Chapter 15: The Dreaming Depths
Qaelemont Drauculoix smiles at Devin Grey.
Devin Grey: "Master!"
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "Bonsoir, chaton." He leans down to give Devin a light kiss, running a gloved hand through the man's hair and rubbing his ear gently.
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "Just wake up ou getting ready pour le couche ?"
Devin Grey leaned into the touch and sighed happily. "I was... thinking of trying a Dreamwalk." He shifted nervously.
Devin Grey lowered his ears. "I know it's probably a bad idea, but we need to know what we're dealing with, right? Then we can figure out how to stop it."
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "Dreamwalk where? To what?" There's an edge of frustration to his words. "Deryk et moi went to the Shroud seeking answers. I cannot ignore Dame Blackrose's call for aid. It was attracted to Urth's Fount... the water aether there."
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "Merde... I should have told him to taste the water," he recriminates himself with a huff of annoyance.
Devin Grey shook his head. "It makes weird dreams and I wouldn't want him to have them." He thought a moment. "Maybe I can go to Urth's Font and dreamwalk there? If it's still there, I mean. I think I can maybe use my strange dream from before to... I don't know... Find it?" He shrugged helplessly.
Qaelemont Drauculoix gives Devin a cautious nod. "Peut-être..." he allows. "It's worth a shot."
Qaelemont Drauculoix shrugs at Devin Grey.
Devin Grey leaned against Qaelemont, breathing in his scent. "I'm scared, though. Will you anchor me?"
Qaelemont Drauculoix enfolds Devin in his strong embrace. "Toujours."
Devin Grey wiggled his ears and smile bright. "I love you, Master." He popped up to his toes to kiss the taller man. "Let me go put on my shoes."
Qaelemont Drauculoix chortles and ruffles Devin's hair. "Et j'éspere more than your pajamas."
Devin Grey grinned. "Okay." He dashed off and quickly changed, returning to Qaelemont's side a little breathless. "Ready!"
Qaelemont Drauculoix wraps his arms around Devin and summons his aether, pulling them through the aetherstream together.
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "I can still feel it..." he mutters.
Devin Grey lowered his ears. "Take me as close as you can bear."
Qaelemont Drauculoix orients like a compass toward Urth's Fount then nods.
[They get into Qaelemont's car and fly over there. Devin gets to ride shotgun for once!]
Devin Grey: "I can see why Deryk likes to ride up here. Way better view."
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "The water aether here is so strong, it's blinding to me. I couldn't sense anything specific whence Deryk et moi were here."
Devin Grey looked around and let out a breath. "At least the trees didn't try to kill me this time." His gaze turned to Qaelemont. "Should I taste the water?"
Qaelemont Drauculoix looks pensive then gives a cautious nod.
Devin Grey turned to the glittering water and knelt down. He scooped some up and sipped at it carefully.
Devin Grey grimaced, face scrunching up in disgust. "Ick..." He wiped the remnants of moisture off on his pants. "It's not as salty as the water from the library, but it's... gross." He reutnred to Qaelemont's side. "I don't recommend."
Qaelemont Drauculoix chuckles softly, giving Devin a wry smile. "Oui, it wouldn't be pleasant pour moi."
Devin Grey: "I guess it's time to figure out if I can make contact." He looked around for a comfortable looking spot and sat down. "I've only done this kind of Dreamwalk once before, with Miss Letty." His tail twitched nervously as he touched his collar. "Hopefully this works...."
Qaelemont Drauculoix settles down in front of Devin, easily folding himself into a traditional Hingan kneeling position. "What do you need me to do, chaton?"
Devin Grey held out his hands. "Hold on to me. If I squeeze one hand, I'll need you to be on alert. If I squeeze both, then try to wake me up immediatly by any means." He took a deep breath. "If I start doing something weird like... I don't know... spitting up water or something, then you should try to wake me. I should be aware of you, but also not. It's... hard to explain.. Okay, I'm going to try to see what I can find." He closed his eyes and took another deep breath, letting it out slowly as he reached for the power of his Sire.
Qaelemont Drauculoix begins to reach for Devin's hands, then pauses and delicately pulls off his gloves finger by finger and tucks them into his doublet. He takes the Miqo'te's hands with his own bare, glowing blue ones, holding them in a firm, but not overly tight grip.
Devin Grey tried to recall the visions of the dream he had after licking the wall water. He could sense Qaelemont in front of him, a shadowy figure of those who weren't asleep. Having the skin contact helpd to focus Devin's mind as he slipped deeper into the dreamscape, searching for the ancient thing that plagued them.
At first there's only darkness. The sense of great pressure. Cold. So cold. Fathomless. Is there any end to these depths? Then a light. Phosphorescent. Biolumenescent. Blue-green in the dark. Beckoning. Beckonging. Beckoning...
Devin Grey's dream self angled toward the light. He swam closer to it, even though he could have probably just walked. It felt right to swim in this dream, though, so he did.
Yes. Closer. Come closer. The light is a lure. Bait. The creature... the entity... that waits in the darkness... beyond the darkness? It wants Devin to come closer. It wants even this small morsel of aether. The fledgling Incubus and his Master have come to where it holds power. Colder. Deeper. Heavier.
Devin Grey felt the urge to swim closer, though his right hand tightened around Qaelemont's. He slowed his progress to the light. "What are you? Who are you?" His mouth released bubbles that floated to some unseen surface, but his voice remained clear and unaffected by the water. Even though he was slower in his swimming, he felt that he hadn't slowed down at all in his progress. "Why...are you here?"
Qaelemont Drauculoix squeezes Devin's hand, his brow furrowed. He doesn't interfere... yet...
There is no name. Only *presence.* Immense. An Elder being. An entity from the beginnings of Time. It is... not indifferent to Devin. But the Miqo'te does not bow down to it. Does not *acknowledge* it. Does not *know* it.
Devin Grey shuddered at the sensations crawling over his skin. He kicked his feet to swim away from the light a few fulms. "Answer me," he called. "Who are you?" His right hand remained tight on Qaelemont, but the left hand was relaxed so far.
The light disappears. There is only velvety, Stygian darkness. How can anything be this cold? How can anything survive this much crushing, benthic weight?
Devin Grey gasped, sucking water instead of air. The panic set in immediatly, the sensation of drowning as he struggled to surface. His grip tightened in both hands as he kicked futily toward the surface of the water that was too far out of reach.
Qaelemont Drauculoix holds fast to Devin, his aether surging, entwining with Devin's trying to weave a net around the Miqo'te to pull him to the surface like a fish from the sea. But the water aether here is incredibly strong, and weakened as they are, the Elementals here still hold sway, and neither Devin nor Qaelemont are well loved by the Shroud. The net frays, coming apart, losing its hold on Devin. "Putain !" the Elder snarls.
Devin Grey saw the net in the dream, descending toward him. It was just out of reach before it was swept away by a current. Devin was tossed in a dizzying cycle of water as his lungs screamed for air. He just dind't know which way was up toward safety, or if he was sinking further.
Qaelemont Drauculoix growls, a low, predatory sound. A warning sound. This is *his* prey. His grip in Devin's hands is crushing. Enough to leave bruises, possibly break bones. Again he tries to ensnare Devin with his aether, spending more, the aetheric scars on his hands flaring bright blue, buzzing and tingling against the Miqo'te's skin with a levin-like charge. "Non," he grits out from behind bared fangs. Qaelemont's power is insignificant against the entity that has Devin in its grasp. It's like trying to throw a rope around the peak of a mountain and tug it down—an impossible task.
Devin Grey felt the prickle of Qaelemont's skin against his hands and it brought him back from his panic for just long enough to remember that this was a dream. Dreams were his domain. He was in control here, not this presence. Another second passed before the water swirling him around calmed and he floated gently in the darkness. With his control returned, Devin woke with a gasp, eyes snapping open. "Master!" The relief in hsi voice was thick as he lunged forward to wrap himself around the man.
Qaelemont Drauculoix draws a deep breath and lets it out on a harsh exhalation, as though he had also been trapped, starving for air, beneath the sea. His arms tightening aroung Devin like he's never going to let the man go, not even realizing it's begun to storm around them. "Merci..." he murmurs, nuzzling Devin's wet hair.
Devin Grey buried his face into Qaelmeont's chest, shivering. "I'm sorry, Master... I'm sorry." He dind't know what he was apologizing for exactly. Maybe for failing to find out more? Devin wasn't sure. He just clumg to Qaelemont, tears mixing with the rain that dripped down his cheeks.
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "You have no need to apologize, Devin," he gently tells the Miqo'te, holding the man close. Then he breathes deep. "You smell of the sea..." he remarks in a faint tone of wonder, though perhaps not entirely surprised.
Devin Grey sniffed and shuddered, remembering the sensation of drowning. "I'll take a bath as soon as we get home." He looked up to Qaelemont, gaze glassy with tears. If his grip was anything to go by, he wouldn't be letting go of his Master any time soon, no matter what. "Can we go home now?"
Qaelemont Drauculoix nods to Devin Grey.
Qaelemont Drauculoix: "Oui." He rises gracefully to his feet, pulling Devin with him then whisking them away through the aetherstream.