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!
"Depended on which world you were talking about. In my home, anything akin to cybernetics was experimental and done primarily for prosthetic...er, I mean medical reasons. Like a replacement arm for someone that lost theirs. I've only been to one reality that went further than that, and..."
Neos then suddenly shook his head before turning back towards Wessex, feeling himself feel slightly embarrassed as the then-queen repeated something he thought he only said in his head.
You have looser lips than you realize, dear counterpart.
He then suddenly winced at the voice in his head, before choosing to reply to the mention of the Gods here and how they control so much. "The gods...what I've seen here is starting to echo another world I've been through, that I actively had to escape from. A world where humanity allowed religion to destroy itself and its potential. So much was lost because they worshiped a god that no longer had the power to answer their prayers."
More like the humans in that corroded reality worshiped the corpse of a human as if it were a god, instead of following the path that allowed humans to blossom because he rescinded all religion, but that's neither here or there.
While there was another delay and a sudden silent snarl on his lips as he lowered his head, he recalled the last thing asked about. The Voice. "...the godling the people refer to as The Voice, which admittedly sounds insulting to her to not be referred to by a proper name like the other Gods and Goddesses here...I won't lie, I didn't have a high opinion of her at first."
He looked out towards the fields, glancing about as he tried to see if any more of those Blink Bunnearies...er, Blink Hares were about. "But after seeing some of what she's done, including the mass-resurrection at Halo over the last winter...er, Deepfrost, and seeing the kinds of people that were Ascended...mostly people I would never consider to be on any kind of battlefield like us...I don't know what to think anymore."
"I may not be happy of what happened to me in specific, but one being is nothing in the larger picture of the Omniverse."
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
What happened to him? It’s an odd way to put things, causing the Wraith to tilt her head curiously in response. “I don’t quite understand it myself, but from what I do understand, you’re a copy. There’s also a you in the world you came from. And to get here, to be an Attuned, at some point she asked you what you wanted to be, and you subconsciously chose to Attune instead of to have magic, Ascend, or none of the above.”
There’s no longer that kind of option available to Outlanders, but like hell Wessex was going to tell him that.
And the Voice did have a name, one the Wraith whispered in her heart sometimes. Something that felt beautiful and bright and something just for her first demigod’s ears alone.
“But you’re right about the Ascended. Most of us are just like any other Abandoned, Attuned, or Accepted. Just because we can’t dream doesn’t mean we don’t dream of a peaceful world. I’d much rather be off exploring than worrying about a potential war.” A world where she wasn’t needed. A world where she can pop in and out on a whim, hit the peaks of the Fangs one day and the dense, wet tunnels Undergrove the next.
“But the Gods want to destroy each other, which means we’re caught in the middle, whether we like it or not.” And that includes the Voice, who, she knows, cannot simply sit by and let the Old ones take swings at her and her children.
04-29-2021, 05:24 AM (This post was last modified: 04-30-2021, 05:56 AM by Neos.)
Neos
Don't be mistaken Your bloody time's up
"No, no clone. A clone of me would end up destabilizing and becoming goo on the floor, due to my real species." He then tensed up before he glanced towards Wessex, his mind momentarily in a dark, clinical, painful place before adding with a look that makes it clear he wasn't lying, "And I wouldn't be talking to you, either."
...I can't believe I'm asking this, but do you recall the Voice asking me anything?
You? No. You were more focused on trying to recover after being launched. I, however, decided to be nice and answer how you would in your stead.
...
WHY HAVE YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THAT BEFORE NOW?!
You never asked.
Neos's face twisted almost into a self-disgusted snarl suddenly as he looked away before saying, "...I personally wasn't asked, but it appears another answered in my stead. Doesn't change the fact that I felt the changes that happened to me after I was already in Caido. My claws and fangs either locking permanently into place or retracting and becoming normal were just one of many changes I felt happening and that was the most-obvious one." As he did this, he felt at his fingertips, pressing in on one finger and flinched slightly at a familiar point within it. If he really wanted to, he could push down and hard into the skin, force the locked claw to break the surface, but with them being locked into place, it would be pointless.
And he knew it. But them still being in existence, even if unusable, made him hopeful he'll get back use of them again.
"...the gods...from what little I've seen and heard, this entire war could have been avoided," he said upon looking back towards Wessex, arms crossed in front of himself after recalling mainly what he had heard from one particular former resident, Henry, in the past, long before he had to leave Torchline for the monsoon season.
"For humanity to become more and more independent of their gods...that's human nature. It's natural. No matter the world or reality, humanity changes according to their world, they grow and evolve. What blows my mind is the fact that one particular Old God, Frey, has done nothing to stop this forced suppression." He then looked up towards the sky above, finding himself seeing a flock of birds flying above them before adding in a saddened tone, "...unless even she is unaware of this particular fact."
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
Neos’ description of himself, his sudden and rapid change of emotions has her internally on guard and she works to keep body relaxed at the mention of a someone else.
Her experience with mental illness other than depression and anxiety is minimal, and she probably couldn’t put a name to what she’s seeing even if she tried, so the Queen just nods slowly and accepts what he has to say at face value. “Ah. I see.” Her own hands have no such capabilities, even if you count the knuckle-talons, but she looks at her palms anyway and rubs the pads of her fingers against each other until the topic changes.
Once it’s back to something she can relate to, the Wraith nods again. “Well, yeah. Essentially. A lot of things probably could have been done, but nothing short of full acceptance of the Voice as a god would have satisfied her. Frey though, they are merely a herald. Rae is the Old God, and they’re both a little more standoffish, but in the end their domain is nature and they see us as abominations. We are everything that is unnatural to them.” Everything they did not create.
Everything that can’t be controlled through drought or flood or reproductive urges.
“Would have been nice for Frey to help out in the Grounds while we were secluded, so fuck if I know what that was about.”
At the mention of Frey only being a Herald, Neos found himself sighing to himself while his shoulders fell slightly. Of course the one divine entity he would be instinctively drawn to in this place is a small fry compared to the other deities.
"...I forgot how truly monstrous divines can be, no matter what the reality," he muttered, no longer carrying if Wessex heard his statement. There was a different set of ears he was trying to avoid that time.
You know they can hear you, anyway.
Lowering his gaze back to the ground, he looked out towards the lands around him, eyes narrowing at another of those hopping teleporters entered his view. A snarl escaped his throat despite the headless one he held upright in his arms at the moment. "Damned teleporting..."
He then looked towards Wessex before asking, "Think you can help me get a few more of these? Was planning on making jerky out of them for travelling."
This ain't no game We're not here to entertain you
05-13-2021, 07:46 PM (This post was last modified: 06-11-2021, 12:25 AM by Wessex.)
I write sins, not tragedies
The demigod ought to take comfort in the idea that if reality is as Neos says it and all Gods, everywhere. are likely to be monsters, then Caido and its problems are nothing special. “Absolute power, and all that…” But she cannot bring herself to condemn any further, because it’s exhausting. A knowing nod and quirk of her lips is what she manages, happy to feel the energy change as they both look away.
At the request for help, though, the Wraith looks back up and brightens. “Yeah, of course.” She looks up at the tree she’s been sitting against and pushes herself into a standing position. “If you can just… chase them my way, maybe, I can hide myself and zap ‘em with my eyes again.”
The head isn’t that tasty anyway, he’ll never miss them.
