I feel like I say this a lot but I definitely tried something different with this one. Probably unsuccessfully but I figured I'd get a little weird with it this time around. start the new year off with something a bit more out there lol. Hopefully y'all enjoy!
Something stirred amongst the swirling eddies and twinkling lights of the heavens. The stars brightened and their constellations shimmered with newfound radiance. A riot of colors swirled through every aurora dancing across the skies. Every stretch and corner of the cosmos was alight with energy. And hummed with newfound life.
Yet no matter how vibrant the thrum of creation few sheltering beneath the vast swaths of brilliance dancing above their heads so much as gleaned a single moment of the beauty. All across the world they felt the warmth of existence itself blossoming like the first days of a welcome spring yet none seemed to know the cause. They merely felt the fires of creation burning within their breasts and erupting through their minds in a swell of beautifully chaotic passion. But as far as any soul knew there was no rhyme nor reason to it and no greater cause behind the energy coursing through their veins. None could see the stars above ripple like some great, unseen hand touched the surface of the heavens and none truly felt the titanic shift in their existence as something stirred.
None save a single woman sitting beside her open window gazing out at the heavens with a child of her own nestled in her arms. As she cast her gaze to the heavens once more her eyes seemed to open for the very first time. Though she'd long admired the unattainable, unknowable beauty of the heavens so far above she'd never truly seen them as they were. Never truly understood those glittering light twinkling bright and unceasing every night of her life. And yet as she stared up in awe at the resplendent night flourishing like never before she finally caught a glimpse of what'd always been obscured.
A glimpse of something all at once terrifying in it's beauty and overwhelming in it's grace. It seemed to pull her away from the world she'd known every moment of her life and towards something greater than she could understand. Though she remained in the same comfortable chair she'd sat in every night for decades, and her mother had sat in for decades before her, she felt herself drifting ever upwards as she watched the cosmos shimmer. Some small, ineffable part of her very being was drawn further from the very pages of the story she'd once lived. Like ink being drawn back into it's quill to create some new and grander story by far. She scarcely felt the body she was leaving and yet remained keenly aware of it and the child she held close to her breast. Every breath was a labor she seemed to weak to endure and yet she drew them in without so much as a thought. Her eyes were finally opened for the first time and yet she wanted nothing more than to close them again.
Rising from her chair as much as she was pulled to her feet she gazed upon the heavens without any understanding of what she saw and a greater understanding than was ever possible before. All the stars dancing above shone so bright she wanted to look away but the hum of their constellations and the fervent glow of the aurora rippling like a shroud between her and the heavens refused. They called to places within her that she'd never known and they pulled at threads that seemed to unravel and unmake her with even the slightest tug. But she was ever aware of the world she was being drawn from. Of the ground beneath her feat and the child still cradled in her arms.
She could no more leave it all in her wake than soar up to the heavens so sweetly calling to her with every moment she remained apart. Yet as bound as she was the earth that bore her and the child she had born something was still drawn away. From her soul, from her mind, from the strangest and most indescribable parts of herself. Though she didn't mourn it's loss even as it emerged like curling wisps of smoke from a newly stoked flame.
Rather she smiled up at the heavens with an unknowable gratitude, heartened by the warmth ignited within her very soul. She knew not what it meant or what'd been taken but even simply thinking it was taken felt a strange and unwelcome thought. Even without knowing what it was she'd given nor that it was within her to give she felt nothing but joy in the act of giving it. In the certainty, how strange and ephemeral it may have been, that it was needed. That she had played some grand role in a symphony far greater than any mortal being had ever known before. There was no hope of understanding anything more but no discontent to accompany that simple, impossible to deny fact. None of the yearning nor questions she might have, should have, felt seemed to pierce the contentment lighting up inside her as she smiled at the heavens.
Then she woke up.
Eadreth's eyes fluttered open and a breath filled her empty lungs. Lurching out of her chair and onto her feet before she even understood where she was she turned towards the open window beside her almost on instinct. But the heavens were exactly as they'd been every night. No different to how they looked every spring from the earliest days of her wistful stargazing. And for the first time she felt a pang of disappointment as she watched the stars twinkle and the aurora shimmer. As if the wonder she had always felt was gone. Stolen away by the dreams so vibrant and wonderful in their passion nothing of the real world could ever hope to compare. In nearly three decades of life she'd never experienced anything like the dreams still haunting the ebbs and flows of her mind. Nor the warmth and contentment they'd inspired as she traveled through them. They were so great she still felt the smallest echoes of that joy even as the last vestiges of her sleep faded and her thoughts grew ever more clear amidst the waking world.
And before she could dwell long on such fanciful thoughts and abstracted silliness Tarryn stirred in her arms. Fussing against her breast and pulling at her gown his soft cries pulled her away from all else and demanded of her every moment of attention she had, “Don't fret my love...” She murmured, gently rocking him in her arms, “Don't fret, mother's here... mother's here...”
Turning away from the heavens and towards the nursery once at her back she carried her son towards his cradle without hesitation. And yet as instinctive as it was every step away from the window felt further than the last. Like she was crossing vast plains and bouncing across oceans despite knowing the truth of the matter and seeing it plain as day. But hearing the floorboards creak underfoot and seeing the room around her remain exactly as it had since she first decorated it did little to assuage those feelings. Nor quiet the strangeness she felt as the blossomed.
Indeed as she gently laid her son down amidst his favorite blankets and toys Eadreth felt an unbearable calling pulling at her back. Though she knew it was little more than the wistfulness of a fading dream spurring her onward she could no more resist it in the waking world than in her dreams. All the clear headed thoughts and undeniable rationale in the world couldn't stop her from turning towards the window once again. From satisfying the burning curiosity simmering so hot within her chest. She didn't pull away from her son entirely as she looked out upon the sliver of the heavens she could see through the window beyond but there was no telling how long she would remain. Such a thought was so far from her mind she scarcely even felt it as she swaddled her child and tenderly caressed his cheek, all without ever tearing her gaze away from that little glimpse of the cosmos. And once she'd finished tending to her son... there was little to keep her by his crib.
Returning to the window sill as if returning to her dreams Eadreth stared out at the heavens and waited for something. She had little inkling of what she waited for but she waited nonetheless. Her eyes roamed the heavens like the astrologers of her family's house but she found no meaning in what she saw. There was no explanation in the unmoving sight of the stars nor the vast, multicolored nebula that housed them. Only more questions filling her mind as that tiniest fragment of joy and contentment remained inside her heart. No matter how long she stood awake and alert to the world outside of her dreams. And she was glad of it's presence as surely as she lamented the ever growing certainty that she might never understand why it occurred.
The floorboards creaking outside her son's nursery once more pulled her away from the skies, though she was loathe to acknowledge the disturbance. But as soon as she heard a gentle knock at the door there was no remaining lost in her thoughts. She could only turn towards the sound and softly call out to the woman she knew waited on the other side of the door.
“Come in,” She whispered.
Opening as slowly and as tenderly as possible Eadreth's young wet nurse peered into the room and looked to her with concern, “What are you still doing up my Lady? If the young master was fussing I should be the one to answer his cries!”
“I know.” Stepping away from the window one last time Eadreth collected the shawl she'd draped across her shoulders before leaving her bedroom and wrapped it about herself once more. “But you were already resting and I thought it a chance to spend time with my son absent all the physicians and priests normally scurrying about.”
Her wet nurse stepped into the room and smiled, “I can't fault a mother for that.” She remarked, “But you should return to Lord Gottheld before he notices your absence.”
Glancing at her son for a moment before nodding Eadreth softly replied, “I will.” and approached the door.
Though her wet nurse held it open for her she paused for just a moment in the doorway, stealing another look at her son before her eyes turned towards the window once again. Yet before she had a chance to do more than stare her wet uurse pulled it shut and drew the curtains. “We mustn't leave this open too long my Lady, all manner of fairies and spirits could sneak in and steal away with your boy!”
“Of course. How silly of me.” Letting out a breath she hadn't even meant to hold Eadreth smiled at her companion and said, “Goodnight Pollyanna.”
“Goodnight my Lady! Pleasant dreams!”
Forcing her smile to remain Eadreth could only nod and depart her son's nursery. She stepped into the shadows of the unlit hall with only the faint glow spilling through the cracks in the door to light her way. But she knew the path back to her bedroom as well as she knew every other nook and cranny of her husband's estate. Stepping into the darkness and letting it swallow her had long since lost any fears it might've caused. Indeed she was glad to be alone with her thoughts and apart from even the faintest sliver of light. With all the curtains drawn and all the rest of the manse fast asleep she was well and truly alone, a rare pleasure and one she valued more than all the silver in her husband's coffers. Or the finery near overflowing from her closet. Even if there was little to enjoy about her solitude as her thoughts invariably strayed back to her dream and everything it'd caused.
Sadly the peace and comfort offered by the darkness she so often walked afforded her little clarity. In all other things it'd helped her understand her heart and think properly about whatever might've worried her. Now it was little more than a prison hiding her away from what she truly wished to know. A comforting cage whose bars she finally recognized as she turned towards one of the many windows along the wall beside her.
Her fingers brushed against the finely embroidered silk for just a moment as hesitation consumed her thoughts. She tried to tell herself she was acting absurd. That her thoughts were simply a flurry of doubts brought to the surface by greater concerns. It seemed so reasonable an argument Eadreth nearly believed every word. But just as her hands were about to fall away a little streak of stubbornness lanced through her body like a bolt of lightning. A moment later she was throwing the curtains open and peering out into the vast expanse of stars so very far above. And though she scarcely knew what she was expecting Eadreth seemed to find it as her eyes roamed the heavens.
“I think I have a few more hours before dawn...” She whispered to herself, “And a few more hours before my husband drags himself away from his servants to pretend he spent the night alongside me...”
Emerging from one of the many entrances dotted about the palatial estate of Gottheld manor a hooded figure stole away into the night before any could stop them. Neither the guards upon the walls nor even their hounds noticed the flicker of shadow rushing across the grounds. They only heard the soft whisper of a light breeze winding through the forest all around them, rustling the branches and setting the leaves aflutter in an almost hypnotic rhythm. The figure squeezed through a small, long ignored crack in the southernmost wall and stepped out into the woods beyond. But rather than hurrying deep into the concealing shadows all around they scurried along the perimeter of the very wall once holding them inside the estate. Sneaking along under the guard's noses they navigated around much of the perimeter in a hurried crouch and only turned away at a seemingly arbitrary point almost directly opposite from where they'd emerged. Upon reaching that point they hurried off into the forest, vanishing into the undergrowth before any guard had a chance of spotting them.
Eadreth had little understanding of where her feet carried her as she navigated the oft treacherous ground. With only thin beams of moonlight spilling down from the canopy to guide her she could only traipse along at a snail's pace. And yet in spite of that maddening delay she never seemed to question exactly where it was she traveled towards.
Or rather the questions never seemed to be of much import. They certainly flickered through her mind, especially in moments of considerable effort or frustration, but she didn't feel altogether compelled to answer them. To some bizarre degree it all simply made sense. Eadreth couldn't explain nor did she have a mind to but every step felt remarkably purposeful even without ever knowing why. Even when she scrambled up rocky gorges or nearly tripped down into deep, dark hollows she never quite lost that footing that guided her deeper. Deeper into the forest and deeper into whatever madness had compelled her to leave her home in the first place. So long as she was awash in that burning desire to press on and see whatever she might see little else mattered.
Save perhaps the son she left behind. But so long as Pollyanna remained by his side she could rationalize her stealing away into the night. Odd as it may have been. And indeed the farther away she traveled the less she thought about the manse at her back or even the child no doubt sleeping soundly within. A peculiar mix of curiosity and overwhelming need had taken root inside her. It refused to allow anything else much purchase in her mind and the longer it went unsatisfied the greater it's flames seemed to roar.
Then it all seemed to stop just as suddenly as it'd arrived. She emerged from the undergrowth with a hundred little tears in her cloak and gown and stepped into a moonlight grove feeling so abruptly empty. Not disappointed nor angry nor anything else but simple void of feeling altogether. She felt nothing and that feeling confused more than anything. She could only look around the clearing without truly seeing much of anything nearby. Not the pond occupying much of the space nor the wildflowers shut tight until the sun's rays would awake them nor even the pale light of the moon shining upon all of it in a gentle radiance. Eadreth was too bereft of what she'd unwittingly come to rely upon to concern herself with anything else. As silly as it was to grow attached to unexpected feelings born from a dream there was no shaking the melancholy that'd replaced it. She could only walk further into the glade with an unexpected aimlessness before staring up at the stars as an unasked question filled her thoughts. A question not even the heavens seemed fit to answer.
Tearing her gaze away from the skies and shaking her head at her own silliness she turned back the way she came almost on instinct. As if simply returning home would slave whatever longing had been instilled in her. And the preposterous wanderlust that'd sent her gallivanting off into the night after it like some sort of child. Or a fool from the tall tales endlessly spoken by her mother and grandmother in an effort to scare children away from the fairies and fey folk of the deep woods. But there were no ancient creatures to steal Eadreth away. Only an empty clearing with a simple pond and all the silence that came from such a lonely place.
Entirely without thinking she sank to her knees beside the water, barely glancing at it as a quiet, despondent sight escaped her lips. That momentary swell of emptiness had been replaced but what'd replaced it hardly left her with anything but more melancholy. Eadreth made a few shallow attempts to understand what'd come over her and why she'd let it all happen. Why a simple, if utterly bizarre, dream could elicit something so great.
So powerful it'd felt like she'd come alive for the first time in months. Perhaps even years. Every last moment of that dream had felt so vibrant and rekindling it was like she'd drawn a full breath for the first time in her life. After years upon years of shallow gasps and near suffocation. Now everything was returning to normal and she struggled to make sense of it much less respond with anything more than confusion and despondence. Perhaps even a little worry as the question of how she could possibly return to her home loomed somewhere in the back of her mind. Though when she considered what she would return to it was difficult to fret much. Eadreth felt a pang of guilt as thoughts of her son followed those supposed worries but it didn't last very long. They couldn't last as she cast her eyes up at the heavens once more only to look away in frustration.
Whether at herself or simply with her life she couldn't say, “I'm a fool...” She said aloud, her voice like a sudden boom amidst the once deafening quiet, “Such a fool!”
Glancing about her surroundings and seeing them properly for the first time she looked at the pond stretching across the remainder of the glade. It's depths were hidden behind a reflection of the endless, starry sky above and she saw no signs of fish nor bugs nor anything else within. Nothing that might be able to distract her from herself while she languished in worry and doubt. And with the heavens so clearly reflected back at her across it's pristine surface Eadreth couldn't bear to look at it for much longer. Not without turning her attention away to whatever else might be about. Anything else capable of distracting her for even a moment. Like plucking a flower from the ground beside her and simply feeling it's stalk against her fingers. Or the softness of it's tightly closest petals. For a moment she even lifted it up to her nose in the hopes of enjoying it's scent. But to no avail. And after a few moments Eadreth let it fall from her fingers without a thought, forgetting all about the flower before it could roll off her lap altogether.
“I'm such a fool...” She lamented again, “Only a fool would rush off into the night chasing a dream they didn't even understand! Only a fool would abandon their son to his father after running afoul of a fairy queen in the deepest woods! Only a fool would—”
Her voice caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat as she idly glanced back at the pond only to notice something that made her entire body freeze. For just a second or two she was convinced she'd imagined it. That she was simply creating a fanciful circumstance to excuse her silliness. But all it took was a single glance towards the heavens to prove what she already knew. Then another, far slower glance at the surface of the pond.
The stars and nebula reflected upon it's surface weren't the ones filling the skies above.
It seemed an impossible thing and yet there was no denying that simple truth. The riot of colors within the pond's reflection, or whatever it might've been, were not those glittering across the heavens. She saw none of the constellations she knew in the water's picture and the aurora shimmering so high above glowed with a different hue altogether. As if she was peering into a window showing an entirely different sky. One she'd never laid eyes upon before. It seemed an impossible thing and yet Eadreth couldn't argue with what she saw, no matter how much she might've wanted to. Instead she could only stare all the more intently at the pond as her heart raced.
Truly awestruck by the unfamiliar sights within she leaned over the waters as if the image might shift and change. As if craning her neck might reveal even more of that unfamiliar sky. Sadly the stars shining back at her remained fixed just as they would've in a normal reflection. But that did nothing to dampen the fascination coursing through her while she looked back up at the heavens, finding ever constellation she knew and memorizing the colors of the nebula streaking across the world. When she looked back at the pond surface she found not a single thing where it should've been. Or perhaps it was all exactly where it should've been. For wherever it was showing. Eadreth couldn't say and the curiosity that inspired was more tantalizing than words could describe. So tantalizing she extended a hand over the waters without a care for what might happen.
“No reflection at all...” She whispered, “Not even a shadow...” Shifting and weaving about like a snake coiling to attack she tried to catch sight of a moon amidst the boundless expanse. But there were only stars and nebula and a beautifully shimmering aurora. “And no moon... what is this? What have I found?”
Unsurprisingly she found no answers musing aloud to herself and little hope of answering those questions as she pulled her hand back against herself. But the unimaginable weight of curiosity proved to much of a concern to simply stare and silently wonder without action. Dangerous as it might have been Eadreth simply had to know more. Even if it was some fey trap meant to spirit her off to their strange realms forevermore she couldn't resist the temptation to reach out once more. This time not to merely hold her hand above but actually touch the surface of the water. To see if it was truly water or some other strange thing. Like a portal to another world or a gap in the very fabric of the world around her. Though she did hesitate for just a moment before making contact with the surface and she did withdraw her hand for just a few, frantic heartbeats soon after. If only to shake her head and furiously rub her eyes in a final effort to see if she was truly imagining everything. But the waters were precisely the same as before and there was truly no other way to react.
Or rather, that's what Eadreth assured herself of while she extended her hand once more. As she stretched out a single finger to trail across the surface for even a moment. But the instant she made contact with the surface of the 'water' she knew something was wrong. She pulled her hand away fast as she could and frantically wiped her finger dry upon her cloak, though it wasn't actually wet. Eadreth nearly scrambled to her feet as she watched the stars within finally start to shift.
No ripple had spread across the surface of the 'water' at her touch and her finger hadn't drifted across the surface like anything she might've expected. Instead she was met with just the slightest bit of resistance. Just a tiny bit more than should've been present and yet when she was expecting none it felt like trying to push her finger through stone. Something had stopped her from breaking that surface even by the smallest bit and the moment she withdrew hr finger the vaste swathe of glittering stars and lights seemingly twinkling inside started to shift.
Like the turning of a globe the heavens contained within moved, slow at first but then faster and faster as she watched in awe and terror. For a moment the stars were little more than blurs and the nebula they sparkled within little more than hazy streaks. Then just as suddenly as they started shifting, they stopped again. Stopped entirely with a whole new vision of the heavens waiting for her.
One just as unfamiliar as the last and yet one that made her heart race and her breath catch in her throat while she stared at it. And before she could so much as try to breathe again Eadreth was overcome by an even greater surprise: the stars brightened and the nebula swirling around them glowed in a fresh riot of colors. A vibrant thrum of energy and life swept through every last mote of light like ripples across the surface of a pond and she could only stare in disbelief. It seemed for all the world like that silly little dream was coming to life. As if the very thing that'd drawn her out into the woods was happening all over again. Eadreth could scarcely believe it and yet for all the confusion flooding her mind her heart was filled with joy. The very same joy she'd felt as she lost herself so far from the waking world. Though perhaps not as far as she expected.
The 'water' started to shift and undulate, the stars within remaining entirely fixed despite whatever housing them moving more and more insistently with every moment. And amidst those unpredictable swells Eadreth glimpsed even more of the unfamiliar sky inside the thing. Saw even more of the beauty glimmering within every star before they disappeared once more. As if she was staring through an unstable portal ebbing and flowing with the rhythms of unheard music.
But as soon as that thought flickered through her mind another took it's place. One far more sensible and far more incredible. Reaching out yet again to touch the churning surface of the 'water' without so much as a consideration to what she might be touching Eadreth thought of a better comparison. A better metaphor that seemed so perfect suited she couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to her sooner. The 'water' wasn't shifting and pulsing in time with some grand musical performance. It was beating like a newly awakened heart. Thumping and growing and contracting in an almost rhythmic cadence. At times beating faster than her own, at times beating slower, but always beating. Always thumping in a strange, incomprehensible silence.
Until she touched it again. Until the undulating mass of inky blackness housing untold stars rose to meet her trembling finger and she felt it's strange contours once more. The entire.... thing froze as if it had never moved at all and Eadreth nearly pulled her hand away. In fear of what she'd done. Fear of what the 'water' might do. Fear of what she could've disrupted with—
Sinking back down into itself and returning to the perfectly level stretch of unassuming 'water' she'd first spotted the thing before her seemed to deflate at her touch. Though the stars within it shimmered as brightly as ever the rest was unnaturally still. Uncomfortably static in ways she couldn't believe after watching it move and beat in such an unexpected frenzy. Eadreth couldn't help but lament whatever she'd done as a sense of worry not entirely her own spread through her mind and overwhelmed much of her body. Yet instead of withdrawing or even putting words to her concern in some foolish attempt at apology she let her hand fall down to the surface of the 'water' once more. There was no conscious thought behind her actions nor any coherent plan as he trailed her finger across it again. Only an altogether unknowable certainty that she was acting the only way she could.
Little did she realize the enormity of that simple action. Though she wasn't given long to wait before the truth was made abundantly clear. Barely a heartbeat after she touched it again the 'water' started beating once more. It rose up against her finger and swelled to even greater heights. Like churning sea amidst a storm it roiled up higher and higher until it'd nearly matched her eye level, threatening to engulf her hand all the while.
And somehow Eadreth didn't think to pull away. Her heart beat in a newfound frenzy she'd never felt before and some part of her knew withdrawing would've been wise. Instead she extended all of her fingers outward as if she was reaching to take someone's hand. Only for the thing beneath her trembling digits to respond in kind.
Enveloping her entire hand without so much as a moment's warning in wrapped around her fingers and weaved between them like she truly had submerged it in water. Before she could even gasp as the spectacle of her hand disappearing into some unknown cosmos Eadreth felt the 'surface' of the entity break against her hand. Akin to a worn, thinning wineskin finally bursting and spilling out all it's contents the beating mass of stars and nebula swirling around her seemed to break. But there was no rush of cold nor heat. No swell of wetness to coat her fingers and leave her skin damp as it was submerged. Instead she felt something altogether more... wonderful.
Passion and joy hummed through her body in an all consuming storm. Lancing through her arm and into the rest of her faster than she could hope to understand it flooded her senses and overwhelmed her mind with fire as beautiful as it was ruinous. Eadreth couldn't stop herself from crying out as it seared her very soul in the sweetest agony and stole away everything she thought she knew of pleasure and pain. With every moment she was being unmade. Taken apart and put back together exactly as she had been yet entirely different. No words in any language she knew could put description to the utter madness swirling in cacophony throughout her being. No thought nor action could stymie the flow of warmth radiating through every fiber of her body and every fragment of her soul. She scarcely knew what was happening to her beyond the torrent of energy and emotion crashing though every facet of her once normal form. All the rest of the world had faded and there seemed no hope of ever finding it again.
Eadreth's scream rang out across the forest, a howl of agony so full and desperate even the most stoic of folk would've balked. And yet within the pain was an undeniable pleasure beyond their ken. Animals all across the woodlands fled and even the fey folk lurking within the deep greens shrank back from the shriek ringing out in their ears.
The men upon the walls of Lord Gottheld's estate trembled at event the faintest whisper of the howl carried to them by the ever changing winds. They knew not what they heard nor where it came from yet every last one reacted the same. Withdrawing into themselves and simultaneously aching to hear even another moment of the sound they cowered and stood tall in the most bizarre conflictions without knowing what they were doing. And without ever knowing what was causing it. Only the sorrow they felt when the wailing seemed to end and the joy the felt when it resumed again, more desperate than ever and more tinged with indescribable joys than ever. Though nothing they felt, nothing ignited within them, could possibly match what Eadreth felt as she screamed.
Desperately grabbing her arm as if she had any hopes of pulling it back she could only lean in all the more as the thing enveloping her hand climbed further and further along. Soon it'd wrapped itself around her wrist. A moment later it'd covered much of her forearm. An instant after that it was swallowing her elbow and drifting ever higher towards her shoulder. All the while that same agony continued to flood her body and that same pleasure continued to follow close behind. To chase it away and momentarily overwhelm everything else before another burst of mania arrived to clear it all and start anew. It happened as quickly as the beating of her own heart yet every moment felt longer than an eternity. As if she was trapped in every frantic breathe and agonizing moment alongside every delighted squeal and uncontrollable shudder. Her body was not her own and she'd never felt more keenly aware of herself than she did as the entity finally enveloped her shoulder.
Her clothes seemed to burn away beneath the ever creeping onslaught of... whatever had entirely swallowed her arm. Eadreth didn't feel so much as a hint of the gown she'd once worn nor the cloak she'd draped across herself. Not upon the skin smothered and cradled by the stars gently humming against her skin. Somewhere in the deepest fathoms of her mind she was still aware of her clothes upon the rest of her body but such a thing was so small and easily cast aside she had no awareness of it. And there was hardly any time to consider such things as the 'water' crept along her other hand, slowly consuming it as she foolishly kept her fingers wrapped around the limb already lost to the thing. Yet as frightful as it should've been there was little room for worry or doubt or indeed anything but excitement. Even the agony once tearing a violent swathe through her body had begun to lessen and fade. It still remained as her other arm disappeared into the cosmos but the pleasure of her first being so utterly lost for what felt like so long drowned out much of the newfound agony.
After another eternity, and yet in no time at all, both of her arms were entirely lost within the swirling eddies of stars and nebula enveloping her. Though she knew her fingers hadn't released their death like grip upon her arm she could no longer feel it beneath them. Just as she could no longer feel those fingers against her inflamed skin. Only the pleasure of one and the agony of the other. Until that same pleasure swept away the agony in another harrowing repeat of the very same cycle she had only just escaped from. Yet the pleasure continued to blossom ever brighter while the pain faded piece by piece just slowly enough to leave her gasping in utter madness and keenly aware of every second spent consumed by the thing before her. And it was only spreading further and further across her body while she trembled.
Tendrils of star filled darkness stretched across her shoulders like so many hands reaching out to one another. Seeking to reconnect across her back and chest with all the same inexorably rhythms she'd come to know. Yet that knowledge never once left her any chance at preparing herself for what was to come. The agony was too great and the pleasure too all encompassing for any sort of awareness to matter in the least. Indeed it only made every moment that much more maddening as she simply waited for everything to happen all over again.
As much as anyone could wait while their body was consumed by something incomprehensible thing slithering across their skin and burning away their clothes. Even knowing full well she was still dressed Eadreth had never felt more naked, more exposed, before the thing gradually encasing more and more of her skin. Much of the slithering tendrils creeping over her chest and back and around her neck hadn't yet 'burst' like the ones consuming her arms but they still managed to create that same unbearable flurry all the same. The agony might've ravished her ever so slightly less while the pleasure might've been a shade less devastating but the end result was much the same no matter the difference. Her arms had entirely vanished within the swirling eddies of that strange, starry sky and it wasn't long before the upper most stretches of her back and chest joined them in the fathomless expanse. With all the madness and ecstasy that came with such a devastating cycle.
Only after she could no longer see her own body beneath the ever expanding sea of stars did Eadreth think to look down. Though she still gasped and panted and screamed until her throat was raw and her lungs empty she managed to stare in newfound disbelief at the shimmering blanket of lights dancing across the darkness enveloping her. Just as she felt those same ever winding tendrils climb up her throat and along the underside of her trembling jaw. All the while shifting every lower to slowly twist their way across the upper curves of her breasts with the same unknowable intention.
The pleasure setting fire to her ever last sense and threatening to utterly consume her only burned that much brighter as they 'water' trickled across one of the most sensitive parts of her body. Eadreth was left all at once terrified of what might happen when it completely shrouded her chest and entirely overcome by breathless excitement. She couldn't so much as begin to fathom what might happen when it traveled even further than that. Across her belly and down between her oh so tightly clenched legs to find places ever more tender than her breasts. Terror and giddy anticipation flooded her body in waves so great and so thunderous they threatened to overshadow everything else. And endlessly threatening to overshadow one another.
Shakily rising to her feet in one such moment as fear seemed to win out altogether Eadreth's howls died in her throat as all the muscles along her neck spasmed. Her back arched so fiercely she nearly collapsed back onto her knees an instant after leaving them. But somehow she remained upright just long enough to stare at the 'pond' full of shimmering stars humming with the same vibrant energy coursing through her veins. And she was suddenly struck by two urges as conflicting and tantalizing as anything she'd ever known in her life.
Resist or submit. Pull away or allow the starry shadows to completely overtake her like they already word. The first of many tendrils glided across her soft yet stiffening nipples and the shock of it nearly broke her. Another joined soon after to curl around her swollen buds and she cried out in anguish yet again. An anguish sweeter than more intoxicating than her wildest dreams.
Eadreth cast her gaze towards the heavens she still recognized and a joyful little grin lit up her face. All the stars she'd watched her entire life thrummed with the same energy as her dream. The shone with the same vibrant passion as those beautiful visions she'd nearly dismissed out of hand. As if her dream had suddenly come to life. And when she looked to the stars shimmering all around her and all throughout the 'pond' she'd once sat beside they shimmered with the same radiance. Hummed at the exact same cadence.
“Oh Gods...” She whimpered, her voice hoarse and strained as she struggled to keep her feet underneath her for another moment, “Oh Gods... I mustn't... I mustn't... I... I... I...” Her knees finally started to buckle and she knew there would be no chance to alter her course in a few moments, “I... can't...”
Close as it may have been to yet more submission Eadreth couldn't wait for it to happen. Not a moment longer. No matter what came next she simply had to act of her own volition. And she scarcely gave herself time to even consider it. She merely acted and acted swiftly.
She hurled herself into the starry darkness.
Even the 'water' writhing and undulating around and beneath her seemed not to believe her actions as it faltered for just a moment. The once hypnotic rhythms and beats of it's constant shifting were discordant for but a split second. Long enough for it's stars to fade and nebula to dim back to what they might've been otherwise. Yet before Eadreth could question her boldness or even truly appreciate that simple moment of surprise from the unknowable thing before her she landed upon it's surface and plunged down into it's depths.
Offering no resistance at all the surface broke as easily as water might. She simply plummeted down into a star filled sky as though she were truly falling through the air. Only to stop without truly stopping as if suspended amongst the cosmos. Like she'd become a constellation all her own. For just a moment she could turn her head and see thousands about thousands of glittering motes of light twinkling around her. Multicolored nebula running like currents past and even through her. She felt neither the familiar weight of her own body nor even the weight that once kept her tethered to the earth. She simply floated through nothingness surrounded by stars and unable to fathom even a moment of it all.
Until those ever shifting 'waters' resumed their humming. Suddenly the stars brightened and all the riotous colors of the nebula around her returned. Yet there was no time to revel in their beauty as every shred of clothing adorning her body vanished and the cosmos itself seemed to constrict around her once more.
Cradling every part of her body and holding her tight without truly squeezing anything she felt the unimaginable pressure of something pushing against every part of her. Yet the absolute freedom that was floating through the vast expanse of the heavens. Of a heavens entirely beyond her own. And for a moment she was allowed to simply bask in that absurdity. To revel in the strange comfort of being so tenderly held and completely restrained all at once. Only for that same maddening cacophony of agony and pleasure to return in even greater force.
Almost forgetting about that simple yet devastating rhythm in the wake of plummeting down into another starry sky beyond her own Eadreth couldn't release so much as a whimper. All the breath she should've have was stolen away as the agony of being touched by the impossible... thing around her returned. Returned to every fiber of her being and every last centimeter of her trembling form. It seemed to swallow her very soul and envelop it the same way the rest of her body was consumed by all the madness. And she truly didn't know if she could survive such a thing. If there was any hope at all of not losing herself to the anguish that'd overwhelmed all else. Not even her thoughts could pierce the aching haze that was her entire existence.
Then just as she was about to be entirely unmade by her agony it vanished. It was swallowed up in all consuming tide of ecstasy beyond any moral reckoning. Just as the pain she'd felt had consumed her whole being so too did the pleasure coursing through her body and devouring her soul in it's own form of abject madness. Eadreth had never been so incoherently aware of herself nor the tiniest source of stimulation crashing through what remained of her beleaguered senses. She felt the vast, endless expanse of star filled shadows against her body and against all the places that ached to be touched even in the mortal world. But most devastating of all was how every last moment was felt simultaneously as she tried to scream in maddening delight. There was no ebb nor flow and no rhythm to the cacophony assailing her. Just a single, unceasing torrent of joy cascading through every fiber of her being and into every corner of her soul.
It pressed against the sensitive lips of her sex and rubbed at the swollen pearl cresting her long neglected womanhood. It rubbed at the plump contours of her folds and caressed her trembling thighs with the gentlest of strokes. It trailed across the small of her back and up to her shoulders like the fingers of a lover exploring her body for the very first time. It enveloped her breasts and oh so teasingly closed around her nipples like the softest of lips kissing her buds and everything around them. It roamed the breadth of her stomach and all along her sides in almost uncomfortably tantalizing swell that seemed to tickle as much as pleasure. It almost lovingly stroked her arms from shoulder to hands in a never ending cadence all it's own. It pressed against her lips like the most longing of kisses while pushing down into her mouth and even the depths of her throat with a lewdness matched only by it's exuberance. It cupped and squeezed her rump like the groping hands of a partner fumbling about in a mindless swell of passion.
In all her years Eadreth had never been touched in so bold yet tender a way. She'd never felt even a fraction of what she was given by the thing all around her. Nothing had ever been so overwhelming in all her life and she'd never ached for anything more than the pleasure coursing through her veins as it continued. No agony resurfaced to steal away that bliss no matter how long she was lost within and before long she could scarcely remember what that'd felt like. Nor even that'd happened at all. Eadreth simply had no room within the ever more fragmented pieces of her mind for such things. Her unknowable companion made sure of that with every passing moment that stretched forever on into an unfathomable eternity. Even before it pressed deeper and further than she'd ever dreamed in ways her laughable past experiences could never begin to match.
Just as it'd pushed into her mouth and down to the depths of her throat without causing any discomfort nor suffocating her the starry darkness pressed against the tender entrance to her sex too. For just a moment it seemed to hesitate as it rubbed against her indescribably sensitive body, completely teasing every last inch of her womanhood all at once. But that trepidation only lasted a moment before it glided inside her as smoothly and gently as she could've wanted. All the while driving her utterly mad with a fresh cacophony of pleasure as it brushed against her innermost walls and assailed the most tender parts of her with that very same madness.
What'd felt amazing against her bare skin was suddenly the most ruinous ecstasy she'd ever known against the walls of her sex. Against all the most sensitive places within and without her body. It was so devastating a pleasure she nearly forgot about all the rest. Even as they contributed to every moment of incomprehensible joy ravishing her body and shattering her mind. It was simply too much for any one mortal to bear.
Yet at no point did her bizarre lover stop. At no point did it even seem to consider stopping. There was no hesitation as it pushed ever deeper into her sex until she was truly filled with it's presence in the most intimate of ways. And even once it had accomplished that abjectly wonderful task it seemed determined to continue on even longer. To further break and ruin her like never before.
Expanding and contracting within her sex and in concert with the madcap pounding of her heart it sent her mind careening ever deeper into an unfathomable ecstasy. Pressing against all the most intimate places inside her, many a place she'd known known before it's touch, it seemed to understand her body like no other. Yet at the same time she felt it almost... exploring her. Touching and caressing and roaming across everything it could reach. Pushing deeper down into her throat until she might've been choking on it's presence were it anything but the tangibly intangible thing it was. To say nothing of how it pulsed and thrummed against the walls of her sex and matched every convulsion to spread like wildfire through her body. Had she been responsible for her own safety Eadreth would've collapsed into a quivering mess after only a moment of it swelling inside her womanhood. Swelling until it felt as if she might burst from the pressure only to relent a moment after she could bear it no longer. As if to show her exactly what she could truly experience.
Relief and an unfettered longing coursed through her body eveyr time her lover ceased it's expansion even as she writhed and trembled in the heavenly aftermath of it shrinking once more. Even as it's presence inside her sex diminished it never faded. The endlessly surging waves of bliss caused by it's mere existence never changed. They remained as constant as the rest of it's unknowable 'body' wrapped so snugly around her at all times.
Only the pleasure ravishing her senses and breaking her down piece by ecstasy laden piece changed as it started to swell again. As it grew and grew and grew until Eadreth was howling into the cosmos without any hope of relief. Nor any real desire for the succor she thought she wanted. The anticipation, that maddening lust for something greater she hardly knew, refused to let anything else pass through what remained of her mind. As desperately as she screamed and as frantically as she trembled Eadreth didn't truly want her lover to stop. Indeed she only craved more as it's mysterious rhythms slowly grew more understandable. Though no less devastating in the ruin they brought upon her.
There was no hope of truly adjusting to the abject joy careening through her body and setting alight her senses with every flicker. It was so great a force and so unpredictable in spite of it's rhythms she could never focus on the sheer glut of ecstasy ravishing every fiber of her being. Only the highest peaks and deepest valleys of whatever might be ruining her at any given moment. Be it the pressure of the unwavering length inside her sex expanding, the caress of it's 'body' rubbing against her tender pearl, the almost gasping fingers about her breasts, or even the even stretching cascade pushing sp deep into her throat. To focus on all of those pleasures at once was to court abject madness and truly break her near shattered mind forever. Even simply trying to focus on the starry darkness cradling her body while she floated through the cosmos was a fool's errand. Not that Eadreth had much say in what her thoughts strayed towards as she was surrounded on all sides by ecstasy.
In truth nothing was under her control. No aspect of herself nor what happened around her was swayed in the least but what she might've wanted. She was wholly and completely lost to the whims of whatever had enveloped her, a toy to be used however it wished. Eadreth could no more speak around the length of it's starry darkness buried in her throat than she could form a truly coherent thought amidst the unbearable ecstasy. Her fingers might've grasped at the cosmos around her and even found some purchase on the unknowable but she could do nothing save cling to the vastness. As surely as she clung to her own sanity. Or whatever remained of it as the maddening ebb and flow continued to swirl faster and faster with every incomprehensible moment lost. She'd never felt so helpless in all her life and yet she'd never been more content with that helplessness.
All the while keenly unaware of how much the creature truly seemed to follow her whims and match her every wanton desire. When she was on the verge of true insanity as her sex ached and her body cried out for relief the cosmos answered. It relented in the wake of her fear and assuaged her worries with yet more pleasure until they were altogether meaningless. And when the insatiable ache for what'd so terrified her moments before returned those wishes were granted without delay. Anything and everything she felt was given as swiftly as it appeared within her mind. As swiftly as her beleaguered instincts might conjure it. Though she lacked the wherewithal to ever make such a connection her every last whim was met in a never ending fantasy of her own making.
One she could only sink deeper and deeper into as eons seemed to pass and the stars around her continued their endless twinkling. The once foreign and unknown hum rippling through them had all but entirely suffused her body. She felt herself thrumming in exactly the same cadence. To the very same songs she'd longer to hear during her dream. Or whatever it might've been. Such distinctions were beyond meaningless as long dormant parts of her were awakened.
Places she'd long neglected or never allowed to flourish came to life as her body was held and almost coveted by the star filled void so comfortably holding her. Without even the slightest inkling of what stirred within her belly and the depths of her mind Eadreth unwittingly let another desire spill forth like rain. She had no understanding of what her unspoken needs might bring about and yet she felt them more keenly than any other. So keenly it was nothing short of an indescribable need cascading through her already pleasure worn body as she craved yet more bliss. And like all the rest it was a need so swiftly granted there was no time to even realize it's presence.
Withdrawing without withdrawing the pressure against her innermost walls caressed her sex exactly as they had upon first entering. As if they were retreating back out of her and threatening to disappear entirely. But the ecstasy of their unending expansion and contractions didn't fade. Didn't alter for even a moment amidst everything she was experiencing. In yet more joy that defied mortal reckoning it remained as deep as it might ever be and withdrew at the same time, ravishing her with the oh so sweet perfection of both pleasures. And when it felt as if the length had entirely slid free, as if she was well and truly devoid of it's attention inside her womanhood, it came rushing back with an even greater passion than before. So great a passion it stole away her breath and sent her body careening into the most uncontrollable shudders yet.
She twisted and controted amidst the starry darkness, passing through nebula and brushing against stars in an uncontrollable fit of pure delight. Her body and mind were ravished as her soul screamed out in it's greatest pleasure yet. And all as the presence withdrew again just as before. Contracting while it did and truly letting her bask in that singular pleasure.
And when it returned it expanded to that same unthinkable scope, stretching so far she was sent into yet new convulsions amidst her pleasure. Though she could never quite ignore the ecstasy of it's sudden return nor the joy of it withdrawing again. A joy made all the sweeter by knowing it would come crashing back inside her with all the speed and strength she might bear. All the force she could possibly want yet never more than she could truly, and comfortably, endure. Everything about it was beyond perfect and for a time that was all she could ever hope to want.
For longer than she realized and yet seemingly no time at all Eadreth was lost to that new perfection as she wanted for nothing. Felt nothing but an overwhelming joy beyond her ken. As if all the wildest fantasies and silliest desires she created in most naive moments were suddenly made real. After a lifetime of bearing the dissatisfaction she thought simply part of life Eadreth was given a boundless taste of what she could truly know. Everything her body might feel and her mind might be lost to in an endless rhythm too great to fathom and too perfect to ever doubt. Simply floating there through the cosmos finally satiated the needs she had never truly admitted to and countless more that had forever lain dormant.
But as yet more pleasures were reawakened she couldn't help but crave more. Crave things she'd never once fancied nor even considered in her wildest moments. The most primal facets of her fractured yet beautifully reconnected self stirred. Demanded things she never would've sought out and wordlessly begged the star filled void around her to fulfill. A plea that scarcely managed to exist for a single heartbeat before it was answered.
Pressing against a place she'd never felt another touch, pushing into an entrance she'd never considered, the star filled void sent shock and pleasure rippling through Eadreth's body with a single touch. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth opened as if to scream yet the newfound tension gripping every last muscle within and without was not one of fear. Nor even worry. Instead she was overcome by waves of stunning exhilaration as she felt something truly unexpected. Felt herself clenching against the wood be intruder only to relax and allow it to slip inside faster than she could think. For a second or two it almost seemed like her body had betrayed her but the moment her companion entered that most unexpected part of her body any notion of anything but pleasure disappeared. The ecstasy of feeling that darkness against new walls and against a place every bit as sensitive as her sex would've been truly devastating all it's own. But alongside everything else she was already enduring?
Alongside he rhythmic strokes of the length gliding in and out of her womanhood while pressing so tightly against her inner walls? Alongside the length gliding in and out of her throat and reaching deep enough to seem inside her belly at any given moment? Even simply alongside the endless joys of it cradling her hugging her body no matter how she twisted and writhed? When experienced alongside all of that the abject bliss that was feeling it slide further and further into her depths Eadreth was practically driven mad.
No howl could do justice to the pleasure radiating through her body. No words could put to the page the ecstasy she felt with every slightest movement of the tendril inside her second entrance. It didn't need to expand no thrust like the others. Nor did it even have to travel all that deep within her body. Just feeling it at and past her tender little ring was devastating enough.
Of course that didn't men for a moment that she wasn't craving more. Craving everything her body might endure as desperately as she craved everything else. Though she had no room left for thoughts in her mind Eadreth wanted exactly what she was already being given. The very same joys and madness radiating outward from her sex amidst the cacophony of pleasure she felt there. And she was given exactly what she wanted long before her mind had any hopes of adjusting to what that would well and truly entail. The starry darkness pushed ever deeper and expanded ever wider as it traveled, wonderfully stretching even more of herself in tandem with the other. In tandem with the madcap beating of her heart and the trembling of her body.
All the air was pushed from her lungs in a single, shuddering gust as it wound ever deeper and expanded ever outward. Eadreth could scarcely draw another breath as the force of it buried so deep within her body remained, unabated and unceasing. Even when she tried the pressure was so great only the faintest scraps of air could be found and every last one emerged in a convulsive wheeze the instant they'd been inhaled. And still it pushed deeper. While the force within her sex remained as the lone constant amongst the three the one gliding down her throat and the one gliding further into her sensitive ring seemed to push on and on forevermore. She felt their presence in places they never should have reached and still they continued. Driven by some impossible to fathom purpose they were utterly relentless, almost drawn to one another with her body merely standing in their way. Though even in the state she'd been reduced to Eadreth could understand that wasn't entirely true.
If there'd been any room for doubt it was instantly and wonderfully alleviated when both stretches of starry void stopped their relentless push. Stopped to expand and contract much like the length so wonderfully gliding to and fro within her sex. And exactly like that third tendril the remaining two pulled back. Just as slowly yet just as quickly they withdrew without withdrawing and left her instantly awash in a threefold madness so intoxicating she had no hopes of surviving. The pressure and anticipation of both sliding back at the same rhythm as the third was too great to bear. It would surely kill her before they ever moved again.
And in a strange way Eadreth was entirely content with that thought. Her eyes disappeared into the back of her head and she all but clawed at the starry expanse around her, clinging and tearing and grasping at whatever she might get her fingers around. Every moment felt like her last and every moment was consumed by a desperate ecstasy beyond reckoning.
Yet when it seemed like she could bear it no longer and her doom was finally upon her the tendrils slid back into her depths. All three pushed inside her in perfect unison, finally allaying the agony of her anticipation and sending paroxysms of joy flooding through already broken senses. Her back arched in a furious convulsion, instantly sending her body curling inwards before another spasm sent her twisting in exactly the opposite direction. And all from the first of untold more strokes as they withdrew again.
Of course while the length so rhythmically withdrawing and gliding back inside her sex could only travel so far the stretches of star filled void elsewhere could push ever deeper. Indeed they had no such limitation as they pushed further and further inside with every cycle, endlessly reaching greater and greater heights while Eadreth could only tremble in abject silence. She truly couldn't fathom how much further either of them might go or even what might happen when they finally stopped. To her body, mind, or soul. She only knew she never wanted them to cease, even if it meant their overlapping and pushing past one another on their course through her body.
Whether or nor such a thing was even possible never entered her fractured mind. She was too lost in a heady need, an all consuming lust, for more. Greed born of countless nights spent dissatisfied and alone pushed her to ache and crave whatever she might enjoy from the thing all around her. For however long it might last. And so long as it's efforts persisted she had nothing to want for save an ever increasing swell of pure bliss. No matter how it might've come about or what might be causing it at any given moment. So long as those lengths continued to expand and contract until she felt fit to bursting while pushing ever deeper and withdrawing almost entirely she was content. As content as one might be while lost in their mindless hunger for more., The ever present ecstasy of those tendrils remaining in the deepest reaches of her body alongside the incomprehensible bliss of them withdrawing couldn't be more satisfying. Nor more enticing.
Though incredible as those feelings were another quickly overshadowed the rest. A feeling of impending madness born from the pressure rippling through her body and sending pleasure radiating outward like countless ripples across the water's surface. Even with her mind empty and near everything that once set her apart from beasts gone Eadreth still felt those two sources of joy drawing ever nearer to one another. Ever dwindling down and down as the moments crept by she felt the gap between the lengths in her throat and within her far more inexperienced entrance shrink. At times it almost seemed to be gone as the two pushed towards one another only to withdraw at the very last moment. All the ripples overlapping and colliding with each other inside of her made it impossible to truly say and impossible to truly know. Not until they were retreating yet again and Eadreth was given a brief respite. Or rather the closest she'd ever find to such a thing. It was little more than another source of pleasure and a tiny sliver of a chance to understand how close she was to something even greater.
Again and again and again she endured those little flashes of clarity amidst the madness. Little tastes of things to come that left her all at once terrified and desperate for more. Drifting ever closer to the ends of each length seemed to draw unbearably near for an indescribably stretch of time. Yet they never connected when she might've expected. Nor when she might've wanted. As desperately as she craved that very thing it seemed determined to never happen, instead tormenting her with yet more uncertainty as the cycle merely continued without delay.
She'd all but forgotten about the pleasure radiating from her sex or even the constant comfort of the starry void cradling the rest of her body. Eadreth barely even felt the firm yet ephemeral 'material' clenched so tightly in her hands. Everything was lost to the unfathomable anticipation of those lengths finally touching. An outcome she neither understood nor had any reason to think would be as monumental as it seemed.
But like so much else about her pleasure Eadreth's will made manifest everything she might've hoped for in the most intoxicating of ways. The pressure seemed to grow and the pleasure seemed to heighten like never before. To lengths that made even what she'd already endured seem impossible and impossible to survive. Which only added yet more kindling to the flames roaring within her. In a never ending rhythm all her own creation the deeper she sank the deeper Eadreth wanted to sink. And the entity surrounding her seemed happy to oblige.
The two ends of it's tendrils couldn't have been any closer without touching when they pulled away for what would be the final time. Eadreth nearly went mad from the torment of them stopping just a hairs breadth apart, so close the agony was second only to her delight. And feeling them wind all the way back out again while contracting and expanding just as always nearly destroyed her with every slightest movement. It was the greatest assault she'd ever endured and the longest temptation of her life. Entire ages of the world she'd once known seemed to pass by as she waited in breathless exultation. Great kingdoms and brutal tyrants rose then fell then rose again like nothing more than fanciful thoughts in the depths of her mind. The very sun itself sputtered and went dark before the cold wind of death sweeping through the cosmos. And still she waited to finally feel that which had become her entire reason for being.
Eadreth nearly succumbed when they finally stopped their withdrawal. In that single, shining moment before they pushed forth one last time she nearly lost whatever she had clung to throughout all her untold ecstasy. Simply knowing she was about to endure the most profane ecstasy she could imagine nearly destroyed her before that sweetness could truly arrive. But with the very last of her ever flagging willpower she held on a few moments longer. Just long enough to revel in those lengths gliding through her depths and against her inner walls once more. All three swelled against her most tender places and swelled until they were on the verge of completely destroying her. But much like everything else she endured as long as she could. As long as she needed. Long enough to finally feel the ends of each tendril connect within her body, coalescing into a single unbroken strand running the entire length of her ruined form. And the moment they finally did any shred of self, any semblance of composure or sanity, vanished entirely. She was well and truly broken. Unmade and forever lost among the swirling eddies of unfettered joy all throughout her.
Like a reflection upon the surface of a lake her entire body seemed to ripple. As though she was suddenly no more than a star herself an explosion of pleasure burst outward from her body in a corona of radiance all her own. One to outshine even the beauty still twinkling all about her her body, though she had no awareness at all of that beautifully void. Neither the stars nor the nebula that'd once captivated her could ever hope to match the bliss pulsing through her in burst after burst of incomprehensible passion. She was a star all her own and all the cosmos swirled about her in a rhythm she finally understood. The fragments of her mind were flung to every corner of existence but Eadreth felt after moment of their travel. Knew every stretch they passed through. As surely as the pleasure radiating outwards from her in cascades of light her mind expanded outward too. To the vast edges of everything it might reach and somehow even beyond.
Never again could she return to the life she'd led. Never again could—
“Lady Eadreth? Lady Eadreth? It's time to wake up my Lady! You've slept half the morning away and Lord Gottheld is asking after you. Lady Eadreth?”
Lurching upright with an agonized gasp Eadreth opened her eyes to the world she'd nearly forgotten, desperately clinging to her sweat soaked sheets and looking about with a crazed uncertainty. Pollyanna recoiled from her with a startled squeak but Eadreth paid her no mind as she panted, a curtain of tangled hair shrouding her face while fresh sweat rolled across her body. Before her wet nurse could say another word she tumbled out of bed and scrambled to her feet like some wild animal. And she hastened towards the nearest window in a stumbling, staggering wreck as she nearly collapsed to the floor with every step.
“Lady Eadreth?! Y-You're not well!”
Still unable to acknowledge her wet nurse she threw open the window and stared out at the cloudy gray skies above. Every breath felt like the greatest labor and even remaining upright seemed near impossible yet it was nothing compared to the weight of her heart sinking ever downward. Of her shoulders slumping and all the joy she'd felt only moments before fading into emptiness even as her companion rushed to her side.
“Lady Eadreth?!”
Finally losing her strength she collapsed against the window sill then slumped down against the wall in utter defeat. Weakly turning towards Pollyanna without truly seeing her Eadreth stared past everything in her room and whispered the only words she could say. The only words that made any sense at all.
“It can't have been a dream... It can't have been a dream...”
“Lady Eadreth!” Pollyanna shouted, clumsily brushing the hair from her face before shaking her as hard as she dared, “Lady Eadreth!”
Finally looking at her wet nurse and finally seeing the world she'd been brought back to Eadreth could only lean back against the wall as all the strength left her body, “It was a dream Pollyanna... it was only a dream...”
“What are you talking about Lady Eadreth? Sh-Should I fetch a healer for you?!”
“No healer can fix what ails me...” She sighed, “No healer can fix the wound left in my soul...”
Kneeling down beside Lady Eadreth and nervously wringing her hands Pollyanna truly didn't know what to do. She could only stare at her Lady in ever mounting fear, her eyes darting across every inch of her bedraggled, despondent face. She had no care for Lord Gottheld no doubt waiting quite impatiently in the dining hall nor the wider world outside. She certainly didn't notice the clouds beyond the window parting, a single start shining with unmatched intensity amidst the sea of blue.
Her only concern was Lady Eadreth, especially as she said, “It was only a dream Pollyanna...” with a note of utter hopelessness.