bear’s clubbed claw to the gut. Coughing I… I fight to stand. Spit the foul taste of flesh and blood that their hand left on my tongue as I look about. This rooftop is like… on the other side of the city from Thendra’s manor. Mostly quiet and... and probably safe. This anklet leaves no trace so I should be good to leave now.

No idea how that thing got the drop on me but–

A hissing howl, and the monster’s followed me.

This thing is… It’s… odd. Amwella sight shows such a huge mass of writhing soulfire tendrils clawing after me, while my eyes only see a small kinda androgynous figure wrapped from head to toe in leather and black crab like armor. Smelling ever so faintly of minor spoiled Blights.

Face shrouded and wrapped. No way to spot the eyes or mouth beneath what looks to be a really heavy wrapping.

Dreamer’s Tits I do NOT want to see what wretched thing lurks beneath!

I’m leaping away, dragging my stave around and pumping a solid chunk of Amwella into the thing as the monster pounces. The weapon howls and sparks, and an eruption of black lightning tinted with golden starlight rips the sky in two as the monster lands atop me.

Rot and Ruin, Blighted resonance given an outlet to flair out and tear any soul it touches from the Dream.

For a good two seconds I’m just… frozen in horror at the magic I just felt come from this thing. MY soul’s song quivering and stuttering in terror and fear and such a drowning sensation of wrongness. But then I’m fighting past the horrid memory to stand and… and get back home and…

For Tretion.

For… for Nelops and… and all the freed you promised to come back to.

GET UP AWNYA! GO HOME!

I rise, trembling as I look about. No body? But... this thing only affects Amwella! There… there should be a body!

I clutch the staff and… and bubble up my Amwella while weaving a song of hissing frost about me. Prepare to channel another blast woven in a cold artic chill. But… I’m met with only silence.

Maybe… maybe I scared it off?

Deep breath and I twist my soulfire into my Riftwalking song, carefully looking about as I nearly finish the–

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A screeching hiss of a horrid Riftwalk is all the warning I get before a talon rakes down my face as another snatches the staff as the monster just… pops back into place in front of me before I can even blink!

I yelp, song broken and shattered. Stumbling back while trying to weave a melody to–

Talon down my throat, slicing into my tongue while I’m being slammed into the ground and pinned. Those horrid soul tails once again wrapping around and around and…

Knife out, Amwella bubbles into the blade, and I’m jamming it into this thing’s side. The Bugflame blade my Old Goat gifted me on the day I told him I wanted to keep walking the Rifts with him after my Fae flesh changes were complete.

The thing above me writhes and twists. Electric blue glow pulsing and filling this monster with a flood of paralyzing soulfire.

After a few seconds of struggle It just… twitches above me. Only able to Let out a gurgling growl as all the soul tails go limp, and I’m able to shove it off. Pull that horrid talon from my throat and choke out a healing song to repair any damage.

It takes me a few seconds to recover while still channeling energy into the dagger I have to clutch.

This should keep it down for at least a few minutes after I pull it free… but… The thing Gurgles and hisses and warbles nonsense sounds from what I assume is some kind of gross monster mouth. I’m not going to risk it, this dagger normally doesn’t even let something growl like that, and I won't risk it following me again.

I twist to rise, take a few deep breaths as I begin my Riftwalking song, channel my Amwella while preparing to cut off the melody so none can follow me home. But then there is a pulse, a twitch of fury from this thing’s soul.

Then a… what’s that?

Something flares. A… a weird red mark.

A curse? Or… is that a brand?

I grip the knife tighter, shove more Amwella into the blade. The magic thrums angrily and the monster jerks, hisses and growls louder.

“Hey there just… stay down and–”

The red brand flairs hotter, there’s a flash, and the blade jerks free as if shoved out.

In a snarling hissing scramble the monster’s on me again. Dagger knocked free and tendrils once again woven tight. I clamp my teeth shut, beginning to hiss out songs of strength and force as I slam palm and elbows up into the thing. Weave Ice and a blizzards' fury into the strikes. Feel this thing’s bones and flesh crack beneath my bear-claw blows as my soul twists into melting to avoid this things horrid soul tails.

With a snarl its Talons wrap around my head, lifting it then–

Then I’m pulled through a Rift… and we’re falling?

CRACK! As we slam into the ground. And all I know is Starlight.

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuu… I… What am I–

Another shift through a Rift… then we’re falling and…

CRACK! As my head bounces off a wall.

* * *

I awaken to a soft gurgling growl and… wait. No, that's not a growl. That’s… there’s a rhythm to it? One I… I think I… is that…? But…. Uuuugh my everything hurts so much. I think I feel such a horrid knot growing on my head.

I twist, try to… to move but… I can’t?

Things bind my wrists behind my back and… and my ankles? I try to talk, to take a deep breath, to…to sing my healing melody to–

Gagged.

My eyes flash open in terror as I feel myself being settled down on a soft surface. Memories of the day flooding back, the book the… the promise song and how…

A monster finally got me.

Amwella bubbles as I work to… to do something! To try and gurgle out a muffled melody of cutting and slicing and–

Cruel tails squeeze my soul. Not… not hard enough to crack, just… bruise me a bit and stop me from channeling it into a song. A warning from this monster to me.

Stop.

I glare up at the faceless thing that steps back from me. I can see the mouth beneath the cloth that gurgles a tune now though, watch as it weaves a horrid song of… of something?

Magic song? But… Just kinda forces the thing out with sheer will rather than carefully woven Fae melody. But… this things DEFINITELY not Fae! Some dark blighted incantations then? Just… hummed to a tune? That’s… I’ve never even heard of that!

Lips and skin look so soft though. Save what looks to be some horrid burns on the bottom left side. Wait… Not a monster then? Or just… wearing a pretty girl’s skin?

I glance about… and I… Oh… this room is way too familiar.

I’m fuming and wriggling at my bonds to try and tug free. Reaching for… for hidden tools or… but they’re all gone! Even the ones stowed for this very possibility have been picked free!?!

How did she find them all!?!

The monster growls at what I jerk up to see is a gathering of Reavers.

Thendra’s manor. She… She betrayed me!?! Broke her oath like so much rotting driftwood for a boon from a god!?!

Stupid sparrow! Should have just… snuck in and stolen the book! Left before she could call up this wretched new pet of hers and–

Then a purring rumble echoes, and the cunt herself enters the room. I twist to glare at her but… she ignores me. Jade eyes bore down into the monster as it steps before her, rips off the cloth around her face, and returns the glare.

And I freeze as my entire world breaks.

LYRA!?!

The form before me snaps into perfect focus. Twisted songs and Dream splitting Amwella suddenly so familiar. But… with years of scars and horrors draped atop it. Faint Blight stench to smother anything even remotely telling of a Fae’s nature. Songs just… low pained things of need. No words of our people to guide them. Just a flayed will and… and…

Things horrid and just… too much for me to picture as her when she tried to… to…

Can’t see her eyes from this angle, just the half of her face marred by burns and… but… but that short black hair is… Thendra’s previous amused smirk cracks down on my mind and soul like a mountain. How she… she enjoyed so much the story of my lover’s death…

Oh Dreamer’s Tits my mind just… falls apart as I fall into little shuddering sobs of joy and fear and shame and so much more as I get to gaze upon my lost lover.

Hoping… hope that maybe I can somehow get free and save her this time.

That I’m not to late.

* * *

I glare up at Thendra, unable to… to turn back and meet Awnya’s gaze as my shame and fury boils. Work very hard to just… just barely touch her soul. Only squeeze if I worry she might try to weave a song.

Can't even begin to deal with her bubbling mess of emotions. Things of... of hate and fury and... and deep sadness. And that was before I even tore off my face-coverings!

So I turn my muck drenched thoughts toward the woman who looms over me.

WHY!?! Why make me do this!?! I shriek up through my soul at my Dark Goddess.

I only realized whose soul I was tearing at after I’d nearly broken her skull open on that third building. Had to fight through the sobbing tears and horrid pains to weave a growling healing song to keep myself from killing another one of my old lovers.

“I’d already rejected this task years ago.” Thendra eyes flit back to Awnya. “I’ve made a pact with this Fae. We are not allies, or enemies. But sworn to avoid conflict with each other.”

Confusion. And then such a wash of… of… of affections for my Dark Goddess rolls through my soul. You… you promised to never hurt Awnya?

She sighs and ignores my last question. “My oaths are not yours. This is why Furthonois called on your boon.”

But why make me do this at all! Why Awnya!?! Why not just… use the Boon to demand me instead if they want a Fae so badly!?!

“She’s been a thorn in their side for nearly a decade. Stealing slaves away for freedom. This is to make her body and soul a cruel reminder of what awaits those who spit upon their Old Road.”

I hiss, both in the pain still rolling through me, but also at the impossible demands I find myself between. At how this stupid kind Fae must have freed so many blighted slaves to garner the rage of this city's dark godthing.

I… I won’t do this. I’ll go back and tell them, offer anything else they ask.

Thendra growls in a low and threatening tone. “That’s not how this works, little Reaver. If you fail here, your soul will be forfeit.”

I tremble and look away. I… I’ve been a slave before. I’ll just… walk the Old Road again if–

“Do you truly believe Furthonois so stupid?” She very nearly snarls.

I growl. Thoughts a wash of my stubbornness in this as I glare down and away to avoid her gaze.

“You will be broken again, shattered and feasted upon. If anything remains it will be a husk. Kept in perpetual agony to serve as a warning to those who would offer a useless Boon to a god. Too weak and drowning in pain and fear to even consider escape.”

B– But… I’m still Fae! They could use me and… and my songs and…

Then Thendra takes my chin in her hand like she’s not done in years. Forces me to meet those furious eyes of jade. “The pain they will lay upon you will be spiteful. Pointless. All ends leading to a death you will beg for, but will very likely be denied for years, if not decades.”

I feel my eyes go wide, tears dripping now. As… as I realize… Like an untreated infection this love has festered. Boiled up at the perfect moment to kill me.

Pulling away from her now slightly loosened hand I… consider other options. But… but none of them will work! I won’t leave Thendra. Won’t ask her to run to the Blighted edge of the Dream for me. But… But I guess… That only leaves me to face the weight of my own broken promises. Suffer as some wretched pillow slave again and–

“No!” She snarls, and I jerk back up to see her glare. Such… such sudden anger makes my heart skip three beats as I move to step back.

I… I’m sorry. But… but I can’t do it! Can’t give Awnya to that horrid thing!

Thendra’s hand darts out like I’d not seen in over a decade, clamps over my mouth and jaw. Then, nearly roaring her fury, she grabs my Amwella with a mass of her own tendrils, and drags me into her soul’s core.

Drowns me in the storm. Gives me a path to walk. Shows me what she expects. What… what she believes I can do. By the time she’s dropped me I am sweating and gurgling and hissing in… in anticipation and fear and… and such awe for my Dark Goddess.

It takes me an eternity to recover enough to even notice Thendra purring as she looms over me, probably expecting my next thoughts.

Keep Awnya safe till sunrise or… or till I come for her. Whichever comes first. Then let her go. Make sure she gets away safe. No matter what.

“I will see that it is done.” She murmurs. Because this is just… all part of her plan. The next grindstone to temper me against. Turning my love’s useless pain into the fuel to drive me forward.

I turn back, and finally let my eyes meet golden amber.

Awnya’s more beautiful than I remember. But… Her skin is so pale. Expression wide and filled with endless tears. I grimace, and wish so badly that I could… re-weave my tongue back. Even if just for this.

To sing all the apologies I owe her. For hurting her and tying her up. For killing her father. For… For loving her. For letting my affections carelessly hurt her.

But… My words and songs bring only agony.

So I approach, kneel down so our eyes are level and… just… stare for a bit. She tries to force words through the gag, but I hush her with a little soul squeeze and a finger to her lips.

Immediately she… she nuzzles into the touch. Drags herself as close as possible and… and my Dark Goddess’ plan just… solidifies in me as Awnya presses into the best hug she can. A shaking pleading sob emitting from her as I gently wrap her in my arms to return the embrace.

Hum a soft melody of sorrowful love. The most gentle thing I’ve woven in years as her Amwella tries so hard to pull close to mine and… and radiate affections I can only barely feel and cannot accept.

I place a single small kiss on her forehead before pulling away. Then glance back at my Dark Goddess. Can you tell her? Everything I… I’m sorry for? Let her know to just… leave and never come back? That the girl she loved just… isn’t worth the pain I bring?

That all that’s left is a monster?

A soft rumble of agreement punctuates her next words as her own Naranggas move to replace my own. “Can you avoid distractions this time?”

Jellyfish and infested growths in my soul perk up as I think about where I have to go. Whisper to remind me of the warm feasts I’ve promised them.

Then I’m moving to the doors and stepping out into the streets that always smell of such perfect spice and warmth.

For Awnya? I muse through my soul at Thendra as I begin to growl my Reaver’s Riftwalk.

Of course.

Always.