Erichthonios (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beshackled) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dreamcrystals2024-02-11 11:45 am
beshackled) wrote in dreamcrystals2024-02-11 11:45 am
Entry tags:
Passive Dream Recording | Pandaemonium spoilers within
Sender: Erichthonios
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive Dream Recording
(Content warnings: implied murder/justifiable homicide, parental death)
"You must have known you could not conceal this from myself and Agdistis forever...as well you know that I cannot allow it to continue."
They are as words, spoken into the blackness of unconsciousness. The voice of a man grown; authoritative... irritated.
"I shall say this but once: release Erichthonios. Else I shall have no choice but to strike you down."
The statement is firm, resolve clear. He means every word he says.
"I would meet my end at the hands of none other. However, ere my time is come, I will have you know the why of it."
A woman's voice replies from the darkness; soft, calm, confident... arrogant.
"...Then you will not desist."
"Once you understand what has driven me this far, you shall see that stopping was never an option."
Darkness ensues for moments longer, and when your eyes open, you see a brilliant sky.
Buildings stretch into the heavens, crystalline panes illuminated by soft glows, the ambient aether enough that none need fear the darkness should they not wish for its presence in their room.
Your small hand does not touch the window, instead ensconced in the dark of your mother's robes. She does not pick you up, but smiles down at you nonetheless. Fair skinned and neat, pale golden-brown hair... the sort of shade one hesitates on whether to call blonde or brunette, even masked, she is beautiful to you.
Your father, dark skinned and cinnabar hair, has a sterner expression. It is from him you take after in appearance, though the hair that brushes into your face is a shade belonging to neither... perhaps more a combination of the two, like vibrant copper.
You feel you have displeased him yet again. Are different, somehow. Broken, somehow. You cling to your mother's robes, half-hiding.
She will go to Pandaemonium, to serve as its Chief Keyward. In time, she will send word for you, and you, still a child, will join her there. A son who loves his mother...
...A son who, a child driven by filial love, unwittingly plays into her hands, aiding in her quest to attain godhood, until your father discovers the truth of her work, and descends unto her secret laboratory to confront her.
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive Dream Recording
(Content warnings: implied murder/justifiable homicide, parental death)
"You must have known you could not conceal this from myself and Agdistis forever...as well you know that I cannot allow it to continue."
They are as words, spoken into the blackness of unconsciousness. The voice of a man grown; authoritative... irritated.
"I shall say this but once: release Erichthonios. Else I shall have no choice but to strike you down."
The statement is firm, resolve clear. He means every word he says.
"I would meet my end at the hands of none other. However, ere my time is come, I will have you know the why of it."
A woman's voice replies from the darkness; soft, calm, confident... arrogant.
"...Then you will not desist."
"Once you understand what has driven me this far, you shall see that stopping was never an option."
Darkness ensues for moments longer, and when your eyes open, you see a brilliant sky.
Buildings stretch into the heavens, crystalline panes illuminated by soft glows, the ambient aether enough that none need fear the darkness should they not wish for its presence in their room.
Your small hand does not touch the window, instead ensconced in the dark of your mother's robes. She does not pick you up, but smiles down at you nonetheless. Fair skinned and neat, pale golden-brown hair... the sort of shade one hesitates on whether to call blonde or brunette, even masked, she is beautiful to you.
Your father, dark skinned and cinnabar hair, has a sterner expression. It is from him you take after in appearance, though the hair that brushes into your face is a shade belonging to neither... perhaps more a combination of the two, like vibrant copper.
You feel you have displeased him yet again. Are different, somehow. Broken, somehow. You cling to your mother's robes, half-hiding.
She will go to Pandaemonium, to serve as its Chief Keyward. In time, she will send word for you, and you, still a child, will join her there. A son who loves his mother...
...A son who, a child driven by filial love, unwittingly plays into her hands, aiding in her quest to attain godhood, until your father discovers the truth of her work, and descends unto her secret laboratory to confront her.
no subject
He who dreams feels heavy, as though a great weight is borne upon his wrists and hands... as though he is hanging from them. He cannot see. His eyes will not open. But he hears. He hears as though he from underwater, voices distorted.]
Even a castoff would uphold his pride. Though such an impulse must speak to the overwhelming arrogance of my other half... The name “Hephaistos” shall grow to eclipse yours. None shall remember the deeds of Lahabrea once I fulfill Athena's ambition...and bring Erichthonios's dream to life!
[This voice sounds the same as that of before, if angrier. A male voice. The voice of his father, as he sounded when the dreamer was but a child. He is no longer a child now.]
You speak as if you care a whit for the boy. Why then do you cower behind him?
[This voice, too, is that of his father. His father of the present. Both are his father. Yet, he has only ever had the one.]
There are some desires which must not be realized. Athena would see the world destroyed if it meant she could find hers in the ruins. As for Erichthonios... He knows not what his wish would beget ─ a truth which you have hidden from him. Do you truly believe a father's role is to deceive and manipulate?
[At last, Erichthonios speaks from within his dream]
My...wish...?
[His voice is deeply fatigued, struggling to shake off a forced unconsciousness.]
You would claim the name Hephaistos and call yourself his father, yet you bind his mind and body in dark chains. Your words ─ and your pride ─ ring hollow.
Athena wanted her son by her side, and he desires to return there. What wickedness is there in mending a broken family?
Athena cared naught for Erichthonios, beyond how he could serve her ends. You claim to be acting in his interest, but 'tis plain you are no different.
[As the dreamer struggles to wake from his control within the dream, so to does the dreaming Erichthonios begin to stir.
The dream abruptly ends.]
no subject
Eventually, a message appears in the journal.]
Erichthonios
I may have seen the dream that you had last night.
Are you alright, my friend?
-Ira
no subject
[There is a sluggish but steady pace to his writing that is not at all like his usual self, who normally writes in starts and stops. But it is nevertheless his handwriting.]
no subject
That is one way to put it. And, made a little too real.
Are you at home?
no subject
Would you like to meet later?
no subject
I admit I was worried.
no subject
I know it is much to take in.
no subject
no subject
'Twas never my intent to give you an immersive experience of what I endured.
no subject
If I have learned anything about the dreams here, it is that they rarely give anyone a choice, dreamer and observer alike.
no subject
no subject
And another post-hiatus tag for you!
Ira… I hope I have not kept you overlong.
no subject
[And certainly, he hasn't been waiting long. And would probably be here anyway.]
How are you?