She was right. Simply trying to force him into submission hadn't worked. They'd need to find a different way to deal with Buck. She mentioned that Buck wouldn't fall for a trap but Caedwyn bit his tongue at the comment. Sure, the beast seemed more intelligent than usual but Caedwyn wasn't ready to rule out trapping him as an option. They would simply need to be more clever than Buck us. "Have I ever told you the story of my reawakening?" Her reawakening? Had she told him this before? He couldn't remember. She had told him some things about her past and arriving in the Realm, but this seemed different. He quietly shook his head, giving her an opening to elaborate before he lowered himself down to lay next to her. "When I died, I saw a black void before me. It felt like it was swallowing me into nothingness. I tried to fight it. I couldn't. No matter how hard I willed my body to cooperate, it did not budge." As she began her tale, he couldn't help but be reminded of his own brush with death. He too had felt that void. That darkness and nothingness. It felt so long ago now, thinking about it. Those years ago, he had offered himself to Tsillah's mercy, to Tsillah's wrath. He'd felt the pain of dying and the bitter embrace of her cold darkness. It was hard to imagine that he had felt such animosity toward Enya back then. He could hardly imagine now how his heart was so different than it was now. His own arrogance and ego had put him on a collision course with Enya. And of course looking back now it seemed inevitable that they would have fought the way they did. Her strong-will wouldn't have allowed her to tolerate his actions, and his misguided attempts to prove his worth to her forced him to make all the wrong choices. It was almost amusing seeing how things changed. There was definitely a power beyond their understanding that pushed and pulled at the world. Was it the Will? or maybe that was Tsillah herself. He continued to listen quietly as she continued, going on to speak of how she had awoken from Tsillah's death. She had awoken much differently than Caedwyn. Where Enya had gone to the beyond and back again, Caedwyn had only touched the surface of the dark waters of eternity. Where she had found her Will entwined to Buck, Caedwyn's touch with death wrapped in pain. It had been a pain he'd never felt before. Not only had his body been broken, but so had his will to live. And yet, Tsillah hadn't taken him. Enya described the lights and colors that surrounded her. Tsillah's grace. That must have been what she saw. Her words made a vision flash to his mind. A memory of that day he'd almost forgotten. It was the moment Tsillah refused to take him. He had heard a voice calling to him. Pleading. He had thought it was Tsillah at first, but he was wrong. When his eyes had finally opened, it wasn't Tsillah waiting there to take him. It had been Enya. There was a mysterious similarity to their stories. Enya's will had been tied to buck, a sacrifice of deer souls to bind them together. She had awoken to find Buck. Caedwyn had awoken to find her. He had been too broken and blind to see it back then. Maybe, all this time Tsillah had been pushing him toward her. "There is mysterious magic enchanting this world. Mysterious does not always have to remain as such, however." His eyes dipped for a moment. Maybe... Tsillah had given them both a second chance. "There certainly is," he said softly, then raised his eyes back to meet her face. "You're right. This situation with Buck is a mystery, but there must be someone out there who can help us figure it out." He paused suddenly, as she shifted and let out a discomforted noise. The adrenaline had made him forget his injuries for a moment but now with them laying there and the energy of the fight with Buck gone, the numbing effect had waned. His side gave an unpleasant sharp pain when he moved wrong or took too deep of a breath. It didn't seem to be anything life-threatening, but it was unpleasant. "Oh course!" he said quickly. She was in worse shape than he was. He felt a bit guilty getting lost in his own thinking rather than considering that he should find a safe place for them to rest. He'd even lost track of the time! The sky overhead had turned a soft murky-gray color. The shade it turns just before turning pink with the sunrise. The stars had all faded and a wet dew had settled on the grass; but the birds had not yet awoken. It left a still quiet in the air. With a little wince, he got back to his feet. "Can you walk a bit?" he asked with concern. "My den is near here. If-if you want to go there? We can rest there and get out of the open." He felt a little unsure inviting her back to his den. Their adventure had kept him up for over a day now, but he wasn't sure she'd want to come back to his den. Were they even ready for that yet? --- Speech. |
ooc. feel free to say no to going to the den; but if they do, I have some ideas for when they get there (nothing weird).