Alfbie

The Empress of the Underground

Flickers of light cut like daggers through his consciousness. Warbles of sound shook the rest of his senses. Alexander groaned and opened his eyes, then winced from the pounding headache he had invited in by waking up. He hadn't remembered how he passed out during his descent into...into...

Where was he?

The pain in his head was too intense for this to possibly be a dream, yet the room was like nothing he had ever seen, which was saying a lot for being a Vegas resident. And the strange creatures... Alexander squinted through the pain to try to make out their features. They looked disturbingly real, yet that was impossible...but the way they moved, the way they smelled...somehow, he could not fathom these creatures to just be men in heavy stage makeup and costume.

He must be going crazy.

That's when he spotted her, the woman from before, beautiful and powerful and frightening and sinister on her chair--no, her throne. Seeing her instilled in him both anger and fear. Where the hell was he?

Alexander shifted his body and realized that he was strapped to a chair. He jerked and strained his arms against the bindings, but they held fast. He panicked.

"What the fuck is this?" he choked out. He turned his head to look around, his spiking bewilderment causing the room to spin a little. "Where in hell am I? What happened?"

He snarled when the woman commanded him to rise, and he pulled at his bonds. "Does it look like I can get up?" he spat, wanting to pull his gaze away from the woman but unable to keep from glaring straight at her.

The Empress of the Underground

Upon the first tremble, Alexander spread his legs and crouched to keep from falling over. He could hear shouts of alarm outside. Then the floor lurched in a sharp downward slope, Alexander falling over anyway. It splintered and cracked and bent and sagged as the earth and concrete and plywood and tile splintered and crumbled away at the center into a gaping hole.

Alexander felt himself start to slide towards this hole as it widened. Instinctively, he reached out to grab the nearest stable object, the window frame, except it was lined with jagged glass from the broken window. He jerked his hand away, the palm sliced open, and flailed frantically for something else as he began to slide feet first into the hole, the broken shelves and all their contents already tumbling down the abyss.

There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to save him. His hand left a streak of blood that quickly ended when the hand healed. Alexander tumbled into the hole... and grabbed onto some piping at the edge of the hole like a stubborn root.

He dangled there as the pipe began to sag, unable to support his weight, and Alexander stared with wide, frightened eyes at the woman so stoically watching his demise. He realized that she wasn't crazy at all, or perhaps she was so insane that she could manifest any crazy desire as truth. Either way, he had severely underestimated her and what she was all about.

He glanced down at the hole, no bottom in sight, and it occurred to him that perhaps he was already dead. Perhaps he hadn't survived that car crash after all and this was his twisted introduction to Hell.

"This can't be happening," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, hoping that maybe this was all just a horrible nightmare instead. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be--"

The pipe suddenly bent in a horrifying downward angle, Alexander unable to keep his grip. He felt the instant rush of falling, his stomach and heart rising up to his throat in the terror that he was tumbling to his death. He cried out, too frightened to truly scream, then gasped for breath as the light above him shrank to a pinpoint before darkness swallowed it. All he could feel was the rush of air around him as he fell, all he saw was darkness. It terrified him that he wouldn't even be able to see the bottom of this hole rush up to meet him, that he wouldn't even be able to anticipate the exact moment of his death, if he was even still alive. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tensed, waiting for the impact....

The Empress of the Underground

Haha, I mean more envious of folks in general; I have no idea what your life is like. But the envy I speak of is, perhaps, maybe something everyone goes through as they get older...maybe? Haven't you ever thought to some oblivious 16 year old, "I wish I was in your shoes again!"? Probably just me :p But there are certain things I am happy about as a "responsible adult," like not having to answer to my parents on pretty much everything :p

As for your RP idea... I'm a sucker for romantic tragedy. There's the type of romance in which two people fall in love and face outside obstacles together. I prefer the type of romance in which the relationship is the obstacle, that the lovers aren't entirely compatible, that they don't see eye to eye, and they must struggle with this inner conflict in order to be together, if it even works out in the end.

That said, it intrigues me that the empress would fall for Xander first and that he would somehow become someone she would fear. I love that flip-flop, because currently she's the more powerful one right now. Also, her change of attitude would probably rub off on him (consciously or subconsciously), which would help improve his feelings for her. I dig it. Lets see if we can nudge the RP in that direction :)

The Empress of the Underground

I miss the days when the biggest stress in my life was making sure I aced a tough test. I missed believing that not getting a good score on the SATs/ACTs and not getting into a good college would somehow ruin my entire life. Oh, to be so naive! There are too many other things that can (and had) drastically changed the course of my life, and studies had absolutely nothing to do with it. Heh. But they don't teach "real life" in classrooms.

I should stop--I'm being way too cynical. I suppose I'm just being envious :p

Hope your computer gets fixed soon!

Rising Winds and Shifting Sands

Miria sighed in clear disappointment. The jinni's answers were cryptic, and parts of them didn't make much sense, but it seemed that he was about as sure as to what was happening as she was. Either that or he was lying. Either way, this creature was far more complicated than she gave him credit for, and unraveling this strange mystery of his presence in her dreams would be more difficult than she imagined. Nothing about this jinni--Curdle, as he called himself--had been easy from the moment she had met him, which forced her not to trust him. What sort of scheme was she falling into? What kind of magic did she find herself snared in? Had she been made a fool by a jinni yet again?

The subtleties of Curdle's shifting surroundings intrigued her, however, and she suspected that Curdle had just as much power to alter details of this dream as she did, as though they were sharing the same dream. The sudden sword at Curdle's hip made her think that he was once a warrior, someone that took comfort in the persuasion of a biting blade. That did not make her less wary of him.

"Pleased to meet you, Curdle," Miria stated stiffly, no welcoming warmth in her tone. She was guarded, cautious, not sure what to make of this stranger, needing to know more about him before she revealed more about herself than she already had. "My name is Miria." Her gaze flickered pointedly to the sword. "Why were you given the name Curdle?" She did not ask for his real name. Frankly, she didn't see how knowing it would make much of a difference, her concern resting in knowing enough about this person to get him out of her dreams. "And how long have you been working for...this Firra Gerun? I am assuming you were her bodyguard."

The Empress of the Underground

If this woman wasn't so crazy, Alexander may have found her statement intriguing. Her comment about his arm struck a chord with him because as far fetched as it sounded, what happened was true, had been true for a while. He should have been in as much pain as the store owner. He should not have been able to walk away from that car accident from earlier in the day. He should have not survived that ambush in Afghanistan. Alexander suspected that there was more to him than he could dare to understand, which was part of what made it so difficult for him to cope with his recent past.

Her comment also made every hair on the back of Alexander's neck stand on end. She needed the power in his blood? Instantly, he imagined being drugged and chained up in some isolated warehouse, bleeding out like cattle in a slaughterhouse while this crazy woman collected it all for whatever strange cult shit she was into. Did she think she could gain his ability for her own?

"I'd come with you if it would shut you up, calm you down, and resolve this mess," Alexander said, almost afraid to look into her eyes--afraid of what he would find following his answer--but he needed to be clear with her. "You clearly need help, and if going with you is the fastest way for you to get that help then I'd do it. However, I really don't want to be chopped up in little pieces or bled out like a blood bag or who-knows-what-else you have in store for me because of my supposed power. This other place you keep talking about--it's probably a damn warehouse in the middle of nowhere."

Alexander began to move more boldly towards the flames. "I may not have much to lose, but the odd way you almost answered my questions puts up too many red flags. So, I'm just gonna step away here..." He stuck an arm through the flames, not surprised that they bent harmlessly around his arm like water around a rock. He prepared to step through the barrier, not wanting to simply run out in case there were cops with guns on the other side.

The Empress of the Underground

Alexander paused. Was that compassion in her voice? Pity in her eyes? The way she looked at him made him almost believe that she was a reasonable woman capable of feelings. It was enough for him to almost forget the strange wings she carried, her strange attire, the destruction of this place, the things she had done... almost.

He realized that he knew nothing about this person. Well, except that she was completely insane and not quite human, if at all.

She had a point, though. What did he have to lose? He had no family that he knew of, in and out of foster care most of his life. Having friends was difficult when you didn't have money. He had no steady job, no great place to come home to... really, what difference did it make if he hung around this crazy bitch for a while?

"Well, for starters," he began carefully, "you nearly seared that man's arm off. You've trapped me in this thrashed place with hellfire or something, threatening to take me against my will. I don't even know where we're going. I don't know why you're targeting me of all people. I may not have nothing to lose, but I don't want to end up like that man you maimed, or worse. So tell me, what do you plan to do?" If anything else, perhaps agreeing to her demands for a little while would calm everyone else down and give him a chance to escape later or get her some help. As it was right now, no one was going anywhere without at least one person getting hurt.

The Empress of the Underground

It seems you're having the worse luck!

The Empress of the Underground

*hugs*

It's alright. You'll reply when you reply, and I'll be here, so don't worry :) And good luck!

Rising Winds and Shifting Sands

A lot of ideas!

I'm fine that you're making stuff up as you go along--so I am! It's all good :)

Here's an idea on getting back to Renna that I got after reading all of your ideas:

It would be difficult to enlist the deer jinni's help directly because she's the slave to the caravan leader, and I can't see him turning around for anything. Our characters could do something daring in freeing the deer jinni and running away together (but that would strand the rest of the caravan in the middle of the desert).

So, how about this: If Curdle can create a sand golem, then perhaps he can also move relatively swiftly through the sand as said sand golem and carry Miria with him. Miria could probably find a compass from one of the many merchants in that caravan (if a compass exists in this world?) and get the deer jinni to point them in the right direction, or the deer jinni can make/give them a compass-like device that will help guide them back.

The only missing detail would be how to get Miria to want to give up all her stuff (basically her livelihood) to go back to Renna in the first place. Hmm...