Post by ginger on Mar 10, 2020 20:20:43 GMT
Darkness. Eternal and Black. No, not even black. It was too dark to be black. It was as if the very universe had sucked in all of the light and color of the world, and squeezed it tight. Tickstorm felt a tightness in her chest, as if whatever was squeezing out the light was also squeezing her very heart. It squeezed her tighter and tighter, until she felt as if the world was binding her down, and sucking out all of the air. She tried to call out, but there was only silence. Endless, terrifying silence. Tickstorm could feel hot tears beginning to roll down her face in endless streams. Each tear hit the ground with a metallic ping! And for just a moment, there would be a flash of light. But, as maddening as the darkness was, the light seemed just as blinding. It seemed to burn into her eyes, setting them on fire. But as quickly as the light would come, it would be gone. Tickstorm opened her mouth in a silent scream, digging her claws into the ground. Her whole body seemed to be aflame. She gasped for air, but nothing but fire went into her lungs. But, just as she was about to go limp, the choking feeling was released, and she was dropped to the ground. She sputtered and gasped, unable to focus on anything around her. Suddenly, she was no longer in darkness. Her vision swam, dark spots floating in and out of her view. She still did not know where she was, but her head throbbed. After a few moments, she was able to look up, and she found herself staring into an endless abyss. From every angle, her own reflection stared back at her. But every one of them was wrong in some way. In one, her eyes had been gouged out, and in their place, twisting snakes were wrapping themselves around her throat. In another, her fangs stretched way past the place where they should have, growing up through her lips. Their open sores leaked not with blood, but with a terrible black sludge. The reflections smiled at her with crooked, twisted grins. Tickstorm closed her eyes, trying to block out the terrible images.
“You aren't real! I want to go home!"
The monstrous reflections closed in around her, stepping close enough for her to smell their rancid breath.
"We are your home. We are your life. We are...you."
She looked back at the reflections, still terrified. They spoke back to her, twisting her words.
"No...No...NO!"
Tickstorm screamed back, and launched herself at one of the specters. Her claws sliced through them, but for every blow that should have landed, she only felt pain reflected back at her. But, she could not stop. She kept swinging her paws desperately, hardly noticing the gashes that were appearing all over her own body. She kept going and going, hot tears mixing with her own blood, and the black sludge that fell from the wounds of the specters. Eventually, she could no longer stand it, and she fell to the ground. Her own blood mixed with the blood of the monsters, becoming a deep red ooze. As she lay there, panting, the creatures stared down at her, smiling. Eerie whispers reached her ears though their words made no sense.
Blood. Fault. Curse. You. Tick...Wrong.
Eventually, one voice rang out above all of the others. All of the monstrous versions of her stepped back, and she was allowed to rise. Now, one cat stood in front of her. Batstar…
She ran to him, pain searing through her tired limbs. Once again, she collapsed at his paws, staring up at him desperately.
“Please...help me..”
But he just stared back, his lip curling back in disdain. His eyes were...different. They stared back at her, cold and distant.
“You are a failure TickStorm. I never should have made you my deputy.”
And with just one strike, Tickstorm was dead.
The deputy woke up gasping. She had once again fallen asleep in the clearing, trying to stay up and wait for all the patrols to return. She had stayed there all night, and now it was nearing dawn. Her entire pelt was drenched in a cold sweat, and her head burned. It..it wasn’t real. Those monsters were just that...nightmares. But still, Tickstorm trembled with fear.
