[Fear Not This Night kind of had that effect on me too, negl. I think the song was part of what hooked me on GW2. (It's sylvari music and part of the Grove's soundscape, so if you want Charles to hear it at some point, it would be very easy to justify--it's not unlikely that someone they pass by might be singing or humming it.) I had actually seen that cutscene from FFXIV before, but completely out of context! Knowing that it's actually the end of the world makes it so much more impactful! And it's SO beautiful, of course--both the song and the cutscene itself. I can see where it would hook you. It makes me quite interested in the game as well...but it's got a monthly subscription fee, doesn't it? I am spoiled by GW2's lack of fees.]
Having spent so much time with altered states of consciousness and having taken so many hallucinogenic drugs, Aurus sometimes...forgot that other people might not cope with the visions they inspired as well as he did. For him, the experience was like being a leaf carried on the wind. There was the momentary thrill of a gust here and there, but he was so at ease with giving himself over to it that even that was not unpleasant. He hadn't been trying to deceive Charles--he really could feel lulled to sleep by that movement.
The moment that the fractal swirls began to recede from view, however, he realized that what he was feeling from Charles was not the thrill of motion or the free breath of adventure, but genuine distress. And the closeness of the Dream made that awareness keener: the Dream's connection was not telepathic but rather empathic, and right now Aurus was closer to Charles than he was to anyone.
Even before Charles' body or his own was clearly visible, before the land and sky had become clear through the fog, Aurus was already reaching out to his companion.
"Easy my friend, easy. It's all right." He wasn't sure if he was speaking in his mind or speaking aloud, but for the moment it seemed not to make much difference. "Let go of what you're seeing and hold onto me. I'm here. Feel my calm."
The fog cleared by degrees, coalescing to reveal moss and grass beneath them, and indeed, after a moment not just their feet and their legs but their whole bodies. Aurus's hands found Charles' shoulders, holding him steady and waiting for the man's focus to settle on his eyes.
"The ground is steady and solid now," he kept on talking, trying to give Charles an anchor. "You've done it. We're here. Listen--you can hear the birds sing, and there's the quiet babbling of water nearby. You're here."
The world had come clear around them as he spoke, the fog now almost gone. In its place stretched a new landscape, a new world.
They were near the bank of a clear blue pond dotted with massive green lily pads. On the far bank, a gentle stream of water danced down the rocks from above. Though it was night time, it was far from fully dark--the air was filled with motes of pollen that seemed to glint like brightly lit snow, and there was luminous plant life everywhere: where a city might have had street lamps, this place had tall flowers whose blossoms glowed like golden bulbs. Even the rocks on the edge of the pond and parts of the ground itself seemed to emit their own soft light in hues of blue and green.
Far overhead the sky was filled with stars, but the stars here seemed almost in league with the pollen motes, as though one had either risen to new heights or the other had descended. But perhaps more remarkable than that was the network of paths--great, broad sweeping walkways formed of living wood on which grass and moss and vines now grew, leading upwards though the living tiers of the sylvari homeland.
Across it all swirled occasional wisps of green mist which seemed to highlight that this was indeed the Dream after all, and not the land of waking.
If Aurus could just get Charles to calm himself and focus here on the steadiness of this place, he thought, then he'd (hopefully) be all right. ...Maybe he just wouldn't encourage him to look up just yet.
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Having spent so much time with altered states of consciousness and having taken so many hallucinogenic drugs, Aurus sometimes...forgot that other people might not cope with the visions they inspired as well as he did. For him, the experience was like being a leaf carried on the wind. There was the momentary thrill of a gust here and there, but he was so at ease with giving himself over to it that even that was not unpleasant. He hadn't been trying to deceive Charles--he really could feel lulled to sleep by that movement.
The moment that the fractal swirls began to recede from view, however, he realized that what he was feeling from Charles was not the thrill of motion or the free breath of adventure, but genuine distress. And the closeness of the Dream made that awareness keener: the Dream's connection was not telepathic but rather empathic, and right now Aurus was closer to Charles than he was to anyone.
Even before Charles' body or his own was clearly visible, before the land and sky had become clear through the fog, Aurus was already reaching out to his companion.
"Easy my friend, easy. It's all right." He wasn't sure if he was speaking in his mind or speaking aloud, but for the moment it seemed not to make much difference. "Let go of what you're seeing and hold onto me. I'm here. Feel my calm."
The fog cleared by degrees, coalescing to reveal moss and grass beneath them, and indeed, after a moment not just their feet and their legs but their whole bodies. Aurus's hands found Charles' shoulders, holding him steady and waiting for the man's focus to settle on his eyes.
"The ground is steady and solid now," he kept on talking, trying to give Charles an anchor. "You've done it. We're here. Listen--you can hear the birds sing, and there's the quiet babbling of water nearby. You're here."
The world had come clear around them as he spoke, the fog now almost gone. In its place stretched a new landscape, a new world.
They were near the bank of a clear blue pond dotted with massive green lily pads. On the far bank, a gentle stream of water danced down the rocks from above. Though it was night time, it was far from fully dark--the air was filled with motes of pollen that seemed to glint like brightly lit snow, and there was luminous plant life everywhere: where a city might have had street lamps, this place had tall flowers whose blossoms glowed like golden bulbs. Even the rocks on the edge of the pond and parts of the ground itself seemed to emit their own soft light in hues of blue and green.
Far overhead the sky was filled with stars, but the stars here seemed almost in league with the pollen motes, as though one had either risen to new heights or the other had descended. But perhaps more remarkable than that was the network of paths--great, broad sweeping walkways formed of living wood on which grass and moss and vines now grew, leading upwards though the living tiers of the sylvari homeland.
Across it all swirled occasional wisps of green mist which seemed to highlight that this was indeed the Dream after all, and not the land of waking.
If Aurus could just get Charles to calm himself and focus here on the steadiness of this place, he thought, then he'd (hopefully) be all right. ...Maybe he just wouldn't encourage him to look up just yet.