What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?

[lord_wizard]

Who: Felix Harrowgate and whoever
What: An attempt to escape leads to escape from the world of the sane
When: Wednesday, October 2nd
Where: The Insolitus first and the castle lobby later
Rating: pg-13

Felix moved through the empty corridors of the Insolitus, his witchlights tracing the way, his eyes cast down to follow the marked arrows. The last time he'd been here had been with his brother, and he'd shared the theory that had been rolling about in his mind almost since he learned of the place and had up until now refused to directly entertain - mazes were conduits of thaumaturgical power, according to the philosopher Ephreal Sand. That a place so richly imbued with power to have such a structure in the center of itself seemed to indicate that there was more to the place than met the eye. The appearance of the doorways proved that much.

And like the water maze cutting it's way through the bowels of the Arcane underneath the Mirador, Felix was certain that his maze could be used to manipulate the energy that coursed through it. And again like that ritual enacted there, it was less a matter of forcing that energy to act as he wished and opening himself up to that energy and channeling it through himself.

The chamber leading to the doorways was the likeliest candidate for a heart that Felix was going to be able to find. So it was here that he stopped, pulling a piece of chalk from his pocket, and began to trace a circle on the floor. A maze inside a maze - tracing a path to a center large enough for himself to stand. The ritual was simple enough, for the task it was meant to carry out. But this wasn't just a river. It wasn't the magic of a lesser wizard. This was opening himself up completely and entity far greater than he could ever truly understand. The risk was immense, but what cost did he have left to pay? He already suffered the loss of a friend, a lover, a brother, and a fiancee. He had been helpless to save people as the castle allowed a monster, yet again, to roam free and kill people he once might have called a friend. On and on the cycle of loss played out, with no winner other than the castle, because they were powerless to do anything about it. The only power of any significance was the castle itself, and it was that Felix would use. Or die trying.

He stepped into the center of the circle, clearing for a moment from his mind the black anger and everything else. He was a vessel - a channel through which the castle's magic, like the flow of a river, could divert. Even with his eyes closed he could feel, see, hear the glow of the runes on the floor and the sparks of energy that danced across his fingertips. But his concentration was inward. He could feel it work, and with that rush of power he searched for his door out. Envisioning his exit to be one of the great gates of the city of Mélusine he reached for the threshold and---

Pain. Blinding pain. Like every bone in his body coming alight at once, and for a moment - what might likely one of his last clear thoughts for some time - he wonders if this is what it would have been like if the Curia had opted to burn him instead of exile him, and then---

Blackness. He is blind. Like when Malkar would punish him, and Felix wonders idly what he's done wrong this time, and his panic rises with his lack of insight. If Malkar asks him to repeat the reason for his punishment he won't be able to state it, and Malkar does not like not being answered. He flees instead.

His vision eventually clears enough for him to remember where he is, but the idea that he's being hunted keeps his feet moving, even if he stumbles blindly into walls here and there. The haze in his right eye is worse again. He can't quite feel things right yet, and he wonders if that's because he's dead. Perhaps he's become one of the castle's ghosts.

A particularly hard stumble dispels that idea. He knows he's lost but can't remember how to get out. The dark is cloying but he can't reach his magic to call witchlights. Deep in his throat a whimper starts as he gropes forward in the tunnel, running from the low roar of sound emanating from the darkness, and towards the door he's no longer certain exists...

--------


He loses some time to the darkness and rabid fear and confusion of twisting tunnels. And just when it doesn't seem like his feet can carry him any longer there is a lurching sensation, a feeling of vertigo, and a sudden ice-cold splash as his back impacts the floor. But all Felix feels the water, ripping a panicked scream of pure terror, scrambling madly to get to his feet and away.

To everyone else, the wizard appears suddenly in the lobby, dropped from a short height onto the floor into the pool of slowly spreading water that's beginning to invade the corner of the lobby from the direction of the pool. While not even an inch thick, the scream may as well be from a drowning man, and the wide-eyed look of fear on his face might suggest he really thinks he is.

Comments

[wishmadeinfire]

Ashura had been finding solace in the routine of caring for Svitana as the winter weather rolled in, getting the dragon horse as much exercise as he could while it was still safe to keep him out for long periods of time. When the bitter bite of winter finally claimed them, Svitana would have to spend most of his time wrapped in blankets and in the warmth of the stables. It was work that demanded his attention, kept his attention away, let him drift through other rivers of thought.

It left him sweaty though, a bit tired, the dragon horse frisky in the still clear weather. He had come in and out through the lobby doors to many times to count, pushing it open a simple muscle reflex as he basked in the heat of his worked muscles.

What was not normal were two things: water, and that scream.

He jerked up, recognizing the timber of it, because how could he not? And while the pain of what had happened - what? A month ago? More? - still burned in his soul, he was not so cruel as to leave Felix floundering in his own terror. And more than some, he was better equipped to deal with Felix simply through knowledge of him. So he hurried across the water, the short distance to Felix, grasping him in strong hands, an iron grip to keep him from flailing, a tactic Ashura rarely used on anyone.

"Felix! Felix be calm! You are in the lobby, peace! Felix!"

[lord_wizard]

He sees the phoenix-headed man move towards him, water boiling and hissing steam under his footsteps. The colors around him are angry and red as fire, shot with a deep blue like melancholy, but he doesn't care enough to know why it's there. He tries to get away, but the cold of the water has made his legs and arms numb and he can't quite seem to get his feet underneath him. The hands of the phoenix are on him, gripping hard, and it's touch burns like an open flame.

He scream, again, harder, and frantically fights to get away.

He doesn't want to burn to death either.

[wishmadeinfire]

Whatever was happening to Felix, Ashura had the instant idea that maybe knocking him out would be kinder than this. He and Felix had suffered their nightmares together, but this was beyond anything he had seen come from the man. These were the actions of a man beyond sanity, drowning in something only he could see. And he wondered what Felix saw, wondered what would drive him to this screaming madness.

"Felix!" he called louder, holding him tighter, glad he was stronger than the other, able to keep a hold where a normal man might have been thrown off. But he wished he had better magic, something to restrain. Duke could have if he... No, do not think that. Who then? Phoebe had been away, so that left Vanyel and Howl. Gods, where were they when he needed them?

"Be calm! You are safe now, Felix! Safe!"

[lord_wizard]

He had told Ashura once that he had spend a year of his life mad, though he'd never divulged any details. Maybe it would have helped here, but he's far beyond recollection of that event, let alone who Ashura really is. He has memories - distant and steeped in pain and the smell of the Sim - of being restrained. He hears his name being called, but he doesn't believe what the phoenix is telling him. The phoenix is angry at him. He's not sane enough to know he has no chance, and continued to howl, his voice growing hoarse with the effort, and started to kick and flail. If he he hurts it, maybe the phoneix will release him.

"No! Let me go, damn you! I don't want to die!"

[wishmadeinfire]

"Die? Why would you die? Felix, you need to make sense!"

Ashura did not want to panic. He was a King, he should be trained beyond panic, but this was the man he had loved for the past three years of his life, and so yes, he panicked a little... because he still loved him. Calling on that, he slid his arms around Felix and brought him in close, wondering if the smell of him might call something, if being held like this might do something for the other. Would tender memories seep through dark dreams?

"Felix, please, let me help you..."

[lord_wizard]

A faint rustling of feathers filled his eyes as the creature wrapped it's wings around him, holding him in place as it it wanted to burn right along with him. The colors around the phoenix confused him. Soft swirls of pinkish affection and yellow fear and the ever deepening sadness. Maybe it thought it was doing him a favor. Felix didn't know.

"Please," he croaked, his struggles dying slowly not from acceptance but defeat, "it hurts..."

[wishmadeinfire]

"Shhh. Shhh, it will be all right, let me help you," he whispered, sinking down into the water, not caring about the way it soaked into his clothing, or the ends of his hair. He kept his arms around him, a hand cupping the back of his head, the other around his waist. He hid the other's face against his neck, pained to see him so distressed, so... gods, so broken. It wasn't right.

"It will be okay. Tell me where it hurts, we can make it better," he soothed, stroking the red locks.

[lord_wizard]

Felix shook his head as firmly as he could manage. The phoenix didn't seem to understand that it was hurting him, and he was afraid to offend it, but if it didn't stop touching him soon, he was certain he might die.

"The fire," he answered lamely, feet still pressing firmly into the wet floor, as much to get away from the water as from the grip he was stuck in.

[wishmadeinfire]

Fire? What fire? All that was around them was water, and that in itself was an odd mystery. But not his concern. The Castle could deal with that if it had to, or someone else.

"What fire, Felix?" he caught himself, almost saying 'love', but stopping. "Felix there is only us and water."

He stroked his cheek, golden eyes meeting bi-colored, hoping to see a spark of recognition, of the man he knew inside of them.

"Felix, what fire? What's wrong? What has happened to you?"

[lord_wizard]

Felix might have been there in body, but his mind had escaped a coherent reality altogether. Most of the words that dripped from the phoenix's mouth made no sense to him. He knew it was talking to him, from hearing his name, but the constant mention of it was becoming confusing rather than comforting. The mention of the water only escalated his panic, and the loosening of the grip to put a hand on his face gave him room to move again.

"No!" he screeched, smacking the phoenix's arm away and twisting violently out of it's grip, only to scream again when he felt the cold touch of the water. He scrambled away and climbed onto a couch, curling his feet under him as if the water were actually acid.

[strangewonders]

The day had been... well. 'Messed up' wasn't an eloquent way of putting it, but it probably summed it up nicely. Whatever had set the castle off had really done a good job of it, and once he'd managed to get his room mostly secured, Howl had set out to assess just what else was going on.

And then something went wrong, in a big way, in the lobby.

How he knew, he wouldn't have been able to relay, but as he skidded into the lobby, a bit winded, it's obvious things are Not Right. He glanced from Felix to Ashura and back again, not even sure where to begin.

[wishmadeinfire]

Ashura turned at the sound of splashing foot steps, and was torn between relief and agony that it was Howl. Felix would not want anyone seeing him like this, after all, but Ashura was not certain he could contain Felix on his own anymore. He had no way to put him to sleep or any other method except fire, and from the sounds of it that would only send the man into even further hysteria.

"I do not know what is wrong," he said tightly, trying to keep his voice low enough so Felix did not catch it, though frankly he wasn't sure Felix understood a word of it. "If he continues like this I am afraid he will give himself a heart attack!"

[lord_wizard]

Maybe not a heart attack, but a fainting spell was seeming far more likely by the second. He gripped the back of the couch as if it stood a chance of throwing him from it, but more because of the flood waters that were, to his mind's eye, rapid rising.

The approach of another presence - a startling riot of violet and gold with a gaping hold made of darkness at the heart of it - only brought him a moment's pause. He wasn't sure if he should warn it about the water, and it was hard to speak beyond the panicked sobs for breath.

[strangewonders]

Howl walked towards Ashura, making a vague gesture at the floor with one hand and scowling slightly as the water stubbornly refused to go anywhere.

"You found him like this?"

If he sounded a bit skeptical, it was only because he'd never seen anyone in quite such a fit of hysterics. Certainly not Felix. Not that he really felt that Ashura had anything to do with the current state of affairs, either, but, well. He could hardly ignore the fact that things had gone sour between the two men.

That wasn't really the biggest concern, anyway. He frowned a little more, and turned back to the redhead. "Felix? Care to enlighten us?"

Wishful thinking, probably.

[wishmadeinfire]

"He won't answer, not coherently," Ashura said, water sloshing as he shifted, soaking into the bottom of his robes, but he didn't seem to care. He could dry them in a moment if he cared to.

"And yes, I did. I opened the doors and there was water everywhere and he was there and I tried to calm him down, but he just screamed. He... he looked at me like I was a monster," he said softly, the words drawn and pained.

[lord_wizard]

Felix shook his head vehemently, his eyes shut tight to block out the sight of the water rising. The metallic smell of the Sim surrounds him, even though the water, in reality less than an inch deep on the floor, smells more like chlorine. Maybe if he ignores it hard enough, it will all go away, and the phoenix will go away and quit being angry at him.

The bright shape suspects him of something, and he knows it's right, though the why of that is lost somewhat.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

[strangewonders]

One eyebrow arched slightly in surprise. "That was pretty coherent." If not actually informative.

But he knew that Ashura was probably right. Just looking at Felix was enough to indicate he wasn't going to be much use solving this mystery any time soon.

He keep an eye on Felix, even as he continued speaking to Ashura. "Something happened with the castle this morning. I felt it. And now it's throwing a fit." He kicked a toe at the water on the floor by way of illustration. "Maybe Felix caught some of... whatever it was."

Although no one else he'd run into today had been exhibiting any signs of stark raving madness.

[wishmadeinfire]

"Just him alone?" Ashura echoed the concern, because so far, Felix was indeed the only mad one. Which meant he might be singled out? But why?

"Oh Felix, what did you do?" he whispered, starting to step towards him and then stopping himself, looking to Howl.

Gods, he hated admitting it to himself, but Howl might be the better one at the moment to handle Felix, to take him somewhere to set him to sleep, to figure out what was wrong. Why this? Why now?

"Perhaps... you should try. He seems to panic if I touch him," he murmured, and the pain in that statement was evident, fists clenched in worry.

[lord_wizard]

Sound wavered in and out, as if his head were bobbing in and out of the water at his feet, so he caught only bits of the conversation, but even then the waves of flame-colored accusation beat at him.

Felix covered his head with his hands. "What do you want from me?"

[strangewonders]

"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. "The first I've seen, at any rate." And he thought he probably would have heard if there were other residents in the same sort of state Felix seemed to be in.

He gave Ashura at skeptical look at his suggestion, but there wasn't anyone else around to try, and he didn't see how it could hurt... although that was perhaps a rather big assumption to make, given the state of things.

"Felix?"

He was wary of spooking the other man any more than he already was, and really not sure how to deal with the situation in front of him. This wasn't Felix--not the Felix he knew, anyway--but perhaps he wasn't the only one keeping parts of himself secret from everyone else. Still, the amount of fear evident made him uneasy. He didn't like dealing with emotional situations of any type, especially not ones this... fraught. But he had to try. He stepped closer cautiously, but made sure to keep a reasonable distance, not wanting the redhead to feel penned in.

"We don't want anything. I'm just... trying to understand what's happened." Of course, he did want Felix to explain just what the hell was going on, but demanding that out of him was clearly not going to have the desired results.