[center][h1][colour=lightseagreen]Water[/colour] and [colour=goldenrod]Fire[/colour][/h1][/center] [quote=Ashalla][colour=lightseagreen][b]"I am not bound by your constraints. I am immortal and mighty. ... I have absolute power over my own form. I have overcome many of my initial weaknesses and shall continue to do so. Only another god could possibly kill me, and only if they can overpower me. And who can overpower the whole ocean? As long as I am the strongest, I cannot die."[/b][/colour][/quote] [center][b]~~===~~[/b][/center] In the land of rain, there was a place which had recently been scoured by a storm unlike any on Galbar. It had been sunny for a while afterwards, but now rain returned to the land around the Hollow. Distant thunder rumbled within the vast clouds and rain turned the bare soil back into mud. This new rain was Ashalla. Attuned as she was to water and storms, she had sensed the cataclysm which had taken place here from afar. When she arrived and found not a single rain cloud above Be’r-Jaz, she feared the worst. As her raindrops tasted the desolate landscape and found a pool of Li’Kalla’s ichor, her suspicions were confirmed. Clearly, Li’Kalla had gotten into a fight. Her essence lay thickly over this place. In this fight she had conjured such a vast amount of water that everything that used to be here was washed into the large pit. It was an impressive final move, even by Ashalla’s standards, marred only by Li’Kalla dying. The divine essence mixed into the mud and the air included that of Li’Kalla’s murderer. The essence was unfamiliar to her, and much of the essence had been washed away, but she recognised part of the scent and it made her tremble in rage. The Demon. Some spawn of Anzillu, that putrid fiend, had made it here and killed Li’Kalla. It seemed that the Demon was still active and dangerous. As great as Ashalla’s rage was, in this place it was eclipsed by her horror at the vast circular pit. The fabric of the Spheres warped around it, as though it were a Gateway. But the horror was that whatever water passed through the opening of the pit ceased to be part of Ashalla. The clouds above the pit parted as Ashalla recoiled from it. Then, cautiously, Ashalla drew closer once more. Looking at the pit more closely, she could see the faint shimmer of a Seal covering the top of the pit. This clearly marked the pit as the Architect’s doing. A probing tendril of water stretched down from the clouds and touched the Seal. The tendril quivered and drew back in pain, its tip losing cohesion and falling into the darkness. This was a Seal which kept out gods, or maybe kept them in. Regardless, it meant that there was something very important which the Architect was hiding down there. Suddenly the deep darkness of the pit was illuminated by a harsh white light brighter than Heliopolis and as loud as a hundred thunderstorms. The clouds above the pit arced with a blinding amount of lightning, casting a spotlight on everything below. After a few seconds darkness returned, but Ashalla had seen all she could. Scattered on the cave-ridden walls were the remains of a city and the tunnel seemed to descend even deeper than her lightning could illuminate. So mortals used to live above the pit, before Li’Kalla’s fight, and likely explored the pit. Unfortunately, with the mortals all dead, it would be difficult to ask them what they had found within the pit. There was a third divine essence on the scene, although from its sharpness it had come after the great flood. It had undertones of Orvus, but was gentle and sweet. Ashalla guessed it was Arya. Perhaps she would know more about this place. A movement in the heavens brought Ashalla’s attention away from her investigation. A new moon had appeared, slowly growing closer as it arced across the sky. Ashalla watched its trajectory for a few moments. Then her clouds withdrew from the pit to follow the falling moon. [center][b]~~===~~[/b][/center] Above the fresh hole in the world, in the place once known as the World Scar, clouds of dust were replaced with clouds of water. The clouds released their stores of rain, pouring into the hole. Raindrops evaporated as they came close to the walls, still searing with great heat, but as the steam returned to the clouds more rain fell. Myriad little waterfalls snaked down the walls of the hole, crossing through each of the Chthonic Spheres towards the Core. It was not long until the water reached the Core, crossing the open Seal to enter the hollow sphere. The water dispersed into mist and cloud, stretching out to begin to fill the empty space. Above the rain continued to pour, water continued to trickle into the Core, and the cooling stone of the tunnel creaked and groaned. Yet the water was not alone. An orb of flame floated within the Core, gently trembling. It was Katharsos, yet he had no face. He was packed together tightly, wrapped into that perfect fiery sphere as a child might curl into the fetal position, trembling. A voice like the whistle of wind spoke from the clouds within the Core, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Katharsos? What happened here?”[/b][/colour] [h3][color=lightblue]“SUFFER.”[/color][/h3] [i]Pain.[/i] [center][color=lightblue]“SUFFER.”[/color][/center] [i]Agony.[/i] The memories and sensations would be seared into the god’s mind forever, yet he was still wracked by even the faintest echoes left of Amphiboles’ terrible power. [right][sub][color=lightblue]“SUFFER.”[/color][/sub][/right] [i]Defiance...freedom![/i] Finally, with one last shudder he shook himself free enough to regain his power to speak. An opening gouged itself into the sphere of fire that was his body, complete with teeth and a tongue, that he had at least a mouth even if not a full visage. [color=goldenrod][b]“I found them here,”[/b][/color] was his cryptic answer. A panting of sorts broke his sentence for a few moments before he could offer more strained words. [color=goldenrod][b]“The Architect. Narzhak. And all the missing bits of souls...trapped in that accursed [i]thing[/i].”[/b][/color] Katharsos was not alone within the void of the vast cavity that was Galbar’s empty Core. There was one other object, cracked open but not totally shattered, bright and splendorous in its luminance, even if its remaining power now was only a fraction of before when it had been blinding. A wisp of cloud brushed against the device, and immediately the rest of the cloud in the Core started to coalesce, slowly spiralling inwards towards the device. A voice like pattering rain asked, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“What did this thing do? And what were you doing here?”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“I think that it was a vessel, and that this whole place was a drain of sorts. I came searching for the power behind the phenomena of soul decay, and found it here in that [i]thing.[/i] The Architect was here, and yet he appeared as no more than a decrepit, skeletal corpse. “When I arrived, he was here [i]siphoning[/i] from that thing’s power. I tried to stop him, but could not overpower both he and Narzhak, and ultimately failed. The Architect -- cursed be his name! -- drank of the souls and was restored. Then he turned his attention and ire unto me, and he smote me with a power the likes of which...there are no words. And then he fled, with Narzhak in tow. I can only imagine that this was what he planned to do all along.”[/b][/color] The clouds gently rumbled in thought, joining the sounds of trickling water entering the Core and creaking stone above the Core. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Some of the others have created structures which generate divine power from the worship of mortals. Perhaps this is a similar structure, but on a much grander scale.”[/b][/colour] Two motes of lightning like eyes appeared in the thickening clouds surrounding the device. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“The Architect has departed Galbar, with Narzhak following him. He announced as such, and his passage up to the Barrier was clearly felt. There was mention of a key. Some may leave Galbar to follow the Architect or find a new world of their own. Some may stay here to reside with their creations. What do you intend to do now, Katharsos?”[/b][/colour] He had some trepidation and could not answer right away, as not even he had contemplated that yet. [color=goldenrod][b]“This device must be shattered. With that done, my role would become obsolete, and my pyres could be extinguished. Souls could reincarnate, or simply have eternal life. And I could move on,”[/b][/color] he eventually realized aloud. The clouds which were Ashalla contracted around the device even more closely, obscuring it from view. She could taste the residual [i]anima mundi[/i] left in the device, and though it was but a figment of a veneer of what had previously been there the power was still invigorating. Intoxicating. The creaking and groaning of stone above the Core grew louder as Ashalla declared in a voice like rolling thunder, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“I will not let you destroy this device, Katharsos. I am claiming the Core.”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“By what right?”[/b][/color] [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Mine.”[/b][/colour] From above the hole into the Core came a crashing sound like a shattering mountain, followed by the roar of a million waterfalls. An ocean had burst from the walls of the hole leading to the Core, the walls which passed through the Chthonic Spheres, and now billions of tonnes of water flooded down into the Core. The deluge fell upon Katharsos and yet passed through him like a ghost, for his otherworldly flames needed no breath and couldn’t be drowned. He remained calm before the storm and her madness, reforming into the likeness of the goat-legged sun once more and casting down his eyes in disappointment. [color=goldenrod][b]“You have no right to farm the beings of Galbar and harvest their spirits as though they are nought but grain. No being does; not even He did. And you lack the power to do it, too. In case you have forgotten, the souls of the dead are doomed to go where I guide them. Now that is their blessing, for I shall not let them suffer this fate!”[/b][/color] With a kick of the five legs he propelled himself upward, toward the gaping hole in the Core where entire oceans poured in. He spun around to face the wound directly, and then unleashed his radiance. The light blasted into the waters and created a great, whirling maelstrom of magical power that pushed upward even as the physical water was unfazed and surged down. There was a second great Vortex of Souls now, but rather than doom, this one represented salvation. A great net that would hold back the Core’s grasping tendrils and prevent them from tearing away bits and crumbs of the souls within other Spheres, and a great updraft powerful enough to carry any stray souls away. [color=goldenrod][b]“Abandon this folly, Ashalla. Even if you were to overcome me and claim my power over the dead, if you were to undo the net I have woven, it still would not be enough. Do you know what the others did to me, invading my Sphere in the name of saving the souls? They would come for you, too, if you were to succeed here.”[/b][/color] The water seethed and clouds broiled in rage. The crashing water roared, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“You dare defy me!”[/b][/colour] The water flooding around Katharsos tightened and grasped hold of his ethereal form. Though the water of course could do little, the divine power that animated and controlled it was palpable and real enough to Katharsos. Dozens of giant icicles froze around the fiery god then thrust towards him. The five flailing legs kicked and batted at them from all angles, knocking aside many but getting scraped and impaled by a few. Where the ice poked holes in his fiery form, the flames simply flared back into place to reform the wound a moment later. [i]There can be no logic here. No civility. No peace.[/i] The lion’s maw snapped open and a massive ray, nay, river of ghastly soulfire poured out toward Ashalla and the accursed siphon that she’d stolen. He spewed forth the unholy flames with such power that it had begun to propel him back, upward through the waterfalls, toward the edge of the flooding Core where his second Vortex of Souls raged. Refracting off the cascading waterfalls were many orange lights akin to the gentle glow of fireflies, but these had been the lights that lit the Sky of Pyres. And the little stars were growing larger, and closer. The growing globe of water around the siphon froze solid as the soulfire struck, forming a protective barrier. The flames ablated away at the ice, but the descending water was more than adequate to replenish that which was lost. The falling stars did not escape Ashalla’s notice, eliciting a fizz of alarm in the water of her form. The flow of water into the Core slowed and stopped as the gushing oceans coming from the Abyss were directed upwards, where the water plugged the hole and froze. Then, with Katharsos now in air, a massive bolt of lightning arced from the hole to the globe of ice, tearing through Katharsos’ ethereal body before slamming into the ice behind with explosive effect. The Greater Sun was unfazed, however. He breathed. He calmed. [color=goldenrod][b]“Death is close,”[/b][/color] he stated as fact, hoping the gravity of his words could cut through Ashalla’s madness. [color=goldenrod][b]“The Sky of Pyres has enough flames to fill this entire Core and incinerate us both, and I have called them down from the heavens. We could yet flee, but I will not allow you to take that [i]thing[/i] away from here, even if it means staying here to bar your way until we perish.”[/b][/color] The water, having finished creating the barrier of ice, resumed its downwards flow. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“You would dare kill yourself for this?”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“Since the very first days of this world, the Architect has had me burn untold numbers of souls. Their screams haunt me. And I know now that it was all for nothing, that I was just a part of his evil scheme. This fate would be my redemption, and I would gladly suffer it.”[/b][/color] High above, the flames of the Pyres reached the top of the barrier of ice with a violent explosion of steam. The orange light of the Pyres refracted through the ice and cast a fiery glow onto Ashalla below. Then a voice like a drop of water, barely audible over the turmoil, conceded, [colour=lightseagreen]“Then your will is greater than mine.”[/colour] The water surrounding the device receded from the device and flowed upwards, surging up the waterfall and towards Katharsos. The current which was Ashalla flowed past and through Katharsos and then out of the Core, the fiery God of Death close behind. The water and Katharsos pushed through the fissures in the stone wall and into the Abyss as the flames of the Pyres burned through the ice and flooded past, near instantly filling the entire Core and creating a blazing inferno of smokeless flame. As the soulfire came into contact with the siphon, the residual anima mundi inside was once again ignited to explosive effect, and the Core and all the Chthonian Spheres above shuddered. It was enough flame to utterly blast apart the damaged siphon and reduce it to nothing more than a molten slag that sprayed outward like some horrible hail, and to eventually vaporize it into oblivion. The shockwave close on their heels as it followed through the Gateway, Ashalla and Katharsos flew with all the alacrity their divine forms could handle. Pillars of stone crumbled and the floor of magma was churned up behind them as the shockwave passed. But eventually the blast front dissipated, leaving Katharsos and Ashalla in the quiet darkness of the Abyss. Ashalla and Katharsos travelled in silence for a while, Ashalla invisible in the water while Katharsos’ ethereal flames cast a glow which was dwarfed by the deep darkness around them. But, as it turned out, Katharsos was not the only source of light in the Abyss. Incandescent fissures in the floor cast a faint red glow. On and around the pillars of stone which filled the Abyss were dots of coloured light, twinkling like stars and moving about. Eventually Ashalla broke the silence, although it was in a voice as soft as the subterranean currents. [colour=lightseagreen]“You defeated me.”[/colour] Katharsos wanted to think that he’d made her see reason. But of course, he was not so naive. It was through force and threat of violence that he’d made her see, not words and logic. But it had been justified. [color=goldenrod][b]“Peace and meditation make the world so much clearer. When I dispel the turmoil and find a true purpose, I become strong. Yet if I had a choice I would never fight. I think it a base thing, beneath us. If only others could see.”[/b][/color] On any other occasion, Ashalla would have huffed at such a suggestion. But instead there was just a low, thoughtful rumble, mingling with the muffled churning of the Abyss. Eventually she said, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“I wanted the Core so that I would be the strongest and unkillable. But I had overlooked other forms of strength. You are right that, if I had won there, I would have made enemies with all the gods I consider my friends.”[/b][/colour] Katharsos’ glow had begun to attract the life of the Abyss. Fish of various alien shapes swam near to his light, seeking warmth and food. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“There is strength in raw power. But there is also strength in having allies. I had desired the former, but...”[/b][/colour] The water around Katharsos stirred, jostling the fish who blossomed with bioluminescence. Rippling points of lights danced around Katharsos and each other. [colour=lightseagreen][b]”...the latter is less lonely.”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“Solitude begets madness,”[/b][/color] the other god softly concurred, [color=goldenrod][b]“and I sense wisdom in your words. I think that you have found the truth.”[/b][/color] Among the glowing fish basking in Katharsos’ radiance, an eel slithered up and snapped its mouth, snuffing out one of the lights. The other lights scattered, although soon returned on the other side of Katharsos. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“What will you do now?”[/b][/colour] Ashalla asked. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“The Pyres have been extinguished. The souls of the dead need not be burned.”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“I hadn’t decided. A question like that is worthy of much contemplation. I have a yearning to leave this plane, yet perhaps that would be rash.”[/b][/color] [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Many other gods have left in one way or another. Some with guilt. Some with a lack of purpose. But do not follow them, for that is weakness.”[/b][/colour] Ashalla grabbed hold of the soul of the recently deceased fish, which had been floating away, and held it up before Katharsos. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“You guided the souls of the dead before. Now they need guidance more than ever. Perhaps in this way you could earn the redemption you desire.”[/b][/colour] Bemused, he asked, [color=goldenrod][b]“And what sort of guidance would I offer? What need have the dead, or even the living, for gods?”[/b][/color] [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Gods create. In the beginning you created the old cycle of life, death and rebirth where fraying souls were burned and their ash was used to create new life. Now that souls do not fray or burn, the step of rebirth has been disrupted.”[/b][/colour] Ashalla offered the fish soul to Katharsos. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Where shall the souls of the dead go now, God of Death? Will you create a new path for them?”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“I did what I thought I had to do, that there could be life. Just as you flooded the world and made the first oceans, that there would be water. But a river can flow down a hill with or without your hand. So too is it with I and souls; they could find their own path in death, to the next body and to life anew, or to enlightenment and finality.”[/b][/color] Ashalla huffed. [colour=lightseagreen][b]“Or they might become lost and confused. But I am not the most knowledgeable on these matters. You should speak with Azura. She has been spending much effort in trying to redefine death, and now she will be needing to adjust to the latest changes. She may benefit from your assistance. And you may benefit from her insight.”[/b][/colour] [color=goldenrod][b]“She stole away into my Sphere and made off with a great deal of souls without so much as trying to discuss such things with me, so I doubt that she has any desire for speech. I imagine that an exchange with that one would be wont to turn to bloodshed, and I’ve long since lost my appetite for violence. Would you believe that in a past life before a past life, I once revelled in it and burnt others for sport? “Chicanerie be damned! I need neither mask nor wit. Ashalla, I’ve lived three lives now and found happiness in none. In each one I subjected myself to the whims of a duty placed upon my shoulders, be it by myself or some master. Yes, I think it time now for me to leave. To cease being flame, and make like wind. To find my own way and at last leave the past behind. I think then I might find peace. There is only so much that one can do, and I think that in staving you off from that siphon, I did enough. That is as close to redemption as I shall ever get. It is time that I slough off my hesitation, abandon my guilt.”[/b][/color] Ashalla rumbled, then answered, [colour=lightseagreen][b]“If that is your will, then so be it.”[/b][/colour] He broke her gaze, feeling smaller with the uncharacteristic passion that had consumed him for that moment now gone. But then he cast his sight back toward her after a time and finally nodded. [color=goldenrod][b]“So we shall part, then. I have never been one for goodbyes, so I don’t think that I will say anything to the others. If ever it is fate’s will, perhaps you or they will find me once again, back in this place, or in another one far, far away. Farewell, Ashalla.”[/b][/color] He cast his eyes upward, peering through the black depths and the Spheres Chthonic and Celestial, and he soared in his ascent. Katharsos, the Greater Sun, climbed the sky and made his way past the dark and empty Sky of Pyres to the Barrier, where he found the Door and its Key left behind by Amphiboles. He turned back one final time, and whispered, [color=goldenrod][b]“Farewell, Galbar.”[/b][/color] Then the rays of soft light leaving his body gripped the Key and turned it, and he passed through the portal and into what lay beyond. [center][b]~~===~~[/b][/center] In the land of rain, there was a place which had once been scoured by a storm unlike any other on Galbar. Yet now the Vallamir were rebuilding their city around the enigmatic pit they called the Hollow. Their work was watched by the rain clouds gathered above them, although the rain always seemed to avoid falling onto the Hollow itself. Ashalla had asserted herself into the power vacuum left by Li’Kalla’s absence. She had gathered up all surviving Vallamir who knew anything about the Hollow and brought them to that place. She promised wealth, glory, honor and power to any mortals who were bold enough to explore that accursed hole. Already the expeditions were yielding results. The explorers found many magical trinkets, little relics of divine engineering. These were evidence that the Architect had been tinkering, or perhaps that the Architect had once had mortal servants down here, or perhaps that there had once been other beings who could create such devices. There was life down there which the mana-sensitive delvers discerned lived off some intangible vitality which suffused the Hollow. And the most advanced expeditions had discovered a second Seal, which was not the bottom of the Hollow but simply a boundary between the upper layer and the layer below. The caves of the upper layer were just the beginning of the Hollow’s mysteries. Ashalla had also been studying the Seal over the Hollow and comparing it to the broken Seal around the Core. Although the siphon had been utterly destroyed, Ashalla had still flooded the Core, partly to protect it from the likes of Anzillu or Sartravius (she shuddered to think what would happen if the Demon managed to infect Galbar’s Core), partly in the hope that it would still have some residual use. She learned that the Seals were not indestructible. Given time and energy, Ashalla would be able to peel back the Seals over the Hollow and lay bare its secrets. Ashalla was determined to uncover what the Architect had discovered about the secrets of divinity. Although the way of soul ash and fraying souls was closed to her, there were bound to be other paths to ascension. She would find those paths and take them, such that her immortality would be unassailable. This was Ashalla’s will, and her will would be done. [hider=An Ending] Ashalla inspects the site of Li’Kalla’s final battle. She discovers the Hollow, a sealed Gateway made by the Architect; Li’Kalla’s death; and that Li’Kalla was killed by an agent of Anzillu. But her inspection is interrupted by the Architect’s descent. Ashalla follows. After the Architect had left, Ashalla descended the hole into the Core, where she found Katharsos and the remains of the anima mundi siphon. Katharsos reports that he had discovered that the siphon was the source of the soul decay, and intends to destroy the siphon. Ashalla, on the other hand, intends to claim the siphon for herself. Ashalla rips open a Gateway to the Abyss, flooding the Core. Katharsos extends the Vortex of Souls down to the Core, depriving the siphon of souls. Enraged, Ashalla strikes out at Katharsos, not listening to his pleas. After a brief scuffle, Katharsos calls down the flames of the Sky of Pyres, intent on destroying the siphon even if it kills them both. Ashalla yields, and they flee through the Abyss just as the Pyres flood the Core and destroy the siphon. They have a little chat. Despite Ashalla’s efforts to persuade him otherwise, Katharsos is determined to leave this plane and let the dead handle themselves. Katharsos flies to the Barrier and crosses through the Key, leaving Galbar. Ashalla stays on Galbar. She sets herself up as goddess of the Vallamir of Be’r-Jaz and organises them to rebuild the city around the Hollow and send expeditions into it. Ashalla holds onto her dream of absolute power, and is probing the Hollow for whatever secrets the Architect has left behind. She also maintains her claim over the Core, just in case. [/hider] [hider=Might Summary] [b]Ashalla[/b] [i]Start:[/i] 10 Might, 13 Freepoints [i]Spent:[/i] 7 Might to create a Gateway between the Abyss and the Core. 1 Freepoint to help rebuild the city around the Hollow. 2 Freepoints to create a Holy Order, the [i]Hollow Delvers[/i]. [i]End:[/i] 3 Might, 10 Freepoints [b]Katharsos[/b] [i]Spent:[/i] 7 Might to create a second Vortex of Souls, from the original on Galbar to the Core. [/hider]