Raith

it had been years since their paths intersected, but it was ultimately him that had pursued her. he explained that he always had, and the revelation had not surprised her as much as she had expected it to; something about the murderous intent behind his eyes, the venom dripping from his every word, and the sheer evil he possessed about him was all the convincing she needed to believe he was not exaggerating.

he lured her just close enough for a conversation, and it was all the distance he needed to catch her by surprise; he swiftly closed the gap between them and attempted to violently dispatch the woman like the animal he perceived her to be. he believed that in putting her down, he was doing his part in righting the course of destiny. in putting her down, he believed, he could salvage the honor and prestige of his family.

he slit her throat and cast her into the diatom sea.

he did not bother to observe the vanishing of her corpse from where he stood atop the precipice. believing his will carried out, he offered up a silent prayer before departing without further intervention.

the plunge was inexorable. condemned to perish, her body had succumbed to shock and the fight had left her before she could even think to struggle. and yet no shroud was pulled over her eyes, and no blackness overtook her. even here, so far beneath the surface of the waves, she could hear and sense and feel something--something intangible and omnipresent, but something nonetheless

the sentience contained within the stinging liquid wicked away from her body the innumerable electrical signals originating from her brain and comprising her every racing thought. in what felt like a heartbeat, their understanding of the woman that had so suddenly entered their realm was indelible and without question; they had witnessed her life and gleaned her intentions. the judgement of the ictini had been cast. she would live.

theirs was a consciousness of infinite influence and collective action; infinite pinpricks of brilliance interwoven in such a way that distinguishing any individual mote was impossible. its will was resolute, its intentions far too transcendental to grasp with mortal cognition, and so all-encompassing in its magnitude as to be wholly overwhelming. the sound again--not audible, but as an encoded impression--repeated; more incessantly, more urgently, more vehemently:

"WE HAVE MARKED YOUR EXISTENCE, PAID HEED TO THE TRIUMPHS YOU PROSECUTED; THEREFORE WE REJECT YOU; OUT OF COMPASSION; LOVE; THE PURSUIT OF PRESERVATION. GO NOW; DEPART FROM US AND RETURN TO THE SURFACE."

at the behest of their otherworldly influence, the wound on her neck stitched closed. something deep within her mind urged her to move, then, to fight the paralysis of her assault and swim to the surface. the woman moved her hands about the luminescent, opaque liquid, attempting to meaningfully propel herself through it in a broad breaststroke. again and again she did this until she breached the surface, sputtering for no true reason at all save for the involuntary sensation of drowning, even though the fluid in her lungs had not deprived her of oxygen.

she peddled, almost uselessly, to shore. her assailant had long since departed. she involuntarily heaved and retched again, collapsed halfway out of the electrified body of liquid, yet somehow no worse for wear than when she had arrived to this place--but what were those impressions upon her mind? the myriad wills exerted upon her soul communicated not mere ambivalence, but understanding. she couldn't hear them anymore--though she hadn't exactly heard them the first time either, and the influences upon her mind were no longer present.

the water held a haunting memory within it nonetheless.