Helios
Lord Zee
DX3214
VecKeltra Revealed
Anath Homura & Oge’Ivu
Suspended high above the sea that was currently stained with the colors that came with the setting sun, hung the soaring circular-city that acted as the realm of Anath Homura. Visible was the substructure of the flying fortress that consisted of two spiraling helix-shaped staircases that sprouted forth from the two gates found along the foundations of the outer wall and descended to the surface of the sea that splashed and sprayed against the lowest of the steps.
The outer wall encircled a much smaller inner ring of columns that surrounded a towering structure that occupied the center of the city. Unhindered in their passing through the circular colonnade were four pathways that joined the looming core structure with the wide outer wall, allowing any pedestrian to walk freely all throughout the shimmering citadel that seemed as though it were sculpted solely from cardinal ruby. The realm of Anath Homura was akin to a palace in its appearance, rather than a castle, considering its lack of physical protection.
Audible from afar, though suppressed in a strange manner, was the whirling winds beneath the city that continued to blow upwards, and though very clearly lacking the strength to lift the entirety of the immense structure into the sky, it would be more than enough to carry any wandering creature that foolishly fell from the intersecting paths or off the outer wall. The origin of these precautionary gales and their persistent presence could only ever be explained as a manifestation of divine decree.
Despite the decorative architecture consisting of a vast expanse of complex and beautiful stone reliefs and fantastical murals all acting as a facade that adorned the exterior that greeted those that visited, the city itself was rather desolate. Devoid of denizens and devoid of any homes for those that would reside outside the central citadel - it was almost utterly deprived of life.
Amid that starry and desolate place in the sky that had become painted with red and orange and pink, another form had grown ever closer. From a spec, to a dot, to now a massive shape still smaller than the palatial city in the sky.
Five radial eyes and numerous tendrils descended. A maw with clicking penta-mandibles, slowly ejecting stuck pieces of whale from a previous meal. Armored ridges protecting delicate corridors and organs. From void sacks to the delicate digestion and macro-immunities.
Floating amid the sky closing in, no large wings or soaring fins, speaking no words but approaching still with eyes alighted with curiosity.
Anath Homura stood alone atop the outer wall like a silent and vigilant sentinel, staring with her one eye at the one that was about to arrive, while the sanguine blood that stained her attire and soaked her skin began to undulate slowly as though stirring with slight anticipation. Rivulets formed, and arranged themselves into many quivering streaks along her limbs and across her torso, as the remaining blood upon her face shifted swiftly and seeped into her orifices and the white rose that grew where her second eye should be.
The tendrils ascended back into the body of the great beast mother as she descended towards the city and its wall. In truth the spot that was the Goddess hardly was visible to the creature, and beyond its concern as well. Instead it focused upon the great visa of the city- moving to explore even as it was ill suited for the streets and corridors of such a place.
“Why are the flames tainted? Perhaps I should bring an end to its misery…” Anath Homura murmured, suddenly standing upon the immense creature above its strange set of eyes. She opened and clenched her hands, still wet with blood.
Of the radial eyes, one focused ever so patiently on the newly moved goddess. Rotating in the socket under the beast’s transparent lids, a tendril moved out from under the beast, wrapping around to touch with curiosity. A great sound rumbled through the beast as she did so, a sound a comfort as she had done so many times before with the countless children of her race.
“You are innocent, and yet you are corrupted by sin. Your polluted presence stirs the Stigma and obscures the Sacred Path. Should I cleanse you, or should I leave you be?” The red goddess asked as she stroked the tendril tenderly, and despite her hands being damp with divine ichor, the inquisitive limb remained unharmed and untarnished.
For a moment the tendril froze as the divine meanings of the words echoed in the smaller mind of Oge’Ivu, but only a moment. A rumbling started deep within the beast, a feeling, a meaning, one understood not by the Iava’Oge for there was no tongue to this, there was only a sense a divine could pick up from the freshly steeled mind of the great beast. Tendrils descended and hackles rose - the meaning unfolded.
Do as you must to me - my children will be protected.
“A child cannot give consent. I shall not cleanse you yet.” Anath Homura answered, and averted her apathetic gaze afterwards. She stayed in a motionless state of pensive silence, content with letting the large creature wander freely while she contemplated.
Beyond her words the grand beast knew not what meaning lurked in the Goddess’s thoughts. She knew not what to do about such a mystery, so she did what had come upon her earlier. She floated above the wall and over the city proper, exploring with her tendrils as her radial eyes kept sight on goddess and palatial vistas alike.
“What do you wish to see?” Anath Homura inquired in an impassive tone.
No real response to the question came from Oge’Ivu. Instead, she went forward, her tendrils touching and gently as she could feeling the textures and exploring where her body could not. Her ventral eyes expanded their trifold light limiters- like a series of expanding pupils they let in more to see all below her.
It took only a moment for her internal ballast tanks to briefly compensate for the eternal winds flowing from below the great palace city.
“This realm will remain empty to your eyes, as I will not allow the tainted to sense the truth of Keltra. I suggest departing, as you shall find no sustenance here.”
This meant little to the great beast, Oge’Ivu searched not for these things in the great city- not that she particularly understood the idea of permission either granted. There was an aspect of curiosity to all of her children that came from her, and yet a divine sparked sense lurked deep within- a sense of a message not fully understood.
It was that reason that despite having little need for the lands and continents of the world that they still spent so much time looking down from on high. And it was for that reason that Oge’Ivu attempted such explorations of Keltra.
Her form was well shaped with purpose and idea, but even the divine senses of a god could only tell you what was there - only thought or even random chance could land upon the cause and design for such.
It was therein finding the streets bare and all she could reach barren - it was then that Oge’Ivu turned sight towards the murals and imagery with what imagination and thought she barely possessed.
A murmur so gentle it barely escaped the grand form of the sky titan, one attempting understanding.
Anath Homura had silently vanished, and only Oge’Ivu remained adrift amongst the gracefully sculpted stone that the city was composed of. The surface decorations spanning the solitary structures consisted of abstract art; intricate patterns melding linear and intersecting paths, as well as interlacing shapes and glittering glyphs.
There was an absence of life especially in the grandiose architecture, a lack of animalistic and natural motifs that would convey worldly meaning. It was perfectly shaped, serenely sculpted solely through the exclusion of so much of the cosmos, however, despite its achieved perfection - its widespread beauty and splendor - it still remained a blank canvas.
The emptiness invited the imagination to explain it, beckoning the touch of those inspired with wondrous creativity, but it also acted as a barrier. Perhaps the contours and carvings across the walls, and along the streets, were meant to serve as guidelines… The stone simultaneously provided the answers and the questions, yet it was ever too easy to become lost in what seemed an infinite path to explore.
Without concern or pause, Oge’Ivu explored what she could with sight and tendril. A touch of flesh and what could be seen. Rubbing gently along the texture blank and smooth - perfect and so strange from all she had known. It was a place of amazement and calm to the giant - even if she had not the idea of creation. She did not realize that she was perhaps the first among mortals to actually see the architecture of Keltra, to touch and feel it.
Suddenly there were ripples in the air all around Oge’Ivu, shimmering and shifting, accompanied by the arrival of many sounds and structures that had swiftly appeared in sections of the soaring city. Though the light of day was fading as the sun descended below the horizon, there was also an abundance of new sources that offered illumination - flying rivers of celestial radiance that were interwoven with each other, and spreading across half of the city.
It was too weak to inflict harm, but Oge’Ivu heard a thud as something struck her side…
