[center][h2]Li’Kalla[/h2] [i]Goddess of Rain 8 FP - 9 MP[/i] & [center][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/357353496057610242/531937501057777664/sym1A1.png?width=240&height=301[/img] FP: 01 MP: 05[/center] [/center] [hr] K’nell stood in silence, his eyes staring at the clouds forming in an otherwise bright blue sky. The ground underneath him betrayed the notion that it should be sunny, the soil being sun soaked and aromatic, and yet here he was staring at clouds. What had caught his interest was not that there were clouds, but that the clouds had not rolled in as clouds often do, for he would have seen it, but instead on their own accord decided to exist, very figuratively raining on his parade. He slid his hands in the pockets of his jacket and craned his neck upwards, his lips forming a thin line of focus. Gentle wind began to stir around him, moving various leaf litter into tiny tornadoes only big enough to give an ant anxiety, but not much else. Sucking in a breath, he turned over the aroma of rain, and sure enough, his eyes spotted the little droplets falling from the great sky above. Following a particular droplet as it fell from the heavens, he watched it slip down and eventually pluck the ground, leaving a tiny [i]’tat’[/i] sound that perhaps only a god could ever hear. In moments, an army of droplets followed, and in time, a gentle rain began to pour. The drops shied away from the god, leaving the ground around him a certain kind of dry as he watched the spectacle. Puddles formed gradually in little impressions in the ground, and between clumps of grass. Just as the ground finished its drink enough to saturate the ground, the clouds had sprinkled their last, leaving the god in thought under an again blue sky. K’nell let out a puff of breath and with gentle, meaningful strides, he began his walk once more. His stroll only coming to a sudden stop as he approached a puddle, the tiny body of water in his path. He peered down, and the reflective surface shimmered, causing him to raise a brow in silence. The puddle rippled slightly, and below it a young girl knocked desperately against the surface. Her eyes were covered in a black blindfold, and her face was twisted into utter terror. The puddle made no sound, but she could be seen panting and looking over her shoulder at something unseen, causing K’nell to freeze in anxious contemplation. She knocked and knocked as hard as her small, frail body could against the surface, and eventually one of the knocks sent a strong enough ripple through the puddle that the reflection was broken. When the water stilled once more, it was a mere puddle, and no sign of the girl inside the reflection remained. Kneeling down, K’nell dipped a finger into the cold rainwater, his eyes narrowing. Thoughts swept through his mind, as well as images. The essence that lingered on the puddle was that of Li’Kalla, that much he knew, but that was all he knew. He stood up and straightened his posture. Slowly he oriented himself in a new direction, and once again he continued his journey, his gentle strides replaced with long godly steps, that caused the world to brush on by. [hr] A great ring of stark marble floated before K’nell, the God’s own boots firm on the air itself. His fingers wriggled by his side as he stared through the shimming gateway to So’E, it’s reflective pool like surface staring back at him. The clouds of the island all around him were ripe with anger, donning a black cloak and a rumbling demeanor. Sharp stabs of anger seemed to emanate all around him, stabbing at his own emotions and filling him with discomfort. Darting his eyes all around one final time, he pursed his lips, and stepped through. A heavy pressure closed in on him as he emerged into the So’E. Blistering steam covered every single inch of the Sphere, with a violently boiling lake eternally on the verge of fully evaporating, were the dominant features of the location. A mist so thick that made the air seem so solid it would have blinded any mortal (should they survive the heat), and a rather peculiar smell was mixed in with that of the steam, the mist and that of impending rain. The smell of blood. The purest, densest blood to exist. It was Ichor, and not of a single source either, but of two. Shortly past the boiling lake was a shore, and a few paces into the shore, every single inch of ground was covered in a gruesome substance or lost body part. Sometimes it was scales as large as a human head. Other times it was broken fangs as long as a human arm. But mostly, it was ichor. Perturbed by the entire scene, K’nell couldn’t land on a single emotion, his gut twisting. The sight and smell caused him to pull a white handkerchief from his pocket and hold it to his nose, his boots hovering just above the mess as he walked. He grunted into his handkerchief a moment as he cleared his throat of the opaque steam, “Li’Kalla?” His traditionally grainy voice was louder than usual, laced with concern but below that of a shout. In the distance, a rustling of leaves and the breaking of wood echoed, and a low growl seemed to fill the Sphere, coming from everywhere and nowhere. Large, heavy steps shook the earth, and they approached. K’nell froze in his steps and narrowed his eyes, his vision cutting through the obscurity. The entity, monstrous in size and intent. A large beast with light blue scales intertwined with vines, burst forth with two wide open eyes like green suns that pierced through the mist and glared straight at K’nell. It had two wings, one extended fully in what he could feel was predatory excitement, and the other dangled uselessly, dripping ichor from various places where bone protruded from skin in unnatural angles. It’s maw opened slightly, a mix of saliva and ichor flowing for it onto the wet ground. “Oh Li’Kalla,” K’nell all but muttered, his voice calm but his eyes wide in absolute shock. The Monster stopped, its eyes never leaving K’nell. It shifted its weight and the large muscles in its legs tensed up, dislodging a few damaged scales. K’nell stared back, his heart slowly beating faster, filling the otherwise deafening silence. The lunge was like thunder. Trees fell, earth shattered, mist parted. The beast that had once been far away now held it maw wide open merely a pace away from K’nell, its tongue flicking out wildly. Saliva splattered K’nell, his heel suddenly turning, the beast just missing him as he juked to the side. His heart was in his throat as the fractions of a second dragged by, his hands came up defensively and then there was a bright flash. So’E was painted in divine light, a great buzz of energy deafening the scene. Gradually the light faded, the buzzing subsiding, and as it decreased, the lullaby of a sad violin cried out. K’nell stood next to the beast, a violin of dark phantasmal flames tucked under his chin, his hand working the ethereal bow across it’s strings. The beast was frozen in place, its sunlike eyes staring at K’nell. After a moment, it growled and released a mighty roar at the God, a roar which, despite all its defiance, died midway through, when the monster’s eyelids became too heavy for it, and it fell to the ground in a resounding [i]thud[/i]. The song pierced the sphere, only accompanied by the rumbling snore of the dragon. K’nells right sleeve was pulled back, revealing a silver spiral starting at his elbow and snaking around and around his forearm before clamping around his wrist. His arm pressed back and forth as he played, his eyes glued on the sleeping form. A minute passed as K’nell finished his song. As soon as his fingers let go of his instrument and bow, the forms dissipated, their particles leaching into the silver band. The God of sleep pulled his cuff back into its proper place and walked up to the unconscious dragon. His face was wrinkled in concern, the adrenaline of the sudden attack still coursing through his veins. Taking a few steps into the air, K’nell made his way to the beast’s forehead, carefully placing his finger on a scale. [hr] K’nell stood in a void of white. There was no color, no emotion, except that of a storm cloud above him. On the horizon there was lightning, and from that lightning, which was cut off midway by the white, flawless ground, a young, frail-looking child emerged. She ran and ran, desperately trying to reach the man. She gasped and panted and stumbled and fell, numerous times. Her knees were scraped, her elbows were curedely bandaged. She was wearing a ragged pair of ill-fitting men’s trousers and bandages across her chest. Her eyes were covered in a black blindfold, but her expression of terror was unmistakable. Mere moments after her desperate arrival, another, larger lightning shattered the skies, and a large, menacing beast crawled through. Its two sunlike eyes on a long snout filled with razor sharp teeth were focused on the girl. Its two leathery wings were spread wide in excitement. It crawled leisurely after the slow, fatigued girl, as if savouring her futile attempts at escape. “Hold,” K’nell commanded, the scene slowly coming to a halt. He tapped his chin twice and walked forward in contemplation. After a few more steps he stood between the girl and the beast. He looked back at the beast, and then forward at the girl. With a snap of his fingers weavers appeared out of thin air, floating around the God of Dreams. K’nell looked at them and pointed at the beast before walking up to the girl. Despite his confident strides, he could feel it all slipping. Sucking in a breath he slipped in front of the girl, He rubbed his chin with one hand, flicking his wrist with the other, and suddenly grass appeared under them, and a great stone wall building behind the girl, as if to block the dragon from view. Looking upward, K’nell poked a finger, and a high midday sun appeared. Scowling he quickly erased it, poking a bit lower, bringing up a cooler evening sun. Shaking his head and muttering something about being good enough, he quietly waved his hand, and a summertime breeze began. “You there.” He suddenly said, the image of the girl popping back to life, blindfold gone. The girl gasped and fell, tumbling around for a few paces before settling and propping herself up on her knees and elbows. She coughed uglily, as if a motor engine had housed itself deep in her lungs, and she quickly got on her feet and turned to look behind. She stopped in confusion as she saw a gentleman standing there. She panted, and after a while she calmed down. But then her silver white eyes widened and she felt around on her face. “Ah!” She shrieked, covering her eyes with both hands. She shook like a leaf, but eventually found the strength to speak, albeit frailly. “I-I’m supposed to… K-Keep my eyes hidden…!” “Why?” K’nell asked, slowly taking a second Handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to the girl. The girl bit her lower lip as she covered her eyes with a forearm and used the other hand to grab the handkerchief. She turned around and inspected it, and after confirming it to be of sufficient length, she wrapped it around her head and over her eyes. “I-If they see my eyes, they’ll know who I am…” She sighed as she tied a simple knot behind her head, brushing aside her short, blonde hair. “Who?” K’nell gently sat down next to the girl. “W-Who?!” The girl shouted in surprise, her mouth hanging open in disbelief as she turned toward the gentleman. “The bad men, of course! They’re scary, they want to hurt me. But I managed to escape, so now I just have to stay hidden, right? Just go by unnoticed… People don’t noti-” She coughed again, and her palm was coated in a small about of blood. “Sorry… They don’t notice broken ones, like blinded and deafened ones… Only the ones with strong souls, as the priest says.” K’nell cocked his head, a low grainy hum emitting from him as he thought, “The scaly beast with the sunshine eyes of green, tell me about it,” He quickly added, “If you please.” At the mention of the beast, the girl jumped and looked around, “W-Where did it go?! I had forgotten about it…! We have to run, it’ll eat us!” “Not here it can’t,” K’nell patted the ground, “Here is the land of learning and questions, so you see, by all my own inquiries.” She took a while to calm down once more, “... Oh.” She muttered simply, and she shyly sat down next to the man, making sure to scoot a little bit farther away than she’d initially sat. “The beast, it wants to eat us. It’s always crawled around... But it was never this big or scary, you know! I think it ate that one, you know, the one with the watery skin? That’s when we all went like BAM! And AH! OOH! RUN, RUN!, and we all ran.” “It’s funny you mention it, in the cruelest way,” K’nell folded his hands in his lap, “A dear friend of mine recently was eaten by the very same beast, and here I am in all my ignorance trying to -- well recover her.” The girl turned to look at the man, and after a while her lips quivered and tiny wet spots appeared on the fabric over her eyes. She averted her gaze and shrugged, “I-I’m sorry, Mister… I didn’t mean to be cruel. Please don’t be mad at me. I just…” She sighed and fell silent. K’nell waved a hand. “No, dear lady, I completely understand your own predicament and in no way hold it against your character,” K’nell’s grainy voice was quick to dismiss any notion of anger, “What I suppose I should have said was; could you help me recover my friend, by telling me all you know?” “What? R-Recover? But… You said the beast ate your friend?” “If you mind a tangent,” K’nell poked his chin, “but fancy us philosophers for a second, and suppose that perhaps my friend has become the beast. In a sense eaten, but not quite as you’d expect. In this case -- if this is what it is -- then I would like to recover my friend from the beast.” “Uuu…” The girl hummed softly, “I… I think I understand! Okay! I’ll tell you what I know. But, I don’t know that much about the beast itself. I always kind of… Avoided it. It’s always been scary. Just thinking about its eyes makes me shiver.” As if to prove her point, a shiver went down her spine and she got goosebumps along her arms. “Whatever you have is invaluable,” K’nell assured. “Well, it’s big now. It roars really loudly! Its breath kind of smells like… Ash? I know what it smells like because it almost caught me once. That was scary! I don’t like the beast, why did it have to chase after me…?” She went silent for a moment, before continuing, “For a good time now, the watery one was in charge. Barely. When we got into this new place, we found something weird, you know. It was like one of us, but… Ah! I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t really? It was too bright to make out, so- Or maybe- Bleh!” She stuck her tongue out and scrunched her nose up. “Okay, so, we got into this new place, this new thing appeared and got into the watery one. that’s when she became the one in charge. She kept us all together, and the beast in check. Something happened though. I can remember some parts… Screaming for help, slimy cold tendrils-” She shuddered, “At one point I couldn’t sense anymore, and shortly after that the beast grew and became big and ate the watery one. I guess it ate the new thing we got when we got here, too.” She bit her lip, “This new thing--I don’t know how to explain it. I’m sorry. I know a big eye brought it to us.” K’nell hummed in thought for a while, his voice swirling around the pair as it used to do before returning to his mouth, “You’ve been more helpful than you realize. Tell me -- if you can -- where are the others?” “Um, I don’t really know. Most ran into the steam that leaves our home, so they should be aaall over the world by now! I, uh, ran into the mist of our home. I panicked and didn’t think it through…” She sniffled and wiped her nose, “But! The only others were the elegant one, the mean one and the fun one.” “Four and the watery one,” K’nell counted, “That’s five. One is you, one is in the beast, and three are scattered about the world. Now, with this we have a few options before us. Would taking you from here worsen or aid the situation until all five could convene at once.” K’nell paused in thought for a moment, “Or shall I go to the beast directly.” K’nell suddenly stood up, “Is there any weight you’d like to add to my thoughts?” The girl looked at K’nell, mouth hanging open slightly, “P-Please don’t leave me here with it! I don’t know how much more I can run…!” “Not a problem, dear,” K’nell held out a palm to the girl, “Walk with me.” The girl hesitated for a moment, but in the end wrapped her hand around K’nell’s and let him lead head. K’nell stood still, and with a sudden cheshire smile, the entire dream flashed a draining white. [hr] Standing by the sleeping beast, K’nell received his hand from its forehead, a small opalesque orb, much like the one in his palace now in his grasp. He quickly dropped it into his pocket and patted the fabric with care. Steeling his resolve he looked forward at the beast, grimacing slightly as he floated downwards to face it’s gaping maw. His eyes flickered and he observed its soul. Scanning with his silvery eyes he craned his neck this way and that before finally they fell on an unusual sight: a shard. He poked his chin twice, “Better not risk it,” He said to himself. His eyes looked downward, his first handkerchief laying crumpled on the ground. Quickly snatching it and shoving it into his pocket he turned from the sleeping dragon, but not before laying a blue flower on its snout. “I’ll be back, Li’Kalla,” his grainy voice swirled after him. [hider=Summary] K’nell is in his leisurely walk, when suddenly it rains. Puddles form, and through the reflection in one of these puddles, he sees a young blindfolded girl knocking on the surface of the water from the other side desperately. After a while a ripple in the water makes her disappear. Some time later her finds himself going through the gateway into the So’E, where he quickly notices everything is rather inhospitable, and the lots of ichor and scales covering every surface. He find the Monster lurking in the Sphere and it immediately attacks him, lunging. K’nell however dodges in the nick of time and uses the Armlet of Sleep to put it to force it to sleep, but not before it lets out a deafening roar in defiance. When it’s fully asleep, K’nell does his dream stuff. He sees the same blindfolded girl from before running from the beast. He does some more dream stuff, ends up finding out she’s a part of Li’Kalla’s soul, one of her personalities. Says there are others. The Elegant One, The Mean One, The Fun One, and The Watery One. As well as The Beast. K’nell dream orbs the hecker out of her and put her in his pocket once awake. He inspects the sleeping beast and sees an unstable shard of its soul inside it, which he notes as important. He kinda embarks on a fetch quest to find the Elegant, mean and fun ones. as well as find someone specialized in souls to consult about the unstable shard inside the Beast’s soul. [/hider] [hider=bloops] “Oh Li’Kalla,” K’nell all but muttered, his voice calm but his eyes wide in absolute shock. The Monster stopped, its eyes never leaving K’nell. It shifted its weight and the large muscles in its legs tensed up, dislodging a few damaged scales. “She’s got a gun!” Suddenly the police opened fire, tear gas flying “STOP RESISTING! STOP RESISTING!” They screamed at the top of their lungs, beating the unconscious dragon with their batons. [/hider] [Hider=Might Summary] K’nell 5 mp(boosted) to make the The Armlet of Sleep. This artifact allows K’nell to summon instruments from the palace of dreams and use their sound to put all in its radius to sleep. The music transcends mundane hearing and instead directly influences the mind of intelligent creatures, or the body of the unthinking. Because of its immense power, it has the capacity to put even gods to sleep. Dream stuff: discounted to 0 (whew) Li’Kalla 8 FP - 9 MP Nothin used breh [/hider]