[color=7bcdc8][h3][center]Ten Minutes to Sunset[/center][/h3][/color]

The chatter of the gods started to fade as Dzallitsunya crossed the verdant fields, to the edges of the valley where she had seen the group of humans venturing into a cave. It was notably distant, a few hills away from the glowing red of the unstable parts of the crucible, a testament to how far she had been looking for an excuse to leave and/or how tall that Hydra stood, nevertheless, by the time she arrived the humans were gone, only their tracks remaining behind.

The goddess didn't hesitate to walk into the cave, on the contrary, she found it far more welcoming than the intense sunlight outside even if that had gotten milder as midday passed. Walking down one of the naturally made corridors she quickly noted odd patterns on many of the cavern walls, hand marks against the rocky surface in strong red colour, hands of all sizes too, but one, in particular, seemed the freshest so she followed it.

And as she expected, this led her straight to where one of the humans was, two in fact. One seemed to be struggling, trying to walk about but clearly lacking balance, his red-stained hands from time to time pressing against the walls. The other man, a paler one, seemed to be able to follow him just fine, sighing at the man yet again going down a dead end. 

"Come on my friend. You are staining all of my walls, I do not need you and your tribe's filthy hands all over my place." the man who could see complained. "And you are still going in the wrong direction..."

"No, you will just lead me to a hole, just you wait, I will find the big sky fire again and it will all be fine."

Although it was amusing, the goddess decided to politely knock on the rock to bring their attention to her. [color=7bcdc8]"Excuse me, mortals,"[/color] she said gently. [color=7bcdc8]"I am Dzallitsunya, one of the gods of this world, could I have a moment of your time?"[/color]

[hr]

From what the goddess understood within the cave there were not only one group of human but two. A smaller one led by Zed, which had woken up already in the cave, and the ones she saw entering, a larger group led by Croll. The latter had spent their time collecting berries and moved in when they heard the commotion as the Hydra was created, going to the cave to hide and feast upon their bounties, quite rudely forcing themselves in. That of course quickly backfired as the sun moved past the valley, shadows overtaking the holes and opening that worked as the cave's light source, in moments the whole tribe found itself almost blind. Zed's people, still able to see, seemed to be helping as they could, mostly because Croll's people had been trashing up the place even more now than they were stumbling and finding their way by pressing their red berry stained hands over any surface they found.

"And that is the gist of it. Look at my poor cave now, it looks so garish with all these red hands all over the walls, nothing like the minimalist decor I had gone for," complained Zed, now sitting with all of the two tribes in the middle of the main chamber.

[color=7bcdc8]"Now, now. Let us stop this senseless fighting, okay? Let us be mature here."[/color] the goddess sighed.

"Anything you say, o beautiful goddess." Croll declared. "You were the first thing I saw since darkness fell upon us. And since then, my vision has returned, if only a bit. Surely it must be a blessing of yours, my generous deity. We will worship you forever, offer you half our harvest, and I will kiss your feet if you so desire!"

[color=7bcdc8]"Please don't?"[/color] Dzallitsunya sighed. [color=7bcdc8]"Though that is curious, seems like your people are now able to see again? I cannot say I understand..."[/color] the goddess rubbed her chin, many within the cave imitating her just for the sake of acting like a god. 

[color=7bcdc8]"Nevertheless, Zed, I know you really love this cave, being your birthplace and all, but I cannot recommend you live here, this has a real chance of being a battleground of the gods. I am off to claim land for myself, and I would be honoured to have your people along with Croll's to be the ones who inhabit such a land."[/color]

Zed seemed pensive. "We did not like the outside very much, one of ours tried to walk into the light and they say they saw a great round spirit who blinded them immediately."

[color=7bcdc8]"That... That is called the sun. Do not stare at it."[/color] the goddess stood up. [color=7bcdc8]"And as a goddess, I will be able to protect all of you from the dangers."[/color] as if to demonstrate this, she walked outside, the sky now starting to become golden as the sun was setting. She focused on her cape and imbued it with greater power, it extended over the land like a veil, the strong winds, the red glow of the unstable lands and even the very light of the sun faded under the protective mantle.

Unlike Croll who had fallen head over heels for the presence of a deity, Zed had been unsure about this goddess until now, though seeing that starry world under her cape he immediately felt as safe as he was within the cave, he smiled. "Quite the display my goddess. I am sorry for doubting you." he looked to his tribe who nodded at him. "I, no, we, can say for sure, there is no one else we would rather follow."

[hr]

As the first sunset ended, the afterglow announced another debut into this new world, as the first night started, and it was quite a sight to see.

The column of travellers, Zed and Croll's combined tribes along with one or two stragglers, had been enjoying the sight quite a lot, the goddess too, from the moon, so much gentler than the sun, to the sea of stars that spread like a garden of flowers above. Zed hummed, walking closer to the goddess. "Dzallitsunya. I was having a discussion with my sister Daga. When did the little lights move into the sky? She says it was when Muma tripped and fell, but I remember seeing them before."

The goddess laughed at that, causing the man to blush a bit. "What?" he questioned.

[color=7bcdc8]"Oh no no, nothing, I guess it's harder for the mortals to see, or maybe it is my cape, but they did not move in, they were always there, since the start."[/color]

Zed looked confused. "What? Not to doubt you my goddess but they clearly moved in after the sun set."

[color=7bcdc8]"They were there, they were just hidden. The light of the sun was hiding them, you see? As it left the skies, it became easier to see them."[/color] the goddess explained.

Zed chuckled. "Well that is quite rude of the sun, isn't it? Interrupting and overtaking those little lights like that, reminds me of my noisy brother, or maybe... you know who." he tilted his head towards a distracted Croll.

Dzallitsunya chuckled too but then contained herself. [color=7bcdc8]"Zed... No more mean comments, okay?"[/color] she sighed and tried to look him in the eyes as much as she could without turning back to face her followers. [color=7bcdc8]"He is a good leader to his tribe and so are you, I am counting on both of you, for the sake of our people, and my own, too, okay?"[/color]

[hr]

As the second day dawned, the sun heavily contained by the dark veil, the group was well out of the protection range of the central node, skirting the lands of another zone to avoid the central chaotic area surrounding its untamed node. Her cape kept her humans safe as winds became scalding hot and heavy with dust, thunder fell upon the land and flames seemed to sweep about randomly. The only real trouble was that the group was getting tired of walking non-stop and as such the goddess made her protective cave roll once in the shape of a ring, similar to a tent, and moved it to a secured area nearby, giving the humans a chance to rest.

Food and water were lacking but the goddess could provide for that, creating such supplies with her innate powers. One human from Croll's people had a brilliant idea of using a dry stick they found to help them walk and the goddess provided for them, she also create simple clothes to better cover up the humans and allow mothers to carry their little ones more comfortably. It was sure peculiar how humans were created yesterday yet already came with pre-packed family ties, though seeing how it bound them together it was easy to see why Peninal had made such decision.

Before they lifted camp and left for their destination, one last incident took place, as Daga, Zed's sister, had walked out of the mantle during midday to pick some nearby plants and rocks, she returned safely but had been squinting and rubbing her eyes since.

[color=7bcdc8]"I don't see anything wrong with them, when I try to heal it my powers just washes through with no effect."[/color] the goddess explained as she held the girl's face with both her hands, observing her beautiful violet eyes, now somewhat bloodshot. [color=7bcdc8]"Outside of the itchiness, is there any other issue?"[/color]

"It's a bit darker under the mantle now." she confessed "Darker than it was before I left... I hope it isn't permanent..."

The goddess sighed. [color=7bcdc8]"It was foolish of you to leave into these scorched, sun-baked lands like this. Thankfully only your vision has been hurt from the reflected light upon the sands. If Croll's group is any indication, you will slowly start to see better in the dark again very soon."[/color] or so she hoped, truth was, Croll's group had never been as able in the dark as Zed's group.

Later, as they were marching forward again, she called Zed to her side. [color=7bcdc8]"I was thinking. About the visions issues, we have been having, about what Daga experienced."[/color] the goddess whispered, trying to not get the attention of anyone else.

"Hmm? What is it, my goddess? Are you worried about her?"

[color=7bcdc8]"Well, do you know how the sun hides the stars from the night sky?"[/color] she started. [color=7bcdc8]"I was thinking... what if it's the same with our eyes? It seems that when people look at a strong light, they become unable to see weaker lights."[/color]

Zed rubbed his chin, a behaviour he had mimicked from Dzallitsunya and now could not really stop. "Well... could be something like that. Light sure is weird. Do you know what I noticed? That when the sun is closer to the ground our shadows start to grow bigger." he said and when seeing Dzalli gasp upon that "revelation" he chuckled "But you know... If a goddess is struggling with understanding it, I feel like a poor old mortal such as me does not have a shot at it."

[color=7bcdc8]"Hmmm but you are as old as me if you stop to think about it. Everyone is equally old, that mother and the babe resting against her chest? Born at the same time."[/color]

He laughed. "True my lady, very true. Still, you just seem a bit wiser than all of us. I will try to help you understand things, but I feel like the best I, my people, even Croll and his tribe, can do, is to take care of the mundane so you can look at these higher things."

The goddess sighed. [color=7bcdc8]"As you wish, but know that I find talking to you very interesting, yes? Easier than talking to my siblings, it seems. So please do share your mind with me whenever you feel like it."[/color]

[hider=Summary]
Dzallitsunya goes to the cave and find not one but two different tribes of humans there, one of the cave dwellers led by Zed and the new arrivals by Croll. Dzalli says it is a bad idea to settle there and invites both to come with her to Node 7, they both accept and thus the journey start. To make the journey possible and easy, Dzalli makes a magical cape described in the might section below.

On the journey, Dzalli starts to ponder about light and darkness, as well as the ill effects of the sun like making peps temporarily unable to see smaller sources of light, like the stars.

Surely this is not a topic she will obsess over time!
[/hider]

[hider=Might]
5 might spent on the Shadow Flower
0 might remains

[quote]The Shadow Flower (Dzanyi-Magja)

This is the Signature Artifact of Dzallitsunya.
It takes the form of a black cape, decorated in ever-changing patterns best fit the goddess' current appearance.

Its main ability is that of unusual movement. When wearing it the goddess can slide, dart and skitter over the ground without moving a single limb or even making actions that contradict the direction in which she moves. She can launch herself with sudden speed and also fully nullify her momentum stopping in an instant and not moving further, even if still midair. While jumping she can reposition herself as if her feet landed on an invisible wall (Meaning vertical support, not horizontal ground-like support).

Preparing herself and taking a position (such as performing a runner stance) makes for faster, wind-slicing rushes and jumps at the cost of no longer being as precise or as quick to stop herself. 

One important note is the movement is very ground-based, she cannot simply float upward or fly nor gain additional momentum mid-air. Her "air jumps" are merely redirecting the speed she still has.

Finally, the cape itself provides some minor defence mostly only effective against simple and mortal hazards such as arrows, fire or sunlight. It can be extended as a "trail" of cloth-like darkness that can protect a small column of mortals from such hazards as long as they follow her.[/quote]

[/hider]