Alptraum was stirred from his disturbed dreams by a throbbing pain in his right hand. In his half-awake state, he wondered if Roogi had snuck in and was chewing on it, but it turned out to be.. nobody. In the dim light, the hand was clearly throbbing.. the palm even bulging in and out as if an inflatable bladder was inside.
"No, please, no more grog without water. Too much grog," Alptraum grumbles as he comes to and shakes his hand. "I'm so dehydrated even my hand throbs like my head." Except his head isn't throbbing and this causes him to pause. "Relocated hangover. That's new," he mutters. Okay, so he doesn't wake up that fast. "Wait, no, that makes no sense at all," he finally says, lifting his right hand and poking at its palm just to make sure he's not hallucinating.
It squishes when poked.. and the fur begins to go gray as well, spreading out from the contact.
"Aaaagh!" goes Alptraum and he sticks his right and straight out and flaps it like mad! "Dreaming, dreaming. Still dreaming!" he blurts out.
The flapping causes the bulge to wobble.. it's like liquid has replaced the muscles, and is sloshing back and forth between the bones.
It also produces a rain of gray hairs that flutter to the floor.
"Right, right. It has to be like blister. I just burned myself. Right, right. So, pop the blister!" Alptraum says. Perfectly logical! He pokes the center of his right hand hard with a claw tip.
There's a split in the skin, but nothing oozes out. There's something solid underneath. The split grows on its own.
"Aaagh!" goes Alptraum again! He pokepokepokes at it more, trying to get it to rupture and drain. "Oh come on, this isn't funny! I was actually with a girl tonight. The legend says this happens only if you do it alone!"
The pokes open more holes.. and something oozes out finally! But it's not fluid. Black tendrils wiggle free and being to wrap around Alptraum's forearm, while the first slit opens fully.. like a pair of eyelids. Exactly like that, because there's an eye in the center of th palm, with a star-shaped pupil.
Alptraum backpedals and falls /out of the bed on his back with a thud! He keeps going too until his back is against the wall. His right arm is stretched out far before him as if he was trying to escape it. Seeing as he didn't, he tries to pry the tendrils off.
There's a presence in the room now. The Eeee feels a light touch on his left arm, as if to gently restrain him while the tendrils try to dig in under his skin.
Alptraum tries to ignore the touch as he tries to yank it out of his arm! "Not now Roogi!" he growls.
"Don't resist," a feminine voice whispers to Alptraum, as the presence presses up against his back. "You took away my Shadow. You must replace it, and serve me."
"Like Dagh I'll serve you, Amena," Alptraum growls as he continues to try and rip the tentrils away before they can dig in any deeper. Fighting for your life does have a small benefit of helping keep you from completely freaking out.
The tendrils are sticky, which makes it even harder.. since they also stick to his fingers. This results in a web of gooey black stuff spreading out from the tearing.
Panicking and considering doing something horrible, Alptraum looks for his dagger!
A spotted feline sits on the disheveled bed, wearing elaborate jade and opal jewelry. She has the dagger in hand, and licks the flat of the blade.
"Did you need this?" she asks coyly.
Alptraum gets up and marches towards the bed. "Give it," he growls at her and sticks out his left hand. His right, well, he holds that way out to the side.
"Why?" Amena asks. "You took something precious to me. And I like this dagger. It tastes like necromancy."
"Because I'll cut my right arm off with it and you can have the arm," Alptraum says, trying to sound, well, brave. Not that he particularly feels very brave, but you have to keep the act.
"Or I can wait until it takes you over completely, and have everything," the goddess notes with a smile. "You'll have to make a better offer. How about a trade?"
"Like what?" Alptraum remarks dryly, "And I can always go use an axe, you know."
Alptraum also has to spare a glance at his right arm.
The fur is completely gone now, but at least he can't feel things that are happening lower down. The tendrils squirm and move under his skin, which grows tighter and tighter until the contours of the muscles and tendons are visible.
"Hmmmm," Amena goes, playing with the dagger. "Are you certain you won't serve me?" she asks.
Alptraum also actually tests to see if he can even use his hand and fingers anymore. "Why would I even want to? I saw how you treated the shadow," he remarks.
The tendons creak when he tries to make a fist. The tendrils are still working their way towards the shoulder now, and the eyeball has migrated to the back of the hand now.. and is still looking at Alptraum.
Alptraum ... pokes the eye just so it quits looking at him.
Poking the eye causes Alptraum's right eye to feel like it was just poked!
"Ow!," the bat complains. He eyes Amena, then turns and heads for the door. He knows there was an axe outside...
"Well, in that case.. I still need something to replace what has been taken," Amena says. "If not you.. then someone from within this dagger."
Tendrils extend down from the hand to wrap around the bat's feet, causing him to trip!
"Argh!" goes Alptraum as he goes face down onto the floor. Undignified, but again, demon in the room. Can't show fear! He tries to regain what dignity he has and drag himself for the door. "You want me to sacrifice someone else? I don't think so."
"Sacrifice? Such drama," Amena says, lounging back on the bed. "You must get that from your mother. The Shadow was not sacrificed to me. I don't take sacrifices. I liberate people from mortality."
One the tendrils is now trying to get up Alptraum's nose.
"No, you enslave people. That's hardly liberating!", the bat growls. He tries to yank that tendril away and bite it.
It tastes terrible, like dead blood. "Religion enslaves people. Kings and queens, the needs of the flesh. Your hunger enslaves you, forces you to feed on the blood of the living. Enslavement is the way of the world, don't you see?" Amena asks. "What would happen if I poked you with this dagger?"
"Try it and find out," Alptraum says, smiling a bit darkly now. "I could simply have it /kill/ me,/" he thinks.
"I have a better idea," Amena says, and gets to her feet in that languid feline way. "I'll let you stab the black heart left behind by the Shadow. Isn't that what you were going to do anyway?"
"Actually, no, it wasn't," Alptraum says, eyes narrow.
"It is now," Amena says as she strides over and lifts Alptraum to his feet by the back of his neck. "Or you can let it devour you."
"Give me the knife and find out," Alptraum says simply.
Amena presses up against Alptraum's back, and passes the dagger to his left palm.. by passing her own hand into his. Her wrist protrudes from the Eeee's, and she nuzzles at the side of his neck. "Now.. pluck out the heart with it," she purrs.
"If I strike the heart, it will be as if I stab my own. Poking the eye proved that," Alptraum thinks. He takes several deep breaths, then closes his eyes. "You're right, I do take after my mother," he says, "I know what sacrifice is." And with that, instead of stabbing the trolling part under his palm, he hooks the knife under his right armpit and shoves the blade into the joint! Then rocks it back and forth to saw his own arm off. Not many people would do what he just did; but more is at stake if she wins than just him.
"Oh my," Amena says, "How brave! Here.. I can help.." And then Amena leans around and bites right through Alptraum's shoulder. It burns! And there's even smoke.
Alptraum ... he's pretty sure he's screaming. It's hard to really know because of the pain and the horror of what he's doing. He will not give her what she wants. Not now, not ever.
The arm falls free, mostly. Amena takes the moment to force Alptraum's left hand downwards as well, embedding the dagger through the 'eye' of the heart. There's a rushing feeling, and then the goddess releases the Eeee.
There's banging on the door now. "Alptraum? What's going on!" It's Tulani, and she sounds a bit hangover-angry.
Alptraum staggers back, his left hand over where his right arm once was. "You will not have satisfaction," he says. His voice is tired, soft, but still with determination. "Amena is here," he says, louder.
The severed arm spasms and convulses on the floor, the tendrils covering it completely.
Alptraum's eyes turn to try and focus on Amena. If he still has any connection to that dagger, he tries to find it.
"My sister gets a bearer for her power, but you refuse to be one for me," Amena hisses to Alptraum. "But I will have a bearer, a champion.." And then she's gone, just as Tulani batters the door down. The squirming arm has found its way under the bed.
"Dagh's flaming anus what is going on here!" Tulani bellows, the Light half-drawn already.
"Hey cat. I think you'll have to kill my arm under the bed," the mutilated Eeee says weakly, along with a pain wracked smile. He drops down to one knee, then falls over on his left side.
"First things first," Tulani says, gaping at Alptraum's wound.. just before she buries the tip of her sword into the stump. The pain goes away.
"Had no choice. Could have let it devour me, but ... " Alptraum says, eyes winced close, even once the pain is gone.
"Where's your arm, and what did you mean that Amena was in here?" the Sphynx asks.
"Under the bed. Shadow devouring it," Alptraum tries to explain as he sits up awkwardly. "She tried to make me her bearer."
"That.. sort of makes sense," Tulani admits, and then.. takes a few steps and kicks the bed over, revealing.. nothing. "It's gone," she reports.
"Tell me something I don't know," Alptraum says and rubs his forehead with his left arm. "Maybe you should stab me through the heart while you are at it."
"You know that won't do anything," Tulani notes, as she pokes through the bedding. "So where did your arm go? Just vanish? Is it a zombie arm now?"
"No idea," Alptraum admits as he tries to struggle to feet. It's also now he actually looks at the horror that he did to himself.
It doesn't look good. The flesh is charred and raw, even with the Light's healing.
Alptraum drapes his right wing over that shoulder so he doesn't have to look at it. Wobbling, he does go to try and find where his ... arm may have gotten to.
Tulani sheathes the Light, and says, "We should probably get the others up and.. uh.." The Sphynx grimaces in sudden pain.
"Tulani!" Alptraum says and rushes to her side!
The feline feels lighter as she leans against Alptraum's left side. "Don't feel.." she gasps, as her tongue shrivels in her mouth. In almost no time at all, she's reduced to skin and bones.
"Oh Gods, no," Alptraum says in horror. The arm must have gotten to her! "Damn you Amena, this is between you and me. You should have left her out of it!" he screams as he tries to find the arm. "You hear me?! Between you and ME!."
"And that was between her and me," a dark, familiar voice says from the shadows. The dragon steps out, tendrils withdrawing from Tulani back into his claws. Vorgulremik is small, no bigger than Alptraum. "So this is the power of the Shadow," he says, and grins to the bat. "Amena really didn't know what she had. Won't she be surprised?"
"You," Alptraum says, growling. His left hand goes for the hilt of the sword Tulani always carries. The Light. He may or may not be able to do anything with it, but he is not about to let him have it. "You're a food if you think the shadow gave you a new lease. You're just going to be her slave now," he says.
The Light of Nala remains sheathed, of course. "I am nobody's slave," the dragon claims. "Amena used you to free me.. but she does not control me. She's just a giddy little girl with a crush.. and I'm going to eat her."
Alptraum tries to draw the light. "You only think that," he growls. "You'll be used, like everyone else she touches. And with you it is even easier because you are deluded by your own self-importance."
"Experience is not delusion," Vorgulremik claims. "If you truly knew me you wouldn't think as you do. This Shadow.. it is familiar to me. Like something I lost. Join me, and you can see Amena fall. Hear her anguish, see all of her plans and schemes crumble to dust.."
"Join you? As what? Another meal?" Alptraum asks.
"We have a bond, you and I," the dragon claims. "A bond of flesh. Your flesh. I will be your right arm again. And together we can remake this world as it should be."
"Hah, and what value is that to me? I have no desire to rule anything," Alptraum counters as he continues to draw the light. "I have no desire to be worshipped."
"You could protect these lands," Vorgulremik offers. "We could end the threat of Gallis once and for all."
"Until you devour everyone yourself," Alptraum points out. "Don't forget I've seen into your mind. And had you not killed Tulani, you might have had a hope of convincing me. But, not after killing my best friend."
"She was a threat to me," the dragon claims. "Do you want me to bring her back?"
"Anything you bring back now would just be a mockery of who she was," Alptraum points out.
The dragon rolls his eyes. "You really must learn to let go of things, Alptraum," he claims. "If you don't want to join together to take down Amena, so be it. I'll just eat the rest of the people here to gather my strength back. Most of them served me anyway - this will be the price of their betrayal."
"And if I did join you, would you spare them?" Alptraum asks, eyes narrow.
"As a show of good faith.. yes," Vorgulremik says. "I wouldn't need them then."
"/If I let him, then perhaps I can find a way to destroy him later. Like jumping into a volcano," Alptraum thinks while he glowers at the shadow. "Fine."
The dragon smiles, and then.. melts. The dark mass flows across the floor, and up Alptraum's legs.. wrapping around him like a suit before sinking into his skin. Some of it forms a new right arm as well.
"Don't expect me to like it, you monstrous freak," Alptraum growls, eyes twitching from the whole ... event.
"In time, you might," the dragon's voice says in the bat's head. "I will protect you, and strike down your enemies. We should leave now, before the others discover the mess."
"I hate you," Alptraum says grimly as he goes to the window. He still has the sheathed light in his grasp, too. One foot kicks open the window and out he goes.
Something grabs onto Alptraum's foot, holding him in place!
Alptraum stops and looks down.
The Wraith stands in the window, it's talons sinking into Alptraum's leg. "Not yet," it hisses..
Pierce jerks awake, his right arm having fallen asleep from how he lay on it. "Nap over?" Tulani asks from the next pile of cushions.
"Draw the light and kill me with it, and by proxy ... the dragon," Alptraum tells the wraith. Its hard to be afraid right now, because he has a focus ... or he did as he slowly blinks awake. he sanavite now awake takes several breaths then hugs Tulani.
"Oof!" Tulani goes. "I didn't think you'd be this happy about going to get some real clothes.." the Sphynx says, surprised.
"Bad dream," the savanite signs, "Thought I had lost you." Granted, it is rather horrific to even consider clothes shopping.
"You aren't going to lose me," Tulani says, and rubs Pierce's ears. "I'm right here. And I'm a badass unbeatable dragon. Who is also beautiful."
"Vorgulremik killed you," Pierce signs, "after I but my right arm off so Amena couldn't have me."
Tulani's expression turns to one of concern. "Maybe you really do need a night out, no cannibals or oozing or demons," she says, rubbing Pierce's neck. "Maybe a massage or two."
"I ... I'm not afraid to die. Or sacrifice to stop something," Pierce signs as he sort of looks down at his feet. "What scares me, is failing and losing those I care about. I came here because of my family. If need be I will die here for them. Because, if I lost them, or those that matter to me I don't really have much reason to live on either."
"Well, we feel the same way about you you know," Tulani says. "We're in this together, right? Let's have some fun tonight. You gotta spend quality time with your loved ones too after all!" She then reaches behind to undo Pierce's collar.
"I wish I could go as the real me, and not one of the dozen skins I hide behind," Pierce signs and shrugs a bit, causing the collar to fall away. "But I can't lower that guard quite yet. So, yes, lets go out and have one night that doesn't involve dealing with another horror." What he doesn't say in sign, though was the real horror of the dream was not the pain, or even cutting off his own arm. The real horror was watching his friend die.