Xiah’s ruby lips turned up into a smirk when her eyes, fixed upon the miniature replicate of Tiien, shifted from violet to scarlet. She enjoyed watching the tiny figures, complete look likes to their Mortal counterpart, reactions to an unusual turn of events. The Foreas, a little casted away experiment by Kurth in his younger days, seemed utterly at a loss when their little artifacts no longer worked correctly and soon a small batch began to ready them to scatter again. All seemed so desperate to seek out the answer to their dilemma which pleased their unknown witness.
“Poor little things,” the Goddess of beauty, passion and love, cooed to herself. “This won’t be fun at all…”
“I would think not too if in your position.”
Suddenly Xiah jumped at the darker male’s voice from behind her, figure whipped about and weakly tried to hide the scene she had been so fixed on. Her dress slightly creased in the process and caused her to straighten it quickly. Immediately her voice took on a pleasant tone when she addressed her brother. “Aarem, ummm… lovely to see you again. What brings you here, brother?”
Naturally that was the wrong thing to say, the God’s face twisted up at her coy remark and oversweet tone. His body immediately attempted to side step around her, his eyes filled with curiously and wicked ideas spied where her attention had been. “You’re words are sweet as usual…even if they are fake, my dear sister.”
“Now, Aarem, don’t be that way. I am the Goddess of Love so it’s-“
The darker God merely held up his hand, silencing her mid-sentence. His next words held both bitter and envy, each word laced in poisonous dislike. “Save your ‘sweet’ words for Ren because they are better suited for kissing his ass. Not mine.”
Xiah just sighed, her lips curled up in a pout that hadn’t even diminished an ounce of her glamour. It was clear she didn’t appreciate Aarem’s words, even if they were true, that implied she didn’t follow her duty to the tee. Then again she shouldn’t have been surprised. He was always the worse one out of the godly bunch, her attention jerked back to watch Aarem finally come to her side and peer at the Foreas’s current situation. He leaned into fully absorbed the happenings followed by a slight disappointment.
“Is this it? Just Kurth’s old, worthless experiments having a fit over some rotten old artifacts not working?” His eyes turned to Xiah, his face frowned.
Xiah almost considered giving him the cold shoulder, her head turned away and not looking upon his. However, after several seconds, she decided against it. Mainly because it would prove him right and she hated that more. “I’ve been debating on how to go about this…”
An idea had started to form on her mind, one eyebrow raised in hinting over her now sky blue eyes and fully turned to glance at her brother. Aarem seemed to have read her mind and currently the notion pleased him. His pointed teeth showed in a dark smile as his form stepped a little ways out from her side. With surprisingly gentle touch, he tapped a small point just north from where the little walking ferns had made camp. At the contact, the model turned black, something dark and large had started to rise. It was a blob at first yet it took shape into something Aarem dubbed a Syphis. It was new way to control the Foreas’s population, a predator build to consume plants by turning them into ashes within its large maw and easily attracted by movement. Their first experience with it would be hellish for certain. Slowly Aarem repeated the process four to eight more times, each new Syphis hadn’t attempted to move. They just stood in a state of eagerness, their muscles flexed and became accustomed to being real, farther excited upon scenting the many different fragrances the Foreas had produced.
“Your turn…” Aarem said treating it as if it was little more than a game, the new formed creatures already started to stalk towards the unaware Foreas. Any unlucky Foreas caught in their path was far too quickly dealt with before they could sound an alarm in their panic, their screams and scents consumed by the beast in desperation to keep their element of surprise.
Xiah smiled, her finger gently brushed a small, single Foreas. It was a feminine looking one and young in comparison to others, her small form hunched over her own artifact in curiosity about her artifact’s problem. Ever since the Goddess seen this little one, it seemed to ever slightly be different from the others, a trait which had created a strong reason to keep the Foreas as Xiah’s…entertainment on Tiien. Besides, she mused, it would be fun to send this one off to the Mage College that her darling Ren was so fond. Xiah focused while she granted the little one a gift. A mageblood. The creature would feel a slightly and unexpected shiver crawl along its leaves, a sensation of an ant army paced about on her surface, gone shortly after it arrived without warning.
Aarem took his attention back to the College on another part of the game board. It didn’t take Duuri to know it was clear where…or in this case whom, his sour mood had drifted to because his words no longer interested in his currently moment. “Now that you’ve gotten something to do, I’ll leave you to it. There’s a particular…pest that hadn’t had my attention in a few days. Something I intend to rectify shortly.”
The next moment he was gone, the Love Goddess shrugged. Her eyes shifted back to the helpless Foreas once more. The heroine had been chosen and the threat sent, however there lacked something…ah, a warning. Xiah had almost forgotten it. What a terrible thing that would be as all them, her little toy, would’ve been slaughtered. She made an o with forefinger and thumb, and then lowered it to a large tree beside the sweet chocolate smelling Foreas. The goddess flicked the tree top causing it to fall. Though on the model the figurine merely toppled over with a soft thump, on the Mortal Plane it was far more menacing. The tree in question groaned at feeling its top shift and roots ripped from its ground station. In moment the trunk splintered, cracked about a now rotten middle, on its way downwards. Branches made loud snaps at being broken in its plummet to earth, taking with it any unmovable trees that ended up into a clearing.
Syphis had been revealed, several large brutish head raised at the tree’s fall, finally noted their cover blown. Eyes flickered back and forth until movement caught its attention: an elder Foreas male had shifted and now stood just feet in its reach. In a flash the animal’s mouth opened, a spark and grounding teeth latched on the elder. Tender, aged leaves were ripped apart while all witness would see its pitiful struggle before in moments it burned slowly alive. A signal for all hell to break loose when the rest leapt out to snatch their own meal!
"Speech... Of- BZZT -Mission." A relatively small Foreas, with a light bark colour, named Coco bean, spoke... Or attempted to speak, anyway. The problems with their Speech Artifacts were starting baffle everyone, as there seemed to be no solution at all to the problem! So, once the nearest Foreas turned to her and shrugged, she put her hands over her face, and slowly sat down, pulling the speech-enabling necklace off and starting to tinker with it. Sometimes just flicking it helped, but not by a lot. So that's what she tried first, but it still didn't work properly.
Soon enough she was on the verge of just giving up on it for the day. She was on a mission and she was falling behind the rest of the group, so she had to make up the distance. But as soon as she stood up and wore her Artifact, she caught up loud, familiar, and repulsive noises- It didn't take long before she identified them as branches breaking and a tree falling, and it took even less to know that the huge tree she was just sitting besides, was threatening to fall on top of her!
So, just a second before it got too intense, she rolled out of the way, leaves rustled and standing on end in sudden alarm. But she wasn't safe yet. While she had dodged the tree, now another threat made itself known. The sound revealed huge forms nearby, forms that mixed with fellow Foreas', revealing the death of fellow friends.
Other members of the group also noticed the beasts, and they tried to fight back, but as soon as they got in range for their spears or swords to touch them, they as well disappeared, mixing with the beasts' forms. The scenes temporarily shocked Coco, as beasts of this size and ferocity were a first time contact to most in the group.
Distorted screams and cut off calls for help were heard through the small group, and a small jolt of energy, shivering, pure energy, was felt through Coco's body, aiding her to stand and take a step back in hesitation. What was she supposed to do? She was one of the youngest in the group, and had very little combat experience! The only thing she'd even come close to killing before is a rather uncomfortable woodworm!
One beast was quick. After eating one of the foreas, it locked its eyes onto Coco, and sprung towards her in swift, sudden manner. Poor coco didn't know what to do, other than simply turn heel and run. Likely she only ran for a few seconds, but the constant need to avoid crashing into trees or slipping onto her face made it feel so much longer. Eventually, she grew tired, and she slowed down, turning around as she pressed her back to a tree and stared at her pursuer- The beast seemed fresher than ever, no signs of exhaustion or even confusion. Her whole body shivered in nervousness as she tried to listen for any escape, but her hopes were crushed as she instead caught wind of all the other beasts surrounding her- Presumably they had finished off the rest back at camp, or just tried to focus on her.
She was doomed, and though she kept shivering nervously, she knew that she had to just calm down. She slowly sunk into a sitting position while the biggest beast got ready to pounce. Then it pounced, its maw open as wide as it could, easily enough to fit half of Coco's body inside. And as it moved closer, Coco could feel heat- The air was getting hotter, more uncomfortable by the millisecond . It was as if the very air threatened to set her on fire, so she brought her arms up to shield her head, and kicked with one leg.
The kick contacted the beast, and to her surprise, the beast was thrown away in an instant, left on a seizure on the ground a few feet away. Only for a few seconds, before it quickly got up and, whimpering, it ran away. Surprisingly, the other beasts seemed confused, and hesitantly followed their bigger counterpart, escaping this one painful little fern.
"W-What..." She whispered to herself, the ethereal voice from her artifact still shivering just like her body, and eventually, her leaves.
Xiah smiled, her hands clapped for a brief moment as she allowed her eyes to linger longer upon her little…toy. She watched the events play out from the threat’s discovery to their sudden surprise when the Foreas female had shocked one of them! It seemed this was indeed a fine idea, she mused and the goddess’s lithe body leaned once more over the table top. Her eyes glimpsed the large herbivore predators retreated. Confusion and dislike for food that didn’t just run and scream had seemed not to settle with Aarem’s pets. In moments the large figurines disappeared from view into the thick, lush forests, eager to seek a better feast. Preferably, they thought, not one that fought back in such a violent way.
The fighting now died down, Xiah’s hand lowered down to scoop up the small model of Coco Bean. She held the Foreas close to her and spoke in sweet and soft voice. “Syphis… my dear little, Foreas, you’ve just met a Syphis. It seems they don’t like food that fights back but I doubt you like being eaten yourself. However, I think you might’ve exhausted yourself a bit with that little stunt. Pity…you should learn to control that mageblood of yours before attempting it again.”
Xiah tsked a bit, her voice took on a mother chiding that soon became a little childish giggle. Despite her picking up the little Foreas model, the creature had remained grounded but could easily hear the Goddess’s voice chime inside Coco Bean’s head for their conversation.
Confusion was clear in her body. Though she knew what had just happened, because she could feel the energy leaving her body, she couldn't just... Digest it. She couldn't believe it. She had heard stories and seen a couple memories of mages in action, and what she had just accomplished was pretty similar to a certain mage a century or so ago. But she could not nail it down. Her leaves kept twitching in nervousness as she stood up, suddenly feeling weak on the knees, and having to lean on the nearby tree to stay up.
Then she heard a voice. Soft and sweet, like a heavenly being that knew how she felt. And trying to pinpoint the location of this voice, Coco stopped cold in her movements, analyzing her environment to feel the vibrations- None.
'S-Syphis?' She thought, worried about this new voice in her head. 'Are you real?' She asked to her own mind, stumbling somewhat with one of the tree's root as she redtes her back on it. 'Who are you? Where are you?' She continued, lifting up a hand to gently caress her leaves and calm herself down. The beasts could be on their way back, for all she knew, and she wasn't sure she'd be as lucky in a second encounter. 'I... Mageblood?'
Eventually she let herself fall back to the ground, hands on her forehead 'Oh by the Tree... I'm speaking with myself...'
“I hate to pop your little bubble but no, you’re not.” Xiah said, a slight irritation in her voice at being compared to a mere illusion. She was no mere image without substance and to suggest such was insulting in itself. It seemed the little Foreas had riled up some of the Goddess’s vanity in her little comment. Xiah stopped herself from crushing the figurine within her hand into powder and instead calmed herself. Ren managed to make this work so why couldn’t she use his methods? She let the thought sink in then forced herself, not an easy feat for one use to just tearing into whatever angered her, to relax.
“It might be best you remember this: my name is Xiah and I’m the Goddess of Beauty, Passion and Love. “ The Goddess began in a full of herself tone, yet she merely continued unaware of it. Or really not caring. “If you think your imagination could even come close to imagining my beauty then maybe I should’ve never bestowed my gift… as for why you can’t see me, I’m in your head speaking to you through it. Don’t worry, I’m not going to take over or manipulate you like other Gods though because of your ignorance I should, but be thankful you’re cute. Just don’t push your luck too much.”
She cleared her throat a bit then continued. “It will take you a few weeks to get to the Mage School and to learn what you need to, however, to do that you need something to take you there.”
With that, the Goddess took her other finger and tapped the ground. Unlike Ren and Aarem, who had power and strength enough to create life, Xiah had to been more creative. Namely to conserve her ichor or fade away to nothing, last thing she wanted. So she made do with the wildlife at hand. Little pink dots appeared like in a game and each marked a different native to the Foreas’s world. One creature stood out above the rest: a behemoth. A wild and untamable force of nature that would travel miles in a blink of an eye without resting, with little worry he would turn and eat his passenger. He was perfect for the task. Xiah’s nail stroked the little creature as she coaxed him to where little Coco was at, in a short moment the Foreas would spot the gentle and milling creature push through the underbrush. It’s eyes fixed on her in wait to be mounted.
“Just hop on board… he’ll take you there but don’t dally too long. It won’t help you. Once there, write out this: Rune Master,” Xiah made the words in a way that Coco would understand and be able to do once she got there. “Now…off you go, no delay."
The information of having a Goddess inside her head was surprising. How, and especially, why had this Goddess, Xiah, chosen to speak to Coco? Undoubtedly it had something to do with the Syphis, but something told her that Goddesses didn't just randomly caused genocides. She must have had a plan. And now Coco was in the midst of it.
She nodded as the Goddess finished speaking, and noticeably perked up at the appearance of the Behemot- A big, yet so cute creature! Its scent was fresh and natural. It smelled of spring, even in the current season! So she wasted no time on getting closer to it and mounting herself on it, petting its back for a moment before holding onto it as strongly as she could.
Then the beast reared up, and shot off. It moved in jumps, easily clearing hundreds of meters in seconds with not a single problem. Though the speed at which it moved was a problem for Coco, as they eventually moved quicker than she could effectively hear and feel vibrations. Her knowledge of her surroundings suddenly vanished, and all she could see was a mush of dark gray. So she took this opportunity to actually be nice to the Goddess, as she had the feeling that she had said something that irked her off.
'Thank you, Goddess Xiah. For the mageblood and the Behemot.' She thought, hesitating slightly on what exactly to say to a Goddess. It wasn't exactly a common occurrence to have a deity inside your head! 'I like him, he's cute. Like a big fern dog!' She finished with a mental giggle.
COCO BEANJust a few hours into the trip and she could already smell it. A noticeable change in the atmosphere. Though she couldn't nail it down, there was something different in the air now, and the
Behemot, or Narly, as she had chosen to call it, was slowing down.
The slowed down speed was welcome, because only then could she even start to actually feel the things that were around her. There wasn't much. Very few trees, rather flat terrain, and the feeling that this place's plant life was... Different. Different than that from home. But it wasn't a problem, today had been all about difference! First huge murderous beasts, then a Goddess inside her head, and finally, mounting a huge yet cute Behemot like it was her pet. Oh, and let's not forget that she apparently had mageblood now. Contact with the Goddess had ceased a while ago, and while she was glad to feel like she had some privacy again, she was also left with many questions.
Now she was headed to this Mage School that the Goddess mentioned, in attempts to find more about her new asset, and learn to control it. She was close, and she knew it due to the behemot's deceleration. Instead of traveling hundreds of meters in a few seconds, she was now traveling a mere fifty or even sixty. Eventually the Behemot made a sudden stop, and inertia took over from there.
Instead of a scream, just a distorted buzz was heard coming from Coco Bean as she was launched into the air and landed a few meters in front of the magnificent and cute beast. While it hurt somewhat, she had managed to fall in a not-so-painful way. Everything spun around as she regained her footing and recovered her senses, slowly the details of the environment around her filtered in, and she stood upright, dusting herself off and turning around to hug the creature that just brought her so far. She wrapped her hands around its neck as it merely looked around, and after a few seconds, it pushed her away and disappeared into the distance.
'Well, that was fun!' She thought to herself, leaves puffed out in excitement and alertness. Apparently it was a common state now to have her leaves puffed out so much.
So she clapped her hands as loud as she could, and was glad to find a nearby road. The scents there were very varied, and they only got stronger following a certain direction, so she guessed this was the way to the College. And indeed it was, as merely a few minutes later she could start hearing the rustle and bustle of a nearby crowd. It seemed to be dissipating.
'A crowd!' She thought excitedly, leaves once again puffing out as she focused towards the direction the sounds came from- But the building was closed. There was no way to get in for now, and only a few other beings remained outside. Presumably for the same reason as Coco, being late to something.
So with no second thought, she jogged over to the forms outside the building- A half-snake human, a human, an elf and a very strange-looking orc. "Hey! I'v- BZZT - Rune Mast- BZZT- Artifact!" She said in a distorted voice as she waved her arm at them, her artifact failing all the while, just like she had expected it to fail.
Member
Lord Zee
Scrawl Banditta
Vec
ImagineTheStars
Iwannabeyours
Simply Not Real
Double Capybara
Shovel
Timemaster