“Your mother? Has time been so short after all--” she paused, blinking, and staring at the nothingness before her. It was darker than it had been a moment ago, and her beautiful granddaughter was gone. Had time passed right by her and left her behind? She blinked sorrowfully, before realising that her paws were touching the grass beneath her. She curled her toes against it, and gasped, feeling the blades bend beneath her claws. Tears sprang to her eyes in realisation. She was here, truly here. Did she live again? She took a deep, deep breath in, feeling the sensation of air in her lungs. She laughed softly, the sound filling the night. In death, one could not long for the things left behind, to do so led to only madness. But now, with the earth soft beneath her paws, she felt something stirring in her breath. A deep need. She wanted to live again. She wanted to hold her girls in her arms and breathe in the scent of them. She raced across the grass, her voice howling out before her. “Poem, Theory, Motif! My loves, my loves!” she cried. "Talk" "Listen" Think

It was a sound that Rhyme thought he would never hear again, especially with what was happening in the world. He’d been a quiet presence, enjoying what he was realizing would be some of his last seasons here. He felt strong and capable, his will remained, but his body was growing weaker because of the curse. Like the crystals that grew from his spine were sapping the energy from him. He’d sequestered himself, and tried to keep away from his loved ones the best he could, but someone like him didn’t do well sitting still. Rhyme continued to patrol despite the affliction. That was how he thought he heard her laugh.

His mind hadn’t really been right since everything began, he thought himself going crazy with every other dream like hallucination. The unnerving mists, and the bleach night that lasted forever. Those names on the wind changed everything. Shaye was gone, he’d carried her lifeless body back to Abaven and he’d mourned over her grave for far too long. He’d said his goodbye, he struggled to return to the semblance of a life worth living. Something that wouldn’t have been possible without Samara.

Shaye told him to live his life in that dream, he did as she asked and now she’d come to take him home with her. Rhyme shifted through the trees like a ghost himself, glowing blue blood oozing from the pulsing crystals as he caught a glimpse of her through the trees. Blue and lavender eyes content with just watch a sight he had yearned for. His tears were trails of glowing liquid the same as on his back, but they were real as the emotions at seeing his lost love frolic in the moonlit grass.

She couldn’t help the astonished laughter bubbling up inside of her. Racing across the plains in the darkness, breathing in the scent of home. Dreaming of the moment she would see her girls, of drawing them into her arms again. There was one name she refused to let pass her thoughts, or touch her lips. A name that hurt too much in the whispering, and the last wolf she expected to find on that beautifully soft grass. Yet there he was. Her attention snapping to him as easily as if he had called her name, but he had not uttered a whisper. He sat there, oozing and unwell, and yet as beautiful and precious as she remembered. His two-toned eyes aglow with luminescent tears. It was like a moment from a tale, too strange to be reality. Her, dead so long her body would have rotted away beneath the earth. Him, her past-lover, oozing glow like fireflies danced in his blood. She crept quietly upon him, her eyes on him, and his on her. She could feel the weight of that gaze like a caress through her fur. She crouched down beside him, close enough for her breath to stir the fur below his ears - marvelling, indeed, that her breath could do so. She reached up a paw, and touched it gently to his cheek. Feeling the warmth, and life to him. The heat pooling from his body like a fever. She did not realise how wet her own cheeks had become, nor how long she crouched there. Cradling his cheek in her paw, and simply taking him in. watching him, eyes touching to every strand of fur, every trace of silver in his coat. Noting the changes in him, the way age had touched his form. Her eyes were filling, the tears came so quickly. “You were always my one.” She whispered. "Talk" "Listen" Think

Even after all of this time she was like a dream come true, his heart’s desire, and his soul mate. Nothing mattered beyond his feelings for her, and that still held true. He loved and lost and recovered, but he hadn’t really been the same without the spirit that frolicked in the grasses. Like she had never been gone nor known any greater joy than that glorious night.

Then all at once her attention was on him. Rhyme paused as she did, both transfixed by the other. His blue and lavender gaze would not be moved from her slender form. Mist swirled around their paws in the bright full moon light, Rhyme’s mind remained foggy and not completely aware, but he could focus entirely on the ghostly woman before him despite the ooze that fell from his affliction.

Shaye moved like she owned the eternal night around them, and with her Rhyme lowered himself beside her. The emotions within him overwhelming. Really his body was tiring, his strength seeping. The old man didn’t notice, there was only one sight for his tired eyes. ”And you were mine.” He mused in return, speaking the truth. He’d never loved anyone the way he loved Shaye. His head felt like it was getting heavier despite her paw at his cheek. He yearned to lie down beside her once more.

She reached a paw forward slowly, as though afraid that he would vanish. The mist parting around her dark pad, stirring from the soft motion of it. Rising from the mist, like a phoenix from the ashes, as it cupped gently against Rhyme’s fur. Feeling solidness beneath her paw. Feeling him, for the first time that she had felt him in a lifetime. She could feel the rough softness of his coat, the age that clung regally to him. The way the sickness dragged at him, the hallows in his cheeks, and the listlessness to his eyes. “Ohh… my Rhyme.” she whispered softly. She could not tell if she cried from joy or sadness, for both mingled in her breast. Intense, and real, and undisquinishable. He was here before her, and he was dying. “Lay beside me, Rhyme. Lay at my side one last time.” She whispered to the love that she had fought for, pushed away. Danced around, doubted, lingered, but most of all, had loved. Truly, and honestly, with every fibre of her being. Why had she spent so much of her life pushing him away? "Talk" "Listen" Think

Shaye

You feel your figure shimmer lightly as if being pulled back to Somnium, but it subsides.

Rhyme still believed himself fully able to recover, he had Samara to look after him, his kids and grandkids to keep him young. And yet the old man just wanted to sleep, he wanted to rest for a little while, recover his strength and… What? He’d have to go back to his life, which had turned into something of a fairy tail. Honestly though, he wasn’t so sure he could let Shaye go again. Here she was, returned to him in all of her glory, how could he turn away from her now?

He sighed heavily, suddenly feeling like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. His knees were weak, his stomach tight, and his vision was narrowing. His name on her lips as he leaned into that gentle paw at his cheek. She was warm, and inviting despite the tears they cried together.

The old man coughed then, his lungs giving way to the fluid that oozed from his body, his breathing became ragged and difficult as he looked up to the beautiful woman he had always been deeply in love with. Shallow gasps pulled in and out from his lips as Shaye invited him to lay down at her side. ”I’ll lay beside you forever,” he confessed to her softly as he moved laboriously. He eased himself into the soft grasses, leaning heavily into Shaye’s side as his head grew heavier and breathing became ever more difficult.

Still he smiled. He had his Shaye, the one who he believed to truly be his other half. He didn’t regret a single thing besides losing her far too early. He’d have given it all up for her again and again if he were given the chance. Rhyme felt cold and warm at the same time, his toes began to go numb and his lungs continued to fill and his breathing grew ever more shallow. His head was too heavy, and he lowered his features onto Shaye’s arms, curling against her form as he started to choke.

For a moment Rhyme struggled lightly for breath, but in a few moments he stilled. With a soft sigh the life slipped from his worn and sickened body. There was no struggle, and a grin remained on his features, he was with Shaye now, forever and always.

Rhyme

RIP.



You gain:

• Creepy Contact Lenses (player-bound)- The fireflies help you to equip this item that once applied cannot be removed or traded. Can look however you like. May not change color, rotate, or otherwise alter once in the eye.