u/Anemoiaaaaa

Nikki from Obsession

you know that you're needing it
And you know that you need it bad
With wild horses running through your hollow bones

This song is soooo dear to me 🥺

The pictures are from infinity nikki, (iydk it’s a fashion game mixed BOTW, TOTK, and dark souls lol) I wanted to make a story surrounding the concept of a false hydra from DND and these pics I took from the game with the idea of a forgotten party member) I don’t write very often I’m actually an illustrator 😭 I was inspired to write this though. Been a creepcast fan for a while but never thought I’d submit anything to the reddit.

A party member we no longer can recall.

We woke up to extra supplies, extra bedding, an extra backpack and supplies. There’s only 4 of us but we have 5 places set up at camp. Someone was with us… but who?
The day after we returned home from the village we had been traveling around, I went to the tavern we all usually meet up at. I was waiting for the rest of the party to show up and each one of us made our way inside. We drank and told stories of our adventures. The barkeep, who is like family to us, listened in on our tales. With each story and memory, her face grew sullen.
“Wait.. I thought it was strange but.. Althaea isn’t with you all? She came along didn’t she? You guys haven’t mentioned her all night. Did something happen?”
“Uhh sorry, who?”
We were all looking around confused at one another.
She looked like we had made a bad joke and wasn’t amused in the slightest.
“Althaea! Your cleric?? Who you’ve all known for years! Who I’ve known for years?? I know you’ve all been drinking but your memory can’t be that bad right now. If this is some sort of jest, it’s not very funny. Where is she?”
“Sorry… I have no clue who you’re talking about? It’s been the four of us the entire time.”
We tried to remember this mysterious person but we all failed to come up with any memory we were supposed to have.
After a long pause our ranger said,
“We woke up one morning before heading out.. we noticed extra supplies and bedding… but.. have no recollection of where they came from. I did think it was strange at the time.. didn’t put too much thought into it I guess.”
Everyone around us went silent. The barkeep looked horrified.
She said with a chilling tone,
“You all went to Rochdale right?”
“Yeah?”
Other patrons listened to the conversation, all looking worried.
“There’s… there’s one person who went a long time ago. They’re deaf, and had to write this all down, the notes they left were brushed off by, well, everyone…as a made up story. They wrote that bizarre things were happening in the village… many houses were left abandoned, people couldn’t remember their own family. If someone went missing, they wrote that it was like they never existed to begin with.”
Everyone in the tavern was dead silent. All staring at us.
She continued,
“The person wrote that… they saw a creature one night.. slithering around…only a portion of the body could be seen by them. They wrote that after seeing that.. thing.. and all the weird phenomena going on in that village.. they packed everything up and left that night. It’s rumored that the person who left these notes went back to Rochdale with a group this time. They didn’t come back..like how…Althaea didn’t… come back…” she trailed off.
By this point my blood ran cold. We had been drinking but we were all sober at this point. Confusion and fear consumed us all.
“Um.. where does Althaea live?”
The barkeep, who was dazed, gave us directions to her home. We all burst out of the tavern and ran as fast as we could to her house. One that none of us remember ever being to. Our rogue picked the lock to her front door. We opened it slowly. Scared to enter.
I walked throughout the house, examining each room. The food in her pantry was all spoiled. We had been in Rochdale for about a month.
Finally I reached her bedroom. As I stepped carefully into the room, I immediately noticed a portrait on her desk. The portrait was of everyone in the party. Myself, our ranger, our rogue, our barbarian… and of her. The five of us posing together.
I remember that day. We stood together for a long while for the artist to capture each of us. I only remember the four of us being there. We had been to Rochdale once before.. a couple years ago. Nothing out of the ordinary except I only remembered now, there was singing… only we heard it for a few seconds at a time. I grabbed the picture. I turned the paper around and my heart nearly stopped. A note was left.

I wanted to have us all together in this picture.
At least all of us that are left.
If it ever happens again. We’ll know.
- Althaea

A party member we no longer can recall.

We woke up to extra supplies, extra bedding, an extra backpack and supplies. There’s only 4 of us but we have 5 places set up at camp. Someone was with us… but who?
The day after we returned home from the village we had been traveling around, I went to the tavern we all usually meet up at. I was waiting for the rest of the party to show up and each one of us made our way inside. We drank and told stories of our adventures. The barkeep, who is like family to us, listened in on our tales. With each story and memory, her face grew sullen.
“Wait.. I thought it was strange but.. Althaea isn’t with you all? She came along didn’t she? You guys haven’t mentioned her all night. Did something happen?”
“Uhh sorry, who?”
We were all looking around confused at one another.
She looked like we had made a bad joke and wasn’t amused in the slightest.
“Althaea! Your cleric?? Who you’ve all known for years! Who I’ve known for years?? I know you’ve all been drinking but your memory can’t be that bad right now. If this is some sort of jest, it’s not very funny. Where is she?”
“Sorry… I have no clue who you’re talking about? It’s been the four of us the entire time.”
We tried to remember this mysterious person but we all failed to come up with any memory we were supposed to have.
After a long pause our ranger said,
“We woke up one morning before heading out.. we noticed extra supplies and bedding… but.. have no recollection of where they came from. I did think it was strange at the time.. didn’t put too much thought into it I guess.”
Everyone around us went silent. The barkeep looked horrified.
She said with a chilling tone,
“You all went to Rochdale right?”
“Yeah?”
Other patrons listened to the conversation, all looking worried.
“There’s… there’s one person who went a long time ago. They’re deaf, and had to write this all down, the notes they left were brushed off by, well, everyone…as a made up story. They wrote that bizarre things were happening in the village… many houses were left abandoned, people couldn’t remember their own family. If someone went missing, they wrote that it was like they never existed to begin with.”
Everyone in the tavern was dead silent. All staring at us.
She continued,
“The person wrote that… they saw a creature one night.. slithering around…only a portion of the body could be seen by them. They wrote that after seeing that.. thing.. and all the weird phenomena going on in that village.. they packed everything up and left that night. It’s rumored that the person who left these notes went back to Rochdale with a group this time. They didn’t come back..like how…Althaea didn’t… come back…” she trailed off.
By this point my blood ran cold. We had been drinking but we were all sober at this point. Confusion and fear consumed us all.
“Um.. where does Althaea live?”
The barkeep, who was dazed, gave us directions to her home. We all burst out of the tavern and ran as fast as we could to her house. One that none of us remember ever being to. Our rogue picked the lock to her front door. We opened it slowly. Scared to enter.
I walked throughout the house, examining each room. The food in her pantry was all spoiled. We had been in Rochdale for about a month.
Finally I reached her bedroom. As I stepped carefully into the room, I immediately noticed a portrait on her desk. The portrait was of everyone in the party. Myself, our ranger, our rogue, our barbarian… and of her. The five of us posing together.
I remember that day. We stood together for a long while for the artist to capture each of us. I only remember the four of us being there. We had been to Rochdale once before.. a couple years ago. Nothing out of the ordinary except I only remembered now, there was singing… only we heard it for a few seconds at a time. I grabbed the picture. I turned the paper around and my heart nearly stopped. A note was left.

I wanted to have us all together in this picture.
At least all of us that are left.
If it ever happens again. We’ll know.
- Althaea

She was chosen by the head priestess in their village at a young age. Out of all the people in her village it was her.
“You will be perfect, your life is the most important and most valuable of anyone here and anyone in the world. We have work to do, much work. You are betrothed to the god Íomhar. You will be married in the afterlife.”
She was horrified. For several years to come she would ask “why me?”
She took rigorous lessons and training. She was brought up to be the perfect sacrificial bride to a god who was worshipped by everyone she knew, including herself, but still questioned him. Why did she have to die at such a young age? What was waiting for her in the afterlife? She was always distraught with swirling thoughts of despair. She was isolated and alone. The priestess had not allowed others to get too close, she was to remain “perfect” and the influence of others could taint that. She had grown into a young woman, and would often walk alone. Alone with her thoughts.
“If I got it over with now, what would be waiting for me?” She pondered on several occasions. Too afraid to know the answer of her eternity.
More years went by and the day had come. She was to be sacrificed to her god, and married after her death in the land far far away from the living. Hesitant, she walked to the edge of the platform. Did everything she was taught to do, and simply dove into the ether.
Calm. It was finally over. The worry, the loneliness, all of her fears. She woke up in darkness. Greeted by herself from the past.
She felt pity for the girl who was just chosen.
She felt remorse for the girl who was alone with only her thoughts.
She felt pride for the woman who she became, and for her bravery in the face of uncertainty and death.
She said goodbye to them all, and to her self doubt. She knew she could look the god she was betrothed to in the eyes without fear, without shame, without regret. She knew who she was and nothing could stop her anymore.

Sarcasm lol why. Are. These. Walking. Scenes. So. Slow. (Not sure what flair to use so I just put discussion)

Love the game so much I got it tattooed