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!
Alright. It was true he didn't know much of Delah save for the tenacity of spirit he could feel around him, but then, she didn't know much of him either.
Pausing, Remi released his hold of the war-chief, diving back into his body. Gasping in a breath far louder than he'd anticipated, he blinked dazedly into the darkness. Struggling to his feet, his eyes looked around for the body he'd just left, already letting his body shift into one far more attuned for the job ahead.
Though as a manticore he was large and his wings would be cumbersome in the woods, he hoped that the length of his stride might make up for any extra agility on the part of the fae. However for the sake of time and judging by their stats, it absolutely won't.
get out of my waters
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
As soon as Remi was gone from her body, the warchief crumpled into black fur and coiled muscles. In a breath she was gone, paws nearly-silent on the ground, ebony coat just another shadow in the night. She could smell and sense a much larger predator behind her, but didn't spare a second to turn and look. Instead, she used her momentum to swiftly climb a tree, massive claws easily gripping the bark.
Stretched low on a bough, the big cat lay waiting, silent, and ready.
Delah could see the glimmer of something in the dark, but she stayed her position. Probably she could have outrun Remi, for a time anyways. But by the time he found her, she'd have used her energy to flee and would have had less to fight with. Better to face this head on with her energy reserves full and her fury still bright in her veins.
Trotting into the wood away from Delphia, wings pinned against his sides and tail curled up over his back waiting to sting, the Alchemist could feel the familiar thrill of the hunt rising up through his loins and shooting through his body. It was difficult to reconcile, the pleasure derived from the thought of killing, and yet it was undeniably present.
I never did get the chance to fight you during the Cloister of Trials... He thought into the darkness, hoping he might bait her into replying so that he could better deduce where she was.
get out of my waters
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He moves below, lulled into safety by Ludo's mission and the size of him. He is one who has never had to fight while weak, who has never had to scrap and scrape to survive. Not in a body without all the upgrades of the one he's currently sporting, anyways.
Manticore, she notes with a silent snarl. It'll be that tail that he uses to fulfill his promise, Delah judges. He wasn't kidding about being swift and painless. But then again, neither had she.
That's because you were weak then. She replies, lunging from the bough she's perched, aiming for the thick muscles in his neck. His back would normally be an open and easy target, but not with his tail poised as it is. Instead, she aims to grip and tear at him with her claws, swinging around to the underside of his neck and hopefully dragging him down too.
She is the better predator to be sure, and her voice and the feel of her claws seem to strike the manticore at the same time. With a loud snarl, Remi instinctively pulls away from the pressure, causing her claws to tear into him all the more. Luckily his mane soaks up a good deal of the assault, but as she swings beneath him, he trips over her allowing a few dangerous swipes towards his belly.
He doesn't answer her accusation of being weak. Right or wrong matters little now, not with the smell of his blood coppery in the air and the feel of her beneath him. Had the Alchemist been a violent man, he might have described the experience as nearly sexual, what with her beneath him and how her presence ignited every fibre of his that she touched.
Digging his hindpaws into the ground to stop his movement, Remi dropped himself, hoping to pin her beneath his larger bulk. Scrambling like that scene in the lion king with simba and nala, Remi's paws flailed to try and keep her still, while his tail curved and curled, unable to get a clear shot at her.
get out of my waters
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
She no longer doubts at all that she will die. She does not fight to keep herself alive. Instead, she fights that she might die well. That whatever is left of her after this is a testament to the fae. That even manticores doing the errands of a god still can't control the fae. They are wild things who shall not go gentle into any good night, but who instead rage and rally and die on their own terms.
She takes the opportunity his inexperience affords, claws lashing at the folds of skin beneath his forelegs. As he drops onto her though, Delah snarls in surprise as the air rushes from her lungs. But though he's trapped her, he's also saved her in a sense, if his thrusting tail is any indication of just how completely covered she is.
Unable to breathe, Delah widens her jaws and tries to clamp onto whatever of him is in reach.
As her claws dig into him, the rush of adrenaline and pain is so resplendent in his mind, such a gratifying thing given the atrocity he is about to commit, that he relishes it. He burns with it, losing himself in the thunder of his heartbeat and the sweet-bright tang of his own blood in the air. If she wants to keep him close, so be it.
As her teeth latch around bits of mane and folds of skin, he nuzzles against her, his own teeth searching for the delicate skin of her ear. At the same time, he lets himself roll to one side (a movement that receives an unhappy response from his wing), and wraps his paws around her. Tucking his hind-end to better curl, his claws extent to grip her against him in a deadly embrace.
Without his body on top of her, his tail coils up and in, aiming a sting directly into the back of her neck.
get out of my waters
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He rolls and she knows it's over. Still, she flattens her ears away from his teeth and continues to strike out with everything he has. But just as she hadn't lied to him, he hadn't lied to her either: it isn't indeed fast and painless. This part, anyways.
The poison sinks into her, flooding her. Almost instantly the fight bleeds out of her, and as she loses consciousness, she is shoved back into her own flesh. Her wings are limp at her sides, dark eyes unseeing as life drains from her. If one were to look closely though, there is a ghost of a smile on her lips. Triumph and determination.
As her soul rises from her body, she looks down at her now lifeless corpse with disinterest, spitting a wad of spiritual-spit onto her killer.
As soon as Remi feels her body grow limp and shift, he follows. It's strange the way they are intertwined; legs wrapped tightly around one another, her hands against his chest and his pulling her close. Stranger still that though she is the one who is dead, he is the one cut and bloody. Letting himself find his breath with Delah's small form still against his, he considers what he might say, what apologies might be whispered into her dark hair. Only then does he realize that her soul is likely tea bagging glaring at him in that moment.
As the blood lust begins to fade, his wounds scream their fury. Groaning as he sits up, he glances down to find his shirt almost entirely torn and blood-stained. Heaving a sigh, he stood, leaning down to pick up the fae in his arms. She weighed hardly anything, despite her larger than life presence, and again the need to say something to commemorate the moment balled up in the back of his throat.
get out of my waters
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Delphia was silent as Remi returned with the stiff limbed Delah. Silent as they shifted and tore off into the night. Silent as he returned bloodied, carrying her limp form. Silent as the black shadowy kitten clambered up to hide in her hair, peering at the soul it knew it could not take.
"Oh, Delah." she breathed, shaking her head slowly, a loving smile on her lips. It was soft, almost chiding, but equally amused. The great protector of the wood, so fierce in spirit seemed so peaceful and small at the steps of death. There was the briefest twinge on her heartstrings - Delah had always been one of the few Fae to accept her as another being and protector of the Greatwood in her own way - and her physical loss would indeed be felt. But the joy she felt knowing her dear friend could finally rest free of the weight of worldly chains far outweighed any sadness.
She held out a hand towards her, head tilting ever so slightly. "Tell me, Greatwood Guardian, have you any regrets?" she asked.
Don't you oh Delah, me. You of all souls shouldn't lament death. The war chief chided, softly amused despite the sternness of her gaze. Accepting the outstretched fingers, still finding her presence in the spirit-world strange, she shook her head. Not a single one, no. You know me better than that, young Seer.
Watching as Remi returned her with her body, the guardian snarled silently at him.
I suppose you couldn't just...let me linger for a week so that I might haunt some of the more mischievous fae?
"I lament only that you left my newest brother and apprentice worse for wear. You don't have to patch him up, you know." she quipped back, a soft grin on her lips. Her fingers curled around Delah's, feeling them as though she held the hand of her physical body. "Of course, but that has not stopped you from surprising me before." Delphia said with a light laugh. No, Delah died as she had lived; fighting for her convictions, unapologetically taking a stand and never wavering. That she had no regrets was no surprise.
But her request...well...normally she wouldn't but... "Is that your final request of this world? To remain for a week and haunt the living?" she asked, raising a curious brow at her.
It isn't for me to warn him. He was the one seeking my death after all. Why make it easy. Glancing at him, even as he laid her body down in the moss, she curled her lip. He's already got a few scars. What's a few more?
Tightening her grip on Delphia's hand, Delah considered, before Tishy caught her gaze. Oh, so it was your Cat Sith. I might have known. Smirking, she glanced up towards the stars and shrugged. Doesn't matter. I know you won't let me stay. Glancing down, she kicked at her own body, her foot sailing neatly through.
He won't do anything...weird with my body, will he?
Delphia laughed and simply shook her head. "If that is your attitude then I am forever grateful this was not my task." she said lightly. Though, to be fair, she did have a much better report with the Chieftess than Remi did. Perhaps Delah would have given her a little slack.
"I shall allow it, if it is your wish. But only for a short time." Delphia said with a bit of a shrug. She could keep an eye on her soul and Tishy would help as well. "Indeed you should have." she teased, a glint in her eye as she glanced at her companion.
Again her head shook ad Delah's question. "No. It will be returned to your people, so you may be given full burial rites." she assured.
