[center][h1][color=deepskyblue] The Palace of Rime III [/color][/h1] [h3][i][color=Darkgray]Feverish Intent[/color][/i][/h3][/center] [hr] Aurora awoke in pain, head throbbing and throat raw. Her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room and what she found made her stomach leap. She was suspended in a cage of ice, overlooking the room that Rosalind resided in. The sleeping goddess still lay undisturbed upon her dreaming bed but the room itself was changed. A golden fire burned in in the corner of the room, where it had once been empty. The fire was surrounded by blankets and pillows. An icy table held empty goblets and plates, strewn about and left to be forgotten. Signs of inhabitants was abundant but Rosa was asleep… Then who? Furthermore, she was trapped. As soon as her hands touched the cold bars, they stung her and she winced in pain, throwing them under her armpits. She scooted closer to the edge of the cage and looked down. There was nothing of note below, just the floor. She craned her neck to look up but the ice was thick and she had no idea what suspended her. Probably more ice. There was a theme to this place after all. What was she going to do? How was she going to escape? Were Mair and Shysie alright? Could she do that again but with herself instead? Could she bring Rosa? She sighed, none of that mattered if she was stuck. Or did it? She concentrated, or at least tried too but her head still throbbed and nothing welled up inside. She groaned and kicked the icy bars with little luck. She was a prisoner now. How long would she wait here? Was Chailiss so gone… Alona's brutal death flashed before her and her breath quickened. She grabbed her head and shut her eyes tight, trying to banish those memories but she couldn't. She began to cry. Alona was dead. Druska was dead. Ahusaka was shattered and dead. She let them die, she should have gone with them. She should have- [Color=yellow]"...B-But, like, maybe we should go?"[/color] came a soft voice that jostled Aurora out of her panicked state. It came from behind the frozen door. Her gaze fell upon Chailiss as it opened, cloaked hood obscuring his lack of features. Behind him came a new woman, one she had never seen before. She was beautiful, tall, with golden hair that flowed down her back. She wore a simple blue dress that left little to the imagination. Aurora felt herself blush but as she looked closer she could see the bruises and the downcast eyes. It made her blood boil. [Color=yellow]"H-Homura sounded s-serious."[/color] she said, walking over to the table and going through the empty goblets. Chailiss walked over to the foot of Rosalind's bed and stopped. [Color=darkgray]"She cannot be trusted."[/color] The woman paused and craned her head at Chailiss. [Color=yellow]"B-But-"[/color] He cut her off, [color=darkgray]"No!"[/color] he spun around to face her and she went rigid. [Color=darkgray]"She lies!"[/color] he hissed, [color=darkgray]"We would go there to be slaughtered like lambs. Homura cannot be trusted, she is a fiend and a fool! They all are! Don't you see? All of them are infected!"[/color] he rushed over to her in a blink of an eye. The woman froze as he caressed her face. His voice softer now, [color=darkgray]"This plague… She hungers for our shards. It's just us now. We will be free from her possession. Besides… Who would watch over Rosalind if not for you, Zenia? You've done such a good job of it."[/color] She looked to the table, leaning away from his touch. Aurora could only watch. [Color=yellow]"Oh o-okay. If-If you, l-like, say so."[/color] He rubbed his thumb under her left eye, then moved it to her shoulder. Zenia looked anywhere but at him. [Color=darkgray]"Have faith in me. We shall secure our future and the Galbar’s, together. I just…"[/color] he began to play with her hair, [color=darkgray]"We need to stick together."[/color] Zenia nodded quickly. [Color=yellow]"O-Of course. I understand."[/color] Chailiss hovered over her for a few more uncomfortable seconds before he drifted back over to Rosalind. [Color=darkgray]"I cannot forget you, dearest Rosalind. Sleeping Rosalind. Dreaming Rosalind. Feverish Rosalind."[/color] his voice hit a note of spite and his form hovered parallel to her over the bed. He reached out to touch her but this sent a chord of disgust down Aurora's spine. "Don't touch her!" She shouted, "Don't you dare touch her!" This jostled Chailiss, who turned his attention to her at last. His cold aura washed over the cage as he floated up to meet her. [Color=darkgray]"Ah, Aurora. Another traitorous daughter. Where did you send your companions?"[/color] he asked in an icy voice. She noticed Zenia looking up at them too. This was not the voice of the god she knew. It was a horrific monstrosity that had supplanted itself in Chailiss' place. Her heart panged with hurt but those cracks were filling with hate. She scowled and shook her head. "Even if I knew, I would never tell you. You killed them. You killed my friends like they were nothing. Like they were just toys made to be broken. You sicken me!" Angry tears fell down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around herself and scooted away from him. [Color=darkgray]"I will not argue with a feverish child of matters that are beyond you. But fortunately I believe you, we will just have to find them…"[/color] his voice dropped to a veiled whisper and Aurora's heart sank with dread. "N-No! You can't! They aren't sick, they don't have a fever!" She screamed, rushing forth to grip the bars. The cold stung her hands but she didn't care. "I'll do anything, please just leave them alone!" [Color=darkgray]"I will send one who has always been loyal to me and he will make sure their journey to the afterlife is swift."[/color] The God spoke to himself, ignoring Aurora as if she were nothing but an annoyance. It made her frozen blood boil. "You're the sick one!" She yelled, "You aren't right in the mind! You killed innocents!” [color=darkgray]”Quiet.”[/color] Chailiss commanded, the air growing colder. “No! You’ve imprisoned me! Your own daughter! Simply because I saved my friends from a certain death!” Her hands gripped harder against the icy bars. [color=darkgray]”Be quiet!”[/color] His voice raised, anger palpable in the air. But she wasn’t done yet. “You've become a monster! A cruel beast! And Rosalind would be asha-" She was cut off by his thunderous voice. [color=darkgray]”HOLD YOUR TONGUE!”[/color] Her words were cut from her mouth with sudden precision. She moved her jaw and felt a coldness that sent her stomach into a pit. She touched her lips, fingers quivering and then she outstretched her tongue. What felt like the loudest crack she had ever heard rung in her ears. She blinked, briefly overwhelmed and shocked by the noise then her eyes looked down. Down at her hands, which now held something frozen. She quivered as realization dawned in her eyes. Chailiss had frozen her tongue off. She recoiled and from her mouth came a garbled scream. She shouldn't have done that, for her mouth and throat exploded into pain and she grabbed at her neck to little relief. [Color=darkgray]"Now look at what you’ve made me do!."[/color] Chailiss lamented with anger. He smashed his fist into the icy bars before her and they shattered into pieces. She would have lunged forward but now she felt something she hated most of all- Fear. [color=yellow]”C-Chailiss…”[/color] She heard Zenia say, almost having forgotten she was there. [color=yellow]”Let me, like, help-”[/color] [color=darkgray]"No!"[/color] he yelled, floating to the ground as her prison’s bars reformed. She peered over the edge just in time to see him slap Zenia across her face. She stumbled but remained standing, looking to the floor. [color=darkgray]”No one needs help here.”[/color] [color=yellow]”Y-Yes… Of course.”[/color] Zenia squeaked out. He touched her face again and she closed her eyes tight but a blow never came. [color=darkgray]”I would never hurt you, Zenia. Now come, we must prepare our loyal champion.”[/color] His hand found her wrist and he pulled at her to follow. Zenia caught Aurora’s eyes, golden tears falling down her face. She looked mournful and then she looked away and they were gone. Leaving Aurora alone, without anyone to talk to. Without a voice to be heard. She looked at Rosalind and wept. [hr] He only knew pain. The pain of loss. Of betrayal. Of anger. Of rage. Hate. Death. It was all such a foggy haze. Where was he? Who was he? He… He remembered a dreadful sight, a last flight and then… A gate of souls and and…He remembered he was hunting nice fat voles prancing about in the tall grass…His sights set on the fattest of the bunch and he grabbed it and looked upon its fearful eyes before he became repulsed and let it go. He could not kill such a creature. Next he met a beggar upon a long winding road. He had nothing but feathers and the man was starving. He could have walked away, he could have let the man starve but instead he plucked three of his feathers and handed them to him. Perhaps he could trade for food… Then he was… He met a Childan and they talked for a time. It felt like a life age and then he moved on. Now he was larger and [i]she[/i] was there. As she was before her fall, before… before she betrayed him. No… she was not right in the mind. Wasn't that… Long ago? Chailiss appeared too and they stood side by side upon a white canvas. She spoke to him and told him to come to her and they could be happy together. But then Chailiss spoke and he told him his duty was to travel ever on, for it was his destiny to discover. The canvas changed to a cliffside overlooking the sea. His creator father pointed off into the horizon. The girl he once called friend held out her arms to him. He felt conflicted because his duty was his purpose and she had hurt him. But his heart could no longer deny her, even as his God shouted and screamed and blew a freezing wind upon him, Viho chose himself. For that was his name. Viho, the wandering owl! As soon as he embraced his Fear, he was somewhere else entirely. And endless forest. She was there again. He knew what was coming, for his body shook with anticipation and dread. Slowly he watched as Fear became a twisting, terrifying monster. One he knew he had to stop, one he had to end. But the owl hesitated and stepped back. Could he kill his friend? Could he not help her instead? Could he… He begged her to stop, to fight the corruption, but it was useless. Her bones snapped and her mouth widened, showing rows and rows of sharp teeth. She would devour him for good now but he couldn’t… So he fell. Into a realm of blackness and screams. But when all seemed lost and he had consigned himself to such a fate, a golden light beckoned him forth. It whispered his name… [i]She[/i] spoke his name with gentle warmth. He could be saved, all he had to do was go to the light. Did he find salvation in that light or did he accept his damnation? It was such a simple choice… [hr] It came to him in a dream. He dreamt of endless destruction night after night but this time it was different. A dark hole was upon the horizon, whose maw devoured all into the abyss. It flayed his flesh time and time again, for he could not escape its pull. He could never escape its pull. It was his doom. But before he could die, he would suffer for an eternity. He watched them, his children and the land, cry out in pain as they met grisly ends. Aurora was there and he tried to save her but she always slipped through his fingers into the maw. Zenia was there too, but his fellow Goddess, try as he might, could not be saved either. All the faces he knew, all the friends he once had- They all died and he was forced to watch over and over again. It never ended. For this was his punishment for the weight of his failures. He was weak and cowardly- a fool. The sky fell apart, swallowed by the feverish maw, then the stars and all of that which was above. He had no eyes but he could still see, despite how much he wanted to wake from the nightmare. A pale light, of dwindling hope, reached out to him in a desperate bid for survival. Chailiss reached for it, the pale crystal emmenating a quiet he did not know he craved and then it was before him. He looked upon it and whispered sweet nothings, of gentle hope and the blossoming of good fortunes. They were safe for now, together at the end of all things. It whispered back, a promise of removing such a fever if he wanted or let it be cast from him forevermore. Something screamed no, far, far away but he could not distinguish it from the roar of the maw. He was nearing it and so, he agreed. Anything to stop the fever. To stop this abomination of life. He was rent into two halves as he took the shard within him, and he could only watch as his other half drifted into the void. So Chailiss became death and the true nightmare began. …. [color=darkgray]”You have done well, Zenia.”[/color] Chailiss spoke to the smaller Goddess, who’s eyes were fixated upon his dead son. Except, he was not dead, but neither was he alive. No, he was stuck in between. [color=yellow]”W-Will h-he be… Like…”[/color] She could not finish her sentence as Viho squirmed in pain, beating his wings into the floor as his feathers turned black. “H-HELP!” he screamed but there was nothing they could really do. Voi’s curse was absolute on those who were tempted to leave the afterlife. It was necessary, after all. How else would he create a Revenant loyal to his cause? Zenia made a move forward but his hand shot out to grasp her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. The Goddess shivered. [color=darkgray]”He will be fine. Soon, he will feel nothing.”[/color] he commented, watching as Viho’s face feathers turned gray as the curse finalized its newest prisoner. His gleaming blue eyes looked on in horror, before they flooded with a crimson glow and all emotion vanished from the champion. [color=darkgray]”Now is the time, Zenia. Just as I instructed. Armor for our true servant, such that none shall ever again hurt him. Such that he may have his revenge.”[/color] Zenia watched as the darkened owl straightened himself, peering down before at the two Gods. She very slowly raised her hand and pointed at him. A noise like a chorus of war song sprang forth, followed by the iron rich smell of blood. It washed over Viho, donning him in Reverly’s finest. Light enough to fly with, strong enough to block any paltry attack. The armor was golden, but as it touched Viho, his afterimages darkened the metal. It covered his back, the tops of his wings, belly and head. His face was obscured, all that remained were two crimson eyes. [color=darkgray]”Very good Zenia.”[/color] He gave her a squeeze. He looked to Viho and spoke, [color=darkgray]”Viho. You have been rewarded in death with false life. You will seek out those who struck you down, for another seeks her as well and you will kill them all, my son. For they are feverish and their intentions cannot bear fruit. Do not let any get in your way. None at all.”[/color] He raised a hand on that endless patch of ice and cold, the palace well behind them like a crystalline beacon. He forged for his son deathly shackles, talons forged of the darkest ice any had seen. They tore into the ice as they fixed themselves to the feet of the owl champion. [color=darkgray]”Now fly Viho, fly and be once again free.”[/color] said the death god and so he was answered, for without any words, Viho left. Zenia shivered. [color=yellow]’Will h-he be alright?”[/color] she said, looking to the icy floor at his feet. [color=darkgray]”Of course, dear one. He has never been better. Free of his fever, free of a true death. What more can of of us ask for? Come now… Rosalind is lonely, let us return to the palace.”[/color] [color=yellow]”O-Okay.”[/color] she murmured under her breath, walking off before he could say anything more. It was all coming together. They would all see. Just how feverish the world was. [Hider=Summary] Aurora is imprisoned in the tower of Rosalind after her stunt. Two gods enter the chamber of the third, and Aurora is surprised to find the newcomer to be Zenia. How and when she got there is a mystery but she’s been keeping a close watch on Rosalind and being physically and emotionally abused by Chailiss, who by this point, has fallen into madness. Aurora protests and gets her tongue frozen off in a fit of rage. They leave her, Zenia powerless or too afraid to do anything. We skip to see Viho’s journey in the afterlife, for he died. He almost passes all his trials but falters when confronted with having the courage to kill a monstrous Fear in Rosa’s trial. But, it is not his end, no, he is saved by Zenia but it was just a ruse by Chailiss. For doing so marks him with the revenant’s curse. It is then revealed that Chailiss has in his position the aspect of death and he and Zenia empower Viho further to hunt down those that killed him and the ones who escaped the Palace. We end the scene on a grim note. [/hider] [Hider=Vigor] Zenia 21 Vigor -1 To rip a hole into the underworld to free Viho -3 to forge the artifact, Armor of Revelry. At the behest of Chailiss, Zenia was forced to turn her darkest parts of her aspect into a suit of armor fit for a champion. Wearing the armor enhances one's lust for battle, bloodshed and murder. 17 Vigor Remaining Chailiss 0 Vigor Claimed the Aspect of Death. His death. Where the Soul aspect deals with what occurs after the body is dead, and the Doom aspect deals with the slow marching end of all in perpetuity, Chailiss' Death deals with the finality of the physical self. The death of the living, breathing, fighting vessel that houses the soul. His twisted psychosis sees all life as feverish and in need of death to set them free, to stop the spread of life's feverish intent. Thus he uses it in his perversion to bastardize that which was once sacred, turning against the natural order of all things. For once dead, the fever has stopped and one’s body can be repurposed to propel the madness of the Cold God. +10 Vigor -3 to forge the artifact, Talons of the Death God. Blackish ice, formed into armored talons. Capable of cutting through most objects with ease and biting deep with necrosis. Beware the deathly fervor. 7 Vigor Remaining [/hider] [Hider=Spirit] Aurora Starting = 12 +4 = 16 & Viho Viho 10 +3 = 13 [/hider]