Cold Hearts & Smoldering Souls (Ember)

[Voices of The Deep]

"I remember a time when fire once burned in my heart."​

Like a damaged reel of videotape, a broken record spinning feebly over the fissure with ugly static warbling, sunrise for the shadows arrived with repetition capable of deadening even the brightest eyes into some dim, docile, sheep-like compliance, twilight a shade pulled at predictable, timed intervals and condemned to be hatefully rejected by the destroyer for what it was, what it meant. Squabbling dogs nibbling their ticks, jockeying for position, rutting to produce piss-soaked replicas of themselves... But here they had no power, and likewise she could only suffer them while slaughtering or torturing the odd, meaningless clone that wandered too close... rather than vaporize life in a vicious snake of teeth from which a thousand tiny soldiers, the insects, would emerge to swallow everything, the crippled victims negligible substitutes that failed even in their rawest screams and pleas and rages to provide anything worthwhile for her other than bland sustenance.

Even had she possessed the mental capacity to muse consciously on all this destructive nonsense, there would be no means to such an end. What did men and women have but their homes, their culture...their status... their skittish fear and inevitable failure? Winter was nothing, said nothing, felt nothing, knew nothing and so now played the part spectacularly, trudging aimlessly through the stone walls with her mind a misty, vapid haze, no memories and no conviction, the blackflies, the worshippers, huddled between her broad shoulders and along her spine, bunched together in the thick fur around the collar of her jacket...

Her icy gaze drew towards the illuminated walls of the old building on 'Nocturne' that she had once called her hideout...abandoned. But still polished...her eyes focused on the Insignia on the far wall as her arms remained crossed over her ample chest...fingers tapping her toned muscular biceps...

She did not know why she was here...rarely did she ever wander outside her own heavily secure realm...but something had brought her back...a memory. The Queen simply roaming with only the fireflies to light her way, fireflies...no! Not now...not right now, not -

Skull was pounding, her brain reeling with voices...the voices of her past...a single voice that said a single word. A name that brought her back.

"FROST!?"

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- Sometime A Century Ago -​

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Dirt filled her airway as the tension seemed so thick that it made it hard to breath...frosty white hair fell past the young girls face and mopped up the mud on the forest floor as a young princess tried to pull herself up out of the dirt...her heart...thrashed within her chest violently. Fear...panic. All the emotions that came with the naivety of young age. Orange leaves crunched beneath her blue hands as a voice called to her.

"Frost, are you ok!?" Ember would ask...stopping dead in her tracks and turning back. Winter looked up at the young witch who stomped towards her. Winter sniffed, pushing back the stinging in her knees as she forced herself back up onto her feet. She would not let her weakness show...

And as Ember closed the distance she slowed to a stop and looked the young princes up and down. "You clutz! C'mon, we gotta get away. I honestly don't know why you wear skirts to the forest." Ember teased, reaching forward and grabbing Winter by the hand and guiding the white haired girl through the forest. Winter stumbled after her, blushing quietly from the sudden contact.

"Maybe we should turn back...before we get in to much trouble." Winter mused, the idea of her parents finding out what she had been up to these past few weeks making her stomach twist in knots. Of course Ember did not have to worry about such things...her parents seemed...far less 'aware' of the things they were doing. And Ember was not yet aware that 'Frost' was merely a nickname...to protect her sovereign identify. A little white lie...worth it in the end if it meant making a friend.

Friend...that word...had lost its meaning to the woman who existed today.

[member="Ember Asch Igantaus"]

 

[Ember Asch Igantaus]

Ah the forest, a safe haven for the witches of this world who sought liberty from auguries and scrying circles. These two kindred spirits though as contrastive as their callings, loved escaping. Fulfilling their heart's desires among the sky, scattered, fractured from treeline cover. Winter was always so afraid when Ember came calling, she couldn't deny her, Ember had what she yearned for. A life away from misguided hex sisters who believed their daughters to be hidden behind walls and to study the natural world so unnaturally.

Ember felt compelled to help Winter, she was so sunken into the shell she'd formed by guardian's design. Pulling at the arm of this one she found the need to slow slightly, this was still just the fourth time they'd escaped. Together that is, Ember had become a legendary in subterfuge and stealth to hideaway from her captors. They were one hundred years old! That'd been the first reason for Winter's kidnapping, the second being Ember's sympathy. She suffered the same fate as 'Frost' had, which drove her to take her away from the boredom and loneliness.

Finally stopping after a few good minutes of sprinting they would reach their destination, a small breathing spot they'd grown used to calling their 'All Clear' zone. Ember's father was suffering from cybernetic problems which made him easy to run from, while their mothers couldn't fly very easily in such a treeline. Stopping the girl of red smiled as she saw the shaking legs of Winter. Poor girl, having to run so hard to just have some fun. Her partner had profited quite well from all this running, lovely thighs at only one-hundred years old made her peers rather envious.

Surely this little snowball she'd been nurturing would start to show sign too, though the farouche girl might not enjoy the sneers. No matter, by that time the two would be joined at the hip. Plopping down by a nearby tree Ember panted, brackish slipping through her cleavage and down her now prominent artery. "Wow, you're getting better. Bit of'a hiccup in the beginning there but you." A breath, "You'll be outrunning fire soon. 'Proud of you, you might even run faster than me one day."

-

Ember walked with arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Trudging up steps she'd found her mark, an old decrepit building that perhaps a single janitor came to check every holiday. This was obviously the place she'd heard of, so bold and classy, typical fancy set up. Though to her luck it was abandoned, a good place to start a new numinous hideout. Touching the glass to a large window she felt it, frost.

Showing audible disgust she ran the afflicted skin against white marble. Horrid memories assaulting constantly only came to greater fruition this time of year. Though Winter had come earlier than she was used to, packing for inter galactic travel was such a hassle for here Ember stood in a very high cut dress with her tribal markings serving as a border. Though as these memories flooded her mind once more it only helped in one fashion. At least it was getting warmer.

-

The girls were on their way to the Autumn Clan today, they were always so different from the more furtive tribes. Winter being the most enclosed was the Winter clan. While lucrative Frost still showed the signs, her sloppy run, silly hair cut, timidness, and that pretty blue skin she wore so well.

A wave of the hand produced a small flame on the ground, nearly the most she could muster really. Though to the eyes of a teenager it was awe inspiring. With a heat source Ember then approached Winter before sitting her down. "Be nice, you've got some twigs here." She knew she wouldn't let her, but the fiery lass always tried her oppritunities, the source of at least forty percent of her complications.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

The forest was hot today, something that it hadn't been for quite a while. The concept of 'seasons' was something rather mythological on Nocturn...the planet basically just had different realms that constantly remained as a single season...and in her sisters realm it was always hot...always summer. But this heat physically strained the Winter remnant. Normally the young teen wasn't paying it much attention but whenever Ember and her went on these...'runs' she was always painfully reminded. What was more strange was the silence of the vast orange forest that reminded him heavily of her other sisters realm...It was so quiet. All signs of life seemed to of faded from the natural lands like this...witches had taken more kindly to villages and cities. Dependent upon status.

Winters shiny shoes were dragged endlessly through muck and leaves as Ember practically dragged her around as if they were handcuffed...and when they finally escaped and the crimson witch released the young princess Winter rubbed her wrist and exhaled a cold icy breath that cooled her body drastically. Ember stumbled around out of breath...out of gas to keep that fire of hers burning. Winters knees felt like hot wax and trembled, and when Ember mentioned Winter one day outrunning fire the white haired teen simply let her head hang low. Cupping her elbow into her arm nervously as she simply sat next to her friend. "I...hate running." Winter would complain, pouting childishly as those icy blue eyes lowered almost shamefully. She began to think of her parents again...those around her.

She felt just as everyone treated her of course, like nothing and she came to disown her own spirit. But it seemed Ember was hellbent on keeping Winters spirits high...and by interacting in all these shenanigans the two of them seemed to form some kind of bond that Winter herself could not explain...what did one call things that were close to them? That they cherished? That they...loved?

Love was a strong word. A word Winter did not understand yet...a word she did not care for in her cold heart.

Their travels to the Autumn Realm made Winter nervous...it seemed she was just jumping across different border lines that were not her own and the idea of being apprehended by law enforcement or a shaman made Winter greatly nervous...anxiety setting in moment after moment.

Winters gaze flicked to Ember who was busy setting a small fire for...whatever reason. The sight of the flame made the snow child hesitate...taking a step back as the wild element danced with every movement of the wind...glancing back at Ember who stood beside her, the princess looked down at those smooth hands that seemed smeared with ash and coal. Perhaps a downside of her witchcraft...Winter lifted her own hands and stared at her skin...a luminescent blue that seemed to have traces of daylights embedded into her flesh as if she were looking out upon a fresh blanket of snow...

Winter scoffed...bringing her hands up and smoothing out her long ponytail that seemed to travel down to her rear...taking the ponytail and moving it over her shoulder and letting it rest on the side of her chest as she fiddled with her frosty strands.

"Ember...can i...ask you something." Winter mused quietly, averting her eyes to the autumn forest floor as the air around the princess became cold...the grass around her becoming frosted as her anxiety and shyness seeped from her beautiful body.

She wanted to ask a question...one she should of asked about a week ago but lacked the confidence to do so. But Ember had brought her out of the endless game of peek-a-boo that Winter seemed to always be playing. So maybe now...was the right time to ask.




[member="Ember Asch Igantaus"]