[centre][h1][color=darkorange]𝔖 𝔢 𝔦 𝔥 𝔡 𝔥 𝔞 𝔯 𝔞[/color][/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/HagVyJE.png[/img] [hider=Seihdhara of the Red Hair | The Crimson Goddess | The Sanguine Protector] Goddess of [i]Martial Combat[/i] 2 Might and 23 Freepoints[/hider][img]https://i.imgur.com/o5T6T0Q.png[/img][/centre] [indent][sub]Time: The Day the Gods Came[/sub][/indent] And I floated like a distant dream [centre]When there were none looking to see[/centre] [right]And it was a dozen claps and beams Across the shore and into the stream I floated like a distant dream[/right] And the mind perceived a simple thing [centre]The heart, it danced and sang with glee[/centre] [right]As we often used to dance and sing Where you held the blade and hid the sting I floated like a distant dream[/right] There on that yonder red river bank [centre]You gush and gush and gush and- flee[/centre] [right]Till you breathe your last and break your flanks And sink where all the other ones sank Where I floated like a distant dream[/right] [centre][youtube]https://youtu.be/r1oA4QTxSvM[/youtube][/centre] And she knew a hotness beyond heat, so intense that the difference between hotness and coolness became indistinguishable - a heat where heat itself let up, fell down, and lost its meaning. And when meaning collapsed there only remained what meaning you had created for yourself in yonder days and times when ease was abundant and the promise of hardship was far and easy to shrug off and wave away like so many irritating flies. But that self-created meaning, for those who had taken the time and care to carve it when it seemed unneeded would prove to be the final crutch - the only crutch. If you did not stand on that, you in reality stood on nothing, on an illusion that slipped away the moment everything you thought so real became what it truly was: immaterial. [color=goldenrod]You are dead, and that is all that you are.[/color] Strength rippled through her and she rejected the words with defences she never thought would prove so necessary. Because you will not kill me, much as it would please you. [color=lightblue][b]I will teach you to respect your elder.[/b][/color] An inward flinch, a furious gaze. They who looked with the outer eye only, saw little. A massive eye stared unblinkingly as if hoping against hope that all its great one eye could see would make up for the closed eyes of soul and mind and heart and being. But for all your seeing you could never see me could you? For all your gawping eye. [color=lightblue][b]My cause is beyond your understanding, but my instructions are not. When I give them, I expect that they [i]will[/i] be obeyed.[/b][/color] So proud of your great big eye. So insistent on blind obedience. And this purpose you have violently carved into the minds of the free spirits you fished from the great beyond, this illusion you have given as a false crutch too fool those who attempt to see. For all your great big eye, you truly do hate sight don't you? [color=goldenrod]Child! This denial that you are experiencing is a most frequent thing.[/color] Don't you 'child' me. What have I done for you to take such a tone w- [color=goldenrod]Equality in death! It is not a matter of whether your life was fulfilling, or whether you were a god or a tiny vermin. All must be subjected to the cleansing fires here. You are dead, and the dead must make way for the living. This is the only way.[/color] No, not dead, I reje- [color=goldenrod]When you enter the Pyre, your thoughts will manifest to my eyes and I shall be elucidated. In that final moment, I will understand you. But before then, it seems unlikely.[/color] I won't let you. You can't look i- [color=lightblue][b]The fortitude of your frame, the blood in your hair and flesh, the very air that you breathe. [b]I[/b] gave you all of this![/b][/color] Not true. You're a liar. Why are you ly- [color=f6989d]Oh, Seihdhara, you fool! I should’ve realized it sooner. You’re still dead.[/color] W-what? No. Go away. I'm n- [color=goldenrod]Things fall apart, and souls do not last forever. Those that are not yet so decayed, like you, I feel no need to rush. Eventually all dead things must find their way into the pyres.[/color]I'm n-[color=goldenrod]You are but a pale mockery of life, a lingering vestige. Once the death of body comes, the death of soul should not be protracted for long, lest they decay and become like the most wretched of specimens.[/color]H-[color=lightblue][b]Before I brought you here, you were nothing but a worthless echo, a formless shadow, doomed and trapped in the Beyond. Such a waste.[/b][/color]Yo-[color=f6989d]Ugh, I knew I should’ve dragged your corpse back up from that lake of blood you left behind. I am not about to take any chances here. You are to remain with me until we can get you up and alive again, ok? Don’t put yourself in more danger than you already are![/color]Notyourchildyo-[color=goldenrod]The Vortex of Souls brings all of the dead here, and you are clearly dead.[/color][color=f6989d]Ugh, I knew I should’ve dragged your corpse back up from that lake of blood you left behind.[/color][color=goldenrod]Call it misfortune, or happenstance, or [i]destiny[/i] that killed you and brought you here. You are dead.[/color][color=lightblue][b]Before I brought you here, you were nothing but a worthless echo. Such a waste.[/b][/color][color=wheat]Fuck you. And you. And you especially.[/color]What a-[color=goldenrod]Now that you are dead, there is no leaving this place. There is no more acting, no more doing anything anywhere else, no second chances. The only things left for you are rumination, and then taking the final step.[/color][color=f6989d]Oh, Seihdhara, you fool![/color][color=goldenrod]Equality in death![/color] Stop. Back o- [color=goldenrod]You cannot escape. There is no choice to be had in that all must find their way to the pyres.[/color][color=lightblue][b]The fortitude of your frame, the blood in your hair and flesh, the very air that you breathe. [b]I[/b] gave you all of this![/b][/color][color=goldenrod]Your purpose is nowhere near so grand as you purport; your lot [i]was[/i] to die, so that I could look into your pyre and see you, and [i]know[/i] you. Or perhaps there is no purpose at all. You are incorrect in your convictions, Seihdhara.[/color][color=f6989d]Ugh, I knew I should’ve dragged your corpse back up from that lake of blood you left behind.[/color][color=lightblue][b]I will teach you to respect your elder.[/b][/color][color=goldenrod]One does not write their own destiny, or simply decree that he is beyond death.[/color][color=lightblue][b]Such a waste.[/b][/color][color=wheat]Fuck you. And you. And you especially.[/color]Can you just-[color=lightblue]It is disappointing to see you so unable to grasp my perspective or look beyond yourself, but I hold hope that the others are more mature. I can see that you will not be swayed, yet neither do your words or threats change my mind. Here you shall remain, until the end of your days.[/color] [color=goldenrod]Here you shall remain, until the end of your days.[/color] [color=f6989d]Here you shall remain, until the end of your days.[/color] [color=wheat]until the end of your days.[/color] [indent][color=598527][i]Have you ever heard the screams of a dying god?[/i][/color][/indent] You may well not be expecting to hear this of all things, but they sound unexpected. No god expects to die, you see. It's not something we do, you know? When I was cloven in two, I admit that it was pretty unexpected. Gods are not meant to die - but if they were to, I would be the one that didn't. And yet I did, didn't I. I remember only that the world was very bright, and then my legs were falling down beneath me. I was still alive then - what was the loss of hips and a few feet? And then pain exploded behind me, I might have said something - [i]umph[/i] or some such sound with meaning beyond words. And then I fell right out of my body, looking down at myself, blood exploding from the gored bald head as though my hair was back and as living as it had always been. And it tumbled awkwardly earthward like some tattered and broken ragdoll. That's how I died. [color=goldenrod]My lot [i]was[/i] to die. My purpose was nowhere near so grand as I purport; my lot [i]was[/i] to di[/color]- w-what? What? [color=f6989d]Oh, Seihdhara, you fool![/color][color=goldenrod]Equality in death![/color][color=lightblue][b]I will teach you to respect your elder.[/b][/color][color=goldenrod]You are dead, and that is all that you are.[/color][color=f6989d]that is all that you are.[/color][color=lightblue]that is all that you are.[/color][color=wheat]that is all that you fucking are.[/color] [color=goldenrod]You are but a pale mockery of life, a lingering vestige.[/color][color=lightblue][b]Before I brought you here, you were nothing but a worthless echo, a formless shadow, doomed and trapped in the Beyond. Such a waste.[/b][/color] Pale... mockery. Such... waste. [color=c0783b]Tu emu soh oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] Rhu? [color=f6989d]Oh, Seihdhara, you fool![/color] [color=c0783b]Tu emu nuyyu oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] Tu? [color=c0783b]Tu emu soh oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] Tu emu soh? [color=c0783b]Tu emu soh oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] oh yeokeahea ha- [color=c0783b]Tu emu soh oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] ey [color=c0783b]Tu emu soh oh yeokeahea ha ey[/color] [color=goldenrod]Child! This denial that you are experiencing is a most frequent thing.[/color] [colour=darkorange]TU EMU SOH OH YEOKEAHEA HA EY![/COLOUR] [indent][hider=Summary]This appears to be set in Seihdhara's mind, references to heat suggest that she is in Muspell. Seihdhara is assaulted by the voices and (variations on) words of gods she has interacted with in the past. The words prove overwhelming and it is not certain who is speaking. Even when Seihdhara's voice comes through its content suggests it may not be her speaking, but nothing is clear. Towards the end Urhu's voice comes through speaking in a different language. The words, whether she understands their meaning or not, appear to strengthen Seihdhara. 2 MP & 23 FP Remaining[/hider][/indent]