(Ed. Note – I've been meaning to get this written for a while; this occurred when the rescue of Sage took place. During that rescue, Aunne ended up hyperaccellerated – perceiving everyone else as still, at a ratio of 1 week:1 second. The encounter took only a few seconds. This? This is the story of that time.)
The explosion of purple light made her eyes blind, for a blink or two. It was unsettling, and itchy, and – worse – it made her head ache, which hadn't happened since the wine that fought back, and she didn't like it at all. Not a bit.
"Victor – she is being your friend, yes?"
Victor said nothing. No one at all said anything. In fact, there were no sounds of combat, no song in the caves, no wooshing of wings as one of the bronze dragonflight hurried by – her hooves didn't even make a sound on the rocky floor. She blinked again, rubbed at her eyes – looked to Cael, to Victor, to all of the others. "… Victor?"
No one moved.
"Cael? Elli?" She hurried over to the druid, the great cat – "Elli!" Her voice echoed strangely, and… still, no one moved. She touched the druid's fur – and it was strangely stiff, and not soft at all, and … she wasn't moving. Aunne shoved, hard – a moment of panic, with all of her not-insubstantial strength.. and succeded in not moving as much as a hair on the great cat's back, only shoving herself backward. The dirt under her hooves made no sound, no crunch of gravel – nothing was disturbed. Nothing changed.
She flung herself then, from templar to templar, from friend to friend, and even to the angry priest.
Silence.
She touched the choker at her neck, calming – standing, for a long moment, with eyes closed, listening, stilling breath and all motion as only the dead could do, straining for any sound outside of herself; not even the air stirred. THen eyes – looking at each frozen templar, each crease in the stone, even the frozen arcane energies that should be arcing in the distance.
There. A shimmer. An.. edge. She moved to it, the fuzzy, transluscent edge of something at the very limits of her perception, a circle, a hundred feet across – she walked the line of it, traced its edges, noted the broad sweep of the dome it made with her inside. She could feel the magic, thin and electric and powerful, when she let her gauntlet graze it – a gauntlet that, at the interface, came back with rust and heat. She fished an empty vial from the pouch at her waist – carefully prodding it through the wall, and watching it shatter as forces at the whateteveritwas simply tore it to pieces the moment it crossed the threshold.
She paced the circle. One hundred fifty steps acround, fifty steps across, a perfect half-sphere in which most of the people she knew were caught – and she knew she had to save them. She was the only one moving – she -had- to think of something. THere had to be a way. There must be…
—— Day 2 ——
"Elli, look! I am sorry the tea is being cold, but the fire will not to burn and I am not having much to make fire with anyway. So I am borrowing a bit of Drakku's robe and it is making a perfect tea strainer and it is just taking longer…"
— Day 5—
"… Victor, you should to check your pockets more often. There is being gold in here! I will to hold on for safety, yes? Ooh! Are those poisons? They are smelling like poisons! You should not to have so many. I will to trade with you, yes? You will to like these more."
— Day 9 —
*rummaging sounds* "Ryu. I am liking you very much, but you should to have more pockets. And underthings, yes? Why are you not having underthings?"
— Day 14—
"AHA! Foul demon-things! You cannot to fight me! For I am mighty and wearing the cape of Drakku's Pants!"
— Day 17 —
"… You are needing to move, Elli. Please move? I will to give you a flower?" *clopclopclop* "Cael, you should to be coming down from there! The glowy lady is not being safe! Do not to make me come up and give you a talking to, yes?"
."… please move. Please to say something?"
— Day 23 —
"… three thousand four hundred twenty seven rocks, three thousand four hundred twenty eight.. no, no.. nine! rocks.. "
— Day 25 —
"Cael, you should to be having Victor's gold. He is not needing it. He is pretending to be one of the statue things in Stormwind, yes? Ooh! It is being a picture! I will to sharpen your knife, yes? It will to help later."
Pause.
"YOu do not mind if I am braiding your hair, yes? Of course you are not. I am also to be hugging you."
— Day 26—
"I will to call you "Edgar." It is being a good name for a rock!"
— Day 27 —
"That is very mean, Edgar! I will /not/ to cut that off! Hmph. You are a very nasty rock. I am not speaking for you to a week, yes?"
— Day 34 —
"You have to learned your lesson? NO I WILL NOT TO EAT THEM. You are very, very cruel. Did you hear him Elli? I know, yes? I think you should to have your plants eat him."
— Day 35—
"Victor? I will to learn to swim. Maybe I can wear armor that is floating? Please move. Please to say you are alright? You said you would not to leave me alone, yes? Please?"
—Day 40–
Her hair was messy. She did not like messy, but no one was looking. She leaned there, on Elli, eyes dull, watching the younger worgen above them move slowlysoslowly with the glowing sword and she prayed. She prayed that something would change. That someone would say something….
Then came a great flash and NOISE so much NOISE and there was shouting and people and it was toomuchtoomuch and she backed away but was so relieved and everyone was /moving/ and they were alright and no one was hurt and it took three tries to get her voice to work again and she hugged Elli and VIctor and even tried hugging the priest and was really glad she put his pants back on him and there was so much and she realized she was dusty …
.. when did she get dusty? THere were no days and she looked horrible and no one was noticing but it was alright. It was alright. They were there.
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