Closed Echoes of a Fallen Star solo tw !!

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Run, run, run. Faster. They're behind you. They always are. Closer now. Shadows, twisted and dark, grabbing your feet, twisting your skin. Claws made of steel, rotten wood and broken dreams. Dried blood, choking smoke, burning. Making you cough, acid filling your lungs until you can't breathe, until it burns. You know that smell, know it too well. It stains the walls, fills every rooms, clings to portraits, to heirlooms. It's their house. Unblinking eyes. Watching you. They always do, don't you know ? Can't you see them ? Barely human, multi-legged stag with arms stretched to take you. Their stare, a rope around your throat, clenching, stealing your breath as you gasp, beg for air. But they don't hear you. How could they ? They're just nightmares, right ? Hollow eyes, black void staring back at you, grinning with a twisted smile, too many teeth. You feel them ready to tear you apart. Run, little girl, run. Four arms, reaching out to you. They don't walk, they crawl. Spiders running down the ceiling, hoovering above your bed. Watching. Can't you hear them ? Their voice changes. Your grandmother, your grandfather. Unknown voices. Ruined voices. Filthy half-blood, they hiss, voice splitting in thousands of sharp broken glass, cutting through your skin. You've tainted everything. Our legacy, ruined, because of you. Because of your mother. You're a disgrace. Echoing, getting louder until it screams right at your ear. Can't you hear them ? Look at you. Their voice swirl around you, pulling your hair, ripping your skin. A freak. A stain. You were never meant to exist. Can't you hear them ? Oh, don't cry now. They take your tears away, freezing them right at your cheeks until your eyes are forced wide open, until you can't do anything but see them. Hear them. Your legs are moving, but you sink. The ground is melting, taking you with it. Scream. Fight. Cry. Vain, all vain. The ground is eating you alive and there's nothing you can do. Behind you, they're growing. Gathering. Creatures, monsters that only exist in your mind. One of them steps forward. Towering you, an abomination with three legs and too many arms to count them. Its head is a mess of stag antlers, its eyes two bottomless pits. It's smiling at you. Too many teeth. Twisted mouth, distorted. It opens. They all talk through him. Thousands of voices, growling, hissing together. Monster. Shame. Failure. Disgrace. Each word strikes like a thousand dagger, making you bleed as you sink to your knees, unable to move. Frozen tears, iron claws, burning blood. You're surrounded. Can't you see them ? Your chest tightens, every breath is a struggle. You're dying. Blurry vision, eyes sting but you can't look away, won't look away. Blink, and it's over. As long as you see them, you're alive. Can you see them ? You can't. Of course you can't. They're not real, remember ? Crazy. Mad. Why can't you sleep ? They're just nightmares. Right ? Her eyes shot open, mouth gasping for air. She bolted upright, heavy breath, panting. Vision blurry, buzzing feeling. Is she still asleep ? If she opens her eyes, will they be there ? Tears stroll down her cheeks as she takes low, desperate gasps. Silent. Always. She never made a sound, never woke anyone up. Each breath is ragged, hand clenching her chest, pulse ringing in the ear. I need to get out. She ripped the blankets off her bed, standing on wobbly legs, and sank to her knees. The tears wouldn't stop. Shoulders shaken by the strenght of her cries, she stays on the ground, staring at the carpet. Constellations, planets, stars, the moon. Her friend. Raising her head, she looked through the window, searching for it. This room is suffocating, she sees them everywhere, lurking in the shadows, waiting for her to lower her guard. Fighting the urge to scream, her fear slowly turning to anger, she rose to her feet. Grabbing a coat, she rushed out of the common room, cheeks strained by frozen tears. As soon as she stepped outside, the cold night hair hit her face, and the moon illuminated her. Feeling like she could breathe for the first time, she ran faster. Her heart was still pounding, thundering in her ears. Only stopping when her legs gave out, she fell on her knees, hands in the grass. A wheeping willow casted a faint shadow on the still water. Crawling to its trunk, she collapsed against it, closing her eyes. She felt them, stretching their claws, running through her golden hair. But the moon was watching, protecting her. She was safe. Can you hear them ? ☆☆☆ Once upon a time, a star met its end. Its remains - dust, debris, fragments of its once brilliant self - scattered through the vast emptiness of the universe, burning for a brief instant before fading into the void. Meteors. Falling stars, destined to aimlessly wander, only seen when they shine their hardest. Do the other stars notice them ? Do they reach out, hoping to save them before they burn away ? Or do they let them fall, collapsing into space, until there's nothing left to watch ? Do they even care? Can you see me ? Short, fleeting puffs were coming out of her mouth, visible in the cold air, rising quickly before dissipating - but she didn’t feel the cold. Not really. Leaned against the tree, single tears slipping down her cheeks. She let them fall. Her hand grazed the old trunk, its surface rough but oddly warm beneath her fingertips, as though it pulsed faintly with life. Her heartbeat pulsed weakly, unsteady - like the dying echo of a distant, dying star. Her vision was blurry, making the lights look like shattered fragments, scattered across the nightsky. Unreachable. Surrounded by void, she felt an odd sence of peace, deeper than any other moment in the day. The moon, her constant companion, gazed at her with a quiet, maternal presence. The image flickered, like a flame struggling to stay lit. The silence around her was thick, yet something lingered in the shadows. They're still here. Dugging her nails on the cold, hard ground, she simply stared at the woods, trying to decipher the hint of a silhouette watching from afar. Nothing. Only the void stared back at her, endless black pit that threatened to swallow her whole. Then she heard it. A clawing sound, rattling the trees, leafs crushing. Hum of wind, soft and weaving through the forest. Familiar voices, familiar words, broken syllables, echoes. Filthy half-blood. Her breath hitched. It cut through her skin like sharpened daggers, blood staining the ground beneath her. Stained. The thick, red liquid never went away, sinking deep within her skin. Tainted. Her mind was stained, tainted, obstructing her counsciousness, bringing her on the verge of sanity. Moved by an incontrollable force, she rose from the ground and followed the bellow that echoed through the night. Brushing past a few trees, hand gently using them to steady her pace, she walked, stumbled towards the fleeting appearance. Reaching a clearing, she stopped her tracks. Depraved, unholy, visceral, eldritch. An abomination circled by flowers. Moonflowers. Grass glistened with dew, and a faint mist clung to the ground, curling around her ankles. Silence fell, as if even the stars held her breath. But the silence was deceptive. The voice pulled back, leaving only the most familiar one. The stag-man. Rough and distorted, she watched it smile, tilting his head at an inhuman angle. It didn't attack - it never did. This creature was simply here as a warning, marcabre and distorted. She couldn't help but sense it was waiting. She stepped inside the clearing. First mistake. The moon shined high above it all, casting an eerily silver glow on everything it touched. Keeping her wazy gaze on the stag, she carefully approached it. It stood still, so still she wondered if it was really there. The red of its eyes glistened in the night, bloodied ruby boiling with hunger. When she reached the middle of the tree-less circled, it moved. Just a twitch in its smile, but it was enough to freeze her in her tracks. He rose - she didn't notice he was sat before - and towered her, as she tried to step back. She couldn't move, as if its gaze froze her into place. Others lingered where the trees loomed, circling. She was trapped. Raising terrified eyes on its head - a mess of antlers, growing and growing - she stepped back. Second mistake. They all dove. She ran. Heart pounding, choking on her own breath. The forest blurred before her, trees twisting and turning, closing and pulling back, trapping her and disappearing. A branch lashed her face, but when she turned back, it was gone. Only her own reflection stared back from the shadows between the trees- was it her reflection ? She stumbled, and the ground beneath her felt like sinking into moving sand, freezing water reaching her bones. The stag's laugh echoed like wind throughout the forest. She ran harder, but the ground kept changing, roots wrapping around her feet, trees putting themselves on her path. She didn't stop. She couldn't. She burst into another clearing - or was it the same one ? The air smelled decay, and a thick, dark liquid tainted the ground. It was waiting for her on the other side, antlers twisting up like the roots of a dying tree. She quickly turned away, only to face it again. Its blood-red eyes burned into hers, filling her mind with images - broken memories, unfamiliar faces, and the sound of laughter, sharp and cruel. Filth- The end of the words got lost in the wind as she runned again. She could see it, see the end of this race, she only needed to reach- The earth gave beneath her. She fell into the void, fragments of the world she just left floating with her. Moonflowers, coated with the rotted honey. Antlers, scratching her arms and legs. Stars were falling with her, as if she herself was one of them. The seemingly shiny body of water beneath was in fact a mirror, and the impact of her fall broke it in a thousand pieces, all reflecting her decaying state as they fell with her. She broke through several mirros, the pieces piling up around her - a lunar system. One, the biggest, floated right in front of her. Golden strands, faint freckles, dark circles. Red eyes, growing antlers. A sudden impact jarred her entire body. She gasped, eyes snapping open, her chest heavy and body aching. The sheets around her were drenched with tears and sweat, as she tried to stop the frenetic beating of her heart. Just a dream. "Just a dream," she whispered, paralyzed. The room felt eerily silent, her roomates asleep beneath her. "Just a fucking dream."

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