Muscles ﹠ Monsters TTRPG Federation

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: Space and time rage around us as we slip through the seams between worlds... I open the path before us, and we step back into the world.

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: It is dim, the air is close, rank with manliness both fresh and stale... the place we have come is like the dark cousin of our first destination... smaller, simpler, grittier. We appear to have emerged in an antechamber. Even now, seen through the open door into what I take to be the main arena of this place, two men are locked in battle on the mats before us.

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: No, not battle... I sense no bloodlust, no true violence. Contest, then. And it is fierce, indeed. I know little of such things but both men, sweat drenched and nearly naked, seem quite skilled. There is garb strewn about the mats, from its similarly sweat-soaked state I assume it is theirs, and freshly discarded. They do not seem to have yet noticed us. I sense no one else near us.

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: What I also, inexplicably, do not sense is the taint of The Enemy. My brow furrows... I was certain. The path was clear...

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: "Damnation." Time is slippery, and strange... an ordered direction of events from within... a chaotic maelstrom of possibility and probability from without. "I missed."

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: I hear one of the men from the next room... "Submit, stud." I pay it no mind.

14:46 Vaak-Uhm: "Bronan, I have brought us here too..." I trail off, finding you staring, transfixed, into the next room. "What? What is it? Bronan?"

18:44 Bronan_the_Barbarian: This magic of yours, it does wonders that are beyond mine, as foreign to me as the great machinations of some worlds I have spied through my spirit quests. But I am not ready for this outcome of your magic, no. Is it fate? Why here? Why now? I stare into the next room at the two men and one of them....

18:44 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "What? What is it? Bronan?" you ask, but I raise my right hand up to you, asking for a moment to just take this in.

18:44 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "You fought hard, you're a beast... but it's time to tap," I hear from the man my attention is focused on. I let out an amused grunt, feeling a stirring in my loins and in my chest. That feeling in my chest blooms into a full expression of pride as I see the other man tap, yielding to the victor. I let out a low growl, expressing my pleasure with this. I can tell where this is going though, as I hear that familiar voice move into the next part - the claiming of the tithe owed the victor. But then, I remember myself, why we're here… and a sudden sense of worry replaces the feeling in my chest.

18:44 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My nostrils flare as I sniff the air deeply, searching for that tainted scent in the air. Confusion rises up around me as I detect nothing - nothing but the scent of manhood and sweat, both old and new. I spin to you, my eyes showing clear concern. "Where is The Enemy?"

18:44 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My voice rumbled low as my eyes flared with a fire that you hadn't seen before. Through the pact-bond, you had a taste of my feelings, though. It would be foreign to you, I imagine, but you felt it at least through me: this was the urgency of paternal love showing its fierce, protective head.

19:03 Vaak-Uhm: I look at you quizzically, sensing the odd, territorial feelings leaking through the vow... what... I look around. Surely the barbarian has never been here before? Finally, I answer your question.

19:03 Vaak-Uhm: "I have made an error... navigating time can be difficult, and before I came to your afterlife, I had little practice. I have brought us here too early." I look around again, seeking some hint, some sign... "The Enemy, or its vile avatar, has not yet arrived."

19:03 Vaak-Uhm: I weigh the possibilities in my mind. There is nothing remarkable about this place... indeed, we stand in nearly the same magically ignorant place as we did moments ago, give or take a thousand miles and a few months... it is unreasonable that this place should so matter to you. It must be… "Who are these men, to you?"

19:41 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Not yet arrived?..." My eyes looked back to the room, contemplating. If it hadn't arrived yet... and we are here.... No... A dire force was rumbling up through my being, my fists clenching and forearms showing the readiness to take on the enemy with a feral rending force that I would not be able to muster without such emotion. Yet I cared little that I was showing my emotion. For my powers, emotion could be a powerful amplifier, helping me achieve feats not normally possible. And still I had nowhere to focus this feral paternal force that welled up inside me.

19:41 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "The victor… he is my descendant...." I growled as I watched from here. "If it dares harm Mat....." I didn't need to finish the sentence - you felt my intent through the pact bond, though the sneer my voice rumbled with my words was indication enough. "I'm going...." I snarled in your direction as my large frame set in motion towards the men, my muscles seeming to multiply by the moment.

22:00 Vaak-Uhm: "Wait, we don't-" but it's too late, you're already moving through the doorway. Damnation! Of course, of course you would simply follow your instincts... why concern oneself with causality or paradox? Growling, I follow... there is naught else to do now...

22:30 Mat_Rock: Fuuuccck... looking down at this slab of man... if this stud fucks half as hard as he fights-

22:30 Mat_Rock: Movement, out of the corner of my eye, I glance up... damn, that dude is mass-

22:30 Mat_Rock: I was dying. Bleeding to death, in a cave... but that's not what comes crashing back... the dream... I've never remembered it clearly... mountains... tests... fighting for my right to live.. it was just a dream...

22:30 Mat_Rock: But... but it's him. This guy. This huge, beastly guy... he was there. It comes crashing back, sharper than it's ever been.

22:30 Mat_Rock: I fell through the ice into a frozen over lake, once... it felt like this. The world contracts and spins... In stand up... part of me registers that Aigars is looking up at me, confused as I stand up off him, but I have no attention to spare for him, or anything else. This... this can't be real. It can't be. "Bro... Bronan?"

22:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Mat remembers my name almost immediately and I smile at him. I nod, placing my hands on his shoulders and taking in the sight of him again. Freshly coated in sweat after besting the man who's looking up confused… and might be slowly backing away on all fours while he looks up at the beast of a man that has just appeared. But that matters not to me. What matters is who is in front of me.

22:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I wish we had more time, but.... there is something coming… something that devours. I know no more to tell you right now, but.... take this." I reach behind me and pull the old headband I used to wear from the pouch on the waistband of my loincloth. I wore it when Mat and I first saw each other, what was ages ago for me now on the Eltrian Fields, but for him... for him, I can see the shattered remnants of that experience forming anew in his eyes. I am different from last he saw me, and should we meet again, I will be more different still. But, for now, I need to protect him, and I hope the family heirloom I've now passed to him will do that. Besides, this may be my one chance to give it to him physically and, by all rights, it should be his now.

22:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I can feel the confused gaze of the other man looking up at me, but I spare him none of my attention. I can also feel your frustration burrowing into my being from behind, and I spare little attention to even that. I don't expect you to understand. You forsook connections to others for reasons I may never understand, so I don't expect you to understand why I do what I do. Still...your frustration burrows at me through the pact-bond like you demand my attention.

22:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Stay close… and if you feel anything… changing… Tell me," I say as I look down in Mat's eyes for another moment and then turn back to you. "What is it, Vaak?" I ask with some irritation of my own.

23:18 Vaak-Uhm: I watch your exchange with the youngling... I cannot help myself from appraising him... a fine meal he would make, likely... but far more of my awareness is on the precarious situation unfolding before me.

23:18 Vaak-Uhm: You are a being of instinct, emotion, reaction, and your affection for this mortal is palpable. Surely, it has occurred to you...

23:18 Vaak-Uhm: "The Enemy WILL appear here... within hours, or even minutes. It cannot be stopped, or altered. It has happened, Bronan. It has simply not happened yet. You realize, of course," I say flatly, "that this man could be its vessel.

23:25 Mat_Rock: No. No way. This is... this is impossible. Like... impossible. It's gotta be some kind of prank... except it can't be because I've never talked about that experience, to ANYONE.

23:25 Mat_Rock: The dude... Bronan... feels real. Like, he's physically touching me, so... if this is some kind of dream or hallucination it's VIVID. The parts of my brain that are trained and practiced at observing and recording details under stress are doing their job. I hear… Bronan's... words, I notice he has antlers, now… he hands me this worn strip of cloth, his headband… I notice the emo looking guy who looks like he's about to ask to speak to the manager... I notice Aigars picking up his gi and looking totally confused, I feel you bro... and then just like that my hallucination and his emo buddy are having a sidebar like I'm not even here.

23:25 Mat_Rock: "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" I roar, a little surprised that of all the emotions on deck... awe, confusion, joy, wariness, even fear... the one my brain decides to flip the switch on is outrage.

23:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: As I turn to you and you talk to me as though I don't realize the gravity of what's at hand, that it may be Mat that is about to fall victim to the Enemy... my jaw quivers, but I manage to not bare my teeth at you. I start to say something about your arrogance, your aggrandized self-value, or how the hollowness of your existence may have robbed you of true caring or acknowledgement of others but that I haven't suffered that same fate - but I can't get any of those words out before Mat roars out behind me, drawing my attention away from you.

23:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I turn back to him, hearing the outrage in his voice and I drop to one knee, trying to seem less imposing. And then, I just reach out to Mat, offering my hand. I keep my eyes on his, communicating all through my eyes to him - reminding him of the trust we shared; the journey traveled together; the triumph; the bittersweet end. My eyes seem to plead to him to take my hand. "I'll show you..." I say as I nod towards my hands, my eyes never leaving his.

23:42 Vaak-Uhm: I can see your rage, feel it, realize I've only made matters worse... and, I am nearly certain that you retain hope of somehow saving this man if he is fated to be the vessel... I haven't the time, ironically, to make you understand the nature of time if you know it not already, to bring you to the knowledge that should that be your descendant's fate that he is already beyond all hope of saving... and I am keenly aware there is now some chance that the next few minutes may find us foes...

23:59 Mat_Rock: The big dude, who is getting harder by the second to dismiss as an hallucination even though his being here is FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST... locks eyes with me. He sure seems real, but it's...

23:59 Mat_Rock: I remember it vividly... the tree, the fight with my shadow self, running from monsters, the vision quest, fighting him... impossible, the whole thing.

23:59 Mat_Rock: So, when he says he can show me... I mean, what the fuck Alice, the rabbit hole has gone through the looking glass at this point… I take his hand.

00:20 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel Mat's hand take mine, and though it has been so long since I have felt his touch, I remember it in detail. As we connect physically, I pour a bit of my magic through my hand and into him, channeling the specific memories and experiences I've had related to fighting this entity: Vaak reaching out to me; the fight with TMJ on the beach; traveling here; even my fear that Mat be the one that's taken next. I share it all. If Mat is to be targeted, I want to give him any knowledge I can to protect him. I can feel the fear amplifying as these concepts and battles seem so foreign to his mortal mind, but I hold his hand tighter, urging him to be strong for what's to come.

00:20 Bronan_the_Barbarian: When the magic has taken root, I pull my hands back and watch as Mat's mortal mind processes what I have shared with him. While Mat is busy with that, I turn to look at the unknown man for the briefest moment, regarding him and weighing him. While I don't know the man, part of me hopes it will be him if anyone must be claimed. I will fight for him as well, though - no soul deserves to be swallowed, devoured, destroyed, whatever is done when the Enemy invades. It's then that I turn back to you. I have felt pieces of your thoughts and feelings through our pact-bond, and I know you disagree with me in some parts if not wholly. Since I can't know exactly what you think, I let my own thoughts be known clearly.

00:20 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I know what's at stake. I know the possibilities. And I sense you've resigned these men to a fate that you can't fathom a possibility beyond, because that's what your magic has trained you to think. But I will fight for them - both of them. And if you won't help me do that, then stay out of my way." My words are fierce but true. I don't even bother giving you a chance to respond as I turn back to Mat, unknowing how he might comprehend or cope with what I've shared with him....

00:51 Vaak-Uhm: You turn away, but I am relentless. "I've not resigned to anything, Bronan... hear me; whatever mortal is to become The Enemy's vessel, changing that fate for them would be like trying to stop yesterday's sunrise. It is already in our past, nevermind that it's now also in our future, and it is fixed because it has been observed. I hope it is not this boy, I truly do."

00:51 Vaak-Uhm: I turn to the young mortal. "You, boy..." I felt your casting as you held his hand and, though I could not discern the effect, context seems to make it apparent. "He shared a vision of these things, yes? Should you fall victim to what you now know we face, what do you want Bronan to do?"

00:59 Mat_Rock: The visions flash through my mind, and... I don't even know how to explain it but I know they're true because I know they can't lie... which is insane because everything that's happening, or seems to be happening, should put my ability to discern what's real into serious doubt. But it doesn't... I'm more certain than ever. Which is fucking terrifying and at the risk of sounding immodest, nothing scares me, not for my own sake.

00:59 Mat_Rock: Then emo boy... Vaak, the... Jesus fucking Christ, the WIZARD... is asking me... I know what he's asking me.

00:59 Mat_Rock: "For fuck's sake, Professor Snape, can I have like five minutes with this?!" I run my hands over my face. No. No, you can't, Mat. Sack up, Marine. Freak out later. I look at Bronan's headband in my hands. I look at the... fuck me, the wizard. "If I become the thing he just showed me?" I look at Bronan. "End me. I will not let some monster have my life. I won't be used to hurt people. Fucking kill me." I look back at Vaak. "But if you think I'm not gonna fight with everything I am to stop that, you don't know anything about our family, bro."

00:59 Mat_Rock: "Umm..." a German-accented voice mutters nervously. Oh, fuck, Aigars. I turn to find him watching us nervously. His eyes keep darting between me, Bronan, and Vaak, and past us to the lockerroom door... and I realize he's trying to figure out if it's safe to go. Fuck, he must be freaked.

01:34 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I have a surge of my own emotions as all this transpires so quickly. The first surge is at your question. "What does he want me to do? I already know the answer to this, you fool… and I'll do it. You don't fucking touch him - I'll do it if it comes to that," I growl in my head, my rage firing up again and aiming itself at you more squarely.

01:34 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The second surge is at Mat, my boy, and his response... yes... he understands. I knew he would. I knew he would continue to be the Sword and Shield, up until he dies… and perhaps even beyond that. I say nothing to confirm all Mat says, as those would be wasted words - what I am already speaks this truth, even if you are deaf to it. Even if it means that Mat must die at my hand, I will rise to that calling, but no, I fight to save him from that fate of being devoured if it is at all possible. I will fight til my own undoing for Mat and this other man… who finally speaks.

01:34 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Umm..." I turn to regard him, seeing his eyes dart nervously. I smirk, thinking that it's no wonder one of my progeny beat him. No, he definitely does not have the fortitude for this, but I won't judge him for that. I will still fight for his soul should he be the one. But he must remain here, he cannot leave. I walk over to him, towering over him, still on his knees with clothing of some sort clutched in his hands. "Stay," I command him, glaring down with the authority of ages. I can see that he is still not deterred about leaving. I smile at that, appreciating his show of resilience. But I need his compliance at this moment, so I kneel down, my elbows pointed outward and my width seeming to multiply as I hunch down as close to his eye-level as I can get. "If you try to flee, you will know a thrashing like no other.... And I have fangs, pup." With a toothy grin, I bare my canines to the man, my thick tongue sliding over them as I make my command adamant. Settled that he's as deterred as he will be, I rise back up and face you.

01:34 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Vaak, we are well aware of the reality of the situation. If you could do something useful… such as identifying where The Enemy is going to strike or who it is going to strike… that would prove more helpful." There is one thing that is suddenly clear to you: while I may have a bond with you and feel kindred with you, I have you nowhere near on the same level as my family. Which is somewhat ironic, seeing as though you booned my family through me in ages long past. But still, the truth remains.

07:07 Mat_Rock: Jesus, these guys are friends? It feels like they're headed for a scrap, and I do not want to be around if and when that goes down... something tells me they'd level the place.

07:07 Mat_Rock: So, Mat... magic is real. Your great-great-... who knows how many greats grandfather is a magical barbarian. He has a dickhead wizard buddy. You might turn into a monster any second... but hey, the afterlife is apparently real, and you get a badass one. So there's that.

07:07 Mat_Rock: Keep it together, bro.

07:07 Mat_Rock: I have no idea where to pitch in, and I'm not feeling getting between Snape and grandaddy Conan, so I do the only useful thing I can think of: go check on Aigars. Fuck but this stud is hot. Just looking at him I feel my cock throbbing up in my shorts again. I can hardly wait to roll with this guy aga-

07:07 Mat_Rock: "Bro? Aigars, are you ok?"

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: I suspect the mystic vow between us makes you fully aware of the irritation upon which I hold a fierce grip, but I also appreciate your nature and position and dilemma, I have sympathy, and hope you can feel that too. "Bronan... I wish there were time to educate you about the nature of time and paradox. You have also surely realized, there are four beings here, yes? We two may not be immune. Whatever this process of transformation or possession, we *know* that it will be completed, just as it was with Taboo Muscle Jobber, because we... well, I... could see the wound into the world at this time and place where the Enemy had reached in. That now *must* happen. It *has* happened. I'm sorry, I can't know from our current temporal perspective which of we four, or indeed even perhaps someone else entirely, it will be. But once it begins, whatever and whomever it is, it *will* finish. It is written. It cannot be made otherwise, I'm sorry." My voice becomes harder, determined. "Once we know the victim we cannot waste vital time trying to save them, my friend."

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: And there it is. I feel it. The change. But... "Bro? Aigars are you OK?" your boy asks the other man.

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: My gaze snaps to the two young mortal men across the room... to the one who is not your descendant, and...

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: It isn't The Enemy. Not yet, I feel not the taint... it is as if his lifeforce, his essence, is unceremoniously ripped from him... pulled from the world by whatever spirit or force or deity exists at the other end. THAT is the wound.

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: The Enemy is not a predator. It is a scavenger.

07:30 Vaak-Uhm: And with a flash... with a brief flickering aura of a blue-haloed, black-eyed, amorphously hominid form, gone as soon as it appears... The Enemy is among us.

13:31 Bronan_the_Barbarian: At first, I'm regarding you with a fierceness that is hard to discern what it's even aimed at. But it's aimed solely at your separation, your sequestering, your self-imposed isolation for power. I don't trust you for that fact alone. And yet you shatter that fierceness through a chain reaction with two words: "my friend." The words disarm me and my anger quicker than any spell could. From there, it cuts through the swelling emotions that have been cascading off of me in these moments, and I finally feel you once again through our pact-bond. I had been blind to that connection because of what I had felt for Mat, my protectiveness of my cub. And while you have cut through the swirling emotions, there's a deeper truth that remains still: what must be done… must be done. I start to say something to you, my jaw opening for the words and then I hear… "Bro? Aigars, are you ok?"

13:31 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I see your gaze snap immediately to them and I feel the hair on the back of my neck raise. There it is - the acrid stench of nothingness. And the assault of it doesn't build or emmante from anywhere - it just happens. Immediately. Reality shifts and leaves a void that wants to collapse in on itself, but something prevents that. Being at the epicenter of this rattles my senses profoundly. It's like there's a sickening pull at my very being to the void that I spin to face.

13:31 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The man is… gone.... there is no more man where Aigars once was. There is this… thing.... this shell housing a void that would consume all… and yet it doesn't. My spiritual senses howl and thrash at this rearranging of… reality. Being so close... it.... it PULLS at us all! Especially Mat! Why Mat?! In a flux of emotions and spiritual powers rebelling at this vicious tear in reality, I manage to grab Mat's arm and pull him backwards, pulling my cub away from the void that I can feel pulling at us all. But I can no longer maintain composure as the rupture in reality overcomes my defenses and I collapse on all four feeling like I have been punched in the stomach by a titan: a gutpunch as reality is sundered by some force so powerful I cannot stand against it as it withdraws existence itself. Yet I cast myself between It and those I care about: Mat… and you...

14:18 Mat_Rock: The dude looks... I don't know. Dead. Like, he's standing there looking at me and moving and none of that stops, but... I've seen my share of corpses. As much as any man, I know what dead eyes look like. And for a heartbeat, I'd swear that's how this dude looks. But he's still moving and then seems normal-

14:18 Mat_Rock: But suddenly I'm YANKED back, in a way I haven't felt since I was a little kid and my dad stopped me from running into the street after a ball. Bronan lifts me off my feet, but then moans and drops like he's been sucker punched. And Vaak... a minute ago he seemed like some kind of pasty, posh, emo club kid and now... now he's haloed in darkness that looks like fire and his face is up there with the most savage, merciless expression I've ever seen on a man, and nobody in my life has ever seemed more dangerous.

14:18 Mat_Rock: FUCK. I look back at Aigars... my guts knot and my heart sinks. Man... I didn't even really know the guy. But I'd wanted to. He was hot and could grapple... he seemed cool. And now he was dead, and this monster was wearing his face.

14:18 Mat_Rock: Snarling, I drop the headband, fall into my favorite mma stance, and move in.

14:40 Vaak-Uhm: It was strange... as The Enemy took hold of the man newly... abandoned, I had no better word... the feeling was different. The same absence, the same vile blotting out. But it was... different. And, seeing the event, there was something I'd not perceived before. It was as if the event carried some kind of great, looming potential... as though the effect could spread in that moment like a sickness. I could not fathom the how of your mystical act, as your magic is alien, but I knew the power you wielded even as this event brought you to your knees was meant to shield your descendant and myself. And then… I saw your distant progeny rush towards battle.

14:40 Vaak-Uhm: "Loftis!" I cried, flexing my will, yanking him from his feet and pulling him across the room and depositing him behind us. "YOU FOOL! You can do nothing but die!! Stay out of our way!" And with that I attacked.

14:40 Vaak-Uhm: "Lattixia!" A most taxing and complex spell, one which changed the relationship of the atoms of air in a shell around one's target to fall into a tightly packed, crystalline structure, making a physical barrier. I could not touch the creature with my power, but the world touched by my power could affect it. There was a small clap, as of thunder as, the surrounding air thumped into the small vacuum I'd momentarily created. I had no idea how long it would hold. "Bronan! You must rally, I cannot do this alone!"

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: There is nothing more frightening than watching your young charge into certain death. I had tried to prevent that, yanking Mat by the scruff to safety and then attempting to summon my power to fight against this creature, but...all the power I summoned seemed pulled at that void that was left before us. I understood it, it made complete sense. But I couldn't waste time contemplating that, especially when I saw the movement of feet to my right. My head turned to see Mat wading into battle, I know moving to protect me, but....

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Loftis!" I heard, then the vanishing of Mat's feet towards my flank. "Relief. Thank you." Those seemed to be my feelings going back to you.

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I panted on my hands and knees, trying to keep the void from pulling at the spiritual power I was trying to amass for an attack. You were on the move, though, hurling another spell at the void. As the thunder cracked in the room, I reared my head up towards the enemy to witness your magic take form. I could feel reality shift with your will, rearranging. A crystalline barrier. I panted again in relief, feeling the curling mass of my own powers and being writhe in my stomach like a restless meal eaten whole. "Bronan! You must rally, I cannot do this alone!" I knew you were right - neither of us could stand alone here. Both of us might fall to this one, as its potency seemed of even greater in magnitude, even right at its birth. Time to fight going down its gullet, though, Bronan....

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My hand reached back and drew the knife that you had returned to me. I could feel its power resonate as I drew the weapon for the first time in millennia. I pulled my left leg up and planted that foot, and in a motion, I lunged upwards while at the same time pushing an urgent emotion to you through the pact-bond. There were no words attached to it, but feeling conveyed what I meant for you to do - withdraw, hold, cease, stop - all words with similar feelings.

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: In an instant, and in a testament to your power and control, the crystalline shell enclosing the Enemy did what I needed: they ceased to be. It was not my most graceful move, but it was sufficient. I threw myself upward, catching the Enemy behind the neck with my left hand as my right powered the knife upwards, aiming for where the man Aigars' heart would have been. I knew that there was naught but void in this shell, but the heart is a transcendent thing - if the void were to have a weakness, this would be my best guess as to where it might be.

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The feet of the Enemy left the ground, being carried upwards by my force and momentum, all of which rested on the tip of that knife desperately trying to pierce through the void. I grimaced as it proved difficult to muster my full strength; an ache in my arm from the strain? No... I looked down and saw the Enemy's hand on my right bicep, just laying there… and then another PULL on my spirit! "GAAAWWWRRRUUGHHHH!!!!!!!!"

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: A new thunderclap filled the room, one of a primal beast being struck a crippling blow. My right arm felt like it withered, the knife fumbling out of my fingers' grasp like I had no strength. Battle instincts kicked in and my left arm just pulled down even harder, sending the enemies face to the mat in a THUMP that offered testament to the force I had just expended. The knife fumbled to the ground shortly after. Recovery of the weapon was of utmost importance. My left hand moved quickly to swipe it up as I lunged forward, diving behind the Enemy and flanking it between us. As I spun to face you, you could see the knife brandished in my left hand, now held in a defensive position. But my right arm spasmed and curled upwards as the muscles tightened on their own, knotting up in a roiled mass. My right fingers twitched and grabbed chaotically at the air. Again, instincts prevailed as I looked to Mat.

15:10 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "STAY BACK!!" I howled. My eyes sharply turned to you then, and I nodded, diving back in on the Enemy with the knife aimed with deadly intent.

23:07 Vaak-Uhm: Seeing you pull the Tooth, feeling your unspoken urge, I released the barrier I'd cast around the creature... saw your attack...

23:07 Vaak-Uhm: Curious. While physically powerful, the first avatar of The Enemy had not had such a dramatic effect upon you... is it because it's newly born? Something else? In any event, we have a proven strategy...

23:07 Vaak-Uhm: "I can block the source of its power, but you must fell the beast!" I call to you, and with a huge flex of my will I FORCE my essence between what was Aigars and the wound in reality from which The Enemy seeps into the world, feeding it strength. As before, the pressure is CRUSHING, BRUTAL... I fall to my knees, crying out in pain...

23:07 Vaak-Uhm: The Enemy staggers, turns its inky black eyes upon me, snarls and sprints for me… and just before it reaches me, is swept off its feet by a compact, muscular form.

23:07 Vaak-Uhm: THE FOOL!! It's too late to snatch him away, and my current task is so taxing... I can think of only one course. Risking a brief diversion of my focus and energy, a gamble which nearly causes my barrier to fold, I flex my will upon your descendant. "Enmightis!" It is all I can do.

23:23 Mat_Rock: It's a weird feeling, being picked up and carried by nothing, but then Vaak yells at me to stay out of the way.... and then starts casting magic spells. Yeah, ok... I'll be over here, staying out of the way.

23:23 Mat_Rock: But then... Bronan seems to get fucked up just by BEING TOUCHED by this thing... and now Vaak is dropped... and it's coming for Vaak...

23:23 Mat_Rock: I come in with an iminari roll, hoping whatever this is didn't have Aigars grappling skills. I know from the vision Bronan shared this thing is freaky strong, but strength is less important in heel hooks than timing and precision and at least I'll be able to take it down.

23:23 Mat_Rock: It works, we tumble, Vaak is safe... but this thing is STRONG! Like... I've stepped into scraps with big, big strong dudes, but this is... it just pulls away, turns its attention to me... I hear Vaak shout something… and suddenly, I can feel it. I'm way stronger, and faster... "OOH-RAH!!"

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I hear you call out the battle plan, same as before. I growl in agreement, readying myself to go back to the fray, but then I see you crumple, down on your knees and a cry of pain that I would not have expected so soon in our fight. Perhaps it is not only more potent to me but also to you? There's no time for thoughts, only action.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Which is exactly what Mat thinks as he steps in to intercede the Enemy. I am already on the move as he works his quick fighting style. The enemy is tangled in a weave of legs and subtle yet incredibly effective movements, going down on its back but soon wresting itself free to turn back at Mat. Vaak and I have the same idea in that instant as I feel your eldritch powers flung at and focused on Mat. I'm about to do the same, but I need more time to focus my boon. So I charge at the enemy, Mat chanting out his battlecry, "OOH-RAH!!," as my head lowers and I let out my own battlecry - a savage roar of power that fills the room as my antlers come in pointed at the enemy.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My back and neck muscles prep for the attack, swelling with power much as they did in our last encounter with the enemy. Much as the last time, the enemy is flung by the savage goring, colliding against the wall and landing in a heap with fragments of stone and dust falling from the wall. I let out a triumphant snort at the fallen foe as I turned back to Mat and dropped to a knee.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The Tooth was still in my left hand and it moved to cut my open right palm. My right fingers still spasmed and did so more as the Tooth sliced through the calloused skin. I could see Mat's eyes react to the sight, but I had no time to calm him. I simply started working my boon as my green blood started pooling in my palm.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Blood of my blood, passed through ages yore, awaken true potential, sleep within no more," I chanted as my blood-dripping hand came to Mat's chest, pressing against him and leaving a green handprint. I then willed my power to flow from my chest through my right arm, on through that open wound in my palm to Mat. I could feel the power forcing itself through those cramped muscles, which soothed and returned them to normal as the power flowed.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: As the boon took root, I looked up at Mat's eyes, being grateful for his warrior spirit and the urge to protect. I did not know what powers this boon might awaken in him, as I had chosen not to pass on my beastial powers to my lineage so long ago, but still… blood is blood. It would be for Nature to decide how the boon should take shape. I simply nodded to Mat as we turned to wade back into battle as one, and not a moment too soon as we heard another cry of pain from you.

16:53 Bronan_the_Barbarian: We moved as one, a pack. A blur of speed and ferocity moved across the floor as we closed in on the enemy. Raging punches pummeling the Enemy as it rose to its feet; the Tooth bit with a ferocity charged by my power-letting; knees bashed upwards into the body of the Enemy, pummeling it more into submission. And when I felt it safe to avoid those hands, I moved in and wrapped the enemy in my strength, my arms lacing under his and then my fingers lacing together at his neck. A HOWL of power erupted from me as I SQUEEZED and LIFTED the Enemy, its arms pointed upwards and its torso left completely vulnerable. Your efforts stifled the Enemy's mystical powers while mine controlled its physical powers, leaving Mat every option to bring defeat to the Enemy. I knew this would be draining on us both, but this seemed the most effective way to leverage our advantages. I only hoped Mat could make short work of the Enemy that used to be his friend - could he live up to the same request that his friend would likely have made of him? To end his life should he be taken by such empty forces? I knew the answer already even if Mat did not.

17:35 Mat_Rock: I don't know what Snape did but I could level any fucking man right now. I could kick ol' Johann through the fucking WALL.

17:35 Mat_Rock: But before I can cut loose on... Aigars... whatever he is now... A huge muscled blur slams into him like a charging stag and sends him flying.

17:35 Mat_Rock: And then... Bronan kneels down, cuts his hand, starts to chant... so, Vaak's spell was like, y'know... how movies and videogames make magic look. But this... blood, knives, eye to eye, man to man... like, if magic was gonna be real... which, apparently, it is... this is what I'd always imagined it like... old, alive, primal, more like a religion or a ritual. He puts his hand on my chest...

17:35 Mat_Rock: I don't... I can't... it's like... it's like there are two... two animals, or something, inside me. They're different, and angry... it's like they're attacking each other but somehow being in me makes them work, makes them-

17:35 Mat_Rock: HOLY SHIT, HOLY FUCKING SHIT I'M A GODDAMNED SUPERHERO!!

17:35 Mat_Rock: Bronan and I move together, smoothly, like we've been fighting together our whole lives. It's like the world is moving in slow motion, I'm so fucking fast and precise... he gets after Aigars with that knife, flashes of green light and darkness and Aigars keeps howling... now the huge dude has him nelsoned, holding him wide-open... Vaak is over there, on his knees, hurting from... whatever magic he's doing. Looks like I'm up.

17:35 Mat_Rock: "Brace yourself, Grandad!" I growl, and I'm shocked at how my voice sounds, like some kind of weird reverb... and then I unload on Aigars like he's a heavy bag.

17:35 Mat_Rock: These punches, these kicks... they're so strong each one would shatter a big man's ribs. I can feel how hard Bronan is working to hold the thing as I pound away on it, struggling not to be driven back by my blows... and Aigars...

17:35 Mat_Rock: No snap of bones, no bruises, no blood... but every time a strike lands he howls and there's this flash of... of light some color I don't have a word for, and he looks... I don't know, transparent, except not... attenuated, maybe. But it's like... it's like I'm beating him into non-existence, and he's howling the whole time… until finally, I throw a brutal right cross that sinks INTO his... its... chest, and...

17:35 Mat_Rock: It's like... it's like we're connected, it's like... it's like getting electrocuted except I'm the battery... it's like pain, agony, dying, it's like...

17:35 Mat_Rock: I realize I can hear somebody screaming bloody murder, like the most agonized scream I've ever heard and right before the world goes dark I realize it's me.

17:54 Vaak-Uhm: The pressure from Outside is MONSTROUS, nearly overwhelming... far worse than the first time, and different, though the same, and I cannot say why... but I will not yield I WILL NOT YIELD!! I hold myself there, in the seam at the edge of the universe, at the wound into the world, as The Enemy seeks to pour itself through and feed its avatar. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!

17:54 Vaak-Uhm: I have just enough awareness to sense Bronan working his magic on his progeny... NO, FOOL, MY MAGIC ALREADY OBTAINS, WE ARE INCOMPATIB-

17:54 Vaak-Uhm: I sense it, it is extraordinary... something HAPPENS inside the man... like the very conflict of our powers create something new, volatile... I watch your attack, swift and effective, I can FEEL the vile thing fading, ending... and then...

17:54 Vaak-Uhm: The... thread, the connection of the creature which The Enemy pressures upon me so desperately to reach and rejoin to... that connection turns away from the wound entirely, and joins with the man… and begins to consume him.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel the magic growing, taking deeper root in Mat as we unify our assault and attack as one. I struggle to hold the being as the power ripples through each of Mat's blows, feeling like a cascade of potential realized and exploding out, rippling through reality itself. And above that, I feel your shock and awe through the pact-bond as our powers unify together to create something new...something deeply potent...and I smile a feral grin as I win an unspoken wager between us. But the smile fades as an agonized scream carries above the cascading ripples.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: There is no ritual for what happens. There is no call to power. The power that is, it explodes from me. Emotion creates this power: the love and protection of a forefather to his blood.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My body instantly transforms, shifting from man to the embodiment of the primal power that I am attuned: a hulking bear. Brown fur streaked with white covers my form, which in turn grows taller, thicker still. My human eyes, replaced with blazing emerald fire as my voice calls out in a tongue unknown to even you, sounding as of this world and otherworldly all together.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I speak the words of the storm… I speak the quaking of rending earth… I speak the potential of raging fire… I speak the emotion of torrential rain… above all, I speak the Protection of the Father.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I need not search for the thread this time - it leads into the heart of my howling cub before me. The thread easily grasped in one hand, the Tooth in the other, I unceremoniously sever the thread, cutting it from the world and denying it the existence it should be forbidden from. That is the Protection of the Father. Power of this magnitude has a price… but I do not care.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I push on. Beyond the Protection of the Father, pushing deeper still to the Rage of the Father. The Tooth drops from my hand. Hands Grasp Together. PULLING THE THREAD IN.

18:39 Bronan_the_Barbarian: RAGE. DRAWING. ENEMY. SMITE. BANISH. REND. DEVOUR. RAGE.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: The pressure from Outside actually lessens as the thing that was Aigars turns its seeking thread of power away from its original source and cleaves to Mat instead... the pressure is great upon me, but no longer crippling... I am able to stand.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: This presents a new problem... your progeny has already become a knotted maelstrom of magics I've had no time to unravel and understand... I know not how to save him, which to me is less of a concern for his sake than for yours, and anything I might try could wreak havoc... that strange, volatile power within him... if I could just understand it... why, why did this Aigars turn to Mat as a source to sustain itself when Taboo Muscle Jobber hadn't, or couldn't, attempt such a link with those around him as we fought?

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: I am broken from my thoughts as I feel the SURGE of power in you... unbelievable power, a torrent, a flood.. I've no idea what you cast, there is no structure I can see, no order, no clear process... only wild magic, potential, and a furiously huge INTENT.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: The manifest effect, however, is dramatic and concrete… though I'm well acquainted with the shifting of one's physical form, your transformation is brutal, astonishing… it feels as though you are subsumed by some ancient force…

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: I watch as you do as you had before, on the beach, gripping the thread of The Enemy puppet's existence... but rather than a brutal struggle, the power you now wield and the sharp edge of the Tooth are enough to instantly sever its link to Mat, before I have even the ghost of a chance to cry out about the danger to him, to us, to the world...

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: The boy collapses, his screams ending. The powers in him are quiescent, but loom still... the vestiges of your power, my power, the strange new power they have combined to become, and whatever is was The Enemy's creature latched upon, which as I now try to understand all those dangling threads I realize was none of those powers... it was something else... he is alive, but a nexus of terrible forces waiting to explode and delving him would dangero-

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: "AAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!" I am driven to my hands and knees by a sudden, HUGE pressure on the barrier, pushing in from Outside, but even more strongly PULLING FROM WITHIN.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: I look up, and see... somehow, you have taken the severed end of Aigar's thread of existence, that which connected him first to The Enemy, and then to Mat.. and in some way I cannot understand have aimed it back at wound into the world and, wielding it like a magnet, are using it to pull The Enemy in from Outside.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: "BRONAN!!!! STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! STOP, YOU FOOL!!!" I'm howling, DESPERATELY holding the barrier, the barrier formed of my very essence... and I can tell through our bond that you hear me not, or care not, your focus is singular and from you I can feel only animal rage.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: I try to hold, briefly, against both you and The Enemy... and can tell instantly that I will fail, crushed between hammer and anvil and my long existence will end.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: I withdraw, RIPPING my essence out of the wound... the tattered remains of what was Aigars fades from existence as you grip the dangling end of that thread of power, the connection which runs Outside... to The Enemy itself... and begin to pull it into the world.

07:47 Vaak-Uhm: "BRONAN!!! CEASE THIS MADNESS!!!!" But you hear me not, and I am forced to begin thinking of ways to stop you.

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: RAGE. BANISH. DRAW NEAR. MORE! MOOORRRRREEEEEE!!!!!

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I felt myself be drawn apart from my body, seeing the events unfold from an overhead vantage. I was without form, like during a spirit walk, and I could only observe. I saw my hulking form pull on the thread, tugging at it like it was some umbilical cord that could draw to us whatever was giving birth to these monstrosities. I saw Mat laying on the floor, unmoving save for an occasional twitch. I heard your howl of pain as the initial tug pulled against your barrier, but… I could not feel you.... our pact-bond was absent? How? That should be impossible… but it clearly wasn't... I saw your body recoil then, and I… or the Beast… began to pull on that thread. I had to stop this.

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I pushed at my form, willing my spirit to return to my body to stop this, but that seemed impossible. Whatever Rage I had felt and inadvertently unleashed, there was no stopping it, and that Rage pulled on the thread, tirelessly… but for all the pulling on that thread, for all the energy to draw The Enemy closer… nothing. Nothing. There was nothing there.

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: How was "nothing" giving birth to these creatures? How was that even possible? But I was pulled to face reality again as I heard your voice call out, "BRONAN!!! CEASE THIS MADNESS!!!!"

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "VAAK!!!" I yelled… yet there was no sound. My body was no longer my own, as though I was cast out for some Great Power that demanded something of our Enemy… yet that Great Power held no sway. No change was made, no progress made. Energy spent, rent useless, gone....

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I could feel my spirit grow more weary watching the Beast labor on with no progress. If this Great Power held no sway… was there no point? Was this the end?

12:05 Bronan_the_Barbarian: And then there was something… something new… but it was not discernible. Still, it was enough to help me cast off some of the growing weight on my spirit and to reach anew, this time not to my own body, but instead to you and Mat. I didn't know if I could do anything in my current state, but I had to try!

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: I could attempt to simply kill you. Not a course I would relish… indeed, I was surprised at the depth of regret contemplating such a course brought. But you endangered all of reality, now.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: I could try to feed upon you, sap your power... I could do that, without lasting harm. At least, under normal circumstances. But now... between the present conditions and the recent history of odd interactions of our powers... I could not predict the outcome. Still... I could not simply do nothing.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: And then... a presence. A tiny, flickering vibration... "Bronan?" I could feel your mind, reaching... your mind, divested of your body, no longer in control of your power... your titanic, frightening power.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: Damn you and your primal magics... power this potent should never be allowed to be so... messy. So wilful.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: I feel you there, but find myself no closer to a solution... other than knowing that any attempt to end the life before me is fraught with a lack of clarity... you are not even in control, not even present... would your mind live on? And what had ownership of your body now? Your power, run amok? The Enemy? Mat, somehow? Could it even be killed, and would killing it even stop this?

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: As I thought furiously, I watched the thing that wasn't you pull and pull and pull on that thread... drawing its strange presence, which was absence, into the world... and there was nothing at the other end. No malignant mind, no hateful god... nothing.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: But that is madness... a nothing, with substance enough to reach into the world and make monsters? A nothing which could make such terrible pressures against my barrier? What without substance or life of its own could be so potent?

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: I thought back, to the beach... Taboo Muscle Jobber, seemingly living his life with his friends until our arrival... how he made no attempt to draw upon anyone near to sustain himself... I thought back to that moment, the moment Aigars ceased... was abandoned by... his spirit? His god? I thought back to the moment it latched upon Mat...

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: I gasped. Surely... surely not. But there it was, the unidentifiable thing I'd felt in Mat, squirming amongst the clashing powers... memories. Memories of Aigars, fresh and powerful, and especially those most potent of memories: imagined ones, dreams of the future, never to be realized. Longing.

14:37 Vaak-Uhm: How? How could simple memory lead to these abominations? I still had no answers, and no way to help you... I watched as your power, out of your control, continued to fruitlessly battle to bring The Enemy to us, only to find more, endless nothing.

18:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I pushed with all of my will towards you and Mat, trying to will anything to happen. And I saw the expression on your face and the looking around you as though you had felt something unseen. Of course, I knew what it was - you had felt me, heard me, sensed me - something! But your thoughts almost instantly diverted away. I could see you calculating, pondering, processing the world in such a fashion that was so foreign to me.

18:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: And as I watched you, waves of emotions poured over me. Despair. Hope. Confusion. Resilience. Despair again. Courage. Love. Despair thrice. Again and again, the emotions washed over me, making the invisible chains around my spirit feel heavier and heavier. What was the source of this? And why?

18:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I looked again to the Beast as it labored for naught. Chains heavier again… was this the point? Despair was all there was? No... there was so much more, too. Potential among what was lost, if one just embraced what was left. Was that the lesson? Was that the meaning behind this cascade of emotions that washed over me like the sheets of pelting rain of a summer storm? I didn't even know if it was the answer, but I accepted it. I felt myself sinking into that… "answer"... as I sunk, so too did the Beast, until I found myself on my knees, my own knees, panting and heaving and feeling that cascade of emotions STILL beating on me, beating me into submission to the truth of it all. But what was this truth? It made no sense....

18:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But I felt you again, then, a sense of relief, confusion, and… enlightenment? The pact-bond had once again connected me to you. And from me you felt those pulses of emotion, thrumming like a heartbeat that I wish would stop. Despair. Hope. Courage. Confusion. Despair again. Love. Resilience. Despair thrice.

18:59 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Exhausted beyond words, I tried to move my body, to turn to face Mat… but I couldn't. It was all I could do to stay upright… but even that shouldn't be possible with as exhausted as I am… something else held me from falling on my face, something comforting. "Father?...." I whispered into the ether....but no answer came.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: I stand there, pondering memory, reality, and the looming possibility of having to try to turn my only friend into the former in order to save the latter... when I feel the surging maelstrom of power in your body subside and, as it does, I feel your mind withdraw from its astral reaching and sink back where it belongs.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: So... Aigars is gone, the threat is past, the wound is closed.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: Except, it isn't. Not quite. The tiniest schism, more a scar than a wound, but... potential. Brimming potential.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: As I saw you beginning to recover, to stand, I turned my attention to Mat... he, too, began to stir... the fullness of each of our spells had faded... no longer was he flush with wild magic, but once again, simply a man.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: Except, not quite... again... the barest, quiescent vibration... an echo of magic... mine, yours, the unknown thing they became... and tied to it all, memory. Again, a schism quietly, almost imperceptibly boiling... potential. Brimming potential.

20:12 Vaak-Uhm: My brow furrowed.

20:34 Mat_Rock: "Ooohhhhh... fuck... did... did we win?" I've had my share of hangovers... fuck, the weekend after I passed Special Forces training was practically three solid days of blackout, that's probably my gold standard for hangovers... but this up there.

20:34 Mat_Rock: "Bronan? Sna- um, Vaak?" I sat up, and immediately grabbed hold of my willpower and DEMANDED of my body that I would NOT PUKE... it was close, but I kept my guts down.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The force holding me up began to fade, like a last cascade of hope coming down softly on my being and fading away like the last drops of the storm now spent. I closed my eyes, inhaled and somehow started pushing myself to standing, my legs feeling stronger than I would have imagined them to be. I wavered slightly, but found solid purchase beneath me. I turned to face Mat then, hearing him start to speak. Without even laying eyes on him, I somehow knew he was alright - my cub would live.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: As my eyes turned and found him, they verified what I had felt, though it was clear the battle had taken its toll on him, perhaps because of our magics...or perhaps he was still here because of our magics. I had no idea. I smiled at that, though, turning my head to look at you only to see your brow furrow. You had deduced something with your arcane intellect, but it would have to wait.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I instead turned my attention down to the cub desperately trying to keep his guts from rebelling. I did what came naturally to me and knelt down, placing my hand on him. I offered one word then: "peace."

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The effect was almost instantaneous as I watched Mat's face soften and the struggle of his innards subsided. I offered him a soft smile at first, but the smile grew as my pride could not be hidden. I moved in for the embrace then, wrapping my arms around my progeny and nuzzling my beard into his jaw. Relief. Hope. Peace. I felt them all...and also a growing consternation, but that was not my own.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I knew that was yours, but I just wanted you to hold, to wait, just for a moment - it had been eons since the last time I saw my cub, the only one of all my progeny I had managed to ever reconnect with. Surely there were others, but in many ways, Mat was the only one to me. "Please just let me have this moment, Vaak," I asked in my head, knowing you could not hear, but it did not stop the thought or the pleading.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I pulled back from my embrace with Mat, putting my hands on his shoulders. "You did well. No..." I paused, my smile beaming more. "You were...." The words couldn't come to my mouth. There were no words to give rise to this feeling. For me, words had so little to offer for some things, and this was one of those moments; I had no words to truly speak my feelings.

20:56 Bronan_the_Barbarian: And so I invoked one of the oldest and simplest magics: the love and pride of a father. I stared in his eyes, nodded, and then brought my clenched fist to my chest with a solid thump. Then, always keeping eye contact, I moved that hand to Mat's chest, tapping two of my fingers to his chest. I swallowed hard as I felt my eyes water for the first time in an age. I had no words...but I didn't need them.

22:57 Mat_Rock: I don't know what the big guy did but... fuck it, Mat. Magical hangover cure. Go with it... it's the least insane thing that's happened today.

22:57 Mat_Rock: I look up at Bronan, my who knows how many times removed great grandfather... the first time I met him, when I... died... I had the hots for him. I mean, he's still one of the hottest, most manly guys I've ever met, but now... I don't know. There's a sense of family. I can't help it, I laugh as this huge dude gets choked up. I return his salute, it feels like the thing to do.

22:57 Mat_Rock: "You were pretty awesome too, Bro. Hah, 'bro'! I just got that!" I grin at your look of confusion. "Nevermind. I'm proud to carry your blood."

22:57 Mat_Rock: "Y'know... I've thought that time with you was just some fever dream, but... it was real. All of it." I look off into no particular distance. "I guess it's nice to know, I have that place... have you, waiting for me. I mean, I can't say I'm looking forward to dying, but..." The warm feeling in my chest gets achy. "This is the part where you can't stay, right? I mean, you're dead, you've been dead for, what... a thousand years? More?" I laugh again. "Man, I wish we had more time."

23:10 Vaak-Uhm: I watch you, speaking to your distant progeny... I try, desperately, to think of any other solution, but there simply isn't one. I guard my thoughts carefully... thankfully, I have no feelings of my own about the matter... my concerns, even for you, are intellectual enough, it is not hard to keep them from leaking down our strange bond. For, as I know and regret, that it must be done... I also know you will not take kindly to it.

23:10 Vaak-Uhm: But the dangers... to the world, to time, even to Mat himself... it fixes them all.

23:10 Vaak-Uhm: I am trying to give you privacy for these last precious moments, but I overhear young Mat... "Indeed, young one. We must soon be on our way."

00:21 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I watch as Mat returns the gesture to me, smiling as he does. Then he offers his words, and while they confuse me, I do offer a chuckle and rise to stand again. As Mat says he wishes we had more time, I smile wider - being close to him will come again… there is much to teach him after all… much to show. I smile wider as I slap him on the back, the paternal feelings mixing with something more.

00:21 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I hear you speak then, offering "we must soon be on our way." I nod down at Mat as you say that, and offer, "time will bring us together again. It seems fated. After all… you know the way." I nod to you then, knowing that you are the sole one that can take us to our next destination. Part of me wants to suggest that Mat go with us, to continue fighting, but I know doing so only puts him in jeopardy. Our paths must part here, and one day, when he does find his way to the Eltrian Fields, then he may grow in power suitable to journey with us.

00:21 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Odd… "Us?" I had never given thought to that. Would I continue traveling with you once this was all done? Maybe. It was then that a feeling of kinship sparked along our bond as I looked at you and wondered what that might look like. It would be nice to have an equal again...

06:26 Mat_Rock: "Well, guys... it's been… unreal." I look up... way up... at Bronan. "I love you, man." Weirdly, for a guy who I've met only twice and almost died each time, it's totally true. I love this big guy, like a... father? Big brother? Sex bro? All that? "See you on the other side."

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: I feel the warm kinship flowing from you, and as much as I am capable of such things, I feel heartbroken. Still, I tamp it down. I cannot risk you stopping me... especially not interrupting me, that would be deeply dangerous for the boy. And that is exactly the kind of thing you'd do.

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: Mat steps back from us... I take your hand, as before, and open the portal...

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: I'd thought furiously about this for the past several minutes. What could disentangle all the knotted memories and vestigial magic within the boy? It would need to be simple, and swift. The spell I'd been holding in quiet potential for minutes coalesces into reality as I flex my will.

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: "MEMORALTUS!! FORGET ALL YOU HAVE SEEN OF US AND MAGIC!!"

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: Even as he collapses into unconsciousness from the power of the spell, I can see it has worked... all the memories tied to our powers gone, all he knows of magic, Aigars, me, the afterlife, and you... gone. And with those unraveling memories goes the strange new magic within him, dissipating, taking with it the last of our powers. The schism, the scar, both in Mat and in the world, closes up and is gone. He is alive and well, and will live out his days knowing nothing of the deeper realities of the world… safe from The Enemy.

07:19 Vaak-Uhm: I snap the portal closed around us, and we emerge in a rugged expanse of rocky desert.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: We say our goodbyes and I take in the scene, etching this moment into my memory as well as I can. I feel your hand take mine and your arcane energies swirl and bend reality again.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But then, you do something that I don't suspect - you hurl a second spell at Mat, and I see him collapse as my mind comprehends what you have spoken. And inside ME, I feel a ripping, a pulling, a severing. Before I can react, though, we are through your portal, coming through to a land of arid heat, but the moon is rising to the east. As we come though, I care little for where we are, though.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My free hand slams into my chest as I claw at my own skin, feeling something being torn… ripped... I fall to my knees, landing on the stones still warm from the day's sun. My eyes widen as I feel what you have done. The magic of the shaman is to feel connections, and those connections are sometimes one-way paths. But with Mat, there was a two-way path of connection - he and I were bonded by blood, experience, memory. It's the latter two that form the two-way path… but they are no longer two ways. It's Mat's connection of experience and memory to me that I feel severed.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: As my spirit and mind comprehend what you've done, the reaction moves to my body. My arms shake and my breathing escalates. And as I feel you behind me, watching as you do, I do what I do: react.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "RRRRAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" I HOWL in ANGUISHED FURY as the moon rises to bear witness. I spin quickly and my left hand finds your throat, easily lifting you from the ground and then throwing a wild barrage of punches with my right into your stomach. My howl and the sounds of the slams shatter the silence of this land, echoing the shattering in my heart and spirit as you deprive me of one of the only two-way connections I have. There's a pouring of emotion along our bond as my body responds through this physical violence. Grief. Anguish. Loneliness.

13:08 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel for my own pain right now, but it isn't long until I feel towards you, too. And as my emotions direct themselves at you, my attacks change, becoming less reactive and more pointedly destructive. It's then that I SLAM your body down into the rocky terrain and continue slamming those punches into your abs. But you no longer flail in the air at my punches. You are truly on the anvil and being pounded by the hammer now....

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: I see your reaction, your grief... as expected. It is regrettable. As you stand, I step forward. "Bronan, I'm sor-"

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: Your speed is SHOCKING, given your size... your terrible strength is not. Your grip CRUSHES upon my throat, unceremoniously denying me both breath and voice... and then pain erupts from my core as you begin to pummel me.

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: Neither pain, nor my body which feels it, means for me what it does for mortal men... but neither are they without meaning. I can be harmed... killed, even. And if ever there were a being capable of destroying me, it is you.

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: I clutch at your grip, my two hands prying at your one in utter futility. I know so many spells... and the bulk require a word of power, a focus... even many which would seem to affect my own being must, for one reason or another, have an external focus to cast. Denied my voice, my options are severely limited...

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: I try to scream in pain as I am SMASHED upon the stony earth, but I cannot... I'm beginning to see spots, darkness encroaching my vision... and then...

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: AGONY. Visceral, physical agony as I've not felt in nearly two thousand years explodes across me as you begin HAMMERING me against the ground with your fist. I also feel FEAR, cold and wretched, rearing up to push my own mortality before me in a way even facing The Enemy's vile minions did not, so abrupt is this assault. But in all this, the most potent emotion in me... is RAGE. Rage, hot and unbridled.

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: How DARE you handle me in this fashion?! How DARE you turn your tantrum loose on ME?!

14:15 Vaak-Uhm: My hands come between us, palms facing your chest, and a blast of darkness, like black fire, ERUPTS and BLASTS into you!

14:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: The earth holds solid as my altar to pound you upon, my grief, anguish, and loneliness becoming blunt rage as I continue. I can feel the loop of rage cycling between us. I can even feel flashes of your disgust that someone treat YOU this way. My eyes spark with that emerald fire again as I feel the audacity of you to be so self-aggrandizing AGAIN. The cycle of rage escalates even further upward until a ROAR of dark flames sings in the air, and I ROAR back in a dissonant call of pain.

14:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I can feel those black flames BLAST upon my chest, jetting out and fueled by your hot rage. More than at my skin, I feel the burn at my soul, those dark flames seeking to consume that which powers me: my spirit. My eyes flash even more brilliant, becoming two motes of dancing green fire in the sea of black flames that erupt into the sky. Then, a new emotion rages through that bond: Betrayal.

14:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Is this it? Has all this been turned so desperately on its head that you would TURN… on ME?! I snarl at the thought even as I howl from the soul-singeing fires that you pour out through sheer will. Fine, mage... you wanted to feast on my essence so long ago. Time to give you a true taste of it now… and all that comes with it.

14:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My right hand pulls up high above us as my left keeps you pinned to the earth, and suddenly there's a third blaze of emerald fire, engulfing that raised fist. That fist comes down, aimed right at your sternum, and right before impact, my hand opens, letting my palm SLAM on your core. But the slam of my palm isn't the potent part here. It's the slamming of something else - my life fire.

14:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I POUR and PUSH my life fire INTO your core, like I'm shoving a meal… no… a drenching spout of ALL the energy I am connected to, directing it ALL down your spiritual throat. I can feel your essence GUZZLING my life fire, poured into you like a stream of emerald potential. I feel your HUNGER, primal and dark, cascade along our pact bond, and I HOWL again, pouring even MORE into you. I will show you what I am now, spirit of Hunger, spirit of Entropy. And you WILL FEEL the harrowing loss I feel. Even if it burns my soul away… you will FEEL, Vaak-Uhm....

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: My fury SURGES as you withstand the blast, unmoving even in your pain... pain which I feel flowing along the bond between us, the bond resonant with our rage...

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: Even as I plan my next attack, you strike... and I am INVADED... deeply, penetratingly... energy forced into my very being...

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: I SNARL. Who do you think you're DEALING WITH, boy?! I AM HUNGER ITSELF!! You think to force yourself upon me?! You think to choke ME?! I SHALL FUCKING DEVOUR YOU!!!

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: There is no sensual transformation, this time, no escalation of contact... I grip the leading edge of the lifeforce your thrust upon me and RIP the conduit open wide... my form FLASHES in a violent, instantaneous maelstrom of writhing, storming Darkness, and even as my form is solidifying into the familiar mass of dark tentacles, they are already invading your body!!

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: Small sucking ends latch to your nips, pits, feet, hands, abs, balls... thick, plunging, fucking, cock-ended tentacles pound into your throat and ass... your cock is ENGULFED in a thick tentacle mouth, SUCKLING, and a tendril plunges from it, INTO your cock, down into your very balls, fucking your cock, RAPING YOUR MANHOOD...

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: Your torrent of primal life collides with my endless hunger and the lonely desert valley explodes into a blinding, violent light, equal parts green and black… and then...

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: I stand upon an empty plane, a formless void... and there you are... standing...

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: I realize... we still battle... distantly, I can feel the agony and ecstacy of my body as we are locked in battle... this, this is the space of our connected minds.

15:46 Vaak-Uhm: "You are a CHILD, barbarian," I say, my voice... my thoughts... dripping with contempt.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel you react to the spout I force into you and you reach into the torrent of life fire to open it wider still. The physical world reacts to the instantaneous release of your form, the altar I laid you upon, the rocky earth itself, CRACKS and RENDS. I again feel your advance, those tentacles invading my body at every point of entry and latching on to every bit of exposed skin. More tentacles still wrap up around my antlers and pull at my head...but I do not relent. I do not yield....

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I know your form, and I remember it well. But you do not know mine - you likely can't even comprehend the source of my power. And not the Beast that recently invaded me… no… that was not my power. It's time to show you... like those long ages ago, you fuck into my cock with your writhing darkness, going down deeper to the root of my manhood, and I THRUST upon you again, just like all those ages ago. SNARLING in contempt as the life fire burns brighter in my eyes, I show you I am NOT afraid of your pain or hunger or emptiness. It's as I THRUST upon you again that that we meld and connect as one - there is no barrier between our beings as we both equally invade each other.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I find myself standing in a lush forest, standing paces away from you as the barrier between us is mutually pierced. You chide me then, calling me a child. My laugh ripples through the mind space we are locked in together then, your inflated sense of self amusing me even as it infuriates me all anew.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Oh… you may be much older, Vaak-Uhm... you may be smarter… you may think yourself BEYOND what I feel, what others feel… and most of you is… " I say as a wild smile starts curling under my beard. "But your Master… and my Master... they are boundless. Your Hunger cannot exist without my Life," I growl deeper as I walk towards you in the forest-scape of my mind.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: As we get closer on this plane, I see how my forest-scape fades to the nothingness of formless void while you can see my forest-scape coming into view. All barriers between us fading and the only ones left to remain are the individuality we cling to. But as I see your empty voidscape, I let out another chiding laugh… realizing just how empty every part of you is.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "HAH! So empty, dark mage… tell me… is THAT the reason you asked for my help?" I growl as my tongue dances over my teeth. "Because you knew your nothingness compared NAUGHT to the Emptiness of our Enemy? How humbling to ask a barbarian… a CHILD… for help..."

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My eyes have twisted, gone wild with the power I channel and the pain of our forces fighting at one another. But I stand still in our mindscape as I reach wider with my powers, tapping into all of the connections I have ever made, every thread that connects to ME. And as I tap those threads… I wait… and as I wait, the pain and feral madness in my eyes grow ever higher as I laugh and stare at you.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Drink..." I say as I drop to my knees. "Feast..." I implore as my arms spread wide.

17:12 Bronan_the_Barbarian: And there I am - an offering before you, beckoning your ego with wild eyes filled with pain… and something else that is so foreign to you...

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: Our physical forms still exist... they must, for still we exist, and whatever else we are we are still dependent upon them in this realm. But there's no difference, now, between us... a seething mass of matter and energy, entwined in sensuous, furious violence. All in the valley within a hundred yards of us is aflame, the light cast for miles...

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: In our minds, I watch you kneel there, feeling my distant body suckle greedily, drinking and drinking the ocean of you even as more power feeds in... no, NO! I can feel the rising tide of my feelings, emotion of intensity not felt in ages... but I AM IN CONTROL!

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: "Do you EVER think to question before you act, boy? Or are you nothing but instinct and impulse? Do you actually think I took that child's memories from him SIMPLY TO HURT YOU?!" No, NO, I WILL CONTROL MYSELF.

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: "He was a RISK, Bronan... to himself, to the world around him... yes, even to his future with you!! We would have left him RIPE to become a puppet of The Enemy, and that is even before considering that HE WAS NOT MEANT TO HAVE MAGIC... no context, no guide, he would not have belonged in his own world!! Yes, he forgot you... but now, after his paltry span of life, an eyeblink for you, he will find you again! I have SAVED your precious little family!" I WILL CONTROL MYSELF!!

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: But my rage at you for being such a fool, and my rage at myself for having hurt you, will not be denied in the face of the primal power which pours into me from your infinite well.

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: "DO YOU KNOW WHY I STRUCK HIS MEMORIES WITHOUT WARNING?!" I'm roaring now... distantly, I can feel the valley floor turning to glass around us. "It's because I KNEW you would lash out from your feelings in an impotent, childish, stupid belief that you could somehow change the inevitable!! You didn't even bother to ASK ME A QUESTION before attacking me!! YOU ARE A CHILD, HAVING HIS TANTRUM!!" I WILL CONTROL MYSELF!!!

17:39 Vaak-Uhm: "I SOUGHT YOUR HELP BECAUSE YOU DID NOT FEAR ME, BECAUSE YOU'RE POWERFUL, BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY PEER!!"

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My wild
eyes stare at you, FEELING your words cut into me as the wellspring of my power pours down into you like a hole at the bottom of the ocean, a hole that grows wider by the minute. Your thoughts pound my mind like the fire you hurl at my body all while my spirit reaches ever outward, creeping further and further like spreading roots, spreading more so than I have ever dared before. But I do not break as that black fire scars my body and soul; I do not break as parts of your words beat on me more violently than others.

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Do you actually think I took that child's memories from him SIMPLY TO HURT YOU?!"

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Yes, he forgot you... but now, after his paltry span of life, an eyeblink for you, he will find you again! I have SAVED your precious little family!"

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "You didn't even bother to ASK ME A QUESTION before attacking me!! YOU ARE A CHILD, HAVING HIS TANTRUM!!"

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My reach has spanned far by now, my chest heaving as my feral grin turns down in a mixture of pain, colossal strain, and deeper anguish while those wild eyes cloud ever more with a storm of emotions that cannot be described in paltry words. My body calls to my mind, howling in agony, feeling as the Oak being consumed a roaring forest Fire. My spirit calls to my mind, howling in anguish, not just for my pain, but for the pain of all that I am connected to in this moment.

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: It's then that my reach into the web of connections reaches its limits - I can go no further. All beings have their limits, and I am at mine. As far as I am taxed, I don't have the will of mind to form words with you, not even here in this place of infinite potential. I only have those wild, instinctual emotions, and they ricochet inside me, reverberating from the many I am connected to, to the threads of thousands, all woven together in trinity to my body, my spirit, and my mind. I take the potential of that storm and again invoke one of the most primal magics: emotion. But I don't direct it to the embodiment of Darkness before me. I reach to something deeper, something forgotten, buried, or otherwise cast off in the Darkness; something that draws out your fear and contempt and rage far more than I do; something I feel pulsing along our pact-bond and is the ONE anchor I have left right now; something that I must reach in this storm, else my existence will be consumed in black fire.

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I reach to that part of YOU that can feel. I reach to it as I master the storm inside of me, just for a brief moment - that swirling maelstrom in my eyes coming to two perfect swirling orbs. I am there, in the eye of the storm I have contained within me… and I reach out my hand as you unleash your last verbal barrage.

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I SOUGHT YOUR HELP BECAUSE YOU DID NOT FEAR ME, BECAUSE YOU'RE POWERFUL, BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY PEER!!"

20:52 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I have no words. I have only the occasional pulse of pleading along our pact-bond, pleading for you to take my hand. But this is not a one-way plea, Vaak-Uhm. As with the most potent connections, I plead for myself… and for you.

21:26 Vaak-Uhm: I cannot... I cannot bear these feelings... I DO NOT WANT THESE FEELINGS, I MUST CONTROL MYSELF!!

21:26 Vaak-Uhm: Rage, yes... mine, and yours... and ANGUISH... yours, for a terrible loss... mine, for having inflicted it.

21:26 Vaak-Uhm: It was the correct choice, IT WAS, IT WAS THE CORRECT CHOICE!! IT IS NOT FAIR THAT I MUST BEAR THIS RESPONSIBILITY OF PAIN... I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS!!

21:26 Vaak-Uhm: I am a maelstrom... drunk on your power, filled to bursting and still you flow... never have I felt so POWERFUL… and so fragile. So tired.

21:26 Vaak-Uhm: "I am sorry, my friend," I say as I take your hand.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I can see the burden you bear as you look down at me. And I feel your fragility… your tired ache beyond your body - it seeps into every bit of your being. I know that ache.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I am sorry, my friend," I hear echo between us. Another spark of primal magic: friendship.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: You take my hand, and the storm breaks. All those emotions of mine, all the pain and anguish of my years, all a torrent that releases like the popping of a bubble. And you have my answers then as I share my soul with you.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I didn't think you did it to hurt me… and not to hurt him. But hurt is still hurt."

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: More pours from me to you. "He may not find me again, Vaak. Don't lie to me. He may not. I may forever be alone. I may forever..."

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My voice breaks as I can't bear to say it a second time. And there you feel one of the vast differences between you and I - I don't cut myself off from my loneliness, my loneliness felt in abundance. I accept it and feel it everyday. But just because there is hurt doesn't mean it's wrong. Just because it's right doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Still more....

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Ask you? How could I? How could I ask when my heart was ripped out with no warning? How?" My head falls against you then as I slump, the fragility mounting on me like a mountain of grief on my shoulders. And yet more...

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I know I can't change some things, Vaak... I've witnessed so many struggle against things they couldn't stop. Entire civilizations… they died… some through their own hands, some through the course of Nature. Entire worlds... so many threads… charred from existence as Nature does as it will. And yet..."

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I pause there, saving that thought as I slump even more into you, becoming almost limp.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I came with you… because... because I wanted… to help, yes… but also… to be not alone. So… much… loneliness… losing my family as a boy… and then losing my family again now…"

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Our bodies still clash in the desert, that mixing of black and green energies still colliding, still burning the landscape to glass. This is my altar of grief. My altar of loneliness.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But something else remains and I squeeze your hand tight in that mindscape, fighting the urge of lifeless limpness, pushing my other arm around you, clinging to you like a rock in this storm. And finally, I come back to that thought I saved.

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I know it's futile… to resist… sometimes. But… to live… is to resist. To not… willingly… go down… the gullet… of that which… devours. I'm so tired… Vaak… so… tired…"

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "But… I am… no boy. I am… no child… I will never fear you… I am… your yang… you, my yin. Such… boundless… potential… together."

22:37 Bronan_the_Barbarian: In all those shared existences, I finally yield to my emotions. I grieve. I howl in utter anguish against all your forms. I feel wholly the pain of what was taken. I do not deny what is felt. I slump more against you, wailing as a banshee against you, wailing in that storm of us. But I do not break….

23:24 Vaak-Uhm: I am not given to the consolation of others by my nature... even ages ago, in the time of my human existence, I was reserved. Distant. Cold. It was not a hard thing, to trade my humanity for power. I thought it gone, my humanity, turned to dust ages past.

23:24 Vaak-Uhm: Yet, here I stand in the midst of it, finding it fanned to flames again by this barbarian... and I attempt to offer comfort for the hurts I have caused, even as I seek to manage my own grief... flames... something...

23:24 Vaak-Uhm: With a shock, my mind returns to my body, and to the precipice to which we have brought ourselves... the valley around us is scorched, melted bedrock, our bodies and power knotted as they strive to subsume one another. I begin to extricate myself, to find quiescence, to heal. I try to urge you to the same.

23:24 Vaak-Uhm: A few moments more and we are again separate beings, standing in the midst of the terrible devastation our pain and anger wrought...

12:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I can feel more emotions rise within you, more than rage, more than anguish. You stepped into the eye of that storm with me - you accepted something from me so opposite of who you are. It only reinforces that idea to me that you are my Yin. And like the popping of another bubble, my mind returns to my body and that torrent of emotions dissipates with the bubble. I breathe a sigh of relief as those emotions have been felt and acknowledged.

12:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel you withdraw your form from me then, feeling a sigh of relief from you as well as those emotions dispel. You push that urge to withdraw from you, a push for a moment of silence and healing. Your tentacled form pulls back from my body, releasing and withdrawing… but that is in opposition of your nature... that swallowing hole at the bottom of the ocean starts to close… another gift you give me. I am more to you than just a font of power.

12:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I knew that… but now you tell me that in your actions. You could keep feeding, feeding until the infinite ocean might drain eventually in the furthest recesses of infinite time… but you don't. It's then that I realize I may never have you this close to me ever again… and I don't want to rush into loneliness again.

12:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But I also know your nature… and you may have had your fill of being this close to me, closer than you may have ever wanted to be to anyone. That is your choice, and it is not any more right or wrong than my choice to foster connection. Two paths and neither "right" nor "wrong." In all honesty, you have already given me a great gift by simply standing in that storm with me, so if it ends now...I will still be grateful. But I push one last time....

12:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Stay?" I ask, my voice already echoing a deep apology I feel… and a deep thanks. If you do stay, I'm unsure what form you may stay as. But I don't care - you are you, and it's simply you that I want right now.

13:15 Vaak-Uhm: As the storm of us recedes, I read the undercurrent of your request. I am a being of powerful, and voracious, sexual appetite... it is, in many ways, my entire being. But I am also Hunger... hunger for male aggression, strength, power, muscle, seed... and my sexual appetite has for centuries been one and the same as my hunger. Sex is feeding. Feeding is sex. Yet I still have... dim... memories of coupling. Of a shared, human experience.

13:15 Vaak-Uhm: My human form coalesces, kneeling before you in the smoking, blasted landscape we have wrought. I reach out, gripping your thick, massive cock in one hand and your heavy balls in the other, and give you a wicked, predatory grin… I am still ME, after all.

16:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I watch your human form appear amidst the smoke that still rises up. There's a smell of the storm still in the air, a literal charge still in the air. And then you reach out and grab my cock in one hand, my balls in the other. A feral grunt rumbles up from my gut and out my mouth. I return a feral grin of my own, for this is one hunger you and I definitely share.

16:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: It isn't long until my hands reach down to your waist, gripping you tight on each side, and I invert you in the air, swinging your feet over your head with my strength. I moan out as you keep your firm grip on my cock and balls, the stream of my fluids already starting to leak from my excited cock. Your back finds itself on my chest and my arms wrapped around you in that inverted bearhug. And I start to feast on your ass as your legs wrap down over my shoulders. I'm never more thankful for your magics as I am in that moment as your pants disappear in wisps of darkness - the barrier between me and my meal gone as I dive in, feasting.

16:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: And as my beard grinds and my tongue drives into your flesh, two thoughts keep coming to mind: I can never break, no matter what… and I'm not as alone as I fear...

16:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But those thoughts are soon gone as my cock reaches full hardness and you keep tugging on it forcefully. You are a force in all forms, Vaak… and I savor them all....

16:42 Vaak-Uhm: My human form has never lacked sensation entirely... I have felt pain and pleasure alike, even after coming onto my current existence. But they are pale shadows of the dim memories of my human existence, and even less compared to the sensations of a robust feeding. But now...

16:42 Vaak-Uhm:Now, my body is ALIVE with sensations, with pleasure and stimulations so potent they are nearly unbearable... and I FEEL.

16:42 Vaak-Uhm: My cock throbs and pumps precum as you manhandle me into position... but of course, strength and manly power have aroused me since my conception. I tilt my head back, mouth seeking your hot, thickly veined cock... I swallow you GREEDILY.

18:03 Bronan_the_Barbarian: There's a shock that runs along our pact-bond as I devour you. Before, it's been a trickle of things I might feel from you, much less than others whom I've made such a bond with. But now… now you actually FEEL… And I feel what you feel.... It actually feels like a true two-way connection with you now....

18:03 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My cock JUMPS as I feel your emotions and the reactions to your sensations, and that thick cock jumping right to your hungry mouth as you engulf me. My hips immediately start moving, thrusting back and forth out of your mouth, opening your mouth wider. I can feel the strain in your mouth as you try to accommodate my girth, and a surge of… unexpected… anxiety? Surprise? The feeling so new for you that it's hard for me to discern what it is as it sparks along our connection. It all sparks a thought that makes my cock thicken more as I feast more ravenously on your hole.

18:03 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My tongue changes technique then, making a slow drilling movement clockwise along your hole in slow, probing movements. My groans rumble into your flesh to those sensitive parts, sending vibrations of pleasure through you. My left hand gently strums your right nipple as I begin stroking your human cock with my right hand. I constantly read those sensations along our bond and constantly adjust to what you feel. My goal is simple: to provide nothing but pure ecstasy to you. And now that you share more potently along our pact-bond, I have so much more to go off of now… oh, Vaak.... This is going to be a delicious meal.....

19:11 Vaak-Uhm: I relax into your ministrations, sinking into the potent and unexpected pleasures of the flesh.

19:11 Vaak-Uhm: The sensations as you work my hole and my cock are raging, tumultuous, and I urge you deeper, deeper... I give you a clear image... your flesh, invading mine, for a change...

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I feel you pour back along the bond in a new way. No longer a conduit for emotions, but for true sharing. I hear you in my mind, as clear as I hear my own thoughts, and I know it's you.

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Since the day I met you, I have always been drawn to you. Never afraid of you… though I often thought I should be. But you... I'm drawn to you... Like a moth to a dangerous flame...

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I pull my hungry mouth out of your hole then, my hands working to turn you upright and also to face me. My great body manipulates your frame with ease, your hands gliding over my body as I hold you and turn you. I can feel your eroticism at this show of strength, the masculine power I possess. You being so enthralled at my manhood only makes my cock thicken with more excitement, especially as your face comes into view. I keep my eyes locked on yours, watching your face and focusing on our bond with all I can muster… as my cock presses up between your legs to your hole, dripping with my saliva.

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I have never had a bond like this with anyone… and suspect I won't have one like it again. You have changed me, too... I can be more than the beast… more than I am connected to.

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My cock pushes into your hole then, your jaw dropping only an instant before mine does, too. My flesh is invading you this time, that's true, but it's more than that. The pleasure we both feel is amplified even more as you feel my pleasure - the pleasure of my cock pushing into you and the tightness of you squeezing it. I also feel your pleasure - the pleasure of your hole stretching open to accommodate my girth and the pleasing pressure it creates inside you.

20:00 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Godsssss....." I groan out as the pleasure spikes in a two-fold way.

22:59 Vaak-Uhm: I ride you, as you hold me there, using thy strength of my own limbs to work in your rhythm until it is a pounding, aggressive fuck... our sensations are a closed loop, building... building… my hunger tries to rear, but I set it aside... not this time...

22:59 Vaak-Uhm: It is not long before my balls boil, building to a gasping climax, so close...

23:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: My body responds the same, my hips thrusting up harder and pushing my cock deeper as I am on my knees in this beast rut. It's one of the most primal fucks I've ever had, and yet it's compounded... the loop... I feel myself fucking into you two fold...

23:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: I grip your hips powering you up and down on me, panting, sweat pouring down... and then I curl down, driving my tongue in your mouth as our chests grind.

23:27 Bronan_the_Barbarian: Cannot hold... balls tighten... feeling yours, too... synchronous... looping... My voice rumbles in my chest as my balls erupt in a flow of seed, pumping into you as my rumble mixes with grunts and gasps around your mouth... nut still the loop of intense pleasure cycles between us, drawing more gasps and seed still....

07:04 Vaak-Uhm: I feel your building moment, as you feel mine, of course... the connection between us resonating powerfully...

07:04 Vaak-Uhm: As your seed pumps, hammers into me, mine erupts from my cock and covers us, coating our chests, shoulders, faces... and still the link resonates...

07:04 Vaak-Uhm: I cannot help myself; I open the conduit, absorbing the energy of your seed being pumped unto my body... it would simply go to waste, elsewise... but I control myself, not drinking you, not pulling.

07:04 Vaak-Uhm: Control, control... always control... I focus on the link, on my feelings... calming myself, ending my contribution to the runaway feedback between us...

07:04 Vaak-Uhm: After a few moments, I lift myself off of you, releasing the kiss. "Well, that was... intense. Thank you, my friend."

08:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: You reach that same fever pitch with me and it's like I can't pull you close enough or deep enough on my cock. Your seed shooting up between us, hitting my chest and under my chin with force. I'm impressed with the force, making it all the way through my thick beard....

08:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: But then you summon that control again, and the cycle slows. Of course, my nature would be to let it dissipate naturally, letting us come down to our normal states of being without intervention… but not you. But even this has its own amusement for me as I start to laugh low as I feel it. Soon, you are lifting up and releasing the kiss and looking down at me covered in your cum.

08:58 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Thank you, my friend..." I growl back with a smile as I scoop up your seed from my chest and abs and push it into my mouth. But soon, I stand, my cock still standing out proud and leaking seed. Matters of the quest again... "Do you need to rest or should we continue?" I ask, feeling your honed focus coming back to your mind… and my own...

10:17 Vaak-Uhm: "Yes, I believe we should... I have a suspicion..." I shake my head, "one so vague and, frankly, mad that I do not wish to share it openly. Not yet. But we must face The Enemy's minions one more time at least, for me to know."

10:17 Vaak-Uhm: I turn to face you. "And I need no rest... that feeding you thrust upon me... never have I been so empowered as I am now." I smile. **And, you have changed me, I think.. no longer am I so disconnected from my feelings... and our magical bond seems to have grown, as well.** My thoughts come directly into your mind.

10:17 Vaak-Uhm: "But, first... I am truly sorry for the grief I have caused you. It was wrong of me to act without consulting you. For whatever it's worth... he is again the same man who found you the first time. I see no reason to doubt that he'll find you again. Fate tends to cling to its patterns." I turn my mind, my awareness, to the next wound, the next time and place The Enemy leaks into the world... I am practiced, now... my temporal error shall not be repeated. As I open the portal, I look back around at the scorched, melted landscape our fracas wrought. "Still, my curiosity insists I ask... do you think you would have let your relationship with Mat go, without a fight?"

13:40 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "Vaak… you were right to do what you did. And I'm sorry for lashing out in my grief. Even though..." I start to say something and then stop myself, chuckling at myself as I correct that thought. "I used to think you and I were very different. But… you've shown me we aren't." **You've changed me, too… in how I see the world, how I connect to it… I think… what… I connect to.** I look up to the sky above us now, seeing more potential in the vastness of space than I saw before. I pull my thoughts away from that to answer your last question then.

13:40 Bronan_the_Barbarian: "I would always fight for him… for you… for myself. That's my nature. But that doesn't mean I would turn on you and fight you… For me, to fight means to fight for things as they are, if what they are is worth fighting for. But sometimes… it just isn't possible. I know that… doesn't mean I just accept it, especially when it's something I'm deeply connected to." I take a moment then to say something along our special bond then, something just shared between you and I… **Whatever comes...I have your back, brother.**

13:40 Bronan_the_Barbarian: It's through the portal then, to face whatever might come next… and to see if these suspicions you have are true...

13:59 Mat_Rock: I groan as I wake up... I've had my share of hangovers and as they go, this one ain't so bad. What's weird is having it at all, since I hadn't been drinking.

13:59 Mat_Rock: What I did have was a damned good fight, with a damned good fighter... "Aigars? Bro?" I sat up, groaning again. Didn't see the dude around... maybe he was in the showers.

13:59 Mat_Rock: It certainly wouldn't be the first time I'd dropped into a post post-fight fuck nap... but why was it so fuzzy? Probably just dehydrated... reason, like, 3,422 that nogi is better, if you ask me.

13:59 Mat_Rock: I stood up, stretched... picked up my gi... "Aigars, bro? Is this yours?" At first I thought it was his belt, but it's the wrong color... just a strip of old cloth, almost like a headband. Didn't remember him having it. Oh well, whoever it belonged to, they'd come back for it.

13:59 Mat_Rock: I headed for the showers.

Published: 2020-08-22, viewed 167 times.