Work Text:
He’s trapped in this place, in this dream.
He is always trapped now.
He is a Haruspex who sees the lines, the possibilities, the fates laid out around him.
The paths that he can never choose.
The valravn has been true to its word.
There is no renegotiation of the terms.
All he has now is visions that may or may not mean anything.
This time he sees the tall grasses of the steppe.
Hears the winds that wail across the planes.
He sees the ruins of what was once a town.
There is a graveyard here.
Almost swallowed by the tall grass.
There is a figure here too.
A man in a long black coat, with familiar black gloves, that he discards as he reaches towards the soil.
Artemy is a disembodied spirit now.
In this dream, in this place.
But he can see Daniil clearly.
He can see the strangeness in the fabric of that coat, the odd shine to those shoes, even the strangely abrupt cut of Daniil’s hair.
As if he is displaced, like a figure that has walked out of a fictional telling of an old tale.
Like an artistic rendition of the man Artmey once knew… and loved.
Daniil places his hand on the ground and digs his fingers into the soil.
He bows his head as if remembering.
Ravens gather around him, landing with their odd bouncing gate, and clustering close.
“I know. We’ll leave soon. I just wanted to… see him.”
The ravens tilt their heads up towards the sky.
And after long moments Daniil stands.
He turns his face skywards too and reaches into a pocket.
Artmey doesn’t understand the thing that Daniil pulls out to look at; it’s not a book or a notepad, but it has text on it anyway.
Daniil reads over it and, to Artmey’s surprise, the text becomes a map to a further destination.
The map seems to pulse with its own sort of life and Artmey knows that Daniil will follow its path.
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
The ravens take to the air.
“Artmey, I’ll come back to see you soon.”
Artmey watches as Daniil walks away.
For some reason, that he cannot discern, he cannot follow.