[center][h1][b][u]Gifts & Introductions[/u][/b][/h1][h2][sup][sup][i][color=#0AE6D3][b]𝒞[/b][/color][color=#423f85]ath[/color]  [color=#0AE6D3][b]ℳ[/b][/color][color=#423f85]elainea[/color] & [b]Homura[/b]
[sub][sup]A Collab by [@yoshua171] and [@Chris488][/sup][/sub][/i][/sup][/sup][/h2][sup][sup][sup][sup][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/g3AJZo1.png[/img][/sup][/sup][/sup][/sup][/sup][/center]From the Plains she’d set out on foot, heading to the north along the coast. Placid and calm as the sea to the east, Melainea adored the world around her. Such variety and so many things to hear and see and smell.

It was a paradise of experience.

Almost.

There was one fatal flaw. It did not brim overfull with life, with activity unending. Everywhere she looked she laid her violet gaze upon new sights, heard new sounds, and felt new things. Yet, there was little else to feel in kind. Few with which to share this place.

Yet she knew these lands were far from empty.

Still, such meager numbers were not enough.

They were but a pittance, no better than infertile silt between her fingers. A scowl crossed her visage then, her eyes narrowing, brow furrowing deeply in contempt. She stretched out her senses, but it was a new thing, and so as her awareness pressed out into the world, so too did her form destabilize and change.

So the feminine facsimile that had been her guise wavered like purple smoke troubled by an unseen hand. The haze wove and shifted, then expanded in a wave. Faint shimmering flames shattered the night in that moment, cutting through it in scintillating bolts like lightning in all directions.

A flash of heat, of feeling, of sight, and knowing. Then nothing. That violet light across all of Galbar’s skies was there no more, and once more upon the cliff face a goddess stood.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“Northward a titan lies.”[/b][/color] From an expressionless face rose a wide and terrible grin. It was there but a moment before only thoughtfulness remained.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“I will meet her, favored of my father. My Sister.”[/b][/color]

She tilted her head, tasting the wind, letting it fill her until she burst once more into an indigo flame and flew across the sky. Traveling outwards towards the sea, Melainea flew, her form a winged bolt of lightning coiling north and west across the waves.

[hr]
Dawn’s gentle hues broke the horizon as the goddess arrived. Pink and red and orange colored the clouds in a beauteous symphony, its like interrupted only by the tremendous eruption of flame as the amaranthine bolt struck the earth just short of Keltra.

The fire coiled and swam upwards towards the heavens, hungrily eating air. Yet the crimson wall remained unaffected by its touch, as if uncaring of its existence. Curious, enraged, the flame drilled downwards at the great edifice’s upper walkways, intent upon destruction.

It mattered not. Unyielding, the Red remained for even as the deity crashed upon its surface it found no purchase, instead coiling inwards upon itself. Slowly the otherworldly flame pulled inwards, and its light dimmed such that the sun was once more the reigning champion in the sky.

What remained was an intrigued woman, horned and garbed in flowing cloth and essence, her head adorned with feathers and even vines. Yet, where her torso would have been, was instead a shining tear within the world. A burning lavender abyss to which the flames were slowly pulled.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“How stubborn,”[/b][/color] she murmured quizzically as she admired the stone beneath her feet. Perhaps this was of her sister’s design….

Was it a coincidence that such thoughts brought the Goddess of Honor to her, or was her sister compelled to answer the arrival of Cath Melainea in Keltra? Homura walked along the barren path atop the red wall towards her visitor, wielding a golden spear that shone with celestial light in one hand. Her graceful stride brought her before the horned woman, and she greeted her with a respectful bow. [b]“I am Homura. I have no intentions of harming you, unless you seek to harm me.”[/b]

Turning her gaze upon the very presence she had come to experience, Melainea tilted her head, a small smile playing across her lips as the remainder of her flames sealed themselves within the crucible of her chest, which faded in turn. What remained was her faintly luminescent figure, gently burning against the black.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“Harm?”[/b][/color] She queried, her eyes moving upwards to the heavens, basking in the vastness of the sky. As she considered the concept, licks of flame pressed outwards from her feet like faint sparks of lightning. Though her power could not directly intrude on the psyche of other gods, Homura might still sense the potency of emotion held within each spark.

Rage, distilled, mirth driven to destructive heights, contentment so deep that sloth set in.

The sparks ceased and the violet-eyed goddess met her sister’s gaze. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“I suppose I have no such intention.”[/b][/color] Unsaid were the words ‘for now’.

Stepping towards her sister, the Monarch’s Crucible glided across the surface of the wall. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“I am Cath Melainea,”[/b][/color] she said, her words too quick, as if she were compelled to reciprocate the greeting. She paused in her approach, wondering at the nature of her sister.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“I am our Father’s Crucible. Emotion distilled and pure and potent. I am the tempering flame of experience. What might thy Aspect be, sister?”[/b][/color] Though her words could not tempt, nor sway Homura, it seemed that they still had an insidious affect. Twas as if they slithered into the mind, touching upon emotions, seeking to kindle them, to coax them into flames, or perhaps to snuff them out…leaving only ash.

[b]“My Aspect is Honor, and I act as our Lord’s Highest Judge and His Emissary. Welcome to Keltra, sister.”[/b] Homura replied, and another fire burned fiercely within her, a blinding blaze which seared those that trespassed inside her mind. Seven burning serpents hissed and coiled, interweaving and dancing in the divine fire that enveloped them. The song they sang with their graceful bodies and forked tongues drowned the attempts to manipulate the inner fire, the mind, the emotions of the red goddess.

[b]“I apologize, but I have little time before I must depart. I would ask that you cease attacking the wall.”[/b] Homura continued, her monotone voice and impassive expression proved only a poor attempt to hide the fire of her feelings behind the mask, as the truth of emotions could not be concealed from Cath Melainea.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“The wall is of little interest,”[/b][/color] the Crucible replied, taking another step closer, not noticing in the least as Homura rebuffed her psychic intrusion. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“You however intrigue me…and there is something else.”[/b][/color]

She paused, breathing in as she came within mere feet of her sister. The scent of clay and flesh, of soul and mind. Slumbering emotion. Dormant and unkindled, untouched yet by the world.

Melainea’s gaze wandered inwards, falling upon the colossal shapes of three titans. In their forms were nested many sparks. Violet eyes flashed and for an instant her form flickered between mortal and divine.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“Life.”[/b][/color]

She turned away, looking to the sparks, her sister left behind, but not forgotten.

[color=#0AE6D3][b]“Where is it that you’ll go?”[/b][/color] she asked of Honor. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“What transpires within these lands…that might be more precious than these children?”[/b][/color] Only then did she turn her gaze once more upon Homura. Curiosity, awe, and love were in that look. Yet the last was joined by a great ferocious anger, like a mother bear, protective of its cubs.

[b]“My presence has been requested by both Iqelis, God of Doom, and Ea Nebel, Goddess of the Grave, to attend the trials of the latter imposed upon her by our Lord. It is duty that calls me away, however, the ninety thousand sleeping vessels within those three machines are unclaimed. They are my gift to the Divine, and so they are my gift to you, sister. You may take the colossi, and those that slumber within, if you desire.”[/b] Homura said, gesturing to the titanic trio standing in the red sea, before she began walking once more, traveling along the length of the wall’s walkway.

[b]“Humanity is our instrument, our will made manifest, shaped by our desires and guidance. Your presence can awaken them, and define them, their design intended to adapt to the purpose we give them. Do you accept my gift, sister?”[/b] The red goddess asked.

With quiet intensity, she held Homura’s gaze, considering her words. Dawn stretched further into the sky as she pondered Honor’s offer, and what had come before it. After a time, Melainea glanced to the glowing spear and smiled before kneeling to touch the surface of the wall beneath them. Gently, she drew a finger across the stone. A faint red dust came off and her eyes shimmered with pleasure. Rising once more to her feet, Melainea met her sister’s eyes.

Dimly at first, the dust gained a crimson glow, before rapidly growing so bright as to be blinding. Violet flames snapped upwards from her fingertips, shrouding the residue, imbuing it. She drew a ring within the air, and the dust lingered therein. Slowly, it coalesced into a burning crimson circlet. It had a dull sheen to it, as if rainbows had been writ across its surface.

Hovering a moment, it soon fell into Melainea’s palm. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“I accept,”[/b][/color] she purred as she stretched her hand towards her sister, offering a gift. [color=#0AE6D3][b]“In exchange, accept this token for a time. I wish to know of this trial, but I cannot go myself. The circlet will have to do instead.”[/b][/color]

Should one look upon the dimly burning ring, they note that it was gossamer thin, as if crafted from as little material as possible. Yet, it seemed unyielding in a way, as if would simply bend rather than break. Further, it appeared to possess endless depth and upon further observation it was more a tear in the world than any solid thing. Nonetheless, it could easily be handled.

[b]“So be it.”[/b] Homura held out her open hand to receive the circlet, and accepted the artifact.

Almost thoughtlessly, the violet-eyed goddess dropped the circlet into Homura’s hand, before turning to walk past the boundary of the wall and to one of the three great Collossi. However, the burning ring was another story entirely, for as it touched Homura’s divine flesh it lit up like the sun. For a brief instant, a frenzy of unstoppable emotions of every variety and hue would rush into her. Then, all at once, the deluge would cease and the ring would go dark, instead slowly shifting colors to match Homura’s countenance.

The red goddess examined what she held for another moment, before she placed the circlet atop her head, hiding it beneath her scarlet hair. Then Homura set out on her journey westward with a mighty leap from the wall.

Paying little attention to the departure of Honor, Melainea stepped off the edge of the wall’s path and into the air. Tongues of flame licked against her feet, buoying her on steps of flame as she approached the Collosi. There was awe and adoration in her violet eyes as she gazed upon the magnificent creations, and the sparks they protected. Eventually she stepped onto one of the titans. Closing her eyes she took in a long breath, taking in the sheer potential of what lay before her. Then, smiling, she sent her will throughout the metal and stone of the great Collossus. The fires of her power bound themselves into its form.

However, unbeknownst to her, the smallest tendrils of divine flame pricked the mutable slumbering minds of the many mortals therein. In time, they would wake, for now though…Melainea had a mind to truly populate the world.

Soon there would be emotions aplenty.

Driven forth by the great ardour of her power, the Collossus took a step into the bay, its great limb creating tidal waves as it moved. Its eyes had become embers of purple, veins of the same hue crisscrossing its form.

Pleased, Melainea’s mortal guise phased out of being, replaced only with an ethereal inferno, which soon disappeared into the Collossus’s core. It was time to inspect the bounty of her meeting.

[hider=Summaries][hider=Narrative Summary]Melainea casts her senses across Galbar, seeking siblings. She finds the Spark of Honor, one favored by her Father, and so seeks to meet her.

Succeeding, the two converse briefly and introductions are exchanged, as well as gifts. Homura departs with an artifact of Melainea’s making, while the violet-eyed goddess leaves with a Collossus in tow, the nature of her plans for its occupants not yet known.[/hider]
[hider=Resource Summary][u]Starting Vigor:[/u] 2/4

[b]Create an Artifact (-1 Vigor): Melainea’s Font.[/b]
[indent][i]Taking the form of a gossamer thin circlet, writ of an unknown crimson substance, and possessed of a prismatic sheen. It may be worn as a crown, a ring, a necklace, belt, or bracelet so long as its shape remains that of a ring. Its form appears less a solid and more a burning tear in the world, otherworldly as its surface shifts and writhes with unknown power.

Its most important attributes are thus, the Font functions as a receptacle of, and for, emotion/experience. As such, Melainea’s Font draws upon the experiences and emotions of all entities within a large radius around it, regardless of their nature. This effect does not pull upon the senses or energies of any being, as the Font simply detects emotions and experiences before duplicating them within the ring.

Through this process, the artifact acts as a repository for experiences that occur within its radius. Its secondary property allows these emotions and experiences to be drawn upon by the wearer. Notably, Melainea’s Font is not designed with mortal’s in mind, and thus if divine emotion–or simply too much emotion–is held within when it is worn by such, individuals may be driven mad by the resulting overflow of stimuli. In its current state, Melainea’s Font will not automatically empty its contents into the psyche of the wearer once attuned–via touch–and it may only impart experiences once before it must be filled with new ones.[/i][/indent]

[u]Ending Vigor:[/u] 1/4[/hider][/hider]