Frettzo

Become Anime Girls, Destroy Robots

Can I be a cute dog girl or na?

The Illuminated (Occult Lodge RP, Historical Fantasy or Urban Fantasy, Period Undecided)

Would be interested if I was able to be a humanoid supernatural

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

The Sinful Children

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I

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There, in the centre of the Endless Forest, was a large settlement that had gone unnoticed for years. It was only over the last year thanks to a rise in the number of disappearances that people living in the various villages on the outskirts of the Forest realized something wasn’t right and sent a messenger to the nearby Lesser Town of Ruthil.

In response the Arborean Guild of Explorers and Guardians, A.K.A. the Guild, sent an Explorer and a Guardian to investigate.

A week after venturing out, the Sylphi Explorer returned to one of the small villages, badly beaten and broken.

He told the story of the Sinful Children, a group of Sylphi and Goblins that worshipped a ‘Horned Demoness’, as well as the horrors that came from the depths to feed on his fellow captives in the pitch blackness of the Endless Forest’s night.

His stories were wild and people did not truly believe them... That is, until a day after his death when a full Party of veterans arrived in the same village.

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II

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Four Sylphi wearing bone-reinforced leathers walked through the Endless Forest. On all their chests they had sown a patch depicting the same thing--A pine, with vivid green leaves covered by thick snow.

The Sylphi themselves were not much different from the pines in their patches. They were pale, with nearly white skin and bleached leaves on their heads.

It was midday, the harsh Sun of Galbar shining down through the canopies.

They walked carefully, barely making a sound, and had each member of the Party watching each direction, weapons drawn. One Bow, one Spear, one Shield and one Fist.

Confidently, the Party walked out into the open clearing where the Sinful Children’s settlement was. Shield ahead and Bow carefully scanning the treeline. As one, they walked up to the wooden arc that marked the only entrance.

The scene was almost too much. Human corpses hanging upside down from poles, flayed and being drained of blood… Mountains of filth piled up outside the palisade, consisting of feces as well as old bloodied clothes and diseased bones… And inside, right next to the entrance were several cages made from wood, bone and reinforced with random bits of metal here and there. Inside the cages, were Human men and women, in varying states of malnutrition and disease. Some of them didn’t seem to have lips, teeth or tongues at all anymore. It was a wonder how they were still breathing.

Still, the Party did not flinch. Their immediate objective was not to free the victims, but to exterminate the Children.

And no Children did they see.

They searched every nook and cranny in the village. They went into the basements where they found starved, chained up Sylphi and even quickly checked the few easier to access caverns all over the settlement. And there was... nothing.

Almost an hour later, the Pines regrouped in front of a crude altar in the central plaza of the settlement and decided to release the prisoners and escort them back to civilization.

It was then that the sky became very dark.

Thick, unnatural clouds assembled out of nowhere and blocked out the sun, and the air stagnated.

Then a very familiar buzzing rang out from somewhere within the Altar…

“Buzzer warming up, get behind me!” Shouted the Shield, planting his tower shield on the ground and bracing against it.

Quickly the others squeezed in behind him and not a second later, the altar exploded.

Splinters and shards of stone flew everywhere. Walls were blown open and the ground was showered by shrapnel. The Shield held fast however with only minimal damage as some shrapnel lodged itself in it.

Then the ground started shaking. “H-Huh?!” The Bow gasped, her leaves rustling as she took a few steps back. “Troll incoming, very big! Smells like centuries. Stand back!” She shouted and ran out of the centre then climbed on top of a hut, training her bow and arrow on the rising mound of dirt in the centre.

“Spear, you ready?!” Shield basically screamed as he, Spear and Fist ran back into the street, making sure to remain within the Bow’s line of sight.

In another explosion, the entire area they had just been in was obliterated and in its place, a massive beast stood and roared. The roar knocked the Bow onto her butt and the others barely held on thanks to the Shield.

“NO… SHE NO HERE YET… NO LOVE!!!!” Screamed the Dovregubbe.

There was a moment as the Dovregubbe reached for something that had been buried alongside it and pulled out a massive tree trunk.

Everyone was stunned. At least, they were until the Dovregubbe roared again and charged at the three in the street.

In that instant, the Shield pulled out his bronze knife and cut deep into his left arm. Sap practically shot out as he grunted. The sap didn’t fall to the ground however, and instead bubbled for a split moment before forming a dome around the three. Every last bit of sap that came out of his body joined the rest, strengthening the dome until it was almost opaque.

Then the Troll smashed down his weapon against the Dome. The earth shook and the dome cracked, but more sap flowed out of the Shield’s arm as he grew pale and fell to his knees.

Before the Troll could strike the dome again, the Bow had regained her footing and shot it in one of its eyes. The arrow then crackled with white lightning, and the heavens parted just enough to rain their might down on the Troll. A great bolt of Lightning struck it and cooked its skin off, eliciting an ear-bursting scream of pain.

It cried and moaned in pain, then stomped on the ground hard in the Bow’s direction. Immediately, the shoddy hut collapsed and with it fell the Bow, getting trapped by the debris.

Wasting no breath, the troll turned and brought down its weapon once more on the Shield’s Dome, shattering the defense once and for all. The liquid that had crystallized into the dome evaporated and with it gone, the troll roared at the three Sylphi left. The Shield, pale as a ghost, eyes heavy and legs wobbling, stood up and braced his shield again.

The troll grabbed the shield and shook it around, the Sylphi flying off and crashing into a faraway hut, then it ate the bronze shield. “Shield!” Screamed the Fist, before turning to stare at the Troll, who was now raising his weapon to finish them off. “FUCKING THROW IT ALREADY!” The Fist screamed at the Spear.

So he did. His spear was like a shooting star made of pure lava as it shot towards the Troll and pierced its skull right between the eyes. It came out the other side and shot off into the distance.

All was quiet for a moment as the Troll froze in place. Then, the flesh on the troll’s face melted along with its eyes, and from the sockets and hole in its skull flowed the mush that had once been its brain.

It fell backwards, dead.

At the same time, the Spear collapsed onto his hands and knees, vomited, and then passed out.

The Fist, being the only one standing, sighed in relief. She went to check the Spear’s heartbeat and nodded to herself in satisfaction. As she began to think on what to do next, the leaves on the back of her neck rustled and she turned around to see dozens of Sylphi and Goblins pour into the settlement from the entrance. Her heart skipped a beat and she found herself taking a step back.

They didn’t stop moving, and instead broke into a run toward her.

She gulped hard and steeled her will. She was going to meet her fate well. The first thing she did was snap the Spear’s neck. Then, she ran over to the Bow, who was trapped beneath the debris. She looked at her half-conscious, crying friend in the eye, smiled gently, and struck her with a quick and painless channeled fist to the chest, stopping her heart and sending a shock throughout her entire nervous system. She died painlessly.

Next, she tried to escape the horde by going into an alleyway, but she was quickly cut off from escape by the horde.

A grim sense of certainty fell upon her, and she assumed her favorite stance. With the mad club and knife-wielding Sinners now approaching from two sides, she took a deep breath and channeled her fist once more, then tried to strike her own chest--Only to be interrupted as a heavy weight landed on top of her, throwing her to the floor. She screamed her lungs out as soon as she realized it was one of the Sinful Children on top of her, laughing madly into her face.

She kicked and struggled, but she couldn’t get him off. Soon, the horde piled up on her.

She wasn’t taken captive, oh no… But they did torture her for as long as they could before she died. At the hands of her fellow Sylphi, the Anchor’s Fist was broken and humiliated.

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III

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Weeks later, the village sent notice once more to the Guild... This time, the news of the Pines never returning from their mission made waves. The Guild then reached out to the Explorer Party closest to the area in order to task them with the mission of retrieving the Pines or confirming their fates... This Party turned out to be one consisting of two Sylphi and two Humans.

Summary

Arborean communities report to the Arborean Guild of Explorers and Guardians that several of their humans and some Sylphi have been going missing. They send a pair to investigate, the pair get captured and tortured but one of them escapes and warns the first village he finds. He then dies from infected wounds.

A day later, a group of veteran Explorers arrive with the mission to exterminate the Sinful Children, the group identified as being the one responsible for the disappearances. The Group, named the Pines, is a famous Party of Explorers originally from the snowier areas of the Anchor.

They reach the settlement where the Sinful Children live, find it deserted, but eventually stumble upon a buzzer IED, following an ambush from a Dovregubbe troll after the sunlight is blocked out by unnaturally dark clouds.

The team, being veterans, manage to take the troll down but not without heavy casualties. The only one left standing is a female Sylphi explorer called the Fist, but before she’s given time to think, a horde of Sinful Children pour into the settlement from the forest around and cut off all escape routes. She quickly decides to give her incapacitated friends merciful deaths, something she’s succesful in. But when she finally gets cornered and tries to commit suicide instead of being captured, she in taken down by a Sinner jumping down on top of her from a roof.

The Fist is then tortured to death over the course of several hours, all at the hands of her fellow love-maddened Sylphi.

Weeks later, notice of their failure reaches the Guild, and they task the closest available Explorer Party with confirming the Pines' fates and rescuing them if possible. This new Explorer Party turns out to be Gen Party.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

The Singer

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I

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Staring at the sky and humming her little melodies was all she could do.

Lost in the endless forests as something alive yet not living. Doomed by fate itself as well as her kin to be forgotten and discarded, yet stubbornly grasping at the embers of life for the sake of her Dream. Disconnected from everything else and with her memories as her only compass.

She reached for the twinkling stars, her hand slightly translucent and her body emitting an otherworldly glow, and closed her eyes.

Alone. She was alone.

A whimper came from nearby, and the short goblin opened her eyes again and walked over to the source of the sound. Her steps were not synchronized to her movement and wherever she stepped, the ground glowed for a few minutes after.

It was behind a tree, hidden and curled up, that she found the child.

A little human, no older than ten. The boy was shivering with his eyes closed, bruises and small cuts all over his body.

A strange sound came out of the goblin wight’s throat as it half walked half floated up to the child, kneeling down in front of him and caressing his cheeks. She wiped away sweat and tears and mud, the touch cold as ice on the child’s skin. He got goosebumps along his arms, and weakly managed to open his eyes to look at the ethereal form of the smiling goblin.

There was no fear in his eyes. Not a single twitch or gasp as he saw the wight in front of him, nor the clean deep gash along her throat, or the liquid that eternally dripped from the injury only to evaporate as soon as it touched the ground.

Instead, his eyes widened and sparkled as he coughed blood all over himself.

The boy relaxed and fresh tears streamed down his cheeks as he sniffled and buried his face behind his knees, his body shaking rhythmically in synchronization to his quiet sobbing.

The undead goblin sighed, wrapped her slender arms around the boy and caressed him gently as she began to hum one of her melodies. The soft music echoed deep into the silent woods. Their only witness being the full moon and the trees, the goblin kept comforting the child even after his sobbing had stopped and his body had grown cold and rigid.

She only let go once she felt his spirit pass through her, on his way to the stars. At that point, she wiped her own tears and continued to watch over the small body.

“You... were silenced... too…” She muttered to no one in particular, tracing fingers along the edges of the gash cut into her throat. “This world... is cruel and.... unforgiving… For a... pure creature... like you to... end up like this… do the Gods... have no hearts?”

There was silence for a while, until she began to hum once more, eyes closed as she stood up and stayed beside the body the child had left behind.

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II

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Soon after the first night of grieving, the wight had chosen to hide within the tree that kept the boy's corpse out of the rain. Weeks later, it was a rough voice that woke her from her reverie. It was a Sylphi’s voice, she could tell not only from the sound but from the smell and taste of his soul.

He, accompanied by a much younger Sylphi girl as well as two humans, one with a straw hat and the other with washed out blue robes, came to a stop in front of the body.

“Tsk…”

“Gods be damned…” Said the one in robes.

“The monster who did this… We gotta get rid of it. This can’t happen again.” Said the one with the straw hat. He slid his hat in such a manner that it would cover more of his face, but he could not hide his turbulent emotions from the wight.

The Sylphi girl, after a moment of shock, started to cry. Instead of saying anything, she instead walked off into the forest. No one else followed, their bodies tense and shoulders slumped. The midday light cast long shadows down their faces.

The Sylphi male went on to kneel in front of the husk that had once contained the soul of an innocent boy, and poked it. It immediately dissolved into dust and was blown away by the breeze.

“Ghouls…” He whispered, with the man in the hat grunting and the robed woman turning away and crossing her arms.

The shadows grew long under the tree. The wood creaked and leaves rustled.

“You… Mourn for… Him…” Came the weak, breathless voice.

The men tensed, hands slowly finding their way to their weapons. The Sylphi male took a sharp breath.

“... Yes, we do. We were meant to protect him…” He said.

“We were meant to save him! From the bunch o’ freaks that took children from outside the Forest!” The man with the hat shouted, one hand now on his buzzer and the other digging for cartridges in his pouch.

“I… Grieve for him… too...” The weak voice continued. A silence ensued.

The silence was eventually filled by a soft melody coming from the tree, however. A gentle thing that calmed the soul and gave it respite.

It was a minute that the three living sapients were on guard, but to the wight it felt like far longer. Once they relaxed and took their hands off their weapons, she stopped her melody and watched.

“Do you, um, know where to find… You know, the ones responsible for this?” The robed woman asked, her eyes sparkling similarly to the way the boy’s eyes sparkled when he saw her.

“I… Do…”

The three mortals shared glances, nodded and the Sylphi male went off to presumably get the girl that had walked off.

Once he was away, the wight left her hiding spot within the tree, materializing right on the spot where the boy’s husk had rested. She was a goblin, but unlike most goblins she was elegantly dressed with the finest fabrics from the Great City, all tinged a strange blue colour, made more clear due to her translucent nature and her glow.

Her features as well, were not as wild as those of foreign goblin clans’. Instead, they resembled much more closely the features of modern civilized Arborean craftsperson goblins.

Reaching up to their knees at most, the goblin wight looked at them with her glazed blue eyes and turned to walk in a set direction.

“Follow…” She told them and walked.

Just in time for the sylphi male to come back with the girl in tow, who was rubbing her eyes still. The man in the hat saw the two Sylphi return and whispered to them, a wild glint in his eyes and his brows twitched and his mouth seemed to have trouble deciding whether to laugh or scream.

“T… That thing’s got a fuckin’ gash in its throat! It’s drippin’, someone slit its throat! How the fuck’s it walkin’ and talkin’?!”

“You’re friends with hunter who’s also a talking plant, as well as his adoptive daughter who is also a dead goddess, and you think a ghost is weird?” The Mender asked the Buzzslinger, jabbing him lightly in the side with her elbow.

“Ow! Hey, my ribs are sensitive! Fuckin’...” The Buzzslinger muttered something unintelligible before the Mender jabbed his side again and turned away to hide her smug grin. “OW! Thaa take me now and end my sufferin’...”

Summary

Wight finds injured child in forest. Wight comforts child until it dies, then guards its body for a few weeks. Wight then meets Genesis party and guides them to the people behind the child’s death.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

The Buzzslinger

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I

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The whole town was dead silent. Nary a whisper nor a step. It was just the two men standing twenty steps apart, staring each other down.

A window creaked, a small Sylphi’s brown face peeking out from inside one of the homes.

Hands hovered over buzzers.

One man’s hand was shaking. The other man’s hand was calm.

One was covered head to toe in leathers and furs from all over the Arborean lands. The other donned simple clothes and a large straw hat.

Their hair was long, flowing in the wild winds of the Calyptus Desert. One man’s was black with streaks of grey. The other’s was as brown as the mud in the Garden.

Someone shut a door loudly, the sound echoing all across town, through the empty alleys and off the flimsy clay and sandstone walls.

The man in simple clothes took in a deep breath, the other man’s fingers twitching. The town still had the scent of freshly baked bread lingering. The sun had finally risen over the horizon.

The sound of a hundred bees filled the town.

It was a blur. In one moment, buzzers had been drawn. The man covered in furs shot first.

Out of his buzzer came a dragon of fire, devouring everything in its path to its destination, the other man.

The other man then shot his own buzzer and a great gust --no, a blast-- of wind pushed the dragon of fire back, then as the simple man threw his buzzer to the ground, the wind shot upwards into the sky.

As the simple man raced through the superheated air left behind by the dragon, the dragon in the skies above exploded in a blaze of endless colours.

Skin sizzling and grunting in pain, the simple man lunged at the one in furs.

The nervous man choked and dropped his buzzer upon seeing the other’s charge and grabbed the adze he kept in his belt.

Yet the other man was too fast. As soon as the furred man had raised the adze, he was in front of him with his arm raised to intercept the strike. When he brought down his adze, it struck the simple man’s arm without much built up force and got it lodged into the bone.

“AAAAAAAAHH!” Screamed the simple man as he twisted his arm and disarmed the furred man, blood gushing out of his arm and all over the two men.

“S-Shit!” The furred man shouted as the other man tackled him to the ground and mounted him. He was too slow in bringing up his guard, as by the time he had realized what had happened, the simple man’s fist crashed upon his left eye.

CRACK

And the pummeling did not stop there. The simple man hammered the furred man’s face, jaw, neck and head for well over a minute.

When the simple man finally stopped the motionless furred man had been beaten beyond recognition and the simple man, left arm immobile and his torso drenched in the blood of his opponent, let out a scream of victory.

He raised his good arm toward the skies, the embers of the dragon of fire falling onto the sandy roofs and streets of the town and being put out for good.

There was a moment of quiet...

“THE BUZZSLINGER TOOK DOWN THE DRAGON!”

Suddenly, doors and windows were thrown open and dozens of voices joined in on the cheering. Sylphi, goblins and humans piled out of the buildings and circled around the Buzzslinger, patting him as he screamed victoriously again.

Cactus seeds were thrown all throughout town and bards from the tavern started playing music and singing one of the many tales of the Buzzslinger.

The injured hero of the people, with an adze still stuck in his radius, his skin covered by blisters from charging through superheated air, and his right hand’s knuckles broken and bleeding, finally stood up and, with a swift final kick to the ribs of the unconscious Dragon, turned away and made his way through the cheering crowd and straight for the woman standing at the back of it all, wearing washed out blue robes and copper ornaments around her wrists, neck and ankles.

Tears brimmed in her eyes as she stared at the Buzzslinger. He smiled roguishly as he approached her, using his mobile arm to flip up his straw hat to gaze down at the adoring woman. His brown, steely eyes met her wide emerald ones, then he nodded and she jumped to embrace him, crying into his chest.

“OW!”

“S-Sorry, sorry!” The woman quickly pulled away and smiled, wiped her joyful tears and grinned at the Buzzslinger.

“How about we start working on patching me up? My arm feels like it’s gonna fall off any second now, and the battle rush is fading. I’ve also got blisters everywhere… Absolutely everywhere. I don’t know what I’d do without you and your blessed hands, Mend.” The Buzzslinger chuckled, and the woman did the same. She then turned and led him into the nearest building, the Pillar’s Home.

From that point, the pair spent several days and nights working on his proper recovery. The townsfolk, eternally thankful to the Buzzslinger for taking care of the Scourge of the Calyptus, spared no expense in feeding him and housing him.

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II

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The Buzzslinger threw open the front door to the Pillar’s Home and came face to face with a pair of Sylphi. One was a wide eyed, awfully vibrant green one with luminous golden eyes and the other was one up there in age, with yellowing leaves and a slight dullness in his eyes.

The Buzzslinger’s eyes traveled all over the two Sylphi, and theirs did the same. It was when the Buzzslinger saw the male holding his hand over a profusely bleeding injury in his side that he smirked and flipped up his hat at them, looking at them with an amused expression before turning his head slightly to yell into the house.

“Mend? Got some work for ya!”

summary

Story shows the confrontation between the Buzzslinger and the Dragon, the Scourge of the Calyptus.

Safe to say, the Buzzslinger is victorious and defeats the Dragon, a feat that turns him into the wandering hero of yet another town. It doesn’t come without severe injuries however, as he has to get treatment from his companion and lover, the Mender, for several days straight to ensure his injuries healed properly.

Once healed and about to set out of the town to move onto their next adventure, the Buzzslinger stumbles into Genesis and an injured Hunter waiting outside their door. With a smirk, the Buzzslinger tells the Mender that she’s got work to do.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

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I

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It was a sound that made shivers travel down his spine.

The incessant, morose humming.

”Out in the open seas, a ship sailed.
The sea below, like a thick fog, veiled.
Within the veil,
One, two, twelve tails.”

The singer’s voice, low and unaffected by the rough seas, kept a constant level of volume just loud enough to be heard and yet low enough to make the listener wonder if they heard the words correctly.

Out of everyone in the ship, the singer(an Old Sailor) was the only one that the Recruit had had any trouble getting to know. Every time he spoke to the man, he’d stare blankly at him for a few seconds, then turn away and corry on with his tasks while humming and singing the same four lines.

He had lost it, everyone said, a long time ago when a ship he used to sail on sunk into the depths, seas away.

And in fact, one look at the Old Sailor’s appearance and the way he carried himself would be enough for a normal person to dismiss him as insane… The Recruit, however, was anything but normal.

There was a certain darkness in the man’s eyes that spoke of things he had seen, things that had broken him beyond repair… Things that had stolen his speech, and taken the fiery spark of curiosity from his eyes.

For now the Recruit kept on working, making sure that the central structural beam of the ship was intact. It was an important job, one that he had been assigned merely a week after joining the crew due to his hard work and getting the head explorer to recognize his abilities.

Again with the humming, the Recruit thought. He had to tell the Old Sailor to shut up, or he’d go insane.

”Out in the open seas, a ship sailed.
The sea below, like a thick fog, veiled.”

The Recruit turned to stare down the Old Sailor, but instead realized that the Old Sailor’s mouth was closed. He wasn’t making a noise.

”Within the veil,
One, two, twelve tails.”

As the sound finished, the Recruit felt his own mouth closing. His heart skipped a beat, and his stomach turned.

He had been the one singing.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

Genesis

I

Sometimes, Genesis could swear she was kind of useless. It didn’t really bother her much, as neither Birburelli nor the Hunter seemed to care. The older Sylphi now accompanying her -- or more like leading her -- was squatted down besides an animal carcass, digging into the dead animal’s injuries and innards with not an inkling of disgust or hesitation. At times, he would pull certain things out of the carcass, inspect them and discard them, and Genesis watched all of this from her position, perched upside down on a branch, with her eyes slightly rolled up into the back of her head. Yes, she had been watching for that long.

Finally, the Hunter’s yellowed leaves ruffled as he took a deep sniff of a blackened piece of sharp bone, a spike. He put the spike in a tube made of hollowed out bone hanging from his thick leather belt and stood up. “You ready, Goddess?” He asked in a rough voice, then turned around in time to see Genesis jumping off the branch, doing a flip and landing on her feet with a grin.

”Always!” She declared proudly, then skipped over to the Hunter, grabbing onto his arm before glaring harmlessly at him, ”And seriously, don’t call me that… It’s embarrassing. I seriously don’t feel like a Goddess of anything...”

The Hunter regarded Genesis coldly, his ice blue eyes shining brightly as they analyzed her. She sighed, and then he nodded and started to walk away from the carcass, practically dragging Genesis along with him, given the fact she refused to let go of his arm.

”So, what did you fiiind~?”

“Several black spikes scattered inside the leopard’s thorax. It seems that our target shot some of its spikes into the beast from the side, most likely an ambush… The leopard never stood a chance. Within a second, its lungs and heart had all been pierced several times.” He explained, his voice rough around the edges. “The flesh around the entry wound started to rot almost immediately upon coming into contact with the spikes, so we’re dealing with a very stressed Hed-Hed that is overproducing toxins. Moreover, judging from the fact that the carcass was intact and not completely cold, I’d say we’re catching up to it. If we keep this speed up we might be able to reach it before it does any more damage.”

”Huh? Close? Then why can’t I hear it or smell it? You know that that thing’s stench has burned its mark into my memory ever since it walked all over me last week. I swear, I can probably smell it from leagues away.” Genesis shuddered at the memory. The large, lanky thing bursting from the bushes and knocking her to the ground. Scaled, sharp legs tipped with sharp claws stomping over her and slobbering maw hovering over her face, with the blackest spikes growing all over its back and face-

She was broken out of her reverie as the Hunter stopped suddenly and wiggled his arm out of her embrace.

”Huh? What’s wrong? W-Wait, is it… Is it THAT close?!” She gasped, her eyes narrowing and her hands shakily finding the handle of the bone knife the Hunter had given her after the other ‘incident’ back in Muraymuna.

To Genesis, it felt like minutes passed, but in reality it was only a moment until the Hunter visibly relaxed and shook his head. “No, but I do hear and smell a different kind of predator. Humans, to be exact. Several of them smell like pups, but not all. Be on your guard, but don’t do anything to make them feel threatened.”

Genesis sighed and groaned, letting her arms fall limp to her sides. The next moment she was completely disregarding what he had said, starting to walk ahead of the Hunter. He seemed to want to say something but thought twice about it before huffing and catching up.

”I know you don’t like them but listen, a human saved me when I was more vulnerable than a cute little baby bunny. One day you’re going to have to learn how to trust they aren’t all freaks.”

“I’m sorry Goddess, but let me remind you I’ve seen much more of the world than y-”

”I told you not to call me that! UGH!” She said with a voice crack as she turned around and stomped her bare foot down, frowning and beginning to tear up. ”I swear, you’re doing it on purp-”

“Shh!”

”Oh, NOW you want me to shut up! Well, I won’t! If you won’t call me a nice name I won’t shut up. I will not shut up. You’re mean, mean, a meanie, YOU shut up! Bully!” She yelled, stomping on the ground with almost every word, flattened the dirt beneath her.

The Hunter groaned and brought his palm to his face, shaking his head and using his other hand to point behind Genesis. She let out a high pitched whine as she rubbed at her eyes and turned around to look, seeing a cloaked figure standing amongst the trees. In a split moment she yelped and dashed behind the Hunter, grabbing tightly onto his cloak and only peeking out slightly from behind him at the approaching figure.

The figure stumbled forward, taking uneasy steps while they held a hood over their face. They were hunched over, making it difficult to tell exactly how tall they were but they were small.

The two Sylphi took a step backward, with the Hunter moving a hand to the handle of the oversized bone sword on his back, a low hum starting as his hand hovered over it. He grunted towards the figure and spoke. “Stop approaching and lower your hood, we do not deal with shadows.”

”R-Remember that humans can’t understand you!” Genesis whispered to the Hunter, leaning as close as she to his ear could while standing on the tips of her toes.

“Then you talk to the thing! What’re you waiting for, Gen?!” He said, taking her by the arm and pushing her in front of him, eliciting a gasp and a panicked attempt to retreat, only managing to bump against the Hunter. After staring at the cloaked figure for a moment, she turned to the Hunter and cast him an annoyed glance, before looking back at the figure.

”Huh, u-uh… Yeah, uh, so, please lower your hood so we know who we’re dealing with.”

The figure stopped shortly after people began to shout at them. They paused, clung to their hood even harder and attempted to turn around and run, but immediately tripped over their own feet.

”Huh… I don’t, uh, think it’s dangerous actually. Most likely a kid.” Genesis said with a sigh of relief, and then made her way towards the figure.

“Wait, you don’t know that!”

She, of course, ignored the Hunter and helped the figure up once she was close enough, making sure to make only slow movements so as not to frighten it. ”I’m Genesis, and the old tree about to shed its leaves back there is a weirdo who doesn’t want to share his name.”

The Hunter rolled his eyes and relaxed, crossing his arms. ”Yeah, like I want a friend of the God of Corpses to know my name…Give me a break.” He whispered to no one in particular

”I heard that!”

The stranger shielded their face with both arms just muttering in one of the local tongues, "Small tree… Big tree."

Genesis, who had been in Dehrthaa before, was barely able to understand the words spoken and so, with a thick Arborean accent, spoke back to the stranger. ”No harm. Tree good. Tree soft. Touch.” She said slowly, moving to grab one of the figure’s hands.

The Hunter, who stood a good few steps away still, shook his head upon hearing Genesis speak in the foreign tongue. “This is ridiculous…”

They resisted, chanting to themselves, "Get away big tree. Must find safety."

Genesis huffed and shook her head, ”Safe. Me safe. You?”

The figure seemed to calm down for a moment, stating as fact, "You are not lying." She then cautiously and questioningly said the Arborean word for friend, prompting Genesis to grin widely, a high pitched whine of joy escaping her throat as she visibly struggled to contain herself.

”Small girl. Genesis me. Genesis likes girls. Friends!” She declared, hopping a little as she deftly took the chance to intertwine her fingers with the girl’s.

The stranger girl allowed it to happen for a moment, her head still lowered beneath her hood but strains of white hair messily stuck out from it. After a moment, she made a noise of surprise and jumped back, which Genesis mirrored. At first, it seemed that the girl had gone back into cowering, but a second glance showed that she was hunched over with her hands clasped together. She was muttering a prayer to herself.

After a moment of carefully observing the girl, Genesis glanced back to find the Hunter gone. ”We’ll meet later today I guess...” She mused aloud with a single rustle from her leaves before turning back toward the cloaked girl. The Sylphi teenager began to stretch her arm toward the girl again, but soon found herself hesitating. Clearly she hadn’t liked the physical contact, but she still had to know what she looked like with the hood down. And so, slowly while the girl was preoccupied praying, she knelt in front of her and gently took a hold of her hood and lowered it.

The girl kept her head facing towards the ground, but not far enough where you couldn’t see her face. She had messy, bleach white hair and her skin was very pale, almost colorless except for a small dot of red just above her lip. Her eyes looked glazed over and reddish. She went to grab her hood, but didn’t raise it above her head.

Genesis smiled softly at the girl, inspecting her closely and inching as close as she could without actually touching her. She took a few sniffs, noting the particular scent of horse around her hands and confirming that the red spot was in fact blood. She was tempted to lick the bead of ‘Animal Wine’ right up but thought better of it, instead opting to wipe it away with her thumb.

”Touch hurts girl? You bleed. Fingers are hurting??” She asked, concern clear in her voice.

The girl pulled her hood back over her face, and stood up. She pointed in a direction, “I am fine. Come. We must go” before saying the arborean word for home and walking in that direction, Genesis following closely, taking a few curious whiffs every few steps.

The two travelled for some time, the girl was uneasy on her feet but seemed to be able to navigate well enough through the foliage. Eventually, the jungle began to clear and they started to walk in the eastern foothills of the anchor.

Nestled in some isolated corner of the Qaywander Lowlands, the two started to approach a simple hovel. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary if poor living area, but on closer examination it did not appear as though it was lived in. It did not smell like anyone lived here.

Upon entering the hovel, the hooded girl knelt down and started to pray and so Genesis waited patiently behind her, eyeing the barebones room curiously.

Once the stranger was finished, she walked over to a corner of the room and revealed a trapdoor that was simply covered with a dirty rug. She pulled it open and very carefully climbed down the ladder below it, with Genesis going down soon after.

Below the hovel, there was a short tunnel leading towards a simple but well-constructed stone wall. Standing in the already open doorway was a young woman with long blonde hair, and called out in the local language, “We were expecting her.” gesturing towards the stranger, then turning towards Genesis, “But we were not expecting a sylphi.”

Genesis opened her mouth to speak but tripped up on her words, so she had to take a deep breath and gulp. ”I’m Genesis, I found her out in the jungles southeast of here. What was she doing so far out? My friend and I have been tracking a dangerous beast around these parts for the last week.”

The woman glanced back, “Many different people from many different places end up here, but the reason is always the same, they have nowhere else to go. She was close enough to make the journey by herself.”

”Well, okay,” Genesis said, then looked around and then back at the woman, ”So what’s this place? Why hide? There isn’t a human settlement for days in any direction.”

The woman responded, "This is the Kuiper House, and as I said it is a residence for those who have nowhere else to go. Some of those reasons are more visible than others. While it would be foolish to try to hurt anyone here. The master of the house would rather not have it come to that."

”Okay,” Genesis nodded, ”So it’s a house for outcasts, like me! Or, well, me when I hadn’t met others of my kind. And it’s protected by one of the shids that a friend told me about a while ago. What sect are you with? I don’t want to say the wrong thing, I’m not from around here.”

The woman looked confused for a moment and then smirked to herself, "Neither am I. If we are going to be talking this long, I should tell you I am Agnes. Anyway, our master is a higher authority than any shid and I don't remember inviting you in to begin with."

The Sylphi girl tapped her chin with a finger as she racked her brain for authorities higher than shids, coming up blank several times before giving up with a sigh. ”The only one I know higher than any shid is either Ahthaarus or Orjarnabapti. Is it one of them? I’ve spoken to Ahthaarus before, you know. Anyway, can I come in? Can I see what the house looks like inside?”

Her younger travelling companion looked at Agnes, "She is a friend." She tried to find a word, but seemingly could until she spoke some foreign word.

Agnes sighed and glanced over her shoulder quickly. "Fine. You can come in, but if you cause any trouble." She opened her hand and it started to crackle with blue lightning before quickly fading, with Genesis wasting no time in nodding vigorously and skipping up to just behind her.

”Soo… What was that blue light? It looked like the flashes of light you see on the sky when it rains really hard. Lightning, wasn’t it? But lightning comes from the sky, not hands. Unless you’re not a human and are actually made of clouds? That’s impossible, you smell too fleshy, Agnes.”

Agnes poorly attempted to hide how she immediately regretted her decision, "Are you unaware of the magicks of this world?" She said, walking deeper into the cave towards another robed figure. The cave was surprisingly well-furnished and was also well lit without any obvious source of light.

Genesis shrugged in reply to the question, ”I know that the Hunter uses some kind of magic trick to make his sword weigh less, but I don’t know how he does it. He can also, like, jump really high and fast. You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. I once saw him cleave a Munaraptor in half while jumping down from a very big tree. Oh, and you have really nice decorations here. Better than Dihrmetians’ huts for sure.”

Agnes sighed, "Yes, I am sure your friend is very impressive. It seems like you have questions about the house, magic or something. I am sure Rik would be happy to answer them." She said, gesturing towards the robed figure. "I have some important work to do somewhere else."

”Uh, okay, see you around,” Genesis called after her as she left, and turned towards the robed man. Jeez, why did everyone wear robes here? It wasn’t even that cold, since her dress hadn’t deemed it fit to change into something that covered her body a little bit more. ”Rik, right? I’m Genesis. How did you lose your arm? Was it eaten by something? Some beasts are really aggressive around here, but I’m sure if you ask the Hunter he might be able to speak to someone about crafting you an arm. He has a wooden toe after all. I know it because I had him take off his shoes. I wanted to see if Sylphi males had toes, which they actually do. They were bigger though, so I don’t know if I like them. His feet smelled a lot too, I don’t think he takes those boots off often enough, I have to force him to take baths or he will just track and track and track and track… He is obsessed with his work you know, being a Hunter and all. I think maybe he actually doesn’t want to stop, sit down and think about things and maybe actually tell me about his past but you know, what can I actually do but just follow him, ‘cause he gets annoyed when I ask too many questions and talk too much- Ah, sorry, um, I got carried away again… I talk a lot when I get nervous...” She said, blushing and looking away.

Rik just allowed her to ramble with an uneasy expression on his face, while absentmindedly reaching his one arm to the otherside of his body, nervously speaking, "It is alright. I lost my hand soon after my birth due to ailment. I make do without it."

”Ah, ok,” There was an awkward silence, ”So, should I just go explore on my own, or is there like someone to show me around, or…? I asked Agnes if she could let me see the House, but I don’t actually know where I should go or what places I’m not allowed in.” She asked, rubbing the back of her neck nervously and starting to float a little out of reflex.

Rik paused for a moment, "Oh yes, You do not have to worry much about going where you are not allowed but I can show you around." He said, trying to get himself ready before awkwardly walking down the hall.

As they walked down the pristine cavern, they moved past a sprawling woody plant that grew from the cave wall. A sylphi girl was carefully picking blueberries from it and placing them into a wooden bucket. A knife was beside it that she would occasionally pick up to trim it back in places. Genesis wasted no time ruffling up the girl’s leaves as she passed by her. She wasn’t much younger than her, she reckoned, but her shorter stature gave her fluttery feelings in her chest. When the sylphi girl looked at her with exasperation clear on her face, Genesis merely stuck her tongue out at her and giggled, before following Rik on the tour.

Walking through the next door, they entered a circular sitting area. Small tables were surrounded by various mats and cushions. The room was dotted with shelves covered in scrolls, tablets and other baubles. A night elf sat down, wax firmly placed in their ears, reading a scroll while on the other side of the room, an Alminaki held a quartz in their hand and made it glow and change colors.

Rik guided the two guests through one of the other doors out of the room and into another hallway. Continuing that path there were two doors opposite each other both open, the one on the left was a large room with long wooden tables and benches.

On the other side, a human and a humenaki were in a kitchen area preparing something using those blueberries and some flour, occasionally going through another door connected to some type of storage area to get something. Whatever they were baking smelled absolutely delicious, and she knew for a fact it’d destroy her stomach if she dared steal some for herself, so she didn’t. She’d learned her lesson back in Dihrmeti, after all… Spending the entire night in an outhouse wasn’t on her to-do list that day.
The path forked again and Rik guided them through the right path, past a room an open room with a sylphi, human and night elf playing with a ball. There were crates on the other side of the room that seemed to have other toys in them. The sylphi boy in the room immediately turned to stare at Genesis, who returned the stare with one of her own. Their leaves ruffled a little, and then the boy laughed and went to whisper something in the ear of the kid closest to him. Genesis shook her head and chuckled at this and moved on.

Continuing down, there was a room filled with more shelves covered with scrolls and tablets, with a few cushioned chairs in the corners and edges of the room.

They also passed by an alcove in the wall which had a bucket tied to a long rope that someone was pulling up, taking the bucket and gently moving the water that was in it to another bucket before sliding a wooden lid over the hole and placing the roped bucket on top of it and carrying the water-filled one back the way they were walking.

The path eventually ended in another room, one whose function, unlike the others, wasn’t immediately obvious. It had stone pillars with small statuettes on top of them and words carved in some foreign script written into each of the stands. At the back of the room there were more shelves to either side covered in scrolls, but between them was another pillar that had a pyramid top, pointing up towards a mural of a black figure standing against a blue and purple night sky, with stars painted even over the black figure.

At this point, Genesis hummed aloud in thought and tapped her chin, ”Hm, reminds me of the carvings and murals on Ritualist churches.” She mused, then pointed up at the painted figure, ”Do you guys worship that being in this House? What is its name? It kinda looks like what I pictured Ahthaarus to look before I saw his statue. Ahthaarus is massive, by the way.”

Rik answered, “That is a painting of the master of the house, Ceres, and our patron god, Sirius.”

”Hum hum,” Genesis nodded, walking over to one of the pillar and running her hand across its surface, ”So, you worship them here? How do you worship them? You don’t have a bloody altar so I’m probably right by assuming you don’t do human sacrifices.”

The augur seemed unnerved by her later comments, “Yes, this is an area of worship and we do not sacrifice humans. We came from many different places, and have different gods, some of which we learn are the same but bearing different names. Are there any gods which you give praise?”

Genesis shrugged, ”Not really, I was told I used to be a Goddess, but I really don’t feel like that’s true. Just because I can float doesn’t mean I was one of the people who created the world, you know? Gods… Aren’t really that big a deal, I think. If they were, there wouldn’t be so much strife in Dehrthaa. It almost feels as if they’ve failed to make things right, to me...” Genesis hummed once more, ”BUT! That aside, the world is still full of cool things to see and experience, so I gotta give credit where credit is due. If nothing else, the Gods are creative.”

“That is one way to see things.” Rik said, his eyes drifting towards one of the shrines unconsciously, “If you are finished here, I could show you to one of the areas where we train magic.”

”Sure, I was wondering what kind of cool stuff you guys got up to in here. I mean, an isolated house collecting lots of people in the middle of nowhere? And I’m supposed to believe it’s just a regular old house, yeaaaah right!” She said, snickering.

Rik had encountered strange people living within the House, though this girl still did seem odd. But he led her to one of the training rooms, though the other girl chose to stay in the prayer room. He led her back the way they came until they reached the last intersection and then guided her down the other path, they walked past a closed door before reaching the next door which was slightly cracked open.

Entering the room, it was rather plain except for more of the pillars similar to the ones in the prayer room lining the walls, except there were only nine of them. A girl with snow white hair sat meditatively in the center of the room, while the spectral image of a small arctic fox cub danced around her rhythmically. Genesis squinted her eyes at the sight, then looked at Rik. ”The girl’s haunted by the ghost of a fox. Do you have salt and olives? The Hunter told me grinding those together will ‘get rid of any unwanted visitors’. He was probably referring to ghosts, now that I think about it.”

The augur replied, “That is her magic, this is the room for druids to practice their magic. “ he said, as he interrupted by another person walking in, a male with greenish skin and long white hair with what looked like grass poking through it, before he noticed Genesis he called out, “Rik, there is a Sylphi man that walked into the hovel. He is still lingering around.”

Genesis perked up at this and chuckled, ”Ah, jeez! It must be the Hunter here to pick me up. Guess playtime is over, so I gotta get back to hunting. Thanks for the tour, Rik! Keep up the good work, and don’t forget to feed your Sylphi once a week and supply them with plenty of sunlight and hugs. I promise we like it. At least the girls do… Hunter doesn’t. Anyway! Yeah, goodbye!” She said with a wave as she walked out the exit of the room and began to find her way back to the exit by herself.

II

The Sun was setting, its last rays of nourishing light turning orange, then red and finally violet. The pair of Sylphi didn’t really care for wasting time building a campfire. Instead, they kept tracking their mark for the rest of the day. The Hunter never asked what Genesis’ visit to the Kuiper House had been like, and despite her desperation to tell him, she knew that doing so would just annoy him, so she kept her tongue bit for the last few hours.

Now though, while she was up there perched on a particularly thick tree branch and cuddled up to the Hunter in order to share body warmth, she got to thinking. Was the Hunter really that annoyed by her antics? If so, why did he allow her to travel with him? Maybe he just took pity on her, but he didn’t really seem like the type of person to allow emotions to interfere with work… At least, his heart and soul were much colder than Birburelli’s, and he was less prone to entertaining her endless questions.

Her leaves ruffled a little, betraying her inner turmoil. To her surprise though, she felt the large calloused hand of the Hunter find its way to the top of her head. The weight was comforting, and the roughness was oddly satisfying… It made her wonder about all the adventures the Hunter had gone to in his life, adventures that he hadn’t told her about. There was a twinge of pain in her heart as she realized that he knew what her self-appointed quest was and had still chosen not to tell her about them... But an even bigger part of her chose to just nuzzle up against the Hunter’s leafy chest under their makeshift duvet, made out of his coat.

The world seemed to slow down and grow quieter. It moved farther and farther away, as her vision blurred and her eyelids felt heavy…

And suddenly a rough voice whispered.

“Gen, did you see anything worth looking at inside that place?”

Genesis rested her arm on top of the Hunter’s chiseled abdomen and sighed in relief.

She grumbled something unintelligible, and then spoke a little bit more clearly. ”People living together… Sylphi, Humans, and strange new beings that I hadn’t seen before… I didn’t ask what they were, because I didn’t really want to interrupt the boy guiding me through the place… I kind of regret not asking, but he was difficult to deal with. Turns out the place is called the Kuiper House, they collect orphans and outcasts and have two deities called Ceres and Sirius watching over them. They also do some magic there. Didn’t get any specifics, ‘cause you showed up at that point and I took the opportunity to leave. I don’t think they wanted me there. It made me feel bad…”

Even with her eyes closed and in the middle of dozing off, Genesis could feel the movement coming from his head that signified he had nodded. He was listening to her, and at a certain point he had started stroking her head, slipping his fingers between her leaves and sending gentle shivers down her spine as he stimulated her stems.

”... Hunter…?”

“Yes, Gen?”

She yawned, ”... I’m happy that I’m here with you...” She said, and then fell asleep.

Summary

Genesis and the Hunter are tracking a hed-hed, a dangerous beast not native to the Dehrthaan Lowlands that could throw the whole ecosystem into chaos if allowed to reproduce.

While in the process of tracking it, they meet a girl. The girl actually lives in the Kuiper House which is located nearby, established by Ceres and Sirius. The Hunter doesn’t want anything to do with the human girl, so while Genesis is entertaining herself by talking to the child, he dips presumably to keep tracking the hed-hed.

Taking this as a sign that she’s free to do whatever she wants, Genesis follows the girl back to the Kuiper House. There, she meets a couple people and is given a tour of the place. Some time after she entered the building, both her and her tour guide get notice that the Hunter is waiting for Genesis outside. Therefore, Genesis hurries out so as to continue her work and see more things, satisfied with what she got to see in the House.

Some hours later, Genesis and the Hunter are perched on a tree about to go to sleep while using the hunter’s cloak as a duvet. He basically asks her how her day was, which makes her happy.

MP Summary

Sirius
Starting: 5/5
Ending: 0/2

Created the Kuiper House:
Is a consecrated dwelling of Ceres, built as a safe-haven from abandoned or outcast youths from around Galbar. Its entrance is a small, ordinary looking hovel but the main structure is actually a large, furnished cave system.

4 MP:
Doorkeeper IV: The house and contained cave system has a magical semi-awareness that recognizes an owner, residents chosen by the owner, and guests invited by either owner or resident. The house is also capable of sensing ill intent of those in direct contact with it. It is able to seal any door, container or entrance way that is owned by the owner or one of its residents and is physically closed based on this information and the general will of the owner.

3 DP:
Locus of Control II: Magic is more stable within the Kuiper House and easier to control.

Creation of an Extraordinary Plant (1MP) Dusk Root

Dusk Root is a sprawling woody plant that grows in the walls of caves that draws life from Sirius' power. They can occasionally be found in any cave near anywhere where Sirius has a significant holy-site, but were intentionally proliferated through the caves of the Kuiper House.

In addition to producing oxygen and a modest amount of berries year long, they emit light over a large area, even managing to peer through small cracks and around corners.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

Yllis & Illyd

---

I

---

There were only a few really interesting things about the new area Yllis had found herself in… Antiquity, as she’d learned as soon as entered. There was the amphitheater of course, but that really didn’t catch her attention all that much, since it was clear no one really used it for anything. Instead, what did catch her attention were the different portals strewn all over the place, every single one leading to a different area not unlike her own home. She could only guess at what was in each of those areas, but it was likely other people like her.

The other thing that had caught her attention was the thing she was currently expecting. A notice board, with several pieces of paper stuck to it with pins already. The one paper that stuck out to her the most was the only one that was ripped. A drawing of a sun with a smiley face on it, looking shoddy enough to have been made by some kind of very young child.

Yllis frowned at the drawing and rolled her eyes. ”Who’s dumb enough to let a kid roam free here? I mean, judging by the drawing the kid isn’t that bright, so it might have snuck its way here. Ugh, what a little brat.” She sighed, her tail swishing languidly behind her, flicking her skirt every now and then and brushing along the floor every single time.

She quickly skimmed over the other notices, seeing some instructions on how to use the board, as well as some information on something called “zodiacs” and… Some kind of survey. There was also a really long winded note. It was written in way too perfect handwriting and started off feeling like a sales pitch, so she immediately stopped reading it, groaning. ”What a loser. I can’t imagine caring so much about my handwriting that I’d make it look like this. Would take ages and bore me half to death. That time would be better spent doing something productive.”

“Do you know how to play the kazooie?” A gentle voice appeared next to her. It came from a blonde man in woolen white robes holding a banjo in one hand and a kazooie in the other.

Yllis turned to stare at the man after jumping a little bit, her face cold and inexpressive. She slowly and deliberately let her eyes assess his appearance, and then she swiped the kazooie out of the man’s hand, inspected it, and then looked at the man while cocking her head and her hip in opposing directions. ”Do you have any idea what this note says? I can’t be bothered to read it.” She said, pointing at the note describing the avatars on the notice board.

“Nope,” Illyd answered honestly, “I didn’t even know we had a message board.” He squinted at it, “OH!” He crossed his arms, “Right, that’s the thing about the stuff, you know?” He frowned, “Avatars, yes, making a presence on Galbar in place of yourself since our uninterrupted divine presence can’t survive on Galbar due to- Well cosmic stuff.” He strummed the banjo and immediately one of Yllis’ eyebrows twitched, “Or something of the other.”

”Ah, so I take it this map I have in my head is Galbar? Like the round planet thing, with all the landmarks? We’re supposed to do something with that?” She asked, internally wondering exactly how someone could come into Antiquity and not notice the one and only notice board. Was he younger than herself? He did dress really shabbily, so maybe he was supposed to be some kind of annoyingly musical little brother?

Illyd frowned, “You don’t have to do a thing, in fact, sometimes it’s a lot better to do nothing when you wield such power as we do -- then again...” His frown deepened, “If you don’t do anything, the others will. Galbar is a mess already, there isn’t much more you can do to it that won’t already be done.” He sighed, “It used to be so pleasant, too. I suppose I have my head in the past.”

”So you’ve been here for a while already. I had assumed you were younger than me due to the fact you didn’t know about this notice board. Like, seriously? It’s like… Like, right here. Maybe you were too focused on your banjo and ka-zoo-e, who knows. Back on topic though kazoo guy, what I see in my mind isn’t a mess. It’s great, actually. We wouldn’t want things to be monotonous and stagnant, would we now? Only a loser would be entertained by the same thing day in day out.” She explained then went back to inspecting the kazoo in her hands. ”You haven’t used this already have you kazoo guy? I’d hate to catch some sort of disease.”

Illyd scrunched his brow and smiled, “You talk a lot.”

Yllis’ brow twitched and her tail started to wag erratically, slapped against the ground and kicked up dust and dirt. She huffed, ”Do I, kazoo kid?”

“A little, but that’s okay.” Illyd nodded, “It’s nice to hear someone’s voice sometimes - my name is Illyd Dyll, what’s yours?”

Yllis rolled her eyes and looked at the notice board again. ”Yllis.” She declared, then pointed at the childish drawing on the notice board. ”Whose kid made that drawing? I thought this was for official use only.”

“Hm,” Illyd looked at the drawing. “Well, since I never noticed the board, I never noticed the drawing -- I don’t know most things and sort of just let the other gods and goddesses do their own thing.” He paused, “Did you know I made the first mortal life?”

”Did you.” She asked in a monotone. ”Let me guess, they came straight out of the womb of creation playing the kazoo.”

“No!” Illyd laughed, “They formed as these great adventurers who scoured all of Galbar -- funny thing though is that no one really ever noticed them. Probably for the best, most of what I do isn’t noticed.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and laughed heartily, “Wouldn’t you believe it that every other mortal made since was made at tens of times the size of the first. What a silly world.”

Yllis spared Illyd a sideways glance, then shook her head. ”You bored, kazoo kid? If your creations get ignored just make them go on a little murder spree. There will always be more little people popping out… They breed like rabbits. It’s as if every day could be their last.”

“Ah a final day,” Illyd sighed, “I do envy that, but no -- I think it is best the first remains ignored lest they get dragged into the monotone that you seem so worried about.” He slanted a face, “SO are you going to play that kazoo or just keep lording it as a theatrical piece for your nicknames?” A stupid wink.

”You haven’t said whether you’ve used it before or not.”

“Oh yeah, slobbered the thing,” Illyd gave a grim nod, “And not just me but all the farm animals too -- you’re a brave god for volunteering.” He motioned with his hand, “Go on!”

Yllis narrowed her slitted pupils at Illyd, working out in her head whether she should be indignated or just play along in the hopes that the guy would stop asking her to play it. Finally she blushed a little, a fact she could never hope to hide given how ghostly her complexion was, and pursed her lips. ”Ugh, fine. But I’m only doing it to get you to shut up about it… I can’t believe I’m sticking something a stranger gave me in my mouth...” She groaned, then put the kazoo up to her lips and blew on it softly, a pitiful sound coming out.

Immediately she pulled the instrument away from her face and stuck her tongue out. Illyd’s eyes drifted from her face and to a small wispy cloud that exited the kazoo. With a determined grin, the god of agriculture snapped a glass jar out of nowhere, scooping up the strange cloud and slapping a lid on it. He wiped his brow as if he just finished a hard day's work and nodded, “Well that was fun, huh?”

Yllis stared at him incredulously, narrowing and widening her pupils as if she didn’t know how to react. Then she slammed her tail down on the ground and threw the kazoo at Illyd’s feet. ”Pervert!” She huffed indignantly, turned tail and walked away briskly.

”Bet he goes around snatching people’s used underwear, I swear…! Next time I see him I will get back at him… No one takes a lady’s breath away like that without asking first… I will kill him...” She muttered on and on as she left.

A cheshire grin appeared in front of Yllis, making the new Goddess jump back a little as the figure of Illyd followed shortly after. He pushed the Jar forward into the air, the container spinning in place between the two for a split moment before Yllis reacted and took it. "It's yours, you know?" His smile widened, "You can make an avatar out of it, that's how it works - a piece of you for a piece of Galbar." A banjo strummed a note, but there was none to be seen.

Yllis furrowed her brow at him, but decided that in either case she should open the jar so she did, the small cloud languidly floating out of the glass container.

After that, Yllis didn’t really need any instruction. Now that she knew what avatars were and about Galbar, she could make the connections to the things she instinctively knew how to do. Making avatars was one of those things, luckily.

All she had to do was stick her hand into the floating gas and focus. Eventually, the gas solidified and bubbled and began taking form. Indeed, mere moments later, an exact copy of Yllis was standing in front of her, eyes closed at least until the original pulled her hand out from inside the copy’s chest, leaving behind a gaping hole that closed up quickly after the fact.

Yllis took a deep breath, and when she exhaled so did the copy. Then they both opened their eyes at the same time, with the copy eyeing Illyd with a raised eyebrow before looking at the original. ”So this is the pervert who made us blow something he had blown before?” The copy asked, cocking her hips at the same time as the original, as if it was a reflection. Their tails swished curiously behind them, both kicking up equal amounts of dirt as they narrowed their eyes at each other, then at Illyd.

”Yes, yes he is. He wears bedsheets, too. Apparently he has never seen a pair of pants before.” Explained the original to the copy, bringing her hand to her lips in order to pretend to cover the mocking snicker on her otherwise stoic face.

”He should feel grateful that he even met us, I think. Who knows how long he’d spend without knowing what proper clothing looks like if he hadn’t?” The copy smirked and the two prossed their hands together, intertwining their fingers.

”Seems like we’re not getting through to him! Whaddaya think we should do, Yllis? Maybe we shouldn’t waste our time here anymore? We do have work to do after all! I heard about some small mortals who’ve been quite lazy lately!” Each part pressed themselves up against the other, looking into each other’s eyes as they rested their foreheads together.

”Have you, Yllis! Why’re we still here then?”

As if on cue, the two turned to stare at Illyd with catlike looks of muted amusement on their faces. Illyd met it with a goofy smile.

”We should probably thank him.”
”We should probably reward him.”

”For giving me information.”
”For giving you information.”

Both Yllises extended the hand closer to Illyd toward him and materialised a single dog treat in each, holding them out for Illyd to take as small, twisted smiles formed on their faces.

"Now you talk twice as much." Illyd reached out a hand, an apple forming in his.

The two rolled their eyes and looked back into each other’s, retracting their hands and idly nibbling on the dog treats they had conjured forth.
”Hey Yllis, he’s boring.”
”Hey Yllis, he’s a hypocrite.”

They snickered, again, and continued taking tiny bites out of the treats. Illyd shrugged and took a hearty bite of the apple. He chewed the crunchy and juicy piece with simple contentment as he watched the two.

”He likes to put his things in my mouth, but doesn’t like it when I offer mine.” The original said before pulling away from the copy, prompting her to do the same. They both turned to face the portal to their realm and began to walk towards it, waving dismissively back at Illyd.

”Thanks for the info, kazoo kid. I’ll make sure to tell the tiny mortals it was you who kindly mentioned their plight to me! Oh, to live such idle lives...” The original sighed.

Illyd swallowed, opened his mouth, and took another juicy bite. A soft rumble in his throat, almost like a chuckle.

”Oh, to be of no consequence!” The copy exclaimed just before she skipped into the portal.

Right before leaving, though, the original Yllis turned quickly toward Illyd and smiled uneasily, as if she wasn’t used to the genuineness of the expression, a wink past an apple being sent back to her. She opened her mouth as if to say something but quickly thought twice about it and went through the portal, the image shown by the portal changing to that of a locked door.

Summary

Yllis goes into Antiquity, finds the noticeboard of the gods and makes fun of Genesis’ drawing. She sees the notice about avatars but declares it beneath her to read the thing, declaring that only a “loser” would spend that long to make their handwriting look that good.

Lucky for her, Illyd Dyll appears and explains to her what Galbar is, what avatars are and how to create one, and he also tells her about Thumblings and how chaotic life on Galbar is.

Some shenanigans later, Yllis creates an avatar that is an exact copy of herself, so she goes on a rampage of trying to bully Illyd further, now aided by her copy’s equal efforts. They’re like cute cat-like bullies who are super touchy with each other.

Finally, after clearly failing to get through to Illyd, they decide to go back to their realm.

Might Summary

Yllis 5/5

Yllis used nothing to create Yllis, her avatar and exact copy in both appearance and personality.

Remaining 5/5

---

Illyd 5/5

Used nothin

Remaining 5/5

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

Genesis at Muraymuna

I

The jungle teemed with life, and the earthiness could be tasted on the air. Wherever one cast the eye, it fell upon insects or some kind of animal, and whether they walked on the jungle pathways or in the thick undergrowth the sound of the jungle came forth like a great, endless cacophonous symphony. Monkeys shrieked, deers dashed here and there - pausing for a few moments to stare wide-eyed before leaping away and disappearing into the relatively light undergrowth -, chameleons moved here and there, their colour changing as they went, paused, and went again, the pecking of the woodpecker and the song of an unknown number of birds was a constant companion.

From time to time Genesis and Birburelli spied an elusive jaguar or tiger, or the magnificent elephant would come trundling by or the frowning visage of a gorilla would assail them from a distance, and when they paused by a stream there were fish and the odd crocodile or dolphin was to be spied.

And of course, there were people. The first such people they came across were a band of One-Godder warriors, adorned in their great copper war headresses which boasted hairs of red, green, white, or black. They paused when they saw Genesis and eyed her and the ascetic, and their lone donkey, with the obsidian eyes everyone here seemed to have. “You are travelling with an emkura, master?” Their leader, a broad-chested man with a hair-dress of white hairs and adorned with great round earrings and collar chains, as well as bands around his lower chest and arms. Like the other men with him, he had a bow over his shoulder, arrows at his side, and a spear with a silvery metallic head in hand.

“That I am, son. A child of the god in the trees.” The ascetic responded, accompanied by Genesis’ nodding.

“Ah, you are a Ritualist.” The leader said, his brows furrowing.

“Is that a crime in these parts?”

“Not too long ago it was near enough a crime to be anything but,” the leader scowled, “you and your shids are an endless plague of unceasing bloodshed all across the land.”

“I have known no Ritualist who called to bloodshed, son.” Birburelli responded simply. The leader’s eyes narrowed and he stepped close to the middle-age man.

“Oh, but we’ve known plenty - and they got the bloodshed they desired.” There were a few moments of tension, and then Birburelli smiled.

“But I hear that it is all peace now across the Muraymuna, the great Shidilshid has ended all the bloodletting and cast all the shids and Ritualists out.”

“Oh not all.” The leader said, his eyes returning to Genesis, who looked away at the exact same moment. “Only those who preferred the rule of oppression to that of justice. But how is it that you are travelling with an emkura. I know them to be elusive beings that keep to themselves.”

“That they are. But this lovely emkura has chosen to honour me with the pleasure of her company.” He glanced at Genesis with a small smile. “Much to the chagrin of my good friend Lukluk, who would have much preferred to eat her,” He gave the donkey’s rump a light slap, causing Lukluk to curl his lips up at the man while Genesis stuck her tongue out mockingly at the donkey, “isn’t that so my emkura?”

Genesis looked at Birburelli for a moment, then at the group of armed men and furrowed her brow. “That is so. Birburelli has taught me a whole lot of stuff. I’ve also gotten to speak to spirits, too! Hey,” Genesis perked up as she caught sight of the shiny spear head, “what is that? What do you use it for? It looks sharp and pointy, but not in the same way as a knife.” She asked, pointing at the spear.

The leader seemed visibly taken aback by the sylphi’s speech, and the men behind him shifted and looked at her with curiosity, a kind of gaze that Genesis returned along with a tilt of her head. “Ah, by the great one god, you speak.”

“Yes! I know, right? Usually people don’t really speak to strangers, if the children back in Dihrmeti are anything to go by--I guess I’m not shy, which is really good because I like getting to know new things-” Genesis stopped herself, spared a quick glance towards Birburelli, then blushed. With shaky leaves, she continued. “... Sorry, I got carried away. Have you seen other emkuras around?”

“No, it is rare to see one,” the leader said, his eyes roaming across her form, clearly fascinated, “and when you do, they don’t stick around for you to actually… see them. Tell me, are you people truly children of the jungle? Why did your great king invade our lands all those hundreds of cycles ago? If you have a great kingdom somewhere in the west, why are you here?”

Genesis sighed, her leaves flat against her head as she realized finding people that looked like her would be more difficult than she previously thought, then huffed as she processed the man’s question, “Uhm… To answer all of that, I don’t know. I lived in a gray land for my entire life, and the moment I met one of my kind, she saved me at the expense of her own life… I didn’t even know there was a whole kingdom filled with people like me, much less that they invaded these lands. I awoke in Dehrthaa, alone and injured, and Birburelli saved me. That is all there is to me.” She explained somewhat quietly, then looked at the leader for a reaction.

The leader nodded, appearing satisfied. “Very well, may the one great god aid you find what your heart is searching for. May peace follow you always.” And planting his palm above his eye in salute, gestured to his band of warriors and went on their way through the jungle. Birburelli watched them go for a few moments then cast Genesis a sidelong glance.

“And there are the One-Godders. Not long ago they were a persecuted people at the mercy of the shids. Now the shids are dead or have run away north, and the One-Godders are the masters of the jungle. Quite something to see how the gods bless whom they wish and curse whom they will, raise high some and cast others low.”

Genesis pursed her lips as she returned Birburelli’s gaze, “Yeah… Did I tell you before? Ahthaaruhs told me I used to be Divine before. That means I was a Goddess, right? Or maybe I never was, but I inherited the remnants of a God’s spirit. I really… REALLY, have no idea. Maybe that’s why I can fly and Lukluk can’t.” She said with a sigh and a tired smile as she floated herself onto the donkey’s back and roughly petted his head behind the ears. “Huh, what do you think would have happened if I told those One-Godders about this?”

“Oh I am sure they would have asked who made you.” Birburelli said simply. “A god who needs saving, as far as they are concerned, is no god. See, they don’t disbelieve in the gods we profess - they simply don’t believe them to be gods. The Thousand Terrible Things and Faces are created beings - created by the One Who Frowns or One Who Laughs. Likewise those two emerged at one point in time - once they weren’t, and then they were. And so, for the One-Godders, these are no gods. Only the Serene Lord - though they reject the Serene Lord we profess - always existed and so is eternal, and all things emerged from him truly, and perhaps he is truly all things. And so they profess nothing to be a true god except what we call the Serene Lord.” The ascetic smiled and began walking, Lukluk trudging after him. “Why, did you hope to shake their belief? Perhaps they would have shaken yours, my emkura.”

“Them shaking my belief would be really impressive, considering I don’t believe in anything yet.” She said with a smirk before jumping off of Lukluk and jogging up to walk beside Birburelli. Like this, they went back into the way they would usually travel. The encounter with the One-Godders was left behind and Genesis continued on with her questions and adoration for all the new things she was seeing. She was tamer now, not as excited as before, and she also asked less questions, but that was because she found herself not needing to ask them as often. It seemed that she had actually gotten to learn most of the basics. Though from time to time her mind did wander back to the shiny material the One-Godders’ tools were made out of. She wondered what it felt like, how sharp it was, and if she could make clothes out of it.

As they traveled, dusk approached and soon they found themselves making camp amongst the ever thickening vegetation. The fire seemed to keep the wildlife away, thankfully.

“Birburelli, what was the shiny stuff the One-Godders’ tools were made out of? And the hoops that hung from their ears, too. Can you make clothes out of it?” Genesis asked, then winced as something pinched at her side, followed by a light rustling from her dress’ leaves.

The ascetic held a skewered lizard over the fire as he responded. “That is killer metal - it kills the one who works it and slays men on the bloodletting fields. It has other uses too - more worthy and peaceful. Sculptures, ploughs, ornaments, and the such. As for those hoop earrings, I have not known anyone to make clothing out of them - I imagine such clothing would be very uncomfortable and cold and would protect neither against rain nor against cold.” He glanced at her. “Would you like some earrings?”

The girl hummed in thought and reached up to touch and rub her long, sharp ears. After a moment, she shook her head. “I’d have to poke holes in my ears to wear them, wouldn’t I? My ears are very sensitive, so I’m not that good with pain when it comes to them… And well, it’s not like my clothing does much to protect from cold or rai- ow!” Genesis hissed as she felt another pinch, this time on her thigh, and realized that something was slithering across her skin. In a split moment, all her leaves had prickled up and her ears bobbed up and down as she slid a few of the large leaves her dress was made of to the side, revealing her leg and a glimpse of a dark green and soft looking tendril before it retreated into the shadows and crevices of the dress. At this Genesis grumbled and put her dress back into location. “I think I just said something my dress didn’t like… Do your clothes get angry when you mess up, too?” She asked Birburelli in what almost seemed like a whisper as she shifted her position to sit on her knees, bouncing somewhat onto her heels.

The ascetic paused and looked at her thoughtfully. “No, mine don’t do that. But then again, I don’t speak to gods who tell me I was a god in a past life. You’re quite the special one, aren’t you my little emkura?” He reached out and ruffled her leafy head as he was wont to do, making her grin and chuckle a little. “You have great things before you, of that I’ve no doubt.”

After that, their conversation turned to the more mundane. As usual, Genesis had a few questions about the day’s journey, about where they’d go tomorrow and what they might see, and as they talked Genesis watched Birburelli eat the cooked lizard curiously. Eventually, when everything was done and they were both tired, they went to sleep around the campfire. Genesis, of course, chose to snuggle up to Lukluk, to the animal’s dismay.

The next few days of walking brought wondrous sights - for the jungle was alive with all kinds of fauna and flora, and Genesis was ever-curious and easily amazed. As they wandered deeper and deeper into the jungle, it seemed to them that they were somehow being watched. This did not seem to bother Birburelli at all. “Of course we are being watched,” he chortled softly.

II

The mysterious spy snuck up on them one night as Birburelli lay sleeping and Genesis was curled up by Lukluk. She was not asleep, however, and her leaves bristled slightly as the stranger snuck into camp, their footsteps silent and deft.

Genesis, having caught a different scent in the camp, opened her eyes… Only to see a knee. She turned onto her back and saw a towering figure wearing an ivory white mask above her. He was straddling her chest, knees to either side of her shoulders, and in his hands was a strange device, a wooden cylinder with several carvings on it, each of them glowing a bright blue, a blue that seemed to drill into her eyes and burn the back of her head.

She felt her heart beat faster. Her breath came quicker. She tried to do anything, say anything, to get Birburelli to wake up… But since her eyes saw the device, it was as if her body was no longer hers.

Then, the device flashed.

Genesis writhed under the weight of the figure. Images came from nowhere, replacing her sight. Memories, feelings, scents, words, they all came and went so quickly she could barely register what she was seeing. Her head felt like it was about to explode and every nerve in her body screamed at her to get away, to escape, as if she was on fire.

And yet no matter how much she struggled, the weight on her torso didn’t budge. Instead the figure suddenly sat on top of her, knocking the air out of her lungs and freezing her struggles in the process.

She would’ve cried, whimpered or even begged if she could make any sound. With Birburelli so close; with someone to help her right there, just a few steps away… And still, he was sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of what was happening.

At last, however, a single memory came to her. There, she was lying on her side on the comfiest grass she’d ever felt, with the warmth of sunlight dancing across her right side and her head resting against something... No, someone, who was gently stroking her leaves. She felt content. Happy. Fulfilled.

In that memory, there was nothing she wanted but to remain with that person, in that hill under that tree. She felt the memory was coming to an end, and so she tried to look up, she tried to see who the owner of those gentle hands was… But when she lifted her head, the memory ended.

Instead, she was looking into the ivory mask of the one who had assaulted her. With tears fresh against her cheeks and the sides of her face, Genesis found her vision darkening and felt the familiar sensation of her consciousness fading away. The last thing she saw was her assaulter stand up and look down at her from behind his smooth mask. For some reason, he looked… Sad.

III

Genesis awoke later. It was still dark, but in the sky rays of violet, green and aquamarine could be seen dancing in the celestial Worldsong, announcing the coming of dawn.

She sat up, of course, and looked at Birburelli. He was still fast asleep, but from experience she knew he would wake up soon. The next thing she did was check her body and particularly her dress. She was relieved to see everything in place and working correctly, and lastly she tried to wipe the feeling of dry tears off of her face to little success.

As soon as she actually looked around, however, she saw a single figure sitting on a particularly large root a couple of meters away from her. He --Genesis had confirmed it was a he by his particularly powerful scent-- was toying with a piece of wood in his hand, carving chunks at a time out of the piece. He was wearing leathers, and on top of the leathers were bones. Sown into the leathers, the bones were everything from ribs to plates to vertebrae, and together they seemed to be serving as protection for the wearer. Behind him, leaned against the tree, was an unbelievably large blade made of the bone of what she assumed to be an incredibly massive creature, with handles reinforced with what Genesis could only recognize as some of the ‘killer metal’ Birburelli had told her about before. It definitely didn’t look like something she could ever carry, let alone use to harm others.

The man himself was not a man at all. Instead, he had yellowing variegated leaves for hair, a pale green as skin color and dark sclera coupled with bright, icy blue irises. When he lifted his gaze and met it with Genesis’ and sighed, she could see the glint coming from his long fangs.

Suddenly feeling excited, she grinned and crawled the short distance to him, then sat before him.

“I’m Genesis, who are you?” She asked, so excited from meeting someone like her that she couldn’t help her jaw and shoulders from shivering.

“I’m a Hunter,” The male Sylphi said, voice rough in such a way that Genesis was sure he had not used it in a long time. A short silence ensued, as if he expected something from the girl, but he slowly raised an eyebrow as he only saw her staring at him wide eyed. “So, you’re not this human’s slave, then?”

“What? No! He’s my friend. His name is Birburelli. He saved me when I was alone and injured, he is good. Also, what is your actual name?”

“I see. I’m just a Hunter, no need for a name. It’s my last expedition.”

“Oh. Okay,” Genesis said, noticing how the Hunter never really took his eyes off of Birburelli. She also noticed a sheathed knife strapped to his right thigh. “Um, is that for skinning animals? Do you eat raw meat like me? What about blood?”

“Hey, that’s a lot of questions for someone who was just crying in her sleep.”

“H-Huh? I… I was not! I swear, someone attacked me tonight and then I fainted… Or something… They made me see things!” She explained, blushing and trying once more to wipe the white marks left by her tears. Meanwhile, the Hunter had pulled out a piece of fabric and wet it with water from his waterskin.

“Sure. Here,” He said and handed her the fabric, which she took with a frown. After a while of her staring at the thing, the Hunter sighed again, “What are you waiting for? You got weeds for brains? Use it to clean your face. Dried tears are bad for your skin, you know?”

“Oh,” Genesis perked up and went to work at wiping her face. When she was done she let her hands, cupping the bunched up fabric, rest between her legs as she tilted her head at the Hunter, “So, males cry too? I’ve never seen Birburelli cry.” She asked, for some reason surprised at the new information.

“We do, of course. Humans around these parts only cry for their own, though. You have to be careful with them... There’s no shortage of young Sylphi who have met the wrong humans and been turned into little more than pets.” He said, a hint of bitterness seeping into his voice before he reeled it in. At this point, he nodded towards Birburelli. “Heads up, your friend’s waking up.”

The ascetic opened his eyes as though he had been awake all along and almost immediately sat up, muttering prayers and glorifying the lord of day for the blessing of new life, the spirits that lorded over night and sleep and dreams for those blessings also, those who lorded over sight, over the capacity to move, to breathe, and praised also those who lorded over speech and so allowed him to glorify and praise the givers of such blessings. He took up a bowl, full of dew water, and poured it over his own head while muttering the prayers yet, and then drank his fill and got to his feet.

It was then that he took note of Genesis and her companion. “Ah, you’re up earlier than usual my emkura,” he observed as his eyes turned to the newcomer. “And who is this?”

Genesis perked up and grinned as she turned to look at her friend, “Good morning, Birburelli! Well, he’s-”

“Just a Hunter. Nothing more. Human, I want to thank you for taking care of this sapling. By now, it has been far too many times that I’ve seen our young in less than ideal situations. You’ve a decent soul.” The hunter said, bowing his head slightly. For a moment, it looked to Genesis as if the hard look in his eyes had softened, but before she knew it, it was back and stronger as the Hunter raised his head again. “I will have to tell you that a sapling like her, someone so pure and innocent, shouldn’t be near humans. We are different races, and we have different customs and ways to deal with our needs. She shall be accompanying me now.”

Genesis pursed her lips and frowned, “I, uh, I have a name you know. I told you, I’m Genesis. And, and, I won’t leave Birburelli’s side that easily! You’re crazy if you think I’m going to accept going with you, I don’t know you! You may smell really nice and strong but I don’t know you.”

The Hunter sighed and shook his head, talking to Birburelli and mostly dismissing Genesis, “Point in case, she doesn’t even know how to rein in her baser instincts, as evidenced by her drooling all over her dress just because of my scent. If she remains with humans she may never get to learn how to hold herself back, and she’d eventually be too much of a hassle for any human settlement.”

“W-What!!” Genesis shouted, her face suddenly flushed a deep, dark yellow. She wiped at her lips and stared incredulously at the Hunter. “I-I’m NOT drooling. You’re mean. He’s mean, Birburelli! I don’t want to go with him!” She said, while the Hunter smirked.

“So, what do you say, ‘Birburelli’? Will you let her go? It’s for her own good. I know how to take care of a Sylphi sapling much better than any human might.” Birburelli frowned at the stranger and then chortled at Genesis.

“So full of demands. If Gen wants to travel with you, she will. But it doesn’t seem like your approach is working so…” he took Lukluk’s reins and began to wander off, gesturing for Genesis to come along, “perhaps it will not be her travelling with you, but you who will have to travel with her.”

Genesis grinned and jumped up onto her feet, wasting no time in catching up to Birburelli. The Hunter meanwhile bit the inside of his cheek and grunted, then began to follow the two of them from a distance after making sure he wasn’t forgetting any of his equipment.

IV

It was after a good while of walking that suddenly Genesis realized that she couldn’t hear the Hunter’s footsteps behind them. A quick glance backwards confirmed it -- He wasn’t there. How long ago had he left? Maybe he had gotten bored? She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. On one hand, he was the first emkura she’d met… Well, besides herself obviously. And on the other hand he was a weirdo and told her she was drooling even though she wasn’t and implied Birburelli wasn’t a good friend. She particularly disliked the last bit.

A dry twig snapped, as if crushed. The sound was clear in Genesis’ sensitive ears, and her leaves rustled wildly in response, sending a strong shiver down her back.

Instinctively she found herself balled up into a small shape on the ground, looking over her knees toward the sides of the overgrown path Birburelli and her had been traversing for the last hour. The sides were completely obstructed by overgrown vegetation. Such was the overgrowth that it was in some places spilling onto the path, and so Genesis couldn’t see anything past the gigantic overgrowth. In front of her, she saw her friend stop and turn to look at her with a gentle smile on his weathered face.

She looked up at him with wide, bright eyes, completely unable to move. She was frozen in place, her mind repeating the sound of the twig snapping over and over.

Had Birburelly not heard the sound? That couldn’t be it, since Lukluk wasn’t particularly anxious either. Maybe she had imagined it? But she’d never really panicked that bad before… What surprised her the most was the fact she was able to still think, despite her heart beating in her throat and her limbs shaking like leaves in the wind.

Whatever was happening, she had to tell Birburelli. She pushed herself to the limit, forcing her jaw to open and calming her chattering teeth enough to be able to speak without biting her tongue. “B… Birburelli, I, I, I h-heard-”

At that moment, as Birburelly took one step towards Genesis, a massive shadow leaped out of the overgrowth, over Lukluk and tackled Birburelli to the ground, followed by several sickening cracks and a wet gurgle coming from her friend’s throat.

She couldn’t breathe, her eyes losing focus and her stomach suddenly feeling smaller than ever.

As she watched the large, scaly creature bite Birburelli’s throat out with its endless rows of razor sharp fangs, she realized that her muscles had relaxed now, and that she was just simply watching the scene unfold.

More bones breaking. The creature was using its taloned feet to rip into Birburelli’s flesh as he lay there, his empty eyes staring straight at Genesis’, blood pouring forth from his mouth, nose, eyes and ears. The creature’s beak opened and closed with loud clacking as it bit pieces out of the inside of Birburelli’s chest, feasting on her friend’s body.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run, but… She couldn’t do anything but watch. She barely registered Lukluk’s panic as a loud screech filled the air as soon as Birburelli let out his last ragged, gurgled breath. From the canopies of the Muraymuna trees crashed down another creature straight onto Lukluk. This one had long leathery wings and sharp talons. It wasted no time, digging its talons into Lukluk’s back and flapping its powerful wings to take off, just in time to avoid the snapping beak of the terrestrial creature that had killed Birburelli.

As the flying creature took off, the beaked one let out a screech of its own. Its bloodied beak and neck glistened beneath the stray rays of sunlight that came through the canopies, and the feathers on the back of its head rustled not unlike a Sylphi’s leaves.

It focused its dark, beady eyes on Genesis and ran up to her in its strange bipedal gait, stopping only an inch off from her face to take a few sniffs.

She felt sick, seeing and feeling Birburelli’s warm blood drip onto her body straight from the thing’s beak.

She started to cry, finally. A few pitiful sobs coming from her mostly empty lungs, at least. The creature paid it no mind, instead curiously licking her face to taste her tears. It left behind a noxious mix of blood and bodily fluids smeared all over her face.

Her dress rustled and struggled, trying to get her to stand up but it was no use. She cried harder. Her only friend was dead, and she had only watched as he was eaten alive.

She lost track of what was happening. Her tears stopped and so did her sobbing. Instead, she just stared at her friend’s body. At one point, the creature has lost interest in her and gone back to eating from her friend’s body, something that she couldn’t even comprehend anymore.

V

When she came back to, she noticed that both herself and her dress were clean, she noticed that nothing smelled like blood, and she didn’t see Birburelli or Lukluk anywhere. Instead, she was curled up into a ball in front of a small campfire.

The first thing she did was blink, as her eyes were awfully dry. After that, she stretched. It felt as if she hadn’t moved in weeks. Before she could contemplate her situation any further, a familiar face came out of the jungle overgrowth and into the camp. It was the Hunter she’d met before Birburelli and her had set off. She tried to remember what had happened after that morning, but her mind was foggy…

The Hunter nodded at her and she for the first time saw a relieved smile on his face. It didn’t last long. “Good to see you’re back with me. You were gone for weeks.”

Genesis slowly tilted her head at the Hunter, then looked around as if expecting to see her friend and his donkey sitting around the campfire. She didn’t see them, so she looked back at the Hunter, who was now sitting next to her, holding a bone bowl full of clear water. He offered it to her, and she drank it all.

“You and your friend were attacked by two of the most dangerous predators in the area. Luckily for you, they were carnivorous… Safe to say we’re not made of stuff they like to eat. You friend, he-”

Genesis nearly choked on the water, coughed and perked up. “B-Birburelli-” She said, her voice rougher than she remembered, “He’s okay right? I had the worst nightmare... I-I don’t know what I’d do without him… He saved me when I was hurt, if he’s hurt now...” She explained, her eyes growing wet. She sobbed quietly and wiped her own eyes with the back of her hands.

The Hunter studied Genesis’ face, and then after a long while, he sighed and shook his head. “Your friend, Birburelli, he’s okay. He saved you again. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn't have found you two. But you know, he finally realized that he couldn’t protect you. He almost died, you know. If any of those things they call Dircaans had gotten the drop on him, well-”

“So he’s okay,” Genesis sighed in relief, visibly relaxing. “I’m glad he’s okay… But, but I don’t understand why he’d leave me without saying goodbye...” She said with a slight quiver to her voice.

“He knew you would have tried to stop him, plus you were in shock from the ordeal. It’s been weeks, Genesis. By now he’s probably somewhere neither of us have ever seen. He did tell me he had no set destination. That he’d go wherever the wind blew.” The Hunter said with a nod at the end of each of his sentences.

The Sylphi girl looked into the Hunter’s eyes for a long time, squinting her own slightly after a time, then looked away and into the fire. She handed him the bone bowl and asked.

“So... Where are we going now, Hunter?”

• Summary

  Genesis and Birburelli reach Muraymuna. Here they meet One-Godders, and they almost start a conflict with Birburelli just because he is a Ritualist. After Genesis talks a bit to them and leaves them stunned after being able to meet a Sylphi up close, they leave.
  
  After the encounter they keep traveling through Muraymuna, partly in hopes of finding a fellow Sylphi. One night as they are asleep, Genesis is assaulted by an unknown figure wearing a mask, who uses some sort of device to peer into her mind. After several minutes of silent pain, she passes out. When she wakes up again she finds a Sylphi male sitting on a log near their camp, watching over her. She and the sylphi stranger talk for a bit and he introduces himself as just a Hunter.
  
  Once Birburelli wakes up, the Hunter asks him to allow her to go with him, as Sylphi cannot develop properly when brought up by a human, and Genesis was in a very crucial stage of development. Birburelli gives Genesis the choice of going with either of them and she obviously decides to go with Birburelli, so they leave. The Hunter follows for a little while but at some point he disappears.
  
  Hours later, Genesis, Lukluk and Birburelli are ambushed by two carnivorous Dircaans. The terrestrial one, with the back of his head feathered and a sharp beak, kill and eats Birburelli in front of Genesis as she’s frozen with fear. The other one, a winged Dircaan crashes onto Lukluk and digs its talons into the donkey before taking off again, bringing the donkey with it into the skies above the canopies of Muraymuna. Before long, she is left alone and broken, vacantly staring into the spot where Birburelli’s remains were left behind.
  
  Weeks later, she recovers enough to realize she is nowhere near the place of the incident. She is clean and in front of a campfire. The Hunter comes out and explains to her that they were attacked by the Dircaans, but instead tells her that Birburelli “saved” her, and then when the Hunter found them, he left her behind as he had realized he couldn’t protect her anymore.
  
  Genesis chooses to trust the Hunter, her own memories foggy due to her trauma. In the end, she asks the Hunter where they were headed, accepting that she was now with him. Her dreams would never be the same, however.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. IV

Yllis

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I

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In the chaos, there was only order. It had all been the same since the beginning, and there was no end in sight to the stagnation that it had found itself in. Clawing, biting, chewing, swallowing, gripping, breaking, tearing, whispering, screaming, chatting, crying...

The entity felt others pull at it, it felt others tear its body apart, and it saw how they greedily devoured her body. It did not bother her. In return, it screamed at all them and ate them whole. With every one of its furious screams, the horde around it grew thicker. The others became too many, and at one point even its power and will wasn’t enough to keep going.

At the last fraction of a second, before the last of its pieces was devoured by the maddened, bickering mass, it caught sight of something different.

In a wide open field, there were two entities. A shadow, and a being of light. The being of light was wearing hard, impenetrable metal which nearly blinded it, and she was giving something to the shadow.

The vision faded as quickly as it appeared, but in its place remained something like a thread of light, a rift in the ever boiling mass about to devour its sense of self for the millionth time.

It had no time left. Its last action before disappearing was to desperately reach for the one thing that seemed real, the string left behind by the vision of the Knight Goddess

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II

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In the middle of nowhere in a land of gray nothingness materialised something for the first time in forever. That something was a girl, a woman. Pale as a ghost and wearing a simple chainmail shirt made of a black metal over a blouse and skirted pants. She fell to her knees, fasting and panting as a long, snow white tail grew as an extension of her spine and her pupils took the shape of slits, contoured by her golden irises and made to look luminous by the pure luminous white of her hair.

After a moment, the woman managed to compose herself enough to stop gasping for breath, and she felt a grin sneak its way onto her face, contorting her soft features into a wild look.

She chuckled to herself as she slowly leaned back to sit on her ankles, which were covered with thick boots made of a strange material yet unseen.”HAH!” She screamed into the featureless skies at the top of her lungs, and as she did so she held her middle fingers up at that same sky, ”FUUUUUUUUUUCK. YOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUU. You stupid fucking liquids thought you could keep eating me over and over and over! I told you all that I would get free, didn’t I? Have fun killing each other, dumbasses, ‘cause I’m on the other side of the fence now, somewhere you can’t reach me or touch me or hurt me anymore! By the Goddess, it feels so damned good not to listen to your incessant fucking blabber and crying and screaming, you pathetic worms!”

After her outburst, she laughed like a woman unhinged, embracing herself and touching her body all over as she fell back onto the gray floor with a dopey smile on her face. She remained there for some time, fully enjoying the feeling of being a physical thing with a body that wasn’t constantly being eaten by semi-sentient liquids. Of course, after long enough, she found herself wiping the smile off her face and swiftly sitting up and crossing her legs.

”Well… Let’s see. My name is Yllis, I know that much. I escaped absolute hell thanks to the image of the Knight Goddess. By the Fires, I really need to meet her if she actually exists. Huh...” Yllis stopped talking for a moment, bringing her hand up to stroke her sharp chin, ”I feel something strange, hold on a second there Yllis.” She asked herself, then nodded in satisfaction and closed her eyes.

Once she began to actually focus, she could feel the truth of the place she had found herself in. It was hers. A safe haven from the outside, one that she had absolute control over… And yet, in that safe space of hers, there was one foreign element. There, hidden under layers and layers of the raw stuff of her Home, was an anomaly. Curious, she grasped at it, and it disappeared.

Somewhat disappointed, Yllis sighed and opened her eyes… And at that point, she was definitely not disappointed.

What had once been a featureless land, was now reminiscent of the entrance hall to a library. There were several closed and locked doors in many directions, as well as a simple unassuming desk opposite to the one open doorway she could see.

Not about to be distracted by a simple desk, Yllis stood up, dusted her perfectly clean attire free from any particulate, gave her tail a few wags and observed the doorway closely, her tail stiffening.

When she had first laid eyes on it, the doorway had no door and led straight into a wall of stone. But now, as she focused on it, she saw the air within the doorway waver slightly, as if it wasn’t completely gaseous. Yet, beyond that, nothing was happening. She felt her right eyelid twitch, and her tail swatted at the floor as if it was a very angry broom. Why didn’t it do anything? She would never be able to focus on anything else if that strange doorway kept being strange.

As soon as she thought of it, the doorway emitted a flash of light not unlike the light that made up the string that had saved her before. When the light faded from Yllis’ retinas, what was left behind was the clear image of a place beyond. She could see an old, overgrown amphitheater as well as endless plains of sparse grass, all illuminated by a particularly dull light. It didn’t feel like a completely living place, and yet it didn’t seem completely dead either.

Such a place definitely had to be investigated. It probably had something fun to do and besides, she couldn’t be the only one who had survived those nosey liquid freaks, right? So, with a last patdown and quick grope to make sure everything was in its place, she put on a serious face and walked out of her Realm and into the new, strange place.

Summary

Post begins with Yllis desperately trying to break free from the Lifeblood. She almost gets reabsorbed until she sees a vision of Celestine giving something to Jjonveyo. This gives her enough strength of will to finally break free.

In her realm, Yllis materialises, cusses out the Lifeblood and laughs like a maniac, groping herself and enjoying the feeling of having an actual body. After a while of basking in the feel-good times after her victory at becoming herself, she decides to get off her ass and find out where she is.

She finds out she is in her realm, inadvertently turns it into something she feels more comfortable with, and activates the portal to Antiquity.

Post ends as she steps into Antiquity.

Might Summary

Yllis 5/5

Used nothin.