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!
She smiled in the darkness, briefly, as she considered his words. “Anything is better than that.” She said, agreeing in sentiment to what they both had experienced, yet still not quite forgiving him for the Spire. At least… At least it had gotten easier to talk to him at all, and for that it was somewhat comforting – despite still walking in the darkness with no clear idea of what was happening. But she felt his hand flex as he spoke of his wings, and her heart thundered in response to the weight of the darkness and unknown. She had left out the details of her history, of her own ex-husbands wings, the brand and the beatings, choosing to try and forget them rather than remember and announce them to him. But she nodded all the same, imagining that with his sight he could probably see it.
But she listened to him, regardless, imagining her own husbands wings in place of the space between Lucas’ back and her spine shivered uncomfortably. Goosebumps rose on her skin as anxiety laced her internally until she realized that Lucas, certainly, wasn’t Calstron, and despite everything that Lucas had done at the Spire – well, her husband would have made sure she died there rather than leaving her.
She exhaled a bit of relief when he mentioned the color had changed from white to black, and when he spoke of losing his wings she almost felt sad for him about it. But she nodded yet again in response, uncertain of how to speak the words she was thinking. Suddenly, he laughed, and her head shifted toward the sound as they walked and she listened. Snorting, she continued to imagine what it must have been like. “I imagine the change has been difficult.” She mused, unable to think of anything else to say. “Could be worse right? Could still be there, in the depths of fire and pain with no way out?”
Humming in agreement, Lucas began to lead them forward again - or backward, who was to know at this point - with his free hand trailing absently upon the wall. Glancing sidelong at her throught he darkness, he managed a smirk at her comments. "Difficult, frustrating, infuriating... all words I would use. And yet here I am, still." Had he considered, briefly, just laying down in the Spire and dying? Maybe. Ultimately, though, it seemed as though his sense of self-preservation had prevailed, at least for the time being.
"Could always be worse," he agreed. "Though I do miss the commodities of my old world. Perhaps one day this one will see the same kind of advancements." Only if the Voice was allowed to do her work, though.
Soon enough, it appeared that they had walked back on themselves, and Lucas released Rexanna's hand as the familiar slopes and shapes of the entrance appeared before them, punctuated by the distant glow of moonlight from outside. "There. Safe and sound."
“Resilliance.” She replied, still blind in the swaths of inky darkness as they walked – trusting Lucas enough to lead her the correct way and hopefully not into the mouth of a beast. But he spoke again, mentioning the commodities of his old world and she grew curious of what his role exactly was. He hadn’t elaborated – he had only said he disagreed with whoever was in charge of the angels, and had been dropped to a place of pain and suffering; ivory wings had turned to obsidian, but what kind of commodities were there in a place like that?
Her confusion worked well enough to keep her occupied until they rounded back somehow and eventually Lucas released her hand and mentioned she had made it safe and sound. Her hand lingered close to his for a brief moment before she looked toward the moonlight – eyes adjusting to the light that filtered through and illuminated their faces. Her head swiveled back to let her sapphire gaze linger on Lucas’ face – now far too curious to simply let him be.
Was it a show of his good will? That it wasn’t intentional, but more like when an animal starved is given a hint of food?
She frowned for a moment, head tilting as she stood beneath the filtered moonlight, illuminating around her head like some kind of dark, pearlescent halo. “What kind of commodities did you have before? The wings, yes, flight? What else?” She questioned, infinitely curious, taking the bait, making a fool of herself in trusting him a bit further than she had earlier this night.
Lucas didn't hide the way his eyes roved over her as she turned to look at him. Bathed in moonlight, ethereal like a siren in the half-darkness, he would be a fool not to appreciate true beauty when it gazed upon him, doe eyed and questioning. Still, he had meant commodities in the way of convertibles and escalators, heated floors and fine cigars... though he doubted she would know much of that. So he turned his attention inward, flicking a wrist out as if he might move one of the boxes that she had been investigating earlier.
"Telekinesis used to be a favourite of mine," he murmured. "And I could conjure flame with but a thought. There were endless things, in truth... I could whisper into the minds of mortals, plant seeds and watch them grow." And watch them twist and dance, when that seed came to bear fruit.
There was another shiver that crested along her spine – the way she looked to him with eyes of the sea and his own emerald ones raked over her, such a stark contrast to the warmth of Bastien’s earthy ones. And for a moment, she felt exposed, though realizing shortly after that there hadn’t really been a part of her that Lucas hadn’t seen. They had both been there at the Masquerade, they had both participated, and yet it was surprising how much had changed since then. Still, the shiver that danced along her spine was of an uncertain origin, she couldn’t tell if it was something she liked or feared; and she chose to follow the latter.
Her eyes slipped from him and his own predatory gaze as she followed his wrist as if he could move things with it, her dark brows furrowing together briefly as he mentioned telekinesis. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but it had to make things easier. But when he spoke of flame, she nodded – a smug grin sent toward him as she summoned her sparkler again and allowing the tendrils to slip and fall over her hands until the ends of the sparkler died out, leaving only the center a writhing living flame.
Yet it too, seemed to pause with Rexanna, when he mentioned he could speak in the minds of mortals – head tilting slightly as her eyes focused on him again. “Hmm.” She commented, allowing the sparkler to writhe a bit more, the light dousing out the one created by the sun above, reflecting in her eyes as she found his face again. “You do seem like the type to do things like that.” She shrugged her shoulders briefly, her smug grin shifting to a small smirk before she moved from him toward the box with the trinkets in it. She had opened it a smidge before he surprised her, finding a few small kinds of beads and a bit of fabric.
Taking the scarf from around her neck off, she made it into a makeshift bag, grabbing a few of the gilt pieces and a few of the ruby and sapphire fabrics hidden within before she turned toward Lucas again. Her neck and the top half of her chest were now exposed, the bruising along the side of her neck mostly gone but gaunt looking in the darkness of the underground as she let her eyes dance over him again. “Tonight turned out… Pleasantly surprising, at least.” It was an awkward attempt at thanking him, yet for what she didn’t know and couldn’t figure out. She just felt the need to, unable to come up with the words for it.
There was no hiding the envy in Lucas's eyes at the sparkler that danced to life on the air between them. Once he had bathed in flame, but now... now he was forced to fear it, to shun it like the light of the sun that burned brightly even now, behind the spray of stars. Still, he watched the light as it bobbed and swayed, resting his hands in the pockets of his coat. "I am the type to do things like that," he agreed absently. Things like that and things much worse besides. The rotten soul that had been stuffed into this body did not like its limitations, and Lucas would be free one day. Of that he would make sure.
His gaze snapped back up to Rexanna as she removed the scarf and began to gather the trinkets into it, his eyes piercing the darkness and picking out the leftover bruising, the signs of teeth - the sweetness of her blood filled his mouth again, for a second, and he allowed himself a quiet smirk. "It did," he agreed, straightening up from the stone and stepping past her, green eyes flicking across at her for a moment. "Apologies. I did not realise I had bitten quite so hard."
She worked diligently to grab onto anything she could use, finding it easier now that with the bits and baubles within the scarf that if things did go south she’d have another weapon of sorts. She didn’t trust him in the slightest, and yet he didn’t appear to be a threat. She didn’t know where that left them toward each other, but she did know it made her somewhat uncomfortable to say the least. Regardless, she gathered her scavenged things and steps back toward Lucas and his gaze snaps to her neck and the bruising blossoming out from it. She allowed him to look before she hefted the small makeshift back and tied her scarf together to allow for her to place it onto her shoulder for easy carrying.
But then he gave somewhat an apology and she shrugged slightly. “I don’t think you realized a lot of things that night.” She countered, coolly and collectively. “I asked how to help you and you just grabbed me and bit me.” She paused briefly, eyes flickering over Lucas for a moment before letting her eyes linger on his face. “I don’t remember much, but I do remember pushing you off and passing out on top of you. Then when I woke, you weren’t there and Bastien had found me.” Her voice was soft but it did hint at a bit of venom for being left like an empty bottle of wine discarded on a table for someone else to find.
“You could’ve killed me if I didn’t get you away, and by then it was too much taken.” Her head lifted high as he regarded him, despite his height difference to her. She didn’t want him to think she had enjoyed it; perhaps a bit at first before the panic had set in.
Lucas watched her coolly as she stepped up to him, hefting her scavenged goods onto her shoulder and looking every bit the gorgeous rogue. Granted, he was beginning to get the impression that she could look like a gorgeous anything, and it was more than a touch supernatural. But he was too busy enjoying it to question it too much, even with - especially with her sudden outburst of venom and haughtiness and pride. Lucas's green eyes almost lit up with it, the Ascended stepping by her and purposely brushing just a touch too close.
"I hope for your sake, then, that Bastien does not find himself in a state where he does not realise a lot of things," he purred. "The same monster lives in the both of us, remember. He is as capable as I am, just not as willing." With a musical laugh, he began to meander out of the ruins, though her final words gave him pause. He smirked over his shoulder.
"My dear girl, if I had wanted to kill you, you'd be quite dead." Given that she had just walked with him in the darkness, blind and underground, that only rang more true. "Have a good evening, Rexanna."
