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!
It seemed to be a common trend in Caido - loss, death, destruction. Chulane hadn't wanted to believe it, hadn't wanted to know it for himself, and yet… here he was. Feeling the loss, the grief, the sorrow, the yawning abyss of nothingness within him, making him question everything again and again.
"I'm learning about it," he replied, sighing softly. Of course Amun had been through loss, who hadn't? All Outlanders had lost their homeworlds, all were dealing with the wild world that was Caido, adapting or dying.
"Are you an Outlander, Amun?" He wondered if in all of the ascended's ramblings about falling stars and copies of oneself, he was actually describing the portalling process for the first time - certainly, it was disorienting enough that the more the Chief thought about it, the more he almost understood where Amun was coming from.
Eyes wide, Amun turned to look at Chulane. However, it meant the potter was walking basically sideways. Stumbling and almost falling, he managed to catch himself. Facing front again with a tug from Zhanshi, Amun stared at a passing lava glow instead. "What have you learned? Does loss eat you too?" He frowned.
Shrugging, his brow furrowed. "I fell and then found myself here. It was snowy and there was a big black tower and the star shield lady." Shaking his head, he sighed. "She didn't like me at all because I had fangs. But I never hurt her." Reaching out, he grabbed the other man's elbow. "Did you fall too?"
09-28-2020, 06:02 AM (This post was last modified: 09-28-2020, 06:02 AM by Chulane.)
CHULANE
let's set the world on fire
Did the loss eat him? Though Chulane wondered at exactly what Amun was asking, he supposed that loss really did eat at him, that it gnawed at him always, that the aching hollow abyss within him felt like it was growing, consuming him for the longest time.
"Some days are worse than others," he decides to reply, not quite willing to unload a whole mess of truths to this stranger - nor to himself, really.
"Star shield lady?" he repeated, wondering if Amun meant Safrin, or perhaps the Shield of Safrin. He'd read the accounts and heard the stories of the ascended, the 'blight' they brought, the fear they struck in others, but he honestly hadn't thought Amalia to be one of them. Perhaps he was naïve (he definitely was).
"I… stumbled. Into the Tundra. Followed a raven to the Citadel in Halo." While the memory in itself wasn't bad, or at least, traumatic in and of itself, it represented the beginning of many things for Chulane, and so he kept the details light, that he might spare his own mind from reliving them (it didn't work).
"So you stay mostly in the Hollowed Grounds?" He guessed, trying to piece together the rambling tellings of a delirious man into something sensical.
Amun frowned. Rubbing at one arm, he stared at another crack in the stone through which lava glowed. "Some days are better than others." He turned to look at Chulane.
Shrugging, the potter felt his gaze zero in on the other man's neck. "Yeah, star shield cat lady. I mean, she was a snow cat when I met her." The Ascended waved a hand in the air.
However, as Chulane told his own tale Amun met the other man's gaze. Eyes narrowing, the potter hummed and swayed from side to side a bit. "A raven's an omen."
Nodding, he lifted a single finger and waggled it back and forth. "Just the one ground. And it's filling up."
10-03-2020, 03:15 PM (This post was last modified: 10-03-2020, 03:15 PM by Chulane.)
CHULANE
let's set the world on fire
Chuy huffed quietly at the ascended's surprisingly optimistic quip back about days being better or worse or whatever. He hated him suddenly, because Chuy knew that he'd thought that once, that he'd been that guy who always saw things from a bright perspective, that he'd been the one to help soften hard blows for others who'd lost - only now did he really have an appreciation for what an absolute dick he sounded like.
He chose not to acknowledge the quip from Amun, lestv he say or do something he regretted.
Ah, so Amun knew Amalia then. Chuy was mildly interested by this fact, and wished he could ask Amalia... so much, and not just about Amun. He sighed, not sure when he ever get such an opportunity.
"What kind of omen?" he asked curiously, figuring while he was such in the company of a delirious man, he may as well see what delirious wisdom he could glean. Couldn't be better or worse than any wisdom his own grief addled mind had been laying on him recently, surely.
"Oh? And what is the Ground filling up with?" He added, purely for his own amusement and not some semblance of gleaming wisdom this time..
Up ahead, the tunnel split and Zhanshi took the left one. Amun followed, his eyes trained on Chulane as the other man asked what ravens stood for. "Everybody has their own rhyme." The potter chuckled before launching into his own rendition:
"One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for tomorrow
Four to unearth
Five to follow
Six to divert
Seven to distract
So you won't be alert"
Laughing all the while, he danced in time to the rhythm of the words, steps shuffling and uneven. He settled down as Chulane asked another question. This time, Amun smirked. "Purpose and light. We're going to be bright." The potter's fangs were on full display as he said this.
Chulane had been barely keeping track of which tunnel to take, evidently more committed to hearing the rhymes of a delirious mind than on actually ever getting out of here. As much as he'd wanted to put distance between himself and the ascended before, as he let himself fall into this strange conversation, he became less concerned with that goal.
Perhaps it was foolish. Perhaps he should be more focussed on getting out of here, on his survival for the longer term… But the truth was, he hadn't come here focussed on his own long-term survival, had he?
A hint of a smile tugged at the edge of his lips as he heard the lymric, utterly clueless as to what the man was referring to with 'everybody has their own rhyme', but enjoying it all the same. Chulane himself had never been a creative soul, he was too logical, too practical (except when it came to dealing with grief, apparently).
The demonstration of a fangy grin and the accompanying words might have bloomed a note of concern within him… had he been in a different frame of mind. "Bright? How are you gonna be bright?"
Luckily for both the men, Zhanshi, a creature of the earth, had been paying attention to the route that brought them here. As the tunnels split into three, the landshark headed into the middle one, which started descending. Amun ambled after his companion, grinning.
At Chulane's question, though, the potter turned his whole attention towards the other man. The Ascended didn't answer right away. Instead, he studied Chulane's features. Amun's eyes reflected the distant glow of lava that never seemed far in the Climb.
"Our lady has promised to make us bright. Brighter than the stars and the moon and the sun and everything that glitters or is gold." He laughed, throwing his head back and spreading his arms.
It made sense that the landshark knew the way, that the creature of the ground was able to track the caves. Chulane's mind, in its many wandering thought trains, wondered how deep the little beast could "dive", or even "climb" up the cave walls. The vet followed, not nearly as concerned as he should be for the his wellbeing given his utter lack of memory in getting to this point.
He'd been preoccupied on the way in, OK?
The ascended kept talking, and Chulane was not sure just how concerned he should be. "…Your lady? The Voice?" He posed the question with as much friendly curiosity as he could, his slow-churning mind sluggishly picking up speed in processing his thoughts as he worked through the fog of before, the anger, the grief, the impatience. There was something more pressing now, something right before him that he felt he should be more aware of.
Or maybe the heat and the lava nearby was messing with his mind again.
"What's she like?" It was asked with genuine interest, though he'd be lying if he said he didn't guess at what the answer was going to be like.
Zhanshi continued to lead the way through the twisting and turning tunnels of the Burrows. Ambling behind the companion, Amun beamed at Chulane when the other man asked about the Voice. "Yes. My goddess. She said that we are and will be bright." The potter laughed again, the sound echoing off the walls of stone all around them.
The sound caught off at Chulane's next question. The Ascended's smile broadened, staring at the glow of lava through a crack that was visible over the other man's shoulder. "She is light and life. She cares deeply about her children, and just wants the best for us. That's all." As Amun spoke, he licked his lips and his eyes dropped to Chulane's jugular again.
Chulane had always been openminded when it came to the Ascended. Having come from a world where racism had left its mark in such a significant and negative way, he'd always strived to think the best of an individual, to judge them based on their actions, rather than what they may be.
But as he heard this individual speak of the Voice in that fanatical way, he couldn't deny the apprehension that swelled within him. He got some perspective of how Morgan must feel, if this was all she had experienced prior to meeting more of them. And he got it. He understood why there was hesitation to welcome Ascended, if all they brought was their loud beliefs and suggestive glances.
Or perhaps it was merely the illness afflicting Amun that made him stare like that.
"Safrin is the Herald of Vi, who is the God of Life." Chulane commented quietly, unable to insert the name of the Old Gods he'd felt more of a pull to than he ever would to this New God. He didn't want to enter the Us vs. Them mindset, and yet… he almost couldn't help it.
"Wants the best? And what would the best be?" He asked, wondering how far he could, or should, push this line of questioning, as he followed the landshark through the tunnels, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand as he went.
Scowling at the mention of Safrin, Amun growled a little. "She says she is of life, but she wants us all dead. Not all lives matter to her." He scoffed.
"Some herald she is." His hands balled into fists and he practically glared at Chulane. However, the potter couldn't maintain the anger for long, and his expression grew slack soon enough as his body relaxed.
Shrugging, he stopped to stare at a bit of lava visible through yet another crack in the wall. Zhanshi had to circle back to tug Amun before. Once the potter started moving again, the landshark resumed leading the men out of the tunnels.
There were a few more moments of silence before the Ascended finally responded. "She just wants us to be able to live our lives without being attacked by the old gods or their followers."
Ah, so there was tension between the Old Gods and the New Gods. And it was intense. He wondered what sort of justification the Herald used to label her hatred for the Ascended, what reason she gave. He knew the Voice was fallible, knew she had made mistakes, and that her techniques or thoughts weren't always aligned with those outside of her order, but had the Gods themselves also ever made mistakes? Were they not fallible too?
"I'm sorry if you've been mistreated by her," he said softly, meaning it, but ultimately unsure what else he could do for the Ascended.
"Or her followers," he added, though he know his words probably rang hollow. "Is that why she gives your upgrades? To… compete with the gifts the Old Gods give their followers?" He asked, for a moment forgetting that he was speaking with a delirious man. "What sorts of upgrades do you have?" he let himself get distracted by the thought, let his mind wander off on this tangent, almost as distractable as one afflicted by the illness.
Hissing at Chulane's words, Amun turned so he could face the other man. The Ascended spoke in a whisper. "I have. But why are you sorry?"
Narrowing his eyes, he scowled. "Are you the Dark Star that fell and tried to kill me and my friends? Or the servant of the rags who it told to kill all the Ascended?" Frowning, he studied Chulane's features. Slowly, the potter shook his head.
He cheered up at the other man's next question. "No. She gives us upgrades to make us bright. That make us happy." Smiling, he nodded fervently.
Lifting one hand, he began ticking off his fingers. "I can fire bright light that stuns people. And a chip that makes me safe from monsters." Pausing, he added, "Oh and one more, but it's a secret." He brought a finger up to his lips and shushed Chulane.
