Whatever trifling denials came out of the stranger were forgotten as the land split open. Steeling herself, Setara took a side hop to her left and then prepared to launch towards the stranger, if they did not get up and move. If the stranger gets up to flee the land collapsing beneath themselves, Setara will try to get to the side they’re on and in front of them to prevent escape. If they make no attempt to save themselves, then she launches herself directly at them.
It was not weapon first, though in such circumstance appearing as a savior was out of the question. Yet even still, she came at the stranger in attempts to help get them on their feet. Or at least push or drag them so that they would not fall into the growing maw beneath them. Making sure to only touch or grab at the cloak, rather than their body.
Fodgen froze not knowing where the new source of sound was coming from until he felt the ground shake. He dropped to his knees to steady himself.
Yelling out wouldn’t do much, it certainly wouldn’t help the situation. So he moved to stand as the city continued to tremble . Hopefully this would keep him out of any incoming stampede…
Conleth clapped his hands over his ears and stumbled, the shifting of ground finally knocking him to his feet. There was a precipice directly beside him; he did not notice it until the ground at the edge began to shift, and he barely scrambled away in time to avoid getting swallowed.
White as a sheet, he scrambled past Fodbgen and-
…Okay, fine.
“Move!” Conleth grabbed at Fodbgen’s wrist and attempted to drag him away from the growing crevasse. However, despite his strength, he was also very small, and any real effort of Fodbgen’s part could easily lift him off his feet if he really wanted to.
The ancient stone beneath their feet groans, and pieces begin to slide deeper into the schism, as the dais wobbles dangerously against the brink. The wind beneath whips up, stinking of sulfur and dust, and a deep drop. As Conleth wrestles with Fodbgens wrist, and as Tebor’s vision finally sharpens into focus, the dais topples
Into the deep dark.
As Setara attempts to grapple the stranger, the crevasse widens, and the remnants of the road begin to topple inwards, and soon, as she seizes the strangers cloak, they feel the ground gives way, the air starting to pick up, as they turn their gaze down below to the hungry darkness below, and
Conleth’s fight with Fodbgen’s arm quickly turned into Conleth holding onto Fodbgen’s arm for dear life as the world suddenly turned upside down. The dais, that massive structure that seemed so immovable, was now flipped up like a plate and tipped down into the impossible darkness beneath it.
In what most certainly seemed like his final moments, Conleth did not long to see his parents, who had been unable to attend the ceremony. He did not wish for the opportunity to right any wrongs he had committed, or attempt to reach out in prayer to any of the gods for help. There was only one thought that crossed his mind as the void consumed him from all sides.
Why did the crowd gasp at me? What did I do wrong?
In the moment of critical action, when room for thought is small, how does the mind react? For Setara, words were not allowed to remain inside. Her body moved on instinct, her thoughts forced out of her mouth. She told the stranger to rise, to move. Anything along those lines as she grabbed them and get to safety. And when the earth betrayed her, when it pushed her down into the beast below, there was one thing mind and body forced her to do – she screamed.
What sounded like a “NO!” burst from her throat. The kind of devasting lost, the kind one might scream when they just failed. But defeated loss transitioned into terror of final moments. A first cry of death sure to follow.
In desperation, she let go of the stranger, flailing about. Trying to get her staff between to points and wedge itself. Maybe even forced it into the nearest wall of earth to stop her fall, or at least slow her decent. But as the maw widened, there was no way to save herself or anyone. Only void remained. All she could do was fall.
Even still, she forced herself to look up. To see what sky remained visible before she was buried and could no longer gaze upon its beauty. But when she looked, she did not find the comfort of the moon or sun. There was only the comet, watching her death with ravenous delight. Yet - past its victorious and gnashing grin, barely in sight, the black canvas of space still remained. A void, not unlike the one she now descended. And in final hope, turned back to face the darkness and cried out a prayer.
“Your servant is here, please hear me my lord!
Swaddle me in your darkness,
cradle me like a newborn in your arms.
The roots of the mountains come to chain me,
the earth to keep me prisoner, bound from your work.
Claim this void as yours and I shall cling to you.”
Fodbgen upon being sent plummeting delivered a collection of choice vocabulary befitting that of a stable boy.
He grabbed Conleth and wrapped around him as he made the sudden realization that they weren’t just tripping, and were indeed plummeting into the unknown. Hopefully this would at least save the boy from cracking his skull open.
The only sound that greeted her in her cry was silence, the whipping of the wind as she and the stranger spun out of control, falling as the air clawed at their faces, stung their eyes, howled through their ears, as the echo reverberated through the cracked chasm they fell through.
And then? Everything went black.
…
It must have felt like an eternity before Setara’s vision cleared, but as it did, it wasn’t where she may have thought she was.
An image came into focus, smudged lines narrowing into sharp points. Her hearing soon followed, the sound of soft metal ringing in the air. The air smelled faintly of lavender. She was in a small room, not unlike one suited for a child. In a corner was a bed, empty with its covers in a mess, with shelves lining the walls, stuffed with toys and books. There were stars engraved into the walls and the bottoms of the shelves, blocks and stuffed animals littering the floor, and small trinkets and chimes hanging from the ceiling by silver string.
The wind screamed in their ears as they all plummeted downwards, tumbling down, down, down, down. Dusty air and rocks rained down. At the speed they now were traveling, surely they would go splat against the rocks below, their bodies shattered against the unyielding ground-
Thump.
They landed softly, a bit roughly at most. The smell of dust and sulfur faded to sweet fragrances. When the daze of the landing cleared, they found themselves laying in a massive pile of sand and flowers, soft to the touch.
They were in a massive cavern, the walls covered in flowers and vines, the ground coated in sand, with even more flowers sprouting from the ground, outstretching to soak in the new light from the tear in the earth above. A large tunnel lay ahead, covered up with even more vines and ivy.
Conleth very much detested being manhandled in such a fashion, especially by someone who couldn’t see how much he detested it. However, no amount of hatred for Fodbgen’s protective measure could out-muscle the terror of falling to his death inside a black void.
And then the calm.
The splendor of the place quickly overtook any remaining terror at his sudden landing, delicate flowers inexplicably sprouting from golden sand which sent delightful odors up his nose without his express permission. The moon far above gave the room a white glow that made it seem ethereal; that somehow, despite falling beneath the city he called home, he had landed in the treasure room of the gods.
However, this revelation was very short-lived, as his struggling to get his head out from under Fodbgen’s arms reminded him how indignant he was at his circumstances, and he tried as best he could with the little leverage he had to push against Fodbgen’s chest and break free.
“Let go of-”
His protests suddenly died off.
Perhaps the blind guy had noticed it far sooner, perhaps not. Conleth certainly noticed it now, however, and only after he had rather loudly ordered Fodbgen to relinquish him. Someone else was here.
For an extremely brief moment he was very happy the irreverent drunk had tagged along, that he might be used as bait or a distraction. Whoever this humming stranger was either had the least amount of sense in the world to completely miss the terrifying earthquake that had ripped apart the land above… Or was complacent in it.
Setara blinked several times as the room came into focus. And then blinked several more times as she stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.
Where…am I? Was I not…am I on the floor? She wondered.
Her head rolled side to side, taking in her new surroundings before looking back up at the ceiling. No her-shaped hole up there. Wasn’t she falling? When did it stop? Not through this building it seemed. Though how was there a building beneath the city? Unless none of that happened?
Am I alive? Setara now wondered, slowly lifting up one of her arms. Turning it over, seeing if she felt any pain, strain, or see anything weird before lifting her other arm and doing the same. If everything felt and looked correct, she proceeded to poke and prod herself for any sign of injury. Lifting herself carefully off the floor into a sitting position.
“Hello?” She asks in an unsure and quiet tone before following with an indoor volume of, “is anyone here?”
From her sitting position, she looked to see if her staff was anywhere nearby. And the stranger! Where was the stranger? She tried to see if they were in the room at all.