Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 40
Location: Minden, LA
Status: Offline
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Vallant didn't know where he was, or how long he had been there, but he was exhausted. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't let his captors know he was awake. If he slept, the Masked Man found him. What was this thing that haunted him when he slept? Was it not enough for him to be kidnapped, held somewhere against his will? Why must this man..this..thing..haunt his dreams so? At first, Vallant had cried. He'd broken, and given in, and he wept. But when he wept, the two men who held him there came, and put him to sleep again. Nothing was worse than being asleep. When he slept, the Masked One always came for him.
Vallant never saw his face, he didn't want to. He knew whatever lay beneath the white mask was terrible. Worse than any creature of the Blight, worse than anything he had ever dreamed of. Whatever was underneath was a thing of absolute terror. So Vallant laid on the cold floor, curled up in a ball with his arms and legs bound, the shield blocking him from Saidin intact. The young man from Illian knew he was going to die, and wished it would come sooner. The longer he lived, the longer he had to deal with the Masked Man. Underneath his blindfold, he knew his eyes were bloodshot. Even as he lay there fighting sleep, he felt it tugging at him. Eventually, sleep would come. And so as the tours ticked by, Vallant began to lose his battle. He tried. Light, he tried so hard! In the end, he lost, and sleep consumed him. The nightmares returned.
Vallant stood in a city he didn't recognize, and who could blame him? Nobody would be able to recognize this place. Not after what Vallant had done. He vaguely remembered being chased here by someone, though how a person could chase someone with Power like Vallant was beyond belief. He himself didn't remember. He'd come here, and the people learned what he was. They demanded that he leave, and told him that they wanted no part of his kind here. Any man who could channel deserved death. When Vallant informed the people he had no intention of leaving until he was ready, they attacked him. Their previously quiet city became death. Bars of fire exploded from Vallant's hands, burning bodies and buildings alike. They tried to run, but Vallant didn't care. His wrath consumed them all. How dare they refuse him refuge here?! Men, women, and children all died. Explosions of flame descended upon the city, and it was consumed by his rage. As the former Soldier of the Asha'man stood among the ruins of the city, he heard a slow clapping behind him. Filled to the bursting point with Saidin, Vallant rounded on whoever it was that had managed to survive. Before he completed his turn, another bar of fire was launched toward the survivor.
The firebar simply ceased to be, and Vallant stared in horror. Memories rushed back to him as a man, whose body was a twisted as an old collection of vines, approached him. He knew the figure that wore those black robes, that had gray strings of hair still hanging on to his burned scalp, and who had a white, emotionless mask covering his face. As The Masked One approached Vallant, Saidin simply seemed to disappear from him. He could no more reach out and grasp it again then he could as a child. The Masked Man continued to clap slowly as he walked through the fire, those dead orbs beneath the mask staring into his soul. This is what Vallant had been running from! This was no man, it was no creature he could identify. Vallant knew in the back of his mind that this was a dream, but it seemed entirely too real. He wanted answers.
Biting back absolute terror, Vallant held his ground. "What are you, monster?! What being are you that haunts my mind, and chases me night after night? What do you want from me?!" The Masked Man stopped, his hands freezing mid clap as he tilted his head. He seemed to consider the man for a moment before raising one gloved, bony hand to point at Vallant. Flames roared all around the two men, but they paid them no heed. The heat didn't even seem to touch them. The Masked Man took one more step forward, his finger still aiming at Vallant. "I want..you." His voice was quiet, and thundering at the same time. The words sounded hollow, spoken with no emotion at all. The Masked Man took another step forward, a cold laugh surfacing from his twisted form. "I will not be denied. I return." The creature barely spoke his last word before a tiny line of fire shot forward from the tip of his finger, and Vallant's courage shattered as it flew directly for his eye. He screamed, and found himself awake once more, on the cold floor. There were no voices around him, he was alone. By himself, until he slept again, or his captors returned. Vallant cried, and wished for death. |
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