Archived Roleplay:Main Forum/General/Love, Death, Sleep

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The Shrike

Blair: Begging and screaming were drowned out by the howls of the cold mountain winds. Somewhere, in a valley between the peaks, a vast mile-high tree shook and swayed. Snow settled on it and hung there for precious seconds, then were scattered again. The banks far below were stained a deep red that never seemed to fade, as ever new were the tree's tender's victims. Hundreds were dead. Their bodies were transfixed through the chest upon the tree's many sharp branches. Hundreds more were still alive.

Blake: Blake found himself sitting high up on one of the branches his feet dangling over one side while he ignores the screaming happening around him. Something like this would happen to him more often than not, he would find himself in a dream world like this full of people he doesn't know, faces he has not seen, and lives he has not lived. This particular setting has become unique among them all, he hasn't seen a nightmare like this in a long time and it has his curiosity piqued. He looks down at the banks and stares at the mounds of snow, now a deep red slush after colliding with the blood that drips from the tree in a constant pitter patter of gruesome rain. "I wonder whose dream this is," he ponders out loud.

Blair: It was then that the entire tree shook, beckoning forth a new wave of wailing and a crimson veil of falling blood. Far above, near the top of the tree, a new victim had been forcefully slammed onto an open branch and left unceremoniously transfixed on several feet of thick wood. This new prey barely lasted seconds before death took hold. Blake would feel her life waver, and then, suddenly and unusually... nothing. Each live body on the tree was very much real. The massive dark figure that had carried the new arrival to the tree, and given it its gruesome fate, spread a pair of impossibly large wings and took off. The sky overhead was itself unearthly; black as night despite a deep red sun burning on the horizon.

Blake: As the tree shook, Blake held onto the trunk of the tree. Now covered in more blood, he started to make his way to the top of the tree. He felt a disturbance, as if somebody had actually died. He shouldn't be able to feel life in dreams, he usually never could as no dreamt life is real. He climbed in silence, no further thoughts, he was ready to attack if need be once he reached the top, if he ever did.

Blair: A few timeless moments passed, filled with nothing but the roaring of the winds. The tree was impossibly large in a way that only a construct of dreams could be. After what should have been minutes, Blake found himself passing through the same few branches - recognizable by the suffering souls trasfixed upon them - again and again.

Blake: After having passed by the same souls, he realized there was no getting to the top. He pondered if he should stay on the tree's branches for as long as the dream lasts, but the possibility came to him that this may not be a normal dream as life exists within. He sighs and makes his way downward; he could shadow travel but if he is caught at an inopportune moment, it may go wrong. So down he goes.

Blair: Blake finally reached what seemed to be a new portion of the tree. The dream seemed to actively oppose almost every step he took, as if determined to remain a mystery. Even for one with his abilities, and natural affinity for this world, progress was slow. It didn't help that the miles-wide valley that engulfed the tree was constantly assailed with nearly galeforce winds that threatened to throw him loose. Suddenly, during a brief lull in the winds, Blake was covered by a massive shadow - the winged creature from before, cresting the mountains and eclipsing the dim glow of the sun. Its return was heralded by an ear-splitting screech.

Blake: His head ached from the sound of the creature's call, he stopped descending as soon as its shadow came upon him. Despite the overwhelming advantage the creature had against him, he materialized one of his swords and stood at the ready. "If this isn't much of a dream, I may die here." He thought, an indifferent feeling traveling through him at this revelation.

Blair:  The creature's approach could have been minutes, but as surreal and meaningless as everything else in this place, time held no meaning. Blake's weapon had barely the chance to appear before the beast was upon him, driving a woman's body through the thick branch he stood on with such ferocity that it was split open and severed in half. The creature's first arrival had shook the whole tree even from a hundred meters away. At point blank, the sheer force of its movements struck Blake with a blast of wind that could easily splatter him red against the tree trunk., and the bisected corpse did exactly that. It was finally close enough to see clearly: what appeared to be a bird was in fact hundreds. Countless small, contorted, eviscerated birds suspended inside the beams and wires of a terrible metal skeleton. It was a hollow, broken automaton of rusted steel and exposed wires that scraped against the bones and sinews of very real stripped flesh. Viscera bulged out of its empty metal eyesockets and sparse tufts of bloody feathers speckled out from gaps in its gears.

Blake: The appearance of the bird didn't surprise him. He had gotten used to the gruesome nature of this dream and its annoying ability to impede his progress. There was no more time to think, in a gambit to avoid being splattered like that woman's corpse he crossed his arms and threw them aside in a grand sweeping motion in order to divert the wind. Dreams were not his forte, he found it easier to use his powers as he could remember and perfectly visualize their effects on him or the surrounding area. This was different, his enemy moved fast and he couldn't risk losing sight or spending time waiting for the undead, he concentrated intensely to make the dream move to his will, a feat that was starting to pull on his energy.