Danger in the MoonlightIndex | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | PreGameLogs | Danger in the Moonlight +98 The house was quiet. Tasha knew she should be asleep, but since coming to Chaos, she had found it difficult to sleep at what the Chaosians called night. This night in particular she found herself pacing her room, her eyes drifting again and again to the window where the breeze rustled the curtains. She was in Chaos, not Darkmoore, so there wasn't a good reason for her to avoid the night. There weren't any monsters here. She chuckled, well at least they weren't the same monsters here, but the first time she'd seen the demon servants, she had been terrified. But they were all very solicitous to the young woman, and she soon came to trust them. There was a scent on the breeze that drifted in her window; something that called to her. She stripped off her night gown and searched for something more appropriate. She didn't have much that would not be ruined but finally donned a pair of riding pants and a loose fitting blouse. Sneaking out of her room, she slipped silently down the carpeted hall, down the wide staircase, and then into the drawing room. At the far end of the drawing room there were a pair of French Doors that opened up to the side gardens. She pushed open the doors and slipped outside. She marveled at the sounds and smells of the night. Reveled in them. She had observed the demon servants often used a gate off this garden that opened out into the Courts proper, outside of her Ways. Daring wasn't something she thought she was capable of, yet, she felt drawn to the gate, and before she could think, she had opened it and she was outside the safety of the garden. Tasha traveled along the route, not knowing where she was heading, yet, turning and twisting, past vast and beautiful landscapes, but always drawn toward the scents and the darkness. --- Dario Mahanakorn, too, was restless with the changing of the sky, but for completely different reasons. Every seventh night, three times in a row, Dario had managed to escape the stifling confines of his restrictive, autocratic House, and onto the main routes and landscapes of the Courts. The old device, set in a disused corner of the grounds, looked to Dario to have been designed for the purpose of clandestine entrances and exits. Flush with the wall until one was nearly upon it, it rotated and allowed its user to slip outside the defenses that surrounded Manhankorn very well indeed. And now it was another seventh night, and Dario was eager to slip his leash again, but he was also worried, as he headed across the stark sand and rock landscape toward the rotating door. A casual bit of conversation by one of the elders suggested that his excursions were suspected, if not known. And so while the desire for freedom won out over the paralysis of fear, every strange sound he heard, and every blowing of the breeze worried Dario, making him wonder if he was being watched, monitored, or followed by the elders of his House. Finally he reached the door and pressed on it in the same way he had accidentally, a couple of months ago. He slipped inside it and pressed against the wall, and found the entrance closing behind him and the entire small chamber rotating in a clockwise fashion. When it stopped, Dario pressed the far wall, and he was free of the bounds of his house. A landscape of moors and forest, only partially explored, awaited him. An irrational chill ran down Dario's spine as he stepped away from the wall and into the landscape proper. --- There was the scent; stronger now, closer. Tasha's eyes seemed to take on an unearthly focus as she searched for the source. Driven on, she began to slip through the darkness, from shadow to shadow, following the scent of fear. She was living in her dream, as the landscape around her changed from civilized Ways to those of wild forests. She was living the dream that had haunted her, called to her. She opened her mouth to taste the night air, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. The moon's rising was obscured by the trees and she longed to see its face. She ran through the night, her long legs propelling her faster, but not fast enough! She reached out for the ground and without knowing how, she was leaping and galloping on her four powerful paws, the nails of her claws digging into the loamy soil, tearing up the loose leaves, scattering them like rain behind her. The forest opened up into a pasture land and there on the horizon was the large orange moon. As her eyes beheld the sight she felt compelled to call to it. It almost surprised her to hear the howl echoing across the meadow. And then the scent became even stronger. --- Dario was soon out of sight of the walls of Mahanakorn in the deepening darkness He conjured a small light, an orb no larger than a fist, to light his way. Too bright of a light, in these conditions would blind him and render him unfit to see the wonders of the night. Such as the moon. There it rose above the horizon. The skies in Chaos were a varied lot even under the four colors, and to find a Moon in this part, where it did not rise in others, was no surprise to Dario. Its large orange visage was alien, strange, and something told him it was a harbinger of some sort. And then he heard it. A howl, not of any sort of demon or creature that was familiar to him. Some sort of guard dog he had never met, from pursuers from his house? Some sort of unknown creature? Dario did not know, but sweat rolled down his brow, and chills ran down his spine. He didn't know where to turn. Going back to the House did not seem like a safe option, and so instead, he struck out across the pasture land at a loping gait, looking for cover, a ridge, something. Dario did not know that his masculine musk and sweat, and the sweet-sour smell of his own fear were as much a signal flare as the light he carried to the creature that had bayed at the orange moon. She raced along, covering the ground quickly, following the scent on the breeze until it merged with that in the grass. When she picked it up she called out her excitement to the night. As she raised her head she spotted motion in the distance. Teeth snapping, she began the pursuit in earnest, now that she knew her quarry was within reach. Putting on speed she sprinted ahead, still following the scent of fear which grew stronger with each passing moment. And then he heard it. A howl, not of any sort of demon or creature he was familiar to him. Some sort of guard dog he had never met, from pursuers from his house? Some sort of unknown creature? Dario did not know, but sweat rolled down his brow, and chills ran down his spine. He didn't know where to turn. Going back to the House did not seem like a safe option, and so instead, he struck out across the pasture land at a loping gait, looking for cover, a ridge, something. Dario did not know that his masculine musk and sweat, and the sweet-sour smell of his own fear were as much a signal flare as the light he carried to the creature that had bayed at the orange moon. She raced along, covering the ground quickly, following the scent on the breeze until it merged with that in the grass. When she picked it up she called out her excitement to the night. As she raised her head she spotted motion in the distance. Teeth snapping, she began the pursuit in earnest, now that she knew her quarry was within reach. Putting on speed she sprinted ahead, still following the scent of fear which grew stronger with each passing moment. Dario heard the call, as well as the rush of a movement in the grass. Fear poured over him again. He stopped, crucially, fatally, paralyzed by fear for a moment, a moment which allowed the predator to reduce the distance even further. And then the fear came even higher on Dario and he turned and began to run flat out at a blind run, willing his body to speed. He could not shift, and he had only a little bit of sorcery, not much more useful than the light which illuminated him as much as his scent did. He ran and ran, trying to put distance between him and the creature whose baying filled him so irrationally with fear. Finally, Dario decided to try and turn and make it back toward the safety of Mahankorn, punishment and all. But he turned badly, slipping, twisting his ankle and going down. He was up again, but now his speed was cut badly as he limped and grimaced as he tried to escape. Her blood quickened as the prey fled. She had expected him to keep to a straight line and had determined to cut him off, so was surprised that he was not where she had expected him to be. This was her first pursuit after all. She stopped. She had lost him. No, he had merely fallen! Now he was heading off in another direction all together. She growled her displeasure, deep and low in her throat. He would not get away, now when she was this close! With a bound she was after him again. Dario kept moving, his speed slowed by his fall and injury. Up a rise he hobbled and ran, trying to get away from the unseen creature, now growling as well as baying. And then, at the top of a low ridge, he turned around, and wished he had not. There, a silhouette against the risen harvest moon was the moving four legged shape, coming after him relentlessly. It was stark, lovely and terrifying all at the same time. Eons ago, before there were a Courts, some of Dario's ancestors lived in a different realm, a fragment of shadow which held sway over itself for millennia. A realm of deep magic and deep forests and a people called the Thari, or in another tongue, the Sidhe. In the world of the Sidhe, one of the most feared things were the four legged creatures which hunted beneath the full moon any those foolish enough to venture out on such nights. Although Dario did not know any of this consciously, inside, an old instinct conflated the moving form of the creature approaching with those ancient Wild Hunts. He cried out in fear, now at a fever pitch, and he turned and ran with all the speed his body could give him, trying to get away from his pursuer. But there was no vegetative cover to use, no tree to climb, and nothing but a kilometer of open, exposed, hilly moor between him and safety. Her growls grew deeper as she closed the distance. So focused was she that there were no longer moor, moonlight, grass or anything but the scent and sight of the one she pursued. She closed the distance swiftly snapping at his heels. So close, now, she put on an extra burst of speed. The crunch of bone and the scream as she sunk her teeth into his leg, bringing him down, caused an odd delight to surge through her. She was on him before he even hit the ground, her jaws closing on his neck. The salty taste filled her mouth as she crunched down, silencing the scream. --- Morning was well along by the time Tasha woke. She languorously stretched muscles that seemed oddly tight and sore. With a satisfied sigh, she slipped out of bed. It must be a holiday or something, since her governess hadn't woken her for morning lessons. She looked at the breakfast tray that had been left for her with little interest. She poured herself some tea and then sipped it as she mulled over her dream. Last night was the most realistic it had ever been. She smiled. EOT
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