Robyn | Aries

Darkness. It had swallowed Althea up so suddenly she thought Myrkul himself had reached down, and snatched her very being from the world.

Perhaps it would have been better that way.

Althea’s memory was scattered. Broken. She daren’t believe the snippets of what she could even recall. And yet, the pod she found herself proved otherwise.

It was a dank circular room. As Althea’s vision came into focus, she noted other pods much like her own, the occupants silent, all with their heads slumped on their heavy shoulders. Sleeping? Or unconscious. Perhaps dead. She couldn’t tell. An uneasy, but quiet thrumming was the only sound. Where was she? There was little light save for a red hue behind each of the pods, and a singular beam of white from the ceiling, highlighting a large bulb in the centre of the room, fleshy petals overlapping something precious. She blinked firmly, trying to improve her vision. The surroundings seemed almost organic. Walls rippled and pulsated gently, like the belly of a beast. Viscous drops fell into unseen and still puddles. With each plop, a faint acrid smell drifted. Althea stirred but found she couldn’t move. Looking down, she noted the pod was constructed primarily of dark, glistening tendrils that held her firmly in place, wrists bound at her waist. She became aware that the thick ropes holding her still were warm, and pulsated on her skin.

“Fuck.”

Her heart began to pound, her amber eyes darting around the room in a flurry.

A wet squelch followed by sudden, blinding light poured into the circle. No sooner had it arrived, the light was swallowed by an unsettling suction of the door closing. Althea watched, silent and wide eyed as her captor took one scaly step forward. The second foot left the ground, and with a subtle push forward it began to glide slowly to the centre of the room. Althea’s breath was short and ragged as her gaze fell from top to bottom of the visitor.

The creature had a large, violet cone shaped head, with cerebral matter displayed openly down the flanks. Below its heavy and scowling brow sat two luminous orange orbs. Its face was smooth, with four sternly controlled tentacles at the jaw that billowed down to the hips. A dark and rolling cape fell from the shoulders, secured by elaborate and pointed shoulder pads. It, too, looked organic. It was difficult to tell flesh from fabric in the light. It must have been over 6’ 6” tall, foreboding and terrifying. It drifted seamlessly towards one of the other occupants. Althea watched with unease, as it lifted a long hand and clicked its fingers, and the tendrils unfurled for the other captive. She felt the air snatched from her lungs with that single click as she realised - these were her captors. Mindflayers.

The prisoner appeared to be a warrior, clad in strange and foreign armour unlike anything Althea had seen before. Her skin was the colour of olives, heavy warpaint stricken across her eyes, dark brown hair that cascaded to her shoulders, a few inches shorter than Althea’s own. The warrior’s ears were pointed like an elf. A Githyanki perhaps? Althea had only heard tales, and never seen one from the Astral Plane first hand.

With a fluid motion, the Mindflayer raised its other hand, its long fingers splaying like dark petals as it gestured towards the bulb. It unfurled in obedience, its petals retreating with a soft, wet sound, revealing a small glowing pool nestled within. Plump and gristly tadpoles swam lazily in the viscous fluid. A long, bony hand reached in, and plucked a tadpole by the tail. Its tiny, vicious teeth bared and it squeaked and chittered in displeasure, writhing helplessly in the creature's grip.

The Mindflayer placed the tadpole in the palm of its hand and watched as it began to crawl between fingers, hungrily seeking a host. The tadpole was gently lifted to the Githyanki’s cheek, and slid off the hand with ease. It eagerly slithered up towards the Gith’s eye, four tiny pink tendrils emerged from below its tiny maw, and took root in each corner of the socket. The tadpole squeaked, and gently slid behind the eye, disappearing into the Gith’s skull. The pod reclaimed the warrior, sealing her once more.

A wave of despair washed over Althea, her heart drumming, bile building in the back of her throat as she gazed ahead at the Mindflayer silently approaching with a tadpole of her very own. She swallowed, trying to stop herself from vomiting. Four wet little tentacles latched onto Althea’s eye, and the tadpole gave a shrill squeak before quickly tucking under her eyelid, and burrowed beyond her vision. Althea screamed.