[b][color=lightblue][i]Bring me worthy souls[/i][/color][/b]

The curator drifted through the frost coated halls of the vault of souls, its eye like central core and two stone limbs pushed through the corridors by gentle gusts of wind. It had been given instructions by the goddess who dwelled high above to find her volunteers for a noble cause. It was joined by many other curators carrying out its task, who drifted through the halls for souls fitting Azura’s specification. As they did so they had to navigate around the newcomers to the vault, blue, green and purple Armonia. The constructs of song and stone had entered along with the first massive batch of souls and now patrolled the halls endlessly in search of intruders or stood as silent unmoving sentries at various key locations. If the curators were capable of feeling annoyed, the presence of the brutes getting in the way of their work would likely have frustrated them to no end. As it was the curator simply floated around the short guardian standing in the way of its next shelf and then set to work.

Its small hand grasped a crystal and lifted it upwards in front of its eye. A small projection of the person it had once been formed. It asked its questions and found the soul unwilling to assist the goddess's cause. It put down the first and picked up the next, and attempted to bring out the consciousness of the soul but received only a fractured static image of a person instead of a perfect one. It screamed mindlessly when asked the questions. The Armonia standing behind the curator turned at the sound, then its eyes began to follow something the curator could not see skittering away from where it had picked up this crystal. There was a loud crack as the armonia suddenly lashed out with the whip it had in place of a hand. The chain of levitated Luft Stone held in glowing purple Verse struck a point of the wall, smashing the spider sized Soul Fiend responsible for corrupting the soul in the curator’s hand to a thousand pieces. There was a moment of stillness as the Fiend’s shattered remains fell from the wall onto the shelf, the very corruption that had given it life making it far more fragile than the crystals it had been made to infect. Then the curator and Armonia returned to their duties as if nothing had happened, just as their kind did every other time this happened. 

Orvus’s infestation had been contained but not exterminated. The Armonia could not recall all the various times they had shattered the mites and see that they needed to perform a thorough bug hunt if they where to be rid of the pests. Instead they simply dealt with them as they saw them and driving them into the shadows whenever their numbers grew to large to remain hidden. 

The curator put down the infected crystal, ignorant as to why it had screamed so madly, and picked up the next which turned out to be a wholly unique specimen.

[hr]

The void soul awoke and yet its world stayed dark. Then the darkness told it a story about the death of a Selka named Lekika and her life after that death. Then the voice spoke directly to it.

[color=lightblue][i]I have completed the machine that I told Lekika about, one that will craft forms that remember more and suit their wear’s perception of self better. Yet it is still not a life suited for all. It is not a solution to death. Its aim instead is to bring back extraordinary people, who have the knowledge, will and strength to help me overcome death and the challenges of a cruel world. To aid both the living and the dead find peace and happiness. If you have something you can give to the world, wish to ensure that none die as you did or simply have the will to live and a desire to help then I would be most grateful if you offered your aid to this cause.[/i][/color] 

Then it became silent and awaited the soul’s decision, the power of the curator allowing them to remember much as an Armonia would.

The soul sat in contemplation, the strangeness of the entire ordeal washing over it for the first time. Indeed, it could not remember how it ended up here, yet it was, and now it had a way out. It could feel that there was a certain weight at hand, that it no longer tarried in the old dark, beset by hungry flames. This was a new dark, a quiet dark, and one that would simply not do. 

“Take me to this ‘machine’, then.” It said, with eagerness in its voice. Anything was better than whatever it was now. And that was simply the truth. 

[i][color=silver]It will be done. [/color][color=lightblue]Remember, sleep, and then you will awaken anew.[/color][/i] They were told, and so they did.

[hr]

Awareness blossomed once more, and they saw themselves, a small crystal of many colors that they somehow knew contained their entire being. It was suspended in an endless void filled not with hungering nothingness but rather with potential, ready to stir ideas into existence with but a thought. 

[color=silver][i]Picture in your mind’s eye a vision of yourself[/i][/color] spoke the machine [color=silver][i]and offer it to the void.[/i][/color]

It looked upon itself, and saw what housed its being in the nothingness. A crystal. A soul. [i]Its soul.[/i] That had been the method of salvation. Then it pictured itself as it had been before the shattering, before the void swallowed it whole and into the darkness it went screaming. Then it tapped into the potential, and came again as it had looked, but not as it had been.

Light erupted into the void, or perhaps it was song or ideas that were merely being conceptualised as light. It was impossible to tell. Regardless, it became surrounded by a sphere of spots of light, from which long ribbons of Verse emerged, beams of glowing energy escribed with musical notation, which wrapping around their soul to form a cocoon. This cocoon slowly solidified and then, once partially set, began to morph into the shape of a body. Appendages sprouted from it and features began to slowly emerge until it had formed a rough glowing outline of its old form. Then it solidified, song turning to stone and metal filled with verse that seemed yet malleable even as they solidified. The souls awareness became doubled, seeing through eyes at the same time as it saw its entirety. The body shifted slightly as it did so, compensating for some of the differences between what it thought it had looked like and what it had actually been like to live inside its own head.

[i][color=silver]Now you may adjust as you see fit to craft perfection.[/color][/i] the machine informed him.

As the voice commanded, so it was done. It grew in height, it’s face becoming a mask of black, featureless, yet it could see with clarity. It’s body grew, shaping itself to what it wanted, and what it desired most. Red Verse began to fall from it’s back, like a crimson cape, as well as several dots of crimson along it’s arms and chest. It’s body, once fragile, became a construct of metal and stone. Flexible and powerful as it ever had been. The [url=https://i.imgur.com/nqU60Jj.jpg]being[/url], he was born anew. 

Once he was done, the machine knew. The external awareness dropped away and then he truly awoke for the first time in an eternity and saw the world without eyes. Looking around he found himself standing in a vast antichamber surrounded by a cross between an orchestra and a mechanical spider. Dozens of limbs ending either in claws, scalpels and chisel or with instruments such as flutes and violins hemmed him in while he stood at their center atop the small podium where he had conducted his way into existence. 

Moments after he awoke the assorted machinery pulled back and away from their masterpiece, folding itself up against the ceiling of a large room made of polished sandstone coloured rock. A soft light pervaded through the room with no obvious source. The rooms only occupant was another being like him. Her form was tall, lithe and distinctly feminin in shape while a cloak of feathers every color of the rainbow that grew out of her shoulders and cascaded down her back.  Part way down that cloak transformed into a pair of [url=https://i.imgur.com/hhsOOD6.jpg]wings[/url] that she had wrapped around her waist to form a feathered dress. Her face was reminiscent of a bird, with three armored plates forming the shape of a beak at the bottom while numerous scales formed a crest at the top. A single small opening in the center of the face gave the impression of an eye, while two openings at her ears and several at the end of the crests also leaked red Verse, all of it blending together to form a semi transparent visor that covered the upper half of her [url=https://i.imgur.com/f4eyEGF.jpg]face[/url]. 

The stranger stepped forwards and, while offering him a hand to help him step down from the podium, told him [color=lightblue]”Welcome back to the land of the living.”[/color]

He looked upon the female, with a mix of interest and disgust. He had never seen such a strange curiosity before, then again, (and it was at this point he looked down at himself) he was different as well. Far too cold, but such a feeling was only welcomed by him. He also did not feel alive, but he did feel aware, and that was all that mattered.

With a faceless stare, he looked at the bird woman again and reached out a hand. Hesitantly, he almost pulled his hand back, but then he took the stranger’s hand, and stepped down to be eye level with her. He let go, flexing his hands as he did so, it was a strange feeling to be in a physical form again. He had no recollection of what it felt like anyways, but he could tell something was slightly off. It would take some time getting use to. 

He then spoke aloud, “And do I have you to thank for such a gift?” his voice modulated with a silvery undertone. [i]It was delightful to hear.[/i]

[color=lightblue]”I am Azura, one of the many Gods of Galbar who has, hmmm, taken custody of the souls of deceased mortals.”[/color] she explained, before turning to leave, the goddess walking with a spring in her step he noted, through a door in the chamber while gently beckoning him to follow [color=lightblue]”If you’ll come with me we can walk and talk so you can get used to those new limbs of yours.”[/color]

“I see.” he said quietly, standing still for a moment, digesting her sentences. He then began to follow, his legs unsteady as he went.

[color=lightblue]”Now I imagine you have a lot of questions, but if you could tell me a bit about yourself and what you know already first It will be easier to fill in the gaps.”[/color] she said, as they made their way down a long incredibly gently curving corridor. As they walked they passed a few rooms filled with bizarre contraptions and odd looking science experiments working with gemstones and some kind of dust suspended in glass jars. Once they left those behind however, every room he happened to glance in was empty.

“Firstly, I must thank you, Goddess Azura. Long did I weep in the darkness, cast aside by all. Save for the flame that hungered. Then the madness did set in, and I wrestled with myself for control. I fear the worst would have passed did you not save me, and I must conclude that you healed me as well. I no longer feel the degradation of my mind, the twisted whispers in the deep.” He paused, looking into an empty room, before continuing. “For that I am grateful for your compassion and for giving me a… Second chance at existence. But where are my manners? I am Rignol, son of… Well it doesn’t really matter anymore, I suppose. My past now only exists within my memories. If what you say is truth, and from what I can remember, I am very far from my birth place. As such, I shall keep what I know to myself for the time being, just until I know exactly what this place is and all of its people. I’m sure you can understand that, Goddess Azura.” He said, smiling somewhere deep down inside.

The goddess took it in stride, and in fact seemed delighted by what little he had told her about himself, emitting an emulation of a gasp [color=lightblue]”Then you are a Void Soul like us gods.”[/color] she exclaimed [color=lightblue]”Don’t worry, while I am a little jealous of your memory of where you came from, I won’t pry too hard. This is, after all, something of a fresh start for us all. Now, that does mean you have an awful lot to catch you up on. That’s good, in a way, because we need to make sure the adjustments to memory capacity I made based on Lekika’s experiences are working as intended. You recall her story and how to remember things right?”[/color] 

“Of course Goddess Azura. This ‘Lekika’ was but a paving stone on the path of knowledge. Her experiences were necessary so that I could prosper, and so that those that come after me, shall prosper as well. Memory is a strange thing in this form, but even now I am growing. In no time at all, remembering will be as easy as it was. Now, if you would be so kind Goddess Azura, I would enjoy hearing about this world and the Gods who walk upon it.” he said, touching the wall as he walked. 

[color=lightblue]”Excellent, excellent.”[/color] she responded [color=lightblue]”It would be my pleasure to teach you Rignol., and please, call me Azura.”[/color] Then she theatrical cleared her throat despite not having one and then began [color=lightblue]”In the beginning there was nothing Galbar, a dark world covered in an endless sea, its creator, the Architect, who sat in his palace on high...”[/color] 
 
[hider=summary]
Initially we follow a curator as it searches for a “worthy soul” in the vault of souls. In the process it reals a Soul Fiend after picking up a decaying soul gem, but is unable to see it until an Armonia destroys the insectile pest. The curators and Armonia continue as if nothing had happened, ignorant to the infestation of Soul Fiends in the vault even as the guard's individual actions  prevent it from growing out of control

It picks up another soul to whom the perspective the narrative then switches. This soul is told about the afterlife of Lekika and of the machine that Azura said she would build to improve her after life project. Then a recording of Azura asks if the soul would be willing to aid her by testing the device and if they have a desire to live or something to give despite the uncomfortableness of Armonia based living. The soul, hungry to be alive again after an eternity in the void, asks to be taken to the machine. They are told to remember what has been said, after which they sleep once more.

They wake up in a character customisation screen and get to design their new Armonia body. Then they wake up inside that body, which is in a machine made of dozens of robot arms that have just built its new body to their specification. The machine releases them and they are presented with Azura, who has placed herself own crystalized soul inside an Armonia body since last we saw her, presumably as the first test subject of the machine. 

She helps the void soul down from the machine and the two converse while strolling through the halls of the sky bastion. Azura explains a few things like who she is while the void soul reveals his name to be Rignol, but is otherwise cagy about his past before the void.

Then Azura begins to lay out the history of the universe from her perspective inorder to fill him in on what he has missed during his stay in the sky pyres and we fade to black.
[/hider]

[hider=mp]
Start: 5 fp 4 mp

Reminder: the monument used to place soul crystals into Armonia was paid for the last post. (it was 3 fp, empowered by the soul crystal port.
Offscreen: 0 mp for an unseen tonnikala form that shrunk down Azura’s size significantly, followed by a 0 mp soul crystal form that has been inserted into an Armonia. This Armonia is identical in ability to other Armonia, and thus lacks devine durability, while her crystalline soul retains it.

2 fp: formed an order that hasn't been named yet made up of extraordinary individuals who have been raised from the dead. Current membership: Rignol

End: 5 fp 4 mp

Portfolio progress:

Birds (9/10)
Bards (2/10)
Necromancy? (3/10)

[/hider]

[hider=prestige]
Undead monks:
Starting prestige: 0
1 prestige for being in the post
1 prestige for a member (Rignol) being the star/pov of most of the post
1 prestige for a collab with [@Lord Zee] as Rignol
Final prestige: 3
[/hider]