Title: Phoenix and Talassa. The ride ends for the captain. Author: Anonymous Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/m5GGZh4Y First Edit: Saturday 24th of May 2014 01:37:34 PM CDT Last Edit: Saturday 24th of May 2014 01:37:34 PM CDT Day 4     [01:03:46] Phoenix_Down sits on his haunches, staring blankly at the door, his eyes never trailing or moving... if they flickered even a bit to the side... strayed even slightly, they would return to see the faces... the blanked out greyed bodies of people he had forgotten, the bodies that tormented and taunted him at every turn, more than happy to remind him how he has failed time and time again [01:04:14] Phoenix_Down is thankful that his body was starting to recover again... maybe soon enough they would let him leave! so he could find his family again!   [01:11:40] Talassa lets out a contemptuous sigh, her guttural tone making it sound more like a feral grunt of some sort. In her language, she mutters something under her breath and starts opening the heavy door of the cell slowly, allowing Phoenix to know of her presence before she steps inside. At first sight, the pegasus is blinded by a white intense light that precedes the apprentice of Dim, but after adjusting his sight he sees a lanky, slightly shorter than the average mare wearing clothes much like the ones her master wear, although instead of a leather cape, her back is covered by a gray cloak that reaches the ground with its borders, making her look even smaller and disgraceful. The door closes behind her with a slam and the witch approaches the stallion while darkness shrouds them both. "Ke'kky, isov ik?" She says with a slightly angered tone.   [01:15:18] Phoenix_Down squints his eyes as light floods the room, temporarily banishing the forms that curse his muddied mind, looking at the mare with a slight grimace, but standing taller than her, even in his frail state, keeping his eyes focused on where she was as her vocie reaches his ears "wh-what... I'm sorry what?"   [01:21:12] Talassa looks up to his face, proving her eyes to be two faint red orbs that shine weakly. "Nukaf ut gascup va sujvan... I am Talassa. You should be Michael." Her voice softens slightly upon showing her face, which is masked behind a red leather mask partially lightened by the light of her eyes. "My mastehr told me to take cahre of you while he is away... You can stnd already, the 'fadutvan' are doing well." Her voice, although feminine, sound raspy in addition to grotesque.   [01:25:42] Phoenix_Down blinks, mentally jotting down a name to the new face "um... well ahh... nice to meet you... Talassa... yea I'm Michael but you can call me... um..." rubbing his head and looking slightly sheeping "uhh I guess just call me Michael..." looking away for a moment, dark eyes staring back at him, causing his fur to stand on end, turning back to face the Witch "uhh fad... ult... van?"   [01:28:05] Talassa nods slowly as a white light begins to sprawl on her forelegs, like with Dim, which helps the stallion define more of the witch on the darkness. "Fadutvan, Michael... but do not say it. It is the nahme of the food we've been giving you." [01:29:20] Phoenix_Down sits on his haunches "y-yea... well I'm feeling much better lately... maybe I can be let out soon? so I can go find my friends and family?" [01:30:53] Talassa takes a few seconds before talking again, giggling in precedence to her words. "Noht yet. You ahre still weak and need to wait for my mastehr to return." With a gesture of her lightened hooves the mare points to her face, more specifically, to her eyes. "Can you see the light on them?"   [01:32:53] Phoenix_Down nods "mmhmm... and this food is making me feel stronger... although I don't know how long I've been in here... maybe I could heh.. get some light? its awfully dark most of the time..."   [01:35:18] Talassa laughs again and lowers her limb to start searching for something under her clothes. "you do noht need light here. after all, you would noht like to see them all mohre clearly, Michael... Stahrlight and the rest. I have overheahrd you"   [01:36:26] Phoenix_Down 's eyes go wide, his body shrinking down and almost deflating "y-you know about them... c-can you make them... g-go away?"   [01:40:54] "I cahn see mohre than you with my eyes... that is why they ahre different from yours... I cahn see them now, around you, waiting fohr you to sleep to start sucking on youhr dreams and fear. huhuhu" Impolitely, she tosses the flask and bag cotaining today's ration of food for Phoenix to the ground in front of him. "I do noht control them, so I cahnt make them go away... or rather, I do noht want them to go away, Michael"   [01:42:43] Phoenix_Down looks down to the food, but ignores it for the moment to look back into Talassa's glowing eyes "th-then who controls the... who can make them go away... I... I just want their voices to stop.... stop tormenting me..."   [01:45:01] Talassa lets out some mockery snicker, turning her back on the stallion to go for the door, turning off the light around her legs. "Suhrely not you, Michael the hero... the snahkes never went away, they just did noht digest you completely."   [01:49:54] Phoenix_Down starts to panic, if the mare leaves, the voices will come back, the eyes will come back, staring at him... forcing their words into his mind "w-wait... if not me, then who?"   [01:54:33] "Maybe mastehr can... but he left, and now you ahre on my gentle hooves~" The witch offers him some way of playful tone while the door opens again and lets her go out, the white light focing its way inside to blind the pegasus. In the end, all he got from Talassa was her sillouehte fading away into the intense light and then the door slamming behind her... From outside, the noise of someone carrying a heavy charge and dropping it on a wooden table, followed by a disgusting puking, reaches the ears of the prisoner, who's left to the darkness and the torments of his own mind again, alone...   [01:57:22] Phoenix_Down swallows nervously, the sharp whispering starting to nip at his ears again, dropping his head and sweeping his hoof across the floor, finding the leather sack of food and stuffing it down quickly, then the flask of drink, downing it quickly, trying to put his food away before the visions come back to him [02:04:16] Phoenix_Down throws the leather sack across the room, now quite empty, before lunging over to a corner, turning to face the darkness and holding the flask forward, as if it was a weapon "st-stay back " swinging it wildy "stay away from me!" [02:08:52] Phoenix_Down feels the flaks ripped from his hooves, looking up at the form in the darkness, but too late, feeling the imprint of a fist across his muzzle, falling to the ground upon his back, more forms descending upon him from the bleak darkness, holding him down and laying into his body, punching and kicking, a myriad of nonexistant blows "loser..." "failure..." "just fuck off..." "nobody wants you..."   [02:08:54] *The awful sounds of someone vomiting comes to a halt and is replaced by another noise, more unsettling, as if someone were scrapping a small dagger on stone, followed by short words in the language of the witch that fade away from existance when the stallion is attacked by his delusions again...*   [02:11:27] Phoenix_Down can feel imaginary hands tighten around his neck, harsh words rippling into his ears, tears forming on his face "just save us the trouble... nobody wants a loser like you around..." flailing his hooves around wildly, but hitting nothing, shaking and writing against the floor against the imaginary opponents [02:13:39] Phoenix_Down tries to cry out, but nothing escapes his lips, writhing and spasming against the floor as his body shuts itself down again, his limbs laying limp as he looks around the room with his eyes, the shadowed forms spitting on him and turning to give him just a moments reprise, laughing and turning their backs on his now tired body [02:14:50] Phoenix_Down lays there, his body limp in the corner in the room, his eyes hanging low as he drifts off to the nightmarish hell that is his land of slumber     Day 6     [00:11:22] Phoenix_Down sits totally still, maybe if he doesn't move, the bodies will just leave him alone... staring intently at where he is fairly certain the door his, sweat pouring down his face, praying to some unseen god that they won't bother him [00:11:58] Phoenix_Down swallows nervously, almost tearing up, but the voices finally hit his ears "Nix... what are you doing? just going to sit there like usual?" [00:13:04] Phoenix_Down looks to the left out of instinct, his eyes falling on Lucy, Rain, Cheren, Hardboil, High Tide and Nova "n-no.. I was... j-just about to..." but he doesn't finish his sentence before they ring out again "yea, just sit there like the useless lump of flesh you are!" [00:15:08] Phoenix_Down swallows nervously, unable to tear his eyes from the other council members, his hoof resting against the council table and his eyes flicking towards and from the door "What about HORS? and Beauceron? and Curiosity? you just going to keep sitting there, nodding and being a little fucking sheep while the adults do all the work?" [00:18:12] Phoenix_Down clenches his teeth, seeing the other councilpones looking at his with a mixture of disdain and hatred "why the fuck did we ever take you over Aler? who wants pathetic little Phoenix? Little doctor boy who couldn't even save one life?"   [00:18:57] Curiosity [~pallmall@190.121.83.196] ahora se llama Talassa   [00:20:16] Phoenix_Down 's face turns as he is hit by the minty hoof of justice "Maybe if you weren't so weak... so pathetic, they wouldn't have shot Hoof like that... we wouldn't all be living in fear of some terrorist killing us in town square" falling to the ground in front of the rest of the council, who step over the desk and trot towards him menacingly "Pathetic..." [00:22:45] Phoenix_Down backs away from the illusions, his eyes flickering around in fear and his body locking up "b-but... I d-did everything I could... n-nobody could have..." "Anybody could have... anybody but the pathetic little guard captain, couldn't even find a trace of the assassin"another hoof ramming into his stomach, as he looks up in fear at the pones starting to descend down on him "Failure" "Weak.." "Slow..." "Stupid..." [00:24:47] Phoenix_Down continues to back away, coughing after the strike to his tummy, until his back hits the wall, tears rolling down his face again "I.. n-nobody could have-" as the 6 pones stand over him, looking at him with sickening malice, striking at his body, throwing him to the floor and devastating him "Should have kept Aler... then we wouldn't have a loser for a guard captain..."   The illusions dissipate slowly, a feeling of void within the pegasus begging to be filled while strange and ominous noises come from the outside, sometimes the forceful grinding of metal against rock, other times a growl from a beast.... Some hoof steps are the only thing that sounds familar to Phoenix, hoof steps that approach the door of his cell slowly.   [00:30:05]  [Ambiance provided once again by best game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18SPvhtRWJY Seriously, this hsit doesn't run off neat tracks]   [00:31:14] Phoenix_Down sees the illusions slowly wavering, each of the 6 pones forming into a black like mist and invading his body, choking him as they plague his mind with horrible thoughts and pains, leaving him an uneven, pained husk on the floor, his eyes finally returnnig to the darkness as he looks weakly over to the door at the sound of hoofsteps   [00:33:26] Talassa starts undoing the steel lock that keeps Phoenix trapped on the dark room, opening the heavy door slowly. "Michael..." The witch call his name with eerie voice, no lights entering the room with her this time, the horrible noises from the outside still resounding on the mysterious lair. "...Ja fiu, Michael"   [00:34:12] Phoenix_Down breathes heavily, looking to the sound of the entering mare with speculation, still laying on the ground, hoping its not another voice coming to beat him   The sudden slam of the door indicates that Talassa made her way inside and is in proximity to Phoenix, her red eyes glowing like fire on the otherwise uninterrupted darkness   [00:37:16] Phoenix_Down blinks, seeing the now brighter eyes of Talassa, scrambling to his hooves as quickly as his pained body will allow him, not notincing how much easier it has gotten to move around "y-you're here... i-its you for real, right!?"   [00:39:15] Talassa snickers and a wobbling of her eyes can be taken as a nod. "It is I, Talassa... Yourh ghosts of the mind have noht stopped, Michael?" Another laugh wheezes out of her, sounds of her hooves fiddling with something going along her gutural voice. "...They wohn't stop, Michael. I cahn still see them, around you, waiting"   [00:41:51] Phoenix_Down 's eyes take a sharper turn, his fear replaced by a short term anger "then HELP me you BITCH... help me get these damned visions out of my HEAD!" trotting towards Talassa   [00:42:56] Talassa tilts her head to a side, more and more until a loud crack is heard and her eyes are now lined one over the other. "Quiet, Michael... Do noht test my patiehnce. Mastehr is noth here to stop me if I get bored of you"   [00:44:02] Phoenix_Down swallows once, stopping his movements and staring, almost hatefully back at the burning red eyes   The noises in the ambiance intensify suddenly, the crawling of something big and heavy adding to the cacophony   [00:44:40] Phoenix_Down backs away, just slightly from the crawling   [00:45:29] Talassa continues talking without returning her head to a more natural position. "You have noht enough with me feeding you?... I cahn gihve you sohmething else"   [00:47:24] Phoenix_Down blinks "s-something else? something that will.. help?"   [00:47:53] "That wihll be up to you, Michael"   [00:48:59] Phoenix_Down nods "g-give it to me then!"   Another loud *CRACK* and Talassa's head is back to its original position. The crawling outside stops as soon as the witch starts to wheeze more laughs and her eyes continue to drill the darkness of the small cell.   [00:50:28] Phoenix_Down looks around nervously "please... anything that will help.. I'll take it, anything!"   [00:50:53] Talassa tosses something to the ground, by the sound of it, right in front of her; however she refuses to light her forelegs like in previous times, leaving the stallion blind in pursue of whatever she left for him. "It is something that wihll help you mahke them go ahway in the ohnly way you know..." [00:51:41] Talassa drops something else without any more words and turns around, opening the door unceremoniously and closing it behind her before Phoenix could utter his next sentence   [00:52:19] Phoenix_Down looks up "b-but..." before the door slams shut again, throwing himself to the ground before any voices could return to him, scrambling along the floor with his hooves, looking for what it was she dropped   With his hooves, the pegasus feels about the ground until he touches whatever Talassa dropped. At first it feels cold, hard, but also light as it is pushed away by the light bump of his hoof, producing a brief metalic sound. By feeling about some more, Phoenix touches the item again, up to him if he grabs it or not...   [00:58:47] Phoenix_Down can hear the clang of the metal against the floor, his eyes going wide, clenching onto the tool as his other hoof searches for the other dropped item   He quickly grasps the mysterious item on his hoof by what now feels like a wooden handle, sturdy and short, holding it tightly against the floor. His other limb reaches the flask and bag that Talassa dropped by pure luck, recognizing them inmediatly in spite of the darkness.   [01:02:14] Phoenix_Down grabs the food and brings it closer to him... not eating it just yet... his hooves both focusing on the other device she brought, poking it and studying it, whispers reaching his ears "yessssss....."   [01:03:08] "Vo vuno spet redku, Michael..." Mutters the voice of the witch from the other side of the door. "  I gahve you what you wahnted.... a way out."   Carefully, Phoenix checks the tool on his hooves, confirming his suspcion... A small and well sharpened dagger with a wooden handle, more a knife made to cut meat than a weapon, but still very effective on its job. The noises outside are replaced by an obnoxious sound, like a snake wriggling its scales on its way to a prey, some hissing appearing and dissapearing abruptly before the voice returns, but not the one of Talassa...   [01:08:58] Phoenix_Down swallows painfully, holding the knife in his hooves, inspecting the tool "m-make them g-go away.." his ears turning to the hissing noise as he backs away from the door slowly, still holding the knife "w-what am I supposed to.. d-do... with...'' "Isn't it oooobvious?~"   [01:11:31] Phoenix_Down doesn't see the illusionary hoof reach out and take a hold of his, but can feel the body gently grip his "You can own up to your failures.... nobody wants you... nobody is coming to help you... just save yourself the trouble~" looking up and seeing a faceless, colorless pone [01:13:11] "ahh b-but... my famil-" "They aren't coming.... you will never ssssssee them again anywaysssss~" the formless pone now holding the knife, his eyes going wide as he feels his own hooves go empty, his body paralyzed in fear "Here.... I will even help you!~"   [01:15:16] "Blood... Michael. Is the coin ov lihfe..." Sounds again the voice of Talassa, ominous, almost overwhelming. "You cahn negotiate with it... with things that ahre capable of undeherstanding it value... give youhr blood to them... or tahke theirs. Tahke hers!"   The formless pony begins to take shape slowly, half of its ethereal body wrapped on the pegasus while facing him with a single eye...   [01:16:58] Phoenix_Down raises his hooves weakly, the unrecognizeable pone digging the knife into the side of his foreleg gently... just enough to draw blood, causing his eyes to widen and his heart to quicken "no... NO!"   [01:17:02] "Tahke the blood, Michael. Drip the blood of the ohne who tohrments you!"   [01:21:16] Phoenix_Down takes the knife with his other hoof, although the knife never left his hoof in the first place looking at the form with a grimace, before he recognized it... fear filling his body "n-no.. I... I..." swallowing painfully "I have to make this stop!" holding the knife steady, his body quivering in fear but his hooves staying true, as he sinks the blade down, into the tummy of his tormenter  maneuvering the blade to miss the vital organs, but hopefully scare the form away   Gray fur and a recognizable mane take place unto the features of the ghost-mare, only one of its eyes glowing softly and looking at Phoenix with sudden pain and suffering, a bloody tear rolling down its cheek, making its way to the injure the pegasus opened on her belly.   [01:25:54] "Kavh, ktuk kos kavh...." A chant, gutural, resounding through the hall Talassa is in and flowing into the cell with intensity. "Nuz kavh ev kavh, ikavh kokavh...."   [01:27:21] Phoenix_Down breathes more heavily, looking down at the blade that penetrated the illusionary form... and himself, the trickle of blood already flowing as he stares in abject horror "I.... I'm sorry... oh god please... I'm so sorry..."   [01:27:44] !roll 1d4+1 [01:27:45] (1) + 1 == 2   The pegasus' blood, warmth and sticky, drips from the injure to the grounds, heavily falling until a small puddle takes place... but death doesn't come, his aim was good and he missed anything vital. He can feel the pain clearly, tho, and a bigger void within that makes him crave for the daily rations of food Talassa left for him.   [01:30:55] Phoenix_Down turns his body forward, letting out a gasp in pain, the knife sunk heavily into his flesh, coughing and sputtering, spitting out blood "f-fuck..." [01:32:43] Phoenix_Down looks to where the food is, reaching out for it tentatively with one hoof, the other still held tight on the knife in his guts, holding it steady to stifle more blood, taking the bag of cookies and wolfing them down, draining back the sour liquid to sate his sudden thirst   The door re-opens abruptly, a red light coming into the room and the shape of Talassa on the threshold, talking to him with mockery on her tone   [01:34:40] "Stahbbed... youh kihlled her ohnce, you cahn do iht ahgain. Make your way out ohv the cell, ohnly I stand between you and yourh fahmily"   The red glow remains intense, behind Talassa's sillouhete the shape of Vesuvian and Short hugging each other tightly with expression of terror, looking towards Phoenix as if pleading in silence to be rescued.   [01:37:45] "Cohme, Michael, spill my blood now, pay the price ohv your freedohm"   [01:40:40] Phoenix_Down slowly stands up, ripping the knife from his body, more blood spilling out to the floor quite painfully, but it doesn't matter... the hatred he shows to the shadowy forms is intense, his teeth clenched and his voice low and guttoral "I'll.. I'll make these voices go away... to stop..." his memories filled with harsh pains, remembering when Vesuvian left him for nothing, without a word, cold and alone, he remembers the pain, the intense misery that rang a thousand times worse than whats in his body now, his teeth clenched, finally seeing the source of the voices, the pain, the horror, finally he can do something back, to end it! the adrenaline coursing through his body as he lurches forward, thrusting the knife forward again, sinking it quickly into Talassa in front of him   [01:41:56] Talassa lets out a loud laugh, sonorous and awful like the noises around her   *SHANK!* The weapon does it job without trouble as Phoenix nails the blade on the throat of the despicable witch, blood coming out in spurts from the fissure. Holding the knife and the injure with a foreleg, the mare fall to her knees and stays there, quiet and looking up to Phoenix with the red glow of her eyes gone, the mask still hiding her features.   [01:49:02] Phoenix_Down grits his teeth, before letting out an anguished shout, pulling the knife out and stabbing Talassa again... and again.. and again... and again "DIE... FUCK YOU DIE DIE DIE DIE"   The red light on the ambiance doesn't recedes, though, and the pegasus can still distinguish his mare and foal holding each other tightly, the little filly crying loudly   The knife goes in and out multiple times. On her sides, neck, legs, face, ripping the mask until it falls to the floor bloodied and teared apart. Every stab made the noises louder, a hissing engulfing them all until it is the only sound the stallion can perceive... then he looks down to the almost disfigured corpse in front of him... its coat yellow and its mane of a soft brown color, and on the features that weren't ripped apart by the blade, he can see the face of Golden Touch. Meanwhile on the background, the red glow devours the figure of Vesu and the filly, until Phoenix is left alone on it, standing in front of the bloodied body of his best friend.   [01:55:09] Phoenix_Down looks down at Golden's body in horror, the knife clattering to the floor as it falls from his hooves, shooting his gaze over to the door, just to see Vesu's and Short's form fade into the red glow "n-no, come back! I... I had to stop them, I HAD TO!" [01:55:48] Phoenix_Down fumbles with the knife again, the wound on his tummy cringing in pain, but not stopping him as he heads for the red glow, making his way out of the room   [01:57:11] "Oh... you had noht had enough, Michael?... spihling the blood of the mother of youhr child and the blood ohv youhr best friend was noht enouhg?"   [01:58:52] Phoenix_Down looks around quickly for the voice, holding the knife, his brow still furrowed in hatred "yes... make the pain go away... make it STOP!" "Where are you... STOP THIS, I'LL MAKE YOU STOP THIS!"   The stallion advances, but nothing seems to change around him, the red glow eventually engulfing Golden's corpse like it did with Vesuvian and Short. By the end of Talassa's words, he is alone in a sea of red, the ground beneath him turning into warmth blood that sucks him in, too dense to swim in with his tired body. The crimson coin of life enters his nostrils and mouth and invades his lungs, but death avoids him again, and he is left there to feel the pain of drowning perpetually, with only the sound of Talassa's laughter in the background.   [02:01:10] "HHhehehehhe Hahah haAHAHAH AHHAHAHAH HaHAHAHAHAHAH aHAHAHAHAAHA AHAHaHAAAHAHAHahahahaahahaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAH HAHAHA"   [02:01:33] Phoenix_Down swings his hooves around tiredly, dropping the knife when the crimson waves engulf his body, filling him wth pain and anguish, the hatred and terror crashing against not only his body, but also his soul   The same noises from before Talassa's visit resound outside the cell, everything dark and eerie and dubtious... Phoenix' mind returns from the nightmarish curse the witch  casted on him merely by staring on his eyes, with him not even noticing when it started... but the cold pool of blood below his belly suggest that the injure was real, and pain trickles along is body with every breath. Somehow, he hasn't bleed to death... and the tiredness of a deep injure hasn't struck his mind either.   [02:09:35] Phoenix_Down coughs and sputters for air, the warm blood still pooled around his body, and the blade still held by his hoof, soaked in his own blood, falling to the floor as he lies in his own blood, his eyes never leaving the cold steel "Just do it... it'd be eaaaasy~ save you and us the trouble..." [02:09:40] "... murderer~"   Now Talassa is nowhere to be heard, what could be currents of air or static is the only thing filling the silence, but nothing assures Phoenix that is not his own mind what makes them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwnpXll_A_E   [02:15:51] Phoenix_Down looks around the room weakly... he can still feel the voices in his mind... the faces, angry at him.. furious, spitting on him, turning their backs and walking away, hot tears runnning down his face and meeting with the pool of blood beneath him, his throat dry and pained, even though he just had a drink, and his stomach feeling like it would drop out of his body... looking again at the knife [02:16:05] "you killed them... so easily...  just for yourself... nobody loves you anymore..." [02:19:35] Phoenix_Down looks at the knife again, rolling onto his back, holding it over him "n-nobody... I'm just... a killer... a loser..."   [02:21:37] "That ahnd mohre... Michael" The voice of Talassa materializes from behind the door. "You hahve killed youhr mahre and friend.... pahyed the price of their blood fohr your freedohm..."   [02:22:48] Phoenix_Down closes his eyes, turning his head away "I"m nothing but trouble... nothing but a worthless coward... I would... I did kill them... just to ease my pain... I... I don't even deserve this... blood pooling out of me..." [02:23:22] Phoenix_Down clenches his eyes shut, and grits his teeth, letting his hooves fall again and the knife sink into his body, but proves himself to be a coward, drawing the blade low again and into his tummy a second time, missing his heart and lungs again   [02:26:39] !roll 1d4+1 [02:26:40] (1) + 1 == 2   [02:30:03] Phoenix_Down turns on his side, the pain from being stabbed twice unbearable, choking on hot tears as he holds his stomach, his crimson life leaking out onto the floor "oh god... m-make it st-stop... w-why..."   Hoof steps again, this time fading away slowly. The puddle below Phoenix starts to turn cold soon, and is particularly sticky by now... and so he is left alone to his thoughts, stained with his own blood, and with the delusions now blaming him for the spillage of the one of his most loved pony and his friend... What torment is greater? The one of a body feeling life flushing away through a hole on the skin? or the one of a mind drilled and bleeding to death?   [02:34:01] Talassa [~pallmall@190.121.83.196] ahora se llama Curiosity     day 7   [12:51:25] Curiosity [~pallmall@190.121.83.196] ahora se llama Talassa   [12:53:22] Phoenix_Down is laying on his side, his eyes half lidded and a dagger buried in his tummy, the tears have stopped long ago, and the blood has already stopped flowing around his wound, but the voices haven't stopped... the voices never stop... shouting into his ears, hitting, ripping against his body   *CLANK CLANK CLANK* *HISSSSSSSSSSSSS* The noises of metal against metal, then against rock, like rusty, burned out machinery.... then the hissing, loud and terrible, shattering what's left of Phoenix' sanity. "Dim was right..." Can be heard, faintly. "...He was never alive..." The voice becomes louder and closer to the door of the cell. A bang on it interrupts it, odd courtesy coming from Talassa   [12:57:32] "Wake uhp, Michael..." Calls her awful voice. "...Did you ehnjoy my gift last night?"   [12:58:16] Phoenix_Down turns his eyes to the door, shuffling his body slightly but not moving as he turns to face the mare, his head drooping and his eyes almost glazed over, his head throbbing with horrific pain, thats only matched by the blade still sunk into the soft flesh of his stomach   [13:00:24] Talassa makes her way inside solemnly, looking down to the mess of a pony that lies on the floor. "...Youhr food is here" With a small thud, a flask and a bag fall close to the pegasus, courtesy of the witch. "...Ahre you wondehring why you ahre still alive, Michael?"   [13:01:47] Phoenix_Down looks back up to Talassa, his eyes not filled with fear, or hatred... just empty... broken... "why... why have you done this..."   [13:05:53] Talassa can see it, can perceive it far beyohn the mere distant look on his eyes... her own piercing into his mind and watching the carcass of his memories, the amulet of his father lost... the picture of his friend bloodstained and raptured. "Why... Youhr life has fahded away. My johb is dohne and I know that mahster will noht be happy." In a despicable act of mercy, the mare makes a white aura surround her forelegs, enlightening the room faintly as she crouches down and starts taking the knife out of Phoenix' belly with easiness. "You do noht know what we ahre, but we know mohre about you than you ever wanted to..."   [13:07:33] Phoenix_Down looks at the faint white glowing mare, the illumination lighting up his broken form, and the pool of cold blood he lies in   The pain of the injure decreases when the knife is taken away, and so do the noises, the metal scrapping and hissing fading away until Talassa's voice is the only sound apart the prisoner's breathing.   [13:10:05] Phoenix_Down feels the knife slide out of his body, swinging his hooves at it slowly to try and take it back from her, but his movements are weak... slow..   [13:14:38] "A hero's heart is noht easy to break... but when done, his body becohmes a powerful husk... a recipient for a ritual I need to finish." The seriousness on her voice grows and she drops the knife on the ground, at a side of the rations of food. "ahnd I am also going to fuhlfill my mahster's promise. You have paid the price of life, buht if end it is what youh really want, then just stab the source"   [13:17:06] Phoenix_Down blinks slowly, the clattering of the knife ringing in his ears "an end.... an end to this t-torture..."   Silence follows the words of the mare, and she gets up and leaves for the door, uncaring.   [13:18:19] "Good night, Michael... keep your eyes shut this time"   [13:18:58] [BGM still provided to you by best game:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTx4dQXN400 ]   [13:20:03] Phoenix_Down squirms to his hooves, his body wracked with pain, one hoof slowly trailing across the floor to the knife... grabbing a hold of the wooden handle and slinking back down, his body resting against the wall, hot tears falling from his eyes as he looks around the room... the voices even, have gone quiet... simply looking... watching...   [13:21:14] Talassa waits on the threshold, the dim light of her magic still glowing, the only source of light in the whole area. Turning around to see Phoenix. she raises her head and whispers something in her language. "Ja cuy, kisah"   [13:44:05] Phoenix_Down leans against the wall, his head hung low as his eyes look at only the dagger, held in his hoof... the visions staring back at him, their eyes happy and their teeth bared, closing his eyes... he feels the hot tears rolling down his cheek, he sees nothing else... it seems not only his friends, his family... even the darkness would abandon him... feeling alone... empty... a husk of what he once was... he was no hero.. he was just a useless sack of flesh, an empty body with no soul.... carefully he draws the knife upwards again, swallowing painfully, his arms feeling heavy like lead, but not wavering his eyes turning to dark thoughts already... his wife and child looking at him scared... terrified of what he really was on the inside... weak... a coward.... [13:45:34] Phoenix_Down lets out a long, held breath, and brings the knife inward, plunging it, this time into his chest...   [13:47:52] Talassa observes the scene motionless, soundless, like an ever-vigilant guardian carved in stone. The white light on her legs fades away as the life fades away from the prisoner's body...   [13:49:40] Phoenix_Down falls to his side, his hoof barely propping his body up, his chest burning as his heart fails to beat, his lungs unable to take in any more air, gasping for a breath he can't take, the weapon buried deeply in him as he slumps to the ground, motionless... his eyes flickering around weakly in fear, as the visions start to fade... [13:51:12] Phoenix_Down looks around one by one... faces.... memories... friends... all fading into the blackness faces he cared for... loved... failed... draining into the darkness.... until finally there was but one left... the face of a small foal... the most beautiful sight his eyes had ever seen before... reaching his hoof weakly towards the last vision, blood pooling in his mouth [13:52:39] Phoenix_Down can't move any longer, his hoof stopping its movements, the form of the smiling young filly slowly dissolving, melting away before his very eyes... his eyes that felt heavy...slow... his head finally hitting the ground as the light fades in his eyes, and they close again   [13:54:30] "Kahv a kiuv o ksud..." Mutters Talassa, a hint of satisfaction on her voice. Noisy grunts and crawling in the darkness resonate within the hall, slowly approaching the scene. The witch step aside and back, her hoof steps starting to fade away into the distance. The unknown creature enters the cell and unceremoniously begins to haul away the fresh corpse of Phoenix Down, the hero who longed for death within the prison of a dark cult, and furthermore, a prison made by his own mind. At last, far away from the pain, his sould drifts from the lifeless body, now a true husk for whatever purpose has the cruel witch who orchestrated his suicide.   [13:57:35] Talassa [~pallmall@190.121.83.196] ahora se llama Curiosity