Your friends are the ones who find you. They bring your unconscious body back the house you built together with your partners, a house intended to be a home for all three of you that now feels hollow and cold. They ask you what happened, where Odysseus was and you can't answer them.
"She went back to Earth."
It's a lie and they all immediately know it. But what else are you supposed to say? They see Odysseus as a friend and hero. How could you break their hearts by explaining her betrayal?
So you stay quiet. And they give you time and space. They care for you over the next few days, then one day decide to go to the nearest village together for supplies to give you some time alone. Time you spend curled up in bed, occasionally beset with the painful coughing fits.
Oh, you poor thing.
The eerie voice came from the walls.
You poor, poor beast. Useless failure of a guardian. Poor child all lost and alone. What even is there for you anymore? Nothing, nothing! Nothing at all! You've lost everything!
They came from the windows and you try to ignore them as they giggle at you but it's no use.
Oh but you know... You can still be useful to someone. That's right, that's right!
...
You sit up then. You know what this is now.
Your feet start to move on their own.
The walk is a blur. You're not even thinking anymore. You're just walking and walking and being led by the voices and their encouragement. Eventually you find yourself in a deep cavern. Right in front of it.
The Enthrall. A massive flower said to have once been a fairy itself before it fell to depravity and feasted on human mana, promising wishes to the vulnerable only to swallow and drain them whole. Its offspring joyously cry out for your mana as you walk closer, the petals opening for you.
"Ah... there you are, child of Goddess Echidna. Why don't you come closer? Let me ease your pain."
You don't hesitate. You climb inside of it. A pair of arms reach for you and pull you close against its core, while small tendrils hungrily insert themselves into your flesh, ready to suck all the mana they can out of you. It's strange. Despite knowing that your life force is already being drained, it's almost like being with the Allmother. Or what you used to imagine the Allmother was like anyway. Warm, inviting, like some kind of bright light...
"Whatever wish you want, I'll grant it child."
You laugh under your breath. Your answer is simple.
"I only want to die."
And strangely enough, the Enthrall pauses.
"...Nothing else? Truly? I will be honest with you, your mana may be too dense for me. I may not be able to kill you. Please. You must have some other wish."
What a joke. The one reason they say to stay away from Enthralls and it can't even do that for you. But you think about it regardless and as your consciousness starts to slip away you give voice to your actual true desire.
"...well. Maybe... maybe it'd be nice... if I could be happy again."
no subject
"She went back to Earth."
It's a lie and they all immediately know it. But what else are you supposed to say? They see Odysseus as a friend and hero. How could you break their hearts by explaining her betrayal?
So you stay quiet. And they give you time and space. They care for you over the next few days, then one day decide to go to the nearest village together for supplies to give you some time alone. Time you spend curled up in bed, occasionally beset with the painful coughing fits.
Oh, you poor thing.
The eerie voice came from the walls.
You poor, poor beast. Useless failure of a guardian.
Poor child all lost and alone. What even is there for you anymore?
Nothing, nothing! Nothing at all! You've lost everything!
They came from the windows and you try to ignore them as they giggle at you but it's no use.
Oh but you know...
You can still be useful to someone.
That's right, that's right!
...
You sit up then. You know what this is now.
Your feet start to move on their own.
The walk is a blur. You're not even thinking anymore. You're just walking and walking and being led by the voices and their encouragement. Eventually you find yourself in a deep cavern. Right in front of it.
The Enthrall. A massive flower said to have once been a fairy itself before it fell to depravity and feasted on human mana, promising wishes to the vulnerable only to swallow and drain them whole. Its offspring joyously cry out for your mana as you walk closer, the petals opening for you.
"Ah... there you are, child of Goddess Echidna. Why don't you come closer? Let me ease your pain."
You don't hesitate. You climb inside of it. A pair of arms reach for you and pull you close against its core, while small tendrils hungrily insert themselves into your flesh, ready to suck all the mana they can out of you. It's strange. Despite knowing that your life force is already being drained, it's almost like being with the Allmother. Or what you used to imagine the Allmother was like anyway. Warm, inviting, like some kind of bright light...
"Whatever wish you want, I'll grant it child."
You laugh under your breath. Your answer is simple.
"I only want to die."
And strangely enough, the Enthrall pauses.
"...Nothing else? Truly? I will be honest with you, your mana may be too dense for me. I may not be able to kill you.
Please. You must have some other wish."
What a joke. The one reason they say to stay away from Enthralls and it can't even do that for you. But you think about it regardless and as your consciousness starts to slip away you give voice to your actual true desire.
"...well. Maybe... maybe it'd be nice... if I could be happy again."
Someday...