ne0dym

the top-secret elidiharrow scenario

29/03/2024

this is mostly a reproduction of a tumblr post!

i said i wanted to write again, but as ever i am plagued with "i have the ideas but not the words" disease. that may be why i always liked the style of writing called "brainstorm scenarios with friends in the form of imagines and what ifs". seeing as that is not currently possible, i shall dump those ideas here.

so here's my thoughts for the top secret elidiharrow scenario featuring consensual stabbing.

this premise haunts me ever since i first started getting invested in WoL brainworms. it has persisted through the years with no defined form, and only last year did i settle on it being with elidibus, because i was thinking about that hateship and it had a lot of potential, even though elidi is clearly the least loved unsundered by the writers grrrrr.

since then we've had the conclusion to pandaemonium story, and when it's fresher in my head i'll be able to have a think about themis. i can imagine though theres a tragedy in wol meeting sweet young themis and getting close to him, yet realising that themis's future is to become the primal elidibus, his very being to be corrupted by millenia of prayers for salvation, and to be defeated by his hands...

so what's important to know about harrow is that he is the in-universe equivalent of catholic, that he has a poor sense of self-worth, and that he's grown into a fighting style that is literally to get hurt instead of his friends; he yearns for pain, it makes him feel alive and like he has a purpose.

finally i think this could fit in 5.3 after the tempest sequence but before eulmore, cuz that's when the dungeon+trial combo kicks off.

anyway, that was a long contextualisation, and i still need to get to the consensual stabbing! the truth is, i've had freaky edgy tastes my entire life, so it was only natural that this would pop up in this universe too. the premise is that harrow approaches elidibus with a personal request: to make him have a near-death experience by impaling him with a sword and letting him meditate in the agony, before being healed to regain his strength for the final confrontation.

i wrote this a long time ago, when the idea first appeared in my mind: "holding on to the other as pointy end goes in, grasp loosening as pointy end comes out the other side, knees buckling, struggling for breath, the dazed, spaced out, delirious look, stabbing one saying focus on me and my voice, dont panic, youll be ok i've got you" well in this case probably not with the comforting words, lol.

i don't know if elidi would be one to gloat while harrow doubles over high on pain, but he would indulge harrow with his death fantasy. he would be tempted to simply eliminate him right there, but decide to honour their agreement and continue preparing for the big fight. harrow, being much taller than elidibert, would likely quickly collapse on one or both knees, cuz the way i imagine this, he would be looking up at elidi instead, and if elidibert bends a little there can be a sexy height difference between them. blood pools underneath harrow, yet he only has eyes for his enemy.

elidi would use a spectrally summoned sword, glowing with powerful aether imbued with the desire to vanquish his foe; this would eat away at harrow from the inside, but he would resist. however, it would be much harder to resist the raw boundless aether that would wash over him in a healing spell afterwards. "a warmth he'd only known in prayer" was a phrase that popped up in my head.

the other day i read this fic (extremely rare event nowadays) where the WoL encounters elidi under different circumstances but ends up intertwined in his aether. the author described this as "dubcon in a tempering way". since you all read my post about being obsessed with religious tropes and symbolism, it won't come as a surprise that this idea has seized my thought factory. the author writes "And His touch is everything. (...) Your savior, your companion - your God. (...) Existing solely at his whim..." this is my vision!

elidi would dismiss the sword in an instant, and a very weakened harrow, riding the last waves of the pain high, would instinctively bring his hands to his wounded abdomen, searching for the weapon. then perhaps elidibert would be saying, as in the excerpt above, "do not look; focus only on me. listen to my voice. receive of me my aether..."

our WoL has a resistance to being tempered (mind-controlled by summoned deities) but for dramatic effect let's say the raw life energy of an unsundered Ancient would come close to overwhelming that protection. and how dramatic, harrow going, without noticing, from a rehearsed prayer to his patron goddess and to the mothercrystal, to a near-desperate plea for more of that warm radiant light that makes up the primal himself. aether imbued with hope, the hope of countless peoples that their world will be saved. both elidi and harrow are heroes of their own stories, trying to save what they think is their world.

harrow realises that elidi's healing aether gives him hope to come out of this trial stronger, enough to defeat his enemy and save the world(s); and isn't that hope, too, further empowering the primal elidibus? perhaps that is why elidibert agreed to indulge harrow, after all.

as his flesh is mended and strength replenished, now held in elidibert's arms and enveloped by his energy, harrow would think not "love thy enemy" - he had felt compassion for emetselch before, though this is different - but "adore thy enemy". (of course, it is all only the primal's influence.) we could even go so far as to have elidibert softly kiss harrow's parted lips as he's entranced by elidi's nearly divine presence, in a gesture of respect or maybe mockery.

(and for added angst with themis in harrow's future, he could ask elidi to brand him where the wound was. a mark of elidi's constellation, proof of this punishment-indulgence-rendezvous.)