“Glorious solid material!” Orb whimpered happily, their entire form face down on a sandy beach. Their cloak was drenched and crusted with what could have been weeks of salt. Two hands gripped the sand tightly, a soft happy sob breaking from the cloaked figure. Their modified boat creaked in the gusting beach wind, keeled up onto the shore completely -- having been propelled by a major tidal surge.
Orb’s knees and elbows were screaming, having finally been released from their sitting and paddling positions. They haggard a victorious breath, thankful their stomach was still full from their rations and their mouth was wet, because otherwise, Orb felt that they could lay where they were forever. They closed their eyes, still whimpering happily along with their buzzing muscles. The sounds of Kalgrun echoed around them, the vast forests off the shallow shore repeating with bird calls. Orb couldn’t help but smile softly, their mind slipping into a sudden sleep.
They could see it... the sun blasting down from the heavens, blanketing the golden desert with a scorching heat. The horizon wriggled as the air seemed to boil, turning the distant, massive spires of limestone into yellowed serpents. Great jets of power shot from each steeple, invigorating Orb as they stood witness to the desert. Crystal water flowed in moving canals of water, and a mighty tree stood center an oasis.
Sniff
Orb’s eyes strained open, met by the darkness of the sand -- their face still buried into the shore. Suddenly, a wet pressure made its way through their hood and up the back of their head, followed by the rustling of leaves and subtle shifting of sand. Orb made a face for a second before suddenly and urgently rolling over.
One hand shot out to grab the perpetrator and found its way onto a soft, uneven surface. There were lines along the surface made of tiny leaves, ridges and decently sized orbs that kind of felt like closed eyes. When Orb’s eyes made contact with its attacke, it realized that it was indeed a face that it had been fondling, with a pale green unblemished skin, soft features and thick eyebrows consisting of leaves, and a thick mass of vivid green sinuate leaves finishing off its appearance. The leaves were quivering and the eyes fluttered open once Orb’s fingers moved away from the exotic being’s eyelids, showing two shiny black spheres that stared intently at Orb’s mask, mere inches away. Its pale green lips curled into a gentle self-pleased smile and its expression and the quivering of its leaves gave off the impression of purring.
Hesitating, Orb let their fingers fall from the strange creature. Cautiously, Orb moved to sit up, scooching further away --Uselessly as the plant only scooched closer as Orb moved away-- from the plant-person before issuing a standard runic, “Hello.”
The plant perked up. Its eyes widened and its mouth fell agape as it tilted its head curiously and wrapped one of its hands around Orb’s wrist. Orb shook their wrist free and slipped their hands back under their cloak, squinting behind the mask. They shifted languages to that of the Nebulites, “Hello?”
Again, the Plant perked up even more, its leaves standing on end and making its head look more like a cactus than a cute shrub. It closed its mouth, then opened it and closed it again before looking away. Without looking at Orb, the feminine humanoid pulled a piece of the masked figure’s coat up to their nose, took a sniff of it, and then began nibbling on it.
Orb narrowed their eyes, a hand snaking out of their cloak. Slowly they brought their gloved hand close to the living-shrub’s face, curving to gently grip its jaw. The shrub seemed to chuckle although no sound came out, and its leaves went back to their relaxed state. It let Orb handle its jaw however they wanted, sticking out its tongue slightly through gently biting teeth.
Squeezing the plant’s cheeks between their fingers, Orb peered inside the plant’s mouth, humming a curious tune. The plant’s teeth were remarkably similar in appearance to the Nebullites’, although upon closer inspection their pigmentation was slightly darker, and there were wooden patterns along the edges of the teeth, like those one would see in the core of a tree trunk. Its tongue was a darker shade of its skin color and taste buds could be seen along its surface much like on a Nebullites’ tongue.
Suddenly, the plant opened its mouth and poked its own tongue, then tried to guide Orb’s finger into its mouth by grabbing their hand. Orb gulped, “If you bite me, I’ll be very upset.” The said as they willingly let their finger prod into the shrub-person’s mouth. The shrub gently bit down on Orb’s finger and smiled innocently.
Orb’s eyes narrowed again and they gently slid their finger out of the creature’s mouth, “So you can understand me? What is your designation?”
The creature tilted its head once more then grabbed Orb’s cloak with one hand and pointed at the sea. Orb nearly jumped at the grab and slapped a hand over the plant’s -causing it to jump back- a hidden frown forming on Orb's face, “Please, no interaction with my clothing.”
After a moment of stillness and anxious staring, the shrub-person crawled back up to Orb and veeery slowly moved its hand closer to Orb’s cloak, never once taking its eyes off Orb’s mask. Orb inched just out of reach and pondered out loud, “There is a possibility that you are incapable of speech as well as understanding. We will need to confirm a level of alternative communication if we are to continue our interaction. Yes.” Orb pinched the end of their mask thoughtfully, “I must assess what senses you possess.”
The creature merely looked on, and when Orb finished speaking, it leaned forward and showed the top of its head to Orb, leaves quivering in anticipation.
“Desire?” Orb pondered, reaching out and touching the creature’s head gently with a single finger.
The creature seemed to freeze, then after a moment it peeked up at Orb’s mask pleadingly.
“You possess touch, and earlier you portrayed taste, smell, and sight,” Orb concluded, resting their gloved palm flat on top the creatures head. As Orb pondered, the creature began rubbing its leafy head against their hand, closing its shiny eyes in what seemed to be pure bliss.
Orb made a curious face and patted the head gingerly, “I assume you are very sensitive in this particular area. I hope and plead that it is simply perchance and not the result of something unsavory that I am unaware of.” Orb shook their head and retracted their hand, “You can’t understand me, either way. Yet you do have ample use of facial expression.”
The creature looked at Orb and then patted their hood-covered head while grinning happily.
“Yes, yes,” Orb said, scrunching under the petting reluctantly, “Uh... thank you.” Orb moved a hand forward and pinched their own mask. “Right, we are going to experiment on a theory of mine, now.” Their other hand moved the plant’s own away from their head, two hidden eyes staring intently at the plant’s own.
“Look at me,” Orb commanded, well aware of the uselessness of their words. Sliding their mask up, they took in a deep breath. The once hidden band of the mask fell from behind Orb’s head, their hood falling to their shoulders. Orb pulled the mask from their face and anxiously held it against their lap with both hands.
Two big eyes colored similar to a starry sky twinkled at the plant. Orb’s feminine face was gentle, with a deep tan. Their cheeks were full and angled to their gentle sloping chin, indeed giving their face a heart shape, with a small nose and a mouth that seemed to have a slight natural curl at each end. Orb had two tiny thin strip of burgundy down feathers where eyebrows would normally be, matching the long silky burgundy feathers that trailed down from their scalp, many strange beads tied into the cascade of shoulder length feathers. Orb let out a beaming (albeit forced) smile, showcasing a white brilliance. They pointed eagerly at their face, “Happy.”
The shrub-person looked between Orb’s lap and their face, and eventually put a hand on each. One rubbing the mask and the other Orb’s now flinching face, specifically their nose and feathery eyebrows, which the plant seeming to enjoy the most, running its fingers back and forth along the eyebrows in amazement while the other hand inspected every accessible surface of the mask.
“You are a touch based learner,” Orb suggested, letting their mask fall to the sand below for the meanwhile, allowing the plant creature to focus both its hands on Orb’s bare face, with one slowly settling around their throat. At that moment, the plant froze, and then mimicked opening and closing its mouth. Orb hummed in their throat, vibrating against the plant’s hand. It reeled back and stared agape at Orb, then with the tip of its finger traced a path from Orb’s throat all the way to their chest, over where their left lung would be. Orb backed up a little and grabbed the plant’s hand, putting it back on their throat.
“Orb.” They said, poking themselves as they did. Making sure the plant’s hand was steady on their throat, Orb poked the plant gently on the forehead, “Shrub.”
The Shrub stared in confusion, wincing everytime Orb poked its forehead. It leaned in and lightly pressed its hand against Orb’s lips and opened and closed its mouth.
Sucking in a breath through their nose -causing Shrub to look at Orb as if it had performed some unknown forbidden magic- Orb patted Shrub on the top of its head, gently speaking into Shrub’s palm, “Shrub.” They took Shrub’s free hand and patted the hand against their own feathery scalp, “Orb.”
Shrub’s eyes lit up in understanding and she nodded, petting Orb’s head with an airy smile on her face. She mimicked Orb’s lip movements and mouthed ’Owb’. Orb nodded with a big exaggerated smile, “Good.”
And then Shrub started mouthing off, ’Owbowbowbowbowbowbowbowbowb...’ over and over as she slid up to Orb and hugged her new friend, nuzzling their feathery hair. Orb squirmed uncomfortably, slipping from the grasp, but gave Shrub a gentle pat on the head and a weak smile.
“This is a start.”
Shrub suddenly released Orb from the hug and nodded fervently, standing up and trying to pull Orb onto their feet, ’Owb!’
Scooping up their mask, Orb rose to their feet, “What is it, Shrub?”
Shrub intertwined her fingers with Orb’s, but the cloaked figure broke free to run to their paddle boat. Leaning onto the deck and out of sight, Orb quickly grabbed a backpack (depositing their mask into it) and swung it over their shoulders before running back to the waiting Shrub. Hesitating for a moment, they placed their hand back into Shrub’s who led them further into land, looking back every so often to confirm Orb was really there. After what felt like a long time, they arrived in a particularly dense patch of jungle, where the overgrowth went almost past their waists. At that point, Shrub gave the air a few sniffs and squatted down into the overgrowth, emerging a few seconds later with quivering leaves and presenting a newly hatched griffon to her new friend. ’Owb.’ There, with strong rays of light reflecting off of every possible surface, it was easy to see the crystallized sap going along Shrub’s arms, shoulders, chest and back, with deep gashes visible under the crystal-like fluid of life.
“Wha-” Orb suddenly had a flashback and shivered, “Ah, one of those.” Staring at the scarring of what could have been wounds, Orb began to piece the puzzle together, “I was taken by one of those too.” Orb offered helplessly, braving a single touch of the baby griffin. It cried weakly in response, squirming away from Orb’s hand. It seemed to be half-starved, and so it could do nothing but cry once more as Shrub thrust it into Orb’s hand.
Orb fumbled with the weak baby for a moment before finding an appropriate grip on the squirming creature. Orb’s starry eyes studied it intently, “It requires sustenance.” Their own stomach rumbled, “I also require sustenance.”
Shrub tilted her head and pointed at a nearby ray of light and at Orb’s rumbling stomach.
Orb hummed and shook their head. They pushed the baby back into Shrub’s arms and slipped their pack off their back. Snapping the bag open and after rummaging through it briefly, Orb pulled out a strip of cloth. Unraveling it they plucked a dried fruit from it and tossed the fruit in the air. The small fruit looped and came back down, landing square onto Orb’s blue tongue. They chewed and swallowed, giving Shrub a wink, “See? Consumption.”
Shrub stared on for a long few moments, until her eyes suddenly lit up and she placed the baby griffon on her head, proceeding to scratch at the crystallized sap on her arms until it fell apart with a silent grunt of pain and fresh new sap began to slowly leak out of her flesh. After letting it accumulate for a while, she coated her finger in a generous portion of her sap and brought it up close to the griffon’s beak. It took the baby a split second to react, and then it began energetically licking up the sap. Shrub’s face lit up with a wide grin and starry eyes and she looked at Orb.
“Well that’s one solution,” Orb surrendered as they ate the rest of their fruits, “But I have a feeling that infant requires fleshy sustenance.” Orb swallowed their meal and rasped, “Come.” they coughed on a loose rind stuck in their throat, “Come aid me in relocating the materials and supplies of my vessel, I think I spotted an adequate clearing on the way here where I could lay a foundation.”
After the griffon finished licking her finger clean, Shrub nodded to herself and skipped close to Orb, wrapping her arms around one of Orb’s.
Orb seemed to freeze for a moment before reluctantly sighing, allowing the cling, “Let’s advance.”
Orb finally makes it to Kalgrun. Has a foreboding dream. Meets a plant lady who is named Shrub by Orb. Orb reveals their face to Shrub (Who cannot see it anyways). They nurse a baby griffon back to health.
“I ordered you to stay at the camp, and you disobeyed. I know what your intentions are and I am happy you care this much about my wellbeing, Child, truly… But what I require right now is solitude.” Li’Kalla explained calmly, walking into the forest without looking back at the one following her with quick and light footsteps.
“W-What if the River Worm comes back and hurts you again!” A pair of small, thin arms wrapped themselves around Li’Kallas wrist, and she stopped with a sigh, turning around to look at the black-haired and blue eyed child with a motherly smile.
“Rann’Ka.”
The child looked straight into Li’Kalla’s eyes, his own ice-blue eyes filled with fire and determination.
“… Very well. I will reward your passion by allowing you to accompany me. Go to the the camp craftsman, get a knife, and catch up to me. That is your quest for today.” Li’Kalla nodded and the boy ran off without hesitation.
Without wasting time, Li’Kalla turned and went on her way. Her objective today wasn’t simple solitude. It had been almost ten years since the day Shengshi had cursed the land, and while Ya’Shuur had cured the land of its illness, the shockwaves left by the attack were still reverberating to this day.
The Rot had only lasted for slightly over 6 weeks, and in those 6 weeks many species of wildlife, as well as hundreds of Vallamir and Valthumir across the Island, had perished. Every secluded tribe immediately turned their backs on Li’Kalla, and over the years more than a handful had tried to attack her Faithful to no avail. And they would keep trying to hurt her and her chosen herd if she didn’t do something.
It was two years ago that a party of Valthumir explorers came back from an expedition to the west of the Island and reported a large forest that consisted of a single tree. A large tree in the center had roots spanning beyond the horizon, and those roots came above ground very often, turning into what looked like independent trees but were in fact all part of the same entity.
That’s where she was heading. She’d been travelling with a small group of her people for a few days now to reach this place, and now she had to impress them. She would make this entire forest immune to the effects of any curse involving Shengshi and Harvests, and to do that she only needed to do one thing according to her theory.
Power and Essence.
When she climbed a hill, she saw it. A forest stretching as far as the mortal eye could see, with pretty trees everywhere you looked, all blooming with beautiful flowers and leaves of different colors and shapes. It was impressive even to Li’Kalla that a single tree could have parts of it be so different from one another, with the one similarity being a pale-colored trunk.
When Li’Kalla was about to enter the forest, Rann’Ka came down the hill, wielding a stone knife with plant fibre rope wrapped around the handle for comfort. One of the finest tools in their camp, she recognized, due to the exotic material in which it was made — Obsidian. It seemed like her people’s admiration and respect for her grew with each day, with the adults being willing to give such a great tool to a child of barely 10 years of age in order to protect her serving as proof.
The child caught up to her and grinned widely, holding the knife with both his hands and showing it to her, “I got it, Queen-Mother, Uncle Jin’So gave it to me!”
Li’Kalla chuckled and ruffled up his straight black hair, “Jin’So, huh? As expected of a Valthumir like him, he sees the potential you hold, Child.”
Rann’Ka gasped in delight and his cheeks turned red as he stared with starry eyes at Li’Kalla, who after a second turned around and resumed walking. He followed closely and silently, like he’d been taught to do by his caretaker.
Until at last they arrived at the center of the forest and saw the great tree. It stood as tall as the mightiest wild dragon, and it breathed life. Birds and small animals made their homes in the endless branches and canopy of the tree, and its soul seemed to emit a calming aura, enveloping every being near it. Even Li’Kalla could feel it, and a spare look at Rann’Ka afterward she confirmed he was feeling the same way.
“Rann’Ka, I will infuse this tree with my life force, and in doing so I will protect this Holy Land and all of my beloved Children from attacks like the one that the Accursed Envy launched on us ten years ago. I do this, hoping in the depths of my heart, that you nor any other child has to witness death, famine and insanity like that.” Li’Kalla’s voice was serious, and her face hardened. Rann’Ka watched in amazement and nodded excitedly.
And so Li’Kalla walked to the tree and placed both her hands on it, closing her eyes…
And let her energy pour into the Tree freely.
It was an incredible sight for young Rann’Ka. A blinding light had consumed the Goddess and the tree, and the latter grew and grew until it blocked out the sky, and its trunk thickened and warped around him, and created large halls and openings, with several levels. It was becoming more of a living, empty village than a tree, but that was only because Rann’Ka was inside the tree and couldn’t see that from the outside, the once mighty tree had now pierced the sky and had grown slightly paler. Its canopy was as wide as a city, and its trunk was equaly as amazing.
The flow of energy slowed and the shapes became more visible and detailed as time went on. And then…
“AH!” Li’Kalla yelped, and a shockwave went through the tree and the land, and she fell to the ground in a heap.
It was dark for a long time, until an odd warmth reached her. It was soft, sometimes prickly but she felt at peace and… Happy. Happy? Had she ever felt that way…? Without thinking about it, and without caring to open her eyes, she sighed and cuddled up against the warmth, nuzzling into… Leaves?
Did the warmth just squirm?
“… Get away from me!! Mom, mom! Wake up please!” Rann’Ka cried, and Li’Kalla’s eyes shot open to come face to face with a delicate, green, soft face and a pair of half-lidded, shiny, all-black eyes staring at her happily. The face was framed by soft-looking leaves which were squirming lightly and gave the entity cuddling up to her the appearance of gentle excitement. It seemed humanoid enough, with a feminine, delicate shape but unfortunately small breasts. They weren’t suited to breastfeed newborn, Li’Kalla thought and then realized that this entity wasn’t a mammal at all. After pushing her knee up between the entity’s legs, she confirmed that it wasn’t able to engage in intercourse. Interesting.
“Agh!” Rann’Ka groaned and fell, and reminded of her situation, Li’Kalla pushed the little soft humanoid plant away and stood up, turning to see Rann’Ka’s blushing face peeking out from under a mountain of feminine green, brown, pale yellow and orange bodies. He didn’t seem hurt, and was just embarrassed. So Li’Kalla looked around and saw how the Tree had changed and that they were now inside a great hall of some kind, with multiple levels above and below, reaching up into the sky and down below the earth, with bioluminiscent plants wherever the light didn’t reach.
On the level below there were hundreds of pods lined in strips of the solid wood of the tree, and those pods were quickly opening and letting out many of the plant-like humanoids. Around her and Rann-Ka’s location, she noticed a few plants, much bigger and stronger looking than the others. Those were the males, hulking and gentle and shy.
In the end, she chuckled and waved her hand at the pile of bodies smothering Rann’Ka, and they got off him reluctantly.
“It’s been done, let’s go back to the camp.” The Goddess said and started walking away toward an opening in the thick walls of the tree. Rann’Ka jumped up to his feet and ran up to Li’Kalla, holding onto her dress tightly as he composed himself. At the exit, Li’Kalla turned to look for the plant humanoid that had cuddled up to her and pointed at it. “Come with me.” And it obeyed happily, skipping up to her and wrapping her soft arms around Li’Kalla’s.
“… W-What did you do, mom?” Rann’Ka asked after a while.
“I gave the tree the power necessary to protect this land’s flora from outside interference through an enhanced capability to heal the land’s plants. For all intents and purposes, this tree, which I will name ‘The Endless Tree’, has now become our first line of defense againt Demonic influences.”
“And those weird green… Things?”
“Ah… An unexpected side effect. Let’s name them… Foreas.”
Li’Kalla finds herself in western Be’r-Jaz, followed by a group of vallamir and valthumir in her expedition. She finds a large forest that consists of a single tree with roots so expansive that when they pop out of the ground the look like trees. She goes into the forest followed by a Vallamir child named Rann’Ka. She goes to the large tree in the center which is as tall as a dragon and pours a lot of energy into it, turning it into a monument in the process and making it grow absolutely massive. It now has a hollow trunk with enough space for a small town on each level, of which it has dozens, reaching into up into the sky or down into the earth. The tree, now named “The Endless Tree”, serves as a defensive monument, its influence spreading across Be’r-Jaz and constantly protecting the flora against external divine influence and disease.
Also while giving the tree power she messed up and gave it much more than necessary, creating a race of plant-like humanoids named Foreas in the process. The feminine ones have soft skin in varying shades of green, brown, yellow and orange, hair made up of leaves, vines and flowers and a below average stature; and the masculine ones are hulking, gentle giants with skin made of hard bark and the same deal for varying colors and leaves, flowers and vines instead of hair.
18MP 16FP
Used 3 MP to turn large tree into a defensive monument named “The Endless Tree”. It protects the Island’s flora against outside divine influence by seeking to neutralize foreign divine essence and heals plants in its vicinity (vicinity being under its 5 km wide canopy). Used 4 MP to create the Foreas, a race of sentient plant humanoids
Remaining 11Mp & 16 FP 3/5 MP to Plant port (if spleen no come bacc) 4/5 MP to Love port
“Alright,” the snake sighed. “I suppose we should go pick up those… What did Laurien call them again?”
“Nebulites, Your Lordship,” He Bo replied helpfully.
“Ah, yes - the Nebulites. Have their rooms been prepared?”
“With impeccable attention to detail and comfort, Your Lordship.”
“Splendid,” the snake praised with a smile. The great vessel of Jiangzhou was currently cruising lethargically through the clouds due west. The ship had been primed and prepared for the coming day-long feast, and the army of servants zoomed back and forth with towels, bedsheets, food and drink. Everything was going to be perfect - nothing less could be expected.
However, an odd sensation suddenly prickled at the snake’s mind, and as he looked outside, he saw heavy, gray clouds on the horizon like dark wool. Behind them, a presence teased its position like the final cookie in the jar.
“Say, He Bo - what is in that direction?”
The master servant followed his finger and squinted at the clouds. “Cannot say, Your Lordship. The holy vessel Jiangzhou rarely sails these clouds.”
The snake hummed. “If we have sailed in the right direction, there should be an archipelago below us. Though this presence is… Awfully unlike the one I was expecting. We shall investigate.”
The ship dipped down under the thickest cloud cover, but it seemed to extent forever. Moisture clung to the cool wood and cloth onboard and the snake pursed his lips.
“He Bo, I think we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”
“It could be raining over the isles today, Your Lordship,” He Bo suggested. The snake shook his head.
“No, no, we are definitely somewhere other than where we intended to go.” He slithered out onto his veranda and stared ahead. He Bo followed swiftly after, even his controlled steps slipping on the wet floorboard. Before them a great island stretched towards the north, and above them fell raindrops upon raindrops in a ceaseless manner. The snake blinked and snapped his fingers.
“Oh, now I know what this presence is!”
He Bo opened a silk umbrella. “What is it, Your Lordship?”
“A goddess - one whose presence I have not sensed since the dawn of time. Oh, what a splendid opportunity! He Bo, have the servants deck the feast hall for two.”
“At once, Your Lordship,” the master servant answered dutifully and hurried inside. The snake scanned eagerly across the vast lands: the froth of waves at its coast, the thick growth of trees, and, his divine eyes observed, a particularly hot lake next to what looked to be a house.
“Ah, wonderful.”
Some time later, the impervious vessel had landed neatly on the boiling lake. The snake peered over the side of the deck, backed up by a few curious servant eyes, to see several barely clothes shapes on the shore, staring at the ship in both fear and awe. All in all, at least fifty of those shapes were present, with most being very young children and babies in the arms of females. More were arriving quickly, however.
One male, pale with white hair and grey eyes, pushed his way through the small crowd and took a stance, pointing his stone spear at the magnificent ship.
“You land in the Holy Lake of the Eagle Clan,” The male exclaimed with all he had, his voice barely reaching the ship, “You dare bring foreign materials into sacred lands without the permission of the True Queen-Mother, state your identities now, invaders!”
As he spoke, three more of his kin, these ones with black hair and brown eyes, joined him, one of them with a primitive bow and the other two with clubs.
“Ouch, what a greeting,” the snake muttered. “He Bo, fetch a meal for each of these as a peace offering.” The servant replied in his nasal, musical language and disappeared behind the top of the deck. The snake wrinkled his nose and turned to look down at the creatures below. In a bombastic move, he swung his arms open and boomed, “Lower your weapons, people of the Eagle Clan, for I, Shengshi, am not your foe! I come in nothing but peace, for the sake of peace, and with an invitation of peace. In but a moment, my intentions will be clear for you all to sample.”
He clapped his hands together once and smiled. “In the meantime, would you tell me a bit about yourselves? I do so love a mortal story or two.”
The male hesitated, but ended up relaxing. His kin followed suit, casting uncertain gazes at their leader. Just as he opened his mouth to continue speaking, a loud knocking echoed through the land. Heavy metal on thick wood, it came from the large front doors to the Pristine Manor on top of the cliff, overlooking the crude huts and workshops of the mortals.
Three times the knock was heard, and after three times the doors dragged open, the wood creaking and allowing light into the dark interior of the building. Behind the doors, the tall Goddess Li’Kalla, Goddess of Rain, stood proud. Her pure white wings were stretched at each side of her body, tips touching far above her head, outlining a sort of halo behind her head. It barely fitting through the frame of the entranceway. And so she walked out and the doors closed behind her, one last heavy knock reverberating through the bones of the mortals present.
Every primitive watched with tears in their eyes and happy smiles, the only one who remained watching the foreigners closely was the male leader.
The Goddess walked gracefully to the shores of her Boiling Lake and made herself float up to Shengshi’s level, without drawing too close to the Jiangzhou.
”I welcome you to my humble abode, and I introduce you to my Herd, the Valthumir and Vallamir who reside on this land… Shengshi, God of Rivers, am I correct?”
“Very much so!” the snake replied and bowed low. “It is an honour and a joy to be welcome. Forgive me for not contacting you ahead of my arrival - for a while I was a little uncertain as to who exactly was down here; I am glad to find that it was you, after all.” He tapped his chin. “This is the first time we have met since the dawn of time, is it not? Or did we even formally meet even then? My apologies, my recollections of the eons past are a little jumbled of late.”
”I say the same of my recollections. That is not important now, however. We shall treat it as our first meeting.” Li’Kalla said with a placid smile.
“So we shall! So, this Herd of yours…” As he spoke, a train of servants came out the palace gates behind him. As soon as they laid their eyes on Li’Kalla, they collectively put the covered plates they were carrying on the ground, turned to her with inclined heads and then proceeded to kowtow. Then, they thundered as one: “TEN THOUSAND YEARS TO LI’KALLA, GREAT MISTRESS OF THE RAIN!” The snake spun around and smiled proudly while Li’Kalla nodded at the servants in appreciation.
“... Fantastic, aren’t they? Right, so this Herd… It has a…” He sniffed the air and hummed. “... A certain scent about it - a four-way split of essence. Were they a collaborative project?”
”Ah,” Li’Kalla held back a sigh, ”They are a product of Arae, Roog, Kalmar and I. Unfortunately. Had I been the sole creator I would’ve been able to ensure all of them showed at least one Streak of Divinity… As it stands, I’ve separated the lesser ones from those worthy of leadership.”
“Ah! A hierarchy! Finally, something familiar,” the snake applauded. “A proper civilisation needs its castes. What would my servants be without it, I wonder?” The servants in question had made their way down from the ship on a watery staircase and proceeded to offer the Valthumir and Vallamir clay plates covered with lids to keep the rain out. From underneath the lids oozed mouth-watering fragrances, and seeing the look on the faces of her mortals, Li’Kalla made the rain stop and the clouds disperse.
When she turned to face Shengshi she was blushing slightly and frowning, ”I apologize, Shengshi, they have no tables to place the plates on. They shall kindly accept your offering and eat it in their huts, away from sight. It’s a very young civilization, I hope you understand.” As she finished, she quickly motioned a dismissal with her hand to Van’Kalla, the male leader who still watched the two Gods speak.
“Understood, Queen-Mother, at once.” Van’Kalla replied with a respectful nod of his head and turned around to begin shouting at his kin. each one took one plate they liked the scent of and disappeared into one of the few huts.
The Goddess watched the mortals go one by one until there were none left but the servants, and then she turned to Shengshi. ”Would you rather speak on neutral ground? Have your servants set up a temporary meeting spot some distance away from the Lake and we shall discuss things further there, I have need of your expertise in some matters.”
“Oh, is that so? How fantastically convenient. May I come with a proposal, though? While it may not be neutral perhaps, we have already stacked the table in my feast hall below deck high with snacks and drinks for just such an occasion - would that suffice?”
Li’Kalla pursed her lips, and then nodded, ”That will do.”
“Then,” the snake said with a bow, “if you would follow me, please.” He then spun calmly on his tail and slithered towards the palace gates, with Li’Kalla letting herself touch the ground and walking next to him.
”I couldn’t help but notice the efficiency at which your servants work and the plates they carried. Clay, correct?”
“Correct. It is of my own making, as with most of the items onboard. The servants have a complex and fascinating culture, and while they are slowly reverse-engineering much of the equipment they have been using over the centuries, there are certain processes that offer more obstacles than others, hence why the clay plates are not made by them.” The pair entered into the palace where the walls along the great corridor to the feast hall were lined with kowtowing servants, all of whom were shouting their humble, praising greetings with one voice. The snake continued, “They are nigh infinitely loyal and rigorously well-trained. There are none in this universe but the gods who can best them in service and servitude.”
Li’Kalla watched with some discomfort as the servants kept going out of their way to greet them, ”I see,” She said, ”Gods are not meant to serve others however, so they might as well be the best there is in that aspect for now.”
“I could not agree more,” the snake said with a smile. The pair descended a great staircase draped with crimson silk carpets and before them unfolded a room of gold and glory. Its walls carried splending paintings on colossal rice paper canvases; the roof was lit with red paper lanterns; nearly every surface and column wore a golden coat. In the background sang flutes and harps and in the centre of the hall stood a long table with a golden dragon throne at the far end and a beautifully bejeweled throne of wood upholstered with silken pillows on the left side of the far end.
When they arrived at the thrones, the snake took the liberty of pulling Li’Kalla’s throne out for her. “Please, have a seat.”
”Thank you,” Li’Kalla said furling up her wings and sitting down in one graceful movement. ”Beautiful decoration, was it all decided by you, Cardinal Courtesy?”
“Down to the last tablecloth,” the snake confirmed with a smile and sat himself on his golden dragon throne. “The feast hall is the jewel of my vessel - only perfection is acceptable. I would have nothing less for my guests.” A number of servants came over to the table and, with swift, courteous movements, they placed down warm clay plates for the both of them upon which sat rolled up, hot towels. The snake took his and rubbed it over his hands.
“Forgive me for jumping straight to the point, but I am so curious: What was it that you wanted to discuss?”
Li’Kalla imitated what Shengshi did, and she nodded, ”As you surely observed, the state of my civilization is rather… Unsatisfying. You saw how they greeted you. Their ignorance comes from a lack of knowledge and respect, so upon seeing your servants I wondered if you would be able to teach some basic etiquette to the Vallamir and Valthumir, and while at it I would be thankful to receive advice on how to ensure the loyalty and productivity of the lower castes.”
“Ah, so that which ails you is issues of the state,” the snake mused. “The request for basic etiquette can easily be solved if a few servants were left behind to educate them. Etiquette stems from respect, which can be achieved through fear or fame. Let us examine these two,” the snake stated. “If they respect you because of your might, they would never dare to rise up unless they thought that they could win - which they cannot. For a god, it is safe, reliable and simple.”
Servants came over to them with cups of light wine. The snake took a small sip from his and continued, “If they respect you because of your heroism or out of their love for you, they are likely to be loyal, as well. Working for a master one knows will care for you is a great motivator, so productivity is assured as well. However, mortals are ungrateful and easily corrupted by worldly riches. They may not love you forever for the gifts you grant to this generation. Therefore, my advice is to establish clear boundaries - offer them a stern rule set that tells them what will lead to wealth and riches, and what will lead to sanctions and punishment.”
Li’Kalla set down the hot towel, now soaking due to her rainwater, and brought her hand up to her mouth as she thought. After a moment, she nodded again, ”I see. Yes, I will create a concise ruleset. There is another matter...” Li’Kalla grabbed her cup and gave it a long sip, gasping quietly in surprise at the flavour, ”... Wine? And it’s exceptional.”
“Like it?” the snake smiled and chuckled. “This one is a pear wine, made from Atokhekwoian pears. It is very much a new favourite of mine. I will give you a pot if you like it that much. Oh, why not take two, to honour our friendship.”
”Heh, you take large strides, Shengshi.” Li’Kalla chuckled and kept sipping at her cup, ”We can do business later, I am very interested in your selection of wines. For now, the other matter I had in mind was requesting you share some technology with my Herd. I am willing to do business, should you wish to ask for anything in exchange.”
“Hooo?” The snake raised an eyebrow and put down his cup. He intertwined his fingers and placed his chin on top. “What technology did you have in mind?”
”You clearly have the ability to produce wines in large quantities, so that means you have access to agricultural techniques beyond most of those I’ve seen in this world. On top of that, you have access to sugar, an important ingredient in the making of wine, which is also an important ingredient in black powder. You see where I’m going with this, I expect.”
The snake’s eyebrows furrowed together and he wrinkled his nose. “I am sorry, but there may be a misunderstanding here. While I do have expansive knowledge of agriculture and brewing, I personally do not use any extra sugar in the brewing process - not even to carbonate the drinks. Certainly, I can plant for your mortals fields of sugar beets or sugar cane, but I believe you know as well as I that for mortal hands to extract refined sugar from these plants, they require technology that they simply are not ready for.”
”That is no matter, if you can teach my mortals these techniques and technologies, I’d be happy to sponsor any project of your choosing in exchange.”
The snake raised a palm. “I will gladly teach them to work the soil and harvest its produce, and I will teach them to make the tools that will bring in the season’s bounty and where to store it. However, until they at the very least grasp concepts like pottery, furnaces and metalcraft, I feel teaching them sugar extraction is wasted knowledge.”
”That is a fair point. They should be ready for that knowledge soon, however. After agriculture is established, the Valthumir will begin to truly shine. Without having to spend so much time foraging and hunting for food, most of them will be able to focus on scientific pursuits... We may yet be able to turn these savages into proper civilized individuals.” “A worthy mission. Few goals in this world are greater than the search of prosperity for one’s people. However, I feel a need to stress my earlier point about respect. The mortals respecting you will be simple - however, the mortals respecting one another necessitates that one of them, preferably the leader you have chosen, has a considerable force behind them. How skilled are your people in combat? Will there be a state policing force?”
Li’Kalla finished her cup of wine and set it down on the table, ”Not very skilled. We lack the numbers or stable food source to establish an army. I do know of one Valthumir that shows real potential for warfare, however. He is on a quest at the moment, below ground where the shadows reside.”
“What was that? Below ground where the shadows reside?”
Li’Kalla raised her eyebrows in surprise and leaned back in disbelief, ”... I expected a God with a taste for stories to know this, somehow. I suppose no one visits these lands too much. There are hideous, dangerous beings under our feet right now. Forgotten creations by a Forgotten deity… They seek only to sow destruction and pain and death, and they guard the underground where all the significant sources metals and combustible resources are.”
“How absolutely barbaric - to make life for the sake of destroying other life for nothing but sport.” The snake grimaced and waved the foul thought away. “And here I thought the pinnacle senseless destruction was that bloody flame-bearded dog. To furthermore stand in the way of your people’s future prosperity, too. Horrible - simply horrible.”
”it is good practice,” Li’Kalla sighed, ”I can’t shake this feeling that something horrible lies in wait for us over the horizon, so this is more of a blessing in disguise… It will serve to toughen up the Valthumir. Especially because not even I know how deep the underground goes, or what creatures are down there.”
“... I certainly hope that I will remain merely a blessing in disguise, then… Still…” He waved over a servant who placed a plate of small appetisers on the table: various bits of fish, biscuits and rice balls. “... You will not have to worry about an army. Once they have been taught to work the soil, they will not hunger for many, many years.”
”Indeed,” Li’Kalla tapped the rim of her empty wine cup then looked straight at Shengshi, ”Back to business, I would be interested in obtaining seeds for several different crops, including grapes and these pears you mentioned. Oh, and lastly, would you mind taking me to your cellar? I would like to taste your different wines. If they’re tradeable, I’d like to get as many of the ones I find agreeable as possible.”
“They are both tradeable and giftable, my dear - I am inclined to offer the wine to you as the latter in addition to the gift of seeds, tools and knowledge. The wine shall serve as my letter of friendship and siblinghood to you - the rest can be traded for a favour which I may call upon at a later date. Does this sound fair?”
Li’Kalla smiled and nodded, raising her cup up in the air, ”It sounds fair. Now, take a girl to you cellar, will you?”
“Of course,” the snake said with a smile and rose, slithering over to Li’Kalla’s throne to offer her a hand which she gladly took. “Please, follow me.” And so the two walked to the far back of the feast hall, towards the ship’s stern. There awaited them a colossal metal gate sealed with chains and locks. The snake snapped his right fingers and the pair watched as the locks opened themselves and pulled away from the door like retreating serpents.
“A safety measure to keep out any curious mortals. I had three once who spent their entire days emptying my cellar. Never again.” Li’Kalla responded with a chuckle.
The doors slowly swung open and an aged, sour smell fell out like a cloud of dust. It was dark inside, and in the red light shining in through the doorway, one could see fifty litre clay pots stacked in mountains around the room, surrounding research benches and boiling basins. In the centre of the room was an enormous metal contraption, adorned with brass stills and pipes. A vent of steam escaped it with a loud whistle.
“Pardon the mess, my dear - I so rarely bring guests here these days. Not that I do not wish to show it off, oh no, it is merely because so few request it.”
Li’Kalla shook her head and waved her hand nonchalantly, ”No complaints here, I prefer it when workshops are well-used and slightly messy, myself. It shows the one in charge is diligent.” She spoke as she walked around the vast room, taking in all the various tools, rolled up parchments and most importantly, the metal contraption. ”This is the first contraption I see in this world that comes close to a machine. It’s beautiful, really! Pray tell, does it require manpower or is it automated?”
“This is the Distillery. While the fires must be kept alive by mortal hand, it boils the wine and collects the vapours on its own, concentrating them to create liquor. It is a stronger sort of wine, if you will - specifically made to be consumed in small doses at a time over the course of a long night.”
”Oh, I see, impressive nonetheless,” Li’Kalla took in the sight and then looked over at one of the research benches, ”I’m sorry, I’m unfortunately not too well versed in the different kinds of alcohol that can be consumed, so all I can talk about is my admiration for machines and research. I’m a bit of a bore, really.”
“No, no, you are certainly no bore, dear!” Shengshi supported. “Machinery and industry are two fascinations of my own, too, so I could gladly talk about them for ages. How about we talk some over a cup of… Uhm, let us see…” The snake ran his fingers over a number of labels. “How about a mango liqueur? It is a little thicker and sweeter than the one we had for lunch.”
”Hmm...” Li’Kalla brought a hand up to her cheek as she thought, ”Why not? Let’s try a few different ones as well, this is a great opportunity to experience something new!” She said with a smile on her face.
The snake smiled and took off the lid. He took a wooden ladle and poured some of the thick, orange fluid into two cups. He offered one to Li’Kalla and gave his own a whiff. “Ah... Such a sweet scent… Tell me, what sort of crops would you like your civilisation to live off of? With these rains, I reckon rice and various vegetables can thrive.”
Li’Kalla brought her cup up to her nose and took a whiff as well, then tried the concoction. She made a face and coughed, then perked up. ”Ah yes, business. Rice is a great idea and I was thinking of adding corn and a good selection of fibrous vegetables. I do not mind which vegetables, as long as they’re fairly nutritious to ensure the long term health of the genetic stock. What do you think?”
“Rice and corn will serve as the main source of carbohydrates, then - vitamins and fiber will be covered by asparagus, cabbage, carrots and okra. Cucumbers as well, I think. Few of these will suffer too much from monsoons and rain seasons, and they offer many different flavours, textures and nutrients for your mortals to enjoy. As for proteins, I can offer various beans and legumes, though I still recommend either fish or meat for the warriors and labourers.”
”Yes, I expect most of their protein and fat intake to come from animal sources, excluding milk of course. Milk is… Disgusting, to say the least. We can supply them with two types of beans however. What’s your opinion on black beans and green lentils? The former is amazing with some salt, in my opinion.”
“You do not like milk?” the snake asked with a surprised look. “Well, suppose we will be skipping the fermented elephant milk, then…” He cleared his throat as Li’Kalla barely held back a gag. “Black beans and green lentils are satisfactory, though lentils in particular are very vulnerable to floods. May I suggest cowpeas instead? They are a little more comfortable with humidity.”
”Sure, sounds great. In due time we’ll be able to cultivate whatever we desire with just a little help from hydro, aqua and aeroponics however, so all of this might change in the future. Who knows, it might even be sooner than expected! Oh,” Li’Kalla gasped and shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself for a moment, ”I get all shivery thinking of the future, sorry!” She giggled and took a long sip of her drink.
“Oh, nothing to apologise for,” the snake chuckled. “Excitement about the future is something we all should feel! The future is prosperous, harmonious! A promise of peace, stability and joy for all life in this universe.” He knocked his cup gently against hers and flashed her a grin. “Starting with ensuring every mortal goes to sleep with a full belly.”
”Yeah! That’s a prosperous future, indeed! And let’s make sure my Faithful get to taste these sweet drinks as well! They will be a hit, I can imagine all the fun that’s going to be had in reunions and meetings between friends already.”
“Naturally, my dear! The wine shall flow through the camp of the Eagle clan like rain water over their soon-to-be-sown fields of food. Now…” He finished his cup. “Allow me to show you this one… It is an experimental blend…”
”... Aaaand daswhy, Sssheng… Daswhy you can’t mIX WHITE HAIR WITH COLOURED HAIR! Yuknoo… Sgood am here... Nooobodyhasshpreparedathing! I hav’ t...” Li’Kalla let her blushing face drop against the soft surface of the table she found herself to be sitting at and after a moment, ruffled up her own hair and looked up at Shengshi with a flushed, placid grin, ”... I liiiike, likelike youur PRODUCTS, Ho… Li… Ness~”
The snake shuffled uncomfortably in his throne. “I suppose my tolerance may be a little more robust.” A sharp burp escaped him and he covered his mouth. “Oof, pardon me. Li’Kalla, my dear, would you like one last sample before we return upstairs?”
Li’Kalla barely nodded and pushed her cup toward him. ”yuush…!”
The snake poured her a half-full cup of something purple. “For our final taste test, my dear, we have a very, very, -very- mild grape wine. I reckon it would serve you well to drink it and then gulp down some water so as to not appear…” He tapped his chin. “... Inebriated before your subjects.”
”W-Wuh- Am not!” Li’Kalla exclaimed, jerking upright and looking straight at the empty air next to Shengshi, she went to grab her cup and missed, then tried again and downed the cup in one go, letting herself slink back onto the table. ”... Maybeh a lil beet… Am in troublee… Haeelp meh...” Li’Kalla moaned, tearing up.
”I... cant go out like dish… Waddidyoudotoomeee...”
“Would you like to take a nap, dear?” the snake sighed and patted her comfortingly on her shoulder. “It usually helps.”
”... Ok, yesh.”
A few hours later...
Li’Kalla had been moved to a large bedroom with white walls painted with blue and green images of river valleys in the rain. Outside the skies were still gray, and it was quickly evident that the day was still the same as it had been before the wine tasting had begun. Beside the queen-sized, silk-sheeted bed was a small bed stand topped with a tall glass of water and an even tallen pitcher of the same. Between the two was a note.
With a groan and a stretch, Li’Kalla opened her eyes and sat up. She was feeling light as a feather and as beautiful as ever, and the sight of the gray skies invigorated her. By the Architect, did she love rain! Immediately she grabbed the tall glass of water that had been left on the bed stand and drank its contents. ”Hyyaaaa! That water’s good! How is Shengshi so good at picking out the taste for liquids? Maybe that comes with the title of River God… Hey… I am the Rain Goddess, I should be able to make great water as well.” Li’Kalla thought out loud, then shrugged, tilted her head back and opened her mouth, dangling her index finger over her mouth before thinking twice about it and shaking her head.
Instead she picked up the glass she’d just drank from, gave it a quick wash with her control over water and made sure it was dry before sticking the tip of her finger into it and letting a steady stream of clear, cool water fill it up. She took a sip of that water.
”Bleh. Could use some work...” She set the glass back down on the bedside table and got off the bed. She walked to the dresser and looked into the mirror, fixing her disheveled appearance with a mere thought and finishing with hand-grooming her wings. Why was that the one thing she did by hand? Because it felt good.
After a while, she looked through the drawers and the dozen wardrobes and found what she had wanted for so long -- Footwear. A pair of lace-up sandals made of leather. They weren’t a perfect match for her dress, but they were good enough, considering the dress covered up most of the leather strips reaching all the way to her knees anyway.
She also got herself a piece of parchment and a brush, and with impeccable control of her arm, wrote a divine message into the surface. They were beautifully crafted, the sigils, and each of them carried parts of a concise message.
There was no hurry, of course, but it was important for a God to be as efficient as possible. Therefore, as soon as she was finished with her small masterpiece of a letter, she rolled it up, tied a string around it and opened the door to her temporary chambers.
The Sandy Servant posted outside her door tensed up briefly, but otherwise kept her composure as she turned slightly and bowed deeply, never making any eye contact with the Goddess.
“M-”
”My apologies for cutting you short, but I have a task for you, female.” Li’Kalla said with a polite smile, handing the servant woman the rolled up parchment. ”Take this to Shengshi at once. Thank you.” And just as quickly, the Goddess had closed the door again, leaving the Servant alone.
‘Steemed Shengshi,
Your stock of spirits is incredibly high-quality, as expected of a fellow God. I write this brief letter to you to highlight a few concerns of mine. First, nothing improper happened earlier on, and I never got to any stage of inebriation; and second, I am ready to bestow the gifts mentioned before onto my Herd. How should we proceed in order to strengthen both our positions? I would wish for this event to strengthen yours as well, within reason.
Li’Kalla Lithokelles.’
A few moments later, a knock came on Li’Kalla’s door.
“Li’Kalla? It is me, your brother,” came a muffled voice.
There was a moment’s worth of silence, and then the door opened. Li’Kalla herself was standing a few paces back, with her hands clasped in front of herself.
”Brother is a strong word, I believe. We are not related by blood, are we? Though it is true we are both Gods. I suppose it’s more of a gray area. Come in, please.” Li’Kalla smiled and nodded.
“Oh, forgive me if the terms makes you uncomfortable, my dear,” the snake said as he entered. “It has stuck with me somewhat since the first time I met Arae at the dawn of time. It personally brings me quite a bit of joy to see the gods as my siblings--” He frowned a little. “... Even the less civilised lot.”
”Such as Kalmar and Roog?” Li’Kalla asked suddenly, tilting her head innocently.
“Roog? Now that is name I am… Unfamiliar with, to say the least. Is it godspawn?”
”Indeed. It takes the form of an animal made of fire. Spawned between two male gods, as well. It’s a… Disappointing situation.”
“The personality, or the being’s conception?” the snake asked with a confused frown and a scratch of his temple.
”Both.”
The snake cleared his throat sheepishly. "My apologies, dear sister, I, uhm, I do not quite follow. The creature is rude, that I can see as problematic, but why is its male parentage an issue?”
Li’Kalla raised an eyebrow, ”Procreation should only be done between a male and a female, to set a healthy example for our creations. We want them to build new generations for us, right? If everyone turns deviant, their very continuity would be threatened. As a God, it is our duty to be the best of the best.”
The snake’s brow fell low. “For your information, dear, there are several mortals upon this good world that do not require two individuals of different sexes to reproduce. My Servants are among them, and if I am not mistaken, them numbering over ten thousand makes them the most numerous group of mortals in this universe.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Besides, in addition to this Roog, my son Anu was conceived with the blood of Narzhak and I - both, I assume, have a male form and consider ourselves to be male. I will not bat an eye if you wish this to be the view of your mortals, dear, but please do not equate all mortals to one another, nor mortals to the gods.”
Li’Kalla’s expression darkened, ”Let me ask you this, Shengshi… Why do you and Narzhak identify as males? By adopting that identity, you take upon your shoulders the laws of nature that keep sexually reproducing entities in line. What good is a male that seeks to copulate with another male? The Goddess rubbed her temple and sighed, “And you referring to the product of your interaction with another male as a ‘son’, just further confirms your actions as the product of rampant deviancy. A true son is brought to the world by a mother and father through sexual intercourse, anything else is either a creation or a deviation and must be purified.”
The snake recoiled as if he had been shot. He placed a palm on his chest and sucked in a breath through the nose, a scowl overtaking his visage. “There is no law of nature that says sexual reproduction is the only way - the only law of the universe is that there will be life, and there will be death. Anu is my son - that fact is as true as my very existence - regardless of whether he had been made with another male, female or something else. Mortals will reproduce regardless of whether homosexuality is normal, dear, and to enforce such a view upon all of mortalkind is to deprive them of a staggering joy.”
”Homosexuality is a joy? No. It is a perversion. See, why have two sexes when everyone can procreate with everyone else? There is no practicality to that, you might as well have created all mortals as hermaphrodites or completely sexless beings. It is disappointing to see Gods defend perversion and deviancy so freely, truly. In fact,” Li’Kalla smirked mockingly, ”We have no need for deviants here. A God that chooses his form to be half an animal’s and half a man’s? I should have realized you were worse than Kalmar or the dog. Shengshi, you may take your leave whenever you’re ready. Please do forget any business we spoke of, and keep your spirits. I wouldn’t want any of my followers doing things they’ll regret while inebriated.”
Li’Kalla then frowned, flicked her hair and walked past Shengshi, letting her slightly unfurled wings bump his shoulder on her way out.
”I know my way out, I shall not bother you on that.”
As the goddess left the room, the snake stood there speechless, opening and closing his mouth. His pupils were less than slits, near utterly empty. A quiet droning escaped him, one that slowly turned into quickened, furious breaths.
“... The nerve…” He closed his fist and sent it straight into the mirror in the room, reducing it to dust. He let out a livid scream at the top of his lungs and eyed himself up and down. “Half man and half animal?! DEVIANT?! Worse than-...” He reduced the wardrobe to sawdust. “I invite her into my home; I offer her my services…” His finned spine turned to a row of quills; his claws extended; his teeth lengthened into fangs. “THE NERVE!”
The snake stormed out the door, blasting it off its hinges, over the rails of the veranda walkway and into the depths of the belly of the ship. The echo silenced the whole vessel, and it did not take long before a train of nervous Servants trailed the snake with their heads bowing. At the head of the group marched a sweating He Bo, his watery eyes quivering with fear.
“Y-your Lordship, what is the matter?!”
“We are leaving this instant,” the snake spat back. “See to it that none of the gifts reserved for the Valthumir make it off the ship.”
“Y-yes, Your Lordship!” The master servant began to bark orders left and right. In the hallways, wine pots were sent back to the cellar; grain and seeds were thrown into the hearths; tools were left to collect dusts in their storages.
The snake climbed up onto the deck. There, he saw the goddess enter the mansion again, acting as if his ship was nothing but an insect flying by. The ship had begun to sail away by now. The snake grit his fangs and hammered at the ship railings with such force that the elementally-impervious planks began to shatter. Slowly, the rage manifested itself through a glare that could set fire to water.
“... So… We are supposed to set examples, are we?” he droned menacingly. “... And you want your little Valthumir not to do things they will regret…” He rubbed a claw against the wooden railing. “What a poor, poor example you make, my dear.”
The snake raised his hands into the air. A black sludge formed between his fingers and began to drip down into the soil far below.
“From this day forth, no soil upon this island will ever sprout a single grain, a single fruit, a single vegetable. As this bile runs black as night, so in kind shall every harvest yield nothing but filth and rot. Neither wild nor domestic trees will spawn anything but putrid slime; any sown grain will be as salt to the soil. From this day until the end of time, this island will be a pool of rot and decay.”
The ship disappeared behind the clouds before Shengshi could move on to a curse on the rivers, as well. Down below, the effect was immediate: All around Li’Kalla’s island, wild fruit, grain, vegetables, legumes - any edible yields of plants - all began to rot away in minutes. The stink was staggering.
Li’Kalla’s island, was sentenced to death.
Snake is makin' his way over to the Nebulites to pick them up when it's revealed that they took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up over Li's Island. This is seen as an opportunity to hang out by the snake, however, and they land on the boiling lake before the mansion. There, they are greeted by some elves calling themselves the Eagle Clan who vehemently defend the mansion in the name of their God-Queen. Snake offers the elves some grub. Li arrives in all her glory and the two exchange polite greetings. Li comes aboard for a chat and the two plan for snake to plant some crops on the island and Li to owe him a favour. They have some wine along with the discussion, and then go wine tasting. Li gets wasted and takes a nap, waking up and calls Sheng to her room. There, they would've started to discuss their plans, but Li mentions Kalmar and Roog and how she finds it yucky that Roog was made from the essence of two male gods. Snake's a little confused and asks her to clarify, and defends homosexuality and non-sexual breeding after she does. This makes Li label him as a deviant and she walks off, declaring all deals to be null and void. Sheng gets hella pissed and sails off, but not before cursing all of Li's Island with eternal rot instead of harvests.
LI'KALLA'S OPINIONS AND STANCES DONT REFLECT THE STANCES OF ANYONE ON THIS RP, INCLUDING FRETTZO.
Shengshi start: 5MP/5FP 1FP, discounted to 0 with Harvest Portfolio - Curse Li’Kalla’s island so that all fruits, vegetables, grains and other edible plant yields rot immediately. After: 5MP/5FP
Now that she’d gotten far enough from the centre of the Hunter’s eye, Li’Kalla felt comfortable enough to do what she had to. She raised her hand toward the sky and the sparse clouds in the sky all congealed and mixed into a humongous, deep gray mass. It crackled threateningly, dim flashes of light making their way out of the thundercloud.
As if on cue, a single blonde-haired Vallamir walked out from the thick bushes surrounding the clearing Li’Kalla had found herself in. She smiled warmly at him, hand still lifted straight upward at the cloud above her head. Truly, these mortals would do just fine. She noted with some disappointment however, when the Valla smiled back, that he had pronounced canines.
”Child, come closer.” She commanded, and the Valla obeyed. Once he was in front of her, bowing his head down slightly in sudden shame, Li’Kalla looked him up and down in appreciation and placed her free hand on top of his head. ”Fate is cruel, child. For if you had been blessed with even one Streak of Divinity, I wouldn’t have done this to you.”
The Valla remained silent for a moment, and then hesitantly looked up at his Goddess, his brown eyes twinkling with an innocent curiosity and admiration that quickly turned to fear once he saw his Goddess’s dark expression. “W-What do you mea-”
BOOM
The very earth exploded as mighty lighting came down from the gray skies. A bird passing overhead was burnt to a crisp, leaves were disintegrated and trees were blown back. A wave of electricity spread throughout the Hunter’s eye, washing over every single Vallamir and calling forth those worthy enough to receive the message. And, in the center of the ruined land that had once been a lush clearing, the only things left were a Goddess with a hand stretched toward the gray skies, and the charred remains of what could have easily been sentient or beast.
Li’Kalla looked down at such remains, unfazed by the tremendous force she had just withstood.
”’Follow the rain, heed the call of thunder.’” Li’Kalla relaxed and nodded somberly, and the burnt earth beneath her feet twisted and moved to cover and bury the remains of the First Sacrifice. ”You had a resillient enough brain to withstand emitting such a large-scale message. Unfortunately, your frail body wasn’t built to survive such enormous amounts of energy. Your Sacrifice has served me well, Child.”
And so, Li’Kalla took in a deep whiff of the electrified air, smiled and started walking. Her destination? The ugly, disgusting island she’d stumbled upon earlier. She would conquer those lands and shape them into something worth living in, as an eternal symbol of her power and foresight.
It had been a difficult journey. One thousands of kilometers long, with heavy rain falling on everyone like metal pellets, and while being hunted by predators of all shapes and sizes.
Quite a few of Li’Kalla’s herd were lost to the wilderness, but those that remained had proven their superior strength and will. Even if those survivors had no Streaks of Divinity, they had earned their place in the new world Li’Kalla would create for them.
Eventually the herd reached the eastern coast of Kalgrun, and Li’Kalla materialized a Bridge for them to cross the channel separating Kalgrun and their new home. The Million Steps, a stretch of solid mist and rainwater, was translucent and yielded slightly to the weight of the mortals, feet sinking into the pliable surface. Still, it was completely safe to tread on, and the vast herd of Vallamir walked on.
For many days and nights, weeks on end, they travelled. Their sustenance consisted of no more than rain-water and birds and fish that Li’Kalla offered to them, and so they survived. And at long last, the first Vallamir to step onto the Island was a white-haired gray-eyed male. His eyes lit up brightly upon touching the earth of his new home, and he turned with a grin on his face to his Goddess, who responded in kind with a warm, motherly smile. She walked past the male and turned around to face her herd, her heart racing.
”My Faithful, let it be known that henceforth all of you with Streaks of Divinity shall be known as Valthumir,” Li’Kalla explained, furrowing her brow and projecting her voice through the air all the way to the Valthumir and Vallamir at the back of the herd, ”Guardians of Purity, my Chosen Faithful whose duty it is to ensure the beauty, efficiency and superiority of this new civilization.”
All the Valthumir responded positively. They cried, laughed, cheered, screamed in excitement and some merely smiled and nodded. Li’Kalla extended her free hand toward the herd and motioned for them to settle down, and so they all, Valthumir and Vallamir, quieted down and sat down on the ground and The Million Steps.
”And those of you with no Divinity in your bodies, the Vallamir,” Li’Kalla turned her gaze onto those inferior specimens, with colored hair and eyes and wilder traits to their bodies, ”Know that Faith and Diligence will never lead you astray. You will be productive members of this civilization and no matter your position, your support will allow the Valthumir to carry out their tasks of Purification and Beautification. Hold your heads high as you Faithfully serve the Valthumir.”
Li’Kalla watched the mixed reactions. It was to be expected, no one wanted to hear the truth, especially being a new arrival into the world. But still, some seemed content.
”In time, you shall see the blessing of having a clear path to follow, Children. It is a blessing your Valthumir brothers and sisters are not fortunate enough to have.”
At those words, the tension in the air dissolved and the Vallamir seemed to sigh in relief.
The Goddess of Rain smiled at her herd one last time, ”Before we begin builing the greatest Civilization this world will ever see, there is a law you must know and follow, no matter what happens. Procreate only with those within your own group, and all Valthumir and Vallamir must procreate.” Li’Kalla’s expression hardened for a moment, and the herd grew quiet. Soon, however, she exhaled a deep breath she’d never taken and smiled gracefully, ”It is time, go forth into your new lands. Explore, settle, procreate within your groups, and advance into the future. Never for one moment stagnate, and always protect your family, neighbours and servants.”
There was a silence. It only lasted for a split moment, and then everyone jumped up and the herd erupted into cheering and joyful laughter and they ran off in groups into the wilderness. Some north, some south, but most east.
Li’Kalla looked up at the raincloud she’d dragged all the way from the Hunter’s Eye and chuckled, willing it to disperse slowly and safely and then letting her arm fall back down to her side. It really was a drag, having to keep her arm stretched above her head for weeks at a time.
Hours later, When she turned her gaze back to the surface, a few of her herd remained. No more than a hundred, and mostly comprised of Vallamir with a handful of valthumir mixed in. One of them was the one male who was the first to walk on the Island.
Li’Kalla stared at him intently, and he returned the gaze. “Goddess Li’Kalla, thank you.”
Li’Kalla tilted her head to the side slightly, looking at him with a glint in her eye, ”What for, Child?”
“For creating us, and giving us purpose. We will not let you down. I, Van’Kalla, shall make sure of it.”
The other mortals nearby stopped talking and stared at the male as if he was mad. The air seemed to stay still. A tension so heavy that the self-proclaimed Van’Kalla and his brethren were forced to take a knee, sweating and gasping for air, materialized in the area.
The Goddess kept staring at the mortal, examining his perfectly white hair, efficiently shaped body, shining silver eyes… Slowly, a grin broke out on her face, and soon she laughed and the tension in the air disappeared, ”Hahah! You are brave, Child. Adopting part of my name without my permission would normally be a grave offense to me.” In the blink of an eye, all mirth left her face and she nodded at Van’Kalla, ”You shall become the first of many leaders, Van’Kalla. Carry yourself with honor and pride, and do not besmirch my name. Your first task is to take all that remains of the Herd and follow me.”
“Yes, Rain-Mother, at once.” Van’Kalla nodded and immediately turned to his new subjects, shouting at them and getting them ready to follow.
”We will have to work on that title.” Muttered Li’Kalla.
Soon they were walking once more, with Li’Kalla up front followed closely by Van’Kalla, who in turn had 6 Valthumir close behind him. And of course, the 93 remaining Vallamir walked further back, as they felt they hadn’t earned the right to walk so close to the glow and warmth of their Goddess.
Where they arrived a few days later was a large, boiling lake, with a prominent mansion standing proud on top of a hill. Li'Kalla winced upon seeing everything in such a pristine state.
“Rain-Mother?”
Li’Kalla tensed up and sighed, ”Let’s see… Immaculate One, Cardinal Purity, True Queen-Mother… Any of those is acceptable, Child.”
“As you wish, Queen-Mother. So, what do you wish for us to do?”
”We will settle here, next to this boiling Lake. In time, you will build a great Temple for me to reside in. For now, however, you shall build your dwellings and live, and I shall turn this Manor into my palace.”
Van’Kalla bowed in respect and turned to leave.
”Face me.” Li’Kalla snapped, and Van’Kalla froze and turned around with some hesitation, ”We shall work on your etiquette, if you are to call yourself a leader. Bow, verbally confirm you’ve understood and then wait for my dismissal. Do it now.”
Van’Kalla opened his mouth as if to protest, but the way Li’Kalla tilted her head back and the manner in which her expression darkened must have made him think twice. He took a knee, lowering his head and closing his eyes. “Understood, Queen-Mother.” He nodded slightly in his submissive position, and Li’Kalla let out a small huff.
“You may go, begin your work at once.”
In a flurry of movement, the Valthumir stood straight and went straight to his group, most of whom were now exploring and entranced by the boiling lake.
Once no one was watching her anymore, Li’Kalla rubbed her temples and sighed, ’I definitely need help teaching proper etiquette to these mortals.’
Li’Kalla finds herself far enough from the center of the Hunter’s Eye to comfortably gather her share of elves and decides to do so by creating a huge raincloud that’d cover adozens of kilometers in diameter and be easily visible from far away. As if on cue, a blonde, brown-eyed Vallamir pops by to see Li’Kalla, and she decides to use him as a catalyst for emitting a message to Vallamir across Kalgrun. Most White-haired, gray-eyed Vallamir receive the message and head for the sound of thunder that echoes throughout the land when Li’Kalla fries the unfortunate Vallamir emitter.
Once gathered the group travels for weeks to reach Li’Kalla’s Island, with her having to help provide for food and water along the way, as well as making a bridge out of mist and rainwater for them to cross the sea.
Upon arriving at the Island she gives a small speech and gives physical traits of purity the name of Streaks of Divinity, and names those with such Streaks of Divinity as Valthumir to separate them from the regular Vallamir. Finally she lets the herd disperse across the land. Some stay with her and she leads them to where her old home is located. They settle there.
MP 16 FP 8 Used 1 MP to send a telepathic message to her share of Vallamir via brain-frying of a single Vallamir she used as a catalyst. USed 2 MP to creathe The Million Steps, a bridge made of mist and rainwater connecting Li’s Island to the eastern coast of Kalgrun. Remaining= MP 13 FP 8
Shortly after leaving the Hunter’s Eye, Li’Kalla realized how slow she was travelling. Walking just wouldn’t do. So, in an instant, she grew long, pure white feathered wings and took to the skies.
It didn’t take long to reach her destination after that, with the added plus of not having to lay her eyes on that dreadful island.
Still, even with godly speed on her side, such a journey had its fair share of dull moments, so every now and then she’d stop to inspect a creature that came into sight. Lizards, both small and large; mammals, the rare seal-like savage tribe venturing into new lands…
Eventually she arrived at her destination, the Eye of Desolation, and what she found… Wasn’t what she had expected.
Thousands upon thousands of mortals lived there, mortals whose souls were so pristine that the only possible answer to their existence was that they’d been recently created.
Had someone felt the same way as her? That the world was boring and empty without widespread mortal civilization? And if her scarce memories were correct, these new people had very similar physical appearances to that of Orvus. It must have been him who created them.
She slowed her flight speed to just below the speed of sound, to avoid deafening the mortals with the noise, and flew down to the location ingrained in her memories. A thriving farm. She touched down in the middle of a field of freshly sown green sprouts and waited, watching the shocked figures of the nebulous mortals hesitantly approach.
There was caution in their eyes, as well as awe and wonder. They whispered to each other like children, with several names being dropped; Arya, Laurien, Orvus, Aster, Ion, Vera and many more. Not one dared to approach any closer then the start of the field but a large crowd began to gather around it. Many mixed faces watched Li’Kalla and even more surprisingly, faces that resembled her own. Humans.
It was then that a figure different then the rest came through a parting crowd. She was about the same height as all the others, but glowing white in comparison. Her eyes were pitch black, so too were her arms and she wielded a sword that reflected her appearance. She held a soft expression upon her face, one of surprise and wonder. She stopped at the edge of the field and then gave a slight bow before speaking, her voice soothing and sweet. ”Hello, welcome to Nebulan. Who might you be? Are you lost?”
Li’Kalla pursed her lips, barely holding back a scoff. This lower being who, while not entirely mortal, was still far below her status, dared assume she was inefficient enough to lose her way? Outwardly, Li’Kalla smiled serenely. ”My apologies, I am the Goddess of Rain. Tell me, are you creations of the God of Desolation? I intend to meet him, and his daughter as well.”
The glowing girl tilted her head slightly, her eyes opening up to look at Li’Kalla in a new light. ”Wonderful!” she exclaimed, before turning around to face a few of the mortals. ”Quick! Go fetch Orvus and Laurien and bring them here!” and at her words a majority of the mortals broke away and ran off into several directions. The girl then turned back to Li’Kalla and bowed even deeper, the rest of the mortals following suit. ”Your Holiness, I am Arya, daughter of Orvus. These mortals are the Nebulites, children of both Orvus and Ohannakeloi.” before rising.
Li’Kalla watched as Arya and the remaining mortals bowed again, and she nodded her head in acknowledgement, then while Arya spoke, the Goddess approached her. It was an unnatural gait, one so graceful that at times it didn’t even seem like she was moving at all, and yet she still approached.
Once face to face with the white Firstborn of the Nebulites, Li’Kalla gently placed her hand under her chin and lifted her up to face her. The Goddess in that moment seemed taller than when she’d arrived. Once Arya stood upright, the Goddess gently caressed her smooth, pure face with her hands. The rainwater coating the Goddess’ skin was cool and refreshing, and it left no trace of water on Arya’s skin. If at all the girl felt uncomfortable she did not show it through her smile.
”You’re pure. An exemplar specimen. Tell me, have you found a mate yet?” Li’Kalla whispered softly, her gray eyes shining brightly all of a sudden.
Arya’s cheeks suddenly flushed a light pink and she avoided eye contact with Li’Kalla. ”I-I… Um… No, your Holiness.” she said, sounding embarrassed.
Li’Kalla smiled, and then chuckled and embraced Arya, now whispering into her ear, ”Find a worthy mate, you are too valuable to procreate with just anyone.” And just as easily, she let go and looked around. ”So Desolation has more than one daughter? Is it just you two, or are there more?”
Arya blinked after being embraced and nodded her head slightly before rubbing her arm and saying, ”Well, there’s Ava and Lily too.” she said, ”There quite a bit young now though.”
”I see,” Li’Kalla nodded, ”How young? How were they created?”
”I’m not sure your Holiness. Seven or eight?” she said, blinking again. ”How? Well, naturally I suppose. It’s all a bit complicated, you see, they’re actually from a dreamworld, brought to Galbar. I’m sure father could tell you more about it though.”
”Of course, forget I asked,” Li’Kalla looked up at the sky, then back down at Arya, ”One more thing, do you know what a Nebula is?”
”Why it’s a-” She began before another voice cut her off.
”Li’Kalla!” it said, before a tall man could be seen walking through the crowd towards them. There was a large smile on his bearded face, and walking next to him was another figure. A woman of mahogany hair and striking beauty. Like before, the crowd parted and Orvus made his way to Li’Kalla, stopping before her. Their eye contact was level.
”Sister… Where have you been?” was all Orvus managed to say.
Li’Kalla pursed her lips and, for a moment, her spell of gracefulness seemed to crack. It was only for a split second, but it was evident to all the divines present.
Her composure regained, she smiled back and shrugged, ”I woke up covered in blood in front of the Architect. I don’t remember much before that… But I remember this place, and you and Laurien lived here. Say, you look… Different. More hair and skin than before.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment before turning towards the woman next to Orvus, ”Who may you be?”
The woman looked unsure of herself when addressed but said, ”I am Rowan, your grace. Wife of Orvus.” she finished with a small curtsy. Li’Kalla stared at her for a moment before nodding in response.
”Where do you come from, Wife of Orvus? You must be your nation’s most beautiful specimen.”
There was surprise in Rowan’s eyes and she straightened her posture. ”Oh you flatter me with your kind words, your grace. By far, you would be the countries most beautiful specimen.”
Li’Kalla smirked.
Orvus gave the two an interesting look, his eyes pausing on his wife briefly before turning back to Li’Kalla. ”You have no memory of what happened to the shards or the beast? How strange…” he mused thoughtfully, ”As for my appearance well… I could say the same to you. You look, better.” he said, choosing his words carefully.
”Thank you,” Li’Kalla said curtly, ”And no, no memories about those things. No interest in remembering, either. Tell me, Orvus, did you and Rowan engage in intercourse to create Ava and Lily? How did it feel? Can you des-” Li’Kalla stopped and cleared her throat. ”My apologies, it is the first time I’ve met a God with real offspring.”
There was silence all around them, Nebulites waiting with baited breath to see what would happen. Orvus frowned at the remark, Rowan furrowed her brow at Li’Kalla and Arya stared wide-eyed at all of them. Orvus then cleared his throat, breaking the silence and said, ”All of you, leave.” before turning to Rowan. ”Could you take Arya and go find Laurien for me? Tell her to find us at the grave.” Rowan opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it and looked to Arya. She then held out her arm, and Arya took it as they followed after the Nebulites.
”Come. We have much to discuss, away from prying eyes and open ears.” he said, walking past her.
”Are you saying there are other deities watching us?” Li’Kalla asked, looking around before hurrying to walk beside Orvus.
”There’s only one I know for sure, but mortals are as equally noisy.” Orvus said, as he led her across fields and onto a path leading into the forest. ”I think it is safe to assume that since we’ve last seen each other, we’ve both changed, considerably.” he said as they walked underneath trees.
”Yes, that would be safe to assume. Again, I apologize for what I said back there. I can see now that procreation is taboo in your creations.” Li’Kalla said.
He gave her a side glance before saying, ”Taboo? Hardly, I blessed my people with the ability to go without food for long periods of time if needed. This is at the cost of their Libido, hence no baby bumps, though there are a few. Food is being grown here as we speak, and when it comes time to harvest, well… Let’s just say there will be a boom. I may have… Overdone that feature a bit. They can have intercourse with most other sapient species as it is and produce a viable offspring. But tell me something, since when did you become so fascinated with such things?” he said, rounding a corner.
”I see. And well, I’ve always been interested, haven’t I? It’s only natural to seek knowledge about what works and what doesn’t, so you can ensure your civilization grows stronger with each generation.”
”Silver never made any mention of this.” Orvus said, before breaking from the path and following a trail into a small clearing, blooming with flowers. At the center of the clearing, there sat a gravestone, with the inscription. ‘Silver. Here lies a friend.’
Li’Kalla’s heart skipped a beat. Time seemed to stand still, and pain shot up through her body. Immediately she looked down at her arms and noticed the statue-like cracks in her skin. They throbbed with pain, as if letting her know that digging too deep here would only bring pain.
As if nothing ever happened, time resumed its course and the pain was gone.
”... I don’t know who that is.”
”I looked for you. Over the entire world, every nook and cranny, every peak. I looked into your Sphere and do you know what I found? Nothing.” he said looking at her, ”And yet here you are, another God who’s lost their memories but I refuse to believe that this name means nothing to you, because it meant everything to me.” his voice ringed with a sad note.
Li’Kalla remained silent for a long moment, but finally turned away from Orvus and the grave, ”I remember some things. And you know what? I hate it. I was pathetic, like a child. I refuse to believe that was me. It couldn’t have been. And then it all gets strange. I see so many faces and I hear so many voices. If I try to remember, it...” She winced and held her head together with both hands, ”... It feels as if my head will split apart.”
A hand fell on her shoulder and Orvus said, ”You were anything but pathetic. You and your fragments were simply lost, wanting to be whole. We were so close to that but you’re here anyways. But... I should have went with you, I should have helped to reunite you together but I didn’t and for that, I am sorry.”
Li’Kalla sighed and moved a few steps away from Orvus. She crossed her arms with her back turned toward the God, and spoke, ”Why are you speaking to me as if you know who I am? As if we’ve known each other for a long time, when in truth I only met you just now? ‘Yet another God that’s lost her memory’, huh? That’s what you think I am? A lost child that needs to be guided back home?”
”Listen to yourself! You’re sounding childish as we speak, and you won’t even look at me.” At this remark, Li’Kalla tensed up and then turned to look at Orvus once more, Orvus grumbled as his hand fell to his side. ”But you are right, I don’t know this Li’Kalla, but I did know Silver. She was a mortal shard of a Goddess and she told me everything about her past, and I saw it with my own eyes. There’s a reason you came here, of all places, isn’t there?”
”... I expected to find ruins, indoors spaces covered in centimetres of dust. Perhaps, I thought, I could reform this place into a home. Perhaps, this one nice memory I have is worth treasuring.” She uncrossed her arms and clasped her hands, ”I didn’t find ruins. I found a newborn civilization, as well as a God yearning to be one of them. How lonely, I must say.”
There was a flare of light behind her, and suddenly Orvus floated down in front of her, his godly form expressed into anger. His voice and tone, shifting to match it. ”The only lonely thing I see here, is you, Li’Kalla.”
Li’Kalla smirked, ”Hah! Struck a chord I see, perhaps there was too much truth in those words for you to tolerate. Don’t worry, Orvus, you look much better this way. Pretending to be mortals doesn’t suit us Gods.”
”It’s a pity, really.” Orvus said, ”That the Li’Kalla I knew is dead. Perhaps it’s best in the end. I have a feeling she would only be ashamed of you. Silver most of all, for unlike you, she could tolerate pain.”
Li’Kalla perked up and blushed, ”H-Hey, I can tolerate pain, it’s just-” She sighed and fixed her gaze on the grave. ”... None of it matters anymore, I suppose. You may hate me if you want to, should it help you overcome your grief. ”
His eyes seemed to frown. ”It’s not my grief I’m worried about.” was all he said before footsteps could be heard in the distance. It did not take long to see who it was. Laurien came bounding down the path and into the clearing, stopping as she came face to face with Li’Kalla. Her breathing was quick as she eyed the Goddess up and down. She said nothing however, but she did not move her gaze either.
Li’Kalla chuckled and smirked once she saw Laurien. Her heart raced, and yet she couldn’t help but feel disgusted by herself. ”Even in this form, you seem to be taller than me, Laurien.”
”You’re… You’re alive? The fragments... It-it worked?” Laurien said hopefully, looking to Orvus who remained impassive, before looking back at Li’Kalla.
”I don’t know. Here I am walking around, so I suppose? I don’t remember much, other than your name, appearance, and a few other things.”
Laurien began to walk closer. ”Oh it’s so good to… To finally see you… Or meet you. I was so worried when… Do you… Do you remember what you made me promise?” she blurted.
Li’Kalla stood still, ”What?” Laurien tilted her head as she walked closer still. ”You don’t remember?”
Li’Kalla looked away, ”What did Silver make you promise?”
Laurien was before her now, ”That I would return, her knight in shining armor.” Laurien whispered, tentatively reaching out at Li’Kalla’s face. ”Don’t you remember, Chickadee?”
The Goddess stiffened and leaned away, biting her lip. ”I-I’m not supposed to… Two women can’t, you know, do this...”
A hurt expression crossed Laurien’s face as her hand paused in the air. ”W-What are you saying?”
”I’m saying that, uhm, I can’t be seen engaging in r-romantic endeavors with a member of the same sex. I-It’s unnatural, and it serves no purpose. No matter how I-” Li’Kalla hiccuped and she covered her mouth, ”N-No matter how I feel about it.”
Laurien furrowed her brow. ”That doesn’t make any sense. Who’s going to care? You’re a god, you can do anything! Please… I… I…” her voice broke.
Li’Kalla hiccuped again and took a step back, ”Listen- I can’t… I just can’t! I-I… I’d like to but I can’t… Without the possibility of procreation, there is no point to romance and sex… Therefore, two women can’t be...” Li’Kalla blinked rapidly and shook her head, ”I’m sorry.”
Laurien stared at her, shattered. With tears in her eyes she desperately looked for something that was no longer there in Li'Kalla's eyes and after a minute, she blinked and her face hardened. Angry tears fell down her cheeks as she balled her fists. There was a tense moment in the clearing, anticipation in the air. But as suddenly as it came, the tension was broken as Laurien turned on her heel and ran away.
Orvus tried to stop her to no avail. "Laurien!" he called after her, but she did care to respond. Orvus then looked back at Li'Kalla angrily, "Wonderful. Just wonderful."
The Goddess merely sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, ”I believe I am finished here. I will take my leave.” With that, Li’Kalla stretched her long beautiful wings and shot off into the sky with a powerful flap.
Orvus watched her leave, until she was but a distant blip in the sky. He turned to the grave, a tear falling down his cheek.
Li’Kalla reaches the Eye of Desolation and meets the Nebullites, Arya, Rowan, Orvus and Laurien. In the span of one visit, she manages to get everyone to dislike her, but she fulfills her objective; making sure she had no connections left to Orvus and his kin so she could focus entirely on the future.
Orvus realizes this new Li’Kalla is a stranger, Laurien gets her heart broken, and Arya just has a very uncomfortable time.
Li’Kalla MP 19 FP 8 Used 1 MP to give her new body a pair of long, graceful wings. Made herself a little taller temporarily for free.
She was dead. Definitely. One hundred percent dead.
She had died six times over. Six times! Or had she? She couldn’t have, as the splitting pain she felt inside her skull showed her otherwise.
She saw black, she felt nothing but chills, cold sweat and that terrible brainpain.
Then feeling came back slowly, and her throat was burning and every single organ inside her body felt on fire and as if they had just been shredded and sewn back together.
On her hands and knees she was, until her arms buckled and she had to support herself on her elbows, and she felt her forearms come into contact with a warm liquid.
She could smell now, and it wasn’t pleasant. A gag escaped her mouth, but nothing came up from her stomach. It smelled acrid, corrosive, and like something had died and had been a feast for bacteria for at least a week. Maybe herself? No.
Her sight came back, and with it she finally recognized what she was on top of.
A lukewarm puddle of bodily fluids of all kinds. Sticky and non-sticky alike, vital and non-vital. There was lots of blood, of course, as well as what seemed to be vomit and… water.
She racked her brain for information. Nothing came up, of course, so she nodded her head with a small “Hm,” and pushed her torso up so she’d be sitting on her ankles.
Weak as she was, she could manage that. She couldn’t see much around her, as it was dark, and yet she could still see everything.
A large statue of a cyclops sat down in a humongous throne (it was a rather lame excuse for a throne, she thought, very plain-looking), its one eye seeming to stare directly at her, traces of pure, unadulterated Divine energy dancing across its fingertips.
“Ah… Hey, what’s me?” She asked the statue, and after a second of silence, a subtle flow of rainwater washed away the filth coating her body, “... That’s better. Also, what is me? What am I?”
The unnaturally large pupil of the statue audibly contracted a hand's width. A voice filled every space in the empty air with two slow words.
"Li'Kalla Lithókóllēs."
The message sprung together memories only halfway through its dictum. Too much was new and unknown.
"There is no novelty in your flesh excepting its arrangement."
With that, the great eye relaxed.
Li’Kalla looked at her body and furrowed her brow, noticing tiny, minuscule cracks filled in with cement going along its form. Each of the cracks throbbed with foreign energy and they felt more like bindings than anything else. ”Li’Kalla… Hey, I can’t really be that pathetic girl. I’m not the kind of girl who’d enjoy being stepped on. As the god of gods or whatever, give me my real memories now, alright? It’s not the time for jokes,” She sighed and shook her head, stealing a glance at the puddle beneath and around her, her nose scrunching up in disgust, ”I just threw up tons of blood, and probably did some nastier things as well that you’re very kindly not mentioning, so… No jokes.” She frowned and looked away, crossing her arms.
The statue remained still as a sarcophagus. The feeling of the eye tracing every single hint of movement down to the twitching of Li'Kalla's fingers did not line up.
"You do not require them," the room-filling voice stated. "Create new memories, if you are compelled to have them. Your purpose is unfulfilled."
Li’Kalla didn’t like this. She huffed and sneaked glances at the vast empty hallway. Why did he have to show off so much? Having your voice come from everywhere at once was so unnecessary!
”And what’s that, if I may ask? I can’t fulfill a purpose I don’t know about, God-dad.”
It was almost more surprising to hear the grinding of stone off to Li'Kalla's left. A disturbance put little shuddering waves in the water around its source. A pale shape refracted by the water broke the surface, parting sheets of water off its flat upper-side. A familiar crystal platform slowed to a stop near enough for Li'Kalla to step upon.
"To use the power you are bestowed."
”Ah, makes sense.” Li’Kalla relaxed and stood up, then quietly floated onto the crystal platform. She stood there for a moment before turning to the mess she’d made while getting remade and stretching her hand towards it. It was all gathered in a sphere in the air and, with a snap of her fingers, disappeared. ”There you go! Did you like that? Now you don’t need to hire a servant. Now, take me to Orvus and Silver’s farm.”
The statue sat facing Li'Kalla without having moved. The voice of the Architect said nothing. The crystal, slowly ascending, found the ceiling of the dark chamber parting as it had long ago. Li'Kalla found herself out in the space between spheres. The barrier loomed behind her, and the distant sphere of Galbar shone with the reflected light of Heliopolis.
’I guess some of those memories might be true. They might be mine…’ The new goddess Li’Kalla thought, sitting down with her legs dangling off the edge of the crystal. ’... I can’t believe I would let myself get bedded by a woman though. She was nice but, I mean, ugh. What’s the point of that?’
The crystal slowed to a stop, though not to give time to admire the view.
Her navel itched and when she went to scratch it, she felt a gritty powder fall between her fingers. Looking down showed the tiny fissures in her arms, legs, and torso growing and crackling like broken stone. An immediate loss of feeling took over her body. Paralysed, she could only watch wide-eyed as the gaps grew wider and wider.
The scrape and movement travelled up her bones. Her leg fell free from her upper thigh and floated gently away into the space before her. Two fingers gently took their own path in another direction. The arm she saw broke into three more pieces between clouds of dust like a weightless shattered vase in just the same moment that her vision began to bank clockwise. She was unable to stop her movement with half her chest and head floating away from the rest of her body. One more stony noise rang in her ears for just an instant before a dark shape came across her vision. Turning to face her was a quarter of her own head, a shock of her hair flagging and her own terrified eye staring back at her.
Then the pieces stopped. As if time took itself in reverse, her body clicked back together, down to the last grain of dust. The fissures shrank and sealed to their near-perfect flush texture in a matter of seconds.
"A gift of one memory from before. Take care with your words in case more of them are answered."
The voice ended with Li'Kalla being able to move once more, gasping for breath she didn’t actually need, with eyes as wide as they’d open and pupils like pinpricks.
The crystal continued on its way down to the blue marble in the distance.
”... That’s one stone-cold memory. Yeah, I don’t think I want to find out anything else for now.”
Goddess Li’Kalla finds herself weak and remade in a new, foreign body with a spunkier attitude. She has only a few memories and finds out her purpose is to use her power. The Architect gives her a crystal to ride back to Galbar, but on her way back he shows her a little bit of what it would feel to regain all her memories.
After the lesson, she realizes it may not be wise to dig too deep into her own past, and so she heads to Galbar in silence.
A lone figure sat hunched over a boulder. Her chest heaved with each sob, and her tears dissolved into the air as soon as they dripped from her chin. She hadn’t chosen this spot out of a twisted desire to break down, no. She had been left there by the one she’d thought of as her saviour. Someone beautiful.
The tiny woman sobbed and shuddered. It was a long time before she fell into silence. She held her knees against her chest, her almost-silver blonde hair obscuring her face and bloodshot silver eyes.
“Caw,”
The woman weakly lifted her head to look at the crow through her straight locks. It stared at her through phantasmal eyes sparkling with intelligence. It pecked at the ground briefly, letting out a faint ‘caw’. It looked back up and flew away, leaving the figure in somber solitude once again.
Heliopolis sank and as it did, the dusk came. On the tail of the evening, not only did it drag night along, but also a lone gentleman who now stood in the stretches of the world’s shadows. The black figure stood in front of the crying woman, hands in its pockets. Slowly two pale hands slipped out, and one reached into his jacket, pulling out a silk handkerchief. With a flick of his wrist, K’nell presented it to Laina.
The small projection took the handkerchief, even though it looked like a King's chambers' curtain in her arms. She wiped her face with it and sighed, "H-Hello, K'nell. I'm sorry, I would have tried to prepare myself had I known you were coming… "
“That's quite all right, I'm simply here to help,” K'nell knelt down to her level, and gave her a welcoming smile.
"The others abandoned me when I needed them the most… I don't think I deserve to live. I was too weak to lead them."
“Oh, I don't think so,” A cushion appeared under K'nell and he sat down, arms propped on bent knees, “You see dear, you are quite strong; perhaps more so than myself. The only issue here is that you're measuring your strength with the wrong ruler.”
" Strong? You keep saying that everytime we meet," Her voice shook and her lip quivered, "And yet look at me, broken."
“Your life is precious, and every speckle of yourself is important, no matter the state you may perceive it to be in,” K'nell laced his fingers together, “If not for polite company, I'd almost challenge you to show me otherwise.”
Laina offered K'nell a little, sad smile. "Always nice, K'nell…" and then she shuddered, "P-Polite company?"
“Colloquialism,” K'nell explained, “Don't ponder too much on it, my dear; I'm just happy to have found you. If it's any comfort to you, I have also located two of your others.”
Laina perked up and raised both her eyebrows, her sorrow dissipating in the blink of an eye. "Really?! Which ones? Did you find the red-haired one?"
“I’m afraid I have yet to collect her aid, but on me now I have your Elegance and your Childish charm,” K’nell offered.
Laina's whole body stiffened and she leaned back, "C-Childish?! I'm not childish!" She huffed and crossed her arms indignantly. A few moments later, she relaxed a little and opened her eyes, "... Am I? I really shouldn't be… I'm royalty."
“Ah,” K’nell shook his head politely, “You misunderstand me, my dear. I have simply found a shard of you that encompasses your childhood memories and attributes, an early augmentation to your development into who you have become. The tic before the toc, in a way.”
Laina stared at K'nell until understanding dawned onto her eyes. "Oh," She muttered, before sighing in relief and chuckling, "Oh."
"Where are they? If I remember correctly, they took human forms."
K’nell reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a tiny pearlescent orb coupled with an icy shard, “They rest in here.”
As if on cue, the tiny orb began to glow and from it, the misty figure of a small girl formed. Translucent much like Laina, with short hair in the same platinum blonde colour and a black blindfold over her eyes.
"Big Sis!" The girl shouted suddenly, beginning to bounce and jump on K'nell's palm. "I thought the monster ate you! You should be soul poo by now!" She snickered, while Laina flushed and stammered.
"H-Hey, watch your language. Royalty can't be speaking like that-"
"I agree." Came a sophisticated voice from the icy shard. In a tame flash of light, the translucent form of a beautifully dressed woman materialised next to the girl, who immediately groaned and sat down cross legged, pouting.
K’nell watched with a certain amusement before shaking his head, “Very good then,” he looked to Laina. “Excuse my directness, but would it be too bold of me to assume that perhaps it would be best if you decided on our collective next step?”
The three fell silent, until Laina spoke. "Uhm, where's my-" The girl glared at Laina and the woman huffed indignantly, "Our body?"
“I had last seen it in your very own sphere, but there is not telling if it had stayed put,” K’nell offered, “Give me while and I shall locate it for you, of course.”
"Oh," Laina put a finger on top of her lips for a moment as she thought, "We should get it back, shouldn't we?"
“Unfortunately, my dear, that choice is yours,” K’nell noted, “Our forms aren’t exactly defining, but I do concede it would perhaps be best to reign in your lost body.”
"In any case," the Elegant woman began, "We'll need every shard in order to stand a chance at recovering the body from the Beast, won't we?"
"... And who knows what'll happen if we mix our strength like that?" Laina continued.
"It'll be cool, like a mind mage battle!" the girl said with a grin.
“Then it’s settled,” K’nell agreed, “We will unite all of the shards before attempting a corporeal recovery.”
"Yay!" The Girl jumped in excitement and hugged K'nell's pinkie finger, before dissipating back into a tiny orb.
"We'll have to be careful," Elegance said, frowning slightly.
"And quick, I can't bear to think what that monster is doing with our body… Ew." Laina scrunched up her nose.
Elegance smiled at Laina, "Fret not, I will make sure we do a thorough grooming after we take back our body." She then looked at K'nell and bowed her head, "Apologies for the topic, Mr. K'nell. Rather important matters I must say." She said with a hint of amusement in her smile.
“Think nothing of it,” K’nell offered a polite smile, “If not lost in my own thoughts, I’m adrift in one of my own daydreams anyhow.”
"You lose yourself in your dreams?" Laina asked, tilting her head.
“A figure of speech, my dear,” K’nell apologized, “You’ll have to excuse me.”
Laina chuckled, "Heh, I know it's a figure of speech, K'nell. I just wondered if there was anything else to it."
“I see,” K’nell folded one arm behind his back, he other still held out and flat as a stage for the other two shards, “In that case, then yes. I have from time to time been known to cloister myself away in the land of dreams.” . Laina pursed her lips and Elegance immediately let out a short laugh. "And you thought all that reading was unnecessary."
Laina eyed K'nell and then Elegance. Her eyes moved between the two a few times before she blushed slightly and leaned toward Elegance, whispering. "Uncle Jin'Kalla made me read dozens of boring dusty books and I never came across the word 'cloister'!"
Elegance covered her mouth with a delicate hand, but the way she tilted her head back, looked down on Laina and her eyes glinted mockingly made Laina shrink slightly.
A few moments passed. "Wow. Just wow. Didn't take you for a bitch." Laina whispered, crossing her arms.
"H-How dare-" Elegance recoiled, but quickly regained her composure and shook her head, "Apologies, Laina. I got carried away. It means to seclude oneself, or take sanctuary."
Laina huffed and turned toward K'nell, her expression slightly frazzled. "C-Cloistering yourself in your dreams, huh? Why would someone like you do that? I mean, what does a God of Dreams dream about?"
K’nell looked between the two before clicking the roof of his mouth, “Ah, yes a valid question. The truth of the matter is a lot more confusing than I’d like, but to put it simply I don’t dream. My sphere exists in… dreams. It itself is a dream in a way, and what I meant by cloistering myself away in the land of dreams was in fact that I prefer a good amount of alone-time in the nexus of all dreams, my Palace, where I can think and study and otherwise do all the things that whereas on Galbar would be much too noisy to do.” He paused, “I do hope that makes a crumb of sense.”
Laina squinted her eyes and tapped her lips as she processed the new information, but eventually she perked up and nodded, “Ah, I understand now. Thank you for explaining, K’nell. So,” Laina looked around and her eyes settled on Elegance, who smiled at her and dissipated back into her shard. Finally she looked at K’nell again, “Shall we get going?”
“But of course,” K’nell nodded and lurched off of his cushion and leaned forward, “I know it goes without saying, but -- do you mind?” His fingers stopped by the shard that sat beside the projection.
“Oh, go ahead.” Laina said before dissipating her projection. K’nell snatched the shard and quickly dropped it into his pocket as he stood up. A crow came down from the sky and landed on his shoulder. He turned away from the scene and step after step, continued his walk.
K’nell finds Laina’s shard and procures it after a short talk. They all (the other shards) decide to collect the remaining two before confronting the beast.
There was a cool breeze moving along the beach, gently caressing the grains of sand and pushing them further in land before the tide could swipe them back to sea. Grey clouds blanketed the sky, the presence of the Heliopolis only being known from the dimmer daytime light that forced its way through the clouds. It was a tranquil day, ushering in a finer feeling within Atmav who was cleansing herself in the salty water of the caked blood that had found a home on her body. However, the blood was hard to remove and almost equally hard to forget where it had come from as her mind slowly went back to remember the reptile and Yimbo.
It seemed that scrubbing away the sins of the past was harder than she would have initially thought, but she no longer cared. Atmav has time and she had her resolve, renewed by the words of Orvus and the gift of his sword which lay stabbed into the sand. She would occasionally glance back at it, thinking of the words of a god who seemed to know what she had been going through and how it renewed her mind from brink of madness. The memory made her smile as she wiped some of the blood off of her body, showing the purity of her whitened skin back into sight as the madness flowed away.
Eventually, Atmav was left standing in the water, gazing out to the horizon as she remembered the rocky island of Vakk’s home. Her mind went to one of focus, promising that no longer would she how to a tyrant god or one who simply sought to make her into nothing more than a shell of her former self. She proudly crossed her arms as the declaration ran clear through her mind before another chilled wind caused her to shiver. Then the sound of a light rain began to take over the sound of crashing waves.
With a sigh, Atmav turned to retreat from the water and go back to her small hole in the side of the hill. While her wings could let her fly back with ease, she felt the desire to walk in order to think on what she should do. Her path took her into a small forest and as she walked, rain dropped off leaves and soaked into the ground, others forming reflective puddles. Atmav crouched next to a puddle in front of her and stared into it, finding that she had missed a spot on her horns.
“I always forget to clean the horns,” she sighed to herself.
As she reached for the puddle, a ripple washed over its surface and the reflection changed to show, instead of Atmav’s, a whole different person. It was a young woman with silver hair and dull grey eyes. A predatory grin stretched her face as Atmav’s hand grazed the surface of the puddle, just coincidentally making contact with the spot where the girl had her hands pressed.
In the blink of an eye, the strange reflection disappeared. This earned a quizzical expression from Atmav as her mouth went to mouth a word of surprise. Atmav learned over the puddle, to try and find the mysterious woman once more. Her arms held her above the puddle as she searched and searched before inevitably looking around her.
“Hello?” She called, allowing a moment to pass before looking back at the puddle.
A moment passed with no response. Until a tiny voice spoke out, sounding as if it came from her left shoulder. “Ooh, I love it out here!”
Atmav let out a frightened shout as her hand brought went to her sword, spinning around to the source of the voice.
The voice merely kept droning on, as if not noticing Atmav’s reaction. It’s sooo boring in that mirror world, ugh! Who’re you? You look kiiinda insane with that blood on your horn. Did’ya kill something?” An equally tiny laughter followed suit, before a mocking gasp rang out, sandwiched between more laughter “Or maybe, someone?”
Soon, Atmav found a small woman sitting on her shoulder, the same appearance as the woman she had seen in the puddle. It was hard to give an expression of such confusion without eyes, but the feeling was there as the much larger woman lowered her sword. A moment passed as Atmav processed the situation.
“I have killed many beings as of late,” Atmav answered, her voice still wracked with confusion as she looked forwards then back to the pixie-sized woman to make sure she wasn’t going mad.
“Well, I will tell no one! My lips are sealed. My mouth is a… Tomb? Like the one you put your victims in!” The little soul giggled. “So, who’re you? Probably made-slash-hired by some villain, eh? No judgement here, Horn.” She asked with a grin.
“Erm,” Atmav shook her head before continuing her walk back to her cave, “My name is Atmav and I was brought back to life by a tyrant-god named Vakk.” Her voice was much more stern than the little soul, more serious and focus. “I am in a bit of a bind because of him,” she admitted before continuing, “Anyways, little one, what would be your name?”
“Ooh, Atmav! What does that mean? It sounds like a weapon! I will impale you on my Atmav! Kind of deal. Anyway, IIIII have nooooo name.” The little soul pouted, “I waaaas part of Li’Kalla, though. Met this big mean bird, Azura. She was so pretty, but ended up giving me wings to break them. Mean! That’s no fun, is it?”
Atmav stopped dead in her tracks, looking at the ground in a deep thought before repeating the name, “Li’Kalla?” She looked back into the sky and extended her wings of starlight, she let out a light chuckle as the facts dawned upon her. “How fitting that two beings broken by Vakk would meet,” she seemed to ignore the last words of the little soul.
“I heard Vakk broke Li’Kalla and turned her into some strange monster?” Atmav asked as she began to walk again, holding her hand up to the little one as a platform.
The little soul jumped onto the outstretched palm and sat down cross legged on it, her eyes lingering on Atmav’s wings, before turning them to the face of the horned woman, her mouth hanging open slightly in the form of a pretty little ‘o’. “Uuuh, it wasn’t reaaaally Vakk, though, was it? Sure, he hurt us and it was so exciting but ugh, it wasn’t Vakk. It was this weeeird shadowy thing that had been lurking among us. When Laina got overwhelmed, the thing chomped her up and swallowed her. We all split up after that and raaaan!”
“Huh,” Atmav said, listening to the little one’s story before they reached her dry cave. She stabbed her blade into the earth before sitting against the wall, looking down at the fragment of Li’Kalla. “I didn’t think I would meet two gods back-to-back so soon,” she commented before continuing with the main topic, “If Vakk targeted you, likely he has some form of fancy for you… sorry. Anyways, do you know how to pull yourself back into one?”
“Fancy?” The little soul put a finger against her chin and furrowed her brow in thought. After a long moment, she shrugged, “No, no, he isn’t fancy at all.”
“That’s not what I meant. I guess… had feelings for you?”
The little soul stared at Atmav with her cute little ‘o’ expression for the longest while, and then she giggled. “How to pull me and the others back into one, huh! Easy, just get us in one place and convince us to become one again! We’ll need the Body of Li’Kalla, though! Can’t just fuse with tons of girls in any body, you know.” She paused, “Don’t know why you want to get rid of me, though! Hurting a fragile girl’s feelings, Attie!”
“I never said I wanted to get rid of you,” Atmav pointed out, “I was just thinking, is all.” She let out a long sigh before curling into a ball, still looking at the little one. “What do you suppose I do? I don’t exactly have much to do at this point of time.”
“Ummm, well, wanna kiss?”
Atmav’s eyeless face stared at the woman for a moment before she mustered up a noise at all, even then the noise was a simple, “Uggggghhhhh.” There was another long silence, broken only when the little soul cracked a grin and began laughing.
“You dummy! Even if you wanted one, you’re not getting any from me! I’m too small, see?” As if to prove her point, she jumped up to her feet and stood upright, grinning. Indeed, she was merely a few inches tall. It was at that moment when Atmav let out a sigh of what sounded like relief.
“Sorry. I have not met a jester before. Where I came from, a realm outside this one, we were all separated into different groups. I was a guard and that was all I ever knew,” Atmav explained, rubbing the back of her neck in a mild embarrassment.
“Heh,” The girl looked away and rubbed her neck in imitation, “I can teach you how to do aaall of that stuff, if you want. So that you know what to do when you find a man you wan-” She cut herself off with a laugh, “Sorryy, it’s kinda embarrassing I guess! But it’s fun, I swear! We just have to find a test subject, cause I’m no good with my size!”
“I-“ Atmav started, before looking away from the little one, “I am not looking for a relationship right now, besides I don’t even know any men that would be, erm… compatible.” She fell silent once more as she let out a light huff of disappointment as her old memories flooded back to her once more. “I suppose that is something that has never changed. No man really cares to have bloodthirsty savage as their wife.”
The little soul gave Atmav a coy look as she lifted a finger up to her own lower lip, “Heeey Attie, I happen to knooow a few men who’d be aaall for that stuff. They’re all deaad though. Very dead. Like, eons dead. Possibly burned. Most likely eaten!” She smirked, “Just like you’d eat up a bowl of rice. Tasty!”
“What’s rice?”
“White stuff, clumps together. You eat it with two thin sticks. Generally it is a side to something else, like meat. Wanna eat some rice, Attie?”
“I guess I could try some if you know where to find the stuff,” Atmav said, lowering the lady to the ground.
“I have no idea where to find rice! We could get uummm… Laina! Li’Kalla, to make us some!” As she was lowered to the ground, the little soul hugged Atmav’s thumb tightly and refused to let go, “Heeey, you’re just gonna drop me on the floor and fly away huuh? See, I knew it! I’m too small for you, you don’t want a small friend! Boo!”
Atmav gave a small sigh of defeat, explaining, “I don’t want to hold you all night.” She eventually gave in and raised the little one back up to her shoulder.
The girl looked at Atmav’s form up and down slowly, then stared into her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “If you wore clothing, I could slip into a pocket! You’re very naked now though. Guess it’s very warm for those with real bodies huh?” She smirked.
“I am comfortable as I am,” Atmav said before slowly sliding down the wall and sprawling along the ground. She looked at the ceiling of the cave and thought of the words that the little one had said, wondering if she could ever find someone she might be compatible with. “You are going to need a name,” she commented, absentmindedly.
“Oh, like a pet?” The little soul asked excitedly, crawling up onto Atmav’s face. “I can be a pet! That’d be fun! Woof, meow!”
“I guess…” Atmav said, ignoring the fact that there was a small woman on her face, “You seem to be a small, overly happy thing. Reminds me of a sprite. I think that’s a good name, Sprite… do you think that works?”
“Sprite, Sprite… I dunno, it sounds like a man’s name, right? Kinda manly, like a I’m Ser Sprite, and I’ve come to save and marry you, Princess! Or… Maybe not? Huh,” The girl hummed in thought to herself as she settle on Atmav’s forehead, laying down on the curved surface.
The larger woman could not help but give out a light chuckle, quickly silencing herself after a few small moments. “I did not think of it that way,” Atmav said.
“Hehe,” The girl laughed as well, “Well, wouldn’t you enjoy it if a knight appeared out of nowhere to save you from a foul beast, and he thought you were soooo beautiful he couldn’t help but ask for your hand in marriage the first time he saw you? And then you go and get married and have lots of fun and conquer so many new, heh, lands.”
Atmav could not help but allow herself a sigh of satisfaction of the thought, “I guess I would like that. There aren’t many people capable of keeping up with me, though. And I am too aggressive and too strong. No man, alive that is, wants a woman able to rip him in half.”
The girl mockingly huffed in indignation, “Well, I will save you, then! I will bash my way into the castle through the stone walls, and find the big tentacle thing and bite his tentacles off, then put him in a chokehold and slam him into the ground! Then I will go up to your chambers at the top of the castle, kick down the door and say, ’Warrior Princess Atmav, I’ve come to free you! I am now you pet ‘Sprite’, so please treat me very harshly!’ And then I will go and fight anyone who wants to take you from me! No exceptions!”
“But you are too small, Sprite, remember? How can you save me if you can’t even take on a leaf,” Atmav asked jokingly, letting out a small laugh.
Sprite pouted and rolled over to lie face down, “Wooow, we’re joking around now, Attie? See, I may normally be destroyed by a gang of leaves, buuut bolstered with the power of my owner, Horn, I will be able to take on anything! Maybe even a lapdog, if you give me a sharp enough thorn to fight with!”
Atmav laughed a little more, “I suppose you are rubbing off on me, Sprite. But, if you were to try and protect me, it would probably be against things much bigger than me. I don’t know, but I don’t think you could take on something that could crush several others.”
“Ummm… Okay! I see how it is, as my owner you want to protect me! Well, I have to do my part too, you know! I can cheer on you while you fight! I just have to duplicate myself and dance in a group for you and say, ‘I FOUND A MAN THAT WILL MARRY YOU IF YOU WIN THIS FIGHT, ATTIE!’ in the pivotal point of the fight! Bet’cha that’ll spur you on, Horn!”
“Maybe, just maybe. I don’t know, Sprite, I still don’t know if I really want to look for anyone,” Atmav admitted with another laugh.
Sprite delivered a tiny kiss to Atmav’s forehead, “That’s okay. Not all in life is related to marriage and kissing. There’s hugs, too!” She grinned.
“I might just break someone’s back if I hugged hard enough,” Atmav joked.
“Oooh, Attie, you can break my back anytime you like! Don’t tempt me like that!” Sprite giggled.
“But if I broke your back then I wouldn’t get to laugh as much,” Atmav laughed before letting out a tempered sigh. “I suppose that I can watch over you until we can put you back together, Sprite. But, I’ll let the other gods come to me. I want to hold onto someone as funny as you for as long as possible.”
“Aaw,” Sprite smiled and kissed Atmav’s forehead several times in an incredibly short time, “You know how to compliment a girl, you big savage, bloodthirsty barbarian. What’s next, you’ll turn out to be super gentle and mushy?”
“No. No, I am anything but gentle and mushy. I am a fighter after all, it was what I was bred and trained to do,” Atmav said, stretching her arms forward, “The rain is making me tired.”
“Ooh, you tell me about it! Just imagine what being in Li’Kalla’s body is like. The girl’s wet all the time, and never in the good way. Ugh. If I ever go back into that body, I have to find a way to stop it from being wet…”
“Yeah, sounds like a problem,” Atmav said, nonchalantly. She rolled onto her side, causing Sprite to scramble onto the side of her head, “I’m going to nap while the rain goes on. Maybe I can go hunt for some food for us.”
“Ah! Wait a second,” Sprite muttered as she crawled her way to Atmav’s neck where it was warm and soft. She curled up there. “Okay, ready, I can’t sleep or eat but I will keep watch over you and keep you safe, Attie. Have nice dreams, yes?”
“Alright, thanks Sprite. Wake me up if something more than leaves come up,” Atmav laughed before driving off into a sound sleep.
Atmav is washing the blood off of her body on a cloudy and windy day, she is still filled with the new confidence that Orvus gave her. However, as rain begins to roll in, Atmav turns to head back to the little cave that she is calling her shelter.
As she travels along the path, Atmav comes across a puddle and decided to look into it, noticing she missed a spot. However, as a ripple goes through the puddle, Atmav sees a strange woman before it disappears. Then she is spiked when a voice speak to her.
It turns out that she had found a fragment of Li’Kalla, a small woman standing only a few inches tall on her shoulder. Little Li says that Atmav looks scary like a murderer or something before the two introduce themselves. The two talk as Atmav gets back to her little cave.
Atmav asks Little Li what she wants to do and Little Li suggest they kiss. This flusters Atmav, brings a laugh from Little Li. Atmav is not used to being around jokesters on account of being a warrior meant for slaughter and carnage. But Little Li says that she would teach Atmav all she needed to know.
This leads on the subject of Atmav’s love life, which Atmav denies she wants one before naming Little Li, Sprite. Sprite doesn’t like the name at first, thinking it’s too manly before coming around to it. The conversation continues and Sprite mentions how Atmav would like a man who could rescue her from a monster and offer to marry her. Atmav agreed that she would like that.
Atmav then points out that there is nobody she knows who could do such a feat and Sprite promises to protect her. This gets a laugh out of Atmav, opening her up to further conversation. After Atmav says that she doesn’t want to give up Sprite on account of the entertainment, Sprite gives Atmav a many little kisses on the head.
Atmav gets tired by the rain and turns in, Sprite says she’ll keep watch.
The mist had thickened once more. The roars and flight and fights never kept it away for long, and it had been a rather long time since the last visit.
The So’E had once more fallen into a lull. One that the Beast couldn’t stand. It had tasted everything there was to taste and smelled everything there was to smell.
With the exception of one thing.
It now stood half submerged in the boiling lake, licking and slurping up fresh, smooth water. Water that came from the river that fed the lake, the river that came from the thickest parts of the mist.
After a while, it was sated. Or so it thought, as soon after having its fill, it threw the water right back up. Apparently, it had drunk too much.
So instead it stretched its wings and followed the river, walking against the current. Eventually it could see nothing but mist, and the only reason it knew where it was going was because it could feel the water flow around its toes. After a time, the fog grew thick as porridge, as if attempting to keep it out, but simple fog was no match for it.
Eventually the mists gave way and thinned out more and more as the beast followed the river. And what it saw was very tasty.
As the mists broke apart, the beast was greeted by a seemingly endless open landscape, its ground constantly shifting as rivers diverged, converged, flooded and dried up. Even as the beast entered, the river it waded in suddenly grew shallow until it was no more, rich, fertile mud rising to greet its vile claws. From the mud sprouted fresh flowers and bushes at an unnatural rate, and before the beast could even smell their fragrances, the water consumed them again.
It growled and snarled at the water that crushed the fresh foliage. It stomped and bit at the flow, but no matter what it did, it kept on going. It didn’t care that it had trampled so much beauty in order to continue forward.
A long time passed, and eventually the Beast had grown weary of battling the waters with its claws and maw, and instead it found that putting big walls of mud in the way of the rivers was a more effective way of hurting them. And so it did, creating numerous dams of clay and fertile mud across the strange land. The mud walls fell down at first, the immense power of the water outmatching the feeble structures of silt and earth; however, little by little, the mud walls began to divert or outright stop certain rivers, leaving a lake on one side and muddy pits on the other. So many rivers and flows were blocked, and so much new foliage appeared. The beast gave a satisfied huff as it sniffed a particularly large flower before eating it.
Meanwhile, on Kalgrun...
Kalmere River was drifting along lazily, pregnant with fresh life at the blessing of Kalmar. The fish skipped and hopped about happily, and the beavers clapped their tails happily on top of their dams. An otter floated by the dam, seemingly gnawing on an insect as a group of ducklings swam hastily after their mother.
However, little by little, the inhabitants of the river began to realise that something was terribly wrong.
Already halted by the beaver dam, the river further downstream began to rapidly dry up as the water seemingly stopped flowing upstream. The beaver dam luckily held on to a small puddle, though it was crowded short of bursting with all the fish and amphibians that had made it in time. The beavers grieved, however, for their home was useless now - the water barrier could no longer keep predators at bay. Soon, the wolves and bears would flock to the promise of beached fish and helpless animals. Panicked, the mammals scattered in search of new streams - the fish, however, doomed to remain in the puddle until they eventually choking on waters poisoned with filth and disease, had nowhere to go.
Meanwhile, back in Fengshui Fuyou...
As the mud walls dried, the water diverged and turned to different streams. Whereas the land behind the wall eventually dried and cracked, the land at the flanks of the barrier overflowed many times more than normal, bringing cataclysmic currents into reality…
Meanwhile, on Istais...
The beauty of Lihe, the product of Shengshi’s adoration for his avatar, was unparalleled by every other body of water on Galbar: It was comparable to the gentle stroke of a blue-tipped paint brush across a green canvas of grass, flanked on either side by snaking patterns of darker grass and colourful flowers. The river was brimming with colourful life worthy of competing with the visual impeccability of the river itself. There were carps and trouts in every colour of the rainbow; there were frogs as small as a fingernail and toads as large as a head; the reeds were no reeds at all, but sprouted flowers in a multitude of colours in the spring and summer, and perhaps most fortunate of all: Many beasts and creatures of the island routinely made treks to the river to sample its nutritious waters and plentiful bounty.
Here, too, cataclysm was imminent.
It started with a rumble that turned several heads among those that grazed along the riverbanks. Those peacefully cooling off in the shallows felt the water rise at speeds and consistencies that could not simply be waved off as waves. The bears slapping their paws at the water surface in search of juicy carps immediately found themselves frozen in fear. The fish dove to the bottom; the frogs joined in; those without gills set off in a panicked sprint away from the waters.
Then they saw it: Crashing down the length of the river came an all-consuming flood that uprooted trees, drowned landwalkers and ground fish to a bloody paste. Those that evaded the flood soon found themselves trudging through deep and treacherous flood plains. Some managed to escape to the new edges of the river - others were trapped in mud and subsequently drowned. The flood became a horrid brown as it mixed together blood, soil and vegetation. Upon reaching the sea, the flood polluted the delta with corpses of those too slow to escape it. Orphaned fawns and cubs trudged through the wetlands calling for their parents, only to find themselves ensnared and doomed. The skies blackened with gulls and crows hungry for carrion - the edges of the forests began to flock with predators seeking easy meals; many of them also fell into the wetland’s trap. As bioluminescent fluids leaked into the water, the horrid brown filled with the ghastly colours of dead spirits.
Meanwhile, back in Fengshui Fuyou...
Having moved a distance away from the dam by now, the beast’s eyes were glued to this odd formation in the water. As the beast closed in, it observed one ribbons of water swoop upwards along the each bank of the river. The two ribbons quickly grabbed to one another and intertwined in a braided pattern that curved into an arc far above the beast. Then, as the tips of the ribbons touched the water surface on the opposite bank of its origin, dew began to trickle down from the top of the arc.
There, through the crystalline dew, the beast saw an unfamiliar world.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the beast took the chance and jumped into the new world, finally escaping from the violent flows of water of the strange land.
Having returned to the So’E after its unsuccesful foray into the Infinite Maze, the Beast now follows the river that feeds the boiling lake in the So’E and ends up in the Fengshui Fuyou. It sees very pretty flowers and grass being drowned by a shallow river and gets angry at the water. Tries to claw and bite at it but ends up building a mud dam in the end. The dam causes the river Kalmere to dry up completely and the river Lihe to overflow immensely. Both are insane natural disasters.
Then the beast finds and accidentally activates the gateway to Galbar (due to having a dragon head) and jumps through the gateway, glad to escape from the violent flows of the Fengshui Fuyou.
It walked away from the ruined, wet land. Trees had been devoured, blood and flesh had been licked up, even several pieces of brick and broken furniture had been eaten. There was nothing new to do, and so in search of sustenance, it walked.
Wherever it went, it kept its wings outstretched. Whether it was in elation of having been healed or a pervasive sense of dread, there was no way to know. At least not with the way its face never showed expression, with the way its eyes were always wide open and its face was always unflinching.
It felt like a long time, to the Beast, walking through the mist. It probably was a long time, as by the time the mist became thick enough, it began taking bites out of it due to boredom. Eventually, the mist became so hard that even it had a hard time eating it, so it stopped.
Walking randomly was frustrating, as the mist blocked its path suddenly. It wasn’t until it found a gap in the solid mists that it could move forward.
The gap was rather narrow, at least for a being of its size, and it had to furl up its wings in order to get through, and even then it felt like its side were being squished. More than once, when an irregularity in the mist walls prodded its side, it snarled and bit at the solid walls, teeth breaking. It didn’t bother it, as new teeth grew out almost immediately to replace the broken ones.
After some time, the pressure of the walls disappeared, and it felt like it had found itself into a large space. Of course, it all looked the same. A thick mist, blocking view of everything a few inches past its nose. And yet it could smell something other than humidity, dirt and moss. It was foreign.
So the Beast approached the center of the open space and found far below it a decently sized set of weird, too smooth shapes. They were red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, and each one was a different shape and size, and next to them was some kind of tray. It was yellow, too, and had holes in it.
Its spotlight-like eyes travelled numerous times between the tray and the shapes. One of its wings twitched nervously. It lowered its tall head and licked one of the shapes, then gently bit into it and ate it. It tasted foul, so it didn’t eat any more. Instead, it tried now to move the shapes onto the yellow tray. First it moved a round shape and tried to put it into a square shape. It growled at it once it clearly showed it wouldn’t fit.
It spent what felt like millenia in that room after that. It had eventually gone through the deathly shapes puzzle, every single shape finding its corresponding spot… But one. Next to the tray was a semi-liquid yellow mass. It had no shape, and it was impossible to move with its mouth.
It was the one it ate. It had regurgitated it in hopes that it’d fit. It didn’t.
The Beast stared at the yellow tray, and roared.
The poor tray and shapes were blown away into the mists to never be seen again.
After it finished, it stomped on the ground a few times and walked backwards for a long time.
Monster Li gets bored of the So’E and walks away into the mists, finds herself in the Infinite Maze and gets stuck in the first puzzle, a SHAPES GAME AGED 1+. She gets frustrated and goes back.
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