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!
"All the books on this wall are history or legend. It's my favourite topic to explore and copy from." Sam said with a smile, leaning forward on the desk and pointing across to a wall about three shelves deep, with books stretching from the floor to the ceiling in each. From small paper-bound leaflets to huge leather tomes, there were entries for every region and part of Caido imaginable. At the end of the third shelf, at the bottom, a couple of levels were devoted to stories that Outlanders had transcribed to him.
As Cam went to investigate, he'd keep talking, rambling along as he looked over his own collection. "If you have a good memory for stories and histories from your world, at some point I'd love to have you sit down with me so I can write it down. I think the Voice bringing so many new people here gave us a wonderful opportunity for learning new stories."
"Oh, awesome." Cam headed over to the shelves, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of books here, but in a good way. They'd go for a medium-sized book, they decided. Their instinct was to pick out a weighty tome that would last them for quite a while as reading material, but they kept in mind that they were getting this for free: they didn't want to take something that had required so much work to transcribe. But they didn't want to go for a pamphlet, either, and be done reading in a couple days. They searched the shelves, looking for maybe a general primer on myths and legends.
"Oh -- sure. Yeah, of course. That would be great, actually. I have a pretty good memory for stories, and there's ... a lot of them." Cam thought of every book they'd ever read, all the mythology they'd studied from childhood on, and grinned. Stories were kind of their thing, in truth. "I'd love that, really."
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Honestly, Sam would have appreciated the shelf space left over after a large book was taken, but he wouldn't change Cam's choice. It was always interesting to see what people came in for: children choosing dark legends, labourers choosing complex textbooks and the surprising amount of tough warriors that loved romance novels. His romance shelf was one of the largest areas of turnaround in the shop.
"Great. I've gathered stories from all kinds of people...a lot of them friends before everything became so...divided." He sighed, thinking of the years before the barrier had fell, when the Ascended and others in the Grounds had simply co-existed, had shared stories and experiences freely. "I hope that in the years to come from now, they might serve as a way to connect with everyone from all their different places...maybe form some kind of understanding."
He shrugged, staring at the desk and tracing a grain of the wood with his fingertip, now accidentally on this sombre tangent. "I feel sorry for you, that you couldn't be here when the world was less angry. It was dangerous and frightening, but...when we were all here, we had to work together, and it made us more forgiving of each other."
Cam found what they were looking for, a medium-sized, rather plain book of myths, and took it off the shelf. "Thanks again. I really appreciate this."
Then the conversation turned more somber, and Cam nodded. "That sounds nice. I wish I had gotten to know that time. Kind of wish I'd gotten here sooner -- I mean, I'm happy to be here at all, but it would have been cool to ... not face a war. Though I guess I'd still be in this same place eventually, since time, you know, passes. Maybe it's for the best that I don't have any friends on the other side."
Man, that was depressing. Trying -- and probably failing -- to lighten things up a bit, Cam added, "At least I missed the Longnight monsters. I'm glad for that; I hear they were pretty bad."
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Sam smiled and nodded, glad to see his books going to someone that would appreciate them. As much as it was nice to make a living and run his store, he'd always just wanted to make things that would bring people happiness - he wasn't often reminded of that nowadays. "You're welcome."
As for wishing for an earlier time or being thankful for the lack of friends...he could only shrug. Having been born here, he'd never had an alternative. "I do wonder what life would have been like here if the Voice never brought any Outlanders at all." He paused, then realising that could sound offensive, shook his head and continued abruptly: "--I mean, not that it would be better. necessarily. But it would be different."
Longnight monsters had been such a regular horror in his life it was hard to believe they were truly gone, but he nodded anyway. "Yes. They still exist in some places, but...I don't think you'll see them as much as we used to. I saw too many people hurt and lost to those things." Sighing, he ran a finger along the edge of his desk, then his eyes flicked up to Cam's face. "Do you know about their origin?"
Cam nodded, not offended in the least by the suggestion that Outlanders might never have come to Caido. "The Voice brought us here, right? Did all Outlanders start out in the Hollowed Grounds -- inside the bubble -- originally? Like, was that her way of getting fresh blood -- or, well, new people -- into the bubble?"
The pain in Sam's voice made Cam wince. They'd never really talked about the LongNight monsters with someone who had personally experienced them before -- well, except for Wessex, and she'd been pretty matter-of-fact about them. "Yeah, they sounded horrible." As for their origins ... The thought made Cam quite sad, a solemnity reflected in their voice. "Yeah, I do. The Voice created them, right? To experiment with upgrades?"
cameron ?
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"As far as I know yes...with...a couple of odd exceptions. Or maybe they weren't exceptions - time gets muddled in my head sometimes, but I'm sure Neron landed in Halo before the barrier fell. I may be wrong." He tapped his chin, trying to remember, but couldn't quite recall the story that Neron had told him. "You'd have to speak to him. But for the most part, I think Outlanders were in the barrier only until it fell. That was where the Voice was, after all."
Trapped in there with them and the Heralds, an unusually cruel solution to the 'problem' of diversity, in Sam's mind.
As for the monsters, he tilted his head side to side and hummed. "Not quite. We think they're early Ascended - not made so much as experiments, but just...when the Voice wasn't as good at making them - and over time they've become like that. I...do worry what might become of myself and the others if we live so long, but we have been assured the same won't happen." And all he could do was believe that for now.
It made sense to Cam that the Outlanders would have landed in the bubble, if the Voice had brought them here to help her. "I guess I can see how having the different skills of people from other worlds might help get everyone out of the bubble? It's still, like, wild to me that the Voice even has the power to bring people in from other worlds. We didn't even think they existed at home."
Cam's eyes widened as Sam spoke, their interest fading into distress. "Oh, no. That's worse. I didn't think it could get worse, but that's definitely worse. I mean, even apart from the possibility that something like that could happen to us ... It's horrible to think that they were once people like us, and then they became ... what they were."
cameron ?
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"Yes, it...honestly, it seems like the most powerful thing she's done." Privately, Sam thought that perhaps the Core was actually responsible for that; he didn't understand it or what it was for, if it was a person like the Voice - but the pure power radiating from the being that had been released from the Spire had been awe inspiring. "It has been nice to meet so many new people with new ideas...and those that stand with the Old Gods want to cut us all off and have it be as it ever was."
He sighed and shook his head; if they kept pulling back progress, kept denying change, what would they be left with? They couldn't carry on as they were forever.
He recognised the horror in Cam's eyes as the same as his own, but didn't really have any comforts for it. "Yes. As I said, all we can do is believe her. And...I have met some Ascended that were three, five hundred years old - and just like you and I." 108 had been a little odd, but far from a monster, and Varus was just like anyone else.
Cam nodded, smiling. "It's been really interesting to see how different things are here, and in other places other Outlanders are from. I'm glad to be here, even if it's definitely not how I saw my life going a year ago." But the thought of those who stand with the Old Gods brings their mood down. They add, "Yeah, not to mention slaughtering everyone who doesn't agree with them. Maybe we could have not brought those people through."
When Sam mentioned meeting older Ascended, Cam let out a long breath, pretty relieved to hear that not all the ancient Ascended had turned into monsters. "That's good. Also kind of really cool, knowing that we might live that long." Mortality has never been Cam's favorite thing; as a teenager they would have anxious, sleepless nights where they agonized over the concept of oblivion, the only afterlife they believed in. (They were a strange teenager.) To have that worry lifted ... Well, new worries had come in its place: "If we survive the next couple years, anyway."
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
A lot of Outlanders were too overwhelmed from their grief to enjoy Caido, much less be glad that they were there; perhaps it was a little selfish, but Sam found himself glad that Cam seemed to have been able to see the bright side in their situation. It was so difficult to comfort the Outlanders when they were homesick, as he and they knew full well they'd never see their home again.
"Mmm...sometimes it scares me a little. I mean, there's so many people that won't make it that far with us. But...that's a problem for later, hopefully much later." And besides, his mind went much the same way as Cam's: they may all die within the next couple of years anyway, with the way things were looking. "We have to keep some kind of hope, or we'll just give up before we get a chance."
It's not that Cam never feels homesick, but, well, they weren't exactly doing much at home, were they? Mostly they miss their family. It hurts sometimes to imagine how bereaved their family must feel without them. (Nobody's mentioned the whole "you still exist in your old world" thing to Cam.) But they have to keep moving on, and Caido is a pretty cool place. Plus, they have always wanted a robot body.
"Yeah ... I don't know that many people who aren't Ascended, honestly," Cam said. "Maybe that's for the best."
After all, as much as they might like to reach out to more people, they couldn't mourn mortal friends if they didn't have any.
"You're right. If we give up, the Old Gods have already won." Cam grinned, oddly comforted by the thought of spiting their enemies. "At least we have each other."
Then they glanced down at the book in their hand. "Well, I should probably get going ... Thanks for the book! It was good to meet you -- I'll be back, I'm sure."
- FIN
cameron ?
"Cameras" by Ennev is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
