unopposed thoughts that stood too long

There was a place that she had avoided for the majority of her life, but as white gloved paws carried her on a pilgrimage of sorts Venom found her sunset gaze captured by the volcano that had changed her life forever. Most days its looming presence was fully ignored, it didn’t have to exist in her happy little world. Maybe that was a subconscious reason she hadn’t set foot here in a very long time. It was no fault of Recluse in the least bit, and as her mind reversed she wondered why their relationship was not closer.

There was always the underlying dislike of anything Klein by her once husband. Maybe his words did affect her actions. That was entirely her own fault for not being able to see. Hattori wrapped himself in every aspect of her life, and she had been so blind to what was really happening. It wasn’t until now she could step back and look at the last half of her life and truly question herself. It hurt deeply staring at ones own flaws, but Venom continued to break herself down. The consolation being that one day she would be rebuilt a much stronger woman. Stronger than she was with Hattori, and stronger than the generation before.

She faced many of her weaknesses, physically and mentally on this trip, and now she stood at Habari’s borders and she confronted the inanimate. The mountain that took her father from her, that started the deep questioning of her upbringing. It became a symbol of Abraxas in her mind. Today she looked to the past, revealing emotions that remained buried for a very long time. As night settled over the wildlands and she lingered at the border she could almost feel the ghosts of the long night return.

Archon never appeared to her, in dream or reality as she claimed they had seen ghosts of the past return to flesh. Part of her wondered if she should accept what Toxicity said that day. That she was the true heretic, and she only used her excuses to cope with the truth. Abraxas no longer held a place in her life. Archon didn’t appear to her because she never sought him out. As she stood there before the mountain she wondered if Abraxas had died in her heart when Archon was swallowed by the volcano.

She hated the thought, but if she was going to conclude her revival she needed to stop lying to herself. There were many uncomfortable truths that raced through her mind as the moon and the stars began to light up the world with the disappearing sun. A necessary step to confront all of her evils if she wished to return to Ashen a more competent and prepared leader. She lost her main pillar of support, but who she thought had been her marble column was nothing more than crumbling ancient bamboo. As reliable as the god she had once believed shared her blood.

Venom stood there on the border quietly, stuck between her deep and terrifying thoughts and the political visit she knew that she owed to her Klein cousin. She did nothing as the moon’s light began to reflect off her silver markings. Volcan tore down her defenses and left her exposed emotionally. She was in no fit shape to meet her peer, and yet the longer she remained the more likely a patrol would find her standing there like a lost wretch.


"Venom"