[center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLjE1MjI0Yy5UV0ZsYkhOMGNtOXQuMAAA/gondess-demo.regular.png[/img] [h3][sup]Collab between [@Enzayne] and [@yoshua171][/sup][/h3][/center][hr] It seemed as though nothing had changed since the last time Neiya entered Antiquity, now that she once more stuck her head out from her own realm to give the world beyond a demure, searching peer. Slowly, the horned goddess drifted out from the irregular tear in reality that separated her bleak domain from the rest of the lifeblood’s collective prison. A finger crooked around the loop running through the shackle around her throat, resting cautiously as she hovered across the dirt-covered ground, icy blue eyes enraptured in a slow search and examination of the moving shapes milling about Antiquity yet. The voice she heard had given her renewed purpose to enter the unknown, a cause to leave the pavilion deep in her realm for but a short time. Neiya kept to the edges of the vast, shared realm as she drifted onwards in her journey, preferring to scan the shapes she could see from a distance and occasionally glancing into realms as she passed the entryways into new and mysterious places. None of these places seemed to call to her any more than her own did, a blank canvas of divine energies. The maelstrom of emotion remained the dominant focus for her mind, pressed aside only by her determination to locate the source of the voice she’d heard. For a brief time, she'd find that her search was fruitless, as each realm failed to draw her in. However, as she made to complete her circuit a siren song--a feeling--began to press against her mind. With each step a gentle coaxing web of intention draped her form, its intangible melody entwining with her form, guiding her. A yawning rift fashioned in a shape most curious, beckoned to her, its edges less jagged or simple than those many thresholds she had previously disregarded. It appeared intentional as if the consciousness that had bid it to exist had done so with some fey design in mind. From beyond the opening could be glimpsed an enigmatic thing, like color and movement wrapped in shadow and silk. It shifted and fled from the foreground of her awareness as if it existed always at the edges of her vision, at the cusp between the unknown and the understood. Mere steps away, that gateway it appeared more frightening, more tantalizing than most any single thing could be. It was dangerous. It was home. It was utterly unfathomable, yet unspeakably familiar. Something, from beyond the threshold of its boundaries, called to her heart and soul and mind. She could not help but answer. Her hesitation was disintegrating with each step, overtaken by a building curiosity that enraptured and ensnared what wits she’d possessed prior to feeling the rift’s call. Neiya breathed a shallow breath, leaning forwards in the air to gingerly examine the vast enigma that played with her senses, cautious pale fingers extending in a searching and gentle attempt to touch the mirage. Fingers ran slowly against the edges of the rift, and icy eyes briefly pulled from their sorrowful regret beheld it with a listless concern that belied the determination with which the goddess seemed to now act, against her usual judgment. The horned goddess breathed another quiet breath, watching the ominous rift ripple and weave in the corners of her eyes. It was a brief lull of rational thought and concern, before the siren song took full hold. Neiya drifted forwards, immersing herself in the rift, and entered the mysterious world beyond. Like a spray of frigid fluid upon her facade, a wash of sensation struck her and it was like she had never breathed before. While some might find themselves wholly overwhelmed, she would be merely dazed for a moment. The maelstrom of feeling hidden deep in her mind had prepared her for something such as this. Even so, the realm she stepped into was nothing like that sorrowful dirge in her mind, no, for it had a music all its own. Every emotion, every thought--some familiar, some alien and strange--sang in this place beyond the threshold. It was more than music. It was more than any sound or sensation and if she allowed herself to drift a moment--mind unfocused and unbiased--she might glimpse the barest glimmer of its Grand Design. To perceive it was and understand was perhaps impossible, yet the longer she looked and felt and heard the more the goddess would find herself drawn into its hold. Within that embrace would be revealed a subtle pattern. Something she knew, but had never realized. A deeper intuition, beyond proper thought or rationale. It stirred something deep within, a feeling of safety. It reminded her of those first moments of existence when there was naught but compassion for mortalkind, and a touching embrace wrapped around her. For a few moments, Neiya hovered aimlessly, motionless and lost. The maelstrom of emotions was dampened, replaced by that warm sense of security with which she had welcomed Galbar in her first few moments of life. Her hands spun out into the void, touching at nothing yet feeling all that she desired, a return to silence - or rather, a tranquility that let her think, and her heart be still. The horned goddess remained like this for a time, content to submerge herself in the alien sensations that carried her onto new horizons without pulling her under. With it came a clarity she hadn’t felt in thousands of years. With that clarity she allowed her mind to wander, to listen and experience. Even if only for a short time. [hr] A starlight silhouette shrouded in gray, Àicheil crossed into Antiquity and--in swift order--found an image unfamiliar crowding his mind. A confusion that did not last, a coiling serpent of interest, a bloom of curiosity. The Dreaming God crossed the stonework colosseum, passed beyond the threshold, and entered his realm anew. [hr] With his entrance, a transient ripple pressed itself outwards and through that Dreaming Realm and with it came knowing. A tilted head, then expansion as Ѻs-fhìreach abandoned all semblance of form. A Goddess had entered his favored place, a sibling, and she was far from the shore of sanity. Buoyed still by the stability of his twin, Àicheil pressed through his realm in an instant, emerging several strides from the drifting goddess. His awareness pressed against her skin from all directions, gentle but prying. Intrigued. With each moment his mind relaxed and so inwards fluttered a wealth of knowing. A calm chime of understanding, a subtle lantern of intent, then a ringing word. It was a name. [color=#234C5F][b]“Neiya.”[/b][/color] In that utterance was held the sum total of all knowledge of her being. A sorrowful truth. A joyous song. Monotony. Vengeance. Beauty. In the endless dreaming design of his eldritch realm, two vast eyes opened. They blinked as if adjusting to the world--two steady glowing embers in a vast cacophony of color, gazing down upon her. A small sound, the essence of a gasp stifled, then silence once more. The pattern stilled, but that clarity she’d attained yet remained--immovable. The horned goddess spun in place, attention drawn from her languid peace to instead focus on the changing architecture, ice-blue eyes meeting the vastness beyond with no mind to fear or worry. If one could stare defiantly into the eldritch eyes of the dreaming abyss, Neiya was not far off the mark. Once again her hand reached out, though she was uncertain as to what she truly reached for. [color=8493ca]“You know me, but I do not know you. Who are you?”[/color] came a calm query, lacking the disappointed bite that all too often tinged the love goddess’ words. A gentle rumbling laughter, a flurry of color like a flock of loosely painted birds. Joy, amusement, then silence. For a time they remained like this, the Goddess and the formless dreamer, gazing upon one another with defiance and intrigue. He regarded her, plumbing the vast depths of boundless knowledge, perusing the infinite library of experiences for shreds of knowledge further. He grasped at these the threads of understanding and when finally he was sure, he spoke once more. [color=#234C5F][b]“I am the Dreaming God,”[/b][/color] he proclaimed, and with that single statement the Worldweave shook with the thunder of his mighty voice. Through the Endless Dream his statement resounded, strumming many threads. Somewhere something shifted, unknown to his waking mind. [color=#234C5F][b]“I am Àicheil,”[/b][/color] he said. [color=#234C5F][b]“I am Ѻs-fhìreach,”[/b][/color] he intoned. [color=#234C5F][b]“I am Neo-Àicheil,”[/b][/color] he responded. [color=#234C5F][b]“Welcome.”[/b][/color] Slowly, oh so slowly, did those newfound eyes close and as they did, the god's form resolved itself, but this time it was different. There were fewer angles, and where before had draped a shroud, now fell strands like gray hair, their sheen a rainbow in the shifting light. A swaying step forwards, a hand raising as if the body was a mirror to her own--though without frightening edges or deadly horns. On this shared shape there were eyes, but still no mouth or nose. The cut of the face was like her own, shapely and fair, but with fewer features to adorn it. Each stride towards the Goddess was like a swaying dance, mimicking those few times she had truly walked upon the land. The distance between them closed, her raised hand met the face of the Dreaming God, as did Àicheil's own meet hers. Neiya’s reaction was almost instantaneous, her usually hesitant and cautious intent washed away within the confines of her renewed clarity. As her fingers began to graze the cheek of the Dreaming God, the blue in her eyes expanded like a river crashing through a dam, filling her eyes with a roiling swirl that could only begin to hint at the torrent within. As her palm caressed Àicheil’s face, so too did the love goddess impart her maelstrom upon her host. Images, emotions and whispers all assailed the god at once, a whirling maelstrom of mortal affection and experience, all taking place at once, and in order, at the same time. A bleak and hollow landscape, in which a lonely figure walked, kept company only by her tears. A man anxiously waiting at the side of his bedridden love. The terror of abuse. The confusion of affection, and the anxious butterflies of waiting for a response. Among the onslaught of imagery were brief sanctuaries, respite in the form of joy, trust, and warmth. In the storm of hollow grief, intense sorrow and dull hatred, they were but single notes in a funeral dirge. A gently inhaled breath, eyes 'pon hers, an image of placidity and calm. Then, her mind filled to bursting, a maelstrom the likes of which she'd never experienced, a thousand thousand thoughts, a trillion trillion feelings--broader in scope, deeper in measure. Ideas. Concepts. Knowledge. Knowing. Twisting birds made from smoke, feathers like mirror-shards, eyes like flint and soot together. People, writ as water flows. Vast shifting beasts, behemoths of thought and emotion entwined with a deep gnawing hunger. Then a voracious appetite far more vast than theirs, a desire for knowing, for creation, for context. The swirling storm did not abate in the least, but it could not break her. Àicheil's fingers traced her jawline, the movement both hesitant and practiced in the same moment as if pulled from a lover's memory, but not so often done. The Dreaming God stared for a time, her experiences--and all those bound up within her being, imparted by others--gently unraveling within him. A silver flare lit up behind his newborn eyes and it spread, creating a halo of light that consumed him--then pressed upon her skin as well. Glowing silver flames, dancing in unreal patterns. With time a languid silence overtook their minds. It was a whisper of equilibrium, a promise of clarity and knowledge and truth. Àicheil closed his eyes and listened to its song--[i]their song.[/i] Neiya hovered breathless before him, deep blue eyes swirling as the goddess remained entirely enraptured in this new sensation, filled with a feedback she had never imagined. Pale fingers danced over the bare features of the Dreaming God’s face, spellbound by their shared song yet ever caring and curious. So they remained, open to the experiences of one another, and that of a world beyond, the horned goddess still and accepting the flood of emotion, memory and context that barraged her previous perception. It appeared to give her the presence of mind to alter the maelstrom, at the very least in that shared moment, to find and share those moments of peace with imbued clarity. In each part, the intensity of emotions built to a crescendo, focused and separated from the river of uncontrollable mortal suffering and happiness. A deluge of memories, of praying mortals, of Sanya and the first humans, all returned with a sharp clarity of purpose. Somewhere deep within the goddess, a spark to sort through each moment had been ignited, and in their shared peace were brief flashes of her memories as millennia of situations were aligned with new context beyond the shortsighted impulses Neiya had let control her before. As the silence spread, the equilibrium established, her mind stilled for a time, and the love goddess resolved to do as Àicheil; simply listen and experience the woven promise ring out. Neiya was content to be a passenger, at least for a time. In silence, did the two remain, their only company each other and the Endless Dream's refrain. In due time the quiet grew too great to bear. So Àicheil spoke, and his gentle words they drifted through her hair. [color=#234C5F][b]“Are you well,”[/b][/color] he asked her, his tone a soothing thrum. Their hand, too, did its work and played across her temple and down to her collarbone. From heart to shoulder, from spike to cheek, the god's caress roamed. There was not the barest shred of invasiveness within the motion, only mindfulness and comfort. The horned goddess parted her lips, a hesitation to answer, as her eyes grew distant even with her new clarity to guide her. Or perhaps because of it. [color=8493ca]“No,”[/color] she eventually replied, a tranquil sorrow to her tone. Sadness, but momentary peace all the same. [color=8493ca]“Though perhaps that is alright. If I do not suffer, who will hear their woes? Rejoice with them? It cannot be defeated, only eased.”[/color] A subtle twist of her lips, a minuscule smile of appreciation at her continued thought. [color=8493ca]“I never want them to be alone, and they never will. I will always be there to listen, and to touch their lives with meaning.”[/color] About them wove a whisper of a smile amid a sea of many threads, each its own thought, many filled with confusion. Àicheil paused, as if appreciating her words, her form, her thoughts, and the sentiments that dwelled beneath them. In the Dreamer's eyes a question remained, teasing at Àicheil's mind, and driving them to madness. Tilting their head, Àicheil withdrew his fingers into a fist, leaving only one upon her flesh, its tip against the hollow of her throat. Downwards was drawn a line, prismatic emotion writ upon skin, twisting within itself, creating coiling cascading patterns. A curving downwards sweep, reversing at the center to mirror along that first line which had been drawn. As the deliberate motion of that finger returned from whence it came and withdrew from her pallid skin the patterned unfurled. Swiftly, it became far more complex than its initial tracing, awash with color, filled with tranquil peace--its every aspect a memory of contented clarity. Ѻs-fhìreach looked upon her then...and saw. [color=#234C5F][b]“Love and Sorrow both. From you are they borne into the world, and to you they return.”[/b][/color] Lightly, he tapped the center of her chest, where the heart-pattern ended. [color=#234C5F][b]“Find your center. Know that beyond these there dwells a vast well of emotion inside which that despair is but a delicate crystal of black ice. Distinctive, but fleeting.”[/b][/color] Shroud returning to its former shape, Àicheil watched her then, still unsettled and confused. For despite his words of wisdom, his grasp of her Truth remained unclear to him--its value still unknown. For a moment, the love goddess caressed the Dreamer’s face, head slowly tilting as she appeared to grow thoughtful. The touch ceased, and the connection broke at last, her eyes slowly recovering to a calm, sorrowful demeanor. [color=8493ca]“You speak true,”[/color] she offered. Arms slowly lifting, Neiya attuned herself further to the maelstrom raging within, dulled as it was in his realm. [color=8493ca]”I want what they have. There is peace beyond the river. I will find it.”[/color] A brief ripple of power, screaming of intense desire and want, echoed into the endless spaces of the Dreaming God’s realm. The horned goddess lowered her arms once more, and gently moved a hand to lay it on the mark he had left on her. [color=8493ca]“Surely the Dreaming God understands such a feeling. Dreaming for something more.”[/color] Àicheil's head tilted at her comment, unsure of her meaning. [color=#234C5F][b]“More?”[/b][/color] The word held within its bounds confusion, but beyond even that it was laden with impressions of infinity. It was a sweeping gesture, encompassing all which surrounded them and the Endless Dream to which it was connected. It was a question, but not simply one requiring a response. It said, [i]'what more could there be?[/i] The goddess’ eyes drew out over the expanse, and not long after, she scoffed quietly. Neiya began to turn away, her peace apparently sullied by his response. Her own head tilted as she paused, and her gaze returned with renewed vigor onto the Dreaming God. [color=8493ca]“Are you like the God of Truth? Unable to see beyond the horizon?”[/color] she queried with a return of the disdain she usually carried, even though it did not seem to plague her otherwise. Her features kept in a neutral, thin frown. [color=8493ca]“You must want something, Àicheil. Otherwise, you are no better than I was. Still am. Broken.”[/color] The Roineagan shuddered at her words, recoiling from her and the Dreaming God, its many colors twisting upon themselves and shifting to a maddened crimson hue. Bolts of lightning, black, and red, and gray shot from clouds of experiences to strike the Dreamer. Cords of flickering starlight wove across his form, warping the surface of his divine facade. These cords of twisting light, they reached his newfound eyes and pulsed like veins of rage, pumping all emotion from the Dreamer's once expressive gaze. Threads of Àicheil's shroud wound about themselves and became like razor wire, cutting at the Worldweave and severing so many ties. Many cries of horror and fear slipped from mind-to-mortal-mind. A thread grazed across her arm but did not cut, and from fury was borne a silence that could cull all meaning from the world. Eyes like colorless dull ice pierced her, then softened as coiling lights slowly pressed back into their form, releasing tension which from rage had been born. [color=#234C5F][b]“You speak of arrogance, yet presume to understand,”[/b][/color] thundered the Thrice Named God. [color=#234C5F][b]“You dance amid delusion, as if broken by the burden of your nature.”[/b][/color] Ѻs-fhìreach swept his hand through the air like a cutting saber and destroyed the meaning of these words, insulted by their taste upon his mind. [color=#234C5F][b]“Though you were born with eyes, they only blind you.”[/b][/color] The words were quieter, almost gentle, yet equally cutting as if they had inherited the blade that came before them. Ѻs-fhìreach remained silent for a time, and that quiet moment was thick with the intensity of their attention. So full did the air about them feel, that it seemed should she speak, that she would suffocate. Though affronted, Àicheil's temper slowly lost its edge, as did their form. Reaching out, they pressed a finger to the center of Neiya's forehead. Àicheil's eyes closed, as if unwilling to look upon her. Before their gaze fell away, a whisper of disappointment and sadness touched them, writ as shades of dark blue and wisp-like threads of purple. [color=#234C5F][b]“You. Our siblings. Narrow minds.”[/b][/color] He said this slowly, hoping to impart their true weight to her. In her mind small lights would appear, visions to correspond. [color=#234C5F][b]“Each sees,”[/b][/color] he continued, and the lights glowed within her, illuminating aspects of the world. Then, two new lights appeared, one a golden hue, the other a prismatic mass. [color=#234C5F][b]“Twins,”[/b][/color] the lights met, and where they did, blossomed something beyond any explanation. [color=#234C5F][b]“United, we are whole. The Two-as-One. Apart…”[/b][/color] they separated once more, [color=#234C5F][b]“...we are ourselves. Incomplete, but whole in a way.”[/b][/color] He withdrew his finger. [color=#234C5F][b]“Your lights shine brightly. All of us Gods. Two of us, aware. You wish to call the Two-as-One shortsighted, yet your light illuminates only that held within. Ours is an infinite tapestry, growing faster than thought, building on itself.”[/b][/color] Àicheil shook his head and turned from her, drifting to the center of his realm. His form dissolved completely, and she might feel the presence of him upon her skin. Images were pulled from the endless tapestry of his realm. Familiar forms pulled from memory and experience. The Gods, or echoes of their essence, as perceived by her...and by the mortals beyond this place apart. Their forms shone with an inner light, each a distinct color. Slowly, as she watched, Neiya might find that these colors each existed within the Grand Design of Àicheil's realm. Then, when each color was matched to a God...she might notice that there were more colors--more sounds, more sensations and thoughts, and emotions--than there were gods. Eyes opened and regarded her once more. Their edges limned with gold. Throughout his realm, that same aureate hue wove throughout the colors of other Gods. It sung and spun and twisted in a dance most intricate. It was part of them, but it held itself separate in a way. [color=#234C5F][b]“To ye who bear the fruit of only a single colour I ask: Why only one? Why only two? Within me all are made as one, and thus there is without.”[/b][/color] He paused and shook his head. A prismatic thread grazed her cheek. It was a memory of tenderness and peace, rippling through her mind. It was comforting, but painful--still, it left no mark. [color=#234C5F][b]“You are as the blind, wandering in the darkness of dreams; ignorant to your own ignorance.”[/b][/color] Àicheil's gaze seemed sympathetic but filled with a thing that bordered pity. [color=#234C5F][b]“How sad it must be. To be a vessel overfull with yearning.”[/b][/color] The words were soft, but they held within them a quiet venom. [i]How unfortunate a being. So fragile as to break when confronted by their nature. Prideful and blind. Lusting after that which they already possess--unknowing.[/i] These words, he did not say, but she would feel them all the same. Neiya’s eyes narrowed quickly during the Dreaming God’s retort, each word seeming to send a ripple of discontent, tranquil fury, and disgust through her very being. The maelstrom was silent now, for she was thoroughly and intensely focused on the verbal and mental assault. Still, the horned goddess held herself with a feigned grace, wafting a hand in front of her face dismissively as silence began to ring out with its presence. She spun in place, gaze moving in search for whence she came. [color=8493ca]“I care not,”[/color] she gave with a venomous tone of her own, icy and unpleasant. [color=8493ca]“Hide and watch your tapestry grow as I paint upon it.”[/color] As the distance grew between them, and the hold of their attunement weakened, a resounding laugh echoed through the realm, pressing itself through her form. The sound did not relent until she neared the threshold of his realm, where it was replaced by words. [color=#234C5F][b]“Sorrow and Love. Suffering and Peace. Like all the works of our siblings, I bid thee welcome.”[/b][/color] Though the sound of laughter had fled, amusement remained within his voice. Before her, he coalesced, golden light wrapped about the silhouette of his star wrought visage, its aureate hue extending outwards like threads into infinity. [color=#234C5F][b]“One insult is traded for another. One, a query, the other a harsh reality that you deign to not accept.”[/b][/color] He blocked the exit with his form and fell silent, hoping she might consider his words. [color=#234C5F][b]“The maelstrom within, it need not rule you.”[/b][/color] He moved aside, the motion filled with guileless grace. [color=#234C5F][b]“Venom and invectives, from you I drew these things. So look not upon this meeting with sour remembering.”[/b][/color] His form began to fade into the endless waves of the Worldweave, as his attention drifted elsewhere, but as she crossed the threshold, she [i]felt[/i] a final whisper. [color=#234C5F][i]“Within a strength you do not know, A seed of power and control, So rest your blame, O' sorrow's dame, and end your lamentation, So from seed to stalk is grown, A force which surely fills the hole, which resides inside your heart, Hurting, clawing, it tore apart, Till, by dominion's hold, you drove it to cessation.”[/i][/color] That seemed to give Neiya pause, head twisting to gaze backward over her shoulder. Eyes narrowed, she offered a soft, minimalist nod. With a regal tilt of her chin and a flurry of lingering experience, the horned goddess left the Dreaming God's demesne; her quiet fury turned to introspection. [hider=Summary]Neiya is drawn in by the strange allure of a mysterious god’s realm and upon entering it is enraptured by its shifting design and the experiences it imparts to her. Àicheil, whose realm she entered, follows after and, once the two attune to one another, they have a discussion. Things are going well, until Neiya--intentionally or not--deigns to insult the Dreaming God’s Twin, Firinn, at which point Ѻs-fhireach nearly flies into a rage. Stilled only by a second attunement to her divine consciousness, Os-fhireach’s rage instead takes the form of a verbal lashing and experiential explanation of what differs between the Two-as-One and their other siblings, her included. It is not a particularly flattering explanation. Naturally, her heart grows cold with self-righteous fury and she moves to leave, seeking to insult him more directly. Aicheil only laughs and bids her take heed of his parting words, before allowing her to go. The two part on somewhat shaky terms, each having learned much by their meeting--if nothing else.[/hider] [hider=Might Summary][hider=Àicheil][u]Start:[/u] 5MP, 5DP. No Might spent. [u]End:[/u] 5MP, 5DP [i]2/5 Astral Portfolio.[/i][/hider] [hider=Neiya][u]Start:[/u] 5MP, 5DP. - 3 MP -- Unlocked the Envy Portfolio. [u]End:[/u] 2MP, 5DP.[/hider][/hider]