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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:32 pm
Breathing Ancient Air VII: Sacrifices
Tian Yue came back to himself with, absurdly, a sneeze. The pollen started, then floated innocently to ground around him, staining the white roots a dark blue. Again he had to wait out the disorientation, the realization that he was not a distant, grief-filled Aoide but Tien Lung Tian Yue...
... surrounded, he realized, with the corpses of his Aoidei. He jumped quickly into the air, unwilling to accidentally step on their bones, now that he knew what they were. He floated over them, tail drooping, swaying his head back and forth.
I came back. I came back! I did, I did... But he did not have the power to bring the dead Aoidei back, and the root-piles below remained as silent as ever.
They sacrificed themselves for me. They decorated my bones, ate my flesh... A shudder of bone-deep revulsion held him for a moment, and he nearly gagged, remembering the taste of his own rotting flesh. And made... a barrier. A wall, from my bones. And Toki... but if the Aoide had not been a 'coward', he would have been quite alone in his rebirth.
He would have to thank him again for that sacrifice - or lack of it - later.
Tian Yue twined back towards his own corpse. From the air, it was easier to understand the scale, and for a moment he had to pause and marvel at it. So large! And I am so small now, in comparison... The massive white flowers hung over their source, glittering. He shied away, then forced himself to go back, towards them.
I said that I would. I told Lucius that I would. Did this have anything to do with saving the world? Maybe he should go back, speak the passname and then ride Gringolet home. He was wasting time-
But he had told Lucius.
Tian Yue let out a long, hissing breath. "I did. I told you, didn't I? Foolish, foolish dragon that I am." There was a flower shining fifteen feet from him, a huge thing with delicate, arching petals, the largest of any that sprouted from Tien Lung's corpse.
"I told you."
He launched himself at the flower, claws out, before he could change his mind.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:33 pm
Breathing Ancient Air VIII: Songs of the Stars
Perhaps it was his thoughts of Lucius that made the memory flower spew forth starbright skin, shimmering wings, hair like the dawn. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Either way, the memories flooded Tian Yue as the pollen fell over him like a cloud, washing now away and replacing it with then.
It settled, absurdly, on a door - a dark place, scented with cedar and flowers, enclosed such that he had to take mortal guise to fit. He was dizzy, half-delirious with his own daring, ear pressed against the living wood. So kind, Gaia. And if he was found out, what then?
He would not be found out. Her voice, rich and sweet, and then the chiming of stars, delicate, almost childlike. Mother and son. "I don't know. He comes often to mountaintops or asteroids and calls for my company. I don't know what to make of it," the galaxies sang. His tail swished a little, and he reached back and pinned it to his side with one hand.
"Is it wrong that someone should seek to be your friend?" Gaia replied. "Shaiming is one of the Kings, wise and great, he would make a good friend." So kind of her to ally with him so, to put forth his cause; he was flattered, honored by her assessment, by her caring. But Universe's answer was of utmost importance. He pressed his ear closer to the door.
"But the things he says, and how he says them. I do not think it is just my friendship he searches for." Confusion filled Universe's tone. The dragon's heart skipped a beat, or so it felt; that was perceptive, nearly more than he would have expected. Had he been too bold; was he scaring the stars with his playful advances, rather than charming them? No, no, listen, listen, foolish dragon-
"What do you mean?"
A long pause followed Gaia's gentle question before Universe spoke again. "There are so many compliments, earnest ones. But he feels like he is being truthful, or at least he believes what he is saying. I feel like hiding when he speaks such things. My cheeks burn bright and I lose what replies I have…they just vanish from my tongue." The dragon had to suppress the urge to giggle - giggle, a Dragon King, really, what was it in those simple words to inspire such giddiness, like one of Desiderio's faithful? But Universe's words were so earnest, so...cute.
"Is he insulting you then? Why don't you smite him then, or why do you not seek your Father's counsel for his punishment?"
The dragon gulped a bit at that; surely she was kidding, she must be, but-
"No!" The instant negation startled the dragon; it was odd for Universe so be so vehement about anything... but it also brought a strong sense of relief. "No, no…Mother, I… He says nothing wicked. Nothing to be punished for, unless it is to make me feel strange and awkward. To make my chest hurt."
"I see." There was a pointed clack outside, a soft signal to attention; as if he hadn't already been practically merging with the door! "Your chest hurts? Always?"
"No…only when I think of him."
At that, the dragon's own heart leapt - so could it be? dared he imagine that his own temerity would be rewarded with like kindness? With - oh, he couldn't even think it, just barely - love?
His tail slipped out of his grasp and nearly ruined it all with its delighted waggling; he had to sit down, quite firmly, and smush himself into a corner until the giddy joy had run its course. How his brothers would have laughed... but he was flushed, bright-eyed, and inexpressibly grateful when Gaia opened the door and let him out, afterwards.
Now, he could plan...
skip
A whirlwind, after that, dizzying millennia smashed into a thousand impressions-
Qian Lung laughed at him as he stood breathless, his face hot with embarrassment; then, relief, as she reached down and plucked forth one scale, just for him. A gift, a kindness-
He could hardly bear it as he held out the scale, prepared, matchless in beauty, a gift, a symbol. Only take this, beloved - only this, and all that I could hope under the Twin Crown's domain will have come to pass. A symbol, that I will guide you, love you, protect you even as the Shadowshield entwines her scales 'round Gaia - if you will be mine, and I yours-
Twining, soft, ecstatic, he danced among the stars, snapped at them; they escaped his grasp and allowed him to fall for a tantalizing moment before-
And so it continued, on and on, world without end -
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:33 pm
Breathing Ancient Air IX: Fallen and Failed
-but nothing can go on forever, no. That was a lie. Falsehood.
We had the beginning
now for the end.
skip-
It was not enough it was not enough it was not enough, not all his speed, not all the Fangbridle's speed, was enough to get him home in time...
The Gallery was empty, shining arches and gentle draperies as elegant as ever, but utterly uninhabited. There were no penitents; there had not been any in quite some time, long, too long- Do not be gone overlong, Tien Lung. But he had been, he had been, and not known it until-
"Where are you?!" An anguished cry rang against the pillars and platforms, and it took a moment for him to realize it had been torn from his own throat, from his own trembling coils. "My stars, my love... where have you gone?"
There was no answer; the stars around the Gallery hung in mute silence, blinking at him in an unfamiliar pattern, one stripped of all meaning, all thought. The dragon orbited the platform, shaking in grief as hope crumbled around him with every unanswered cry. "Where are you... oh, my love, my love..."
He had failed, failed, failed - the rising tide of mortal carelessness unturned, and now the calamity- first Gaia, Empress laid low, an unbelievable act, and now, now- no, a wave of rage flooded through him, stopping his flight in mid-motion, how dare they, how dare they, blasphemers, defilers, how could they possibly refuse to belief in the ground beneath their feet, the sky and stars over their heads, how how how-
Just as quickly as it had come, the anger drained away, leaving him hollow, empty, glassy-eyed. "My love," he whispered again, all I had to do was lift my voice to the stars and there would be answer, and now, now- He had screamed his throat ravaged and numb, to match his heart.
Tien Lung descended to the Gallery, landing with a soft tack of claws on stone, and collapsed, crushed under the weight of the silent and uncaring stars.
skip-
The world seemed distant, held at one remove, dwarfed next to the resounding vastness of his loss. It dragged at his heels, nibbled at every thought and tainted it, ran frissons of reminder over his scales, Universe is faded, dead, gone. Even the visage of his Lord could not rouse him from his broken reverie. He was barely aware of the cool touch of Creation's hand on his cheek; leaned into it only out of long habit rather than conscious choice.
"My Dragon," his Lord said, quietly, the Crown's voice as clear as ever but also deep with sadness.
He merely nodded, once, very slowly. Gone.
The stroke traveled up to his nose, traced around the line of his muzzle, paused when pale fingers met the dampness of tears. "How fare you, my Shield?"
Speaking was an effort. "I..." His voice cracked almost immediately. "I... have forgotten, my... my Lord."
"Forgotten?" came the gentle question, and Creation moved his hand up to trail along one drooping ear.
"Forgotten... how to be. How I am to be, how I ever was, without-" He could go no further. Could not say the name. "It has been a very.... very long time... that I have danced, kissed, loved... and now... I do not remember." His head swayed from side to side, a dull, lost movement. "I do not remember. I cry out to the stars, and they do not answer me."
The touch paused, echoed by ripples of voice like water in unseen wells. "Ease... easement, fair and shining scale. It is the Lord that fails the crumbling Empire... the Family; it is the head, not the hands."
He took a long breath, deep, shuddering from nose to tail, and leaned deep into the comfort of his Lord - unable to re-assert the truth of his own guilt, unable to do anything beyond stand for the moment and mourn, and take the gentleness offered to him.
My stars...
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:35 pm
Breathing Ancient Air X: The Aftermath of Dreaming
The humidity hit him like a white wall, and he convulsed, suddenly no longer grieving Shaiming of old, but Tian Yue, curled in a ball and sunk nose-deep into the muck under the flower, claws stained blue with pollen. His head hurt, powerfully, as if it was going to split into two. His scales trembled with the memory of ancient grief.
This guilt... have I- we- always had this problem... with guilt?
Hero complexes. Both of us. Me. Time and identity were fluid and shifting things; he blinked away the blurred stars and reached out once for Lucius, who turned out to be a tangled vine. For a moment he was alone again, screaming at the stars around the empty Gallery, and panicked, flailing out of the muck to his feet before reality asserted itself once more.
It was nothing like the memories of the Aoidei. Perhaps because they are mine... ours... his. He stood very still, afraid to take a step lest the muck become a jade platform in the stars. These flowers... He tilted his head back, very slowly, and gazed at the others with a vague revulsion. Could any little being have tumbled along into the flower and broken into his deepest memories? Some of the flowers were popped, dried, rancid. A violation. He shuddered, feeling used and dirty.
Get a hold of yourself, dragon.
He took a deep breath, sneezed, reeled as the pollen fluffed out the memory of a kiss that made him shiver with a desire he was fairly sure Lucius no longer shared, and jumped into the air, the muck and mud dripping from his underbelly and claws. He hung in the sky for a moment, just listening to the plops.
I cannot deal with this.
But they are mine... why should I not reclaim them? Should I leave them here for some swamp-creature to stumble into? Some beastly thing relive the throes of star-making or endless meetings of Council? Perhaps the last wouldn't be too bad, but...
No. I must take what I can, and destroy the rest- But no, no, no, he couldn't do that, couldn't just destroy them- what if something they needed was there, and he sent a vital component to the salvation of All drifting on the wind to fall into the mud and drown, unheeding?
This place is a trap, he thought, absurd. A trap, a giant predatory creature leaning in; would filaments wrap around him as well, pin him to the swamp until his memories flowered again for midges and frogs to marvel at? There would be no Aoidei to clean his bones; Toki would find it an impossible meal. He'd need so much ketchup.
He was raving, he realized. A quick burst of speed took him away from the fallen petals of the flower he'd punctured, and away from the Gate, along the wall and the line of Tien Lung's corpse. It narrowed, here, but not to a sharp point. The head.
It's so big.
There was a rock in front of the dragon-corpse's nose, and he landed on it, then reared up and clawed at the root-filaments covering the bones. He tore at them with claw and then with teeth, until the bright ivory skull - or at least the muzzle, and the empty eye-sockets - was visible.
So much bigger than I am. The memories alone were bigger than he was, capable of eating him up. Nearly had, perhaps. Might, if he gave them another chance. He laid down on the rock and touched noses with his own corpse.
"I miss you," he said, with a sigh, and fell asleep.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:36 pm
Breathing Ancient Air XI: Decisions
It was nighttime when he woke again, the air somewhat cooler but no less humid for all that, and a cloud of curious glowing insects floating around him. Their wings were long and soft, like feathers, and they startled into a vast shining cloud when he stood up. Clouds covered the sky, now, but the insects made their own galaxies and constellations as they swirled over him.
Tian Yue sighed, and stretched, forward, then backwards. He was hungry now, and aching from sleeping on the rock, and that headache was still there, lurking in the back of his brain. He leaned forward and rubbed against the exposed muzzle of the dragon's skull. What should I do?
He hadn't really be expecting any answer, but he still sighed again when none came. One bright insect floated down and skipped into one empty eye-socket, then out the other, and the light it gave reflected off of something inside the skull. Tian Yue blinked.
A... another flower...?
It took all of his strength to force the ancient jaws open, but there was indeed a flower in there, dangling down into the cavity that might have held Tien Lung's brain, in life. That realization gave him another shiver of revulsion, and an abrupt urge to claw his way out of his own skin, I'm stuck in a body made of meat, argh, argh-
Foolish dragon.
He shook himself, all over, feeling as though he needed someone, like how Universe had needed Tien Lung - a touchstone, an anchor to reality and time. Keep me focused on the here and now. But there was no one here. Just his own corpse, and nameless insects, and these damned, <******** damned flowers. The one trapped in the skull was almost as large as the one that had held Tien Lung's memories of Universe.
Why am I so afraid?
I am not who I used to be.
Why does that matter?
... I don't know. But I have forgotten things I should remember, not known things I should have, and I am whining when the answer to all of that is right in front of me.
Why am I so afraid?
Memory is unkind.
My head hurts.
Tian Yue sighed forward and gazed into the empty sockets of the massive skull. Help me to be as you were. Shaiming. Tien Lung.
Myself.
He reached out, and punctured the shining flower with one sleek movement.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:39 pm
Breathing Ancient Air XII: Bones of the Worldshield
His mana was failing, bleeding away from his shields and not renewed. The stars were going out. Had gone out. Thousands had flung themselves at his scales and been rebuffed, and yet it seemed mere apathy would crack them at last, succeed in the momentous task that a hundred armies had given their last breaths in vain to accomplish.
Apathy. So... ignominious.
His breath rattled in his throat, a harsh and clacking thing. He gathered enough of it to speak, enough strength to tilt his head up to the Throne. "My Emperor, my Lord, Pearl that Fashioned All-" He had to stop to wheeze, like an old man. "I... I fear..."
How many times had he seen that ocean-deep sadness in the Crown's eyes in the past years? He had never really believed that one day that look, that echo of boundless grief, would be for him. "Tiresome must be the lengthy preamble, except that selfish love I bear for your voice. You've earned closer Name, not titles. You need not speak-"
The dragon shook his head, slowly. "I will not leave you without giving my due... my scales, they are failing, but I will not suffer any to draw near the Throne without Your leave..." He swayed, feared he would fall; felt the quick soft touch and a thread of mana from his Lord's hands to steady him. Not enough to sustain, but enough to hold for just a few moments more. "The... the Gates, I had thought, but I am but one, and my bones... will block only one entrance-way." Perhaps my brothers will fail at the others, and we three will be doors and lock. The thought was absurd, morbid, made him shudder again.
"Beyond the bounds of mortal, Immortal alike, is peace. Fear it not, nor for me. Rest in last arms, find the strength you need in the Quiet. Duties end and autumn turns to silent winter....it is the way of things. "
"I am sorry," he whispered. "I could not do more."
"The fault is not yours." An old reassurance, one the dragon could almost believe if only by dint of repetition, but only almost.
"If I must fall, I shall lay my coils around this place; my bones shall serve as barrier when scales cannot." He took one slow, shuffling step backwards, though it hurt him heart and body to do so. He did not want to die alone-
-yet, such did I leave my Stars to suffer. I myself deserve no less. "I will cover the Gate, and they shall find themselves pressed to enter there. Lord." The word was a silent plea for approval. He was dizzy.
"The monument chosen directly cannot be gainsaid. Kingly and fair thought, Guardian, this charnal gift."
"I have not the strength to bow," the dragon whispered.
"You need not do so," came the reply, immediately.
"Farewell, my Lord, my Emperor. It has been... an honor to serve You in all things." He smiled, for the last time.
And then was only a the slow stumble and slide, nearly falling down the stairs, tripping over the cracking roots of Yggdrasil and drawing frightened and pitying looks from the remaining deities and Aoidei that they passed. His own Aoidei drew around him, fluttering like frightened birds, lost and echoing with dread. I am sorry, he wanted to say, but breath was just enough to sustain movement, and nothing more.
At last, after an eternity and more, the Gate met his swimming vision, and he edged through it, his scales rattling like rusty armor. He lay down with a sigh, stretching out his full length, nose to tip, thickest part of his long body covering the opening. The Aoidei swarmed around and over him, making incoherent noises; words, he was sure, of mourning, desperate and fruitless hope, encouragement perhaps. He could not make sense of then anymore.
Farewell-
One more breath. Just one.
Was there an afterlife for gods? Gods for gods? The thought was foolish. If there is, I pray... my Stars, you will wait for me there. Be there.
Just one.
And then there was darkness, shrinking, sharp, and that last breath rattled out of his lungs and was not replaced.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:39 pm
Breathing Ancient Air XIII: In That Faraway Place
I... we... died...
But...
He awoke not into the curved walls of the gem, nor pouring his mana into the body and soul of his host, but in an echoing and mist-filled place, cool and soft, nothing like the oppressive environment of the swamp. It took him a moment to recognize it. This is... Crispin's dreamscape. He had dreamed about it often as a child; he had intruded into it, finding it a convenient entryway into the boy's psyche; the twinned recollections made him shake his head, hard.
Why am I here?
"Hmmm." The sound was thoughtful, accompanied by the sliding of scales. Tian Yue whirled, his own tail whipping behind him, and it's like looking into a mirror. He stared at the other dragon. Same whiskers, same fan-tipped tail, almost the same playful smile, but not quite-
"Sh-sh.... Shaiming?! But how can you possibly be... here...?!" He darted forward, trembling, to circle around his other self, never daring to touch.
Shaiming laughed. "We are part of each other. I never left. I was merely... silent, subsumed by your Being. As it should be. But now... the balance has been set askew." The other dragon paused, his nose wrinkling in thought. "The Ancient Days are drowning you. Us. What has happened?" He jumped forward and stepped on Tian Yue's tail, stopping him. Tian Yue yelped, then curled inward, matching Shaiming scale for scale.
"I missed you," he said, quietly.
"Now, that is foolish," came the affectionate reply. "I just told you, I never left. We are one and the same, and were it not for this strange flood I feel in Us, I would have to talk to you as I always have - as part of you. Only mortals insist in such strict delineation between Selves. We need not concern ourselves with who is who until it becomes vital... as it has, now." Shaiming frowned. "I never meant for these things to be hidden from you. I underestimated the difficulty."
"Difficulty?" Tian Yue tilted his head to one side.
"In forging my divinity and Self fully into a new soul. I see how it is, now. So shameful and impossible a thing for me to ask, for you to become me." Shaiming reached out and nuzzled him. "I see now. I must become you. What is Shaiming is too cracked and old to be filled again. That way is folly. The old plant serves to sprout the new; the new does not fill the shattered roots and trunk of the old. It is my folly, my error. I am sorry. It has caused you pain."
And there was that guilt again. Tian Yue reached out and nipped at one of Shaiming's ears, tugging on it firmly. "Stop that. That guilt, always that guilt. You, my beloved predecessor, are a worrywart."
Shaiming stilled, then sighed. "Perhaps." He shook his ear free, then leaned in and touched his nose to Tian Yue's, sharing- guilt, failure, desire to save the world, to be free of pain, to protect all- and leaned back, broke the contact. "You understand?"
"Of course I understand - I've felt it too, but... we cannot let it cripple us. Not now. Now we need power more than ever before. You know why." It was Tian Yue's turn to lean forward and touch, the Chrysalis, the ancient Aoide, the fate-stones, Gehenna, Grigori, all of it, "We have hope - we can succeed - but I am still afraid. I dare not fail, or... I will have been an extremely bad successor." He shook his head, wryly.
"These things I have seen," Shaiming replied, though his ears tipped back. "It should not be, as you know. But together... yes, together, you and I, we will have power. Too long have I failed to understand. I will refrain from feeling too guilty about it," he added, with a faint smile. "These memories, the scales, the stars, the dance, the... the end. You know these things. They are the core of Tien Lung."
"And our brothers, our sister, the Crown," Tian Yue added, with a thump of his tail. "They as well."
"Of course. We must dance together." Shaiming stood, and stretched himself, then looked up. Tian Yue followed his gaze. There were stars, there, winking into existence even as he watched. "Dance, and learn, and become. I thought I could give you things, stuff you with memories and my Self and be done with it. I was a fool. Forgive me..."
Tian Yue stomped one forefoot. "Of course I forgive you. So long as you - I - we - fix it. Now?" he demanded, twining over to his other self.
"Yes. We can fix it now." Shaiming's words had an iron core. "To me, Celestial Phoenix. Let us FLY!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:40 pm
Breathing Ancient Air XIV: One
The twin dragons leapt into the sky as one, stars bursting into being around them as they climbed upwards, arrow-straight. Shaiming roared; Tian Yue echoed him, and the sound tore a hole in the sky. They dove through it together into another place, a place blazing with sound and light, dancing with power and memory.
"Dance with me," Tian Yue demanded, curling to catch Shaiming's tail with his own.
"Tell me what it is to be Tian Yue," the other dragon shot back, darting away. "I have filled you with Shaiming. Now it is your turn!"
"Take it," Tian Yue hissed, and dove, catching some of Shaiming's mane in his teeth. "Take it!"
They met in a hiss of scales that threw off sparks; the sparks became stars, hanging there, and their scales wove into each other, overlapped and stuck. I am Tien Lung Tian Yue. I am friendly, kind, honorable, and I want to help other people too much for my own good; I love Universe and the human girl, Morgan - coffee, and tea, that's your fault, fantasy novels and ancient histories, I can read ancient languages which is also your fault, and I enjoy roleplaying, which is probably thoroughly ridiculous for a god- he shoved it all at Shaiming with a snap of his jaws, and their tails thrashed and curled around each other. This, and this, and this - this is what I am. What you have made me to be.
And this is what I want to become...
Images, flickering, Worldshield, Starscale Consort, a noble Dragon King, Protector, Savior.
This is what I want to be.
This is what I am...
Shaiming nodded his assent.
Their tails would not come apart. Comet-trails danced behind them as they tumbled.
I understand, and the depth of that understanding was more powerful than any Universe had ever offered Tien Lung, and it made Tian Yue reel. Not Lucius, not Morgan, not any of his siblings, not even Lord Harmodius, no one had ever known him, not like that. I understand.
This is what I, also, want to be.
A black hole swallowed them up and spit them out again into a nest of auroras, of nebula-dust filtering sweet and fine along their shared, fused scales. A sigh.
We are together, himselfShaiming said, with a dragon's purr that made their sides vibrate. Memory, thought, power, Being, Self. One. Tien Lung, you and I. I and myself. We.
One.
himselfTian Yue roared in delight, pulled out of the dive, broke a moon to pieces with a lash of his tail. He understood, they had not been wrong, never been wrong. The choice had not been in error.
Save the world. Make it whole again. Restore the Crown. Together. I and myself. We.
One.
Eight legs became four; four eyes became two; two tails became one.
I am sorry.
You said no guilt.
I know, but that doesn't mean I can't be apologetic.
I won't miss you, you know.
I know. There would be no point to it.
Why would I miss the other half of my soul when it's here, with me?
We are all allowed our follies.
Let's leave that one alone, cast it away. Forever.
Agreed.
And now... let us go forth and be Tien Lung, be Worldshield, recapture Starscale, and bring the world back to the way it should be.
You and I.
I and myself.
One.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:41 pm
Breathing Ancient Air XV: Awakening
He awoke with a roar, a thrash of sudden pain - there was too much, too much inside him; it was pressing on the inside of his skin, his scales. Far too much to be contained by his body.
He was tearing apart-
No.
It would not be allowed. He did not have to allow it. He could change.
With a hiss of pain, his tail lashed outward, lengthening as it moved, knocking trees aside as if they were matchsticks. His claws broke apart the rock he had been standing on, and he forced his scales outwards, made them increase and flow over him like water, like starlight. Power crackled through him, and he pushed for the sheer joy of it, feeling his shield leap outward with its own delighted cry and expand far beyond anything it had ever gone before; excited, he opened himself up and for a single giddy moment felt All of Creation balanced perfectly within his scales.
And then he let it fall, let himself fall, thundering into the swamp with a noise like nothing that had been heard there since the City itself had crumbled into that place. They all seemed so small, now, the trees pitiful shrubs, the bones of his past no longer massive but correct, equal to his living bones.
Tien Lung, Tian Yue.
This is who I am. Who I want to be.
Only the Caryatid retained their grace, and he reared and tore at the vines that covered them, swarming over the statues and biting away the greenery that dared hide their forms. Origin, Gehenna. Both loved. Oh, Gehenna, but I will not allow you to take All. It is not yours to have Alone. You must not be Alone.
I will not allow it.
The flowers puffed around him as he moved, and he inhaled the stars, the Council, a hundred thousand wars and dances at Court, smiling. At last, the Caryatid were bare again, towering even over what he had become, gleaming in the night. He curled before them, and bowed his head.
"I honor you, Twin Crown. And I return, Worldshield. My name is Tian Yue. Thy name is Zhōng Xīn."
And with the sound of the Name, he vanished through the Gate.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:42 pm
Suitable Vessels
Tian Yue emerged into the Ancient Pantheon to a city as changed as he was. He let out a startled sound at what he saw - the fate-stones he and Zhijian had so recently read were now crumbled to dust, collapsed in upon themselves, their prophecies now utterly lost. The city was more damaged now, as if some great hand had shaken the whole place, accelerating what had until now seemed a rather slow process of entropy. He shook his head as he soared over the ancient city, astonished and disturbed. What had happened?
For that matter, how long had he been gone, trapped in old, old memories? While the memories themselves had seemed to take forever, he had thought it more like a dream - eternal while you're in it, but short in the waking world. It had seemed that way when he emerged... but...
The ancient throne hall still lay at the foot of Yggdrasil, and the Tree itself still stood, though the area around had been damaged further by the fall of massive dead branches from above. Tian Yue landed quickly and coiled into the building, struck again by memory - this time, far more filled out, and his ascension had nicely fixed the odd size disparity between memory and reality.
But that's not important now - I've spent enough time in memory as it is! I have to get back-
Suddenly, a thought from outside intruded into his mind. Lord! It was followed by a whinnying cry; Tian Yue turned his head to see Gringolet struggling up the stairs behind him. You're... The stallion stopped. ... so big!
Tian Yue snorted, amused. "Yes, it seems so," he said, dipping his great head to sniff at the erras. "Are you well, my..." His eyes narrowed. There was something different about the stallion, or...
Hah! "You, my equine friend, have been hiding something from me," the Dragon King continued, dropping his jaw in a draconic grin. How on earth had he missed that before? "You're not merely an erras. You're... one of mine. A Star."
Gringolet pranced to one side, his ears up. Ah, my cover is blown! You have grown in discernment as well as size, my Lord! He stopped, then, and knelt as best he could. No deception was meant, Lord. It was simply not the time.
"I understand..." Tian Yue gave Gringolet a suspicious sniff. "You seem thin. How long was I gone?"
The stallion's ears flicked back. Some two months, Lord. I fed myself on the gardens that still lived.
Tian Yue snorted in astonishment, and nearly bowled the erras over as a result. "Two months?! We must get home, we- damn..." He turned and glared resentfully at his own coils. He'd been too big for the erras before; now he could easily injure Gringolet just by being a little careless. "Let me shift forms."
He winced a bit as he mentally 'found' his human shape. This is not going to be fun, he thought, and it wasn't. The human shape was simply not enough for what he had become, and as he found himself on two legs again Tian Yue fell forward, unable to stand, a red mist rising in his vision. Too small, impossible to hold what he was-
-had to change-
Tian Yue screamed and curled inward into a fetal position as pain washed over him, his divine power forcibly changing his body into something that could contain Tien Lung. His skin stretched and his bones cracked as he became taller still, his tail lashing wildly at the flagstones as it, too, became longer and more filled out. As his bones shifted, he felt something crawling under his skin atop both shoulders. He shrieked again as small bumps stretched out into long, pointed protrusions that slid out of his shoulders like knives, and stars, my dragon-self has horns he knew what had to be coming next.
The bumps began at his temples, the ache rapidly sharpening into a splitting pain that was greater than any he had yet felt, two sets of horns arching out of his skull, bringing a wave of blood coursing down both sides of his face. He couldn't think, couldn't do anything but scream-
- and then, with a final shudder, it was over. Trembling, Tian Yue managed to sit up, staring blankly ahead as a quick, itchy tingle ran over his bloodstained scalp and face, his hair pushing out, growing several feet in an instant, soft blue overtaking and consuming his previous auburn shade. His eyes itched and misted again as they too changed color, and his vision sharpened to perfect clarity. There was one last stab of pain as delicate filaments unfolded themselves from the tip of his tail, itching as they grew outwards and melded together into a soft fan... and then, nothing more.
It was over.
Tian Yue made a little keening sound and fainted, vaguely aware of Gringolet standing over him just before he lost consciousness.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:44 pm
Reflections
...hurts...
Tian Yue moaned as awareness came flowing back. He ached horribly, everywhere, bone-deep... and what was he lying on? Stone... oh, yes... I've... changed. Grown. Ascended... His head was pounding. He opened his eyes slowly and, with effort, managed to get upright. Sitting, at any rate.
Something shifted near him. Lord, are you well?
Who... Gringolet, that's right... He'd shifted so he could ride the erras home, and the transformation that had been painful enough in dragon shape had been agony in human form. There was dried blood caked into his hair and down his cheeks from the horns, and the... shoulder-spikes... had done similar damage. "I... feel terrible," he groaned, putting one hand up to his temples, surprised when his claws ticked against the horns in passing.
I wish I had hands to offer you succor, Lord, Gringolet sent, whuffling in concern. Can you stand?
"Help me..." Tian Yue reached up one hand, wincing; Gringolet trotted over to him, allowed the Dragon King to grab onto him to get himself upright. Once Tian Yue was on his feet, the world spun for a moment, but he grimly hung on to Gringolet's neck until the moment passed, then took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I'm... I'm fine. Thank you."
It is my honor to witness your ascension, the erras replied, nosing him gently. Your clothing is here, though I do not know if it will fit you.
"Mmm... that different..." Tian Yue winced and took a step away from the erras; it was a bit dizzying, but the fog of pain was beginning to fade. He paused and reached up to his head again, feeling along the lines of the twin horns, then down to his shoulders. The skin at the base of the new bone-spurs was painful, and the color of the spurs largely hidden by dried blood. Strange. He could see clearly without glasses in this shape now, too... and what was this on his face? A beard? He could feel long hair on his back. "Got a mirror?"
There is some broken crystal here that might suffice, Lord. Gringolet trotted to the side of the Throne; a large crystal orb, probably once used as decoration, had been split by the fall of a massive branch. Tian Yue followed the erras and brushed the dust off of the crystal's surface, then peered at his new self.
He didn't recognize himself for a moment, but then he laughed. He now looked truly like a Dragon King, not like a human playing at dragons - he could see the echoes of his draconic self in his human form now, quite clearly, much more than just the tail and claws and a smattering of scale here and there. His hair (what he could see of it under the blood, anyway) was the color of his mane, his horns mirroring the dragon-shape, with a goatee and whiskers to match those he had in dragonform - though, thankfully, the whiskers weren't anywhere near as extravagant as those of the dragon-shape. That would have been somewhat inconvenient, not to mention tangled. His body had changed beyond just the 'accessories', too, becoming taller and lanky, wired with muscle. "I look like... me," he said, bemused.
You are the very mirror of Tien Lung, Gringolet replied, prancing contentedly to one side. Are you well enough to return now?
"I think so... Toki won't like me coming back all bloody like this," Tian Yue said, with a sigh. "He'll panic." He bent to retrieve his clothing, shrugging the robe over himself, but it snagged on the shoulder-spurs. Frowning, he settled for tying it around his waist like a skirt. It would have to do.
I think his joy at your ascension and return will eclipse his worry, Lord. Gringolet turned and stood, waiting for him to mount.
"I certainly hope so. Two months! He must be thoroughly freaked out." Tian Yue gingerly moved to mount the erras, his movements still not perfectly sure, still not used to his new body. "Okay. Let's go... and please, dodge all the time-fluxes, I don't want to get home and find everything's already come to an end."
Gringolet snorted. Of course, Lord. Let us go! The erras stomped one hoof, then leaped forward into the space between worlds.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:06 pm
M e a n w h i l e . . . .
week of hell
The days since Tian Yue's departure stretched on, punctuated by trumpets and rolling influences shifting and changing. The mortals gathered in his home huddled and bore it - they had managed the deprivations of the earlier Weeks on their own out in the world. Here, at least, the roof wasn't going to cave in on them, and Toki did bring meager meals from the outside (for he refused to go downstairs) whenever he could. It was enough, just barely.
And then the trumpet failed to sound when expected. Xing Yun made a foray downstairs to investigate, and reported that the dread Chrysalis was now trapped in shining metal - and, furthermore, she had a hastily-scribbled note copied from the new noticeboard. A note telling of Tian Yue and Zhijian's discoveries. Of hope.
They took note, prayed, and waited.
And waited.
("Is he well?" Penny asked, for the tenth time that day.
"I am sure he is, my Lady - I would know it, I am certain, if he had... gone," Toki said, with a shudder.)
And then came one night, several weeks after the Trumpet had failed to sound, when Penny dreamed...
There were ruins everywhere. The stars were breaking, raining dust down like tears; she cupped her hands to catch it and vainly tried to glue them back together. She laid the pieces out on the dried, dead grass as if it were a puzzle, the whole sky, and tiptoed about, trying to find the corners. The edges. Anything.
When she turned around, there was a skinny cat - no, not a cat. A creature with a cat's body and a crow's head, sitting down on some of her pieces, looking at her with unreadable black eyes.
"Could you please move?" she told it, folding her arms over her chest and frowning at it. "You're sitting on the important bits."
The creature opened its beak. "The gods have returned. Rejoice and be saved," it said, the voice a distant and powerful thing, an echo that carried something that brought an answer in her heart similar to what Tian Yue did.
Penny held one hand out to it, hesitantly. "I know... what should I do? What can I do?"
It blinked at her, then stood, turned tail, and vanished. Penny sighed, frustrated, then looked down.
The creature had been sitting on a corner piece.
She woke everyone else up, shaking them in her eagerness - her movements slowed compared to before the tragedies had struck, but more lively than she'd been in ages. "Get up! Wake up! Did you hear? Did you... dream?"
Jax made a face at her. "Go back to sleep. I was dreamin', but you ruined it."
"Was there a cat-thing?" she asked him, urgently.
He blinked. "Now... that you mention it..."
"The gods have returned," said another voice - Evin, as he peered over at them from where he'd fallen asleep at Shartha's side.
"Rejoice and be saved!" Penny finished, practically bouncing up and down with delight. "Yes! That, exactly that!"
"Me too," said one of the refugees from the Cosmodrome, bemused. "And I," another one chimed in, until everyone in the room had said their piece. All had seen a cat-like creature in their dreams, and all the creatures had said the same thing.
"Rejoice and be saved..." Penny sat down on the now-empty couch and frowned. "It has to mean something. It has to be a message from the gods."
"Did you hear~?" Toki shouted as he burst into the room, flailing his arms. He stopped, then drooped as everyone turned to stare at him. "Um."
"Rejoice and be saved," Xing Yun said with a yawn, her hooves sounding on the floor as she got to her feet from where she'd been sleeping against the front door. "Yes, Toki, we're all well informed."
"That was definitely, no question about it, surely a message," the Aoide said enthusiastically, nodding so hard that his bunny ears flopped askew. "We must act on it! The time is now!"
"But Tian Yue isn't back," Jax replied, skeptically.
"It doesn't matter," Penny chimed in, jumping to her feet again. She'd picked up Xing Yun's notes on the fate-stones from downstairs. "We can do some things without him, too. Look... gathering belief. Belief is important. Tian Yue told us that! We can believe on our own, can't we? I can!" She gave the room a stubborn look. "We can believe, and we can tell others... and if like this says, other gods are gathering people to believe, we can talk to them too!" She waved the note. "Come on!"
The rest of the room exchanged glances. Shartha shifted to one side, unable to quite stand up what with the entire population of Tian Yue's chambers crammed into the single room. "This is true. If this dream has touched us all, then there will be others looking for answers and meaning. We could bring it to them."
"Yes," Penny said, nodding. "Of course. What about your people, Shartha?"
The dragon shook her head. "I got here through a rift opened for me that is now closed, and I have no power to open it. And no desire to see them saved." A flash of bitterness colored her gaze for a moment, and Penny rapidly decided not to go there - deep water, hatred beyond her understanding or right to know. "But if there are others... perhaps. I can search for draconic beings of this plane."
"And we can take care of the humans - Xing Yun, could you talk to Lao Shu? Even rat minds probably count!"
The Aoide raised one eyebrow, then bowed. "Of course. If there's one species that's managed better than any other in these times, it's rats."
"Okay! Good! We have a plan!" Penny proclaimed, then sat down with a thump.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:07 pm
The Dragon's Brother - Penny & ZhijianSosiqui The trumpet had sounded again, startling all who heard it, and the small group of mortals in Tian Yue's chambers had spent a long night awake after the blast, whispering quietly among themselves and casting worried glances out the window. But nothing had happened... nothing visible, at any rate. Indeed, everything seemed peaceful, calm, quiet. But it's always calm before a storm, isn't it?Penny didn't trust it at all. Even though the gods were doing more, and they'd all seen more activity around the Pantheon lately, the fact that a trumpet had sounded meant that whatever binding the gods had put on the End was beginning to fail. Sure, there was a plan written out, one that her Lord and his brother-Dragon had found, but there were a bunch of details missing, and Tian Yue wasn't back... "I'm going to go find the Fangbridle," she announced to Xing Yun one morning, when Toki wasn't around; the more paranoid Aoide would likely disapprove, and wring his hands, and in general make a fuss that Penny wanted to avoid. "Can you help me?" The horned Aoide frowned, slightly. "Are you certain?" "Yes." Penny nodded, firmly. "I want to find out exactly what the stones said, so people will know." She bit her lip. "I'm scared, and I can't just sit in here and be scared. I have to do something." "I understand," Xing Yun replied, with a half-bow. "I haven't met Ying Long myself, but I do know where his rooms are. I will accompany you, if you wish." "Please do," Penny said, gratefully. Xing Yun helped her prepare, and the two of them snuck out of Tian Yue's chambers unnoticed - no mean feat, considering how many people were there. The Aoide led her directly to the correct door, then glanced at her. Are you sure? her gaze said. Penny nodded, then stepped forward and knocked on the door. Meepfur As it happened, Zhijian wasn't in his rooms - he was hopping up the stairs on his three good limbs. Once at the top, he was surprised to see two strangers at his door. He tilted his head, curious, and rumbled, "You don't really want to go in there, unless you want to listen to Ashoka fuss."
Stupid pard. Stupid eggs. Stupid Fragment! Sosiqui Penny jumped at the sudden voice from behind her; keyed up as she was, Zhijian's unexpected presence had well and truly startled her, and she made a rather undignified squeaky sound. Xing Yun, on the other hand, kept her composure and offered Zhijian a sweeping formal bow. "Your servant, Fangbridle - I am Xing Yun, in the service of Tien Lung Tian Yue." Penny blinked in surprise. This great-cat was a Dragon King? She dropped into a bow as well, though hers was rather awkward since she'd been knocked off-balance by Zhijian's sudden arrival. "Greetings, Lord - I am Penny, a mortal in Tien Lung's service." "We came seeking your counsel regarding the prophecy of the fate-stone," Xing Yun continued, "as our Lord is yet absent. May we speak with you?" Penny nodded, unable to be quite as eloquent as the poised Aoide and not wanting to make herself seem any more foolish than she already had. Meepfur "Of course," he purred, pleased by the reverence, and especially that they were Tian Yue's. "We could go downstairs, or we could brave Ashoka - her eggs should be hatching soon, and she's being ridiculous. She never stops talking to them."The door opened just enough for a blue eye to peek out, and Ashoka declared, "Heard that, Zhiji!" and then the door clicked shut again. Sosiqui Penny blinked again at the sudden appearance of... who knows what... at the door. Whatever that was had taken over the Dragon King's chambers, and he... didn't care...? How odd. Penny bowed again to hide her confusion. "Wherever is easiest for you, Lord; I would invite you back to Tian Yue's chambers, but they are rather crowded at the moment." Xing Yun nodded. "I am here merely to accompany Penny, Lord Fangbridle. I will go as you both will." "Downstairs is kind of crowded too," Penny added, frowning slightly. "Perhaps we could settle here? I don't want to aggravate your injury, Lord," she added, with a concerned look at the great-cat's obviously injured ankle. Meepfur "Here?" Zhijian scratched his chin, ignoring the reference to his injury. He glanced up and down the hall, before deciding that hallways really weren't the best places for conversation, and he shrugged. "My rooms will be fine. Ashoka is annoying, but harmless.""Heard that too." The door popped open again, and this time Ashoka opened it enough for everyone to come inside before scuttling back to her pillowfort of a nest in the corner. Sosiqui Bemused by this 'Ashoka', Penny followed Zhijian into his chambers, glancing over at the catgirl and her pillow fort with a perplexed look on her face. Xing Yun followed, closing the door behind them. "Thank you for being willing to speak with me," Penny said, focusing again on the Dragon King. "I would have asked Lord Tian Yue this, had he been here, but..." A pensive expression came over her for a moment. "At any rate... it seems everyone is truly prepared to move forward toward salvation from that prophecy you, Lord, and my own Lord witnessed. But the information on the crucial ritual is somewhat... vague? I was hoping you might be able to clarify." At the end of that speech, Penny offered the Fangbridle another half-bow. Meepfur Once inside, Zhijian settled on his own bed of furs. "I would offer you a place to sit," he said dryly, "But as you can see, the couch is currently missing its cushions."Ashoka ignored the dragon's accusatory tone, beaming at the visitors before curling around her two large eggs to murmur and coo at them."The ritual?" Zhijian's tail twitched. "Well...everyone was there, and there were lotuses. Li Shing was standing guard. Music was singing, and had a small group with her, with shells I think. To be honest, most of what everyone was doing was...rather vague. Using their relevant powers, whatever they are." Sosiqui "Oh, no, as long as you're comfortable - we're fine, this is so much better than the world outside," Penny said, quickly, moving to sit cross-legged on the floor before the Dragon King. She listened attentively to his words, her forehead creased slightly with thought. When he was finished, she glanced over at Xing Yun; the Aoide had paper and pencil with her, and had noted down Zhijian's words. "Even a little clarity is helpful, Lord; thank you," Penny said, politely. She hesitated a moment longer, then bit her lip. "Er... Lord, do you... by any chance happen to know what... where Tian Yue might... might be?" She stumbled over the words, then bit her lip again in frustration. "We're worried," she mumbled, looking down at her hands. Meepfur "He stayed behind at the Old City...beyond that, I know nothing." Zhijian looked troubled for a moment, then looked expectantly back at the preoccupied pard."Purple dragon is fine," Ashoka said distractedly, "Don't worry!" Sosiqui Penny blinked, then turned her head back to glance at the odd creature who had stolen the Dragon King's couch cushions. "She... would know?" she asked Zhijian, perplexed. "Thank you for your reassurance," Xing Yun added, seemingly unfazed by Ashoka's odd behavior. Meepfur "She's a Prophet," he explained nonchalantly. It also explained rather well why she was strange, and why the dragon seemed so willing to put up with her. "If something had happened to him, she'd probably know."Ashoka nodded decisively, looking pleased with herself. Sosiqui "Ah... I see." Penny relaxed a little; if the Fangbridle trusted the odd creature who had taken his couch hostage, she had no reason to doubt him. "I figured... we'd probably know if something... well." She squirmed away from the uncomfortable thought. "Lord, do you have... any advice for us? We are trying to gather belief as much as we can, myself and my friends. We are mortals, and we have no special powers at our command, but we can at least talk to others... but is there anything else we should do, according to the stones?" Meepfur With Ashoka's reassurance, any worry Zhijian might have had for his brother faded. More than anything, he was just impatient for his return. Not only did they need him, he missed him - Tian Yue was by far the most cuddle-friendly of his brothers.
"Not that I recall," he said after a moment of thought. "The best you can do for now is what you're doing already." Sosiqui Penny nodded. "That's good... I was a little worried that we were being too... forward, I guess? That we should have waited for some god to tell us what to do? But if you say so, then..." She grinned. "Any god who would demand permission before embarking on the work that will save us all is not worth following," Xing Yun said, firmly, surprising Penny with her vehemence. "Now is not the time for such petty concerns." Meepfur Zhijian snorted upon hearing Penny's worries. He agreed with Xing Yun. "We like devotion, not mindlessness. Having to tell everyone what to do all the time gets very old." Sosiqui Penny nodded again. "That certainly makes sense. Thank you for your reassurance, Lord." She bowed her head for a moment, then looked up again. "Is there any way we can repay you for your time?" She felt a bit bad; she hadn't really made this worth the Dragon King's time at all. Still, he'd been kind, as Tian Yue had said. Meepfur "I...don't think so, no," Zhijian said after a moment of thought. They hadn't taken much of his time at all, and the questions hadn't been anything difficult or annoying. Just questions, and from his brother's followers. He didn't mind. Sosiqui Penny bowed again. "Thank you, Lord. I'll be sure to send word when Tian Yue comes back." She looked pensive for a moment, then glanced over at Ashoka as if to remind herself of the odd prophet's words. Xing Yun bowed as well, and got to her feet. "Thank you, Lord Ying Long." Meepfur "Bye~!" Ashoka looked up and waved, beaming cheerfully at Penny before going back to fussing over her eggs. Somehow, it just never seemed to get old for her.Zhijian merely nodded, allowing the two to let themselves out.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:08 pm
Creatures of Dream - Penny & ReveiSosiqui Penny crept quietly up the stairs, frowning slightly. There was so much to do, and while it was good to see people cooperating... could they really all do it in time? She was just a mortal, and while she'd do everything in her power, she was not capable of the feats she felt were necessary to ensure their success. If only Tian Yue were- The thought was interrupted as a cat stalked past in the hallway above, and Penny paused. A cat? No... it wasn't a cat... Penny gasped audibly as she realized what it was. A cat-crow, like from her dream! She scrambled up the stairs the rest of the way, very ungracefully, and followed the creature eagerly down the hall. "Hey, hey... where'd you come from?" she called to it, unwilling to approach it too closely - it had a wicked beak - but the cat-crow ignored her, its tail held straight up and curled like a question mark. It ambled up to a door and walked directly through it as if it weren't even there. Penny stopped, disappointed, then gave the door a thoughtful look. The dwelling of a god... maybe the one who had sent out the dream-message using the cat-crows? Perhaps he or she could help her. She took a deep breath and, as she had for Zhijian, steeled herself before knocking on the door. Nothing ventured... Prolixity The quiet stretched on for nearly a minute; then the door swung silently open, and a pale, solemn Aiode peered at the girl. "Yes?" he asked, and gave her a look that expected explanation. Sosiqui "Oh, uh... good afternoon," Penny said, offering the Aoide a half-bow (for that had to be what he was; she'd gotten quite good at distinguishing Aoide from god). "I'm sorry to bother you - my name is Penny, and I follow Tien Lung Tian Yue... do you have an animal like a cat and a crow put together living here? I dreamed about one - so did everyone else I know - and I wondered if you knew who they belonged to?" She couldn't see the cat-crow anywhere beyond the Aoide, though she didn't look too hard so as not to appear rude, or like she was trying to slip past him. Prolixity Opal's coolly formal expression thawed somewhat. "The koratti, yes. They belong to my Lord Revei. You serve Tian Yue, hm?" One of the koratti - possibly the one Penny had followed, though it was impossible to tell - appeared at Opal's feet, sensing itself talked about, and sat down to stare up at Penny. Sosiqui "Ah!" Penny felt the urge to crouch down and hold her hand out to the cat-crow, though she did not - while it was tempting, it might be construed as disrespectful. "Lord... Revei," she said, carefully, feeling out the name. "Did your Lord send them? I heard them in my dreams." Penny smiled. "I, um... there are a bunch of us, mortals, and gods too, trying to save things. There's a prophecy, and we've a plan... but we need to spread the word. We're going to try to use mortal belief in Creation to awaken him." Penny had never seen Creation, but there had been loving renders in some of the books she'd read in the library - a beautiful, alabaster-skinned god with exquisite wings. "If your Lord could assist, I would be most grateful, though I don't know what I have to offer at this time... other than my own faith." A meager thing, she'd thought once, but now... it could be valuable coin. And she was more than willing to offer some of her heart to the god who'd sent the cat-crows to give them hope. Prolixity "They are his messengers." Opal inclined his head, studying Penny. "That is not such a small thing to offer," he said finally. "I believe he would listen to you. Enter," he told her, and opened the door wider so that she could come in. The korat got to its feet and trotted back into the room, its tail rising into a neat question mark over its back. It crossed the ornate rugs to the raised platform at the back of the room. A figure sat wrapped in blankets there, seated in the round moon window, pale-skinned, winged, strangely still. His eyes were closed. The korat hopped into his lap with the air of a pet that knows its welcome; he lifted one bandaged hand and laid his wrist over the creature's back. Opal stopped at the edge of the raised area and spoke. "A follower of Tian Yue's has come to see you, my lord." Revei turned his head towards them, not opening his eyes. "What is it?" he asked, sounding distant and tired. Sosiqui Penny hesitantly followed the Aoide and the cat-crow, then paused as she saw the god. The cat-crow jumped up on him and settled like any normal feline might, and then she was being introduced. Penny knelt as Lord Revei turned towards here, even though he didn't open his eyes. "My name is Penny, a mortal follower of Tien Lung Tian Yue," she said, quietly. "Thank you for permitting me to speak with you, Lord. And thank you for sending your... koratti?" She stumbled over the unfamiliar words. "The cat-crows, to speak in our dreams." Prolixity Revei tilted his head slightly to the side. He smiled a little. "Penny," he said, tasting the name. "So polite. They like you," he mused. "They say you feel like long wide cold places. Is that how it is?" Sosiqui Penny blinked, the cuteness of 'they like you' rather eclipsed by the rest of the god's words. "Long... cold spaces? I used to crew on a spacecraft, before everything... got messed up, Lord." She gave the cat-crow a quick, odd look. "Maybe they can tell? They were in my dreams..." One of her reoccurring nightmares nibbled at the side of her mind, and she winced slightly. A long cold space could also be the undulating length of the vacuum-vented boarding tunnel that her lover Martin had died in- but no, no, if she didn't concentrate on what she was doing, a lot more people could die. There were worse ways to go. Much worse. "Lord, have you heard the prophecy? The Dragon Kings, my Lord and his brother, brought back news that the world may be saved if only we can follow it." Prolixity "They are always in your dreams. Yes." Revei's eyes opened slowly. They remained unfocused for a few long seconds, and then, suddenly, he was looking directly at her. "Before ... yes. Before the egg, the cocoon. Before the shell. I have heard it." A shudder rippled through his wings, and he cradled his hands against his chest unconsciously. "I sought answers. Have you answers, Penny? Unfound pieces of a puzzle?" Sosiqui Penny drew breath sharply at the sudden intensity of the god's gaze - he was so different from Tian Yue, more like a god as she had been raised to believe in... but also unlike. He seemed wounded somehow, his movements quick and erratic like a scared bird. Not that she'd say that aloud, of course. "I don't have answers, Lord, but I have read the ones that others have brought back," she said, wishing she'd thought to write down the details before coming here, but it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. She smiled, though; her dream, he must have seen it. That must be his domain, Dream, or something close to it. "We are to focus mortal belief in Creation. The prophecy says that it will work if it can only be done properly... Lord Revei, perhaps it is presumptuous for me to ask, but your cat-crows... koratti... could they be brought to speak in our dreams again?" She bowed low, a traditional obeisance, pressing her forehead to the floor for a moment before returning to her kneeling position. Prolixity Revei watched her obeisance, surprised and pleased. Perhaps he should speak to mortals more often - was that ego? Yes, perhaps. He could see her faith as though it was physical, like a heat-shimmer all around her. "A reasonable request," he said. "It is their purpose. Yes. They will speak." All around Penny, a multitude of koratti began to melt out of the air, clattering and croaking, weaving around her and one another. Sosiqui Penny stared at them in wonder as they tumbled out of the air, making strange noises and winding about. A few of them bumped her, and she held out one hand; some of them flowed beneath her, feeling for all the world like entirely normal cats. "They're beautiful," she breathed, then looked back up at the god. "Thank you, Lord - from the bottom of my heart. I will gladly sing your name along with Tien Lung's." She smiled, the expression genuine and natural on her face. "There is to be a gathering, a ritual of belief and Creation, a few weeks from today - I do not know if the date has been properly decided yet, as it is not my decision to make. When I find out, I will bring word to you. Thank you so much!" Prolixity Revei smiled also, though Penny was glowing now, so brightly that he had to shut his eyes again. The ache of his hands and his heart eased very slightly in the illumination of her trust and faith. Yes. The world was worth saving. "Yes. Come and tell me. You are welcome here. The koratti will bring words back to me, if you speak to them. Tell that to anyone you wish," he instructed. One korat leaped up to Penny's shoulders, draping itself like a fur collar, feather-light. "Speak to them," it said, creaky and smug. Sosiqui Penny jumped a bit as the cat-crow settled itself contentedly on her shoulders, then raised one hand up to pat gingerly at its head. "I certainly will, Lord. I saw one in the hallway and was reminded of my dream, so I followed it. Those words... your words?... they gave us hope, Lord Revei. All of us." Prolixity "I hoped they would," Revei said, soft and wistful. "I too like this world and do not wish it to end. We were all of this world, of his world. Were, are, will be. Yes. I will send them. Their purpose and mine." He turned his hand to brush the back of it over the fur of the korat in his lap. "Penny," he said meditatively, then, "Give your lord my greeting and respect." Sosiqui "I will when he returns, Lord," Penny said, looking down for a moment. She hesitated, then, before looking back up at him. "This may be too much to ask, but... do your creatures touch every dream? We... are... worried, a bit..." Prolixity "They can. Ask what you wish to ask, Penny." Revei's tone was gentle, curious. Sosiqui "Um..." Penny paused, thought, then smiled. "No... not right now. I thank you, Lord, but I would rather save such questions for when they are truly needed." The temptation was there, but hadn't Toki said that Tian Yue was fine? Didn't she know that already, in her heart? Prolixity "Wise child." A faint, mischievous smile.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:09 pm
Welcome Home
Gringolet, with Tian Yue clinging to his back, emerged into a very different world than the one the Dragon King had left behind. Tian Yue stared at the landscape around him as the erras continued to run grimly towards the Pantheon.
He had not thought it possible for things to decay more than they had been, but it clearly was - buildings that had before been merely slumped were now fallen entirely, and everything had a soft, rotting look about it. The stench was horrific.
"There is nothing left," he breathed, horrified.
Gringolet tossed his head, uneasily. Things have changed. The progression of time... has continued, but the changes did not happen as quickly as they did before? He sounded uncertain.
"At least the Pantheon is still standing." Indeed, it seemed to be the only thing that was, its dark perfection looming grimly over the broken city around it. "If the changes have slowed, perhaps Jin Huang found the Manacles." He certainly hoped so. As bad as this was, it was still... existence. The buildings might be destroyed, but the rubble was still there.
After Gehenna, there would be nothing left, to a degree that even his divine mind couldn't properly comprehend.
The erras galloped through a gap in the wall around the Pantheon, veered around the hissing lava pools, and came to a stop below Tian Yue's windows, his sides heaving. Here... we are... Lord.
"Thank you," Tian Yue murmured, resting one hand on Gringolet's head, rubbing gently behind the erras' ears. "My Star."
Can you reach the skylight?
"I think so... maybe..." The Dragon King winced as he dismounted; he still ached everywhere and the arduous ride hadn't helped. Still, flying should be easier. He jumped experimentally, trying, and found that the air caught him as easily as before. "Oh, thank goodness. I'd never fit more than my nose in the skylight if I had to shift to fly..." That was a problem, but larger quarters wasn't anywhere near his priority list right now.
The erras bowed. I will settle here, Lord.
"By the lava?" Tian Yue gave him a dubious look, then nodded, reluctantly. There was no way he could fit Gringolet into his quarters too, considering the erras couldn't climb stairs and the only other way would be to drop him through the skylight. "As you wish. Be safe."
I shall try. Gringolet folded his legs and laid down with a long sigh.
Once Tian Yue was satisfied that the erras was safe - at least for now - he jumped into the air again and rose easily up to roof level. The skylight was cracked and dirty but still whole, and he fumbled with the latch. It had corroded somewhat, but with effort he managed to get it open. The hinges screamed at him like banshees when he moved the skylight itself-
Without warning, a crackling beam of light shot up through the skylight from below; Tian Yue threw himself backwards to avoid it. "Get outta here, you bastards! Haven't you learned your lesson yet?!" boomed a rough voice from below.
Is that... Jax? Wait, did he just... Tian Yue inched over to the gap. "Hey, knock it off! Stand down! Was that a ray gun?!"
There was a long silence from below, then a sudden scramble of movement - and a moment later Toki spiraled up through the skylight, his eyes huge with emotion. "L-lord?"
Tian Yue got to his feet, a huge grin on his face. "Toki!"
The Aoide stared, then dropped onto the roof. A moment later he was clinging to Tian Yue, crying and laughing at the same time. "It is you! You're back! You're..." He drew back, blinking in surprise. "Bigger!"
Tian Yue snorted, quietly. "You should see the dragon version."
"Oh, my Lord, we all missed you so much..." Toki sniffled. "It was so hard, but... but we persevered!" A stubborn expression of determination came over the Aoide's pale face. "Wait until you see what we've done!"
"All in good time, Toki... if the Captain is shooting through my skylight with a ray gun, I can tell I must have missed a great deal of excitement," Tian Yue said, wryly. "Tell me all about it once we're inside, and I'll do the same for you."
Toki nodded, grinning. "Yes, yes, my Lord! Welcome home!"
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