For Whom the Fires Burn

News of the tainted Void-filled waters spilling out of the Feverlands had caused a great deal of concern among the aquatic inhabitants of Torchline. Starfall's presence on their doorstep was bad enough, but now a second source of Void corruption would eventually be carried their way by the currents, and who knew what the result of the combined infection would be?

In short, the Arclight was in danger and with Haulani protected Hadama had approached Flora to ask if the same could be done for the Underwater City and the ocean around it. The kraken in the Maw, the plants and animals of the Kuali'i isles, and even their resident active volcano would all benefit from the protection*. He hoped that with their waters secured, their coasts would be much harder for any infection to reach.

Rae had not seemed pleased to be creating more barriers, and so Torchline's rulers had come to the shrine at Aumakua to make their offerings and pray for divine intervention. Hadama had brought a large shield as an offering. The steel disc had been folded and hammered until it was flawless and strong, then plated in silver. Lastly, a golden sunburst been enameled onto the front and polished until the light it reflected was almost blinding.

"Vi," the Tidebreaker rumbled, sinking to his knees in front of the altar and bowing his head in reverence. "We ask your help to protect these waters from the Void. The corruption spreads, and we would keep Torchline safe from its influence. Please."


*And of course, there was also the concern that the inhabitants of Metacarpal Isle did not need any further mutations to make them more dangerous.

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I'd like to spend 2000MP to call down VI for an RQ, please!

& if you never bleed you're never gonna grow

As ever, while Flora approached the gods with some reverence, she still treated them as the daughter of several demigods and an accepted would: with vague entitlement. Despite her attitude, when she'd mentioned their quest to Ronin to gauge his reaction, the Knight had made it seem as though this was the sort of thing he thought Vi would go for. The god was about protection and sanctity of life, and given the threat literally on Torchline's shores and how his herald was their patron goddess, Flora also thought he seemed a good choice.

Standing before Safrin's the shrine, Flora suddenly felt nervous in a way she hadn't before. Vi was...well, terrifying compared to the other gods. As harsh as Safrin could be, but with expectations that were loftier than even those of the best people she'd known.

So, swallowing hard, Flora knelt at Hadama 's side and placed her own offering: four pillar candles to represent the four elements, all handmade in Torchline, with candle holders of gold, silver, coral, and woven-palm. "If we can keep the infection from spreading to our shores, we can keep the void out of Torchline without having to resort to violence."

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Can you roll for a combined Flora+Hadama prayer to see if we roll for a big god? If not, donating 1000MP to get down Vi for an RQ.

vi

Vi's arrival is slow and steady as the sunrise. One by one, Flora's pillar candles ignite, and the sunburst upon Hadama's shield takes on the golden glow of the star after which it has been fashioned.

The God of Life does not bloom into being, or arrive on a cascade of starlight - he simply is, and he addresses Torchline's leadership from his place at the window, staring out into the Arclight.

"The corruption spreads," he echoes, his voice like the crash of the tide on the shores beyond. Around his feet, coral grows in bursts of colour, and seagrass creeps from the cracks in the Aumakua's walls. "And it must be stopped."

Glancing over his shoulder to both Accepted and demigod with eyes as dark as Halo's coldest night, he nods once.

"Very well. You will do for the Arclight what you have done for Haulani."

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Unfortunately the prayer didn't catch, and so the MP will be deducted from Flora and Hadama's accounts!

Tasks. There is no time limit. There are currently 15 active Torchers. This means 8 unique characters have to participate. Characters can participate more than once. Hadama and Flora must participate in at least 2 threads each.

1. A thread of at least 3 Torchers (including 1 Mer) gathering stones from the Rainbow Road
2. A PQ dropping those stones all around the Arclight Ocean by boat. Must have 8 rounds.
3. A thread with at least 1 Torcher, capturing a void Flora or Fauna from every major region (SB, TL, H, HG, GW, KE), kept alive and brought at the time of turn-in. OR one vein of Void Crystal from within Starfall Island.

Table base by Sky!

He reached over to squeeze Flora's hand in silent support of their prayer, and by the time he released it the top of the lighthouse had changed. It was filled with light that chased away the shadows, an irrepressible profusion of life that blossomed from between the very stones themselves, and a sense of renewal in the air itself.

The weight of Vi's power and presence settled across Hadama's shoulders and would have pressed him down if he hadn't already been kneeling. He breathed slowly and deeply as his patron's creator - the god of Life himself - spoke in a voice that could not be denied.

And, thankfully, agreed to their request for help.

From where he knelt Hadama bowed deeply. "Yes," he said, the simple affirmation encompassing all that he needed to say. Vi commanded, and Safrin's newest demigod would obey.

& if you never bleed you're never gonna grow

Only a handful of times had Flora ever been stunned into silence, but certainly now was one of them. Almost audibly gulping, the queen squeezed the Tidebreaker's hand so hard that hers had started to tremble, and it was only once she felt her fingertips growing cold from lack of circulation that she realized herself and tried to relax.

"Okay." She said, her voice almost a croak. Clearing her throat, Flora swallowed hard and lifted her eyes. "Thanks a bunch, Vi." Gods but the second she next saw Ronin she was going to punch him right in the dick for not mentioning how terrifying the god was.

"We'll uhm...we'll be back once it's done."

And so they would.

~FIN