Children of the Fall 1:1

“And from the chasm of her throat she uttered the
scream of our mortality, In the vastness of her wet eyes she produced a
flood…”
-        Excerpt from “Mourning Song for Gaia” by
Nascosto Nome
Chapter I
The apartment on
Amsterdam Road was a mess. Crumbling bricks and flaking mortar were all that
stood against the forces of gravity that weighed heavier and heavier on the old
building with each passing day. The rusty squeals of the old iron fire-escape
echoed through the building with every breath of the winter wind, and one could
not help but hear in the sound the aching moans of a creature long overdue for
death. It was but desperation that kept the building on life-support. None of
the tenants saw the apartment as a good thing, but they all saw it as a vital
thing. The decaying corpse of a once lavish home was all that stood between
them and the cold harshness of the outside world. Where the old bones provided
very little heat, what lay beyond offered nothing but cruelty and death. It was
barely anything, but it was all they had.
And for Thomas Fremont,
it was enough. As he hefted his tired legs up each step of the inside
stairwell, he hardly even noticed the dilapidated state of his home. As a
conscript of the city government, he was used to far worse. In his heavy boots
and thick militia jacket, even the chill of the (...)

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Dreams and Darkness

This is what it seems to be in a dream
So beautiful that the very thought of waking is distasteful?
To see the yawning chasm of the doorway back to the world of the waking,
And to know that you have no choice but to step through that door once more.
Standing in the twilight of truth and fantasy,
And realizing that having both is an impossibility.
To be caught between the bright color of one and the stark pallor of the other,
And recognize that you cannot remain in the color.
Knowing, realizing, recognizing, that the choice you have has already been made,
And that no matter your fear, you cannot stay.

This is how it feels when the darkness holds you,
So warm and so tight, comforting you when the world is cold.
This is how it feels when the light tears you away from that warm embrace,
Throwing you back into the harsh reality to be tossed until your very soul becomes seasick.
Unresting, helpless, hopeless, sick and tired,
And knowing no island will rise to save you.
To remember the dark embrace, and being stuck in the rolling sea of light.
Chained and bound to a world you did not choose.
Blinded, sick, and exhausted as you try to keep your head above the rolling waves,
And feeling your muscles slowly give way.

What is this?
(...)

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