[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/2b4925ee-b215-4b89-a794-5058a6c53e13.png[/img]
[h1][colour=lightseagreen]Ashalla[/colour][/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/7oQVf7m.png[/img][/center]

Ashalla swam with joyous pulsations. ‘Your reef is gorgeous,’ Azura had said. Someone thought her creation was gorgeous. She had always known that her creations were beautiful, yet the affirmation left her jubilant. Ashalla swam eastwards to find new parts of the world to inspire her next creation.

She found a new continent which was currently quite rocky. She circumnavigated the coast around the south. The great volcano of Muspell was still sitting where Ashalla had seen it earlier. As the coastline turned towards lower latitudes the barren landscape gave way to grasslands and forests inhabited by insects and colourful birds. A detour southwards to the Eye of Desolation revealed that all the islands of the crater were now covered in plants and life. Then she travelled back north to travel up the east coast of Kalgrun, looking at the forests there.

Ashalla marvelled at the beautiful diversity of plants and animals. This area tasted of Phystene’s essence. Ashalla felt inspired to create a few living things of her own. She took a lizard and modified it, giving it wider feet for swimming, waterproof eyes, and a long snout with nostrils on top so it could breathe while mostly submerged in the water. She took a few birds and gave them waterproof feathers and webbed feet. And she adapted a few trees to grow in shallow sea water, their physiology made to handle the extra salt and their trunk suspended above the water level by stilt-like roots so they would not have to fight against the ocean currents. Ashalla felt quite proud of her additions to this ecosystem.

As Ashalla swam onwards, she passed through a strait which seemed to have perpetual rain clouds. Across the strait was a large sandy island, the beaches held together by dune grasses. In the middle of this strait Ashalla found something quite peculiar sitting on the seafloor. It was a wooden box which tasted of Vakk’s essence. It was filled with water, so Ashalla could see that its interior was filled with intricate mechanisms of wood and metal. It was unlike anything Ashalla had ever seen before.

Ashalla opened the box’s lid, and when she did the mechanisms started to turn, but they appeared to struggle against the water’s drag. She closed the lid, lifted the box above the surface of the ocean, drained it of water, then opened the box once more.

A ripple washed over Ashalla as the notes began to play. There was something about the tone of each note, the harmonies of overlapping notes and the rhythms as the notes changed which made the music greater than the sum of vibrations in the air. The piece pulled on her metaphorical heartstrings and she was mesmerised by the beauty of it. It was like the birdsongs of Azura’s gemstone gardeners, yet meticulously crafted such that no note was out of place.

Ashalla listened to the music box for a long time, rain gently pattering around her. Eventually the sky began to darken and Ashalla was pulled out of her reverie. She reluctantly closed the lid of the box. She would have to find some place safe and dry to keep it. Ashalla continued swimming northwards, carrying the box above the waves.

She eventually reached the ocean north of Kalgrun, and the water here was much cooler. At higher latitudes, she even started noticing chunks of ice floating in the ocean. She inspected the frozen water, pondering its uses and admiring the abstract curves and shapes carved by the water and sun. As the sun came close to orbiting the horizon, Ashalla noticed that the seafloor was rising. Her curiosity piqued, she swam northwards until she found land at the top of the world.

The island was a couple hundred kilometers in diameter and was ringed by mountains. In its very centre was a stone spire which pierced the sky which glimmered with Azura’s signature colour. The barren ground had a patchy covering of snow and ice.

Ashalla looked at the island for a while. From where she was looking, it appeared quite utilitarian. She also noticed the blue sky shift, and realised that Azura must be present on the island. Ashalla thought she would pay her friend a visit and show her the music box she had found.

The ocean surged forwards and gathered on the shore. This wave continued to roll uphill in defiance of all known laws of hydrodynamics. Ashalla collected snow and ice from the ground and melted them into her form to supplement the water lost as she dragged herself across the ground. It was a tough climb up the mountain slopes, but Ashalla would not let something as mundane as a mountain stop her. Eventually she reached the top of the mountains, slithered through a mountain pass, then flowed downhill like a torrential river into the valley between the ring of mountains and the sky-piercing spire.

The valley was barren. Ashalla pooled in a depression as she drunk puddles of rainwater and snow and considered her next move. The central mountain was very steep and tall. While Ashalla would not have admitted it, climbing over the normal-sized mountains had been an ordeal, so climbing to the peak of this vast mountain would have taken a lot out of her. Ashalla considered calling Azura down to her when she noticed movement down in the valley.

It was a creature, if that word could be used, of floating stone and clouds. It was carrying a load of rocks and dust, which it dropped on a pile of more rocks before turning around and floating back the way it came. Another almost identical entity came with another load of rocks and did the same. As Ashalla watched, she saw a whole procession of these entities.

Curious, Ashalla approached the strange creatures, which did not react to her presence. A pseudopod of water reached out and brushed over one of the creatures, which recoiled from her touch before returning to its task as if nothing had happened. It tasted of Azura.

Ashalla stretched a head up to look along the procession, and noticed that they were coming from a ravine in the base of the mountain. Ashalla flowed past the procession and into the [url=https://youtu.be/Tt4clSHR9o8]ravine[/url]. She traveled almost a kilometer from where the autonomous creatures were dumping their rubble loads, the walls of the ravine growing ever higher and ever closer together as she did so. The ground below her made of the same rubble the drones had been dumping outside, the creatures having clearly been pushing their deposit site further and further out of the ravine as more and more material had piled up, threatening to seal them in if they did not press on further and inadvertently reveal the location of their work to those like Ashalla. At first this uneven gravel pathway was slick with snowmelt that flowed slowly downhill, but as she approached the end this centimeters deep river was replaced first by snow proper, and then by ice, making the path a treacherous one for those who might walk it.

Eventually, after dodging several dozen drones Ashalla arrived at the end of the ravine. Above her the tops of the walls reached hundreds of meters above her and were but centimeters apart, having curved together until, here, they joined together. Past the final few meters, the now cave-like ravine was its end point, a bleak cliff face of stone into which a grand entryway had been carved, vast enough to accommodate even the most colossal of the Gods. The walls around the cavernous gateway were smoothly carved and engraved with wavy wind-like patterns that framed it and brought the eye to an engraving perched atop the entryway. There, carved in the language of the gods, was the name of this secluded tomb: The Vault of Souls. 

As Ashalla approached the cavernous mouth of the Vault she felt more strongly what she realised she had been feeling softly during her whole approach- a gentle yet bitingly cold breeze emerging from the vault itself. Yet as the flow of air increased the flow of floating stone workers subsided. They where now found higher up, seemingly riding an air current that flowed in opposition to the one at surface level. Stretching a watery limb high up she discovered a warm breeze dragged into the depths of the tunnels and realised that the Vault, in a sense, breathed.

Beyond the entryway the smoothly curved tunnel travelled forwards a way before transforming into a staircase that plunged deeper below the mountain, the way down pitch black except for faint lights emanating from the stone workers who continued to ignore her presence. Ashalla paused to look down into the depths. There was a moment of hesitation, not from any sense that she might be trespassing, but rather on whether she would be able to climb back up after descending. Ashalla quickly overcame her trepidation and poured down the staircase.

It was unclear for just how long she descended the gargantuan staircase into the depths but as she did so it became clear that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, a soft glow similar to that emanating from the Vault’s curators. When she finally glided off that final step she became the first ever to see the depths of the vault, for it was a place its creator dared not venture. In the depths of the earth, below the north pole itself, was a vast tube shaped room that stretched up and down for kilometers. Around its outside where rings of walkways linked by a dozen sets of spiral staircases that all crept their way up and down its walls. All of these had sturdy stone banisters that warded human sized individuals from falling off, as well as columns of increasing thickness and decreasing frequency that would do the same for larger creatures. The Caretakers did not use these stairs, nor were they protected by the banisters, and yet they continued to carve them while extending the core of the vault ever deeper. 

As Ashalla exited out into this near pitch black hub she was able to see, thanks to her godly dark vision, a series of carved plaques set into the nearest supporting pillar that described what was contained on each floor. Most of these were empty but those that were not contained descriptions in the format of: tunnel number, species categorization, date of arrival (denoted in days since creation) and name starting letter. The floor she was on for example contained, among many other things, "Tunnel 3: Mice, 0 - present, A-Z"

Looking along the walls of her floor Ashalla could indeed see a number of tunnels, each one with a number carved above it and a similar plaque set near its entrance. It was from these tunnels that the soft glow that just barely lit up the place emanated. Ashalla reached a tendril of water into one of the tunnels and looked inside. Into its wall were carved thousands of small shelves, each one housing a singular crystal. Below these shelves an inscription had been engraved on a small placard, consisting of a name, species, date of entombment, and a brief description akin to a obituary. Every single one of these Ashalla read pertained to some simple creature or plant. Every single one of their very simple descriptions, ones that were written in the manner a creature like the one it was describing might speak to a god, had ended suddenly and violently.

Ashalla picked up one of the crystals and tasted it. It was a soul, yet one given solid form. It was also very cold. Ashalla replaced the crystal and looked around the room and the vault once more. Azura had… frozen all these souls, if that was the right word. Souls of the dead, preserved forevermore. With nothing more worth seeing, Ashalla began the long climb back to the surface. As she climbed, she pondered why Azura might have done such a thing. Did she have some purpose for the souls? Was she considering using them as a power source, like she had done in the drones? Maybe she hoped to keep a record of the lives of all creatures on this planet. Ashalla wasn’t sure, but she could ask.

When she made it back to the surface, she called out to Azura, who was perched high above the clouds. [color=lightseagreen][b]"Hello, Azura. What have you made here?"[/b][/color]

Ashalla got nothing but silence for a few long moments before she got a response in the form of a rapid-fire series of questions [color=lightblue]"Ashalla? What are you doing here? Where are you?"[/color]  

[color=lightseagreen][b]"I’m down the bottom of this big mountain you made. I came to show you a music box I found but then I saw your floating-rock-cloud-creatures digging a hole in the mountain and found a bunch of frozen souls down the bottom."[/b][/color] Ashalla twisted so her face had a better view up the mountain. [color=lightseagreen][b]"Did you want to come down and talk?"[/b][/color]

[color=lightblue]"Oh dear,"[/color] Azura said, followed by another lengthy pause. Eventually she added, [color=lightblue]"Yes. I’ll come and see you. Be with you in just a moment so sit tight."[/color] 

As she peered up the mountain Ashalla saw a pair of large doors being thrown open on the vast twin ringed structure built around its peak, out of which the Colossal Bird Body of Azura emerged. The gates slammed shut behind her, after which Azura sailed around the blue in a few lazy circles until she seemingly spotted Ashalla, at which point she descended rapidly to the mountain's base. The Azura that landed just a little way away from her was a different compared to the one Ashalla had battled the storm haunting Veradax’s shadow with. Dust, damp and stray feathers marred her radiant plumage. She had bags under her eyes and they were also slightly red.

Ashalla noticed Azura’s weariness. The water of her form stretched out towards the big bird and licked Azura’s right wing. Ashalla tasted traces of blood and sap from mortal beings. [color=lightseagreen][b]"Have you been in a fight?"[/b][/color] Ashalla asked, mildly concerned.

Azura tilted her head in confusion [color=lightblue]"Hmm? No… Not yet"[/color] she said before taking a moment to examine herself. [color=lightblue]"Hmmm. I am looking a little worse for wear I suppose. Haven't had much time for beauty sleep or preening lately."[/color] The massive bird shook herself, dislodging a few stray feathers and a touch of the grime, but it did little to improve matters. She looked away, perhaps a touch embarrassed at being seen in such a state, and ended up looking at the entrance to the ravine. [color=lightblue]"Ah, I can see how you found the Vault so easily,"[/color] Azura commented as she watched another pile of rocks being thrown into to the slowly expanding gravel field. [color=lightblue]"I’ll need to do something about that. Can’t have just anyone snooping around in there."[/color] Azura locked her gaze firmly on Ashalla and said, [color=lightblue]"I need you to promise me that you won't speak a word of this to Katharsos or anyone who might let this slip to him."[/color]

For the second time in her existence Ashalla had been asked to promise something. Yet like the first time, she would not take making promises lightly. [color=lightseagreen][b]"Why should I promise that?"[/b][/color] Ashalla asked.

The claws on one of Azura’s talons scraped against the ground pensively before she answered, [color=lightblue]"It could hurt me greatly if you told him. But I don’t even need you to lie for me though. Just don’t go out of your way to tell him of the vault and its contents for just a little while until I am ready to make this knowledge public. Please. I would be in your debt"[/color]

Ashalla rumbled thoughtfully. It did not appear to be a difficult promise which Azura asked. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"Alright, I shall keep your secret,"[/b][/colour] Ashalla said.

Azura breathed a sigh of relief, visibly releasing some of the tension that had gripped her since her arrival. Then she bowed her head and said, [color=lightblue]"Thank you Ashalla. I will remember this kindness,"[/color] before raising back up and saying, [color=lightblue]"I also owe you an explanation my friend. What you just saw in the Vault of Souls was the results of my initial experiments into preserving souls by crystallizing them into a solid form after death to keep them from being pulled by the Vortex of Souls. So far I have only worked with simpler minds but I intend to work with more complex souls when I get the opportunity. My end goal is to prevent souls such as ours and those of mortals yet to come from being committed to Katharsos’s flame as those that came with us from the void were."[/color] 

Ashalla pondered this for a moment before asking, [colour=lightseagreen][b]"But why would you bother preserving mortal souls?"[/b][/colour]

Azura cocked her head once more as if the very question confused her, and then responded, [color=lightblue]"They are like us. They think, they feel. They love and learn. When I saw them up there in Katharsos’s Sphere I realised that were it not for the idle whims of the Architect we could have been in their place, lining up to be reduced to ash by a monstrous executioner. I also realised that if I had been one of them I would have fought my end with all my might with the hope that one of the gods was working to save me. By mere chance however I was that god Ashalla. I came to them in their hour of need. I tried to save them. I failed. I failed them all Ashalla. But I will not fail again!"[/color]

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"So you identify with mortals. Interesting,"[/b][/colour] Ashalla commented dispassionately.

[colour=lightblue]"I empathise with them yes..."[/colour] Azura responded, visibly disturbed by Ashalla’s lack of sympathy for the mortals’ plight.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"So what do you plan to do with the preserved souls? I noticed they could be used as a power source,"[/b][/colour] Ashalla asked

Azura answered Ashalla’s question a touch sheepishly, [colour=lightblue]"I uh, haven't really decided. Yes they can be used for power, the Curators’ simple souls take advantage of that fact, but I know I for one would not like to be used as a source of energy without my consent, so I do not intend to use those saved as such. I intend to discuss this with others in time, mortal and god alike, to create a suitable life after death for the souls that end up in my care. For the moment however the most important thing is to perfect the art so that all can be saved as soon as possible. What comes after is a concern for a later date."[/colour]

Ashalla rumbled once more. She then decided to turn her attention to other matters. She pulled forwards the wooden box she had been carrying around and held it between her and Azura. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"I found this on the bottom of the ocean,"[/b][/colour] she said as she opened the box, allowing the melancholic tune to play.

[colour=lightblue]"That’s an odd place to find such a thing,"[/colour] she responded before the music washed over her. She became calm, serenely so, a passivity that was broken infrequently by violent twitches which were quickly quelled by the perfect melody.

Ashalla’s face shifted to one of concern and confusion. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"Is there something wrong, Azura? You are acting strangely."[/b][/colour]

[colour=lightblue]"I’m fine,"[/colour] Azura responded calmly, [colour=lightblue]"I’m just tired. And busy. Very busy."[/colour] Then she flinched as if struck and then growled [colour=lightblue]"Why are you here!"[/colour] before serenity overtook her once more and she fell silent.

Ashalla closed the music box with a click and the music ceased. Azura shook her head but seemed to not have noticed that anything was amiss and instead simply commented idly that [colour=lightblue]"The music was nice"[/colour] 

Ashalla then spoke. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"As I swam here, I saw chunks of frozen water and had a few ideas. If you want to keep this place secret, then maybe some kind of physical barrier would help. A vast plain of ice and snow, perhaps."[/b][/colour]

[colour=lightblue]"Hmmm."[/colour] Azura seemed to ponder this for a few moments. [colour=lightblue]"Yes that could work. Snow to cover the gravel, ice to hide the chilling of the area around the vault. I could modify the curators slightly. Make them only dump materials during snowfall perhaps."[/colour] She nodded enthusiastically. [colour=lightblue]"That would be a wonderful way to hide it. Bit like throwing a white sheet over it."[/colour] 

Ashalla rippled in excitement. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"Excellent! I’ll get started right away,"[/b][/colour] she declared before flowing up the slopes of the mountain range. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"I’ll see you another time, Azura."[/b][/colour]

[colour=lightblue]"Thank you so much Ashalla! That’s two I owe you now!"[/colour] Azura shouted up after her.

Ashalla eventually made it over the mountains and back to the ocean. She drank deeply of the ocean’s vastness, replenishing lost water and expanding back out to a comfortable size. As soon as she was replenished, Ashalla deposited the music box on the shore of the island and receded into the ocean as she started the task of freezing over the north pole.

The mechanism of freezing water was simple enough. She just had to move energy from the water to the surrounding environment. Because the ambient temperature was already hovering around the freezing point of water, this was not especially difficult. Ashalla pulled half of her form out of the ocean and carried the water’s warmth with it, flash freezing a portion of the sea into a great ice floe topped with twisting pillars of ice. Ashalla continued her dance spiralling around the north pole, conjuring ice twisted into fantastical shapes.

She did not forget the north pole itself. While her original plans did not include moving ice onto land, Azura had requested it, and it was a simple enough addition. Ashalla drew herself up to mountainous heights and began hurling ice and water over the mountain range into the valley beyond. She could not actually see where the water and ice was landing, but she assumed it was probably fine provided she didn’t throw enough water to flood the valley and the Vault of Souls. She wanted to build a solid foundation for a thick layer of permafrost which would help conceal the contents of the valley. If the ice got in the way the Curators could just dig through it.

With what Ashalla believed to be enough ice deposited within the mountain range, she continued her dance around the north pole. As she progressed outwards, she got more creative with the ice formations she made. Where many of the formations were twisted bits of ice, she took a bit more care with a few sculptures. Some she twisted into elaborate abstract forms. A few she carefully formed to refract the light in dazzling ways. Others she carved into likenesses of living things. She made likenesses of each of the gods. Of Azura she made multiple sculptures. She also made sculptures of all the plants and animals she had seen, for she had a lot of space to work with. She even carved a few maps of places on Galbar.

There was no utilitarian purpose to these ice sculptures. They made the terrain harder to walk across, but such a goal could have been achieved with much simpler formations. Rather, Ashalla was loathe to create a blank and featureless ice sheet. With a new medium to explore and plenty of blank canvas to work with, it was only natural for her to experiment.

After many days of work, Ashalla had stretched the polar ice cap to over a thousand kilometers from the north pole. It was chilled by the Vault of Souls and by being only on the fringes of Heliopolis’ beam, so the ice cap would remain indefinitely, but it would shift and change over time for ice was not a durable material. The sculptures were ephemeral, although the lasting impact of Ashalla’s will meant that they would surely be replaced by other artistic forms as wind, sun and water carved the ice sheet.

Her work done, Ashalla swam underneath the ice sheet and burrowed up through the ice near the north pole to retrieve the music box. Although this was one possible place to store it, Azura’s strange reaction to the music box made Ashalla feel that this was a bad location to leave the box. She carried it with her as she swam southwards to warmer, more occupied waters. Perhaps she would find another home for it elsewhere.

[hider=Summary]
Because Azura praised Ashalla’s creations (back at the Great Soul Reef), Ashalla now considers Azura a friend.

Ashalla navigates Kalgrun’s coast. She modifies a few creatures, creating mangroves, salt-water crocodiles and sea birds (default godly power of mutation under Oceans Portfolio).

Ashalla discovers the Box of Orchestration. She identifies its creator and finds the music to be beautiful. She decides to keep the box, even though it doesn’t work underwater.

Ashalla gets to the North Pole and identifies Azura’s handiwork. She hauls herself over the mountain range, where she discovers the Curators and the Vault of Souls. She explores the Vault of Souls, giving us a look at the inside, before returning to the surface and calling Azura.

Azura is paranoid and suspicious that someone had found her secret soul vault. She makes Ashalla promise not to tell Katharsos, a promise which Ashalla eventually agrees to, before explaining the purpose of the Vault. Ashalla does not sympathise with the plight of the mortal souls, in contrast with Azura’s deep empathy for the mortals. Azura also doesn’t have a plan yet as to what to do with the mortals she saves.

Ashalla shows Azura the music box she found. Azura also appears to find the music beautiful and serene, except for when she makes brief violent outbursts directed at the music which she promptly forgets about. It is unclear why Azura behaves this way, but Ashalla decides that it’s best to keep the box away from Azura in the future.

Ashalla then pitches her idea for a polar ice cap, suggesting it could improve security. Azura likes this idea, so Ashalla goes off to execute it. Ashalla freezes the surface of the ocean for over a thousand kilometres from the north pole, and also covers the ice cap with innumerable ice sculptures of all sorts. While the individual ice sculptures are ephemeral, Ashalla’s influence in the region means that there will always be ice sculptures of some description covering the ice cap. They also make the ice cap very difficult to walk through. She also dumps a bunch of ice inside the north pole valley, extending the ice sheet inland.
[/hider]

[hider=Might Summary]
[u]Ashalla[/u]
[i]Start:[/i] 6 MP & 7 FP
[i]Spent:[/i] 7 FP & 1 MP on creating the sculpture-filled polar ice cap (major terrain modification, enhanced a tiny bit by Oceans I guess)
[i]End:[/i] 5 MP & 0 FP
[i]Portfolios:[/i] 2/10 towards Colour
8/10 towards Storms
9/10 towards Ice

[u]Azura[/u]
[i]Start:[/i] 0 MP & 0 FP
No Might spent
[/hider]