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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:52 pm
A Voice in the DarkSosiqui We are going home.
The branch they were traveling down was filled with sound, with relieved chatter and renewed spirits; while Yggdrasil was filled with wonders almost beyond comprehension, they had been enmeshed in Her pathways for so long that the prospect of home was more than welcome. Errais hoof-clops mingled with footsteps as Dragon King and Aoidei walked along, and conversation both mental and spoken filled the air.
Home, at last...
And then to a great task, considering the weight of the notes, maps, and innumerable scavenged leaves that both errais were carrying; what had begun as a book, then two, then three had expanded out to a wild flurry. They would have their hands full just coordinating and connecting all the pathways.
But it was done... or as close as they could come. The thought of lost worlds made Tian Yue twitch a little, still, but perhaps in time they could do a more thorough sweep to catch what slipped through the cracks. Yggdrasil would sustain the remainders, if any existed.
He hoped none did.
They were two days' walk, or so he estimated, from home. Zero Dream It still had taken him quite some time to find the World Tree entrance of the world he had landed into following his leaving of the Underworld, but even with that found, not all his problems were solved. Indeed, there was still the matter of trying to orient himself into the tree proper and find the world that held the pantheon.
What he would give for proper worldwalking...
He had released the guide Nergal had sent with him to be called back when it belonged - the ghost would not be able to aid him in Yggdrasil, and that he had known the location of the entrance itself was a small miracle.
Now... came the hard part. Or, well, the hard part would begin once he'd made his way out of the branch proper. Hopefully he would be able to find one of the carvings the dragon had made to orient himself... Sosiqui Tian Yue paused at a fork in the branch, then knelt and smiled faintly to himself as he found one of his own prior carvings waiting for him. So far, all was going according to plan. They were on track.
All was going according to plan... except for Ankou's absence. Which he'd been trying to ignore, because it made him worry too much.
He's fine. He must have found his way to the Underworld, perhaps, when showing those mer-ghosts the way. He's got to be fine, Tian Yue repeated to himself, firmly. Anyway, they'd marked up every intersection they'd traveled, at least a little bit, and the nyanko would tell him where they'd gone if he got back to the garden.
And yet...
Closing his eyes where he crouched, Tian Yue slowly expanded his shields, concentrating; he had no idea if this would work, if it was possible, especially with the interference from the Tree's own powerful mana. But he had to try, at least, to expand his shields incrementally, to feel along the scaled edges and see if he felt any thread of power that wasn't Gaia's...
So far, this hadn't worked. Perhaps it never would, perhaps the Tree's influence here was simply too powerful, and he dared not attempt to dampen it in any way. That would be blasphemous, unthinkable.
But he had to try. Zero Dream This branch was a rather long one, but perhaps it was simply patience talking. Though he had to admit that the tree did indeed seem more massive, impossibly so, if one stood alone. From his point of view, the only thing that told him that he was walking a branch was previous knowledge. No matter what, he could not see the sides at all. Partway because he did not naturally see in the dark, and partway because of the sheer span of space around him. There were some scarce glowing... things, he was not sure what, but it was far inadequate lightning. He could feel some lost spirits of the dead following him, most likely from the world he had just exited. He would send them down the trunk as he had done with so many before - he would be disoriented enough without having to make his way back down.
...Anything dwelling here would have a very easy time jumping him, he noticed belatedly. If only he had not lost his source of lighting...
That thought was cut short when the feeling overtook him like a tsunami pooling though the branch - and all of sudden the feel of the ghost around him all but faded, as if they had never been there at all.
...Where had they gone ? No, it occurred to him that they were not gone. when their words made his way to his ears like an echo. Distorted. Faint.
He could no longer feel them.
And somehow, that was more worrying than the idea of demons jumping at him from the shadows. No matter how much he tried to pit his power against... whatever this was... nothing seemed to do. Sosiqui Tian Yue gritted his teeth; the effort to maintain the shield this way, to send his power pouring down through the pathways yet not interfere with the Tree's own mana was very nearly overwhelming-
And then... something happened. The faintest flutter against his power, barely detectable under the buzz of the Tree's ever-present mana, and yet-
It felt familiar.
"I think I found him," he said, aloud, eyes snapping open. Zero Dream "Myaaa ??" The cat at her side perked, her ruby red eyes going wide. Has he really... !!! "Where, Lord ?!" If her lord was nearby, that meant he was alright ! He really did not like this at all, and eventually he had to let go - no matter how hard he tried to fight the feeling off, he wasn't even able to put a dent in it, so to speak.
Well, he might as well keep on going. Though, his hand reached out for his mace, on reflex. It had been one thing to not see any dead because there had been none, but this... this made him ill at ease, uncomfortable, as if there was a thick cloud enveloping him, hazing his senses.Sosiqui The faint tickle disappeared; Tian Yue swore under his breath, then straightened, trying to get a fix on where he'd felt that odd eddy against his own power. Down quite a bit, then left, then... right, then...
"Jinx - come with me - the rest of you, please, continue on. We will find you..." Still, the Dragon's eyes remained unfocused as he held on to the sense of presence, of place, heading towards a root. He had just enough foresight to grab a light-pearl before vanishing into the dark corridor. Zero Dream "Myaaa !" Jinx bolted after the dragon, having gotten little warning before he had decided to go. So much like her own lord, all of sudden... She did not hesitate one second to follow in the darkness, though she extended her hand to scrape her claws against the wood to mark the path. Sosiqui Tian Yue heard the scraping behind him, knew Jinx was following, and stopped. "Jinx. Here - walk with me. Stop me if I'm headed for a bottomless pit or a wall or something dangerous..." He reached out one hand, the one with the light-pearl, to the Aoide. "I must focus to keep hold of what I felt." Zero Dream "Mrrr... Yes." She took the pearl, and held it high, illuminating the area the best she could, the ground in particular. It was limited, but it was the best she could do. There was so much space around them, and the pearl could only reveal so far ahead. But she would be the dragon's eyes. Sosiqui "Thank you," Tian Yue replied, then fell silent again, closing his eyes and falling deeper in sync with his own power. His scales poured down the branches and roots like water - a strange, unfamiliar metaphor for him - pooling here and there, pressed on all sides by Yggdrasil's own power...
And yet, far below, was that tickle.
He began to move. Zero Dream And indeed the god's eyes she became - the black cat's intervention saved the dragon from quite a few faceplants into walls and unpleasant drops. The path was much like everything they had seen so far, full of twists and turns like a natural maze, and she did her best to mark their path with her claws in spite of the dragon's pace. Though, at last, there seemed to be a span that continued straight, and... in the distance... footsteps ? "MYYAAAAA~ !" In the distance, the footsteps hasted into a run. "Jinx ?!"Sosiqui Tian Yue felt the moment when Jinx tore away from him; it was only then that he opened his eyes, coming back to himself in a dizzying rush. For a moment, he wasn't entirely sure if he was in human shape or dragon, so thick around him was the feeling of scales...
And then the world settled again, and he blinked at the sight of Jinx, light-pearl in hand, bounding away from him, towards...
"At last." A smile spread over his face, and he released his power, sighing in relief as the sense of pressure from all sides finally eased. Zero Dream "MYAAAAAAA !!!!" The cat seemed to forget all about the pearl, accidentally dropping it as she all but leaped at her lord - Ankou wobbled a bit on impact, but managed to stay on his feet. "Easy now..." And then, the suffocating feeling all but faded away - basically sending relief rolling off the god in waves - and when Jinx finally get go of her death grip on him, he could see Tian Yue come in the distance.
So that had been him... ?
Well, it made sense.
Still didn't make it pleasant, though.
"Hey." He offered, an awkward grin on his face. He... probably owed an explanation.Sosiqui "Fancy meeting you here," Tian Yue said, shaking his head at Jinx's exuberance... yet grinning all the same. "I'm glad to see you well," he added, bending down to scoop up the dropped light-pearl as he approached the other god. "I hope you haven't been wandering around lost all this time?" Zero Dream The cat seemed happy as a clam, and still hovered close to her lord, even though she had, thankfully, let go to allow him freedom of movement. It was obvious that she had missed her lord deeply. "Come here often ?" He settled into a true grin, but quickly grew serious. "No... I just came in though one world. I was just trying to find my way toward the main path... which is where the problems would have began, really."Sosiqui "Ah... well, your path was well-chosen. We are not too far from the entrance to our own 'home' world... a day or two, I believe? Or the nearest equivalent." The idea of measuring time by days and nights, by cycles of celestial bodies (even unseen) seemed almost foreign now.
"Did you find the Underworld, then?" Zero Dream "Yes. Though... I had not quite intended to do so." Surprising, perhaps, but before the dragon could ask, he elaborated, starting to walk ahead again at a slow pace. "I was just going to drop the souls though the link, and try to make it back before you left." He shook his head. "That... did not quite happen as planned. I got pulled in." It was the best way to simplify it.
"Echo is well." He figured the question would come, so he answered it right off the bat. "Though I have not seen her. She will likely return soon." Perhaps had even beaten them back.
Then, he tilted his head, something occurring to him. "Then... That meant you have finished ?" There was a bit of guilt creeping in his voice. It was evident that he had planned to make it back swiftly in order to not leave him all the work, so to speak. Sosiqui "Echo is...? Oh, good," Tian Yue said with a sigh of relief. "I was worried... and Nergal as well, then?" Still, if Music and Underworld were both there, then the children...
Well, he could tend to that personally, within a few days' time.
"The errais are burdened with records," he said, shaking his head. "I do not truly know if it is possible to map the Tree, but we have made our marks on wood and paper alike to the best of our ability. I hope our Lord will be able to make sense of it." Zero Dream That had all the complexity of a trick question without Tian Yue having meant for it to be so, and just grinned at the humor only he would understand. "Yes." He said, simply. "Just being... himself."
To reveal what had happened was not for him to do, but the irony was there. Only Nergal, of all things, would manage to recreate his realm in the most possibly brutal way possible. More than ever, he was glad that their roles were not opposite than they were in reality.
Jinx perked curiously at the statement, but he did not elaborate. "I... rather hope so as well." He sombered, suddenly. What would happen, if this was not enough ? How else could they do such a thing ? To map the tree... had proved foolish endavor enough, even if apparently they had pulled thought in the end.
No thanks to him.
Stop that. Sosiqui "I am glad to know they are well... this place is not to be taken lightly." Tian Yue rested one hand lightly on the root-wall. "Were it not for the markers we placed... we would have been lost. Are you well enough to walk with me? I will tell you of our journeys in your absence. I sent Xing Yun and the errais on ahead." Zero Dream The Guide nodded. "I did not sustain harm... thankfully." It would have become a great deal more complicated if he had. And indeed, he looked just the part - a bit tired and rough around the edge, perhaps, but in one piece.
Nothing that protective dragons could worry about.
"Yes... This place is a maze. I was dreading having to somehow find my way though... It is rather fortunate that you have found me. As unpleasant as that was." Apparently he could not resist at least a tiny prod at it. Though a few long minutes of discomfort beat wandering in a tree maze with no pinpoints by a wide margin. Sosiqui "My apologies," Tian Yue said, drooping slightly. "I could think of no other possibility for reaching you... it was good that you fought it, even a little, because that allowed me to find your position. Otherwise... well, you would have found our marks and made it out, but I am more at ease with you by my side."
The Dragon King began to walk, though more slowly than his usual pace to allow for his tired companion. "After you left, we treated with the nyanko and split up into three groups - myself, Jinx with Athanasius, and Xing Yun with Gringolet. The three nyanko children came with us as guides... and we wandered. We followed the pathways, mapped..."
How to describe the journeys in the long dark? Tian Yue shook his head. "We saw terrors and wonders... and now we are here, and so are you, and I am ready to say my blessings to Gaia and step out of this Tree for a good long while." Zero Dream "So do I." Tian Yue seemed rather sure he would have made it out... but the Guide has his own reservations. However, he had little choice but to attempt.
Again, plane-walking would have been handy right about now. What had been rather complicated and dangerous would have been much simpler. At least, he thought so.
At the last statement, however, he laughed - loud and true. "Yes. So am I." He nodded. "Until duty calls once more."
His steps would resonate again though the wooden paths of Yggdrasil. It was inevitable. Sosiqui "Yes..." Tian Yue looked up at the root arching above them, its surface rough and unpolished. This had not been a way of great splendor - or perhaps it had grown out after the Fading, never had a chance to know that glory. "I was for Universe's spaces... and I wonder if such a thing will ever come to be again..." What will our Lord's replacement be? Will it truly be Spaces Between in any sense, or will it be merely a facade, a pretty picture to mount sun-moon-stars within and no more? Still a false barrier to press against?
The thought of never truly being able to indulge part of his own nature, of never being Celestial again, made him twitch.
"Once we exit the tree, I will fly us home. The harness will hold the errais, though they may not enjoy the trip... I am not so swift as Zhijian but I can carry us all and more besides." Zero Dream "It will certainly be swifter than by ground." Ankou answered with a nod - that would likely make the situation bearable for the equines.
They were done here, but they weren't quite done yet. There was still much to do.
Though, the dragon seemed in unease - even he could notice - and it was not hard to guess as to how. Or what was crossing his mind. The Spirit Guide hesitated for a moment, but then reached out, resting his hand on the dragon's shoulder, careful of the spikes.
He said nothing. He could not think of anything to say, nothing that would made him feel better, at least. He could not promise that things would be fine, because he did not know of such.
Ankou, after all, had never been the best with words. They were easy to mis-interpret - actions, less so. Sosiqui Tian Yue was not expecting the touch; he tensed slightly, then relaxed, a faint smile on his face.
"Thank you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:53 pm
Fly Away Home
"Wherrre will you go, when you are all done herrrre?" A tilt of the head, a curious glint in the nyanko's bright eyes.
"We will go outside, and home."
"Outside?" His young guide considered this, then laughed. "You mean inside, yesss? Inside the little worrrrld-frrruits."
He shook his head, amused. "An odd way of thinking. In here is confined, ultimately... walls and ceiling and boundaries anywhere. Out there..."
"But walls mean you arrrre safe. Held in the Lady's arrrms, yes? In herrr dance." She nodded, sure of her words. "Safe."
Safe...
Tian Yue breathed in, felt the cool air of the high places of the world echoing within him. It was true that there was no such thing within Yggdrasil's roots and branches, no landscapes as such... yet there were wonders, and vistas like none seen anywhere else...
No, he could not in good conscience say that the nyanko were wrong - but, all the same, it was a relief to be under the sky - even as empty as it was - once more. Forgive me, Empress, but I was not made to live within your glory...
The Glory that was his lie above him, empty and fallow and Eaten. An old litany.
I will be grateful when the facade is in place; the reminder will be less ever-present. Guilt is gone, but the reminder... how can I not be reminded with every glance? The Dragon King shook his head, but slowly, carefully. There were burdens on his back too precious to risk losing.
They had reached their entrance to Yggdrasil - home - a day ago, stepped out into the dead forest and breathed in familiar air. Even in that strange land, there was still a familiar feel to everything, like a vista seen once during childhood yet still known for all that.
And now they were going home, properly - back to the Pantheon and to the task of correlating and organizing the masses of notes that were tucked carefully into Tian Yue's packs. The harness was on the Dragon's back, and he could feel the errais on either side, carried in their slings, exhausted enough to sleep rather than dangle in silent worry. Ankou and the Aoidei slumbered atop in the 'nest', with the priceless bags of notes tied on with every bit of material they had available. To lose even one would be a tragedy.
They would sleep - mortal errais, immortal yet not divine Aoidei, divine yet not fully-ascended god. And it was left to him, ascended, Dragon King, to fly silently through the endless night and bring them home.
I am no Fangbridle to carry us swift as thought, but I will manage.
The silence here was sharp, only the wind's whistle in his ears and that much easily ignored. He could not fly too high lest the errais find it difficult to draw breath, but there was nothing else on the wing, neither mortal or immortal. Small wonder, with the sky as it was.
And yet... we are inside, aren't we? Inside the emptiness, tethered only to Gaia by the whisper-thin root... so close to being set adrift. So terribly close. He also resisted the urge to shudder. A terrible thought, the root breaking and setting them all adrift in a Void-sea, subject to erosion on all sides, and-
No. It. Will. Not. Happen.
We bring our burdens home.
He drew in another breath, and flew on.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:54 pm
Compilation and Correlation (Part I)Sosiqui It took Tian Yue, Toki, Xing Yun, Penny, and several other mortals to properly transport the maps to the library. Fortunately the library was vast, and empty - if Gianfar was around, Tian Yue certainly didn't see him. They would not be disturbing anyone as they collated and cross-referenced.
There were a few 'study areas' here and there, empty spaces with large tables; they took over one of these islands in the sea of bookshelves, everyone putting down their burdens and covering almost every available surface in the process. "Will that be all for now, Lord?" Toki asked, bowing low as soon as his hands were free.
"Yes, yes... thank you, you are free to go." Tian Yue nodded to the other men who had helped them carry; the two of them bowed as well, then followed Toki out as the Aoide chattered animatedly about how wonderful it would be to get the sky back in place, how simply marvelous, and so on.
Tian Yue shook his head and grinned. "Well. He's certainly happy.""I don't want to think about how many paper towels he went through, cleaning everything in your rooms over and over," Penny sighed. "If a large bit of forest is missing, we'll know why." "I think this project is more likely to destroy forests." Tian Yue surveyed the stacks of paper with a dubious expression. In some places paper had been replaced by dried leaves, and while Lord Harmodius' journal may have been forged on leaves of Yggdrasil... right now the information they'd traveled so far to collect was not at all in a presentable state. "I hope Ankou was able to obtain proper books.""I still think Mio's readouts should be everything you need," Penny said, stubbornly, patting the messenger bag at her side. The AI from the Nova Bandit, MI0, was currently inhabiting the computer packed into that bag. "We can scan it and organize it into a three-dimensional matrix..." "And we will, but I want to have a backup in any case. Just to be sure. But first, we need Ankou..." This would be quite the puzzle, assembling all this material into a cohesive whole. While Ankou had recorded a lot, when they'd split off each group had begun their own mapping. Their styles were different, but they had to be made to mesh.
This was going to be tedious. Zero Dream There had once been doors here, he remembered, but they were gone now, and it seemed no one had thought to make new ones to take their place. The Guide watched the door-less frame for a moment, but then shrugged and made his way inside, his slender frame struggling a bit with the burden at his side - his messenger bag, with as many books and paper products as he could find inside. He knew there had to be an use to them when he had brought them back from his scavenging, way back then.
But he hadn't thought that he would be the one to use them. Or that they would be used for such a purpose.
It was easy to find the dragon and the young girl - simply follow the voices - and he walked in to the tail end of the conversation, which kind of amused him. He stood a few paces behind both, and neither had seemed to have noticed him.
"Well, we certainly do not have the summons we used to." He said, his voice thick with amusement. Sosiqui "Ah - there you are. Good morning," Tian Yue said, turning to Ankou with a smile. "You look well."Xing Yun bowed immediately, as did Penny. "Good morning, Lord," the girl said respectfully, holding the bow for several seconds before straightening again. "This is Penny," Tian Yue said, putting one hand on her shoulder, an easy, yet almost possessive gesture. "One of my most cherished followers. She has a most interesting device..." How at home to technology was Ankou, anyway? He imagined the Spirit Guide had little need for such things in his domain. "An artificial intelligence that will aid us in creating a second type of map.""Her name is Mio, sir - short for MI0, Mechanized Intelligence Zero," Penny added, patting the bag at her side. "She is not mortal nor living, but she can be of help to us." Zero Dream "I am glad to make your acquaintance then, Penny." She was beloved - even if the dragon had not said so, it was easy to see by his actions.
Kind of him and Lenneth, when he thought about it. Though he had yet to see the girl since he had returned - perhaps she kept herself busy with the self-imposed tasks he had to let go when he had left.
The Guide walked the steps separating him from the table, placing his bag on it and finally freeing himself of the weight and pressure it had applied on his shoulder. "I have brought all I could find... though I am not sure it shall be enough."
At the mention of Mio and artificial intelligences, the god rose an eyebrow, clearly a little confused. "I shall have to take your words for it, as I have no idea what you are talking about, to be honest." Sosiqui "Think of it like... a mind made out of machinery. No soul, of course, but... well, here. Penny, if you would?""Of course!" Penny quickly reached into her bag and fiddled with something. A moment later, she pulled out a small object, attached to whatever was inside the bag via a tightly-coiled cord. "This, Lords, is the input device... like Mio's eyes and ears. Mio, this is Lord Ankou." She pointed the device right at the god. "Scanning - sustained, powerful thaumic presence. Signature noted," came a pleasant yet mostly monotone female voice. It was obviously not produced by a living throat. "A pleasure, sir." "Sorry. I haven't managed to program in the proper politeness levels for interacting with 'powerful thaumic presences'," Penny sighed, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. "It's quite all right. Ankou won't be offended," Tian Yue said, giving the other god an amused look. "At any rate, Mio can help us create a second variety of map. One that floats in the air, like an illusion. It can be three-dimensional. But first... we need to catalog this lot. See which bits connect to which other bits. Then the two of us can start mapping on paper, and Penny can start mapping with Mio... and we'll see where we end up."
The dragon made a face at the piles of papers. Zero Dream Ankou still seemed rather puzzled when the voice came out of the box, though he seemed in no mean offended. This was... particular. Very particular indeed. "Likewise... ?" He offered, in fear of offending the... artificial intelligence.
Very awkward indeed.
"My biggest worry is that the information needs to be consistent. And clearly understandable." He looked at the papers in turn. He... very likely, would be the only one who would be able to decode Jinx's handwriting, if he remembered it accurately. He could see the holes she had accidentally pierced though the papers with her claws even from here, revealing clearly which pile was hers. "Especially for the written part... as it will likely span many tomes." Sosiqui "Yes... absolutely. Well, here, on this table are your notes... and these are mine. Xing Yun's are over here, and Jinx's are on the next table over... I tried to keep mine organized starting with the parts closest to the nyankos' 'garden' and then moving outward, but the thing was so labyrinthine that I'm not sure I succeeded. It'll be a puzzle piecing them together." Tian Yue put one hand on his own note-pile. At least he could read his own handwriting."I will organize my own, as best I can," Xing Yun said, stepping over to the table Tian Yue had indicated and picking up the first sheaf. "I found several very large dead sections..." "As did I. An entire great heartroot, rotting away." Tian Yue shook his head. "Such senseless waste." Zero Dream "Indeed." He sighed, then moved toward Jinx's pile. "I should likely handle this, as Jinx's handwriting... is not the most legible, if I remember clearly. I can handle mine as well, unless Penny would like to... ?" He was indeed a whole more legible on paper than his kitten was, and he was right there for reference if needed. And there was nothing written down on these pages that had not been meant to be shown. Sosiqui "I can try and help?" Penny offered. "In fact... I think if I start scanning these sequentially, Mio can help piece them together... may I try?" "Certainly. Anything to help. The physical limitations of paper.. if we can assemble them digitally, then that will be a great time-saver." Tian Yue picked up a few papers from his own pile and squinted at them; he'd written and sketched in a small size to conserve paper, and that had seemed a good idea at the time, but... "Mio can scale them too, can she not? I'm quite certain we didn't all draw to the same scale.""Of course!" Penny readjusted the messenger bag on her shoulder, then stepped over next to Ankou. "Lord, if you could hold up the first page? I would do it myself, but I'm not sure which is which..." Zero Dream "Then perhaps I should just write beside Jinx's writing and have it... scanned ?" Awkward still. Very, very awkward. The both of them were referring to Mio as if she was indeed a person, though they had told him she was not... but he figured he might as well do the same. "Would that... erm.... confuse Mio ?"
He reached for his pile first - his handwriting was indeed clearer, but also small, as he had a similar thought that the dragon had - the god squinted a bit, looking over and flipping though the papers and books before finally holding one sheet up for Penny. "Here... that is where we entered." Sosiqui "That should work - she's very logical, very difficult to confuse..." Penny held the input device at the top of the paper. "Mio - scan, please. Paper 2-D input to... holographic 3-D output, map matrices..." "Acknowledged," the tiny voice said. A moment later the input device began to emit a soft glow; Penny slowly swept the thing down the length of the paper, holding it about an inch away as the glow expanded to cover the full width of the map. "Display?" "Hang on..." Penny quickly pulled out a chair, then took off the messenger bag, opening it to reveal a metallic cube within. She set the cube down on the chair, then flipped open a small metal flap at the top. "Okay, Mio - display." "Acknowledged." There was a faint hum, and then the air above the cube filled with light, projecting a flat image of the map page, with Ankou's handwriting intact. "Calibrate the measurements, Mio, then pop it to 3-D..." Penny sat down on the floor, squinting at the holographic map as she reached into the messenger bag again, this time pulling out a small foldable keyboard. "Take secondary input from the keyboard." "Acknowledged. Calibrating..." Tian Yue beamed as MI0 hummed. "Isn't it wonderful?" he asked Ankou, clearly excited about the whole thing.Penny grinned, and ducked her head in a half-hearted attempt to hide her own amusement. Zero Dream Ankou's eyes widened a bit when the cube did, indeed, project the image just as faithfully as he had drawn it, with his notes intact. "That..." Try as he might, he could not find anything off with it. This was good, very good.
"If this can be used to make parts bigger and smaller for a better look...Then this might very well be the best way to present this." If the projection could show both the whole span of the tree and present bigger maps and annotations...
He was certainly quite a bit awed. Sosiqui "Oh, just wait," Penny laughed - and, a moment later, the AI made a ping! sound. And the map changed. In an instant, what had been a two-dimensional rendering expanded upwards, shifting from simple lines to three-dimensional tunnels, roots, and branches. "Rendering to scale complete." "Marvelous!" Tian Yue beamed, pacing around the chair to look at the projection from all angles. "Absolutely wonderful!""It's not perfectly accurate, of course, since you understandably didn't draw high detail of every surface - why would you? - but it will definitely show the pathways," Penny said, a note of pride and just a little smugness in her tone. "And if we can scan them all, then we can fit them together... yes, yes..." Tian Yue rubbed his hands together. "We can write down exactly which pieces connect, and use that to build the paper map more efficiently as well."Zero Dream Ankou did not show the same outward wonder than his companion - did not dart about to watch the map at it's every angles, but it was evident by his expression alone that he was rather pleased.
This...
This was perfect. And it would help tremendously to make the paper version in the correct order.
"The pathways, and weither or not they are alive or dead, cut down or whole... is really the most detail we need." He nodded. "That will work nicely." Sosiqui "And the dead bits are marked by... the thick X-markings, yes?" Penny typed furiously for a moment; as she worked, slowly the markings on the rendering fizzed out, turning into angry black snarls that looked much more... final... than just the crossed-out openings. "Like so?" "Yes, er... that should be sufficient representation." Tian Yue frowned as the change rippled across the map. So many of them on this section alone, and who knew how many worlds the large rotted branches had once held?
And what had happened to them?
He forced himself to refocus. This question was hardly new; it was just seeing the data presented now, in this way, that brought those musings back to the surface. "Penny, can I work the scanner?""Hm? Oh, of course! Er. My Lord," she added, with a glance at Ankou. Zero Dream "That is indeed clearer this way." He had to admit. It had not occurred to him to mark them this way, but these scribbles had never intended to be the final thing the dragon would present to Harmodius - there was no harm done, especially if it could be corrected so easily.
Perhaps this whole AI business was more useful than he initially thought.
Penny's 'slip' amused him slightly, and that was apparent in his expression as he reached to hand over the second page. He could just busy himself with making sure everything was in the right order - if he tried to handle Mio, he would more likely break it... ...her... than do anything else. Or so he thought. Sosiqui "Let's see..." Tian Yue carefully held the second page in one hand, the input device in the other. "I just sweep it over the surface?""Yes, Lord - you don't need to touch it directly, just hold it about an inch or two away, and tell Mio to scan. She'll listen to you." "She had better," Tian Yue replied, amused, then held up the 'scanner'. "Scan, if you would, Mio.""User: thaumic presence Tien Lung Tian Yue. Acknowledged," the AI hummed, and the input device lit up in the Dragon King's hand. "'Thaumic presence'?" Tian Yue asked, wryly, as he moved the scanner over the page."Machines don't have much use for deities, I guess," Penny said with an embarrassed shrug. They all waited until the second page appeared; this time the AI rendered it with greater efficiency, 'popping' it from 2D to 3D within a matter of seconds. "Good, it can read your handwriting. I don't know what we'll do for Jinx. I hope Mio's clever," Tian Yue muttered, glancing again at the somewhat rumpled papers that the feline Aoide had produced. Zero Dream "Who's to say there was not once a god for them ?" He pondered out loud. Had there been ? Some kind of deity of machinery ? He could not tell. Not all worlds were all on the same technological level, so... it sounded likely.
"I can decipher it." The god said again, though his glance never left the sight of the digital map when he talked, apparently still in wonder of it. This one had... came up much faster too. Would the next pages do the same ? "Like I said, I can transcribe beside her own handwriting, and Mio can read that instead. If it turns out she cannot read it." It was getting easier to refer to this AI as a person, likely aided by the fact both Tian Yue and Penny did the same. If he just stopped to think about it too much, it came easily, too. Sosiqui "Hm... perhaps so, though a mind without a soul... could there be true worship from such a device?" Tian Yue pondered for a moment, then shrugged and carefully put down the page he was holding. "A god of machinery, or a god for machinery... I think I read several novels on that topic once. When I was mortal...ish."
The next page was scanned in a bit faster, as Tian Yue got the hang of how to use the input device. "Hmm... Ankou, why don't you begin copying from Mio's display? I believe Penny can set up a secondary projector. I'll scan and ask you if I have a question about what order the pages go in. Would that work?""Oh - yes, I can! Here..." Penny put the keyboard down, then rummaged in the bag again. In a few minutes, she'd run a second small holographic device out to sit on another chair, far enough away that Ankou could begin his transcription without being interrupted by the scanning progress. "Mio, set up a partition for display..." "There, now. Isn't technology wonderful?" Tian Yue beamed. Zero Dream "Perhaps." The god reached for one of the books in his bags, flipping it open to the first page and reaching for a pencil before sitting in one of the chair, letting the book rest against one folded leg. An awkward position perhaps, but he had managed to do mostly straight lines while sitting on a moving equine... surely he could do so now. Hadn't he brought a ruler, too ? He pulled the bag closer to him and began to look though it once more.
Maybe it was Tian Yue's actual... origin that made him so happy with this - being that he was somewhat more mortal and god, though for the most part, Ankou did not notice it. Had he not just mentioned it, he might have overlooked this angle completely. He could see the use in such device, but he could not imagine himself working with one day in and day out.
He finally found the ruler - and an eraser, too, and went to work at drawing the 2D display staight in front of him. "Can you move that display just a bit to the right ? I can still see the first one a little from this angle and it is throwing me off slightly." He could have done so himself... but then again, he seemed to think the slightest wrong thought might have broke Mio. Sosiqui "Of course, Lord." Penny moved the secondary projector a bit more, placing it so that the cord ran under a table, completely separate from the primary station. "Will this work?" "Make sure he has back support," Tian Yue called from across the room.Zero Dream "That will be perfect." He did not thank her, but he seemed grateful. "This way I can focus on this..."
The dragon's voice came from the other side of the room, and the Guide rolled his gold and yellow eyes. Apparently one did not just tell a dragon to stop being protective and fussy. Maybe it was some of his host's nature that had remained from the slight parts that had to assimilate, or maybe he had grown close enough to the dragon during his travels to allow himself to not only think up of a retort to this so easily...
But to actually dare to use it.
"Yes, mother !" He called out as well, sure that his voice would reach. He made a concious effort to control it, so sound more amused than annoyed, less he be misinterpreted.
What he was unsure, was if he either had to duck or not. Sosiqui Any response Tian Yue might have made was utterly drowned out in a burst of laughter from Penny - the girl tried to smother it by clapping her hands over her mouth, but it was unmistakable. "Oh... I'm sorry, Lord, but..." "And make sure you take a nap if you get tired," Tian Yue called, after a moment, his voice absolutely deadpan - but if Ankou glanced over the table, he'd see the merriment in the dragon's eyes.Zero Dream "Do not make me throw a book at you." He said as well, though his eyes held a similar light, so rarely seen. Very few indeed had gotten close enough to the Spirit Guide to make him allow himself to be teased as such... and to permit him to dish it out in return. And the grin on his face was rather telling. Penny's laughter was bright and highly contagious, but he managed to keep his own contained.
Barely.
"Stop fussing and keep on scanning, or else I will catch up with you." Sosiqui "Hmph - next time, I won't even loan you a pillow. See if I don't, ungrateful creature," Tian Yue teased right back, then grinned and turned back to his work.Next to Ankou, Penny finally regained her composure. "I'm... so sorry, Lord Ankou, I... he's so funny when he does that, isn't he?" she added, her voice dropping almost to a whisper as her eyes sparkled with barely-contained mirth. Zero Dream "As if you would not." Oh, now he was just testing his luck - though he shook his head, and as the dragon returned to his work, so did he.
"It is a very carefully weighted, equal parts of amusing and annoying." He admitted, letting out one single chuckle. He could see why he had gotten to like this little mortal girl, with a laughter so bright and a flame of belief that seemed to burn so brightly. "But I know he means to ill thought to it. A rather protective creature." And rightfully so. He had never doubted it one second, even before he had gotten to know the dragon on a deeper level. It just seemed... right.
"So I assume you are familiar to his protective tendencies as well ?" He asked Penny, his eyes not once leaving the projection in front of him, drawing light lines on the paper even as he held conversation with her. Ankou seemed to be a pretty good multitasker. Sosiqui "Oh, yes, very much so... though it isn't quite the same for mortals, I don't think. He will fuss over us, but not the same way," Penny confided, glancing back at the primary projector and pausing in her speech to type rapidly. "But it's quite alright. He's good... er, as are you, Lord..." She flushed a bit, realizing she'd become rather casual with the other god. "I'm sorry, do I presume too much?" Zero Dream It was weird. Usually Ankou did not associate with mortals, at least not so easily. He always kept his distance toward them, at least some healthy dose of such. But with Penny, just like with Lenneth, it was harder to do so. Perhaps because she believed so steadily, so deeply - perhaps because he trusted the dragon's judgment.
Her last sentence made him ponder, however. Did she ? He had never though about himself, about what he did and what he represented, on a scale of 'right' or 'wrong'. It had never seemed to matter. Certainly there had to be mortals who could be scared of what he represented - one of the many cogs in the cycles of life, death and rebirth.
"I figure it would depend on your own judgment." He finally said, somewhat enigmatically.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:55 pm
Compilation and Correlation (Part II)Zero Dream They had continued on for a long time - many hours it could likely be said - and his companions had fallen asleep, Penny first of all. Tian Yue, amusingly, followed suit not too long after, but he remained awake only by sheer determination - and mostly driven by the fact that he was quite a bit 'behind' due to the quickness of the scanning process - much quicker than the time it took him to draw the lines on the paper and copy over his annotations as to the state of each branch, as well as the facts he had gathered about the many worlds they had visited. It seemed relevant, so written neatly on the 'final' version they went.
Even he, though, finally gave in to sleep, leaning backward against the wall on two legs of his chair in what likely had to be one of the most amusing sleeping positions ever witnessed - he had likely kicked back to his to stare at the ceiling and rest his eyes, but had wound up drifting right there and then.
It was a good thing he was not known to toss around in his sleep, and thus had remained balancing in that unstable position the whole time. Sosiqui Mrf... what'm I... laying on...?
Tian Yue cracked one eye open, shifted, heard paper crackle under him, then froze.
Damndamndamn I'm NOT sleeping on the maps- He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw it was only blank pages, tumbled off of one of the tables, that he'd somehow made into a nest. Thank goodness.
The library seemed as timeless as Yggdrasil, with no light in the windows to mark day and night; this had been true since the Week of 'Paradise', and yet now since exiting the Tree the difference seemed even more marked. He had no idea what time it was...
But it didn't matter.MI0's lights blinked on as he stirred, aware of the sounds of Penny, Xing Yun, and Ankou still asleep around him. "Command?" it said, voice pitched low. "Uh. Yes... scanning...""Scan input complete. Rendering process 98.2% complete. 98.4. 98.6-" Tian Yue blinked. He had scanned until - ouch! yes, that was a paper cut on his fingers, at least one, probably more - well, until he literally couldn't scan any more, along with Xing Yun, and..."99.5. 99.6. 99.8. Rendering complete." "Uh. Engage?"
He wasn't entirely sure that would work, but as he spoke the Tree blossomed before him - in miniature, floating above MI0's projector. Layers upon layers of labyrinthine roots, connected and stitched together, impossibly complicated, and yet...
Beautiful.
"Wow," he breathed, staring at it. Zero Dream It was the sound of the dragon's voice that made the other god start to stirr, start to awaken in truth, his sleep having been a rather light one.
Unfortunately, however, it seemed he had not been quite aware of the position he had fallen asleep in, and he was almost sent tumbling when he moved to stretch, though he somehow managed to keep from face-planting, and instead returned his chair to a proper, four-legged hold.
What... Oh, he had likely... fallen asleep ? Drat. Now he was even more behind !
It was only then that he actually looked to his side - and saw it.
The tree.
They had... they had somehow mapped all this, traveled though all these paths and angles, and yet managed to return. In one piece.
He had known all these things, but to see it like this, all in one piece rather than multiple tiny fragments, only drove the point home further. "...We mapped all this.... how, again ?" It did not look like it was even possible at all.
He was amazed. Sosiqui Tian Yue glanced over and shook his head, an almost disbelieving smile on his face. "I can't... quite believe it either... but we were in there for a long time..."
I hope this is sufficient. I'm not sure if this can be the whole, but..."Whoa." He turned and saw Penny, blinking blearily yet astonished at the projection. "You went there? You mapped that?" "Yeah... we did. That's why I was gone for so long!""Wow..." Penny reached out and touched it. Tian Yue blinked again as her hand passed right through the projection, and yet as she moved her fingers the projection spun, zoomed in, rotated with her movements. "This is amazing." "It wouldn't have been possible without you and Mio," Tian Yue said, copying Penny's movements and grinning as he, too, was able to zoom in on particular areas. It took a few minutes, but he found the nyankos' garden, making it fill the projection area. "Absolutely fantastic." Zero Dream This... oh, the moment he saw them reach eagerly into the projection, controlling it so easily and bringing up what part they wished, he knew this was indeed the best way to do this.
"Indeed..." He nodded, more than agreeing with the last two statements of the dragon. However, one look at his own projection, compared to the projection in three dimensions to his right, and so came the realization that he was far from done indeed, and he sombered a little.
"I think." He started. "...That I am going to need coffee." Lots, and lots of it. Three full tomes rested on the table beside him - no wonder his hands felt crampy - but there were still many more that would follow. Caffeine was such a mundaine thing, but it would do wonders at jolting the yet mortal part of him awake.
He hoped. Sosiqui "Ah... yes, of course..." Tian Yue looked vaguely embarrassed. Of course they weren't done yet. The holographic map was amazing, but MI0 was the only such computer they had access to. If something happened to her...
Well.
"I will aid you, now that the scanning is done; I judge my hand steady enough to assist," he said, raising one eyebrow at Ankou with a teasing grin. The relief in having completed part of the map was palpable; now, only one part remained.
They were so close!
"Penny, if you would - go find Toki, tell him we all could use some food." Xing Yun was still slumbering, dead to the world, and he was loathe to wake her when Toki's exuberance would serve."Of course," Penny said, standing up and hurrying into the maze of bookshelves. "There, now - Toki will bring us everything we need, and probably some things we don't." Tian Yue brushed his hair back, tucking the wayward strands behind his ears and horns. "How far did you get, last night...?" Zero Dream "Certainly." He had... never gotten to deal with Toki himself, only Xing Yun, but he had indeed heard thing about the aoide.
All he could hope was that he would bring something other than fruit. He was starting to be rather sick of such things, after having to survive sorely on that for quite some time.
"I think..." He looked, in turn, at the portion of scan still displayed on his hologram, down the the book in his lap, then to the wide, finished 3D map. He finally stood, tucking the book under his arm, and reached for the hologram. It felt like... nothing at all, under his touch, but he was not sure if it ought to feel like anything at all. He made the map turn, stunned again for a moment, but took a hold of himself. "Here." He finally found what he was looking for, and brought the part to fill the whole hologram. He had no idea that his own fumbling were a good thing - after all, if he could use it intuitively and correctly, then likely anyone could. The part matched the last drawing in his book.
There was indeed still quite a bit of work to do on that regard. Sosiqui "All right. Just point me in the right direction, give me a pen and paper, and I'll continue from your maps," Tian Yue said, walking over to where Ankou had been working earlier. As he approached, the secondary projector turned on again, projecting the plain 2-D image of the last scan Ankou had done. "Let me... here."
He picked up the secondary projector, gingerly, and moved it closer to MI0's core. "Okay. Mio, please let me view the 2-D images again - the next in the sequence. Ankou, if you work off of that one, and I work off of this one... we should be able to coordinate..." Zero Dream It seemed like this would indeed work nicely - Tian Yue, after all, has likely more experience than he had with making sure information was coordinated. As long as it all made sense in the end, he did not especially care how he got there.
He was, however, more than glad that he now had some help on that front, else he would likely have been at it with yet quite many more 'days'...
And his hand would have likely fallen off.
He brought his chair closer, then sat and rested the book on his knees, comparing his drawing with the image. He was not quite done yet, it seemed, so he traced the last few lines. "Allright. Next in sequence, Mio." Sosiqui There was quiet silence, with only the sound of pens scratching on paper, for about ten minutes."Goo~oood morning!" The singsong echoed through the library; Tian Yue slumped. "Oh... oh dear. That's never a good-""Ah! How goes it, my Lord?" Toki fairly bounced into the study area, a tray carried in both hands, the dishes on it rattling disconcertingly as he moved. "Penny informed me of your needs - ah! Good morning, Lord Ankou!" The Aoide tried to bow and couldn't quite do it, not without dropping the tray, so he settled for bobbing his head rapidly a few times. "Toki... can we have that coffee, please?""Ah! Yes, of course! Coffee, coffee-" The dishes rattled again, and Tian Yue winced visibly.
"And don't spill anything, in the Crown's Name!" Zero Dream
Ankou perked in surprise as he heard the sing-song, and winced a little at the clattering of dishes.
It seemed that what Tian Yue had told him of Toki had not... been exaggerated.
"You... might want to be careful with that..." More so than the mess, coffee was hot, and the originals of the maps, the tracing they had done in the tree, were still scattered all around. The servant might accidentally hurt himself, or ruin those, and... for all he knew, they might well still need them ! It would only when both version of the maps would be done that he would be less twitchy about those.Sosiqui "Ah, yes, of course, Lord-" Toki bobbed his head again, then carefully held out a steaming cup of coffee. Tian Yue took it hurriedly, handing it to Ankou, before taking the second cup. "Be careful with it around Mio, Ankou - electronic-based systems like her are very vulnerable to liquids- Toki, will you STOP fluttering around with that and put it down?!""S-sorry!" Toki practically wailed, backing up so his back and wings were pressed to a bookshelf. "Toki..." Tian Yue sighed. "My apologies. It is just that these documents are irreplaceable... and singularly vulnerable to things like hot coffee." The Dragon King lifted his free hand to his temple and rubbed it. "We must be very careful.""Y-yes, Lord," Toki wibbled. Tian Yue fought the urge to roll his eyes. Toki meant well, but at times like this the Aoide could be kind of annoying. Zero Dream Ankou simply nodded, taking heed of the warning given to him - the last thing he wished to do was damage Mio in any way - and remained silent, letting Tian Yue wrangle his own aoide. He could sympathize... somewhat. Jinx was a little awkward with most everyday tasks, partly due to claws and partly due to instincts.
He took the hot cup when it was offered to him, and held it steady in both hands, forgoing both sugar and milk and taking a sip as-is. Sosiqui "There, now... thank you, Toki," Tian Yue said after a moment; the Aoide blinked, then visibly relaxed. "You've done well..." The Dragon King got to his feet, clearing space on one of the tables for Toki to put the tray down, which the Aoide did with exaggerated care."Thank you, Lord!" Toki beamed, his fretting of earlier apparently completely forgotten. "How do the preparations go?" "Well as can be expected. What of Penny?""She sleeps, Lord...?" Tian Yue smiled understandingly. "Of course. Do not wake her. Please, wait nearby for my call - but do not touch any of our work. They must remain perfectly organized.""Of course!" Toki bowed, fully this time since he was no longer burdened by the tray, then fairly skipped off to another aisle of bookshelves. "There, now," Tian Yue said, very quietly. "He'll be ready should we need him yet not... ah... right here, if you understand..." He took a sip of his own coffee. "Ah, that's good. Feel more.. hah... 'human' yet? An expression from my host-self." He raised one eyebrow at Ankou. Zero Dream Ankou rose an eyebrow in return at the expression, somewhat amused by it, and the irony that accompanied it. "More sentient, at the very least." He amended, his tone light, before taking a larger gulp of the bitter liquid. Skittish as the aoide was, he made good coffee. He said nothing about that, though, in fear of accidentally offending the dragon, who was aware enough as-is of Toki's.... quirks.
He paced himself toward one large window, conveniently putting himself away from both Mio and the documents, and stared out of it - the sky outside, of course, was still stark black, true absence rather than inky night.
Not for much longer.
Hopefully... Sosiqui "I can't wait to see the sun again," Tian Yue said dryly, watching Ankou's movements from his seat on the floor. He made no move to join the other god, though he glanced out at what little of the empty sky as was visible from that angle. "Sentimental concerns aside - it wears heavy on the mortals, all of them. The return of sun, moon, stars... it will be a symbol of hope and rebirth to them, moreso than anything else that has happened in these days since our Lord returned. A sign."
Hopefully a sign to mortals only, and not to our opponents.
Tian Yue shook his head, then took another long drink of coffee, tipping his head back and drinking until there was nothing left. Zero Dream "A sign indeed." Ankou answered, brow furrowing slightly - in thought or worry would be unclear to the dragon from this angle - but eventually he seemed to let it go, shaking his head lightly as he took another large sip from his mug.
"It... bothers me less then most, I would think. The Underworld had no sky." It has no sky, even now, though there had been those muted colors in the sky, much like an aurora borealis. An idea of his brother, or a idea of Music, he wondered ? "Though... It should not be so here."
But they would correct this. Soon, he could only hope.
Coffee was good, but it did little about the growling pit that was his stomach - so he finally turned away from the window and wandered over to the tray Toki had brought, and eventually selecting an apple from it. Sosiqui "No. No, it should not... but you know more than most, I think, about my feelings on the matter." There was no mirth in Tian Yue's smile, but no grief, either. Merely a sort of... tired acceptance. Things were as they were, and no further mourning would change it. "I am beyond ready for this to be over. Even as I slumbered, it haunted my dreams..."
He put down the coffee cup and turned to the next blank page, tapping MI0's output device; the holographic display popped up again where he'd left off. "This is poor penance indeed for what has been lost, and yet..." Zero Dream Ankou's expression changed, from fairly neutral to slightly worried - afraid that he had accidentally upset the dragon again with such a statement - but it seemed not to be the case, thankfully. One last gulp and the coffee was done, allowing him to discard the cup and to focus on the apple, as well as allowing him to get closer to Mio without fear or accidentally causing a mess. He would not resume his own work until his hunger was satisfied - the tray was mostly fruits, fruits had juice, and well...
He did not need to be a scholar to see this was not a good idea.
"If this task has been given to you... then perhaps this was the best way for it to be done." No matter what, he could not seem to find the words to attempt to comfort the dragon... If he even sought them out of him. These kind of words often escaped him. Sosiqui "It certainly makes me appreciate what we have left... how easily things are lost, how much we must fight to preserve what remains." A look of determination passed over the dragon's face as he drew, and he finished the page he was working on and flipped to the next in one quick movement. "And that there is no point in comparing what Was to what Is. We have lost too much to allow ourselves that luxury." Zero Dream "Yes." The Spirit Guide nodded. He could not help to agree with that statement. If they always longed for what would never return... they would never get anything new done.
They had to reshape anew. This much was clear.
He finished the fruit quickly, and settled down to continue drawing his section. Sosiqui Tian Yue smiled at his companion as the Spirit Guide sat down, then turned his full focus back to his work. At least being a deity had some benefits, such as increased resistance to irritations like blisters, hand-cramps, and eyestrain...
He had no idea how long they worked; Xing Yun awoke at one point and brought them another meal, then went away again, and Toki fell asleep against a bookshelf and snored astonishingly loud. And the gods continued in their toil, filling book after book with maps, references, cross-sections, notations...
And then Tian Yue reached for the next piece of paper and found none.
It took a moment to register; he turned his head and blinked dumbly at the empty place where stacks of paper had once stood. "Ankou... are we...?" Zero Dream Ankou continued on, doing his best to ignore those very three things - though he had no choice but to take more frequent breaks, else he felt asleep, or worse... copied something wrong due to eyestrain and cramps.
He had been taking such break - leaned back against the wall, hanging on two chair legs, having apparently learned nothing from his previous near-fall - looking almost asleep had it not been for the too quick raise and fall of his chest. It was only when the dragon spoke that he let himself fall forward, eyes opening to look at his surroundings. Done ? Certainly, that was impossible, there was -
The table was clear, and Mio's hologram only showed the lowest roots. Beyond that laid not world... but Underworld. And it was useless to map that, in it's current state.
"...Done ?" He sounded equally disbelieving. Sosiqui "I..." Tian Yue quickly stood up, searching for any fragment left uncopied. "Mio... report?""All segments have been viewed." "... I think so." Tian Yue shook his head, almost disbelieving. "I think so." Zero Dream It was only then that he turned to look - and saw what had been done.
In between them, ten massive tomes had been filled, carefully, with maps, drawing, schematics, descriptions, notes...
It was done. Both traditional and... holographic version done, clarified, carefully crafted to the best of their abilities. All that was perhaps needed was some sort of table of contents, some kind of way to organize further, but that was best left to the dragon. Ankou was so scholar - but he knew maps, and how to read then, and how to make them clear.
In between the two of them, it had worked out.
Done in truth now.
Which was good, because he was pretty sure his left hand was about to fall off.
"We are done." He announced, suddenly sure of it, now that he had seen the pile of tomes. Sosiqui "Done," Tian Yue repeated, then started to laugh - both with delight at the finished task, and with sheer relief. "Done, by the Crown himself! To whom we should bring this as quickly as possible! Hah!"
He felt absurdly like jumping into the air and dancing about in dragon-shape; he did not, of course, but the grin on his face was unmistakable. Zero Dream "That you should bring to him, perhaps." He said, a little amused. The honors of such a thing... were not for him, he felt. And the kings, of course, were the closest to Harmodius, no matter the influence he held. It almost felt... like intruding, perhaps.
A silly thought, but it was how it felt. If the dragon wished him to come, he would, but he left the door open for him to go alone, if he preferred. He had helped a little, certainly, but the task had not been his.
He seemed rather cheerful and relieved himself, though slightly more subdued - perhaps by the pain in the joints of his hands. Sosiqui "And you as well," Tian Yue said, arching one eyebrow at his companion; there was no way he was letting Ankou bow out without recognition. Not after what they'd done - and the task had arguably been harder on him than on the Dragon King. "You and I will approach him as soon as we've rested... with Penny, I think, to operate Mio. Agreed?" He grinned. Zero Dream "If I must." The Guide gave a clearly exaggerated roll of his eyes - but he was smiling. "Rest first, indeed - I would do myself little justice if I presented myself half asleep, with my hand feeling like it is about to fall off." He quirked a brow.
He finally stood, stretching a bit - his legs were tense, as they tended to go when he spent too long sitting in one spot without moving. Sosiqui "Yes. Come... a job well done deserves rest. I will call Xing Yun and have her collect the whole and return it to my chambers. It will be safe there." Tian Yue smiled and stretched as well, glancing out the window once more as he did so.
With luck.... it wouldn't be long now.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:55 pm
Song And ScalesZero Dream It was a lovely day out... well, at lovely as a day could be with no sun to shine. The wind had been warm on her skin, the temperature pleasant. And so she had decided to take her playing outside, as she often did. It allowed the mortals to come in and listen should they wish to, and in a sense it was almost like a constant reminder of the gods, who were always there. Who could listen and aid.
That little habit had stopped with her leaving, but now that she was back... well.
Music sat on her habitual perch, a small ledge closeby to what had once been the busiest street of the town, and brought her flute to her lips. Sosiqui "... cross-reference based on Mio's input, it should display just fine," Penny said eagerly as they rounded the corner. The two, mortal and god, were walking quickly along the sidewalk, with Penny catching her Lord up on occurrences while he had been absent. As for the Dragon King... well. His purpose was rather different. He was, in truth, only half-listening to what Penny had to say, focusing instead on their surroundings. Things were much changed, but they were beginning to change for the better. Slowly, ever so slowly, and yet... there were mortals here, moving through the streets, rebuilding, offering bows or cautious smiles. This close to the Pantheon, the mortals here were almost entirely believers - or at least aware of the existence of the gods, if not following any particular deity in faith. He paused, though, on a corner, holding up one hand; Penny's words trailed off. "Is... something wrong, Lord?" "No, I just - there! Do you hear that? Music..." A faint smile spread over the Dragon's face. "I am sorry, my dear... but I believe I know the songstress. Could you complete your errands without me?"Penny gave him a cheerful grin. "Of course, Lord." He smiled back. "Then by your leave, my lady..." Not waiting for her answer, the Dragon King leapt into the air, spiraling easily upward to hover above the street, easily triangulating the source of the faint music. There... ah!No doubt, as he drew closer and saw blue hair and robes, of the musician's identity. Feeling a bit impish at the sight of his old friend, Tian Yue landed softly on the roof tiles just above where Echo sat on the side of the building, waiting and listening silently until she had finished her piece. "Well-played and well-met, Music," he said, quietly. Zero Dream Echo continued her piece, unaware of her silent and well-hidden listener until she let the last notes drift into nothing and he finally spoke, quietly but easily audible.
...And thus Echo proceeded to to look everywhere for her friend, very teasingly so - after all, she very well knew that the sound had came from somewhere almost directly above her.
"I figure you are not as big as you told me." She stated, teasingly. "If I cannot see you from here !" Sosiqui "Were I as big as I could be, I would collapse the building out from under you - and I have no desire to do that." Tian Yue laughed and jumped down, landing lightly on the ledge next to her. "I see you have returned. I am glad to see you well - I am only sorry I could not do more for your little ones in your absence." Zero Dream "Is it fine." Echo answered softly, gently putting her flute back in it's case with the uttermost care. "I can certainly hold you to no obligations that I have not futfilled myself - they are safe, though, with the aoidei having taken care of them. And, I must admit, them having taken care of each other." It had surprised her, in a way. Perhaps it was true, what they said, about how children did not remain so for very long... Already all three were much more mature than they had been one year ago, even if it was in different ways.
"I have heard you have gone onto a journey of your own, indeed." Probably well after her, given that their paths had not... crossed, down there. She had remained in the tree for quite a long while indeed. "I have not explored the world tree much... only went where I needed to go, which thankfully had been rather evident." Straight down hadn't been very hard to find. "I am sure I would have gotten lost otherwise. It looked like such a maze, the branches..." Sosiqui "Still, I wish I could do more. A constant refrain, these days." Tian Yue smiled and moved to sit down next to her, dangling his legs and the tip of his tail over the ledge. "Ankou mentioned he had found you and yours. You are well, then?" She certainly appeared to be so, more radiant than he'd seen her and with her hair so intricately styled. Zero Dream "Yes, I am well. Nergal too, though... I would be lying if I say I was not glad to finally be home. The Underworld is certainly... different from everywhere else."
"But I will likely get used to it, in time." She would have to, after all, if she was to be queen. "It is not a bad place, per se... simply different." Like a shadow ghosting over the living world, imitating it the best it could while coming short in places. It was the impression she had gotten from her long stay in it. "I may have gotten too used to mortal senses, to be honest." Echo pondered alot, thoughtfully... but then, Harmodius had put it best.
It was all that they knew, now, the reborn. Human-like shapes. Sosiqui "It is good for us to remember - to stay close, to cherish, to treasure. To not forget where we came from, and what keeps us here." Tian Yue looked down at the streets below, at the mortals who moved there - far fewer than there had been before Gehenna, but their numbers were growing. It had been long enough that there were children now, and mothers near their time... "I did not strive to save All for my own sake... but for those of everyone around me. My followers. The ones who deny us still. My brothers. You, and yours." He gave her an almost sheepish grin. Zero Dream "Indeed..." That was not to be forgotten, as well. If it would be so, then this whole rebirth would have been meaningless. And he had a point, of course... Had she not fought for her own children, for those yet lingering in jewels, for all those who could not have fought themselves ? Was it not what had brought Music, of all things, to the battlefield ?
"But I am rambling." She said, letting out a small giggle that sounded like a thousand tiny bells. "Was the World Tree as maze-like as it seemed from the main path ?" That seemed like a much safer topic than the empty sky about their heads. Sosiqui Tian Yue made a face. "Much, much moreso. You could begin to comprehend it, I think - but even looking at the map makes poor Penny's head hurt. Even poor Mio, the computer, was strained to the uttermost limits of her processing power... a pity there is no extant god of Technology to calm her circuits." His tone was light, teasing. "But... we are done. We rest, now, gather our thoughts and calm our minds. Soon we will bring the fruits of our labor to our Lord and begin the healing of the sky." Zero Dream Perhaps she could indeed begin to comprehend, having been there herself. Having seen it for herself as well. It seemed... immense. Beyond anything she had even seen.
The idea of having to map that...
"I think I get an headache simply by thinking about it." She had to admit, giving herself a little push to let herself fall off the ledge and onto her feet. "Walk with me ?" Sosiqui "Of course." Tian Yue followed suit, though he vaulted off the ledge rather than simply sliding down as Echo had. "I am glad that your travels through the World Tree ended well. Even I, who know better than most the vastness of the Infinite... even I underestimated it, somehow. Or perhaps the enormity of it destroys all our illusions of understanding." Zero Dream "Perhaps..." The goddess pondered it for a moment. She would not know much of infinite spans herself... or would she ? Her pace was slow and leisurely, more than enough for the dragon to easily follow her, her tail kicking up a pebble there and there.
Well, perhaps she would learn of it, in time. Echo was unsure why old worries she had thought buried rose again to bother her at this moment.
"I seem to have not missed much..." A blessing and an hindrance both - there had certainly been progress this close to the pantheon, at the very least. There were livable quarters for the survivors, a far cry from the piles of rubble that had once stood there.
"...Do you know if there is any of us reaching away from here ?" She pondered out loud, the thought suddenly occurring to her. "I went to the World Tree by the ground... Some of the people this far away knew little of what had happened, and that they were no longer in danger. It makes me wonder..." The survivors would be stronger united than scattered, she knew this much. "I know some of the mortals I had spoken to planned to make the trip here... But ultimately I do not know much." There were also the other worlds... Sosiqui "I do not. I think we have all drawn together close, for survival against Gehenna... and we are loathe to spread out again, to leave Creation's side. We have grown in power, yet in perception, shrunk to pinpricks... so tied in and tethered to one pair of eyes, one set of ears. One nose, one voice." The Dragon shrugged. "Such is natural for the Dragon Kings... yet less so, I think, for the Embodied Powers." Zero Dream "I see..." The goddess seemed to ponder this internally, ears moving according to whichever sound, be it the dragon's footsteps at her side, or birds chirping in the nearby trees, that caught her attention.
Perhaps this was for her to do...
Something seemed to occur to her as she did so. "When you went to the world tree... did you happen to see a blue horse-like creature ? That would be Aria, an errais... She came with me in my travels, but when the roots got too steep for her to go on safely, I went ahead alone. I have not heard from her since..." There was worry in her voice, and in the way her ears positioned themselves. "I can only hope she is alright..." Sosiqui Tian Yue tilted his head to one side. "No, I did not. We, too, had errais accompanying us - my Gringolet, and Ankou's Athanasius. While we were all separated for a time, I am sure they would have mentioned it if they'd found another of their number. Certainly, they would not have left her wandering..." Zero Dream At the mention of the name of Ankou's errais, one slender eyebrow rose in a mix of surprise and curiosity. "Certainly not... especially not her own son." Curious, indeed. Very curious. Was Aria aware of this ? Not that she would have opposed, but it was still curious. Ankou would threat the world-walker well indeed, and that would be enough to lighten any worry the mother might have. "I should not have left her alone in there..." Echo sighed, shaking her head - a few bangs slipped loose of her updo. But in a way it had been better that way. She likely would not have survived her long stay in the Underworld.
"Please, if you see her when you are about... let me know as soon as possible ?" Sosiqui "Of course. We did meet some gentle creatures within, a guiding feline race called the Nyanko. Perhaps they will find her, and bring her home." He did not mention the encounter with the demons; best not to worry her, and in any case he and Ankou had taken care of those quite nicely.
"And as for your children, my Lady, I find them... clever, perceptive. Too much so," he said, letting a light, teasing tone come into his voice. Zero Dream "Nyanko ?" Ah, there it was - her curiosity was awakened once more, and it helped chase worry away. There was little she could do beyond hoping that things would be allright. Aria, being the experienced traveler she was, would know better than to take too many risks. Hopefully. "What are they like ?"
"They are indeed very smart." There was pride in her words, rightfully so. "They learn quickly indeed.., I am very proud of how they managed in my absence." It was evident that her three children were beloved and precious to her, perhaps beyond anything else. Sosiqui "Like cats, almost exactly - yet a bit more nimble than a house-pet, capable of speech in the common tongue, with finely-tuned instincts for the Tree's turnings. Most of those we met were young, and as exuberant and excitable as any young creature." He grinned. "Including your children, in their own ways... did young Akakios tell you how he woke me up from deep slumber?"
His voice grew a bit quieter, then. "He is well titled, Mournsong; young Lacrymosa bestowed the healing of her domain upon my heart as well. They both honor their lineage." Zero Dream The goddess seemed to ponder this information for a moment, lips pursing in thought. "I remember coming across some... well, they seemed to have once been camps, with maps carved into the living wood... Would that had once been theirs ?"
"I have heard of it." Oh, of course she had indeed, heard of this tale - though it was likely exaggerated on her son's end - exuberant and excitable, after all. "I am glad that he managed to bring you comfort when you needed it..." When she hadn't been there. Guilt stung at that thought. She should have been there, should have realized that his absence was unnatural, should have, should have...
So many things indeed, but what was done had been done. There was no changing it now.
"I heard you ever gave him a ride." Her expression turned into a mock-pout. "I could be jealous, even, that my son has seen you in your full ascension before even I." Sosiqui "Camps with maps, yes - those would have been Nyanko enclaves. I believe they are mostly dormant. We were fortunate to find some still awake."
Tian Yue nodded at her next words, a soft smile on his face. "He did, and she did - I have not yet encountered Sotiris, but I'm sure he'll prove just as interesting. His domain is cousin to my own, after all."
Then his expression turned impish. "Oh? Would you like a ride as well, my dear Lady Music?" His tail-tip twitched faintly, a sure sign that the Dragon King had mischief on his mind. Zero Dream "I think you would like him. He is... easily excitable." She was not speaking of it as a bad thing. "And I do believe he beats even you in mischief." And apparently, that was saying something.
Her own tail joined in the twitching, her own motion more of a wide arc than his - the constant, accurate tip-tac of a metronome. "After such an affront, I am unsure if I should accept. It would certainly need to wow me."
Oh, this was so on, and she knew it very well indeed. Had it not been for the mischievous light in her eyes and the grin that threatened to form on her lips, the goddess might have looked like that had been a serious statement. Sosiqui "Hmm, and I wouldn't want to scare the mortals..." The speed of his tail-wagging increased slightly. "Well, then. Instead of a ride... perhaps... a gift?"
It was something he had not done before, not in this life - but he could feel the knowledge in the back of his mind, a delicate awareness of power not yet unfurled. An adjunct to his own power of flight. What lifted him... could lift others as well. He could guide others into the Heavens...
The Dragon King sprang upwards into the sky, feeling his element catch and hold him easily; a gentle word, a gesture to it was all it would take. Here is Echo, Music; let her come in, carry her for a little while. She is favored by Us.
"Come on," he called down to her, grinning, his tail now wagging madly. "Spread your wings!" Zero Dream Echo looked up at him from the ground, painting the perfect portrait of puzzlement, with one eyebrow risen just so.
Curiosity certainly won this round, however, and she leaped to follow.
And, oddly enough for her, she did not fall down. She remained suspended in mid-air, looking even more puzzled than before. Well... This was certainly different.
And she certainly had no idea exactly how one did fly - one wide movement of her wings brought her, at least, closer to the dragon. Sosiqui Tian Yue just beamed at her, clearly amused - and just as clearly pleased with himself. He could feel the skies parting around her, lifting her up, accepting her. "So it does work - just as I remembered. An invitation into the Celestial Realm."
He held out one hand to her. "I believe your esteemed King might also enjoy this, would he not?" Zero Dream "Certainly." At least, she thought so - he certainly seemed to enjoy flying down there, at least. A few more awkward movements of her wings and she was able to take the offered hand. It was too bad that she was not quite sure if Nergal had yet returned, or if he was still tending to matters down below - had she known, she would have certainly been of the option that this would have warranted disturbing him.
"Unfortunately I am not quite sure where he is at the moment, else I would certainly want to see for myself." Sosiqui "I shall have to invite him another time, then." The sky was hungry, eager to welcome more into its expanse now that he'd invited it to do so once; he laughed, partially in delight at its responsiveness. While it had never been his, truly, in this it would at least heed his commands...
"And does Nergal fare well? Did he return with you?" Tian Yue took her hand gently, lifting her up a little to his level. They weren't terribly high up, maybe seven feet off the ground, but a small collection of gawking mortals was starting to assemble. "Are you willing to go a bit higher? We can go anywhere you like." Zero Dream "He did return with me, but he did not stay long. There is much yet to be done..." So much indeed. The goddess kind of hoped he would not ask exactly what, because she was not quite sure where she could start. "I could let him know to seek you out, when I see him next ?"
"We can try." The height, so far, was not so bad - and she certainly was not falling like the last time she had been suspended so far up in the air, so there was nothing scary about it. Sosiqui Tian Yue grinned ruefully at Echo's words. "Much to be done, indeed. An understatement. The world is all askew, and we are to pick it up and put it back in place. The sky alone is a great task - to say nothing of the planes of Heaven and Hell."
"Come, then - don't be afraid, you will not fall even if you falter. Your wings serve only to direct your movements higher or lower; the air will not cease to hold you no matter what you do." Zero Dream Thankfully so indeed, because it was quite obvious Echo had no idea howsoever about flight - in fact, her wings only moved when she was actually moving and thinking about it. She moved to follow the dragon the best she could, still working out the proper movements that sent her where she wished to be.
"Much to do indeed... But much has been done so far." From up here, it was easy to see just how much had been rebuilt - broken buildings taken apart and made anew once more. Allysia's work, certainly, but by no mean sorely her own. "This... is starting to look like a city again, slowly. Much has happened while I was gone..." Sosiqui "I had nothing to do with it either," Tian Yue said, with a sigh. "Oh, my followers have been moving, though they have focused on reclaiming and rescuing knowledge in danger of being lost. But the task of rebuilding is vast. Still, when the sky is returned... then I will be proud. Still sorrowful that such was required, always... but the restoration will affect many, I know." Zero Dream "That is certainly a good thing to focus on..." Echo hadn't even really thought of that. Of all the books and tablets that had been destroyed... of all that knowledge lost. She sighed in turn.
"I... should have known, really." She admired, with a sigh. "Should have known to seek you out..." But so many things happened. That wasn't exactly an excuse at all. "I fear I have been a poor friend, with being absent where I would have liked been needed." Sosiqui Tian Yue shook his head. "You didn't sleep for months - literally. We could go through the litany of should have-would have if you like, but... I have learned that dwelling on such things leads only to more pain. And believe me, I am quite experienced in fretting." He gave her a wry grin. Zero Dream Having not been asleep for months certainly gave her even less of a reason to not have figured things out, really, but she had to admit that he was right, so she did not argue it any further. Apology of a kind had been given, and her heart felt a little lighter, at least.
"Do you, now ?" Echo asked, visibly a little amused. It did bring some images to mind, some more amusing than others. Like a large dragon watching over many things like a mother hen watched over her eggs. Sosiqui "Definitely." Tian Yue grinned, then rose a little higher into the air. "But enough of such depressing topics - where would you care to go? Perhaps when you ascend fully, you will have no need of my assistance, but for now... let us enjoy it." Zero Dream "Hmmm..." Echo mused out loud. It was a little hard to locate herself from a bird's eye view, to be honest - she was entirely unused to such thing, and it took her a moment to puzzle out where they were now. "I am unsure... I am certainly not used to seeing things from this angle." She had to admit. "Do you have anything in mind ?" Sosiqui The Dragon King laughed. "Only to give you a moment to remember, my dear friend. And, I will admit, to see if I could actually share my power of flight... I hadn't actually tried it before." He gave her a somewhat sheepish look. Zero Dream Echo laughed in turn, the sound light and sweet. "Both very valid reasons indeed." That was indeed a moment to remember, and not something she had thought would ever happen to her. "Well, then..." She mused. "Then maybe..." Her expression turned impish. "Let us see if the student can outdo the master, hm ?"
With little else in the mean of warning, Echo bolted ahead in that impromptu race. She would need the head start, of course. Sosiqui "-hey!" Tian Yue protested. "That isn't fair!"
For a moment he contemplated 'cheating' back, shifting into dragon-shape and getting an instant nine-hundred-foot lead, but... well. That was hardly sporting.
Instead, the Dragon King chased after her, laughing. "Cheaters never prosper!" he shouted after her. Zero Dream Indeed, cheaters never prosper. Or, at least, her head start did not help her out too much, given how inexperienced she was in flight, and he caught up with her quickly.
"Hmph." She grinned, looking over to her surroundings once they had stopped - they were right back over the pantheon "Fine. I shall make it up to you in tea, then."
At least, Music was not a sore loser.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:56 pm
Brothers Re-UnitedZero Dream A night elf could not be kept in between four walls for too long. It had not taken long for Illisia to go outside once more, drawn to the forest nearby rather than to the streets near the pantheon. It was still within nature that she felt best, and the dragon she bore did not seem to mind of her were abouts.
Maybe if she found a lake nearby, she could fish... That did not seem like a bad idea, even if she was not very familiar as to what kind of fish might inhabit this world. She had survived mostly on berries, and even bark when times got rough, since her arrival here.
Her steps did indeed lead her to a lake - and the elven woman perched onto a rock to rest a moment before contemplating her meal. Sosiqui The lake, as it happened, was occupied.
While the surface had seemed calm as the night elf approached, a few moments after she sat down on the rock, the lake suddenly erupted in a surge of water as a long, scaled form broke the surface. It wasn't a tidal wave, but it certainly did send water sloshing onto the shore...
It took the Dragon a moment to realize he was no longer alone, so content was he in the excellent swim he'd just enjoyed. He stared lazily at the shore for a long moment, his eyes half-lidded, before he snorted suddenly and lifted his head out of the water, beard and whiskers dripping. "Ah! My apologi-"
His words stopped as quickly as they'd begun, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he scrutinized the figure before him. Something seemed so... familiar... Zero Dream It was a little bit like a scene straight from an horror movie, but unfortunaltely Illisia lacked means to make that comparison.
When Tian Yue emerged, the elf very nearly bolted up the nearest tree in pure reflex. She had seen dragons before, of course, but never quite like this.
And never quite this big.
WHAT IN ELUNE'S NAME IS THIS ?!?Xun Jiang, for his part, seemed more excited than anything else. Ah... !!! He could indeed recognize a brother when he saw one. Do not fear. He will not harm you....If you're sure about that... She wasn't so certain, expecially with the look he (well, the voice sounded male) was giving her at the moment.
"Ah... um..."
The gem, clearly visible on her arm, would thankfully answer that question for her. Sosiqui The Dragon King realized, after a moment, that he'd been staring - and that being stared at by such a very large creature, especially one that had suddenly emerged from a formerly placid lake, was bound to be startling. Yet he'd found what he was looking for; a glint of brightness that drew his gaze back. A gem, a familiar gem, embedded in twilight-tinted flesh...
"... Kawagiri?"
The dragon reached out his long neck and scooped up a bundle of cloth sitting on the beach, which was now soaked through. A moment later, the great scaled form in the water seemed to melt away, leaving in its place a human shape, a man paddling somewhat incongruously. Still, he moved towards the shore after a moment, shrugging into the clothing he'd just retrieved as he emerged from the lake proper. He shook the last drops from his fan-tipped tail as he moved to stand in front of the night elf.
"You are family, I think - I am Tian Yue, the Dragon King Tien Lung." He gave her a soft smile. "I'm sorry for scaring you." Zero Dream Kawagiri... ?Xun Jiang seemed just as every bit as lost as she was. That could never be a good sign.
It was her turn to stare as the large dragon seemed to melt away into nothi- ah, no, not nothing, but into a man that, while still rather tall, certainly was not quite as intimidating. Still, the night elf looked rather bemused.
"...I am Illisia." She finally managed, after having to swallow the lump that had been forming in her throat. "And, hm, Xun Jiang. Ti-Lung." Another dragon. How many were there ?Nine. Eight others. The dragon answered automatically. You will need to be my voice again, my dear."He sends his greetings." She repeated the words he told her. Sosiqui "Ti Lung..." Tian Yue looked at her closely. "I have met you before, my brother, though not enfleshed in this fair one... yet you are not the only Dragon to require a host made of sterner stuff." He gave Illisia another smile, this one clearly meant for her and not only for the Dragon within her. "Illisia. When did you come to hold my brother inside your soul?" Zero Dream Excuse me ?I... have no idea howsoever.It would have been much easier for her to be mad had his consciousness not been within her own - she could tell he was just as every bit as confused as she was.
"...He has no idea what you're talking about." And neither do I, really.
The last question required some more thought. "...Im not too sure. It hasn't been very long." Sosiqui "It does not matter now," Tian Yue said, quickly, realizing that he was only confusing both dragon and host; after he had left Ti Lung and Auri, he had never been able to find that river-marked door in the Pantheon again, no matter how hard he searched. Another brother vanished away, like Shen Lung and Mang...
And now he has returned, like Futs Lung, enfleshed in a new host. He had never asked Jin Huang about what had happened. "It seems I'm not doing too well today," he said, a bit sheepish. "First I startle you, then I confuse you - perhaps my delight at seeing one of my dear brothers returned to flesh has addled my wits." He chuckled, softly. "Thank you for what you have done, Illisia." Zero Dream Illisia seemed rather happy to let go of that subject, even as Xun Jiang continued to ponder it. Even she had started to figure it out, to be honest, but going down that train of thought held nothing good.
So there had been another before her and... it hadn't worked out. That was scary in itself.It was disturbing to the one within her as well, but perhaps more so that it had not been the only one. It will not happen. He attempted the quell his host's fear as it rose.I certainly hope not... The mere thought sent a shiver down her spine. No, bad idea. Think about something else, she told herself sharply.
"...He needed me." It was all she could say, really. "I... could not ignore that." Sosiqui "I know," Tian Yue said, quietly. "I remember... the call, the need, the decision. It is no easy thing." Zero Dream This seemed to confuse her again, if the look at the crossed her face was to be of any indication. This was clearly a god, she could feel it, very strongly - the energies of those she had met so far were very different, but had enough in similar for her to be able to recognize a god from something else, but he spoke as if he had been the host ?Most curious indeed... The dragon pondered this for a moment, but figured explanation would come if his brother wished to give it - he would not force one of his own kin, not over such trivial matters. Illisia... Ask him, please. I must know."...He would like to know what happened. He feels something is wrong..." An understatement. They all knew something was wrong, all it took was one look upward. "I... know some things, but I don't know enough." Sosiqui Tian Yue sighed, then sat on the nearest large rock, curling his tail lightly against the cool, rough surface. "Much has happened, host of Many Waters. I will explain all as best I can, though it may take time. Do you remember, my brother... the name Gehenna? The unbridled release of Destruction's nature? The End?" Zero Dream There was no immediate answer from the dragon, who seemed deep in thought. It took only a few seconds for him to answer his host, the mental conversation lightning quick."There is familiarity. Vague, but there." It was the host that answered for him, but the mention of such a thing had the elven woman frowning in though. This could not possibly heading to anything pleasant, and she would have been able to guess so even if she had not seen the effects with her own eyes. Sosiqui "It was the Grigori who began it," Tian Yue said, quietly. "Their Queen, Samyaza, somehow escaped the land set apart for them. Destruction was already precarious, in sore need of balance; she took his Name, destroyed balance completely. The unravelling was great and terrible. While in the end we stopped it, brought Creation back from the brink... there were many, many casualties. Mortal... and immortal."
He tilted his head up to the empty sky for a moment. "Universe is Eaten; the Sky is no more." It was said simply, without any echo of the pain that had once colored his voice at the thought; the time of that news being a fresh shock, a new revelation every time it was spoken, was long since gone. He had made his peace, as best he could.
The loss was no less for all that. Zero Dream "I know of this." Illisia spoke, head tilted toward the ground. "I... My people... worship the stars. Lord Harmodius told me of it." She would need to somehow get word back to her world, to her people, of such thing... but that there were also other gods to turn to. Others that needed them, in a way.
"So this had indeed been very nearly the end of the worlds..."Xun Jiang took in all that the best he could. There was little he could remember, and the words Grigori or Samyaza rose nothing within him, but he understood enough. Enough to know he had been absent in a time where he would have been sorely needed, and shame overtook him.
Tell him I am sorry, my dear.You're being stupid. This wasn't your fault ! Illisia announced in brutal honesty, but the dragon would not relent.
"..He wants you to know he is sorry. That he should have been there, with the rest of you, to face this..." Sosiqui Tian Yue smiled, gently. "Be at ease, my brother... I, too, was absent at times when I was sorely needed. Yet what could we do, trapped in gems as we both were? You are here now, and the voices of flowing waters, the life of rivers... all very much needed. Now is the blossoming of Rebirth."
"And," he added, "you are not the only among the Dragons to take host and..." He hesitated, aware that this was a strange subject, one worrying and unfamiliar to both god and host. "Require another. Futs Lung and Yu Five Claws were both such, and they stand among us now whole and new." Zero Dream This seemed to comfort the dragon, if only slightly. The second matter, however, made Illisia shake her head. "...I hadn't thought about that being a possibility, to be honest." It just seemed odd that one could call for the wrong host. If that was what happened at all.
"I... don't want to give my life for nothing." She finally admired what was bothering her, ever since he had mentioned that there had been another before her. Giving her life willingly to the dragon she bore she was fine with. To have it be a waste... not so much.
What had happened to the one that had been before her ? And was she a wrong choice, as well ?You are not, my dear. I know it so.Xun Jiang's belief of this was rock solid, she could hear it as well as feel it, in the way they both knew how the other felt independently from weither or not they voiced it to the other, and it was her turn to draw comfort from his own certainty. Sosiqui "I am sure you are not - even the one who came before you, I am sure, gave of herself to the benefit of the god you bear. To the benefit of All." Tian Yue bowed his head in a gesture of respect. "The divine cannot root in an unwilling heart, in a heart that can provide no blessing or succor." Zero Dream "I guess so." She had to admit, even if that did not really reassure her much. Well... there was little that could be done about that now - she would have to trust the dragon's judgment.
This was still a bit of an odd concept, that gods needed them just as much as the mortals needed them. Not once in her life had she actually thought of it this way, but then she had also never been a priestess. Illisia had been guard for her fair share, certainly, but she had never questioned them, or her faith.
In a sense, all those things suddenly becoming different made her even more uneasy.
"So." She was a little desperate for something else to speak about, now. "You were... taking a bath ?"Certainly swims with all the ease and grace of... ah, yes, a brick, thank you for the mental imagery my dear. Xun Jiang stepped back in then, his mental voice colored with gentle mischief.Illisia, for her part, had to clamp her hand on her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. I won't be the one to tell him that ! Sosiqui A very faint blush of embarrassment came over the dragon's features. "Yes, I was. A recent journey taught me some of the pleasures of swimming - up until now, the world had been under first Destruction's sway, then Gehenna's, so pure and untainted water was rare, and I would not dream of bathing in a precious uncontaminated resource. Now, though... I can indulge myself in that luxury. It's not precisely like flying, but it's close enough... and its limits are natural, unlike those imposed on the air." He glanced upwards. Zero Dream "Oh ?" That was indeed very interesting indeed, especially the comparison he made. "I have always considered the two were quite different but... You are right, there are certainly similarities."
An interesting thought indeed. Not that she was about to go try to swim in her raven shape. That certainly would not end well. Sosiqui "Certainly, the mortals speak of seas and rivers of stars. Many cultures hold such myths. No, we need not be separated, Sky and Water. We are brothers." Tian Yue smiled and sat back more comfortably on his rock. "As are you, Ilisia. There are none among the divine - well, almost none - who would not honor you on sight." Zero Dream "Rivers of stars..." She certainly had not heard something like this before, and was now curious which cultures those would be - perhaps she would be able to figure it out, in time.
"I... have noticed." Somewhat. Glyph had certainly acted like she was bearing something important indeed. "It had not quite occurred to me that you brothers were... rarer ?" She was not sure how to explain herself without possibly upsetting Tian Yue. "There are many dragons where I come from, children of the Aspects, but they are certainly quite different... and quite smaller. It had not occurred to me that things could be different here." She certainly was old and set in her ways somewhat, even if she certainly did not look like it. Sosiqui Tian Yue laughed, though not unkindly. "I suppose we could be called rare. We are not precisely like the other deities that rule over All. There are nine of us, all sworn to the Twin Crown's service, bound to him more nearly than almost any other god could be. We are limited, in a sense - or, perhaps, you could say we are honed to one specific purpose, one task or sphere in which we excel above all others. We are His scales," he said, pride evident in his tone. Zero Dream Indeed. There is certainly no better fate than to be His. Xun Jiang chimed in, a very similar pride in his voice.That made her lips quirk up slightly in amusement - praise in stereo, indeed. "I see... That is helpful, I do understand a little better now." Perhaps it was that which... made them so hard to host. Three failures out of nine...
She frowned a bit, and shoved the dark thoughts away again, shaking her head. Sosiqui Tian Yue tilted his head to one side. "Be at ease, sister." Zero Dream Illisia shook her head again, and forced a smile on her face. "It's fine." Illisia..."You know." She mused out loud. "I certainly could go for a swim myself. I havn't seen waters this clear for a long time. I am quite sure your brother would appreciate as well, wouldn't he ?" Sosiqui Tian Yue chuckled. "Doubtless, he would." He gave the water a speculative look, then turned away from Ilisia and slipped his robe up over his shoulders. An instant later the great Dragon was on the beach, dipping his head down to sniff at the water before turning back to look at the night elf. Zero Dream Illisia followed, carefully - not so much out of fear of anything that the dragon could do, but of what the dragon could accidentally do. She had some base knowledge than sometimes things just happened when there were more of one self to manage.
"Are your brothers all as big as you are ?" She'd figured they had to be called dragon kings for a reason, yes, but Tian Yue was certainly the biggest dragon she had ever seen. And she had seen a few in her long life, but certainly not from so close.
Tian Yue seemed... a little shy (how amusing !) so she refrained from stripping out of her clothing, sliding one foot in the water experimentally. It was a little cold, but certainly not so bad. Sosiqui "I am the largest," Tian Yue said, proudly, puffing up his chest a bit and stretching to his full height. "Or... I am at the moment. I am fully ascended once more, you see. Once Great Chien-Tang has ascended, he will be larger than I am. We two are the largest of the Kings."
"Though," he added, "it can be a bit inconvenient. I can no longer fit into my bedroom in this shape." Zero Dream "I imagine that would be a problem." Forget the bedroom, he probably... wouldn't fit in most buildings like this. That was probably why they also had more... human-like forms to begin with. Maybe ?
Hm. That was something to ponder over.
For now, however, the water was more tempting, and she dived smoothly into the lake. Sosiqui Tian Yue rumbled with amused agreement, then ducked down to follow her.
A little more swimming couldn't hurt.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:57 pm
The End Of The PathSosiqui They were ready, at last.
It took quite the entourage to bring the whole of what they had collected down to the great hall - both gods and all the Aoidei were burdened with volumes of their 'analog' map, making multiple trips up and down to transport them all. Penny had it easier, with MI0's bag slung at her side, the holographic output terminals in her hands. She had only to set up the AI and its terminals for display while the others neatly organized the map books for Creation's perusal.
When all was arranged to the Dragon King's specifications, Tian Yue took a few steps back and looked over what they had done, a feeling of satisfaction filling him. They had accomplished a task no mortal could have managed - though their help, as Penny and the errais had proven, was still invaluable.
As was the help of others, he remembered, feeling the weight of the nyanko figurine in one pocket of his robes."My Lord?" Penny asked, quietly. "Are we ready?" She had the interface up and running, with the projection of Yggdrasil's paths an almost impossible tangle in the air. "What do you think?" Tian Yue asked, turning to grin at his friend. "Does the Spirit Guide approve?" Zero Dream Ankou had mostly left the arranging for the dragon - and contented himself with being one more pair of hands at the ready. The weight of his own burden of tomes had been laid upon the ensemble, and to be honest he was glad that it had finally been so. The way from Tian Yue's room to here had seemed to take forever while he had been carrying that weight.
At the inquiry, he looked over everything, even as Jinx carefully straightened piles of books, careful of her own claws. "This all looks fine to me." The sheer number of tomes - and the projection from Mio - still made him wonder just how they had actually managed all of this, only the six of them, crawling though the natural maze that was the World Tree like tiny little ants...
"It looks fine to me." But what did he know about presenting information like this ? He was no scholar, after all. Sosiqui "I only pray that it will make sense to others - we lived this, after all..."
But this was Lord Harmodius they were talking about. If any could Understand, it was He. "His dwellings lie above, I believe. His presence breathes here, surrounds everything..." It was, in a way, like being in Yggdrasil all over again, except it was reveling in nearness to Creation rather than being enmeshed in Gaia's branches. "We are so near... so near to restoration..." Zero Dream "I can only hope so." It had been one of the things that had nagged at him, ever since their return. He was not an experienced map-maker, after all.
But... the worlds were lighter now, if only slightly. The proper cycle of life and death restated, even if things were still only starting again. And soon... Soon the sky. Hopefully. Ivynian The room did breath. The air sucked out for a moment, inhaled by greater lungs, then returned rich and clear as fresh from a mountaintop and untasted by any other thing. Creation came, materializing from hazy unbeing to solidity with each step in a walk that started from one of the pillars.  "Even the gods do Gather, and find their strengths and majesty in cooperation. You have all done well, and present a wellspring where once was only sand. Is that not a good basis for such things as hope, Spirit Guide?" Zero Dream Harmodius' sudden appearance still somewhat managed to catch the Guide off-guard, and he lowered his gaze in respect. "It is." He admitted.
It was not something simple, what they had accomplished. Some might have even labeled it impossible.
But that was for the dragon to truly present, and not for him. Sosiqui Tian Yue bowed immediately, then rose with a smile on his lips. "I pray that our findings will only increase that wellspring, my Lord. We bring news of Yggdrasil's expanse, of limbs flourishing and limbs bereft. We have assembled this knowledge as best we could.."
Next to him, Penny dropped to her knees and bowed in full obeisance. "Lord Creation... this device contains a map of what Lord Tian Yue and Lord Ankou have compiled." She placed one hand on the computer's casing as she rose once more. "Mio?"
A moment later the map sprang into being. Ivynian He came closer at Penny's explanation, quirking with plain curiosity. True enough, the device rather then the map seemed to be his focus first. "Mio? Is that a name?" Zero Dream Ankou made a face at that question, one of quiet confusion rather than disdain. Really, this whole... A.I. business was wholly beyond him. Not from shortage of explaination on Tian Yue and Penny's part, but... Well, Mio just confused him.
"Yes. Mio is the computer, Lord." At least he knew how to refer to i- her correctly. Mostly thanks to Penny. "She is refered as such." He'd refered to her as she by pure acquired habit, and only caught herself after the fact. "Penny will be able to explain much better than I."
He really should have left the explanation to the red-haired mortal to begin with, and he felt a little silly. Sosiqui Penny bowed again, then nodded. "It is as the Lord Ankou says, Lord Creation - Mio is short for Mechanized Intelligence Zero. A computer, Lord. She has no true soul, but she does have a brain... of sorts. Say hello, Mio." "Hello, noble thaumic being," the computer said, at once, the tone only slightly colored with a mechanical inflection. "Er... that means something like great deity. I... I think," Penny said, thugh she sounded a bit uncertain. Tian Yue smiled. "Without her help, our task would have been far more difficult. We also produced the maps in a more... traditional form." Now, the Dragon King nodded at the tomes around them.
"We marked the living and dead branchings with the aid of a few Nyanko yet awake and alive; the flow of mana and thus the worlds that live should be thus marked." Tian Yue spoke clearly and confidently, yet there was still a small hitch of hesitation deep inside him. If, at this stage, their logic was proven faulty...Ivynian Creation listened to the elaboration thoughtfully, then toned to the responding computer, "Well met, .....Mio. Have you heard of Deus Ex Machina?" He squeezed his eyes, cat-like, with pleasure. "Modern and dated, I could not ask for better estimates. If there are mistakes or discrepancies, it is no great regret. If there are not worlds at the end of every marking, then there soon will be." "Nyanko. " "A goodly people, well known once to our own kind. Loyal and inquisitive. That there remain those still sleeping in the echoing halls of Yggdrasil's veins is a welcome wonder. Given supply and aid, their numbers should better and their drums echo through the great halls as merry music." "I shall begin then at the first rising of the new sky. And this toil of yours will be of great use. You have all traveled deep in the long, quiet dark that only just comes anew with life. Neither an easy, nor an often....pleasant task by most accounts. You all deserve much refreshment and rest, and great thanks. How may I best receive you and put you at ease?" Sosiqui "Deus ex machina," MI0 chimed immediately, "lit. god from the machine, Latin-" "I don't think he wanted the definition," Penny said, hurriedly, and tapped the console. Tian Yue shook his head, then bowed low. "It was no more service than was deserved, my Lord. The restoration of the sky should be the task of the Celestial." He rose again with a pleased smile on his face, however, and his robes rustled a bit as his tail twitched under them. "What more needs to be done for that restoration?"Penny chuckled, behind him. "You resemble Lord Zhijian in his excitement, my Lord." Tian Yue paused for a moment, then chuckled, a little sheepishly. "Perhaps I do. See how audacious my followers are," he added, amused. "But they are as eager to see the skies restored as I am."
Still, despite his own eagerness, Harmodius' mention of the Nyanko reminded him of the heavy weight in his pocket. "The Nyanko matriarch gave me this, Lord, when we parted ways." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the figurine, the smooth curves cool against his palm. "She said it was dormant... and referred to it as an ancestor. We found many such in their warrens. Am I to assume that her words were, ah... literal?"Zero Dream Ankou's lips pulled into an amused smile when MI0 piped up her answer and was then silenced by Penny. Somehow he should have seen that coming...
"It would be lying to say it has not been convinent for me as well." The worlds were lighter... slightly. If only slightly. "I have reached places that would have likely been impossible for me to seek otherwise." And it was all the thanks he needed, really.
But he listened. If there was yet more he could do, he would do so, gladly. And he was also curious about the figurines. Ivynian He looked a little disappointed, the pointed tips of his ears lowered with an animal-like mobility. "Perhaps she does not understand humor or irony?" It would be impolite to just ask if this MI0 was not a conscious being, soul or no. Logic could come to its own terms of existence and non-existence in most cases. "It is literal. That is a Nyanko. When they are dormant, or when they are born, it is as these 'figurines' as other races know them. I would say 'seed' a closer interpretation, but you do not plant them except to keep them near other living, moving beings. You do not tend them as a plant, except to speak and interact with them. I have seen children do what would work with their stuffed toys. Cuddling, speaking to it, keeping it near-these things will waken the spirit inside and the seed will grow out into its full and proper shape. " "It could not hurt to purr to it, either. " Zero Dream That was indeed interesting information. He had indeed felt souls within... But had not known exactly how they were linked and how to awaken them. It was good to know of such, even if he had not been the one to which the figurine had been given.
Awakened by the energy of others being near, perhaps...
The mental image of Tian Yue 'purring' to the figurine, however, nearly had him laughing out loud, but the Guide remained quiet, though unable to erase all the amusement from his face. Sosiqui "Most artificial intelligences don't parse emotional responses, Lord Creation," Penny said, a wry smile on her face. "Mio was engineered to control a small spaceship, so she doesn't have any extras in terms of... er, personality. Apparently they were doing some great things with emulation in the labs, though..." She paused as Creation spoke again, then - having less composure than the Spirit Guide - did indeed laugh out loud at his suggestions regarding the Nyanko figurine. Tian Yue, for his part, turned just slightly pink, though he couldn't help but laugh at the idea either. "I should ask Zhijian for tips, then; my dear brother is most accomplished at all those activities." The Fangbridle would probably be just as amused by the situation as they were. "I will try to awaken it then, Lord. The living Nyanko did us great service; I would honor that service."
Even if it meant purring at a statue.
Tian Yue rubbed his thumb over the Nyanko-figure's head as he continued. "Is there more we can do, Lord? Or I, at least - I will not presume to volunteer Ankou unless he wishes." He turned his head slightly and grinned at his companion before focusing on Harmodius again, his expression turning sober. "For the restoration, that is. Even I have difficulty conceiving of what is required. Such things as the vast spaces withOut and withIn..." Even with the map of Yggdrasil laying around them, the tangled paths still slipped his mind if he didn't focus on them, just as the Name he had spoken to the Chrysalis had done.Ivynian "There are no other tasks to be done now, except tp wait for all of the other pieces to be collected. When all things have come to me, I will be able to paint up the new sky. I twill be less breathtaking, a more disturbing, empty still, but with what is gathered I have high hopes for its serviceability. " A truly new Universe, a god who lived, would take more time to engineer. "I can only beg patience and endurance now, from you all. " Zero Dream "Patience and endurance are things that we have become familiar with." The Guide said, with a nod of the head. It had indeed been so, not only though Gehenna and rebirth, but as a whole... at least for himself.
And it was not like he would be lacking of things to do. It was the opposite, in a way - even here, so close to the Pantheon, he could still find spirits - either freshed deceased or having escaped his brother's call in one way or another. And that said nothing about other worlds. Before, he would have had valkyries to help in this task, but now... For now he was alone, and there was only so much he could do. What he had already done, at least, was a good start. There was pride in that.
"We still have much to do, each and every one of us." Sosiqui "However altered this new sky may be, it will bring comfort to mortals. I thank you for allowing me to assist, my Lord." The Dragon King hesitated for a moment. "I was not, I think, able to give much comfort or succor to Universe in this new life, in the briefest times we shared," he said, quietly. "I know you did not intend this task as penance, but it has been so for me. I thank you for that as well."
He fell quiet for a few moments, then looked up once more, a faint smile on his face as he tucked the nyanko figurine back into his pocket. "With Penny's permission, I will place her and Mio both at your call should you require the digital mapping."Penny bowed immediately. "Of course, Lord." He nodded to her, his smile deepening, and glanced at Ankou. "Indeed, there is much to do. The restoration does not end with the sky." Ivynian  "I will look forward to their expertise. " Creation bowed to them all, " You have all done a great service, and deserve better. If you find need of something, fear not to ask for it, and I will endeavor to provide. "
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:58 pm
Tian Yue & Enkepe: Don't Tread On Me
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:59 pm
Tian Yue & Xuan Yi: Catching Up
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:00 pm
Tian Yue, Asherah, & Tien: Dragon King, Where Are You?
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:00 pm
Dragon Kings: A Reunion of Scales, Fangs, and Claws
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:01 pm
Tian Yue & Ankou: Chibi Is Not Chibi Any More
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:59 am
Tian Yue & Xun Jiang: The Stars and the Sea
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:00 am
ORP: Hearken, That There Were Stars and Sky Again...
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:01 am
((a solo really does have to go here damnit))
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