Egress Unveiled - Caregivers II

Gå’Mørkt's eyes snap open, but his vision is blurry. Panic immediately sets in, and he frantically paws at his face.

That's when he hears it: pain and fury in the form of ragged screams. The sound makes him go still, feeling like a spear of ice has shot him through the heart.

He recognizes the sound immediately:

Mother. 

"No.." his voice is barely a whisper, and he can't seem to draw in a full breath. 

With his eyes still clouded, Mort scrambles blindly, following the horrible sounds. But no matter how hard he tries, he can't find her. Her voice never gets any closer. It echoes all around him, yet he is helpless. 

Small. 

Weak. 

And then suddenly, everything goes quiet. Air catches in his throat, and the only sound he hears is his own blood rushing with the pounding of his heart. 

"Mother!" he cries, and he is shocked to realize that his voice is high and light, just as it was when he was a pup. 

Then the vision changes, darkness consuming him again before he can get a grasp on what has happened. 

Suddenly he's in a dark room, his body grown into adolescence. His vision is clear and crisp, with the familiar blue tint of his magic accenting every detail in the dim chamber.

He can see the face of his target under his claws, another contract about to be completed, and he can hear the terrible screams from somewhere nearby. 

Mort's usual anger tries to take over and blind him with red. How dare these fanatics try to make him *feel* for those fools? Many of them got exactly what was coming to them!

But the icy grip of terror and helplessness still lingers in his chest, and it threatens to break apart his mask of rage.

"Mother!" he hears a youngling voice scream, and it feels as though his heart is cracking apart, the pain knocking the wind from him.

Ripples disturb the mirror like surface of the pool as the empyrian's internal struggle echoes out into his limbs, and he twitches and grimaces as he floats.

Oremizume went in the dept of his mind after Ga'Morkt. Differently from the empyrian, his memories feel... Normal.

He is cold, and his heart feels loud and way too powerful in his chest, as if it's trying to break his bones and escape. He gasps, as he can't seem to be able to breath well, a invisible grasp on his throat. He blinks, and slowly, the world colors around him. He is in Thedale, warm and under the sun. Everything is bigger, for some reason. He moves a paw, and stumbles.

He is a clumsy pup, again, but... Nothing really worrying. Forgetful of the pond, the haedians, the handmaids and the whole exploration-mission, he starts wondering around, as he did when he was small.

He feels like he is forgetting something, but at the same time, he a pup. Nothing matters more than exploring and playing, really.

"Oh! Bufferfy!"

The Vayron sees a very pretty butterfly. It is a deep blue, so blue and shiny... His green eyes focus on the blue, to the point that he isn't really looking at anything else. The blue... He knows that shade of blue. Rich, pretty and expensive.

"Oh, look at that. I remember there was a family of those things around here."

"Sir, please be careful."

"Hah! As if that little guy can do any harm."

A big hand grabs him by the scruff, and Oremizume yelps. He looks away from the butterfly, seeing... Someone he thought he had forgot. It is a man, looking at him as if he is a rat.

"You know, these pests use magic. So disgusting..."

"Sir, that is a pup, I seriously doubt that-"

"Enough. Even if it is a pup, he might still be able to use it."

The two people seem to not be too friendly towards each other. The guy dressed in rich blue is annoying, and his hand that is grasping his nape hurts. The other guy is old, dressed in a shiny armor.

Oremizume likes that armor, is pretty shiny like the butterfly.

"Bah. Probably the two dead things in the desert were his dam and sire."

"Vayron are intelligent sir, probably you shouldn't say that..."

"And? He is a pup. I doubt he understands anything..."

The guy shakes him, and Oremizume whines and yelps again. The older man huffs, looking at the pup with weirdly sad eyes.

"Say, my knight... Wasn't there a pond around here?"

"..."

The little pup doesn't know what the blue dressed guy means. 

But somewhere, in his mind, he remembers: cold, fear, lung filled with liquid.

In the reality, he starts to struggle, stiff limbs flailing in the water. A long forgotten and hidden memory is resurfacing, rapidly and painfully.

He accidentally kicks Ga'Morkt in his struggling, probably giving him a cut or two on the left wing, where his paw struck.

The water becomes stained from the fresh wound, but Ga'Morkt does not wake.

He is lost in a chaotic sea of fear and fury, his ears deafened by shrieks and roars. So many faces, and none of them mattered to him at all. So why does he hurt so badly now? 

The sound of softer sniffles break through the deluge, and Ga'Morkt turns to see the image of a tiny, dark empyrian curled up and shivering alone. Fur that was once the inky black of shadows was now sticky and stained with red, especially on its little face. 

As he stares, his tall shadow casting across the smaller form, the pup raises its chin and strains to see through spattered eyes.

A wave of dread fills his entire being, and he knows it is the same for the pup- because the pup is him, staring into the face of a monster..

Whispers begin to trickle from his clenched jaws, hard for anyone else to hear at first. The last two words, though, are clear: "I'm sorry.."

Oremizume, deaf to the struggles of Ga'Morkt, is still in the deep of his memories. The Handmaids watch over them, so they are not going to drown, but...

In his mind, the pup is looking at a deep pool.

It was before a well. Then it was opened up, to get more water for the animals. It is mostly abandoned, with green weeds and mulch in the probably not too drinkable water.

The knight near the blue dressed man looks unease, but he still isn't doing anything.

"See little pup, I know what your species is."

The man starts, shaking him again. "You Reosean bring nothing but trouble. A couple of days ago, one of your kind killed my sweet little dog. You know, with those big bodies you should just ignore when a dog bites you. But that- Vermin! He kicked him away, and my little dog died. You are as dangerous as he is!"

The guy sounds a bit delirious and the older Oremizume knows why: he is drunk. Very drunk.

The knight is not, but he is following his spoiled, drunk and angry master's orders.

He watches, silent.

"I don't want more of you vermin in this city."

Then, the blue dressed guy throws him in the water. Oremizume, as the desert-dweller he is, sinks. Bubbles form on the surface, as the man cackles and the knight looks more than simply angry. The pup splashes the water with his too big paws, but his strength soon is gone.

The bubbles start to disappear.

He is drowning, and in the real world, he starts to struggle very loudly with splashes and whimpers, unable to escape his painful memory.