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Working on a robot crawler, decided I had to have a friendly one deliver lunch to Gav like an excited puppy, also a scale reference, because that cooler just looks massive in the shot
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Theme Song: Etna - Boris, Sunn 0)))
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“The High Bramble had been much thicker than expected on the east slope of the hill and now broken thorny twigs clung to my clothes like spider’s web. Pushing through the bramble by force had proven less frustrating than clearing it with what modest equipment I had brought. My legs, forearms and face were streaked with my own blood by the time I had reached the ridge.
I set down my pack and rested on one knee. Thankfully, when I turned the pack over in my hands, I found it had not torn; though there were small holes, scrapes, and frayed patches all over. I grabbed my water skin from within and took several swigs before splashing my face to clear the sweat and blood. The web of hairline cuts across my forehead and cheeks all stung anew and I clenched my face tightly to push out the pain. I exhaled, slapped myself a few times, and reopened my eyes.
The exposure of the ridge kept it mostly clear of the tortuous plants below and I made good progress to the south from then on. However, with no shade, the late noon sun soon beat upon my back like the horse driver’s whip and I could feel the sting of sweat dripping over the cuts on my neck and legs. On the north slope of the hill and further down towards the ghostly river Reo, there extended a vast forest of Calin Trees. I longed for the shade of their limbs and the cooling drops of late dew held in the Kausim Brush beneath, but I could smell the bitter odour of stagnant sinking sod: patches of seemingly solid ground which would give way and bury you before death in thick swamp muck. The hermit had said a vengeful river spirit had captured these woods from the Dryads and would take any who entered. Only the shallow rock of the ridge could guarantee quick passage and safety.
I hiked for half a day. I stopped occasionally to rest and more than once I had to scramble against spontaneous flows of gravel which threatened to pull me down into the forest like an ocean tide. All the while, the sun travelled with me and sagged in the sky as my exhaustion grew.
After hours of careful walking upon the rough stone and gravel, my feet were thoroughly sore and cramped. The soft soles of my boots had failed me and I was forced to stop. I made a precarious camp on a slightly broader stretch of the ridge and lay facing the river to watch the Sternidae wheel in the sky before diving for the thin fish swimming below.
While chewing dried meat and massaging my feet, I watched as the sky turned pink and the sun fell to the tops of the hills. The tips of the trees glowed with the glancing light and the forest became like a million flickering candles. I remembered the memorials at my father’s chapel and lighting candles for my ancestors.
As the birds settled onto the water to sleep, the pink sky turned deep red and an evening mist began rising from the river valley. For a moment, I thought that I saw the faint smoke plume of some distant campfire coming from a large island which split the river, but when I searched for the source it was not obvious. What I perceived as smoke was too uniform in darkness, and when I concentrated, I could tell it was unaffected by the breeze. I lay upon my side on the coarse gravelly ridge and watched the strange patch of air until the sun dropped behind the horizon and the sky turned deepest black.
The sun fell further and the patch of darkness swiftly grew more opaque. The emergent shape had been strange and the dying light of the setting sun seemed to completely ignore it, so that no detail could be seen upon its surface. There had been only a monolithic silhouette against the red sky and a far-reaching shadow from its base. The pure black of this thing had been so palpable, so solid, that I found I could not look away. Its true size and true depth were hidden by its blackness, but I felt it looming over me even though I had made camp a full day’s journey distant – it was a massive tower.
As the sky had dimmed, the black of the void form had merged with the coming night and the candelabra forest was doused. A panoply of stars had filled the heavens and the silver light of the moon had adorned the distant hills. For some time, I had been able to make out the silhouette still, but soon the stars and moonlit horizon had appeared within its gloom. Shortly after, the dark shape had disappeared completely.
I blinked and I became aware of myself and my surroundings again. The drone of night creatures from the Calin forest below crashed upon me and shattered the apparent silence that I had felt while entranced. I was wet with sweat and I found that my palms were bloody and pocked with gravel from where I had been pressing them firmly into the ground.
I had not made a camp fire, but I was too exhausted to bother. I lay back and fell into a deep sleep while flat upon my back.
I awoke with the strange sensation of having dreamt, but I could only remember darkness. It was early and the sun was reaching over the horizon. I scanned the shadowed landscape to see if the monolithic silhouette might manifest for the morning sun, but it did not. Whatever magic I had witnessed was only awoken by the coming of dusk.
As I had slept, plum-sized Rozmyrn Scarbadae had sequestered themselves into the folds of my cloak and when I rose they tumbled out and rolled down the hillside like sapphire marbles. Their clicking chirps called down a gang of Passerids which swooped along the slope and plucked their breakfast before nesting below in the morning damp Calin.
I stretched my awfully stiff limbs, packed up my gear, and headed off along the ridge once more. Provided I could find safe passage through a short stretch of the forest somewhere up ahead. I thought I could make it down to the river in a matter of hours. The thought of fresh fish for lunch gave me renewed vigour and thankfully I made good pace. Just as the sun was reaching its zenith and the heat was becoming unbearable, I slid down a low spot in the hill and delved into the forest below.
In the shade of the Calin and the aura of the Kausim, it was actually kind of chilly. Though I had found an area which seemed more dry, my boots still occasionally sunk down into cold muck and my feet soon throbbed from the cold. What had been refreshing at first quickly became worse than the heat. The shear difference in temperature was astonishing. I was not surprised people assigned magic or divine power to this place.
With careful probing of the ground ahead using a long stick, I managed to avoid any sinking sod and I made it to the shore of the Reo with little issue. The cool breeze from the forest and the river combined with the heat of the high sun was magnificent. After catching a couple of fish, I lay down on the gravely beach and napped until the sun was lower in the sky.
I rose with the evening fog and found myself immersed. It had not looked so dense from the ridgeline on the previous night, but now, at the edge of the forest, I could hardly see my own feet. The river ran on quietly nearby and I could hear the splash of leaping fish.
I started violently as I noticed a shadowed form lurking only feet away. Rocks slid out from beneath my feet and I fell. Part of the form snapped upright and a broad pair of polished antlers stood clear of the fog ceiling. They flickered brilliantly as the creature bounded back into the forest. I suddenly felt anxious. This place was unfamiliar to me even in the clear light of midday, but only then did I realized just how alone I was.
I picked myself up and quickly waded across the river to the island. If I was going to find my way to the grounds of the eventide tower I’d seen last night, I would need to hurry. The rising fog would soon make navigating the swampy terrain near impossible.
The sun seemed to fall terribly quickly then. The shallow rays cut sharp red lines through the fog and yet again the tips of the trees seemed to blaze. The dense fog spread the sunset across the ground and wrapped me in vivid hues of the dying light as though I walked among the clouds. Even amidst the terror of becoming lost or becoming the evening meal for some beast, I stood awestruck more than once.
It was in a fit of panic when I found the tower. I had completely lost any sense of direction and was simply running to find the river. Though my arms probed ahead wildly, the fog obscured the shear wall of black ahead and I ran face first into its cold surface. I felt the bones in my nose crunch together and a warm stream of blood ran down my mouth and onto my collar. The pain sent a jolt through my spine and my head reeled back.
The tower rose from the ground directly in front of me and cut a perfectly rigid swath across the orange sky. Even from up close the surface of the structure was pure black. The effect was as though I looked into it rather than at it and I felt a strong sense of vertigo as my legs became weak. I reached forward and placed a hand on the blackness to steady myself.
Though no detail could be seen, I felt an incredibly complex texture on my skin. As I slid my hand from side to side, my fingers traced series of flowing lines which spun like the ridges of a fingerprint. It felt cold and smooth like metal, but carried no sound when I wrapped my knuckles upon it. My excited breath swirled the fog around my head.
I worked my way slowly around the large perimeter of the tower while allowing my hand to glide upon the surface. The air was frigid and I could hear nothing, but my breathing and my own feet squelching in the grassy muck. I guess it was about half-way around the tower when my fingers slid into a small gap which ran vertically from the ground to a point higher than I could reach. I pushed gently at first and then much harder when the surface clicked, but didn’t move. It took considerable effort, but eventually the surface on either side of the gap I had felt began to swing inwards. Scentless air from within poured outwards and cleared the fog around me. The doors parted slowly to reveal pitch blackness equal to the outside, and yet it somehow felt infinitely darker. This blackness was not solid. If I stepped inside, it could consume me. Yet, that is what I did.
My curiosity outweighed my terror and I stepped forward into that frigid void. My damp and muddy boots slapped and squished against the floor. The sound travelled slowly to my ear and was muffled as though cotton were pressed into my ears. The floor shunned even the dim light from the threshold and my eyes saw nothing in all directions. The colours and sparks you sometimes see when closing your eyes for sleep soon began flaring up to fill the void.
I took a few steps further and felt a sickening feeling building inside me; nausea in my throat and an ache in my head. I could hear my blood pumping in my ears.
I don’t know what I hoped to find by walking into this place. My eyes were useless, and though my curiosity had brought me here, my hands now clung tightly to my side for fear of rubbing against something in the dark which now surrounded me. Though it was only a few strides away, when I looked back to the door I felt a shock of terror at how far I’d walked. I quickly turned my gaze back to the void.
I regained my composure and leaned down to touch the floor. It was the only thing I could sense yet in this place and I needed more information. It felt identical to the wall I had touched outside. Again, a complex texture of intermingling ridges flowing in groups and swirling around each other. I allowed myself to focus fully on the sensation of touch as I dragged a finger through one of the ridges. After crawling for several metres I still hadn’t found an end to the ridge and I stood back up.
As I rose, the hood on my cloak fell forward and I felt a small object brush past my head before falling to the ground. A moment later I heard muffled clicking and chirping as a hidden Rozmyrn Scarbadae rolled frantically away from me, likely stuck to the path laid out by one of the countless grooves. Its carapace ground against the floor and sounded like the wooden tankard of a passed-out drunk rolling along the bar top. I followed it with my ear as it got further and further away and slowly it became too muffled to hear. Just when I thought I had lost it, I heard a faint click. This click was followed quickly by another, and another, and another, each in a descending rhythm which soon took the sound out of earshot once more. Somewhere in the darkness was another deeper and darker void where the floor gave way. Somewhere ahead was a stairway which plunged further down into even deeper darkness.
I felt my legs grow weak again as I imagined the potential scale of this space and that I could right now be standing on the edge of a hole which pierced down into eternity. I sat down hard on the ground and the metal pans in my pack rang out moments later.
The clang and clatter was swallowed by the void, but this time something else came forth: a light tapping sound reach me, but it was very hard to tell where it was coming from and how far it might have been. I sat still and listened. It was definitely getting louder, and at first, I thought it might be the chirping Scarbadae slowly working its way back towards the light of the door. However, the tapping grew quickly into more of a slapping noise. It was rapid and familiar, but not exactly rhythmic.
Even before I understood what I heard, I stood up and started backing towards the light. I began to shake with icy terror. My eyes were stretched painfully wide, probing the dark, and the sound of dozens of naked running feet grew ever closer. I turned towards the fading light of the doorway and saw that it was beginning to dim. I have never run harder in my life. For every footstep I heard, I realized the sound was likely several paces behind. I felt as though at any moment some groping hand of monstrosity unseen should grasp me from the abyss and pull me into blackness perpetual. I heard no shouts or yells, or any evidence of some humanity that should sooth my fear. There was only the frantic run of this nocturnal horde
.I reached the diminishing threshold and turned with great speed to slam shut its darkest doors. I swear to you that I heard perhaps one hundred beasts clamouring towards me as the two doors shut, but only one made it through.
The creature was as pale as the moonlight which now shone through the tower’s fading silhouette. This creature had skin like paper and wore rags of stained clothes which hung loose from its gaunt form. White eyes looked out from a bald and bruised head.
I leapt back and swung my pack in front of me, but the creature froze immediately outside of the door as though in shock.
As I watched, the creature crumpled in on itself and fell into a limp pile on the ground. It shrieked and squealed as its muscles wasted, blood poured out, and its pale skin turned gray while shrivelling against crumbling bones. Before I could even exhale, it had fallen completely to a pile of bones and dust.
I remember screaming. I don’t remember for how long. When I reached a hand out to steady myself against the tower I found that it had vanished along with any trace of daylight. I sat down in the muck of the swamp and stared into the pile of bones. A human skull sat lop-sided staring back, darkness in its eyes.”
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Rin won the vote, so here’s a Cham styled summer Rin model to go with the Gumi one I made! This is only my 2nd Cham model I ever made, my Gumi one being my first, so if it doesn’t look so great I do apologize.
Cham Rin base: Cham and Lumialle
Dress: L.seika
Bow: 3DCG NJXA and Y0K0NI
Scrunchie: ILLUSION and AkemiWhy
Shoes: Either Animasa or Idolmaster, and Green-FighterEarrings: You uh…literally can’t see them here, smh. They’re yellow heart studs and they’re by me.
Poses are from No Life Queen motion data because I’m too tired to make my own poses right now.
Rules:Redistribution is fine as long as you don’t claim you made her.
Credit me!!
Do not edit without permission!
You can take parts I don’t care lol
Yuri and love content in general is ok.No R18.
Downloading will be the little arrow button pointing down, for those who aren’t used to Eclipse yet. Download is on my Deviantart.Stage: TOUKO-P
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So because of a combination of my lack of sleep the previous night and the distance between each movements of the first segment of the shot making me under-estimate the work involved; I have not finished lighting this shot… But as you can see in the screenshot, I am almost finished with under 80 frames left to do before it is done!
I’m not even going to try to estimate it’s completion as I’ve been wrong thus far, but hopefully by the middle of next week would be preferable… ^^”
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