Coping Mechanisms

She couldn't stop shaking. She walked along, talking with her friends. She visited with the children and magicked up simple toys to draw out a smile. Her staff thunked along beside her, ever steady.

But Eylylyn couldn't stop shaking.

Demonic laughter. Searing heat. Hellacious, mad eyes locked onto her

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to push the fresh memories back into the quiet recesses of her mind. Back where such things belonged, away from light and thought.

But with as much trouble as she was having, it seemed rather crowded back there.

Running through rain and mud. Baying werewolves got on her heels. A flash of crimson...

She felt herself flinch, trying to dam the memories back up

The first lash had hurt. The second had her screaming. The third would have had her on her knees if not for the ropes holding her up, naked flesh exposed to the result of her failure. The lashes continued, and so did her tears.

"Daddy! Please help!"

She stumbled a little, accidentally walking into Rahsaan's back. With an automatic, subconscious effort of will she magicks the tears from her eyes and smiles up at the urchin.

"Oh! Sorry about that, Rahsaan! I got lost in my head for a moment there!"

With a half laugh, Rahsaan turned in place to face the wizard, "No need to apologize, Lyn. I just paused to . . ."

He stopped noticing the gnome's expression, the smile clearly faux as opposed to the grin she normally wore. Deciding to try and cheer her up, he added, " . . . think about how great you should feel defeating that fiery fiend along with those witches back there. I am certain that Azalan is proud of you for what you did carrying out his orders."

Noticing his response did not alleviate her expression, he then said, "Or . . . is it that we did not kill that third witch that was not good enough? Maybe we should have burned that whole mill to the ground, just to be safe now that I think about it."

Without giving her a chance to reply he asked, "Or it is something else altogether?"

Two faces staring up at her. So dear, and so terrible. The cries have stopped, but she sees the life lingering in their eyes even as the werewolves feed. Then the curse takes them, and something worse moves into their eyes...

Fog fuzzes over the scene in her head, and familiar warm oblivion sinks in. She shakes her head, smiling more warmly now, if no more sincerely and her hands grip her staff in a white knuckled stranglehold, trembling slightly.

"We broke their coven, that's what's important. Besides, survivor may serve as a warning to others. She can spread the word of what happens to her kind. Not that i was able to do much..."

Beneath the clouds in her head a demonic scream rises to the surface of her conciousness and she can't help but shiver again as brief flashes from the fight play out in her mind.

"That demon was something else though. I... I wasn't able to do much against it. I was just so..."

She sighs, closing her eyes and trying to shake the memories from her head in frustration.

"I don't want to talk about the demon. Or the witches, or that damned mill. Not now and not ever again."

“You could not do anything against them. . .?”

Despite the gnome’s condition, he let out a disbelieving laugh, “Please let me say this, Eylylyn. If it was not for you, we would have walked unsuspectingly right into their  wicked clutches. You saved the life of Gozrik and Aspen, swallowing your fear and endangering yourself in the process to heal them. You stood your ground and refused to let your friends suffer without at least trying.”

He crossed his arms like an understanding smirk, “You can claim more credit  for contribution than I can. Voriel was the one in charge during that entire encounter. If he was not there, I do not know what I could have done. If you do not wish to talk about it any longer, than I will not either.”

He leaned forward slightly, “Though I suspect there is something else still troubling you?”