hammerfall

Snowfall ceases across the Hollowed Grounds, and all the stars wink out.

Darkness falls.

Is this Longnight come early? Is this the catastrophe hinted at by Safrin?

No. Not quite.

For there is one beam of light present, thrown skyward directly from the Temple. Within, the God of Life stands mercurial before the still-present tribute to the Voice, as well as a new addition - a large firebowl, filled with blood and flame.

Vi does not speak; he does not have to. Noah will know where he must go to face his god, no matter which corner of Caido he finds himself in.

A word of warning, however - Vi has waited long enough. He will not tolerate tardiness.

---

Vi has summoned Noah to the Temple in the Hollowed Grounds! Noah has 48 hours to respond.

VI

Table by Sky!

Noah Eyes blinded Hope seems gone But we'll make it out alive He had barely stepped from the closing of the meeting when he felt it. The burn within his throat and the bending of his bones. Noah's heart hammered against his chest as his legs, without order or command, began running. He ran and ran, as fast as he could, towards the edge of the refuge. He ran until the first inch of him reached the magical barrier, and then he threw his body from it. He threw himself into the winter of King's End, and clutched the compass. His feet touched the ground again in the Hollowed Grounds. He ran and ran, using his magic as he could to blink himself faster and faster. His heart pounded, sweat beading on his head despite the chill of the air. The world around him was dark, and cold, and he only focused on the light ahead of him. The Sentinel appeared in the temple, the last of his magic spent as his eyes fell on his god. Vi. The God of Life. Breathing hard, Noah immediately went to his knees. He balanced himself with his palms on his thighs, the effort of coming in such a short time (was it seconds? minutes? Hardly more than that), but his mind bursting against itself knowing that he was somehow late to the call. "Vi," he breathed, glacier eyes never having left the deity's face, "here I am." He said, the words coming from his lips without the control of his thoughts, pushed with every fiber of him and the weight of the words falling in on him as he saw the line of Vi's jaw.

"Here you are, Noah Olson."

Like the purr of thunder, Vi's voice seems to echo from the vaulted ceilings until it comes at the Sentinel from all directions. Without turning to face his chosen, Vi raises a hand as if to tell Noah to approach.

"Do you know what this is?"

Dark and molten eyes rest, still, on the statue of the woman before them, the bowl of fire and blood.

"I sense you have not been here before, to see it. And I would like to know why."

The sensation will ripple across the Sentinel, saying all that Vi's words do not.

Why have the Grounds fallen so low, more dangerous now than even some areas of the Wilds? Why are they now under the command of some bloodlusted, Dygra worshipping fop? Why have you been trying to avoid what I have asked of you at every turn?

VI

Table by Sky!

Noah Eyes blinded Hope seems gone But we'll make it out alive Vi's lifted hand is not an invitation. It is a command. Noah's body lifted, following and coming to stand beside Vi. He could feel the celestial energy pulsing from the god on some frequency he knew he could never experience without having the god's touch on his own soul. Noah's body throbbed with the flowing of his blood, both ice and fire somehow beneath his skin, which he could too sense was burning cold to the touch. Glacier eyes moved from Vi to the basin before him. His eyes flicked momentarily to the image of the Voice, and he did know what that was. But the basin? Noah searched it as if the answer were painted all over it, as if he were to know what it was, before Vi's words cut off his own thoughts again. He didn't know what it was, and he hadn't been here to see it. Until he did know. Vi's mind pressed into his own and behind Noah's eyes flashed memories. Memories of a young man, so enthralled with his own bloodlust, attacked him -- and a similar basin was suddenly sharp behind the tiger's first lunge. Safrin had said that Dygra was not their enemy, but now standing beside his god and looking down at her shrine, he felt she was. Noah swallowed and the sweat that had formed on his head now dripped cold down his neck. He wanted to defend himself. He wanted to give a just answer to the god. He wanted to tell him of the skyport, of the cleaning of the town hall, of the conversations and seeking he had done with citizens, of the house his wife and children stayed at this very moment, of his conversation with Remi. His jaws couldn't open. His lips couldn't part. He could barely push breath through himself if only to stay conscious. But he didn't. He didn't have room to justify what he had done in light of what he hadn't. He knew, though, that he couldn't stay silent. He wouldn't open his jaws to defend himself like a petulant child. But he would ask, blinking several times to keep the tears from spilling past his eyelashes, "Would you have me take it?"

bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.

---

You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)

Noah need not say it, because Vi already knows. It is why Vi stands here now.

"It is far too late for taking," he rumbles. If Noah was going to take the Grounds, he would have done it before now. When it was easy, when it was more a region than a ruin. More than that - if Noah had wanted to take the Grounds, as he has wanted to put his attention elsewhere, he would have done so.

"I would have you fix what you were not here to prevent breaking. You asked me once where you were needed, and I answered. The time for asking is over."

---

Noah has received a quest(?) from Vi.

1. Host or participate in three (3) PQs within the Hollowed Grounds to help better the region.
2. Explore all areas of the Hollowed Grounds.
3. Complete a thread using demigod magic to assist in bringing life to the Hollowed Grounds. (This can also form part of the exploration for 2.)
4. Complete a thread ensuring that Vi's presence is adequately represented in the Temple.

Until this quest is complete, Noah will be unable to post anywhere outside of the Hollowed Grounds.

Noah has also received a change in his Legend Title.

VI

Table by Sky!

The Forsaken

He had been warned of this. He had seen it. Ronin, Amalia, Sunjata...lives lived before him that should have been a flashing beacon of what not to do (not in all ways but in some if you write them and are reading this ok). Noah knew what it meant to stay below the expectations of your god. Noah knew that Safrin had to get it from somewhere. But he hadn't understood.

Not until now.

Not until the tendrils of celestial energy flickered from his fingertips, licking up his arms and down his torso and wrapping around his legs. Not until his eyes burned white and hot and bright with the weight of his own shame.

He had failed.

His breath hitched in his nose and his chin lowered, head hanging even as it was covered in the most prominent display of Vi's touch. "What you say of me, what you will have me do," his voice was solid despite the roaring, burning, seething emotions within him, "it will be done." It would be done tenfold. It would be done exponentially. It would be done with every ounce of strength that Noah held within him. Even if he had to bring mountains down and make new brick by brick with his own hands.

He would not see himself like this again.

The shame shrouded over him. He couldn't bring himself to ask of Safrin, ask of the rest of the world. He couldn't bring himself to ask about how doing this would help the rest of the world when it came to whatever threat was looming over them enough for Safrin to have left this world and for even Frey to have noticed.

He could only think of the way Vi hadn't looked at him.

FIN

i'd fashioned my own cross
been crushed by its weight
there's no stronger message
than dirt in your face