[center][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/f1dJpjn_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium[/IMG][/center]

(Turn 3)

Aveira stood on the balcony landing of her tower chamber and surveyed the desert with a brooding frustration. In her hand rested a single coin from the countless ones left behind after the lady of trade, and she rolled the piece between her knuckles idly, staring out over the dunes. Beneath her, the temple city was full of life. Her order of soldiers were in full swing with the preparations for the next phase - each day their ranks swelled, though not as quickly as Aveira had hoped. The arrival of the Umbra had seemed to make the settlement outside the walls just a little more complacent and less reliant on giving up their old selves. That didn't worry her too much; in the end most of them would not be suitable for the tasks required either way.

[color=DCDCDC]“Trade,[/color]" she scoffed and closed her fist around the coin. Her pale fingers kneaded and mangled it until it was unrecognisable, flecks and shards in her shifting grip. Opalescent tendrils of energy rose from her skin and wormed their way over and through the metal, infusing the shattered shards with new essences. The metal pieces shone with a pulsing glow, thoroughly charged with energy. With another sharp breath Aveira threw the pieces out into the air, scattering them to the desert wind. The discarded metal shifted and distorted in the air, and before they had flown past the courtyard below each fragment had warped into a metallic raven with opalescent eyes. The new conspiracy of ravens scattered in each direction away from the temple fortress as they took on new life. One returned to the vantage point that was Aveira's balcony and settled there, watching its creator with shining eyes.

Yet one fragment had remained in the deity's hand. She opened her palm and the metal stretched and flattened under the caress of wispy tendrils until it was a thin blank sheet of gilded metal. She ran her finger along it, then grabbed it with both hands and stretched it out further, before finally shaking it as though it were a blanket. It rippled in the sunlight and shifted from stale metal to a golden hooded robe.

[color=DCDCDC]“Kyra."[/color] she called, and one of her elven handmaidens shot up from her seat inside the opulent chamber just beyond the balcony. The handmaid wrapped her arms around her simple purple silk gown as she stepped out on the open landing, warily stepping so as to not risk the wind blowing her off the railing-free balcony and hurtle to her death and the courtyard below.

"You called, Shaeska?" The woman mustered with enough courage to appear unfazed by the locale. Aveira, who stood near the front edge, simply lifted her left wing as if to invite the elf to walk under it. Kyra did just so, and the wing fell behind her and shifted to push her forward until she was next to both Aveira and the edge.

[color=DCDCDC]“You have made these shadow being's business your own, have you not? Trade, and all the frippery that comes with it?"[/color] Aveira turned her eyes on her handmaiden, and Kyra seemed to shrink in her presence.

"...Yes. Bu-But only to serve you to the utmost of my abilities, Shaeska!" Kyra assured swiftly, swallowing both air and fear. "I thought it good to lea-.."

A raised hand silenced the elf before she could explain. She closed her eyes as the hand drew closer, but opened them again as no admonition seemed to come. No, instead Aveira had lifted her hand to hover over Kyra's head, where now wispy tendrils of essence lingered in the air. Kyra breathed softly and looked up at her pale ruler, only to find her staring right back at her.

[color=DCDCDC]“Once you changed your fate by showing your devotion to me. Now I change your fate to serve me better. If you are truly as devoted as you claim, you may even remember your old self."[/color] Aveira explained with unyielding condescension that implied all responsibility fell on her subject. Kyra opened her mouth to ask, to protest, to profess her loyalty; what she wanted to say would forever be unknown as before she could form a single word, Aveira touched her head and sent cascades of divine essence through Kyra's body. The change was immediate. Her skin rapidly desaturated until it was almost as pale as Aveira's, but remained a crisp light grey instead of the truly white of the angel's complexion. Likewise her hair drained of color until it was a matte shadow of her old brown hair, though clearly not inflicted by age. The only color that truly remained were her eyes, which were sky blue. Aveira lowered her thumb to press against Kyra's forehead, and the same sharp rune-shapes that littered the temple were inlaid with an ink-like stain.

Kyra's eyes rolled upwards as the divine energy took her and truly dissolved all that she was. New information streamed into her mind at a dangerous and maddening pace. Concepts of negotiation, etiquette, leadership and advanced technological tools and weapons she could never have dreamed of rushed into her, overtook all that she was. Soon, she felt as though she had always known these things, and never known anything else. Deep down were memories of a life of leisure, attractions to her kin, laughs and aspirations. Those seemed both far away and pointless now. Like a lesser life she'd read about - because she could read now, and somehow both knew that she could and what reading was. When the storm of knowledge abated, she looked up at Aveira with an expectant gaze.

The goddess lowered her hand and grasped the gown Kyra wore. A single touch was all it took to incinerate it, with flames that seemed not to harm the desatured elf underneath. Aveira reached out her other hand and offered out the golden robe she'd held all this time. Kyra instinctively accepted this gift and swiftly dressed herself in the vestments of her new position. She took a few moments to gather herself and the whirlwind in her mind before speaking. "I see now, your vision for our world. I will bring it to all the corners of the land and unite them.”

Aveira stretched her arm out over the temple grounds, and a deep rumble erupted from the buildings surrounding the courtyard below. Within moments, one of the majestic buildings of the temple grounds began to rip from the earth, and lifted into the air slowly but surely, stirring up a hornet’s nest of activity among the Heralds milling around the realm. The building warped under divine ministration, and old windows and archways turned to landings and walls turned to golden metals. With a second flick of her wrist, Aveira sent a pulse of divine command out over her temple grounds as they watched the creation of the new flying building - extending to her loyalists not only the purpose of this vessel, but the concepts and ideas required to crew and operate such an envisioned tool of the sky.

Aveira lowered her hand and nodded to Kyra, who nodded in turn. Wordlessly, the pale elf excused herself, and left to carry out the deity’s plans for the world. Below, the stir had settled, and the Heralds had begun to load their flying new fortress with supplies.

[hr]


[hider=Summary]

Aveira is brooding. She makes some cool metal birds and a flashy robe. Then she converts one of her followers into an Avatar, and gives her a cathedral airship with a knowledgeable crew to go and do cool things in the world.

[/hider]
[hider=MP]
Aveira 5/5

1 MP - made metal ravens. They do not require food or sleep. Their eyes are made of jewels.

1 MP - created an artifact: The Golden Robe. This shimmering gold robe is as tough as metal armor, and protects the wearer from the elements.

3 MP - Converted a cathedral from Aveira’s realm into a building airship. It flies by divine will and is a building. 3 points towards Sky.

3 AP (discounted) - Converted Kyra from a lowly elf into a cool elf avatar.

2 AP (discounted) - Spread war and tech ideas to the Heralds of Unity about air superiority, parachuting and sky assaults from a vessel in the sky. 
[/hider]