Mind of a Cursed Man

[Cirion]

((OOC Notes: This will be my first long RP thread, besides the usual “adding my two cents” to what others have started. This was mostly IG, though detailed a bit more, during an event ran by Nebulous. I’ll be doing this in “small” chunks; it'll take a while to make the posts due to RL distractions.))

Eerie silence and little light to see far, Cirion even began blinking a few times to figure out if he actually had his eyes opened or closed. Though he soon to realize this wasn't the Comfort Inn but inside a dark cave with only one path, which was equally dark, stretching out of the area.

With slow movements, Cirion sat up and quickly scanned the area with his eyes. First thoughts, "How did I end up here..? Was I taken from my home? Or is this an odd dream?" Even while speculating, his hands began feeling the ground and waiting for his eyes to better adjust with the darkness. This place couldn’t be a dream, the cold air seemed normal as well as the pebbles and dirt on the ground.

Pained echoes cried out, shattering the silence, though just as quickly as it came, there was silence again. Cirion shocked by the sounds, immediately stood up, checked himself. While he only had his cloths on, he still had his sword and staff. And with possibly little time to waste, Cirion unsheathed his sword and listened to the sounds of quick movement. And oddly enough the quick movement was that of a little girl's. A small young girl walking at an amazingly pace while giggling insanely, with not a single voice, but that of several other children. She didn’t seem to notice Cirion and kept moving until she came to the stone walls, where she vanished.

His eyes looked to the where the "child" had been, and back to the area she came from. “If I’m to be jumped by something, I’d rather see it and be prepared” were his thoughts. Before he brought his staff forward there were sounds of a person, troubled –pained, screams every few moments.

Staff forward, Cirion activated its light source. The Light was intense, bringing out all the details in this cave. The place was bare, with just dirt, rock, and him being the only person there. Taking a few steps forward, holding the top end of the staff above his head. Within moments the staff became hot, quickly burning his hands. His left hand instinctively let go of the staff, during mid-air fall the light source on top of the staff burst. A loud clanking sound could be heard as the bottom hit the floor, then another clank as the top hit floor as well.

Reaching down to pick up the staff, he heard the child’s laughter again. Her laughing directed towards his light source bursting. “Wh-who are you..?” His words quietly directed to the child but his attention taken away and towards the sound of stone moving above. He quickly jumped to the right but not quickly enough to escape being hit by the rubble and a thick substance. Immediately afterwards his hand reached to the top of his head, pulling some of this heavy liquid on his hand and quickly determined a coppery smell.

The Ceiling above burst open, pouring masses of the thick liquid down on him. Again he tried to move away from the downpour, only to have more areas of the roof burst open and pour the substance down around and on him. He moved farther to the wall on his right, though it still poured down on him. He even tried to use magic to help himself move away from this though it failed; absolutely nothing happened as he moved his hands in the correct gestures. Cirion rushed several feet forward and through the streams, until he came to a spot where no liquid poured down.

Now he stood in the middle of a y-intersection; the area ahead of him was clear of anything “unusual,” as the same with the path on his right, though it ended with a dead-end.

He began trying to wipe the liquid from his face until interrupted by another piercing scream. The scream came from overhead, causing Cirion to cringe back towards the wall. His eyes glanced over the ceiling for where the sound came from, and he quickly noticed as the roof began to shift and move. A medium-sized object spewed down, landing mere inches from his feet. Cirion further pressed his back against the wall, and raised his sword up with both hands, as the ‘thing’ plummeted to the ground. Even in the dim light it was obvious to tell the form was that of a humanoid, and the smell of carrion lay heavy in the air.

Resolutely, Cirion stood ready to make a clean strike with this blade, incase this body happened to be an undead. Something he has had to fight on countless occasions before. However the body only assaulted his sense of smell, not making any real moves for the time. Cirion eventually decided to give the thing a nudge, gently tapping the body with the tip of his left boot. Yet the moment the tip of his boot touches the body, movement and the disgusting sounds of shredding, gnashing, and even squeaking could be heard. In quick time the body burst into hundred small creatures. Cirion immediately began swinging his blade at the crazed creatures, stomping and kicking at the little things. Though Insane, frothing vermin ready to devour flesh wasn’t much to Cirion. Each one of the foul, disgusting creatures was killed.

While keeping his eyes towards the ground for any movement, he could once again hear the giggling of the small child. Again, Cirion’s attention was quickly to the young girl again. She stood there giggling, watching Cirion as he was attacked by the rats. “Wait... What is goi- ..?” He cut his own statement short as the child darted down the right passageway and out of view. He now began looking around everywhere, raising his voice as he spoke up “Why am I here?”
Answered only by silence, there was no response, not a sound of the child could be heard.
Cirion then decided to cautiously follow down the path to the right, holding his blade ready to swing at whatever jumped out.

He kept looking forward, back, left, and right. Alone in an unusual place, with barely enough light to see silhouetted figures, everything looked clear of movement.
Still confused about everything, Cirion pressed on to find a way out of this strange place.

[Cirion]

Pitch black assaulted his senses, the darkest of darkness. There was nothing for him to see as he hesitantly moved onward. Holding his left hand ahead and attempting to feel his way forward, he finally realized there was nothing except a dead-end.

He moved his hand across the hard rocky wall, stopping upon hearing the piercing voice again cry out . Momentarily shocked, he immediately turned around with blade raised. The same voice he had been hearing echoing throughout the caves was now one marked with pleading desperation. Moving close to the wall on his right, Cirion slowly walked away from the dead-end and towards the one untraveled path. The pace at which he moved began to increase, as was his growing concern over why this other person –of which the echoes originated from- sounded so distressed.

Several steps forward led to a cross intersection, too dark to see how far either path went. Cirion had little time to think over which way to turn next before the sounds of another could be heard coming from the right path. While Cirion couldn’t see clearly yet, he could hear a man’s pained coughing and agonizing cries. Still in a strange place, Cirion didn’t let his guard down, instead he waited for the man to pass into view. Moving slowly, the man entered the intersection and kept walking until arriving in the left passageway. The horrible-looking “man” didn’t seem to have noticed him – Cirion remained perfectly still near the rounded-corner linking two paths. “Seems the noise came from this person,” Cirion silently thought to himself. The “person” was convulsing, first legs, second arms, and then head. The convulsing and hacking continued until Cirion decided to speak quietly but with a caring manner, “Who are you, and … What has happened to you?” Cirion brought his left arm forward and towards the figure, gesturing to the man. Though the want to speak and help was met with an unexpected reaction, the person swiftly turned and inhumanly screamed at Cirion.

Immediately Cirion flinched to a fighting stance as the strange man charged towards him. “No – Wait. Stop!” Cirion urgently yelled out to the insane man. Pleas ignored as the bizarre person charged at Cirion and began lashing out with his claw-like-fingers. Perhaps due to the anxiety of the moment, Cirion swiftly swung at the person - forgetting the deadly power of his enchanted masterwork weapon- it easily sliced through the deranged man. His own body became stiff , eyes remained watching the figure fall – Cirion irregularly felt a strong regret for striking down the guy. Suddenly the body burst into a dark fluid, quickly spreading across the floor. Disgusted, confused, and shaken as well Cirion floundered over the filth and down the right path.Leaving the black fluid seeping into the ground well out of view.

Again Cirion’s moved slowly hugging closely against the wall and constantly looking around with a slightly unnerved manner. Walking forward, the faint sound of splashing water reached him. The soft movement of another could be heard, this time it was something with four legs. Cirion stopped his own movement and slowly turned to look over, hoping to see what may try an attack him next. Looking back there was nothing to see, until his eyes cast downward towards a little dog. The animal moved and carried its left hind leg up close to its body; even whimpering achingly. Cirion glanced around the area –the place was dark and seemed too quiet- kneeling down he slowly, and cautiously, reaching his hand out to the dog. “Hey, everything is alright. Come over here,” Cirion said to the small dog in a calm soothing voice. As Cirion began approaching the animal, it bared it teeth and began growling. A sickening sound could be heard as the fur over the animals face began pulling back to reveal muscle and bone. Cirion gasped as he jerked away from the animal, watching as the skin quickly pulled back from the animal’s entire body. He remained speechless as the animal’s head flit left and then right. Suddenly it began barking loudly and sprinted away, running until it came to a cave wall and vanished.

Increasingly paranoid of his surroundings, Cirion was hesitant to move forward, and only began moving after waiting for a few moments. Creeping across the floor, he made his way to a large oval-shaped room. Much of the area was barely lit, but he observed liquid streaming down from several areas of the roof. A sloshing sound could be heard as he moved, every part of the floor covered and rankly smelling of copper.

Staying away from the putrid streams Cirion slunk along the wall, keeping constantly to the right as he neared an exit stretching forth from the oval room. There was less of the thick liquid here, instead there were a few bodies. Slowly moving to observe the hallway ahead, he could see three bodies and a giant eye shedding light at the end of the short hallway. The bodies all seemed dead, except for a female form impaled upon a pike – the sound of her groaning could be heard as Cirion neared.

Her agonized groaning continued as Cirion approached and sounded very familiar to him. The light from the Eye shown down upon her, enough so to visibly see her. Nearing her, she turned her head towards Cirion –burnt pieces of flesh began to fall as she turned her head in his direction and said “Cirion…” . Her eyes were gouged out of her head, tongue missing and strong with the scent of burnt flesh and hair, but Cirion could easily realize this is Yashia –by her voice and charred features. He shuddered and looked upon her with shock, barely able to stammer out “Yashia … my love.” It only took moments for tears to begin welling up in his eyes as he looked to her. He rasied his left hand out to her, attempting to touch her.

As he was about to speak to his dying love, she groaned “Why … would you … do this … Cirion…”