¶ Items » Lorebooks » Beneath The Pale Wall
¶ Description
Can be read.
Full description
I yearned to see her again, despite everything. And so, as I had many times before, I travelled to The Pale wall with naught but the lucent glow of the moon to guide my journey through the desert. I can still remember how the sand blew across the ground in enchanting furls, puppeteered to life by the chilly night breeze, and how the yowling of hunting mau which should have set my nerves on edge both did nothing to pull me from the enchantment of the past. Memories of the night I first met her replayed in my mind on a loop. How beautiful she was. The way her pale skin seemed to capture night's splendour, as if she were a fallen star, visiting the land of mere mortals for reasons beyond understanding. There was nothing in all of Sabu that could compare to her magnificence. Long, dark hair spilled about her shoulders, framing a face so haunting in its allure it must have been crafted by the gods. Her eyes, though dark, shimmered and gleamed with so much wisdom. And hunger."Loneliness is a darkness which can consume even the brightest soul," she said.
Those were her first words to me, and I'll never forget them. How had she known the torment of my mind with but a glance? I couldn't move, stuck as still as stone, helpless but to watch as she stepped from the oppressive shadow of The Pale wall. She was almost gliding. So graceful was her stride toward me, not even a single grain of sand seemed disturbed by her passing.
Little did I know then, I had never experienced true loneliness. No. True loneliness was what I felt with Ophelia gone. I had grown to love her more deeply than I thought possible. That first night I was planning to escape–to run away from Sabu and its hellish troubles forever, and I was convinced I could find a way through The Pale Wall. Hope had to be found upon the lands of the Narthossi. I couldn't have been more desperate. It was a fool's errand. Not because of the impenetrable barricade built to keep those like me out. No, it was because of Ophelia.
Every month, when the moon was full I would journey to where I first met her. Our nights at first were filled with nothing more than talk. We discussed everything. Philosophy, art, history. We discussed matters of life and of death, and spoke of the afterlife. Though, an oddity I eventually came to understand, at the time, perplexed me. She seemed beyond the reach of emotion. Always cool and collected, as unswayable and sturdy of mind as the rock beneath whose shadow we would sit. Until, we came to discuss our favourite colour. Oh how I would come to miss colour.
Soon, we found ourselves with less to say and more to do. Our hearts filled with passion and lust so strong it eventually consumed our every meeting, the entire night being spent exploring each other's bodies. Her taste was indescribable–an elixir more addicting than the most potent of aphrodisiacs or drugs. She went so far as to begin meeting me in the dark, her flawless, naked body sprawling across a silken blanket, her legs open in invitation. Yes, words were no longer needed between us then. Until one night.
The last night I saw her, she was the first to break our silence as her head rested sleepily upon my chest. It was like hearing music for the first time.
"What would you be willing to give?", she asked.
The question caught me off-guard.
"For what?", I responded.
"To do this… Forever," Ophelia replied as she shifted to look up at me, her hand gliding between my legs.
Damn her. Damn me. What a fool I was to answer as I did…
"Everything."
As soon as the words left my mouth she was upon me, straddling my waist, but by the look in her eyes it was not to make love once more, but for something else. Something sinister. The way she grinned at me so wickedly, that hunger which was always there in her eyes glaring at me more intensely than ever before. Her grin split her face impossibly wide, revealing a fanged, slavering maw, her tongue slithering forth from it like a serpent. Despite the horror, I found myself only wanting to cry for how her beauteous visage was torn asunder by some monster attempting to crawl from her skin. I wasn't given the chance as she fell upon me so quickly.
Her teeth sunk into my neck and I cried out in pain, though my screams would reach no one. Not there beneath the desolate gloom of Narthossi wall. When I tried to throw her off, I found I could not, her hands pinning my wrists to the blanket with strength beyond that of a man's as she feasted upon me. I could feel her grinding herself against my abdomen as she drank her fill of the crimson ichor flowing freely from the wound in my neck. She was more wet then than she had ever been before.
My vision went first, everything going black as a starless night and leaving me alone with the feeling of her teeth shredding my flesh and her lips suckling the blood my heart pumped out for her so carelessly. Eventually, the feeling left me as well, leaving only the sound of her feasting to carry me into the dark pit of unconsciousness. She said something to me just before then, but I can't remember what it was. I'm not certain it matters.
When I woke it was still night, and I found myself to be very much alive. I sat up, my hand flying to my neck. There was no wound. I jumped to my feet and looked around me in a panic, worried I might be attacked again, but Ophelia was gone.
Before I could question anything, the sun rose carrying with it an answer. Such unendurable agony… I wept tears of blood as I dug a hole in the sand to escape the morning's fiery rays, and proceeded to spend the entire day there in the ground, crying out for Ophelia. Why? Why had she done this?
I was weaker then. I had been given so much time to ponder the question that I believed myself to have forgotten it. My ventures out to the Pale Wale grew less frequent as every visit was met with the absence of my Ophelia. Did she not come because she feared my anger? My retribution for what she turned me into? Did something happen to her? Or was she trying to teach me some kind of lesson?
I leaned my back against the gargantuan stone wall and stared up into the night sky, the old feelings of loneliness felt before I had ever met Ophelia returned a thousand fold. I thought to myself then of oblivion. Perhaps if I remained here against the wall and bore the terrible pain of the sun for long enough it would destroy me. It was then, as I was pondering my own demise, I heard footsteps moving across the sand. Was it my love? Had she finally come to join me?
It wasn't Ophelia. It was someone else. A woman yes, but felian. I couldn't imagine what someone would be doing out here in the middle of the night. I suppose my own past was lost on me, veiled by the need to be with someone, anyone, again.
I crept through the shadows and watched as the woman strode closer and closer to the wall. Thanks to the moonlight and my new "gifts" I could see her face as plain as day. Such hurt she bore upon her expression. Such pain in her eyes! My heart seemed to beat again within my chest as I prowled closer and closer to her. Something about her was so enchanting, so enthralling, I simply couldn't stop my feet from carrying me out from my umbral veil.
She jumped with a start as she noticed me. Our eyes locked, and it was at that moment all of my questions were answered. I was the first to speak as I held out my hand for her to take.
"Loneliness is a darkness which can consume even the brightest soul."
¶ Stats
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Beneath The Pale Wall |
| Gold | 5 |
¶ Availability
| Location | Screenshot |
|---|---|
 |
 |
¶ Notes
- Added in v0.5.201