Ilyona
Goddess of Sunlight
With a final swing of her scythe, the Sun Goddess sent the final soul, free of its vessel, towards the afterlife, to be judged by the God of Death. With the body falling to the ground, its bestial groans now silent, the Lady Reaper sighed. Such sorrow, dreadful work but such was her punishment for her sin of the Curse of Hallows. The irony of having to kill her own children as punishment for creating them always hung in the back of her heart but she did her duty, it was only just.
“Farewell my child, may death finally embrace thou and release thy curse.” Ilyona ran her hand through her locks, the light shimmering off of her hair. With a gentle touch, the deity’s hand hovered over the Soulset Scythe, it too glowed but it did not glow the ethereal gold which so much of her other belongings did but instead twas a deep amethyst with an unsettling chill; not even Ilyona’s innate sunlit warmth could not dispel the shivering edge.
“My Maiden,” Lady Malicia kneeled before the Herald of Dawn, her cadre of fellow hunters dressed in similar garb following the actions of the Life Hunter, “I do believe we hath cleared this locale.” Cloaked in black, many would have never believed such a sinister figure would be a champion of the sun, even if she did wield a pair of enflamed blades in the name of Ilyona.
“Thou art right I do believe, this hunt has ended. Thou hath done well.” Ilyona raised her hand, a glistening halo began to swirl around it. Within seconds an orb formed as she closed her fist before it exploded with a flick of her wrist.
“May the light cleanse the shadows by blessings most divine.” Lady Malicia and her hunters muttered in devout prayer as the sphere of light expanded with the softest tinkling of distant bells. Bursting into shimmering shards of sunlight upon completion, the area had been purified by the light of Ilyona’s blessings, the hunt was officially over, “Let us retire to Lindenhold, my children beckon for me once more.”
Focusing her mind, the goddess turned her scythe into a tuning rod into a staff, perhaps a mockery of her former staff, the
Great Banner of Dawn. Infusing the purple wisps of the blade with golden misty fog, Ilyona slashed the air a head of her, cutting a portal to her throne room in Kharstav, using its great beacon of light to guide her.
With her loyal hunters, her feet transitioned from the soft dirt of the outside to the pure chiseled marble tiles outlined in fine gold on the floors of her royal keep. A stunning autorium it was, fit for a queenly mother with enough room for an audience to meet her. A few chosen hallows officials lumbered and mulled about, doing whatever they had to keep the Haven of Hallows running. A guard patrol of Spartans Solaris marched by in their polished amber armor and illuminous circular shields, taking a moment to kneel as their goddess walked out of her portal.
In the distance, golden bells danced in the high mountain winds that brought shinning warmth instead of the usual frigid peak winds of most mountains. Through great windows streamed in rays of sun, perfectly tuned by engineers and Sun Mages over years of tinkering to grant just the right amount of the eternal Lindenhold sun through to bring just enough light to illuminate the already illustrious hall without it being blinding. And in the center stood a great set of angelic plate armor covered by a pure white hooded tabard, streams of blue rays floated in the air behind it.
“My Maiden, welcome back.” Ilyona’s second demigod champion, Talvyrn the Dawn Guard, put his hand over his heart and nodded slightly, “How was thy cleansing harvest?”
“Fine as per usual, nothing of note; Lady Malicia and her huntsmen have done a fine job in assisting.” Ilyona smiled slightly and beckoned Talvyrn to resume a straight posture, “Doth ye have any news for me?”
“I do, one of the Guardians of Heavens hath delivered thou a summons to the Heavenly palace.”
“And they haven't sent one to me personally?”
“I am not sure but I would assume so.”
“Well, beast hunts are isolated, solitary activates, it could easily be that I forgot or never acknowledged it.”
With graceful strides, Ilyona walked over to one of the many fountains and looked at the reflection which stared back at her. As the spigot poured crystal waters unto itself, the goddess looked at herself in a moment of introspection. What sins she carried, it twas her undead children, born of a too kind and caring heart, which she thought was her greatest, but as of late it was the rebellion or more specifically, War. Not the act of conflict, but the God of War which she had struck down with her Soulset Scythe, spirit still lingering in its swirling void, unable to pass on due to its once holy, divine nature.
“My Maiden, perhaps we ought to depart.” Talvyrn appeared over the crouched shoulder of Ilyona, only just taller than the goddess.
“Yes… lets.” Channelling the light of the Ascention Beacon, a ray of pure blessed light that stretched from the heavens to the earth was caught in the goddess’ scythe-staff as a light blinded the Mother of Hallows and her two champions. Once again using her Beacon as a northern star, the three found themselves in the palace of the gods, next to the shinning throne of finely carved white stone with golden amber details, small figures reaching up towards a symbol of a sun with an infinite number of rays.
It seemed that three others had already arrived, two of the old rebels, oath sworn brothers in arms of the Gods of the Forge and the Seas, and then the sister goddess Oksana. “Greeting you three,” Ilyona nodded towards them all, “Glad to see two of you continuing on but what troubles you Oksana?” Radiating her normal gentle warmth, she approached the other goddess, hoping that Ferrum and Aesis did not hold her to how she was the one who dealt the deathblow to the God of War.
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