He's gone, Ara

[LadyRebecca 1050]

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chikr.

Over and over again, that one foul word played over in her mind. Chikr. A mother who kills her child. Arahaelth couldn't comprehend it; couldn't understand what was happening. It didn't make sense.

 

She had known something was wrong. Her unborn had not moved in over a week. At first, she had welcomed it. Her nights had grown long and exhausting as the infant moved within her, preventing any form of solid rest from taking her. But after this long, it had begun to wear on her. Why wasn't her child moving? Why was this knot of anxiety in her chest continuing to grow?

 

Finally, she broke. Falling to her knees while cleaning a flower pot, Arahaelth began to panic. The shattering of the vessel alerted the rest of the Aureon household, causing a flurry of excitement, the situation unknownst to everyone.

 

As family members and friends surrounded the woman kneeling on the floor, it was obvious something was wrong. She wasn’t in labour, her water had not broke. No, she was suffering from a panic attack in the middle of her bedroom floor. But why?

 

Hysterical and muffled sobs wracked the expecting woman's body, her face buried in her hands. Unresponsive to any questions being asked, Arahaelth's mind flooded with worry, with uncertainty, with dread.

 

Katar pushed through the door of the room and quickly assessed the situation. As his eyes begin to glow blue as he knelt beside his wife, placing a hand on the small of her back.  His face contorted in confusion and concern, he addresses his wife softly,

“Ara? Ara, my love? What's wrong?”

 

Choking out the words, she lifted her tear stained face and bloodshot eyes to her husband.

“Th-there's s-something wrong w-with the baby.”

 

Warm, clerical light flowed through her body and Arahaelth watched the cleric’s face, searching for answers. Any answer as to why her infant was not making their presence known. And an answer did come.

 

Katar's face grew pale and his expression fell. Jerking his hand away from her, he stared at it as though his own body had betrayed him.

“It… Can't be.”

 

“What c-can't be? Katar? Katar?! What's w-wrong with our baby?”

As the hysteria grew in her voice, her whole world spinning before her eyes, Ara’s limbs grew cold, dread filling every inch of her body.

 

Pushing himself to his feet Katar, stared down at her, his mouth agape, head shaking. He repeats himself once more,

“It… No. It can't be.”

 

Arahaelth struggled to get her swollen feet beneath her. Staggering backwards before grabbing a hold of a chair, she looked up at him.

“What is it? Katar? Why isn't my child moving? Katar? Katar?!”

 

“I felt… Nothing.”

The man said flatly, his eyes scanning around the room and the people gathered, looking but not seeing.

“My light. I felt.. nothing.”

 

With her eyes growing wide and body beginning to shake in fear, she choked out a sob, the realization slowly beginning to work it’s way into her mind.

“What do y-you mean?”

 

Katar looked to her with a haunted and defeated expression, his words echoing around the silent room, filling the ears of all present.

“He’s gone, Ara. He’s gone.”

 

A fist slamming into a door frame. A comforting woman's hand on her hair. A druid’s soothing words. That was all Arahaelth could comprehend from that point forward. After collapsing to the floor and heartbroken wails of distress tearing from her throat, nothing could register for the woman. Nothing except for that one foul word playing over and over again in her shattered mind and heart.

Chikr

[spqrSancus 175]

Asul rushes to the Aureon manor, hearing the news. All manner of curses filling his mind, as he rushes to his friend, filled with concern.

[Nekkore 641]

Upon the small dock outside Linandria, the Mali gazes at the water as he shakes his head. The feeling of concern and pity fills his mind as he slowly closes his eyes. "Why? Why was she cursed with this? She deserves more... In the end... The good people suffer..."

[Ducklingator 795]

Laying upon the back of a calm, white-furred rabbit, A lone sprite sighs whilst angrily eyeing the stars; The creature's innocent scowl revealed  It's utter inability to help. A soft sigh would be emitted by the being, And a single tear would drip down it's cheek, drifting down to the cold ground.

 

"Why?"

[North_ 17]

Katar sits upon the foot of the bed, his face in his hands. He says nothing, only sinks deeper into his despair. A single tear falls between the cracks of his fingers and onto the wooden floor where it soaks into the dry wood.  

[spqrSancus 175]

Asul, having met with Katar on the way to the manor, downs an entire flask full of cheap, highly alcoholic wine. He stumbles his way to Linandria's tavern, in a drunken stupor, mourning for the sake of his friend. 

 

"I wish I knew how to pray..."

 

He tries to drink himself silly, but seeing as the tavern is unmanned, he only manages to finish off a last few stray drops of wine.

[Nate1450 111]

Upon hearing the news, Nathaniel walks into the living room of the Aureon Manor, crying softly.

 

"Why must bad things happen to good people?"  He wondered silently, hoping to one day find an answer.

 

 

[Kaelan 1918]

Aelthus Aureon looks grim for many days, the screams from Ara having woken him from his peaceful slumber. 

"A life taken before it even started," He mutters as he returns to his room. "Why must this happen to our family now? With all the other problems we have, a stillbirth last thing we needed. The child's birth was to be a happy occasion for celebration in these grim times."

[Farryn 860]

Soon, the news would reach the Prime Adherent.

Elvira sighs deeply as she approaches the household, bearing a bouquet of flowers that consisted of dark crimson roses and yellow zinna: Mourning and Daily Remembrance for the loss.

The Adherent would hand the flowers to Katar and Ara, the once peaceful woman bearing a face of true sadness and grief. She never knew how it felt losing a child of her own, she could never bear any to begin with and that enough pained her, but she could feel the raw pain coming from her comrade and his wife. It pained her to know this had happened to the Aureons, who she had grown to like, as well as Katar himself. Gently, she would state in a soft voice to the family:

 

"A young soul long lost before it could bloom like a radiant flower within a medow, this is truly a sad lose and I am truly sorry that it had happened... if  there was something I could have done to prevented this, I would have... alas I could not. Not even the power of an Aengul can bring the child back from the dead, nor could we predict this would happen. Yet, even now Tahariae mourns for the loss of a child of one of His servants, a child pure and a light within these dark times. I can hear His mourning when I summon His light, yet now the little one is within the hands of He and Aeriel of the Seven Skies. Life can be so cruel, even to those unborn... Know that myself and my Adherents will stand by you all within these dark times, I swear on it."

 

She closed her eye before stating in clean Flexio.

"Requiescat in pace, little light..."

[Guest]

Mithras simply murmurs a prayer, silently questioning to himself why people use Flexio the language of the Undead to send somebody off. 

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

Artimec had been there for Arahaelth, holding her tight and whispering sweet nothings in a low, calming chant. He did what he could to soothe her sobbing, tell her it wasn't her fault, but ultimately there just wasn't much he could say in a situation like this.

 

That night he had hidden himself away in one of Linandria's treetop crevices with an opaque bottle of liqour. He uncorked it and wrinkled his nose at the foul smell. It was probably not a far step away from rubbing alcohol- not that it mattered. The good stuff was for happier times, and those who deserved it.

 

So he drank. A silent, lonely toast to a child who would never see life, a sister who's heart had been broken, and a man who considered the burden of all elf-kind to be on his shoulders. No doubt that man would sober his self-pitying ass up the next morning after a length of pain and regret, and be there for Arahaelth once more, but for now he drank to forget.

[Doug 30]

"Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak"

 

He'd have heard of it. News of the newborn had reached Sutica delayed, but he heard the news. His favourite guide during his days as at the Grove had given birth. Happy days, happy days, he'd thought, with sweat beading on his forehead. Promptly after whacking his friend Alex on the head for not telling him about the news in the Aureon household, Douglas had kicked his closet down with gusto, and gazed at the pink beneath it with a grin.

Oh, she's going to love this. I might be a bit late, but I knew my mascot days would come in handy.

And that was how a grown man running frantically in a pink-dragon costume would come about; the quilt had been squeaking like a hyperventilating mouse as he ran.

Oh, although I didn't greet Lad- Miss Ara during her wedding. That may be a problem....

He'd wave to the El'Naeri manning the front gate as he rushed in, unaware of the guardian's melancholic mood, veiled by his own excitement.

Aureon household...Aureon household...where did Alex say it was again?

Before he took a step to search, his ears would twitch and pick up the air of gossip. Abruptly halting, his foot halfway in the air.

His eyes would be forcing themselves out of their sockets, his pupils expanding.

 

"Squeak...squeak...squeak..."

 

If you were at the tavern, you may have caught the weird sight of a figure clad in strange attire; it's head would be drooped, shoulders slouched, and was trudging slowly through the stone street. The person manning the costume would have his face shrouded by a shadow. However, an aura of gritty anger and resentment of sorts would surround it, and you'd hear the muttering of curses tremble in the air, juxtaposing it's childish appearance.

[Wendigo 786]

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