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!
The Voice had to know to expect a visit from him sooner or later, Bastien felt. He hoped, with all his heart, that she understood the pain he was going through, the sheer magnitude of loss; that she could comprehend how much he needed her support. More than anything he needed answers, but there was a secondary purpose to this visit too: a mission, a purpose.
Suddenly, with Rexanna gone, making art just didn't cut it anymore.
With Azrael strapped to his back (he figured The Voice would want to see them and there had been no babysitters available at the arbitrary moment he'd felt strong enough to make this visit) he headed down into the caves, finding the familiar walk comforting even in the cramped and dark corridors. He chatted to Azrael as he went, memories and thoughts on the first time he'd been down here, occasionally showing them something (they seemed most interested in the spider).
When he finally reached the Voice, he knelt down before the statue and gently took Azrael off his back and into his arms before he spoke to her. "...Goddess, I would speak with you, please. I'm...certain you know why."
”Come closer, Bastien.” For once the Voice appears without pomp, a mere spark behind her statue of obsidian. She steps through, pale and ethereal to approach the Ascended and his child, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek that feels replenishing somehow. Her attention turns to Azrael, and despite the circumstances everything about her seems to thrum and light up at the sight of them.
”A beacon in the dark,” she remarks of them, reaching out to stroke a finger across their cheek before turning back to Bastien. ”Talk to me, my bright one. Tell me all that burdens you, and let us see what we might make of it.”
Obediently Bastien stepped closer, his lips parting with a slightly shaky breath as the Voice rejuvenated him: his strength had been waning, emotional and physical, yet he hadn't realised by quite how much until this moment. He watched with an knowable expression as the Voice looked over Azrael, waiting for her to speak again: he was in no rush. There was nothing to go back for, really.
"...I came to ask about two things, Goddess, but one is far more important." Bastien closed his eyes, tried to prepare himself to ask without crying, but before the words had even sounded there were tears in his eyes, threatening to fall. "..I...I need to know if Rexanna made it to your care. Her soul, I mean. Is she with you? Please, tell me. I need to know she's safe." He did not care to cry over his child, but Bastien couldn't help it, leaning forward and furrowing his brows tight as he tried to stop.
”She is safe. Both are.” The Voice does not make him wait for the answer, still gushing over Azrael, but she reaches up to brush the tears from Bastien’s cheeks as well. Straightening up, she looks over them both, something quiet and mysterious in her expression. What had happened to Rexanna and Clemente would not leave her memory for a very long while. Retribution would come, as it always did. In time, and with very careful planning.
”You, though, bright one, carry a soul more tumultuous than any lost at LongNight.” The burden Bastien carries is great, and the Voice knows that it threatens to crush him. ”Still, at least you have something to bring you through it.” She nods at Azrael.
Hearing those three words, some of the most precious he had heard in a long time (possibly since Rexanna had first told him she loved him), Bastien took a shuddering breath to try and calm himself, let himself take in the waves of relief. "Oh, thank you, Goddess. Thank you." He smiled, his lips shaking as she reached to wipe away his tears; Bastien did not often care to be vulnerable, but there was little choice here.
"They are all that is getting me through." He admitted, staring down at his child - it was not a burden he wanted to place on them, to be his recovery from tragedy, but it was hard to find many reasons other than them to continue. "..Goddess..." Bastien looked up, uncertainty clear on his face and pleading eyes staring at the Voice. "If...if Rexanna is with you, is there a chance I could..speak to her? Just to say goodbye? I never...I never got to say goodbye."
”They are everything,” the Voice agrees, though her voice holds a great deal more weight than that of a child helping a father through his grief. Gazing down upon Azrael, she reaches out to run an ethereal finger across their cheek, her smile enigmatic. It fades, however, at Bastien’s request, the Voice clasping his cheeks and causing static to ripple out around them. Slowly, she shakes her head.
”I am not Ludo, bright one,” she explains. ”Whilst I can keep safe the souls of our departed ones, I cannot manipulate them. But she is here - all around us, in a place like this. Say your goodbyes - she will hear them, even if I cannot manifest it for you to see.”
Bastien had hoped the Voice might be able to bring her Ascended's souls to her, knowing that they were not kept in Mort's realm the same as non-Ascended; to hear otherwise, even though he had known it was distinct possibility, was a blow. He took a heavy sigh and nodded, trying not to let his disappointment show too much: their Goddess had done enough for them that he could hardly complain for her inability to literally raise the dead.
Saying goodbye to Rexanna without seeing her, then. He closed his eyes, tried to feel her spirit around him. "My love...my life. I am sorry I did not treasure my last moments with you as I should have, but I hope you forgive me; I did not know they were the last." Bastien slowly opened his eyes, stared down at a spot in the floor: it was easier if he could focus in one place. "I promise to you that I will be the best father I can be to our child, though you know how anxious I was when you were here...without you, it feels almost insurmountable..but I know you would want me to try my best, so I am."
He couldn't go on forever, so he swallowed and ended with: "I love you and I promise you I will keep my love for you alone until we can meet again, whenever I come to join you where you are. G.." Bastien paused, stumbling on the word, but forced it from his lips: "Goodbye."
After taking a moment to control the tears that once again wanted to fall and making sure he was still holding Azrael securely, Bastien looked up to the Voice and nodded. "Thank you. There was...another matter too, Goddess. With Rexanna gone..I find that my inspiration for my art is lacking; it may return, but until then, I think it would be good to have something to focus on." Something to lose himself in, a cause to dive deep into and forget his troubles for precious moments. "I..perhaps this is presumptuous of me, but I would like to ask you to use me, however you can, with my specific talents. Is there something I can do for you, for our family? You know I am no fighter, but I do not think myself entirely useless."
The Voice falls silent as well, giving the space to Bastien, letting his words echo softly around the chamber, as true and sincere as if Rexanna were before them. ”When the time comes, you will be with her again,” she assures him. ”And you will see her even so - in your child’s smile, in the way they might look at you at times. Your Azrael... they will be your salvation until you meet with your Penumbra again.”
Bowing her head, she allows his goodbye to be the last spoken on the matter, static gaze raising once more as he turns their attention to other things. Indeed, the Voice seems to brighten, to surge with power around them. She reaches out to let her fingers ghost across his cheek, and there is something deeply and infinitely proud in her expression.
”You are in a wonderfully unique position, Bastien,” she says softly. ”No fighter are you, it is true. But a herald? A harbinger? With your artistic skill and eloquence, I can think of no finer.” A smile passes across her face. ”It may not have escaped your notice that some of your siblings, whilst powerful, are not... personable.”
She laughs softly. ”You, however - what a fine thing it would be, for the world to hear about me from you. From one who holds a miracle in his arms.”
The Voice's reassurances threatened to break him again; Bastien pressed his lips into a smile and nodded, knowing she would feel his genuine gratitude and love without him having to say it. "You're right. We are so fortunate that we had our child before she was gone...to think we almost waited."
He was thankful when the topic moved on; he had come here to have this heavy conversation, but it was incredibly difficult, each word adding another weight to his heart; he'd reflect on it all further later (and be glad for the chance to say goodbye to Rexanna), but now he was eager to discuss other business. Meant Azrael had less chance of being cried on, if nothing else.
"That was exactly what I was thinking, yes. In fact, I have an idea..." He had been thinking of this for a while, long before Rexanna had gone, but had not yet had a chance to ask his Goddess. In some ways it was a repeat of things that he had attempted with Safrin, but The Voice was a world away and he knew now to actually listen to the God in question's interests first. "..I would construct you, and our Ascended, a place of worship. Now I know that you, my Goddess, are not as vain as the other Gods, that you do not require us to leave you offerings or songs or praise, but let me pitch the idea to you on it's other merits."
If he did not have Azrael in his arms, he would be moving around as he gave this pitch. For now, Bastien let the tone of his voice (forced, given what had just happened) carry it. "It would not be a simple building. No, I propose we make, with some of your assistance if you'd be so kind, a wonder. I could design it, something bright and huge...to rival the Spire, but to be a structure of light and symbol of your power and liberation, rather than your prison. We could use your technology to give the place special access to portals, or perhaps some other miracle I have no knowledge of that you can imagine..."
Hopefully, she would be interested so far. "What this building would give us is a few things. Firstly a place to come and speak to you as a group when needed...more attractive than that 'safehouse' Samuel made, it would protect us;" Bastien was worried that protection might be needed sooner than they liked, but didn't say that explicitly. "It would display to the world here that you and your people are no longer a 'new' thing to be dismissed, but a powerful and beautiful force to be reckoned with and if people are smart, join. ...I could go on for longer, if you are not yet convinced?"
He pitches and she listens, and goodness if he doesn’t prove her point in his efforts. With or without Azrael, Bastien succeeds in spinning the kind of beauty in his words that she has found in too few places. She settles back near the statue, static running through the walls and the floor, dancing around them and casting his face in an eerie light.
”I was always convinced, bright one,” she informs him with a beatific smile. ”And I will happily lend my assistance. But it is not a lack of power or support from me that you will have to overcome.” She glances around, raising her hands. ”The Hollowed Grounds is a wound on the world, to many of those who remember our kind,” she explains. ”If you would have something to rival the Spire... you will need help.”
Approaching again, she lets a delicate finger run across Azrael’s cheek. ”Choose your place, garner your support - and then call for me. We will turn your vision to reality.”
For clarity, the Voice has suggested that Bastien engages in a Regional Quest! He will need to select a region for his creation and convince the leadership to allow him to build there. This leader will need to engage with the Voice as per the RQ rules.
The Voice's words filled him with happiness, Bastien feeling for the first time in a while a glint of purpose in his heart for the future. He listened closely to whatever else she had to tell him about what had to be done, ready to accept almost any instructions if it meant he could pursue this.
"I will find someone willing to help me." He promised, bowing his head, mind already racing with ideas. Bastien was sure he would be able to speak to Remi, though ideas of other possibilities where in his mind: he had no idea how Evie felt of Ascended, nor the leader of Halo...he would have to travel and pitch his idea around, see who would take him before he made the decision. "Thank you, Goddess. For believing in me and understanding."
With that said, there was little else to take her time with and all sorts of things to do. "I will see you soon with updates, and to bring the little one to visit. I think it's good for them to know where they came from."
