and yet, I choose you

Sam would feel ... pulled. As if his body was being deleted and then reassembled in the woodlands. Which was precisely what had happened. Before him the Voice leaned against her shrine-tree. Lines of electric blue coursed up and down it, the pulse of which was echoed in her gaze as she smiled sweetly at Sam. "Of all my bright ones, I would not have expected it would be have been you who disobeyed Wessex first." She said with a smile that seemed more predatory than normal.

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

One moment he was in the Greatwood facing certain death, then he was gone for a split second, somewhere between something and nothing - then he was at the Shrine, stumbling a little with the shock of the odd journey he had taken.

The Voice spoke to him and he looked up, too surprised to say anything for a moment. He had expected her to come down for him, perhaps fight the Fae, not whisk him off to a Shrine. "I...um...thank you. Thank you." Was all he could say at first, staring down at his own hands to make sure they were still real.

"I wasn't...trying to disobey Wessex, not really. Um..I...what happened?" He asked, feeling as if the last ten minutes hadn't even happened as he looked up at his Goddess.

"No one is to enter Fae territory." The Voice repeated Wessex's instructions with a glimmer in her blue stare. "And yet..." He might not have been trying to disobey, but that was in fact exactly what he'd done. "They would have killed you Sam. They're looking for revenge for what happened." She explained with a roll of her eyes. "Do you know the Fae have had one of the longest and bloodiest histories out of any race here in Caido? Constant civil warring. Death is a tragedy to be sure, but they are warriors. I'm not sure what they expected."

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

"Well...yes. Though admittedly me and Wessex haven't been getting on very well recently..." He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck, then added: "But I really wasn't trying to disobey her. I thought it would be the quickest way to find a hanging snake and...um.."

He listened to The Voice speak, unsure if she was angry at him or not. The Fae had always seemed plenty violent to him, so that wasn't a surprise. "There was a little bit of me that hoped I could...maybe get through the woods and to the portal...for you. I want to impress you. Because I know I haven't recently." It was embarrassing and he hadn't even really been aware of it until the last moment, but it was true.

Though once again, he'd messed it all up. "I just can't seem to do anything right lately. I'm sorry."

"As your queen, I have no interest in your loyalty to her. As a fellow ascended however? You must work together if we are to retake what is ours. We will always be brightest together." She said softly. However as he spoke, so like a child trying to please a parent, the Voice smiled. Reaching out a hand to softly stroke his cheek, she shook her head. " You have always impressed me, Sam." She said warmly. "In fact, that's why I brought you here. To speak with you. Do you truly want to help me? Help all of us?"

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

"..Mmm..well...maybe if she stops throwing knives at me." Sam laughed sharply, a little anxiously, as if scared to mention this in case Wessex appeared out of a bush chucking machetes at his head. Still, he knew The Voice was right and he was far more interested in making peace with Wessex than many other people, because she was ultimately a part of his odd little Ascended family.

He smiled as The Voice stroked his cheek, so glad to always find comfort with her. He knew she could still be disappointed but she seemed more than anyone to understand, to love him, no matter what.

Her question, though...as she asked it he realised that he was at a crossroads. Jigano was going to speak to the Old Gods to see if he could ever gain back their favour and was desperate for him to stop following The Voice. When he was speaking to his friend, it was easier to see the flaws in his Goddess and consider that path. But nearly everyone else he cared for the opinion of was either neutral or one of her children; he had never had a family or belonging like this before.

"Yes. Yes, I do. I was going to bring you someone to Ascend soon, I think, but...is there something more I could do? I'd love to be useful."

The Voice smiled effervescently at that. “I always welcome the chance to make others bright.” She agreed, but clearly the way she looked at him and her tone suggested that in fact, she did have something more to ask of him. Opening her palm, therein lay a swirling ball of pure electric energy. “You asked about the portals before...I would like to tell you now how they work, and to ask for your help. Before we were locked away, I created a system to connect all of Caido. The world was fractured and broken. So I made portals so that people could go from one side of the continent to the other in the blink of an idea. Trade increased, families ceased being separated. This world, so big and vast suddenly became ours to visit and know. Those portals are offline now. In order to start them again my energy is needed, But in order for my presence to reach a portal, certain...groundwork needs to be in place. Exploration, like what you did in the Greatwood.” Immediately, she gave Sam a warm smile, her fingers upon his cheeks. “And no Sam, there will not be a blight every time.” She said, knowing that the idea would be immediately in his mind. “I would like to put you in charge of this. In charge of knowing what exploration needs doing. In charge of knowing when I am ready to activate another portal. If you take this—“ She indicated the light in her hand, “—you will know the status of each new portal you come across, and what needs to be done before I can activate it.” So saying, the Voice smiled at Sam. One of her most damaged and broken children, but it was through all of those cracks that the brilliance of his light always shined through. “Will you do this for me, Sam?”

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

Sam was quiet as The Voice explained her job for him, though the relief was clear in his eyes at her addition about The Blight. At her final question he chewed at his lip and furrowed his brow, clearly trying to think about it.

Mostly, he wanted to prove his loyalty and the promise of a purpose...nearly all of his soul wanted to immediately say yes. But a voice that mostly belonged to Jigano held him back from accepting right away. Was he being a fool? This was how he had spread the Blight last time and he had said he was going to wait to make a decision as to whether he fully trusted the Voice...

But Jigano was one person and The Voice and the Ascended were feeling more and more like his family every day. After a pause he nodded, but said: "I think I can. I will. But um...could I ask some questions?"

Both for his own peace of mind and so when Wessex inevitably questioned him later he'd have some answers. "How do the portals work, and why are they turned off now? Did the Old Gods do that at the same time as the barrier? Why does my exploration help? And...why was there a Blight this time, but there wouldn't be another time?" He hoped she would understand his need to know more.

With a motherly sort of smile, the Voice nodded. "Of course you can Sam." Listening to him, she folded her legs thoughtfully. "The portals work with the same technology I used to bring the Outlanders here. It's the same thing that let me bring you from the Wildwood here so quickly. You are made up of very small but important pieces. I record where and how those pieces are arranged in one place, and recreate them in another.  This is what allowed everyone to move about so quickly in the portalling system." Sternly, the goddess nods. "Yes. That was part of what sparked the war. They didn't like the freedom I had given to everyone and so they sought to close down the portals. They destroyed them one by one, or tried to." Her lips curved into a predatory smile. "But they didn't actually destroy them. I only let them think that they did by taking them offline. " Stroking Sam's cheek one last time before folding her hands in her lap, the goddess tried to think of the best way that Sam might understand. "When I say I am always with you, I am not just being kind. A part of me is in all of you. Wherever you go, you let me see. I am still restricted where I can go. When you explore, you let me see the lands again. It is only once my bright ones have done this, that I have been suitably spread through an area, that I have the reach to re-activate the portals."

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

While the idea of being taken apart into many little pieces and reconstructed was...troubling to Sam, The Voice did satisfactorily answer his question. In fact, she answered a lot, telling him things about their history he had not known - once he had thought the barrier was the only thing the Old Gods had taken from them. Portals, too...if The Voice told the truth (and he could not see why she would lie) the Old Gods seemed like bitter traditionalists, shutting down innovation because of who invented it.

The only thing The Voice didn't answer was the question he cared about the most, so he had to ask again. "And...about the Blight? Why it won't happen again?"

Softly the Voice smiled. “We were trapped in here for over three hundred years, and the Greatwood? The Greatwood has almost never seen the ascended before. Our kind was not welcomed there even when we roamed the world freely. The blight was...unfortunate.” So saying, she reached out to tuck some of his coppery hair behind one of his ears. “The woods and those who came into contact with it were...corrupted, you might say. Bits of your brightness seeping into them, only their bodies couldn’t handle it. Some cannot stand the light that we offer.” Shrugging and offering Sam a sad smile, she continued. “But it won’t happen again. I have amended the flaw that caused it.”

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

As much as Sam wished The Voice could have given him the explanation for the blight sooner, he was glad to have one. It would help him to explain things to his friends, especially as it sounded like The Voice had not known it would occur until it did. Though it did always seem easier to accept things when she was saying them to him, her gentle motherly voice and hands making him desperate to agree.

"I'm...glad you could fix it." He smiled, then looked up to the sparking device she held, the one that would show him the status of the portals. Could he really do something so important?

The only way to find out was to try, he supposed. Holding out a hand for her to pass it to him, he nodded his consent. "Where am I to explore first?"

"I am too. It was unfortunate that it happened at all, and I'm sure it will be used against us in the long run. But then again, Rae has allowed for far worse plagues than this, and still they are praised." The Voice mused with a soft shrug. As he reached out, her soft hands met his and light flashed brilliantly between them. Within the ascended's mind a new upgrade was placed; one which would let him sense the status of the portals and to know which lands would need to be explored in order to complete the process. "Halo. It is a cold place, and because of your chip, you will indeed feel the cold. But remember it need not be you who does everything. Though with your invisibility you are remarkably well suited for it. Still, work with your family. I don't expect you to do any of this alone, Sam." She added with a warm smile. They were in this together, after all.

Samuel

I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds

"Could you...tell me of one of those plagues? I think if people tried to use the Blight against me, it might be useful to have an example to show them your point." He asked, hoping to have a more formulated argument to use when his friends inevitably tried to turn him away from The Voice again.

He closed his eyes at the brightness of the light and felt something change within his mind; whenever The Voice upgraded him Sam felt both in awe of the intimacy of the action, yet also terrified of the way she could so easily reach inside his head and do whatever she pleased.

"I will see if anyone would like to come with me and help. Thank you." Sam smiled at his Goddess, happy to have a task to complete for her. "I'm working on getting the items for my fingers, too. Before I go, may I drink..?"