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!
More clever this time, the creature moves before the bolt can strike it. Still, it hisses as the light from the only star in what seems to be the entire world, sizzles in the darkness.
"Oh, another life you didn't save because you weren't there." Aoife's voice muses as Ronin considers Rexanna's death. And Clem, let's not forget him. "Another you promised to keep safe, but you didn't. Why do you keep making promises you can't keep, daddy? Now mommy will have to stay where she is forever, and ever, and ever..."
”That may be the case, but you aren’t out here trying to pluck your dead lover back from the stars so that she can go and be at peace with your dead daughter,” Ronin remarked, a little more sharply than intended. He took a deep breath and tried to get his bearings, reaching out to touch a hand to her shoulder. ”Sorry,” he muttered. ”I just... it’s hard enough without knowing someone else is putting themselves in danger.”
He could only nod absently at the information about the door, still reeling after the news about Rexanna and Clem. He’d make sure to come back to the Temple often, in case anyone needed to be let in who couldn’t touch the door.
Unfortunately he wasn’t in a position currently to realise the effect his starlight had on Amalia; the monster kept throwing hooks at him and eventually one was going to stick. ”Until the sun rises. That was the deal.” He glared into the darkness, though he had begun to glow fiercely with an inner light.
”Go, Amalia. I’ll be okay.”
He didn’t respond to the taunts. But that didn’t mean they weren’t sinking in.
06-19-2020, 07:34 PM (This post was last modified: 06-19-2020, 07:35 PM by Amalia.)
AmaLiA
Safrin's shield
The rebuttal feels uncalled for, but Amalia cannot fault his unhappiness. Wrapping her arm around herself defensively she looks away, only turning back to Ronin when he apologizes. "I know." But the truth of the matter remains that she would put herself in danger regardless. Blessed as she is, graced with protection and strength, how could she possibly be expected to do otherwise?
The spirit does not even begin to give up. Long qilin ears flatten on Amalia's skull at this latest barb against her friend. Maybe he wants her to leave, but she will not leave him alone with that; she shakes her head earnestly, turning now to the apparition. Half-shifted with horns and ears of a qilin as well as its lashing tail and bright fire, the Shield steps toward the spirit, drawing out her crimson staff.
"Aoife was a child. She was good, and sweet, and blessed. There were stars in her eyes." Suddenly she lashes out, attempting to land the butt of her staff into the not-Aoife's skull. "Your eyes hold only hate, and you will leave him alone." It is the closest she has come to attempting to kill a living thing, and she can feel her body and mind scream in protest, even though she knows this is only a trick.
'Ahh yes, mommy...' The monster said, as if Ronin had been speaking to her. "She might have lived too, if you had been smarter. Better. But you stayed alone, instead of where it was safe because you thought you were stronger than you were.
Just like now."
Vanishing with childlike laughter as Amalia's staff pierces the darkness, the monster reappears on the other side of their combined sphere of light. "She doesn't have stars in her eyes anymore, because Ronin let her die. " Not-Aoife replied. "And she'll be all alone forever. Vanya will never keep her company."
It was all too much. The darkness, the whispering voice of his daughter, the violence wrought in the shadows, the truths spoken (even if they were only true in his own mind). Light began to fracture out of Ronin in less controlled waves, and he could feel it brewing within him, the same sort of power that had once destroyed a temple.
”Stop.” Was it to Amalia or the monster? He didn’t even know at this point. ”Enough. We’re going, Amalia. It can’t touch us in the light, so we just need to ignore it.”
Silently he held out his hand for his friend, a desperate plea for her to just walk away with him, to leave the monster in the night and let it drive itself mad. At least for now. Because if this was everything he had to look forward to, it was going to be a very long week indeed.
The strike does nothing except cause the monster to move and Amalia's frustration to rise, a snarl curling at her lips. Spinning around toward the new source of the voice, she readies her weapon to strike out again. She wants to shut it up, end the taunts and cruelty. To do that much for Ronin, if he is going to cast her away.
And so she does, lashing out one more time before heeding the Star's request. With a final growl the Shield turns, taking Ronin's offered hand between her trembling fingers. Silently she follows as he walks away, his radiating light a shield of sorts.
It isn't until they've gone a few steps that Amalia speaks again. "I'm sorry, I just... Gods, it's all so much. And barely the first night." Year after year they have endured, and each year it only seems to grow harder. At least, if Rexanna is to be believed, this year will be the last.
So much yelling Ronin. So much denial and brooding and certainly not enough bloodshed.
But it was early. There was time. The antlered man would break, of that the monster had no doubt.
From the darkened depths came a sphere of ice wrapped in soft snow. It would strike his cheek, leaving a welt he'd not feel given the low temperatures, but which would seem to throb in the back of his skull.
Grunting in pain, out of reflex more than anything else, Ronin shook off the welt from the icy sphere as best he could, continuing onwards with Amalia. Giving her hand a squeeze, he led them around the perimeter of the Temple until they reached that fateful door again, the one that had claimed Rexanna and Clem. ”You need to go inside now,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument, though he did draw her into a tight hug.
”I’ll stop by every night. We’ll catch up,” he said. ”Don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger, okay? You’ve checked on me, you’ve kept up your promise to Remi. We’ll get through this, all of us. Okay?” Pressing a parting kiss to her hair, he stepped back and nodded to the door expectantly.
06-22-2020, 09:22 PM (This post was last modified: 06-22-2020, 09:23 PM by Amalia.)
AmaLiA
Safrin's shield
Loathe as she is to leave him alone, Amalia knows he's right. The monster that haunts him is gone for now, and she should check on the people who wait inside- queenless, leaderless, desolate. Deimos will need her, and the others too... and as much as she dreads to face them all, she knows it must be done.
Her head nods against Ronin's shoulder, giving in as she returns his embrace. "Okay," Amalia acquiesces, pulling away far enough to press a hand gently to his cheek. "But I'm going to come back and check on you, so don't think you've managed to shake me. And don't do anything stupid." This is said with no lack of wry humor: they are each of them prone to feats of stupidity, and he is as unlikely to avoid them as the Shield herself.
With a final squeeze of Ronin's hand Amalia turns to go inside, flashing him a last worried look before shutting the door behind her.
