The Catalyst
Alastor
06-05-2024, 09:54 PM
It didn't feel right. It didn't feel real. Standing and watching the happy family Relm had around her felt like he was watching a fantasy play out before him. It was a beautiful impossibility that he would never see, never feel, never truly know. Just within this liminal dream state, in this mystical afterlife where they could exist forever, beautiful and unmarred, never to be sick or broken. It was a place Alastor's tainted soul would never be welcomed. That's why he stood in the shadows of the forest, deathly afraid of taking any step closer, lest he break the illusion and never find it again. Their four children pranced and danced around the clearing, around her, blissful and carefree for all time, as they always should have been. Alastor had never experienced a pain quite like the one he felt stabbing his heart in that moment.
Relm's ethereal voice echoed in his mind, inviting him to join them and expressing her happiness. It startled him, the giant brute stumbling back a step, but the moment the pink fae turned to smile at him, he was entranced. Like a siren's song, he was captivated. Relm looked as he had never seen her before, and as she always should have been—unblind and unscarred. Flawless. Whole. Happy. She grinned at him; Alastor almost broke down when he saw her smile. Tears welled up in his eyes, blurring his vision while he gave himself over to impulse and took that first tentative step out of the shadows, afraid as if the magical sunlight would burn him alive. Step by step, Alastor slowly emerged from the forest, the sunlight warming his fur, the soft grass bending beneath giant paws. The four pups stopped playing and watched him with bright curiosity. Alastor looked at each of them in turn, each smiling face twisting that knife in his heart.
When he finally drew near Relm, the pups all gathered around them, giggling and nuzzling at the dire brute's legs and paws. Their touches felt so real—like this wasn't some imagined heaven and that he was actually with them. Tears spilled down Alastor's muzzle while he watched them—their children—return to playing around the clearing. His bleary gaze lifted back to Relm, meeting the eyes of the woman he had loved and lost. The woman he had killed. What did he even say to her? What words could possibly express any of the pain and anguish, the love and the loss, the yearning and the regret? His mouth opened, then closed again. He lifted a paw, but hesitated from touching her, lest she disappear before his eyes. Eventually, he said the only words that could come from his broken heart. "I'm so sorry..."
"Alastor"
Relm's ethereal voice echoed in his mind, inviting him to join them and expressing her happiness. It startled him, the giant brute stumbling back a step, but the moment the pink fae turned to smile at him, he was entranced. Like a siren's song, he was captivated. Relm looked as he had never seen her before, and as she always should have been—unblind and unscarred. Flawless. Whole. Happy. She grinned at him; Alastor almost broke down when he saw her smile. Tears welled up in his eyes, blurring his vision while he gave himself over to impulse and took that first tentative step out of the shadows, afraid as if the magical sunlight would burn him alive. Step by step, Alastor slowly emerged from the forest, the sunlight warming his fur, the soft grass bending beneath giant paws. The four pups stopped playing and watched him with bright curiosity. Alastor looked at each of them in turn, each smiling face twisting that knife in his heart.
When he finally drew near Relm, the pups all gathered around them, giggling and nuzzling at the dire brute's legs and paws. Their touches felt so real—like this wasn't some imagined heaven and that he was actually with them. Tears spilled down Alastor's muzzle while he watched them—their children—return to playing around the clearing. His bleary gaze lifted back to Relm, meeting the eyes of the woman he had loved and lost. The woman he had killed. What did he even say to her? What words could possibly express any of the pain and anguish, the love and the loss, the yearning and the regret? His mouth opened, then closed again. He lifted a paw, but hesitated from touching her, lest she disappear before his eyes. Eventually, he said the only words that could come from his broken heart. "I'm so sorry..."
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