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!
Neos looked down and to the side upon the question he had asked being turned back towards him, realizing that he would have to make a little bit of explanation. "How exactly do I explain my original form," he mused for a moment, clicking his tongue once as he did.
After a few moments, he glanced back up towards Sah before saying as he straightened back up, "I should probably start by saying you likely haven't seen a creature like I was before. Remember how I said I was a shapeshifter? My entire species is a shapeshifting species known back home as a 'Ditto'. In our base forms, we appear much like a semi-transparent blob that doesn't even come up to my knee normally." As he said this, Neos shifted to one leg to bring the foot he wasn't standing on up to his knee to show an approximate height before lowering it back down. "It wasn't unusual for us to be able to squeeze through insanely-small areas to get through to places. It wasn't unusual for us to turn into what we saw around us to blend into our surroundings. Really skilled Ditto could take on difficult forms, like the various elements or even the humanoid races of the world." He reached out one hand to wave to himself slightly before adding, "I was one of the few, if any, Ditto that had managed to take on a human form long-term back home, so I guess I got the mercy of mostly-choosing my appearance here and in the other realms I traveled through."
"...as for what changed my answer earlier, it is not something you should worry about," he ended up adding as he tensed up visibly, an undercurrent of anger in his voice, but not at Sah. In fact, Neos looked instead like he'd be glaring daggers at himself if he was able to.
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
"If I can't move the heavens above, I will move Hell"
An entire species of shapeshifters with what sounded like unlimited forms? That was hard for Sah to wrap his mind around. Most beings capable of shape shifting back home had two forms and at most a third intermediate form. "That's quite a skill. Did you ever forget which form was the original?" He asked with mild curiosity. If you were constantly shifting, how did you keep track of what came before?
Sah's eyes narrowed. "I see..." He replied simply, though internally he was concerned for Neos. He could tell that the attuned's anger was at himself and not Sah, which only deepened his worry. Hopefully Neos hadn't gotten himself into trouble with one of the local gods but Sah had a sinking feeling it was something of the sort.
sah
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
Full of fearsome might
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
King of the winter night.
-Tim Vallie
"Was kinda hard to forget, since we'd revert back to our true forms between Transformations," Neos said with a small smile. "Most Ditto don't develop a preferred form like I did with this form as well." He then randomly brought a hand to one of his ears, fingertips lightly running against the top of them. "Though it felt weird in one world to be stuck in a single form for the entirety with those pointed ears," he grumbled quietly to himself, looking away once more.
"...but yeah, there was something I was warned about that I figured you'd rather find about now on more friendly terms," Neos then revealed before looking back towards Sah, trying to change the subject somewhat. "I had been warned a little bit after arriving here a couple of things. One of them's obvious, not everyone...ah, 'appreciates' the arrival of us Outlanders."
He then shifted his weight before pocketting his hands into the pockets on his black thick-cloth jacket. "The other is that if some of those same people who don't wants us here realize that not all of us were even human before coming here, a large number of natives would try even harder to get us out of this world in one way or another." Neos was trying not to snarl as he spoke that sentence, though the way his mouth twitched made it clear he wanted to. "It seems like this world's steeped in some degree of racism and not just for the Abandoned, but for those forced to come here as well in the form of us Outlanders...which isn't good at all."
He closed his eyes before lowering his head forward, finally saying, "This world seems primed for a war, one brought upon itself without outside help."
And it should be most-glorious to behold with the supposed-divine becoming involved, Neos alone heard in the back of his head in the form of a slightly-twisted version of his own voice.
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
"If I can't move the heavens above, I will move Hell"
Sah's eyes narrowed as Neos went on. "I'd heard that there was a distaste for Outlanders, and that the Gods despised Outlanders. But I was unaware it was already to such a severe level. Lucky me." He chuckled without humor. "I had no idea that the people here particularly disliked inhuman Outlanders though. I guess I pissed off somebody for me to come to Caido as all three. Though I can't imagine who." Instead of feeling discouraged, Sah felt the familiar sensation of wildness pumping in his veins. Whenever anything tried to put him in a box or force him into something, it always triggered his rebellious and feral nature. It made him want to rise to the challenge and push back. Hopefully in doing so he wouldn't be killed.
Sah gave a low growl as Neos continued. "Primed for war, huh? And what sides will there be? Outlanders against all, or divided by Deity?"
sah
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
Full of fearsome might
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
King of the winter night.
-Tim Vallie
"That's what I've been trying to find out," Neos nodded in regards to Sah's last question. "It seems to be the original gods of this world against an entity known as The Voice, who is blamed as the one that's brought us Outlanders to here...or at least is the one that has changed us." Neos then rolled one of his shoulders, getting to being a little twitchy about being in one place for long. "I was hoping to find out more about what's going on before I even think about finding myself involved in what's to come...and I doubt you pissed off anyone per se," he added before looking back out towards the direction they came into the alleyway.
"Something I've learned in all of my travels is that each world has a set of rules to follow for sentient beings coming into them. One of these rules for this world seems to be anyone entering will become human while having abilities, if any, that supposedly best fit them. Such as my..." Neos twisted his lips into a sideways frown before continuing. "...severely-limited shapeshifting and your...you said you can call forth lightning, yeah," he asked before turning back towards Sah. "But yeah, I don't think you ticked someone off, just the rules of the world were against you on this one."
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
"If I can't move the heavens above, I will move Hell"
Sah's eyes remained narrowed. "Seems like there's more going on behind the scenes than I realized. A war between gods is always an absolute mess so I sincerely hope you're wrong." He spoke with a tone that held far too much weight. There had been a war like that once. Ironically, it wasn't what caused the end of his world. Though it had certainly been destructive. "The second a god steps on the battlefield..." He trailed off, his voice quiet.
Sah shook his head. "Regardless, you may be onto something with how us Outlanders are shaped as we come in. The idea of worlds all working under different rules, although hard to comprehend, seems likely. Maybe this.. Voice... chose Outlanders from worlds with certain rules. Or some other deciding factor. It's intriguing to consider." Sah chuckled as Neos denied the possibility of a god's wrath being involved. "I don't know about you, but I've cussed out a few gods straight to their face. Bit one too. The idea of retribution seems pretty plausible to me." He admitted, still laughing.
sah
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
Full of fearsome might
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
King of the winter night.
-Tim Vallie
"Every realm has some sort of problem, never fails," Neos muttered to himself, shaking his head. "I don't think the Voice had a chance to 'choose' in my case with how I got literally tossed onto my side here, but there's no telling."
Neos gave a bit of a deep-throated chuckle regarding Sah cursing out a god or two to their faces. "But have you ever fought any of them face-to-face," he asked with a smile on his face before pulling aside his black jacket and untucking the front of the turtleneck sweater he was wearing.
He revealed two things: both the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt under it and a gnarly burn mark that still looked slightly like it was still smoldering even now. "Ended up captured at one point by a tribal race known as the Amalj'aa, which are reptilian humanoids. They were going to sacrifice me and others captured alongside me to their race's god, a fiery being known as Ifrit, the Lord of the Inferno. And by 'sacrifice', they were going to offer us to their god so that he could 'baptise' us in his flames, which would brainwash us into worshipping him...which would increase Ifrit's standing power even further."
He let the sweater drop before saying, "While I avoided those enslaving flames through the aid of an unknown-to-me entity at the time, I didn't avoid all of them when he attacked and tried to kill me. Managed to barely take him down enough to make the fiery being retreat, but he ended up landing that slash at one point. After about..." He then looked up for a moment before saying, "...I'd say 9? 10? years now?, that still has never fully healed, so it does still burn somewhat after all this time." He then shrugged before looking back down towards Sah. "I've gotten used to the pain by now, though it still sucks if someone lands a hit there."
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
"If I can't move the heavens above, I will move Hell"
"Thankfully, no. I've never fought a God. At least no truly. I've backed up a Goddess as she fought one, but never truly fought one myself." Sah explained, recalling the war that overtook his land many years ago. He'd practically still been a pup then but he'd fought tooth and nail to aid his pack and their Goddess.
Sah's eyes narrowed as he took in Neos' old wound. It certainly looked painful and for such an old wound it certainly looked new. Perhaps that was part of the damage, a burn that would never fully heal. "That sounds horrific. I'm sorry you were put through that. I despise the concept of living sacrifices, though unfortunately there were numerous Gods back home that demanded that of their followers. Thankfully mine wasn't one of them."
Sah gave a hollow chuckle. "It's funny. Part of me thinks I may have been made an Abandoned because the deity to whom I'm loyal to doesn't exist in this world." That would be a reasonable cause in his eyes. What God of Caido would want to support an Outlander that was loyal to an Outlander God?
sah
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
Full of fearsome might
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
King of the winter night.
-Tim Vallie
Neos had been finishing tucking back in the front of his turtleneck while wincing slightly as he listened to Sah muse about possibly being an Abandoned because of being loyal to a god that didn't exist on Caido. He rose his gaze back to the other animal-soul, shaking his head before saying, "Doubt it. With that logic, I'd be an Abandoned as well with the deities I've been linked to...though mostly from my own home."
Neos then looked out towards the end of the alleyway, a frown on his face as he noticed the slowly-darkening sky. "Anyhoo, I need to get back to the local portal then Torchline before nightfall proper or I'm gonna lose where I've been staying the past good while...and defrost from the cold. Maybe we'll cross paths once more later on. You take care." With that, Neos carefully moved around Sah in an attempt to pass him, the cold starting to get him to shiver more and more now.
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
01-05-2021, 06:37 PM (This post was last modified: 01-05-2021, 07:53 PM by Sah.)
"If I can't move the heavens above, I will move Hell"
Sah sidestepped to let Neos through. "Multiple deities? Sounds like trouble to me." He smirked, shaking his head with mock exasperation. "Try not to get yourself killed. See you around Neos." He gave a slight wave before heading out from the alley himself and heading in the opposite direction as the Attuned.
Sah glanced up at the star filled sky with curiosity as he walked. He'd never payed much attention to it in the short time that he'd been in Caido. But it was clear now. Caido had a completely different star system then his home. Sah felt a pang of homesickness but also wonder. There was still so much about this world that he still needed to learn.
(FIN)
sah
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
Full of fearsome might
There stood the wolf in the winter wind
King of the winter night.
-Tim Vallie
