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!
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
It’s night. At least, he thinks it is. Darkness cascades overhead and he watches as the stars above that dot the skies flicker and combust into flaming balls of white light before winking out again. He wonders if he can fly up high enough to see them – wonders if perhaps he might make it to the cosmic abyss and disappear in the black of night with it.
It’s that thought that has navy feathers sprouting along his shoulders, along his arms – long blood feathers trailing the ground behind him, weaving small lines within the sand as he walks down the sand bar. Water sits on either side of him. He doesn’t know how he’s gotten here. He doesn’t know if he’ll make it out of here.
He could fly, if he remembered how to shift completely. As it stands now, the man stands with his wings sprouting from his arms, a cape of sorts to drag upon the ground, horns sprouting from his skull that spiral behind the crown of his head.
And he wanders, lost, and all alone if not for the stars exploding above his head.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
It wasn't safe in the Hollowed Ground right now. Amun knew that, gripped with certainty. So he'd fled, stumbling through the portal and beyond into Torchline.
Wandering there, he'd heard the footsteps chasing him. Even here he wasn't safe. So he'd made his way out to where he could corner his pursuers.
But what waited for him out on the sand dune with the little cathedral that shimmered and swirled was worse than anything he could've imagined. "You're supposed to have bat wings." A laugh bubbled out of his throat as he regarded the figure before him. "And you're too late. My soul already belongs to another."
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
His head lifts, spying a short man that he thinks he should know but doesn’t. The name doesn’t come to mind, though he can almost feel it on the tip of his tongue. “I do have bat wings.” He rumbles, his head tilting up a bit more, the horns spiraling into the black abyss – navy feathers that drag along the sand begin to flex and shift, melding and mixing into one another until a leathery sheen connects both arms.
The arms lift, showing the leathery cape attached at his arms, connecting to his shoulders, trailing up along his shoulders and to the back of his neck. But he stops, standing still in the sand with the cursed water on either side of him, steel gaze dark and shadowed, pupils blown in the darkness. “Who has your soul?”
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
As the figure before Amun shifted the potter found himself baring his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. His fangs were prominently displayed and he began to circle in the dunes, careful to give the water a wide berth. "So were you disguised? Or did you just fall?" Licking his lips, his gaze strayed to the devil's neck.
Smirking, the Ascended laughed. "Maybe I never had one to begin with. I'm just a copy after all." Growling low in his throat, he shook his head. "But you can't have it. I don't wanna make any deals with you or your kind." Continuing his stalk, the circle turned into a slowly closing spiral.
09-04-2020, 08:40 PM (This post was last modified: 09-04-2020, 08:42 PM by Sunjata.)
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
Did he fall? Yes.
He fell from the portal, he landed in the labyrinth with nothing but the clothes on his back.
“I fell.” He rumbles, arms moving to cross over his chest, eyes watching Amun as he begins to circle, Sunjata’s head tilting to the side as he watches. The question of souls goes up in the air, the Flood listening, eyes shutting as he takes a deep breath, an inhale and a slow exhale. “Aren't we all copies?” He says softly, shaking his horned head.
“I’m not here to make a deal.” Idly, his arms lower, fingers becoming claws as black as obsidian. “I’m here for the stars and the fire, for the monsters in the shadows of the moon.”
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Nodding, Amun smirked. "Then why did you try to come back up from the depths?" Chuckling, he crossed his own arms, still walking in that ever-tightening spiral.
Cocking his head to one side, he frowned. "There's an original somewhere. Can't have a copy without it." However his steps slowed to a stop for a moment before he resumed his movements.
Suddenly, his features twisted as he snarled. "Leave them alone. You've already drowned one angel. Dragged her down. What gives you the right to do more damage to the creatures of light and sky?" Abruptly changing direction he walked straight towards Sunjata. The potter's hands shot out, trying to grab the devil's shirt in tight fists.
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
Why did he come back up from the depths?
“My work wasn’t finished yet.” Comes the easy response, as if all of this makes sense, and he understands that perhaps he’s been drowning all this time and this has become his rebirth.
He pauses, however, when Amun does, when the comment of copies come out – a feline smile curling along his face. “The originals are in our parents. I am a copy of my father.” And as far as Sunjata knows, this is true. Only… He harbors more empathy from his mother, not the craving of blood that his father had learned to love.
He wasn’t a monster, was he?
There’s shock when Amun grabs his shirt – but Sunjata doesn’t move. Instead, he cranes his head down toward Amun, horned head tilting, blocking the light from the moon with a devilish shadow.
He had drowned them, didn’t he?
He was the Flood. The Flood.
He blinks for a moment, lifting his hands to place the claws along the arms that hold him in place. “They had to drown.” A quiet comment. “They had to drown to become light.”
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Sighing, Amun stared directly into the devil's eyes. "Are you the duty that is heavier than a mountain or the death that is lighter than the feather?" The potter's fangs came out again. "Or are you just so much flotsam washed up onto shore?"
Frowning now, his expression slackened. "I don't have a father or a mother. I'm just the reflection of a star in the water." Looking up he closed his eyes for a moment. "Or maybe just a shadow that dreamed it was a star." He took a deep breath, one that wracked through his whole body.
Opening his eyes, they focused in on the devil's neck, which pulsed with a reddish light. "No. There's no light at the bottom of the ocean." The Ascended's grip slackened as the claws came to rest on his shoulder. "And that's where you're from, right?" Sniffing, Amun leaned forward towards the skin that was oh so close.
"Let me drain you of the brackish water running through your veins. Please." A mewling sound started in the back of his throat.
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
“I am the Flood.” He says. Because it makes sense. That is who he is, and that is who he will always be. He is it all, the suffocating waves, the debris that floats within, the creatures and monsters of the deep and the fish that live and die within the watery embrace. There’s another tilt of his head as Amun mentions he has no parents, that smile remaining on his face.
He inhales from his nose, pulling his head away from Amun slightly. “Then they are your parents.” He says, a small nod, the clawed hands gripping onto Amun’s shoulders. The Ascended cranes in and the Flood pulls away, lips curling a bit at the question that reaches him, at the closeness of this stranger he both knows and does not know.
“There is light. If you know where to look.” A knowing grin is shot Amun’s way, his teeth replaced with that of his orca shift – his body chimera-ing between partial shifts, the teeth in his mouth now sharp and pointed and jagged in parts.
“Do not. What would remain? I can't become light again.” His claws dig into the Ascended’s shoulder then.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
09-04-2020, 10:04 PM (This post was last modified: 09-04-2020, 10:04 PM by Amun.)
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun shook his head at the declaration. "No. You're the devil of the deep blue sea. Horns and wings and despair in your wake." Jutting out his chin, he met the devil's gaze. The potter's expression was unwavering, lips drawn downwards in a scowl.
His mouth became a firm line as he shook his head again, just once. Hands becoming fists again, he snarled, "No. I'm a meteorite. I may be a child of the night sky but I have no parents." Nostrils flaring, his eyes narrowed.
"I know." It came out in a whisper. "But the light is a trap, used by predators to trick their prey. Like a pretty face can trick a lover into a bed they shouldn't be in." He cocked his head to one side and smiled. "Which you know all about."
Whining as the claws dug into his shoulders, his own fingertips shifted into claws that pierced the other man's shirt. "You won't know unless you try. And an empty vessel is easier to fill." Pausing, he breathed in deep, the devil's scent causing the Ascended's eyes to zero in on the tantalizing neck right in front of him. "Please," Amun repeated. "I'm so thirsty."
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
“You are correct.” He is the devil. He is the sea. He is horns and wings and despair.
But he’s a product made, a product of his father’s iron fist, a product of his mother’s empathy and the urge to run from those responsibilities and try to change the outcome.
If that made him a devil, so be it.
Instead, he shrugs his shoulders in Amun’s grip at the mention of a meteorite. Anything is plausible, he supposes. But as the potter begins to whisper, Sunjata’s eyes narrow slightly. “If I am the predator, then what does that make you?” Comes the hushed whisper back, the sound gravelly and rough, a lover’s caress as his claws dig in.
His shirt tears under Amun’s claws, and Sunjata hears the whine for what it is. “What do you plan to fill me with?” He asks, craning his head closer, tattooed skin rippling with the movement before one clawed hand leaves Amun’s shoulder, to reach for the Ascended’s jaw, to try and turn his head to the ocean that surrounds them.
“If you’re thirsty, drink.” He nods his head to the waves that crash along the beach on the side of them.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Smirking, Amun nodded. "I know." He regarded the devil steadily. "But what kind of devil are you?" Taking a deep breath, the potter closed his eyes and hummed.
Keeping his eyes closed he shrugged. Still speaking in a quiet voice he responded, "The trap. The bigger fish." His lips spread into a wicked grin.
The shirt ripped away and his hands fell with it, pulling them down. "I don't know. But I can take what's in you and purify it within me." Licking his lips, he finally opened his eyes.
Just in time for his head to get twisted towards the water. "No!" Snarling, he jerked his head towards the devil's thumb, trying to break the grip. With the speed granted to the Ascended at night, Amun would swipe with his claws at the devil's bare chest. If the potter could, he would dance backwards.
Then he would slowly lick the blood from his claws.
// a reminder, ready when you find her, i repress the iridescence of a fire won't you mind him, steady when you find him, i confess the incandescence of a dyin' light //
As Amun closes his eyes, Sunjata finds a smirk crossing his face at the question. “An Advocate.” He doesn’t divulge much more. After all, the devil’s in the details.
But the comment of Amun being the bigger fish, Sunjata snorts to that, shaking his head as he focuses on listening to the surrounding area, to the fish that writhe and thrive in the sea beside them. “You’re lying.” He rumbles, pulling away from Amun.
The Ascended’s hands drop, and Sunjata watches – his horned head raising. “What if I don’t want to be purified.” If he really was the devil, what was the point in saving him? Hasn’t he already been lost?
His hand cradles Amun’s chin, tilting it toward the water, not expecting the no that’s snarled, and Sunjata lets him go when the Ascended’s own claws cross his chest, blood pricking to the surface. His head tilts down to his chest, his own clawed hand lifting to touch the blood.
It looks like rubies in the moonlight. It looks like ink dripping down his chest, along his claws. He smears it briefly along his chest, his gaze flicking back to Amun as the Ascended licks the blood from his claws. “I had almost let you, you know. But now you’ve ruined it.” Iron tangs in the air around them and Sunjata remains still, staring at Amun.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
my whole life is mine, but whoever says so will deprive me,
for it is infinite.
Amun laughed. "The kind that plays the wrong side just because he can?" Shaking his head, he smirked.
"Am I?" The metal bracelets he wore began to shift and writhe. They crept up his arms and around his neck. Making a circlet around his forehead, two strands extended above his head. They formed horns of his own, but the ends of them had the heads of snakes with their fangs bared.
Cocking his head to one side, he chuckled again. "Don't you?" He licked his lips and raised his eyes from the devil's neck to his eyes. "We all want more than we have."
The potter licked the blood from the claws. However he paused when the devil spoke. "You were?" The Ascended lowered his hand for a moment. "I'm sorry. Please. Just a sip. I'm so thirsty."
Then he raised the claws again and began licking them again. As he did, he tried to mumble words past them. "No. You lie. Devils always lie. Especially to themselves." The blood wasn't enough, and he cut his own lips trying to get every last drop. He ignored the fluid that began to pour down his chin.
