[➳ T e c h n o ➳]

[TW: mentions of blood/gore]

He saw my bones beneath
and then down, down sank his teeth

His words vanish into a void that echoes for what he comes to understand was eternity. All at once he has been swallowed by the mists, stripping him of his title and powers. He became an angel, and then he became nothing at all. Cadence stares into the void, his panic and confusion rising deep in his belly until it bubbles up into his throat. "Rasa?" Cadence murmured in disbelief. Hadn't she just been standing in front of him? His voice is distorted as he speaks. The words repeat themselves as if they were layered. They echo out into the void too. There is an ominous rumbling then, it is like thunder but it carries more of a warning than storms. It was so strong he can practically taste the power that threatens to consume him. Cadence realizes at that very moment that all struggle or fighting will be futile. He no longer exists,  assuming he ever existed to begin with.

Before him in the bleak, gray world full of mist he can see a structure made of stone. The power of this world is ancient, it is commanding. It pulls him toward the structure which looks as though it might fall apart if one is to even breathe the dust from the sides. Cadence isn't sure how he knows, but he knows that this structure has been here since the beginning of time itself. It is the first. The first of what he is not certain. The pull of this power drags him deeper and deeper into the crumbling halls of The First. It smells musty, like a forgotten library. Dust coats the shelves and torch mounts along the walls until he is commanded to stop in a room. An eerie blue light filters in from the top as if there is a moon above.

There is no moon here. He is certain of this too. Cadence is uneasy by the knowledge he possesses that is impossible for him to possess. Was this what was beyond the mists? At the center of the room is a pool full of thick, red liquid that is churning in a stone fountain inlaid to the floor. It is blood. The stench of iron is thick, and there are strange wails and sobs that spill from this fountain. Cadence finds himself moving again, closer and closer to the fountain until he is directly above it. His reflection startles him, but he cannot reel backwards. He has taken the form of his rotting mortal body. Cadence draws his eyes upwards to see an indescribable entity. They are The First and this is their domain. Life as he knows it, a creation of this entity.

"Cadence." The voice rumbles to him, the disappointment is obvious. "You wanted too much. you made yourself a martyr for a torch that you alone carried. Weep. Bleed. You are nothing. You never were." The voice speaks to him. Cadence understands, this is his judgement and his fear leaves him. This was what he has always expected death to be like. Not Utopia, not friends, not fighting. No, he expected suffering. So suffering he became as he descends into the pool of blood. His ears can hear only the cacophony of screams and eternal wailing  that he will become. 

After all, Cadence was nothing, and so nothing he will become.

// WORDS - 560 Words
// TAGS - A z z y (just so you see this <3) 
 // NOTES -  Entering post - 1000 Points
One post completed - 10000 Points
Creaking Doors, Squeaking Floors - 600 Points
Raining Blood - 500 points
Novel - (560 words) - 10,000 Points

_{Chibi by Amourali}

[➳ T e c h n o ➳]

He saw my bones beneath
and then down, down sank his teeth

The world he slips into, beyond the blood that stains his walking corpse, is full of rot. Its stench is unbearable the closer he gets to feeling the ground beneath his hooves. The air is so thick with this stench that he chokes, and tears begin to form in his eyes in response. Cadence has been judged, and so he sinks down, down into The Below. This is The Second. The effortless way that he understands the new world he's in slowly begins to fade. It fades until all that he knows is that This is The Below, and he is the suffering. Cadence feels his feet collide with the world of rot, and his bones tremble in response. He is barely held together, but he can't remember why. Cadence shuffles into the world that is gray. Gray and shadows, and memories. There are ghosts here. The types of ghosts that haunt his bones, and eat him alive from within.

Forward. He is commanded and he obeys. Cadence shuffles forward with great effort and he begins to weep. For this he also cannot remember why, only that there is a terrible rumble in the Above that tells him this is the only way. Until he finds what he is looking for. Until he remembers his transgressions that brought him here. Then, in a sudden rush his memories come flooding back in. The ones he has left behind. Rasa. Trinity. Hymn. Xovad. His daughter. Then there is Odessa, or Everett. She doesn't exist yet either, but she is here. "Go" she tells him, and her voice brings knowledge back to him. Perhaps his powers from the Afterlife were residual. Perhaps this is where they came from.

March the rumble commands him. To march and weep for eternity. This is his punishment in a world void of anything but ghosts, and bones, and rot. There is so much rot and stench. Until he can no longer smell the stench, as it burrows its way inside him. Piles of thick black substances tower into the skies as he marches. It is the same path that all those before him have taken. They all march to The End. It's always different for each one. He marches until his bones turn to dust. Until every last physical trace of him is gone. Until he just is. Nothing. He is wailing. Then in the middle he finds The End. It is a black pit, and above it stands Odessa, his yet to be born daughter. There is a pair of triangles that are illuminated and intersected that hover too over the pit. They call to him, as they call to all those who end up in The Below.

Cadence begins to walk towards it, although he is nothing. He sinks down, down into the pit abruptly. Until he is falling through a tunnel of light that is piercing through the darkness. Back. He thinks to himself. He is going back.

// WORDS - 494 Words
// TAGS - A z z y  
Two Posts Completed - 20,000 Points
Novel - 10,000 Points

_{Chibi by Amourali}

[➳ T e c h n o ➳]

He saw my bones beneath
and then down, down sank his teeth

The End. For him it is a black, and bottomless void. The light has gone, for it can not penetrate the darkness here. The End is The Third. It is as powerful as The First but it is afraid. He can taste the fear and bitter resentment of the void. Cadence is nothing, he has no form with which to fight back or to experience. His bones were ground to dust, and sent back to line the shelves of The First. He knows now that The First is the curator and creator of the dead. It has a fondness for the concept of ashes to ashes and dust to dust. It does not crave existence, but only the memory of it. So here he will float in the void for eternity. There is something deeper in The End though. He knows this too. He can hear Odessa chanting in what is left of him. Like a siren she sings for him to sink, far, far below The End.

Into The Nothing. There is promise there. Hope. Light bright enough to penetrate this place where existence is left to rot. Hurry. The rumbling returns with a vengeance. He must hurry before there is nothing left of his memory. Until he too becomes a ghost that chews on the bones of the poor bastards like him that wind up down here. So he moves, although he is not sure how this works because he has no form with which to move. Cadence is nothing, nothing but an idea. A memory that is quickly settling in the pages of time. Time is like a door that is quickly closing, until he is left to rot like a discarded and forgotten toy. He will be buried with the mysteries, an have no one but the other memories for eternity. 

Down, down he goes into The Nothing. It is where all the forgotten things go. The deeper he goes, the quieter Odessa's voice gets. Softer and softer until it is gone. Until he is forgotten. Cadence can feel his existence begin to weep, a feeling so harrowing that he nearly stops. He can't stop. Back. He has to get back. Cadence drags himself downward for so long that he nearly wants to give up. It has been centuries since her first thrust himself into The End. He is lonely, and alone. He is forgotten. Cadence has been weeping for centuries, because he remembers even when they don't. He is exhausted. 

Then, there is that flicker of hope that Odessa spoke of. It is the triangles interlocked, and glowing bright white. Cadence knows that this is what she was talking abou. He knows that if he can only reach those triangles he will be able to come home. The rumbling is faint now. The Nothing does not fear The First as The End does. It does not fear The First because it is a pit of forgotten memories. It too is a curator, but it keeps only those who are no longer remembered by their loved ones. The ones who don't exist. Cadence moves with desperation toward the interlocked triangles he soon learns are known as The Infinite. They supersede even The First. That is why they live in The Nothing, because The Infinite is eternity itself.

Cadence reaches for the triangles as he gets closer. Closer and closer until he collides with them. The Nothing lights up like a dying star and then it is over. He is spat back out of the Mists and into Utopia once more. But Utopia is empty, and he holds no crown. Cadence falls to the ground and begins to weep, although he is exhausted. He can't bring himself to stand although his ordeal is over.

Over until he has to go back into the mists...

// WORDS - 637 Words
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Two Posts Completed - 30,000 Points
Novel - 10,000 Points

_{Chibi by Amourali}