“Rehair.” Nimueh said as she carefully tried to shake awake the zena. “Rehair. Wake up.” She whispered.
Rehair slowly rose from her slumber, until she recognized the voice and jolted upright. She locked eyes with Nimueh and looked furious. “What are you doing here!?” She whisper-yelled at the zena girl who stood rather sheepishly in between the pile of sleeping zenii. Rehair took her by the arm and carefully took her away from the warmth of the blackstone. “You need to leave right now.”
“I know, I know. I’m no longer welcome here but Rehair you have to listen to me!” Nimueh said with a big smile on her face. Rehair stood in front of her with her arms crossed. “I want to teach you something.” A doubtful eyebrow rose from Rehair but the zena didn’t stop Nimueh. “Right, how to do this?” Nimueh asked herself out loud. “One second.” In an instant, she transformed into a rat. Rehair almost screamed and stomped her. The rat scurried around a bit, seemingly grasping at the thin air around before it transformed back into Nimueh: “Okay, look at this!”
Nimueh reached out with her hand towards some grass nearby. At first, it only started to glow green. Then it began to visibly grow towards her hand. It grew so fast that it could wrap the grass around her fingers before she released the magical power. The green glow vanished and Nimueh looked up at her friend with an excited smile.
Rehair just frowned.
“See? Magic!” Nimueh exclaimed in pure – though somewhat quieted – excitement. Slowly she pulled her hand back. The grass retained the shape of her fingers. As if some phantom hand was still supporting it.
“Is that what you used to kill Slouwe?” Rehair’s question cut straight through Nimueh. She lost all excitement in a blink of an eye.
Suddenly there was a tension in the air that Nimueh hadn’t felt before. She always considered Rehair to be her friend through thick and thin. Like a sister. Now she was less sure of that. The zena woman radiated something she had only felt coming from Lonam: hostility. “I didn’t mean to-“
“You didn’t need to mean it. It still happened.” Rehair cut her off. “Go. Leave. Take this… this horrible thing with you. It will bring nothing but blood to the blackstone.” Rehair turned around to head back to the safety and warmth of the blackstone.
Nimueh grabbed her arm. “No, Rehair. I promised I would teach-“ Slap! Nimueh staggered backwards as Rehair finished her backhanded swing.
“Stay away from me.” Rehair sneered. Her eyes were now burning with hate. “I got nothing to learn from you!“ The zena looked up and down Nimueh’s body. Most of her wounds and scraps had healed and she wasn’t hungry or thirsty. It was obvious that she could survive and even thrive in the wilds. Away from the blackstones. There was even a glow around her. A glow of someone who found some kind of purpose. “You’re obviously doing well. So leave the zenii alone. You’re no longer part of us. Head into the forest and never come back.”
The girl stood defeated and ashamed. Before she thought that maybe at least Rehair would still forgive her but clearly she was mistaken. Her former friend now held nothing but the deepest hatred for her. “I need to come back.” She stammered. “The Beast Queen, she-“
“Again with your Beast Queen!” Rehair almost yelled.
“She’s real!” Nimueh almost shouted, but she didn’t want to wake up the other zenii. “And I have to tell you guys, all of you guys that you cannot enter her forest with pots or baskets or anything like that! She doesn’t like it.” Pure despair was growing in the young zena’s heart. By word or by claw, the words the Beast Queen used made it clear what would happen if they didn’t listen.
“You greedy grub.” Rehair sneered. “We’ve finally found your treasure trove of food in the forest. Enough that we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore, and you would take it all for yourself?”
“It’s not about greed!”
“Go away.” Rehair said as she turned around again. Leaving Nimueh in the cold air away from the blackstone. She stood there for a moment, defeated. Eventually though, she transformed into a rat and skittered back towards the forest.
Neither Rehair nor Nimueh had noticed the handful of restless zenii in the pile being awake with their eyes closed.
Nimueh sneaks up to her friend Rehair at the blackstone at night. She tries to show and teach magic to the older zena but she refuses, pointing out it was used to kill a zenii. Nimueh tries to insist but gets slapped. She then tries to repeat that the Beast Queen doesn’t like what the zenii are doing. Rehair accuses her of greed and goes back to sleep. Nimueh also leaves. Neither notice that some other zenii weren’t fully asleep either.
Nimueh starting spirit: 5 + 1 spirit: appears in this post + 1 spirit: focus of this post Nimueh ending spirit: 7
The air was being filled by bjork's screams as they watched the wall of water coming for them. It was too violent and too fast to do anything about it now. Tens if not hundreds of bjorks were swept up in the water. They were part aquatic but they were flung against rocks and trees swept up in the water as well. Soon streaks of red began to color the water as well. As the wave of the river neared its end Phelenia found a suitable branch to land upon and observe her work in the small valley behind her. Quite a few bjorks had died. More managed to survive though. This was of no worry to Phelenia. Those dredges that still lived would flee in all directions and from what she had seen, these sinner beasts were very territorial.
This was only the beginning of the strife. There would be a shortage of space and food first. After that there would be fights over who got what. Many more lives would end because of the flood. Many more bjorks had seen her as well. It would send the message: the Green Murder has returned, and this flood was its divine punishment.
As much as she reveled in the destruction and pain that she wrought, she did hope that this would serve as a lesson. She warned them before and the sinner beasts did not listen. Now she had punished them. Will they listen?
A wind began to blow, cold and fierce and though the clouds overhead threatened to bring about a snow, it never fell. What did come however was the presence of another. This time her work had not gone unnoticed to the eye of the divine. It descended as a giant, white orb from the clouds overhead. In one quick action her damage was lessened, the bjork who suffered and the dying were healed while the water, where it should not have been, was pulled into the sky. There it froze like a lance pointed at Phelenia.
"Where is my daughter?" he asked in a cold voice, a voice that demanded answers. "What have you done, Green Murder?" he spat with a vile chill.
Phelenia stared down the orb without budging a feather. Clearly whatever was floating in front of her was divine in nature like she was but she had no idea who it could possibly be. A nuisance at most, clearly. “I know nothing of your daughter, Cloud Orb.” She said, “What I have done is punish these sinner beasts for their vile habits.” She looked down at the lance that was forming in the sky. “Sadly, the lesson they were supposed to learn will now be lost to them for sure.”
"The lesson was a farce." He stated. "With cruel intent did you murder for murders sake. Now I shall ask again, where is my daughter? I heard her scream… What did you do?" his tone became rigid and like that of a father.
“You failed to listen.” Phelenia said. She still sat unmoving upon the branch. Her senses began to better understand the orb though. It was cold. Colder than regular snow or ice could ever be. Which gave her a pretty good idea of at least what part of her Father this one was made of.
And then she realized a connection. The frigid wind suddenly became awfully familiar. A pang of pain traveled through her chest. “Ah, the frostfire one.” Phelenia said, giving voice to her realization. “She perished in the hands of a foolish manbjork. The encounter was interesting.“ She hid the fact that the creature did in fact manage to harm her. She also did not speak with glee nor sorrow. She was simply stating facts. “Right now she is shattered ice swept up in the river.”
The swirling wind ceased abruptly. The clouds overhead seemed to shudder and grow quiet. The ice that formed the lance crackled in anticipation. Meanwhile the God itself stilled. Nothing could be discerned from him, for his shape held no feature, after all. But if there was any indication to the emotions he felt, the air grew colder.
It plummeted in fact.
Then all at once the frozen god burst forth towards her, heralded by the lance that exploded into slivers of sharp ice.
An eagle screech echoed through the valley as Phelenia – still in her eagle form – flew away in an instant. With supernatural speed her wings carried her through the wind towards the open ocean at the horizon.
A chase began. For the white orb was her equal in the air. He made no sound as he closed in, it just got colder. In that element there were none equal and it began to assault her. She felt the tips of her wings get colder, and colder. Moving them - something that should be effortless - became harder and harder. The frost was overtaking her. She folded her wings and went plummeting from the air.
The landing was rough. Dirt and rocks got pushed up around her as her eagle form rolled across the ground. Quickly she gathered herself again and transformed into the fastest creature possible. As a green-furred, black speckled cheetah she rushed towards the coast. If she got there she could shake him for sure.
As she ran she could hear trees break and land like mini earthquakes behind her. He was still following but he wasn't gaining. Perhaps more alarming was the care he had shown to the land upon the outset of her flood, had suddenly vanished as more and more trees fell. Some even exoding from the sheer cold.
What came next was more insidious. A thunderous noise that drowned out everything else, followed by a great beam of pale blue, ice and fire, like a maelstrom of malice. It shot right beside her and obliterated the landscape. Her trees, her green and nature. Gone in an instant, reduced to a semi circle of dirt and lingering fire. Another blast came to her right as she dodged. Then above her.
Phelenia barely registered the attacks as she was running for her life. A feeling that came completely from her divine self, not from the cheetah instinct.
The next beam hit its mark. Phelenia's luck ran out.
Her flesh was sundered around her. She didn’t scream. Her lungs were gone. For a split second there was only her Shard. Out of pure desperation it covered itself. First with nearby wood and moss. When that was obliterated into nothingness it forced that dust - through sheer divine will - to assume her true shape around the Shard. Then she screamed. It was a bloodcurdling scream that echoed far across the horizon.
Phelenia felt only one thing: pain.
A thud landed beside, for he had come. Changing forms into a giant of a man. Brown bare chested skin with white hair and piercing icy blue eyes. He loomed over her, raised a fist and punched Phelenia in the face with a fist like solid ice. A more physical beating came, each blow like a thunderclap as she was driven deeper into the earth.
The goddess took the first few hits as she regained her senses. They hurt but not as much as the beam had. As Chailiss’ humanoid form pulled its first back one more time Phelenia transformed part of her arm into that of a bear and slashed open Chailiss’ chest. Cold ichor fell upon her as the god grunted. At that moment she was upright again but still reeling. “Another kinslayer.” She wheezed as her body was still reforming itself correctly. “I should’ve known.”
The God's face twisted into a grimace. With one hand he touched his torn chest and with the other he raised it high, posing to strike but he stopped before letting his balled fist drop in defeat. With a snarl he spoke next, "I won't kill you. You deserve it for your crimes but I am no judge or executioner. But I, Chailiss, promise you this; You will be judged by Homura, as is her right decreed by the Lord Creator. Her verdict I shall follow. And I will have blood for blood. A life for a life so that you might feel an ounce of the pain in my soul. I swear it."
“I have… accepted the death of all… my children… from the moment… I made them.” Phelenia managed to get out. Now that the savage attacks had stopped she felt no more pain. But her body was still in tatters. Everything required to speak coherent words was still restoring itself. “It is a part… of nature… to perish.” Still, a curiosity beset her. There could be no doubt that she, mother of all life, loved all her children the most and she could surrender them to death when their time came. Every time.
“Why… would you do this even?” She asked. “Why would you attack me for just causing… the inevitable end that comes to all mortals? If your daughter died tomorrow, would’ve brought down the same fury upon whatever creature killed her? If she died in a hundred years because of age, would you have raged against time itself?”
”It is a part of nature to die, yes. That I do agree with. The cycle exists for a reason. Without death there can be no life.” His voice turned dark as his gaze hardened, ”What has no reason is this senseless murder of the bjork and my daughter. It is not part of nature to be murdered at the hands of one who proclaims herself to be a mother. You are no mother. Mother’s nurture their offspring, teach them right from wrong and ensure they survive. You.. You are a butcher. You came to my land once and razed its denizens against each other. You spilled blood. You murdered innocent children. All because you thought yourself right. That CHILDREN had sinned. For they were children, all of them and instead of teaching them what was right, or what was wrong. You. Killed. Them. A God, acting like a child over broken toys. The irony.” Chailiss closed his eyes briefly. His fist shook and when he opened them again, his gaze was unwavering. ”Death is inevitable. This is the only certainty in existence. It was our job, as caretakers, as parents- To guide them. You failed that task. You are no mother but a monster wearing a disguise.”
Phelenia gave an animalistic sneer at being called a monster. She took a step forward but her body failed her and she fell to one knee. That alone made her reconsider making her sibling pay for the insult. She was just thoroughly defeated. Still she could not face this misguided sibling of hers on her knee so she rose up again. “Senseless murder. Right and wrong. Ensure their survival. You are a coddler. Nature does not know right or wrong. Morality doesn’t exist beyond the minds of fools like you and mortals that think too much.”
She clutched her newly formed chest where once the icefire spear had drawn divine blood. Phelenia realized something then. “You don’t even know how your daughter died, do you?”
”Morality… It seems to me you are aware of the concept. But it is laughable, to believe yourself a part of nature. You may put on a good show, claiming yourself as a mother of nature, but we both know it to be just that. A show. A deluded mind grasping for reasons to justify her thoughtful actions. If you were an actual proponent of the cycle, you would leave nature be. Not propagate violence and murder with your every step. Even a predator knows when enough is enough, when a belly full is bliss.” he walked back and forth amidst the rubble, never taking his eyes off her as he continued his speech.
”You know naught but anger and hatred for beings that know nothing of your ways, because you did not TELL THEM. A GOD, who even now is thinking of ways to hurt me and this world further. The difference is apparent, if only you had eyes to see. I may be a coddler and a fool, as you say, but at least I know my place.” An ornate box came into his hands, glowing a hot icy blue. His demeanor changed as he held it between his hands, pointing it at her. ”Now, careful with what you speak next about my daughter, monster. Your new body is only just healing, after all.”
The words that stung the most to Phelenia were not the last ones of the speech. It was the accusation that she didn’t leave nature to be. It stung because it was true. Before now the goddess of life had always assumed that the results justified her means. That whenever she bent and even broke natural order she did it for a valid reason. Now a dreadful thought crept into her mind. Had she overreached. Has she gone too far?
But her fire hadn’t extinguished. “She died willingly, in the hands of a manbjork who wished nothing more than to kill me.” She spat. “I did not force her to jump into the fires of vengeance. I did not force her into the shape of a spear that could hurt me. I did not force her to expend every last bit of her power in service of another. You daughter chose to die moments ago for no other reason than to hurt me!”
“And if that is a reason to strike me down then show your own hypocrisy and do it right now.”
He stared at her, she stared at him, for several moments. The air grew still, noise fading away as the smell of burning and ichor permeated the air. Then Chailiss broke eye contact by looking down, his shoulders drooping and he shook his head. ”Perhaps you should take a good hard look at yourself, if you think their vengeance was unjust.” His voice was quiet, growing distant. ”There will come a time when the weight of your crimes will rear its ugly head. Those better than we shall prevail. Now leave this place before our words breed more violence. If you ever return, judged or not, I will slay you. Remember that, as a third promise..”
“His wish for vengeance was just.” Phelenia said as she transformed again into her eagle form. “But I never raised a finger towards your daughter until I had to defend myself.” She stretched out her wings. They felt different now. She turned around to fly away but stopped for a moment. When she would leave now, she would abandon her children here forever. They would be gnawed at and bitten. Chopped down to be used in those dams. How long until the sinner beasts deemed some animals too dangerous to roam? When all the wolves were slaughtered to the last, who would take care the deer wouldn’t grow too numerous?
A sickness hit Phelenia like a wave. These were the consequences of her actions. For a moment she turned back to her true form and knelt down on the ground. If this icy deity took offense to her parting with a place she did love then so be it. She laid a hand upon the ground and whispered: “I hope my fears won’t come true. Father, Monarch, please don’t let them come true.” With those words said she rose up again, transformed into a great green eagle and flew away.
The God of Cold remained, head dipped low.
Very much alone.
Phelenia watches the flood as it destroys the land and runs red with the death of bjork. Chailiss arrives, heals all the bjork clinging onto life and sucks up the water that lingered behind, making the land alright again. Sorta. He then forms an icicle and points it at Phelenia, and thus a conversation is born. He demands to know what happened to Zima (fun fact he still doesn’t know her name RIP) and after a tense but short convo, with Phelenia telling him she is basically dead. Chailiss puts two and two together and attacks her with cold, silent fury. She tries to fly away but her wings begin to freeze. So she lands, turning into a cheetah for escape but Chailiss unleashes the full might of his artifact. He misses twice, destroying the land around Phelenia as she tries to escape (Doing Ruina’s job kek) before hitting her. Phelenia’s cheetah form vaporizes and she, very briefly, just becomes her shard before adopting her true form. She screams, its painful and is basically incapacitated. Chailiss arrives in Childan form and basically begins to beat her into a bloody pulp. (The artifact did more damage ofc, but give him his moment.) Phelenia scratches him across the chest and names him a kinslayer.
This prompts Chailiss to stop, and he promises her two things. She would be judged by Homura eventually and that he would have a life for a life. They then have a philosophical debate about right and wrong- you be the judge on who wins. After learning how Zima died, Chailiss seems to deflate and banishes her from the Norf. It suddenly dawns upon her that maybe all she did wasn’t a good idea in fact, so she gives a little prayer to the monarch, and then flies away. Leaving Chailiss alone.
Chailiss 8 -1 To alleviate the effects of the flood by healing the Bjork who suffered and taking away most of the flood water that remained behind in the initial surge. -1 Vigor to add to the Box of Calamity artifact. Now 5 Vigor- shoots a destructive beam of frostfire (thanks kho)
Ending = 6 Vigor
Phelenia start: 5 vigor No vigor used Phelenia end: 5 vigor
Nimueh could smell it. The deer were close. They were probably grazing in the nearby clearing. She made sure she was moving into the wind, so the deer wouldn’t catch her scent on the wind. An instinct forced her to look left and right. Nothing. She didn’t have a pack and something deep inside of her yearned for one. She always yearned for a pack as a wolf. While as a bear she was perfectly fine with being alone. But she was more in control of her own feelings than a regular wolf would be and she used her will to refocus on the deer. The sun was setting. This had been half a day of work. Slowly she crept closer, staying low to the ground until she pushed through a bush to find the clearing.
The deer were indeed grazing. One must’ve heard the rustling of the bush and looked up. Nimueh stopped moving completely. The wind whistled in her ears. She could hear them chewing the grass. As a wolf she could hear so much more than any zenii ever could. The deer returned to eating. Nimueh took a step closer. The wind shifted. A breeze came from behind her. The deer all looked up and straight in her direction. She was made! Her instincts drove her. She started running straight for them. The deer started to run away. She had her eyes on one of them. The oldest. She was getting closer… closer. He turned. She couldn’t turn fast enough. He was getting away! No! No!
Nimueh tried to chase him through the forest, but the deer were gone. Her stomach growled as she turned back into her zenii form. It would never work without a pack but still, most of the fun came from the excitement of the hunt anyway. For now she just gathered a few berries that she knew weren’t dangerous and ate those.
The forest had given her ultimate freedom. She didn’t have to do any chores anymore or listen to Lonam. Every day she could just learn more about the Beast Queen’s gift. And she felt almost ready to do the one task she was given. There was really only one zenni who could make the zenii abandon those pots and baskets and that was Masol. She’d talk to him. He’d understand. Or so she hoped.
Tonight though, she’d do something differently. For too long had she held it off. Though in her defense she tried to understand magic better first. She must’ve thrown a thousand sticks at trees. None of them sprouted roots and tangling vines like she had done that fateful night. So now, with the scarred moon rising, Nimueh sat on her knees in the clearing, closed her eyes and said: “Queen of magic. I was hoping we could speak?”
For a moment, there was simply darkness as the young Nimueh sat in the clearing with her eyes closed, the rustlings of nature and the animals that lived within it joined by the odd gust of wind that managed to slip past the outer layer of trees to drive deeper into the forest. Then there seemed to be a change; All the natural noises seemed to cease, and the air started to… taste funny? As if something was infused with it but not in a physical way.
“I must admit, no one has ever called me a Queen before. While I disagree with the title, I am thankful for the respect you deemed to show me by using it my dear.” A soft, happy voice rang out.
If she opened her eyes, Nimueh would find herself seated in a completely different location then she had entered her meditative state: She appeared to have taken a seat at the edge of a forest clearing where a ring of mushrooms had grown in the middle. And sitting in the middle of side ring of mushrooms was a figure of zenni like body, but shorter with an equine like face and hooves on their feet, while a poofy mane and tail seemed to defy gravity as they floated slightly behind the smiling figure. While there were twinges of other colors, their hair seemed to currently be many different shades of green, while their tail had adopted a variety of blues.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve recently taken a shine to using the title of ‘Keeper’. Before you ask, your body is still where you asked to speak with me… But I recently shared with the world the ability to dream and it’s already proving surprisingly useful for communications like this on top of everything else. But enough about that…” They offered with a chuckle and waved off that point of conversation. “What is your name my dear?”
Nimeuh jolted up when she saw she was no longer in the forest. That’s where the other zenii are! But when she saw this keeper she knew she wasn’t in the real world anymore. She was in the dream world where she could meet the gods of the world! “Oh, sorry for calling you queen. My… protector,” she said, before pondering on what to call the Beast Queen in relation to herself. “Said you were a sibling of her and I just thought-“
She stopped herself from rambling as she was wont to do, took a deep breath to swallow her excitement and started again. “I’m sorry. I’m Nimueh and I was just hoping, Miss Keeper, if you could tell me a bit more about this ‘magic’?” She finished with a small, awkward, nervous laugh as she stepped a little closer.
At the name of the ‘Beast Queen’, the strange deity blinked slightly in confusion. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I have many kin that I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting personally. Would you object to me peering into your mind in order to see my sister?” The expression on ‘Keeper’s face and the tone of their voice suggested to Nimueh that the god’s request was… just that. A request. Considering the Beast Queen could read her mind, it was likely this one could as well but seemed to respect her individual right to her mind and thoughts enough not to just impose upon her like that.
Still, Nimueh’s request brought a smile to Keeper’s face. “Of course I would be more than happy to help you my dear Nimueh. In fact, you’re somewhat special because you’re the first mortal to ever actually ask me to teach them about the powerful resource that I brought into this world. How to teach you is a bit more...challenging though.”
Bringing their hands together in front of their chest, Keeper’s fingers interlocked so that their pointer fingers were pressed together against their lips for a moment of contemplation. “I can see two methods that I suspect you would excel at, though many would find their natures conflicting. I do not doubt that you’ll be able to combine them together in time to do great things, but as a starting point… which do you value more my dear: Your mind or your instincts?”
The request took Nimueh by visible surprise. At first it freaked her out. A goddess in her head!? Just like that? Though after a moment she realized that the goddess could probably do so without even asking and the Beast Queen had already done so. So what’s the harm in letting another look into her mind? “Sure.” She said in her usual peppy self. “Wait!” She then suddenly shouted as she even put her hands up as if she could stop whatever would come. “Before you read my mind you have to promise me that it won’t hurt.”
“The process is painless, but since the past can be painful I cannot say for certain that this dive won’t be painful for you dear.” Keeper answered back before they simply peered into Nimueh’s memories. The girl herself would see flashes of what Keeper was looking into; While it was true that they were actively trying to limit themselves to seeking out their new patron deity only, memories connected to the Beast Queen were also tied with other memories that were dragged to the forefront solely because of the association.
Still, the procedure was over and done rather quickly. “I see… so this is the Green Murder of the Bjorks.” They muttered aloud to themself.
As the god peered through her memories Nimueh had her eyes closed, hoping it would help the process even a little bit. She didn’t mind the recurring memories, mostly because the only memory she really had of the Beast Queen herself was her dream of the green-furred fox. But then she heard what the Keeper called her. “Green Murder?” She asked as her eyes opened. “That’s a pretty mean thing to say about someone.”
Keeper shrugged at the statement. “To my understanding, she took offense to the Bjorks making their homes out of wood and trees and decided to send a warning… by assaulting one of their settlements and slaughtering the population. As you can imagine, the Bjorks themselves didn’t take too kindly to this.”
Nimueh had no idea what a bjork was. Still, the words ‘by word or by claw’ suddenly sounded a lot more real than before. Slaughter was the word the Keeper used and her imagination was quick to roll with it. It would happen to the zenii as well if she failed.
But then she shook herself free from her own imagination. She was here - wherever here was - for something else. “Right, right.” She said as she shook her head a little bit. “You asked me what I valued most, my mind or my instinct. Both of them are important to me but if I’m being honest: the best things that happened to me happened when I followed my instincts.” The instinct of a squirrel let her climb a tree she couldn’t climb as a zenii. As a wolf there was nothing more thrilling than following her instinct in a hunt. Even as a zenii it was her instinct to run from the predators that had chased her to the tree where she had eaten that fruit. Her mind was important but her instinct brought her way more happiness. “So yeah, instincts.”
For their part, Keeper didn’t seem inclined to inform Nimueh of what a Bjork was. But since the matter wasn’t important enough for a follow up question it seemed to be dropped completely as Nimueh finally got around to the question that had been asked of her earlier. “Very well. I could explain in detail to you how to channel the various shades of mana but… the Beast Queen has offered us a surprisingly simple method that would let you learn how to do so without truly meaning to.”
Finally moving their arms, the Keeper lifted them above their head as they shifted their fingers around and started to pop joints that hadn’t moved in a little while as they stretched out. “All you need to do is transform into a rat and let the instincts of the form guide you.”
“A… rat?” Nimueh asked. At first she didn’t want to believe it. Then after a moment she realized that weirder things have happened. If it was a joke then well – it would be short lived at best. So she set aside her own doubts for a second as she focused on turning into a rat. She wasn’t sure if it would work in the dream, or if it did that it would work as intended but still she focused on becoming a rat.
The world grew huge around her as it always did when she transformed into a smaller animal. As usual her senses changed. This time, however, she started to experience the world in a very different manner. It was as if she got a second sense of smell. She also felt it on her fur. There was some charged energy all around her. Instinctively she knew it was green, even if she couldn’t see the energy. As a rat she wanted to dig. She moved a paw to move the dirt underneath her. A rush enveloped her and suddenly with one move she had dug a hole she could hide in if she wanted. But the reflective instincts told her more than that. It was as if she was underwater yet not. She felt the energies moving about, giving her answers to questions she barely thought about. It was too much. She knew she could fly only by wishing for it. She would fly not on wings but on the air itself! She would-
Immediately she transformed back. “By the Lady that works!” She shouted out loud. Her eyes were big and looking down at her own hands. Almost everything of what she spontaneously knew had faded away again. Almost everything, but some things lingered. Now, though, her rational mind started working again. “Why does that work?” She asked the Keeper.
There was a musical chuckle of amusement as Keeper observed the excitement from the transformation. “Back when myself and my kin were newly born and we were creating the world on which you exist, mana… or ‘magic’ as you call it didn’t exist just yet. Wishing to add it to the world, I started to gather the various shades of mana around me… but one shade required something more in order to be properly brought forth. Mana is intertwined with life… but in order to do that fully it must also be intertwined with death and no living creature had died at the dawn of creation yet. So to connect Mana with death, I selected one of the first mortal creatures to be created and killed them… and that just so happened to be one of the first rats.”
“There is more to the story that involves her creator, the Lord of the Hunt, but the short version of the story that is relevant is that the survivor of the pair of original rats made her case that I had stolen something from her… and I was inclined to agree. As compensation for killing her mate in order to help bring an otherwise absent shade of magic to the world, I blessed her and all her descendants to be able to instinctively use magic. They are so far the only race of creatures on the planet in which all members can instinctively channel mana for their uses. You are also the first mortal to be informed of this fact. So… do with that knowledge what you will.”
There was an innate desire in Nimueh that wanted to go shout the tale from the top of all the blackstones in the valley. How could she not? It was a tale about the dawn of the world. About the creation of magic, a tool most zenii were probably not even aware of. Then her heart constricted as she realized that none of her kin would listen to her probably. She had killed a zenii and because of that she was a pariah.
She didn’t let that thought ruin her mood though. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Nimueh said as she rushed over to the Keeper and hugged them tightly. “I promise I will never forget this!”
For their part, Keeper was honestly surprised when Nimueh ran over and hugged them. They had… never been hugged before. It was an interesting, new sensation and… honestly they found themselves rather enjoying it. Despite the surprise, after a few moments their arms wrapped around the zenii girl and hugged her back surprisingly gently.
“There is one thing that I would ask of you.” They muttered softly, seemingly somewhat reluctant to let the girl go now that they had been shown physical affection for the first time. “I want you to teach others. Mana and magic is a gift to the world, but some are more blind to it than others and require help.”
A cold shiver ran down Nimueh’s back when the Keeper asked them to teach others. There were no ‘others’ to teach. Who would even listen to her? But she didn’t have the heart to tell the Keeper of her predicament. She didn’t want them to think she was useless or a lost cause. Nimueh released them and offered a smile to try and hide her own fears: “I’ll do my best!”
And then she opened her eyes. She was back in the clearing on her knees. The scarred moon hung high in the sky. Normally Nimueh would’ve transformed into a fox to find a den to sleep in. Instead she transformed into a rat and a whole new world opened up for her.
Nimueh tries to hunt a deer as a wolf but it doesn’t work out. She doesn’t have a pack. She’s still grateful for the Beast Queen’s gift but she realizes that she called upon another power before and wants to explore that. She tried before (by throwing sticks at trees) but that didn’t work. So she ends up praying at night to the “queen of magic”.
Aethel answers her in a dream. The two exchange greetings and Aethel wants to look into her mind to see who the Beast Queen is. They conclude that it is the Green Murder. Which Nimueh finds a rude thing to call someone. Aethel explains that the Green Murder slaughtered a bunch of bjorks and destroyed their place (Nimueh has no idea what a bjork is). This makes the young zenii girl realize that the Beast Queen is probably serious about her threat.
The two proceed to learn about magic. Aethel tells Nimueh that rats can use magic instinctually and Nimueh proceeds to transform into a rat. The way she experiences the world is too much at first though so she transforms back. Though she’s elated and questions how that actually works. Aethel tells her the story of how rat-kind got blessed with innate magical understand at the dawn of the world.
Nimueh is grateful for the lessons and hugs the god of magic. Which is somewhat unexpected. They ask her one thing in return though: to teach others how to use magic. A hard thing to do for Nimueh who’s basically an outcast now. But she still promises she’ll try. When she wakes up she transforms into a rat again.
Nimueh start spirit: 2 + 1 spirit: appears in this post + 1 spirit: main focus + 1 spirit: medium length Starts divine quest: teach others magic (given by Aethel) Nimueh end spirit: 5
Not anymore. She was shivering. It was damp and cold. Once she had enjoyed the critters running about. Now their endless chittering made her paranoid. She kept looking over her shoulder constantly. It’s been two days now since she had run. At night she could barely sleep. At first she didn’t want to. It would make her such an easy prey for whatever predators roamed these woods. Eventually the sleep deprivation started catching up with her. She tripped more often and couldn’t think clearly anymore. Eventually she tried to climb into a tree to sleep up there. It was rough and horrible but exhaustion had burned her out.
But she kept waking up from the smallest sound. Now on her second day she wanted to go back. Not that was ever an option now. There was one thing no zenii could do. One thing the Lady had explicitly forbidden. And she had done it. She might as well be disowned from the Lady as a zenii. She was now.. something. Something of the forest.
The sun was dipping low again. Her stomach ached a bit. Luckily enough she had eaten some berries today. At the very least she would die of starvation. Still, her clothes were tattered and torn around her. Soon they’d be nothing more than wet rags that would cool her down. For now though, she kept them on her as she again tried to climb into a tree. She failed several times. Most of the times she just slipped and fell on both of her feet. One time she fell from a height on her back. It knocked the air straight out of her. As she looked up she saw the squirrels running up the tree as if to mock her.
For a moment she just wanted to stay down there. Just to lay still for just a second. She closed her eyes, and drifted off as she just muttered some feeble prayer for help from the Beast Queen.
She found herself on a beautiful tranquil field filled with grass. There were some trees spread around, though they weren’t close enough to call it a forest. A fox ran beside her away from her towards a creek that ran on her left along the plain sporting crystal clear water and a pebbled bottom. Nimueh was just frowning at the sight.
“There you are.”
Nimueh looked up. There was a green-furred fox sitting next to the creek. “This isn’t real, is it?” She asked as she waved her hand around. The air felt real. Very real. As did the warmth of the sun. But she didn’t feel drenched or cold. She had been shivering for a day now yet here she felt perfectly comfortable.
“It isn’t.” The fox said matter of factly. “I have a task for you. Your kin are embracing the wrong side of this world. Civilization-“
“Can you just let me die?” Nimueh interrupted. She was dead serious. This dream - because it couldn’t be anything else - brought a strange sense of oblivious clarity. The forest would kill her sooner rather than later. If the elements didn’t then the predators would. And if she ever set a foot out of it Masol or some other zenii would beat her to an inch of her life and let the Lady finish it. Really, her life was already over.
This seemed to shock the fox a little bit. “You’re young. Your body is still somewhat healthy. Though it is wearing down fast. Why would you want to die already?”
“You don’t know what’s happening, do you?” Nimueh asked.
Which seemed to upset the fox. “Your tone is starting to displease me.”
“Will that lead to you killing me!?” Nimueh snapped.
The fury now radiating from the fox would suggest so. Nimueh had seen those eyes before. In all the wolves that eyed her hungrily on that fateful day. She had seen it in the eagle that had killed a hare not too far from her once. They were hungry for flesh. But then the creature backed off.
“Whatever, the forest will kill me off fast enough.” Nimueh said as she turned away from the fox. She knelt before the creek and let some of the water run along her hand. Here, in her dream, they weren’t bruised or scraped. She tried to drink the water. It tasted like the most refreshing, juiciest fruit she had ever eaten. But again, she was well aware it was only a dream.
“If you tried, maybe you could survive like the animals-“
Again Nimueh cut her off. “I’m not an animal!” She yelled. “I don’t have fur to keep me warm.” She kept yelling as she showed the fox her arms. “See this!?” She pointed at her worn down nails. “This doesn't rend skin! And these?” She pointed at her own teeth. “They don’t rip flesh apart if I bite something! I’m not made to live in the forest! I’m made by the Lady to sit around a blackstone!”
The fox looked her up and down. It seemed to ponder for a moment as it started walking around Nimueh. “You’re not wrong.” It said as it licked her leg for a moment while Nimueh just stood there, fuming. “Strong legs. Good muscles. But no fur to speak of.” The fox said, seemingly thinking out loud. Eventually it sat down again in front of Nimueh. “Fixing you will take too much time right now, and it would be a useless endeavor anyway.”
“Geez, thanks.” Said Nimueh. Sure she wanted things to end but that didn’t mean she didn’t have any self-worth. She wouldn’t just take insults like that.
“You’re a defiant one though, that is good. You’ll need that.” The green-fured fox said. “I’ll give you a simple solution. When you wake up you’ll be able to turn into an animal. That should help you survive in the forest.”
“Wait… you can do that? You can help me out?” Nimueh asked. Weirdly enough a spark of hope ignited in her heart. Which brought some crushing weight down on her shoulders. Suddenly the clarity of the abyss was gone. Replaced with a very mortal desperation to cling to life if there was even a chance. The fox just nodded. Nimueh fell back on her knees in front of it and hugged it closely.
The second she embraced it though, the fox turned into a snake in her arms and quickly slithered free. “At least now,” the snake said. “You can do what I need you to do.”
“What’s that?” Nimueh asked while she was still sitting down on her knees.
“Your kind is walking into the forests holding these pots and wicker baskets and other things to hold my bounty. Soon they’ll enter with biting tools that will fell my sentinels. I need you to stop them. By word or by claw.”
“All of them?” Nimueh exclaimed. “I-I can’t! I’m just me. I'm nobody. Less than a nobody to them! I just broke the zenii’s most important law. They won’t listen to me.”
“By word or by claw.” The green-furred fox repeated.
A shiver ran down Nimueh’s back. She tried to swallow her fears but she couldn’t. Just like she knew from the visions and the dreams in the past, when the Beast Queen didn’t like something she would change it. Through any means possible. It seemed that Nimueh’s lack of immediate defiance was enough for the green-furred fox. Who got up and started walking away.
Though it was stopped by Nimueh: “Wait!” She yelled. “I just wanted to say thank you first. Not just for this chance. You saved me two days ago. Or you helped me save myself. I’m not sure, but thank you.”
The fox stopped, and turned around. It tilted its head as if it was confused for a moment. “I did no such thing.” It simply said.
“But… the branch and the vines that- surely it was your power. The forest’s power.” Nimueh said.
The fox tilted its head again, and then closed its eyes for a second. For a moment Nimueh felt a strange presence in her mind. It felt as if a small fish was swimming around in her head. It didn’t hurt, but it felt so very weird. “Ah.” The fox said as it opened its eyes again. “How interesting.”
“What is it?” Nimueh asked insistingly.
“It would seem that my initial gift came with something…more.” Said the fox, seemingly pondering on something much bigger than just little Nimueh. Though it turned to face the girl again after a moment of silence: “It would seem that you called upon some inner power, which in turn manifested itself into a strange substance that covers the world which made your will reality. Yes, I’ve noticed that substance before.”
Nimueh just blinked. She didn’t understand. Not at all.
“To put it in simple terms, you used magic. You cast a spell which uses this mana to do something. In your case, it killed this zene.” There was a cold lack of empathy when the fox talked about the murder. As if it was as normal as breathing or walking. “A sibling of mine might know more. But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that your kin realize their mistakes before it is too late. I’ll be going now, Nimueh. My duties demand me to be elsewhere. But I’ll return to see how you’ve progressed. Don’t let me down.”
With a jolt Nimueh woke up again. It was night. The forest was alive though. She was lucky to not have been eaten by anything. She looked at her knuckles. They were bruised and scraped again. The dream was still in her mind though. Normally it fades away so quickly but not this one. Was it real? She got up and looked around. There was a tree still next to her. The one she tried to climb. With the squirrels that had mocked her. Now she wanted to climb into that tree as well. She wanted to join those squirrels and put out her tongue at them.
With a thought she suddenly felt her body morph and change. It didn’t feel painful, luckily. But it was still strange. To see the world become so large suddenly. The rags that were her clothes fell on her tiny squirrel shape, but she got away from them fast enough. “I can do it!” She shouted. It didn’t come out as animal speech but still in the language of the zenii. “I can do it!”
With renewed vigor in her heart she rushed forward towards the tree and started climbing it. As much as she still felt herself, she felt that her instincts were different. Suddenly she just knew where to put her claws and how to move upwards. She knew how to turn her tail to stay balanced. Most importantly, she knew how to get up the tree quickly. As a furred squirrel she managed to get into the tree for safety. She also felt so warm. Like the cold wind just didn’t bother her anymore!
Nimueh has been wandering through the forest for two days now. She barely slept. In the evening she crawls up a tree but falls out of it. Resigning to her fate she closes her eyes while saying a prayer to the Beast Queen.
In her dream a green furred fox appears. Who starts asking things of her but Nimueh justs asks if it can end her suffering. The green-furred fox notices that the bodies of zenii are ill made for survival in forests and such. She gives Nimueh the ability to transform into animals, and then explains her task: to explain to the zenii that civilization is not the way to go. By word or by claw. Then she’s off.
But first Nimueh tries to thank the Beast Queen for her help with the zenii. The Beast Queen explains it wasn’t her help but Nimueh’s own inborn power that used magic.
Nimueh wakes up in the middle of the night and tries out her new ability to transform into a squirrel.
Phelenia Vigor Start: 2 - 0 (discounted from 1) to bless Nimueh with the ability to shapeshift in any animal Phelenia Vigor End: 2
Nimueh Spirit Start: 2 + 1 Spirit: Being in the post + 1 Spirit: Being the focus of the post Nimueh Spirit End: 4
Nimueh was dreaming so pleasantly. She was dancing in the forest with the squirrels moving across the branches to follow her hands as if she was directing them. The birds were chirping their songs like a great choir. At the crescendo, a wolf howled and she spun and she spun. Then the dream faded. Nimueh didn’t know what was happening. Someone was shaking her shoulder.
“Wake up.” That person hissed with haste, not anger. “Wake up. There isn’t much time.”
“Whaa-“ Nimeuh said. It sounded less like a word and more like a half-animalistic uttered sound of confusion. Where was she? Oh right, at the Obelisk. Zenii were sprawled all around her. It was dark. Nighttime, of course! “Sleep.” She mumbled as she turned over again. Night was for dancing or sneaking or sleeping. Clearly she wasn’t doing the first two things, so she had to do the third one.
“Wake up!” The person repeated as they shook Nimueh’s shoulder harder.
“Wha- what happening?” Nimeuh mumbled as she kept her eyes closed. She wanted to dream of the forest again.!
“Nothing yet, but you have to go.” The Zenii, whoever it was, said.
“I’ll go in the morning.” Nimueh complained as she rolled over. More chores, of course. Lonam would probably want her to go into the forest again to gather berries. That could wait though. “Dream sleep now.”
A stinging pain coursed through her cheek suddenly. She jolted up. Adrenaline fired through her limbs as she got up ready to fight or run. Well, it would probably be run. Nimueh couldn’t fight. “What was that for!?” She yelled, before whoever woke her up put a hand over her mouth to shut her up.
Rehair used her other hand to put a finger over her lips, motioning Nimueh to be quiet. “You need to leave tonight or- Hey!” She exclaimed as she pulled back her hand from a licking Nimueh.
“You shouldn’t have put your hand over my mouth.” Nimueh said, throwing the older zena a cheeky smile.
“Will you listen!? I’m trying to save you.” Rehair’s patience was running thin. And for once Nimueh realized it in time. Something was wrong. “Remember how you kept talking about the Beast Queen?” Nimueh just nodded. “You didn’t stop talking in time. Apparently some zene named Masol took interest. He’s rounding up people who talk about her and how the forests are dangerous now.”
“But the forest is dangerous.” Nimueh said. Though now she kept silent about how the Beast Queen ruled there and didn’t like it if they broke too many branches or brought those pots into her domain to fill them at the creeks. Nobody would listen and Lonam kept getting angry. Apparently though some people did listen.
“Masol is worse.” Rehair said. To her, he was also a lot more real in his threat. “And he doesn’t like the idea that Zenii can’t go too deep into the forest anymore. He’s beaten up many other zenii already.”
“But the Lady declared that we wouldn’t slay each other anymore!” Nimueh protested.
“Yes but he’ll do worse things. He has done worse things and he’ll make an example out of you because you crossed him.” Rehair then looked over Nimueh. “The sun will rise soon. You have to leave. Now!” Rehair took her hand, pulled her up and started running for the forest. Light was already creeping across the horizon in the distance.
They weren’t there in time. Lonam stood waiting at the forest’s edge with a few of his closest friends. Each wielding broken branches. “Rehair. I can always count on you to do what you think is the right thing.”
Rehair moved in front of Nimueh out of instinct. “Not wanting to hurt a fellow zenii is the right thing.” She spat back at Lonam. “If you give her to Masol she’s going to suffer by his hand. Would you really want that?”
“What I want is for the people of my blackstone to go back into the forest to gather food.” He sneered back.
“They really shouldn’t!” Nimueh shouted back from behind Rehair who tried to hold her back with one hand. To no avail really. She stepped next to her and said: “I told you the Beast Queen doesn’t like those pot things and you still went into the forest with them. She doesn’t like that.”
“Are you so greedy that you can’t even share the bounty of the forest with the whole group?” Lonam asked. “Do you really need this whole place for yourself?” With his free hand he motioned behind him, towards the Beast Queen’s forest.
“It’s not for myself. You can go in! Just not with pots or-“
“Enough!” Lonam shouted. “I won’t keep listening to your stupid little tales. Masol’s zenii will come here today. When he gets here I’m going to give you to them and be done with you.”
“And after that are you going to roll over and show your belly to Masol hoping he keeps you in charge of your own blackstone?” Rehair asked.
Clearly she had hit a painful nerve with Lonam. “Get them.” He said.
“Nimueh run!” Rehair shouted as she charged forward. She took one of Lonam’s zene by surprise and managed to smash him straight on the nose. He fell backwards on the ground as a drop of blood fell from his nose. But Rehair recoiled as well. “Ah that hurts!” She screamed as she shook her fist. One of her knuckles’ skin had split already.
Nimueh was already dashing sideways. Another zene of Lonam was chasing her and gaining quickly. “Oh please Beast Queen. Please help me. Please, please please.” Nimueh kept saying as she got further and further. Until she was hit on the back and fell down on the ground. Immediately she turned around to look at the zene looking over her. He was reaching down at her. Nimueh started to crawl backwards while she kept repeating: “No, no, no!”
She found a stray stick in her hand as she crawled backwards and out of pure instinct she threw it at the zene. The stick bounced harmlessly off of his shoulder and into the air. He threw her a vile smile and suddenly all the dangers Rehair told her about flashed through her imagination. How they’d hit her and hurt her and bleed her until she would regret ever walking into that forest. The painful hit made that very clear to her now. And she felt angry. So angry. Angry because she hadn’t done anything wrong! Angry because she wasn’t telling lies. The Beast Queen was real. She ruled these forests. There was a flash of satisfaction going through her as well. For as sure as she knew that she was breathing, she knew the Beast Queen would punish this Masol, and Lonam and every other zenii who sided with him!
The branch fell from the air back on the zene’s shoulder again. The second it touched his cloth it suddenly started glowing. Green particles from the air began to flow towards the branch. Drawing the attention of both the zene and Nimueh. And then suddenly it bursted open like an overripe fruit. Roots and vines swarmed across he zene’s body, pushing themselves into his flesh. He dropped to his knees puking up blood before Nimueh. For a second he looked up and there was nothing but terror in his eyes as the vines strangled themselves around his body the roots pushed through his flesh and bones. He dropped dead before Nimueh. Who scrambled to get up with tears flowing down her cheek.
Rehair was laying on the ground. Suddenly the kicking had stopped. She looked up. Lonam and the other zena helping him were looking towards where Nimueh had run. She looked up to see if they got the poor girl. Instead she saw the zene falling to his knees with blood drenched vines around his body. Silence fell safe for the rustling of the wind in the forest. Rehair could believe it. She had killed someone. The one thing you couldn’t do according to the Lady herself. The one rule that couldn’t be broken. “What.. have you done?” She asked disbelievingly as she watched Nimueh get up and look as if she was ready to just cry and cry. The girl didn’t hear her, probably. But a wave of disgust went over Rehair.
“You’re coming with us.” Said Lonam as he started walking towards Nimueh. “Masol will make sure you pay for your godless deeds.”
There was real hatred in his voice and Nimueh knew it. She could feel it now. Next to her own sickness. But as Lonam got closer, she felt her feet take her backwards. Away from him. He sneered at something, Nimueh didn’t know what exactly. She could hear him, she just couldn’t understand him anymore. Everything felt so weird. Almost muted. She went backwards till. And then suddenly she realized she wasn’t out of danger yet. No, she was so much deeper into danger than ever before. They would beat her so hard she would wish she was dead. Because she had already crossed that line they could probably kill her as well.
And suddenly she was off. Like a deer smelling a predator that already got far too close, she bolted into the woods. She ran and ran and tripped over roots and then crawled and got up and ran. She kept running until she saw the world light up around her. Her body was bruised and scraped by the constant running and falling. Eventually she fell again and couldn’t get up. There was no strength left in her body to get up. She had used it all up. So instead she started sobbing and crying.
Nimueh is rudely woken up by Rehair who tells her she has to flee because her preachings of the Beast Queen upset a certain elven leader. She’s confused at first, but eventually goes with Rehair to the forest where they believe she’ll be safe for the time being. But Lonam, Nimueh’s blackstone leader, is there to wait for her.
They have a discussion about the forest, the Beast Queen and Masol. Which culminates in Nimueh running as Rehair tries to distract Lonam and his group. Nimueh runs, gets caught but then rather unknowingly casts magic to do the one thing no elf can do: kill. Shocked by what she indirectly did, she runs into the forest until she can run no more.
Nimueh Start spirit: 2 + 1 Spirit: Appeared in this post + 1 Spirit: Central focus - 2 spirit: Push Limit: cast the root spell Nimueh end spirit: 2
From a branch Phelenia, in the form of a green eagle, watched over the valley that had been so carefully sculpted near what she considered her favorite land. The valley was filled with these strange Obelisks that warmed the space around them. And around those Obelisks a strange, bipedal species lived. They looked like bald, elongated monkeys. They had not sinned yet, but the seed was within them. Phelenia could almost smell it. For now they had been content to frolic across the hills and sing and dance and be merry.
It would only be a matter of time until they would start creating unnatural dens and wield those dreaded ‘tools’. Phelenia’s first instinct was to fly in and spread her decree. All those who’d refuse her would be dealt with accordingly. Sadly that was out of the question. The Obelisks reeked of divinity. Another god had made them and Phelenia did not want to move so overtly against her own family. Yet.
A while ago she had already found an answer to her conundrum. It was inspired by Tuku, the god of hunt and puppet master.
Nimueh was gathering berries in her hand for the other Zenii of her group. Their Obelisk hadn’t run out of food just yet. In fact they were fairly safe when it came to food. But she didn’t like to take chances. If there was food out there, why not take some of it?
Lately though the edges of the nearby forest were almost picked clean. Which was a shame, but then again she wasn’t the only one gathering for food. She moved deeper and deeper into the forest now. Here, in the shadow of the canopy she felt less secure than at the edges. It felt as if a hundred eyes were looking at her at all times. She saw some critters move around so far, but nothing else. Still, there were stories of Zenii going too deep into forests for food and never getting back.
So she picked her berries carefully, and looked over her back constantly. For the most part she just saw shadows and darkness. And then she saw eyes. A pair of eyes. Eyes that seemingly lit up from the darkness.
She stood up straight like a deer and dropped the berries on the ground. Nimueh blinked once at the eyes. She knew them from a few nights ago. And then ran off. Behind her the wolf’s howl echoed through the forest. Answered by several more from all sides. Nimueh didn’t look back. She just ran through the forest. Jumping over roots or shrubs that were in the way. The wolf was close. She could hear its breathing.
Randomly she turned right. Then left again. She slid down towards a creek and jumped over it with the grace of a doe. They were still hot on her heels. Nimueh dared to turn and look back. Fate turned against her though. Right then her foot caught a root and she fell down backwards.
Once on the ground she turned and looked up. The wolves were close. They were growling and exposing their vicious teeth. This was it for her, Nimueh thought. This is how she would die. But the wolves didn’t move. They stood perfectly still and kept growling towards her, but they didn’t take one step forward.
Nimueh got up and looked behind her. Maybe something was stopping them. She once heard fire held them back. Sometimes. But there was no fire behind her. Only a tree surrounded by sunlight, unobscured by a canopy. Like a halo made around it to honor it. From the tree beautiful and delicious fruits hung. She looked back at the wolves. They didn’t move as she walked towards the tree. They didn’t move as she reached for a fruit. They didn’t even move as she picked one. The fruit was soft under her fingers, and it smelt so sweet!
She took a bite from the fruit. It tasted like the sweetest thing she had ever tasted! The juices ran from the corners of her mouth as she took bite after bite after bite. It was so amazingly delicious!
Half of the fruit was gone when suddenly her stomach started to disagree. At first she thought that she was just overfull and should take a seat. The wolves were already gone. They wouldn’t get their prey today. Then she felt hot in her core. As if whatever she had eaten was warming her up from inside. Not soon after things got worse. Her body tried to expel whatever she had eaten. Nimueh dry heaved again and again. Hoping to force whatever she had swallowed out again. It didn’t. Blackness started to creep in from the edges of her vision. And then, in an instant, she dropped down.
And then she was pulled up again. Her eyes shot open. Hard coughs forced air back into her lungs. Her ears were ringing. Someone was saying something but her vision was blurred. Slowly her senses came back into focus.
“Nimueh. Nimeuh!” She heard as someone shook her.
“What?” She managed to get out as finally her eyes could focus. “Lonam? What happened?” She asked the Zenii man named Lonam, shaking her awake.
“Oh by the Lady you’re awake!” The man said, after which he hugged Nimueh tightly. “We thought you were dead.”
Nimueh blinked a few more times, then looked up and saw the stars. Was it nighttime already? She then looked to the side. The forest was there. “How did I get here?”
“You kind of stumbled out.” Said Rehiar, a female Zenii. “When you didn’t come back when the sun started falling we knew something was wrong. We tried looking for you but you were nowhere to be found. Well, that was until you stumbled out of the forest and collapsed here.”
“I must’ve angered the Beast Queen.” Nimueh said as she held her head in one hand and sat upright. “I just went too deep into her realm.”
The Zenii around her threw some looks around. It was Rehair who spoke up: “The Beast Queen?”
“Yeah. It seems so obvious now. We shouldn’t walk too deep into her realm or she’ll get mad.”
More looks were thrown around amongst the group. This time Nimueh caught them. She looked around and saw only confused faces. “What? Is something wrong with me?” She asked as she looked down at herself. She still had two hands with five fingers each.
“Why are you suddenly talking about this… Beast Queen?” Another Zenii asked. “None of us ever heard of her. But you’re suddenly talking about her.”
“What?” Nimueh joined their confusion. “Of course you guys know of the Beast Queen. She’s the one who rules these forests.” She motioned at the trees and the shrubs and the darker lands beyond behind her.
“You must’ve caught something.” Lonam said as he helped her get up. “Enough about this Beast Queen. You’re probably confusing some strange animal with the Lady. You better hope she won’t be offended.”
“But I know of her. She’s not the Lady! She’s-“
Nimueh was stopped by a hand motion of Lonam. “Enough.” He said curtly. “You’ll go back to the Obelisk and speak none of this Beast Queen. Do you understand?”
Nimueh wanted to speak out against him again. But kept her mouth shut for now. She knew what she knew. Still, she walked back to the Obelisk without further complaint.
Lonam watched her leave and dismissed the others. He remained standing near the edge of the forest though. For a second a brisk, chill wind blew from the forest around him. His body shivered, and he wondered for a moment if there really was a Beast Queen.
Phelenia has observed the Zenii and finds them wanting. They carry the same sin in their hearts as the Bjork to her. Though they hadn’t acted on it yet. Still, she wants to make sure they won’t start sinning. So she lays a trap for one to use later if need be.
That Zenii is Nimueh. A girl curious about the world that has walked deeper into the forest in search of more food. She is found by wolves and chased. Until she reaches a tree with a peculiar food. She eats it and it tastes amazing. Until her body starts to violently disagree. Moments later she drops down on the ground.
And then she wakes up again, just outside the forest. Her fellow Zenii tell her she was missing until she came stumbling out of the forest. Nimueh reckoned she had upset the Beast Queen. None of the other Zenii know what or who she is talking about. In the end they dismiss it at part of Nimueh’s weird experience.
Phelenia start: 3 Vigor - 1: Make Nimueh a Champion Phelenia end: 2 Vigor
“Soon dears. Soon father will let you live again.” Phelenia said as she ran her hand over some nearby flower buds. They were bursting almost. She so desperately wanted them to bloom. It would’ve taken nothing but a tick. But as she looked up at the air, she saw the dark clouds that hid away her father’s palace. A palace she hadn’t ever seen with her own eyes in fact. Maybe if she had the honors, like Tuku apparently had already. Someday she would have her own moment of recognition.
For now though, she wandered across the Orsus continent. Looking for those points of power Tuku had pointed out to her. She had to be careful though. As to not become a willing puppet to the hunter god. At the same time the points of power were important. Especially now that her father was clearly in such a state. It would be a delicate balance to maintain.
That wasn’t her worry now that she came upon one of such spots. The spot was covered by vegetation. Great trees stood tall, reaching for the darkened skies. Her trees. Her sentinels. She wandered about the place and rested a hand upon the damp moss. Yes, it was here. She could feel it. Like the heart of a lioness. Pulsing power coursed here, deep underneath the earth. For now it would have to be kept dormant. But protected.
She let out an animalistic roar. The birds didn’t fly away. They stayed perfectly still. In fact more began to gather upon the branches around her. Wolves howled in the far distance. A bear appeared in the dark branches. And a deer appeared beside it. Unnatural. A pang of guilt went through Phelenia. She shouldn’t be disturbing natural life like this. Not even for this. But if she didn’t Tuku and the others would lay claim. Natural life would be imperiled. The way she saw it, natural life was already imperiled. More animals gathered around her. They bowed their heads in silent obedience. Yes, they would protect this place against roaming sapience. Against gods, what could they do? She didn’t want them to endanger themselves. Warding off mortals would be more than enough.
She bowed in return, and the bird and the beasts of the land made their leave. They would return to their respectful places in the world. For a few moments in life, prey would not fear predator. By dusk natural balance would be restored again though. And the bear would tear the deer apart.
Phelenia herself sat back against a nearby tree though. The roar had momentarily tired her out. Her strength would return in just a few moments.
But it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t have to return. She was queen of all life, was she not? Did that not involve the beasts in this world? Even the ones she hadn’t made perhaps? They were all part of her domain. But only an emperor could grant a queen’s crown. In an instant Phelenia turned into her green-winged eagle form and flew up through the canopy. Higher and higher she went. Through the clouds. Here, above, the grace of her father shone bright still. And still she went higher. Higher and higher. Emerald light shone from the wings and streaked across the sky upwards. Carrying her upwards.
Until she finally reached the wonderful place that was her father’s palace. Divine wings carried her all the way upon the marble colonnade, where she transformed into her true self. She crossed it, and eventually reached the Palace proper. Though she stopped before the grand doors. There was a moment of doubt. Would he deny her? Would he even recognize her? How could she ever come back if she was not even recognized by her own father?
But a queen had to be strong in resolve. If she stopped here and now, could she ever say she was worthy of calling herself that. So she pushed in. Her resolve strengthened the closer she got to the throne room. When she entered it, she made sure to not forget her place. Queen of Life. Mother of Beasts. Yes. But also a child of the Monarch. “Father.” She said, averting her eyes. “I’ve come with a request.” She bent down on the vines that carried her.
The Monarch of All, in all His resplendent glory gazed upon she who had so brazenly come into His throne room unannounced and making requests at His own expense. He gazed down upon her, two of His hands coming together to form a bridge as He leaned over in the Jade throne, casting an intimidating gaze upon Phelenia. Perhaps, it was due to the interaction with the One God, or due to His own weariness upon the darkness that seemed to be consuming the Galbar, but the Monarch of All’s attention did not seem to be wholly upon the goddess. The gaze of light, it shone not upon her, but passed her, never leaving the Galbar. Yet, after a moment, the silence relented as His voice filled the throne room, His speech echoing upon the walls and columns.
”You have picked an abnormal time to come to me unannounced for a request, child. Before I entertain this request, I would like an apology, nothing more, as you already know your place, Phelenia.”
“I-” Phelenia stopped herself. Of course, he was expecting her brother Tuku. And she brazenly made her attendance. “My deepest respects and apologies to you, great Monarch. I beg forgiveness for my behaviour. I thought- no, think that my request will serve the greater good. Your good.”
”And what is this request, Phelenia?”
“I wish for you to grant me dominion over the animals of Galbar.” Phelenia said. “I have colored the world with plants, and seeded the deep, blue oceans and seas with my children. I may not have made all the animals in the world but I care for them. Every last one of them. I care for them like a goddess should.” And then she dared to look up, and for the first time she saw His glory. “Please.” She pleaded. “I could serve you so much better. With them, I could make Galbar the splendid world you so wish it to be.”
There was a moment of silence after Phelenia had spoken and it seemed that, for once in the conversation, the Monarch of All shifted His gaze to the goddess that kneeled before the Jade Throne. It was a moment of what seemed like deep thought, no tension was to be found in the air that so often tended to follow the Monarch of All and the dealing with other divine beings. Perhaps, it was confusion over why a god would ask for yet more dominion over the aspects that He had given them in their creations. Yet, His response came, slowly and deliberately.
”You are… the first of the divine to ask for another shard of power. It is an ambitious request, young Phelenia. I am tempted to grant this request, but I need proof of your loyalty as some of your siblings dare to go against my will.”
While he spoke slowly and deliberately, the Monarch’s words carved an abyss around the essence of Phelenia. That he could still doubt her devotion. When he bid her and her siblings to beautify the world, did she not paint it with a thousand flowers? When her siblings were slaughtering each other, was she instead not busy seeding the water with life? When he wordlessly declared that none of her beautiful plants would blossom, did she fight him on it? No matter how much she yearned to see the flowers bloom?
He just needed more. She raised her palm up. Above it a black, floating, boiling sludge appeared. Its mere presence sickened Phelenia, and she wished nothing more than to have it vanished. But she couldn’t. She had to prove her fealty. “This… disease will sicken that which I care most about wherever you release it. All plants that it touches will wither and die and I will be powerless against it. Take it and release it should you ever feel like I’ve wronged you.”
The Monarch of All was silenced by this action, the sludge pooling into His vision and the shock of her so willingly making something that would quite literally destroy any plant it touched. In a slow, calculated movement, the Monarch of All washed a hand over the sickness and in that moment, it disappeared from sight. It was not destroyed, but placed away, locked somewhere in the palace away from prying eyes and life of any kind. He was for once in His time of ruling the gods, stunned beyond belief as to the loyalty of his progeny. So, the words had come out, not as a steady stream of thought, but as one recovering from the shock of why she had done.
”Phelenia, I- You would so willingly make that which would destroy that which you care for. Truly, you are the most loyal amongst your peers and for this act, I will grant you your request.”
He reached two fingers into the wound upon His chest and plucked a shard from it, letting out a pained breath as He did so. Then, the Monarch of All allowed the shard to float before gently pushing it towards Phelenia, not once shifting in His throne as He watched yet another part of Himself drift away.
Phelenia willingly took the shard. For a second she simply let it float over her hand where the black sludge disease once floated. In her mind she could hear howls and roars and beautiful bird songs. Many times she had been an animal to run amongst them. But now she would be more than that. So much more. “Thank you, father. Truly, thank you.”
The shard started to glow bright as she accepted its essence. It started to disintegrate into light dust that flew towards and around Phelenia. The goddess felt a rush of power as her form changed with the received essence. Her eyes, once bright green, turned amber and horizontally slit. Horns like that of a deer appeared from underneath her kelp hair as they grew. Fur grew across her back, three tails formed and finally, feathered wings unfurled themselves from her back.
With her transformation complete, Phelenia felt more powerful than ever. Yet she knew her place. Again she kneeled before the Monarch. “My lord. I must beg for my leave now. I am all too aware that with this new charge comes new duties as well.”
”Then go and let my will be done.”
Phelenia tries to comfort the plants because they cannot bloom as the Monarch is grumpy. She orders the animals near a point of power (as pointed out by Tuku) to protect that spot from anyone who would claim its power. But she realizes that ordering around animals still takes some of her power. She believes this shouldn’t be the case. So she flies up to daddy’s crib.
There she barges in like she was expected and kneels. The Monarch promptly puts her back in her place but then asks what request she has. She asks for the dominion of animals. He is tempted to offer it up, but wants proof of loyalty from her.
Phelenia doesn’t do half measures and creates a disease that would wither and turn to sludge that which she loves most: plants. The disease cannot be stopped by her, no matter how much vigor she uses. The Monarch is somewhat impressed by how readily she offers it up. He takes the disease and places it somewhere safe in the Palace. Then he grants her the shard of beasts. Phelenia takes it and goes through a metamorphosis. After which she begs her leave as with the new-found power comes new responsibilities.
Phelenia start: 7 Vigor - 1 Vigor: have local wildlife protect a point of power Tuku had shown her. - 1 Vigor: travel towards the Monarch’s Palace - 2 Vigor (discounted from 4 vigor because of the plant aspect): Black-sludge disease. A horrible disease that turns plants to a lifeless, ill, black sludge in the region. Phelenia herself cannot do anything against this disease. Not even with her Vigor. Phelenia end: 3 Vigor
A green otter was gently floating in the middle of the Bay of Zelios. Above Phelenia could see the Palace of her father drifting across the sky. But its light was dimmed so it almost looked like a moon. Though a vastly less scarred one. She wondered who had made the darkness surrounding the planet. Though only around the equator. Did they hate her father? Or was there another reason? Questions to ask later.
In the water she was surrounded by the song of life. Glowing plankton clung to the sides of her fur. Every time she moved even an inch, the rippling water would make the rest of the plankton alert. Causing ripples of bioluminescent light to travel with the elsewise near invisible ripple of water.
She felt peaceful now. Life had been seeded into the water. Across the whole planet there would be fishes, sharks, lobsters, shrimps, octopuses and other aquatic fauna. As above, so below. The world was now teeming with life. And she was the queen of it all. Of the tallest trees and the deepest, blind fishes.
There was the sound of something skipping across the water, something small, a little shell? It would skip right over the goddess merely inches from her snout, before arching back towards the water and vanishing. Another little thing would come zapping across the water, this time a little bit of gravel, almost miss the goddess and vanish away. The third object to be launched was a small pine nut, once again arriving in small arches before making a bigger one just above the goddess. If the first was weird, the third of these small objects left no doubt that someone, or something, had been launching them at her.
Phelenia frowned. What was throwing things at her? Perhaps a chimp that saw her? Or something else that one of her brothers or sisters had made. None the less her curiosity was peaked. Still in her otter form she started to swim towards the shore that the glowing plankton marked so beautifully.
It would take some time to actually reach the shore, although it was visible in the horizon, Phelenia had been previously in the open sea. The shores were empty of any living being however, even the buzzing shining insects that seemed to so often lurk everywhere in the pale forests under the shadow ring were not fluttering by nor chirping their songs. Among the expanse of marble white sands however, there was a pile of small objects, much like the ones thrown against her, some of it stood out for being from other areas, clearly visible from how the shells and nuts had not been adapted to the dampened light.
A bit further deeper into the beach there was a small trail of such items leading to one of the trees with colorful leaves already inland, at the border of the forest, the pale bark of the tree had been marked with a red pigment, which went up until it led to a juicy looking fruit, bound by a small vine rope against the tree trunk.
The goddess had no idea what was happening. The vine rope was clearly made by something. No such thing existed in the natural world. Phelenia transformed into a more terrestrially fitting form. That of a large, black cat with stripes of green on her back. The eyes were much more fit to see through the dark. Though she didn’t spot anything immediately. She kept herself low as she approached the fruit to sniff off any smell of it, so she could track whatever had bound the fruit there in the first place.
Not soon after she approached, the flimsy hope that was barely held together would give away, the fruit for its part had cuts in it only closed by the binding, with those weakening a splash of bioluminescent fruit juice would fall right into the goddess’ face, causing someone to laugh at the scene hiding quite farther from the scene than their pride as a sneaky hunter would allow them to admit.
Greetings. the masked figure would tell, now actually approaching. I am sorry sister. I saw you coming to the shore and felt the need to play around. they bowed lightly. I will say however the shining coat of orange pigment does look quite stunning on your face, almost makes me want to tell the local wildlife to dip themselves in these shining pigments more often, albeit I do not think that would help their survivability.
Phelenia, for her part, didn’t find it that funny. “A joker.” She sighed still in her cat form. How uninteresting. And one that seemingly reveled in disrupting the natural flow of life and death considering the comment he made. Perhaps he was even the one that made those strange rodents up north built those disgusting things. “I hope you’re here with a purpose.” She said as she sat down. Showing no real desire to even approach him.
”A grump.” The deity answered, continuing to approach Phelenia, until at an acceptable distance. ”And do I need a purpose to be here? This beach does not seem to be sacred ground to any god and the crabs and fireflies that live here did not forbid my entrance. I was merely trying to see if I could hit these small rocks all the way across the bay, I made sure to aim it in a way that they would miss you while you swam, I am sorry I couldn’t increase the safe space between the shots and you, it would cost too much momentum from them and I could not see enough waves to do such thing.” they not so humbly bragged”.
”But where are my manners? I am Tuku Llantu, deity of the hunt, curator who shaped this continent’s fauna and flora.”
The goddess wasn’t at all impressed by his tossing. Though the work he had done on the continent did earn him a little praise: “I admire your work, Tuku Llantu. This land, all of it, is beautiful. However, you yourself are clearly a liar.” Phelenia added dryly. “Or am I supposed to believe that fruit was put up on its own? No. No, you were here to play a trick on me and laugh.” But she was in no mood for tricks or laughing. The pause of her work had been cut short. Now she’d have to return to her duty of guiding and beautifying the world.
“But if you have no purpose other than playing tricks then I must bid you farewell.” With that she got up, turned around and headed back towards the marked shore.
The deity’s expression showed some shock beneath the expressionless mask for a moment before some relief as Phelenia detected the harmless one among the two lies told. Ignoring the fact she had announced her leave, the god continued speaking casually. ”Thank you sister, your work is also very venerable. We really need to appreciate them in this early state of untouched natural beauty, after all, soon enough, in a few millenniums or so, so much of it will have been altered by either disaster or the hands of the more intelligent creatures who appear at faster and faster rates. they baited with each word.
It stopped Phelenia dead in her tracks though. At first she reveled in the compliments for her work. Yeah! She had made this world more beautiful than before. Finally someone recognized that. His later comments struck a cord though. The Goddess of Life had already encountered sinner-beasts. How long until more of their kind would be made by whatever sibling?
She turned around again to face Tuku. “Disaster is only part of nature. Change - even in the scale of the world - is inevitable.” She stated. Animals would have to adapt to their circumstances. Of course, some of them would die. But death was the price of life. Even if all other things remained equal. “As for the hand of so-called intelligence, I will make sure that will not come to pass. Even if I have to wage a war upon it.” In a way she was already at war with the sinner-beasts. And for a moment she wondered if they had already renounced their sinful paths or if they needed a harder lesson.
“So what about you, Tuku of the Hunt? Will you side with prey or predator?”
The masked deity rubbed the side of their mask as if that was their actual face. ”Hmm. Hierarchy wise I would say Predator but it's notably difficult to have a hunt without both sides, no?” they leaned back slightly. ”And the line between both can be quite thin, the dragonfly is at times a predator to other insects but may find itself a prey to frogs, which in turn may be eaten by oh so many creatures.”
”But anyway, I will not stand here talking about things you already know. You must be absurdly busy if you are to eradicate intelligent life, as it spreads so quickly, north, south, beneath the land and the seas itself and I am sure soon enough in the skies and the void as well. Not to count the oh so many allies they have, for our siblings who could not hear the voices of nature these mortals are quite a marvel, beings who are able to worship them, honour them, plead for help when they are being quickly murdered by savage beasts. We may be diverse but we are all children of our father’s exploded bowels, and much like our father, we are attracted to praise and reverence like moths to a flame.”
The god shook their head. ”I cannot quite say I have the same courage as you have, to go out and claim all of the lands and the oceans as yours and pick a fight with, hmm. One, two, three…” they counted on their hand ”Eight? Nine? Of our siblings. Quite a lot. Not counting the ones that are always on the offensive for matters outside of the fight between natural and mortalking. Oh and the ones that pick up a fight by surprise. Like Yesaris! Have you seen those parasites they made just to mess with the food chain? Nasty creatures, surely not of their own design, but convinced to wage war on nature by a sibling.
Never in her yet short life did Phelenia feel this much of a need to kill someone, while at the same time agreeing with almost every word they spoke. She knew, of course, that she would have opposition. She didn’t anticipate so many to turn against her though. Alas, she would fight the just fight. Even if the numbers were daunting.
“What is it you want, Tuku Llantu? Are you here to mock me? Persuade me away from my war?”
”Nay. It would be bad manners to intrude myself upon your work and realm. Especially a god as reliant on your realm as I am, after all, it would not be of my wish to ever see you lose this war, to have nature become an orphan or a puppet of an imprisoned god. the god landed their staff upon the sand and drew a small globe, starting to make the shape of continents in it, and then move those colorful foreign shells to spots within it.
”What I really desired is to share with you some of my work, know that in this continent you will always be welcome, especially here. they pointed to the spot where the core of the wildlands were, their homestead. ”The eternal wildlands, where the tools and craft of the intelligent species are of little to no use due to an enchantment of my own.” they then traced the line about, crossing oceans and continents. ”Now, see how these lines connect this spot? This is the flow of energy within this world, areas where the more wild and untamed forces congregate. We have varying beliefs on whether we the wild god can claim the world, but these spots, I believe, would be better off in mine or your care.”
They then stepped back. ”Of course, we are only one entity, powerful but limited in numbers. It is in these times I think we should look upon the bees and ants for inspiration. Gather allies, or create them, more hands to do more work. Of course… the ones closest to satisfying the needs of a god would be the intelligent species of this world. You know, I know you dislike them, but they are a diverse sort, many with many different ideas, I found some who were willing to give away their natural greed to follow my rules, I am sure there are some that would too would agree you are right, their kinsmen are sinners, albeit some might be reluctant, after all, their intelligence is their advantage, to ask them to unconditionally give up their ways is to ask a fish not to swim or a cheetah to take it slowly, as in, they will quickly die. Well, that is none of my business anyway. Nevertheless, I think that is what I wanted to communicate.”
The goddess wouldn’t admit it but the mere mention of her imprisonment conjured an unholy fear in her. They wouldn’t dare, right? They wouldn’t dare chain her up and abuse her creation for their own goals. Galbar was meant to be beautiful. For the first time Phelenia truly, fully, feared for her own existence. Maybe it was time to think about protection.
With that in mind she kept quiet as Tuku told his story. Phelenia - in her cat form - remained utterly expressionless as the hunt god talked. The gathering of wild forces caught her attention though. If she could wield those forces she’d have a potent weapon. No, not a weapon. Just an insurance that none would be foolish enough to try and capture her.Of course that meant laying claim to several of those points.
And how would she do this? It would seem like the good Tuku Llantu had it all figured out already. Which made Phelenia suspicious. Would she be acting out of her own interest or dancing to the tune of the hunter-god? Tuku would have her use the curse of intelligence. The goddess, for her part, was not convinced. After all that was exactly what laid at the root of the problem. At the same time though, she could hardly disagree with the hunter that they wouldn’t make useful servants. In times of war some rules had to be broken.
“Some subtlety would suit you well, Tuku Llantu. You seem to have thought out an entire plan and would want me to play a pawn in it.” She noted dryly. Still, it was a suspiciously good plan. One grand enough in scale and magnitude. “It might just work though.” Phelenia’s form shifted again. She turned into a familiar sight. That of a giant eagle. With the same green tipped wings she had back in the Giant Lands. “I’ll head for the other continent to find these spots of power and make sure they remain in the right hands.” And with that she flew off towards the horizon with godlike speed.
Phelenia is enjoying the Bay of Zelios when she is disturbed by something throwing small projectiles at her. She goes ashore to check out what is happening and only encounters the curious sight of a fruit tied to a tree. When she gets too close, the fruit splashes its bright juices on her face.
Much to the enjoyment of Tuku Llantu. Phelenia is not really amused and calls him out on his trick. He claims he has no specific purpose here. Something the goddess of plants doesn’t believe. Tuku comes clean, somewhat, and tells Phelenia against how many of their siblings she is standing against in her war against civilization.
She asks where Tuku stands and he somewhat sides with Phelenia. He shows her the leylines running through the world and explains how sapient servants should be used to measure their ownership. Phelenia, feeling as if she is manipulated, does agree and flies off.
Phelenia start: 11 Vigor - 8 vigor: Offscreen seed the entire world’s water with natural, mundane life Phelenia end: 3 Vigor
Some time ago, she didn’t know and didn’t care how long, she had been slinging herself through the darkened jungle of her kin had made. She was filled with joy to see how her gift had been molded and used to beautify the world. In due time, she planned, she would return to the palace to see how the orb would look from afar. For now, she just relished the wilderness. Eventually, though, she decided to take her rest near a fresh brook. Then she felt it. That unfamiliar presence. Never in her life had she actually been watched, or so she thought. But now, she felt the peering gaze of eyes upon her. She got up and looked around. Was it one of her kin approaching her?
No, it wasn’t. It was a creature of darkness with a pitch-black coat. Seemingly glowing eyes peered from the shadows in which it thought it was invisible. But Phelenia was a goddess attuned to nature. She could see all. So she saw it stalking her from afar. There was no fear though. Only happiness. “Come here!” She said with her arms wide open. This too would be one of her children.
The creature, confused, charged. It jumped and ran across the uneven ground and when it was close enough it leaped. And then it felt that power. A power that forced it to change. Suddenly it was filled with fear. Parts of its back and legs died the moment it got too close to Phelenia. Mushrooms sprouted from the necrotic flesh. Its balance fell away completely as it yelped in fear and fell down. More of its body died and was replaced with mushrooms, which died then as well. Only to be replaced with grasses and then flowers. With big eyes, the panther looked on as its body died underneath it until the randomly lashing force of Phelenia infected its mind as well.
And so the goddess of nature, queen of life, stood with her arms open before a pile of grass and flowers and mushrooms. Horrified now, by her own power.
Ever since she has begun to adopt other shapes. Natural shapes that suppressed her power. She didn’t mind. She had run across plains and forests as part of a deer herd. In the skies she had flown as part of a murmuration as natural instinct had taken over. In the thick jungles she had run as scaled beasts. Hunting prey to survive. Not that she actually needed to eat, but that prey drive was too strong. That single-minded purpose had taken her over completely.
And now she had found a new world. Where everything was giant. She herself had taken the shape of a giant eagle. Their eyes could see so much! But even in her animal form, she was different. Her feathers were large and tipped with green. It – through divine power – reminded the animals around her that she was not just a mere eagle. Below was a beautiful and rich land of swamps and lakes. A world of water. Filled with strange, scaled and finned creatures. It gave her an idea. The oceans so far were beautiful but not moving. The kelp forests just danced with the waves the moon now made. Maybe she should add to the water that which others had added to the land and the skies?
But her mind was ripped away from such divine thoughts by a baser instinct. She sensed something. Something below. She flew lower. There was a small river flowing through the forest. Except there was something wrong. Some of her children, the trees, were gone. Leaving only stumps in the ground. She came down lower and landed upon the tree.
“Who did this?” Phelenia hissed as she watched the stump. This was not claimed by a ferocious wind or a titanic creature. The stump almost looked… eaten. And there was this smell. This thick, oily smell in the air. As an eagle she looked up and around. What was the source of that-
There it was. Off in the distance. An edifice of horror. A larger dam, far larger than any regular beaver dam should ever be. Housed by large, flat-tailed rodents. Some with sharpened sticks strapped on their backs.
With a deafening shriek she summoned the predators of this land to her. None could ignore her call. Eagles flew over. Wolves howled. The roar of bears could be heard echoing in the vale. “Explain!” She demanded. And the animals that came, did so. They told her of something strange that fell from the world and that behaved with seemingly no sense of self-preservation. It spilled a strange juice around and also made the flat-tails. At first the predators thought they were the same as any other rodents. Instead, the flat-tails began to gather sticks and mud. Instead of searching caves or a tree to hide under, they made their own places of safety.
This alone was a grave offense. Phelenia listened and seethed as the predators told their story. How they hunted some of them but most began to fight back when hunted with sharp branches. Regally, like the queen she knew she was, Phelenia perched atop the tree stump and kept listening. When the tales were done and the predators left, she stood alone on the stump for a while. Leering at the dam.
No, she would have to teach them a lesson.
The Bjorks of the Rod Clan were the first to hear it. It came from the green eagle flying overhead, which had made the guards pretty restless already. The call was nothing natural. It was low, rumbling, and loud. Overpoweringly loud. When it stopped, there was a tension. What had just happened? Something rustled in the bushes. Things took flight from the trees.
The guards took their spears in both hands. Something was coming. More birds took flight from the faraway forests. Their flight formed a pattern. Something was coming. Females and children were ushered inside. Something was coming! The strongest were told to arm themselves. To safety! To safety!
It was too late.
Bjork foragers and woodcutters came yelling out of the forest’s edge. Screaming about predators. Before a giant bear burst through the under bush and ripped the back open of one of them. Three more great bears came tearing through the forest and into the open field near the dam. Bjorks ran and cried. Above the hunting shriek of eagles echoed through the valley. Chaos erupted as Bjork ran over Bjork. They dove into the river. Hoping it would be safe inside their home. Brave and valiant guards held their spears up. Willing to fight. Some ran, realizing there would be no fight. Bear claws ripped through hides and branches. Some of the spears found purchased. But only a drop of blood at most could be won from the thick hides that were preparing for the cold winter. One bear roared up in the sky. Seemingly answering the call. The small Bjorks were flung around through the air or savaged in the maw of a giant bear.
Some started to run and swim towards the other bank, where the woods were still close. But from above shadows came down. Giant eagles shrieked as they unfolded their wings and grabbed Bjork after running Bjork. From high above they released them again. More Bjorks ran or dove. Only to see the bodies of their kin fall around them. The horrid sound of breaking bones was everywhere. Red streaks ran through the river.
Phelenia looked on from above. It was not enough. She herself dove down and called out to the beasts again. Filling them with an unnatural need to destroy. One bear roared and charged for the dam. The construction of wood, mud, and clay was strong. But so was the bear. With its paws it ripped open. In places, the dam started to flood over as bears began to tear holes into the construction.
The green eagle landed into one of the ripped open dens. A strange miasma hung here. A mixture of tree sap and roots. Not to be eaten, but kept in safety. Not somewhere in nature. No, it was kept in vile, Bjork-made branch-and-clay caves. Two of the beaver-people laid dead already. Male and female. One child, a small one, lay screaming near them.
Phelenia, with her eagle eye, looked at it. “Sins of the father.” She said in Bjork tongue. “Sins of the mother. Sins of all the other.” And with that she slashed the child with her claw.
When the bears left and the eagles had their fill of Bjork meat, serenity returned to the dam of Voga. Half-eaten bodies laid around. Blood still streaked the river. The Bjorks started to creep out of their hiding places to look upon the ruin. But they quickly huddled together and away from sight again as a singular giant eagle with green-tipped wings came down again.
Phelenia landed upon the broken dam of Voga and stretched out her wings. “Hear me sinner-beasts! Renounce your vile ways. Return to your lives of nature. Lay down the sharpened branch and the spoiled saps. This has been a warning to you all.” And with that she took off again. She flew south, far away south. Beyond the horizon. There were other matters to attend.
Phelenia flies as she remembers her first interaction with an animal and why she decided to assume the shape of animals now. But she notices something off below and spots a great dam. She summons the local predators to explain what happened. That the Bjork moved into the area and built the dam. This pisses Phelenia off and she decides to use her powers to destroy the dam.
She summons giant bears and eagles to attack the dam and even kills a baby Bjork herself. After that she warns the "sinner-beasts" to return to their natural ways.
Start Vigor Phelenia: 13 Vigor - 1 to Summon the predators of an area to explain what happened - 1 to Summon the predators of an area to attack the Voga dam End vigor Phelenia: 11 Vigor
Another crystal flew across the domain of the Creator searching for its purpose. After far too long it did find it. An abandoned grove. Or seemingly abandoned at the very least. The trees were growing wild and gnarled, while grasses and shrubs were everywhere with no clear order among them. It was a spot of completely untouched wilderness. Except for the circle of flowers in the middle of it. The crystal knew this was supposed to be where they needed to be born. It flew over the various shrubs and trees trying to find a worthy vessel. Finally, it picked the biggest, curved growing tree that overlooked the far too neat flower circle.
It pushed itself into the tree without care. That was a mistake. The tree was no fit vessel for such divine power. Channels of golden embers cracked its bark. Its leaves fell from the branches, were reduced to ash upon the wind, and then sprouted again to undergo the same swift, endless cycle. Its roots desperately tried to absorb all the nutrients to grow but it was too slow. No, no! It could not bear such power! And the divinity itself realized this as well.
A small flower sprouted upon one of the branches of the tree. In an instant, it turned into a fruit and started growing. The fruit glowed with divine power. Every piece of it was specifically made to contain such awesome power. It grew and grew. The golden embers extinguished as their power was siphoned off into the ever-swelling fruit. And eventually, the tree released it.
The fruit fell down, then slowed in its fall. It had a different calling. This palace was already beautiful and its father had decreed that they should head for the place called Galbar. So mid fall it stopped and reversed. Flying upwards instead.
It did not fall like some great, primordial meteor. A streak of fire did chase it for a bit as the gas around the planet was suddenly squashed in front of it. But the fruit did not come with great violence. It dropped into the water with a plop and sunk. The glowing fruit fell deeper and deeper through the abyssal waters. Until finally it touches the ground.
For a moment it stayed there, motionless. Then thin tendrils burrowed themselves into the rock beneath. For beneath waves the world was still the same wasteland as it was before. Yet it wasn’t barren. Not completely. The god-fruit started pulling up material to grow itself. It started to grow as it pulled resources from the land and water around it. At the same time, seemingly answering its presence, dark algae began to take form around the god-fruit. Yet they died quickly as well. The earth shuddered around. Again, something of great violence was happening. The god-fruit hadn’t yet made its senses. Yet suddenly the wasteland rock around began to ship and open. In places it split open, tearing the tendrils that fed it to pieces. Yet they revealed something new: molten stone, which brought even more interesting compounds. Soon the tendrils were feeding on the boiling violence as well.
The pod was ever-growing. Until finally the god-fruit had created a vessel strong enough to carry its divinity. The pod began to split and open. Around it more algae spawned and died, though many of them with vastly longer lifetimes than their predecessors. Life began to flourish around the newly spawned vessel as it crawled its way free. Roots and vines pushed against the walls of the pod, cracking them open. Instantly the pod lost all colour and sign of life. The tendrils that had burrowed into the ground died almost instantly, and were in turn again consumed by new plants.
Phelenia opened her eyes for the first time. But something was amiss. This abyssal place, it hid the grace and greatness of her father. This was not the fault of the water, of course. It was merely a problem with the depth.
Driven by divine power she coursed upwards as fast as her god-fruit had fallen. Water rippled around her. And then she saw it. Bright, blinding light that gave the world colour. The water was blue, the clouds white and in the vast distance she could see specks of brown rock. Her siblings had been busy. A moment later Phelenia arrived on the harsh, rocky coast of the land. The world looked.. nice. But empty. So empty.
Then she looked down at the roots and vines that carried her. Around them lichen was already growing and dying. Which soon paved the path for other greens. Phelenia bent down her vines as if she was kneeling to see the process. The plants that grew and died were so much more colourful. They started dark brown, then turned green before they paled, and then darkened again until they were black, only to sprout new plant life again. It was beautiful and vibrant. Especially the first flower that withered so quickly and had brought yellow in the world for just the briefest of moments.
Her father had bid them to work on this world and right then Phelenia understood her purpose. This world was barren. An empty canvas. Her brothers and sisters, for reasons unknown, saw it fit to wreck it and break it and flood it. Some of it had made the world beautiful, other parts of it made it scarred.
She wouldn’t break or hurt this world. She would cherish it, and soothe its wounds. Her roots burrowed into the land. Phelenia closed her eyes and stretched out her arms in front of her. She would seed this world with beauty. Beauty of all colours. Green and yellow and purple. Her children would grow over the jagged rocks and split lands, healing their wounds. That would be their purpose. Seeds fell from Phelenia by the thousands and each was caught upon the wind. Carried to a far and distant land. Where they would grow into plants made to fit that land. As many seeds had fallen upon the land, more fell upon the nothingness of the sea to sink down. There they would grow into algae and kelp and corals. To beautify even the deepest, darkest depths that could not feel the warm touch of Phelenia’s father. The grandfather of all plants upon Galbar.
And when she opened her eyes and lowered her arms, she saw the world-changing before her eyes. Grass spread across the land from her. Turning the world a vibrant green. Shrubs carrying all sorts of bright berries sprouted as well, and soon they were joined by the large trees. The valiant trees, that had tried to carry her essence before they had to give up. In memory of that one tree, she made all trees great and stalwart sentinels. And when she was done, she looked and saw that the world could finally be called beautiful.
The divine crystal that would become Phelenia flies through the Palace hoping to find a good place to be born. It decides to fuse with a treat in a wild grove but the tree can’t take the power. So it distills the divinity into a fruit and lets it fall. But it falls down towards Galbar instead.
On Galbar the first flora is a pod growing from the god-fruit that sucks resources from the world. Then finally, Phelenia is born. She swims to the surface and then to the shore where she seeds the world with green, mundane life
Start vigor: 10 - 4 (discounted from 8) to seed the whole world with biome-appropriate mundane life End vigor: 6
Lord Zee
DracoLunaris
Krusader