falling outside the black // resurrection

[ninazu]

BURN
BRIGHT

// takes place 8 hours after the conclusion to this thread

Cold, not the painful cold of freezing temperatures, not the chill of a harsh breeze, but a numb cold, a pervasive shiver hooked into the skin. The numb traversed down to the bone, the heart, the brain. If she even had any of those; her senses had died in a haze of bloodloss, and they remained dark. No, not dark, for dark implied light, color, vision.

In the void, there was no darkness, no grey, no color. The bleak monotone slipped over everything, from the tastelessness to the toneless not-sound. A soupy concoction one part void, three parts directionless, and a dash of disorientation mixed in as your soul spins aimlessly down the spiral to oblivion. The lack of sensory input canceled the hallucination known as “time.”

Thoughts drifted in and out of focus. These gradually lost their shape and color as the eternity and not-eternity wore on Ninazu’s psyche. Ninazu? She grabbed the name. Held it tight. Repeated the word in her mind over and over and over, until the word lost its meaning and she relearned its significance over and over and over.

Abruptly, the cold ended and she dissolved, like boiling water thrown on a nightmare. She breathed hot air, body convulsing, and thrashed. But the thrashing translated to twitchy toes and blinking eyelids to her lioness body, as her mind screamed and writhed. The comfort of the numb, where was her cold, how could she be she?

Ninazu gasped and wheezed, sitting up all too suddenly and yet slow as molasses, her jaw working around an object until copper taste drowned out the staleness of her gums. Her tongue, she chewed on her tongue. Her golden eyes opened, blinking rapidly, until she remembered how to see and the world focused.

Home. Her soul managed to navigate home, in the hut she shared with Stryker. How? Her memories blanked after Roxanne killed her serval body. Even the memories in the void faded and blurred to an uncomfortable grey. She chewed on her tongue and shivered, golden eyes closing, swaying on her paws.

Her fire licked down her neck with its comforting warmth. Green and yellow reflected in her golden eyes, and she stared, uncomprehending, at her pawpads beyond the flaming haze.

The fire’s warmth cradled her body. But the cold nestled in her chest and refused to thaw.

[member=1738]STRYKER[/member]

© MADI

[rhosmari]

The battle had been lost the moment they fell. But she had continued to fight becoming a monster, a demon. Splattered in their blood for taking them from her. They were all she had, the only ones she could trust and now there had been nothing left to stop her. The meager thought that perhaps they would come back had passed through her mind but this was her mother. This was her father. Her family. The pain that twisted and coiled like a striking serpent was almost unbearable and she just didn't know what else to do but to fight. Perhaps in this way she was also seeking an end to everything. Her pain, this life of starvation and survival. She cared little to where her soul would end up. But it appeared that it didn't matter. In the end she had killed whom came across her path, ice leaching from her paws and tearing through their flesh. But soon she shouted.

Her voice hoarse and raw, retreat. Bile rose in her throat at the idea, the word tasting bitter as she left and walked across the ocean waters. Not looking back. Not caring who survived save for her brothers. They were resourceful, she knew they would get home safe. They had to. But returning home was not a happy occurrence. No it was full of misery and pain for her. An emotional state that made her unstable. She didn't wash the blood off herself, didn't care too and instead she walked back and forth. Back and forth. Never ceasing her movements because then reality would quickly set it. But it was too quiet. Much too quiet and the life she knew was disheveled. Slowly she licked her muzzle and let the exhaustion take her. Limbs burning from exhaustion, eyes half open until a noise pricked her ears.

Tilting her head she slowly moved her skull toward the direction of where the sound was coming from. Inch by inch she moved her blue tinged from, pastel eyes heavy with mourning and grief. The sounds were coming from a particular place and she pushed her way inside, chest squeezing harshly from the shock. "M....mom?" The woman breathed softly, body visibly shaking and she felt like she might collapse.