[center][h2][b]Purpose and Perspective[/b][/h2][/center] [hr] As Asceal stepped off the Chariot a wave of relief washed over her. She’d been on edge for the entire journey, and even now the Goddess of Light looked downright dim from stress. At least she was here now, back home. It was a peculiar word, one she had scarcely understood before she’d exhausted herself building the marvel of crystal she stood on, but now she couldn’t imagine living without a place like this. Somewhere she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she was safe. Even if Melantha attacked her home, her Lustrous Garden, the shadow would only find that the very sphere was a defense against the darkness. Or it would be, once she ignited the furnace and fulfilled her purpose in this universe. Once she’d freed all those lost souls on Galbar from the darkness they suffered in. Comforted by the thought she brightened and made her way into the palace of blue crystal she’d landed at the entrance of. It was unadorned for now, but she smiled thinking of what it could be. This was where she’d oversee a world awash in light, and where that light would originate. It only took a few moments of walking before she approached the black chamber deep within her palace. The chamber which held her Celestial Furnace. It was open, and for a moment the trepidation crept back into her mind. She’d forgotten to seal the chamber, and anyone could have seen the dormant furnace. Anyone could have destroyed it. With a sigh she banished such thoughts and entered, finding her greatest creation unharmed. Melantha had just attacked Heliopolis, there was no chance she’d have managed to come here so soon. There was no reason to be so nervous. There certainly wouldn't be once her Furnace had come alive. With a satisfied smile Asceal rested her hands against the Furnace and poured her strength into it. When Aelius had activated his Furnace he hadn’t known what he was doing, Asceal had made it so he needn’t have, but that wasn’t the case here. She understood exactly what her creation was doing with her power. Within the working of magic divine energy was being gathered, distributed, and used to summon something. An eternal spark. She watched with bated breath as the Furnace readied itself for the spark, and then, at the critical moment, she noticed a tiny fleck of something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Something in her Furnace, something she hadn’t made. Her world exploded before she could investigate. [hr] [i]Agony[/i]. She had never known pain. She had never even conceived of it before seeing Aelius cleanse himself in the light of his Furnace, and even then she only understood that it was an unpleasant thing. Her understanding of it was academic and distant; pain was a stranger to her. Not now though. Now she was well acquainted. She couldn’t say if it had been a second or a year since she first felt it, but she would never forget that instant. The moment everything went wrong. It had been as if someone had torn her apart. As if she’d been dissected and kept alive merely to see how much suffering a living being could endure before it succumbed. Every fibre of her being had cried out as the pain had wracked her body. As her Furnace had been destroyed. Time and time again it played out in her mind. The eternal spark beginning to manifest in her Furnace, its brilliance lighting up her Sphere, and a tiny fleck of black popping. Whatever it was it had destroyed the thinnest filament of magic in her Furnace, but that was enough. Before it had even fully formed the spark had escaped through that void in the magics containing it, and its interaction with the crystal beyond had been predictable. In a fraction of a second her Lustrous Garden had been blown apart. All around her crystal meant to contain the power of a sun had vaporized, the force of its expansion shattering everything near it and propelling the shards to unthinkable speeds. Shrapnel had peppered her from every direction, and even now she could feel a million tiny cuts bleeding into the void she was suspended in. Her one saving grace was that it was over almost as soon as it began. She had been left here, floating in emptiness, watching the brilliant sparkling cloud that had been her home expand into the void. With a pained expression and a whimper she willed the million cuts and holes in her body to close, and reflected on her failure. For that was what it was. She’d dismissed her fears, been punished for it, and now she floated in the middle of nowhere amidst the price of her naivety. She’d thought her purpose was to bring light to the lost souls on Galbar. She wondered if that had been pretension. Who was she to bring them light? She who sat by as Aelius defended his home; she who lost hers to her own pathetic foolishness. She who stewed in her own despondency. At least she did until she felt a presence in the debris that surrounded her and turned to see it. To her surprise a single spirit floated past. It was frayed and hurting from its passage to the universe, and in spite of her own misfortune Asceal’s heart panged with sympathy. Sympathy and guilt. [i]Ah...[/i] She thought, [i]So it’s you who I failed.[/i] As she watched her injured companion she noticed that while the spirits movement was lazy, confused from the cataclysm it had been caught up in, it seemed to have a destination in mind. She looked out towards the spirits apparent destination, near the barrier, and saw a smattering of lights. For a moment she was confused, but that confusion quickly gave way to horror as she focused on what she was seeing and feeling. The poor spirit wasn’t moving towards those lights, it was being dragged. With effort Asceal reached out and captured the little soul. She was the Goddess of Light, and she understood what those specks of light were in a way that only she could. They were souls. Burning souls. She couldn’t even imagine what would compel one of her siblings to incinerate the poor souls that had accompanied them to the universe. What sort of twisted, malicious, evil mind could even conceive of such a thing? Asceal could almost understand what had been done to her, why one of her siblings had done it, but this? It was too much. She turned away, but she could never be blind to the light, and oh how very many little lights there were. She cradled the tiny, tortured soul she’d saved and wept radiant tears. How deep was her failure? She’d set out to offer the unfortunate souls who’d been passed over by the Architect some comfort, some light, and not only had she failed to provide that but now she learned those very souls had been tormented and destroyed while she sat by convinced she was working for their benefit. She was a failure, a mistake. The Architect should have passed her over and she should have burned with all the rest. Maybe another would have done better. She wept and raged and held tight that single soul she’d saved. The only one she hadn’t failed, at least not completely. At the thought she held back her tears and regarded the little spirit she’d pulled from the jaws of her vicious sibling. She’d saved one. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. She’d imagined her purpose was to spread light, but was she not a God? Could she not define her own purpose? Light be damned, she would help whatever souls survived the massacre her sibling was committing. With a newfound determination she poured what little strength she had into the little spirit. She mended it where it was broken, strengthened it where it was weak, and began the process of giving it a real form. Asceal hadn’t been able to tell what it had been before it had come here, but in what scant memories the little soul had the Goddess had been able to sense distant and faded affinities. Water, nature. Perhaps it had been like Phystene in another life? With those affinities in mind Asceal built the soul a body of vines, filling what gaps there were with a glowing sap. She made the body in her image, for that was what she knew best. The little soul deserved the best after all Asceal had done to disappoint it and its kin. Once the body was complete she joined the soul to it, carefully, kindly. It took a moment but soon the bodies eyes fluttered, pupils glowing blue. The woman of vines looked around uncertainly and began to open her mouth, struggling to speak as Aelius and a number of Asceal’s siblings once had. With effort the woman managed, “Where... Where am I?” Asceal smiled and took the vine woman's hand, before responding, “My home, I suppose.” “It’s...” The vine woman looked around, “It’s rather empty isn’t it?” Asceal chuckled, even as the comment reminded her of her loss, “I suppose it is, we’ll fix that though.” “We?” The vine woman asked. “Yes,” Asceal smiled at her new friend, “You and I, because we can always trust one another.” Asceal’s companion smiled at that, but a confused look crossed her face, “Who am I? Who are you? I... I don’t remember.” “Hm?” Asceal considered the question, she supposed the spirit did need a name, “I’m Asceal, a friend, and you have no name yet do you? You’ll need one. How does... How does Liana sound?” The vine woman rubbed her shoulder and considered it before brightening and nodding. Asceal hugged her and spoke softly, “Come on then Liana, It’s rather dreary here at the moment. I have another friend whose place is much nicer.” With that said Asceal spent the very last of her energy creating a bubble of light around the two. Without a word it began to accelerate, speeding towards Heliopolis. [hr] [hider=Summary & Might Costs] Asceal's sphere explodes and she gets depressed. Who blew up her sphere!? Asceal saves a soul. [b]Might Costs:[/b] [i]Asceal: -4 FP (Ignition of the Furnace) -1 MP (Healing herself) -3 MP (Saving Liana) -1 MP (Making the light bubble) {4 FP & 0 MP Remaining} [4/5 Towards Remedy Portfolio][/i] [/hider]