heartgear

An Invitation from the King

Added 2025-06-04 16:15:26 +0000 UTC

A weight presses down on the room, stealing breath, silencing voices. Something rattles atop a heap of ruined baubles - a small, silver-backed mirror, the last one unshattered. A long, jagged crack bisects the glass. Alastor’s breath hitches, his weathered face going pale.

The crack grows. A thin line of shadow oozes out of it, feeling for purchase. It tightens around the edge of the mirror, gripping firmly, and flexes.

The glass explodes, a shower of shining fragments dusting the carpet. The shadow swells and grows, billowing out into the paw of an enormous cat, black as a moonless midnight. Monstrous claws tear and gouge at the floor, heaving and clutching. The mirror warps and twists to accommodate the cait sidhe as she pulls herself through.

"A̸las̶t̸o̶r O̵'̴Re̴il̸l̷y.”

Twin blazing-phosphorous eyes fix the man in place. The King draws herself up to her full height, towering above him, words dripping from her jaws like razor-edged flint.

“̴Yo̴u̸ a̴re fo̸rma̴l̴l̵y i̷n̵v̸ite̸d t̴o e̶n̵joy t̷h̷e h̶o̴s̴p̶ita̴l̴it̸y o̷f t̷h̸e̷ W̶i̴l̷d̷s a̴s O̶u̴r̴ n̸e̴a̵r̴e̵s̶t, d̴ea̸re̷s̶t g̴u̵e̵s̴t̸.”

He stammers, shaking. The King stalks around him. Drawing close. The fog of ghosts rolls around them, whispering expectantly.

“̶C̴o̸m̷e̷.” The pressure in the atmosphere doubles. “̸L̶e̸t̴ U̸s̷ c̵r̶o̴ss t̷h̴e̵ t̸h̵res̴h̵o̷l̶d t̶o̴g̶eth̷e̶r.”

Alastor screams before he’s drowned out by the rushing wind, cold blast of air that carries them out and away, beyond the walls of Xylia and into the dark. Nothing left of him. No trace beyond a fading howl and a splatter of blood.

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Excerpt from Imago Ch31: The Flickering Light

I love drawing monsters :3