Desperate Measures

It seemed this was where fate wanted him to go. Sam had spoken to several people lately about what it meant to be Ascended, had seen what his abilities could do and had been scared by it. Isla had suggested he come and speak to the Old Gods...it was a terrifying notion, but not one any less terrifying than living as he was for the foreseeable future. He did not know how one approached a God when you weren't there out of a grim obligation to drink. Sam went early in the morning, when the only sounds were the odd noise from the Rathskeller of tidying from the night before. Kneeling before the shrine, he placed a small, beautiful book with blue pages and poems written inside before it with shaking hands. "I k-know that you don-don't like me. But please listen. I don't want to be this. Not anymore. I hate this just as much as you...as you do. If you can, if you know how...make me normal. Please." Samuel The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out; At one stride comes the dark;

A cold and biting wind suddenly tears through the sanctuary. It blows out all the candles with a hiss like gnashing teeth. Although darkness normally accompanies the ominous, this malice presence is cloaked in light. Blistering sunlight. Like a tangible force it bathes the inner shrine in heat and radiance, scalding and biting painfully at the ascended's flesh. HOW DARE YOU COME HERE AND SPEAK TO US. a chorus of voices screams. YOU ARE EVERYTHING THAT HAS DOOMED THIS WORLD. The sunlight increases, meaning to force the ascended out and away. Bright one, how could you, come to me and I can— YOUR UNHAPPINESS IS A FITTING PUNISHMENT.

The wind did not chill his bones, it couldn't. But he heard it, saw the candles go out. Almost immediately, Sam sensed this had been a bad idea. When the hot sunlight touched him, he knew it had been. The pain was everywhere and all at once, inside his very veins and crawling to his heart and through his limbs and up into his brain; Sam jumped up and fell backward, scrabbling on the floor as the voice boomed at him. "S-sorry! Sorry! I'm sorry!" He screamed, too overwhelmed to fully notice the other voice calling to him in a sweeter tone. Desperately, trying to get away from the pain (which he would later reflect on as a kind of novelty, but in the moment was all consuming and awful) he scrambled up and ran to the door of the temple, slamming it behind him in his haste to leave. Samuel The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out; At one stride comes the dark;