It was still relatively early in the day, at least for an Uordeq, when Akon's quiet figure could be seen going about her business. As per usual, she kept mostly to herself, and went to the edge of the farmlands, recalling the massive uncanny bounty of a harvest which was there just days before. But her mind was deeply elsewhere. Her step was not as silent as usual, and held a slight limp.
Slowly she made her way to the stable grounds, where Jael's moose was munching dumbly at a stack of hay. She shook her head slightly, but went about the process of harnessing the beast, setting reins and saddle properly. Then with one elegant and natural hoist, she mounted the tall creature. Walking it to the edge of the pastured land, she opened the latch of the gate with her good foot, nudged the moose onwards, and then closed it likewise, making sure the latch fell closed once more. Taking a deep breath, Akon then drew her hood deep about her features, guarding her sensitive eyes from the day's burning rays.
There was no haste in her actions, but instead a solemn reserve, as she nudged the moose onwards to the edge of town. She didn't take the main road, but instead traveled the path to the graveyard. Yet, before reaching it, she veered Javor off along another not often traveled path, heading outwards away from town.
Several hours passed upon the beasts back, and woman and creature made their way to the edge of the shard. The rays drew longer as the hours lingered on, dusk starting to settle in upon the land. It was then that in the far distance she came upon a solitary, and now long abandoned hut, which looked grey and worn sitting nestled in the trees.
Gently, she dismounted, and lead Javor to remain at a patch of foliage tied to a tree limb. Akon pulled her hood back and her eyes gently rested on the cabin there. She took a deep breath, memories flooding her quiet gaze as all that had happened there danced through her recollection. Running fingers along the worn wooden walls, she approached the door, and opened the latch, brushing the few spider's webs from where they had gathered. Glancing inside, she walked to the center of the room, and knelt in that solitary cabin, fingers delicately picking up the solid, heavy chains which were discarded and snapped in the corner. Leaving the chains where they rested once more, she departed the cabin, and walked then along a no longer existent path outwards from it's door. It was then that wind tugged at her hair and robes, teasing the cloth and folds of her garments.
A few more steps she walked until she heard it...heard that horrid noise, that maddening sound, yet she didn't stray. She merely took a deep breath, and let her eyes close, falling into deep concentration. Palms rested nonchalantly over the hilt of her blade, and her head bowed as she focused. Nothing stirred then but the wind rustling over the silent, and solitary figure.
As the voice swept over her, Akon's bowed head dipped further, and her brows creased in ladened hints of sorrow. Her words whispered from her lips as she spoke into that maddening wind. "The time of prophecy is upon us....the time we so desperately tried to delay, my departed. But no more....no more. The ageless ones awaken, the sleeping one rises from his slumber. I had so hoped it wouldn't come so quickly...." Her voice slipped lower. "I only hope I have the wisdom to see us through it...." She whispered. The immense weight with which her words were bore could almost be seen pressing upon her shoulders as she focused intently on the winds and the sounds whipping in her ears. Yet she did not let it belay her task. Kneeling, she rested one hand at the very edge of the shard, listening deeper still for one solitary and distinctive sound amongst the madness.
The shrill winds continue to blow harsh and cold deep in to the day. Even through heavy cloth the cold cuts like a knife until all senses dull. Eventually the sounds of the wind begin to fade into white noise, and then again into a maddening silence. When all senses have been carried off into the wind and all that remains on the verge is a frozen shell of what was once there before all there is left to hear is the stillness of the void. There is nothing but an open and endless expanse of nothingness.
The light of day fades to blackness, the winds seem to recede and the deafening howls leave you, replaced by nothing. Even the sound of your own breathing is silenced by the void. There is nothing here but a reminder of the finalaity of life.
"A sane man would not dare approach the verge," a faceless voice rings out from the blackness, "yet you stand on its edge. Do you seek death child? For I'll gladly accomodate. Stare not into the beyond, less the maw of madness set its teeth into another young acolyte."
Akon grit her teeth as that harsh cold cut through her flesh, and her hand gripped deep into the earth as she held herself steadfast, determined to find the answer she sought. Then all went still and even her breath was silent, taken away in a sudden gasp when all fell still. Her eyes shot open, staring into that nothingness, the unfamiliar sensation alienating to the woman's senses. "Death has already claimed and marked my soul for what it will...." She replied in that erie noiselessness. "Yet I only seek answers...questions of the Ageless ones....to whom....do I speak, if I am worthy to know your name....?" She asked, humility and great caution etched in her tone.
Akon's heartbeat quickened, feeling lost swiftly, drawn into that horrid silence. Fear swept over her and she stumbled back, blindly. She clambered back away from the edge of the void, hoping to regain her vision as swiftly as she could, hurrying back along the path she had taken. She yelled out, stumbling still, falling there against the cabin's walls as she cowered over, grasping at her head, heartbeat still quickened and breaths rapid. She groaned, remaining curled over and heaped against the door frame of that long abandonded hut. Bringing her head to the floorboards, eyes fastened shut as she tried to push the maddening feeling out of her mind. "That I could see what your blind eyes could....." She muttered. "Immortals help me..." She whispered, rare desparation in her tone as her curled figure rocked upon her knees.
The silence is broken by a cacophony of clanks and thuds as the Angori Zwey falls out of the forest, bound in latchvine. He had traveled far and wide to find this troublesome plant, and would not be thwarted. He frees a hand and proceeds to chop at it with a hatchet. Completely oblivious to his surroundings, he holds the defeated plant above his head in victory! Only then does he notice Akon in the doorway of a small dilapidated cabin. Zwey wonders over, storing his prize and bringing his great hammer to bare. Whatever had affected the warlock would still be near.
"The one and only." Zwey rests the hammer on his shoulder. "I am very suprised to see you this far out. I've had one pit of a time getting this far, to find the latchvine, its a little beyond my normal foraging ring." He looks the cabin over, and notices the moose, "Is this your and Jael's summer getaway?" He then offers a strong hand and warm smile to Akon.
Akon saw the hand, but didn't take it, still unsure about her surroundings it seemed. The usually composed woman still seeming slightly disoriented. She pushed herself up off the floor, and finally saw the moose again, seeming to have forgotten it was there. "How long have I been out here?" She asked, finally looking at Zwey again. "When was the last time you saw me..."
"A few days ago, right after the Turtle-bear-dragon-scorpion thing fell. I have been wandering these woods since then looking for more spoils of the forest. But judging by the fact that the moose hasnt ventured far, I'd say you havnt been here very long." Zwey shifts his hammer, haft down, and props his elbow on the head, resting in it. His other hand raises up, "Are you hurt? Do you need healing?" Zwey summons a little of his healing energy, causing some prime light to glow from his hand.
"I feel the same way. Except maybe Burr, but I heard he is playing in the Grove or some such." Zwey walks over the pack moose, grabs the reins, and calmly walks the animal back over to Akon, "Perhaps you should get back to Jastrey. While I hear you are all about the danger of other realms and planes of existence, summoning demons and what not, being weakend by a common illness would do your reputation no good."
Akon's still slightly disoriented gaze watched as Zwey lead the animal back to her. She nodded, running her fingers along it's coarse neck hairs, feeling the sensation of it against her fingertips, almost as if drinking in the feeling. She then nodded, and with regained elegance hefted herself upon it's back. "If you're looking for latchvine...there's some to the west a bit, that way." She nodded in the direction away from the cabin and the void's edge. "Don't get stuck in it though, or you'll never get out." She remarked plainly. "Good day." She then nudged the beast onwards, glancing back at where the void would have been if viable from the cabin's edge. Her gaze lingered on it before striking Javor into motion, spurring him into a solid gallop along the road back towards Jastrey.
Zwey gets closer to the edge, and looks across the emptyness. He seats himself on the edge of it all, legs hanging off, hammer across his lap. He thinks about his past thus far. "I wonder if they can find me here, there are many, many shards afterall." Zwey focuses his gaze and tries to see the shard next to this one. He thinks of his home in the Hodgepodge. They would be travelling through the Sirison Desert this time of year. Zwey chuckles, remembering an incodent involving slavers trying to take his brother Beiro when he was younger. He had never seen his mother so angry, Immortals mercy to those slavers. Zwey thought about his Walkabout, and did a quick scan of his surroundings. Zwey settles his view on the gap between the shards, the Void.
The voice of a long forgotten man drifts along the wind. "May darkness hide your steps and shadows protect you."