[html]
Death was nice. Omoi Aika had never really feared death, especially in the wisdom of her later years, and she had died a good death with her daughter at her side with only a handful of regrets trailing in her wake. In death, she re-found joy. Her mate, her lover, her other half was there, along with a good number more of her children than she would have cared to see so soon. And there were others, those claiming to be the family she had scarcely known, the family she had parted from as little more than a child and who were mere ghosts in her memory. Hell, they were all ghosts now she quickly discovered, and that was fine by her.
Some time after her death, a case of ghostly boredom led Omoi to find her shade wandering the lands where she'd died. From the looks of things, the land had proved one of those rare fertile breeding grounds for the members of her kind - at least, packs of no mean size left their mark on the landscape. Omoi went north, to find the lands where she had once reigned alphess. They were much changed. Storm had swallowed up what parts had still been habitable, and the rest had turned to a dusty wasteland. A far cry from the bursting landscape she'd first encountered coming north, looking for a place to shelter in her old age. The land had only begun to deteriorate when it was Shadowed Stars, she saw that now. Mordulin had been wise to heed her mother's council and move the pack, for there was nothing left now but dry earth, dead broken trees, and ancient ghosts. [/html]
[html] Someone alive can still jump in, I just HAD to jump on this opportunity.
Death took getting used to. Salvaged Eternity had died at the claws of his one, true enemy. The female he had lusted over, the female who's mate he had killed in cold blood had managed to do the same to him. He wasn't pleased to pass from his physical form and see it's condition. Despite his haggard coat and scars, his tattoos had been his pride. Kaena Lykoi had assured that they would never be anything more than scrawly marks. His eyes, precious lime green eyes had been ripped out... which was never fun. As a shade however he felt whole again, no marks and no scars -- it was before the world had turned against the demon. He never went to heaven or hell despite what others had said, yelled and cried.
He simply stayed.
He stayed and watched the world continue on. Jaded Shadows lost his precious mother but gained his former mate. Endymion was back but Valerik died of cancer. Everlasting Soul had died of cancer. Now he wandered where his senses told him he could find someone important. They weren't senses like touch and smell. These were senses that breached a barrier that few realized even existed. He found himself wander near where Shadowed Stars had been and found his sightless eyes looking at another shade. Omoi? His time knowing the mother of Mordulin was very short and he had been very young but he tipped his head and looked where she was looking. "Jaded Shadows was the only home I ever had... Mordulin adopted me not long after your death." A more respectful bow of his head and he added, "Salvaged Eternity."
[/html]
[html] woo! I was hoping that you'd find this thread <3
"I remember," she said softly, as the shade of her daughter's son approached. Indeed, he had only been a pup and his distinctive eyes were long gone, but she knew - being dead had its advantages. Similarly, even after all this time, her ghost-voice still held the accented lilt of its oriental origins, although Omoi had spoken English the entirety of her adult life. "The years were not kind to you, it would seem." The statement that was also a question, and bore the full scrutiny of her intense amber eyes.
She went closer to him, in the ambiguous movement of the dead. Or undead. Or whatever their spirits were, in that great wheel that turned and returned, life back upon itself again. "I told her to look after you, you know. At the end." She smiled a little sadly, wondering if she would have un-said those words, knowing how dearly they would end up costing her daughter, and knowing a breath later that she wouldn't have, couldn't have. Every pain was a lesson, and Mordulin's stubbornness meant hers must be more severe than most. "It heartens me to know that she did not go back on her word."
Jaded Shadows. She rolled the name around on her tongue, unspoken. So like her daughter, who was in ways so like herself. Jaded Shadows. A memory and a new beginning, neatly rolled into one. Omoi was oddly comforted to know that the pack she fostered was not yet entirely forgotten, though the real memories might be but shades themselves. "Was she a good mother to you?" As a mother herself, it was something she desperately needed to know. [/html]
[html] Sorry for the wait m'dear, life sucks.
Being a ghost, specter, whatever the heck he was, was different than living and yet it felt oddly the same. Here was a wolf that he had never really known and yet now was his chance. Unlike life, he wouldn't let another opportunity pass him by. "Life was not kind to me; and I returned the favor. In the end, I got my 'just desserts' as the humans once said. Karma." Did Omoi know of all the travesties that he had committed while bearing the rank of a Jaded Shadows member? Had she watched her daughter take emotional after emotional hit because of him? He hoped for her sake she hadn't, no one should have to watch that. Yet Mordulin had stood by her adoptive son, even when he didn't deserve it. Her mother would have been proud.
He nodded, an infantile kind of nod that made him think of his days listening to Mordulin as just a pup. Flashbacks it seems, like a cartoon that keeps running beyond its time should be confined to montage episodes and not sporadic such as his days had been lately. He'd hear something and think back and wonder how it all could have been different. She spoke of Mordulin keeping her word and Salvaged let a smile move over his lips, scars twitching in a hint of amusement that hadn't graced his features in quite sometime. "You raised her well Omoi, she never went back on her word. Even if sometimes it would have saved her some hurt." How do you tell your adoptive grandmother that most of her daughters problems could be traced back to you?
The question made Salvaged snort and he readjusted his posture and laid down. It was hard to define 'mother' when you knew nothing of your own, merely knew of the whispers that Berowick had told him. "She was everything and then some. No one stood by me like Mordulin did." It was true, Fatin came dead-second (oh the pun) but Mordulin had always been there and always loved him. He had to confess to someone and it seemed that the grandmother would understand. "I did horrible things Omoi, horrible things that still tarnish the lives of everyone back there. Yet your daughter still loved me, still called me her son. I don't regret them and I hope she doesn't regret loving me." Hanging his head he felt lighter but still heavy with grief -- not of his own death, not even those he killed. He felt horrible to burden Omoi with that horrible truth.
[/html]
|
