Really short chapter, but I didn't want to keep everyone waiting. The next one is going to be longer!
gemsofformenos:Things getting worse. The Palace wasn't a save place for a long time for them. You keep up this crawling horror here, this whispered terror, which takes them and claimes its victims.
Your was to describe this scenery and this hunt, which has started for Azula, the escalation and accusations are so haunting, so vivid. I love it so much. I can feel the fun you have at writing it and you're definitely in your element here with style, theme and setting. Great job.
The horror is getting closer and is crawling under her skin. The question will be, who's next? Will Azula fall? Will she be able to shake off this horror and of so, how will the reast react, if she couldn't be possessed? Or does this presence simply choose another victim?
I love the way you build up this story. Whatever it is, which turns people into these creatures and kills them, it seems to have an own mind somehow. The way you build up tension is great.
I speculate a bit here, but in case Azula is the one, who gets attaced by it, I think she won't die now. You're probably planning more chapters, so keeping your main character alive seems simply plausible. This would also be so super interesting, because in this case she would turn from the weakest link to the strongest. Immunity to possession would offer a chace to fight this horror, it would offer a chance to start researches at the point, where Lo and Li have seen the part of the comet falling to earth. Suddenly they would have a person, who might be able to face this horror.
I'm really curious, if I'm on a good track with my guessed direction, but I'll wait and see. No matter what your plan is for Azula and the others, I'm fine with it, as you know and I'm so excited to reed your next chapters for this one.
Great one here, keep on having fun with your stories
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Not Azula! I am actually rooting for her...please let it be Bujing, please.
It doesn't hurt, not at first. No, it is all calm, all blissful The whispers soften, they are almost soothing. Azula falls back, her head connects with the floor but the contact doesn't register. She gives a the ceiling a glassy-eyed gaze before her body spasms.
Now it hurts.
It hurts horrifically.
She opens her mouth to cry out in pain, but nothing comes out. Not even a wheeze or a wince.
The whispers fill her mind, crowding and cramming it. The whispers swell and swell, they bekon her to do things, things she is certain that she doesn't want to do but longs to do. The chatter raises in pitch, higher and higher until it is a shrill ringing in her ears. She covers them, digging her nails into her skin.
A dull pressure builds inside of her head, growing with the ringing until she feels as though her head may implode.
"What, no lightning today? Afraid I'll redirect it."
Azula grits her teeth.
"I love Zuko more than I fear you."
"You're the prettiest, smartest, most perfect girl in the world."
"I've decided to lead the fleet of airships to Ba Sing Se alone. You will remain here in the Fire Nation."
It picks through her memories, through her mind. Through her secrets and her fears, wrapping gentle spectral fingers around them. Those fingers close and nothing remains. Nothing but a blank space.
Holes.
She doesn't know what she has lost, she just knows that she wants it back.
Fear.
Only fear and intense fear.
No, helplessness too.
The filth that clings to her, the horrid smell. The gnawing emptiness in her belly and the dry cracks in her throat.
The sensations overwhelm her just as powerfully as they had when she was living them. Her hands twitch as she jerks against chains that are no longer there.
And then the tendrils lick them away. She considers for a moment that they are forces of mercy.
TyLee wraps her arms around Azula's middle, "it's so good to see you again!" She remembers the warmth. That rare moment of affection.
They take this too.
Pleasant or unkind, the phantom fingers don't differentiate between the two. She gets the impression they are just making space.
She cries out. Is it supposed to take this long? With Chan it seemed to happen in an instant. But then, maybe he was bombarded by these sorts of visions as he was attacking her. Is she attacking someone? Is she standing on a broken leg and stumbling forward?
Her body seems to burn from within.
The air is warm and fragrant with seasalt and hibiscus. A breeze rustles her hair. She feels like there is much better use for her time but father has sent them on a vacation so she will make the most of it. Zuzu scowls next to her.
They are sitting around a fire…
No. Not that one.
The tendrils snake around it but she clasps her own energy around it first. She is almost certain that, that is one of her only pleasant memories. The tendrils retract and reach for another.
"What's wrong with that child."
Not that one either.
Not that one, not any of them.
She clutches her head, she can't tell if the voices are theirs or a product of her own mind. A face looms over hers. "Mother?" The pressure builds as she tries to get a handle on what is what. But her mind is splintering. Fracturing to the point that she doesn't recognize her own shriek of agony. Doesn't quite register that her pain is her own.