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!
"Lady of Starlight, Queen of the Night ..." Arialla sang softly to herself as she stepped up to the little shrine in the temple and knelt before it. The falling notes created a melancholy, almost mournful effect. The lyrics were adapted from a hymn to a night goddess from home, but the tune was Arialla's own improvisation.
With both hands, Arialla lifted the necklace she created for Safrin and laid it on the altar, apart from the other offerings. The light of several candles sparkled off the iridescent, star-shaped pieces of shell and mother-of-pearl that adorned the silver necklace and brought out the colors in its centerpiece, a dark shell with points of light in its curves. A beautiful thing. Arialla was proud of her creation -- it had taken a good bit of work to find and trade for the materials and then pay someone to put them together -- and she really did think Safrin would like it, especially after receiving Amalia's approval.
"Lady Safrin, I ask for guidance," Arialla said, quietly, speaking almost directly to the altar. "I have been brought to Caido against my will, and I seek a way to return home."
Safrin's voice was like a rush of spring air, despite the chill of DeepFrost that lingered in the corners of the sanctuary. Light sparkled around her form, sat upon the stone with her knees drawn up to her chest, stargold gown falling away from her like waves. 'Very lovely, indeed.' Though her fingers brushed against the necklace and the shell, the way her eyes rose to Arialla's face suggested that the goddess might be speaking of her as well.
'Indeed, many have young one. It is the Voice who has done so to you, and to my knowledge, none have been allowed to leave." The goddess sighed softly, not wanting to lie, but not intending to mince her words either.
Looking up, Arialla took in the goddess' appearance, the light, the golden gown. Beautiful. Safrin reminded her more than a little of her own god, Apollo -- also a creature of light and golden hues -- and the resemblance made her acutely homesick.
At Safrin's words, Arialla let out a long breath, relief and disappointment at once. Relief that Safrin liked her gift, and -- liked her? That was good. But disappointment, though no surprise, at the goddess' answer.
She opened her mouth to ask if Safrin truly had no insight on the matter, then took a moment to control her tone and choose her words more carefully. It was never a good idea to speak thoughtlessly to a god. "I understand that you cannot simply send me home, or even tell me how to get there. I had hoped that you might simply -- be able to point me in a direction. Something I could work towards. Somewhere to look."
Though the longer she stayed in Caido, the more Arialla doubted the feasibility of returning home. Especially after talking to Osozo, who had said there was still an Arialla at home, occupying her place, her life. Leaving her with nothing to come back to.
Arialla took another deep breath and thought more on Safrin's words. "'None have been allowed to leave' ... Is it the Voice who prevents us from leaving?"
Perhaps Arialla ought to have spoken to the Voice first, as Samuel -- and Osozo -- had suggested. But here, before Safrin, she didn't want to imply that she'd chosen the wrong goddess. She could always try to speak to the Voice later.
But she did add: "Could we convince or -- or force the Voice to let us go home?"
How did one bend a god to their will? Not, Arialla suspected, without the help of another, rival god.
'The Voice.' Safrin replied with a mild shrug. "But as I've said, she's released no one in over three hundred years. Anything that might make you special enough to warrant her consideration, would be reasons to keep you here. And if you're unremarkable? Then why would she bother?"
Raising a perfectly sculpted brow at the notion of making the Voice return those who had been brought here against their will, the deity tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowing a shade. "It is my...belief that she hasn't the power to send you home. From all I have learned over the past few centuries, she seems merely to be grasping at straws. Sending you home is likely far beyond her abilities." But of course, Safrin didn't actually know this. It had been decades since she'd spoken to the imposter-god with anything less than outright hostility.
Despite her attempt to remain poised in front of the goddess, a bitter little laugh escaped Arialla at the question of why the Voice might bother to repair the life she had shattered. It didn't surprise her. Why would a goddess care about the collateral damage of her plans? She might revere the gods -- her gods, the gods of Caido, whichever -- but she possessed no illusions as to their fickle natures. They could be kind, like her Apollo, but they could be cruel in the next breath, and they did not answer to mortals.
"I understand." Arialla bowed her head, trying to keep her disappointment from showing. Of course, it was blunted by the fact that she'd expected as much for weeks. And she appreciated Safrin's honesty. The goddess could have easily given Arialla false hope, if all she'd wanted was a weapon against the Voice.
Stiffening her shoulders slightly, Arialla tried to put her hurt aside and move on. She couldn't completely kill the hope that someday, if she searched long enough, she might find some truth unknown even to a goddess. But she could no longer spend her days waiting for that unlikely outcome. So now what?
She took a deep breath, struggling to shake the last inkling that perhaps she should talk to the Voice -- get the information straight from the horse's mouth, as it were -- before she wrote off the possibility of the Voice's help completely. She suspected the Voice would mislead her -- string her along, tell her that if only she finished this next task perhaps she could go home -- but who was to say that Safrin wasn't misleading her too?
Well, Safrin hadn't promised her anything.
"I don't know what to do with myself if I'm not trying to get home," Arialla said. She suspected, rather cynically, that Safrin might have some ideas. But, just to make her intentions clear, she added, "But I wouldn't mind making the Voice regret destroying my life."
'That is more than many I have seen. Your wisdom and temperance in this, is impressive." Safrin noted. Indeed, she was not the first to venture here asking about ways to return home. Many ignored the goddess's words and tried in vain to forge a way for themselves, only to realize reluctantly that she'd been right all along.
Humming softly at this, Safrin nodded, though her tentative approval halted instantly at hearing the tail-end of Arialla's thoughts. "An interesting goal." She mused, a brow arched. "Many of the ascended would happily try to make you regret that decision before you'd even reach the Voice." The goddess pointed out softly.
"Thank you." Arialla was a bit surprised to receive such praise from a deity. The truth was, she hadn't stopped looking for a way home; she just wasn't going to doubt a goddess to her face. If Safrin said she couldn't help, then Arialla would look elsewhere, not harp on about it to the goddess.
"Yes, I suppose they would." Arialla thought about Samuel, the only Ascended she'd actually met. Despite her initial reaction to him, she found it hard now to see him as a threat -- but she didn't doubt there were others more intimidating. "If I'm ever to even be a thorn in the Voice's side, I'll have to become more powerful. Stronger. Someone they cannot simply shut down or ignore."
She didn't know how to do that. But she'd also noticed how Safrin's approval ended when she spoke of her intentions. She'd assumed that Safrin, as a rival goddess, would want her to attack the Voice, but if that were not the case ... "If you would offer me a different path, I would be glad for it."
The words didn't commit Arialla to taking any alternate road that Safrin might lay out before her, but she was open to suggestions -- not yet fixed on sabotaging the Voice.
'Indeed you will.' Safrin agreed, looking softly skeptical. 'There are ways forward of course. Becoming an ascended and trying to bring her down from the inside, though I'm sure she'd sense you coming long before she allowed you to ascend. Though if you're truly serious...perhaps it is Ludo you should speak with, and not me." Much as Safrin disliked offering up her counterparts for any reason, hatred of the Voice certainly fell under the raggedy-herald's purview.
'That I would offer?" Safrin smiled with amusement. "Mine are the paths of knowledge and power." She replied with a gentle shrug of her shoulders. "I am the herald of life, and your passions seem to align more closely with that of death and destruction. I"m not sure the paths I might show you would be ones you'd be interested in walking down."
Arialla's heart pounded as she processed what she could only call a rebuttal from Safrin. Perhaps she really had called on the wrong goddess, but she doubted Safrin would be pleased with a "oops, sorry to bother you, can you transfer me over to Ludo?" Besides, Safrin had a point. You ought to be pleased that she doesn't just want to use you as a weapon, like you're disposable. Even if part of Arialla wanted to be used -- at least that would be straightforward, with just a set of orders to follow.
Taking a deep breath, Arialla tried to hide how unsettled she was. Few, if any, of her conversations with Apollo had run this long, or gone into this much depth. "Death and destruction have never been my domain, at least not before this. My worship has always been of life and beauty. That is why I called upon you rather than Ludo."
Knowledge and power. That certainly had its appeal, but Arialla didn't want to tell Safrin that she'd use such boons only to get home or fight the Voice. She felt like that would only cheapen the goddess' gifts.
Arialla raised her head slightly. "I was a priestess in my old life. I don't know who to be in my new one, but turning to the gods for guidance comes naturally to me."
(Though in Arialla's own realm, she never would have expected the gods to answer so readily.)
"I am not set on fighting the Voice. But when I know of no other paths to take, throwing myself into such a battle seems like the only option." Arialla probably shouldn't leave it totally up to Safrin to suggest a fate for her, though. For one thing, she doubted the goddess cared enough to set out a life plan for a new worshiper. So, thinking of Safrin's mention of knowledge, she added, "I do wish to join the loreseekers. While I do not wish to be arrogant and suggest that I could find truths beyond the knowledge of gods ... If any possibility of returning to our own realm does exist, then working with the loreseekers would be the way to find it."
Arialla could hide nothing from Safrin nor any of the rest of the heralds. But mortals were such that they hid in their own minds, thinking their smiles and clenched fists were an armor of sorts, and so the goddess let the girl have her idle defences.
'And yet so much of this conversation has been about revenge." Safrin mused with a small smile. She was no stranger to revenge of course, being the vain creature that she was. 'Mmm, I can see that it does.' The goddess agreed with nod, her eyes narrowing at the creases and giving her a decidedly feline look of mischief for just a moment.
"Oh I very much doubt that." Safrin said, of the Loreseekers. "The leader of that little band fancies himself quite the scholar, but in reality, he is more blinded to the truths of this place than most. He sends them off on errands, but no one in that guild has learned much of note. If true knowledge-seeking is what you desire, you need not waste your time in the dusty basement of the Atheneum. "
Pausing, Safrin considered the woman before her.
"If it is a path you want, consider this. Join the Loreseekers if you want...or you can assist those who serve me. A few are looking to find out more about where the Voice keeps the souls of those she ascends..I could provide you with the resources to help them, if you chose."
Arialla lowered her head in the best approximation she could make of a curtsy while still on her knees. "I apologize for that. I will set revenge aside, if it pleases you."
She was surprised by Safrin's dismissal of the Loreseekers, but only a little. Jigano had said that he and Safrin did not get along. Arialla smiled a bit. "Dusty basements have never been my preferred environment."
Safrin's next words presented Arialla with a greater challenge -- more confusion, more uncertainty. Was it a binary choice? If she took Safrin's offer, would that prevent her from joining the Loreseekers, or could she do both? Not to mention ... "The souls of those she ascends? She takes their souls?"
Arialla thought of Samuel, who had seemed a perfectly kind and normal person for all of his association with the Voice and powers granted thereof. If the Voice had taken his soul ... Even if he'd consented to it, that was horrifying.
'No need to apologize or pander.' The goddess replied. "I was merely pointed it out."
Grinning a touch at that, Safrin nodded in agreement. "Nor mine. Though I do have several dusty caverns I keep treasures hidden away in, so perhaps I am somewhat of a hypocrite in that." She added leadingly.
"That she does. When they die it isn't to Mort's realm that the ascended find themselves, but in a...secondary life, I suppose, of her own making. She tells all sorts of stories about how it is in their best interest, but at the end of the day, their souls are tethered directly to her."
The gods at home had been quite fond of pandering. Arialla would have to remember that it wasn't to Safrin's taste. She nodded.
If Safrin intended to lead her, Arialla was all too happy to be led -- though she didn't want to come across as overeager or avaricious. "Caverns of treasures sound more interesting than libraries, however dusty they may be."
She meant it: while Arialla was literate and intelligent, she'd never been a bookworm. She preferred to be outside in the sun -- but if she had to be underground, she'd rather explore a cave than be trapped amid stacks of books.
"So they can't escape her even in death ..." Arialla mused. "That's horrible. She really is just ... ugh."
She'd never liked the idea that the Voice was a mortal who had decided to ascend to godhood, but the concept of the Voice seizing not only godhood but total control over the souls, the eternal existence, of those foolish or desperate enough to follow her ... It was the kind of power that no former mortal should have. Even a single god shouldn't be able to simply alter the afterlife in such a total, unilateral way. Such a disruption to the natural cycle of life and death screamed wrongness at Arialla.
"If there's any way I can help stop her, or free the souls she's taken, I would be glad to," Arialla said sincerely.
"Many experiences words can't accurately describe, too." Safrin added. "And places not yet written about in books." Tapping the side of her nose with a knowing sort of smirk, Safrin let the resonance of this subtle invitation linger in the air.
"Mmm, she really is." The herald agreed, wrinkling her nose in appropriate displeasure. 'Should you truly wish that...then seeking out Ludo, loath as I am to admit it, is likely your best bet. Being the herald of death as it is, it has taken particular issue with her overstepping her jurisdiction, as it were. But there are those already in search of the souls - Delphia and Amalia to name a few. You might start your search with them."
