Displacement

The way the world had changed as winter progressed felt a bit like they were all trapped in some sort of nightmare. He felt like they were stuck in some kind of eternal night since the sky never fully lightened before plunging back into the dark of night again, but the moon was never as big and full as it was now. He was exhausted from not being able to sleep and worry, on edge as he struggled with his inner need to protect those around him from something he couldn't fight. There was no way to know where all of this was coming from or what was causing it so there was no enemy for him to go and fight. It was an unsettling feeling and reminded him a bit too much of the powerlessness he had felt through Lillith's illness except on a much more broad and all encompassing scale.

He had been out examining the crystals that had begun to form on the walls that surrounded the castle when Avaset ran up to him, his silver gaze turning to the dog worriedly when he noticed Eska wasn't with her companion. As soon as he heard where she had gone he abandoned the scouting he was doing to go find her. He was already so on edge that the thought of anything happening to Eska would fully break him. Whether he knew that he could protect her from whatever this was or not, he still needed to be with her just in case. He loped across the distance between the castle and the Wraith's Woods in a hard run, knowing that Eska probably already had a pretty far head start on him considering the time it would have taken for Avaset to get to him. Blue pin points of light wizzed by him as he ran, only slowing his steps once he was within the trees so he could follow her scent. The deeper he went the more common the glowing mushrooms and crystals became until he finally found her as she was beginning to step into an area that was heavily shrouded in mist. "Eska! Wait for-"

"Ulric."

A voice stopped him in his tracks and he quickly looked back over his shoulder as if he thought there might actually be someone behind him. He heard it again, the whisper repeating his name and it felt like it was right next to his ear. His hackles stood on end as he recognized the voice, a cold chill going over him. "Tell me you love me." The last words he had heard Aranea say to him whispered into his ear as if she was right beside him, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had killed and buried her himself. "Eksa..." he said uncertainly as he moved toward her, his eyes scanning the trees, tense and uneasy as he came to stand beside her. "What is this? Where are we?" he questioned, desperately trying to ignore the haunting voice following him.

Ulric Adravendi