Among the Cosmos

[TreeSmoothie 4992]

Dame Viktoriya -- revered by some, and hated by many more, found herself wandering among an infinite forest. Here, the sun never rose and the starry sky visible through the trees gave that old woman something to stare at ... That wasn't engulfed in darkness, anywho. She'd been walking for some time, now, yet she hadn't tired or become hungry, nor did her feet become callous and her limbs never ached. After so long, she figured she'd finally succumbed to death; perhaps she was dragged to Ebrietas and merely hadn't noticed. 

 

In the calm and quiet, her mind too did wander.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

  

♫"It always feels so quiet in the dark
It always feels so stark ..."♫

 

The earliest memory she could recall as a child, scampering along old Helena's streets, gawking at those old peasant fiefs and gossiping about the palace boys. Compared to Orenia now, they were all cavemen -- the cannon hadn't even been thought of yet! She recalled the lectures of her parents, and how long she'd spent hiding from her peers.

 

"At last, Vikky -- we fixed yer' ears. Your hair, too."

 

She hadn't understood when she was young, not until her first husband Phillip Pruvia. She was an elf, and that was something to hate. Being in the army? Married to humans? If anyone had known, surely she would've been burnt at the stake. Viktoriya's first love never knew, but sometimes she feared it with the way he acted; his brief glares and scowls. It would've been more likely that 'Godan' itself descended from the skies and gave her wings than for her to end a conversation with him without welts and bruises. She entered the army soon afterward, and there, she'd meet ... A god-awful amount of future love interests, six too many.

 

♫"How silence grows under the moon ...
And it's always gone so soon."♫

 

The Fourth Brigade's Captain hired her to refurbish their headquarters in the palace, for a gigantic sum of mina, too -- it'd help her pay for her education. His name was Ser Alaric DeNurem. It was the first true friendship she'd made in however many years.

 

As she worked, she spoke to him and found out what it was like to smile again. What it was like to speak without fear. Neither of them were looking for anything further than friendship and it was something she was thankful for. Her husband was coincidentally his brother-in-law, and Alaric's wife Bernadette, her sister-in-law; she came over frequently to both the Brigade's base and her own home to chat, though her friendliness was cut short.

 

"Viktoriya, you cheating bastard!"

 

The Dame's figure shivered as she recalled the sickening thud of his boot hitting her skull.

 

"Alaric, you're ... Having an affair with her, aren't you?"

 

Philip and Bernadette both figured the pair of them were together despite the lack of romance between the two thus far. As Viktoriya was left in a confused, bloodied heap on the floor of the Fourth Brigade's barracks, Alaric arrived shortly afterward to console her. They fell asleep together beside the fireplace after he mended her wounds, and there, perhaps the sibling's claims had then become a reality, as two dejected soldiers mourned their broken lives and came together to form a new one. Not even a year afterward, once Viktoriya had become divorced, Philip and Bernadette tried to kill her in broad daylight.

As she fell from the second floor, evading a sword's edge, she made eye contact with Alaric.

 

♫"I used to think that I was bold
I used to think love was for fun."♫

 

The General of their army -- Alaric's father, Alren, ordered the execution of Bernadette by firing squad. In the end, it was not she who killed Viktoriya, yet Viktoriya had killed her alongside the other officers. From there, her life had been a downward spiral.  Alaric & Viktoriya had been faithfully married for decades in peace, but once they'd become Occultists of the Synod, their love began to splinter. She found him in the caves beneath their home with another woman, he sought the attention of her friends -- he met them in secret and had kissed one. Grief overtook her and she killed him, splicing his soul into one of the Synod's Menhirs upon his death.

 

She never officially remarried, not even a hundred years later. 

 

 

Though, that didn't stop her from courting others in secret. Sir Heath Linnord, Sir Erik & Sergei Othaman, Edward. Time and time again, she'd fall in and out of love, and almost every relationship ended with their blood on her hands. She'd loved Edward dearly, though he'd disappeared; she'd loved Heath dearly, though between his racist outbursts and his hate for elvenkind, it made their relationship ... Strained. Viktoriya became crazed for approval and affection, but too fearful ever to indulge in either. During her long tenure as the Fifth Brigade's Captain, she fell in love, truly, for one last time; an agonizing unrequited love for the same soldier that'd caused her to be captured by demons and tortured for years, who'd thought of her at first as a god and then some dangerous felon -- Sir Velhrun Darkwood.

 

Viktoriya cackled, interrupted her monologuing. "Why in the great hells did I try to court him? Mmh ... Anywho."

 

The Captain protected him with her own life, and in the end, sat beside him as he withered away to old age. She could read everyone she spoke to, besides him. She never understood why he did something, nor his motives. Despite what he'd done, he harbored her in his home while she was banished from the very same Empire he served to entertain her schizophrenic ramblings. Despite what horrific crimes he'd seen her do, he'd never told anyone. Why?

 

As she trudged onward and wracked her brain, old Viktoriya found herself completely befuddled. He really was the only person she couldn't understand, and with his death, now she never would.  

"Well, besides Ostromir ... Though that's a whole 'nother can of worms. I don't think anyone understood him."

 

She flinched as she recalled her last interaction with him in his old form. She was almost certain that she was one of the few women he never tried to court, be that a compliment or an insult -- yet his last words to her ...

 

"If only we'd met sooner, Viktoriya. Perhaps things would have been different."

 

 

"Mrmphf. 'nother can o' worms, in-deed. This was a much needed vacation."

 

Dame Viktoriya sat down with a thud and sprawled out on the grass. She'd made her way onto a hill above the trees, staring off at the vast horizon. She'd come so far, and yet there were hundreds -- thousands of miles beyond her. 

 

"Good grief. I'm 130, already ..."

 

Tears pricked her eyes as she rolled over onto her back, her gaze lost among the cosmos. As she drifted to sleep for the first time in days, she hummed a lullaby she recalled her father singing to her as a child. Tomorrow was another day, and another dozen hours she'd have to reflect on her woe-begotten existence.

 

♪♫ "And if the seven hells collapse,
Although the day will be my last --
You will be okay.
When I'm gone you'll be okay." ♫♪

 

Spoiler

Got bored and found a writing prompt, decided to stick Vik into it to reflect on her life. Crazy I've had her for almost 3 years now, sheesh! Anywho, I now return to my stay in LOTC purgatory, and Vik as well. Woosh!

 

[High_On_Math 404]

Spoiler

Dang this is sad

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Burnsider
OOC comments must be kept behind spoilers