If you guys don't mind checking it out, me 'n a few buddies are promoting our art down in the art board! I hope this isn't a breach of protocol, or something. ;-;
Susa was not a woman that liked to idle, her previous life as a huntress and adventuress was now lost to her thanks to a leg injury, but she would not stay still, for the mind and soul were like the water: At the first one might prefer the calm pond to the turbulent ocean, but the pond will eventually putrefy and all life in it will die, while the ocean goes on, living and breathing trough crashing waves.
Her techniques of leatherwork brought many wise humans (and other odd beings) to the village she was forced to accept as her home. With time, she learned many secrets. Some secrets were mundane, like the ones that the bird-like chippers would bring, others were odd, and would be delivered to her in secret midnight meetings with oddly deformed creatures.
Eventually, she compiled a few of the repeating motifs in all that info into a few practices, similar to those of the many shamans across the known universe, but particularly effective when it came to tracing the zones where energy flowed and communicating with the odd energy creatures that flocked to this place. She was smart enough to avoid too much contact with the large ones, but the small ones, the little sprites of water, wind and fire, they were far more amicable... Provided one knew the techniques and had some sort of gift or food for the little tricksters.
Every eight days or so she would visit the ponds near the village and spend some time binding with the spirits of the elements. This day was a bit different however, few spirits flocked the energy infused grove and there was an odd stillness in the air.
"Something bad I bet" she commented to herself, looking to the pale winter sky.
In silence, an entity wreathed in shabby leather and cloth manifested behind her, carrying a black cube in one hand, a quill in the other. It took the form of a female, but the Divine energy that resonated off of the creature was beyond any common sprite, or any of the 'larger' entities that Susa had learned of.
"Prosit." it said, its voice carrying the charisma only a ruler could, or a god. "Winter days are the worst for travelling, you know." the newcomer added, before it, or she, knelt by the water's edge beside the former huntress.
Meanwhile, a very well-dressed cat...at least as far as cats went, was peering into the pond, curious as to whether there were scaled and delicious treasures hiding within. Licking his lips for a moment, Belvast swatted his hand beneath the calm pond...finding nothing. He'd try this at least six time before accidentally falling in, his momentum finally carrying him along with his frustration. Pulling himself from the pond, the now wet cat demigod stood beside the scholarly wanderer, not even as tall as they were with them crouching. "Nice to meet you." he would say, his child-like voice making seeming oddly fitting, given his short stature.
Upon hearing Vesamera, the former huntress immediately sidestepped out of her position and placed and tightened her hands around her walking stick. Her eyes scanned the person and the area quickly, it was odd that someone was able to sneak up on her, usually even mosquitoes had a hard time hiding from her trained senses. But outside of that the person looked somewhat harmless, odd jewels in her hand but no sort of weapon in sight.
She tried to build up a response, but soon an odd animal caught her eyes, actually, despite the cat looks the thing acted pretty much like a human or the bird bones people. Perhaps in the past this would be more shocking, but she had seen a lot recently, so she simply accepted it was a species she had never seen before.
"Traveling is always hard for me, used to be very easy, but then destiny decided to play tricks on me" she sighed in response to the human-like one. "Huh, Hello. First time seeing one of you" she confessed. "I'm Susa by the way, now might I ask what in Juan are you two doing in this simple grove carrying all this fancy shinning stuff and kicking the water?"
Somehow, Susa knew this was going to be one of THOSE days;
"Not kicking, fishing," Belvast stated, before he added: "And, not much brings us here. We're travelers, of a sort you could say." After a moment, Belvast would remove his hat, the slight crease on his forehead where the Portcullis Eye would open might have looked a bit odd as he fished around within the cloth head-wear, until he pulled out half of an already eaten fish, which he started to eat raw. Realizing that he was being rude, he pulled a whole fish out. "Are you hungry? I have some of my catches left over."
"Oh, that makes sense. I used to be a traveler too, I would get into random places all the times and find all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. Then my legs got bad and now even a quick stroll to this place tires me" she sighed before gasping at the eye.
"Oh, that is an odd feature." she leaned over to watch the odd mystical cat creature closely "I'm fine thank you, I do not eat meat others have caught, a bit of a huntress honor code I kept even after my hunting days ended"
Belvast nodded, before stuffing the fish back into his hat. Plopping it back on, he covered the eye and said: "I'm sorry to hear about your legs Ms. This is a nice place to visit, I'd imagine." as he adjusted his hat over his ears, twin tails lying flat against the grass. "Did you used to follow herds to hunt?" he questioned, genuinely curious. That was the only real way he could imagine hunters and huntresses who travelled.
Susa shook her head. "When I was a teenager I used to go after heards. But that was tiring and dangerous. With time I learned how to make traps that would bring down even large animals and also how to use a bow to strike birds out of the sky" she commented. Though ever since she lost her mobility she also stopped using the bow. "I travelled simply because I like to do it. And why do you do it?"
"Because Fate said I should." the little cat replied simply, skipping a stone across the pond, twice it bounced before plunking down into the water. "I'm sorry about your legs Miss." he said, bowing his head to her, the weight of the fish making the hat almost fall off as he held it down with a free hand.
Susa moved her hands to help stabilize the hat. "Hah, may destiny rot in the depths of Juan, I do not like people telling me what to do you know? Fate decided I would not walk well anymore, but that will never stop me from learning and wandering"
Vesamera monitored the exchange, and then with a shrug of her shoulders, laughed heartily at all this talk of Fate, and the likes. "Fate has spoken to me, and Fate is a fool - I find the beast's power... Superficial." she explained, as the floating quill that had rested upon her palm flew like a fleeting butterfly; whisping silently as it went. "A sense of wanderlust is always an admirable trait."
With this remark, the scholar took a seat in between Belvast and Susa, adjusting the scarf that had hid her petite lips. "Who instilled it within you?" she asked, shooting Susa a characteristic smile.
Susa gulped and stared at the odd remark "Are you fine?" she said with a strong skeptical tone in her voice. Truly, they had their tricks, but so had she, the bird people and even the odd persons made of muscles and teeth. "You talked... With Desity?" she said slowly, making sure her question was clear.
The last question however took her by surprise, people always asked her what she knew and who she is, this was one of the few times anyone had asked her what she was before. In a rare moment of introspection she confessed: "It is a complicated thing, one that happened in the distant past, there was this boy, at times a brother, at times a sweetheart, he could like, read dreams, and he always told me many amazing stories about what the world was like beyond the horizon."
((1 Might spent to teach certain groups the power of oneiromancy))
A smile appeared on her face and her eyes flashed in a vivid cooper colour "So many stories of so many places. I just wanted to see it all, to see the spires hidden under eternal darkness, to see the fabulous cities in the sky, to see the paradise of the hermit god, the realm of dreams, the isle of impossibilities..." noticing how over excited she was, the huntress controlled her tone and ended the sentence with an anti-climax "And that kind of place I guess"
"When I was born, Fate spoke to me, the entity that ruled over even the gods that you recognize now, and allowed me to grasp the book of creation itself. It is the same with my companion Belvast. People cut from our divine cloth are of the same consequence: we speak to the highest order the universe will ever know." Vesamera explained, topping off her speech with a long-winded sigh.
"A boy? I know one, or a couple. I too am on a journey similar to your own. A woman, who spoke in many tongues, surrounded by muses and strange marionettes, told me that if I was ever to achieve greatness, I would have to become familiar with our world and its people. So I've journeyed to the deep South to witness the fall of the Pronobii, played games with this cat, and have even met the great Jvan. Now, I meet another strange character; a Huntress of whom Fate chosen to be lame." the daughter of thought finally finished, laying back into the dying, amber colored grass beneath her.
"Yep, definitelly one of those days" she thought as she was left with little reaction to what she was wearing, all she could do was to narrow her eyes, tilt her head and do any other possible body lenguage that expressed the weirdness of all those words.
She placed one hand on her hip, the other on her walking stick, as always, and kept looking baffled for a while before saying "Yeah, well, I made a nice pair of boots that don't get my feet wet when it rains." A gift for a friend that asked this a long while ago back in her home village, truly, she should go to that place one day, even if it meant traveling with her bad legs. "Look, my mind tells me, hit the crazy lass with your stick and get out of here. But I wouldn't be able to run, and the cat person being is cute, so I will buy your tale, Ms Divine Cloth"
Vesamera shrugged in indifference "I would have to say that I'm glad I brought him. Perhaps I could tell you more of our divinity within your stead? The night draws close, and I'm sure you have a dwelling, Good Hunter." she asked, fondling the light absorbent cube.
She rubbed the back of her head "The situation is that the villagers have a complicated relationship with me and the sort of odd folk I attract. I mean, you look somewhat normal, but Bell-Vaste would need to be a bit discrete, I believe" with that she took a step forward and raised an arm to the traveller who spoke some odd stuff "My name is Susa" traders usually liked names, village people however usually just referred to each other by their role in the community.
"Susa is a nice name." Belvast interjected, now idly swishing his tails across the surface of the pond, while he also started to sift through various pebbles and rocks at the shore of the pond, looking for little bits and bobbles to add to the Mobius board for later.
"I'm sure Belvast will have no trouble being discrete. In fact, he has a special ability that would allow him to appear in your stead undetected - why don't you show her, Belvast?" Vesamera asked, throwing him a silvery rock with a lovely sheen.
"Okay!" Belvast said as the rock vanished into an azure portal, another appearing above him to drop the rock into his outstretched palm. "I can create temporary gateways anywhere I want. And I can let people and things go through them to go somewhere else." The demi-cat explained, the third eye opening beneath the cover of his hat.
"That is, handy" she noted "Might I ask for a favour? If I show you my home from here can you just door us there? I usually take a while to walk across the forest thanks to the injury the long Twilight of the goddess Twilight gave me."
Belvast nodded quickly in response to Susa's question, standing up. "You bet I can. Show me where it is and I'll get us there fast. It doesn't hurt at all. Just tingles your toes a little." he said, before looking at her legs. Would tingling toes that didn't work right hurt?
"Alright, here, I will take you up" without much concern she raised the cat-demi up to her shoulders "Just look over the bushes and you will see a little village in the distance, look for the house with drying racks, which are like, sticks with animal hide in them"
Belvast looked over the bushes, very appreciative that he was being given a boost. Being short had little positives, and many negatives. Scanning over the brush, he spied the village and nodded. In the distance, Susa might have been able to make out a very faint blue light beside the wall of one of the house with the drying racks, before a familiar blue portal appeared close to Susa's feet. "Be careful when you step in. The portal will have you facing where we are now, so just step like you're walking forward." he said, figuring that dropping Susa with her legs in the state they were would be the worst idea ever.
Vesamera observed "Go on now, I'll be right behind you." she reassured the pair, still lying upon her back. "I should warn you - passing the portal does give you quite the buzz." the scholar added, stretching out into an arch upon the ground.
"As if I have ever been scared of some pain" the huntress said, before raising her walking stick and taking a step into the odd mystical portal. Indeed it was quite an impact, even if her legs were fine, however with all the rough adventures she had in the past it was ultimatelly something manageable, even then, she still decided to sit on her bed to let her legs rest.
Now all she had do to was to wait for the two strangers to show up into her simple clay house. The main difference between it and any other human hovel on the region was that it was extremely organized, no basket of grains or leather cloak was left out of its place, the only exception to that rule were a few souvenirs of her adventures and trades and the little altar she had built for a couple of gods.
...Given that Belvast was kind of still on her head, one demigod was already there, rolling off of her and onto the bed, burying his face in the sheets. "How are your legs Miss Susa?" he asked, concerned that she might have hurt herself, even with how slight the adjustment had been. "If it still tingles, you should tell me."
Within minutes, Vesamera followed, carrying her eyed quill, and her fractal library in either hand. "It's much more cozy than my former home - did you build this yourself?" she asked, taking a seat beside Belvast.
"It is fine, it does not hurt a lot, the main problem is that when I'm trying to run it hurts constantly, so even if its a small pain, it gets the better of me as time goes by" she answered to Belvast before looking at Vesamera "Not really, I just took over the place of an old lady who passed away. I wouldn't be able to build something like this nowadays. Now excuse my memory, but I do not remember if you introduced yourself, miss Divine Cloth.
Cordially, Vesamera bowed to Susa. "Prosit - I am Vesamera, the Wandering Scholar, Daughter of Vulamera." she said, gripping her cubic device. [/color=orange]"I apologize for not formally introducing myself earlier."[/color]
"She doesn't have a pooper!" Belvast said, like that was something to be impressed about.
"Oh? Like the Goddess? Are you truly saying you are the daughter of a divinity?" Susa was seeing a lot of strange happenings, but still, it was outlandish to think all those claims could be true. "Ah, well, that must be very uncomfortable" she added in response to Belvast's odd statement.
Belvast nods, glad someone agreed with him for once.
Vesamera chuckled at Belvast's interjection, and then crossed her arms. "I am the daughter of the Divinity, much like many others that walk this planet. If you would like, I may prove it to you." she openly invited, despite the close proximity of the village's populace.
Susa took her moment to stare at Vesamera "Well, perhaps, but I also need to make supper and today I'm making food for three, so I hope its not something that takes too long" in truth, she knew gods where there, she was directly hit by the little tricks of one of them, and she didn't doubt they would have eventually breed like the little worthless things they were. "But let's see what you can do, if its impressive I can even cut up some extra meat for your soup later"
She blinked, Vesamera, impressed by the sheer lack of caring for the claim. "...Huh..." she huffed, and then turned around, contemplating the strange display of worldly ignorance, or just the lack of impressionism the idea had left on the mortal before her. She was not used to this. "I'll make it quick; in the palm of my hand I hold an infinite library, that which I've used to chronicle my journeys throughout Galbar. Since you're so interested in travel, perhaps you would like to read the manuscript I've gathered over these years?" Vesamera questioned, having come up with a solution - perhaps to edge this strange character into journeying in her company.
"The script I have written contains the secrets of what lies even in the deepest depths beyond the horizon; provided you're able to read." the Scholar offered, her ebony cube having broken into neatly assorted pieces as she spoke.
"Ah, no thanks" she waved it off immediately, almost as if scared of the thing. "But I want to explain why I do not want it" she added, no need to be rude to a guest, she guessed. "See, Bell-Vaste, let me say a thing to you, imagine that in the next minute I will make you experience every single tasty food that can ever be. Every single one. All the fish, all the fruit, all the bread. You will taste them all in a few seconds and then its over, no new tasty food will be left. What do you think about this?"
The most blank of stares crossed Belvast's face as he heard those words, before saying: "No thank you." and quickly going back to looking around Susa's house. "I've already tasted the things I've found. If I don't find the best things to eat, there's no point in tasting them." the Demi-Cat said, his short form trotting around the house, examining Susa's living space. "Thank you though."
Vesamera was stumped. Again.
This 'Susa' was full of surprises, and self-control. "Hm... Perhaps an excerpt regarding the 'Pronobii' which I had discussed with you earlier? While you cook?" she asked, crossing her legs with an uncomfortable smile.
"Ah, now that is more like it, I like stories, specially when they are told" The fact she did not know how to read was probably a factor too "That is what kicks my desire to travel, the tales of distant places, but if you just sit down and describe everything, all the mysteries, all the sights, all the trees and its twighs, I'm going to end up napping" with that said she stood up and moved to the small corner she called "a kitchen"
"That boy I mentioned, his end was exactly on this kind of bad stuff. First he discovered a plant that made he dream vividly, and while at first it was a little thing, it soom took over his life, he would stay all day on bed, living in his dreams where everything was easy, slowly putrefying like still water in the swamp." she started to fill a clay pot with water and beans "I think, that is why I like to walk so much, especially into the unknown." with that said, she left the house with the pot on her hand.
Vesamera nodded, and watched as Susa departed to the outside. She then looked over to Belvast as the cube exploded into a multi-axial orbit of scrolls, that which encompassed the now lone pairing. "Hm - what do you think of her?" she asked, searching for the section on the Pronobii. "I like her." Vesamera informed the small cat, before she began tracing her finger along the yellowed paper of the library.
"She's nice." Belvast stated, before he tossed the silver rock that Vesamera had tossed him into the air, catching it in his hat. "Fate seems to have given her a bum hand, as it would seem. Hey, do you have any scrolls on fish?" he questioned, tail swishing around one another as the rock plunked around amongst fish, bits and bobbles, and various other knick knacks inside of his hat.
Belvast was overrun with tendril after tendril of scroll.
After a couple of minutes the former huntress returned to her house, the pot now full of water, meat and vegetables. "It will be done in an instant, I just need to boil it" she informed. "So, what is a Pronobii? You made me curious"
Vesamera smiled when Susa reappeared in her home, and began referencing from her reading.
"They are, or were, a race of creatures manufactured from ice by the god of death - I witnessed their fall to my--Vestec's Horde of Chaos, they were a militant group, much like the Lifprasilians but the Horde of Chaos had been far too much for them. It was sad, really, seeing thousands of creatures become displaced by the foolishness of the Pantheon." she explained, running through the scrolls that had, apparently, all stemmed from the box resting in her lap.
Susa frowned, but didn't stop preparing the meal, in fact, she waited until it was done to properly respond. "Its a bit hard to understand all this. What is a Vestec? What is a Horde? If they were made from Ice did they turn into water when spring arrived?" As she finished her third question she had already put the soup into bowls, which she shared with Vesamera and Belvast. It was a simple cassava based soup with bits of fish and chicken meat along with carrots, potatoes and some sort of bean that had yet to be properly named.
After a few sips of soup had been taken, Vesamera decided to explain. "Vestec is the god of Chaos, a Horde is a large, unorganized gathering of ruffians, and the Deep South of Galbar is wreathed in an eternal winter; spring does not arrive at the bottom of the world." she finished, before she used a spoon proper, and began consuming her soup.
Belvast, looking very unpleased at being covered in scrolls, formed a portal and plopped himself beside Vesamera, taking his bowl and blowing on the soup for a few moments before starting to drink it, broth, chicken, fish, and all. The bowl was emptied within a minute, and Belvast gave a content sigh, a smile curling o his lips. "That was great~" he chimed, before setting his bowl down and flopping back into the pile of scrolls to pour over the wonders of fish.
"There is more if you want, Belv" she said, the worst of Vesamera were still foreigner to her knowledge "Well, that sounds like a dangerous bunch. Oddly I used to call the god of chaos Ztec, but I will take you name over the one from the village, since you are Divine Cloth and all"
"Now, why did this horde even go down into a place that doesn't even have winter? Sounds silly, at least in my mind"
"That's precisely why he would - his chaotic nature dictates his actions, and his actions usually stem from getting a reaction out of people; usually negative." Vesamera explained "I've been personal with him, as well."
"No thank you. But thank you. It was delicious." Belvast said, continuing to read through the scrolls. Good thing Vesamera had...well...taught him to read.
"So, this person is going beyond his line to simply cause a reaction? Wouldn't it be simpler to just ignore him?" at least that is how she dealt with trouble makers back in her childhood, that and the good old luring a bear to their tent prank, but she was sure this would not work on this situation.
Vesamera shook her head "Ignorance only spurs him to further reaction, and leaving somebody like that unchecked is... Disastrous. Were you there for when he tried to destroy Galbar with one of its moons?" she asked, as if Susa was that old.
"With only a moon? They are so tiny, I can't imagine them hurting a lot. The sun however? Now that would be trouble, imagine trying to pick that up" she shuddered "Well, what worries me is that from what I hear the, uh, gods right? Seems like the tiny kid who always danced the way the bully wanted. But maybe saying bad things about gods isn't a good idea, Twilight already did a number on me and I don't want another one of those"
Vesamera cocked her head, slightly "Twilight? Is that a god?" she questioned, confused.
"Yeah, the one who did that night thing, she is the dreams on right? I never had a name for her so I decded to call her twilght 'cause of the twilight thing she did" lenguages had made things a bit more complicated for mankind
She nodded solemnly, Vesamera did "Ah yes, Illunabar, the night of the Phantasmagoria was a strange, twisted night. This 'Twilight' you speak of is the one that sent me on this journey, and she is, currently, one of my many mentors of the Divinity." she explained, before she suddenly stood, ejecting the now floating cube from her lap.
"I find it within my right to fix the wrongings of my teacher, then." said not Vesamera, but Lifprasil, as the clothes around the former scholar's body turned to glimmering armor of blues and yellows. "Would you like that? For me to mend that leg of your's?" asked the King, whose own voice had deepened, and whose pleasantly colored olive sash had turned into a living sword.
"Of course I would like it. It has been a burden and it was very unfair, as I'm usually careful" she confessed, no signal of a second opinion anywhere on her mind. "You can do it as payment for the free meal, yes?" she expected it to not be enough though, from what she had heard gods were tricky, and the sudden turn from cloth to armor left an odd impression.
Lifprasil gave it thought, his now golden eyes flashed a sort of metallic brightness as he mulled it over, before he simply nodded. "That is fine, yes, hospitality should be rewarded by those capable. One that travels as far, and as happily as yourself only deserves two functioning legs; and the time permissible to explore all things." Lifprasil finally responded, reaching forward with his armored left, his right hand holding fast the convulsing handle of the Chaotic Blade.
"I am Lifprasil, the child of Vulamera and Vestec, and tonight, you join the Divine Cloth." was all he said before his palm connected with the top of her head.
With a buzz, not only were Susa's wounds healed, but she was given the power of might. The process was not lengthy, if anything it came and went with the grandeur of a rock into a pond.
"Uh, my legs are surely not there..." She tried to jest before the sheer impact of Lifprasil's might knocked her out, it was a short moment, and soon she opened her eyes again. "Ok, what was up with that?" she complained raising up.
Raising up, without her walking stick. "Oh? Oh. Hah." there was a bit of joy, but also some worry, she was one that usually jumped into the odd with no fear, but this was by far the strangest happening. "On a side I kinda wanted to use these to kick the shiny lights goddess because of the legs, on the other, since they are fine now, well, I think I can let old rivalries die"
She was amazed, really, she would be jumping around if she didn't found that to be silly. "Vesamera, I mean, leaf... uh, what was it again? Really sorry for this"
"For what? I have only fixed you, and made you into something greater." Lifprasil stated, simply "You can do great things with the power I have bestowed to you, I can only hope for your companionship, if you're willing to give it." he offered, as his armor shifted back into clothing; and his form and voice became feminine once more.
Lifprasil had turned back into Vesamera.
"Greater huh?" It was hard to tell if anything was truly different, the simple difference from her crippled feet to the current situation was already enough of a shock. "Well, to be sincere, I would go on walking around again eitherway, so I guess there is no problem if I follow you, but tell me, what exactly is your mission?"
"In this form, as the Wandering Scholar, to traverse the world and catalogue and befriend its inhabitants. In the one you had seen before, as Lifprasil, to rule a kingdom that spans over the entire planet, and to make sure misgivings such as your own do not plague the world in such frequency." Vesamera explained, taking a seat once again.
She then finished off her soup, and let out a satisfied sigh [color=orange]"This is quite a bit delicious - have you heard of 'wine'? Illunabar, or as you call her, Twilight, gifted me some if you're interested. I don't like it all that much." Vesamera then offered, ruffling Belvast's fur upon his head.
"Huh, the whole world? Isn't that a bit big? You will need a big stick for that one" she kept making the same skeptical face from before "Oh well, if it stops me from getting stuck again, its fine." Upon hearing wine she immediately changed her face "Oh yeah Wine, what a mess it was, it didn't help that the girl trading it was such a fox."
Vesamera's head tilted. Again. "So you've had it before? Well, I think you would make much better usage of this. Who gave it to you?" Vesamera questioned, before reaching into the ebon cube, and pulling two of the three luxurious bottles of wine she had taken from Illunabar.
"Whoa, this is tottaly different from the vials the girl had" she said, trying to open the complex thing "It was a girl, skin a bit paler than mine, purple eyes, ponytail. She showed up twice here, and the difference between the first and the second time was huge. As I said, a true fox that one, I doubt she got all the wares she carries with nice words and good trade" the once again Huntress sipped a bit of the wine, it was heavenly. "I guess I can forgive Towa after all, this is nice"dn
"You can keep it - where does this strange person live? They sound interesting, and knowledgable about some areas of the world." Vesamera asked "If you know, we could depart in the morning after them."
"I don't know, neither would she tell, its a dangerous thing to do you know?" she informed, already used to Vesamera's lack of knowledge about the mortal dangers of the world "But since Towa gave you wine, can't you simply ask her where she is?"
Vesamera shrugged "The gods do not care much for the individual - although there's no harm in asking. What say you about sending the teleporting cat to coherse with a god?" she questioned, before she gazed down to Belvast.
"Um...I could, but I do not know how well they would take to seeing me. Some may not find my face as adorably approachable as others." the demi-cat stated, papping his own cheeks.
"I'm sure Illunabar would be entertained by your presence - there's only one way to find out, however." Vesamera responded, and pressed a hand to Belvast's head, instilling in him memories of Illunabar's quarters. "How is that? Can you visit my mentor, now?" she then asked, giving Belvast a reassuring smile in exchange for his services.
Belvast stared blankly as he remembered things he never remembered. "Please don't do that next time..." he said, rubbing his head. After a moment, Belvast formed an azure portal and slowly stepped through, ready to go visit Illunabar. Slowly stepping into the domain of Illunabar, he slowly looked around, wondering if he should have knocked first.
Ilunabar was not too far from the main room, and quickly arrived to welcome yet another visit. "Oh, Belvast, its good to finally see you in person." she had an idea of who the demi-god was, but a distant one, in fact, she expected him to be closer to what his parents were "What business bring you to my quarters today?" she said, with unnecessary politeness.
"Hello Miss. Um..." Belvast started, bowing his head in respect. "I bring a request from Lifprasil." he said, keeping his head bowed. He had never really personally enountered another god save for his parents and he wanted to leave a good impression.
"Oh, so polite" and shy, Ilunabar thought, it looked like personality wasn't exactly hereditary for gods "Ah yes, I did notice that you and Lifprasil have been adventuring the world together for a while now. So, do tell me, what is this that Lifprasil ask?"
"On behalf of a mortal woman, Lifprasil requested me to request that you find the location of a girl with pale skin, and purple eyes." Belvast said, removing his hat and holding it to his chest. "She sells wares between towns, and has vended wine."
"Ah, which girl has Lif met?" it was a rethorical question, for Ilunabar was already spying upon the demi-god while she asked. "Susa, good choice, she will surely help a lot in the future travels. I always felt bad for breaking her legs..." Ilunabar took a minute to write something up "This is a somewhat direct route to the girl you three search, I took the time to make sure you will be avoiding any hellish danger, but do keep your eyes open, Galbar has been dangerous, and it is not getting any better".
Belvast accepted the written directions, even making his own copy to ensure that he would remember. "Many thanks, Goddess of Beauty." he said, bowing his head once more respectfully. He hadn't expected her to be so...well...nice. And helpful. From the stories that Lifprasil had told him of Zephyrion, he couldn't help but imagine that one wrong word would have spelt "D O O M", but was very grateful. "Should you need something done within my abilities, do not hesitate to ask." the demicat said, figuring that now he owed a debt to Illunabar, one that he intended to repay.
"Well, there might actually be something I had in mind for your abilities". The goddess gave the feline demi-god a sincere smile "See, you sleep right? And when you sleep you dream right?" she asks, just to be sure, dreams of heroes and other divine creatures are usually veiled away from her
Belvast gave a simple nod. "Quite often." he said.
"Ah, good, so when you are back to adventuring, try to remember those dreams, just like you do with a place you want to teleport into." she proposes "And, if you feel like it, see if you can actually open a portal to there. Just, uh, try to do it to a nice dream, I don't want siblings yelling at me because there are living nightmares walking across the land" upon saying that Ilunabar looked outside, to the horizon, where she, with her divine vision, saw Vestec's hordes, the depths of Mammon's realm and whatever was the thing Jvan had made into the sky "Thinking again, I guess they wouldn't mind it"
Belvast wasn't sure what Illunabar meant from the last statement, but simply nodded. "I will do my best to do so. I am not sure if I can...but I can try." he said, unsure if he could do that himself. He'd never tried to flex his powers in his sleep.
"Good, thank you. Whatever result you get, feel free to come back here and report it to me. I will make sure that next time there will be fish and milk for you here"
Belvast's lips curled into a smile as he bowed like...four times to her. "Thank you very much!" he said before opening a portal back to Susa's house and hopped through, flopping onto the bed. "I got it!" he said cheerfully, the portal closing behind him.
Vesamera smiled, upon seeing the parchment that Belvast carried with him "Good work, my feline friend." she said, patting the tiny Demi-God upon the back. "Now - why don't we get some sleep." she then offered, enjoying the prospect of dreaming. It was purely recreational, of course.
"I was actually making my bed already" Susa added "Sorry, its just that it has been a long day, and I'm not made of super god stuff like you two" she said, in fact, she was already under the leather and fur sheats of her bed. There were two others beds made, somehow she managed to make something fit for Belvast's size.
Vesamera blinked, but climbed into her bedding regardless, the squalor the people of the surface lived in was remarkable, and within the confines of fur and leather, upheld by the hemorraged parts that nature would provide; she found herself taking note of this. For centuries she resided, As Lifprasil, within the luxurious hallways of the Celestial Citadel, and her people were juxtaposed with Divine aid and prosperity while the people of Galbar suffered as Susa had suffered.
She fell asleep, eventually, but the night became cold before she did, and her thoughts restless. There had to be a way.
Belvast dove into the bed prepared for him, yawning and stretching out before simply closing his eyes. A bed was nice, especially since he wasn't all that used to it. He wasn't raised with one, and very rarely was he ever given the chance to sleep in a friendly stranger's house. At this point, he was just happy to have a place to rest his head.
///////////////// Vesamera would find herself in a familiar place of her dreams, the Celestial Citadel, a very real looking one, as most locations in the upper octaves of the Arpeggio where, but, there was something odd, usually the dreams were filled with servants, Lifprasil's own people, today however, there were none to be seen.
Lifprasil paused - this was an abnormality, an unforseen one, and within his mindscape, he found the halls of the Citadel barren, tinted gray, rather than yellow within the throws of life and its practice. "Hello?" he probed, wreathed in silence.
The only words that came back were his own, as the "Hello" echoed trough the still halls of the citadel. Even the wind was still and quiet, and so was the mess room where Lakshmi's guards usually stayed at when not on duty. In fact, the ever-buzzing was only a few steps away from Lifprasil, eerily quiet, as everything in this dream.
With all sense of tenure lost, Lifprasil stepped forward with a face that did not carry his confident placidity - something scared him about the absolved nothingness of the landscape. It wasn't right, for the universe to be so unfulfilled like this.
For his surprise, he would find the typical crew sitting on their tables. For his horror, they would were not the lively folk he was used to, instead, they all looked devoided of life, yet not dead either, for the dead rested peacefully, and the beings Lifprasil saw, were on the opposite side of that, starved, skeletal bodies, breathing in agony, with blank faces, as if their minds had withered away.
He was repulsed, Lifprasil, he staggered backwards, tense at the sight of what had befallen his comrades. "What..." he growled, reaching for his blade.
As he reached for his blade, the first signal of movement happened in the room. His comrades stayed still, but something else was moving, an odd, sinister looking beast, its repugnant smell filling the room. The creature charged in Lifprasil's direction.
Lifprasil, almost immediately, swung at the monster, fear guided his blade, and he would hope the Many Headed Beast would aim true, his breathing having become hectic in its presence.
The blades swings and slashes the beast near its cheast. The creature, now scared, stops its movements. There is a brief second of silence, then the screaming starts. Not from the creature, but from everyone in the room, and from beyond the room, across all the citadel, and down in Galbar, even across the sky, in a distant planet guarded by an exiled god. All living creatures (if living still applies) copy the same chest cut that emperor-to-be Lifprasil had inflected in the repugnant, deer like ghoul, that had charged against him.
Lifprasil took pause, shaken by the suddeness of all this. Had he killed Slough? What had he done? Doubts, for the first time in his life since Illunabar's teaching, washed over him.
The orchestra of painful noises continued, but slowly, as if giving away to the weakness of their bodies, the creature and the lifprasilians started to move and tumble down, until they all knelt before Lifprasil. Slowly the mess hall gave away for the yet-to-constructed halls of the yet-to-be-named citadel Lifprasil comissioned, more and more half-alive creatures walked into the halls, Hain, Angels, Humans, even chaotic beings, all slowly dying, yet knelling towards their king.
A soft female hand touches Lifprasil's shoulder. "Father and Mother will be proud, they finally respected Lifprasil as their king. We did well" says Vesamera.
"No, this isn't what I wanted." Lifprasil stated, and shrugged off Vesamera "I just want what's best! This isn't what I planned!" he exclaimed, dizzied by the scope of this fever dream.
He, or she was dizzied when she awoke, disgusted by her form in the dead of night, the form that had congratulated himself, Lifprasil, upon his conquest. For a moment, he felt the same primeval fear - he just wanted to leap from his skin, from this shape.
But he did not, she did not, as Lifprasil settled back into being Vesamera.
Slough was dead, Vesamera was sure of this, the womb of the universe was emptied, barren. What would come next?
"Still awake?" Susa whispered, it was a bit hard to see her in the darkness of the night, but the sound of rattling ceramics could be heard across the room. "I said that I was tired, but can you believe I had a sudden insomnia? I'm just feeling bad again, kinda like when we first met." she walked back to the bedside carrying two cups with some sort of liquid.
"Do your kind of people have tea? It's good to ward off the troubles of our mind" she said, casually offering it to Vesamera. With that, she went back to her own bed, covering herself with the furs.
Vesamera held the cup of tea in her hand, and took a sip - it was bitter, but better than wine. "N-no... What do you mean by... Bad feeling?" she questioned, before she took a second sip, and wavered from the suffocating muzzle of the bedding.
"Eh, its a bit hard to explain, kinda like when you are walking down the forest and suddenly all birds go up flying and making their craw craw craw sound. Its just something bad, maybe its related to that war you talked about, I don't know really, its just my hunter instinct telling me to watch out". she sighed and kept sipping her tea.
Vesamera nodded, slowly, "I guess I've been having the same premonition..." she muttered, before she took a jarred sip of tea. "Susa; what do people want in a ruler, do you think?"
"Ruler?" She questions, frowning "Well, I'm not exactly in need of one, thank you. I mean, I get my own food, I do my own chores, I have friends to look after me, a master would have to offer me something more or take those from me" she ponders
"I see." spoke Vesamera, before she coiled to her side, and pulled the bedding she had been given over herself - and did not sleep.
-We are introduced to a Susa, a huntress who was made lame by Fate -Vesamera meets her, so does Belvast -Eventually, the apprehensive Susa takes them back to her home for shelter -1 Might was used by Illunabar for teachings, and 1 Might is used by Lifprasil to imbue Susa with a Heroic vigor -Susa's lame leg is fixed -She becomes part of Lifprasil's party -Belvast meets Illunabar, he is given directions to a Merchant who sells mysterious goods -Lifprasil is given a premonition via nightmare Lifprasil - 1 Might spent, 10(?) Might remains Illunabar - 1 Might spent, 11 Might remains (Pre-Aimless Time)
Illunabar, some Lifprasil, a lot of Lakshmi, Allure, the Muses, and the beginning of Lifprasil's first fortress.
A little, or a lot of days later, Vesamera and Belvast traveled down a wooded path, shade lingering over their bodies as they further wore down an already exhausted forebearing of leaves. "So, young bug--" Vesamera began to say, before she realized that, the small halfling had fallen asleep in a sunny patch on the trail. With an exhausted sigh, she confided to sit beside the feline. He had the right idea. The library came to rest in the scholar's corrigible lap, the edges pressed into the fabric, and it became lifeless as it too rested.
It seemed that Vesamera could only surround herself with geometrics, artificial beings, slivers of her own being that could hardly forebear any interesting conversation, or dictate its own beck and call. She found it boring, but also comforting to fit into a sort of trance within her own personal circle. The only thing of flesh that she really trusted had been Lakshmi, however, she did enjoy investing some form of trust in her other, dear friend, Allure.
He was a character.
Vesamera liked that in a person, genuinely, well, Lifprasil did, but so did Vesamera.
However, Vesamera enjoyed Belvast's innocence much more. In her other life, she had been born into something similar to adulthood, a sort of knowing that only a creature of sentience itself would be capable of knowing. Others knew that, of course, the minute creatures that held the scope of Galbar in their collective consciousness did, which is why she had created this personality in the first place; to know the only creatures capable of the almost exclusive pain of mortality. Maybe she would fix this, in time.
This mortal plain, however, was not the only place that possessed life...
That was a more pressing matter for a more pressing time, however, because Vesamera's mind wandered, to the project her friends had upheld in her stead.
Elsewhere, within the confines of the very drab Celestial Citadel, a giddy Lifprasilian perused the mute halls, to Illunabar's sanctuary in the complex. What she held was some living devices, and a heavy hand of scrolls that she had prepared, and jotted upon her plans for the settlement that Lifprasil was planning. Following her was a troupe of guardsmen, whose armor was twinkling with much more silver, the much more extravagant armor having been draped in cloth of bright purple.
Each one carried sticks, and at the end of these sticks were a fusion of pike and a blunt rod - strange hammers that had the explicit purpose of fighting the horrors of the surface.
Lakshmi, however, only carried her collapsing pile of items as she hurried into Illunabar's compartment. "H-hey!" she exclaimed, trying to catch the scrolls and knick knacks that were being reclaimed by gravity. "You guys ready to go?" she asked nobody in particular while her guards simply watched in silence.
"Chill" Notte said nonchalantly "There is no need to go anywhere right now"
Piena intercepted the conversation from across the room "Lakshmi, you can send your guards back, we still have preparations to do, you stay however, we need you" the stern tone of her voice was only amplified by the contrast with the sillier sister's first comment.
"U-uh. Oka-y." Lakshmi stuttered, shooing the guards back to whence the came, and piling her things into her lap. "It-t's ni-ice to be needed for s-something other than L-i-ifprasil's usual duties."
"Do not value yourself by the use others have for you" Meimu commented, as she arrived in the room and closed the doors. "Anyway, dear heart, do want tea? biscuit? coffee?" she continues, as a few marionettes walked into the room.
Soon after the cordialities were done, the lights of the room became dim, the only bit is not darkened being the fountain in the middle. With a sweep of Piena's hand the thing turned into a green land with gleaming rivers. A touch here and there would make the rivers rise or the land to turn orange, snow white and then green again.
"You are Lif's folk right?" Piena asked, sternly, as always.
"Just relax dear, do you like music? Do you know what music is?" Meimu tried to counter the cold steel of her sister, but she had to admit that flora was easier to deal than fauna
"Che, stop the silliness" Notte walked to the side of the nervous guard. "First step!" she forced a glass of wine into her hand and helped her to drink it down. "Second step!" she gave Lakshmi something similar to a pencil. "Now, draw us a home or something cozy"
Lakshmi felt overwhelmed, needless to say, and with the change in scenery, and the sudden inclusion of alcohol, she felt even more so. "U-uh... Is this a-all real?" she asked, having broken out into a nervous sweat. She didn't even bother to grasp the pencil, as it had landed in the vegetation beside her.
"T-that was fast..." she added. Her speech had become scatterbrained in every respect of the word.
Notte threw her arms up in the air but the other two kept calm, with Lakshmi that is, the middle sister would get some scolding later. "We just want to know where you would like to live, we have no idea about what would be ideal for your folk, and using their home here in the citadel would be a bad idea, since its merely inhabiting other's work" Piena explained
"Just relax, and think of a place where you can be quiet and comfortable, no people yelling orders and making your nervous" Meimu said, trying to loose up the guard.
With a shudder, Lakshmi finally depressurized, and began to think. The Citadel was all she knew, so when she took pencil to paper, what she created was the shape of a castle, although the gothic architecture made much more room for living space. Great walls surrounded the settlement in layers, separating living, from farmland, from the fortress in the center.
The architecture of the fortress was something that had been hard for Lakshmi to visualize, but what she wanted was windows a-plenty to admire the lush landscape around her, spiraling towers to see as far as the horizon would permit in such a place, and an interesting causeway system that would interconnect the triplet walls. When she handed the paper back to Meimu, the concept was in its beginning stages.
The settlement would not be roman-esque, but it would be impressive for the time.
The three divas stared at the project for a short while, then a few notes were made, observing how it all could possibly evolve. Usually, the triad of designers worked as individuals, but today, on this drawing table, they were in perfect synchrony.
"These road designs are far too claustrophobic, as it's expected of someone who lived her whole life in a little sky house" commented Piena
"Do you propose avenues then? We could use mirrored stones and make the path reflect the sky. We will need to mix some beyond colors to make the effect work, like something to ignore living beings and something to add a dim feeling" continued Notte
"I believe each sector could use a different kind of effect, let's not use the mirror stones on the main path, though, leave it for the gardens in the middle of the walkways"
"Speaking of gardens, a handy way to make these towers would be with vines, I can quickly come up with a plant that goes up to these heights and then calcifies into gleaming white towers" added Meimu, in her first collaboration "Oh, I also believe we could make this more vertical yes?"
Piena took a minute to think "Probably, but we would need a lot of glass if Notte agrees I believe we could make elevated and layered walkways like this"
"This would elevate the population a lot no? Do you believe the defenses will be enough?" Meimu questioned
"That is Lifprasil's problem, we merely have to make the city aesthetically pleasing and efficient" there was a third, untold directive: Something that would make pretty ruins.
The elegant town of hanging gardens and stained glass, full of lively avenues and with whole neighborhoods layered over each other, showed up in the drawings of green hills.
"Now onto the logistics..."
"Well, Marionettes should be able to do most work"
"They do have weak arms, though, far better for chipping stone away than carrying it, and this will need a looooot of stone"
"Slave Hain perhaps?" Piena proposed, without a worry
"What? Are you mad, we cannot use slave force to build the city"
"And why is that? Without it, we will never be able to finish this is the next millennium"
"Toun and Ilunabar would never agree with such idea"
"True, that is a good point, I will need to rethink this solution. Perhaps have a chat with our lady master and see if I can convince her to help our cause out" the steel-like sister sighed.
Lakshmi seemed to agree with most of the propositions - save for the slave labor. "I b-believe the Lifprasilians would be interested in helping build their new home. They've all had nothing but cultivating a culture, garden-i-ing, and training to keep themselves occupied. I thu-think under the premise of conquering Galbar, and a grounded place on this planet, they would immediately leap to your aid." she assured the muses, managing hardly without a stutter.
Piena raised a finger to her chin and re-analysed the situation, in truth, she did not know much about Lifprasilians, and at first, she had miscalculated how submissive they were to their master and their cause. "Truly, willing slaves are by far the best" she thought before commenting aloud "Well, I'm sorry for the previous doubt over your species' abilities, now I see that you are very capable of doing this task." she nodded.
"I-I t-thank you, t-the L-fprasilians will not disappoint." Lakshmi said with a raised index finger. She seemed much more relaxed, now that the gears of progress began to fall into motion once again. "What d-id you have i-in mind for s-s-stones, anyway? I-is there a q-quarry nearby?" she questioned, the feathers atop her imbued horns wavered in the artificial wind - along with her avian hair.
"Oh, many" Notte commented "Both Tounny and Kyre blew up large bits of land in the area, there is stone everywhere, right out of the crustiest bits of the earth."
Meimu felt like adding a logistical question "I believe it would be best to send the Marionettes first, since they need no food and are never tired" she pressed her fingers softly against some of the bits of the map, drawing up a few lines "They are a bit wonky in the crafts, but still competent enough to set up the camps and farms that Lifprasilians will use"
Lakshmi gave a satisfied nod "T-that sounds perfec-c-t. I c-can ready the local Lifprasilians for their new vvventure while your M-marionettes work. How long do y-you think it would take the-em?" she questioned, preening the errors and folds in the cloth encapsulating her body.
"We can separate them in groups so they can arrive in progressively larger waves. At first, I think in..." Piena stopped and waited for the marionette weaving sister to talk
"Two days, if it doesn't rain" Meimu added
"In two days we send in the first wave, fifteen lifprasilians at most. They can bring the crops from the citadel down there and we can get the farming out of the gardens and into the fields. A week later a larger group arrives and we start housing. Then across the months we send in more and more lifprasilians until they are all down at the settlement" Number crunched Piena.
"Of course, we will not settle the folk at the same place as the future capital, we will take a spot closer to the sea. It would simply be terrible to have the workers dirtying up what is going to be a beacon of elegance" added Notte.
Another nod came from Lakshmi in approval. She pondered the Lifprasilians that would be sent, and she only thought it fitting to send the woman-class, the gardening individuals, first. "I t-think I already have a roster that I can organize, w-what size will the other waves b-be?" questioned the Lifprasilian commander and general, and for now, the Lifprasilian Queen.
"I would wait for the success of our plans involving the large scale gardens. If its bountiful, we send in a lot, if not, we regulate the numbers according to the resources available" Piena explained.
"Yoo-hoo?" There came a lighthearted call from behind the obscuring illusion. Without an invitation, the handsome caller waltzed right through the false wall, not walking but quite literally dancing across the ground. He moved with careful grace and precision, executing each flair of the hand, an extension of the leg, whirling spin, and daring dip. Coming to a stop in a supplicant position, Allure executed a practiced bow. [color=E62020]"I am honored to be in the presence of the artisans of the muse!" he declared, not meeting their eyes. His braid hung over his left shoulder. "So rare is comeliness on the face of this contested world that a so much beauty in so little space is a paradise all its own." When he regained his full height, he found that he towered a head taller than the loftiest among his associates.
His hazel gaze fell upon the schematics on which the attention of Piena, Meimu, and not lay. Bending his elbow and laying it across his pectoral, he rested his head across the back of his hand and remarked, "That must be the plan for the grand community service project that is to come. As happy as I'm sure you are to realize that I, Allure, hero of beauty, will be lending my artful services to your build, endeavor to keep in mind that my talents lay for the most part outside the realm of creativity. Now, anything you need cut, crushed, carried, et cetera, that I would be pleased to do. On two whims I have pledged myself to this little diversion, and I will ensure that a gorgeous edifice never stood."
"Ah, Allure, I heard a lot about you, but so far I never had the chance to meet you in person" Piena moved on to greet him with a polite and firm handshake. "I'm pretty sure you know Notte already, and the other one is the oldest sister, Meimu."
The champion of beauty offered Piena a dazzling smile. This woman charmed him with her officiousness, and the austerity of her dress, form, and manner. When she shook his hand, his touch indicated that the gesture was unknown to him. "A shame that my eyes have never alighted on your before, madame. Notte neglected to mention sisters in our chance encounter."
"Hello" Meimu bowed from across the table "To think that despite the fact we were born from the same land, from the same plant even, we are only meeting now, after such a long time" she pondered.
This musing of Meimu's brought an odd look to Allure's flawless features, somewhere between amusement and confusion. "Born in the same land, from the same plant? How very...bizarre. My first memories are of awakening from a deep slumber next to a bed of dead roses." He cast a curious, almost suspicious glance Meimu's way.
"Now, about your works... Yes, you could help us by slicing up stones. But that would be a blink of an eye for someone like you no?" Piena added "I believe this is less of a request of services and more of an offering. Is there anything you want? Being on the ugly sides of the Citadel must be terribly boring!"
"Truly," Allure conceded, "My abode is agonizingly bland."
"We have a bit of everything, we have art supplies, we have good food, we have comfortable beds and the finest bathhouse in all of this land... also the only one" Meimu added
"Just please don't slice up our servants" Notte sighed.
Notte's preemptive disappointment brokered a light chuckle from Allure. "You mean the little-animated toys? Such contraptions are not subject to my criteria. Would you seek beauty in a slab of wood? Anyway, I would be most pleased with food and a more comfortable resting place than a stone slab. And while I'm certain the dust clinging to me adds a certain rugged appeal, I would delight in a chance to bathe. Of course, I haven't the slightest idea how. Perhaps I could request from one or more of you a demonstration?" He tilted his head back and chortled. "Ah, hah hah hah! I kid." Folding his arms, he awaited some sort of instruction on the divas' part.
Lakshmi watched the whole ordeal with a frown, sitting cross legged in the illusion that the muses had placed. She certainly didn't like Allure - but comparing his former behavior to what he had been expressing throughout the encounter gave her the feeling that he was...
Trying. That's a good start.
-Vesamera finds Belvast napping, and relaxes, thinking about her pals. -Skip to said pals -Lakshmi, being a dink, drops all of her stuff when she goes to meet the Muses -They begin planning Lifprasil's first settlement, a fortress in the wake of the Phantasmagoria -The Muses nearly give Lakshmi a heart attack -As they begin to decide that a fusion of Lifprasilian, and a Marionette workforce would be best to begin construction -Allure, that dashing boy, comes in -Says he would like to live somewhere other than a barren citadel -Lakshmi notes his slight change in character
Cyclone
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