Log; COMPLETE, BIZNATCHES!

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

When; Decay Day, October 26th
Rating; R for violence, language, and disturbing images
Characters; Alessa (alessalearnt), Xulchibara (revelations9x6, and eventually Scarab noh_dancer and possibly Pyramid Head redhorror
Summary; Xulchibara is angry and as such, believes punishment is in order....

Now tell me all about your pain
Down to the detail
Don't say it's love
Your fragile heart feeds my contempt
Wailing your sorrow is only my way to comfort you
Reminders of innocent youth
Waiting for 'morrow, you're lonely,
I name your solitude
I speaketh the truth

Log;


Alessa burst into the chapel screaming, clawing at her arms and face. The maggots were writhing; she could feel them wriggling beneath her skin, eating at her flesh. Her skin was starting to smell and decay. It was as if she had woken up in hell or some sort of horrible imitation. It could have been worse; her burns could have returned, but this sudden curse, this sudden change completely took her by surprise. She had completely forgotten about the complete absence of her pets from the general underground and surrounding areas. The fact that they were all lumped together had slipped her mind completely as she stumbled forward past the altar, knocking a pitcher of wine over. The red liquid stained the white cloth that covered the altar as if blood were being spilt.

Alessa fell to her knees in front of the altar, gazing up desperately at the Thorned King. His face was contorted in agony and droplets of blood streamed down his face as his crown of thorns dug into his flesh. Nails pierced his palms and feet, and as the porcelain figure gazed down at Alessa, it was as if he were suffering alongside with her. She didn't know why she was here in the first place. Her initial instinct was to run straight out the doors and into the street, screaming, running blindly, but something kept her here. She stared into the figurine's eyes, lapsing back into madness slightly.

Something had changed. But what? Alessa forced herself to look down at her hands. Although they were rotting, she could see the blood underneath her fingernails. She must be quite the sight; a living corpse kneeling before the altar in a cathedral. It was enough to make anyone shudder. She saw the small maggots wriggling around in her fingers, and opened her mouth to shriek once more.

Comments

[revelations9x6.livejournal.com]

As in days long gone the chapel's very foundation groaned with a massive shift in temperature.

Darkness crawled along the walls, spreading creeping tendrils as though it were a living thing.
It stained those walls in it's wake, and choked the play of colored light from the graceful arching windows, save the fragments of , now dirtied, red.

The groan became louder, and longer, and soon transmuted into a roar. A thousand screaming voices coalescing into one extended note of discord.
The thorned god on his cross decayed into wooden splinters and sloughed away completly to reveal that beneath there was a rotten effigy of Alessa herself; nailed to two crossing steel girders, her expression a rictus of horrified agony.

The face of the once-statue creaked, and craned itself upwards. As though the very bones of this corpse had rusted and fused together.

"ImPuDenT, FOoLiSH, LyiNG LiTTle WhOrE."
It accused her, chattering lipless jaws at her pain; jeering at her for her weakness, and relishing in this deserved fate.

Away and behind her the darkness sighed, warped, melted and ran to form the rough shape of a man.
With a sickening tearing sound, the form released itself from the absolute shadow beyond it, and stepped foreward.

The Red God has no true shape, for he is formless and absolute.
But, here, now; his appearence echoes both the body he has taken over, and the true horror within Alessa's mind.
Instead of a face, there is only a burned away remnant of grinning skull with a feral light where eyes should have been.

" YoU hAvE FoRsAkEn Me" it accuses her again, in a voice that is no voice, but rather a scream, an echo, and a scathing mental shriek.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa's breath came out in short gasps as she began to hyperventilate when the Thorned King changed shape into a replica of herself. For a brief fleeting moment the thought that her surroundings looked like home passed through her mind, but was gone as soon as it had entered. The presence of Xulchibara's essence was overpowering, all around her, threatening to fill her up to the very core. It had been so long since she had known this madness and his presence, that she began to cry.

His words deafened her ears, and she covered them with her hands, blinking back tears, the screaming echo-shriek ringing throughout the cathedral. There was a shift, a change, then, and she saw, rather than felt the cathedral melt away, its familiar walls warping and twisted just like her home had done when she had gotten her revenge. A feeling of foreboding rose in the pit of her stomach as she found herself kneeling in front of a grill, the heated coals casting a garish glow on her surroundings.

She glanced around; all of the monsters were here, surrounding her in a huge circle. What are they doing here...? she thought, as the madness seemed to back off slightly. She slowly lowered her hands and blinked in surprise at their pale smoothness. They were no longer rotting.

Where am I? Xulchibara, where have you taken me? She mentally shot out. She knew she wasn't alone. She could feel him there.

[redhorror.livejournal.com]

The executioner stood in his cage, waiting patiently, and clearly aware of what was happening only a few rooms away. It excited him, the rust, the darkness, the blood. His ultimate master was here, HERE. An honor

Pure madness was in the air, and the horrible mind beneath the helmet reached out, rocketing through time and space, to alert his pupil of the happenings.

Come, come and free me. Hurry! We've little time ....

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

She was running again, always running.

This time, though, she was running toward rather than away from her fear.
The tiny dying voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her to 'get out! get away from him while you can!', but the darkness inside her compelled her onward.

She shoved open the cathedral doors, and was greeted by a rolling wave of....fog?

It was so peculiar a sight it gave her pause.

The urgency in her heart stirred again, however, and pushing through it, she hugged the wall of the vaulted space, since she couldn't see a foot in front of her.

Slowly but surely she made her way along the wall until she found a door.
She didn't even bother to see if it was locked, simply kicked it in with all her might.

The door crashed open, and hung off of one hinge ( unlocked after all ) and revealed a set of stone steps that stretched away and downwards into darkness.

Tendrils of fog were creeping in after her, as she took the steps two or three at a time.

The darkness soon became as thick as the fog, and she was forced to slow down, and again hug the wall.
Carefully setting one foot before the other, she kept moving...until with a bit of a jolt, she hit bottom.
Stumbling to her knees, she used the moment to catch her breath.

Sucking in great gulps of air, she had to fight the urge to stand and run again.
Run until her lungs burst and her veins pumped battery acid...she was so close.

Before she knew it, she was crawling on hands and knees, unable to stop herself.
Feeling her way blindly along, her hands encountering wetness on the stones where none should have been.
She followed the stream of moisture, her hands, knees, and soon the rest of her became anywhere from coated to splattered in the coppery smelling fluid.

Crawling, crawling.....and then her searching hand found cold metal.

Bars.

Using it as leverage, she hauled herself up and felt her way along them, one to the next.
Bits of oxodized metal were getting stuck to the sticky matter on her hands, but she didn't care....she found the door.

Her fingers found so very many locks.
Some were huge padlocks, some were small bits of chain, and there were even intricately tied ropes keeping the cell shut.

A now-familiar feral growl scratched it's way from a throat never meant to make such a noise, and in frustration, she searched onwards.

In such close proximity, now, she could hear nothing beyond his voice, feel nothing but his urgency.
She felt along the walls, leaving trails of fluid where her hands passed....until her fingers curled around a stout wooden handle set in amongst other similar-feeling objects.
She followed the grain downwards, until she encountered the sledge's head.

Grinning into the dark, she dragged the hammer over to the bars, unknowingly making an eerily similar sound to the executioner's great knife.

Step back.....

Despite her exaustion, she hefted the much heavier hammer and threw her entire weight behind it; brining it across to slam into the rows of locks, and bow the heavy bars.

((OOC: er, apologies for the novella >.>;;;; ))

[revelations9x6.livejournal.com]

His servants had gathered as he bid them to bare witness to this.

As in days of old, when discipline was needed for one of the household, so too was it made an example for all to see and know ' this will be your fate should you dare cross me'.

....But the red god is in all placed; all things.
And so unbeknownst to Alessa, her intended scourging had been averted by the courage of the very same man she had forsaken her patron god in favor of.

Still, the example would be carried out. There was no changing this simple fact.
This time, it was the Judge himself who demanded satisfaction.

YoU KnOw WHeRe YoU ArE.

YoU ArE ExAcTlY WhErE YoU WHeRe WhEn I fOuNd YoU, AnD WhErE YoU WiLL ReMaIn WiThOuT ME

Four of his servants stepped forth; two Madarin, and two Closers, both with strength and reach on thier side.

The one servant to each of her arms held her in restraint, while the other pair moved to the grill, and unlocked the cuffs to prepare for another sacrifice.

The Handmaiden realized her Lord's intent....and started to scream.

She screamed as they dragged her toward the grate, and screamed when the attendants by the grill took hold of her arms.

...But like a cracking whip, the red god's influence stopped his servants in thier charge.

They froze, literally, in a grim tableau.

Do YoU StIlL MeAn To DeFy Me...Do YoU STiLL mEaN To FoRgET?

The servants held thier wayward mistress fast, not allowing her to escape or even to turn away from the horror of her own past.

ChOoSe. NoW.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa stood in raptured horror, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed. Dear God, please not again, please, please not again....I don't want to hurt, not again, not again... She didn't bother concealing her thoughts, she was too terrified. She was scared, so scared. She couldn't stop staring at the grill in front of her, red hot, waiting for her flesh.

'Mother, mother where are you..?' She whimpered out, terrified. Part of the child in her was waiting for her mother to come. That part of her knew that Dahlia would emerge from the crowd of monsters and tell Xulchibara to stop, and he would listen to her, never mind why, he just would.

....But she wouldn't come. Dahlia couldn't find her here or anywhere.

As the realization hit her, her sobs became more prominent. She didn't mean for this to happen. She didn't mean for anything to happen. She loved Henry, she loved him so much, and she just wanted to be loved....

'....He loves me,' she whispered, casting a pleading look over to her God. 'He loves me, and I love him....I just...I just wanted to....to see what it would be like to be, to be normal....'

She bit her lip and could taste blood. '....I love him. I can love him. I will love him. But....I can....' Her gaze turned fearfully to the grill. 'I can never forget what was done to me. Never. I...I'm sorry.

'...I'm sorry, Henry,' she whispered. Henry had tried so hard and had stayed by her side through everything, encouraging her, believing her to be a good person and not a monster. And now she was letting him down. She was letting them all down. But she could not - WOULD NOT - live through that pain again. Never. She only prayed that Henry would understand.

[redhorror.livejournal.com]

The terrible horror stepped from his cage, dragging with him his unholy knife. He stopped before his rescuer, and stretched forth a great, gnarled hand.

Come with me. Bear witness.

He led his pupil down the corridors and into the chapel, where the scene of horror was unfolding. He stood there, in the huge doorway, watching his beloved mistress, and his master. Slowly, the executioner went to one knee, and the massive helmet tipped in tribute.

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

Panting, Scarab...Keico The Dragon stood aside while her mentor stepped from his prison.

She couldn't see in the absolute darkness, and the part of her mind that remembered how to use the infared implants in her eyes was so far removed from these happenings, that it never occurred to her to activate them.

Instead, she listened for the heavy footfalls; the mettallic grinding of the great blade.

She knew when he moved, when he stopped, and that he was close enough to touch.

Here again he was offerring her a choice: to follow him deeper down the rabbit hole, or to remain lost, and alone.

In silence, she reached out and took hold of the twisted hand before her.

His larger hand swallowed her's in a surprisingly gentled grip, and linked physically as they were mentally they ascended the stone steps toward the chapel.

The further they climbed, the more thier surroundings shifted; instead of fog , there was viscous fluid, rust, and a spreading decay.

The Dragon did not fear these things..she no longer feared her mentor, and thus did not fear the scene that unfolded before them.

Her mentor's mistress, and Lord she recognized as such, and when the executioner made his obiesance, she followed suit; kneeling, then slowly leaning foreward into a properly seated bow.

From under her lashes she viewed the Lord, and his servants interactiosn; intuitevly knowing the reasons for them, and the exchange that passed between Lord and Handmaiden.

[revelations9x6.livejournal.com]

Darkness.
Horror
Chaos.
The Beast of Judgement.

All were one, and are in all places.

Unknown to Alessa, her Lord was here with her, and a few rooms away with the very man she spoke of.
And where she spoke of love, and the desire to be loved; he said much the same.

Love is a strange thing.

It is warm, it is cold. It is lawful, and unlawful.
A duty, a fault.
Often sold dear, yet good for nothing when bought; An extraordinary boon,
It will not yield with pleasure when taken by force.
It can walk through the fires of Hell and emerge unscathed....and only in love could the road to paradise be achieved.

The Red God was born from the human psyche; he has always understood these vagaries where even the wisest may spend lifetimes in search of that knowledge.
...For only in love may the road to paradise be found.

Due to the oldest laws of creation, the Great Lady must be concieved through human minds; human joining.
...And The Red God was ever her servant.

Within a City beyond the world would She be reborn.
Of the union of serpent and reed; a dead man, and a child of the divine.

.......But first this child must be shown the way, and shriven of her sin.

WhOm Do yOu SeRvE, AlEsSa oF DaHliA?

In the space between one thought and another, The Beast was behind her, his appearence whole and immaculate; that of a dark angel with his raven's wing hair, and hellish eyes.

WhOM dO YoU LoVe AbOvE All ElsE?

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Whom do I serve? She thought to herself, her gaze dropping down to the floor. Images, memories of days gone by flooded her mind, and suddenly she felt her old anger and bitterness, the raging hate for those who had wronged her swell up inside. Her blue eyes darted to the red hot grill, and she felt hatred burn deep inside her as she stared at the damned thing. Too much had happened to her. She was not about to go through it again. Never.

Her mother...her mother believed she could serve two masters, but she was unable to. The result broke her. Alessa knew better. She only had one master. One god.

'....Xulchibara,' she whispered, looking up to lock gazes with the Red God. 'Xulchibara. Master. Lord.'

Henry was not her god. Only Xulchibara....her companion, her patron god. The only one to have answered her prayers. He understood her pain, her suffering. And for that.....she loved him.

[revelations9x6.livejournal.com]

The Red God smiled...


And the horrific echoes of the darkness of purgatory started to change; the servants appeared to smolder, then burn away into ash....all save The Executioner, and The Dragon who knelt before thier Lord.

The fog returned like a whispered memory, and The Red God, wrapped his Handmaiden in an ambrace from behind.

"Yes, my precious girl." came his sibilant reply, now presented in the voice he used when trying to appear something close to human.

One hand rose to grip her chin, and turn her face toward his.
Her blue eyes, wet with tears, met his indeterminate colored ones, dancing with malicious discord.

A smile that could have possibly passed for sympathy on any other creature graced his angelic features.
Leaning foreward, he kissed her tears away.

" Keep him, dear heart. Keep him, and love him....but never forget who loves you the most"

A single raised eyebrow joined that wrong smile to form a look of mildly mocking encouragement.

The dark man's eyes flared for a moment with a breath of chaos, then slid beyond the handmaiden to take in the two sentinels waiting in attendance.

The dark man had no need to speak, but simply extended his hand toward them...

The Dragon similarly was silent, but instead rose to her feet, and crossed the distance between.

"Now, dear heart, why ever would you believe that I should wish to replace you?"He whispered intto the handmaidens' ear, all the while inhuman eyes tracked the passage of The Dragon as she came near.

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

The Dragon crossed to her mentor's Lord, and took the proffered hand.

That tiny part of her mind that kept Keico locked away was screaming at her to 'run, run far and run fast'...but she couldn't hear it.

The Executioner had done his work well when he collared her in dreams, for in dreams are we both more and less than ourselves...in dreams she was no longer alone.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa swallowed, a small jolt of pleasure burning in her soul at the contact with her god. The gods and angels of Silent Hill worked in strange ways. To most, Xulchibara was a terrifying figure who could instill madness upon those who invoked him just by merely glancing at them. For Alessa, he was a familiar, comforting figure who had been at her side during her darkest hours of pain and agony as a child. It was strange, that a god so powerful and omnipotent as he would be a welcomed figure to her, while he made others fall to their knees at the insanity of his presence.

She suddenly realized how much she had missed his presence and welcomed it. Relief flooded through her; she was not going to be burnt.....and, more importantly, she could love Henry. Xulchibara addressed her as he always had, and she wasn't surprised when he asked her that question. He knew all things...he was everything.

'.....Yes,' she whispered. 'I will never forsake You again. And.....I was growing weak...shunning my duties. My strength was waning. I had forgotten who I was and believed that she - the strong Butterfly - was working to replace me. Your voice was so far away, and I couldn't hear You....Pyramid Head would not listen to me. I fucked up in too many ways, and believed You had abandoned me.'

There. It was all laid out on the table. She loved Henry, she loved him so much. She would do anything for him. But the thought of living without Xulchibara's presence in her life made her want to scream at the agony of it. They were bound in a different way than his other creatures were. What it was, she did not know. Alessa longed to be normal just as she had as a child, but that wish was slowly dissipating, dissolving into nothing. Being in Xulchibara's presence was changing that; she was beginning to realize that it was a foolish dream, and that no matter what she did, she could never be normal. In Xulchibara's plans for her happiness lay, paradise awaited her arrival.

[revelations9x6.livejournal.com]

The dark man remained silent while his handmaiden confessed her sins; once again playing at indulgence.

"I have always been with you...it was you who silenced my voice."
He purred, turning once more to kiss her cheek, then nibble slightly at her ear.

Remaining curled around her like a cat, he drew The Dragon closer, then coaxed The Handmaiden's hand to take hold of the other woman's.

" She is your friend, your ally....your sister, dear heart" he said, his voice dropping to a softer cadence that could send ripples of pleasure with a barely whispered word.

The Handmaiden needed to unwind...to shed her fear, and return to her more....pliant...nature.

" You shall apologize to her, and to The Executioner." it was not a request...but that voice that evoked blissful sighs between tangled limbs in the darkness was deep and compelling.

" My newborn sentinel-", he said, shifting focus to The Dragon, her red-lensed eyes having risen to meet his chaotic ones; lips parted to take short gasps of growing rapture the dark man's meer presence exuded should he so choose.
-"you will conversly never strike my dearest heart...Ever again."

A sighed 'yes...yes, yes."coupled with her other hand raising to wrap The Handmaiden's in a gentle hold sealed this assurance to the dark man's satisfaction.

"There now..." he purred once more, nuzzling at the soft point where shoulder met neck, and subtley tightening his embrace around the handmaiden.

"You see? You must always trust me to put things right...to ensure all is as it should be."

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa grasped the Dragon's hand tightly. Yes, he was right. She could see it so clearly now. They were alike, she and the Dragon. They were sisters, just as he said. For Xulchibara always spoke the truth. He could never lie. Never.

'I am sorry,' Alessa apologized in a hushed whisper, and she truly meant it. Her eyes met the Dragon's own, and in that moment, all hostilites were forgotten, and a new kinship was forged. They were no longer enemies, but allies.

Alessa closed her eyes and mentally embraced Xulchibara's solace and familiarity. She was at peace, and suddenly she felt the fog begin to melt away, and she was moving; yet Xulchibara remained behind her always. There was a sigh, a satisfied mockery of a smile, and a gentle caress of her cheek of the promise that he would return as the Red God placed his Handmaiden ever so gently back into her body.

She opened her blue eyes slowly to hear Lisa's relieved gasps and cries as the young woman hugged her patient to her. She began asking her what happened, but she did not respond. Her soul still rippled with the effect Xulchibara had on her, and she smiled.

She would never stray again.