[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kWUEJ4e.png[/img]

[h2][color=7bcdc8]I'Iro[/color][/h2]

[img]https://web.archive.org/web/20090829213918/http://geocities.com/Area51/Omega/9355/tealbar.gif[/img][/center]

"I had a dream." The elder said. His words falling upon deaf ears as all the few souls left gathering around the faint fire within the makeshift tent had been way too exhausted to listen even to the oldest and most wise of them. 

"Was it another nightmare?" his son questioned, finally ending the lingering silence from before. "Or were you lucky enough to have a pleasant dream?"

"It was neither. It was... a strange dream." the old man trying to explain, his headache returning and making him vacillate. He focused on the fire before continuing.

[right][code]muesque mian_stelque vouiste_mian = { .pi = CHUARDO_URSE(┌) };
chuardo_din->vouiste.nif [/code][/right]

"It was about a woman, perhaps a princess, or maybe even a goddess. She was sleeping, but her kingdom needed her to be awake. I can't tell why, I saw hope, but I also saw profane ambition in their eyes."

[right][code]clanfre (bulcu_sa=strol)
uangle_sa_ecle
trute{
sueb(┥〒┑╫)
} [/code][/right]

"They prepared many gifts to try to wake her up. They sent bells on wings of glass high up to play strange music. They prepared a great jousting ring underground, the size of a continent, where fighters crashed as fast as a glimpse. They captured a star and hid it deep underground. Yet she did not awake."

[right][code]clul_undo_vieu_me:
┣: PIESTE;
╃: PIESTE;
╬: PIESTE;
╛: VIN;

ABLE_BULCU_SA (╛)
......................VOUISTE[/code][/right]

"Time passed, the people and their kingdom were lost, all of it crumbled to dust. And only them, once all sense of purpose was lost, did she... ah...."

[right][code]
SUO (SA_ACLE);
SA = VIN
LUE SUO.........
ONEIRO_NEITH_GLPNR_GALBAR.SA
[/code][/right]

"Well, then I couldn't follow anymore. I woke up with my head burning." he laughed at it, but to this point the sheer overload of what he witnessed in his dream haunted him, the old man wondered what it could possibly mean or if it was yet another bitter surprise of the end times.

At this point, someone entered the tent in a rush. 

"Elder... everyone. The scouts have returned. They couldn't find the source of the brightness, yet, they found a person. Seems to be an earthling."

[right][code]LUEST ("wow")[/code][/right]

[center][img]https://web.archive.org/web/20090829213918/http://geocities.com/Area51/Omega/9355/tealbar.gif[/img][/center]

"So, you are telling me you do not remember anything, you saw nothing, and that you merely wandered southward without aim, not a care in the world as said world fucking broke around you?" the captain laughed to himself. "Either you think I have a major mental defect, or you are the defective one here, lady."

[code]The assumption I am defective is reasonable. From my analysis 99.998% of all information I once held has been lost. This is also why I cannot answer your questions.[/code]

Thinking the woman was being irreverent and mocking him, the guard captain tried to "slap some sense" into her, only for his hand to meet the hard surface of her face with a metallic clank. "ARGH MY FUCKING HAND" he cried as the attack had only really hurt him.

"What is happening here? Have you not heard how to treat a traveler from your mother? We must..." the elder stopped his complaint towards the guard when he saw the woman. "What... it can't... You! I saw you in my dreams!"

[code]Oh. Did you? My apology. I was very unstable upon activation. It is possible I broadcasted an improper amount of information by accident. It looks however your neural system is functional enough.[/code]

"I... do not fully understand you." he moved the guard away and faced the woman. "What are you?"

[code]I am an entity of divine properties. Purpose... To be understood. You may call me I ... Iro.[/code]

"I'Iro? And... divine!? You are a goddess?" the elder's eyes turned wide "These truly are the end times, should this be this true.  What... brings you, who claims to be divine, to us."

[code] I did not come here with a purpose. I have few uncorrupted directives left. One of which involved fleeing south to find a safe haven from the unstable nature of this land. Therefore I wandered south. Until I was asked to follow a band of armed men and brought here.[/code]

The elder sighed. What a situation he had at hand. This weird woman, supposedly a goddess, just wandering into the little survivalist village they had. To send her away, however, felt wrong, he could not shake away the feeling that his dream had to mean something, that this woman had some purpose related.

"Well, you seem to be tired. You just left a terrible place, so it's no wonder you are a bit... shocked. How about this, join us for a bit. Perhaps this will help to jostle your memory the right way. It's not safe to be wandering around here."

[center][img]https://web.archive.org/web/20090829213918/http://geocities.com/Area51/Omega/9355/tealbar.gif[/img][/center]

I'Iro was accepted into the circle of people around the fire with great suspicion, but, she was an avid listener, and these few souls left in the husk of a city were more than willing to just tell their story to someone.

At first the goddess had wondered if her assumption about the inhabitants of this world had been wrong. The image of a mortal human she had was nothing like these people, burly of body, with thick spotted skin and horn like growth all over, some even having extra eyes or limbs. But it soon became clear these people did not consider themselves "human", identifying those as "earth born" or in a more rude manner "earthling" while they called themselves the fire born.

These people's origin was a mystery, they only had legends at this point in time. Once there were many thousands of them, now, only thirteen, three of which female, none of them fertile. They were a dying race in a dying world. But still, I'Iro found them fascinating. They were the first true source of information she had ever since she woke up in the ruins, and to understand these beings so different from her own origin was pleasant to her, as in, seemed to fulfil her directives in a satisfactory manner.

"You see, the Earth Born, they see themselves in stone, as such, they desire the eternity of the mountains. They craft copies of their face in marble so they may last longer than flesh, they preserve their bones in hope one day they may awake again. We, are like fire, we burn brightly, and then we are gone. Eternity is not worth sacrificing your life for. There is the here and now, the past is ashes and the future flame doesn't warm the current you." one of the man explained. "Its why we outlasted them here, once the mountains broke so did their promise of eternity, they lost the will to fight and live, pitiful really."

[code]It does not however bother you that soon enough your legacy will be lost? This continent is improper to sustain life at this point and your numbers do not provide the genetic diversity necessary for long term survivability.[/code]

"Well, all things must end. What is important is that we fought and that we will keep fighting until the last of us vanish. Until the last fruit of our flame tree falls, I won't fall."

[code]Flame tree?[/code] I'Iro turned with interest towards the person speaking, her head tilting slightly. [code]That seems to be contradictory. Also I have not seen any type of flora in my journey so far.[/code]

"Haha, of course we forgot, I am sorry. Indeed, the reason why we have been staying here is that the cave under this building has the known flame tree we have. Its... something special to us." the elder explained before getting up. "Come, see it."

The trip downward did nothing to help the goddess understand what was happening, all of her sensors just noticed an increase in all the measurements that indicated a toxic lifeless environment. And yet, upon entering the chamber, she saw the tree. A mutated thing, with transparent leaves and fruit of a slight glow.

[code]What a peculiar specimen. Its... Wait. This symbol! What is it?[/code] she pointed towards a drawing on the wall. Running towards so the elder could see what she meant.

"That? Oh that was one of the many beasts our ancestors fought. An armored flying serpent. A thousand years ago, maybe more. Not too far from here, the whole gravesite of the battle is a holy site to us. You see, long ago the earthlings learned how to condense earth into metal, with their affinity they..." the elder stopped himself, she seemed different from the calm and cold woman he had seen so far, it was easy to guess this meant something to her. "Oh. Is it something you recognize? I will tell the scouts to take you there! I am a bit too old to make the trip."

[center][img]https://web.archive.org/web/20090829213918/http://geocities.com/Area51/Omega/9355/tealbar.gif[/img][/center]

"Do you believe any of this goddess mambojambo?" the fire born scout asked his captain, still keeping a sense of hierarchy despite their so called "group" being only the two of them. They were also the guards of the village, and many other roles too.

"Bleh. She is a weird thing she is. But the elder is the elder, and she seems inoffensive enough you know? Just don't punch her, lady is made of thick stuff, almost broke my hand."

"I... I wouldn't punch her...? Why did you punch her? Goddamnit, if she is a goddess she will make us all be on the bad side of the gods."

"Yeah, I think we already crossed that list when they made the sun fucking disappeared, don't ya think?" he said sarcastically, before looking forward, seeing I'Iro had taken the lead and rushed ahead. "Oi, oi! Stop that! If you fall off a cliff or bloody rift we are the ones who will get yelled at!"

But the goddess had set her eye on something, walking to the middle of the site of the ancient battle, searching the ground for a moment, and then kneeling, touching the soil.

[code]Acle Miuquer Viei Frui. Uangle.[/code] She whispered.

And with that, the ground started to shake, a roar of metal as a creature long dormant awoke again thanks to the divine infused words. The great flying serpent, a mechanical dragon.

{Stra fui za? Stra fui Nalmepror Miuquer?}

[code]Oneiro Neith ge ele pe ene ar. Acle Sa Galbar.[/code]

{Acle... Sa?} with the identification complete the wyvern bowed to its new master.

[hider=Visual representation overhead. Capy doesn't know how to draw.]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/4oHcf2N.png[/img][/hider]

The scouts, of course, were gasping in awe of the scene. "Lady... did you just bloody revive the creature? It took like, a lot of effort for our ancestors to defeat the thing and bloody revived it?"

[code]Nalmepror is under my command. He will not do harm to you. I need him to be able to leave the continent safely.[/code]

Without further explanation, she climbed on the back of the dragon, preparing herself to command the beast towards the promised haven. The land that called to her as soon as she became a divine script.

{u aque vogmeu brogminrque deuve}

[code]Yes the sun is missing. However I can provide you with the energy for the trajectory.[/code]

"Wait!" a voice called, it was the elder, who came running, clearly fatigued as the path was too rough for his body at this point "Oh... you revived the machine serpent? I... At this point I am not impressed."

[code]Did you come to wish for aid? I am unsure if in this deteriorated state Nalmepror would be able to carry more than just me.[/code]

"Oh no, no, no. I do not wish to flee this land. As we said, we will fight in it to the end. Even if... it seems inevitable it will come. We will protect our tree to the last. But, well, I wanted you to have something, goddess, before you left to that new land. Its a branch of our tree. A memento of our encounter."

The goddess took the gift and nodded. [code]Thank you. I will keep it safe.[/code] She could not understand why the elder would desire to protect this more than his own people, even if accounted for the genetical information held by it, it seemed secondary to that which they held within themselves. She could not understand why they would stay and fight in a lost, sinking continent, sure to face certain death.

And perhaps that was why she was so fascinated. To not understand meant a chance to learn, to acquire new data. And that seemed to be her purpose, outside, of course, of survival.

Nalmepror extended its wings and started to hover upward, its crystalline wings starting to shine in pearlescent colors, I'Iro in his back. With one last glance at those people and the land, knowing it would be the last one she would ever get, she turned her face southward, commanding the dragon to fly at full speed.

[hider=Summary]
The story starts with an old world fire born elder having a dream about a strange woman. (Iiro is born, "wow" is the divinus "Hello World")
Said strange woman shows up to his post apoc village the next day. Its I'Iro, calls herself divine and is clearly lost.
He decides to keep her around, maybe she will remember something. Tells him a bit about himself, his people and a very quick glimpse at fireborn philosophy. Shows her their sacred weird mutant tree. I'Iro sees weird metal flying serpent thing in the wall.
Elder says it was a beast slain long ago, nearby their place too. 
I'Iro leaves for that place, revives the flying serpent (Name is Nalmepror)
She leaves on it, as the continent she is in is doomed and breaking apart, towards the place where all other gods are going. Before she goes she is gifted a branch of the sacred tree.
[/hider]