Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24510587-20190219030909/@comment-25828117-20190219202612

Graicus twisted on his side, arms crossed to keep himself warm. It was warm.

He could hear birds chirping... Gold coast hummingbirds... He would recognise that distinct humming of the wings and cricket-like chirping anywhere. He remembered then... how they would flock to the coasts where water hyacinths grew, to drink the flower's sweet nectar. It would amplify this sweet smell in the area that perfectly mingled with the salt odors of the ocean. It was one of those places that instilled in Graicus the most profound sense of calm and belonging.

"Pssst. Hey, sleepyhead."

Graicus didn't feel like opening his eyes though, he could feel the warm summer sunlight flicker through the leaves above and onto his closed eyelids.

"Graicus... wake up..."

The gladiator sighed and relented to the soft voice of who could only be Frasella.

He opened his eyes to look at her face hovering over his. Her wild hair falling beside her cheeks at every angle. He could swear he saw the freckles hidden by her face paint in those soft shadows now... and her eyes seemed to glitter too.

"Hey..."

Her smile melted his heart.

"Hey."

Her beautiful face didn't appear to change one bit even as she moved her mouth.

"Let's go swimming, Graicus."

The gladiator would protest, thinking this spot, this place of his childhood memories was just fine, but when she rose up from his face and revealed her bare chest and well... everything else, his protestations were cut short.

It was then that he realised he too was naked.

"Alright." He said. It being both a statement and an admission.

Her smile turned to a grin and she helped him up, though not that he needed it, and led him down the grassy hill towards a crystal clear pond. They jumped in hand-in-hand, laughing as they did so. Graicus' mass created a far bigger splash than hers did. When they resurfaced they were sitting not in a pond but in a river and it was alright, Frasella was there. Graicus knew just what to do... When she too reemerged, her hair completely dry, he leaned in for a kiss.

But something was wrong. As the kiss dragged on for what seemed like hours, minutes, days... Graicus furrowed his brow. There was no Frasella. This wasn't Frasella. How could it even be her? He ruined it with her.

"Told you we'd meet again." Svieva breathed as they broke the tender moment.

Graicus was confused. It had felt wrong. But not bad.

"You."

"Yes... Me." She said with a devilish grin. Svieva was a different kind of woman to Frasella. Not just in looks... Svieva was... bodacious, daring... dangerous. exciting in ways Frasella never could be, that sweet forgiving girl. She had was Frasella lacked.

"Where's Frasella?" Graicus demanded, thinking he should've been unhappy with this turn of events but he wasn't. Svieva for what it was worth, was dressed, but only barely. She wore what she had done when he had picked her up and put her outside of his room.

The augment rolled her eyes as if Graicues bored her.

"She's... ancient history... You burned that bridge, remember?"

"I... I... Guess that's true..."

Svieva looked so understanding then. Understanding or mocking, it was hard to tell with her.

"There, there..."

She got close to him now and started twirling her finger in his beard. Frasella never did that... Not that he could remember.

"It's going to be alright." She came in close for a kiss and Graicus could not escape. His eyes darted to the side while Svieva found her way towards him, as if Frasella could show up any minute and see the two of them. On the eastern bank of the Karth river there was only a deer, a stag, watching from afar. It looked familiar somehow. And also... It felt like it was smiling, as if it knew something he didn't. When his eyes turned back to look at Svieva she was gone.

He brought a finger to his lips to feel the afterglow of her kiss. It hadn't been like Frasella's. It hadn't been tender, it had been playful and mischievous.

The stag kept on looking and Graicus started to realise where he was. Those grey rocks, that fog, that smell... He could feel a soft nudge at his lower back, as if seaweed had drifted along and wrapped up against him. But this wasn't the ocean... And there was no seaweed in a river... The gladiator turned to see copious amounts of red warm blood was wreathing him.

It made his hair stand on end and he realised he had to get out of the water but when he tried to run the resistance of the water was too great and kept him exactly where he was.

Downstream, the bodies came. They floated merrily down the stream. Some of them with their faces above the water. Badus, Ori, Demicar, Pavo... He knew those faces and they started to pile up against him. Even as he tried to push them away, more and more came, a torrent of corpses soon envelopped him and the stag kept watching.

-

Graicus sat up straight and took a deep breath or gasp it wasn't clear which. The first person to touch him in that moment would be dead before they could ask him what was wrong.

The strenght of ten men flowed through him now.