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A Dance With Darkness [Erebus]

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#1Rhea 

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Fri Sep 20, 2024 4:04 pm

Rhea
Rhea



Hellsea Bastille, the notorious home of criminals and outcasts, lay submerged beneath the ocean’s depths, a place where hope was as nonexistent as sunlight. Rhea never felt at peace in spaces like these—steel cages housing the lost and the damned, men and women whose dreams had faded into despair. Some of the inmates had committed unspeakable crimes, while others were victims of a harsh system that offered little chance for redemption. A flicker of sympathy tugged at Rhea as she passed by, noting the hollow looks on their faces, the weight of lost opportunities heavy in the air.

As she strode through the shadowy corridors, the sound of her heeled boots echoed through the grim atmosphere surrounding her. Today marked her first shift as an overseer, stationed on the last level of Hellsea. With her combat skills and rank as a Rune Knight, it made sense for her to be here, but that didn’t ease the tension she felt in her chest. The prisoners’ hostile glares bore into her, some calling out with desperate voices, others leering with unfiltered hunger. It was clear many of them hadn’t felt a woman’s touch in years. Rhea tried to ignore the unwelcomed attention, summoning a stern expression that radiated authority. She wanted them to know right away that she was not someone to be fucked with.

Yet amidst the chaos, one name echoed in the Dragon slayers mind: Erebus Gresham. The infamous man sent shivers through the ranks of Rune Knights, known for his ruthless skills in battle and his notorious past. Rumors suggested he was kept in a more isolated part of this level, almost like a ghost haunting the prison. Rhea’s curiosity had been piqued; she was eager to see the man behind the legend. Was he truly as monstrous as the stories claimed? With her claws bared and her dagger sheathed, she steeled herself for the encounter. There was no way he would escape—not on her watch.

As she approached his cell, the atmosphere shifted dramatically. The lights flickered, dimming to a near-total darkness, and a chill settled in the air, bringing a silence that swept through the corridor. The usual noise of the prison seemed to fade away, leaving only the sound of her own breathing. Erebus' cell loomed before her like a the shadows of Mictlan, and the elven knight felt an inexplicable pull toward it. She kept a comfortable distance, aware that proximity could shift the dynamics in unexpected ways.

"The Don of Death, they call you," she said, her voice steady and confident, despite the tension swirling around her. There was no hint of fear; rather, her tone was laced with intrigue. She was curious to see if the man behind the reputation matched the terror told in the stories that surrounded him. In the darkness of the cell, she could make out the figure of Erebus. An energy that hinted at both danger and allure. Rhea felt her pulse quicken; this was the moment she had been waiting for. Would he be as vile as the stories suggested, or was there something deeper lurking beneath the surface?




A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Lightning-bolt-png-3
#2Erebus 
Online

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Sat Sep 21, 2024 4:44 pm

Erebus

The figure of the shadowy mass was sat, on his bench, which in this pit was the last throne for one dark prince. The Underworld a maze that was inescapable and unreliably severing his reach from the world. Of course, when given the chance-- the husk of the man, which had moved through dimensions, time, and even faces, was one that shared little mercy for the world. Even then, he was still just human-- selfish, perhaps. But morally, on a war path for things one could not fathom, except himself, as being the right answers.

When one guest, a knight, made her entrance, Erebus slightly moved his sight from the stone floor to the front of the glass encasement, which glowed eerie green with its hex seal, always spinning in the center. An anti-magical lockbox, meant for him, like the other monsters which all had their own mystical entanglements here.

"Is that still what they're calling me out there?"

His eyes first studied her hourglass figure, and her hips, as they moved from the ground under her feet to the stare placed over his robed body. Under the hood, a shadow which covered everything except a glowing yellow pupil, surely, wrapped in the shadows, one could identify the figure of a human. But the presence was far more intense, the stories and infamy an aura that must instill fear. Yet even then, the angels did not sing for this champion, and the demons snickered in contrast.

The rogue, and the warlock, in one form-- staring forth through the shadows at the warmth of the berserker. "That is not my name... I am the rogue of the statesman, I suppose I was rich, once. Maybe it was a setup, thinking back.. A test if you might figure? You can't judge an old dog for getting the paper, try to give the people their backbone, and they will eventually come to remember you as whatever they please... I never liked that King, but I guess there are worse titles his people could have chose for their dishonored champion." He echoed back to her, his words while friendly, had a venom laced behind them that you could easily pick up on. Like talking to the devil, deep and inviting. "My name is so much older, it was gift to me from which my blood came, but I grew through poverty with my mother's passing. The rest of my half-family were raised in prestigious magical academies, I didn't have those talents that they did. I was a bastard, son of a merchant, but I took the doom out of their hate, and made it my strength instead. Ambition, was my real gift."

The shaded one spoke-- enlightening her to unknown histories far removed by time and its current reality, sifting away any notion of being a mere black market salesman away, even the wealthy men who claimed to be his partners-- were nothing more than checkpoints on his way to vengeance against nobility, and throughout time-- he came to snatch and run away with their riches-- pocket change they filled his coffers with, a dark dealer in this magical world.

Yet even so, after great amounts of time in this prison, Erebus had lost so much of the communication to the outside world, that allowed his controlling hand to move over a united criminal enterprise, to dwindle into rumors and fables. His spirit was instead directed back onto the many tales and people's he had met along the way, their chance experiences meeting the dark one, and how he would add their accolades into or against his own. If he could ever just escape the hand of the Law.

Upon the wall at his neck, numberous white dashes and scratched marks littered the wall behind his head, carved into the surface of the stone at his back to allow him to track the date and time. He couldn't see light of the Moon here, but simple questions from the guards gave him the information he needed, when he needed it.

"My name is Erebus. Perhaps they'll immortalize that name." he elaborated in his foreign accent. "Or maybe it will just disappear, in the hourglass of time. Nothing we humans do really matters in the longevity of it all, you know. Not when demons live forever, and angels write of our adventures and close the book with our death. I have already lived a few different lives, stranger. Passing through the grave and the vortex to return, and still I wonder when I will rest. They say the good die young, so maybe 'Erebus' will live forever. A fantasy, isn't it?" Erebus thought back to his old master, an undead who should have lived forever. Yet still, there was memento mori; awaiting that lich, as a backdrop that often tugged Erebus into the most evil decisions. Hoping to burn this world, before he was gone.

"and what is your name?"

His words were inviting, almost as if the rogue enjoyed a good bit of company, from time to time. They also suggested that he had always been an adventurer who made efforts to grow that name-- as opposed to someone who had control over the rumors left in his wake, instead of a leader; he more closely resembled a loner.

The Don had been a Guildmaster, but it wasn't out of choice, more at the stalemate of life's everyday tragedys. In an era that was before he had taken a chair amongst the league of the strongest villains known throughout Fiore, the latter Akudama Syndicate. In some cases, Eternal Nightmare was about true ideals, and feelings. It was birthed through darkness, welcomed into life by a demon-- Zagan, but the freedom, and dignity it meant to instil was the dream left by his Lich Master, and it allowed Erebus to see the light at the end of dark tunnels. When his master died, he had retired back to the forgotten dark, and abandoned any light that interfered with his reasoning. The very reason he picked up the sword in the first place.

The Akudama's version of Erebus, was one who had lost his way, finding that his powers were too grand to contain by mere men, they gave him access to treasure, allowing him to invade the homes of other bandits and criminals, friend and foe alike so that he might expand his dark interlopers, and taking a stance that gave him a vindication which led him to robbing villages, overtaking in the black market dark network, and burning away any resistance to his affairs. The only criminals free of his anger, were others allied to him, and even some of them would betray the banner at the late days of his freedom, and early days of his incarceration.

His attention to these exploits wasn't so humble, instead, he manipulated the control of his military forces and thousands of stolen treasures. Hunting any slight and foe, taking over his lesser enemies enterprises, and building an empire on the souls of dead men. What started as aiding his apprentice & the sorceress of desierto in their experiments with Narcotics' and the profit of tech trade. Led Erebus to using the same connections between criminals to wage total domination on different continental fronts.

While they designed and experimented with their inventions, Erebus was a monster, wearing human skin. His approach took a far more violent turn where wealth and control mocked him in the promise of a warrior's death. The resources garnered by the others was something he borrowed, and alone, he was accessible to it's worldly power, at his disposal The Akudama assaulted islands, even while countries in the middle of their own wars, and fledgling nations for their magic and species. Thirteen million jewels in bounty later, and Erebus had become a devastation to the world, as well as mankind. That sin, that greed, eventually led him to the pits here, in the Hellsea Bastille. The very lowest point one could be banished, at the bottom of the ocean.

Even the name Erebus, which he bore, prophesized this ending in wicked grandiosity. Defined as the "Point of Darkness"-- the Sevenese translation of his titular legend, and his birth given name.

"I would not get so close to me, Rune Knight," Erebus warned, his lips bending into a curved at the tips of his smile, as if a forked tongue were ready to flicker from this snake's lips. "I take careful patience, in watching the seal in front of your eyes, when my chamber grows very weak, it fails to hold me in this abandoned floor." Erebus recited back to her, as he had many dead knights who failed to heed his words in the last year. "Someday, the Fates will remove this curse over my namesake. and I will break away from here-- when that happens, you will not want to be the one there standing in the way of my quest, nor departure."

#3Rhea 

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Tue Sep 24, 2024 7:10 pm

Rhea
Rhea



"Is that not who you are?"

The words rolled off Rhea's tongue, her voice tinged with an undeniable confidence, the syllables drawn out with the warmth of her Stellan accent. She spoke the truth and dared him to confront it. Her gaze was steady, unwavering as her golden eyes the hue of molten sunlight narrowed upon him, cutting through the shadows that embraced him. He was the "Don of Death," and his legacy had not faded, no matter how far beneath the earth he was. His actions had shaped the world outside, rippling through the lives of innocents and criminals alike. This title was not something bestowed upon him lightly. It was an identity he had sculpted from his ruthless ambition. Revered by those who lingered in the depths of infamy, feared by those whose opinions mattered most. His crimes had painted the world in blood and chaos, but now, here in this sunless prison, it was up to him to decide if that mantle would cling to him forever.

Rhea stepped forward, closer to the metal bars that separated them. The magic items that held him in this place thrummed faintly, a soft vibration in the air. Her hips swayed with a confidence that belied her youth, and her eyes, twin suns, flickered with curiosity as she leaned in. She could only make out the gleam of one of his eyes, a sharp, glowing gold that nearly mirrored her own. It was the only clearly visible part of him beneath the shadows. His voice, thick with an accent she couldn't quite place, began to wind its way through the stale air, heavy with the weight of a thousand sins.

His story unfolded and each thread steeped in betrayal, loss, and vengeance. She listened quietly, her lips pressed into a thoughtful line as his words tumbled forth, as if reminiscing about the man he once was—or the man he might have been. the god Erebus. His name echoed in the half-elf's mind, and with a name like that, it seemed his fate had been determined long before his first breath. The gods had chosen him to walk a path lined with darkness. He had survived where so many others had perished, a mortal man playing the part of an immortal villain. Yet, for all his power and infamy, he was still human. Mortal. And all men die, eventually.

The Knight's eyes drifted briefly over the marks behind him, etched into the cold stone walls like a diary. He was counting down the days. Perhaps to freedom, or perhaps to something darker, more final. It was her duty as a Rune Knight to warn her superiors if she believed there was even the slightest chance he could escape. The consequences of his freedom were unimaginable. And yet... Rhea remained silent. Something about him intrigued her. She had faced monsters before, creatures far more dangerous than any man, no matter how feared or revered. But Erebus... He was something else entirely. He was a man bound by his past, by the weight of the choices he had made, and the chains of fate itself.

"I do not fear you, Don of Death," she finally spoke, her voice strong and clear. There was no hesitation, no quiver of doubt. Her words hung in the air like a challenge, daring him to test her resolve. She had battled dragons and beasts whose very names sent shivers down the spines of the bravest warriors. So, she took another step closer, the soft glow of her eyes locked onto his single, golden one. "The Rune Knights talk about you all the time," she continued, her accent painting each word with the richness of her homeland. "They laugh about your name, about the day you might return. They call you a ghost, a relic of a past that no longer matters." A soft, almost imperceptible smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. ]b]"Sometimes, I almost feel sorry for you."[/b]

There was only a deep and unspoken understanding in her gaze. "You were always bound to become this... what you are now," she mused, her voice softening, almost compassionate. "The gods, in all their twisted designs, had a hand in this, didn’t they? Perhaps you could never have been anything else. But..." She paused, tilting her head slightly, the light catching the gold flecks in her irises. "Perhaps it is not too late. Not too late to change, to redeem yourself—if that is something you even desire."

With a sigh, Rhea straightened and let her posture relax. The tension in her muscles eased as she flipped her dark hair back over her shoulder with a casual grace. "My name is Rhea Alvarez," she said, her voice proud, the words rolling off her tongue like the melody of a long-forgotten song. "A daughter of Stella. Born a Dragon Slayer. The Outcast Rune Knight Sergeant." She smirked, a small but confident curve of her lips. "They call me La Dorada—the Morningstar."

It still surprised her, sometimes, how quickly she had risen through the ranks of the Rune Knights. She had only been in Fiore a few months, but already, she was making a name for herself, much like Erebus once had in his earlier years. Her path, though, was not forged through darkness and vengeance. Hers was one of triumphant light, and discovery of finding out who she was meant to be. From a young age, Rhea had always been a prodigy, outpacing her older cousins in battle, strategy, and skill. But here in Fiore, she was being tested like never before. It was a challenge she relished, though it forced her to confront questions she had long buried.

"I came here," she began, her voice taking on a more thoughtful tone, "Upon request of my mother. She claims she thought it would be best for me to learn to control my power, but I believe she felt like home was holding me back. I, chose to come to uncover truths about my family. Unlike you, Don of Death...." she glanced at him, her gaze intense but not unkind, "I do not yet fully know who I am. I am still discovering what my role is in this world, where I belong, and what I must become."

Her gaze softened, just slightly, as she regarded him. "You seem so certain of who you are, of your place in all of this... But does it truly satisfy you?" Her voice, though quiet, was filled with a genuine curiosity. "Do you ever wonder if there could have been another way?"




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#4Erebus 
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A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Wed Sep 25, 2024 4:00 pm

Erebus

"... Morningstar." Erebus repeated, remembering fondly the dark overlord who took him in, a true falsely convicted criminal who gave way to becoming exactly what people wanted him to be-- but with a secret hope that he might change the world. Someone who had freed a young rogue, called Erebus, from the nightmares of death, and sharpened him to become it, eternally.

If it hadn't been for watching those mages, those Nightmares, so far back, with such foul luck as to become the darkness of this world-- to show people why they needed heroes again, to play against this sacrificial system? Just maybe, Erebus wouldn't have taken the rebellion so close to his beating heart, so intensely. Except that for all those who listened to Odin, Erebus truly understood him, and placed his faith in those ideas. He was just someone with no direction, a dark brick road had been paved, that Erebus could dance and spin to of his own accords. He needs only do as he will, and the gate to grow would be there for him.

The young rogue gave into the world's view of him, and by now, that is what had blossomed into the many stories ladden before her now, the most infamous criminal of the day and age, even if he wasn't quite the strongest anymore. Erasing his engine of destruction, was something one could not do easily. Of those nightmare mages, he was the last of what remain now, wasn't he? The last song of the outlaw West.

He listened to this Stellan hero and where she was in her journey-- she explained that she was still searching for completion, her certified identity, he monitored her choice of words closely, as his fingers tapped the stone bench in his cell room, and he gave her an ultimatum as his other hand moved with words and he leaned in over his seat. While precarious, he spoke a truth in the darkness back to her and told the answer to his tale of misdeeds, how he walked with the guilt that would cause other men to buckle in place, this was what she wanted, her insight into that of a dark interloper.

"Figure that is where the curse starts isn't it, those like us are never satisfied... We are starved of salvation. Instead of satisfaction like you might think, I have a better revelation for you La Dorada. Answer me this. If there aren't those that can stop men like me, what makes you so sure they're ready for worse? I played a part, as Fate dictates for me always." he dwelled on that bit, leaving a chilly stillness in the air. Given them chance to continue, he further showed her the divide between reason and foulplay. "It was never about what anyone wanted, it's about what is always needed, for all those on their way will someday know. The destruction I leave in my trails, leaves for them, a firelight that can be followed, that few can put out. In that light, cast in shadow, I'll make hundreds, if not thousands, of heroes-- who can't liven themselves, without extinguishing it. It will give to them their hate. For it, a golden treasure awaits them. The distinction between fame and infamy, so very thin." Erebus described the spell he had placed over the world, so this could become very clear what his goal was, against the Void or whatever force threatened Earthland.

Rhea was like a messenger of these Gods' that she spoke of, sent here to speak to his wandering thoughts and finite questions upon life. "How warm, and welcoming to be reminded of that now." He whispered, under and between her smirks, as his own eyes peered and squinted into hers. Gazing beyond the husk, and into her very soul.

"Without Erebus, there would be more evil, to infect the ambitious, but by becoming the dark, I'll forever neglect-- less than worthy men-- from the infamy that is mine. I make these wrong things right, and save them all over again, whether they realize what horrors awaits them or not, it will be for me. When I get there, I will be one lost soul, in the place of so many more forsaken ones... They say that if there is a single God, that he removes the good early from this world, so that they cannot live to see more evil. I find the same to be true, and if it isn't; let them become mighty enough to remove it themselves. I will be here, watching... waiting."

#5Rhea 

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Fri Sep 27, 2024 4:32 pm

Rhea
Rhea



Rhea stood there, arms folded beneath her chest, watching him, her thoughts twisting through a labyrinth of revelation. There was something about the way Erebus spoke, as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders but wore it like a crown. A "Don of Death" he might be, but there was a strange allure to his darkness, something magnetic and raw that tugged at her thoughts even though she fought not to entertain it. No, she couldn’t afford to entertain it.

The Knight took in his words about Odin Morningstar, the fabled lich who had turned the tides of fate for Erebus, and for many others who followed the shadowed path. Rhea had heard stories of Odin—the skeleton king with virtual immortality, who had become a nightmare until his fall at the hands of Blue Pegasus. His legend was something people whispered about in dim-lit taverns and battle-worn camps, a name steeped in dread. Rhea had thought it distant, untouchable. Yet, here she was, standing before one of Odin's remnants, a man who had inherited that darkness, and in doing so, built his own kingdom in the shadows.

His words hung heavy in the air, laced with a philosophy so steeped in fatalism that it almost had a poetic edge. But despite the weight of it, Rhea wasn’t cowed. If anything, she felt the opposite. She could feel her spine straighten, her posture easing into something not soft, but deliberate. His voice echoed in her mind, saying they were alike—two wanderers on an endless journey, cursed by fate and perhaps destined to be misunderstood. She couldn’t help but wonder: did she see that darkness within herself, the same one Erebus had so eagerly embraced?

The Stellan stepped closer, a soft, rhythmic sound of her boots tapping the cold stone floor, almost as if matching the pulse of the dim, flickering light that barely held its ground in the shadows, and she found herself resting in a crouched position. Her golden eyes, once sharp and watchful, softened just a touch as they bore into his, trying to decipher the man beneath the mask of legend.

“We are alike, you say...” Her voice, though strong, carried a thread of tenderness, almost unintentional. "You talk of curses like we have been branded by the gods themselves, condemned to play roles in their twisted games. As if we have been blessed with the ability of oracles and can determine our future. Maybe you’re right... maybe people like...us—were always meant to be cast as the dark ones, the ones who shoulder the weight of sins that aren't even ours to bear.”

Her gaze flickered to the marks on the walls behind him—markings of time, of a man waiting for his moment of freedom, like a dragon coiled and waiting to strike. There was something almost... poetic about it, wasn’t there? She felt it, that subtle pulse in her chest—a pang of recognition. Erebus' philosophy, the way he spoke of lighting the way for heroes, of being the necessary evil so that others could rise, it was tragically noble. But at what cost?

“You believe that your destruction paves the way for others to become heroes. And I can’t say I disagree with you,” she admitted, a sigh slipping from her lips as she folded her arms tighter across her chest. “But you’re wrong if you think that's the only way it has to be. I don’t believe in gods as simply arbiters of fate, not entirely. Not anymore.”

The Dragoness paused, her mind drifting back to Bosco, to Stellan, to the rebellion that had torn her homeland apart. Her father, Mzuma—the man who had stood against Bosco’s tyranny, who had fought for a Stellan future free of oppression. He was probably dead now, his dream crushed by the same forces she now served. The Rune Knights, an arm of the Fiorian government, the same government that had watched as Bosco tore through her village, hunting for her.

And here she was, wearing their emblem. A soldier in a war she no longer knew if she believed in.

“I suppose I am currently where you’ve been—lost, wondering if the path I walk is mine or something forced upon me by others.” Her tone softened even further, though her gaze remained sharp, trying to pierce through the veil of his golden eyes. “I found out not too long ago that my father was the rebel leader of Stellan, Mzuma. He stood against Bosco, against the tyranny of noble houses, and now... he’s gone. Killed, most likely, by the very people I serve. And now... now, Bosco attacks my village, hunting for me like a wolf in the night.” She swallowed, the weight of her words sinking into the air between them.

“For the first time in my life, I feel like I am in the darkness, Erebus. I’ve fought it, yes, but it has never been able to touch me...until now. But there’s a difference between wielding it and letting it consume you.” Her words were a soft warning, but they lacked accusation, as though she was speaking as much to herself as to him. There was no harm in being vulnerable with a man who could not hurt her. “So tell me... why do you think we’re alike? Is it because I, too, have a shadow looming over me? Or is it because you see a reflection of your own fractured soul in me?”

She held her ground, her heart steady but her mind racing. There was something, however small, however quiet, that linked them. Perhaps it was not darkness they shared, but the weight of destiny. And the question that lingered, unspoken, was whether either of them would ever find their way out of it.




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#6Erebus 
Online

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Sat Oct 05, 2024 1:25 pm

Erebus

"Perhaps you're right. and yet maybe you aren't. What do I know?" Erebus offered her, a vague and somewhat insignificant answer for all the questioning afforded to her. Except some things he didn't quite agree with, the first was a clear far cry from his disposition. The darkness hadn't consumed Erebus, something that he would normally argue with, perhaps the most interesting thing about Erebus was that he could not bring himself to care if that's what she had surmised, at this late stage.

"I'm not going to tell you where the conflict of interest begins for you. But we both know that something brought you all the way down here, didn't it Rhea. You must be very torn if your hearts brought you to seek council from a bandit. Maybe it was for a reason, or maybe it just reminds you that you are a much better person. I don't mind, I'm learning a lot about you... Hmm hmn hmn, kind of intriguing now isn't it?" Erebus stated without much concern, but with an investment into the words she had chosen and the aim she seemed to be directing with them, for her own interests. The questions themselves perplexed the illusion she was in belief of, that she truly was selfless and that everything around her wasn't. Something had made her think so, was it that the idea had been planted in her, that others like himself were so much more selfish. Or did she truly wish to lift the burden of her pain, and show the world what being messed with us really like?

Clearly, Rhea knew in her heart, that she was in a path she wasn't in control of anymore. With each step taken, she grew closer to seeing the world for it's unfairness, and it cruelty. Erebus had sensed as much. He fell silent for a long moment, those words ruminating upon the air that left his lips. "Are you happy with your place in this life?"

Allowing her too much insight into his own character was dutifully ignorant, but being so cast away, he couldn't argue that the company wasn't appreciated. He stood from his place on the bench and walked forward until his face was only a mere foot behind a pulsating green barrier, and his hood was lit up by eerie swamp-colored light.

"Your leaders will betray you, see it from my point of view. A knight is a rank, you are competing for the position that will always be beneath the corporation, not controlling it. You should trust me instead, spread your wings and see if they don't take you farther than any organization will. Avenge your father, if that's what is bothering your mental... When that time comes, you might just understand why they have named me, shamed me, before this world. If it isn't one of us, then it will be all of us, at the very least; the next person who answers only to themselves, instead of the system they put into place."

Erebus finished, and turned around. He lifted a hand up, as if to wave to her. Before his shadowy mass disappeared from the green light that had amplifyed his figure.

"I figure that we are done here, La Dorada. Good luck on your adventures, you will see me again."

#7Rhea 

A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Empty Sat Oct 05, 2024 6:15 pm

Rhea
Rhea



Rhea blinked as Erebus’ words hung in the air, his question gnawing at her thoughts.

"Are you happy?"

It was so simple, so direct, but the weight of it left her momentarily breathless. Her chest tightened, her heart thrummed in her ears. She opened her mouth to answer, but the truth was, she didn’t know. Nobody had ever asked her that question. Not out loud, at least. It was as if Erebus had peered through the iron walls she'd erected, cutting through her hardened exterior and striking the one vulnerable part of her she'd never exposed.

Was she happy?

For years, she had run through the motions, fulfilling her duties, carrying the weight of her family’s legacy like a stone upon her back, one she could never set down. She was a Rune Knight. She had pledged her sword, her soul, to protect Fiore. But... happiness? When was the last time she'd even thought about it?

She glanced at him, his dark figure bathed in the green light of the magical barrier that separated them. For the first time, she saw not just a criminal, not just the notorious Erebus, the man of shadows and nightmares, but something else—a mirror. His words felt less like manipulation now, less like the false promises of an outlaw, and more like a reflection of her own inner turmoil.

Rhea wasn’t sure when she had stopped resisting him. At first, she had come to him, thinking she could find clarity, maybe even expose the flaws in his philosophy, to separate herself from the darkness that clouded his world. But now... now his words had begun to weave themselves into her heart, taking root in places she didn’t even realize were barren.

"You must be very torn if your heart brought you to seek council from a bandit."

He was right. She was torn—between the Rune Knights, between Fiore, between her family’s expectations, her village’s survival... and this gnawing feeling that none of it, none of it, was truly her. The gods must have sent her here, led her to Erebus for a reason. She had spent so much time trying to stay true to her duties, to the oaths she had taken. But maybe... maybe her path wasn’t meant to be the clean, righteous one she had once believed. Maybe there was something more, something hidden in the shadows. Something she needed to understand.

She gazed at him, watching as he moved, his body language fluid and confident. He was a criminal, yes, but there was power in his words, undeniable, unavoidable. She could feel it, slipping into her, turning over every doubt and question she had held within her for so long. His philosophy had cut deeper into her than she'd ever expected. Was this what the gods wanted? To lead her into the arms of someone like Erebus? Or was she merely being corrupted, her mind twisted by his persuasive darkness?

“Your leaders will betray you,”

...And maybe he was right about that too. Wasn’t that what her father had believed? Mzuma had fought against the system, fought against the very forces she now served, even if only for personal gain. The thought made her stomach churn. Erebus was still speaking, but Rhea could barely focus. His voice was a soft hum, a distant whisper now, as she felt herself slipping deeper into the questions that he had stirred up inside her. Was this fate? Was she destined to meet him, to cross paths with the man who had, in such a short time, caused her to question everything she had ever believed? He was right about one thing: she wasn’t in control anymore.

Rhea felt her lips twitch into a faint smile—soft, barely there, but it lingered for a moment. She could feel it now, that strange attraction she hadn’t intended to entertain. There was something about him, something magnetic. His presence wasn’t just dangerous; it was intoxicating. The way he carried himself, the conviction in his voice...

But she wouldn’t let him see that. Not yet. She wasn’t weak, and she wouldn’t become one of those people who fell under his spell so easily. As Erebus turned, lifting his hand in a shadowy wave before disappearing into the green light, Rhea stood there for a moment, letting the silence wrap around her. She could still feel the weight of his words pressing down on her. When she finally turned to leave, her steps were slow, measured. The conversation they had just shared replayed itself in her mind over and over again, and with every step, she found herself embracing his words a little more. She had stopped trying to combat them, stopped trying to convince herself that he was wrong.

Whether it was corruption or clarity, she didn’t know. But whatever it was, it had begun to change her. Something inside her had shifted. And for the first time in a long time, Rhea felt a new kind of strength growing within her, fed by the very darkness she had once sworn to fight. Maybe Erebus was right. Maybe she had wings. Maybe it was time to spread them.

And maybe... just maybe... they would lead her right back to him.

@Erebus

[3,455]

[end]



A Dance With Darkness [Erebus] Lightning-bolt-png-3

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