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!
10-30-2020, 12:58 AM (This post was last modified: 10-30-2020, 01:14 AM by Dani.)
Dani
Who have you chose to stand as your martyr?
Draped in the gray, threadbare cloak of some unlucky servant, Dani had made her way into the woods with no true plan besides her immediate escape. She'd figure it all out later, she told herself. For this moment, her focus remained on adding as much distance as possible between herself and the life at her back.
Those were her thoughts, anyways, before she was stricken with a sudden spell of vertigo. At least, that's all she could assume it was. One moment she had been running through the forest, and the next, she was face down on the ground with no recollection of what had occurred in the time lost between the two moments.
Propping herself on her elbows, she dazedly rose to look around. It was still nighttime, and her vision blurred as her skull pounded. Had she fallen and hit her head?
Despite her impaired senses, she knew something was terribly wrong. The dense woodland that had surrounded her seemingly moments prior was now replaced by a jagged wasteland. The moisture in the air had evaporated, the sounds of nocturnal wildlife vanished. When she licked her lips, ash coated her tongue. Fear bubbled within Dani.
"Is anybody there?"
When she was met only with silence, the bubble of fear popped and poured out from her.
10-30-2020, 05:24 AM (This post was last modified: 10-30-2020, 05:25 AM by Anden.)
ANDEN
CHASING THE SUN
The seasons were changing. That's what Oliver told Anden at least. Soon the warm weather of Longheat would transition to slightly cooler nights. The world was preparing itself for its hibernation.
Anden had gotten used to taking late night walks to the spire. He could spend hours staring into the sky, dreaming of the possibilities if the night allowed him. Much had changed since he first arrived here, yet much remained the same.
He was still an ascended, a plaything for the Voice - but he chose not to play by their rules.
He was still living with Oliver - but he had grown to appreciate the shifter.
He was still searching for Eloise Marie - but he had learnt to live life without her.
Part of Anden still had hope that the stars would gift him with his twin. That his ray of sunshine would return to him to sweep the darkness away. Tonight was not that night however. A call for help shook Anden from his memories.
He jumped to his feet, looking around for the source. The portal. Only a few feet away from the portal a woman was on her knees. Anden felt the spines along his back start to rise - another curse from The Voice. He readied himself incase someone was following the stranger. "Is someone chasing you?" He called out, not willing to get too close.
Dani twisted around to face the direction of the unfamiliar voice. She couldn't make out the details of the figure to which the voice belonged, but knew from its masculine quality that they were likely male.
Her heart still palpitating fiercely, it took her a moment to collect herself enough to consider his question. She glanced around, noting it was just the two of them. She swallowed hard and added embarrassment to the hodgepodge of emotions filling her head, each vying for her attention.
"N, no. I'm not being chased..."
Her voice trailed as if she hadn't completed her thought, but she wasn't sure what next to say. She was still feeling disoriented, unable to understand the situation she currently found herself in. She glanced upwards, as if she would find an answer spelled in the stars. They twinkled distantly, indifferent towards her plight.
"It's still nighttime, but..." She squinted, hoping to better ascertain her surroundings. Off in the distance, the silhouette of what seemed to be a tower jetted into the sky, and patches of forest dotted the backdrop. She'd never before seen anything like it.
Relief. Anden felt the feeling wash over him. He had only been in Caido for a little less than a season now, but he had yet to face any foes, or really be in mortal danger. Whoever this girl was, she wasn't in immediate danger, which meant Anden was safe. He felt his spikes relax along his back.
Memories of when he was in her position flashed through his mind; lost, confused, albeit hopeless. If it weren't for Oli at the time, who knows where Anden would be now. It was Anden's turn to pass along the message, to pass along the death sentence to the new arrival. Like a torch passed between outlanders, from Oliver to Anden, and now from Anden to this women.
"You're safe." Mostly Anden thought. "I... don't really know how to explain it. But this is a new world."
How much should he tell her? How much would she want to know? Anden didn't take the news very well. How could he explain to her that this world was her prison. Binding her to a plane of existence locked behind rules, and mystery. Nothing about Caido seemed to make sense. The gods played their games, and they were just the pieces.
Anden made no move to approach her. Holding his distance. "Tell me, were their gods where you're from?" The one thing that he knew could make this easier is explaining the gods.
10-31-2020, 03:16 PM (This post was last modified: 10-31-2020, 03:18 PM by Dani.)
Dani
Who have you chose to stand as your martyr?
A new world.
Just as Dani was thinking it would be premature to take this stranger's word on the status of her safety, all such thoughts ceased when those words had left his lips. A new world. A new world. They echoed ceaselessly in the stillness that had become her mind.
Outrageous. At least, that's how she'd normally respond to such an impossible claim. But how could she call it impossible when no other explanation offered itself for her seemingly impossible circumstances? The gears of her mind began turning once again.
Perhaps she had stumbled in the darkness of her forest during her retreat, and was currently lying on the forest floor in the midst of a fever dream. It made more logical sense, but Dani intuitively knew this not to be true. The feeling of the barren earth holding her weight, the parched air that mixed into her breath, and the voice of this mysterious stranger; all were as real as anything she'd ever experienced. And even if somehow this were no more than a vivid hallucination, would it matter?
If she truly were lying incapacitated within the forest she'd trudged through seemingly minutes prior, then she'd be dead before dawn. Nobody had known where she was going, or that she'd even left. It'd be hours before anyone noticed, let alone found her.
With no other options before her, she placed the entirety of her trust unto this strange new person, and even stranger new world.
"Gods?" She let the word settle into her mind. "Whether or not there were gods was a question with an answer that changed depending on who you asked. But, no, not really. Not outside of stories." She paused, and felt the beginnings of wonder start to fill her. "Are there gods...here?" She could hardly filter the anticipation from her voice, awaiting his answer.
It was the silence that worried him. Had he already made a mistake? He knew first hand how difficult it all was to grasp. Deep down Anden still wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't some form of afterlife. He had to hope though. Hope that he was alive. Hope that this was his new reality. It may not be his ideal circumstance, or really one that he would ever choose to live again, but it was his reality. Separated from his twin perhaps forever, but maybe not. From everyone he had met, he knew there was only one choice for him now, to keep moving forward. One day when, or if he found Eloise Marie again, he didn't want to be a shell of the person he once was.
"You're not dead."
Stupid. That was a stupid thing to say. If she didn't think she was dead already, she's definitely going to think she was now. Anden growled at his incompetence.
"This isn't the afterlife - at least that's what everyone tells me. This is Caido. A world shaped by the Gods."
She seemed trusting. So open. Pure almost. Almost the exact opposite of what Anden had been like not too long ago. Closed off, untrusting, argumentative. It was a miracle that Oliver had even allowed him to stay with him.
"There are Gods here." Anden confirmed. "I hope that you haven't been cursed by one already." Anden wasn't shy about his feelings for The Voice. In the darkness it was hard for Anden to make out whether or not the women was also Ascended - damned to haunt Caido in an empty shell.
Despite herself, Dani smiled in the direction of the fumbling stranger. She knew it probably made her seem like a fool, but she couldn't stop the relief from flooding within her. Only minutes ago, her sole focus had been escaping a life she did not want. Well, this certainly turned out to be quite the escape. It did not take her long to see this as the blessing that it was.
"Caido? A world shaped by gods? Curses? You're asking a lot of me by expecting me to believe all of that." Her words did not match her attitude, however, as tears of relief pricked her eyes, followed by a bubble of laughter. Was this not what she'd dreamed of as a child? A world unlike her own, filled with mystery and waiting for her to discover it. Though it was a bit dismal in comparison to what she'd always imagined, she wouldn't allow herself to be picky with her miracles.
Deciding she'd been on the ground long enough, Dani clumsily rose to her feet, quivering from the exhaustion she felt. "You knew that I came from another world." Dani stopped and pondered her own statement and its potential implications before tentatively asking, "Who are you?"
She didn't believe him. I mean, really would Anden? No... That wasn't it. The women's laughter filled the still air. Silent giggles. Maybe she had the sickness that the others had, but Anden thought almost everyone was cured of that by now.
He walked closer to the women. Was she... Crying? She made Anden uneasy, but part of him felt he needed to be there with her to comfort her. To tell her everything would be ok.
She's not Eloise. He reminded himself, even still he felt pulled to her. Anden stopped his approach when she rose to her feet. Who was he... How did he know. These were at least easy questions. They were questions he knew the answers to.
"I'm like you, in a way." Anden paused. It was his turn to lay on the murky ground. Staring into the stars would calm him. Help him find his peace while he tried to explain. "I was brought here by The Voice, like you. Some say she has a mission for us all. But I think she was just lonely and bored." It was the truth. Nothing about The Voice rubbed Anden the right way. They just decide what they want to do, and they do it and they suffer no consequence.
Anden tilted his head so he could watch the women. "My name is Anden, and I'm an Outlander like you." He closed his eyes to think. "We're the ones who don't belong here. The ones who were stolen away from our lives."It didn't matter if she believed him or not. One way or another she would come to her own conclusion. This was not her world, and for better or worse the sooner she came to accept that the better.
"The Voice?" Dani thought over everything Anden had said. Truthfully, it made little sense to her, but it'd be odd if she were able to make sense of it all right away, wouldn't it?
"So 'The Voice' is a god that is responsible for bringing me here?" She glanced at the man who now sat unthreateningly on the ground nearby and revised her statement. "The Voice brought us here?"
While Dani may have felt freed from the constraints of her previous life (what an odd thought to think,) she was perceptive enough to notice that the same could not be said for the man in her company. She gazed upwards with him, noting the unfamiliar constellations in the stars. If she hadn't believed him before, there was no denying this truth now.
"It's a lot to take in." She stated simply. She moved towards him, her weariness quickly fading beneath the blanket of night. Though it was clear the man only intended to help her through the offering of explanations, she felt in her heart that somehow, the one who needed help in this moment was not her. "But it settles my mind to know I'm in like company." She carefully sat once more, facing Anden and extending her right hand in friendly greeting. "I'm Dani. Though the circumstances are curious, it's a pleasure to meet you."
She paused and smiled sheepishly down at her outstretched hand. "Do the people of this world shake hands?"
Her presence was comforting. Not at all like that of many in the Hallowed Grounds. She didn't seem to bring an aura of brokenness. Or a feeling of uneasiness. Anden liked that. Dani. It was a soft name.
She was close enough now that he could make out her appearance. Gorgeous red hair, freckles. She was so... natural. Almost normal, if normal was even a thing in Caido. He raised his hand from the ground to shake hers. In truth Anden wasn't even sure if the people of Caido shook hands. It's not something he ever spent the time to think about. He didn't really stop to think about much here... His mind was always off, dancing under the Sun with Eloise Marie.
"Sorry." Anden quickly pulled his hand back embarrassed, leaving some of his slime on her hands. "My curse." Anden wiped his hand off on his pants. "One of them." He returned his gaze to the sky above. "I sometimes wonder if the people here have name for the stars. Back home we used to name groupings of stars." He pointed to the sky, where a group of stars loosely shaped a large tree. "I call that one home."
It was nice to open up a little to someone, even it wasn't the best of circumstances. From this distance he could see Dani's heart beat. "If it helps put you at ease, you're not cursed." Maybe he was a little jealous. He still didn't know why The Voice chose to curse him specifically - or why she decided to further his curse by changing him even more.
The real question though, was what would Anden do with her? He couldn't just leave her here. Oliver would never let him hear the end of that. Could he really just bring a complete stranger back to Oliver's manor?
Dani examined the cool residue left behind on her hand, surprised. When Anden had spoken of curses, it hadn't even occurred to her that he could be referring to himself. She frowned, and felt a twinge of guilt when her initial reaction was to fret over whether or not she herself had been cursed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She curled her fingers into a fist and lowered her hand, not wanting to wipe it off too quickly in fear of offending Anden. Though she brimmed with curiosity regarding Anden and his condition, she buried her questions, deciding it best not to pry into the stranger's personal life.
When he began to talk of the stars, he appeared to relax, if just a little bit. But rather than the stars he reminisced over, she found herself peering over at him. Though it was still difficult for her to see clearly, she could distinguish enough of his features to notice his broad shoulders and sharp jawline. Under different circumstances, her heart would have fluttered at the sight of this man. However, too much had happened, and her mind was too muddled with anxiety, confusion, wonder... and exhaustion.
As Anden pointed to a specific grouping of stars, she refocused her attention and searched for what he saw. Home. When she squinted her eyes and tilted her head, it looked a bit like a tree. Is that what he saw too? "Well, if they don't have their own constellations here, then I suppose we'll have to find our own." She hoped she sounded reassuring.
Her guilt from earlier deepened when Anden assured her that she had remained untouched by malevolent magic and an involuntary sigh of relief escaped her lips. Ashamed, she stood once more, acting preoccupied as she dusted off her cloak and changed the subject. "Well, you appear too well-kept for there not to be a settlement nearby. If I can impose on you a bit longer, I'd appreciate if you could show me the way." Dani wasn't quite sure what she'd do once she got there, but she'd never had much of a plan to begin with, had she?
They'd just have to make their own... Anden let out a soft chuckle at the thought. He was supposed to be the one informing Dani that she was going to be stuck here. A kidnapping by a god, except no one would be able to bring her back to her former life. She already seemed to be at peace with her fate. Something Anden hadn't come to terms with. Make their own constellations... If he did that though was that finally deciding he had to give up on his sister? Abandoning Eloise Marie into the void, or in his past life. Agreeing that she was nothing more than a constellation he might see in the stars.
She was ready to leave? Anden checked the skies, it was still dark out. He'd have at least another hour or so before the Sun broke through. One more hour of freedom before he'd need to return to the manor and hide away in the darkness. Anden felt a chill run down his back, and through his spikes, he hated the thought of being tucked away inside that manor. Sometimes he had Oliver, but he couldn't expect the shifter to wait around all day for him.
"There is. It might not be what you're used to." He eyed Dani again. "But it's a home of sorts." Oliver wouldn't mind another stray. At least Anden hoped. There was something about Dani that he wasn't ready to part with yet. She was a good influence on him. Even if he wasn't entirely ready to throw away his past life for one here, he was ready to explore more and seek out answers. "You can stay with me, and my..." Anden paused, was Oliver his friend. He hadn't really thought about it before. "My friend." He confirmed.
With quick reflexes Anden jumped to his feet. He brushed his back, setting the spikes back in their place. "Before we go though." Anden raised his hands to sky, and spun slightly. "What's your constellation?" He spent so much time talking about himself, he never really gave Dani a chance to talk about herself.
Dani felt the tension return to Anden as she asked about the settlement. She shifted warily, wondering what awaited them. Regardless, she had no other choice. At the very least, she'd need to gather supplies before she could even think about returning to this wasteland on her own.. and even then, she had no skills to lend to her survival. Dani felt the beginnings of a headache, realizing that her success in this world was entirely dependent on how quickly she would be able to adapt. 'This will be the hardest part,' she reassured herself.
She was able to relax a bit with the offer of shelter from Anden, and briefly wondered at his hesitation in saying the word friend. However, her thought was abruptly disrupted and replaced with shock at the speed in which Anden suddenly moved. She blinked a couple of times before firmly rubbing her eyes and laughing softly at herself. Whether what she saw was attributed to the curse he'd spoken of or her own sleep deprivation, she'd consider later. For now, the settlement. "If it's truly not an issue, then I'll be imposing on you a bit longer." She was grateful that she'd have at least one semi-familiar person nearby for the time being.
When Anden refocused on the sky and posed his question, she smiled. It'd been a long time since she'd been able to consider such romantic ideas, but the warm feeling it induced was by no means unwelcome. She stared up at the sky and explored with her eyes. It didn't take much time before she settled on one.
"That one." She pointed to a group of stars that resided to the right of the ones Anden had showed her. To her, they looked a bit like a bird taking flight (a bird with an abnormally large wingspan, but the flaw added character if nothing else.) "That's mine." A bird breaking away from the familiarity of its tree and journeying into the uncharted skies beyond. Dani found the symbolism of their found constellations pleasing. She looked back at Anden and wondered at what he saw in those stars, and the thoughts they provoked.
Anden could already picture Oliver's face when he would bring Dani home with him. A mixture of shock, curiosity and a hint of being proud. It was no secret that Oliver took a certain interest in Anden and his new life in Caido. Anden could see the pair getting along well, both Dani and Oliver had a certain... happiness about them. A spark that pulled Anden closer to them, but also kept him just out of reach. "It's not imposing." Anden assured her. "Honestly I think Oliver would like the added company."
Anden gazed into the sky at the constellation Dani had created. He let out a soft chuckle at the proportions of the bird - thought maybe that's how they were shaped in Dani's former life. He wondered what it might mean to her. A bird free to fly anywhere it wanted, that was something Anden envied. He traced the constellation in his hand, to better help memorize it. Part of him wondered if it was a coincidence that it was so close to his tree, or if that was part of the story. A question he thought best to ask later.
Every night before dawn Anden had ventured out to the place where it all began. He'd stare up at the stars and think about home. Remembering the days before when he would and Eloise Marie would dance in the Sun, and he'd explore under the Moon's embrace. He'd make silent wishes that things would return to the way it once was.
As he closed his eyes one final time before preparing for their departure, he pictured Eloise Marie and him in a tall tree, before he jumped off and transformed into a bird to take flight. Anden didn't expect tonight to be the day he truly started his new life in Caido, but he knew looking back this would be the day he accepted his fate. Just before he opened his eyes he pictured a bird kissed by the Sun joining him on his flight.
When he opened his eyes the bird was replaced by Dani smiling over at him.
Anden offered her his hand. "Are you ready to take flight into your second life?" He asked, ready to bring Dani back to the manor.
