It begins with a scream. Is it hers? Lenneth cannot say for sure. But other voices respond to that sound, their concern and alarm being raised. People are running towards her and screaming. Confused and shouting out for help. She can do nothing to reassure them, her own mouth no longer working properly, not even to gasp. Lenneth can only watch as her body starts to crumple, falling too fast for anyone to catch her in time.
For all the speed of her fall, time still seems to slow. She sees faces looking at her, their worry and fright apparent in their expressions. Lucian is there, his arms extending towards her, hands desperately trying to reach her. Lenneth can't muster up the strength to extend a hand in his direction, and not even a second later, she hits the floor. It's not quite a dead faint she has done, her eyes still open, still staring. Seeing the people hovering over her, Lucian pushing his way forward. Already her ears have gone deaf, she can only see her name on his lips, but never hear the sound of his scream.
Her eyes flutter shut not long after that, and an instant later she is continuing the fall. Perhaps she never stopped falling. All Lenneth knows is that once she hit the ivory tiles of Valhalla's floor, something in her had been torn free. Her very sprit, her soul, wrenched free of the anchor that was her body. There was no time to understand what was happening. No time to even try to mount a defense. She was dying, her soul separated from the body that had housed it for so long.
Cast free of her body, the soul didn't linger uncertainly. Instead it-she moved with a purpose, almost as though something was guiding her soul. Dragging it downwards with unerring ease, Lenneth losing all sensation save that of the fall. Of that of her descent through the realms, and the alarm she was filled with.
There was nothing she could compare this to. Nothing she knew of, that even hinted at what was happening to her. Nor was there any way for her to stop it, Lenneth's fall picking up speed. Making her go faster and faster, until just as suddenly, she slammed into something. It was something cold and solid, something that was completely unnatural. And yet her soul was adhering itself to it, joining with this unnatural thing, becoming one with it.
It was not a sudden merging. It took time, Lenneth laying there. Unable to move, unable to feel. Sight, sound, smell...it was all denied to her. She existed in a void, in darkness so complete it was all consuming. It was terrifying, Lenneth left alone with her thoughts, with her fears over what had happened. Over what would happen next, if she would continue to exist in this in between state, with nothing but her mind able to work. But then signs of life began to trickle in through her. It began with a thumping, faint and hesitant. So slow was the beats, Lenneth didn't register at first what she was hearing. Her heart beat. Weak, slow and unsteady.
It grew stronger, and with it's beating, Lenneth thought she felt the blood pumping through her. Warming her as parts of Lenneth's body began to respond. And with that response, a tingling sensation came, her nerves coming alive. Burning with awareness, her lungs expanding, breath rushing inside her. Lenneth nearly choked then, her first breath a strangled one.
It was then that her eyes open, Lenneth writhing in place. Her arms lifted, movements feeble as her fingers curled into claws. Her hands hovered over her throat, dull nails scratching over it as she attempted to breathe easier. Her chest heaved, panicked gulps of air being forced down into her. Somewhere near by, but out of range of Lenneth's sight, a voice spoke over her choking sounds. Urging her to be calm, to relax and let the breathing take over naturally.
Lenneth could have laughed then. It would have sounded as hysterical as she now felt. How could she calm herself down when Lenneth didn't even understand what was happening to her? Or why it hurt to do such a simple, natural act like breathing. Her lungs seemed to protest the very act, as though they were unused to taking in the very air that she needed to breathe in to survive.
Her chest hurt, and her throat seemed to constrict with each choking breath. She was gagging on air, her eyes open wide with her panic. For those too long moments, Lenneth didn't truly see her surroundings. She was too focused on trying to breathe normally, on ignoring the pains that coursed through her body. Lenneth would continue to thrash about, and then arms would lock around her.
She felt herself be hauled against something-someone solid. Something soft brushed against her right ear, lips whispering soothing sounds that had no effect on her. Lenneth continued to shake, her wrists being grabbed. Her hands movements were restricted, and arms were around her. Whoever held her was to her back, his or her face buried in her hair. They felt so warm in comparison to the coldness that filled her, Lenneth shivering to the point her teeth chattered. Her chest continued to heave, the panicked breaths coming no easier now that she was restrained.
The voice she had heard earlier? It spoke to her now. It was a man's voice, low and melodious, a pleasant rumble in her ears. She felt his lips caress over her ear, the words being spoken directly into it. Even then she had to strain to make out the words, the process somehow making her breathing less labored. As Lenneth struggled to hear what was being said, her breathing began to even out, to become normal. Until finally she was no longer wheezing, no longer panting, the words clearer to her.
"You're safe...you're safe..." The voice wasn't familiar to her. It should have alarmed Lenneth, but right now the voice was all she had that could reassure her. Especially after that harrowing experience she had just been through! "Everything is all right now..." The voice continued. "You just had a little shock to your systems..."
Lenneth couldn't work her voice to question him. She couldn't do more than make a whimper of sound that was so unlike her. The voice continued to issue reassurances to her, lips brushing feather soft over her ear. That deliberate intimacy of that way of speaking disturbed her, now that Lenneth was no longer so panicked. She didn't know this man, anymore than Lenneth knew what had happened to her. It made her shift in his embrace, Lenneth wanting to get free of his arms' hold. But the man did not take the hint, holding her prisoner within his arms' circle.
She couldn't settle down to relax against him, Lenneth shivering even more. Noting the differences between them, the heat of his body in comparison to her cold. The strength in his arms, that so easily held her in place. The weak attempts Lenneth made to squirm free. An attempt that seemed to excite him, his own breath coming out faster against her ear.
Disturbed, Lenneth shook her head no. Her unbound hair fell forward, an idle thought making her wonder just when she had freed it from it's braid. The man behind her pressed more insistently at her back, keeping her from turning to look at him. Not that she would have been able to see him so clearly, not with the dim lighting of her surroundings. Even as her eyes adjusted to the shadows, Lenneth continued to try and wiggle free. She'd keep on wiggling right up to the point the voice let out an all too excited laugh, Lenneth stilling in an instant.
A moan followed her sudden freeze. A subtle shift from behind her, the man rubbing himself against her back. Teeth caught at, and bit down on the lobe of her ear, the slight pin prick of pain enough to get Lenneth to flinch forward. Again that excited laughter, with an unwanted smugness at the heart of it. She thought then that she knew that laugh, Lenneth uneasy and peering into the shadow filled room. She'd jump at the crash of sudden sound, lightning crackling in the sky. Illuminating her surroundings. What she saw made Lenneth's mouth go dry, the Goddess staring at several large tubes. Filled with brackish water that held the faintest glow of green to it's coloring, there were bodies floating inside.
Lightning flashed again, allowing Lenneth to make out the features of the women who hung suspended inside the tubing. Naked, with pale skin and pleasing proportions, they had silver blue hair that hung down to their knees. Their eyes were all closed, but Lenneth instinctively knew she would have seen a blue that mimicked her own color, set in a face that mirrored her own.
Inhaling sharply, her heart beat thumping frantically in her chest, Lenneth recognized what these women-these bodies were. Homunculi. Half a dozen of them, and each one crafted to look exactly like Lenneth. She had instantaneous insight, Lenneth remembering an encounter that had happened months ago. Of a mad man, a necromancer who had murdered and tampered with the very laws of nature to create unholy things. Vessels to house a single soul. Hers.
Lenneth's chest began to heave, her breath coming faster. She looked down at her own body, seeing several suction cup like things attached to her chest. With long wires spiraling down from them. A white sheet was over her lower half, it was the only thing persevering her modesty. She wanted to wrench that sheet off of her to see what horrors it hid, but the hands were still restraining her.
"I've done it." Said the man behind her, his voice gloating of his triumph. "I've finally done it..."
Lenneth didn't need to ask what that it was, having figured it out the instant she had seen the homunculi. She was properly horrified, the screams building up within her. Growing stronger and stronger, until at last Lenneth was actually screaming. Her voice drowning out whatever her captor's smug voice was saying. It wasn't just fear she voiced, Lenneth screaming in anger, in disgust. Repulsed at what she had become. At what he had done to her!
The arms pulled her tight against his chest, he was hissing in her ear, demanding she be quiet. Lenneth wouldn't heed him, continuing that outraged wail. Angry and disgusted, mourning for the divinity she had been stripped of. Shaking with the force of her upset, and the realization that she was now something less than human, less than a God. She was something existing between the worlds, something that was unnatural and barely tolerated in all of creation. Some twisted being that was only alive because of the death of countless others.
Lenneth hated the flesh she inhabited at the moment. But more than that, she hated the man who had done this to her. Even as he held her in place, Lenneth began to fight, screaming a wordless challenge. Trying to break free of his hold, and failing, she resorted to smashing her head into his face. A cry of pain was the reward she received, Lenneth breaking free of the arm's around her. The body he had given her, reacted to her internal commands, Lenneth pivoting about on the table to face him. The wires and their suction cups jerked free of her chest, left to dangle off the edge of the table she had been laid out on. The sheet fell to the floor, Lenneth naked and uncaring, staring defiant at the mad man before her. Lezard Valeth, who had recovered from her initial blow, and was adjusting the glasses on his face.
Lezard did not look mad, nor bothered by what she had done. If anything, his look was admiring, his lips curving upwards in a pleased smile. The damn fool was far too pleased by her rage, gazing at her with an unwavering stare. Lenneth's lips curled back in a feral snarl, the Goddess not even trying to speak to him. Instead she let her body translate her anger, arm pulling back just before she went to propel her fist forward. She expected the punch to connect, and to have devastating consequences for the mage. But she was overestimating her abilities in this new body, Lezard easily catching her hand, stopping the punch before it could come close to landing.
Her expression became even more infuriated, Lezard giving her a mocking smile. Laughing as he held onto her fist, and gave the slightest of bows. Even as he started to welcome her to his home, Lenneth was already sweeping out her left leg, intent on kicking him as Lezard straightened. Her ankle was caught, Lezard pulling her off balance. Knocking Lenneth off of the table and into his arms. He'd actually laugh at her astonished expression, smugly informing her that her speed as a Goddess was nearly triple that of what it was in this current vessel.
Lenneth snarled in response, every vile name known to Creation being issued out of her lips. Lezard's arms were full with her, an advantage she took. She slapped him, with enough hard force he dropped her. Once free, Lenneth didn't waste a second, slamming a knee between his legs. A satisfying cry of pain was issued out of Lezard, Lenneth smacking him one last time.
Turning to run, though she had no real destination in mind, Lenneth was unprepared for the hands that grabbed at her legs. With a forceful jerk, she was knocked off her feet, Lenneth landing backwards on the floor. Hitting it hard enough, that she saw stars, the stone a rough welcome against the back of her head.
Even as Lenneth lay there, stunned and trying to recover, she was being hauled underneath something. Underneath a body, male and highly excited. Her vision was blurred, Lezard's face out of focus. She couldn't see the look in his eyes, but she could hear his excitement, the way he gloated as Lezard pinned her in place with his body.
"Damn you, get off of me!" Lenneth screamed, shoving wildly with her hands. Her wrists were quickly imprisoned, hands hauled up over her head.
"Lenneth Valkyrie..." Lezard purred out her name, satisfaction oozing out of him. "How angry you are..." But he didn't seem bothered by her rage. If anything he was pleased by it. "But I expected no less from you, my love..." He kissed her then, an invasive, forceful kiss. Lenneth screamed into his mouth, then followed up that scream with a snarl. It was the only warning Lezard got, Lenneth savagely biting at his lips. They tore under her teeth's assault, his blood spilling into the kiss. A sharp hiss followed, Lezard jerking away from her.
When she tried to sit up, she was brutally shoved back down. Hard enough she hit her head a second time against the stone. Her vision already blurred, it was all Lenneth could do to keep conscious, the Goddess watching as Lezard fingered his bleeding lips. Did his eyes spark with anger over what she had done to him? And yet he wasn't discouraging in the slightest, taunting her with the promise that one day she would learn to tolerate his kisses. That she might even welcome them one day. Lenneth thought that absurd, scoffing in retort. She'd never dare dream of just how true that promise of his could become, or how far she'd truly fall under Lezard's guidance.
This chapter didn't want to flow at all for me. I'm pretty unhappy with it. I tried writing it in past tense, but felt it sucked more that way. So stuck with my first attempt of present tense. Still not completely thrilled with the results. I feel like this was a writer's block chapter...one I had to get over, in order to progress forward with future chapters. Let's hope next chapter is easier to write. And who knows...maybe I'll try and rewrite some of this one. I just don't know...X_X
To Be Continued...
Michelle