Thank you, Michelle __________ My hands were shaking. My knees felt as if theyd give way under me. I grabbed Corys arm and helped him to stand up, and then I held onto him for a moment longer although he did not need my support. I needed his. Ease up, Andy. Youre going to tear my arm off. He shook himself. What happened? Did he hit me? Is my nose bleeding? No, I said. But dont threaten him again. I think he could kill you. Cory lifted his hands and shrugged, So what now? Whats the plan, Mister? Are we prisoners? Are you going to feed us? What about our air supply? It recycles to some extent but eventually it will poison us. There are conventions, you know. I dont think you really want to start an intragalactic incident here. Cory! I said. Dont make threats. Threaten what? Im serious! Someones going to come looking for us and it could get real ugly. I think we should let this guy know about the potential consequences to keeping us here against our will. And maybe hes just trying to protect us from something up there in the snow. The beastie called Medruzz? It doesnt exist. Its just another mind trick. For what purpose? Why make up stories like that when you can make all the exits disappear. Why did you insist on coming down here, Cory? We should have left when I wanted to leave. So this is my fault? OK, Saville, I accept the blame. Does that solve our problem here? Hmm? No, it doesnt! He kept talking but I didnt hear him because my radio went dead. So did his because I could see him reaching for the lower edge of his helmet where the switches were located, just as I was doing. None of my adjustments had any effect. The strangers voice rumbled in my head, I am very interested in your conversation. However, it is more important that I show you Hadreas crystal. The temple is through here. Follow now.
Amathaon walked away, leading us through an arch that I hadnt noticed before. Maybe it hadnt been there. I realized in that moment that Id drive myself crazy trying to figure out what was real and what was not. So I concluded that the best thing to do was to assume the telepath was powerful enough to reconstruct reality atom by atom, molecule by molecule. If a wall looked solid then as far as I was concerned, or would ever know, it was solid. There was no point in pounding on it to find a door that had once been there but was now gone. We followed a long hall, turning a corner more than once only to find the hall continued further with walls and floors of the same grey stone. Then at last there was another opening in the wall. It was the entrance to a large two-story room. There were no columns, no windows and no other doors. The only piece of furniture was a small table against the wall straight ahead. An egg-shaped crystal sat on the table. I was puzzled by the dark figures on either side of it until I got closer to them and saw that they were carved from stone. And yet, by the dim and uncertain candlelight they looked almost alive. I touched one to reassure myself it was really stone. You may remove your protective outer clothes and breathe the air in here. It is safe for you. I turned to look at Amathaon and found, to my surprise, that he had covered himself from neck to foot in a dark robe. He had done it, I assumed, in the same way he made doors appear and disappear. I reached immediately for the clasps on my helmet and took it off. Cory did not take his own off. Not immediately. I suppose he was waiting to see if the air poisoned me. It didnt. It smelled like old dust and damp stone, but it was better than the increasingly stale air of my suit. Within minutes I had stripped off the suit as well. Finally, and more slowly, Cory did the same. He wrinkled his forehead and drew a big noisy breath into his lungs. It stinks in here, he said. Then he moved closer to the table and the crystal that sat on it.
Amathaon, I said, Are you going to let us go back to our ship? In time. First you must look on Hadreas Crystal. How much time? When will the Medruzz leave? When will it be safe for us to go? In an hour? In a day? Behind me I heard Cory. Hey, Andy. Come take a look at this. Ive never seen a crystal like this before. Whatever it is, its completely pure, or at least as far as I can tell without my instruments. I didnt look at what Cory was doing. Amathaon, please answer my question. When can we leave? When the Rashida Wind returns. When the Sorceress Hadrea holds her Crystal once more. Go to the Crystal and you will see her. She is waiting for you. I stepped back and turned around. Cory, dont look at the crystal anymore. Come away! What for? Its beautiful. The light inside it moves between blue and green. Fascinating. Take a look. I reached for his arm to get his attention but I couldnt touch him. I couldnt move my arms or legs at all. Cory, I whispered. Come away from it and help me. Please, Cory. I doubt he heard me. His eyes were on the crystal and his face glowed from its color. In spite of myself, fighting it, I found my own eyes drawn down to its radiant heart. I was pulled toward its beauty and into its depths. I have a memory, although it is very faint, of looking up just once and seeing the face of Amathaon hovering far overhead. I will always remember the small smile on his lips. There was nothing at all, of course, in his eyes.
OMG, I wonder what's going to happen next, and the expressions you capture on your sims' faces are eerie, Lynet, there's no other word for it. I got the shivers looking at that smile.
I awoke because I was cold. How could it be so cold? I rolled to my side and put my hand down, and found that the cold was under my fingers. They sank into snow. I was outside in the snow. I got up on my feet, shivering. My jaw shook, my teeth chattered. I stared all around me, seeing mountains and trees and snow stretching endlessly in every direction. I rubbed at my arms and pulled my clothes closer around my shoulders, and discovered that I was no longer in my coveralls. I wore instead a rough dress and cape. My hair blew into my face and I grabbed at it with frozen fingers. My hair was long and stringy and dark, almost black. I stared at my hand. It was not my skin. I touched my face. It did not feel right to me. My chest hurt from the cold and I coughed. I started yelling for Cory but there was no answer. I heard only the wind. Amathaon had said that the beast Medruzz was a child of the wind and that it waited in the snow. The wind blew stronger. I thought I heard a voice in it, a whisper that said, You are mine.
Woah! What's wrong with her skin!? I mean... Ahem ahem, that's a really good try at making your own skins Lynet, but have you tried Helaene's? Good story. You never cease to amaze me with how realistic the scenes look. And the monster is awesome
LOL, Alison, but I would never attempt to create skin. I'm very much a fan of Helaene's skins and use them all the time. However, Andy has been 'transformed' for want of a better word at the moment. Except for the shape of her face she's not really herself , or at least as she used to be, and that includes her skin. I can't recall off hand where I downloaded the skin but it's quite creepy and alien. Definitely not Heleane and definitely not of my own making. (oh, and p.s., she's also very cold and very sick, which is part of the story.) I just happened to catch him that way. I wanted a picture of Cory and Andy unconscious on the floor of the temple. This guy was standing there looking at them and I happened to notice his face. I realized it was a far more interesting picture than the one I planned so I used it instead. I'm always fascinated by the expressions that they make. I doubt Maxis programmed every single one of them.
Note to self: If ever I am in one of Lynet's stories ... DON'T GO IN THE TEMPLE! Bad things always seem to happen there ... This reminds me of the Doomsday Book, a little. More! More! (Don't I sound like a Tellytubby?)
I ran from the wind and the voice that hissed in my ear, expecting at any moment to feel its claws in my back and its teeth sinking into my neck. I ran until my dress tangled around my legs and I fell. I fell hard, rolling over and down a long slope of snow, sliding on my stomach, struggling to get my feet under me. I may have been screaming. I don't remember. I do remember that my throat burned from the cold and that I started coughing and gasping for breath. My lungs were on fire and my head throbbed from the panic and the pain. Every muscle and bone inside me was shaking with fear but I fought the urge to give in to death and to whatever horror followed me. I knew it was there. I could feel its eyes on me. And the wind against my back brought an odor with it, an odor of appalling decay and unspeakable rot. I knew it was the breath of the beast. I staggered to my feet and ran again, leaving dark stains in the snow behind me, blood from my feet and legs. I didn't understand why there was blood, although I knew that's what it was. And it was too dark, almost black. Nor did I understand why the beast did not catch me. How could I be anything but easy prey? It toys with me, I thought, and then I remembered Cory, and imagined the monster tearing into him. Maybe that's why he hadn't answered my shouts. It was almost my undoing, those thoughts. Cory is safe, I told myself. He is safe. He is safe. The sun set and the pine trees around me seemed to move closer, hung with black shadows that pointed toward the stars and a pale moon. This will be the end, I thought. I will not see the sun again. And so I stopped to stare up at the brilliant night sky, too tired to run any longer. Then I saw a thin curl of smoke. My eye followed it down to rooftops rising from the snow drifts. I walked toward them. Behind me, deep in the trees, a sound erupted, starting as a deep howl in the wind and rising to a long piercing shriek. I ran as I had never run before, because ahead of me was hope. *written at lunchtime and posted at work. So no pictures yet.*
Pictures -- 1) The sun sets. 2) Andy sees rooftops ahead in the snow and starts walking. 3) The beast howls, 4) and Andy runs.
The rooftops rose steeply from the snowdrifts with only a few inches of stone wall visible below the eaves. I ran for the nearest and slid down into a small space between the wall and the drift. I pounded on the stone and on the heavy wood of closed shutters, screaming for help. No one heard me. No one opened the window. Behind me I heard the howling. It grew louder and closer, so close that I could hear its panting breath as it ran with the wind. I pulled and beat at the shutters until the dark wood, rotten with age, broke under my fists. Pieces of the board fell away, enough for me to push my head and shoulders through the opening. Pressing my numb hands to the sill, I threw my weight forward until I tumbled into the darkness. I heard the beast scream and I heard its body crash against the stone wall. It shrieked and howled and clawed at the opening but it did not come through. I lay still, waiting and terrified. I don’t know how long it was before the creature left, and maybe it never did. But eventually I realized that what sounded to me like the beat of a monstrous heart against the walls was only the wind after all. It was a bitterly cold and alien sound throbbing under the eaves, but it was not the beast. Shuddering with relief, I closed my eyes. Somehow, against all logic, I had escaped. The scientist in me knew that this was not possible, that there was some reason the creature had not attacked me in the forest when it had so much opportunity. Think about it later, I told myself. Rest now. And so I did.
Voices and light pulled me out of confusing dreams. I opened my eyes and found two figures bent close, one holding a small lantern in his hand. Its light was dim but I had been sleeping in pitch black so it was enough light to blind me for a few moments. I sat up, rubbing at my eyes. This was a big surprise to at least one of the men. Shes alive! Only a sorceress could have survived this storm. Move away, Valen, before she enchants you. Valen! Move away! A sorceress? Dont be stupid, Cecil. Do you see her face? Would a sorceress allow herself to look so ugly? And she hasnt come out of the storm unharmed, either. I can hear the rattle in her lungs from clear across the room. Cory? I whispered. The first man, Cecil, was even more alarmed. What did she say? A charm? Did she cast a spell on us? No, Cecil, she is not casting spells on us. Go down and tell your gorgeous wife that Im hungry. So is our guest. Get going! I stared at the second man as I got my feet under me and slowly stood up. He wasnt looking at me. He was watching the first man disappear down a ladder through a hole in the floor. When Cecil was out of sight Cory looked around at me and said, You sure look awful. What happened to you, Andy? He was Cory, but not quite. His skin was different, very pale. And he looked thinner. I threw my arms around him. It was a minute or two before I could trust myself to speak coherently. I said, Where were you? How did you get here? Didnt you hear me shouting last night? I didnt hear you. As to how I got here, I woke up here! I didnt know where you were, and I couldnt go looking, not in this storm. Cecil and his wife call me Valen and act as if Im a member of the family. Theyve decided that Im forgetful because I fell off the roof and hit my head before the snowstorm. Maybe I did, because theres a big lump behind my ear. It hurts, too. He stopped talking and frowned. I almost didnt recognize you, Andy. You look really terrible. Come downstairs and get cleaned up and something to eat. That should help, though I dont think its going to help all that much.
He said that I looked terrible. In fact, he'd used the word 'ugly' when talking to Cecil about me, and when I'd had a chance to calm down I realized that I resented being called ugly. After all, I'd been running through snow and wind to escape being mauled by something that howled and probably had claws, and anyone would look awful after that. My knees were still shaking from the ordeal, and my chest felt so raw that it hurt to breathe. Cory pointed me toward the ladder but before we reached it I was overcome by a fit of coughing. For a moment I thought I'd choke before I could catch my breath. Cory pounded on my back, which didn't do me any good. "Sounds bad," he said. I could only nod as I wiped my sleeve across my face, leaving a stain on the rough material of my dress. The sleeve was dark brown in color. The stain was even darker. I put a foot on the ladder and started climbing down. Cory said, "Is this how that jerk in the temple gets his jollies? Throwing people out into snowstorms?" "If this is the same planet," I said, "then where did Cecil and his wife come from?" My voice was hoarse. I cleared my throat carefully so as not to start coughing again. "Amathaon is something a great deal worse than a jerk, and he did a lot more than just throw us out into a snowstorm." I felt dizzy and gripped the ladder to keep from falling. My hands on the rung in front of my face were not a normal color. They're grey, I thought, and it sure is an ugly color. Does my face look grey, too? I raised my head to look up at Cory who leaned over the top of the ladder. "Is all of me this color?" I said, holding out my hand toward him. He reached down to take my hand firmly in his own and smiled broadly, "Well, I don't know, Andy. Want me to take a look?"
Annoyed with him and with myself I pulled my hand away and stepped carefully down the last few rungs until I was standing on the floor, then looked around the room while I waited for Cory to join me. It was a small room full of clutter that included a table, some chairs, piles of wood and cloth, barrels full of water, an iron stove and a few other things. The only light came from a fireplace and a couple of candles. Cecil and a woman I assumed to be his wife stood on the other side of the table, staring at me as if they feared I'd attack them. I looked down at my hands and imagined that my face was even more frightening. I said, "Maybe I should lie down for awhile. I'm tired." The woman elbowed her husband who glared at her in return. Then he looked at Cory who now stood next to me, "We don't have enough room nor enough food for anyone else this winter. She has to leave." Cory shrugged, "We'll split my share. She won't eat much, anyway." "She'll bring the Medruzz!" the woman said, stepping in front of her husband. "I heard it last night, screaming on our roof. She's a sorceress, Valen! Are you blind to that? Look at her!" Cecil pulled his wife back beside him. "Don't say any more," he whispered to her. "She might put a spell on us." "No she won't," the woman said, grabbing her necklace and holding it up. "This protects us. I got it from Sara. See! There! The creature suffers from it." I don't know what I suffered from, but suffer I did, coughing painfully into the sleeves of my dress. I didn't know breathing could hurt so much. Cory put an arm around my shoulders and forced me to walk into the next room. More clutter, but also beds. He pushed me down onto one of them. "Don't get up. I'll bring you some food." I lay back and closed my eyes, beginning to worry that I might be dying. Stop it, Andy! You always think that when you get sick.
