Fantasy Come Winter's Light

[FeMChara]

"Coffee. One of the finer imports from the south, third to tea and firepowder." Came a familiar old voice. Jiji was up.


Kosche walked downstairs as Sophia was judiciously cooking up a phenomenal breakfast. Kosche spent a moment to hug her good friend and touch Mizu's shoulder lightly, looking a bit haggard. "I had this... horrible dream. I saw... a lot of really terrible things-and. Eggs. With dragons in them. They were about to start hatching. I didn't understand it at all." She shook her head. "I had... this feeling and looked up to where I figured a mother would be and only saw a meteor. It brought me a plate. I must be hungry, I was chewing on my sheet." She chuckles nervously.


Bran enters, watchful but silent for the time being.

 

[Flowing Ink Words]

Mizu looks to Kosche. "... Hey, Old Man. I put it slightlyahead of tea. personal preference. So... I have a dangerous question to ask, given... I'm not the only one who dreamed." She frowns. "... Who was I in the past? Did I... um... how can I word this delecately. Did the previous me piss the Maidens Five off?" She shivers. "I spent the night outrunning a warrior in red, past inns of yellow. The why was hidden from view by a curtain of green, and funeral-goers in purples were leaving each battlefield we had." She pauses. "Honestly, I feel like I just got done with a training session in the dojo,b ut worse." She laughs bitterly and sips her black coffee.

 

[Esbilon]

A soft golden glow saturates the kitchen, while Sophia is technically the only one making breakfast, this fact is not evident if one observes only the ingredients and utensils. All around her, these are gripped by the radiance of her anima, and made to march as if an elaborate, golden assembly line had been set up around the kitchen. As Kosche comes up behind her, Sophia turns, and the knife she was using keeps cutting fruit on its own accord while the espresso machine composed entirely of sunlight deposits two cups. Sophia returns her friend's embrace, grounding them both in a tiny bit of normalcy in this sea of new weirdness.


"Yeah, I had dreams too," she says, echoing the others as she picks up one of the tiny cups of coffee that make up for volume by way of concentration, "I saw not just individuals, but an entire society, justly and efficiently governed. At the heart of it there were two powerful... artifacts, a scepter and and orb." She pauses as she takes another sip of life-giving elixir, "I think I know where the orb is. And it's right here in the city."

 

[Mei]

Morena comes back after her walk and enters the house with a long sigh. There just wasn't enough anything to really digest her dream and her new gift that hangs around her neck. Hearing the chatter in the kitchen, the dark-haired woman makes her way to join everyone. "I'm back."


She looks around the table, seeing not everyone is there. "Ehhh, I'm not gonna wait. I'll just explain it to them later. Guys, I had a dream... But more importantly, I have this." She holds up her medallion. "It's from the Sun himself."

 

[Epiphany]

After the exhausting eventful day, Anne went to bed when Bran tucked her in and she was practically out before he'd even shut the door to her bedroom.


Waking the next morning, she's among the last to drag herself downstairs. And it becomes obvious that Anne is not a morning person. Though from the bit of coughing she does at first, it's possible she may still be cleaning out the last of whatever was in her system pre-Exaltation.


Making it down for breakfast, the green-haired Zenith walks in just as Morena holds up her medallion. "Whoa, from the Sun himself? How'd that go down?"

 

[Mei]

"Well, I learned quite a bit. Bran says the inscription on the cord says 'The bearer is the sovereign of Yu-Shan'. Which, honestly makes sense as this was his crown in my dream." She looks at it with a slight frown. "I'm not the only one getting a gift. All of us are. I'm just the first. Some things are piecing together now as well; when I became this, he spoke to me. He told me to 'set them all free on my path to glory' or something like that... Well, the Maidens' bonds are weak. We can break them. He also said that their bonds are all connected somehow."


She let that sink in a few moments before she begins again, looking down at her medallion. "In time, it will reach the fullness of its power. When everything looks its darkest... you will be the corona that lights the way. Your new friends can choose it. This light, this hope." Morena looks up. "Those are the words that I can remember fully.

 

[Epiphany]

"What?"


Anne takes a minute to think about what's been said. Then she helps herself to some coffee while greedily eyeing the breakfast Sophia's allegedly whipping up. Walking slowly back over to the other Zenith, Anne hops up on a kitchen countertop and sits there drinking her coffee while looking thoughtfully at the medallion.


"We're both priests I guess. So I'm not surprised he's talking to us both. I have a hunch he has different career paths in mind for us, though. Ruler of Heaven, eh? Good on you, gorgeous. You already look pretty divine so at least you've got a head start."


Reflexive flirting out of the way, Anne's expression darkens. "The Maidens' bonds are weak, that's what he said? Hey, wasn't the mission to Mars the big deal yesterday? At the Festival of Stars? I wonder if this is related somehow. ...Hey, are we supposed to go to Mars?"

 

[Mei]

Morena's face reddens at the flirting directed at her yet again. She averts her gaze from the rest of the group, looking at her shoes like they were the most interesting things in the world. "...I don't really think I look like some kind of Ruler of Heaven..."

 

[FeMChara]

"But it is what it says." Bran speaks, utterly serious, laying a hand on Anne's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Czas na kawę, mojego przyjaciela?" He speaks softly in one of the many Rivertongue dialects. Time for coffee, my friend?


Jiji was silent for many long moments, staring. "Not possible. This is not possible. The Corona Torc was... apparently not lost forever after all." He sounded disturbed. "This should not be possible." He repeated. "Yu-Shan as it were... is a complete, broken down mess. There's gods there, yes-but they fight endlessly without any sort of order save what they can manage at blade or wit's end. The strongest lock themselves into their celestial manses and their brethren who live on Creation are closely monitored, if not killed outright. Ahlat, some god of extremely minor note is now dead. I have the starmetal from his star, which was... unusually large for a god of his status, highly irregular." He murmured.


"We are where we need to be-your gift or not-you are not yet strong enough, not experienced or trained enough to head there yet. You will get there-but if you went there now, you would have not only gods to deal with but the notice of Gorol Thrice-Blessed. He did not earn that name for nothing, as it were."


Kip finally wandered in, bug-eyed. "My phone, it's-"


Kosche placed it into his hand. Apparently, she'd gotten it from the house. He calmed down and tucked it into his pocket before collapsing onto a chair. "The light around you is nice. I guess." He comments at Morena and lays his head on the kitchen table.


Apparently, Anne isn't the only non-morning person. Unlike Morena, his neck's still injured, but healing faster than a Solar's should.

 

[Mei]

Morena turns to the old man. She holds up the medallion again. She has questions, a good number of them now. And this man knows her gift by its name. "You know what this means, old man? Tell me what you know about it."

 

[Flowing Ink Words]

"... Old Man, I think it's time every one sits down." Mizu finally says. "I mean no disrespect but, given how our -first-, what, twelve hours of being Exalted have went... I am pretty sure saying 'it isn't possible' is roughly the worst choice of words we can have lest you want to doom us to needing to do so. I was, from your description, reasonably certain it would be impossible to run into A Fiend, then Bran here, then our two darlings downstairs, in one day. And if we know any other Exalts, I'd -really- like to know now, before things get more dicey. The more we know the more we can plan for contingencies. That said... there's something else from that dream. Something I -am- certain of. We were fighting over a book. It appeared to be about four inches thick... the covers I'm pretty sure were made of metal but are covered in green frabric or maybe some kind of leather, and it had enough locks sealing it shut that I had to wonder if someone was a touch paranoid. That book... I can't place why it is important, but I know it is. That I'm supposed to keep looking for it." She shrugs. "So, anyone else have fun dreams of goals and outrunning a red-headed sifu with her hair done up in thousands of tiny knots?" Mizu sips her not-expresso coffee.


Then she finally asks. "Starmetal? I assume that's somehow related to Soulsteel, but I quite well am ignorant on how I know that." She laughs at herself, and maybe just at the overall tension she's feeling. What else can she do?

 

[FeMChara]

Jiji closes his eyes. "Fate often arranges for the Exalted to be where they are needed-the Maidens were and are still allies of Sol. She was wearing a red qipao. She was not angry at you-the opposite." He opens his eyes. "She often affected that hairstyle and dress to train the neophytes. She might have understood that Ayesha had done what she had under extreme duress. Torture as it turned out, was sufficient to get her to agree to her body and and soul being given to The Ebon Dragon's whim then. That status, however, does not persist between lifetimes to the great relief of myself and others, if they are wise."


He took a moment. "There is only one book quite like your description, Mizu. That is the Book of Jupiter-all the secrets that ever were, that are and shall be. No page is blank-it would have every secret laid bare to the reader... if they found it. If they could open it-but only a Sidereal could read it without going insane." He levels a steely gaze at both the Twilights present. "Some have tried, their sanity did not survive the experience."


He reaches out and traces out patterns. "The sacred symbols of the Dawn Caste, Zenith, Twilight, Night and Eclipse are shown here. The unworthy would find themselves burned if they even touched it-even Malfeas could not remove it-thus why Yu-Shan was terrorized and suffered such deprivations and lawlessness. The king was gone-but the queen has arrived. He must understand what is coming. The danger is greater than anyone on Creation ever knew, then. You are his heir. You are-for now-the walking symbol of Sol Ignis-the Unconquered Sun."


"The Lightbringer... should I bow or should I curtsy?" Bran commented dryly. "More seriously though. What does that thing even do?"


"A lot of nonsense was attached to it-such as killing the unworthy who touched it without the bearer's leave." Jiji explained. "It is the seal, certainly. Anything stamped with it will be as if the Unconquered Sun approved it himself. I know that it is incredibly holy-creatures of darkness, creatures of death-they cower in its presence. You young man must not be a creature of darkness, then. Many Infernals are."


"No." He agrees.


Mizu suddenly has a moment of remembrance as something occurs to her-a skybreaking secret that the cosmos would most certainly tremble at if it should escape her lips-not even Jiji knew. Nobody knew-except for Jupiter... and her. (And maybe Mara-O; he's strange that way.) She understood intimately one great secret. It was as if in that moment, past and potential converged. And when the feeling passed, she was left with the feeling that Jupiter had allowed her that understanding personally, withholding others for the young Sidereal's sanity... for now, for approval of her. There was a slight suggestion... of keeping silent.


This secret was not yet ripe for the telling and in that moment, she understood why.


"There are a few metals that resonate with the various Exalted-even Dragonbloods. The soulsteel resonates with the Abyssal Deathknights. Moonsilver with Lunars, the five jades with Dragonblooded and oricalchum with the Solars. For us, it is the starmetal, the metal found within fallen stars-and the Silver Chair-the moon as well as somewhat in the body of the one who dwells there."


Kip took the moments of distraction to extract himself from his chair and plug two phones that he produced into the wall by cords he pulled from hidden pockets. "I owe you all thanks. And apology. I was wrong." It's soft and drawling in tone. Humbled-and a touch frightened.


Bran didn't look like he was about to offer sympathy-but Kosche showed compassion and rubbed Kip's shoulders. "You're back and you are safe, now."


Kip mumbled a "Thanks."

 

[Flowing Ink Words]

Mizu is silent a few moments as she gets a far-away look


"You are, for better or worse, one of us." Mizu says towards Kip, with a smile. "Mistakes happen. Just because you have visions of perfection, doesn't mean you, or anyone else here, is perfect. Besides, I already got to take out my fustration about the situation on the one who tried to impersonate you." Mizu leans back then as she considers the things said by the old man.


"... So, a large chunk of starmetal. Given what you said the source was... I'm taking it that's why we don't see shooting stars often. Not many gods left of note to kick the bucket. And those there are are doing their best to keep from having it happen, I'm sure." Mizu leans back and rubs her forehead. "Alright. So we have the two knights of a Lord of Death stuffed downstairs. Eventually their Lord is going to come looking for them. Which leads to a fun question. What in the name of St. Cellia's Soiled G-strings would such a creature want with a bunch of Solars?" Mizu pauses. "Why do I get the distinct feeling I'm going to regret that question too?"

 

[Mei]

Morena looks down at her medallion with surprise plastered on her face. "I'm... His heir? I'm... Technically the Sun now? Huh..." The dark haired girl let the mull over a bit before looking back up when something caught her attention. "I'm sorry, did you say Lunars? There's another Exalt type? What are they?"

 

[FeMChara]

"Lunars are the chosen of Luna. They have generally kept to the shadows and are thought to be urban legends-and they came into the fight a few hundred years too late to do any damn good." He sounds sincerely regretful on that. "Time just does not pass the same way in the Wyld and that was where she was. Luna fought the good fight... and was wounded. He is still there, retired from the world-but if Luna should return... and yes. Both are correct. Luna is fond of being at different times male and female and has appeared to be young, old, pregnant, slim, a pregnant boy and a white stag. I never asked her or him about it. I had a feeling it would be a response Jupiter would be proud of." He sounds matter-of-fact. "I talked her into it... only. A good deal of them answer to the Althing. They are shapechangers who shape themselves and perception, tricksters and as mercurial as their patron. And yes, some-not all-can change gender. Each have a... spirit shape, an animal that they are connected to-it might be a bull, a swan, a shark, a dog, a cat-and they can learn the shapes of other things-and people-by tasting its heartsblood. That is what they are... and no. You won't, Mizu."


"Unlike Infernals, which require reformatting a shard by the yozis themselves... the Abyssals were designed to be independent guardians of the Underworld, by means of the Monstrances. They could be duplicated-and." He put a fist to where his mouth would be, touching the mask. "A Solar could be placed in there, dying and they could be changed... theoretically. They didn't test it before sending down a hundred fifty of them down into the Underworld to manage it and essentially slammed the door. There were undead, zombies that rose up from the grave, ghosts, skeletons that could do so as well. We don't have that any more and it's a good thing-the one thing I could accept as a necessary evil-but."


"If Abyssals are here, the engines that make that must have been suborned or are failing-or the Abyssals have found a way around it. If that's happening... it means nothing good for Creation." He sounded like he wanted to be sick. "Lords of the Dead-now that. Deathlords are a new and worse, unexpected development-is it a natural growth? What causes them? I do not know if this... theory is fact, but this Deathlord certainly does. If you meet her-it should not be without an escape plan." He concluded.

 

[Flowing Ink Words]

"... So. Let me boil this down: Infernals, and Abyssals, both are Solars but turned into something else. And neither of them really are likely to like us. And we know the Abyssals don't want the Infernals to know what they are up to." Mizu reaches up and rubs where her caste mark would be if it was showing. "And we likely -are- going to have to make contact eventually with this ... 'Deathlord', to find out what they want. I doubt we'll get much of use out of those two on that topic."


She leans back. "... Also... Kosche? ... thank you. You managed something I couldn't yesterday and I owe you for that."

 

[Epiphany]

"Hey Kip, nice to see you're alive," Anne says as the other member of their group rejoins. Then she gives Bran a wan smile and says "Coffee. So much coffee. Definitely with the coffee."


"As for the rest of this Exalted shit, I'm gonna say this back to you and you're gonna tell me if I have the smallest handle on what you're talking about." The Zenith rubs her temples. "So Lunars are kind of like us, good guys, but late to the fight and a lot got bought out like the Sidereals did. Some haven't, so maybe we have some allies there."


"And then we have Abyssals. Someone, the Emperor maybe, thought it was a good idea to use some of us Solars lying around to keep the Underworld contained and sent a pack of us repurposed for operations down there. And basically abandoned them. Now, they're breaking back out. Don't necessarily feel loyalty to the Emperor or the Yozis or whatever. And they may have teamed up with something down there nasty. Which means while we're trying to save the world, we've got the Infernals trying to rule it, other Solars also trying to rule it with them, some Lunars doing their own war while others are working with them, same with the Sids, and then we've got the Abyssals doing their own war. So, like, this is the Battle of Five Armies, yeah?"


"That about sum it up?"

 

[Flowing Ink Words]

"I think you got it for the most part, Anne. Other than calling it a 'battle' is perhaps not accurate. After all, if it was a battle, they wouldn't be bothering to keep who or what they are mostly under wraps." She frowns. "Though, here's a question, if I'm not mis-grasping the history lessons I've been taught and what's in the library. There were 400 Solar Exaltations. 50 of them make up the 'Althing', 150 got shipped off to the Netherworld, Six are here. Let's say half of what's left got turned into Akuma. What happened to the remaining, oh, hundred or so?"

 

[FeMChara]

Bran cleared his throat. "I can answer that. They're in the Jade Prison. Their shards await there, unable to seek new vessels. It hasn't been disturbed in centuries. It was a very few that escaped. And uh. There are about twenty Solar akuma, Gorol included."

 

[Mei]

"The more we talk about it, the more I hate Infernals." Morena looks over towards Bran. "No offense, man, but the rest seem like total dicks. Anyway, my hatred for the demonic dicks aside, we still have two Abyssals in that room. What are we going to do with them?"

 

[Esbilon]

"Try turning them to our side?" Sophia says. "Anne was pretty persuasive with Bran, even ignoring your history together. Failing that, I think I could maybe try pulling off something similar."

 

[Epiphany]

"Uh, I guess?" Anne clearly hasn't thought about the Abyssals as actual allies. Probably more like sources of intelligence to debrief and then dispose of.


"I don't know, I'm new to this whole supernatural persuasion shit. But I'm willing to give it a try."

 

[Mei]

"I think the prettier one likes me after last night." Morena's surprisingly not creeped out by that sentence. "If only there was a way to make them not crazy."

 

[Esbilon]

"Of course there is," Sophia says as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "they are broken, and we need to fix them. I'm not sure we have the right tools for it now, but I am sure they exist."

 

[Mei]

"...I'm not sure I like you calling people 'broken' like they are objects." Morena frowns. "But I guess if there's a will, there's a way."