12 Seconds of Darkness and Fear

Metaphysical / Paranormal event

Darkness. Darkness and a feeling of remembering. A feeling of fear and tears and pleading and Darkness. His stomach drops out as if he's falling again but it's nothing.

---

He is falling. He is falling and burning. He is falling and in that split second before darkness takes him, he can see the white of his bones in the back of his hand as he falls, the flesh literally melting under the dragon's acid.   ---   Darkness. Darkness and a feeling of remembering. A feeling of fear and tears and pleading and Darkness. His stomach drops out as if he's falling again but it's nothing.   A pleasant voice calls from behind him, high pitched and lilting.   "Greetings."  

---

  Relentless isn't alone here this time. He turns.   A singular being, a child with white hair and a pleasant smile, stands before him. "Relentless. My Relentless." They step forward, small fingers touching his face like a parent with a child in a strange role reversal. "Do you hate me?"  

---

  He can feel his expression turning, his pointed teeth digging into his lip as his nose wrinkles in disgust. His tail lashes behind him as he flinches away from the touch, angry and furious and hateful and livid, violently desperate to put as much distance between himself and this Not Child but too scared to lift a finger against them.   He bites his cheek hard to deny them even an answer, relishing the feeling - FEELING at long last - of pain as a wash of coppery warmth coats his tongue. The Compulsion is too much and he spits an answer, bloody and uncontrollable.   "Yes."   He can feel his hands shaking as no sound returns to his ears - FEAR what a beautiful thing it is. What a bright, acute, brilliant response it is to danger and yes, this Not Child is dangerous. He can feel nothing of the space around him - but inside him, he is alive.   For the first time in what feels like forever. He feels alive.  

---

  Their expression faltered for a moment, Chelar's smile dimming as blood stained their face and a bit of their pristine white hair.   A few moments passed. Their grin grew grotesque, curling like horrific taxidermy, eyes darkening to burning pits of blackness. "I C A N F I X T H A T."   The darkness came back completely, enveloping Relentless alone. Reaching out a hand revealed a tightly compacted space, and the familiar scent of bog and acid burned the air.   "You will be grateful for the gifts I give you after this."   Pouring down from above into this tiny space was some kind of fluid, cold at first, but then agonizingas the acid ate away at clothing, at flesh.   "I take away your pain, Relentless. Isn't that what you want? I can give you that again." They waited a few more seconds. "I don't know if I should, as horrible and ingrateful you are. I only show you love and care, and all I want in return is the same. Is that too much to ask?"  

---

  The instant before the pain registers, hot and cold and searing all at once, a single lucid thought flashes through Relentless' mind. 'It's all in your head.'   A moment later he is screaming, his arms up over his head to protect his face as the acid washes over him. It burns but even that is Something but it's too much and all he can do is scream as he feels himself starting to dissolve.   "NO!" It's all in your head it's not real it's just Them and it's their fault and it's all in your head and it's not real and it's THEM and it's THEIR FAULT and it's not real and it's not real and it's not real and "IT'S NOT REAL!" and it's too much and oh gods I'm going to die here and I won't be able to warn them and oh gods Hope, Hero, Kitrick, gods please it's not real but it HURTS and "PLEASE"  

---

  Chelar could wait. They had some time.   Relentless needed to learn a lesson, is all. Their vessel--   Their beloved Relentless had to learn to accept their gifts and avoid the hurt. Chelar reached into Relentless's mind, easily accessible to them. It was simple enough to let Relentless burn, simple enough to show him flashes of the ones he cried out for, mangled and ruined. Dead.   "You don't want to feel that pain. You don't want to feel outward pain, or remember death. They're bad. They make my Relentless hurt. Won't you stop fighting and just accept my care for you, Relentless? You only have to ask."  

---

  Images of his friends and family dead and staring flash through his mind and he cries out.   Havine, torn limb from limb, her glassy eyes unseeing as her mouth tries to form his name one more time, a rabid bear with its bloodied head buried in her torso. Ishtalia, floating weightless, bloated and reaching towards him with clawed hands, calling for him to save her all this time. Tally, broken on the ground, wings splayed having fallen and fallen and fallen, her amulet cracked and ruined just outside of her reach. Medericus, face disfigured and twisted with a spell gone wrong, mouth bloodied and face turning purple as he gestures for help while suffocating. Hero, still a child, lying sick in a bed, fevered and panting as his little body simply loses the will to keep fighting. Chamunda, cut down in battle and dragged under an avalanche of bodies, an anchor tied around her waist. Crawler, her arms reaching out to him and then falling limp, her expression suddenly slack before she's gone between a dragon's teeth. Mongret, swallowed by darkness and calling out for hours, his voice growing ever quieter as he slowly bleeds out in the dark. Kitrick, beaten and battered, a fierce blazing shadow standing over him with a drawn sword as the halfling meets his eyes and offers one last smile before being stabbed. Hope, buried under rubble and brick and burning timbers, crying out for anyone to help please just help as the fire creeps ever closer. His mother...   As he reflexively cries out, the acid pours into his mouth, beginning to devour him from the inside out.   Please no please I can't die here please no please please please no please     stop  

---

  Chelar's smile widens, and the darkness ends. "Good."   ----   Relentless starts awake in a chair. The book he had been reading flumps to the floor and he jerks to his feet, quickly glancing around himself in confusion and alarm, looking for the monstrous black dragon that had been- smelling the awful burning chlorine as it dissolved his- feeling his heart pounding as he fell down and into unconsci-... Looking for what?   Relentless stretches luxuriously, relishing the feeling of his joints popping and feeling the tension of a fitful night's sleep. He really should stop sleeping in that chair. He picks the book up off the floor, flipping back through the pages to where he left off and earmarking the page before snapping it closed and shoving it into his personal bag of holding. A lot to do today!