<sub>~ The Unchained But Never Free ~


This is a story about my quest to uncover the path to the shadows, and my search to the origins of my existence ~</sub>

 <sub>I traverse the worlds to find something of importance to me.. A Crest-
A Crest that i can only remember falling to the dense darkness..

The crest was imbued with fragments of shattered memories.. memories that were preserved for being too precious.. secrets that were kept through generations of our family line..

"The last time i saw the Crest was when it was falling into the dark depths of the shadowy realm..."

 engulfed by the formless beings lurking within the bounderies of the seemingly eternal darkness that separates the the land of the living and the shadows.


~O~O~O~O~O~


~ The Fading Existence ~</sub>

<sub>"From then on, my search for the origins of my "existence" began.."


Everyday, i face different forms of trials..

 Facing the numerous shades that i encounter during my search, and learning about their origins were only a some of the reasons..

 While every night, i am forced to recall my betrayal and my cursed freedom in dreams.. those were the only memories that scarred whatever remains of my physical form and my soul.</sub>

<sub>"The curse began its haunting.."

 fragments of the past are forcefully reminisced in the times of my vulnerability.. there was no time to be off-guard..

For in every chance that comes, i'm doomed to suffer by either re-witnessing the death of my own master in dreams- over and over again..</sub>

<sub>The horrifying sight of the braking seal of agreement.. or the untimely passing of my Master by the influences of the Crest's force..


~O~O~O~O~O~


~ The Nightmare of Betrayal ~


Before he was engulfed by the Crest, he said..

 "Curse thee, foul creature!! A traitor of your own Bearer!! A leach..!! You shall face your own deceit in what you call.. your.. earned freedom..!!   like your rotting loyalty, the Shades shall come..! Your soul shall never find peace.. countless sleepless nights of fear and regret.. death of one body, and eternal life of the soul.. suffer your own binding...!! for you.. have.. forsaken me!"

He slowly vanishes within the eye of the Crest.. and silence resonates in the midst of the night..

"On that day, i was unchained.. unchained of the control and tyranny of my master's grasp.."


~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~ The Attachment ~ 


Years after my release, and different generations have already passed, i have learned to migrate from one "shell" to another.. I was continuing my search to find more clues about the Crest and the whereabouts of the shades..

While walking along a newly discovered path, I secretly looked at a small transparent orb, filled with a mist like smoke in the safety of my robes.. While still hidden from others' sight, i smiled at the warmth i felt by the unknown connection to that object..

I touch the orb and a face appears into view..

"a face that reflects my soul.. a face that's nauseating even to an ethereal being.."</sub>

<sub>i look up the skies and whisper in the air..

"I sometimes wish that you'd wake up.. and tell me your name.. we, the unchained.. but never free-"</sub>

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Tapphen Fenris Alexis Lacrosse, the Memory Seer

I now quest the lands with my lore of possesing spirits, a power i have recently acquired. Studying the lore of magic my master have once used, and using bits of his cursed magic for my own.

 While in journey, in one silent night, I dreamed of a towering gate- and from there, comes a mysterious aura of serenity.

 What remains of my soul tells me to seek whats beyond. I move closer, and as the gates opened.. a blinding light greeted my figure. There stood a towering statue, amidst the growing grass of the marble park. The enticing sound that was heard before was like a distant memory now. Everything was in shambles. Except the statue of the little girl, engraced with sunlight. 

Fear got the best of me- feeling the overwhelming power that i couldn't comprehend coming from the statue, i tried to run away. But before i can glide away from lands, a small voice called to me- " You are my only hope..".

I observe the statue, and waited for what happened. I waited for the little girl to speak again, but what came was a blinding fog and mist.

I hear footsteps of numerous numbers. Bewildered by the unseen, i armed myself of my minions.

Slowly, the enticing music started to come back. The fog cleared bit-by-bit, and now showed the once battered remains of the park into a carnival. Eyes of unexplained emptiness stared into my figure. All smiling, yet without any feeling of the aura of life. 

I retreat from the scene and phased through the gates.

 And so, here.. is where my journey begins-  A new meaning to my Existence.

I look up the towering gates- there stands the words, engraved in gold, 

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

 

"Welcome to Marind Bell, The Marble Dale Park"

 

 

Chapter 1: The Hunted

 

My fallen Master, Axel Darcleave.

(Yes, it's Axe / Mogul Khan from DOTA All-Stars. Credits go to "Icefrog" for the idea of this character.)

After being freed from my master, i established my own empire. I conquered different sects of lores in search of ways to reach the cursed lands of the shadows.. Hundreds of establishments and lives have been ravaged for clues, yet none was found.

But one day, as I sat on my throne waiting for my minions to return, i felt a strange aura closing our fort. I could hear the sounds growing closer, horrible and terrifying. Suddenly, the chamber doors of blew open, as if a gust of wind had forced them apart. I studied the portal intently, but could see nothing, save a wavering in the air. Two of my elite guards rushed forth to protect their queen. As they advanced toward the unseen foe, a great force took hold of them one after the other, slamming their broken bodies into the walls. Their corpses were absolutely crushed of life. As my third warrior positioned himself between the Creature and myself, the shifting form coalesced from the ether into a dark figure, skeletal in appearance.

Left :

The First Apprentice of my Elite knight, 

Erik Von Berkenstel

Right:

The Second candidate to be the new Elite Knight,

Shinjo Kamakura

With a word of power, flames of hellfire began to dance upon the Creature's frame. Pointing at my final guardian, a fine and deadly mist emanated from the earth. With a muffled scream, the guard fell dead in a collapsed heap, while the Creature seemed stronger. As the Creature advanced, I stood proudly and held my ground. The creature raises its talons, ready to strike.

And "The Last Elite Knight" of the Soul Seers Bloodline. The protector of our kind and my only brother,

Tomohisa Alta Lacrosse

(the cross on his neck, is what i had in my robe in the drawing in the introduction - i kept it after a Shade took his life.)

Gathering my courage, I began to chant the sacred words of our tribe on the Crest.. The Crest emanates for a while, and my hopes to remove this being of malice from existence-  but suddenly, it turned black and looked lifeless. It showed me that it doesn't want to obey me as its protector any longer..

Having realized what it means, i prayed to the inner forces the stone the Crest has within..

"I slowly gave it my memories, fragments of my past.. my existence-"

but before i can fully escape the danger of the Shades, I was overcome with a sense of peace. I could no more strike the Creature than I could harm my most trusted companion. With a wave of a skeletal talon, a shining blade rushed through the doorway. The last vision I had in my ethereal life was that of a shadowy smile crossing the face of the Creature -

But Memory Seers, the beings who exist with the nature of time and existence, never die the same way as humans.. They shatter to memory fragments.. and others acquire those memories..

Before i was fully shattered to complete oblivion, I prayed for one last time..

"As i was fading with the wind, i muttered with my last memories of that one mortal face.. the face i wanted to always remember and stay with me.. and said, '..Please..' "

At that moment, the Crest glistened and absorbed the shattered fragments of my body-turned memories..

The advancing Shade retreated to the dark corners of the room, and i feel my soul leaving the body..

The curse begins its haunting.

The undead shall come for me.

~O~O~O~O~O~

 

Chapter 2: Awakening

 

I woke up from the pain of my soul being torn apart and detached from my body. At that moment, nothing else matters. i just wanted the pain to go away.. Vague flashes of memory that reminded me of the "reaping" that my friends and protectors have suffered..

The pain suddenly stops and i try to remember what became of my battle- i came to face the destroyed remains of my "home".. As i think to my self, what meaning does this all have? The pain of death. The life of death. The order of dying. The chaos of living.

What does it mean to be alive? Where do we know when life has graciously left its last breath within us? As my thoughts grasp a misty reality they begin to slip away again. An irony I long to know. I yearn to live but fear of becoming enveloped in all that I seek has twisted my soul into a doom of fate. In a world, from a time that existed only in my deepest memories, I lived an innocent life. 

I will never know. The tragedy led us all to our separate destinies and I now live isolated. Heed these words. For I will never know what brings us so close to the edge. I am Tapphen. Memory Seer. A wanderer and Ethereal Memoir Specialist. I knew no life except that of my own and my brethren. I survive precariously on the knowledge that someday I will know what parts of immortality from the thread of existence in this vile world. My tale I tell you not with words of courage nor heroism but survival and great cost. For there lies a fine line between life and death and it lies enshrouded in shadows...

The blackness of the terrible force with which I awoke stirred my unconscious thoughts out of their reverie. The hood that covered my face drew closer as I tugged at myself quietly and rose from the outcropping of rock. The hills were silent as I padded from my small shelter and out into the twilight. I neared the fortress gates and summoned my follower close. My lips parted to form an ancient tongue. Long ago and forgotten words to all but a few who's ways tap into the nether world. Death some call it. Others call it necromancy. I call it survival. My body wavered from one plane to the next and a scarlet hue of light took hold of me. I made myself known to him who was standing watch over the citadel by whispering quietly in the air. A dark chill ran down his face as my black thoughts took hold of him. Painful waves of fear, mindful thoughts of dying, all my visions of Ethereal Power became one with him. I converged on the essence of ecstasy and some terrible eagerness seeped through my blood, as I took his life. He began to convulse with spasms as death became evident. I held fast, seared his eyes with streaks of blinding light and finished him off with a crushing intensity that ended his very existence. I looked again at the decaying, infested corpse, pulled the roots from my pouch and began my intonation. My voice resonated as I chanted carefully the sacred words of my ancestors. In the placid solitude, with the air chill on my back, time seemed to stand still. I took the carefully preserved bundle under my arm and began my way into the dismal gates to my next victim.

The resident of the luminous, transparent orb- a former servant of our household, and dearly beloved friend, Riysuko.. (whoever remembers him shall have my will).

 He was the one that was standing at the fortress gates.

In this chapter, i was controlled by the Shades, after my soul was supposedly taken over by the darkness.

~O~O~O~O~O~

 

Final Chapter : Recollection

 

Controlled by my Recollections of the "Reaping", i now face the mountains of carcasses that the darkness within me had done.. Piles of lifeless bodies lie everywhere.. 

"Confused by the deranged situation, i retreated to the chambers of the castle.. like suddenly waking u from a nightmare, to another one."

Shortly amidst my confusion, i gradually earned knowledge of my abilities, and what i've done.. From somewhere i can't reach, someone is teaching me.. watching..

But what have I become?
Spectral arms reach out to me
Bearing me away

Tortured, haunting dreams
The calling of a dead mind
I wake in cold sweat

Scratching at my door
I hear deep breathing outside every night
And slowly, the lock turns

Walking through the woods
I hear Them call far away
And begin to run

I no longer live-
Long ago I shut my eyes
to our dying world

As I write these words
My best friend lies cold and dead.
"Stay out of the house!"

High and lonely house
It's owner beholds the sea
And shivers strangely

Terrifying dreams
Visions of some evil shape
I do not wake up

Constellations swirl
Soon we'll be but stories

To children not our own

Seductress of all
The darkness now beckons me
Calling me back home-

"Climb through the window
Follow me to sleeping flesh
Hold your razor tight"

I gaze at the Crest,
Learning all there is to know-
My mind fades away

Death embraces me
Tenderly it strokes my hair
Eating me alive

Man no longer rules.
Forced to fight for scraps of food
Earth's new owners laugh

Now I must depart
May you live long and calmly.
Darkness comes for me-

I am Tapphen Fenris Alexis Lacrosse, a Memory Seer

~O~O~O~O~O~O

 

 

"All pictures above were made by me and my friends, so i own them.
Thanks for viewing!!"




Dearly Beloved - Yoko Shimomura
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