Months passed and Ryder had begun consistently practicing with his new powers. Yes, they took a deep toll on him physically, always leaving him rather exhausted, but he had at least gotten used to the quirks in his abilities. He had realized that when creating something, the way he originally imagines the thing in question is important. If he imagines something rather odd looking, it comes out looking a bit more like he would have wanted it. A bit of backwards thought was important, but it gave him the results he wanted nevertheless.
Though, even through all of the drawbacks with his powers, he appreciated the fact that he could at least produce something. The last month or so, he had come to find that he could incorporate live plants into his imaginings. He had created a talking flower that sadly passed away quite quickly, having lived a very short life. That had upset him, and it was strange that he was able to do something so extraordinary, though it eased the exhaustion when he was able to combine his imaginings with living plants. His conclusion was that his lifeforce wasn’t being drained solely, and instead was able to feed off of the lifeforce of the plant in addition to throwing in a bit of his own, creating a new thing entirely. It was almost fun to make things out of plants, and realizing that he didn’t have to kill himself each and every time was definitely a bonus for him. Although he didn’t truly understand the full impact of this, Ryder continued to practice utilizing this technique. Ryder found himself out in the forest the night prior to his birthday. He felt as though he wanted to spend time alone in the forest where he could have some peace and quiet, with no interruptions, especially with his birthday party planned for the next day. “Forest, pray, lend me your strength as I attempt this craft,” he spoke aloud. He always wanted to ask the surrounding area to lend him the strength, as he felt terrible later when the area seemed to wither in response. Ryder floated down and plucked a fresh little wild flower from the ground. The frei took to his mind as he concentrated his power into his hands. His hands began to glow with that same green and violet magic as before. The flower instantly began to warp within the frei’s hands. The petals began to merge together and grow larger as the stem began to fold up and meld together. By the end, a small fairy like those from video games past was revealed. The white petals flapped like wings and the body was green, round and smooth. It flew up and around Ryder quickly, as he laughed, enjoying his small created companion. “You are beautiful,” Ryder whispered under his breath as he watched the wings of his creation flutter quickly to keep itself afloat. Ryder then decided to take the small creation home with him after a few moments of writing his thoughts in his spellbook. The flighty fairy followed closely behind his creator as the two floated towards home. All was well with the world as Ryder laid his head down on the pillow to sleep, his fairy companion flying about the room until it was ready to lay down as well. ”Happy birthday, Ryder!” Reuben called as he barged into the bedroom of his charge the next morning, holding a cupcake made of old, stale ingredients, covering the candle as to not have it blown out accidentally. The frei awoke with a smile. “Thank you, Reuben.” ”Make a wish,” he said, handing over the cupcake. Ryder took the cupcake and did as he was told. He closed his eyes (as he had learned was customary) and opened them a moment later to blow out the candle. ”Yay! Okay, get yourself ready, the party will be starting soon.” Ryder nodded, taking his time to stretch. He then took a moment to look around for his fairy companion. “Flairy, where are you?” he called, thinking that would be a good name for his little companion. But looking around, the little guy wasn’t found. Finally, upon going to his desk, behind a small stack of books, lay the small being, wilted and shriveled. Ryder slowly picked up his creation in his hands, eyes tearing up upon looking down. He began to slowly close his hands around his little fairy companion, only to notice the crackling of dried petals in his hands. A soft sob could be heard if anyone were listening. “W-why does this happen?” Ryder questioned, tears streaming down his face. He slowly set the dried flower fairy back onto the desk, crumbled petal wings falling beside it. Wiping his tears, Ryder went back to bed for a few moments longer to mourn the loss of his little flower fairy. What a way to start his birthday celebration. Click the image above to be taken to the doc RP. ◈ WHO: Xiu & Ryder (Rapidashtrainer & Skyeforge)
◈ WHEN: Midday on March 26, 2019 ◈ WHERE: Wooded clearing near Barton Town ◈ WEATHER: Sunny and warm. The day had been bleak, it was spring but the world felt much darker, much more gloomy than a normal spring day might otherwise. All of this because Ryder couldn’t get out of his own head. He continued to contemplate all of the things he had witnessed during his time with Xiu. The valsaros literally had to kill the primal Ryder had created. The frei had lost all control of his imaginings. The reality of the situation was that his creations were real, living and breathing.
The toadstool had learned early on in his days as a frei that his imaginings were ‘real’ to him and him alone. Nobody else had the pleasure of physically touching any of his imaginings. Their hands would go right through anything Ryder created. To him, the sense of touch felt no different between his own imaginings and that of reality. But now everything made sense. Xiu could touch the primal. He could truly feel it. It was something so mind blowing to Ryder that he hadn’t ever thought about before. It made sense once he realized, however. After all, he was basically manipulating live plants to help ease his burden and energy consumption. Though, the fact that he realized they die and wither and rot in real life was a lot harder for him to accept than when he thought they just ‘died’ in his imagination. It was no wonder they stuck around for so long after he had finished. And to top it off, he realized why his magic was taking such a toll on him physically. His latest interaction with the valsaros was a huge eye opening experience. The death of his creations was so hard to take that he vowed to himself he would never create another being ever again. The past things he created, especially Flairy, filled his mind once again. Did all of his recent imaginings feel pain or suffering when they passed? What did Flairy feel? It was hard to wonder what might be when he wasn’t even aware that they were truly real in the first place. Being that his mind was so consumed with all of this, Ryder had been having the same nightmare over and over again ever since that day in the forest with Xiu. It always happened the same way… Ryder is seen floating in a dark, damp forest. He wears a menacing look on his face. Then, with hands held out, he laughs maniacally as the ‘camera’ of his dream pans outward to reveal that those he is closest to (Reuben, Evan, Calista -- even a couple of fellow raevan he had encountered) are all lying limp in the damp grass surrounding him. Lightning flashes and thunder roars. As the dream pans out further, the forest floor becomes darker and with each subsequent flash of lightning, blood and gore seem to appear on his friends and family. Rain begins to fall from the sky as Ryder’s evil smile, lit up by the lightning, is the only thing seen in the darkness. At this point, dark, rotting vines begin to cover the corpses of his loved ones before he wakes in a pool of his own sweat. The frei couldn’t shake the dream. Every night. Sometimes multiple times a night. This dream haunted him. He couldn’t help but feel depressed and sick after the last week of nightmares. He didn’t want to practice magic any longer. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything. What if these nightmares were foreshadowing something far more sinister? Maybe these powers the Trader had bestowed upon him were actually supposed to make him go crazy. Maybe the Trader expected Ryder to come crawling back and asking for more help. So many thoughts grew in the toadstool's mind. It just didn’t make sense. Is this what his true power was? The power which can create reality? It was disturbing and he wouldn’t stand for it. This nightmare would not come true. Never in a million years. Ryder wouldn’t let it. From this day forward, he would no longer practice magic. Drenched, from head to ribbon’s end. He awoke from the same nightmare yet again.
Ryder took off his shirt and wiped his forehead with it before tossing it in the basket full of dirty, damp shirts and towels. He groggily made his way towards the bathroom in order to clean up from the night’s horrific events. The toadstool splashed water on his face and wiped it down with a towel. He looked up into the mirror to his horror. His eyes widened with surprise. The bags under his eyes were puffy and dark. His entire being seemed rundown. The worst part was what he saw at the base of his chest where his ribbon began. The connection point turned completely black. Hues of dark brown and purple were very noticeable also, much like a very bad bruise. The skin surrounding his lower half was also looked very bruised. He also noticed that his normal bright colored freckles were all dark brown. Even his rune seemed to be losing its bright red luminescence. Instead, it pulsated with a dim dark red glow. The frei knew that these symptoms weren’t a normal occurrence, but he had no idea what to do. He didn’t want to burden Reuben, or anyone for that matter, with any of these trivial things, but instead figured he would wait it out and hope to get better on his own. Ryder touched his ribbon, stretched it out, and tried to figure out what could have happened. Did he get his ribbon stuck somewhere and yanked on it too hard to cause such a bruise? Nothing like this had ever happened before. Puzzled, Ryder took to the bed once more, laying in what seemed to be a pool of cold sweat. He stared at the ceiling, slowly rubbing his chest and ribbon. What was going on with him? He hoped only time would tell. All Ryder could do was toss and turn all night yet again. Nothing had changed and it had been countless nights of this hell. Ryder awoke in a pool of sweat, eyes completely red and irritated. His body so exhausted but his brain wouldn’t allow him to sleep. Even when he did have the pleasure of falling asleep he would just have the same nightmare over and over, his brain filled with maniacal laughter before waking up just an hour later, with no true deep sleep whatsoever.
Whenever he woke up, he sped off to the bathroom to check his body only to find that more and more of it was slowly changing. His ribbon was slowly growing more dark hues of purple and black and his skin around his chest was turning a deep shade of brown and purple and all the colors of his freckles up towards his shoulders and running down his arms were now dark brown. The color was being drained from him and he felt absolutely sick. It was so obvious something was wrong, but at this point he was still able to hide his ghastly form from others with larger clothes and more layers. Luckily this spring had been cold and he was able to get away with wearing some of the more heavy attire. He floated back and forth around his room contemplating whether or not he should tell Reuben about this. At first, he didn’t want to bother him with these problems, but now it seemed as though it may be a good idea to alert someone to this. He figured, maybe he should see Dr. Kyou or speak with Xiu again to see what they thought. ’I do not wish to burden Reuben with this. I shall message Dr. Kyou today. I must meet with him to discuss this aberrant bruising.’ Ryder thought to himself. It would surely be better if he spoke with the good doctor himself as soon as possible. As the night progressed into day, Ryder had changed his mind multiple times. From deciding he would definitely message Kyou to ask about what may be going on with him, to deciding it was better to try and work through it himself and not bother anyone at all. He felt a nagging in the back of his head that told him he could make it on his own without alerting anyone. That he didn’t need anyone else to help him. In the end, that little voice had won the fight. Ryder would be taking this head on by himself, he was stubborn enough to try it, anyway. A week had passed since Ryder decided he was going to work through this tribulation alone and he was doing an excellent job at hiding all the changes his body was going through. The frei kept to himself as often as possible. Sadly, more of his body began to darken and his freckles were almost all brown. His ribbon was also almost fully soot black. Soon enough he would have no choice but to tell his family and friends what was going on, because it was becoming increasingly harder to hide. Luckily for him, however, the past few weeks had been rather busy at the Mystic Herb; thus keeping Reuben distracted. All whilst Evan was working the night shift at the bar and sleeping throughout the day. It was rather easy to avoid each other when needed within the Rothmore household, and Ryder particularly needed that the past few weeks. However, tonight felt different. The house was quiet, still and dark. Reuben hadn’t come in yet from the shop as he probably had to set up everything for the next day and Evan was already gone to work. Ryder, alone in the house, decided it would be nice to get some fresh air before going to sleep. Tonight, Ryder felt better. He felt much more alive than he had the past few weeks. He felt...good. It had been so long since he felt such a way. He made his way out into the forest and found a quiet spot to sit. A few yards away was a flowing creek, running swiftly as the sounds of rushing water filled the air. Around him flew glowing butterflies that seemed to be magical themselves. He felt the wind blowing softly, the cool mist from the water being swept up in it and brushing against his face. It was perfect and exactly what he needed in this moment. The frei closed his eyes, feeling the wind upon his cheeks until suddenly he felt nothing, then he heard nothing. When Ryder opened his eyes to figure out what had happened, he saw a pair bright green eyes staring back at him. Upon further inspection, it was himself. Confused, he floated backward a bit. It was as though he was staring into a mirror, albeit in real life. “Don’t you recognize me, little rainbow?” the doppelganger spoke, stiffening his posture, a cruel grin growing upon his visage. Erryd. “What is this?” “Well, I know I’ve, uh, downgraded a bit with all this color, but it’s the perfect disguise," he said with a chuckle. It was then that Ryder realized this was just a dream. He wasn’t really near a creek, there were no glowing butterflies, and there was no wind. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere. When he looked around quickly to evaluate his surroundings, he was in a completely desolate area, devoid of all color in what seemed like a barren wasteland. He tried his best but couldn’t wake himself from this nightmare. It was as though Erryd was keeping him locked up in this dream world and he couldn’t escape. “What do you wish of me?” The frei asked. “What do I wish of you? Urgh! Why must you speak like that? You’ve changed, little rainbow...you’ve changed so much. That stupid video game you play all day and all night really rots your brain. Now you even speak like those ignorant characters in it.” Erryd groaned, rolling his eyes. Ryder furrowed his brow, still looking over the colors of Erryd. It was so strange to see him, in what seemed to be the flesh, in such bright colors as he had never witnessed such a sight. It really seemed as though he was looking into a mirror. Though through all the badgering, Ryder kept silent, not allowing Erryd to weasel his way into his psyche. With a huff, Erryd spoke, “What I want from you is simple. I want you to realize how pathetic you’ve been. We have been blessed with this wondrous magical gift of creating reality and you’re squandering it away. You’ve decided, on your own accord, not to continue to practice our craft, which is such a waste of our potential. I, however, would love to utilize these new abilities to truly show you, and everyone else, what kind of untapped power we really have.” Ryder’s eyes narrowed. “And how, may I ask, do you plan to complete such a task?” Erryd cackled. “I've already begun, can’t you see? I am you, Ryder. As colorful and ugly as I feel, I know that this guise is the best way to take over.” Ryder shook his head. Take over what? Although the question loomed within his mind, he knew it would be better not to respond, as that is exactly what Erryd would have wanted. Ignoring him was always the best medicine. Erryd shot a glare towards Ryder. It was obvious that he wasn't going to get a response from the toadstool. No matter, he would say what he needed to say, regardless. “Now, you must be wondering what I mean by that. You see, the nightmare you’ve been having lately -- which has been oh so delightful for me -- is not starring you in particular. The true character of that show is actually me, and the dream details that which I truly wish to see happen utilizing these new powers.” Erryd chuckled, folding his hands and placing them delicately under his chin as though he was imagining the nightmare then and there. “I don’t think you fully understand. Your fears, anxieties and frustration fuel me. Thankfully, because of your waning desire to practice magic, the opportunity for me to slowly take what you have decided to throw away presented itself. As you’ve no doubt noticed, you’re colors have slowly been changing, darkening. In order to keep the balance within us, one has to have the color -- or specifically, the magic -- and the other has to be the mundane shadow,” he explained, floating back before beginning to pace in front of Ryder. “Oh, Ryder, I’m so happy to be the one to tell you that I am no longer your shadow. I can finally be the star of this show,” Erryd stated earnestly, fingers stippled and excitement quite apparent in his demeanor. “And what show is that, pray tell?” Ryder questioned, disgust apparent on his face. “Are you surely that daft? Ugh, I shouldn’t even be surprised. You’ve never been the brightest crayon in the box. I’m speaking about our life, of course,” Erryd started with a chuckle. “I mean, I guess technically it is your life as I have to pretend to be you,” he began, a look of disgust growing on his face, “but I will be able to deal with that as long as I have the ability to create reality,” he concluded, his face lighting up towards the end. “You believe you have the ability to do such a thing? You must realize that you are but an imagining, nothing more.” “And that, my dear, dear little rainbow, is where you’re utterly wrong. I am not just an imagination, I am the dark to your light. The Yin to your Yang. Like it or not, I'm an integral part of who you are. Luckily, given the fact that we can now create reality, thanks to the Trader, I can utilize our power -- no, no, my power -- to fully create myself in reality.” Erryd paused, taking a deep breath and spreading his arms wide before wrapping them around himself in an embrace. He chuckled evilly before speaking again, “I cannot wait. I have been planning this since the day we created that so-called ‘tree’ in the forest. It was during that first portrayal of this magic that I realized, unbeknownst to you, you daft fool, that we were actually creating reality. I should have known you were idiotic when it took Xiu killing that primal for you to realize what we were doing all this time. I have been storing away all the secrets and all the notes that you’ve been taking.” The shadow frei floated around Ryder and grabbed his shoulders, encroaching in on his ear only to whisper, “I do have to thank you, little rainbow, for all of your research and studies. They will be invaluable to me throughout this entire process." "Hahahahahahahahaha."
Ryder came awake in the dark, blinking and panting heavily in a pool of his own sweat. The nightmare was finally over. He laid in the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, attempting to catch his breath. He was finally free of that wicked laugh, or so he thought. Moments later, he began to hear Erryd’s laughter echo within his head. This hadn’t happened since the Trader took his imagination power, Ryder noted. It was strange to think about the past six months as though his imagination wasn’t just that, but in fact, it was reality. The entire thing shook the frei to his core.
As the laughter became louder, his head started to throb and a migraine began to set in. Covering his ears and holding his temples did nothing, but at the time it was all he could think to do. His face scrunched up and he couldn’t even think about anything but the pain. He attempted to scream out for help, but to no avail, it was as though his voice was gone. Ryder sat up in bed, feeling such immense pain. Then, it happened. Ryder’s jaw fell and his eyes opened wide and glazed over. His body went limp as he floated slowly into the air face first. In the center of his forehead a bright white circular light seemed to warp and shine through, as though opening itself to another dimension. Through this portal, a light cream colored hand full of rainbow freckles slowly entered the world, followed by a wrist, arm, and finally, a shoulder. Bursting forth, ripping the portal wider for a split second, the rest of the rainbow freckled frei came into being all at once. The portal closed instantaneously and Ryder fell back onto the bed, unconscious. Through this trial Erryd was born. Finally, the shadow became the ego. He saw himself in the flesh for the first time in the mirror across the room. An evil grin appeared upon his face. He felt every aspect of himself. This is what flesh and hair felt like. This is what air smelled like. He was no longer locked away in the brain of a pathetic idiot. He was his own being, full and realized, finally free of those imaginary shackles that bound him to Ryder's mind. Oh, how he couldn’t wait to practice magic for himself. Although he had so much to do, the second part of this plan was yet to be completed. After all, he knew that if he did nothing, he was sure to be found out sooner than later. No, to make this dream of his a reality, the first thing he had to do was to dispose of Ryder’s body. Erryd floated over to Ryder’s side as he lay there limp. A smile crept upon his face. ”Oh, my dear little rainbow. May all of your dreams come true,” he cackled quietly as he pulled the body off of the bed. THUMP! ”Shit,” Erryd spat. The drop was a lot louder than he expected it to be. He scrambled to push Ryder’s body underneath the bed. Knock. Knock. Knock. Creak. ”Ryder, is everything okay?” Reuben stated in the doorway before turning on the light. ”Ack, Reuben, what the hell? Yes, everything’s fine.” Erryd spat at the guardian as he laid there covered up in bed as to hide the one thing that differentiated the two frei from one another. ”Oh, sorry, I heard a thud in here is all.” ”Yeah, it was my spellbook. I dropped it by accident. Now, the light?” Reuben turned off the light, taking notice of the tone the frei was using with him. ”Yeah, okay. Goodnight. Sorry to bother you.” The door closed. Erryd let out a sigh of relief as he scrambled to the bed’s edge, looking under the bed only to find the body strewn out across the wooden floor. ”That was too close for comfort. Ugh, is this what it feels like to be tired? I’ll deal with that in the morning,” Erryd stated before laying back down in the bed staring at the ceiling. "Sleep tight, Ryder. This is my life now." With that, Erryd fell asleep almost instantaneously, a bright smile upon his visage. Erryd woke late in the morning to the birds chirping outside the window. A headache plagued him direly, but that wasn’t going to stop the newly living shadow from exacting his plan. To check his bases, he first went into the bathroom. There was one thing he knew he must always try his best to hide. The rune. Erryd didn’t have one, he didn’t need one to live for some reason. That was the biggest issue with his entire plan he never foresaw, but knew would potentially pose a problem if he was found out. He was aware that every raevan had a rune which was the source of their power. Technically, the source of his power was from the Trader and Ryder’s lifeforce himself. He decided the best way to hide such a huge part of what made Ryder who he was, was to constantly wear long, flowing shirts to cover up where the rune should be.
It was the best plan of action he had, and he had to enact it as soon as possible. He went through the closet and found all of Ryder’s flowing clothing that was long enough to cover at least half of his ribbon. Granted, the options weren’t what Erryd would like to have worn, but there was enough to get by. Next, he had to scour the house and be sure nobody was home. Luckily, he knew all of Ryder’s thoughts and feelings, so he knew that this was the day Reuben and Evan were going to be going away on a small personal trip for the weekend. It was the perfect day to rid the place of any evidence from the night before. Erryd pulled the bed to the side of the room to reveal the unconscious body of Ryder lying there limp on the ground. His rune glowed dark red as it pulsated with each beat of the frei’s heart; very slow and dim. Erryd yanked on Ryder’s ribbon to pull him across the room so he could do his magic. Taking a deep breath, Erryd utilized what knowledge he had of Ryder’s magic, along with his own understandings, to imagine a small bunker under the floorboards of the Rothmore household that came equipped with a hatch and a padlock. The floor began to rumble as the green and violet magic left Erryd’s body, landing on the ground in a plume of colored smoke. As the smoke dissipated into the air, what was left behind was just what Erryd had imagined; a hatch. The one thing Erryd wasn’t accounting for was the toll it took on his body. He felt exhausted all of a sudden, and his headache worsened instantly. Just crafting what was essentially a small box with a lid in the floor large enough for a small body to fit tuckered him out to no end. He undid the lock and opened the hatch. With what little strength he had left, Erryd shoved Ryder’s body into the hatch, closing it and locking it with the padlock before moving the bed back over into the center of the room to hide that little secret away. It took no time at all for Erryd to fall unconscious on the bed once finished. All he could think about was sleeping. The day always started and ended the same way.
The sound of agony could be heard all around. Moaning and groaning, clanking of metal, water dripping from pipes onto the cobblestone floor. All of which woke Ryder from his slumber. It was dark, cold and the only light was from a few lit torches in the hallway. This was his new home. A cell, from which he might never escape. The frei found himself here, behind steel bars, every time he awoke. He was gray, his skin, his freckles, his rune, everything about him, dim. There was no color in the frei whatsoever. Ryder would make his way to the cell door, screaming out for hours at a time, pleading for help but nobody would ever respond. Hours into the groaning from other nearby cells, a loud creak could be heard in the distance as a heavy wooden door opened, scraping against the cobblestone floor. The pounding footsteps of what would seem to be a giant came roaring down the hallway. A chain could be heard clanking against the floor as it was dragged. Suddenly, the sound of a cell door opening could be heard and the sounds of whipping and cries for help rang out through the entire block. After a few minutes the cries stop, after a few more the whipping stops and the cell door closes. Then the footsteps pick up again to the next cell where the same horrid thing happens. Finally, the giant arrives at Ryder’s cell and opens it. The large looming figure stands tall and loosens the chain in his hand. As it clunks to the floor, Ryder begins to shake. Soon after, the chains hit him in the face, on the back, over and over again. His voice goes silent as he slowly loses consciousness. Every day, in and out, he awakens from his sleep perfectly fine. It’s as though the day repeats itself over and over. To top it all off, there was something so familiar about this place. He felt as though he had been here before this began. Like he had seen this before. The frei couldn’t quite place it, but he knew he had seen this place before. Ryder was certain that if there was a hell, this would surely be it. “Come on, I need to get this spell exactly right,” Erryd stated in a fit of frustration. He had been doing a lot of studying with these new abilities granted by the Trader. He wanted to give life to a creature that he could keep alive. Something that could steal the lifeforce slowly from other plants so the creature could live indefinitely. After all, he could create reality, why couldn’t he infuse some of his power in the creature? With all his research and studies, he didn’t see any reason why not. He just didn’t understand if there would be any side effects for him. Would it drain his energy almost constantly? Then it donned on him. What if he consistently just continued to keep it alive? If he couldn’t infuse his power with the creature, maybe he could do an ‘upkeep’ magical spell on a creature to allow it to survive past a few days. From his studies, he did realize that the more energy and power he expended along with the more life from the surroundings he stole, the longer these creations would live. “That just might work,” he stated aloud before packing up Ryder’s spellbook and sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night in order to practice some magic. “Okay, I have to use the maximum amount of my magic, and utilize as much of the surroundings as possible, hmm.” The frei took a few deep breaths and began to imagine a warped woman of vines. As his hands began to glow a bright green and violet amalgamation of color, he held it within his hands, concentrating all of his power into a ball of magic. He continued to pull in the surrounding lifeforce of the flora until he felt like he couldn’t contain it any longer, always keeping the image of the woman of vines fresh in his mind. When he couldn’t hold onto the power any longer, he unleashed it upon the ground, just as Ryder did with the Primal all that time ago. From the earth dark vines arose. It was these vines that warped together to create the figure of a woman, a curvy woman at that. She looked calm, and as the vines wrapped around to create her head, running back down her back to give the illusion of hair. Finally, the face came together through the vines, two slits opened for eyes, a small nose grew forth and a large slit for a mouth opened wider. Within it’s skull, a bright green magic essence glowed dimly, and a deep ‘breath’ of life sounded the creation was a success. “There,” Erryd began, “You’re complete,” he concluded, slowly falling to the ground, his vision blurry and dizziness overcoming his entire being. The coos of the magical being encompassing his ears before he fell unconscious. Hours had passed before Erryd came to in the forest. There he was, wrapped up in the vines of his creation. “Th-thank you,” he said, clearing his throat as he floated up, still dizzy from all the work he put into her. “Do you speak?” The woman seemed to purr, not speak, per say. An echoing sound flowed through the forest. “Ivy,” Erryd stated after listening to her ‘voice’. “Your name is going to be Ivy. Stay here, I’ll be back to see you tomorrow. I need to continue this experiment and see if giving you further life will work. Make yourself comfortable. This forest is your new home.” With that, the creation appeared satiated with the idea of staying here. She folded herself up on the ground and closed her eyes as if to sleep. Erryd smirked, ready to head back home. Creaaaak.
“Where have you been young man?” Not this again. Erryd hadn’t the time nor the patience to deal with Reuben’s flippant anger. He rolled his eyes. “Out,” he stated quickly. “Haven’t we spoken about this before? You’re not allowed to just go ‘out’ on your own, especially at night. Do you want to be grounded?” Erryd knew what that meant. This is what happened to Ryder all those years ago that allowed Erryd to surface. In fact, this was a twisted turn of fate. “Absolutely not.” Reuben tapped his foot a few times, looking quite impatient. He realized this seemed to be something that could easily repeat itself. Ryder had been so good for so long, at least asking and not going out alone late at night. “Okay, well, please, don’t go out again without at least letting me know where you’re going.” Erryd scoffed, what a weakling! He couldn’t even stand firm and ground him? That’s one thing that he realized the whole Rothmore home lacked. A backbone. “Okay,” Erryd stated quickly before pushing by Reuben to go to his bedroom. He wasn’t in the mood. He was tired, depleted of energy, and ready to sleep it off for a few more hours. Click the image above to be taken to the doc RP. ◈ WHO: Reinhart, Samael, Erryd, & Reuben (Byagane319 & Skyeforge)
◈ WHEN: Afternoon on May 14, 2019 ◈ WHERE: The Zoo ◈ WEATHER: Sunny and warm. The blurry vision began to fade as Ryder awoke slowly, groggily from his knocked out state. As he came to, he saw a figure in the distance that looked so familiar. He couldn’t think straight, his head was spinning. It took a few minutes for him to fully awaken and become aware of his surroundings.
The stone floor was cold, damp. It was dark and the only light within the room was from a few torches hung up on either side and one over the big wooden door across the room. Then, he looked up and there she sat, the one person he hadn’t seen in over a year. The one he had tried to will into existence so many times. The one that never showed up. Alice. She was physically abused, beaten, and her skin looked burned. Ryder’s face fell, he was in shock. Seeing his very first imagining in such brutal shape. It was heartbreaking. Tears welled up in his eyes. As he lunged forward to reach out to help her, he was just as quickly pulled back, as he realized chains on both of his wrists confined him to the wall. “Alice!” he called, the first tears running down his cheeks. There was no response. “Alice, pray awaken!” he spoke again, desperation in his voice. Alice stirred, pain stricken face apparent. “Ry...der…” she whimpered through an exhale, trying to move through the pain to become as comfortable as possible. “Gods, Alice, what happened!?” he questioned. He repeated himself a moment later as Alice hadn’t responded as quickly as the worried frei wanted. After a few moments of silence, Alice was able to lift her head and open her eyes enough to speak. “I...have been...imprisoned here,” she spoke between breaths. “Everyday...fire...it...burns.” Ryder then realized something he had never realized before. His mind instantly went to a dream he had back in October of 2017. Trying to remember his dream, he recalled it had been a girl in a blue dress with long blonde hair looking out a window to view nothing but flames. That girl...was Alice… Ryder bawled. He couldn’t help it. It all dawned on him at once. Alice had ‘left’ him back in 2017, nearly two years ago, and now he realized that she wasn’t gone because of anger from him, but she had been locked up in this hell, unable to get out. “How did you get here? Was it Erryd?” Ryder asked through wails, pulling away from the wall, unable to comfort his best friend. Alice, shaking from the pain, shook her head negative. “It was you, Ryder,” her voice low, pained. Ryder shook his head. “Never! I would never do such a horrid thing, Alice! You must know that!” Then, it hit him, the exact words that the voice spoke of back in his cell, “Erryd is apart of you...you did this to me and yourself.” Ryder’s tears continued to fall as Alice slumped back down. She was in so much pain and Ryder could almost feel it himself. His heart was broken. He realized that the voice was right. Erryd was always a part of him, just like Alice, just like every other imagining he had ever created. They were all apart of him. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It was no wonder why the voice, and now Alice, were blaming him for doing this to them, albeit unconsciously. It was his fault, and he slowly began to realize that as he stared across the room from his dying best friend and most wondrous imagining. He didn’t have control over his powers, he didn’t have the confidence, nor the strength to keep this from happening. What broke the silence was the voice of his imagining once more. “Ryder, will you do me a favor?” she asked. Ryder blinked a few tears away as he spoke, “O-of course, anything.” “Please, just give me one last walk through Wonderland before we both die.” Ryder shook his head, “We are not going to die here, Alice. Pray, do not speak such a way.” “Ryder, please...just tell me a story where we all live. Where things go back to the way they used to be. Where life is easy, magic comes freely, and we all live happily ever after.” Ryder sniffled, rubbing his face into his shoulder to dry some of the tears and sat back against the wall in defeat. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t go to Alice and comfort her or even try to make her feel better. He was stuck there. He had no other choice. “Yes…” And so the story began… “Once upon a time, there lived a young girl who wore a dress of blue and white with a crown of roses. With locks of long flowing blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. She found herself frollicking through a meadow of bright one bright sunny spring day. The sun rays warm, kissing her skin ever-so-softly. She made her way through the field of brightly colored flowers only to stumble across a small creek through the trees nearby and heard its soft burble. She followed the path down to the side of the creek and found herself env-” The frei was cut off suddenly by the creaking of the wooden door across the room. It opened slowly, and silence befell the room. Behind it’s large frame was someone Ryder was all too familiar with. The colossal man who beat him every day when he was back in his cell. He came in, chain whip in hand dragging along the floor behind him, clanking metal against the cobblestone piercing the frei’s ears. The sadness he felt turned to rage as he glared at his nemesis. As the giant began to slowly make his way towards the center of the room, Ryder noticed Alice’s demeanor change. She was weak, but her eyes widened as she gazed upon the man in the center. She shook with dread as he turned towards her. “Hey, hey, HEY!” Ryder called angrily. The man paid no attention to the frei, but kept his attention directly on Alice. He brought his hand up above his head and quickly let out a roar as his chain came down across Alice’s body. She let out a yelp of pain. Ryder screamed. “STOP! STOP IT!” To no avail. The man lifted his arm again, Alice squirming as much as she could to try and lessen the painful blows that were surely to come. Ryder fought through tears and anger. This was his last straw. He was going to make it through this, and so was Alice. He closed his eyes, balled his fists and imagined the chains keeping him locked against this wall gone. As he opened his eyes with a look of determination, the chains burst into a plethora of rainbow pixels. His rune sparked, glowing a deep red, something that hadn’t happened at all during his time in this place. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Ryder screamed as he flew as fast as he could into the back of his adversary. As Ryder tackled the man, he burst into millions of pixels all rainbow in color, just like the chains had moments prior. Ryder quickly grabbed Alice and held her head close to his heart, weeping. “This was all my fault. I put us here. And only I can save us. I am so sorry, Alice. Erryd was able to take over because I did not have such control over my power. He was smarter than I, and able to take advantage of my weaknesses. Never again, Alice. Never again. He will no longer be able to control me nor will he have my life any longer. I am taking it back. I will save us.” Another day locked in his room. Reuben had had enough of the way Ryder was acting the past few months. It was high time that the family had a sit down conversation, an intervention even, to figure out what was going on. Sure, the visit with Reinhart had some positive effects on the boy, he seemed slightly better. But in most ways, he was so consumed with practicing magic or just over all secrecy that Reuben wasn’t happy.
Reuben had made sure that Evan would be home, and closed his shop early for the day. He knew what he wanted to ask and what he wanted to say. He just hoped that Ryder would be receptive to his attempt at mending whatever bridges were burned and moving forward with a happier, healthier relationship between them all. “Ryder, will you come in here, please?” Reuben called from the living room. Erryd, who had been study his latest spells, sighed heavily when he heard the beckoning from beyond the confines of his room. “That nitwit is going to get himself killed one of these days if he keeps interrupting me like this.” He placed a bookmark within the spellbook and closed it, setting it aside for later. He floated over to the door, and with a quick creak, it was open. Floating into the living room, he saw Evan sitting upon the far couch and Reuben stopped pacing. “Please have a seat, Ryder,” Reuben said, continuing his pacing behind the couch. Erryd’s eyes narrowed. What was this? He did as he was instructed and had a seat across from Evan. “Hey buddy,” Evan stated with a smile. Acknowledging Evan’s greeting with a simple nod was all the frei was going to give before speaking up. “What is it?” he asked, annoyance apparent in his voice. “We were hoping to have a chat,” the guardian stated. It was very obvious that the man was nervous, pacing back and forth, only stopping to look him in the eyes and speak. It wasn’t like Reuben to be like that. “Uhh, okay?” “What’s been going on with you?” Reuben began, “I mean, you haven’t been yourself the past few months. You’ve kept yourself in your room, you’ve disobeyed my orders and have left in the middle of the night to gods-know-where. It’s just that you have been rather unruly, and I have no idea what’s gotten into you.” A sigh of utter annoyance escaped the frei’s lips. “I’m tired of this place. I hate it here. I want to be out in the open space to practice my magic. What’s wrong with that? I’m a magical being and I want to do magical things. You can’t keep me cooped up in this house forever.” Reuben was stunned. He hadn’t ever known the frei to speak out like that, but nevertheless, the boy had feelings that Reuben needed to address. “Okay, I’m glad you told me. I didn't know you felt that way. Well how about this. What if I go with you, or Evan even, out into the forest and we watch you practice? I know we’d both like to spend more time with you.” “No!” the frei called out in defiance. “I like my peace and quiet, can’t you guys see that?! I can’t have you two stare at me and keep treating me like I’m some small child. I have the intelligence of a grown adult and I expect to be treated like one!” The mouths of both Evan and Reuben fell agape. Ryder had never talked to them like this before. Reuben had no idea what to say. He stopped his pacing and looked at Evan with tearful eyes. “Well, Ryder, we know you like your space,” Evan began, “But we just want you to be safe. You’re right, you are very intelligent, hell even more intelligent than me I’m sure. But Reuben’s just looking out for you. As a parent-” “A parent?! Hah! That’s a joke, right? Neither of you have parented a thing in your life. You, a bartender with no care in the world. And Reuben, a shop owner so concerned with his job that he hasn’t made any attempt, until now, to do a thing about me. What’s changed, guys? Hmm? Is it that you know I’m smarter, better, and stronger than you both combined and want to keep me pinned down like some sort of pathetic, dependent weakling?” The frei floated up into the air, hoving high above. “It’s not going to happen. Not tonight, not any night. I’m sick of you guys and your rules,” he concluded before flying off in a hurry to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Reuben’s eyes glistened with tears as he covered his mouth in shock. What was wrong? What had he done? Did he truly neglect Ryder so much that he felt the need to be so hurtful? Was he truly such a bad parent? “Reu,” Evan said, standing up. Before anything more could be said, Reuben walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He needed time to process the entire situation. With a heavy sigh, Evan sat back upon the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. “Well, that didn’t go as planned.” The drowned out sound of familiar voices echoed within his head. Slowly, he came to. The frei opened his eyes to see nothing but blurry figures standing overhead. As his eyes slowly caught up to speed to interpret the images before him, he inhaled deeply, only to exhale with a slight cough. A scratchy throat bothered him and he was too weak to even move. “He’s waking up,” a soft voice spoke, the first distinguishable sentence since he had opened his eyes. “Ryder, gods, I’m so glad to see you’re finally waking up,” another soft voice spoke amongst the rustling movement. “Can you speak?” A third voice asked. “Y-yes…” Ryder said, his voice raspy and hoarse. “What is...going on?” he questioned, still confused, his head pounding. “We don’t have to get into that right now, what’s important is you’re awake and able to speak. It’s been a little bit,” Reuben spoke, his voice soft. He patted Ryder’s hand with his own gloved hand before a sniffle could be heard. “You...do not...need…” Ryder began to speak, his vision finally coming back to normal. “It’s okay, you just rest,” Reuben said with a smile, his eyes completely bloodshot and puffy. It was obvious he had been crying and/or hadn’t slept in days. “I’ll stay with him,” Alice stated as she crookedly sat at the end of Ryder’s bed. “Alice!” Ryder exclaimed followed by a raspy cough. He turned his entire attention to Alice as she smiled at him, dropping her head to one side. “Please, don’t speak. Just rest,” Reuben reasserted, getting up and patting Alice on the back before leaving the room with Evan. “Feel better, Ry. We need you back at a-hundred percent!” Evan said with a slight chuckle, closing the door behind him. It didn’t take long for Ryder to slowly close his eyes once more to sleep. He felt extraordinarily weak and he had no idea why or what was happening. A few hours later, Ryder woke up again, this time to a tray of rotting wood beside him. Alice was still sitting at the end of his bed staring at him.
“Good, you’re awake,” she said with a smile. “Alice...you...are here,” he responded groggily. “Mhmm, in the flesh...which has been extremely strange to get used to I must say,” she said with a chuckle before her tone turned sour. “Ryder, you almost died. Luckily, you didn’t. Now I can tell you everything you’ve missed out on.” Ryder slowly sat up in his bed, obviously hurting. “Here, let me help,” Alice said, standing up off the bed and coming to her creator’s aid, fluffing his pillow and pulling the tray of bark over his ribbon-lap. “Eat,” she insisted. It was strange. He didn’t make much fuss over it, but it was obvious that she was a true entity now. She could interact with other objects which was never something his creations could do before. Ryder slowly lifted his weak arm to grab a small piece of bark but noticed something was off before he had the chance. His freckles were dark brown. His skin looked very bruised, and he remembered the problems he was facing. Everything suddenly came back to him. “Erryd!” he exclaimed with his hoarse voice. “Eat!” Alice shouted. “You need to get better, don’t think of that b*****d. You need nourishment. It’s why Reuben brought this plate in here. Now do me and him, not to mention yourself, a favor and eat first!” Ryder was taken aback. He picked up a piece of bark and put it into his mouth. It was absolutely delicious. The tastes swirled around his mouth. It was like he hadn’t eaten in years. “Mmm,” he moaned. He then began to eat each and every delectable piece as though he’d never eat again, cherishing each bite until the plate was completely gone. “Good, now that you’ve eaten, we can speak about Erryd,” Alice stated. Ryder’s attention was instantly caught by her words. “What happened?” “Well, I’m going to be blunt because you need to hear this from me instead of Reuben, who would no doubt try his best to sugar coat everything,” she began, taking a deep breath as she made her way to the bedroom door to ensure she locked it as not to be disturbed. “Erryd has been parading around here like he’s you for the past couple of months. He stashed you away underneath the floorboards and left you for dead. Luckily you had the courage and strength to come back from your dreams, where you saved me and Bastian from certain torture. Then, when you awoke, you created me right here in your bedroom.” Ryder began to remember all of the little things that had happened to him. His nightmare, his finding Bastian and Alice and the three of them floating in the white nothingness of his mind before waking up. “How do you know he was pretending to be me?” Alice’s eyes narrowed. “I spoke with Reuben, who was quite surprised to see me by the way, since he hadn’t in over a year and a half. He said that you’ve been acting differently, and when I said that it wasn’t you, he didn’t believe me. Then, I told him to look under your bed and everything would be made clear.” Alice paused a moment, allowing Ryder to digest what was just thrown at him. He was confused, but remembered the pain of Erryd’s escape into reality just before going unconscious and waking up in that dreamscape. It made sense, he was real, just like Alice was real because of his powers. He wondered what Reuben would have said about realizing Erryd was alive? What he was thinking? “When we found you a week ago, you were gray and looked absolutely horrid. You were covered in dust and looked completely dead. Reuben realized that it was just a deep coma and he and Evan pulled you out, cleaned you up and have been by your side ever since.” “A week ago?!” Ryder exclaimed the moment Alice stopped speaking. “Yes, you’ve been in what they’ve called a coma for a week, recuperating,” Alice began. Then, her face fell. “I, on the other hand, have been doing some research and realizing that being a real person is absolutely disgraceful. How embarrassed was I to find that you have to use a restroom when one has to ‘urinate’, a disgusting habit of humans and full-bodied entities that I didn’t really care to think about.” The imagining chuckled. “Reuben loves you, Ryder. So does Evan. We all do. We need you to get better,” Alice concluded. “Where is Erryd now?” Ryder questioned. “We have no idea exactly,” Alice said with a heavy sigh. “But he left over a week ago after a fight with Reuben and Evan. He hasn’t been heard from since. Though, it appears that his leaving was what gave you the ability to emerge victorious from your dreamscape. His power wasn’t keeping you held so tightly and you were able to overcome it,” the imagining began. “Reuben has placed a few calls to the police and they are searching for him as we speak. So far, no signs of him have even been found. Sadly, he's very smart and good at covering his tracks," she concluded with a sigh of distress. Ryder thought a moment, Erryd was...gone? Where could he have gone? Ryder began to ponder the thought and something struck him suddenly. What if Erryd was seeking out the entity who gave him the ability to be free in the first place? The Trader. Ryder’s heart sank instantly. He had no idea if that’s where he went, but that was the frei’s best guess. After all, Erryd had been the only imagining which continued to creep up ever since the jailing of Alice and Bastian, meaning he was very aware of the Trader’s existence unlike his other imaginings. “We have to go after him,” Ryder stated, determination strewn across his face. “I agree,” Alice began, “but you must get well before we go on such an adventure.” Ryder slumped with a nod. He knew he’d be no match against Erryd in this current state. He laid back down, rolling to his side and staring off into space in hopes of thinking of other places his shadow self could be. Today, Ryder was feeling much better and had essentially fully recovered. His freckles were colorful again and his cream-colored skin was healthy once again. The one problem he seemed to have was with his magic. He barely had any strength to perform any sort of magic whatsoever. This weakness stemmed, he thought, more from the fact that Erryd stole most of it during his escape than anything else. Sadly, he felt as though he would never be as strong as he was prior to Erryd or the Trader.
Ryder's health the past month had really been everyone’s primary concern, but not his own. He was more worried with what Erryd was doing. He couldn’t rest easy knowing his shadow self was out there potentially running amok. He had to get involved. He had to do something. It was time to bring Reuben into the fold. The frei and his companion, Alice, floated out into the dining area where Reuben was setting up the table for dinner. “Reuben, may I request we talk?” The frei asked, propping himself against the counter as Reuben sat a fork and knife down upon a white cloth napkin next to the plate. “Of course, how’re you feeling?” Reuben asked, turning to Ryder with a soft smile. “Much better, thank you,” he began. “But I feel as though Erryd needs to be dealt with.” Ryder finished, his tone firm and filled with concern. “Yes, I agree. I’ve already filed a missing person’s report. All we can do now is wait until someone finds him.” Reuben replied, his smile fading into concern as he grabbed another set of silverware and sat it onto another napkin. “No, I mean I need to go after him.” Reuben chuckled and shook his head, thinking this a jest at first only to realize Ryder's face showed no signs of faltering from its stoic state. “Absolutely not. What if I ask Dr. Kyou to intervene? I’m sure he has some sort of henchmen or something that could take care of Erryd. Plus, I’m sure he’d be quite interested in figuring out how this all occurred in the first place.” “No, we mustn’t involve him. I do not wish others that I barely know involved at all. The fact that you have already alerted the authorities irks me to no end. This is a problem that I alone must bear. Erryd is something I, like it or not, created. Thus, he is my responsibility.” Reuben sat down another plate and turned his full attention to his charge and Alice, who hadn’t spoken a word. He sighed, taking a moment to think of how he should respond. “That’s very noble, Ryder; but you can’t be serious. You are in no shape to do anything. You’re still recovering. Plus, that is so incredibly dangerous. If he was able to plot this elaborate ‘escape’ in the first place, not to mention the fact that he kept you locked up for months under the floorboards with no one the wiser, who’s to say you won’t get hurt worse this time?" Reuben began, seeing still no signs of his charge faltering in his ideals, the guardian continued. "Nope, there is no way I will allow you to do anything of the sort. Go lay down, rest, and stop worrying about Erryd. He will be found by police soon enough. I’ll call for you when dinner is ready.” Ryder’s eyes narrowed. His guardian didn’t understand how dire the situation truly was. He had no idea of the Trader, nor what Erryd was truly capable of with the power to create reality. Ryder had kept information to Reuben and Evan at the bare minimum. The frei huffed a moment before turning around and floating past Alice into his room angrily. Alice followed behind, entering and closing the door behind her. “Do you truly believe you are ready for a meeting with Erryd? How do you even expect to win? Reuben does have a point," Alice said, concern apparent in her tone. “I do not know, if I am to be honest. I have not the brute strength nor the magic to take him down. I would be a fool to try doing so alone. After all, if everything Reuben has said about Erryd in the months I was in a coma is true -- and he has been practicing a lot with that reality magic -- I fear we are in deeper trouble than previously anticipated. He even stole my spellbook. All of my notes on any magic I may retain in this shell of a frei are there. What can I even do?" “Well, he may have your spellbook, but you still have the confidence you acquired in the dreamscape, don't dare lose it now." “I shan't, but I also mustn't let my confidence turn into arrogance. I need to realize my weakness is the fact that I am basically a mundane being now. No poison, barely any magic. I just need some sort of leverage." Alice looked at him with her wide-set eyes blankly. “Well, you have friends. You have me. That in and of itself should be leverage he won't have on his side. I know you want to do this alone, but you need support, especially since you have such little magic left within you." “You are right. I do have you and I do have friends...which reminds me," the frei paused a moment, scratching his chin, "Xiu has dealt with the Trader before. Let me contact him, maybe he knows something that can help. If my original inclinations are correct, then to find Erryd, we must first find the Trader.” The frei took out his cellphone and frantically began a message to Xiu, explaining the entire situation. From the Trader’s appearance, the fateful trade itself, to every aspect following dealing with Erryd and his coma. It was far worse than he feared. It was time to take down the traitors. |