Activity

😂 let’s just say we don’t know if his clothes changed… since the armor is technically over his clothes. lol. IDK… he’s technically already in a fully body suit… so…. 😂  I’ll leave that decision to Saevus’ author…..

oh, yeah. though… I haven’t watch all of it yet… I really like how they put that together. Have you heard of Sight & Sounds Theater? They have AMAZING musical productions of Bible stories!!!!!! Like, seriously, worth looking into!

lol. really? There’s a lot of really good ones. it simply means a show where the protagonist is somehow or someway transported to a different world/universe

I will kick it off. 😁.     …. just… don’t cry too much when you read Ku’Aya’s turn…

@lady-grace

nice. well written post! I like it. Yarrow seems level-headed and a fun character. (not a typical combination 😉)

Abirami

It was finished! The dance was over. I couldn’t really believe I had done that. It went by so fast, I wasn’t even sure if I’d done what I was supposed to. Had it been good?

I walked off stage and went straight to Ku. She and Ehud were laughing hard about something.

I looked around, and people were eating, drinking wine and carrying along well. Minus a few who just sat silently, but when were there not people like that in a crowd?

Isaias, Ophelia, and then finally Jade walked off stage. The moment Jades’ feet hit the ground floor, a wave of light swept across the room. I was suddenly in my garb, my gaaban underneath.

I sighed in relief, not fully aware of just how unsettling not having it had been. Looking around, everyone else had returned to their normal attire as well. Ehud whooped ecstatically and hugged himself… or, I guess his jacket/sweater (?).

With the sudden light, I also found myself seated next to Ku’Aya, and everyone else seemed to have a seat as well. The tables, food and drink were gone. I attempted to stand so I could gain my bearings and look around; however, the seat seemed to have a seatbelt, and my feet were pinned to the floor. I looked for some way to dislodge them, but found none.

“Time to collect.” Called a voice. “The castle now requires your deepest regret. Speak now, or the shards of your past shall be visited upon you. You have been warned.”

I looked about me. Horror was struck across the faces of those in the room. Some were in deep contemplation, while some looked like they were about to get up and flee.

“I will go first,” I called out, but the restraints remained. Not knowing how this worked, I decided to just press on. “A few years ago-”

A transparent film fell, separating us from the stage. “Ku’Aya, orphaned child with no last name. Divulge your deepest regret.”

No. Oh, please no.

I looked at Ku. The tips of her ears were red, and it spread all the way down to their roots.

By the maker, she was mad.

Ku stood and screamed up at the ceiling, “You first!”

The film flashed red.

I looked around. Everyone else had restraints about them. Why was Ku the only one able to stand and move about?

The castle was quiet.

Ku scanned the room, then glared back up at the ceiling.

“My biggest regret is not setting this dumb place on fire sooner!”

The film flashed red again.

Ku spread her arms out. I knew that signal. She was summoning her hive.

I grinned. Ku would be Ku.

But… no buzzing could be heard. No swarm appeared. Ku tried again and again, but nothing happened.

What was going on?

Wondering if I had been affected too, I tried to augment the bear’s strength to tear apart these restraints, but the image never formed. I couldn’t tap into the essence. Had the castle cut off our abilities? But how? And would they return?

A symbol appeared on the stage. It was a strange symbol, but for some reason I understood what it represented.

10

Then it began to change.

9

…

8

…

“The answer’s no!” called Ku. The film flashed red.

7

…

6

…

“For goodness sake, just tell us!” someone yelled out.

5

…

“No,” another called out. “They can’t force us to reveal something that personal. They have no right!”

4

…

“But the warning-”

3

…

“Forget that! No castle’s gonna make me spill my deepest regret.”

2

…

“Ku,” I whispered. She turned to me, the glare still on her face, but I could tell. She was scared.

The numbers disappeared from the screen, then the room went black.

A few of the younger females let out screams. Then a dim light shone from the film above the stage.

An image flashed onto the screen. It was Ku. She was smaller, but it was unquestionably her. Just what was this? Some sort of curse?

The image showed Ku begging on the streets of Azupiranu. Tears came to my eyes. She was treated worse than dirt. Kicked around and abused. Whenever she got too close to the food vendors or the local shops, she was subsequently chased away.

Ku stared up at the screen in defiance. “I regret nothing!”

The screen flashed red, even as it continued to show us scenes from Ku’Aya’s past.

Ku was sleeping next to a sewage grate just off the northeastern gate, when a face filled the screen.

Ku screamed in rage and rushed the stage, but try as she might, her fists slammed harmlessly into the screen without even a dent to it.

“Ku!” I called after her. “Ku, who is that? Ku, what’s wrong?” But I wasn’t sure if she could hear me over her own screams.

The man reached his hand out, and the young Ku on the screen took his hand.

“No!” Ku screamed, kicking her shoes off and throwing it at the screen over and over. She ran back and tried to pick up her chair, but it remained cemented to the floor. She ran back to the screen and pounded futilely against it.

“Ku!” I called, but she either couldn’t hear me or simply ignored me.

The screen showed the man feeding her a meal, giving her privacy to clean, and a bed to sleep in.

“Make it stop!” screamed Ku

But the next moment, it showed Ku being dragged around by her hair, forced to do chores, and beaten when refused or did something wrong.

I pulled against my restraints. “Ku!” I screamed, trying to get through to her.

I could see the tears falling down her eyes. “Make it stop!” she cried out.

The man had other little girls with him, and the screen showed him pulling his fingers through their hair as he sniffed them. Then he picked one and they disappeared into a room.

“No!” yelled Ku. She turned and ran at us. “Don’t look! Stop it!” But an invisible barrier kept her from reaching any of us. She pounded on it and screamed.

“Just tell the castle what it wants to know,” someone called.

“No!” Ku screamed. She ran back and pounded on the memory screen.

“Ku,” I cried. “If you say it, it might stop it.”

The man came out of the room, a wide grin on his face.

“Fine!” cried Ku. “I regret being beaten up by that creep.”

The screen flashed red.

The image continued showing days of Ku’s terrible treatment at the hand of that man.

“I regret ever going with that man.”

The screen flashed red again.

“What do you want from me?” screamed Ku at the ceiling. “Okay, I lied. I have millions of regrets. I even regret living!”

The screen flashed red.

“Curse you!”

I pulled against my restraints. Ku had never used that language before. What was this? And why wasn’t it working. Wait…

“Ku,” I called out. “It wants your deepest regret. You may regret those things, but what is your deepest regret?”

The screen showed the man looking over the little girls. This time, he grabbed Ku by the hair and began dragging her into a room.

“No!” Ku screamed. “I regret not telling you what my greatest regret is.”

A flash of red.

“I regret ever coming here!”

Another red flash.

The man threw Ku onto the bed and pinned her down.

“Okay, Okay!” Ku cried. “I regret that he sexually abused me!”

The screen flashed red.

Ku fell to the ground, tears falling from her cheeks.

“What is it?” She wept.

“Ku!” I hollered. I pulled against the restraints. My ankles were chaffed and bleeding, and my fingernails were beginning to bleed underneath from trying to peel off the strap around my middle.

The man ran a hand through her mohawk then grabbed it from the top and pulled it down onto the bed, forcing her head up. His eyes glanced up and down her body. His other arm reached for her.

“I REGRET EVER TRUSTING HIM!” Ku screamed. “I REGRET I EVER TRUSTED ANYONE! I PROMISED NEVER TO TRUST ANYONE EVER AGAIN! I REGRET EVERYTHING.” She bowed down and fell into a fit of tears.

Half way through her rant, the screen flashed green, and the image disappeared instantly.

I continued to pull against my restraints. “Let me go!” I hollered. “Let me go!”

Faintly, I could see Ehud sitting just on the other side of Ku’s chair. His mouth was open, and he stared wide eyed at the scene in front of him. It was just out of the corner of my eye, so his reaction was indistinguishable to me, but for Ku’s sake, I prayed he would remain Ku’s friend. She needed a friend.

But right now she needed me, and this stupid castle and this stupid chair was keeping me from her.

I hollered in anger as I continued to fight my restraints.

Abirami el Hanniumm, son of Aefflaed en Sweterun and Hanniumm el Abdmago: Divulge your deepest regret.

My restraints disappeared, and I leapt to my feet and ran to Ku’Aya.

I dropped to my knees and skidded the last few inches to her as I grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her into my arms. She turned and buried her head in my shoulder and continued to weep.

She shook under me, and I found my own arms shaking as I strengthened my grip around her.

Cruel joke. I stared up at the ceiling. Castle… you and me… we’re enemies.

“Abirami,” called Jade. She pointed behind me to the screen.

Turning my head around, I looked up to see:

3

…

2

…

I looked back at Jade. My face set and stern.

Shadows, lights, and colors lit the ground around me. A moving image could be seen within the retinas of those staring forward, and I knew… my deepest regret was playing itself out behind me.

I turned to face it but rested my head down upon Ku’Aya head as she continued to weep in my arms.

Let it play. What did I care for it. Right now, Ku needed me.

As I watched my own deepest regret, my mind went back to that day and what had occurred.

………….

here in a second, I will post Abirami’s…

sorry for the… no, it’s not really shock and awe… more like… shock and cry?…. when thinking of what Ku would actually regret… (cause she is so… Ku…) sadly the only thing I could think of was a bad experience that led her to distrust people… and it’s so ingrained in her – the idea that people aren’t trustworthy – that it had to be… drastic… forgive me.