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!
and anyone who knows our name says that we ain't ever gonna change they say we're born to die young, but we're trying to find a better way
He’s home. Nate’s beaten to shit, having forgone his own healing for the sake of those with more patience than him, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the sand beneath his feet, the ocean at his side, and the flicker of firelight all along the beach. Fuck, he’s even made it back in time for the parties, isn’t he lucky?
First order of business though is getting back to the house on the cliffs. Is getting home to Sunjata, and maybe this time, they can spend the last few days of Longnight together peacefully, no grievous injuries healing, no monsters, just... them.
It’s all that’s on his mind, if he’s honest, thoughts of baked treats and a candlelit dinner floating pleasantly in Nate’s mind, his steps mechanical and unhurried.
oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all
Sorry Nate.
Not tonight, you're not.
It's entirely by chance that Shaju spots his opportunity earlier than planned. Because this has always been the plan, you understand, and were it not for luck and circumstance, perhaps the Ascended would have been able to scurry away back into his hole undetected.
But not tonight.
It's a swift thing, in the dark, to slip a hand around a mouth to stifle screams, to bind and drag and wrestle. And if Nate struggles - and Shaju anticipates that he will - then hopefully the words pressed intmately to his ear will persuade him otherwise.
"I will make him suffer if you so much as call out his name."
and anyone who knows our name says that we ain't ever gonna change they say we're born to die young, but we're trying to find a better way
Of course Nate struggles. Nothing that starts with grasping hands in the dark ever ends well, he's been on the other side of it enough times. And he might not be at his best at the moment (fuck he should have healed) but he is still tireless, still immune to pain.
He's not immune to the threat hissed into his ear, not immune to the sudden sinking realization that he should have asked a few more questions.
Should have been a touch more focused.
Nate doesn't doubt the words, and knows well enough to go still, his face twisted into a snarl beneath the hand that mutes him. Maybe he could free himself, run to the house and bundle up securely for as long as he can, but maybe isn't enough to take that risk. It's beeter to be underestimated as compliant, and wait for a chance right?
oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all
Right, Nate. Right. Once it's clear that the Ascended is going to do the smart thing and go along with it, the man in LongNight's shadow wastes no time. There will be no marks on the sand come sunrise, not with how close to the shore they are. Any signs of Nate and his kidnapper will be gone with the tide, and Shaju can wait as long as it takes for the boy to realise his wretched lover hasn't made it home.
Nate doesn't need to eat, after all. He doesn't need to drink or to breathe, either. But he does need fluid, and he does have an aversion to the sun. There are ways, as they say, to get to everyone. And so off they skip into the depths of the world beneath Torchline. To a world of tides that submerge and retreat, to a world where light beams through the crevices of rocks to sear relentlessly into skin too pale to take it.