Audio | Early Egret 24

[wisdominshadows]

If there's anyone else newly awake after an unpleasantly vivid dream, I'd like to speak with you.

[Zelda's voice holds fairly steady over the network, but her voice is slightly horse- as though she'd woken up screaming. Which she probably did, considering.

She lets out one slow breath as she thinks, then continues.]

More specifically... falling. The world dissolving around you. Cries of pain and despair... are any of those familiar? And if not, what else did you See?

[A quiet sigh, and then anyone listening closely can hear a muffled I am sorry about the disturbance, truly- before the connection cuts out.]

Comments

[wisdominshadows]

Zelda watches her new acquaintance perform that remarkable little trick- was it magic? A side-effect of the glowing? Did he always glow?

On the other hand, they have more immediate concerns- and who knows, perhaps it's rude to ask.

"A Balrog?" she asks for clarification. "Forgive me, I don't think I'm familiar with the term.... And yes. I was in a garden I used to frequent when I was young. But I don't know if that's the connection- everyone seems to see something different."

A slight pause. "And besides, the garden was destroyed years ago. The only way I can imagine it mattering is that it mattered once to me."

[laurefindil]

He nodded, and poured out the steaming tea into their cups and cradled his. "Mine was similar. It reminded me of Gondolin before the Fall, when the skies were crystal clear and beautiful. Then came the Darkness, and the Balrogs came and laid waste to the city."

"I died fighting one, you see," he said. "I was protecting those fleeing the city. I killed it, and it fell into a deep ravine. But, as it fell, it grabbed me and dragged me after it." He took a deep breath and stared at his tea.