Nightmares follow you like shadows

[lord_wizard]

Who: Felix Harrowgate and YOU
What: Very bad dreams
When: Anytime during the Nightmare plot
Where: The labyrinth of his mind
Rating: PG-13 to R, depending on preference

[The atmosphere here isn't terribly inviting. The walls are dark, damp stone lit by the occasional sputtering torch, casting shadows so thick and alive that they seem like they could jump out and wrap themselves around your throat at any moment. The air is cold and underneath everything is a fetid, metallic tang that hangs in the air and permeates the stones. You can almost feel the despair leaking out of every pore of the rock.

Felix would call this feeling mikkary, though the word may mean nothing to you.

As for the wizard himself, he's standing with his back up against the wall, staring at you but more correctly through you, as if he can see something there that you cannot, and doesn't like it.]

We have to go...

[His voice is small and strained with the effort of holding back panic. And then you know what he does. Something is out there and it's looking for you. Something malevolent, and you don't want it to find you down here]

Hurry...

[He tugs on your sleeve, pleadingly, and darts into a darkened doorway]

FIRE | WATER | MALKAR

((ooc: Wait for sections. You can do any or all of them. Felix is trying to outrun Malkar. At your option, your someone can be a particular person or thing your character fears...especially if they happen to fear becoming like that. At your option, I can incorporate them into that last section somehow. Feel free to PM or contact to discuss details))

Comments

FIRE

[lord_wizard]

[You hurry together towards the promising glimmer of substantial light ahead. Turning a corner there is a blast of hot air and you're forced to shield your eyes. When you look up, the maze seems to have been replaced by a long city street. Most of the buildings are on fire and smoke hangs on the air, both spiraling upwards into the night sky above you.]

[inafadingcrown]

[No, no, no. Flashes of Doriath run through her mind, the sight and smell of a burning city all too familiar. She has fled from this before.

She blinks back the smoke and coughs.]

Felix- [She can't go toward the flames. There has to be another way.]

[lord_wizard]

[He stops in the street, glancing around. There are the sounds of screaming in the night, but for now they are distant.

Felix turns to her, eyes alive with fear]

We can't stop here...

[inafadingcrown]

[She nods and grits her teeth. She knows he's right, but somehow she's having difficulty forcing her feet forward.]

Is there no other way? To flee into a burning city... this is folly.

[lord_wizard]

Folly is staying here and letting it overcome us, or worse, letting him find us...[For a moment the watches the flames, wondering if sacrificing himself to the flames would be preferable to that fate]

[inafadingcrown]

[She takes a deep breath and nods, looking forward with trepidation.]

Onward, then.

[lord_wizard]

[He tears his eyes away from the fire and then starts to run again, glancing back only a moment to make sure Galadriel is following.

For awhile there is only the roar of the fire and the sound of their feet on the cobbletones, then ahead of them a horrifically cracking sound as the facade of one building collapses into the street.]

Dammit. We have to find another way.

[He looks to either side, frantically, and spots an alleyway as yet untouched by fire]

There.

[inafadingcrown]

[She nods in assent. The lack of fire makes that alleyway much more appealing than their other options.

Nothing to do but keep running, it seems.]

[lord_wizard]

[They run, simply because they must. The night sky is tinged with orange at the edges and the screams increase in volume.

The enter another street. The fire is less close and the sound of a river can be heard somewhere in the near distance.

The pass close to a large brick tenement building that has the beginnings of flame kindling deep inside.

And Felix stops]

[inafadingcrown]

Felix? [This is an alarming development, particularly since he was urging her onward not so long ago.]

What is it?

[lord_wizard]

I know this place...

[inafadingcrown]

Where are we, then?

[lord_wizard]

[He glances at her, but his eyes keep getting drawn back to the building]

I lived here once. Before...

[He looks lost...stricken by memories and the past happening right in front of his eyes]

[inafadingcrown]

[She looks back, unsure whether to urge him on in fear of the nameless terror that chases them.]

The past matters little now. [Standing before a burning building isn't exactly helpful.]

[lord_wizard]

But this is the past...

[He says, as if that made perfect sense. And then a scream pierces the night. A young girl's scream]

Joline

[inafadingcrown]

[She frowns, some response forming on her lips, but it dies when she hears that scream. Her stomach turns and her eyes go wide.]

We must help her, if we can. [She looks around and starts in the direction of the scream, fighting every instinct she has- which are all telling her to stay away from the flames.]

[lord_wizard]

[Felix has the same instinct, but he's never been able to ignore Joline - in life or in death.

He looks surprised at her acquiescence, but nods and bolts for the open doorway. Smoke is already pouring out from inside.

Felix bites his lip to keep from screaming.]

The roof will collapse soon we have...we have to hurry...

[inafadingcrown]

[She runs after him, covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve. She blinks, trying to see through the smoke.]

Where...?