In the far off distance she could see the yellow glow amid the trees. It illuminated the grand column of smoke rising above it. Before the blackness of the night sky consumed it. Then, it only blocked the stars from sight. Still you could smell the smoke even where she was. Her men had sacked the unruly village of Bul’Gadin some time ago. Maybe it was too much for their disobedience. Auriëlle wasn’t a judge. The only thing she knew was that Nalla had send her here to teach them a lesson. In the same clearing as her stood some of her most trusted warriors. Not the ones Nalla had indoctrinated. No, these were hers. Even if she didn’t know their names. They were wretched men. Who enjoyed violence almost as much as she did. Yet here they were, away from the destruction. Bearing witness to it only. It was a strangely spiritual moment. Something Auriëlle thought she was incapable of feeling, until she sat down upon the altar that was surrounded by the raised stones.

Behind her several men began to hum. It was a strange, droning sound that quickly spread. Auriëlle wasn’t certain what song it was. Yet she basked in its sound with her eyes closed. Even up here on the hill, she could feel the slight amount of heat radiating from below in the vale. From the burning village. The humming wasn’t so much as interrupted as added to by the sudden sound of struggle and screams. “Please!” A voice from the path behind Auriëlle said. “Please! No!” Even from the way his voice was trembling, Auriëlle knew the man had cried in hysteric fits. The noise became louder. It approached her. When it was close enough, Auriëlle hopped off the flat stone. Right after her a fat man was thrown over the stone.

“My lady! I beg of you! Mercy! Mercy of Salavar. You spared them. Surely you can spare us.” The bald, fat man pleaded.

Auriëlle knew exactly what he meant with ‘spare us’. The village was already burning. People were already running or burning. They couldn’t be spared. What he meant was ‘spare me’. Spare him and his family. The groveling disgusted Auriëlle, who quickly kicked him in the face. “Be quiet.” She ordered. Before she began to make the rounds of the stones. They paled with the memory she had of the megaliths in Ha-Dûna. Even the carvings were lesser. Yet their meaning was clear. This was a small gathering for the druids. Druids that had advised the village of Bul’Gadin for ages now. Perhaps luckily for herself, they were gone now. Or perhaps luckily for them. She would’ve preferred a druid. As they had some sort of connection to the gods. Or so they claimed. Still, her fingers trailed the stones with a strange fascination. She would let them stand. For now.

Then she turned her focus upon the altar. “You know why you’re here?” She asked, softly as she approached him. “Do you know what I have in store for you?” She trailed his cheek gingerly with a finger.

“I beg of you, my lady. I’m just a humble-“ The man was interrupted.

Because Auriëlle had reached out with her powers, drawing out the air of his lungs. As if he was suffocating. “Stop talking now.” She said, again with a soft, almost caring voice .”You’re not here to talk.” She released him from her magical grip. The man cough violently. His lungs drew in as much air as they could. His heartbeat, desperate for the air, skyrocketed. She gave the order with a single nod. A moment later the man’s throat was slit. Blood poured over the altar. Coating it surface thoroughly before it dripped off the sides.

Breaking Altars had become a delight for Auriëlle. Especially with druidic ones. They, somehow, always managed to get the smoothed chunks of stone. The humming around her got louder as Auriëlle traced her finger along the bloodied stone. Something quickened in her heart. The sense of…something more. Was this how most felt in the presence of their god? How could she know. She had never been in the presence of a god she would’ve prayed for.

Nonetheless, the moves she made around the altar were driven not entirely by herself. The corpse of the chieftain slipped off the slab of stone. A moment later, Auriëlle put both her hands on it. The humming grew even louder now. She heard the word ‘Neiya’ and suddenly something clicked. They weren’t humming. They were softly chanting to their goddess. She couldn’t help but close her eyes and as a sense of more-ness flowed over her. She channeled that sense of greatness into the stone. Bidding it break and fracture for her. Her magic pulsed together with the chant sang with her.

“Can you even see this, Neiya?” Auriëlle asked in a whispered prayer. Still she doubted the gods. Neiya favored Nalla. That much was sure. But did she favor Nallan? Did she favor Auriëlle? The prayer mixed with the droning chanting. The pulses of her magic became stronger and bored deeper. Even into the ground. She felt a need to destroy. The grass along the altar began to blacken and die. Yet the strange sickness did not touch her own men. Suddenly just breaking the altar wasn’t enough. She needed to utterly destroy it.

[color=DAA250]”My dear, you should really improve your destructive capabilities, I grow bored of just watching you slowly destroy an altar, just crack it in two already.”[/color] A sudden voice spoke, it was incredibly strange, jaunty yet harsh, and the gender was nigh-indistinguishable, and, it came from the depths of her mind, not beyond it.

She had felt this before. The voice in her head. Now it was different though. This wasn’t Oraelia speaking. It mocked her. She broke the pulsing power but the humming continued. Instead she raised her right arm and then came down upon the stone altar with the edge of her hand. It broke in two in an instant but the force pushed on. A wave of invisible energy travelled across the ground. Blackening and killing every plant within the stone circle. “Happy now!” She spat into the skies, as she assumed that’s where the gods were. In their neat little heavens. 

[color=DAA250]”Now [i]that[/i] is destruction, that was so much more entertaining!”[/color] the voice continued, becoming a lot more jaunty than before [color=DAA250]”I’ve been watching you for a while my dear and I must say, you hold yourself back too much, you really need to let go and just, destroy willy nilly.”[/color]

The humming stopped as her warriors looked up with Auriëlle up into the starless sky. “I’m not here for your entertainment.” She continued as she rested her hands upon the two sides of the altar, hunched over it and let out an exasperated sigh. Truth was that the more she destroyed, the more she killed, the more she liked it. She could still see the yellow glow off into the distance and the smoke plume it illuminated. For a second she thought she could hear the same symphony as she had heard in Teperia. But then she wretched herself free of those feelings. “And I still have a queen to serve. One that can hardly reign over ashes.” She looked up into the skies again. “So which one of the useless gods are you? One of the druid’s? Neiya? Cadien?”

There came an incredibly loud laugh, it echoed through her mind and seemingly bounced around in her mind, she could feel the sadistic joy within it as it did. [color=DAA250]”My dear, everything in this world is for my entertainment, if they know it or not, as for, who I am, I am none of those gods, the ‘useless’ ones as you call them, my name is rarely spoken by your kind, but, my control extends over you all nonetheless.”[/color]

Auriëlle let out a cruel laugh. She laughed and laughed. For a second her warriors thought she had gone insane. For just a split second she believed she had met something akin to a kindred spirit. That sadistic joy was a little too familiar. Then she realized she was dealing with divinity. “So what am I to you then, oh nameless one? A puppet whose strings you pull? Or have I been dancing alone, for an audience that doesn’t care?”

[color=DAA250]”Well, not alone mind you, I would put you as one of the more, interesting, actors, that while they don’t take center stage, they show their importance throughout the scenes, your actions furthering the Great Play, and beautifully so if I do say so myself.”[/color]

For a second she felt insulted. For the better part of a year now she had been rampaging around Nallan. Olwar was killed by her hands. Teperia was woven into a tapestry of fire. Even now she was making sure even the druids got the message written in blood. How could she not take center stage? Then, for a second, things switched up. She had done all those things and she was only and [i]interesting[/i] actor? The world was, ultimately, doomed then. “So that’s what you want from me? To keep doing…this?”

[color=DAA250]”Oh of course!”[/color] The voice loudly proclaimed [color=DAA250]”Your destruction is a beautiful thing, though, I think you might want to rework your technique here and there, you still hold back, letting go and just razing the earth beneath you can be fun every now and then.”[/color]

She crossed her arms. “Nalla won’t like that.” She was just waiting to get chewed out already for what she did in Teperia. What was happening here and now in Bul’Gadin was just a cherry on top. Then again, Nalla had brought in a blood hound. She didn’t really expect her to just play fetch? “There are lines I can’t cross.” She said out loud before she turned into herself and thought: ‘Gods will be angry. Neiya… will be angry if Nallan doesn’t grow.’ The thoughts had an echo of fear.

[color=DAA250]”Oh nonsense! I'm sure Neiya won’t mind a bit of destruction here and there! In fact, let me go grab her, think it's about time she actually talked to you.”[/color] The voice faded from her mind, yet she still felt the haze over her, almost as if the owner had just walked away for a brief moment. For a few moments she was alone, it was almost blissful. [color=DAA250]”Come on Neiya at least acknowledge her!”[/color] And it was gone. 

The silence dragged out for a few moments more, dragged into uncertainty whether anything more would even occur. Then, as though a heat wave rushed through the area, the air around her seemed to grow thick and cloying. The wind rushed around Auriëlle and her men, a soft gust of wind whirling about each of them. In the rush of wind she felt something brush against her clothes, tussle her hair, and breathe in her ear. A presence lodged in the back of her mind, sighing invitingly before a smooth voice rang through her mind. [color=8493ca]"Oh, my sweet. So worried of what gods and rulers desire. Are you doing this for me, Auriëlle, daughter of Frankert and Elliénne? For Nalla?"[/color]

The rustling of the wind made the men step back. From their reaction, Auriëlle knew that she wasn’t the only one who had felt the touch of divinity. No matter how fleeting it was. The men looked wide-eyed at her now though. She saw the sudden sense of understanding in their eyes: she really was talking to at least one god. Then that voice echoed in her mind. Was this Neiya then? For a moment Auriëlle wanted to just be drawn into the voice. But she shook herself loose. “For myself.” Her tone carried defiance. The destruction she wrought was entirely for herself. Even though she prayed to Neiya before, it was only to garner favor amongst Nallan’s troops. “But I hold back for Nallan.” She then admitted. The words had already been out there.

[color=8493ca]"Disappointing,"[/color] the voice crooned softly. An invisible sensation of touch pressed against her skin, and ran up along her chin. [color=8493ca]"You have seen what one can accomplish with my affection - felt it. Do you think Nalla holds back, my dearest?"[/color]

“We are not the same!” Auriëlle sneered. “Nalla is queen and I am-“ What was she? A commander? A warlord? Her gaze turned to the broken altar. Maybe she would become something more. A force of nature. Wrath and destruction manifest.  It was an ambitious goal, but perhaps not entirely beyond her reach. “I am whatever I am but I am not a queen. I don’t rule.” She said. Her gaze then turned to the men around her. Her most loyal… followers. “I just destroy.”

[color=8493ca]"Mrhm. No wonder Yamat couldn't stop gushing about you,"[/color] the voice continued. [color=8493ca]"You certainly dance well to the tune of others, but those who dare not reach beyond the will of others may find themselves forgotten. Are you more than a leashed pet, my darling?"[/color]

The question felt barbed to Auriëlle. “The queen cannot rule over ashes yet I burned Teperia.” She looked off towards the great yellow glow. “Down their Bul’Gadin burns as well. More ashes the queen will hate me for. Nalla’s collar is already off.”

“But don’t pretend like I have any other choice when it comes to yours.” She sneered now, with even more malice now. Not in the local Ketrefian dialect. Instead she lost her façade and spoke in Cadic: “None of you care if we live or die. Until we don’t walk the damned path you and your kind define.” Her voice flared in rage. The people around her became uneasy now. She was talking to a goddess, the goddess, with a terrible tone. In a language they didn’t understand. Auriëlle knew it as well but brushed the thought away. “Not upholding your oath might see your life destroyed. Sleep at night or you risk being knocked out by the moon. You talk as if we aren’t forced to dance to your tunes but we are.”

She walked up to the megalith of the water god. In Acadia they named his Klaar but right here, he looked different. His megalith was adorned not by tentacles but by fishes. She rested her hand on the stone and continued her rant: “See this stone!? If I destroy it, will I not be drowned in the next year?” She then passed onto the next stone. The only one that was left completely unadorned. “The great boar’s rock. See it? If I destroy it won’t his sons, the trolls, come? His wrath manifest?” She moved away from the stone, not willing to summon any of the other druidic gods their attention. Though she looked up again towards the heavens where the gods she was talking to should be. “We can never reach beyond the will of even a single god. Never for long.”

[color=8493ca]"Nor should you, my sweet,"[/color] the voice continued with an amused breath. [color=8493ca]"Your existence is a simple one, but it need not be as stale as Cadien's statuary. You called for me in the past - I saw then, as I see now. What will you do with my attention, now that you have it?"[/color] 

The other voice, Yamat, as Neiya called them, spoke softly, almost whispering to her [color=DAA250]”Be careful with your answer here, I enjoy your performance and don’t want to see any harm come to you.”[/color]

A sane, balanced, humble mortal would take and heed Neiya’s message. Do not attempt to reach beyond even a single god’s will. Not Auriëlle though. It was a challenge. A taunt. One she would’ve created upon. If the first god hadn’t whispered in her mind. Was Neiya vengeful? Auriëlle had no idea. She had ranted and raged so far with seemingly no consequences. Nonetheless, the first god seemed somehow more sincere than most others. Perhaps it was the shared sense of sadistic joy that made her trust him. “I only called upon you…to honor you.” She admitted as she sat down on the broken altar. Her rage and anger had ebbed away somewhat now. “Teperia, the temple. I did it to honor you.” She wore her mask again though, as she spoke in Ketrefian.

Silence reigned once more as she spoke, leaving her to watch her surroundings and allow uncertainty to creep in. Soon after, a soft snicker rang out in her mind, elegant and amused. [color=8493ca]"How sweetly you bow, my one and only,”[/color] the sultry voice returned, inviting and mocking in the same tone. The wind began to pick up around her once more, dirt and debris swept up to whirl around her and the altar with building force. Invisible hands stretched around her throat, and the sensation of long nails dragged over her skin, over and around her neck. They met at the back, and something weighed her down - a new sensation of cold metal clinging to her throat. [color=8493ca]"Honor me always, my love, and none shall leash you ever again. No god will love you as I do.”[/color] the voice demanded and promised in equal measure, releasing a heavy sigh filled with that same promise. In that instant, a singular image - the silhouette of a horned woman - imprinted itself in her mind, like a seed sown to fester. The whirlwind ceased, and the sensations stopped just as swiftly. At once, the air grew lighter, and the subtle pressure in the back of her mind grew distant and eventually vanished. It seemed at least one deity had left.

Her blood ran cold when the invisible fingers crawled around her neck. Would she die like this? By a god’s hand? Doing nothing as it happened. Her muscles drew taunt as the nails scraped along her skin. She didn’t even dare to breathe. Then the weight came. It was small, yet it came out of nowhere. Then the image flashed before her eyes. All fear vanished, like ice before fire. The horned woman, it wasn’t someone else. It was her! How she understood that was beyond her. When Neiya’s presence receded, the warriors around her let out a deep sigh. Many of them kneeled down and ushered a quick prayer of thanks to the goddess. Auriëlle, on the other hand, held the piece of metal in her hand to look at it. It was a periapt of horns. A lovely looking thing. It felt both lighter and heavier than it should be. It reminded her of the small disc she had found that she wore on her belt.

As soon as one left, the other came back in, [color=DAA250]”That went, about how I expected, but, no matter, she has given you something which means, you at least have her favor.”[/color] The voice had lost a good deal of its jaunty nature, sounding more, drained than before.

“At least I have her favor.” She echoed the remaining god’s words as she traced along the metal with a finger. “And with it… I will burn the world.” She then said as she looked up with a smirk. As she hadn’t forgotten this god of destruction and ruin yet.

[color=DAA250]"Now that's what I was hoping to hear."[/color] The god replied, the jauntyness of their voice returning. [color=DAA250]"And don't worry about a gift from me, you've already gotten it, I'll be sure to, enhance it once I get the time."[/color]

The god’s gift would manifest itself in due course no doubt. Auriëlle was certain of it. For now, she regaled some of the things the gods told her about. Her warriors consumed every word she said. None of them were literate but they would remember. This great moment would be etched in their mind. Here, amid the broken druid circle, all of them shared in something greater. Something spiritual. As they had in Teperia, in the temple of the Light. Many began to see Auriëlle as the chosen one. Not just by one god, but by many. With her as the vanguard, the world would one day burn. They all agreed upon that. Away from Auriëlle though. The warriors were well aware that the sorceress did not want to be a true leader. None the less they would serve her.

But another god had been watching as well. He had been watching before Yamat and Neiya came and he would watch Auriëlle for long after they left her. He watched now not his daughter but the zealots around her. Who saw her as some sort of prophet of destruction. He had heard her rant against the tyranny of the gods. She was right, even if only a few of his siblings could dare admit it. For but a moment, the shadow of the zealots arched towards each other. Sharing a power. Above them, they felt the skies turn dark.  A light they couldn’t see vanished.

[hr]

[hider=Summary]Auriëlle gave orders to burn the village of Bul’Gadin for its unruliness. Though sadly she cannot join the purge. She prepares a ritual with her most trusted warriors to destroy a druidic altar that is soaked in the blood of the chieftain. To send a message to the druids that refused to bend the knee to Nallan. As she slowly destroys the altar, Yamat comes in and taunts her skill. Saying he finds her slow method boring.

Giving in to the taunt, Auriëlle destroys the altar in one savage clap. Yamat enjoys the show and tells her he has been watching her for some time and finds her entertaining. Auriëlle sneers that she is not entertainment and says she can’t just destroy everything she wants because Nalla can’t reign over ashes. But Yamat rebuts her and tells her everything is his entertainment and in  his control. Auriëlle asks if she’s a puppet or just a lonely dancer. Yamat says she is but an “interesting actor”. For a second the sorceress feels insulted, until she realizes that this means that something even more destructive and evil as her is out there. She realizes the world is doomed. Still, she ask what he wants from her.

Yamat implores her to let go more and not bother with what people would think. She still refuses as the queen wouldn’t like that. Perhaps more dangerously, the queen’s patron – Neiya – wouldn’t like that. Yamat picks up on this fear and decides to bring Neiya in. Who decides to ask if she is doing what she is doing for Neiya. She does it for herself, she responds. Which disappoints Neiya. The goddess then tells the sorceress that one can achieve much with her help and asks if she thinks Nalla holds back.

But Auriëlle sneers back and says she is not Nalla. Nalla is queen and she’s just what she is. Neiya taunts her then by telling her she sure does dance along the tune of others. Which pushes Auriëlle to go on a rant about free will that is punished at every impasse. She says that she can never be fully unleashed as long as the gods keep mortals chained. Neiya agrees and warns her not to attempt to reach beyond the will of even one god. Finally Neiya asks what Auriëlle wants with her attention. Yamat warns the sorceress not to offend the goddess, so Auriëlle offers up the basest of reasons: to honor Neiya. As a reward for doing so, she is offered a gift. Then the goddess leaves. Yamat soon leaves as well, but not before telling her she was gifted by him as well.

Finally, another god watched from the distance and decides Auriëlle is right about the gods keeping a leash on mortalkind. He blesses the cult that is forming around Auriëlle’s awesome power, so their concentrated presence may turn the gods blind.[/hider]

[hider=MP & DP]
[b]Qael’Naath Start:[/b] 5MP/5DP
-3 MP >> Consecrate the Cult of the Destroyer with title: Nirrtians III
[b]Qael’Naath End:[/b] 3MP/5DP

[b]Yamat Start[/b] 2mp/5dp
1dp-Gift Auriëlle a title: Azhi Dahakiath I – Auriëlle’s magics become altered. Corrupted, a pious mortal would call it. Normally mana quickly dissipates after being used. Rendering it temporary inert. Not when Auriëlle uses it. Then it becomes temporary agitated and aggressive. Lashing out to the still life in the area. This corrupting effect is only minor now. Only massive magic usage would make the effects apparent. Which are only minor now: grass withers and leaves turn pale for a while. It has no effect on fauna, only flora.
End: 2mp/4dp

[b]Neiya Start[/b]: 5MP/5DP
Periapt of Horns
Loyalty's Reward II: (By invoking Neiya's aid, the periapt restores the wearers stamina and breaks them out of mind-altering effects.  This effect has to be manually recharged by praising and honoring Neiya.) 2 DP
Hornsinger III: (When the wearer uses magic, their appearance changes in the eyes of viewers and takes on an increasingly terrifying and horned visage through continued use. This extends to the area around the wearer, and inspires supernatural fear.) 3 DP

End: 5MP/0DP
[/hider]

[hider=Prestige]
[b]Post Length:[/b] +10K Words
+5 Prestige >> Auriëlle
-1 Prestige >> Auriëlle: Deadening the grass
[/hider]