Ashh
Frettzo
VecArpeggio: Ilunabar's first holy site, a huge tower in the middle of Raka that herds the flow of dreams.
Raka: The realm of dreams.
Flow of Dreams: The collective dreams of all mortals. A great storm of thought that twirls from the chaotic bottom of the Arpeggio tower to the lawful top.
Glamour: Concentrated dream energy that can survive and influence Reality. Changes living and non-living things in a similar way to Chaos and Holy, but with far more glitter.
Pictaraika: Ilunabar's second holy site, basically one big cork stopper in a hole that connects Reality and Raka. Stands where Julkofyr's Darkened Spires used to, surrounded by tall knife-like mountains, it is home to many realms where Dream and Reality interact.
Index: One of the layers/realms of the Pictaraika, home to one of the greatest libraries in the universe and usually where Ilunabar makes her new plans.
Phantalei: When Ilunabar took over the Darkened Spires, the lands influenced by Julkofyr's darkness started to become influenced by glamour. Located west of the Pictaraika.
Julia Island: A garden gifted from Jvan, full of Jvanic species and shaped like a fractal. Stands in the middle of the Fractal Ocean.
Makeda: An angel Ilunabar started to influence after the Vestec-Niciel war. Unlike most angels, she lives far away from the Valley of Peace. She recently fought the Realta yet all she did was stun a few of them before almost being killed.
Theliel: A vampire that helped Makeda after she was almost killed.
Raka: The realm of dreams.
Flow of Dreams: The collective dreams of all mortals. A great storm of thought that twirls from the chaotic bottom of the Arpeggio tower to the lawful top.
Glamour: Concentrated dream energy that can survive and influence Reality. Changes living and non-living things in a similar way to Chaos and Holy, but with far more glitter.
Pictaraika: Ilunabar's second holy site, basically one big cork stopper in a hole that connects Reality and Raka. Stands where Julkofyr's Darkened Spires used to, surrounded by tall knife-like mountains, it is home to many realms where Dream and Reality interact.
Index: One of the layers/realms of the Pictaraika, home to one of the greatest libraries in the universe and usually where Ilunabar makes her new plans.
Phantalei: When Ilunabar took over the Darkened Spires, the lands influenced by Julkofyr's darkness started to become influenced by glamour. Located west of the Pictaraika.
Julia Island: A garden gifted from Jvan, full of Jvanic species and shaped like a fractal. Stands in the middle of the Fractal Ocean.
Makeda: An angel Ilunabar started to influence after the Vestec-Niciel war. Unlike most angels, she lives far away from the Valley of Peace. She recently fought the Realta yet all she did was stun a few of them before almost being killed.
Theliel: A vampire that helped Makeda after she was almost killed.
Post 1 - Ilunabar
Not much happens here, more of a set up for what is to come and supposedly to keep her up with recent developments, but the post was stuck in procrastination hell for a while, so it's not up to date.
-Ilunabar is meditating when she notices there is something odd in the flow of dreams, she cannot tell what.
-She talks with Piena, who gives her a report on the other gods, she does not find a reason for the oddity there, but she notices something is up with Astarte.
-She talks with Notte, who has been keeping an eye on Osveril but cannot do much lest the goddess decides what she wants to do.
-She talks with Meimu, who was supposed to continue working on Phantalei fauna and flora, but has been getting paranoic over butterflies instead.
Post 2 - Makeda
I got stuck for over one year with this post, yikes.
-Makeda, after the Realta attack, has been thinking things over, doubting her fate in Niciel but not falling to Ilunabar's plotting.
-She talks with her vampire friend-ish Theliel,
-On the way down, she spooks some village kids who were going up the mountain to talk with the Mist Witch (The local hain's name for Theliel)
-Makeda notices they thought she was a freaking Realta, she is angry, but decides to help them to show she is a good girl.
-She helps the village and hears rumors of an undead band attacking the region. She really wants to make up for that Realta stuff, so she decides to go back to acting.
-Cut to a battle between the armies of a brick-city (as walled cities are called in the region) and the undead bandits. Despite the numerical and strategic advantage, the living army starts to lose, the reason being the fact a vampire had hypnotized their general and leading them to doom.
-That vampire is actually acting out of his usual, he is a coward that just aimed at small villages, but then mysterious masked men (tm) blackmailed him into increasing his band and to aim at the key cities of the area.
-Makeda arrives in the battle, vampire panics.
-Makeda starts slaying most undead with ease, gets cocky, is attacked by one of the masked man, who being not undead was able to move through her attack unharmed and slash at her.
-Still, tides of battle have changed, the undead retreat.
-She wakes up later in a chamber in the palace of the brick city she saved, Thau.
-She hears some context on stuff, finds out the general from that battle is about to be executed, so she makes a dramatic entrance and saves him.
-Part 2 coming in 2020 at this rate.
Not much happens here, more of a set up for what is to come and supposedly to keep her up with recent developments, but the post was stuck in procrastination hell for a while, so it's not up to date.
-Ilunabar is meditating when she notices there is something odd in the flow of dreams, she cannot tell what.
-She talks with Piena, who gives her a report on the other gods, she does not find a reason for the oddity there, but she notices something is up with Astarte.
-She talks with Notte, who has been keeping an eye on Osveril but cannot do much lest the goddess decides what she wants to do.
-She talks with Meimu, who was supposed to continue working on Phantalei fauna and flora, but has been getting paranoic over butterflies instead.
Post 2 - Makeda
I got stuck for over one year with this post, yikes.
-Makeda, after the Realta attack, has been thinking things over, doubting her fate in Niciel but not falling to Ilunabar's plotting.
-She talks with her vampire friend-ish Theliel,
-On the way down, she spooks some village kids who were going up the mountain to talk with the Mist Witch (The local hain's name for Theliel)
-Makeda notices they thought she was a freaking Realta, she is angry, but decides to help them to show she is a good girl.
-She helps the village and hears rumors of an undead band attacking the region. She really wants to make up for that Realta stuff, so she decides to go back to acting.
-Cut to a battle between the armies of a brick-city (as walled cities are called in the region) and the undead bandits. Despite the numerical and strategic advantage, the living army starts to lose, the reason being the fact a vampire had hypnotized their general and leading them to doom.
-That vampire is actually acting out of his usual, he is a coward that just aimed at small villages, but then mysterious masked men (tm) blackmailed him into increasing his band and to aim at the key cities of the area.
-Makeda arrives in the battle, vampire panics.
-Makeda starts slaying most undead with ease, gets cocky, is attacked by one of the masked man, who being not undead was able to move through her attack unharmed and slash at her.
-Still, tides of battle have changed, the undead retreat.
-She wakes up later in a chamber in the palace of the brick city she saved, Thau.
-She hears some context on stuff, finds out the general from that battle is about to be executed, so she makes a dramatic entrance and saves him.
-Part 2 coming in 2020 at this rate.
34M - 0FP available.
30M - Level up from 6 to 9 - Not typically my style, but I want that extra domain.
2M - To create Flitterlings and Flutterlings. - Both to be introduced gradually, without proper warning.
2M - 0FP remaining
30M - Level up from 6 to 9 - Not typically my style, but I want that extra domain.
2M - To create Flitterlings and Flutterlings. - Both to be introduced gradually, without proper warning.
2M - 0FP remaining
The reflected image of countless stars within the Arpeggio's reactor twirled around the goddess. She found the place, despite the high amount of energy being churned about, a fitting area for meditation and introspection. The clash of opposites from the Arpeggio and the visage of Reality helped her to notice new patterns in existence as well as her own place in the greater stage the primordials had set.
However, not all of her time could be spent in introspection, especially in such restless time. She noticed many oddities during her contemplation, including one within the very flow of the Raka, all of them would need to be dealt with hastily. Upon feeling ready to face another cycle of pressure and trial, she immediately moved to the Index within the Pictaraika.
Piena was in the room, and immediately noticed her master's arrival, bowing down. "You arrived at the perfect time. I was just organizing the reports..."
The goddess wasted no time. "Do you have the divine one ready?" she asked abruptly.
"Of course." the silver-haired diva held that one within herself, A0, as it was one of the most sensitive sets of data they collected. Touching the table in the middle of the room, the information started to be displayed above it by means of illusion.
As with most of the archives, the data was collected from a large network of willing and unwilling informants: The diva's reports, the dreams of mortals, the glimpses of mirrors, all left a trace. It was all quite limited to the realm of Galbar, with glimpses of Arcon through the biased lenses of dreams. The flow of information was intentionally bloated, with many of the key areas intricately hidden by misinformation and illusion, especially the plans with what did not belong to her. From the manipulation of Makeda to the surveillance of Amartia. All, of course, was for the greater beauty of the world in her vision, property can be a tool of beauty, but it should never be a toll, it was absurd that some siblings would oppose her generous work just because they thought she was being 'meddlesome'.
"How peculiar, no clues on what has been messing the Flow of Dreams." the goddess noted, upon finishing a quick review of everything from A0W1S1V1 to A0W77S9V21
"I do notice something odd with Astarte though, I cannot tell what, but it is related to magic and some odd tales near the southern purlieu of the Deepwoods, who is looking after Brown and her?"
Piena shook her head. "I fear nobody is near either. Meimu is in the Phantalei, Notte is entirely focused on the new void, Chronicle is, well, Chronicle, so you know what to expect, and I am here."
"Ah, what a mistake. I should have sent someone, but I guess at the time I thought the jewelry alone would suffice to keep track of it. Oh well, I will look into this later. What is this report on Lazarus though?"
"We found relics we believe to be a Dwarven shipwreck... on our planet. Jvanic-Vakarion technology is really... rampant over there."
"That is unexpected, Lazarus is always such an unpredictable figure, I would be inclined to be more active to slightly help Dundee, but the holy imperialism and research on divinity..." the goddess shrugged, giving the text one last read before storing it. "Well, this will be all for today... I need an emergency report on fauna, flora and the domain of Nature, heavy focus on neural systems. I will send you Meimu if I see fit to free her from the current duty. Also establish a facility to test Glamour..."
"Ah, you are leaving already? Piena interjected. "We also were scheduled to talk about Alefpria..."
The goddess stopped moving and turned to face the diva. "Talk about what? Is there any new development over there? I am up to date with the situation on the Metatic Islands, if that is what you are talking about."
"No, I mean, the capital itself, its people and Lifprasil. When are we going to do some sort of intervention to stop the current staleness of it all? The war... it changed the emperor, we need to..."
"We need not. It is due time for Alefpria to find its own path, it suffers from the same illness of all divine empires, this is an opportunity for a cure. Mortal civilizations held only by the divine are like a tree that grows in reverse, it has a lofty canopy and succulent fruits, but its trunk is merely an illusion and even a sapling has larger roots, it's little but a collection of fragile twigs and leaves suspended in the air by bewitchery. These odd trees also cast a thick shadow that makes it impossible for the seeds of more legitimate plants to grow into great trees themselves."
"I see, so I take you will not allow us to intervene anymore on Alefpria?" the diva asked.
"You may do as you will. Just remember, when you first designed the city with Lifprasil and your sisters, you made sure to provide for most of the people's needs, from food to transport to leisure, yet you forgot one key thing, a graveyard, an understandable mistake." the goddess sighed.
"Well master, I understand my approach has not been ideal, but you must remember the role the empire played in curbing Logos, and the role it could play keeping chaos, ogres, undead and all other sorts of unsightliness in check."
"What can I say, I am romantic. I would rather have true beauty for a week before facing the end of the world than to live eternally in a place of fake beauty. But there is no need for this much tension, Alefpria is not yet fated to fade, the people might be lacking the will right now, but if there is one divine empire that can find a true path, it's theirs. On the same note, if there is one Diva that I would trust with actually helping them over just adding more illusion of wellness, it would be you, provided you start seeing the people where you see just pieces in a game of the divine."
"Notte," The goddess says as she suddenly stepped into the area, without the typical fanfare of her arrivals.
"Master," the Diva answered, looking particularly invisible at the moment, but quickly fixing that by slowly starting to look less translucent.
The Diva had been sent to scout the region directly to the north of the Pictaraika, Ilunabar was quick to notice something amiss and the dreams soon confirmed her worry. It was still hard to tell what she was facing, but she could see the bizarre work of the entity in the unsightly voracious creatures doing wicked work on the beautiful land.
"I have been culling the creatures discreetly on the side, glass dust and obsidian mostly, no hints of our work left once it is done. But, che, without facing the main horde, not much can be done."
"I would rather not." the goddess explained. "There is simply no joy in brute forcing a solution. I feel like there are better approaches."
"Hmmm? Diplomacy then? This all looks like unreasonable aggression, so I doubt that works. Or do you plan to just let it happen and see where it goes?"
"Indeed, I doubt just talk will work, but neither will I just be letting it run wild, I am an active deity, unlike many of my siblings. But there are other paths. You will see."
The Diva of Glass nodded slightly and once again became more transparent and harder to detect. "I hope you know what you are doing."
The transition from the dusklands to Phantalei continued slowly, Meimu had calculated the process would take almost an entire century to be done, yet even with a small sample area, the land provided far more than what the muse was capable of keeping track off.
The diva of petals continued her work over there, it was better than being on Julia Island for sure, but still, it was not ideal, even if the local flora was interesting, she would rather be working on her gardens over playing warden of the marshes.
To make matters worse, the number of insects that thrived in the swamp was an absolute disaster for any of her attempts at building up gardens. Butterflies were the worst for her, not only their spawn ate her flowers any time she looked away, but the Diva was sure they were up to something, much of the research Ilunabar had asked had been sidelined in favor of an unhealthy amount of notes taken about all sorts of lepidopterans.
"Uhm, I appreciate the enthusiasm about this one niche, but I do believe we have more urgent matters at hand." the goddess said, having arrived at the diva's camp before she had returned from her daily chores.
"Ah, you are here." she said, quite surprised and somewhat embarrassed too. "I did not expect you to outright do a surprise visit like this..."
"Ah, did I not announce myself? My bad." the goddess continued to shift through the diva's notes. "I take this whole butterfly thing is because of caterpillars? Not judging, I understand why you would have instincts from when you were a rose."
"Eh? No... Well, maybe, they are annoying, but so much stuff is annoying in this world, I would have no reason to dislike this one the most. The real issue is all the oddities they have, I mean, we noticed it right? How there are species of butterfly here that only exist in far-off corners of the planet, or even some Arcon ones."
"Oh? That is just the intrinsic blessing of Slough."
"I do not think you ever mentioned that term before."
"Oh, it is a very recent thing I theorized. It would explain why Arcon and Galbar share so many species, sometimes varieties showing up on Galbar after they are extinct on Arcon. It would also explain why the Metatic Ocean is inhabited by many new species that could have not simply traversed Shalanoir. I think it is because Slough inhabits Galbar, making it so that life based on the greater motifs is spontaneously born, especially in barren lands that could support it."
"Oh, I see. Hmm... Well, it explains some of it but..."
"Anyway, I noticed you have two new categories beyond the ones we had set before?" The goddess pointed towards the notes on local fauna the diva had taken.
"Oh? That is nothing too wild. See, uhm, the first two did well for the early fauna, but later I decided to cut all sentient beings into Leyur, especially, because, uh, there is some sentient stuff that should not be all that sentient, in theory. Also, size changes, not all creatures get small, some grow bigger. I call them Magos."
The first one caused a reaction of the goddess, she wondered if it was an interaction with souls and astartian magic or something else. "Hmm. What a situation. So much to do, so little time and helping hands." the goddess complained.
Anything bad happened to you recently? You sound more annoyed than usual, lady master."
"Not bad per se. But there is something on the flow of dreams over at Raka. It intensified when I built the mirror within the Arpeggio, it does not look serious, but I hate to have something within the core of my realm that I do not know."
"Ah? And you do not even have a hint of what it is?"
"Not at all, it could be your butterflies for all I knew." the goddess chuckled.
"Well, it could be worse, it could be the ants."
"Seesh. Tricked by insects, now that would be just shameful. Nevertheless, I originally planned to send you to help Piena but I believe I will send Piena to help you, as it seems this area became ripe with opportunities to study the dream-mind interactions. And please, forget about your conspiracies, okay? Time is way too short already."
However, not all of her time could be spent in introspection, especially in such restless time. She noticed many oddities during her contemplation, including one within the very flow of the Raka, all of them would need to be dealt with hastily. Upon feeling ready to face another cycle of pressure and trial, she immediately moved to the Index within the Pictaraika.
Piena was in the room, and immediately noticed her master's arrival, bowing down. "You arrived at the perfect time. I was just organizing the reports..."
The goddess wasted no time. "Do you have the divine one ready?" she asked abruptly.
"Of course." the silver-haired diva held that one within herself, A0, as it was one of the most sensitive sets of data they collected. Touching the table in the middle of the room, the information started to be displayed above it by means of illusion.
As with most of the archives, the data was collected from a large network of willing and unwilling informants: The diva's reports, the dreams of mortals, the glimpses of mirrors, all left a trace. It was all quite limited to the realm of Galbar, with glimpses of Arcon through the biased lenses of dreams. The flow of information was intentionally bloated, with many of the key areas intricately hidden by misinformation and illusion, especially the plans with what did not belong to her. From the manipulation of Makeda to the surveillance of Amartia. All, of course, was for the greater beauty of the world in her vision, property can be a tool of beauty, but it should never be a toll, it was absurd that some siblings would oppose her generous work just because they thought she was being 'meddlesome'.
"How peculiar, no clues on what has been messing the Flow of Dreams." the goddess noted, upon finishing a quick review of everything from A0W1S1V1 to A0W77S9V21
"I do notice something odd with Astarte though, I cannot tell what, but it is related to magic and some odd tales near the southern purlieu of the Deepwoods, who is looking after Brown and her?"
Piena shook her head. "I fear nobody is near either. Meimu is in the Phantalei, Notte is entirely focused on the new void, Chronicle is, well, Chronicle, so you know what to expect, and I am here."
"Ah, what a mistake. I should have sent someone, but I guess at the time I thought the jewelry alone would suffice to keep track of it. Oh well, I will look into this later. What is this report on Lazarus though?"
"We found relics we believe to be a Dwarven shipwreck... on our planet. Jvanic-Vakarion technology is really... rampant over there."
"That is unexpected, Lazarus is always such an unpredictable figure, I would be inclined to be more active to slightly help Dundee, but the holy imperialism and research on divinity..." the goddess shrugged, giving the text one last read before storing it. "Well, this will be all for today... I need an emergency report on fauna, flora and the domain of Nature, heavy focus on neural systems. I will send you Meimu if I see fit to free her from the current duty. Also establish a facility to test Glamour..."
"Ah, you are leaving already? Piena interjected. "We also were scheduled to talk about Alefpria..."
The goddess stopped moving and turned to face the diva. "Talk about what? Is there any new development over there? I am up to date with the situation on the Metatic Islands, if that is what you are talking about."
"No, I mean, the capital itself, its people and Lifprasil. When are we going to do some sort of intervention to stop the current staleness of it all? The war... it changed the emperor, we need to..."
"We need not. It is due time for Alefpria to find its own path, it suffers from the same illness of all divine empires, this is an opportunity for a cure. Mortal civilizations held only by the divine are like a tree that grows in reverse, it has a lofty canopy and succulent fruits, but its trunk is merely an illusion and even a sapling has larger roots, it's little but a collection of fragile twigs and leaves suspended in the air by bewitchery. These odd trees also cast a thick shadow that makes it impossible for the seeds of more legitimate plants to grow into great trees themselves."
"I see, so I take you will not allow us to intervene anymore on Alefpria?" the diva asked.
"You may do as you will. Just remember, when you first designed the city with Lifprasil and your sisters, you made sure to provide for most of the people's needs, from food to transport to leisure, yet you forgot one key thing, a graveyard, an understandable mistake." the goddess sighed.
"Well master, I understand my approach has not been ideal, but you must remember the role the empire played in curbing Logos, and the role it could play keeping chaos, ogres, undead and all other sorts of unsightliness in check."
"What can I say, I am romantic. I would rather have true beauty for a week before facing the end of the world than to live eternally in a place of fake beauty. But there is no need for this much tension, Alefpria is not yet fated to fade, the people might be lacking the will right now, but if there is one divine empire that can find a true path, it's theirs. On the same note, if there is one Diva that I would trust with actually helping them over just adding more illusion of wellness, it would be you, provided you start seeing the people where you see just pieces in a game of the divine."
"Notte," The goddess says as she suddenly stepped into the area, without the typical fanfare of her arrivals.
"Master," the Diva answered, looking particularly invisible at the moment, but quickly fixing that by slowly starting to look less translucent.
The Diva had been sent to scout the region directly to the north of the Pictaraika, Ilunabar was quick to notice something amiss and the dreams soon confirmed her worry. It was still hard to tell what she was facing, but she could see the bizarre work of the entity in the unsightly voracious creatures doing wicked work on the beautiful land.
"I have been culling the creatures discreetly on the side, glass dust and obsidian mostly, no hints of our work left once it is done. But, che, without facing the main horde, not much can be done."
"I would rather not." the goddess explained. "There is simply no joy in brute forcing a solution. I feel like there are better approaches."
"Hmmm? Diplomacy then? This all looks like unreasonable aggression, so I doubt that works. Or do you plan to just let it happen and see where it goes?"
"Indeed, I doubt just talk will work, but neither will I just be letting it run wild, I am an active deity, unlike many of my siblings. But there are other paths. You will see."
The Diva of Glass nodded slightly and once again became more transparent and harder to detect. "I hope you know what you are doing."
The transition from the dusklands to Phantalei continued slowly, Meimu had calculated the process would take almost an entire century to be done, yet even with a small sample area, the land provided far more than what the muse was capable of keeping track off.
The diva of petals continued her work over there, it was better than being on Julia Island for sure, but still, it was not ideal, even if the local flora was interesting, she would rather be working on her gardens over playing warden of the marshes.
To make matters worse, the number of insects that thrived in the swamp was an absolute disaster for any of her attempts at building up gardens. Butterflies were the worst for her, not only their spawn ate her flowers any time she looked away, but the Diva was sure they were up to something, much of the research Ilunabar had asked had been sidelined in favor of an unhealthy amount of notes taken about all sorts of lepidopterans.
"Uhm, I appreciate the enthusiasm about this one niche, but I do believe we have more urgent matters at hand." the goddess said, having arrived at the diva's camp before she had returned from her daily chores.
"Ah, you are here." she said, quite surprised and somewhat embarrassed too. "I did not expect you to outright do a surprise visit like this..."
"Ah, did I not announce myself? My bad." the goddess continued to shift through the diva's notes. "I take this whole butterfly thing is because of caterpillars? Not judging, I understand why you would have instincts from when you were a rose."
"Eh? No... Well, maybe, they are annoying, but so much stuff is annoying in this world, I would have no reason to dislike this one the most. The real issue is all the oddities they have, I mean, we noticed it right? How there are species of butterfly here that only exist in far-off corners of the planet, or even some Arcon ones."
"Oh? That is just the intrinsic blessing of Slough."
"I do not think you ever mentioned that term before."
"Oh, it is a very recent thing I theorized. It would explain why Arcon and Galbar share so many species, sometimes varieties showing up on Galbar after they are extinct on Arcon. It would also explain why the Metatic Ocean is inhabited by many new species that could have not simply traversed Shalanoir. I think it is because Slough inhabits Galbar, making it so that life based on the greater motifs is spontaneously born, especially in barren lands that could support it."
"Oh, I see. Hmm... Well, it explains some of it but..."
"Anyway, I noticed you have two new categories beyond the ones we had set before?" The goddess pointed towards the notes on local fauna the diva had taken.
"Oh? That is nothing too wild. See, uhm, the first two did well for the early fauna, but later I decided to cut all sentient beings into Leyur, especially, because, uh, there is some sentient stuff that should not be all that sentient, in theory. Also, size changes, not all creatures get small, some grow bigger. I call them Magos."
The first one caused a reaction of the goddess, she wondered if it was an interaction with souls and astartian magic or something else. "Hmm. What a situation. So much to do, so little time and helping hands." the goddess complained.
Anything bad happened to you recently? You sound more annoyed than usual, lady master."
"Not bad per se. But there is something on the flow of dreams over at Raka. It intensified when I built the mirror within the Arpeggio, it does not look serious, but I hate to have something within the core of my realm that I do not know."
"Ah? And you do not even have a hint of what it is?"
"Not at all, it could be your butterflies for all I knew." the goddess chuckled.
"Well, it could be worse, it could be the ants."
"Seesh. Tricked by insects, now that would be just shameful. Nevertheless, I originally planned to send you to help Piena but I believe I will send Piena to help you, as it seems this area became ripe with opportunities to study the dream-mind interactions. And please, forget about your conspiracies, okay? Time is way too short already."
At the cliff's edge, Makeda sat and contemplated her situation, the view of the endless plains in front of her being both a haunting and beautiful one. The scars of fire made by the Realta were still clear, yet mortal life continued, and little by little, they were rebuilding. The crumbles of previous buildings became the foundation of new ones and the ashes nourished new crops.
Still, nothing changed the feeling of failure she felt and the cracks the unsureness of it all caused on her mind. The words of Niciel, the words of Ilunabar and all the memories she collected across the land crashed against one another.
"You... Have been meditating in that rock for a while, no?" the vampire suddenly said to the angel.
"You know very well our species does not need anything but that to survive."
"Well, that is not entirely true, food and sleep provide not only better healing for a tired and hurt person, such as you, but also... it feels nice."
The angel thought it over, finally deciding to concede to Theliel's point. "Maybe some fresh water would help me to heal faster," she said.
The vampire knew well Makeda was back at full health already, she had been for days, it was easy to notice her issue was one of mind, she did not want to just return to the Valley of Peace or concede to Ilunabar. He wished he knew how to help, but it was his very trouble understanding other people that led him to a hermit lifestyle even before he fell from angel to vampire. He was trying to do what little he could and hoping he was doing something good.
Makeda took flight down the hill, going in the direction of a spring not too far from there, provided you could fly over the steep land. As she went down, she noticed the little track between trees mortals used to go up the hills. There was a shrine there, and by living near to it, Theliel's became part of the worship.
Mist witch, the mortals called the spirit of the mountain, as she moved in the form of mist and only sometimes took a humanoid shape. Seeing as it could dissuade them from sending hunters and such after him, Theliel went along and performed a few tasks for the villagers using hypnosis, his ability to communicate with animals, among other skills. He clearly disliked it to an extent, going as far as making the path up the hill harder to use, yet he also seemed to do his best once someone managed to make it.
A sudden scream took Makeda out of her thoughts about her odd host, immediately the angel swooped down thinking she needed to help someone, yet all she found were two lone hain looking terrified. Or more correctly, looking terrified at her.
This made the angel incredibly perplexed, she looked down at her hands and body trying to understand what was going on. Then she realized it.
"I cannot believe this happened, I doubt it is a local thing." the angel told in a frustrated tone, swinging a wooden spoon in the air instead of using it to eat the venison soup he had prepared.
"It is logical if you stop to think about it. While we know the full context, mortals cannot tell one person from the heavens to another."
"Still, I am not a metallic being of death, I am not hurting anyone, I spent decades saving people and villages, this is so insulting, to me, to Niciel. Even Vestec would not imagine a trick as terrible as this, and he really tried."
"Well, you do have an aura of purity to you, Niciel is a purifier, so was Logos. In that sense..."
"Do not."
"Sorry, I understand this must be frustrating. Still, surely someone will fix it, The Crafter can, with his sect, given a century. The Muse could, too, but I doubt she does not find it amusing."
"Why are you ignoring Niciel?"
"Not really it's just that... Oh, I forgot to ask, and what about the Hain?" he suddenly changed the topic to avoid provoking the girl further.
"Ah, yes, the two were just trying to get the witch to heal their cat, I, as an angel, was able to do a better job."
"Ah... Did the village share the misunderstanding or did they realize you were not a Realta?"
"I can hide my angelic nature quite easily, for the villagers I was just a human traveler with odd medicines." she then became a bit distracted, stirring the soup with her spoon.
"Do you know any other vampire who acts in this region?"
"Ah, yes, my brother actually, as impossible as that sounds," he said. "For you to ask this question though... what has happened?"
"Somebody has been leading band of undead bandits."
"Ah, I see, but couldn't it be a lich behind it? What makes it sound like a vampire?"
"There is this one aspect of the attacks that hints this is the work of a vampire over any other type of servant of chaos."
"And I take you are planning on defeating the band to force people to remember angels are not all about purging the land?" he rubbed his chin "A logical plan. I wish you the best of luck."
"I just wonder what led my younger brother into causing trouble, should he be the person behind this. Mind you, he is not wise enough to understand the paradox of becoming a being of chaos yet acting exactly like some random god would expect, however, it is also so uncharacteristic of him to go out like this."
"Are you asking me to spare him?"
"Oh no, not at all. I am giving you a reason to pay attention."
From the general's tent, one had a good vision of the battlefield in front of them. This city-state, in particular, used a two-part formation, hain spearman and human archers formed something called the stone, and the human horseman formed the river. The contrast of dynamic and static gave the soldiers their clear role.
The army of the undead in front of them would be lost for sure, fighting a Brick City's full militia was too much... thankfully, their savvy general, who devised the tactics, who armed the men, who united hain and human... made a silly little mistake not compatible with his great fame.
He divided his army in three and had not even bothered with starting the flare once it became clear this particular group would be facing the entirety of the undead band.
The living army maintained their position and was superior in the first clash. The undead were too slow, breaking against the Hain's wall of tall leather shields or under the sudden strike of the horseman.
But one undead was merely a part of the bigger entity, they could fearlessly move in front of the horses, using their own shattered bones to harm the animal, they could hold spears impaled on them, and use their bodies as ramps for the next wave of the undead to jump right over the soldiers, panicking them.
"Ohh, seems like you are almost losing." the vampire told the general, who did not answer, merely drolled. The vampire could not help but laugh softly, deciding to take a sip of the commander's personal glass of wine now that it seemed the battle was almost over. "Must be terrible no? You cities make such elaborated defenses, but a bit of hypnosis on a wall guard, king or general, and its all over."
Yet, as nice as it felt to be on top again, he could not help but feel some anxiety over this. He had been living a somewhat simple life with his band of undead, raiding small villages, getting whatever was tasty, shiny or pretty, then killing and burning what remained.
But then the odd masked men from gods know where showed up, slaying some of his prettiest thralls, before forcing him to change the way he acted. Now he aimed at the bigger towns, which did give more loot, but also more infamy, and as the tales spread, he feared what could happen, "My tricks wouldn't be enough to stop a band from the Great Ring, or worse, an..."
Suddenly something crashed into the field, sending a good many of his undead into the air, disintegrating into ashes. The thing shone with golden light, at first, he thought it was one of the star-fiends, but it was controlled and not aiming at the humans. A closer look allowed him to see its details, the brown skin, the auric armor. "Angel"
"Crap, why here? Why now?" the vampire said, ducking into the ground and hiding behind the hypnotized general. Gone was the battle, his focus now was one surviving. She would not know he was there, for sure, he did not mind losing his band, people died every day.
But Makeda knew where he would be, the very thing that made her suspect the actions of a vampire was how the attacks were always supported by convenient mistakes from the competent and betrayals from the loyal. With a single wave of her hands, the general's tent was ripped apart.
The vampire gasped in fear, immediately turning into mist to avoid the burning effects the sun had on his body. When he arrived at the other side of the battle, his thralls had prepared him a black cloak to avoid the light. Not that it would help, as the angel was upon them already.
Undead sacrificed themselves to give him passage, but quite quickly, the angel was learning how to better dispatch of his band. There was no need for fancy holy energy hammers and such, a simple wave of hand irradiating the angelical power was enough to cause immense damage to the lesser undead, even his thralls suffered, though they could at least put up a fight for a few moments.
The vampire was trying his best to simply escape, but the angel knew it was him who was in control, and for her, nothing but striking the head of the serpent would suffice.
Makeda was about to prepare a strong concentration of energy to vanquish the vampire, however, one agile enemy jumped over the shoulders of another and prepared to strike the angel with a sword. It looked like all other ghouls, pale and thin, but masked, as such, the angel simply did to it what she had done to all other, but to her surprise, the low amount of holy energy did not harm him, on the contrary, it healed him.
What her hubris did to place her in danger, her discipline and battle wit did to bandage the situation. She knew exactly the reaction to get out of harm, rapidly beating her wings and sending her arm up. The living person allied with the undead, however, was also exceptionally skillful, countering her movement as best as he could, the strike would no longer be fatal, but the angel would suffer.
To his great disappointment, however, his great effort was wasted, as the fool he used to control the undead had been too focused on his own wellbeing, and instead of sending all of his thralls and lesser undead to finish the angel, he fled leaving his army confused. The living army was not idle on all of this and was already closing down on them, focusing on protecting the injured angel above all. Yet, the memory of their almost demise on the undead band's cold hands was not lost, and as such, both armies ended up tensely retreating from the field.
Makeda woke up slowly, beige dominated her view at first, but as it focused, she noticed it was not flat, but carved with many figures, their shadows dancing around the flickering light of two braziers.
Standing up, she felt the weak sting on her stomach near where she had been slashed. "What a fool" she commented about herself, this was such a downgrade from the battle with the Realta, there was no honorable defeat this time, no knowledge that she had done her best.
Sliding to the side of the comfortable bed where she was, she prepared to stand up. Unlike with Theliel, this time she had been provided quite comfortable cotton clothes and there was no sight of a caretaker nearby, as such, she found it would be simply better to fly away and not face the people who witnessed her battle. When stepping on the ground, however, she let out a short scream as her feet sunk into something way too hot.
At that exact moment, a young woman entered the room, immediately running to her and displacing a bowl from under her feet. "I bet for your forgiveness, holy one. I did not expect you to wake up while I was out. This incense was supposed to help... but, are you harmed? You don't seem to be so. At least let me clean your feet."
The angel was still shaken by the damage from the battle, and was having trouble following the girl's words. "It is fine, really... I am not harmed." she tried to smile. "Could you tell me where I am?"
"Ah, we are at Thau. The greatest city in the world they say. I do not know about this, some say the Great Ring has ten times more people..." she forcefully shut her mouth "I shouldn't be saying such things after what happened, some savage camp of hunters do not compare to our walled walls and civilized work."
"Thau... Ah, a brick city..." the angel concluded, it made sense, the soldiers she helped earlier probably saved her.
"That is the name outsiders gives to a city such as ours, yes." the woman stood up, she had a face full of unnatural serenity. "But you can feel welcomed here. I mean, you are an angel, after all, you would always be welcomed. But you did something great yesterday, we had been betrayed and if not for you, I and everyone else in this city would have faced a terrible fate."
The angel smiled and looked up. "Ah, yes. It is a really terrible thing, how vampires can just take over the mind of mortals, force even the most loyal of men to betray their kin. I hope the general has gotten better, it is a strong spell..." as she said those words, the young maid's eyes went wide, for the first time her face seemed genuine.
"What?"
Makeda looked at her with curiosity. "What what? It is as I say, the being behind the undead band can take over other being's mind. It is how he has been raiding cities and towns, no normal person is safe..."
"So... That... It wasn't his fault?" she started breathing intensely, sitting on the same bed as Makeda as she lost her composure. "Gods above..." she looked towards the window of the room, to the temple across the walled city.
"Wait, is something happening? Tell me."
The temple was silent, cold tension filled the air. Typically, the people of the city would cheer at such events, but this one left everyone with wide eyes and mouth agape. If the very family of the soldiers did not confirm the accusation, there would have been a revolt.
"I understand it, please do not hesitate." the general whispered, bowing to his king, yet his very act just filled the young ruler with more doubt, he knew most of his other generals would be mad, the damage done to the honor of their name and their laurels of war would take away their reason of existence and make them mad, but that man, he knew, fought for neither.
"What were you even thinking when you betrayed us? What could have driven you to that? I cannot even begin to imagine it."
"Well, my liege, neither can I. Still, a crime is a crime you have been as benevolent as I could have asked from you, and then some. Men died because I helped that fiend." from up in the altar, it was hard to hear them talking, this just fed to the crowd's anxiety.
"Right... You are right, you were always a great tutor, even in a situation like this you still teach me. It is a shame, you did what you did. I hope the gods can forgive you where the law could not." the king's hand gripped at his bronze blade's hilt and he rose the blade upward.
At this moment, something hit his hand with great power, sending the sword flying out of it. "Let us not make a holy temple the stage of a great injustice. The man is innocent. The fiend had merely used dark powers to take over his mind, he had no chance of fighting back.
The crowd went wide-eyed and mouth open again, even harder to believe that their most noble general had betrayed them was that the army was saved by an actual angel, yet there she was, walking up the temple's stairs towards the king.
"And whose fault was it for not being able to defend his own mind? The laws of heaven do not free him from judgment! It was the very taint in his soul that made it possible..." the great priest suddenly interject, the old man not intimidated by the shining woman in golden armor.
"It was not. Any of you here, from the poorest of the poor to the king himself, would have fallen to the vampire's control. Those are great powers of evil."
"Still, the laws of heaven..."
"Do you truly dare to imply you know more about heaven than I do?" she said sternly, opening her wings and beating her hammer against the floor.
"Men have died." this time, it was not the priest interrupting her, but the condemned man himself. "And it was my fault."
"By that logic, all men would have died if I had not saved your army, so it is my command that you shall not be judged for this." she then whispered something more in a lower voice. "Think of your family, think of your daughter."
"It is decided them. By the sanction of heavens itself, I will judge this man innocent." the king announced, the crowd answered in a mixed tone, not of positive or negative contrast, but mostly between cheers and people still in shock.
Only two seemed to be doing neither. Two women sat in the crowd, one looking quite happy while another looked distracted.
"Everything went amazingly well this time, it is rare for all to fall into place like this, isn't it?"
"I am impressed Makeda had the sense wait and not walk into the execution before the very last moment. Still, just walking through the door like that?"
"Oh? You expect she to use the window?"
"Well yeah, but it seems people just fly through a window when I want them not to. Talk about stage of great injustice.
"So... I guess we should start preparing for the next step? I already know where the guards have taken the undead prisoners."
The woman took a moment to react, looking over at the stage. "Let us not rush into action. Why not focus on those masked men instead? They were a surprise factor, though a nice one."
"Hmmm.... I thought you really wanted to finish this countermeasure so we could move on to the actual plan, but fine."
Still, nothing changed the feeling of failure she felt and the cracks the unsureness of it all caused on her mind. The words of Niciel, the words of Ilunabar and all the memories she collected across the land crashed against one another.
"You... Have been meditating in that rock for a while, no?" the vampire suddenly said to the angel.
"You know very well our species does not need anything but that to survive."
"Well, that is not entirely true, food and sleep provide not only better healing for a tired and hurt person, such as you, but also... it feels nice."
The angel thought it over, finally deciding to concede to Theliel's point. "Maybe some fresh water would help me to heal faster," she said.
The vampire knew well Makeda was back at full health already, she had been for days, it was easy to notice her issue was one of mind, she did not want to just return to the Valley of Peace or concede to Ilunabar. He wished he knew how to help, but it was his very trouble understanding other people that led him to a hermit lifestyle even before he fell from angel to vampire. He was trying to do what little he could and hoping he was doing something good.
Makeda took flight down the hill, going in the direction of a spring not too far from there, provided you could fly over the steep land. As she went down, she noticed the little track between trees mortals used to go up the hills. There was a shrine there, and by living near to it, Theliel's became part of the worship.
Mist witch, the mortals called the spirit of the mountain, as she moved in the form of mist and only sometimes took a humanoid shape. Seeing as it could dissuade them from sending hunters and such after him, Theliel went along and performed a few tasks for the villagers using hypnosis, his ability to communicate with animals, among other skills. He clearly disliked it to an extent, going as far as making the path up the hill harder to use, yet he also seemed to do his best once someone managed to make it.
A sudden scream took Makeda out of her thoughts about her odd host, immediately the angel swooped down thinking she needed to help someone, yet all she found were two lone hain looking terrified. Or more correctly, looking terrified at her.
This made the angel incredibly perplexed, she looked down at her hands and body trying to understand what was going on. Then she realized it.
"I cannot believe this happened, I doubt it is a local thing." the angel told in a frustrated tone, swinging a wooden spoon in the air instead of using it to eat the venison soup he had prepared.
"It is logical if you stop to think about it. While we know the full context, mortals cannot tell one person from the heavens to another."
"Still, I am not a metallic being of death, I am not hurting anyone, I spent decades saving people and villages, this is so insulting, to me, to Niciel. Even Vestec would not imagine a trick as terrible as this, and he really tried."
"Well, you do have an aura of purity to you, Niciel is a purifier, so was Logos. In that sense..."
"Do not."
"Sorry, I understand this must be frustrating. Still, surely someone will fix it, The Crafter can, with his sect, given a century. The Muse could, too, but I doubt she does not find it amusing."
"Why are you ignoring Niciel?"
"Not really it's just that... Oh, I forgot to ask, and what about the Hain?" he suddenly changed the topic to avoid provoking the girl further.
"Ah, yes, the two were just trying to get the witch to heal their cat, I, as an angel, was able to do a better job."
"Ah... Did the village share the misunderstanding or did they realize you were not a Realta?"
"I can hide my angelic nature quite easily, for the villagers I was just a human traveler with odd medicines." she then became a bit distracted, stirring the soup with her spoon.
"Do you know any other vampire who acts in this region?"
"Ah, yes, my brother actually, as impossible as that sounds," he said. "For you to ask this question though... what has happened?"
"Somebody has been leading band of undead bandits."
"Ah, I see, but couldn't it be a lich behind it? What makes it sound like a vampire?"
"There is this one aspect of the attacks that hints this is the work of a vampire over any other type of servant of chaos."
"And I take you are planning on defeating the band to force people to remember angels are not all about purging the land?" he rubbed his chin "A logical plan. I wish you the best of luck."
"I just wonder what led my younger brother into causing trouble, should he be the person behind this. Mind you, he is not wise enough to understand the paradox of becoming a being of chaos yet acting exactly like some random god would expect, however, it is also so uncharacteristic of him to go out like this."
"Are you asking me to spare him?"
"Oh no, not at all. I am giving you a reason to pay attention."
From the general's tent, one had a good vision of the battlefield in front of them. This city-state, in particular, used a two-part formation, hain spearman and human archers formed something called the stone, and the human horseman formed the river. The contrast of dynamic and static gave the soldiers their clear role.
The army of the undead in front of them would be lost for sure, fighting a Brick City's full militia was too much... thankfully, their savvy general, who devised the tactics, who armed the men, who united hain and human... made a silly little mistake not compatible with his great fame.
He divided his army in three and had not even bothered with starting the flare once it became clear this particular group would be facing the entirety of the undead band.
The living army maintained their position and was superior in the first clash. The undead were too slow, breaking against the Hain's wall of tall leather shields or under the sudden strike of the horseman.
But one undead was merely a part of the bigger entity, they could fearlessly move in front of the horses, using their own shattered bones to harm the animal, they could hold spears impaled on them, and use their bodies as ramps for the next wave of the undead to jump right over the soldiers, panicking them.
"Ohh, seems like you are almost losing." the vampire told the general, who did not answer, merely drolled. The vampire could not help but laugh softly, deciding to take a sip of the commander's personal glass of wine now that it seemed the battle was almost over. "Must be terrible no? You cities make such elaborated defenses, but a bit of hypnosis on a wall guard, king or general, and its all over."
Yet, as nice as it felt to be on top again, he could not help but feel some anxiety over this. He had been living a somewhat simple life with his band of undead, raiding small villages, getting whatever was tasty, shiny or pretty, then killing and burning what remained.
But then the odd masked men from gods know where showed up, slaying some of his prettiest thralls, before forcing him to change the way he acted. Now he aimed at the bigger towns, which did give more loot, but also more infamy, and as the tales spread, he feared what could happen, "My tricks wouldn't be enough to stop a band from the Great Ring, or worse, an..."
Suddenly something crashed into the field, sending a good many of his undead into the air, disintegrating into ashes. The thing shone with golden light, at first, he thought it was one of the star-fiends, but it was controlled and not aiming at the humans. A closer look allowed him to see its details, the brown skin, the auric armor. "Angel"
"Crap, why here? Why now?" the vampire said, ducking into the ground and hiding behind the hypnotized general. Gone was the battle, his focus now was one surviving. She would not know he was there, for sure, he did not mind losing his band, people died every day.
But Makeda knew where he would be, the very thing that made her suspect the actions of a vampire was how the attacks were always supported by convenient mistakes from the competent and betrayals from the loyal. With a single wave of her hands, the general's tent was ripped apart.
The vampire gasped in fear, immediately turning into mist to avoid the burning effects the sun had on his body. When he arrived at the other side of the battle, his thralls had prepared him a black cloak to avoid the light. Not that it would help, as the angel was upon them already.
Undead sacrificed themselves to give him passage, but quite quickly, the angel was learning how to better dispatch of his band. There was no need for fancy holy energy hammers and such, a simple wave of hand irradiating the angelical power was enough to cause immense damage to the lesser undead, even his thralls suffered, though they could at least put up a fight for a few moments.
The vampire was trying his best to simply escape, but the angel knew it was him who was in control, and for her, nothing but striking the head of the serpent would suffice.
Makeda was about to prepare a strong concentration of energy to vanquish the vampire, however, one agile enemy jumped over the shoulders of another and prepared to strike the angel with a sword. It looked like all other ghouls, pale and thin, but masked, as such, the angel simply did to it what she had done to all other, but to her surprise, the low amount of holy energy did not harm him, on the contrary, it healed him.
What her hubris did to place her in danger, her discipline and battle wit did to bandage the situation. She knew exactly the reaction to get out of harm, rapidly beating her wings and sending her arm up. The living person allied with the undead, however, was also exceptionally skillful, countering her movement as best as he could, the strike would no longer be fatal, but the angel would suffer.
To his great disappointment, however, his great effort was wasted, as the fool he used to control the undead had been too focused on his own wellbeing, and instead of sending all of his thralls and lesser undead to finish the angel, he fled leaving his army confused. The living army was not idle on all of this and was already closing down on them, focusing on protecting the injured angel above all. Yet, the memory of their almost demise on the undead band's cold hands was not lost, and as such, both armies ended up tensely retreating from the field.
Makeda woke up slowly, beige dominated her view at first, but as it focused, she noticed it was not flat, but carved with many figures, their shadows dancing around the flickering light of two braziers.
Standing up, she felt the weak sting on her stomach near where she had been slashed. "What a fool" she commented about herself, this was such a downgrade from the battle with the Realta, there was no honorable defeat this time, no knowledge that she had done her best.
Sliding to the side of the comfortable bed where she was, she prepared to stand up. Unlike with Theliel, this time she had been provided quite comfortable cotton clothes and there was no sight of a caretaker nearby, as such, she found it would be simply better to fly away and not face the people who witnessed her battle. When stepping on the ground, however, she let out a short scream as her feet sunk into something way too hot.
At that exact moment, a young woman entered the room, immediately running to her and displacing a bowl from under her feet. "I bet for your forgiveness, holy one. I did not expect you to wake up while I was out. This incense was supposed to help... but, are you harmed? You don't seem to be so. At least let me clean your feet."
The angel was still shaken by the damage from the battle, and was having trouble following the girl's words. "It is fine, really... I am not harmed." she tried to smile. "Could you tell me where I am?"
"Ah, we are at Thau. The greatest city in the world they say. I do not know about this, some say the Great Ring has ten times more people..." she forcefully shut her mouth "I shouldn't be saying such things after what happened, some savage camp of hunters do not compare to our walled walls and civilized work."
"Thau... Ah, a brick city..." the angel concluded, it made sense, the soldiers she helped earlier probably saved her.
"That is the name outsiders gives to a city such as ours, yes." the woman stood up, she had a face full of unnatural serenity. "But you can feel welcomed here. I mean, you are an angel, after all, you would always be welcomed. But you did something great yesterday, we had been betrayed and if not for you, I and everyone else in this city would have faced a terrible fate."
The angel smiled and looked up. "Ah, yes. It is a really terrible thing, how vampires can just take over the mind of mortals, force even the most loyal of men to betray their kin. I hope the general has gotten better, it is a strong spell..." as she said those words, the young maid's eyes went wide, for the first time her face seemed genuine.
"What?"
Makeda looked at her with curiosity. "What what? It is as I say, the being behind the undead band can take over other being's mind. It is how he has been raiding cities and towns, no normal person is safe..."
"So... That... It wasn't his fault?" she started breathing intensely, sitting on the same bed as Makeda as she lost her composure. "Gods above..." she looked towards the window of the room, to the temple across the walled city.
"Wait, is something happening? Tell me."
The temple was silent, cold tension filled the air. Typically, the people of the city would cheer at such events, but this one left everyone with wide eyes and mouth agape. If the very family of the soldiers did not confirm the accusation, there would have been a revolt.
"I understand it, please do not hesitate." the general whispered, bowing to his king, yet his very act just filled the young ruler with more doubt, he knew most of his other generals would be mad, the damage done to the honor of their name and their laurels of war would take away their reason of existence and make them mad, but that man, he knew, fought for neither.
"What were you even thinking when you betrayed us? What could have driven you to that? I cannot even begin to imagine it."
"Well, my liege, neither can I. Still, a crime is a crime you have been as benevolent as I could have asked from you, and then some. Men died because I helped that fiend." from up in the altar, it was hard to hear them talking, this just fed to the crowd's anxiety.
"Right... You are right, you were always a great tutor, even in a situation like this you still teach me. It is a shame, you did what you did. I hope the gods can forgive you where the law could not." the king's hand gripped at his bronze blade's hilt and he rose the blade upward.
At this moment, something hit his hand with great power, sending the sword flying out of it. "Let us not make a holy temple the stage of a great injustice. The man is innocent. The fiend had merely used dark powers to take over his mind, he had no chance of fighting back.
The crowd went wide-eyed and mouth open again, even harder to believe that their most noble general had betrayed them was that the army was saved by an actual angel, yet there she was, walking up the temple's stairs towards the king.
"And whose fault was it for not being able to defend his own mind? The laws of heaven do not free him from judgment! It was the very taint in his soul that made it possible..." the great priest suddenly interject, the old man not intimidated by the shining woman in golden armor.
"It was not. Any of you here, from the poorest of the poor to the king himself, would have fallen to the vampire's control. Those are great powers of evil."
"Still, the laws of heaven..."
"Do you truly dare to imply you know more about heaven than I do?" she said sternly, opening her wings and beating her hammer against the floor.
"Men have died." this time, it was not the priest interrupting her, but the condemned man himself. "And it was my fault."
"By that logic, all men would have died if I had not saved your army, so it is my command that you shall not be judged for this." she then whispered something more in a lower voice. "Think of your family, think of your daughter."
"It is decided them. By the sanction of heavens itself, I will judge this man innocent." the king announced, the crowd answered in a mixed tone, not of positive or negative contrast, but mostly between cheers and people still in shock.
Only two seemed to be doing neither. Two women sat in the crowd, one looking quite happy while another looked distracted.
"Everything went amazingly well this time, it is rare for all to fall into place like this, isn't it?"
"I am impressed Makeda had the sense wait and not walk into the execution before the very last moment. Still, just walking through the door like that?"
"Oh? You expect she to use the window?"
"Well yeah, but it seems people just fly through a window when I want them not to. Talk about stage of great injustice.
"So... I guess we should start preparing for the next step? I already know where the guards have taken the undead prisoners."
The woman took a moment to react, looking over at the stage. "Let us not rush into action. Why not focus on those masked men instead? They were a surprise factor, though a nice one."
"Hmmm.... I thought you really wanted to finish this countermeasure so we could move on to the actual plan, but fine."
