[center][abbr=Therion][img]https://i.ibb.co/rHBxLGZ/therionbanner.png[/img][/abbr] [color=BC8DBF]Word Count: 2137 (+3 exp) [u]Level[/u]: [b]6[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 118/60 [b]Location[/b]: The Under[/color] [color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color][/center] When Therion laid down on the warm stone beside the oven, not even bothering to return to his human form and just curling up as a cat to let his fur dry, he neither intended nor expected to fall asleep. His head was laid across his front paws, and his eyes were closed but his ears were perked up and swiveling subtly towards the Seekers still awake as they talked in hushed tones. Eventually, their voices blended together into a low rumble. When the adrenaline in his system wore off it took all of his energy with it. The few hours he'd napped earlier were not enough to keep his mind awake. His breathing evened out and he went slowly from dozing to dreaming. [center]* * *[/center] A lot of the time it was easy for Therion to tell that he was in a dream. He didn't often have them in the first place, given his propensity for sleeping in short segments of time. Tonight he found himself walking a well worn path on a bright autumn day, and though he sensed that it wasn't real at first his consciousness gradually gave in to the illusion. "Mr. Therion!" He turned to see a [url=https://i.imgur.com/KOa91lc.png]woman[/url] hurrying up to him. She was dressed in a simple teal kimono and had a gentle, if somewhat nervous smile on her face. Therion himself had a similar outfit on, though it was a faded purple in color, and where the manacle usually hung on his wrist there was a woven bracelet instead. When she was close enough the woman held a small cloth parcel out to him. "Here. I wanted to give you these. They areβ€” o-oh, you're opening them now?" Bundled up inside were a few pastries, delightfully golden brown and smelling faintly of apples. They were still slightly warm to the touch. Therion stared at them for what must have been a worryingly long amount of time, because the blonde woman fidgeted and asked, "Do they look alright...? I wasn't sure if they would be to your liking." [color=BC8DBF]"They're fine - I mean, they look good. I'm just... wondering why you're giving them to me."[/color] Because he knew this person, though her name slipped away from his mind. It wasn't something he would have expected her to do. She was a jailer, or a benefactor, or... no, she was a neighbor. Right, she lived just down the road in the village. His lived experience and his dream bled together, and inside the dream he was none the wiser. Not only was she a neighbor, but she also purchased a lot of apples from him - she was probably his best local customer, as most of the other fruits form his small orchard were packed in barrels and sold to sea-faring merchants. The woman smiled again. "I just thought you'd like a taste of what your apples are being used for. " [color=BC8DBF]"That so? Then I'll be sure to eat them."[/color] He wrapped them back up and gave her a small smile in return, watching her cheeks turn pink. [color=BC8DBF]"Thank you."[/color] "You're quite welcome Mr. Therion. Now, I should leave you to it..." They said their goodbyes and Therion continued his walk. He'd just come from market, his baskets blessedly empty as he crested the hill that led to his home. It was a small house, one that would have been wholly unfamiliar to him in the waking world. Wooden with a sloping hip-and-gable roof, sliding reed doors and tatami mat floors. Behind the house was his pride and joy, the dozen or so apple trees that made up his grove. He went inside and took to eating the pastries. After a short rest he'd be back to packing baskets to take to market for tomorrow while the ripening season lasted. His days continued on like that, as they had for the past few years. If the off seasons he spent his time watching the [url=https://i.imgur.com/TVB80Ui.png]village[/url] slowly expand - it was far from the largest town, but being close to the sea it made for an easy spot for travelers to visit, and sometimes to stay. Gradually the town gained other draws too, like the small dojo run by a stern, but kind [url=https://i.imgur.com/Ya3Ge7T.png]man[/url] with salt and pepper hair. He hadn't been able to keep a grin from his face when Therion cracked a joke about their similar facial scars when they'd first met. A little further past the village into the mountains was even a shrine tended to by a [url=https://i.imgur.com/s2hkmd8.png]miko[/url] and mysterious kagura [url=https://i.imgur.com/Q11yTBO.png]dancer[/url] that saw regular visitors. Once, when another autumn had come and gone and winter was cooling the area down with the first signs of frost, Therion had even discovered that the house opposite his own which had sat empty for years had finally been purchased. The [url=https://i.imgur.com/h9dUbfm.png]young man[/url] dabbled in medicine of some kind, and they'd met when he was marveling at the trees just across the street. "Ya gotta let me help with the crop," he'd told Therion with a bright, slightly lopsided smile, a sprig of grass hanging from his mouth. "I won't even ask for nothing, if we're gonna be neighbors its only right to lend a hand. But if ya felt like sharing some fruit, I sure wouldn't say no!" And he had ended up helping the next harvest, and the ones after that. Market trips were a lot more lively, as the man would chat anyone up, including the [url=https://i.imgur.com/XwFMXSP.png]woman[/url] that Therion would often trade with, fruit for meats, though he'd hardly spoken to her prior. On their way back from port the stately blonde, now their collective neighbor, took to baking extras and gifting it to the two men whenever she got the chance. She was a busy woman herself lately, funding a library in town and working to stock it together with the [url=https://i.imgur.com/kAHsF0a.png]wise man[/url] she'd invited to manage the place. It felt good to see the town grow. It felt like soon their village might even become a major business hub in the future, and wouldn't that be a sight? Today though had been a long one, and Therion was looking forward to turning in early. [color=BC8DBF]"See you tomorrow,"[/color] he said, waving a lazy goodbye to the other man. "Yup, see ya Therion!" It was a warmer autumn night, sure to make for a warm morning the next day. Therion would sleep well again. ...baked apples had a wonderfully pleasant smell. A rich, fruity, warm scent that invoked a feeling of comfort and familiarity. They were best made in a water bath, cooked long over a low flame so that the fruit's flesh slowly warmed until it was tender and sweet. Cooked too fast and the insides kept firmed, though no less delicious. Cooked too hot and the apples were likely to rupture and make a mess. One needed to keep a close eye on them, for as with any food they could go from baked to burnt in no time at all. It was this smell that Therion awoke to: acrid and bitter as the watery skins caught fire, thick and choking as tree trunks turned to smoke and charcoal and ashes. He was up in a flash, sprinting from his bed and slamming the sliding door open. The orchard was in flames. What trees weren't already on fire would be engulfed soon. Overhead dark storm clouds cast random bolts of lightning down onto the area, and judging by the damage to some of the plants they'd definitely been hit. He didn't stop to wonder how the fire had spread so fast from just a lightning strike, rushing from the veranda toward the small shed nearby - then changing direction to run around toward the front of the house. He needed to put the fire out, but there was no way he could do it alone. He had to find help. A bright flash in the sky signaled another strike of lightning. It crashed into the home next door, followed shortly by a burst of thunder. Wood and stone flew apart where the lightning struck, showering the space between the houses, and Therion, with debris. [i]What the hell is going on?![/i] he thought, panicked and untangling himself from the rubble. He opened his mouth and called out for anyone nearby. He was stuck, his orchard was burning, [i]help[/i], but to his horror the only replies back he could hear echoed his own. [i]Help me! I'm hurt! Gods, why...! The storm...! Help me, please, help me!![/i] Therion was frozen; in fear, in despair, still caught in the debris that had rained down on him. It sounded like the entire town was being razed to the ground. Heat and dust rose up everywhere, lightning rang out above and signaled the crunch of stones falling, or buildings toppling over. The screams of men and women could only be heard in between peals of thunder. While his brain tried to process what was happening the damaged house next door buckled under its own weight and sloped toward him, trapping him completely when it collapsed. It took a long time for Therion to free himself. He was bleeding, and he might have blacked out once or twice, but he made it - stubbornly pushing the rubble just enough out of the way so that he could move his limbs and wriggle through the slim spaces between wooden beams and roof tiles. He dragged himself from the ruined home, sore and gasping for breath. He forced himself to stand. Everything around him was in ruins. From where he lived up on the hill he could see down towards the village proper - houses were leveled, business ripped apart, the ships in the small port aflame. His own home was a smoldering shell of its former self, and across the street the friendly medicine man's home wasn't much better. The roof was caved in, as well as the walls, though the framework still stood. At the front door of the veranda there was an oozing pool of blood. Therion covered his mouth and ran. He didn't know where to go or what to do. The entire town, his friends, his whole [i]life[/i] was justβ€” gone. [i]Destroyed.[/i] The storm still raged overhead, casting the area in a grizzly light. And in a flash of lightning, he saw her. She'd blazed a trail of destruction throughout the village. She was dressed in crimson armor, and upon her face was a helmet that evoked a terrible villain from some kabuki play. She was ahead of him on the road, dragging the spearhead of her naginata through a man that'd been pleading for his life. When he was dead she flicked the weapon to rid it of blood before turning her gaze on Therion. [color=BC8DBF]"You..."[/color] he breathed out. This person, wreathed in violet lightning, was the calamity that had brought ruin to the town. [i]Why?[/i] He didn't ask, instead he turned and ran the other way. She was killing everyone, and she was going to kill him too if he didn'tβ€” He felt the lightning well before he heard the thunder. [center]* * *[/center] The phantom feeling of electrocution and his body on fire lingered after the nightmare ended. Therion woke up with a start, launching himself from his spot on the floor and all his fur standing on end. His claws were extended and his tail was double its size in fright. If he had been in his human form he might have cried out, but as it was he merely stared around the room wide-eyed and slowly coming back to himself. Though he didn't dream often, when he did dream he sometimes dreamt of himself dying. He'd had a lot of near death experiences already. But that dream was... something else. It was weird. It was uncomfortable. He shifted out of his beast form and felt his chest where the lightning bolt had passed through him, but as expected there was no damage. He was in his usual clothes, and the fool's bangle was still there. [i]What the fuck was that about...?[/i] he questioned. He could feel beads of sweat form even now that he was awake and aware. It must have been close to morning since though most of the Seekers were still asleep there were some that were already awake, like that knight and Primrose. Or perhaps they hadn't slept at all, going by the circles beginning to form under the dancer's eyes. She glanced over at him, a questioning look in her eyes, but he shook his head. He spent the little while before the others rose leaning back against the tower's stone wall and getting his heart rate under control. By the time the entire group was awake he was back to normal, though a nagging, ominous feeling haunted a corner of his mind.