Thunder churns above

Lightning strikes in Oblivion, rattling the cold, wet ground and violently singing the air- echoes of implosion bounce from stump to stone to man-made dilapidation… the thumping of a new heartbeat as it disperses from it’s birth point catches the attention of every beast in the realm… This one was something different.

“RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” A roar born of absolute rage shatters himself awake, leaving him gasping for air, head tight, knuckles still clenched, pain rippling from his stomach where… his body steaming, rancid acid rain drenching him, attempting to pit his flesh, his chest begins to heave, locked as he feverishly looks around- no one to plant his fists into… “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” His fingers rip deep into the mud as his knees hit the ground. Thunder churns above, lightning strikes near by, every knuckle and joint cracks as he can’t help but to roar out again- till every last bit of air to him is exorcized- ending with nothing more than a pained growl, every muscle rips tight and loosens as hot breath finally escapes somewhat naturally through clenched teeth, eyes glaze over as reality starts to take him, grip him from the nightmares still swirling relentlessly in his head, dizzy, a lump in his throat stifles another gut curdling chest bellow…. Frigg… He lifts his head to the sky as breath fed his heart. Dark clouds backed by blackness above slowly fill a massive hole of dry air left in them, teeth thump numb as blackness takes him again.

—

“Sur…”

“I am aware” He says exactly as he tests, squeezes a misshapen apple between his thick, long, scarred fingers. His shape motions to -and from behind- a platter sized floating pool of mist that hovers above a nodule on the desk in front of him. “How soon can we get a group out there?”

“They wait for you, Sur.”

“Good.” His voice low, calm as he heaves his feet from the top the table to an unnaturally smooth floor. “Get me my things.”

The voice buzzes in acknowledgement.

He blinks, his mist gathers to a single point against a small ridge on the module. He trades the apple for it, stands, and makes his way into the darkness of the room.

—

Blinding light bleaches the landscape, quakes roll through the earth and rattle long-expired trees, two stop dead in their tracks from full a gallop. A low rumble almost sounds like…

“Massive, I haven’t seen one like that before.” One says, shocked, irked. His beast rears a half step back.

“Not many have.” The other replies soft but sternly, “could mean trouble.” He explains, his eyes almost seem unable to pull away from the spot regardless the fact there was nothing to see from this far a distance. “They said a compound strike might open a way to both sides.”

The other’s face pinches as he tries to picture what that means, gazing between his companion and the spot miles ahead. Still not getting it.

“Whoever walked in won’t last last long, though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they have what they want…” a twinge of concern as he finally peals his eyes from what he could only hope to see to check their surroundings. “We can’t wait around and risk conflict when others come looking- maybe he can help…” he motions to their connection riding up the hillside. “Come.”

—

Her exhausted eyes glint from between two giant, ancient, cut stones surrounded by dead undergrowth, illuminated by a myriad of flashes in the distance. A big one catches her attention- it’s beautiful enough to slow down time and curl her ragged, muddy toes- despite the unnerving, numbing cold acid rain that’s kept her here for days.

This one small movement alerts a dark-robed traveler making serious headway along a slowly disappearing, muddy trail off to the side of the land mark. The beast they ride stops bluntly, bellowing. “Hello?” A stern but feminine voice calls out, the travler directs her beast to take a few steps forward as she does a double take on what she thinks she saw. “It’s not safe out here, or in there…. and erm… it’s never going to stop…”

The foot slowly disappears deeper into the shadows of the dark crevasse.

“Wanna fucking die?” The travler belts out.

“What?” Her voice cracks in the cold- caught off guard by the first person she’s seen as she flips her head over her shoulder to observe the opening at the other end of her hide; “N-no… I just… I can’t get up.”

The traveler unpacks a few things from her side bag and climbs from her beast, looking around hesitantly as she splashes down and makes her way to the mouth of the boulders. She tosses the goods to the ground to the other, trying to get a focus on who or what is just inside the shadows. “You new? Don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

The bundle barely visible in the hue of the storm’s ambiance. “New?” She grabs the pile and weakly tumbles it over her shoulders.

“Yeah, you’re naked, dead give away, you woke up here, right?”

The last memories she’s been playing out over and over since hit her again. His amber eyes, his smile, then the odd taste of that drink, losing control, somehow falling into his arms before… blackness… and walking, so much walking… “Yes, I think so.”

“How long?”

“Hard to tell,” the nude one responds, wiping fresh tears from her eyes.

“Where are we?” She asks through the low rumbling from above.

“Hell, Limbo, many names, same place, sorry to disappoint you- that is, unless you were trying to get here.” The traveler scours from under the layers covering all but her eyes as she offers her gloved hand to the other, a sickly white hand clasps hers.

Lightning blue eyes swollen in misery catch the traveler’s before quickly looking away. Swinging the girls arm over her shoulder and scooping up under her legs with the other, the traveler carries the girl through the rain to her beast and starts to help her on. “Pull that one on tight, the rain will fuck you up.” She motions to an extra hide poking from a saddlebag.

“What is this?” She asks as she uncomfortably adjusts herself, feeling lumps under the beasts coverings.

The traveler lifts a thicker pelt from it’s head.

The girl peaks over the beasts shoulder, it’s a gnarled, mis-shapen, patchy mess of an inbred pack animal. What was left of any color drains from her face.

“It’s a horse! Gotta cover ‘em up during these storms so they don’t get worse… er… don’t worry, he doesn’t bite.”

The girl says nothing, dazed enough to puke, some of the merged and mangled skeletons she saw making her way to the outcrop what seemed must have been days ago suddenly make a little more sense.

“It doesn’t do much for us down here but, we should get you some food. Some better skins, too.” The traveler climbs on behind the girl, wraps her arms around front of the newcomer to grab onto the beast’s reigns, and whips her pile of mashed-looking beef on legs into a full sprint.

“The name’s Ellana, welcome to Oblivion.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safer than out here…. And fast” Ellana points far off to a steady stream of up-kicked dust cloud making its way across the plane before they round a corner as they make their way up some low hills. “Get caught up in all that and before you know it you’re a skin for someone else.” She says harshly as she measures what direction they’re headed in.

The girl looks down through the bumbling speed of the galloping wad at the cloak Ellana had given her, “This isn’t-” She wonders…

“Don’t ask. I don’t like thinking on it.” Ellana retorts. “We take new ones, especially ones that don’t seem… like they could figure out how to make it on their own to Origin Point.”

She seems mildly annoyed at the implied assertion, she couldn’t blame Ellana though, it is true enough, that she’d probably have layed there till whatever death after death is could take her… tears quietly start flowing again, heart twinging; she does her best to stifle them.

The farther up they go the more the ground itself seems to be alive, almost fleshy, small probe-like follicles waving in the breeze like grass in large pore-like divots in the ground snap like ice as they’re clobbered by misshapen hooves. Around the next corner is an old, stone-lined tunnel, of which the mouth seems to breathe, the air warmer and wetter than anywhere around is almost welcoming in the worst kind of way. The ‘horse’ slows, catching it’s own breath as it seems to calm in its familiar place. “Watch your head.” Ellana warns. Inside is dark, quiet, the walk is long, narrow, but eventually the two enter a wide opening, an underground clearing of sorts lined with levels of tunnels, the area is lit by a stronger source of the glow from outside trapped in filmy mush-globs hanging through the place, looking closer one could make out dark silhouettes around deep holes in the ground.