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’d been several days since she’d been home, and there was apparently no rush back. Not in the depths of night, not under the moonlight’s shining press, not in the glimmering wake of the earth – when they could reign and rule.
Except today, except for now, where she was trying her best to steer clear of a large range of puddles bombarding her path. Ordinarily, in a former life, in a time before death, this wouldn’t have been anything at all. A moment to play. A moment to skip. A moment to frolic over, to laugh with her twin, with her siblings, until they were soaked to the bone and proceeded further, into regions of the Oasis.
And now she stared at them as they impeded her way, arms full of goods and necessities for the farmhouse, whenever she made it there. More than once she glanced over the massive wake, imagining the ocean sweeping her up, taking her back down, engulfing, contorting, until she simply remained in its threshold until the end –
Then subsequently backed away, looking for another route to take.
Let's go to war to make peace Let's be cold to create heat
"Hey—" Edy's voice is bright and tarnished-sounding as it rings out toward Mabel. Should the other ascended look, it would be to see Edy sat in a gigantic puddle. It covered her hips and stomach, leaving her long legs jutting out as well as her shoulders. One might be tricked into thinking it was some sort of hot tub or mudbath, if not for the fact that ascended required nor could enjoy either.
"—you're the girl who drowned, huh?" Rumours were easy to come by when you lived with a bunch of other fucks who didn't sleep. "Is'that why you're avoiding all the water? Or you just don't wanna get dirty?" Edy, on the other hand, was smeared in mud such that no amount of analyzing could ever have guessed at the colour of the shirt she was wearing.
The voice immediately made her flinch, jumping forward with all her packages barely remaining in her grasp. She might’ve glared if she wasn’t so frightened; a bit like a leaf in the wind, struggling to remain tethered to its branches and brambles. Instead, her pale face seemed to be even whiter, head turning and rounding over to the woman within the puddle; as if it were her natural state.
The girl hitched in a breath she didn’t need, fingers shaking, multitudes breaking apart inside her.
And the words made her tremble harder – either from fighting the onslaught barreling down against her, the trauma so easily ignited and launched on her again, or some manner of sedition she didn’t feel in her bones. It was difficult to parse through, even for her. “Yes,” she acknowledged by way of truth – the youth who drowned. Who tried to help fix a shrine and couldn’t even do that without failing. “So I don’t like it anymore.” She backed off and away, intending to spiral elsewhere. "You're one the Voice brought back too," by way of a whisper, the only connection she had to this person. "I'm Mabel."
Let's go to war to make peace Let's be cold to create heat
Edy waggles her fingers nonchalantly towards Mabel as she spins. With Edy it's always hard to tell if she's being an asshole or if this is just her way of being kind—by not making a fuss of things. Either way, she shrugs her bony shoulders in the mud. "Makes sense. I got eaten by a landshark when I died and I swear to fuck if I see another one, I'll kill it dead'er than dead." Patting the water for emphasis, the Rapacious brings her fingers to her forehead in a salute. "I'm Edy."
Once, it would have been Edrei Launceleyn. No one got to call her Edy. But after being yeeted from one world to the next and dying? Fuck it. She wasn't that person anymore.
"How'd you drown if you're an ascended?" Sitting up straighter, Edy cocks her head to the side. "I wasn't one before so this is all new to me. Is it the lack of fluid that does it?"
"Go fuck yourself." "Fuck me yourself, you coward."
What an intriguing way to talk about trauma and death: flippant, almost indifferent, as if it didn’t really matter. Or maybe it did, if her conversation was anything to go by – Mabel wasn’t sure, and there was only an arch to her brow now as she envisioned the woman swallowed by a landshark. Gone, likely, in the blink of an eye. “How – how would you kill one?” Considering Mabel had lived here all of her life, and hadn’t heard of many successful ventures.
Oh. Edy. She should’ve known. Hadn’t that name come along before, when she was younger, before she’d Ascended, while toiling in fields that wouldn’t grow? While tending to livestock that grew steadily weaker? “Didn’t you rule here, once?” Not snarky, not irreverent, but curious. Nosey. Inquisitive. Looking for a distraction from the water rippling around.
Not that it mattered, when the bluntness flickered through anyway. The younger Ascended flinched, and then turned her eyes downward again, staring at the packages in her arms. “Yes.” Turning over and over and over, splashing, exhaustion not coming, but everything else emblazoning – the sun, the sea spitting her out, the waves churning because she couldn’t hold onto anything until her body simply gave in. “And very slowly.” A long, painstaking wait.
Let's go to war to make peace Let's be cold to create heat
'Well, this time if I got eaten, I wouldn't let it chomp me up. I'd let it swallow me, and then claw at all of its insides until it was dead." Edy shrugs, clearly thinking on the fly. "And now that I don't need to breathe, it won't be like I'll suffocate if it goes underground. Who knows, maybe I'll dig my way outta the ground during a festival or something." Grinning at that, the thought of emerging covered in dirt and the guts of a landshark during some happy gathering clearly something she would very much enjoy.
"Yep. For like...I dunno, a season maybe? Zariah was queen and when she fucked off, it fell to me." Listening at the few details Mabel gives, Edy purses her lips, twitching them from side to side. "That's shitty. Maybe for your next upgrade you can give flippers." She offers casually, unbothered or uninterested in the clear trauma displayed in the youth's voice.
For some reason, the lack of empathy, of riddling straight into Mabel’s horrific experiences, suited her far better than those who might’ve fussed or coddled. It didn’t give her an opportunity to dive headlong into it. Or even think about the notions except the surface level Edrei provided and presided over.
Instead, she got to tilt her head and listen to the way the other would’ve mauled a land shark. Which actually made her laugh out loud – a rare feat considering her life. It was quiet and muffled, but there all the same, even inspiring a smile for the glimpse of a moment or two. “That would be something to see.” And then the grin faded, arms adjusting the parcels in her hands. “I don’t have any upgrades yet.” A pause, considering. “Do you?”
Let's go to war to make peace Let's be cold to create heat
"No? Why not?" Edy taps her toes in the puddle rather musically as she tilts her head toward Mabel, as if having upgrades was something you could just go off and get. 'Yep, sure do. I can make things explode just by touching them. I can also create nightmares or make you feel shit if you bite me and I don't want it." Flashing a white smile Mabel's direction, the Rapacious cocks her head.
"If you could have anything, what do you think you'd want? Maybe water-walking instead of flippers. That way you'll never come close to drowning again." Or...you know, fluid-suffocating or whatever it was that had ultimately killed the other ascended the first time.
Why not? The inquiry left her baffled for a moment, brows furrowing with the lack of a proper answer, before the other Ascended went off on descriptions of her current additions. From there, Edrei would likely be able to see the reign of Mabel’s sudden admiration, eyes widened, mouth briefly agape – because explosions, nightmares, and making people feel like shit sounded remarkable and wonderfully chaotic. “Amazing,” she uttered on a whisper, envious and reverent all at once.
As for what she’d want? Nothing to do with water, or with fire – so she shook her head. “Something sneaky. To not be seen at all when I come upon my targets.” Stealthy; a creature of the unburdened night, taking her time to strike, slash a man across the throat.
Let's go to war to make peace Let's be cold to create heat
