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 Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:42 am
Ah, well. Tian Yue got to his feet again, his tail swishing under his robes. "Then you must be summoned to the service of another. I suppose we shall rely on this pull you feel. Go ahead - seek it, and follow it. I shall walk by you, to ensure no one interferes." He pulled aside one of the pavilion's curtains, revealing a view of the main Pantheon buildings beyond.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:06 am
The dark-haired man nodded to himself, and then looked to the view that Tian Yue indicated. It was the greater sprawl of buildings, the one with the tall columns. Was he meant to just... wander it? That could take forever. Usually a Psion called you to a place you knew... what if whatever was calling him now was somewhere forbidden? He looked towards the Dragon King for a moment's reassurance, and then towards the building once more. He'd been in one of the buildings just a moment ago, wasn't he? Well, if he was in the presence of a Dragon King...
He exhaled slowly, and headed off towards the pillared buildings. As he moved, his steps gained more confidence; this was something he knew, not like men who could turn to dragons in the blink of an eye. "What does it mean, to serve a god," he asked as he walked, ascending the steps past another fountain. "I used to make... canvas frames, and furniture, for the Psions. Being a skilled craftsman was useful. Do gods even need chairs?" Aska peeked over his shoulder, pale eyes narrowed just slightly.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:19 pm
Tian Yue laughed, not unkindly. "Need, perhaps not, but I for one appreciate a nice place to sit. And our mortal followers require good lodgings, just as any other mortal might. Those who retain such skills are indeed valuable. Much knowledge was lost to Gehenna - those times of great trial, a few years past."
Had it been years? Truly? It didn't seem like it.
"What did it mean to serve your Psions?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:24 pm
Gehenna. It was nice to have a word to put to what his people had begun to call the Great Calamity. "We lost a lot of Psions to the... the Gehenna," he said, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. "Worldwalkers, mostly. They blew out their minds trying to hold things together. And Navigators..." Aska paused, thinking of Embla, and Tian Yue asked his question. Following that pull on his mind, he answered almost by rote:
"It was... Well. We weren't really people," he said, rubbing his chin. "If you didn't have psychic strength you were... a liability, and the responsibility of someone who had the ability to protect you... A lot of us were farmers, but some of us were part of governmental structure." He paused in front of a stairwell for just a moment, then shook his head and passed it by. "Like me. I... tutored Psions in art. And... Right after the Great-- the Gehenna," he corrected, "I was..."
He paused, looking around. He saw no one but himself and the Dragon King, but he knew the call was coming from here, close by, from... from a fountain on a raised platform? "It's coming from over there," he said, pointing. "Is it okay to go there?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:21 pm
"Hmmm." Tian Yue frowned, slightly. "I assure you, you are people." It was clear the Dragon King didn't like the sound of how Aska's Psions ran things - but Aska's next words lifted his mood somewhat.
"Of course. Anywhere without a door blocking it is free to pass through." Frustration was quickly replaced with curiosity. But there wasn't anything over there, was there? Unless he had a fondness for fountains.
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:12 pm
He made a face, but didn't argue. The man could turn into an enormous sky-flying dragon; if he said that Aska counted as people, well, fine. He would be people. He would be people and he would like it.
The dark-haired man crossed to the fountain, hauling himself onto the platform. Looking down into the water revealed nothing, but he felt so sure it was close by. The calling thing. What was it--pale eyes lit upon something laying on the floor of the pool, and he pushed his sleeves up before reaching in.
It was a small sphere in whites, blues, and purples, and the moment he wrapped his scarred hands around it the call increased in intensity, like it was shouting; when the sphere left the water, it fell abruptly silent. Aska examined it for a moment, narrowing his eyes. No, the calling hadn't ceased. It just didn't feel like a psion anymore, more like… a mote--satisfied at its success.
"What is it," he asked, holding the orb up for Tian Yue's inspection. "It doesn't look like any rock I've seen."
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Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:59 pm
"Ah-" Tian Yue leaned forward sharply; he pushed out his awareness, the air rippling faintly as a shield haloed the two of them for a moment. What he felt was faint, but unmistakable-
"A jewel of a god," he said, the shield vanishing as he smiled, gently. "A vessel of rebirth. Aska... is this what has called you?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:41 pm
Aska fought the urge to step back and away when the shield rippled into being; only the long association with the Psions at home kept his knees locked and the gem extended. "I... believe so," he said, relaxing as the shield disappeared. "There's nothing calling anymore, it just feels... satisfied?" Because it had found Aska? He didn't dare hope.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:49 am
"Yes... well, then. That's one question answered." Though Tian Yue wasn't sure Aska would like the answer he'd received. "Aska, within that jewel sleeps a deity, waiting to be reborn. Every god and goddess in this place, save one, was returned to glory in this way: we began as gems, holding all that remained of our being. But the jewel itself is not enough. It requires a host, Aska. A mortal, mind, body, and soul. From such fertile ground does the reborn deity spring. But not just any mortal will do... the sleeping deity knows their perfect host, and calls them home."
He looked meaningfully at Aska, and hoped that whoever was inside the jewel was kind.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:54 pm
He perked up. So if he were called, then he was needed to serve the deity inside the gem? Aska peered down at it, rolled the sphere between his fingers. As a host, whatever that meant. Host, like... someone who ran a guesthouse? He brightened a little more, before he realized there was one more meaning to that word, too. Suddenly, the blue-and-purple gem in his hand seemed a little more threatening.
"So I'm one of these," he said, and then he passed the orb to his other hand. "Hosts. And... I'll die, if I help this deity be reborn?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:12 pm
"It is... a sort of death, yes. The deity takes the host into themselves. Sometimes the two combine into one gestalt personality; sometimes the god dominates. Sometimes the god consumes the host personality entirely. And sometimes... the god allows the host personality to take preeminence. Though I must say I myself am the only example I have ever heard of of that latter variety of merging," he added, with a wry smile.
"It depends on what the deity wishes, truly."
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:37 pm
Well, there it was. He made a face, looking down at the gem; the corners of his mouth pulled straight, then curved down. It seemed like he had no choice in the matter, really--he couldn't imagine putting the gem back, although he... he wanted to. There were things he wanted to do--he wanted to go back to Embla and be together with her again, he wanted to...
It was like the Psions, he supposed. At the very edges of his consciousness, he felt a tiny bit of reassurance that wasn't coming from him. Was it the god, or... "Alright," he said. "Um... what do I do? Do I have time, for... anything?" Was it immediate?
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:27 pm
"Ah... that is difficult to say." Tian Yue hesitated. "When the gem is touching you, it could fuse with you at any time, in theory... it doesn't have to ask your permission. It all depends on the whim of the god within. If it hasn't attached itself to your hand so far, though..."
He leaned forward and peered at the gem a bit more closely. "My original god-self waited and asked. You could focus on the gem, if you like, and the deity within may speak to you prior to joining. That is what happened with my first god-self and host-self. And once the joining happens, there are usually some months when you are still yourself, with the god existing as a voice in your mind. The shift is gradual, but unstoppable once initiated."
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:20 pm
Aska nodded, carefully tucking the orb away into his coat pocket. The calling didn't renew itself, even when he removed his hand; it seemed like the mind (god?) inside didn't mind that Aska wasn't trying to converse with it straight away. Which was nice, because he felt a bit like everything had suddenly shifted just slightly to the left. "Alright," he said, hating that he felt so unsteady about all of this. "Um--alright, yes. Thank you?"
He wasn't sure what else he could even ask, and so he shoved his hands into his jean pockets--carefully avoiding the coat pocket which held the gem. "I think--if it's not an insult to you, my lord, I might... go, now."
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:11 pm
"It is a great deal to take in," Tian Yue said, with an understanding smile. "If no insult is intended, then none is taken. I wish you well in your... new endeavor." That was as diplomatically as he could put it, right now; the unsteadiness in the young man was evident in his body language, and well he might be. The world had just changed...
"Should you return, I would like to know you better, in future." And the deity in the gem, too... but this, he left unsaid.
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