#not quite sure about luthe using aerin's dragon killer title there

[silverandebony]

More Dragon Killer excerpt

Aerin’s hand falls back to her side, limp, and all she does for a bit is stare at the spot where Maur had been. The tremble returns to her limbs, and suddenly her legs are giving out from under her and she does a slow collapse to the ground, ending with her kneeling and staring blankly at the floor. She’s still holding the sword, but the flames have now vanished, leaving it a relatively normal (if blue) looking blade.

She is still for some time, what feels like ages but is likely less than a minute The silence makes the time seem to stretch longer, pulling it like a piece of soft taffy. 

Aerin knows this feeling. She can relate entirely. It’s that moment when the battle is over and the fighting has ended, but the mind won’t fully register it and is refusing to believe that it’s alright to stop, to rest, to find loved ones and check on them, make sure all are well, or as well as can be. It’s a certain blankness, a staticky fog that covers makes it hard to think and lets only a few thoughts rise to the surface and circle around and around and around. 

It’s not a particularly enjoyable sense. She’s glad she’s not the one currently experiencing it, and that the one who is is only putting on a performance of it, and not actually having to go through it.

The odd background is solidifying some, no longer the mess of indistinct shapes it had been. Now it’s becoming a simple darkness, all one tone with slight gradients, with no blurred edges or oil slick colours hiding within it. It’s also gotten closer to Aerin’s actress, making it even more obvious how alone she is. Her face is starkly shadowed from the single bright spotlight that shines directly down on her, making her the one light spot before a sea of darkness. 

Then there is a shuffling sound off to one side, and she turns her head towards it, just a little. “Aerin?” calls Luthe’s voice, strangely muffled, as if he were at a great difference. “You are safe now, Aerin. You can rest.” 

For a moment, it seems as if Aerin won’t answer. Then: “Who are you,” she asks, voice flat and weary. Her face has not lost the blankness, but she does look just a bit more tired. 

There are more shuffling sounds, and then Luthe steps out of the darkness. One of his hands is raised, holding a softly glowing ball of light. He stops a few feet from Aerin, and holds out a hand to her. “I am Luthe, and I have been watching for you for some time” he tells her, “but I can answer your questions when you have awoken.” 

The writer has truly put in effort to his speech, in making sure all his lines in the old dialect mode are correct while still being readily understandable. It’s nice, certainly, but Aerin’s still going to laugh about it to the actual Luthe, later. 

“Maur is defeated,” he continues, moving a bit closer, “and for now, you are safe. Please, it is alright to rest now.” 

He’s close enough that, even on the ground as she is, Aerin’ actress could reach out and take his outstretched hand if she wanted to, while still being far enough back that he’s not too close for comfort. And, going by the way Aerin’s actress is looking him, it’s clear she’s deciding on whether or not she wants to trust him. 

Eventually she takes a deep breathe and sighs, tension flowing out of her as she slumps. With the hand not holding her sword she reaches out to take Luthe’s hand, and he bends slightly to make it easier for her. He releases the light in his other hand so as to help her stand when her knees wobble, though the darkness does not grow any greater for the extra light’s absence. He helps keep her upright when it becomes clear she cannot stand unassisted, then offers her a soft, reassuring smile once she’s steadied. “All will be well, Aerin Dragon Killer,” he tells her. “You yourself have seen to that, though I will not deny I was able to give you some small aid. But it is time to leave this place, now that it has served its purpose; it is not somewhere to linger. Let us return to ourselves, and walk here no longer.”

——-

Takes place after Aerin battles Maur in the centre of the mind, as it were. I don’t want to share any of that yet because I’m quite pleased with it and want to wait for people to read it until I’m publishing the whole thing, but I did want to put something up. I’ve officially got over 10 000 words in this now; it’s become my longest one shot, and it’s not even finished yet (’: