From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
I may be small, but in death, we are at our largest. The tulmhainar explains. They are born, they create, they collapse inwards, they die. Each movement takes an infinity of strength that the small creature simply does not have left to give.
I cannot come with you. There can only be one tulmhainar in a world...whatever this Spire is... Acidic vapour fills the creature's lungs, and it staggers for a moment. ...it is bending the world by allowing two to exist. Still, it tries to take another step forward.
The bugs might have ceased with encouragement from the tulmhainar, but the gases have not..
Ending HP
Earthen hoard thing: 39 HP
Amalia: 7
Jigano: 144 Deimos: 26
Vai: 31
Delah: 23
You have 48 hours to reply. Posting order (randomly decided) is: Jigano, Deimos, Delah, Vai, Amalia
Jigano bowed his serpentine head again in respect and understanding, though inside his heart constricted at the ancient creature's grace in the face of her end. I am sorry we were too late, he said, grief replacing fear in the resonances of his mental voice. I would have liked to hear your stories, and to share more of mine. He slithered as close to the turtle-like being as he could get without touching her, using his coils to clear as much of the sludge and debris from her path as he could, holding his breath against the gas and enduring it with stoic - if foolish - determination to grant her as much dignity as his simple action could.
The serpent who guarded the portal in the room beyond this chamber... do you know if they survived? he asked tentatively. All the while he continued to share the brightest memories of his past, both recent and distant, Caido and Numeria, offering the scent of his mother's Tian Xia cooking, the strong hand of his father warm against his small shoulder, the wicked laughter in Rory's eyes, and the bright joy with which Isuma had met Sugar and Auni.
Snake-gano holds his breath and uses his coils to clear the debris and as much sludge as possible from the Tulmhainar's chosen path, while sharing more memories to bolster her. He asks about the giant snake he had met before.
Only distantly did Delah's eyes flicker open. It was lucky that they did, for what filled her field of vision was Amalia standing precariously close the tulmhainar, whose gravitational field was inviting the poison into its pull like a tornado.
Idiot girl The war chief hissed. Releasing an arm from around her brother's shoulders, the younger fae went to the black-eyed woman, extending his hands to lay them upon her arm if she would allow. If so, light would bloom from his fingers, helping to dispel a little of the poison that had taken root in her lungs.
Do you have a message for the other? Delah asks, clinging weakly to her gaurd as her wings flap to try and clear at least some of the air from around her.
Amalia does not hear Delah's hiss, but she does feel the hands on her arm, the healing power coursing through her, clearing her aching lungs. With a deep inhale the girl falls backwards, leaing the tulmhainar's cloud of smoke, a cough tearing through the burning muscles, her eyes watering in sudden pain. "Thank you," she murmurs to the healer, bowing her head in gratitude.
The Tulmhainar's mournful message does nothing to dent Amalia's determination. Rather, it bolsters it, sparks her stubborn streak like flint. We have come this far, too far to fail- and she rises, a fire in her chest. "Wait here," she says to the others, to the creature, silently instructing Jyoti to remain as well. "I am going to call for Safrin. Wait... wait for me."
She shifts into the owl form, trusting the speed of it, the beat of wings more than her human legs. Turning, the girl flies back up the stairs, pausing to cough, her head light and her breathing heavy. At last she breaks through into the sunlight, gasping greedily at fresh air. It soothes her throat, cools her lungs, and as she breathes she calls out mentally, dark eyes on the skies above.
Safrin! We found the Tulmhainar- she is alive, but weak. She says she cannot leave. Please... help us free her, so she can see the sky one last time.
Safrin is there in a whisper, the sound of silk parting and wings softly echoing down long hallways. Hands are upon Amalia's face, light bleeding into the girl's wounded pores. "I heard him, in the Glade. I cannot go into the Spire...and it is true, the tulmhainar cannot leave...the imbalance would be too strong.."
A starlit tear trickles down Safrin's perfectly moonlit-pale cheek. "I asked Rae.." She whispers, galactic gaze unsteady with hazy tears. "They will not interfere..."
Too late by centuries, young one. The tulmhainar chuckles into Jigano 's mind, her voice wizened and welcoming of death. I too would have liked to know more of your world...perhaps in another life. There are worlds other than these, as you well know...
Though the snake clears a path, the turtle has ceased to move. Instead, her legs slowly begin to draw into her shell which continues to shrink. The ground beneath her sags beneath apparently quite considerable weight.
Survive? Of course. I would not let him die. The gas though...he will not last long once I am gone.
Softly to Delah, the great creature chuckles. We have no need of goodbyes. Don't cry for me, guardian. We will meet again.
Ending HP
Earthen hoard thing: 39 HP
Amalia: 91
Jigano: 139 Deimos: 26
Vai: 31
Delah: 1
You have 48 hours to reply. Posting order (randomly decided) is: Jigano, Deimos, Delah, Vai, Amalia
The snake ceased his attempts to clear a path when the Tulmhainar sank down, coiling just beyond the reach of the gas around her and bowing his head at last to the ancient world-turtle's wishes, though his heart was heavy as he did so. I hope your next world is kinder to you than this one was, he wished her gravely. Though the creature was a stranger, still he grieved her passing for the loss of knowledge, of potential, of light that she could have brought to the world, if only there had been a way for her species to coexist upon the same planet.
But... the gas... I could not see a way through to his chamber, he admitted. And even if I found it again, I do not think he'd leave. Do you know of any way to purify this poison, and these plants that make it, so we may safely reach him?
Unconsciousness licked at the back of Delah's eyes, scraping the nerves of her waking mind. Softly she mumbled something, half-hearted. Her brother and the other fae picked her up, the weighty presence of the warrior seemingly nothing in their grip. Without a word to the snake, though with a respectful bow to the turtle, they carried Delah out of the smoke-filled room, up the stairs, and into the sunlight.
Light blooms against her skin, and Amalia can feel the strain melt away as Safrin's touch heals her. But her relief is short lived, replaced Swifty by grief, disbelief and denial rising in her throat. Turning sable eyes to the goddess, Amalia stammers through her tears. "But... You said..." You said you would save it. I said I would show it the sky.
Amalia swallows, shaking her head, denial sending shivers through her breast. "There has to be a way," the girl whispers. "Mort, or Vi... She's been locked in there so long. Is there really nothing we can do?{\"/say} in that moment the girl would do anything, give anything, trade anything, just to give the Tulmhainar a chance. Just to keep her faith in place.
"What about the Voice?" she whispers, a last-ditch effort to find a way.
Ama is in denial and desperate. She will head back down if Safrin says no.
"I can't go inside. It is ... they've blocked it."
For a moment the goddess stills, and then her smile slowly returns. "It cannot leave..I believe that is true. But that doesn't mean it cannot see the sky." Pulling back from the girl, Safrin looks up towards the top of the Spire, half-ruined now when the top was blown apart.
But if the top can come down, perhaps other parts can as well.
"Tell whoever is inside to take cover." She says, eyes flashing towards the fae warriors as they appear into the daylight. A starstream covers them, healing of their wounds, and then Safrin is gone.
With as many years as I have had, you can find the kindness in almost anything. It just takes time. The tulmhainar said in a voice growing decidedly more weary. He is a guardian...he will never leave. As for the poison? The strongest in earth, air....fire or life drain. It will take a combination to kill them, but... Slowly and tiredly the old turtle sipped at the air. It will take many...and they grow much deadly as they die...
Ending HP Earthen hoard thing: 39 HP
Amalia: 91
Jigano: 138 Deimos: 26
Vai: 31 Delah: 1
You have 48 hours to reply. Posting order (randomly decided) is: Jigano, Deimos, Delah, Vai, Amalia
Thank you, wise one. I wish you luck on your journey, the snake sighed through the mental link, taking to heart the truth that had been imparted - that there was nothing more that he could do here, not for her nor for the guardian serpent. Not at the moment, at least, and not alone.
Amalia's warning came hard on the heels of that thought, and Jigano wasted no more time as he spun on his tail, body striking out with startling speed for so large a creature, lunging forward even as scales softened to feathers and wings stroked hard against the thick air, racing through the Fae-made tunnel in the debris and bolting desperately up the stairs to the top, to reach Amalia's shoulder and burrow his head against her hair, careful not to hurt her with his beak as he chirred a complicated mixture of reassurance, grief, and gratitude.
Amalia does not need a second warning: she is on her feet in a second, bounding down the stairs three at a time. "Jyoti!" she calls into the cavern. "Jigano! We need to get out! Safrin-"
And she lands at the bottom, flush-cheeked and breathless, her black eyes glittering with wonder, a smile on her coral lips. Kneeling before the Tulmhainar, the girl extends a hand to caress it, heedless of the gas. "We're going to show you the sky," she whispers, an oath upon her alto voice.
The she spins around and follows Jigano back to the sun, a stream of starlight and whale song left within her wake.
It is not a thing she does lightly. Reprimanded by Vi as she was, Safrin does not want to stray into the darkened and shadowy places made unclear by the fuzzy boundaries of Vi's rules.
But this? A tulmhainar? He would understand (he wouldn't, or Rae would have intervened). The punishment would be worth it (yet he threatened to banish you to the skies, away from all those you loved for failing him again). Amalia's tears though...pride and hubris have ever been her weakness. It is her most human trait.
And so she appears at the top of the Spire. She can see maybe 1/6 of the way down. "Not enough.." She whispers. But this is not her realm.
It won't be easy.
It will hurt.
Through grit teeth (another mortal inclination on her part), the stones shift and break. The interior of the Spire is revealed, a hole through the center. Beads of starlight appear on the goddess' skin, her teeth flicker into fangs, and for a moment her bones are revealed beneath her pale skin. Luckily there are no witnesses.
But it isn't enough.
More stones shrink, rearrange, move, part, and otherwise disintegrate. Blood drips from the corner of Safrin's eyes. The stones bend and break. There is a hole half way down now.
Not enough.
To her knees the goddess falls. A shadow stretches long from her as one of her hands reaches down. Starlight flows like water, burning, scalding, obliterating all that is in its path. The light dims from the goddess' eyes.
Barely any stone, remains now.
"Vi, forgive me." She whispers, before her body falls into the hole. Down she plummets, streaking the sides of the opening she has made with star-bright smears. Like a shooting star, she collides with the last barrier to the tulmhainar.
Her body falls nearly opaque against the ground. Her bones are black as are her eyes. Rivulets of light move like blood beneath the satin of her skin. But light floods the chamber below, falling upon the tulmhainar.
