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 was a good idea to take the topic in a different direction. Curiosity was piqued, but it was a sensitive subject, he didn't want to rehash it, and maybe Sunjata would talk openly about his family affairs.
Darkeye pauses for a moment to digest what he has heard. He exhales and inhales deeply. "So there are people like that in other worlds, too. Many think that such an education brings someone further. It is difficult to please such a person. I'm glad you survived. I was a little wary of you at first, Sunjata, but now I think we're getting along quite well. I thought, in the beginning, you were a pompous prick who didn't know anything about war. But I readily admit that I was wrong. Thank you for opening up to me like this." He was really happy about that. He was someone to talk to after all. "In my world, unfortunately, there are more people like your father. That's why it's such a fucked up lump of earth. You can also sell your soul there to demons and the like. That makes them more powerful and even more dangerous. I've had to kill many of them, but they're like weeds, they always come back."
He works with concentration and the metal soon began to glow again. He kept turning it to distribute the heat evenly but not hot enough for the metal to bend. He quickly took the liquid bonze and poured it into each template and recess. He quickly took the metal out of the fire as soon as it was extinguished and put it into the cold ice water.
The Flood draws silent as Darkeye speaks, expanding on the subject of people like his father. And while the other man likely doesn’t know the entire reason Shaju was horrible to him, at the very least it inspires some amount of understanding. Enough so that when Darkeye explains his initial opinion of him, Sunjata barks a laugh, amusement flickering across his face as he glances over to the shorter man. “I haven’t exactly been in a war like this, but, similar enough to be experienced in something.” He murmurs, shrugging a shoulder and moving whenever Darkeye needs him to.
“We never had demons or gods or magic or anything in Korofi. But my father was the ruler there and I was supposed to follow his footsteps. Only there was a disparity between those of us nobles and the rest of the country and when I was an Enforcer I ended up defecting to fight for the rebellion against my father.” He offers up easily, glancing back at Darkeye to see what he makes of it. “I ended up here before I could see how it fully ended, but, I suppose it isn’t surprising that I’ve followed the same path here.” The losing side, the underdogs, those simply wanting to live.
But that was it, mostly, and Sunjata focuses on finishing the tasks Darkeye has set out for him, wiping away sweat and the like as he goes. “It’s a shame your home world and mine have so much in common, hm?”
you gave all that sweat and blood,
now you think you're gonna drown
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Darkeye smiled a little and then wiped the sweat from his brow as well. "That's why it's important to know both sides of a war," he said. "Blind loyalty is almost worse than arrogance. You can't go before the gods and say you were ordered to do it. You decide about your salvation no one else. I had to learn that very early. In my rage over what was done to me and my clan, I unconsciously made a pack with a demon and was literally eaten by revenge from the inside out. Blakharaz was his name the supreme of the revenge demons. I was driven by blind rage and where I saw injustice I killed without hesitation women children everything that was wrong in my eyes. I had never questioned it. Until one day I heard the voice of Kor and he showed me that one could direct his abilities differently. I had a lot to make up for, and I'm still trying to do that today. My soul is now mine again. I serve Kor with all I have but my salvation is left to me." Says he partly relieved. He also wants to open up a bit to Sunjata when they both speak so openly about their past.
"I think but also these things make our worlds these. They shape us just as we shaped them. You seem to have been in a position of high rank, as I was. I had a high rank in my church. As advisor to the king of my people. The black spear you know from me, the cast iron one, was a gift from my god, like this spear from Frey. Only that I had to make the spear from the blood of my enemies. It took me a long time to make it." He cooled the spear and began to sharpen it, carving out the runes of the animals and the fruit. "The rest is sharpening if you want, we'll get right to work on the axes."
He hums his agreement, wiping away more sweat with the collar of his shirt. A frown crosses his face as Darkeye explains further what he’s gone through, a soft sigh leaves him when he finishes. “That’s terrible.” At least for Sunjata, it had been survival — he hadn’t been forced by an other worldly source to cause the crimes he had. He’d done it purely to survive. He can relate though, to the idea of salvation, a low rumble of agreement passing his lips yet again.
“I was.” He murmurs, shrugging a shoulder while he works. “I was the equivalent of a prince in Korofi. My father wanted me to be as ruthless and terrible as he was but I wasn’t.” In his humble opinion, he liked to think he gave people plenty of chances. Sometimes, though, there were too many chances he’d give, too much of himself lost to those he had tried to help and failed anyway.
“You eventually did, though.” He comments about the spear. Even if it had taken forever, he’d still managed to get it done.
you gave all that sweat and blood,
now you think you're gonna drown
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Darkeye looked again at the faces of the dead who had suffered under him, and there were several. He wiped away some of the sweat that was on his face. At least it looked like sweat. The whole thing stirred him up a lot. "That's a mild exaggeration for the fact that I was a bloodthirsty monster. I have to make amends to the families who suffered under me. There aren't many of my kind who will take on a pack because our souls are supposed to be so rock solid. Stubborn as a mountain. I will never be allowed to return to my creator God Angorosh. I would end up as coal in his forge for my deeds. That's why Kor gave me the chance to make amends, and I'm going to take it." Even if I have to bring down other gods to do it. He thought to himself the last part. He wiped away the last tear and hoped it would not be seen.
"A king who rules with violence and fear is not a king, he is a tyrant, and tyrants always meet the same end. Someone slashes their throats or they are impaled by pitchforks - it's all a matter of time. I've killed a few of those. They all said that it was in their blood to die, but they bled just as much as a farmer or a woman who had been carried away by their whips. Compassion and pity are two different things. I am not allowed pity by Kor but compassion and I always got along well with that. I can't imagine what you've been through, Prince, but I'm glad you're still alive and you got through it." He put a few more pieces of iron in the forge and set about forging the axes his hand, as well as his body, were no longer able to guide the steady hand today.
"I thank you for your help, Sunjata or Prince, I don't know which you prefer. I'll finish the axes, but I should be able to do that on my own. Thank you very much for your help and for the talk." He looked back at the food and worked diligently on the iron. The spear lay at his side to cool. He would sharpen it tomorrow and finish it when it had calmed down.
He can’t help but to wince as Darkeye explains further. If he’s being honest, he was simply trying to make it seem better than it was. But the other man has come to terms with what he’d done – able to talk about it now despite the tears in his eyes, tears of which Sunjata doesn’t comment on. He simply hums his agreement – forever a believer in second chances and proving ones self.
After all, he’d had to do it most of his life anyway.
“It’s a shame my father didn’t quite get that end in Korofi.” His nose wrinkles, but he shrugs a shoulder and tries to seem like it doesn’t bother him as much as it does. “I tossed us both into the ocean from the cliffs of Aumakua.” And he’d tried to fly out of it, to drop his father and soar back into the sky, only to go tumbling down alongside him. Only to wash up in Rae’s Fingers a while later – thankful that Vai had been there to heal him enough to mostly function after.
Still, hearing that Darkeye was glad that he’d lived through it and was still here was unexpected but kind, something that brings a softer edged smile to his face, a nod of his head as a quiet thanks because he’s never really heard that before. In obligation, perhaps, but not so open. It was a rare occasion and Sunjata’s nothing if not terrible at receiving kind things.
“Sunjata is fine. Prince is too snobbish if you ask me.” To this he rumbles a deeper laugh, a wink shot in Darkeye’s direction as he gathers his things once he’s finished helping Darkeye with the last little bit that he needed help with. “I’m glad I could help. You know where I am if you need anything else.” He dips his chin toward the shorter man, takes another moment to wipe away the sweat pooled at his neck and chest, before deciding that a hot shower back home was priority.
- FIN <333
you gave all that sweat and blood,
now you think you're gonna drown
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
