In Ruins (with Equusheart and Shazman)

[EquusHeart]

Hava's footsteps crinkled softly in the grass and leaf litter as she slowly picked her way along the hillside. Placing her feet carefully on the slightly rocky path that lead up the slope. Every once in a while she would place a hand on a large boulder to help keep her balance as she navigated the terrain. Sitting atop the hill sat Hava's destination, a great cluster of decaying stone.

Countless of hundreds of years ago these crumbling piles of stone had once been apart of great kingdom. Though the name of that kingdom had long been forgotten, lost to the vast seas of time. What had once been a grand castle with halls filled with warmth and light, was now nothing more than a empty shell. Cold and dreary.

At night the ruins took on a dark appearance, which only fuelled the many rumors that this place was cursed or haunted. Stories of ghosts and strange horrid creatures prowling the deepest parts of the ruins were enough to keep most people away. Except for Hava. Ghost stories didn't really scare her any. Besides, she was here in search of healing plants, not ghosts.

Sometimes certain plants, rare ones that couldn't be found anywhere else, preferred to grow in the shadow of ruins like these. The reason why was a mystery even to Hava, though she suspected it was the way the stone was carved. Somehow Hava had gotten it in her head that she just might be able to find some of those plants here. Ghost moss, for example, sometimes liked to cling to old stone. Hava had only read about Ghost moss, but she was eager to find some and figure out what properties it held.

Reaching the top of the hill, Hava paused to catch her breath before entering the ruined castle. As she passed through the large columns of stone that had once been the main hall, Hava briefly found herself wondering what this castle might've looked like. Hava took her time exploring the ruins. Weaving her way from the main hall and kitchens to a large room. Hava guessed from the size and the wood flooring, that it might've been a store room of some kind.

Across from the doorway, hanging from the far wall Hava spotted a large curtain of green and yellow moss. While it wasn't the ghost moss she had been hoping to find, hanging moss also had it's uses and a cluster this size couldn't be left behind. 25thHava was halfway across the room when the floorboards groaned beneath her feet. Hava looked down at the discolored wood she stood on. She had barely decided to turn back when the floor groaned again before giving way from underneath her. Hava screeched as she suddenly found herself falling.

Hava groaned as she sat up from where she landed. Rubbing her head, she looked up at the hole she'd fallen through. How stupid of her not to check to see if the floor was rotted before stepping on it. Grumbling, she then looked down to see what it was that she had landed on. It was firm, yet soft at the same time. What she found stunned her.

What she had landed on and was now straddling, was what appeared to be a man dressed in armor. A knight. What immediately struck her as odd, was the knight was not a corpse, but he also showed no sign of the passing of time. In fact, it looked as if the knight were simply in a really deep sleep, his handsome features stilled in silent repose.

After a moment, Hava blinked and shook her head to bring herself back to her senses. Wiggling herself, Hava tried to work to get off of the knight and in her haste, she ended up losing her balance. Her hand slipped, causing her to fall forward, her lips pressing into his cheek before she rolled off of him and fell to the hard stone floor.

 

[Shazman]

How long had he been asleep?

Days? Months? Years? Centuries? Time had lost all meaning to him in his dormancy. His reserves had been depleted long ago, and without which he had not the strength left to even retain consciousness. Thus he lay. Asleep and dreaming. He was lucid at first, For the longest time his mind fought to retain its awareness and self. It played through memories again and again. For a time his sleep was a cycle of his Creation. Service. A fire. Violence. Despair. Revolution. Hope. Anger. And then fall. Before him a woman, her face stained red with blood, standing above him and holding a banner aloft. Before him great monsters, terrible in their fury, yet were sundered by his sword. Before him a raging wyld fire, death, and then silence.

Silence. Unending darkness and silence. Maddening in its totality and as the ages wore on it broke down the foundation that his memories had been built upon. As each century passed this visions became less clear. The faces and voices within less distinct. And even the order of the sequence of events became Evermore jumbled. Until eventually his dreams became not but formless shapes, colors and sounds and all that remained to him was his name. He drifted through a fog, his self teetering on the edge of oblivion. Dormant and dead to the world. Vines and foliage grew over him, through the gaps and rents in his armor, and spilled out a long the floor and walls of the ruined structure that had become his tomb.

If fate had willed differently then if there he would lay till even the memory of the world itself faded. But fate is not always so cruel. And on one inconspicuous day, a chance meeting would grant him a new lease.

---

The place Hava found herself in likely hadn't been visited by human feet in the better part of an age. Yet somehow, underneath the foliage some hint of the artwork that once adorned the place still remained. A number of murals and inscriptions decorated its walls. Most of them had been ruined by time and the elements, or were seemingly vandalized with large gouges running through the stone work. What little did remain was barely legible through the dust and foliage that had grown over top of it, revealing only vague images of individuals involved in a ritual without the context for it's intended purpose save that it seemed to involve growing a person from a flower-like image, and placing a kiss upon their lips once "bloomed".

The sources of the gouges however were much easier to discern. As closer inspection revealed them to be claw marks. Massive one, likely caused by an equally massive creature. The marks, along with what now seemed to be points of impact, trailed along the edges of the room until they ended at the far end of the chamber where a massive mound of rubble coalesced in front of an archway. Further investigation would likely have to wait however, because the "knight" began to stir.

As Runes cast upon his body, purple in color and circuit like in appearance. The first beats of his heart in uncounted ages began and returned blood flow to his body and color to his face. Then his mouth opened in a sudden intake of air to once more fill his lungs.

 

[EquusHeart]

Hava groaned as she pushed herself into a sitting position where she had landed on the hard stone. She grimaced in slight pain as she rubbed her arm, tender from having landed on it. Hava's eyes lifted to look about the chamber she now found herself in. She gazed up at the murals on the walls in a mixture of curiosity and awe. By the look of the amount of dust and the marks of time, Hava had to guess it had been quite a long while since the last time someone had been here.

She turned to look back towards the alter, where the knight that had broken her fall still lay. From what she could gather, Hava assumed this must be a burial chamber of some sort. Though it was strange, the knight looked as if he was hardly in any state of decay. Frowning in confusion, Hava got to her feet and brushed the dirt from the skirts of her dress.

Turning back to the knight on the alter, Hava noticed a bit of color appear on his cheeks where he had been quite pale before. Hava watched him intently and she thought she saw a light fluttering in the knight's neck. But before Hava could lean forward to investigate, the knight's chest heaved suddenly as his mouth opened in a gasping intake of breath.

Startled by the sudden movement, Hava shrieked and stumbled backwards. Falling back onto her bottom as she stared with wide, disbelieving eyes.