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!
Amun hadn’t planted his final Rose yet. Oops. Well, seeing as he was new to Caido, and an Ascended, and not sure how he felt about the gods, and knew nothing about the blight, and just generally a lazy asshole, they’d have to forgive him. Granted he still didn’t know why the gods needed him, of all people, to help plant these flowers (surely they could do it themselves, or at least get a better follower), but seeing as the nagging urge would not fucking stop, he finally decided to do something about it.
So, as soon as night fell, he made his way out to the woods. He wasn’t a plant person, so he figured flowers would survive well in the woods. They certainly seemed to out at that crazy tree. Besides, this way, out here, he wouldn’t risk running into anyone; every other time he’d gone to do something with the Roses, someone had already been there, so he figured isolated woods in the middle of Deepfrost was a safer bet.
Once he was some distance into the forest, he knelt down and scraped away some of the snow and ice. Thankfully, one of the perks of his new form was that he didn’t feel cold or pain, so even though his hands were bare he was up to the task. Once he had enough exposed ground, he tried digging into it, but it was frozen. Sighing, he picked up a chunk of ice, then stabbed it into the dirt, eventually loosening it enough for him to scoop a small handful out. That done, he pulled out his Rose and prepared to place it in the ground.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get
In the last couple of days of the Blight truly having Abasi's mind, he had completely lost himself. There had been the manor, then a jail...? Then cold dirt and sky and trees all around him; something had happened that left him bleeding an oddly dark fluid from his arms. With the wound stinging in the cold air and passing branches whipping at his skin, all he could think to do was run.
There wasn't even the half-mad reasoning he had had before in his mind. Conspiracies no longer came to him; just desperation and a hunger, telling him to head into the woods and find something to sink his teeth into.
In some ways, almost a relief, to leave behind the restricting morals of personhood.
The sight of a person before him between the trees brought him to a sudden halt, leaves and snow crunching under his feet as he stood and swayed, looking the man before him up and down. Not to see who he was - to evaluate the prey. Abasi began to walk forward, one slow step at a time, eyes fixed on Amun.
Now, Amun was mostly a city boy, that much was true. However, he’d spent the last of his days in his previous world living between a jungle and the sea with no more protection than a hut provided. And he’d seen all sorts of strange and exotic locales, and had been almost a rogue in all of them. So, even his street smart brain had adapted to the type of sounds one might hear in the wilderness. And so, when he heard the crunch of snow and the snapping of small branches in a slow stalk behind him, he stood up, Rose still in one hand, and turned, eyes easily piercing through the darkness. It didn’t take the Ascended long to spot the other man. ”Hey mate. Can I help you?” The potter tried to radiate confidence, which, given what bad shape the other fellow was in, wasn’t that hard. Still, the stranger had been stalking Amun and he wanted to know why.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get
Abasi heard the words but they meant little, just sounds that bounced around his ears for a moment then left as if Amun had said nothing at all. He stood there a while longer, quiet and staring, then the rage surged back up through his chest and he began to walk forward, one unsteady foot before the other.
The rose, when he saw it, only stoked the fire. With a noise somewhere between a gurgle and a growl he sped up, arms outstretched to grab at Amun with pure anger in his eyes. If the other man listened he might have been able to hear a hiss of: "rose--" As Abasi tried to grab at his arms and pull the flower away, desperate to destroy it.
Well, that escalated quickly. The strange man had been approaching slowly, but then Amun had stood up to confront the stalker, which had apparently been the wrong move. Indeed, the Ascended’s eyes barely had time to widen at the single word that fell from the stranger’s lips before the other man was reaching forward for the flower in the potter’s hands. Or maybe the stalker was reaching for Amun.
He wasn’t going to stick around to find out: he stepped backwards as rapidly as he could, which, given that it was nighttime, was pretty fucking fast. ”What’s your problem mate.” However, even as he saw the anger building, something was urging the Ascended to both protect the bloom and to...use it. Unfortunately, he was a bit busy trying not to get caught to listen to any more voices in his head.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get
Abasi was nowhere near the right frame of mind to explain what his problem was. All that mattered to him was getting the rose from Amun's fingers and ripping it apart so it couldn't-- so it couldn't---
He didn't actually know what it would do, but he knew it was unthinkable. Something that would end the free, feral soul he had begun to inhabit. Unfortunately for Abasi, his body was not designed for this kind of animalistic attack; in his rush to claw at Amun he didn't look at his feet. Hooked on a root in the ground, his ankle twisted and he fell down, grabbing as tight as he could at Amun's clothes as he fell down.
As the other man kept coming, Amun kept backpedaling. Unfortunately, retreating backwards, in the snow, when he had absolutely no idea why this stranger was reaching for him and the Ascended didn’t feel comfortable taking his eyes off or turning his back on the other man was not exactly easy. The potter’s efforts were further hampered by the weird urge he felt to reverse direction and try to stab the stranger with the Rose’s thorns, as if it was a weapon and not a flower. So, despite the speed boost Amun received from his nature, he wasn’t really moving that quick. Which meant that when the other man stumbled, he did indeed manage to get a grip on the Ascended’s clothes, and started to pull them both down.
That presented the potter with an opportunity, though. With the other man distracted—and in lieu of any better ideas—the Amun gave into the compulsion and whipped the Rose as fast as he could at the stranger’s hand where it gripped the potter’s coat. Hopefully one of the flower's thorns would pierce the other man's fingers. Worst case, it might get him to release Amun.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get
Abasi really did not have a plan in mind and he fell forward into Amun, hitting his nose hard somewhere on the man's leg. The pain caused him to yell, an almost inhuman sound, his hands going to hold the wounded flesh. Before he could recover from the wound a sharp prick stung the back of his hand too and he hissed, batting at Amun.
He did not know why the spot where the rose's thorn had struck hurt so, or why he was so angered by it, but he found himself falling back, staring at his hand with a shocked, hurt expression, then turning those eyes to Amun.
The stranger might be pissed, but Amun was the one being assaulted here, and he was pretty angry himself. Indeed, even the easy-going potter had his limits, and enough was enough. As the other man slammed his head against the Ascended’s leg—he didn’t feel any pain from the blow, of course—he just growled in annoyance. And then the strange man had the audacity to give Amun a hurt look. Fuck that. ”Seriously mate? What is your problem?” The other man seemed as much obsessed with the flower as he was with the Ascended, so as the stranger fell back, the potter did his best to disentangle himself and scamper away in the snow.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get
Abasi, in his hurt confusion, did not follow - as angry as he was, the flower was being taken away, which was all he found he wanted in the moment. Staying crouched down in the snow he stared blankly down, not hearing Amun's words; it took a long time for his mind to clear. Once it did, he stood, and walked back into the woods.
