The chatbox has been hidden for this page. It will reopen upon refresh. To hide the CBox permanently, select "Permanently Toggle Cbox" in your profile User Settings.
This chatbox is hidden. To reopen, edit your User Settings.
It wasn’t often that Arete got a chance to escape the confines of Doralis, but whenever the opportunity arose, she was not going to let it idly pass her by like some calm breeze. No. The young woman was the sort to grab these excursions by the horns and refuse to let go for anything.
This was somewhat understandable given how destitute her family was back in her home province. Most of the time, they struggled to get enough food on the table for everyone, so traveling to even nearby provinces like Epirus was simply off the table. That meant that this sort of trip could have only been funded by her lover. (Though Arete supposed that if she was willing to part with a few of the gifts that Nikos was keen to lavish her with, she could fund this sort of excursion herself.) However, her Niky was not by her side this afternoon as the young woman languidly walked along one of the paths leading into the valleys of Epirus. He had other things to do that day, things that his mistress could not be present for. This meant that Retta had the entire afternoon to herself and just as long as she made sure that she was back in their lodgings by the time Niky was done, she pretty much had free reign in regards to exploring one of the many provinces that Nikos would one day own… and if all went well, she would own it too.
Even though Nikos was keen to keep their relationship under wraps, it was clear to anyone who knew the pair that there was something special between the two of them. After all, it took a certain kind of woman to not only keep a serial playboy like Nikos in her bed at night, but also have the heir to a great dynestia promising her that she would one day be his wife. Never mind the fact that Nikos actually meant it too. This was just the kind of thing that was only heard about in stories meant for children, but it was the reality of Arete’s life. She had Nikos wrapped around her finger and one day this entire valley and the province it divided would be hers. She didn’t know how it came to be this way, but her life was perfect and it seemed to be that things would only be heading up from here. If, of course, it wasn’t for that one fairly obvious hurdle that stood in the couple’s way.
But that wasn’t something that Arete wanted to think about now as she descended down the rocky cliff face down towards where there was a luscious green field below. From this height, she could see that the field was practically deserted, save for a man and some horses that were grazing on the grass. Even though he might have been able to see her as she was just below the mid-way point of wandering down the pathway, he wouldn’t have been able to see how her face twisted slightly in confusion at why there was no one else down here. It was such a gorgeous day and the grass seemed to be as comfortable as a feathery bed as the grass and wildflowers were significantly taller than the meadows outside of this narrow valley. That was probably due to the fact that this moor just wasn’t accessible as other options. After all, it seemed to be that this one pathway was the main way both in and out of this area. Oh well, Arete would just have to accept that it was their loss and take advantage of the beautiful scenery.
Within a few minutes, Arete had made her way to the heart of the valley and came off the narrow pathway into the large field. She was sure to give the man and his horses a large berth, only flashing him a small smile in greeting if their eyes met. However, this was more done out of politeness as Arete had no desire to go anywhere near him or his horses. After all, she didn’t know those beasts and her limited experience dealing with the large skittish creatures made her wary of approaching the equines. What if she accidentally spooked them? Arete could very easily be trampled under their hooves and suddenly her dreams of grandeur of being the wife of the Head of the Condos house would come to a skittering end. Was she being dramatic? Yes, but that was hardly the point. Either way, she wasn’t just going to approach a strange man for absolutely no reason. Not if she could help it.
However, it seemed to be that the fates had a different plan for these two. It would be easy enough for both of them to assume that the other was someone from the province of Epirus that knew this valley well. Arete had already done as much, but what they didn’t know is that neither of them were from this area. They did not know the hidden dangers that lurked in this picturesque valley whose spectacular view was only marred by the sight of piles upon piles of loose gray rock on the other side of the canyon. Locals avoided this area for a very particular reason and the two foreigners upon this Epirusian soil were about to learn that lesson the hard way as a deep rumbling shook the ground beneath their feet.
Caught off-guard, Arete screamed as she was knocked down to her feet, unsure of what was causing everything to shake so violently. However, a quick glance at the other side of the valley gave her the answer she was looking for as piles upon piles of rocks began to tumble down the large cliffface. The heavy, loose debris was coming right into the valley and headed right towards Arete and this stranger who was likely just as taken aback as she was.
The girl didn’t know what to do as she saw her own death tumbling towards her. Was this really how things were going to end? She had survived all those years of being destitute in Doralis only to die in a valley in Epirus? What kind of twisted fate was that? Arete wasn’t sure what she had done to anger Poseidon so much that he would cause the ground to shake like this, but she swore right then and there she would do anything to appease him if it meant that she could get out of this alive.
It was just then that she noticed the small cave near the foot of the path that Arete had just traveled down. She didn’t know it at the time, but this had been made by locals as a source of refuge when this exact scenario happened. After all, they had lived here long enough to recognize that this valley was not a safe place when the brown earth dried up underneath the blazing sun. They had long ago carved out this hole and it had saved countless lives. Arete could only pray that it would save hers.
However, as she tried to get up from the shaking ground, she found that her legs were about as unsteady as a newborn colt. She was being jostled about so harshly that her efforts to making it to the cave was slow. As ho, stinging tears of abject terror littered her face, Arete refused to admit that without help she was not going to be able to make it to the cave if her feet kept being knocked out from under her like this and it wasn’t as if she could rely on her cries for help being answered. Not when no one in their right mind would head down into the middle of a rockslide and she had lost track of where that man she had seen earlier had gone.
The only thing she could do was pray for a miracle that she doubted was going to come.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
Badges
Deleted
Deleted
It wasn’t often that Arete got a chance to escape the confines of Doralis, but whenever the opportunity arose, she was not going to let it idly pass her by like some calm breeze. No. The young woman was the sort to grab these excursions by the horns and refuse to let go for anything.
This was somewhat understandable given how destitute her family was back in her home province. Most of the time, they struggled to get enough food on the table for everyone, so traveling to even nearby provinces like Epirus was simply off the table. That meant that this sort of trip could have only been funded by her lover. (Though Arete supposed that if she was willing to part with a few of the gifts that Nikos was keen to lavish her with, she could fund this sort of excursion herself.) However, her Niky was not by her side this afternoon as the young woman languidly walked along one of the paths leading into the valleys of Epirus. He had other things to do that day, things that his mistress could not be present for. This meant that Retta had the entire afternoon to herself and just as long as she made sure that she was back in their lodgings by the time Niky was done, she pretty much had free reign in regards to exploring one of the many provinces that Nikos would one day own… and if all went well, she would own it too.
Even though Nikos was keen to keep their relationship under wraps, it was clear to anyone who knew the pair that there was something special between the two of them. After all, it took a certain kind of woman to not only keep a serial playboy like Nikos in her bed at night, but also have the heir to a great dynestia promising her that she would one day be his wife. Never mind the fact that Nikos actually meant it too. This was just the kind of thing that was only heard about in stories meant for children, but it was the reality of Arete’s life. She had Nikos wrapped around her finger and one day this entire valley and the province it divided would be hers. She didn’t know how it came to be this way, but her life was perfect and it seemed to be that things would only be heading up from here. If, of course, it wasn’t for that one fairly obvious hurdle that stood in the couple’s way.
But that wasn’t something that Arete wanted to think about now as she descended down the rocky cliff face down towards where there was a luscious green field below. From this height, she could see that the field was practically deserted, save for a man and some horses that were grazing on the grass. Even though he might have been able to see her as she was just below the mid-way point of wandering down the pathway, he wouldn’t have been able to see how her face twisted slightly in confusion at why there was no one else down here. It was such a gorgeous day and the grass seemed to be as comfortable as a feathery bed as the grass and wildflowers were significantly taller than the meadows outside of this narrow valley. That was probably due to the fact that this moor just wasn’t accessible as other options. After all, it seemed to be that this one pathway was the main way both in and out of this area. Oh well, Arete would just have to accept that it was their loss and take advantage of the beautiful scenery.
Within a few minutes, Arete had made her way to the heart of the valley and came off the narrow pathway into the large field. She was sure to give the man and his horses a large berth, only flashing him a small smile in greeting if their eyes met. However, this was more done out of politeness as Arete had no desire to go anywhere near him or his horses. After all, she didn’t know those beasts and her limited experience dealing with the large skittish creatures made her wary of approaching the equines. What if she accidentally spooked them? Arete could very easily be trampled under their hooves and suddenly her dreams of grandeur of being the wife of the Head of the Condos house would come to a skittering end. Was she being dramatic? Yes, but that was hardly the point. Either way, she wasn’t just going to approach a strange man for absolutely no reason. Not if she could help it.
However, it seemed to be that the fates had a different plan for these two. It would be easy enough for both of them to assume that the other was someone from the province of Epirus that knew this valley well. Arete had already done as much, but what they didn’t know is that neither of them were from this area. They did not know the hidden dangers that lurked in this picturesque valley whose spectacular view was only marred by the sight of piles upon piles of loose gray rock on the other side of the canyon. Locals avoided this area for a very particular reason and the two foreigners upon this Epirusian soil were about to learn that lesson the hard way as a deep rumbling shook the ground beneath their feet.
Caught off-guard, Arete screamed as she was knocked down to her feet, unsure of what was causing everything to shake so violently. However, a quick glance at the other side of the valley gave her the answer she was looking for as piles upon piles of rocks began to tumble down the large cliffface. The heavy, loose debris was coming right into the valley and headed right towards Arete and this stranger who was likely just as taken aback as she was.
The girl didn’t know what to do as she saw her own death tumbling towards her. Was this really how things were going to end? She had survived all those years of being destitute in Doralis only to die in a valley in Epirus? What kind of twisted fate was that? Arete wasn’t sure what she had done to anger Poseidon so much that he would cause the ground to shake like this, but she swore right then and there she would do anything to appease him if it meant that she could get out of this alive.
It was just then that she noticed the small cave near the foot of the path that Arete had just traveled down. She didn’t know it at the time, but this had been made by locals as a source of refuge when this exact scenario happened. After all, they had lived here long enough to recognize that this valley was not a safe place when the brown earth dried up underneath the blazing sun. They had long ago carved out this hole and it had saved countless lives. Arete could only pray that it would save hers.
However, as she tried to get up from the shaking ground, she found that her legs were about as unsteady as a newborn colt. She was being jostled about so harshly that her efforts to making it to the cave was slow. As ho, stinging tears of abject terror littered her face, Arete refused to admit that without help she was not going to be able to make it to the cave if her feet kept being knocked out from under her like this and it wasn’t as if she could rely on her cries for help being answered. Not when no one in their right mind would head down into the middle of a rockslide and she had lost track of where that man she had seen earlier had gone.
The only thing she could do was pray for a miracle that she doubted was going to come.
It wasn’t often that Arete got a chance to escape the confines of Doralis, but whenever the opportunity arose, she was not going to let it idly pass her by like some calm breeze. No. The young woman was the sort to grab these excursions by the horns and refuse to let go for anything.
This was somewhat understandable given how destitute her family was back in her home province. Most of the time, they struggled to get enough food on the table for everyone, so traveling to even nearby provinces like Epirus was simply off the table. That meant that this sort of trip could have only been funded by her lover. (Though Arete supposed that if she was willing to part with a few of the gifts that Nikos was keen to lavish her with, she could fund this sort of excursion herself.) However, her Niky was not by her side this afternoon as the young woman languidly walked along one of the paths leading into the valleys of Epirus. He had other things to do that day, things that his mistress could not be present for. This meant that Retta had the entire afternoon to herself and just as long as she made sure that she was back in their lodgings by the time Niky was done, she pretty much had free reign in regards to exploring one of the many provinces that Nikos would one day own… and if all went well, she would own it too.
Even though Nikos was keen to keep their relationship under wraps, it was clear to anyone who knew the pair that there was something special between the two of them. After all, it took a certain kind of woman to not only keep a serial playboy like Nikos in her bed at night, but also have the heir to a great dynestia promising her that she would one day be his wife. Never mind the fact that Nikos actually meant it too. This was just the kind of thing that was only heard about in stories meant for children, but it was the reality of Arete’s life. She had Nikos wrapped around her finger and one day this entire valley and the province it divided would be hers. She didn’t know how it came to be this way, but her life was perfect and it seemed to be that things would only be heading up from here. If, of course, it wasn’t for that one fairly obvious hurdle that stood in the couple’s way.
But that wasn’t something that Arete wanted to think about now as she descended down the rocky cliff face down towards where there was a luscious green field below. From this height, she could see that the field was practically deserted, save for a man and some horses that were grazing on the grass. Even though he might have been able to see her as she was just below the mid-way point of wandering down the pathway, he wouldn’t have been able to see how her face twisted slightly in confusion at why there was no one else down here. It was such a gorgeous day and the grass seemed to be as comfortable as a feathery bed as the grass and wildflowers were significantly taller than the meadows outside of this narrow valley. That was probably due to the fact that this moor just wasn’t accessible as other options. After all, it seemed to be that this one pathway was the main way both in and out of this area. Oh well, Arete would just have to accept that it was their loss and take advantage of the beautiful scenery.
Within a few minutes, Arete had made her way to the heart of the valley and came off the narrow pathway into the large field. She was sure to give the man and his horses a large berth, only flashing him a small smile in greeting if their eyes met. However, this was more done out of politeness as Arete had no desire to go anywhere near him or his horses. After all, she didn’t know those beasts and her limited experience dealing with the large skittish creatures made her wary of approaching the equines. What if she accidentally spooked them? Arete could very easily be trampled under their hooves and suddenly her dreams of grandeur of being the wife of the Head of the Condos house would come to a skittering end. Was she being dramatic? Yes, but that was hardly the point. Either way, she wasn’t just going to approach a strange man for absolutely no reason. Not if she could help it.
However, it seemed to be that the fates had a different plan for these two. It would be easy enough for both of them to assume that the other was someone from the province of Epirus that knew this valley well. Arete had already done as much, but what they didn’t know is that neither of them were from this area. They did not know the hidden dangers that lurked in this picturesque valley whose spectacular view was only marred by the sight of piles upon piles of loose gray rock on the other side of the canyon. Locals avoided this area for a very particular reason and the two foreigners upon this Epirusian soil were about to learn that lesson the hard way as a deep rumbling shook the ground beneath their feet.
Caught off-guard, Arete screamed as she was knocked down to her feet, unsure of what was causing everything to shake so violently. However, a quick glance at the other side of the valley gave her the answer she was looking for as piles upon piles of rocks began to tumble down the large cliffface. The heavy, loose debris was coming right into the valley and headed right towards Arete and this stranger who was likely just as taken aback as she was.
The girl didn’t know what to do as she saw her own death tumbling towards her. Was this really how things were going to end? She had survived all those years of being destitute in Doralis only to die in a valley in Epirus? What kind of twisted fate was that? Arete wasn’t sure what she had done to anger Poseidon so much that he would cause the ground to shake like this, but she swore right then and there she would do anything to appease him if it meant that she could get out of this alive.
It was just then that she noticed the small cave near the foot of the path that Arete had just traveled down. She didn’t know it at the time, but this had been made by locals as a source of refuge when this exact scenario happened. After all, they had lived here long enough to recognize that this valley was not a safe place when the brown earth dried up underneath the blazing sun. They had long ago carved out this hole and it had saved countless lives. Arete could only pray that it would save hers.
However, as she tried to get up from the shaking ground, she found that her legs were about as unsteady as a newborn colt. She was being jostled about so harshly that her efforts to making it to the cave was slow. As ho, stinging tears of abject terror littered her face, Arete refused to admit that without help she was not going to be able to make it to the cave if her feet kept being knocked out from under her like this and it wasn’t as if she could rely on her cries for help being answered. Not when no one in their right mind would head down into the middle of a rockslide and she had lost track of where that man she had seen earlier had gone.
The only thing she could do was pray for a miracle that she doubted was going to come.
These Greeks were as bad as Judeans with their travel. He’d assumed he would stay in Vasiliadon until he could gather enough funds to get home and to buy his own freedom. A servant in the king’s stables, he was working off a debt to the Palati’s most senior servant who oversaw all the horses belonging to the king. Isaiah was, as a result, loaned out from time to time. A young lord wanted to test his charioteering skills and commanded that a servant be given to him so that he might drive the entire way home, while the servant would drive the chariot back. The lucky man? Isaiah.
The entire drive had been the greatest test of his faith that he’d ever endured. To the man’s credit, they’d only both been flung from the chariot twice and Isaiah stood with his hand pressed to a still bloody lip when Arete sauntered into the valley. Other than a brief raising of his hand in a gesture of ‘hello’, Isaiah did not pay her much attention. The only woman he wanted was miles and miles away from him and his primary task was to see these horses home again once they were sufficiently fed and rested.
There were four altogether and he moved to the side of the black one, patting her firmly on her flank. This mare had been the only reason that he and the lordling who’d been driving were in any way alright. The horse had remained calm and kept the rest of the team much calmer than they might have been. Though all of them had bolted, she’d been the one to slow and not drag either him or the lordling far along the road. Isaiah already had a nice stretch of scraped skin along one arm and knee.
Ah yes. Today had been just wonderful. Though, he reflected, not nearly as terrible as it could be.
As though the earth wanted to challenge that thought, Isaiah felt the first of the tremors as a deep dread curling in his stomach. The horses stood stock still and he stared at them as the ground trembled beneath him. He didn’t understand what was happening but knew on a primal level that he was in danger. The horses knew it too and sidestepped. Isaiah had the presence of mind to grab the sleek black mare’s mane and haul himself atop her back. His thought was that if she ran, the other three would, too.
The earth rocked and the horses stumbled. A horrible, jarring scraping resounded behind him and he knew without looking that he was being chased by a rockslide. It was the horse who saw their only hope, not Isaiah. The slowest of the horses let out a scream but it was cut grotesquely short as the rocks swallowed the animal whole. Isaiah and his mare tore across the valley floor. By sheer dumb luck, his mare didn’t trample Arete as she bore down on her. She ran just to the side and Isaiah leaned to the side, his arm slamming into Arete’s back, and lifted her in a single fluid motion onto the mare’s withers in front of him. There was no thought to it - just reacting to a fellow in danger.
Another scream echoed and was gone as a second horse succumbed to the rocks. They were almost to the cave when the third horse died right behind them. Isaiah’s back stung as rocks pelted him. Dust billowed around them and he coughed and choked. All at once, his world rocked again and he and Arete were flung forward as his black mare’s back legs were caught by the rockslide. She screamed and he only had the presence of mind to keep his arms locked around Arete’s body. This was it. This was how he died. With a stranger in his arms, listening to the shrieking of horses as the last sounds he’d ever hear.
Their bodies sailed into the cave at a horrific speed. Gravity jerked them down and he landed with a sickening smack against the chilly stone floor. Utter darkness engulfed them as the rocks slammed into the cave’s entrance, skittering all around them. The entire mass slowed and when it finally did plow into them, it had lost its lethal velocity, only managing to bruise them, rather than kill them. Isaiah lay coughing on the floor and in the blackness, he lost consciousness for a time. How long was impossible to say.
By the time he woke, the horrible stillness of the cave, the inability to see anything, made him consider, just for a few seconds, that he might really be dead. Except the pain. The pain he couldn’t ignore and he was afraid to move any of his limbs. Something had to be broken...
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
Badges
Deleted
Deleted
These Greeks were as bad as Judeans with their travel. He’d assumed he would stay in Vasiliadon until he could gather enough funds to get home and to buy his own freedom. A servant in the king’s stables, he was working off a debt to the Palati’s most senior servant who oversaw all the horses belonging to the king. Isaiah was, as a result, loaned out from time to time. A young lord wanted to test his charioteering skills and commanded that a servant be given to him so that he might drive the entire way home, while the servant would drive the chariot back. The lucky man? Isaiah.
The entire drive had been the greatest test of his faith that he’d ever endured. To the man’s credit, they’d only both been flung from the chariot twice and Isaiah stood with his hand pressed to a still bloody lip when Arete sauntered into the valley. Other than a brief raising of his hand in a gesture of ‘hello’, Isaiah did not pay her much attention. The only woman he wanted was miles and miles away from him and his primary task was to see these horses home again once they were sufficiently fed and rested.
There were four altogether and he moved to the side of the black one, patting her firmly on her flank. This mare had been the only reason that he and the lordling who’d been driving were in any way alright. The horse had remained calm and kept the rest of the team much calmer than they might have been. Though all of them had bolted, she’d been the one to slow and not drag either him or the lordling far along the road. Isaiah already had a nice stretch of scraped skin along one arm and knee.
Ah yes. Today had been just wonderful. Though, he reflected, not nearly as terrible as it could be.
As though the earth wanted to challenge that thought, Isaiah felt the first of the tremors as a deep dread curling in his stomach. The horses stood stock still and he stared at them as the ground trembled beneath him. He didn’t understand what was happening but knew on a primal level that he was in danger. The horses knew it too and sidestepped. Isaiah had the presence of mind to grab the sleek black mare’s mane and haul himself atop her back. His thought was that if she ran, the other three would, too.
The earth rocked and the horses stumbled. A horrible, jarring scraping resounded behind him and he knew without looking that he was being chased by a rockslide. It was the horse who saw their only hope, not Isaiah. The slowest of the horses let out a scream but it was cut grotesquely short as the rocks swallowed the animal whole. Isaiah and his mare tore across the valley floor. By sheer dumb luck, his mare didn’t trample Arete as she bore down on her. She ran just to the side and Isaiah leaned to the side, his arm slamming into Arete’s back, and lifted her in a single fluid motion onto the mare’s withers in front of him. There was no thought to it - just reacting to a fellow in danger.
Another scream echoed and was gone as a second horse succumbed to the rocks. They were almost to the cave when the third horse died right behind them. Isaiah’s back stung as rocks pelted him. Dust billowed around them and he coughed and choked. All at once, his world rocked again and he and Arete were flung forward as his black mare’s back legs were caught by the rockslide. She screamed and he only had the presence of mind to keep his arms locked around Arete’s body. This was it. This was how he died. With a stranger in his arms, listening to the shrieking of horses as the last sounds he’d ever hear.
Their bodies sailed into the cave at a horrific speed. Gravity jerked them down and he landed with a sickening smack against the chilly stone floor. Utter darkness engulfed them as the rocks slammed into the cave’s entrance, skittering all around them. The entire mass slowed and when it finally did plow into them, it had lost its lethal velocity, only managing to bruise them, rather than kill them. Isaiah lay coughing on the floor and in the blackness, he lost consciousness for a time. How long was impossible to say.
By the time he woke, the horrible stillness of the cave, the inability to see anything, made him consider, just for a few seconds, that he might really be dead. Except the pain. The pain he couldn’t ignore and he was afraid to move any of his limbs. Something had to be broken...
These Greeks were as bad as Judeans with their travel. He’d assumed he would stay in Vasiliadon until he could gather enough funds to get home and to buy his own freedom. A servant in the king’s stables, he was working off a debt to the Palati’s most senior servant who oversaw all the horses belonging to the king. Isaiah was, as a result, loaned out from time to time. A young lord wanted to test his charioteering skills and commanded that a servant be given to him so that he might drive the entire way home, while the servant would drive the chariot back. The lucky man? Isaiah.
The entire drive had been the greatest test of his faith that he’d ever endured. To the man’s credit, they’d only both been flung from the chariot twice and Isaiah stood with his hand pressed to a still bloody lip when Arete sauntered into the valley. Other than a brief raising of his hand in a gesture of ‘hello’, Isaiah did not pay her much attention. The only woman he wanted was miles and miles away from him and his primary task was to see these horses home again once they were sufficiently fed and rested.
There were four altogether and he moved to the side of the black one, patting her firmly on her flank. This mare had been the only reason that he and the lordling who’d been driving were in any way alright. The horse had remained calm and kept the rest of the team much calmer than they might have been. Though all of them had bolted, she’d been the one to slow and not drag either him or the lordling far along the road. Isaiah already had a nice stretch of scraped skin along one arm and knee.
Ah yes. Today had been just wonderful. Though, he reflected, not nearly as terrible as it could be.
As though the earth wanted to challenge that thought, Isaiah felt the first of the tremors as a deep dread curling in his stomach. The horses stood stock still and he stared at them as the ground trembled beneath him. He didn’t understand what was happening but knew on a primal level that he was in danger. The horses knew it too and sidestepped. Isaiah had the presence of mind to grab the sleek black mare’s mane and haul himself atop her back. His thought was that if she ran, the other three would, too.
The earth rocked and the horses stumbled. A horrible, jarring scraping resounded behind him and he knew without looking that he was being chased by a rockslide. It was the horse who saw their only hope, not Isaiah. The slowest of the horses let out a scream but it was cut grotesquely short as the rocks swallowed the animal whole. Isaiah and his mare tore across the valley floor. By sheer dumb luck, his mare didn’t trample Arete as she bore down on her. She ran just to the side and Isaiah leaned to the side, his arm slamming into Arete’s back, and lifted her in a single fluid motion onto the mare’s withers in front of him. There was no thought to it - just reacting to a fellow in danger.
Another scream echoed and was gone as a second horse succumbed to the rocks. They were almost to the cave when the third horse died right behind them. Isaiah’s back stung as rocks pelted him. Dust billowed around them and he coughed and choked. All at once, his world rocked again and he and Arete were flung forward as his black mare’s back legs were caught by the rockslide. She screamed and he only had the presence of mind to keep his arms locked around Arete’s body. This was it. This was how he died. With a stranger in his arms, listening to the shrieking of horses as the last sounds he’d ever hear.
Their bodies sailed into the cave at a horrific speed. Gravity jerked them down and he landed with a sickening smack against the chilly stone floor. Utter darkness engulfed them as the rocks slammed into the cave’s entrance, skittering all around them. The entire mass slowed and when it finally did plow into them, it had lost its lethal velocity, only managing to bruise them, rather than kill them. Isaiah lay coughing on the floor and in the blackness, he lost consciousness for a time. How long was impossible to say.
By the time he woke, the horrible stillness of the cave, the inability to see anything, made him consider, just for a few seconds, that he might really be dead. Except the pain. The pain he couldn’t ignore and he was afraid to move any of his limbs. Something had to be broken...
Everything happened so fast, it was all a blur. At first, Arete was running, trying to get to the cave as quickly as she could, but the wall of rock and stone was gaining on her too quickly. Even though she was too afraid to look behind her, she could hear one horse scream as it was trampled. Then two. The roaring was so loud it seemed that her death was upon her. But then like the gods themselves took mercy on the girl, she was plucked up from the ground and thrown onto a horse. Too overwhelmed to even process what was happening, poor Arete clung to Isaiah like a child clutches a teddy bear as the two of them tried to flee to the safety of the cave. With her eyes screwed shut and buried partially in his chest, she couldn’t see the rocks come down on them, but she could feel them fly through the air. Isaiah clung to her just as tightly as she did to him as they were thrown into the darkness. With a heart-stopping thud, the two of them came to a sudden stop deep in the cave, the sheer force of the impact forcing the two of them apart as Arete rolled away from her savior as the loud rumbling faded into a deafening silence.
Arete was lucky. Due to the actions of Isaiah, the young woman did not bear the brunt of their bodies slamming into the cave. If anything, she had only added to her savior’s injuries with how her body had come slamming into his as the two of them came to an earth-shattering halt. This didn’t mean that she escaped unharmed though. There was a loud ringing in the girl’s ear from the deafening noise and she could swear that she could still hear those poor horses screaming as they died a quick, but painful death. Beyond that, every muscle was sore, but especially in her abdomen, and she felt sticky from the blood that seeped out of her numerous cuts. What worried most of all though was the sharp throb in her ankle. Everything else dulled in comparison to the hammering pain that sang to the tune of her heartbeat. She tried to flex her foot, but she found that she was unable to move it even the slightest bit. Not without bringing sharp, stinging tears to her eyes as she groaned in pain.
Having been thrust so quickly into the darkness, Arete couldn’t even see what had happened to her foot. Feeling along it, she couldn’t detect any direct signs of damage. There seemed to be no bones out of place or god forbid anything sticking out of her skin. The damage had to be internal. That was at least a small, but not very comforting relief to her. Her foot might be useless at the moment, but at least she was alive. With there nothing that could be done about her main injury, Arete paused for a moment to check the rest of herself over and ensure that there was nothing else that was seriously amiss. That was when she turned her attention to the dull ache in her abdomen. The pain increased tenfold when she pressed into the skinny flesh, causing Arete’s heart to sink. She already knew that this couldn’t be good, but just like her foot, there was nothing she could do. The young woman tried to pull herself up into a sitting position but was thwarted by the pain from where her belly had to bend.
It was only then when she had to sink back against the floor that a sickening realization hit her. This injury was in the same place that a woman’s belly grew when she was with child. Although it was impossible to see in the dark, the color drained from Arete’s face when she realized the full extent of the damage that could come from this seemingly insignificant injury. She had not currently been pregnant, but she knew that eventually having a child was one of the unspoken conditions that she would need to fulfill if she wanted to be more than just Nikos’s favored mistress. Tears welled in her eyes and a quiet sob filled her lungs as she realized what this trip into the valley might have cost her if her fears were true that she had somehow caused more damage to an already broken part of her. Arete had never had her courses, even at twenty-three, but the physicians that Nikos had gotten for her and assured her that this would change once Arete had a stable lifestyle and proper access to food. The two lovebirds had been talking about what they could do to assure that, but was that all for moot now? Had she ruined her chance at the perfect life? What on earth could she have done to make the gods hate her so much for this fate?
However, her tears were quickly cut short when she heard a noise next to her, signaling that Isaiah was still alive. As heartbroken as she was over what she could have lost, it was quickly paled in comparison to the guilt she felt for not checking on her savior sooner. He had saved her life, how could she dismiss him so quickly in her mind that he wasn’t even worth so much as a thought as this world came crashing around them.
Even though she struggled to reach Isaiah with her damaged ankle, she managed to crawl over to him. Due to the darkness, Arete couldn’t see him before the girl was right on top of him. Stumbling forward, Arete was shocked to find that despite all of the odds that had been stacked against them, this man too had survived as she ran her hand over his chest, searching for any signs of life in the pitch black. Even she could hear her own sigh of relief through her ringing ears when she felt that telltale rise and fall. It was short-lived though when she realized that the man was not reacting to her touch. Her breath hitched in worry as she fumbled around searching for the man’s face or shoulders. She found the latter first as the bridge of his nose crumpled beneath her palm. Drawing her hand back, she was at least somewhat relieved to realize that it was not broken as the cartilage bent beneath her palm. At least that part of him was alright. In a panicked state and being unsure of what to do, the poor girl did the only thing that came to mind when she racked her brain, searching for ideas on how to rouse the comatose man. With very little grace and mistakenly enough power behind it that he might feel it if he woke up, Arete slapped him.
The sound was deafening in the silence and forced Arete to wince when she realized that it had been more powerful than she had meant it to be. However, that was short-lived when she realized that it didn’t work. A small panic bubbled up in her chest as she tried to slap him (much lighter this time though) again and shook his shoulders as she screamed, “Come on! Come on! You have to wake up!” But it was no use. He was out cold and nothing short of the gods themselves would be able to rouse him.
Knowing now that her poor savior was in this sorry state, Arete knew that this course was not going to help them. Not when they only had god knows how much oxygen in this cave. Instead of continuing to strike him, Arete instead then tried to see if there was any sort of obvious injury that was keeping him from waking up. Given that they were in sheer darkness, Arete accomplished this by running her hands along his body, physically searching for anything that would need to be addressed right this moment to keep him alive. Had this been under normal circumstances, Arete would have been thrilled to be this close to a man, doing this sort of thing, but there was no sexy thrill to discovering what was hidden beneath a man’s robes. Instead it shockingly clinical as her nervous hands ran across limbs that didn’t feel right. Were they broken? Dislocated? Perfectly fine and Arete was just worrying too much? For gods’ sake, she didn’t know. She was too afraid to try and set anything back into place in case she caused more damage. Arete could only hope that this man would wake up and tell her as he would be in no shape to fix himself.
With nothing else to do, Arete pushed any stray rocks near them out of the way so Isaiah would have a flat space to lay down on as Arete leaned up against the rock that they had slammed into. Drawing her knees to her chest as she let out a hefty sob at their situation, Arete ended up quietly cursing whichever one of the fates had decided to spare her only to suffer this terrible death of slow suffocation as more of the loose rock settled into place. Isaiah might have saved her from being crushed, but now they were trapped in an inescapable tomb.
Arete had no idea how much time had passed before she first heard the noises of Isaiah stirring in the deathly quiet cave. Rising with a start, Arete was first confused as to where she was, but it all came flashing back to her quickly enough. The valley. The rockslide. The man and the horses. The darkness. Having already been introduced to the pure Hades that their predicament was, Arete was able to quickly spring into action when she realized that Isaiah was awake and seeming moving around. “Woah, easy there tiger. Don’t move. You’re hurt.” She said gently, trying to be as calm as possible, but it wasn’t that successful. She was very clearly worried and afraid about how they were going to get out of here. If they were going to get out of here.
In order to punctuate her point that Isaiah really shouldn’t move, she gently reached down to his left shoulder and pushed him back towards the dirt. She hoped that he would get the message and try not to be the hero for the moment while the two of them assessed his injuries. They would need to get out of here, but there was no way that they were going to accomplish that if Isaiah was already half-dead to begin with. Squinting in the dark, she still couldn’t see hide or hair of him. Arete could even only tell that he was even there from the noises he made and feeling him beneath her fingers. She didn’t even know what Isaiah looked liked and she owed her life to him.
Trusting that he got the message, Arete pulled her hand away and steadied herself so that she wouldn’t topple down onto him if the pain from her stomach and ankle became too much to bear. That wouldn’t help in assessing any sort of injuries that he might have. Knowing full well that him being unconscious for gods know how long was not a good thing, Arete decided that it was best to focus first on making sure that everything was alright up there before she would eventually turn her attention to the rest of him. “I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She started to say, hopefully reassuring him before he lost his mind with worry about the fact that he might now suddenly be blind, “Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?” She asked gently, unsure if there was some sort of head injury that had taken his memory of what occurred. She had heard stories about this sort of thing. As much as she didn’t want to relive the nightmare, it would certainly be ten times worse for him if he couldn’t remember what had happened.
Her lips formed a tight smile as an inappropriate comment about welcoming him to Tartarus bubbled up in her. Although she normally would have not cared about such words, she knew that it was not acceptable to say such things when the two of them were only a short time away from death if they did not get some fresh air into this cavern. Not to mention if his injuries were serious enough, as she had no idea what kind of condition he was truly in given the darkness, Isaiah might die before then as well. Arete didn’t know what on earth she would do if he died in this hellhole. She would likely die too at the very least.
She needed to do everything in her power to make sure that this did not happen. Arete doubted that she could really do anything to stop Thanatos if he came to call, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying at least. “What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.” There was little she could do besides putting a few bones back into place, but if it stood a chance of helping Isaiah get himself back to his feet, then she would do it.
If there was anything that she could do, of course. After all, she did not know the full extent of his injuries and she had no doubts that he was likely in even worse shape than she was.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
Badges
Deleted
Deleted
Everything happened so fast, it was all a blur. At first, Arete was running, trying to get to the cave as quickly as she could, but the wall of rock and stone was gaining on her too quickly. Even though she was too afraid to look behind her, she could hear one horse scream as it was trampled. Then two. The roaring was so loud it seemed that her death was upon her. But then like the gods themselves took mercy on the girl, she was plucked up from the ground and thrown onto a horse. Too overwhelmed to even process what was happening, poor Arete clung to Isaiah like a child clutches a teddy bear as the two of them tried to flee to the safety of the cave. With her eyes screwed shut and buried partially in his chest, she couldn’t see the rocks come down on them, but she could feel them fly through the air. Isaiah clung to her just as tightly as she did to him as they were thrown into the darkness. With a heart-stopping thud, the two of them came to a sudden stop deep in the cave, the sheer force of the impact forcing the two of them apart as Arete rolled away from her savior as the loud rumbling faded into a deafening silence.
Arete was lucky. Due to the actions of Isaiah, the young woman did not bear the brunt of their bodies slamming into the cave. If anything, she had only added to her savior’s injuries with how her body had come slamming into his as the two of them came to an earth-shattering halt. This didn’t mean that she escaped unharmed though. There was a loud ringing in the girl’s ear from the deafening noise and she could swear that she could still hear those poor horses screaming as they died a quick, but painful death. Beyond that, every muscle was sore, but especially in her abdomen, and she felt sticky from the blood that seeped out of her numerous cuts. What worried most of all though was the sharp throb in her ankle. Everything else dulled in comparison to the hammering pain that sang to the tune of her heartbeat. She tried to flex her foot, but she found that she was unable to move it even the slightest bit. Not without bringing sharp, stinging tears to her eyes as she groaned in pain.
Having been thrust so quickly into the darkness, Arete couldn’t even see what had happened to her foot. Feeling along it, she couldn’t detect any direct signs of damage. There seemed to be no bones out of place or god forbid anything sticking out of her skin. The damage had to be internal. That was at least a small, but not very comforting relief to her. Her foot might be useless at the moment, but at least she was alive. With there nothing that could be done about her main injury, Arete paused for a moment to check the rest of herself over and ensure that there was nothing else that was seriously amiss. That was when she turned her attention to the dull ache in her abdomen. The pain increased tenfold when she pressed into the skinny flesh, causing Arete’s heart to sink. She already knew that this couldn’t be good, but just like her foot, there was nothing she could do. The young woman tried to pull herself up into a sitting position but was thwarted by the pain from where her belly had to bend.
It was only then when she had to sink back against the floor that a sickening realization hit her. This injury was in the same place that a woman’s belly grew when she was with child. Although it was impossible to see in the dark, the color drained from Arete’s face when she realized the full extent of the damage that could come from this seemingly insignificant injury. She had not currently been pregnant, but she knew that eventually having a child was one of the unspoken conditions that she would need to fulfill if she wanted to be more than just Nikos’s favored mistress. Tears welled in her eyes and a quiet sob filled her lungs as she realized what this trip into the valley might have cost her if her fears were true that she had somehow caused more damage to an already broken part of her. Arete had never had her courses, even at twenty-three, but the physicians that Nikos had gotten for her and assured her that this would change once Arete had a stable lifestyle and proper access to food. The two lovebirds had been talking about what they could do to assure that, but was that all for moot now? Had she ruined her chance at the perfect life? What on earth could she have done to make the gods hate her so much for this fate?
However, her tears were quickly cut short when she heard a noise next to her, signaling that Isaiah was still alive. As heartbroken as she was over what she could have lost, it was quickly paled in comparison to the guilt she felt for not checking on her savior sooner. He had saved her life, how could she dismiss him so quickly in her mind that he wasn’t even worth so much as a thought as this world came crashing around them.
Even though she struggled to reach Isaiah with her damaged ankle, she managed to crawl over to him. Due to the darkness, Arete couldn’t see him before the girl was right on top of him. Stumbling forward, Arete was shocked to find that despite all of the odds that had been stacked against them, this man too had survived as she ran her hand over his chest, searching for any signs of life in the pitch black. Even she could hear her own sigh of relief through her ringing ears when she felt that telltale rise and fall. It was short-lived though when she realized that the man was not reacting to her touch. Her breath hitched in worry as she fumbled around searching for the man’s face or shoulders. She found the latter first as the bridge of his nose crumpled beneath her palm. Drawing her hand back, she was at least somewhat relieved to realize that it was not broken as the cartilage bent beneath her palm. At least that part of him was alright. In a panicked state and being unsure of what to do, the poor girl did the only thing that came to mind when she racked her brain, searching for ideas on how to rouse the comatose man. With very little grace and mistakenly enough power behind it that he might feel it if he woke up, Arete slapped him.
The sound was deafening in the silence and forced Arete to wince when she realized that it had been more powerful than she had meant it to be. However, that was short-lived when she realized that it didn’t work. A small panic bubbled up in her chest as she tried to slap him (much lighter this time though) again and shook his shoulders as she screamed, “Come on! Come on! You have to wake up!” But it was no use. He was out cold and nothing short of the gods themselves would be able to rouse him.
Knowing now that her poor savior was in this sorry state, Arete knew that this course was not going to help them. Not when they only had god knows how much oxygen in this cave. Instead of continuing to strike him, Arete instead then tried to see if there was any sort of obvious injury that was keeping him from waking up. Given that they were in sheer darkness, Arete accomplished this by running her hands along his body, physically searching for anything that would need to be addressed right this moment to keep him alive. Had this been under normal circumstances, Arete would have been thrilled to be this close to a man, doing this sort of thing, but there was no sexy thrill to discovering what was hidden beneath a man’s robes. Instead it shockingly clinical as her nervous hands ran across limbs that didn’t feel right. Were they broken? Dislocated? Perfectly fine and Arete was just worrying too much? For gods’ sake, she didn’t know. She was too afraid to try and set anything back into place in case she caused more damage. Arete could only hope that this man would wake up and tell her as he would be in no shape to fix himself.
With nothing else to do, Arete pushed any stray rocks near them out of the way so Isaiah would have a flat space to lay down on as Arete leaned up against the rock that they had slammed into. Drawing her knees to her chest as she let out a hefty sob at their situation, Arete ended up quietly cursing whichever one of the fates had decided to spare her only to suffer this terrible death of slow suffocation as more of the loose rock settled into place. Isaiah might have saved her from being crushed, but now they were trapped in an inescapable tomb.
Arete had no idea how much time had passed before she first heard the noises of Isaiah stirring in the deathly quiet cave. Rising with a start, Arete was first confused as to where she was, but it all came flashing back to her quickly enough. The valley. The rockslide. The man and the horses. The darkness. Having already been introduced to the pure Hades that their predicament was, Arete was able to quickly spring into action when she realized that Isaiah was awake and seeming moving around. “Woah, easy there tiger. Don’t move. You’re hurt.” She said gently, trying to be as calm as possible, but it wasn’t that successful. She was very clearly worried and afraid about how they were going to get out of here. If they were going to get out of here.
In order to punctuate her point that Isaiah really shouldn’t move, she gently reached down to his left shoulder and pushed him back towards the dirt. She hoped that he would get the message and try not to be the hero for the moment while the two of them assessed his injuries. They would need to get out of here, but there was no way that they were going to accomplish that if Isaiah was already half-dead to begin with. Squinting in the dark, she still couldn’t see hide or hair of him. Arete could even only tell that he was even there from the noises he made and feeling him beneath her fingers. She didn’t even know what Isaiah looked liked and she owed her life to him.
Trusting that he got the message, Arete pulled her hand away and steadied herself so that she wouldn’t topple down onto him if the pain from her stomach and ankle became too much to bear. That wouldn’t help in assessing any sort of injuries that he might have. Knowing full well that him being unconscious for gods know how long was not a good thing, Arete decided that it was best to focus first on making sure that everything was alright up there before she would eventually turn her attention to the rest of him. “I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She started to say, hopefully reassuring him before he lost his mind with worry about the fact that he might now suddenly be blind, “Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?” She asked gently, unsure if there was some sort of head injury that had taken his memory of what occurred. She had heard stories about this sort of thing. As much as she didn’t want to relive the nightmare, it would certainly be ten times worse for him if he couldn’t remember what had happened.
Her lips formed a tight smile as an inappropriate comment about welcoming him to Tartarus bubbled up in her. Although she normally would have not cared about such words, she knew that it was not acceptable to say such things when the two of them were only a short time away from death if they did not get some fresh air into this cavern. Not to mention if his injuries were serious enough, as she had no idea what kind of condition he was truly in given the darkness, Isaiah might die before then as well. Arete didn’t know what on earth she would do if he died in this hellhole. She would likely die too at the very least.
She needed to do everything in her power to make sure that this did not happen. Arete doubted that she could really do anything to stop Thanatos if he came to call, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying at least. “What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.” There was little she could do besides putting a few bones back into place, but if it stood a chance of helping Isaiah get himself back to his feet, then she would do it.
If there was anything that she could do, of course. After all, she did not know the full extent of his injuries and she had no doubts that he was likely in even worse shape than she was.
Everything happened so fast, it was all a blur. At first, Arete was running, trying to get to the cave as quickly as she could, but the wall of rock and stone was gaining on her too quickly. Even though she was too afraid to look behind her, she could hear one horse scream as it was trampled. Then two. The roaring was so loud it seemed that her death was upon her. But then like the gods themselves took mercy on the girl, she was plucked up from the ground and thrown onto a horse. Too overwhelmed to even process what was happening, poor Arete clung to Isaiah like a child clutches a teddy bear as the two of them tried to flee to the safety of the cave. With her eyes screwed shut and buried partially in his chest, she couldn’t see the rocks come down on them, but she could feel them fly through the air. Isaiah clung to her just as tightly as she did to him as they were thrown into the darkness. With a heart-stopping thud, the two of them came to a sudden stop deep in the cave, the sheer force of the impact forcing the two of them apart as Arete rolled away from her savior as the loud rumbling faded into a deafening silence.
Arete was lucky. Due to the actions of Isaiah, the young woman did not bear the brunt of their bodies slamming into the cave. If anything, she had only added to her savior’s injuries with how her body had come slamming into his as the two of them came to an earth-shattering halt. This didn’t mean that she escaped unharmed though. There was a loud ringing in the girl’s ear from the deafening noise and she could swear that she could still hear those poor horses screaming as they died a quick, but painful death. Beyond that, every muscle was sore, but especially in her abdomen, and she felt sticky from the blood that seeped out of her numerous cuts. What worried most of all though was the sharp throb in her ankle. Everything else dulled in comparison to the hammering pain that sang to the tune of her heartbeat. She tried to flex her foot, but she found that she was unable to move it even the slightest bit. Not without bringing sharp, stinging tears to her eyes as she groaned in pain.
Having been thrust so quickly into the darkness, Arete couldn’t even see what had happened to her foot. Feeling along it, she couldn’t detect any direct signs of damage. There seemed to be no bones out of place or god forbid anything sticking out of her skin. The damage had to be internal. That was at least a small, but not very comforting relief to her. Her foot might be useless at the moment, but at least she was alive. With there nothing that could be done about her main injury, Arete paused for a moment to check the rest of herself over and ensure that there was nothing else that was seriously amiss. That was when she turned her attention to the dull ache in her abdomen. The pain increased tenfold when she pressed into the skinny flesh, causing Arete’s heart to sink. She already knew that this couldn’t be good, but just like her foot, there was nothing she could do. The young woman tried to pull herself up into a sitting position but was thwarted by the pain from where her belly had to bend.
It was only then when she had to sink back against the floor that a sickening realization hit her. This injury was in the same place that a woman’s belly grew when she was with child. Although it was impossible to see in the dark, the color drained from Arete’s face when she realized the full extent of the damage that could come from this seemingly insignificant injury. She had not currently been pregnant, but she knew that eventually having a child was one of the unspoken conditions that she would need to fulfill if she wanted to be more than just Nikos’s favored mistress. Tears welled in her eyes and a quiet sob filled her lungs as she realized what this trip into the valley might have cost her if her fears were true that she had somehow caused more damage to an already broken part of her. Arete had never had her courses, even at twenty-three, but the physicians that Nikos had gotten for her and assured her that this would change once Arete had a stable lifestyle and proper access to food. The two lovebirds had been talking about what they could do to assure that, but was that all for moot now? Had she ruined her chance at the perfect life? What on earth could she have done to make the gods hate her so much for this fate?
However, her tears were quickly cut short when she heard a noise next to her, signaling that Isaiah was still alive. As heartbroken as she was over what she could have lost, it was quickly paled in comparison to the guilt she felt for not checking on her savior sooner. He had saved her life, how could she dismiss him so quickly in her mind that he wasn’t even worth so much as a thought as this world came crashing around them.
Even though she struggled to reach Isaiah with her damaged ankle, she managed to crawl over to him. Due to the darkness, Arete couldn’t see him before the girl was right on top of him. Stumbling forward, Arete was shocked to find that despite all of the odds that had been stacked against them, this man too had survived as she ran her hand over his chest, searching for any signs of life in the pitch black. Even she could hear her own sigh of relief through her ringing ears when she felt that telltale rise and fall. It was short-lived though when she realized that the man was not reacting to her touch. Her breath hitched in worry as she fumbled around searching for the man’s face or shoulders. She found the latter first as the bridge of his nose crumpled beneath her palm. Drawing her hand back, she was at least somewhat relieved to realize that it was not broken as the cartilage bent beneath her palm. At least that part of him was alright. In a panicked state and being unsure of what to do, the poor girl did the only thing that came to mind when she racked her brain, searching for ideas on how to rouse the comatose man. With very little grace and mistakenly enough power behind it that he might feel it if he woke up, Arete slapped him.
The sound was deafening in the silence and forced Arete to wince when she realized that it had been more powerful than she had meant it to be. However, that was short-lived when she realized that it didn’t work. A small panic bubbled up in her chest as she tried to slap him (much lighter this time though) again and shook his shoulders as she screamed, “Come on! Come on! You have to wake up!” But it was no use. He was out cold and nothing short of the gods themselves would be able to rouse him.
Knowing now that her poor savior was in this sorry state, Arete knew that this course was not going to help them. Not when they only had god knows how much oxygen in this cave. Instead of continuing to strike him, Arete instead then tried to see if there was any sort of obvious injury that was keeping him from waking up. Given that they were in sheer darkness, Arete accomplished this by running her hands along his body, physically searching for anything that would need to be addressed right this moment to keep him alive. Had this been under normal circumstances, Arete would have been thrilled to be this close to a man, doing this sort of thing, but there was no sexy thrill to discovering what was hidden beneath a man’s robes. Instead it shockingly clinical as her nervous hands ran across limbs that didn’t feel right. Were they broken? Dislocated? Perfectly fine and Arete was just worrying too much? For gods’ sake, she didn’t know. She was too afraid to try and set anything back into place in case she caused more damage. Arete could only hope that this man would wake up and tell her as he would be in no shape to fix himself.
With nothing else to do, Arete pushed any stray rocks near them out of the way so Isaiah would have a flat space to lay down on as Arete leaned up against the rock that they had slammed into. Drawing her knees to her chest as she let out a hefty sob at their situation, Arete ended up quietly cursing whichever one of the fates had decided to spare her only to suffer this terrible death of slow suffocation as more of the loose rock settled into place. Isaiah might have saved her from being crushed, but now they were trapped in an inescapable tomb.
Arete had no idea how much time had passed before she first heard the noises of Isaiah stirring in the deathly quiet cave. Rising with a start, Arete was first confused as to where she was, but it all came flashing back to her quickly enough. The valley. The rockslide. The man and the horses. The darkness. Having already been introduced to the pure Hades that their predicament was, Arete was able to quickly spring into action when she realized that Isaiah was awake and seeming moving around. “Woah, easy there tiger. Don’t move. You’re hurt.” She said gently, trying to be as calm as possible, but it wasn’t that successful. She was very clearly worried and afraid about how they were going to get out of here. If they were going to get out of here.
In order to punctuate her point that Isaiah really shouldn’t move, she gently reached down to his left shoulder and pushed him back towards the dirt. She hoped that he would get the message and try not to be the hero for the moment while the two of them assessed his injuries. They would need to get out of here, but there was no way that they were going to accomplish that if Isaiah was already half-dead to begin with. Squinting in the dark, she still couldn’t see hide or hair of him. Arete could even only tell that he was even there from the noises he made and feeling him beneath her fingers. She didn’t even know what Isaiah looked liked and she owed her life to him.
Trusting that he got the message, Arete pulled her hand away and steadied herself so that she wouldn’t topple down onto him if the pain from her stomach and ankle became too much to bear. That wouldn’t help in assessing any sort of injuries that he might have. Knowing full well that him being unconscious for gods know how long was not a good thing, Arete decided that it was best to focus first on making sure that everything was alright up there before she would eventually turn her attention to the rest of him. “I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She started to say, hopefully reassuring him before he lost his mind with worry about the fact that he might now suddenly be blind, “Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?” She asked gently, unsure if there was some sort of head injury that had taken his memory of what occurred. She had heard stories about this sort of thing. As much as she didn’t want to relive the nightmare, it would certainly be ten times worse for him if he couldn’t remember what had happened.
Her lips formed a tight smile as an inappropriate comment about welcoming him to Tartarus bubbled up in her. Although she normally would have not cared about such words, she knew that it was not acceptable to say such things when the two of them were only a short time away from death if they did not get some fresh air into this cavern. Not to mention if his injuries were serious enough, as she had no idea what kind of condition he was truly in given the darkness, Isaiah might die before then as well. Arete didn’t know what on earth she would do if he died in this hellhole. She would likely die too at the very least.
She needed to do everything in her power to make sure that this did not happen. Arete doubted that she could really do anything to stop Thanatos if he came to call, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying at least. “What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.” There was little she could do besides putting a few bones back into place, but if it stood a chance of helping Isaiah get himself back to his feet, then she would do it.
If there was anything that she could do, of course. After all, she did not know the full extent of his injuries and she had no doubts that he was likely in even worse shape than she was.
For eternity he lay there on his stomach, cheek pressed against the gritty floor, his body throbbing in pain. A ringing blared in his ears and he wasn’t entirely sure if his eyes were open or closed at any given moment. There was no light. When he blinked, there was no difference. All he could feel were the flutterings of his lashes against the dust swirling above him. It was impossible to tell how long he lay like that. He wasn’t aware of anything much, save for his own slow heartbeat.
A scraping brought him around again. Perhaps he’d been unconscious. Perhaps not. Perhaps only seconds had gone by, or maybe it was hours. In the darkness, it was hard to be sure. The girl he’d saved groaned from somewhere beyond him. He shifted, reaching out his arm, feeling around for her but she was outside of his reach. He grimaced as he managed to roll onto his back, hitting a stone with his head as he did so. Something hot dripped onto his face, slipping down along his nose like a tear. Blood. Isaiah sat up and scooted away, picturing the remains of his horse, her poor head dangling from between slabs of rock, bleeding out into blackness.
A tickle began in his throat and he coughed against the dust. The sound might have been loud except that he couldn’t hear properly. Suddenly a hand slid against his chest and he jumped but she didn’t seem to take notice. His arms flailed when her hand squished against his nose and just before he could draw in breath to say anything to her, stars exploded across his vision as she slapped him. He frowned in the darkness, his own hand flying to his cheek, quite sure she’d dislocated his jaw. Inching to sit up a little bit, Isaiah was thinking about addressing her when she attacked him for a second time and then began to scream incomprehensibly. Her voice echoed off the rock walls and stone floor to such a deafening degree that he couldn’t even think.
What in the name of Yahweh was going ON!?
Obviously she was crazy. Or driven so by the dangers and horrors they’d just suffered. He inched further up the rock, ostensibly to get away from her, but then her hands were on him again and he batted towards her to get her to stop. Up his chest, down his ribs, he twisted his hips to keep her away from there. What was she trying to do? These Greeks were so entirely odd that he was now becoming unsure if she was helping or attempting to seduce. He wouldn’t have but he wasn’t in a position to engage with her even if he had wanted to do so.
“What are you doing?” he rasped, trying to get away from her.
“I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She said and he guessed she assumed he thought he must be blind.
“Yes, I know,” he said, gesturing around, although she wouldn’t be able to see it. “The rock slide…” The poor horse they’d been riding somewhere underneath all the stone. It was a blessing that he couldn’t hear it. That meant it was killed instantly, one could only hope.
“Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?”
“All,” he said grimly, wincing as he shifted. “I’m alright,” he said, hoping to calm her because she seemed to be assuming he was touched in the head, or else she was simply incredibly kind.
“What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.”
“It all hurts,” he didn’t try to stand and wasn’t going to try for the moment. “Let me just get my bearings,” he said, again holding out a hand she wouldn’t be able to see. “We can’t stay here.” That much was obvious. “I don’t suppose you know this cave? A way out of it other than the way we came in?”
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
Badges
Deleted
Deleted
For eternity he lay there on his stomach, cheek pressed against the gritty floor, his body throbbing in pain. A ringing blared in his ears and he wasn’t entirely sure if his eyes were open or closed at any given moment. There was no light. When he blinked, there was no difference. All he could feel were the flutterings of his lashes against the dust swirling above him. It was impossible to tell how long he lay like that. He wasn’t aware of anything much, save for his own slow heartbeat.
A scraping brought him around again. Perhaps he’d been unconscious. Perhaps not. Perhaps only seconds had gone by, or maybe it was hours. In the darkness, it was hard to be sure. The girl he’d saved groaned from somewhere beyond him. He shifted, reaching out his arm, feeling around for her but she was outside of his reach. He grimaced as he managed to roll onto his back, hitting a stone with his head as he did so. Something hot dripped onto his face, slipping down along his nose like a tear. Blood. Isaiah sat up and scooted away, picturing the remains of his horse, her poor head dangling from between slabs of rock, bleeding out into blackness.
A tickle began in his throat and he coughed against the dust. The sound might have been loud except that he couldn’t hear properly. Suddenly a hand slid against his chest and he jumped but she didn’t seem to take notice. His arms flailed when her hand squished against his nose and just before he could draw in breath to say anything to her, stars exploded across his vision as she slapped him. He frowned in the darkness, his own hand flying to his cheek, quite sure she’d dislocated his jaw. Inching to sit up a little bit, Isaiah was thinking about addressing her when she attacked him for a second time and then began to scream incomprehensibly. Her voice echoed off the rock walls and stone floor to such a deafening degree that he couldn’t even think.
What in the name of Yahweh was going ON!?
Obviously she was crazy. Or driven so by the dangers and horrors they’d just suffered. He inched further up the rock, ostensibly to get away from her, but then her hands were on him again and he batted towards her to get her to stop. Up his chest, down his ribs, he twisted his hips to keep her away from there. What was she trying to do? These Greeks were so entirely odd that he was now becoming unsure if she was helping or attempting to seduce. He wouldn’t have but he wasn’t in a position to engage with her even if he had wanted to do so.
“What are you doing?” he rasped, trying to get away from her.
“I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She said and he guessed she assumed he thought he must be blind.
“Yes, I know,” he said, gesturing around, although she wouldn’t be able to see it. “The rock slide…” The poor horse they’d been riding somewhere underneath all the stone. It was a blessing that he couldn’t hear it. That meant it was killed instantly, one could only hope.
“Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?”
“All,” he said grimly, wincing as he shifted. “I’m alright,” he said, hoping to calm her because she seemed to be assuming he was touched in the head, or else she was simply incredibly kind.
“What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.”
“It all hurts,” he didn’t try to stand and wasn’t going to try for the moment. “Let me just get my bearings,” he said, again holding out a hand she wouldn’t be able to see. “We can’t stay here.” That much was obvious. “I don’t suppose you know this cave? A way out of it other than the way we came in?”
For eternity he lay there on his stomach, cheek pressed against the gritty floor, his body throbbing in pain. A ringing blared in his ears and he wasn’t entirely sure if his eyes were open or closed at any given moment. There was no light. When he blinked, there was no difference. All he could feel were the flutterings of his lashes against the dust swirling above him. It was impossible to tell how long he lay like that. He wasn’t aware of anything much, save for his own slow heartbeat.
A scraping brought him around again. Perhaps he’d been unconscious. Perhaps not. Perhaps only seconds had gone by, or maybe it was hours. In the darkness, it was hard to be sure. The girl he’d saved groaned from somewhere beyond him. He shifted, reaching out his arm, feeling around for her but she was outside of his reach. He grimaced as he managed to roll onto his back, hitting a stone with his head as he did so. Something hot dripped onto his face, slipping down along his nose like a tear. Blood. Isaiah sat up and scooted away, picturing the remains of his horse, her poor head dangling from between slabs of rock, bleeding out into blackness.
A tickle began in his throat and he coughed against the dust. The sound might have been loud except that he couldn’t hear properly. Suddenly a hand slid against his chest and he jumped but she didn’t seem to take notice. His arms flailed when her hand squished against his nose and just before he could draw in breath to say anything to her, stars exploded across his vision as she slapped him. He frowned in the darkness, his own hand flying to his cheek, quite sure she’d dislocated his jaw. Inching to sit up a little bit, Isaiah was thinking about addressing her when she attacked him for a second time and then began to scream incomprehensibly. Her voice echoed off the rock walls and stone floor to such a deafening degree that he couldn’t even think.
What in the name of Yahweh was going ON!?
Obviously she was crazy. Or driven so by the dangers and horrors they’d just suffered. He inched further up the rock, ostensibly to get away from her, but then her hands were on him again and he batted towards her to get her to stop. Up his chest, down his ribs, he twisted his hips to keep her away from there. What was she trying to do? These Greeks were so entirely odd that he was now becoming unsure if she was helping or attempting to seduce. He wouldn’t have but he wasn’t in a position to engage with her even if he had wanted to do so.
“What are you doing?” he rasped, trying to get away from her.
“I know you can’t see me, don’t worry. It’s just the darkness.” She said and he guessed she assumed he thought he must be blind.
“Yes, I know,” he said, gesturing around, although she wouldn’t be able to see it. “The rock slide…” The poor horse they’d been riding somewhere underneath all the stone. It was a blessing that he couldn’t hear it. That meant it was killed instantly, one could only hope.
“Also don’t worry, you’re not hearing things either. I’m Arete. How much do you remember about… well, what happened?”
“All,” he said grimly, wincing as he shifted. “I’m alright,” he said, hoping to calm her because she seemed to be assuming he was touched in the head, or else she was simply incredibly kind.
“What hurts? You saved my life already, so the least I can do is help you try to save yours.”
“It all hurts,” he didn’t try to stand and wasn’t going to try for the moment. “Let me just get my bearings,” he said, again holding out a hand she wouldn’t be able to see. “We can’t stay here.” That much was obvious. “I don’t suppose you know this cave? A way out of it other than the way we came in?”