Night.
Dark.
Crunch! Crunch!
WOOOOOH!
The snow hadn't eased during their escape.
It pressed on.
Blinding, filling lungs with sharp stabs; mimicking the fate Riven bestowed prior.
"Haa...."
Their lungs burned from the run.
"Hakk--"
Crunch! Crunch!
From the panic still twisting in their chests.
Behind them, the whispers echoed.
Was it in their minds?
Or was it true?
...They didn't want to find out.
Crunch! Crunch!
Riven pulled Saphira with him.
Fatigue was reaching the limit.
For either one.
They needed rest.
WOOOOOOOH!
But the darkness did not help.
...It only obscured dangers further.
Crunch! Crunch!
Riven's eyes searched in the dark for anything.
Anything that wasn't endless.
WOOOOOOH!
Cover.
A rise.
A shadow.
A breath.
A silhouette...
'...Him.'
...There.
A drift piled higher than others, its side bowed inward.
Not a cave.
Not even shelter.
Just a pocket where the wind didn't bite as hard.
Crunch! Crunch!
Steps echoed through the night under the whistles of wind.
He forced them inside, knees digging into snow as shoulders scraped ice.
"Haaa!" "Hakk--"
It was barely wide enough for two...
It was like a grave of frost and breath.
They didn't have much else.
WOOOOOOH!
Their bodies folded, wrapping in a forced embrace.
One that was welcomed.
Cold.
A word that couldn't encapsulate the extent of the night here.
"Haaa!"
Cough....Cough....
Harsh breaths escaped under covered mouths.
Muffled immediately.
They couldn't have anything hear....
Anyone....know.
As they lay there, the silence bit slowly.
WOOOOOOH!
Her shoulder pressed to his.
Her breaths brushed the side of his neck.
Warmth clung to them, slowly but surely.
Neither could feel it.
Fear hollowed it out.
"Haaa!"
Crunch!
Sound.
Breaths came to a stop as they stared at one another.
It was close.
Loud.
Unmistakable, even under the wind overhead.
WOOOOOH!
It was a sound that reverberated.
In the air, and their minds.
WOOOOOH!
They laid there, muscles reaching numbness from stiffness.
A contract was signed under their joint vision.
'Don't move....'
Under those beats, time still flowed.
"AwoOOOOooooo"
Distant howls.
Wind?
Or something else entirely?
Their hug tightened under that cove of snow, under that layer of protection.
The night here was something inexperienced.
And with inexperience....came the unknown.
The biggest threat of them all.
WOOOOOOOH!
A slight pulse simmered in Riven's shoulder.
He could still feel it.
Untreated.
Left to face the frost.
Chills ached through his bones, alarming him each step he'd taken.
Even now...laying.
That's why when Saphira's breath steadied in their endless embrace....
WOOOOOOOH!
As her lashes trembled once, then stilled.
Fatigue clear in her expression.
He almost envied her....
Sleep had taken hold.
It offered her comfort.
An escape away from this nightmare.
A comfort that would not come for him.
Not now.
Not ever.
...It was endless.
Crunch! Crunch!
Every gust outside carried echoes.
Echoes that forced a twitch.
Every pause in the wind was worse, because silence meant listening....
WOOOOOOOOH!
The rhyme lingered in his brain.
A seed.
One that had planted ever so.
'Blood.... the blood I seek...'
His jaw clenched, eyes burning in the dark, trying to adjust.
Even here, pressed in frost and breath, he couldn't shake it.
Those ember slits.
That thing.
'Death....'
Buried deep, that man's feel had been carved.
The only thing grounding him?
It was Saphira's head resting on him, her faint heartbeats thumping close to his.
Thump...
Calming.
Something rare these past days.
The darkness in that dull South Tower room, flicked to mind amidst the echoes.
WOOOOOOOH!
311.
A room that was a distant memory for someone.
Someone long gone.
But, a type of home for him.
He'd spent most of his time there.
The breath of Eldris wasn't even truly felt.
Had he had a lesson?
WOOOOOOOOH!
The only one that came to mind, was the exile he'd received.
That he'd felt, the day his hand rested on that crystal.
Crunch!
Those stares.
That contempt.
'Disgust'
And now...he was thrown into, 'Hell'.
'Blood....blood'
One that replayed.
Over and over.
And over and over.
And over again.
"Haaa!"
It was already starting.
But had it truly begun yet?
His breath came harsh, as eyes fixed to the pale ceiling of snow above.
WOOOOOOH!
"....huff"
The sounds of her breathing.
Slow.
Still.
An echo opposite to his thoughts.
Her warmth, a lie in the frost.
His, a gnawing abyss.
Pulling.
Slowly.
For now...
WOOOOOOH!
She was his tether.
The warmth of her, dragged him back.
His fingers closed, forming a fist; knuckles white.
It was enough for now.
But in the back of his mind....he felt the words floating closer.
So close, it whistled across his ears as the breath landed.
"The blood I seek."
WOOOOOOH!
'Silence.'
'...Silence.'
His teeth ground together.
The word shook in his skull, but it slipped each time....
Drowned out by the chant.
'Blood, blood, the blood I seek...'
He forced it back, nails digging into his palms.
'Silence.'
Again.
Louder.
Not calm.
Desperate.
'Silence!'
WOOOOOH!
It pressed.
Deeper.
Hands clutched to his skull, as cold sweats washed over his skin.
Those figments.... they ran true.