[DD3] The Eternal Watch

In Dungeon Dives ・ By Riptide

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The Courser is standing on one of the hills overlooking the battlefield. Its armour no longer gleams, and its formerly bright saddle-dressings are tattered and frayed. Its tail is still bound with leather and ribbon, though hairs have long since begun to splay from the neat plaits.

Upon its back sits a human. This is unusual. In the days they have been travelling through the Moor, the only signs of humans have been the dusty, delicate remains of weaponry and the fragile bones of the dead.

The one with the flaming coat gasps softly as he realises he can see through them. The ancient horse and his warrior have not moved, and yet they seem to waver like a mirage above the ground. Both human and horse have a shimmer to them, a natural light that seems to emanate from them directly rather than be shone upon the pair.

The smallest one has the good sense not to make any noise, though he too is wary of the spectres. It is unlikely that they are sentient, he tells himself, but even as he thinks it he knows that he is just as likely wrong. Melancholy seeps from the ghostly pair on the hill in waves. It is as if every time they breathe they take something from the living world and convert it to the dead.

Their guide motions for them to stop in the shadow behind a knoll. He whispers that he has seen one of these spectres before, albeit without a human on its back. It had been angry and sad in equal parts, and seemed to be unable to recount anything but the devastation that had taken place here. When it attacked, it bled blinding white light from its reopened wounds. Their guide had been lucky to escape with his life, and he had felt desperately sad for weeks on end.

It is becoming less and less of a wonder that the small one and the one with the flaming coat had had to pay him so much. The small one can feel little pieces of his soul slowly being snatched from his body at every new thing he learns about the battles. He feels himself receding farther into his own head, and trying to escape from the truths so evidently laid before him.

It is not clear whether the pair will attack if they approach. There is a chance that they will not; perhaps they merely mean to recount the sorrowful tale of the war. Their guide is, unsurprisingly, perturbed by the human. He is not eager to find out whether it speaks in their tongues, nor what it thinks of his band of three.

The warriors are facing away from them, and the living Coursers do their best to stay quiet as they slip behind another set of ruins. It is for the best.

They leave the pair to their eternal watch.

[DD3] The Eternal Watch

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In Dungeon Dives ・ By Riptide

Prompt: As you make your way across the Moor, you encounter a spectral Courser wandering aimlessly, its armor aged and torn. A second, human specter – or perhaps an extension of the same spirit – straddles the Courser’s back for some reason. They don’t seem to threaten you, but it’s unclear what would happen if they were to see you…

Submitted By Riptide for Level 3 Dungeon Dive
Submitted: 3 months ago ・ Last Updated: 3 months ago