Memory Shares

[voidtreckermods]

An archive of the memories used in the Healing Waters Event.

Please note the content warnings at the top of each set of memories!

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Taiki | Katy

[voidtreckermods]

Warnings: Violence, implied scene of execution/mob justice, death/killing, betrayal, violence towards a small child
Themes: Duty, betrayal, a purpose greater than yourself.

Memory One You are sat on a low stool next to an ornate throne in a small pavillion. The shutters are down obscuring the view but it is clear that the area you are in is crowded with people. There's an ugly feel to the air, anticipation but of nothing good.

You are dressed in elaborate courtly robes, as is the man on the throne who is staring ahead with a terrible expression on his face. The pavilion is packed with armed guards.

The noise from the crowd outside is one of discontent. But it is but a murmuring, a rising anger.

To one side of you, getting closer is a feeling. A feeling of great awe, of a fire, powerful and yet bright and warm. A hungry tiger, threatening to devour any who hurt its own.

All of a sudden that feeling, that distant feeling slams into your awareness. The presence is here, your head swivels around to stare in the direction and through the slats you can see guards dragging a tattered, chained man through the crowds of people and up onto a platform.

You stand. It is now or never. All that matters, all that has ever mattered is that man. You grab the arm of the nearest guard and with your other hand reach for his weapon.

Every part of your body wants to resist, you shouldn't do this. You cannot do this and yet you do. Your hand closes around the blade and it is short work to pull it back and into the soldiers gut.

You are hit by a wave of dizziness, the smell of blood fills your nostrils, the weight of guilt crashes down upon you and yet you can't stop. Still clutching the blade you run. Following that aura of fire and awe.

Memory Two You are stood beside a throne on a platform. This time the throne is larger, or more realistically you are smaller for your head barely reaches over the arm of the throne.

Before you is a sea of people, all dressed in their best- though that differs from elaborate robes to their cleanest skirts. The square is filled with anticipation, excitement. Flags are flying.

Looking out into the crowd you feel a little frightened, to have so many eyes on you. Yet they all look at you with pride. Your gaze travels down to the front of the crowd, nearest the platform and the courtiers there smile encouragingly at you.

From the side a man stepped onto the platform, tall and built like a fighter with dark skin, silver hair and blood red eyes. His appearance made the crowd bubble over with cheering.

The man, your king, feels like fire, an awesome presence and it makes your heart almost burst with pride to look upon him. He sits calmly on the throne. You glance down at the courtiers again and one of them gives you a nod. It is time.

You take a deep breath, filled with nerves and walk around to face the throne. You kneel, bow and press your forehead to the feet of your king. You marvel at how easy it is and your heart is filled with joy.

Behind you the crowd has gone wild, cheering, clapping, yelling their praises. Above the noise comes the voice of a herald. "Taiou sokui! King Tai has ascended to the throne!"

Memory Three Beneath a bough of a tree in a wintery garden, in the middle of what is clearly part of an imperial palace is the figure of a child leaning against a white stone pillar. Steel blue hair flowed down from his bowed head. It is clearly Taiki but as a child. Barely eleven years old.

He looks distraught and fearful, as if there were a great weight on his heart. He is praying, leaning against the pillar and whispering.

"Take care. Be safe."

He is lost in prayer and worry, brow furrowed as he whispers the same four words over and over again. As if he could make it true with shear effort.
A man enters the gardens, a courtier, though his baring and the sword at his hip reveals him as a fighter. Taiki looks relieved to see him but the relief shifts into worry as he seems to let his feelings show.

“Lord Gyousou is okay, isn’t he?” Taiki asked as he ran toward him. “Have you heard anything more about him?”

The man shook his head.

"I sent the shirei. I’m sorry." He looks sorry indeed, as if he had broken his word. "I couldn’t stand by and do nothing."

The man nods and draws forth the sword he wore at his waist in a single motion. Taiki stops in his tracks. He doesn't look scared, he clearly likes the man and has no reason at all to fear him. He merely looks confused.

"What’s going on?" Taiki queries, looking quite worried all of a sudden, looking at the man as if there were something he hadn't quite seen about him before.

"Gyousou is dead," the man said.

It stops Taiki’s retreat in it's tracks, his feet froze in place. "You’re lying..." He said, looking up at the man.

The man brandishes the sword. Taiki gapes at him. Frozen in place, unable to move or even cry out. He stands there like a post.

"Too bad you’ve only got two shirei." The sword glimmers like white ice as it arcs downward. "Your mistake was choosing Gyousou."

Taiki's body seems to twist, he moves by pure instinct and for the quickest moment there is a hint of hooves where feet and hands had been, hair turning into a mane...

The assassin’s sword bites deeply into Taiki’s horn—that he possessed as a unicorn, not as a person. Taiki howls, a pure and visceral reaction. Not from the pain alone, but from the sense of betrayal and the agonising loss of his irreplaceable lord.

The cry of a beast in extremis, its life in the balance. A cry whose intensity knew no equal. Driven by his instinctual will to flee this place, Taiki abruptly melts away.