Domain of Civilization There is nothing more important to a world than the little people. Yllis sees and considers the different cultures of Galbar as pretty much the only thing capable of evolving and becoming something greater than anticipated. To reach that level of self-sustainability and creativity however, she recognizes that most civilizations need a push in the right direction every once in a while… And she dedicates herself to making sure everyone receives their own customized push. This usually takes the form of introducing some form of chaos into the culture in order to stimulate growth and the birthing of exceptional characters. The chaos can range from inane things like teaching people how to cure a certain disease that has plagued them for generations, all the way to great changes like nurturing revolutions and creating external threats in order to unify empires.
Portfolio of Unrest Unrest, as in the active destabilization of civilizations, is Yllis’ go-to tool of choice when attempting to force growth upon civilizations. She uses it generously, not worrying about the worst case scenarios that her usage of it may bring. To her, a complete failure on the part of the civilization she’s “blessed” with her efforts only means they weren’t ready nor worthy of climbing the staircase of progress.
She has fun sowing the seeds of discord in civilizations to see how they react. She enjoys guiding an army down the wrong path to face sheer hopelessness and low morale, to see whether they will bend or break. She loves to pirate student textbooks to see the education industry to see whether the education industry collapses or becomes honest. And most of all… She absolutely adores stealing candy from babies.
Caretaker of Flohear, the Sanctuary of Legends Flohear serves as Yllis’ home, as well as a kind of sprawling museum containing chronicles on the notable feats from both mortals and heroes that have given Yllis explicit permission to record their actions. The chronicles are recorded in a strange mix of illustrations and text written in a language understandable by all. Contrary to what one might expect from a Goddess, Yllis actually manually draws and writes everything herself. Some of the works in her Sanctuary of Legends are rumored to not even be factually correct… And yes, maybe even completely fictional in nature.
Persona: Temperamental, impulsive, gullible and naive yet somehow still able to be stoic when in the presence of strangers. She is quick to drop the stoic act once she gets annoyed enough at people, and this is when she lets go of every single filter she has and puts her foot in her mouth… After she’s done with her outbursts however, she will resume the stoic act and pretend she said nothing offensive or inappropriate.
She is almost always doing something and is only able to relax in the company of close friends with whom she will not hesitate to act like her real self (who is actually lazy, uncouth, and a hopeless romantic). When alone, she will pursue her hobbies or act through her Avatar in order to uphold her duties as a Matriarch of Civilization.
Pale as a ghost. She likes to put on thick black eyeliner on and occasionally some facepaint in order to hide the great dark circles under her eyes. She usually wears dark clothing or armor with the armor being donned mostly for formal situations only, with the exception being a meeting with a mortal. She also has a long, snow-white, fluffy tail that often betrays her true emotions.
Domain Form: A swarm of doves and one pigeon. If she remains in this form for long enough, more pigeons start to appear until there’s an even split of doves and pigeons.
Avatar: A lesser copy of Yllis, with the same personality and humanoid appearance.
Birburelli walked a lot. To any normal person, travelling on foot like so for such a long time would’ve been mind numbingly dull.
Genesis, thankfully, wasn’t a normal person. As minutes turned to hours and hours turned to days, the Sylphi girl kept finding new things to examine and play with. Things such as oddly shaped pebbles, a new kind of dirt or a special soil, new species of living beings or even smells or colours other than green would immediately grab her attention and she would practically beg Birburelli to tell her everything he knew about those things. His answers often varied between in-depth explanations that only drove her curiosity further, or a laugh, a pat, and the admission that he did not know.
Just in the last hour, she had asked about a handful of new tree species, as well as what she had come to know as a Sahkura - a type of big-eyed flying squirrel made of plant matter much like Genesis herself. She had also gotten to know the names of several types of insects.
Some of them were really tasty too, a little fact that she had only come to realize and experience thanks to Birburelli’s guidance. The ascetic seemed quite proficient at making food out of near enough anything - at one point he even made an odd mud mixture which he used as a dip for the assortment of bugs he cooked. She preferred them raw and while the strange dip tasted good when paired with the snacks, she soon learned that eating anything but insects and meat would make her tummy hurt.
A day ago she had learned that she didn’t really have to walk either. Birburelli had finally gotten through to her with his talk of meditation and the long periods he would spend in the evening just sat doing nothing. When he taught her the breathing techniques involved, his soothing voice almost lifting her mind from her body, Genesis had figured out that if she focused her inner energy into her limbs she could easily levitate and move at a decent pace. Birburelli had watched her rise from the ground with equally rising eyebrows. “Well,” he breathed, “that’s something.” Lukluk brayed loudly beside him, surely alarmed that such a lovely morsel was flying off.
This newfound skill only served to help her reach more difficult spots to aid in her obsessive curiosity.
She soon found her upper half completely immersed in the thick canopy of one of the lush trees on the outskirts of the jungles of Muraymuna, staring at two male Barkbeetles chasing after each other while loudly clicking their massive brown jaws. They both had green markings on their backs resembling painted leaves, but one of the beetles had darker markings and was slightly larger.
The smaller male froze in place when yet another beetle easily twice its size flew onto the branch. This one had no markings, and from the sheer size alone Genesis knew that it had to be a female.
In the split second of the smaller male’s mesmerization by the beauty before it, the larger male caught up with it and grabbed it with its jaws. A high-pitched whirr from the smaller male was cut short in a (tiny) explosion of gore as he was torn in half by the sheer mandibular strength displayed by the superior male.
Genesis watched on, leaves rustling in her excitement at having watched the epic battle unfold, and while the surviving male seemed to be recovering its stamina, Genesis placed her sweet-smelling hand, palm up, next to the female and marvelled with a nearly inaudible squeal of joy at how quickly the Barkbeetle female hopped onto it.
Not to be left behind, the male forced a burst of energy out of itself and hopped onto the girl’s hand as well, and then immediately mounted the large female in a set of awkward movements, not really helped by the uneven and shaky surface that was Genesis’ hand.
Genesis, gasping at the display unfolding in front of her eyes and literally on her palms, flew down as hard as she could to meet up with Birburelli, with stars in her eyes and a massive grin in her face.
“Look Birburelli, they’re dancing! I didn’t know insects could dance like the humans back in Mirmehti!” She said giddily as the pair of bugs jerked around on her palm, tiny ‘knuck’ sounds repeating rhythmically as uneven exoskeletons bumped into one another. He looked down at the beetles and scratched his scraggly beard.
“Well, that’s a dance fair enough,” he agreed, “most animals dance just for this. But what they’re actually doing, emkura is mating. Soon the female will fly off and at some point or another give birth to new Barkbeetles. This is how they propagate and survive. And when the Barkbeetle dies its little soul leaves its body and is born elsewhere anew - every thing with a soul is born again into this world, see? We must suffer, toil, mate, and die again and again until we can achieve release from the cycle of life and death.”
”Cycle of life and death, huh…?” Genesis scrunched up her nose at the beetles in her hand, watching them spread their massive wings and then flying off. ”That didn’t last long… Couldn’t the two males have taken turns? Instead of killing each other I mean. Insects are weird… Tasty, but weird.” Birburelli smiled.
“Each male wants his progeny to survive, so it’s quite difficult to get them to share. Perhaps a few females could share a male - but I don’t think beetles could do that. Humans though, it happens.” He paused in thought, “and if you travel far far into the mountains, you might even find a woman who shares a few brothers. The world is big and full of wonders.”
“Really? So many things to see and learn… It’s kind of overwhelming.” She sighed and rubbed her palms on the bark of a nearby tree before allowing the group to resume the journey. “So, things come back to life after dying? How do you know something’s come back to life or is still dead, and is there a way to speak to someone that died not too long ago?”
The ascetic stroked his scraggly beard in thought. “There are some people who remember their past lives, so with them it is just a matter of asking them who they were. Others - and that is the great majority of people - don’t. But one learned in these things can look into them and know who they were. Souls can speak, after all, and those who know how to listen can hear what they say. As for those recently dead, perhaps there are ways of communing with them - but these things are all in the hands of the great god Ahthaaruhs, master over death, paradise, release from the cycle of life and death, and teacher of the ways of whih.”
Genesis stared blankly at Birburelli, blinked, nodded and then flew over to Lukluk and dropped herself over the faithful companion’s back. After a moment, she groaned. ”There’s so many names... I feel like my head’s going all woozy and swirly. How do you remember all of that? Are you actually like a spirit of knowledge? How long until we get to Muraymuna?” She asked, absentmindedly nibbling on Lukluk’s fur inbetween questions. “Do you think that the emkuras there have fangs as sharp as mine, or that they’re as flexible as me? Did I tell you that I found out I can put my feet behind my head?”
“Ah, you can do that now can you?” Birburelli said with a small grin, “I hear that makes it difficult to walk.”
“I do it while sitting down, mostly.”
“I hear that makes it very difficult to walk,” he chortled, followed by a quiet giggle from Genesis.
They continued into the slowly thickening jungle. “As far as Muraymuna goes, we’re more or less here now. The large town of Randjet isn’t too far off. We’ll be there before evening.” He glanced at her with parted lips. “You don’t need to remember that name.”
When they did reach Randjet, however, it was very quiet and the days-old smell of burnt wood and ashes gave the wandering ascetic and his companion pause. “Well, things don’t seem quite right.” He muttered, pausing by a great edifice of burnt wood. Genesis came to look but he turned her away. “No no, there’s nothing to see.” He caught her by the hips and lifted her up with a laugh. “Curious little emkura.” He murmured affectionately, to which the girl responded by chuckling and ceasing her half-hearted attempt at sneaking peeks. It did smell very odd near the burnt wood.
The most striking thing about the town of Randjet was the great temple that towered like a mountain at its heart - or what was once its heart, for all the buildings had been burned to the ground.
“You mentioned nomads before. Do humans burn their homes when moving? Seems weird, what would the trees they used to make those homes think? That’s not very thoughtful. I guess at least one is still standing...” Genesis commented as she took in the scene.
“Ah, my dear.” He intoned sadly, placing a warm, calloused hand on her shoulder. “This was no breaking camp or migration - great towns like this don’t do that. This here was war - man slaying man. It was probably the One-Godders, they are the lords of Muraymuna now.”
Genesis stood still as a statue for a painfully long moment as she used her eyes to inspect the rubble and ashen ground over and over again, until she instinctively grabbed onto Birburelli’s arm and spoke. “... Oh. Okay. But why is that building still intact…?”
He looked down at her for a few moments, gently pressing her hand comfortingly. “That’s because it’s a temple - the One-Godders may be zealous warriors, they may reject the gods of the Ritualists, but they don’t desecrate sacred sites. We can go have a look if you like, I doubt there’ll be any priests to stop us.” He said, to which Genesis nodded after a little bit of hesitation.
“W-We won’t be cursed, right? By walking into an empty town’s abandoned temple? Won’t the gods be angry?” She asked somewhat shakily.
“Oh I doubt that very much - quite the opposite actually, bringing life and worship to an abandoned sacred place probably makes them happy.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” She bit her lip, then slowly let go of Birburelli’s arm and walked towards the temple, unsure of what to expect--After all, Mirmehti only really had a small set of shrines places in a room in the elder’s hut… It was nothing like this. The two descended down a long stone staircase, down into the earth. As the walls rose up around them images of terrible things with horrorsome faces reared up on the walls around them
“This is the journey into life,” the ascetic whispered behind her as she ran her hand across the carvings, “the tumult of souls, the strike of Terrible Things and Faces.” They reached the bottom, and a great stone doorway stood before them, leading into a great chamber, far longer than it was wide. Braziers were still lit all around and inks of light had been applied to various statues and carvings all along the high walls and ceiling. They highlighted voluptuous maidens copulating with muscled youths, drinking and dancing and merrymaking, others aimlessly wandering and drifting, others on beds of death or languishing in poverty; carvings of battles, cruelty, suffering. Genesis lagged behind slightly and Birburelli walked ahead of her, then glanced back. “This,” he said, gesturing to all the carvings across the stone walls, “is life.” He turned around and walked on. “And we must walk through it.”
“Life is scary,” Genesis said quietly but kept on following Birburelli. At times it felt as if the carvings moved and stared, asking her for the non-existent answers to unheard questions. Muttering, whispering, all the way from the dark shadows, of names that although unrecognizable, sparked things inside her very soul.
She didn’t like it, so she stuck closer to Birburelli, since he didn’t seem fazed at all. He glanced back at her, still walking. “Oh life is more than that - see, those two there are making merry,” he pointed out the copulating couple, to which Genesis stuck out her tongue and scrunched up her nose, “there they are dancing, there singing. There we have the pain and joy of childbirth, there we have the pain and joy of old age. And yes, there is illness there, suffering, people can be cruel - life can be cruel. And yes, it is scary.” He turned his head away, looking towards a rising set of stairs ahead of them. “But we must not fear it. Pain and joy - we must see them for what they are and,” his foot fell upon the first step and he ascended, “we must rise above it.” The stairs led to a door and from their angle they could not see through it. “Even if we can’t always see the path ahead or where our rising is leading us.”
Genesis took the first step as well, and eventually began ascending the stairs alongside Birburelli, sighing in relief as they left the turmoil of shadows and faces and shapes behind. “It’s like an adventure, right? Life, I mean. It’s an adventure. The biggest one! And, you know what my heart has told me ever since I woke up in Mirmehti? It keeps telling me to take one more step, to see what might happen. Over and over and over, just one more step. So…” The Sylphi girl bounded forward, skipping ahead up a few steps before turning to look down at the ascetic with an uncertain smirk.
“That’s what I’m meant to do? In order to see everything there is to see and experience everything there is to experience, I have to walk, drift, dance, mate… And I have to hurt myself and others, and lose my way and expose myself to the world without being scared? If that’s the case, then I will do all those things--No, I will do more!” She laughed, “I want to see, I want to touch, to smell, to taste, to hear--I am here now, and I will suck everything out of life. I am Genesis, the Lifesucker!!!!” She said proudly, but suddenly deflated and groaned, a light orange blush coming to her cheeks.
“Well, maybe not that title… Just Genesis is okay… Sorry, I got carried away...” Birburelli chortled at her outburst as they continued upward.
“Life has more to be seen than be seen in a hundred lifetims, more to be experienced too. But if you go seeing and experiencing then eventually,” they came to the top of the staircase and the doorway, and what lay beyond it, stood unveiled to them. “You will begin to truly see, and you may gain wisdom. No one is born ready to overcome life - you must live first, walk drift, dance, lose, suffer, gain and joy.” He walked through the door. “And when you’ve done it again and again, you come to see life for what it is.” They were now in a small sanctum, and beautifully carved statues - great things, male and female, with handsome features and serene expressions - lined the four walls of the chamber. They had been painted and dyed, one had green skin which caught the attention of Genesis, some were golden, the red one did not look serene at all but glared furiously, and there were other colours yet. “And when you see life for what it is,” Birburelli breathed, gesturing to the far wall of the sanctum where a small door led into a short, narrow hallway at the end of which was great light, “you can find the way out.”
“What are these people?” Genesis asked as she skipped over to the one with green painted skin and touched it everywhere she could reach, to see if any of it felt like actual skin. “Are they gods?”
“Yes, these are some of the gods known as the Thousand Terrible Things and Faces.” He approached the green one. “They were created before the world. First there was only the Serene Lord, then the One Who Laughs emerged, and then the One Who Frowns went chasing after him. And those two created all the Terrible Things and Faces while they warred in the heavens. This one,” he placed a hand on the naked chest of the green, leaf-bound statue, which Genesis imitated almost immediately, “is the creator of your people, Orjarnibapti.”
“Really?! Wow, he’s really tall. I like his fangs. His leaves are shaped differently than mine though… But I don’t mind.” She hummed, caressing the statue with her eyes closed for a moment before nodding. “How do I talk to him?”
“I doubt a temple is the right place to speak with the great lord of the forests and nature, the granter of wisdom and patron of outsiders. If you wish to speak with him then you must walk more and longer, you must gather experiences and gain wisdom; perhaps then you will know how to speak to him.”
Genesis climbed down from the statue, pouting. “I wanted to ask where I come from, and if the statue back home is okay. I’m curious, you know? She saved me, and I don’t want to think she died...”
“If you wish to ask about death, then,” he took her by the shoulder and turned her towards another one of the statues, a great being of white and black, forbidding in aspect and holding in his hands a great disc of copper, “it is to Ahthaaruhs that you should turn. I do not know if he will speak to the living, but you can certainly try.”
Genesis took a few steps towards the statue of Ahthaaruhs before turning to look at Birburelli, then continuing up until she was in front of the figure. It somehow made her feel small, and so with leaves rustling and a racing heart she placed a hand on the statue and closed her eyes. ‘Hello? Ahthaaruhs, I’m Genesis, I wanted to ask if the one who saved me is still alive... Does my home still exist, or is it gone? The light was consuming it, after all...’
At first there was no reply, silence as much could be found in her own mind. Then as a deafening rush although it came without sound, a great eye, staring boundlessly into her as came a rushing cacophony of sound within the bounds of her head. The chirping of birds, the whispers of men and the songs of things found only in the deep oceans. They came together merging into a single voice speaking to her mind. "Genesis, mortal now, or close enough I can see."
The girl recoiled almost immediately, yelping and covering her ears even as she tripped and fell on her butt with a grunt. ‘W-What? Are you- Are you Ahthaaruhs?’ Bitburelli was by her side almost immediately, helping her up and giving her a quizzical look, which she responded to with a scared look of her own.
“Careful now,” he said, patting her down before walking towards the small door and staring out of it towards the light at the end of the narrow hallway. Genesis returned her attention to the statue of Ahthaaruhs.
The voice came quieter, or more precisely less overwhelming in all manners. "You knew me by another name once, but that one shall do. I am He, master of death and deity of all dead things."
She quickly turned towards Birburelli, whispering, “H-He’s talking to me! I-” She nearly choked on her own spit and coughed. The ascetic turned around, leaning against the stone frame of the door, and watched her curiously, intently. “Right!”
’I, uh, I actually do not remember meeting you in the past, I’m so sorry! Um, what name did I use to call you? How come I forgot you? I must be the flattest flower in the clearing, sorry!’
"It matters not. For the name of such times, Ahthaaruhs will suit you much better to remember, I have many. You forgot because you were not ready, for you knew me when you were not you, and now the you-of-now is all that remains of the you-of-old. I can tell looking deep that there is much the you-of-now that knows the you-of-old, even if the essence is diminished and molded to this mortal soul."
’So this is the cycle Birburelli told me about, I must have been really important in my past life, maybe a Queen of Trees or something, to know Ahthaaruhs personally! I have a question for you, though, related to my present life. For as long as I can remember, there was this statue back home… Well, long story short, I don’t think she was a statue in the end, because she saved me by letting me escape home before it was burned. Do you know if she’s alive? I wanted to meet her and… And help her, I guess. She looked in pain...’
The voice did not come as quick as it had previously, but return it did. "It is not. This is different from what Birburelli has spoken. As I have said, the you-of-now is all that remains, at least distinctly. There was no death as dying is the provenance of mortals, and you speak of what Birburelli knows as Orjarnibapti from what I can discern. The you-of-now is mortal, the you-of-old was not. The you-of-old was a deity, but now they are not apparent in the world, disappeared, diminished or dissolved perhaps, but not dead. In a practical way, the you-of-now is all that remains, spared with the dying flash of the you-of-old, even unprepared as you had came to be."
This time, Genesis sighed and bit her lip. ’Oh, okay. She’s gone then, and I’m all that’s left… Thank you for helping me out, Ahthaaruhs. I… Is there anything I can do to repay the favor?’
"Do not suffer."
Just like that, the presence within her mind disappeared. It was like a fog made of glass was suddenly lifted from her thoughts, and so she exhaled and leaned onto Birburelli, panting and with wobbly legs. “I thought I was going to die… Having things speak into your head feels so wrong...” She said quietly, closing her eyes.
“I can imagine,” he noted thoughtfully, bending low and placing an arm around her back and the other behind her knees, and picked her up gently. “Let’s get you out of here now, I think you’ve seen and heard enough for today.” He walked the short distance down the final hallway and they found themselves in an even smaller sanctum at the centre of which was a statue greater than all the others. He circled around it and there was a small staircase leading out. He stepped out into the warm night air and eventually found Lukluk.
That night, he lit a small fire by one of the razed homes and sang little ditties until Genesis fell asleep. Sitting cross-legged, he watched over her for a while and soon closed his eyes and slept just like that.
Some days into Genesis and Birburelli’s journey towards Muraymuna, they stumble onto a town that had been razed and burned to the ground. All of it was destroyed, with the exception of the Sacred Temple in the center. With no survivors and nothing else to do, the two go into the Temple where Birburelli teaches Genesis some of the things he believes about life and death and the pantheon.
Here, Genesis takes the opportunity to seek help from the Gods, asking for answers to her questions about where she came from and the status of the one who saved her from death. She is answered by Thaa, who tells her of her divine origin and clears up that the original Genesis is indeed dead. Once the conversation ends, Genesis is left drained by everything she’d learned and so she and Birburelli leave the temple to set up camp nearby, where they rest until the next day, when it’s time to resume their journey.
The overpowering scent of a burning forest, clay figurines writhing in pain and agony, faces contorted into silent screams. Creeks boiling, things dying.
It was how she was born, where she was born… Or sprouted, or was created. She didn’t know, as with many things, if her being alive was meant to be or merely an accident. What she did know is that over time, what had once been grass under her feet had eventually turned to a mix of dust and ash. She knew that the trees had all eventually burned away thanks to the Unseen Fire.
There was this large husk of a tree in what she assumed to be the center of the lonely land she considered her home. It was tall and wide and inside of it, if she snuck through a cramped opening, she would come out into some sort of inner chamber.
It wasn’t a grand thing. In fact, she could barely stand upright in it and she could only extend her arms to either side a little bit, but curled up into a small ball against the far wall of the chamber was the one thing she could consider beautiful in her world.
Some kind of statue, shaped like her and wearing the most beautiful, brightest thing she’d ever seen... A dress made of luminous leaves and flowers and vines.
She’d never dared touch the statue. Maybe out of respect, or maybe because she was scared of what would happen if she touched it. Would it crumble to dust as everything else had? That day was different. After wandering the wasteland for days on end she had grown bored and curious, so after having a nice cry at the edges of a dry river bank she had made her way to the Husk.
She sat down next to the statue, in the darkness within the Husk, and sighed.
There was nothing to do out there. Nothing to see…
Maybe she should just stay in that dark alcove, she thought. At least then she wouldn’t have to see the vast lands and imagine how they would have looked with forests and animals and grass and clouds…
Well, she thought, at least there was one last thing to do.
And so she placed her hand on the statue’s leafy head… Only to find out it wasn’t made of stone. The leaves, they felt like her own, only… Older, weaker. They had withered.
As she ran her hands through the statue’s head, a few of the old leaves effortlessly came off. There was a light rustling. She didn’t notice.
Suddenly, the beautiful dress the statue had been wearing practically leapt from the curled up form and onto her. She gasped, “W-Wh-!”
But her scream was cut short.
What felt like lightning coursed through her whole body.
What felt like thunder nearly ruptured her eardrums.
What felt like Fire branded her very soul.
And then… Nothing.
--
The next time she awoke, the earthy taste of her sap permeated her mouth, she couldn’t breathe through her nose, her lap felt wet and warm and she was lightheaded and awfully thirsty. It was the first time she had ever felt thirst.
She groaned, whimpered as her eyes watered and she struggled to raise her head to look at the statue.
It was naked, but her body looked much like hers, if only withered and injured and mistreated. There were strange growths under the statue’s skin in many places, and they… They shifted, and grew and shrunk, and they looked painful.
That was when she noticed the statue flinch. It moved.
“H-How…” She managed to whisper, crawling away slowly. “What is happening…”
‘Help me… Help… Help… Help me, please… Please…! It hurts… It hurts so much… Why… Why did they…’ A whisper, a voice muttering snuck into her head, along with a shadow of the pain of what she imagined those growths to be inflicting upon the statue.
“S… Stop! I didn’t do anything, why!” She cried, wiping the sap off her face as best as she could.
The very land roared. She couldn’t stand up even if she wanted to, as she would’ve been thrown off her feet immediately.
‘Why… Why… Why…! Why..! Why! Why did she… Why did Sister...’
The ground cracked between her and the statue and light spilled in from below, cutting through the air and separating them, cutting the Husk in half and letting in the gray light she had grown used to. She tried to reach for the statue but the light separating them both was strong and as soon as she got close, she winced in pain as her fingertips burned.
The land rumbled once more and she stumbled around, then she tripped on something and fell backwards. She closed her eyes tightly, bracing for impact, but… It never came.
She fell, and fell, and fell… And eventually the roar of the land ceased, and the only thing she could hear was the voice.
‘Please, please…! Don’t leave me alone, please… She left me, Oraelia, she abandoned me, she never came for me… Please, come back! It hurts so much, it burns, I-I don’t… I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die!’ The voice practically screamed, then broke down into unintelligible muttering, then crying…
And then nothing.
For the longest time, there was… Nothing. Darkness, silence. Nothing but her thoughts and the feeling of the luminous dress hugging her body. It was warm, and it shifted and moved across her body incessantly, as if seeking a comfortable position.
And then suddenly, the silence was broken.
“Genny-”
In the blink of an eye, the darkness had given way to a new land. Sickly green, marshy soil and malformed trees were abundant, and she landed on top of a massive tree root, several times the thickness of the Husk back in her home. But the tree root was wet, and the strange moss that grew on top of it was extremely slippery, so she slipped and fell down, rolled down a small hill and came to a stop with a grunt.
As she looked up to the top of the hill, she saw what looked like a… A shadow, with beautiful pink leaves, disappearing into thin air. “Genesis, are you-”
---
“-ok?”
Genny twitched and quickly opened her eyes, seeing a hazy figure looming over her and talking to her.
“Come on, what’s happened to you, li’l emkura?” Asked a worried voice. There was the rustling of bones and heavy leather, and then a rough and calloused hand was placed on Genny’s forehead and two fingers were placed on the side of her neck.
Genny tried to speak, but found her tongue wasn’t responding to her attempts. “Gn… Mmn… A...”
She felt a heavy weight on her heart, and then she started sniffling. Had she just left the statue to die? Where was it? What had happened to her home? Why was everything so hazy and bright and why couldn’t she focus her eyes on anything?
She was scared. “Look at yourself... You’re all covered in sap, and-” The voice sighed and Genny started sobbing as quietly as she could. She tried to get up, but found her limbs as useful as noodles, so eventually the voice muttered something and after that, Genny found herself being hoisted over the person’s shoulder.
“This place isn’t safe, your sap’s going to attract all manner of nasties, so I’ll take you somewhere safe, okay emkura? You just rest up while we get there. You’ll be okay as long as you’re with me.”
Birburelli had never expected to find a sylphie so far north. In all his years of travelling he had not known them to roam beyond the jungles of Muraymuna and the far mangroves of the Mimrabans to the east. To stumble upon one here of all places, where the mighty river Juhmar flowed, was strange to say the least. “Strange, isn’t it Lukluk?” He glanced over at his donkey, over whose back he had placed the frail thing. The donkey stared at the old ascetic and brayed lightly. “Eat her! You beast! Do you think with nothing but your belly? No I won’t be letting you eat her. You’d call on us the curses of Orjarnibapti for a snack.”
For a wandering ascetic, Birburelli was somewhat overdressed. Most religious wanderers like him tended towards a lack of clothing - most wandered naked - but he had stopped doing so some time back. When people were kind enough to gift you with leathers for clothing, and when human and animal bones were readily available, it seemed to him a downright shame not to dress up a little. No one was going to be mistaking him for some royal shid, of course, but the regalia of bone and leather made for quite a striking appearance. It warded off the odd cowardly bandit, at least. “Ah, what’s this now.” He stopped by a small pile of rocks to the side of the road. “Seems like no one’s come by this way in a long while Lukluk. Wait up a little now while I sort this mess out.” He reached for the shovel at the donkey’s side and got to reinforcing the earth around the small structure - barely five spans tall. Looking around, he spotted a large, flat stone and got to heaving and pulling it until it was near the new foundation he had shovelled, and placed it there, before getting to moving the stones from the original onto the new.
Once he was done, the roadside shrine stood at a notable seven spans, and it looked more solid to boot. He clenched his fists and brought the front of each against the other before him, bowing his head low. He held the posture and whispered a prayer to the great god of journeys, Nirjurti. With that done, the relatively young ascetic - he did not seem older than thirty-five cycles - continued on the road.
It was not long before a small hamlet arose on a nearby hill, fields lining the elevated grounds around it, and so he made for it. The people were friendly enough - ascetics tended to find friends everywhere, unless there was a priest about of course. “I’ve an injured friend here,” he said, gesturing to the sylphi on the donkey’s back. The villagers looked at the odd creature with raised eyebrows. “What, never seen an emkura before?” The ascetic asked. He knew the answer; of course they had not. The villagers shook their heads in confusion.
“No master, I’ve never seen one in my life. Have you Shunda?” The one named Shunda shook his head.
“No Bullat, I’ve never seen one, never. Not even when I went with my old man down to the hills by that stream, you know the stream? Not even then.”
“Oh the stream. The one by the tree? I know that stream. You know I fell from that tree once.”
“Well,” the ascetic intervened, “the emkura are the children of Orjarnibapti! It is auspicious to see one, and even more so to have the opportunity to care for one that is injured! Go slaughter a goat in her honour, bring her water and food, let the women sing and dance, let the children play and prance!” With that declaration, he lifted her from Lukluk’s back (who attempted to take a bite as the ascetic passed, but was deftly dodged by the sharp-eyed Birburelli). “You conniving old thing!” The ascetic grumbled as Bullat led him into his home and the sylphi was laid down on some bedding. “Open the windows, let some air and sunlight in. Bring water and bring meat - it’s fine raw, maybe better even. Maybe bring a bowl of blood too while you're at it.” The overconfident ascetic told the little man, who nodded and rushed off.
The man’s children - two little daughters, twins by the looks of them, and a son - wandered near and stared curiously at the strange being on the bed. Their mother soon came into the room with a jug of water and a cup. The ascetic accepted both from her, pouring himself a small amount, before standing and slowly pouring the rest of the jar over the sylphi’s body, starting from her head and down her torso and to her extremities. “See how I just did?” The ascetic told Bullat’s wife. She nodded. “Fill the jug and do it again. Make a prayer, it is sure to be granted!” The woman took the jar excitedly and hurried off to refill it.
“Mami, mami! Pray for me!” Her son rushed off shouting after her, eliciting a chuckle from Birburelli. He looked at the damp sylphi and pursed his lips.
“There now, little emkura, all’s well.”
The first thing Genesis felt once she came back to herself was her breathing. Slow, deep, and tranquil… It soothed her, and with each inhalation came the scents of hay, of mud, of burning wood and of… Beast? It was unlike anything she’d smelled before. She found herself to be lying on a wet, waterlogged cloth... Which wasn’t entirely uncomfortable.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. For a moment they hurt as they struggled to adjust to the orange rays of light coming in through an open window. She breathed in sharply and sat up. She felt good--Perhaps even better than before. The dress covering her form now wasn’t luminous animore, and instead looked more like an intricate design of palm leaves and vines weaved in such a way as to keep her modesty while leaving her back, midriff and lower legs uncovered. She didn’t know when it had found the time to change, but there it was.
“Moo,” a low sound came from just outside the window, sending shivers down Genesis’ spine as she perked up, leaves rustling as she stared at the window, half-expecting some kind of monster to jump in through it.
Nothing came in, of course. But now that she was getting accustomed to consciousness, she could now hear several more things. In the distance, there were sounds akin to those she had heard in dreams, of many voices chanting together in different tones. Of laughter, and feet striking the ground and kicking up soil in dance.
Before she could listen more closely, she heard a yawn coming from behind one of the wooden walls, in a room whose entrance was obscured by flaps of fabric.
Genesis ran her hands over her body, noting how smooth her skin felt now compared to when she was covered in sap. Whoever was in the other room was most likely the one who saved her when she couldn’t even move, so with care so as to not fall over, Genesis stood up and walked over to the thin flaps of cloth barring her entrance and… Just kind of stood there, awkwardly shuffling her feet and repeatedly lifting her arm and lowering it just before she got a hold of the fabric. “Haah...”
There was some shuffling outside, and the beaded fabrics were moved aside, jangling as they went, and a little head peered in. It stared at Genesis with wide eyes for a few moments, and then rushed off shouting. “Ma! Ma! The emthingy woke up!” There was shuffling and soon a woman drew the door-curtains open and smiled. She bowed low, bringing the front of her fists together before her.
“I’m happy you’re okay, great daughter of Orjarnibapti. Master Birburelli just went for a walk and’ll be back before you know it. How are you feeling? Can I get you anything? D’you want to sit in the sun for a bit? The Master said that’ll do you some good.”
Genesis scrunched up her nose and frowned, trying to peek into the room behind the woman before eventually giving up and shaking her head. “Orjarni…? Daughter? There isn’t much daylight left, so that can wait until tomorrow. Who’s Birburelli? What is this place? What are you, are you actually real?” Genesis asked, sniffing the air a few times and curiously reaching out to feel the woman’s skin. “You smell different than anything I smelled back home… Livelier, spicier. I like it.” The young Sylphi said before her stomach started rumbling, making her jump a little.
“Oh, real enough I hope!” The woman exclaimed with a laugh. “Those old spices are stuck to me, can’t get the smell out. But alright, you go sit yourself back down and I’ll bring you some of that goat-meat. Master Birburelli said raw is best for you and that you’d drink the blood too, so I’ll bring you some of that. Sunju! Come sit with- oh, you do have a name right? Sunju you little devil, come here right now! I’m so sorry I’ll be right back, just give me a moment.” She wandered off, eventually finding Sunju who came scrambling to Genesis.
“I’m here emkurasister! Is it true you drink blood?” He rushed by her feet and leapt on the wet bed, giggling as he rolled about on it.
Genesis stared at the joyful child for a moment, before smiling and sitting down on the bed as well. “Believe it or not I’ve never even seen blood! I‘ve always known what it is, somehow, but… Yeah. Do you drink blood, Sunju was it?”
He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “No, I only drink milk. Mister Burburli said you are from the plant god - uh, uh whatsit, Orjabpti? ! Is that true? Do all gods drink blood like you?”
Genesis looked up at the ceiling and hummed thoughtfully to herself, “I dunno. The place I was in before I came here was… Gray and dead, there was nothing there that looked like a God you know? Well, actually-” Genesis fell into silence as a frown formed on her brow, black sclera seeming to grow only darker as her irises lit up along with the frown. “Nevermind. Who knows?! I don’t think they drink blood, though. I have a feeling it’s just me…” There was a bit of a pause.
“Hey Sunju,” Genesis said, perking up as she laid back down onto the bed and rolled onto her side to look directly at the boy. “can you tell me about this place? It’s your home right? Share your stories with me, please?”
“Ah, stories!” He leapt from the bed and stood before her. “My favourite story is about the Frowner and the Laugher because they always chase and run away from each other. The Frowner is grumpy and doesn’t like laughing so he always chases the Laugher who is always laughing. I always play it with Arupta - he is good at frowning so he is the Frowner and then I just laugh and run away.” He giggled slightly. “Mam doesn’t like that game though and when she catches me playing it she smacks me.” He grinned mischievously. “Arupta is my oldest cousin and he is really strong - sometimes when he catches me he smacks me too. I remember we were throwing rocks once at the wall, and then he ran out of rocks and went to got some from near the wall - but I was still throwing them and I threw a really big one and it got him right on the head! He chased me all the way around the houses and wouldn’t stop until his mam caught him and gave him the smacking of his life!” He laughed aloud, just as his own mother walked back through the door carrying a platter of raw meat and balancing a jug on her head.
“By the Mojtha, Sunju, I could hear you from your uncle’s house. How many times have I told you to not be so loud.” She shook her head at him and exhaled, glancing at Genesis who tried to hide her snickering. “He must have driven your head in, sorry about that. Get the table Sunju, quickly now.” the boy rushed off to the far wall and carried a low table over, stumbling side to side as he did, and then dropped it by the bed where his mother placed the platter, which seemed absolutely massive to the suddenly starry-eyed, drooling Genesis. “Come now, eat up. I’m sure you’re starving.” She seated herself on a nearby stool and Sunju rushed to her and scrambled onto her knee. She wiped his running nose with a small kerchief, to his protests.
“I was telling emkurasister about some stories,” he said proudly.
“Were you now? And you didn’t bother to ask her name?” He scratched his cheek and smiled sheepishly.
“Uh, emkurasister sounds nice.” He managed, glancing at Genesis, who was preoccupied pouring blood onto the pieces of meat on the platter.
“What is your name my dear? And how did you end up all alone on the road? Master Birburelli says it’s very strange for children of Orjarnibapti to be found here.”
“I don’t really know the answer to those questions- The only thing I do know is that I came from a dying land, and that I ended up here after the land was burned to nothingness by a golden light…” Genesis said pensively as she dangled a long piece of meat above her, mouth placed just right to catch the drops of blood running off it.
“I remember being covered in my own sap after the land’s guardian gave me this dress... I felt as if my very core was burning… And the only three names I had ever heard before coming here were Genesis, Genny and Oraelia. I like Genesis the best, so you can call me that, but I feel like the name ‘Oraelia’ is very important, too…” She explained as she began to lower her meal, taking quick and effortless bites out of it until there was nothing left. She didn’t chew much at all and didn’t bother to close her mouth after the fact and when she was done with that particular piece, the few glints of light reflected off of the blood dripping from her doubtlessly sharp teeth and running down her face, neck, chest and shoulders made her seem much more like a predator than before. Sunju, for his part, seemed to be watching her with considerable awe, a small impressed gleam in his eyes as she easily devoured the meat.
“Djehnsis…” the mother spoke the foreign word. “Hurrela.” She shook her head. “I’ve never heard that name. Maybe master Birburelli will know, you should certainly ask him.” She paused and stroked Sunju’s long, straight black hair. “But you must feel so lost, just waking up somewhere completely new. You’re in our little village of Mirmehti. I’m Sudirta, I live here with my husband Bullat. We’re farmers and animal-keepers. We keep to ourselves and our village and the shid Bahulti leaves us be for the most part. He took some of our young men for the war not long ago, but beyond that we live good, peaceful lives here. Oh you get the odd roaming band of mercenaries or no-gooders, no doubt, but it’s as safe as any place can hope to be. No great golden light will be doing you any harm here.”
“Farmers and animal keepers, mercenaries, wars, Bahulti... Mirmehti. Thank you for helping me out. I don’t know what would have happened had I not been brought here. You mentioned before this was… What animal? Goat?” Genesis asked as she wolfed down several more pieces of meat in a similar manner as before, “It’s good, really good! Thank you, something tells me growing flesh takes longer than growing plants.” She mentioned with a giggle.
“Oh! One question. You said it’s rare to see my kind around here? So that means there’s more of me? More things that look like me, that is? Tell me, do they smell the same? Do they also like meat and sun and water? I want to meet them!” The young Sylphi grinned excitedly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t know about these things,” Sudirta laughed, “but I’m sure master Birburelli will have all the answers. I should go check up on the twins, they’re probably waking up and hungry now. You just rest up and I’m sure the master will be back soon. And if you need anything, call this little rascal.” She pinched Sunju’s cheeks roughly before getting him off her knee and leaving the small room.
Perhaps an hour or so later, the door-drapes parted once more and a wild-haired, scraggly-bearded man, dressed in an assortment of bone and leather, walked in. Parts of his black hair were dyed red, as was his beard, and lines of chalk or ink adorned his forehead and cheeks. Immediately upon seeing the man, Genesis’ leaves started rustling in recognition. He smiled when he saw that she was awake, his obsidian eyes twinkling in the torchlight. “Ah, little emkura. How are you feeling?” He came by the bedside and seated himself on Sudirta’s stool.
“Birburelli? You’re the one who saved me, right? I’m feeling much better now thanks to you! I was asking Sudirta before, but do you know what I am? Where I can meet more of my kind? Because I don’t really know what this land even is. I mean, I know now that this is Mirmehti, but I don’t know where I am, you know?” Genesis tried to explain, frowning as she confused herself further.
“There now my emkura. Your kind like to keep to themselves - a retiring species that lives wild and free in the southern jungles of Muraymuna. You will find them also in the furthest east, in the mangrove forests of the Mimrabans.” He paused and ran a hand through his beard. “As for what this land is - it is Dehrthaa. A poor and divided land, where blood is shed from the river Dahuur in the sacred mountains to the Mudhindahuur that runs into the sea. Bandits and mercenaries roam, and those who would travel the roads had best beware. Quarrelling shids are everywhere, and even now a great bloodletting rages between the powerful shid of the north and the one who rules over these rolling hills between the two great rivers. If you wish to see your own, then I am travelling south towards Muraymuna - you can join me if you wish. Or you can settle here - the people are good, they will honour you no doubt. It is peaceful for now - though that can change at any moment. It is your choice, little emkura.”
Genesis listened attentively, nodding along with each bit of new information. After Birburelli had finished speaking, she closed her golden eyes and puffed out her chest proudly before gently placing her hand over her heart. “I come from the Gray Lands, do you really think I could bear to settle in one place when there’s so much to see and experience? Jungles, forests, rivers, swamps--All these things exist here! They’re things I only ever dreamed of before, so yes! My choice is that I will travel with you into the Jungle, and we’ll see from there. I just have to see this land and as many others as I can, and that’s something I can’t do by staying in a village, no matter how nicely I may have been treated.” She huffed with a smug grin on her face and relaxed a little, opening her shining eyes to look at the wise human, who chuckled and nodded.
“It seems that you are indeed a child of Orjarnibapti, the road calls to you and a thirst for knowledge and experience. Then it is agreed. Tonight we will rest, and tomorrow we will answer the call of the road once more. Rest well, emkura.” And with that he rose, paused, and ruffled her leafy head, making her look up at him with puffed out flushed cheeks. “I’m sure you’ll get right along with Lukluk too.” He chortled, and then made for the drapes and disappeared beyond them.
Genesis had been trapped in her realm for a long time now, her lifeblood gone unstable at a point in the past where she was away from Oraelia.
Long story short, Genesis made a copy of herself as part of a plan to ask for help from the others, but before the copy could grow enough to be ready to receive her memories and abilities, the Lifeblood within Genesis deteriorated further. The plan has to be rushed and this ended up with Copy Genesis receiving a massive dose of divine energy upon receiving the original Genesis’ dress, which almost killed her. After this, the Lifeblood finally begins consuming everything, the only thing that manages to escape is the copy of Genesis thanks to a portal made by the original.
On Galbar, the copy (henceforth known as Genesis) pops out into the the Place Betwixt the Rivers in Dehrthaa, where she’s retrieved by a passing ascetic traveler called Birburelli and taken to a nearby human village to recover.
Genesis wakes up disoriented, gets some food and drink from the villagers and talks a little with a child and his mother. Some time later, Birburelli (the one who had saved her) appears again and they talk, with Genesis learning of the potential location of nearby Sylphi. After being given the choice of joining Birburelli on a journey to the Jungles of Muraymuna or settling in the village, Genesis decides to travel, stating she wants to experience as much of the world as she can, given the fact she had spent all of her life in a gray wasteland before arriving on Galbar.
Genesis MP5-DP5
Used 4MP and 2 DP to grant Genesis the following titles Ethereal Infusion I(1MP): Grants Genesis’ body the ability to phase into a state of intangibility for a few moments, about half as long as she can hold her breath underwater. My Mama Works at the Pantheon, I Swear! III(3MP): Grants Genesis’ body the ability to levitate and move at the same time at a jogging pace, as well as a natural immunity to all but the most insidious of diseases. She can still get sick, but all common diseases will pass without complications after a day or two. Also grants her the uncanny ability of learning any new language and writing system she comes across in its entirety with just a few conversations’ worth of exposure to the language. Green Thumb… Or Hand… Or Arm II(Free): Grants Genesis the ability to manipulate plants around her. This allows her to make seeds sprout and grow quickly provided they’re planted in a proper environment. Also allows some limited manipulation of already existing plants in the environment, though not as much as if she were to plant them. Bad Ends Galore! II(2DP): Grants the ability of Rebirth to Genesis. Should she die in any manner throughout her adventures as a lesser being, her soul will remain conscious and tethered to Galbar, allowing her to search for a suitable seed to possess and manipulate into growing a new body for her over the course of a few weeks.
Used 1MP to make a portal to Galbar. Used 3DP to make the Living Dress, Hydrangea, with the following Titles: Living Clothing I(1DP): This dress is a bunch of leaves, vines and flowers that have the ability to shapeshift as long as they are being worn by their chosen wearer. It can only shapeshift into plants, but grants an incredible amount of flexibility. Ranging from clothing for cold (not freezing) temperatures all the way to swimsuits, Hydrangea can do it all. Also, as a living dress it does have the ability to heal from damage over time. This coupled with Genesis' ability of plant manipulation ensures its survival from all kinds of wear and tear. Did My Dress Just Pull a Prank on me? II(2DP): this title grants Hydrangea a level of intelligence comparable to a lesser spirit. While not generally able to talk and lacking a face to show genuine emotions, communication with the dress is perfectly possible. It will respond to being talked to or insulted, and keeping a good relationship with it will make it want to do its job much better, usually resulting in better quality outfits whenever it shapeshifts. Warning: A dress with this high level of intelligence does run the risk of getting bored, and when it gets bored, it will seek ways to entertain itself by pulling pranks, both innocent and not so innocent on its wearer.
One question I had is, do our characters all have to be from the same universe? Say, could one character potentially be of a different species (like... PLANT PEOPLE?) hailing from an alternate earth or something? Or do we all have to be human?
Hello! Old timer here who took a break from the RP scene. I noticed this RP and immediately felt that old spark of inspiration. I actually wanna RP again, if possible in this RP! So, is there are free spot I could snag up or do I have to get into a waiting list? :p
It was like a thick blanket had been lifted from her mind.
To her, it didn’t feel long at all. In fact, it was about as long as a single blink. And yet when she opened her eyes again she felt different, and she knew how long it had truly been.
Sometime through her reverie, Genesis had half-awoken and realized she was on a gigantic soft bed, covered by a thick blanket. Now, the bed didn’t feel as big and the blanket wasn’t as heavy.
Still, she realized she had yet to fully awaken. Even though she had just opened her eyes, she felt them beginning to close once more, her eyelids as heavy as mountains.
To combat this, Genesis threw the blanket off of her form and forced herself up. Once she was sitting at the edge of her bed, she stretched and yawned. She rubbed her eyes and loosened her jaw and neck, then took in a deep breath and looked at the large windows letting copious amounts of light into the room.
Her leaves twitched as she blinked slowly and with half-lidded eyes.
She yawned again, a tiny high pitched whimper escaping her throat as small tears formed at the corners of her eyes due to the intensity of the yawn.
It felt like she sat there for months, but it was probably just half a minute. When ready, she floated off the bed and turned to look at it, seeing several leaves and vines strewn about, no doubt her old dress, which meant she was now essentially naked. Genesis groaned at this realization and floated over to her dresser. Not because she had spare clothing in the drawers (they were empty), but because she wanted to look at herself in the mirror.
What she saw staring back at her made her tilt her head and raise her eyebrows. She had grown, apparently. Quite a bit. She wasn’t quite at the point where her mom was, but if the reflection was correct, then she was a quite a bit shorter and uh, slightly less developed. Also, she was cute. She smiled faintly at her reflection and rubbed her hands through her leaves in a way to get them to stop twitching excitedly. She kinda resembled Exodus… But green and yellow, and with far more leaves growing from her head and upper back.
Another yawn, and she shrugged and floated out of her bedroom, completely disheveled and still half-asleep. As she was floating down the stairs and into the living room, she called out in a familiar but more mature voice. ”Mama!”
There was no response, so Genesis took it as a sign that Oraelia was probably out and about. Maybe she was with Auntie Gibbou… Genesis pursed her lips, rubbed her eyes again, and scratched her right leg and butt.
”Ah… Sleeping for so long makes Genesis itchy, doesn’t it...” She told herself, then floated past the modestly furnished living room and out of the front door. Thankfully there had been enough light spilling into her room that she didn’t have trouble adjusting to the brightness outside. Instead, she relished it and immediately felt reinvigorated. Still, she was incredibly dehydrated…
So she let her bare feet touch the ground and she walked to the nearby river, following the sounds of flowing water. ”Ma-ma, Ma-ma~” Genesis muttered in a sing-song tone as she came upon the river and got down on her knees to drink directly from it with her eyes closed gently.
She was there for a while, every gulp giving her more and more energy, until she had her fill. It was then that she heard some skittering coming from a tree behind her, and she turned sharply to see a squirrel sitting on a low hanging tree branch, nibbling on a herb and staring directly at her. Genesis stared back.
Then she huffed and suddenly pointed a finger at the squirrel, ”You there! Fluffy furry squirrel! Come here and let Genesis kiss you!” She demanded, opening her hand and offering her palm to the squirrel as she jumped to her feet and drew closer.
The squirrel tensed up its tail and stopped its nibbling. It was almost like a statue, and when Genesis had come close enough to almost touch it, it pooped and scurried up the tree, leaving Genesis staring at thin air and a dirty tree branch. She now knew why the squirrel was nibbling on that specific herb.
“Bleh.” She stuck her tongue out and scrunched up her nose in disgust, then walked off back towards the cottage she shared with her mom. Only, when she had arrived and was about to enter the house again, she caught something odd at the corner of her eye. Underneath the lone tree cresting the hill up a ways from the cottage, sat a yellow figure in the shade.
She remembered Oraelia and herself would often go to that spot to watch the prairie beyond, long ago. It couldn’t possibly be Oraelia though, as the figure was too dim… And Oraelia had always been incredibly bright whenever Genesis saw her before.
After a moment’s worth of hesitation, Genesis turned from the door and made her way to the figure, running up the hill. What if it truly was Oraelia? What if something horrible had happened to her mom while she was asleep so comfily on her bed? Her heart started to beat faster and faster, up until she came to be in front of the figure.
Indeed it was Oraelia, who sat looking blankly off into the distance. She was only barely glowing, revealing more of her features then ever before. She wore a white dress, hair unkept and her face was haggard. As soon as Genesis spoke, Oraelia seemed to snap out of her haze and she looked up at Genesis, flinching. Slowly her face morphed into one of surprise as she brought her hands in front of her mouth. She eyed Genesis up and down, before tears began to well up in her eyes.
”G-Genesis?” she asked, her voice full of emotion.
It didn’t take long at all for Genesis to beam at Oraelia and then jump on top of her, hugging her and kissing her all over her face and neck. ”Mama! You’re here after all! Genesis slept for so long, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I promise! I missed you so much, Mama.” She said rapidly, laughing with happy tears in her eyes before quieting down and nuzzling her face against Oraelia’s neck and taking a few quick whiffs, not realizing her leaves were all twitching against Oraelia’s face.
Oraelia sobbed uncontrollably as Genesis fawned over her. Her mother wrapped her up in a fierce hug as her tears fell down onto the top of Genesis’ head. Her sobbing eventually changed to that of happy crying, as her color and warmth returned a bit. ”It’s okay.” Oraelia replied shakely, ”It’s okay my love. M-My daughter.” she breathed the word, gulping down air as she began to cry again. ”I-I-I missed you too.” she nuzzled the top of Genesis’ head.
After taking one last whiff of Oraelia’s scent, Genesis let out a happy cooing noise and propped herself up on her arms to look at Oraelia’s face. ”Mama. How are you? I want to know what you’ve done while I slept. I want to listen to Mama’s voice.” She said softly, wiping her eyes and rolling off of Oraelia in order to cuddle up to her side and get back to nuzzling up against her neck with her eyes closed.
”I… I’m better now, Genesis.” Oraelia said, as she put an arm around Genesis, stroking her head with her other hand. She then cleared her voice and sighed. ”I’ve done... “ she paused for a moment. ”I’ve done many things.” she suddenly cooed. ”I met Gibbou and we talked about many things and then Aunt Evandra came and I ate delicious berries and then I… And then I…” she began to breath quicker. ”That’s about it.” she finished quickly.
Genesis giggled and cooed happily under Oraelia’s affection, ”Your breathing got quicker when you talked about Aunt Evandra… Who is she? Is she like Gibbou to you, Mama…?” There was a short silence, ”... And, why were you so sad when I found you?”
”O-Oh, aunt Evandra is my younger sister. So yes, she is like Gibbou. I was there when she came to be. Did you know she came from the sun? My sun?” Oraelia spoke, more silence followed before she spoke again. ”I was sad… Because I… Missed you so much. But don’t worry! I’m happy now because you awoke! And you’re so much older now. How strange is that?” her voice was still shaky, as if she was forcing herself to talk in a strong voice.
”I’m bigger now, aren’t I? Like, I saw myself in the mirror and thought I looked a lot more like big sis Exodus!” Genesis said, then sighed happily and ran her hands along Oraelia’s figure, eventually reaching the hand atop her head and feeling the strange, definitely foreign marks on it. ”Huh?” She muttered and took a hold of the hand in between hers and brought it into her field of view, where she inspected what were obviously claw marks. ”Huh… M-Mama? Did someone hurt you? Are you really okay? You know Genesis knows how you sound when you’re actually happy. I can tell you’re hiding something.”
Oraelia stilled, her face going blank. She looked down at the claw marks and how Genesis gingerly looked over them. She leaned back against the tree and spoke again, her voice losing its forced happiness, replaced instead by a profound sadness. ”I-I’m not okay, Genesis.” she began to break down, ”I wanted to make a race of protectors, beings who would love life and be compassionate towards it. So I went to… I went to Neiya and she… She helped me but at a terrible cost Genesis. She twisted them but I saved some as they should be…” she wiped away her tears and sniffled. ”She is Love but she’s consumed by all the negative aspects of it. Instead of joy, she sees sorrow, instead of generosity, she sees envy and on and on. She-She showed me what she felt and it lingers still… I want to help her… I do… But I don’t even know if I can help myself. This pain… It hurts.” she clutched her heart with her free hand and looked to Genesis. ”But don’t get me wrong my daughter,” she smiled weakly, ”I’m glad you’re here. Right here, by my side and look at how you’ve grown. So beautiful, with a kind heart.” She reached out to place her hand on Genesis’ cheek, rubbing her thumb softly upon it.
Genesis blushed and smiled up at Oraelia, ”W-Well, I don’t think anyone can help someone who doesn’t want help in the first place. But you can talk to me, Mama. I will listen, if there’s anything that makes you sad… But really, Neiya being that way is so lame...” Genesis sighed and rested her head on Oraelia’s shoulder. ”But your hand is okay, right Mama? Does it hurt?”
She wrapped Genesis in another hug. "I love you, so, so much." she whispered, resting her head on top of Genesis'. "My hand has healed but the scars… They'll stay for a time."
”Mmm...” Genesis sighed and after a while pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself. ”Well, I think your hands look cool with the scars, like a warrior queen. Now, where um, where do you think I can find leaves long enough and vines to make myself a new dress? Being naked is kinda… Yeah.” She blushed and looked away, at the landscape.
"Oh you poor thing!" Oraelia said sympathetically. "Here!" she snapped her fingers materialized in the grass several dresses of varying color and plant material. "There you go. I've recently found clothing to be quite… Comforting and cute. Hopefully you can find one, or several you like." Oraelia said enthusiastically, glowing a bit brighter as she waited to see what Genesis would pick.
And truly, the selection was rather varied. At least a dozen different dresses suddenly materialized on the ground in front of the pair and Genesis’s eyes widened at the sight. It took her a good while to decide as she went over every single set at least five times before settling on the final one. It was a dress much like the one she had originally been wearing when she was younger, as green as her own leaves, with tinges of yellow as accents here and there, but this one was considerably more well-fitted. As she tried it on she marveled at how well the ensemble complimented her figure and how comfortable it felt. Her favorite part must have been however, the skirt. It was long and parted in the middle, with a single long, wide leaf covering everything important. It was breezy, and allowed her legs quite a bit of sunlight. The way the leaves were intertwined with one another and the skillful usage of weaved fibers also made sure the dress wouldn’t fall apart suddenly and even if a section got damaged, it’d be relatively easy to repair.
She loved it. She did a few twirls which almost made the skirt go too high and then settled down, continuing to inspect the sleeves along her arms and the integrity of the dress around her chest. It left most of her midriff exposed as well as her shoulders and back.
Upon being satisfied, she grinned and turned to Oraelia, striking a cute pose. ”What do you think, Mama? In a few minutes once I finish fusing with the dress, I will be able to sustain it for a long time. Thank you soo much!” She said, twitching and gasping a little every few seconds.
Oraelia clasped her hands as she looked over Genesis. "Oh how gorgeous! It fits you so well and compliments your shade of green! You're so welcome sweetheart." her hands went up to cover her mouth as her eyes began to water again. "You've grown so much." she said misty eyed.
Genesis stuck her tongue out playfully at Oraelia and sat down next to her, ”I have, haven’t I? But don’t be sad! When Genesis first saw herself in the mirror, she wasn’t sure if the reflection was right... How did I grow, anyway? Did you plant me in the fields while I slept, Mama? Like a tree or a potato?” She asked, grabbing Oraelia’s hand with both of hers.
Oraelia giggled at that before giving her a smile. She shook her head and said, "No silly, last I looked at you, you were still small. You must have had a growth spurt!"
”Oh, that’s cool actually. Maybe I will grow more next time I go to sleep…” Genesis said, then after a moment sighed, ”I don’t wanna grow more than you though... Do you think I could become as bright as you one day, Mama? I think I’d like to make everyone feel warm and relaxed whenever I’m around, like you do.”
Oraelia squeezed her hands gently. ”It doesn’t matter if you grow more then me, Genesis. You’ll always be my daughter. And hey, you’re already bright. You don’t have to glow like I do to make people feel warm and relaxed. You do that just fine already.” she said warmly.
”You’re just saying that! But, to be fair, my eyes do glow in the dark. Like, like two golden halos. I also have some glowy markings along my body that light up at night… So, maybe I’m not too far behind. You know Mama, when Genesis looked in the mirror this morning, she thought she looked really cute. I think it is because of all the light you’ve been giving me. Thank yoouu.” Genesis said and hugged Oraelia again, then pulled away and jumped up to her feet and offered Oraelia a hand. ”Come on, stand up! What will we do today? Will we play? Cook? Go on a walk? We could even visit someone! I wonder what they’ll say when they see I’ve grown!”
Oraelia took her hand, then grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her over again. Eventually she grinned and said, ”We can do whatever you want. Anything at all.”
Genesis wakes up after a long time spent sleeping, finding herself to have grown quite a bit. She now looks like she is in her mid-teens, and her height is a whopping 5’2. Due to her growth her previous small dress broke and she ends up naked. Groggy, she decides to float around the house. She calls for Oraelia but there is no answer, so she decides to go outside for more light and to drink some water from a river.
After drinking water she messes around with a squirrel, then starts to go back home but before entering the house she sees Oraelia sitting under a tree that overlooks the landscape on top of a hill. So she runs towards her, calls her ‘Mama’, and then they have a very beautiful reunion. Oraelia fills Genesis in on what happened while she was sleeping and after all of the drama has been discussed, Oraelia makes Genesis new leafy dresses. She chooses one of the most revealing ones, covering only her arms, chest, and sporting an ankle-length skirt parted in the middle in front, with a single long leaf that reaches down to her ankles covering her privates. Her internal reasoning behind the choice is that she gets more direct sunlight that way. She keeps the other dresses just in case.
So they do some more wholesome stuff after Genesis fuses with her new dress, and then Genesis helps Oraelia stand up and they go do some more wholesome family stuff off-screen.
The early light of day danced across his skin, leaving a faint tickle wherever they went. The scent of morning, and the feeling of morning dew clinging stubbornly to his leaves. The peculiar not-too-chilly breeze that always graced them early in the day, carrying the scent of all the spring flowers and the waking cries of birds, insects and mammals alike.
Entranced, the autumnal Sylphi stared at the lonely sapling, the lonely pod in the middle of the clearing. Some melting snow was on top of it and a single squirrel was chewing at the lips of the watermelon-sized pod, trying to get at whatever was inside.
The autumnal Sylphi took in a long breath, feeling a pang of oh-so-familiar pain at his heart. A pain that only he knew. To him, what he did was the only real choice available. Anyone who knew what he had known all throughout his life would have done the same with pride in their hearts.
So when he started to drag his feet and moved towards the lonely pod, and when the worn down wooden practice sword he held slipped from his grasp and fell down onto the snowy grass, he did so without hesitation.
For he knew exactly whose child was inside that pod, and he knew that they would not come back to witness the child’s awakening.
His throat made a shameful noise as his eyes watered. He grunted and sniffled his tears back, finally coming to a stop right in front of the pod and extending a shaky hand to brush the snow off it and caress the tough shell.
Pods were resilient things, but this one had been alone, unattended and forgotten for so long that it had started to wither before anyone could even come to awaken it. It even resembled the autumnal Sylph’s red colors, even though it had the shape of a pod meant to awaken during summer.
After a while, the autumnal Sylph rested his calloused hands, immobile, right at the commissures of the tightly sealed lips on the pod, going from top to bottom… And in a quiet, almost inaudible volume, whispered.
“Wake up, little root… My little brother.”
And so the pod stirred, and something inside kicked and came to life, and eventually the tightly sealed lips hissed and came apart. A thick steam came out from inside, and thick liquid spilled out, onto the snowy ground and onto the autumnal Sylph’s chest as he rushed to catch the weak form of a newborn Sylph before it fell to the ground.
It was a boy, and the boy was a deep brown in color. He looked sickly and near death, and despite that the boy looked up at the autumnal Sylph with a shine in his half-lidded eyes like he had never seen before… Such adoration, and such love. It stirred the young autumnal Sylph’s heart, and through teary eyes he beamed down at his new brother, carefully running his hands through his brother’s wet leaves and kissing his forehead.
“Good morning, Yper. How was your Dream?”
II
The world was an ugly place. And yet, it was the only place they had… Death lay waiting around every corner, lurking in the shadows of the unknown and waiting for a fool to walk by in order to take them and drag them into the darkness.
The Sun, while beautiful and life-giving, could also cause fires and burn skin. It was unfeeling, much like the clouds, and the dirt and the stones. The Great Tree, too.
And yet… It was all so beautiful. Even though they could die at any moment, even though everything they loved hung by a single thread over the abyss that was the unknown… It was a beautiful world.
There was nothing Lych wanted more than to protect the beauty of the world, to drive back what would threaten those he loved and cherished, and to feel like he was a positive influence in such an unfeeling world. He had always believed that there had to be a reason to why they were created, a reason behind the chaos of the world, and from a very young age he had realized that in order to fulfill his true purpose, he would become an Explorer like his parents had been.
He had no close support growing up, having been left behind as a seedling in Auron’s Plot almost two decades ago by his parents, two famous Explorers who had to plant him in the settlement’s communal garden in order to keep him safe while they went on their final expedition to the far north. To everyone’s dismay, the two Explorers never came back and when the time came for Lych’s awakening, years had already passed.
And so Lych grew up parentless, being cared for by a different person almost every other week. The stories he was told of his parents always brought him respite, however. Hearing about the lives of Lis and Osmon, about the things they achieved and the people they helped, it made him feel like one day he could be as amazing as them. He had to have inherited something from them after all, right?
It was never that simple, however. Just because your parents were great doesn’t mean you were destined to be so as well. He lacked a Trait and he was deemed so incompetent at Mana that any kind of training would be wasted on him… According to the elders at Auron’s Plot, at least. But he knew, deep down, that he could become the best Explorer if they just gave him the chance. He knew!
But if they wouldn’t help him, there was not much he could do. Since the age of 10 he had taken to practicing on his own and with the goblins, having made friends with them after gathering materials for them a number of times--They even made a wooden sword for him. Obviously practicing in the combat style of goblins, who were much smaller and more agile than he was wasn’t easy. They relied on acrobatics and using the environment to their advantage. But, as much as he learned with them he eventually got too tall and too slow to keep up with them in their same style, which led to Lych training on his own for years. Over and over again he would spend entire days striking at a particularly large tree a few minutes’ walk south of Auron’s Plot. Hoping that, one day, he could show what he was capable of to an Explorer, and they’d agree to being his mentor.
Not because he wanted to… but because he HAD to. If not that, if not an Explorer, what else was he meant to do in his life? Was he destined to be a simple helper in a frontier outpost? Was he destined to help load the Magnus Pods of real Explorers with supplies for the rest of his life? To never find out what happened to his parents? To never be important enough to be remembered…?
It was one dawn in early spring that Lych grew tired of striking at the same tree and walked further away from the settlement in the hope of finding something more interesting to train with. He was growing older, now in his late teens, and he felt his time slipping through his fingers. He only had four and a half decades left…
That was the day he found the one thing he would cherish the most. In a clearing, he found the lonely, almost withered pod containing the boy he’d adopt as his little brother.
Another boy, abandoned to the whims of the world by an Explorer couple who would be swallowed by the Northern Unknown.
Lych knew he had to adopt the boy, to make him feel loved, to give him the blessing of a family--So he wouldn’t live a life quite like his. So he would never feel the hands of fate slowly tightening around his throat… So he would be free to chase whatever dream he would grow to have.
That was how Lych and Yper became brothers for life, despite not sharing the same parents. And that was how Lych eventually found someone to care for, someone to lay down his wooden sword for. Since the day he met Yper, he would work twice as hard in order to ensure Auron’s Plot could be the best settlement possible, to nurture Yper’s future.
III
One night he had been on his way back home, walking through the woods surrounding Auron’s Plot, down a barely-there dirt path… And yet, something felt off. The tiny leaves on the back of Lych’s neck prickled up, and he felt the tendons in his hands contracting at random intervals.
‘What’s happening?’ He thought, ‘Why… What am I sensing?’
It had been an unusual day at Auron’s Plot, that day. Never before had Lych seen such a large group of Explorers pass through the settlement in one day… Apparently, something big was going on at the mouth of Buddlei Pass. Big enough to require several groups of explorers, all armed to the teeth and with somber faces on exhibition.
Something big… Buddlei Pass…
As he walked, Lych could feel the tension in the air grow thicker. He could almost taste it and touch it. And while deep in his thoughts, he failed to notice the silence… Silence like he had never heard before, a silence that he was breaking with every step and every crunch of autumnal leaves beneath his bare feet.
Racking his brain for information, he started to remember bits and pieces of things he had overheard throughout his life. Buddlei Pass was the only relatively safe land passage through the Anchor’s range, which made it popular with those few Explorers who didn’t have Pods, as well as daring merchants who spent their lives trading with the people of the North.
Something big, happening at Buddlei Pass… Could very well be an event that blocks passage, and considering how well armed and powerful the Servants that had passed by Auron’s Mount today had seemed, it wasn’t a simple landslide or avalanche at the higher altitudes. But what problem could possibly necessitate so many high tiered Explorers? Why were they wearing such grim expressions?
At last, Lych came to a stop, sighing as he looked down at his hands, cramping up and relaxing several times every minute, involuntarily. He took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and let his mind wander back to that which always gave him strength, Yper’s bright future. His second chance…
As he opened his eyes again, he noticed something.
He remembered a detail that he had grown so used to over the years that it slipped his mind when it was missing.
The particular area of the Eternal Forest around Auron’s Plot, which was located on a small hill southwest of the World Anchor, was home to a flower which only showed its beauty at night. Throughout the day it would be tightly closed into a green bud, hidden amongst the grass leaves and within bushes and under rocks but at night it would bloom... And it would emit an otherworldly blue glow and spread its equally glowing pollen all over the area. It was a truly beautiful event that took place every night of the year. Some people believed the pollen to actually be spirits of the forest, or even the souls of those who had passed but still desired to watch over their loved ones.
Tonight, those beautiful flowers, the Celestial Fortunes, were hidden away. Lych felt his heart skip a beat. He looked around, letting his eyes scan over everything around him… Several trees, grass, bushes, more mundane flowers, a large boulder-
A large boulder?
There were no large boulders in the path to his forest shack. Had he gotten lost while in thought? No, that was impossible. He knew the path and the surrounding area like the palm of his hand, and yet…
He tentatively took a few steps closer to the boulder, noticing the moss and mud on top of it, the soil stuck in odd places and the rather… Exotic, patterns across its surface. It certainly didn’t look like the surface of any rock he’d ever seen before.
The colourful clouds obstructing the night sky suddenly parted and gave way to the full moon… And for a split second, before the clouds covered the light again, Lych saw the moonlight reflect off of two beady things hidden in the shadows of the boulder.
He felt his breath escape his body. He lost strength in his legs and fell backwards as he took a step back and stumbled on a root.
“Oof!” He grunted, then went back to staring at the ‘boulder’. Only… It was no boulder, and the beady things that had caught the moonlight, were eyes. “W… W-Wh…”
No words came out. Instead, the boulder began to creak and pop. Dirt exploded from it in small clouds and the moss and grass on its back shook and dropped insects of all kinds everywhere.
Then, it stood up, shaking the earth.
Lych couldn’t breath. He stared at the thing, tears welling up in his bright straw-colored eyes.
At the sight of the thing, a bit of information popped into his head.
’Remember those stories about Trolls I promised you, lil tree? It sucks, but I really don’t have time to tell them… I know, sorry! But I will give you this advice instead...’ Lych began to crawl away as fast as he could until his back hit against a tree trunk. His hand fell right on top of a hidden Celestial Fortune, and his petrified stare quickly fell onto the crushed flower. ’... If you ever notice the Celestial Fortunes that bloom at night are suddenly gone, then it means that they sensed a thirst for blood. It could be a wolf with rabies… Or it could be something much, much worse, like...’
“... A… A Troll!” Lych muttered breathlessly. The thing was easily six times his height, and in its massive misshapen hand it held an actual boulder, as if it was just a pebble. Lych snapped to attention once the troll stretched its arm towards him.
By instinct he rolled to the side and stood, then began running. He panted, feeling like his chest was about to burst.
He had nothing to defend himself with… This was the one day he had decided to take a break off of training, so his practice sword was at home! Not that the wooden thing would do anything to the troll, but…
The earth shook again, and again. The thing was FOLLOWING him!
Every time the shaking got more intense, nearer… Or maybe that was just in his head, as soon the earth shook no more. He slowed to a stop and turned around, only to see those two black eyes staring at him from above the canopies of the trees, swinging its arm to throw the boulder it had been holding at him.
It was a split second, but he saw his entire life flash before his eyes the moment he saw the massive boulder take flight directly at him.
With unnatural speed, Lych jumped out of the way, falling into a roll as the ground where he had just been standing exploded into dirt and shards of stone. Several of the shards found their way into Lych’s side. Still, he survived and would have to thank the goblins for teaching him their tricks.
And just like that, the massive monster started to slowly chase after Lych. One predatory step after another, completely disjointed from reality.
This time the troll grabbed a tree and ripped it out of the soil. Lych knew what it meant to do with it, so he just turned and began running again.
Even though Sylphi didn’t see well in the darkness, he managed to make do with his own bioluminescence which grew brighter with every passing second.
Jumping over obstacles and swiftly dodging low hanging branches, Lych eventually broke out into the clearing where his shack was. In the middle was his small home, with his small little brother grinning and waving at him while sitting on the porch.
At that moment, a deep grunt echoed through the forest and the air almost lit on fire as the troll threw a tree at the shack.
“GET DOWN, YPER!” Lych screamed at the top of his lungs.
The tree crashed into the front of the shack, demolishing the structure. Lych did not stop running and came up to Yper, who was now in shock with a large splinter stuck into his right arm.
Lych grabbed him and turned around, seeing the troll come into the clearing as well.
“That thing doesn’t give up-” Just then, the troll charged at them. Lych almost choked on his words and Yper screamed.
In a flash of movement, Lych ran towards the Troll and dodged its grasping hands and slipped past between its legs, leaving the massive monster to crash into the heap of debris that was Lych’s shack.
Lych didn’t look back, instead running as fast as he could towards Auron’s Plot with his little brother in his arms.
A great, terrifying roar almost seemed to scare away the clouds.
Eventually, Lych had been running for so long that he didn’t hear the troll anymore, and in front of him was Auron’s Plot, as well as its beautiful protective palisade.
As soon as he came through the gates, Lych set down his brother, who was bleeding profusely from the wound in his arm, and collapsed, his own wounds finally taking their toll.
It caused quite the stir, and the two Guardians of Auron’s Plot immediately came to their aid, but even they panicked slightly when Yper calmed down enough to tell them of the ‘weaaal big scawy monster’ that attacked them.
That night, several Explorers found their reveries disturbed by a pair of panicked Guardians and a hasty search for the ‘monster’ was conducted. Of course, they found the debris left behind by the encounter but no monster whatsoever.
That night, the first steps towards the Doom of Auron’s Plot and its inhabitants were taken.
This post follows the story of Lych, an orphaned Sylph who wants nothing more than to become an Explorer like his parents, yet is unlucky enough to be born without a Trait and as such Explorers don’t take him seriously enough to give him a proper (bronze) weapon. One day he finds an abandoned Sylph Pod in a clearing far from Auron’s Plot (the settlement Lych lives near to) which he stimulates enough to have it spit out the child kept inside. He adopts this child, orphaned as well, as his little brother and names him Yper.
Realizing he only had 4 decades and a half left of life in him, Lych essentially passes his dream of living a fulfilling life onto Yper, and words hard to make sure Yper’s life is not as bleak as his.
Years later, Lych is on his way back home in the forest near Auron’s Plot when he stumbles almost literally upon a Dovegrubbe Troll. The Troll chases him all the way to his forest shack, throws a tree at the shack and destroys it, injuring Lych’s brother Yper in the process. Lych manages to grab his brother and escape in the nick of time, however.
Upon reaching Auron’s Plot, he collapses. Yper tells the Guardians at the settlement about a big monster, and several of the Explorers temporarily staying at Auron’s Plot stage a hasty search for the monster, but only find the debris left from Lych’s encounter with it.
P.S. Auron’s Plot is a small frontier settlement southwest of the World Anchor used by the Arborean Culture mostly as a last safe stop for Explorers before heading up North into the Highlands through the Buddlei Pass. Many Explorer couples that pass through Auron’s Plot tend to plant their seedlings (seeds from which a Sylphi Pod that goes on to create an actual Sylphi child sprout) near or in the town, preferring to leave their seeds there for safekeeping while they go off on adventures up north.
The forests they explored, in the corn fields they played, Ilex was the older, and Nymphea was the younger.
***
Those who identified as parts and splinters of the Arborean culture had spread all over the ancient continent of Toraan. As expected, most of them chose the more temperate climates, with warm temperatures, sunny days and lots of vegetation surrounding them... It was what they knew. But some were more daring or perhaps irreparably reckless and travelled further, reaching the areas where even the roots of the Great Tree struggled to survive in. The deserts and heights of Toraan and the toxic swamps.
How they survived no one really knows. It is a fact however, that whatever it is that allowed them to settle their chosen homes also changed the Sylphi that settled with them and made it so their bodies could keep up with their spirits.
Those in the desert, in the dry and hot climate that could light one's leaves on fire if one wasn't careful, the Sylphi became the color of the sand itself and shed their leaves in favour of long sprawling branches on top of their head. They had fuller, more solid figures and a tougher bark protecting their skin, making them perfect for the roles of Guardians.
Those in the heights of Toraan found themselves growing shorter and lighter over the centuries, to the point that if one were to see one in a human settlement, one would think they were barely into their teens in spite of potentially being older than most of the humans in such a settlement. Being smaller however never seemed to impact their strength, and so they could jump much farther and have much more stamina than their bigger, more averagely sized peers.
And finally, those crazed few that instead chose to declare toxic swamplands as their home, would find their bodies taking on sickly, pale colours and their leaves adopting sharp, spiky forms. Their bodies would regularly discharge toxins into the earth below their feet and in doing so, would slowly poison any soil they stepped on, turning it into something resembling their homeland. These toxic Sylphi who mean no harm also eventually found themselves to be more susceptible to illness and injury, but their Traits in turn became more magnificent than their more mundane counterparts. Not that they show them very often, being rather secular and distrustful of their more cheerful siblings.
Described 3 different types of Sylphi that would pop up during the 2k years. Tough Sylphi for the desert, smol agile Sylphi for the mountains, and sickly, pale sylphi with more impressive Traits for toxic swamplands. These are of course much less populous than the main type of Sylphi that has been described before.
Tree of Genesis 3MP - 2DP
Again again, paying for things that happened over the skip. 2DP to grant Sylphi increased adaptability to new environments, allowing them to adapt to harsh places such as deserts, swamplands, tundra etc, without much fuss over the course of a few generations.
5/5 TOWARDS ADAPTATION PORTFOLIO. ADAPTATION PORT UNLOCKED. INITIALISING 3MP PAYMENT... PLEASE WAIT... SUCCESS. THE ADAPTATION PORTFOLIO IS NOW COMPLETELY UNLOCKED AND PAID FOR. ENJOY, MR. FRETTZO.
Two good friends they were, two brothers they became, among flowers, happy, safe.
***
It was a sunny day today, Ceres noted, as seemed to be usual around these parts. It was far different from the weather south of the Zodiac Stones on that particular part of Toraan, to the far southwest after passing one of the two thin strips of land connecting the peninsula to the main continent. But as much as it was impressive, it was also somewhat expected, as the surreal image of a tree that pierced the skies dominated the landscape. Massive primordial roots sprung from it, sometimes breaking ground and created massive natural arcs, and from those arcs grew strange flora, only seen in that particular land, and from those arcs hung all kinds of things. The most common were long, vivid green vines which little primates used to climb up onto the top of the arcs; but there were also structures built all around the roots, both above and below them. Small settlements, it seemed, but from so far away Ceres couldn’t care enough to actually pay attention to the detail of those settlements’ inhabitants.
Saying the land was thriving and full of life was an understatement. As soon as Ceres jumped down from her vantage point above a root, she began to take in her surroundings with much more care.
Every single centimeter of land seemed to have some sort of living being on it. Most of those living beings happened to be plantlife of some kind, and by Sirius there were lots of kinds.
Even without paying too much attention to single details, she could still catch a fair few glimpses of the sheer depth and complexity of the almost exclusively plant-based ecosystem. At one point she looked above her to see a bundle of fluffy leaves and twigs looking back at her, before flapping its ‘wings’ and flying off into the thick canopies above. Some time later, she saw what at first looked like a squirrel but turned out to be an awfully agile misshapen mass of bark being dragged by a set of thin green tendrils into the innards of a tree through a small opening on its side.
Ceres wasn’t in a hurry, not really, so she spent her time walking aimlessly through the lands, with the only vague goal inside her mind being finding out if the massive Tree whose canopy dominating the skies was indeed real or not.
And so time passed, day turned to night and night to day several times as she traversed the tricky terrain, circumventing great sinkholes or massive ravines likely caused by the great roots all over the land. She was easily able to avoid such things by hovering around them, but a part of her wanted to travel the land as if she was mortal.
Then she stumbled upon a lamb. It was a small, fragile thing, standing almost frozen, suspended in a ray of sunlight in between three tree trunks. It quickly snapped its head around to stare at Ceres, unflinching even as its legs seemed to shake slightly from… Fear? Exhaustion? It was impossible to know. Regardless, Ceres drew close to it, close enough to extend her hand towards it.
The tiny creature attempted to bite her earthen armor, “No, tiny creature. You can not eat that.”, to which it just bleated. It felt as though it was trying to pull her somewhere. She could easily toss it aside, but decided to humor the lamb.
Finding a new burst of energy, the lamb rushed off with Ceres floating behind it. Leading her to a small, injured and softly crying plant-girl. She rested her feet back on the ground, she placed her weapon on her back, the stone of her armor reaching around and holding it in place. She stepped forward, reaching her hand towards the little young thing. “Who are you?” The girl gasped and shied away, covering her face with her arms and revealing her scraped knees in the process, leaking a golden liquid.
“D-Don’t eat me!” She said in a quivering, small voice.
“I don’t intend to eat you.” she said, tiny lights reminiscent of stars began to hover in the air, illuminating the immediate area.
The girl sniffled and looked up at Ceres, her cream-colored eyes shining like two halos in the dark. “... I’m lost… I followed Whiteseed into the forest but then I fell and… And...” Her lower lip quivered and she looked at her knees, not daring to touch the injuries. The lamb named Whiteseed however, went up and started licking the scrapes, letting out a few quiet bleats in between each lick and eliciting a soft hiss from the girl.
Each of the specks of light began to emit a subtle, comforting warmth, “It will be okay. Where do you live?”
“Um… Ar… Arborea. I live in the big tree. Umm… Why don’t you have a face, are you from beyond the sea??” The girl asked, her gaze following one of the closest specks of light.
“I crossed the sea to reach here.” she said, re-reaching her hand out, “Why don’t we walk back over there?”
The girl slowly went to grab Ceres’ hand but hesitated at the last moment. “But my knees… I fell and now they hurt and they are bleeding…”
“And now you need to stand up and walk over to someone who can tend to that. You have the strength to do so.”
The girl scrunched up her nose, grabbed onto Ceres’ hand and forced herself up onto her feet, grunting and whimpering as she limped. Whiteseed immediately ran up to the girl’s side and stomped on the ground happily.
The two and the little lamb walked through the forest, with the little girl occasionally losing her footing only for Ceres to catch her weight and gently correct her steps. This continued until the thick forest gave way to a bright -and utterly massive- clearing. Placing atop a hill growing from the middle of the great clearing was the beginning of the Great Tree, with its wide canopy so far up that its shadow impacted the crops planted surrounding the Tree’s base no more than a passing cloud would.
There were three paved roads, made of quarried stone. Every single one lead back into the seemingly endless forest around them, disappearing into the thick foliage in different directions, and around the roads were several hundred acres of farmland with a few dozen homes dotted across the landscape here and there, and many times that number of barns. It was midday, so even from afar one could clearly see the figures of the hundreds of humans tending to the fields, as well as the ones filing in and out of the barns, carrying different supplies or wielding different tools.
It was a thriving city, made more apparent by the occasional terror-bird pulled cart full of trade goods heading out of or into the city. And a city it was even if only vertically, for the openings that led into or out of the Great Tree were abuzz with activity during that time of the day, with temporary stalls set up and people mingling and enjoying their lives in the light. Clearly artificial structures were built on top of platforms peeking out of the Inner Tree, with some of the platforms even being nearly completely bare as they were used by the city’s inhabitants as landing pads for their strange flying mounts. They would climb on top of them and secure their grip, and then the pod would fly up and then shoot out in one of three directions, all aligned with the paved roads along the ground.
Suddenly, Ceres was snapped out of her reverie by a tug on her left hand, only to turn around and see the young girl grinning and pointing at a small cluster of structures no more than a couple kilometers away, hopping happily on the spot and seemingly having forgotten all about her scraped knees, even though they were still bleeding a little.
“T-That’s my home! With daddy and mommy! Daddy gave me my dress last year cause I asked him for human clothes, he said potatoes used to wear it before me, so it’s a very nice dress!! Come, come!!” She said quickly, then took off running and skipping with Whiteseed in tow towards the tiny village with no more than a handful of structures.
Ceres, of course, followed. Though she was careful in doing so, eventually she had come up to the village and saw the Girl pulling on the leafy dress of an older looking plant woman, with a pale brown skin color and striking grey eyes, as well as dark green leaves. The woman was holding a basket full of wool, which she quickly set down once she saw the state of her daughter. Gasping, she knelt down and patted her down and checked her all over for more injuries, before looking her in the eye and hugging her tightly.
“Hedera! I knew I shouldn’t have let you go into the Forest on your own, it’s too dangerous in there… Look, you scraped your knees… And you’ve been crying!” Hedera’s mother said breathlessly as she caressed her daughter’s head, up until Hedera pulled away and huffed.
“I… I wasn’t crying ok! I just um… Yeah! I just did like the humans and peed from my eyes!” Hedera said proudly, putting her hands on her hips. Meanwhile, her mother had taken in a deep breath and couldn’t help but chuckle in relief.
“Oh, you little berry! Humans don’t pee from their eyes, who told you that?”
“Huh?! They don’t?!! Jackie lied to me!!!” Hedera said with a pout, while her mom laughed some more and brushed her fingers behind Hedera’s ears, making the girl shiver and yelp. “M-Mom!”
“So? You walked all the way here by yourself with those two big injuries? Aw, my little cube of marrow, you’re so brave!! Who’s a brave girl, who’s a brave girl?” Hedera’s mom asked as she went to scratch much more directly behind Hedera’s ears, making the girl drop to her knees and do a weird mix between unbridled laughter and panting. “You are, you are!!! Yes, you are…!” After a while though, she stopped. Some other villagers walked past as if nothing out of the usual was happening. Well, nothing except for the large, armoured foreigner. But even then they didn’t seem scared, just curious.
“Uuuuuh…” Hedera panted for a few moments and when she had recovered, she turned and pointed at Ceres, who was standing cautiously a few meters away. “Nuh-uh, the nice shiny black lady from across the sea showed me the way after I got lost. Uh, I mean, I didn’t get los-” Hedera stopped talking when her mom patted her head and stood up, walking briskly over to Ceres and nodding her head in thanks and respect.
“Thank you for helping my little girl come back home. I mean it. I’m Hamame, and my girl is Hedera. My partner runs a weavery in the Inner Tree for the humans, so the humans kindly give us some materials to keep going… I don’t know what I’d do without Hedera. Really, thank you. Could I ask what you name is, though? I’d like to remember…” All through her mother’s little speech, Hedera had been staring up at her with her mouth slightly ajar in surprise and by the end she had managed to grab a hold of her mom’s hand.
“It is Ceres.” she said. Before turning around, and starting to walk away.
“W… Wait!” Hamame shouted, springing forth to hold Ceres’ hand, “Would you, uh, like to join us for a meal? You’re not Sylphi right? So you must eat a few times a day. Please, let me thank you for what you did today.”
Ceres stopped, “I do not eat. If you wish to repay me, then pass the favour to someone else less fortunate than yourself.”
“... I see.” Hamame said dejectedly, tightening her hold on Hedera’s hand and sighing, “You’re an Explorer, aren’t you? Even though you’re not from around Arborea...”
“Not an explorer, but perhaps something akin.” she said.
Hamame chuckled and turned toward Hedera and asked, “Hedy, do you remember what the kind Explorer we met ten days ago told us?”
Hedera gasped and grinned, “YOU DO NOT NEED A BADGE NOR RENOWN TO BE A TRUE EXPLORER!” She practically shouted, eliciting snickering and laughter from a few human villagers passing by, to which Hedera replied with a massive smile.
“Well, there you have it Ceres. If even the Explorers say it is so, then you might as well be one. You will be welcome into my home any time, you just need to ask the Guardians at the entrances to the Inner Tree for Hamame and Itoper’s Weavery and they will give you proper directions.” With that, Hamame let Ceres’ hand go and nodded again. “I'll get out of your leaves now, then. We have to get back to the Weavery… Both to bring the wool and get little Hedy’s wounds treated. Bright day, Ceres!” She said and went to pick up her basket of wool, then walked off with Hedera in tow, who waved one last time at Ceres and pet Whiteseed, who was following the girl closely.
The wool shifted slightly as a metal disc materialized inside of it, an intricate design was on one side as to measure the position of the celestial bodies, while on the other was inscribed a message, ‘For Hedera, May The Stars Guide Your Way.’
Ceres is exploring the garden of dreams, when a lamb leads her to an injured child, Hedera. Ceres calmed her down and took her to take her back to her parents. Hamame, Hedera’s mother, asked to repay the favor, but Ceres told her that she should pay it forward. They talk about explorers, before saying their farewells. Ceres creates Hedera’s Astrolabe within a bundle of wool Hamame was carrying.
Tree of Genesis 4 MP - 3 DP
Again, retroactively paying for advances made during the skip.
1 MP used to justify the Arborean civ learning how to properly build structures on top of, around of and suspended under the massive roots dominating the landscape of the Garden of Dreams, as well as how to build platforms jutting out of the tree itself for the pods to land on. 1 DP to justify Arborean civ knowing how to tame, ride and steer magnus pods. Big dudes can travel across a mana stream at between 100-200 km/h depending on the pod, and can be steered and ridden outside a mana stream at a little over walking speed.
Sirius Starting: 3 MP - 2 DP Ending: 3 MP - 1 DP Created Hedera’s Astrolabe 1 DP for title: Memories of the Stars I : A person who holds or has it on their person this artifact has an easier time remembering the names of stars, and their relative position.
Member
Lord Zee
Scrawl Banditta
Vec
ImagineTheStars
Iwannabeyours
Simply Not Real
Double Capybara
Shovel
Timemaster
