Waking Dreamscape, five months ago
[An excerpt from an RP session with @oneirophage]
The night outside the door was so dark, suffocating like a black velvet pillow over one’s face. Going out there was insanity. So the dreaming man turned around as another crystal went dark.
No, not dark. Blocked. The crystals were on either side of the hallway and the spread of massive wings blocked them out. Night-blinded, the thing was temporarily impossible for him to see, just a shadow outlined in pale blue light. A whisper like thunder rolled through the house. “She’s safe with her friend. They are kind. She is safe.
The creature was tall enough to block the entire hallway, and as the man’s eyes readjusted to interior light, he could see it. Skin the color of an over-ripe plum, glistening wetly though nothing liquid ran down its flesh. Silver hair that pooled on the floor, impossibly long. Those two huge wings - and four more, folds of skin draping down its sides like a flesh cloak. It stood on legs as thick as any construct’s, heavy with power, and a tail long enough to coil thrice around its hooves rested on the floor, an odd linear pattern in the scales.
The man panicked, digging his fingers into Betuur’s arm through the guided imagery. “No… no no, please… please spare me!” he cried out. “You can’t… she’ll be alone without me!”
What a coward… Betuur thought, letting the man cling to him as much as he desired. “What is it? What’s happening?” he asked, as if he didn’t actually know. He at least had to put on the illusion that he didn’t.
“Please I beg of you…” the man sobbed.
The floor shuddered as the monster took a step forward. Its face was blank, a featureless, smooth carapace of glistening purple dusk. Though it was faceless, it was also unclothed and appeared to be very male. It extended one hand on an arm with one elbow too many, fingers unfolding like the petals of a flower made of knives. “Come now,” came the deceptively gentle whisper. It was so deep a sound that it made one’s chest ache from the vibration of it. “Come embrace what you have wrought on others.”
A shiver echoed through the private link between Ikei and Betu. That eldritch horror was him, a projection a thousand times darker than his usual fox avatar. And wearing that terrifying shell was…exhilarating.
Betuur had to bite his cheek to bring him back to reality. That horrifying visage Ikeilos wore was just so beautiful to him, and he had to remind himself that he was with a patient, lest he lose control of the guided therapy.
“NO!! NO PLEASE!!” the man screamed. “I haven’t done anything wrong! I-I love my daughter!! I just didn’t want her to get hurt!!” He writhed on the couch, grasping his head in one hand and Betuur’s arm in the other, squeezing so hard that it would probably leave bruises later.
“You have done something. You have turned your back on the compassion of the Light. Do you know what’s behind you while you face the Light?” the beast crooned. Another light went out, plunging the house into twilight grey. The featureless carapace opened its eyes, two glowing red slits. And two more eyes. And six more. And thirty. Eyes burning the sullen red of dying embers covered that featureless face and broad chest. Eyes that bored into the man’s very soul.
The man’s eyes opened wide and he screamed, turning to Betuur and practically clawing at him. “No! No no no I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to I was just protecting my family!!” he shrieked.
“Calm… calm…” Betuur cooed. He embraced the man, smirking once his head was over his shoulder and gently rubbed his back. “You are safe here…”
“I-I’m so s-sorry…” the patient whispered, trembling as he clung to his therapist. “I-I won’t turn them away again… L-Light have mercy… I only wished to protect my little girl…”
If he wasn’t just saying that, if he truly meant it and his ways would change, then the visions had their desired effect. Like with all of his patients though, Betuur had added a little failsafe to make sure that the therapy would succeed - if the man didn’t follow through with his word and aid the poor and destitute in the future, the vision Ikeilos had planted would become a recurring nightmare, to the point that it would drive him mad.
The fearsome monster spread its hands out to either side, claws scraping along the stone walls as it took a step forward and faded away with the room and the rest of the guided imagery. At least, it faded away for the patient.
Hovering politely at the edges of Betu’s consciousness, Ikei still wore the faceless abomination’s form but the definitive maleness of him was on much more obvious display. Only you, my heart, can truly understand that the Light in his eyes is only blinding him to the monsters. You and I are strong enough to face them. A single claw caressed the outer boundaries of Betu’s mind with infinite gentleness before Ikei’s psyche rejoined his body.
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