[center] [b][h1] Elysium [/h1][/b] [h3]Level 1 Realta Hero[/h3] ***===***===***===***===*** [/center] [center][hider=Summary]Logos and Elysium travel to the cave which hold the waters of Nyneve, which Elysium accidentally bathes in. She is given a strange vision, and its meaning in unknown to her. Logos explains the new war by Vestec, and having used the pool to see its many possible outcomes, has become hindered by the abundance of possibilities for his actions as asks for his daughter's aid. Logos prepares for war and creates the first Acalya flower, a biological weapon of order. 9 Might Spent By Logos to Level up to 4 1 Might Spent By Logos to level Elysium up to 8 1 Might Spent to create the Acalya Flower [/hider][/center] The dense jungle canopy made the soil cool and dark. The trees towered a hundred times Elysium’s height, and no grass or brush managed to grow on the forest floor. Trunks shot up from the ground and disappeared into the sky—pillars to hold up the roof of leaves shading the jungle. Below it all, Elysium walked along the ground, touching her hand to the trees she passed, and checking on their health. The air felt hot and humid, and the air held a slight haze. The forest was only a day’s flight from the sea, and was watered by monsoons which gave it its glory. It was one of many forests created by her father and nurtured by her, but it by far had the largest trees. Her father alighted from his perch above and landed softly beside her, tucking his wings into his sides. “Have you flown high up?” she asks, staring at the forest ceiling. “You’ve made this land green as far as the eye can see. It’s so different from the arctics or the desert.” [b]“Good,”[/b] Logos said. [b]“That is the idea, is it not?”[/b] “I’m just making idle comment.” Elysium huffed and looks away. In an unbefore seen gesture, her father had accompanied her on one of her trips away from the Citadel. “You are harder and harder to talk to these days.” [b]“Sorry. We’ll be someplace we can rest soon,”[/b] Logos said, looking at the nearby trees and checking his bearings. [b]“There is a cave nearby a waterfall just south of here.”[/b] The sound of rushing water reached Elysiums ears, and a small river—almost a stream—lie up ahead. A cliff marked with moss and jagged edges cuts the stream in half, and water crashes and foams, pouring from the cliff into the waiting pool below. On the opposite side of the river, not far from the waterfall, the dark entrance to a cave lay with its bank covered with moss. Elysium walked to the waters edge and leapt with a few accompanying wingbeats to see her over the river. She landed on the rock on the opposite side, and turned to look back at her father on the opposite bank. The darker deity mimiced her actions over the river, and landed next to her. “I must say, I was looking forward to sleeping on something more comfortable than rock,” Elysium says, testing the ground beneath her feet. Logos shook his head and started towards the cave. [b]“You won’t have to worry about that.”[/b] Elysium followed him, curiously, and stared at the cave mouth. They stepped inside it, and for a while, it is pitch black, and Elysium could not see her own hand infront of her face. The only way she even knew that her father was still with her, was the soft, almost inaudible sound of is feet against the moss. The darkness was cool, and the cave stone was chilled by the river that ran near it. Elysium strains her eyes to make out any light in the darkness. “Any reason you have not cast a light spell?” she asked her father ahead of her. [b]“We won’t need one in a moment,”[/b] Logos said, still peering into the dark. She spotted it, a faint blue glow coming from around a corner up ahead. The walls and moss floor of the cave became visible again, and Elysium and Logos round the corner to see a myriad of color. The turn opened up to a great cavern, high enough that one could fly around in it. Crystals lined the roof and emit a luminescent blue light, shining down on the moss below and turning it into a sea of turquoise. A pool of water, clear as air, lies in the center of the chamber, and the blue light danced off its surface. “When did you make this?” Elysium asked, looking around at the crystals on the walls. [b]“Before the moon, before the sun, before the first Realta became aware,”[/b] Logos said as he walks towards the water. [b]“I made this cave centuries ago, when I made all the other crystals and gemstones. The moss spread from the forest to the cave. The pond... I had a little help with.”[/b] “It is like another plane hidden away from the rest of the world!” Elysium exclaims, rushing up to her father’s side, and spinning around to look at all sides of the cavern. “I’d forgotten how wonderful something [i]new[i] could be.” “I always thought that look was your most beautiful expression,” Logos said, his once hard eyes softening at the way his daughter's were lighting up with glee from looking at the cavern. [b]“This is my gift to you... use it well.”[/b] “It'll be the perfect spot to relax after dealing with you,” Elysium teased. She waded into the pool of water, and walked to its center. The blues dance off her skin, and the waves she creates in the water send ripples of light down her body. [color=black]. . .[/color] [b]“Elysium!”[/b] The Realta snapped her eyes open at hearing Logos’s voice cry out. Standing and looking out from the pool, she saw him struggling and sinking into the bed of moss beside the water. “Father!” Elysium screams, charging into the water. She maked it only halfway, when Logos’s head is dragged underwater. “Father!” she screams again, trudging through the water to see her Father’s wide and frightened eyes, only his head and arms still sticking out of the moss. “Father, hold on!” Elysium shouts, closing her eyes and focusing, calling upon her magic to pull him out. But her magic is gone. Elysium gasps, and panic courses through her veins. She reaches her hands down to grab Logos’s. Kicking and flapping her wings, she feels her limbs scream in protest as she pulls as hard as she can to free him out. Logos looks up at his daughter from the moss and smiles, making Elysium’s blood run cold. “Don’t give up!” she shouts, but Logos simply smiles, even as the moss swallows him. Elysium grips onto his hand still sticking out, but eventually, even it too disappears into the ground. Elysium sits, broken, in the water. She combs through the moss with her hands, but all there is below the moss is stone. A tear falls and splashes the water. And then another. Elysium shudders, and her vision waters as she holds her arms against her chest. She does not know how long she sits there, staring at the spot that swallowed her father whole. And then someone wading through the water sounds from behind her. Elysium freezes, her hairs stand on end, and a shiver travels along her spine. She stands and turns to face them, and what she sees causes her to falter. Her father faces her, but her eyes are blank, not white, but empty and his wings and skin are dull, ashen colors. He says nothing. His face is a stoic mask that doesn’t even register Elysium’s presence. The water does not ripple from where he stands; his body is perfectly still. “Father?” Elysium asks, but she knows it is not him, only a ghost resembling her. “What happened, you were—” Elysium reaches a hand out to touch Logos, but the hand passes right through her as though she were air. She looks down at her hand, then back up at the ash colored Logos. The apparition remains unmoving, uncaring of her presence. Elysium looks down at the water. “I... I don’t understand.” The ashen visage tilts his head, in a curious manner that reminds Elysium of the real Logos. Then, he begins to step forward. Elysium’s gut reaction is to step back, but the ghost keeps walking towards her, a haunting smile on its visage. Logos’s body begins to crumble into black sand that floats as though caught in a dust devil, but there is no wind. The black sand sweeps around behind Elysium, and surrounds her, forming a bubble around her. It hisses with the sound of the sand rubbing against itself, grains grinding against one another, and the sound grows louder as the sand spins around her faster and faster. Elysium sits in the water and holds her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound. The bubble bursts, and the sand dissipates. Elysium looks around to find herself staring at a flat, gray horizon. She slowly, almost fearfully, looks down at the ground. White sandstone. She pushes against it with her hands, not believing it to be real, but it feels as solid as the moss in the save did. The sandstone spans the horizon. There is only her, and every last bit of her is as white as the sandstone around her, and she has no wings. “How...” Elysium sits and looks around for any sign of anything. “How am I here?” Her voice breaks the absolute silence. Not even wind exists in this barren. Elysium stands, and she begins to wander for a very long time. She looks up at the sky, half expecting the moon or sun to show their faces at any time. But time does not exist here. Nothing moves, nothing changes, and nothing casts a shadow. The ground is hard, and leaves no footprints. The air is dry and has no taste. After what feels like months of wandering, Elysium sees a dark figure in the distance. She pauses, and realizes that they are slowly walking toward her. A ray of hope shines through as the silhouette draws closer. It has the same figure and poise, and even the same walk as her father. Elysium breaks into a run towards him, wishing she could just fly up to her and hug him with all her strength, but as she draws closer, something seems wrong. Logos is not calling out to her, or rushing out to greet her. He simply walks towards her, at a subdued pace. Elysium draws closer, and recognizes the figure not to be her father, but the ghost that sent her back. She stops, but the apparition draws closer. Elysium steels herself, and levels a glare at the approaching thing that wears her father’s guise. “Where is Logos?” she shouts across the wasteland at it. “Why did you bring me here?” The ghost makes no move to stop, and continues to walk towards her. Elysium snorts, raises her first, but the ghost is unfazed by her show of aggression, and she wonders if it even knows she’s there. Breaking into a ran, she charges the apparition with her fist lowered to its chest. She breathes deep, panting breaths, and her eyes focus on the ash colored father. The copy of Logos continues walking forward at a slow pace, uncaring of her charge. Elysium draws close, and she looks at the blank, dead eyes of the copy, and it gives her pause in her charge. The eyes seem to stare into her very being, and it sends a jolt of panic through her that makes her halt her charge. The copy continues walking calmly towards her, uncaring of her halting. Elysium can only stand there, petrified with fear as the ghost approaches her. It walks up to her, and presses its lips to hers. The Realta’s blood runs cold, and the kiss feels like death. There is no love in it, no joy, no passion, just an emptiness that threatens to swallow her whole. She wants to desperately pull away, but she is rooted to the spot with terror. Its lips still locked to hers, the apparition begins to dissolve into black sand. The sand travels into Elysoum’s body, and she feels it spreading through her like a poison. She shudders, her lips still pressed against the apparition’s. They remain in a kiss of death until all of the sand is absorbed into her body. The ghost’s head disperses to sand last and goes inside her. And then, all is quiet. She is alone in the sea of sandstone once more, and nothing moves, nothing stirs, aside from her. Elysium lets out a gasp, finally able to breathe. She sits down and raises a hand to her chest, trying to slow her racing heart. The sound of her heartbeat fills her ears, and she swallows, her tongue feeling dry and uncomfortable where it sits in her mouth. Pain strikes her. It is sharp like a thousand crystals in her bloodstream, and it feels like she is being drowned in arctic water. She falls to the ground, her breath coming in short, raspy gasps, and the world begins to collapse around her. Like shattered pieces of glass, the world crumbles around her, falling down and disappearing in a dark abyss below. The murky, gray sky leaves, and all that’s left is a black void and Elysium, lying on a floating isle. The pain fades, and Elysium stands up. She looks around, searching for any sign of the world that once was, but all around her is an endless black that seems to stretch for an eternity in every direction. Hesitantly, she steps towards the edge of the isle she’s stranded on and looks down, but the void seems to fall for an eternity, and the pieces of the land that fell have already disappeared. Fear and desperation grip Elysium, and she looks up at the endless void. “Please, let me go back!” she shouts. She shudders as her eyes begin to water, and she looks down at the ground, her tears dripping onto it. “Please...” An orb of light falls down from the void, and Elysium’s head snaps up to look at it. It floats gently down and stops just in front of her. The orb’s light grows brighter, and its intensity forces Elysium to clench her eyes shut. [color=black]. . .[/color] [b]“Enough!” [/b] Her father's voice fills her ears, and impossibly strong hands grasp her shoulder. Water rushes around her; then soft moss. Elysium’s eyes shoot open, and she found herself back at the moss and crystal cavern, laying upon the mossy shore. Her father was standing over her and while he did not show it, she could tell he was worried. The Realta rubbed her eyes, to make sure what she was seeing was real, and looked up at her father. “How long was I asleep?” [b]“Only for a moment. When I realized what had happened, I pulled you out.”[/b] “Only for a moment?” Logos looked at her, his brow furrowing in concern. “[b]Is everything alright?”[/b] "...I will be fine." Elysium lied. She avoided looking at her father. The sight of him brought back haunting shadows from the dream. She looked at Logos and she couldn’t help but see his ashen counterpart, whose kiss sucked all the warmth out of the world. Logos turned away, looking around at the cavern, his eyes searching. [b]“The Waters of Nyvee,”[/b] he asks, walking to the edge of the pool, his expression uncertain. “I saw what you lived in the waters." Elysium shivered, buring her face in a hand. "It seemed so..." [b]"Real?"[/b] Logos reached down to dip his fingers into waters, and the pond rippled. [b]"To another perhaps. It was simply a me that could have been, but never was. Look now,"[/b] he commanded her and Elysium took a peek over her eyes into the pond. "It's just my refl-oh!" She made a soft noise of surprise and leaned over to stare down. She was looking at herself. It could have even been here reflection; it blinked as she did, its wings twitched in excitement, and she But the Elysium that stared back had been given hair as crimson as the rose. "Now that's something,” Elysium remarked, idly playing with her own blonde strands as the image mimiced her motion. [b]"It is a tool of great power. Not an outlet for something as insignificant as vanity."[/b] Elysium lets out a sigh and rested her chin on the moss bed, its tendrils tickling her nose. “Why do you always hunger for more? When will it be enough?” [b]"When the War is over."[/b] Her eyes flicked up to him, furrowing in confusion. "What war? The humans don't even have the numbers for combat yet." [b]"Not here. Not on Arcon."[/b] Logos dipped a finger into the pool, and the scene changed. Vast hordes of... creatures that Elysium had never seen before marched across an almost alien landscape. Great hulking behemoths of flesh and scars, gangly warriors of and cold and ice, rolling tornados of dust and wind, and foot soldiers of... a white material foreign to her. In their wake, the world burn and turned to ash and through the visions she saw a god laughing with mirth as though it was all good sport. [b]"Vestec. Even now he assembles his host and marches on the other gods."[/b] He gave a nod to the pond. [b]"I have seen where he is victorious and all of reality burns. And I have seen where the gods kneel before me at last. Both of these outcomes, and more, are available to us should I act. Or not. But the path there is clouded, and I know not the way."[/b] Logos aswered truthfully, and with a wave of his hand he banished the images from the surface, turning once more to his daughter. [b]"What do you think should I do?"[/b] Logos asked. Elysium blinked in surprised, absolutely floored the question. Her father never, never asked her for advice. "Me?" Logos nodded, and suddenly Elysium felt very small. Her mind raced as she looked at the pool, uncertain as ever as she realized that her father had probably seen every possible outcome. Why ask her, when he had only just shown her the- Oh. That was why. "It can all be rebuilt," she told him softly, and repressed a shudder as the memory of her Not-Father came to her. That could never happen. That would never happen. She believed every word. She had too. "But if He trully does grow in strength, he could march upon us. We cannot let that happen." [b]“Very well.”[/b] Logos rose before her and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the cave air in through his nostrils. He walked forward, eyes closed, to the waters edge. Elysium fixed him with a confused look, cocking her head to the side and raising an eyebrow at him, but her father ignored it. He dips his arms down to the water, his palms floating just off its surface and beginning to glow. The light coming from his hands hummed with energy, and despite not touching the water, it begins to send small ripples along the surface. Logos focused on the power in his hands, and shaped it into heat and light and raw energy that makes the air feel alive with magic. It glowed, not unlike the sun, but in a softer, more intimate manner. Beside him, Elysium took a step back, both to give her room, and to create some small distance between her and the power her father was emitting. The entire cave was illuminated by the light, and the fainter light of the crystals was overwhelmed and smothered by the radiant light coming from Logos's eyes, and it painted the water into a white sheet as the surface continues to ripple. Something in the way the magic was moving suddenly changed. The heavy, oppressive feel of it saturating the air retracted back into Logos, and the magic moves from the tip of his wings and spread back to him, giving her entire body an aura of white magic, but it is thin, and controlled. Logos’s eyes snapped open, and they were full and glow with her magic. Elysium took a step back before she could stop herself, watching Logos's control over his power with a bit of awe. In a trance-like state, Logos walked out into the center of the pool in calm, confident strides. Water parted away from him like it was afraid, and the hum of his might bounces around the cave, coming from every direction. A small orb of solid light the size of a pea appears floating over the water. Logos wrapped his magic around it, adding layers to the orb and slowly making it grow, until it was the size of her head. The magic died down, and the solid orb, now like glass—floats down to the surface of the water, and lies there. The moment it skimmed the surface of the water, it unraveled, revealing the many layered petals of a flower. Pristine beyond the dreams of any mortals, it drifted on the surface as if it was a fraction of the weight it should have been. Elysium was the first to take any sort of action. She walked out into the water to stand next to her father, and stared at the flower intently. They stood there for a while, but nothing happened. Giving a sigh of defeat, she turned to him. “What exactly is it?” she asks, gesturing to the flower. Her father carefully scooped up an orb of water with his magic, the crystal flower floating in its center. [b]"A pre-emptive strike."[/b]