Fantasy The Core of Corruption Main

[Shibe]

The blazing sunrise marked the 80th year anniversary of her rule, but also announced the beginning of the cruel being’s demise.

Vern had finally spoken for the first time in that period of 80 years, giving her blessing to the vessels she had gifted upon the world. With this, the goddess set forth a plan to free the realm of Ern and discard her former student into the void once and for all. On the dawn of the day, she had sent forth her messages through the dreamscape to her priests and priestesses. Two special subjects were receptors of this message as well, two ordinary humans deamed as the ‘Vessel of Hope’ and the ‘Champion of the Vessel’. These small, but powerful humans were to be the key to success in the rising war. And so, they all awoke, recognizing their tasks.

Ristalu shot up from his slumber beneath the waves of Lune, letting out a breath of relief, which mostly emitted as a stream of bubbles from his thin mouth. The siren priest relaxed slightly in his large anemone bedding, lowering his tired eyes slightly. His body craved more sleep, but he knew much more work had to be done. Ristalu flung himself from his bedding, reaching for his familiar trident among the coral flooring of the palace. Several guards were positioned near the cave-like opening of his bedroom, always stone-like and callous as usual.

The priest flung his usual garb on, fastening silk-like and transparent fabrics across his chest and torso before swimming frantically out of the room. Breathlessly, he called towards his guards in a tone of panic. “Resposition your troops towards the borders of the sea. I have finally received my long awaited instructions from the Goddess! I must hurry and make my way towards inner Ern.” His words were nothing but a garbled mess to his guards, the few of them exchanging puzzled and confused looks with each other as the Healer of Lune darted away towards the continental shelf of Ern.

Ristalu reached shallow waters within a matter of moments, thrusting his body up from the turquoise waters of the ocean and landing on dry land. It took a few moments before gathering his bearings, not used to using the ‘swimming’ portion of his body on land. The priest staggered for a few moments, but managed to balance himself with his trident, hurriedly jogging towards the plains of the landmass. All of the priests and priestesses were to meet at the designated area of Irith Forest, since it was a less extreme climate and could suit all the races of Ern.​

 

[AI10100]

Eliana Fausters
Interacting with:
Mentioned:
Summoned: Three magpies​

It surprised Eliana when she had not woken up in cold sweat because of a nightmare of the past - sweet words whispered to the void and fire burning at every part of her body - but rather because of a message sent by their beloved creator and mentor. It was a simple instruction to find this so called Vessel of Hope and their companion and then venture out to the City of Kirx to vanquish the Priestess of Ishnok once and for all. She knew that this day would come eventually. Perhaps she was wishing that it would come at a much later date but she brushed that off of her mind. She would follow the Goddess Vern's instructions until the end of her life for it was her duty and her destiny to do so.

Garuda seemed to awaken as she did, nudging his snout to her hand as if sensing the distress of his mistress. Distress? No, awakening. The awakening of his mistress. She sat up from her bed while patting his head to assure him that she was completely fine. After Garuda was satisfied from the attention, he stretched before padding outside to leave Eliana to her devices. A smart wolf, that one was. She was unsure if it was because she had raised it well or if they were somehow connected - either way, he was an indispensable being in her life. Everyone may disappear but he cannot. Eliana was in no rush to get herself dressed in her usual garment - ending with the head accessory before walking out - bare feet thudding against the grass until she had covered them with sandals that were sturdy enough that they seemed more like stylish boots. The last thing for her to pick up was her weaponry - a bow and a quiver of arrows along with a staff that allows her to concentrate into the spirit stone to be able to lessen the burden of summoning them.

"I will be going to fulfill the Goddess's orders." Eliana spoke to the fairy that always waited by her home to be able to send messages to the council immediately once Eliana had woken up. Besides, her walks are only the surroundings of her home and rarely more than that. "Please alert the general to take over while I am gone but to make no move for assault. Protect the borders of the domain." The fairy bowed her head and was about to leave when she continued. "And tell them that we are expecting visitors from the other priests and priestesses. If any of them are lost, send them to the right path." Eliana said after relaying the place of meeting. With that said, the fairy raced out to be able to give the message to the council. They can already take care of those things herself. The attacks may have lightened up and they were heading to defeat her once and for all - so she could afford to leave them behind for a bit.

Eliana whistled and Garuda walked towards her, the dire wolf seemed to have gone off on an exercise despite being so late into the night. How odd but at least he didn't seem to have scared off anybody. Thought by this point, Eliana was sure that they knew Garuda would not hurt anyone if they only bring good intentions. She ran a hand through his brown fur before mounting him. With a nod to her guards, she had departed for their meeting place. As she was heading there, she had summoned three magpies and sent them to where she thought the fellows would be coming and she was willing to teach them how to get to their designated place.

 

[WolfSol]

Vaust the Grave

Mentions:
Location: Great Waste - Throne Room
Comment: Not intending to control Ishnok

The hollow throne room was dark, the firelight from the two torches adjacent to the stone doors doing little to appease the darkness within. Marble floors were dusted with dried leaves, smeared with macabre stains, and cracked with age. Far off into the darkness, barely visible through the moonlight that only glanced through the cracked windows, stood a throne garbed in flat silvers and golds. It was empty, just as the room. The only sound that wafted through the chambers, against the curled stone pillars and across the torches was the whistling of the Great Waste's breeze. A dead sound that only accumulated more dread and death as the stone doors birthed a heavy, bone grating creak. The firelight flickered as if gasping, and the newcomer slipped in-between the thin opening before another noise filled the spacious room. As soon as the door heaved shut did the throne room erupt with light. Ornamental brackets that aligned the walls lit up with fire that danced in a myriad of colors. The breeze was silenced then and as the last bracket lit up, did the throne at the end of the elongated room begin to glow.

To anyone else, the voice that came forth as soon as a figure stuttered to life atop the throne would have sounded wrong, ominous. A sound that would stir even the most oblivious hairs straight up. Perhaps because the voice that spoke, lilting and delicate, didn't match with the bitterness and hatred that had defined the Priestess of Ishnok for eight decades. Yet to her servant of many years, it sounded as melodic as a harp, as gentle as a butterfly's wings.

"I feel Vern's restlessness." Came the voice. The firelight flickered and the newcomer bowed. "And I hear her speak, such a voice that I have not heard in eighty years." The lilt was fading, replaced with venom, but the gradual change did not deter the newcomer's appreciation. "Rise, my guard." At the command, the newcomer rose.

Firelight enveloped him. A dark brown cloak fell past his knees, the hood pressed down underneath a red leather sheath that fastened a battle axe superior to his height, and a mismatched set of eyes greeted the priestess. Despite the dimness of the room, the single white eye and the blackened tattoo that neighbored it stood out like a sore thumb against the tanned, taught skin.

"I fear that Vern wishes to stand against me. For that, seek out this 'Vessel of Hope' and their 'Champion' and end such a foolish rebellion."

"You wish for me to stop them, my priestess?" His voice was a desert, dry and as hollow as the bone that hid underneath his skin.

"My dear Vaust, I wish for you to end them."

 

[Slav]

Uzrus woke up with a persistent pounding in his head, the amount of alcohol he had the night before was a bit excessive but Uzrus never knew how to stop. He sat on the edge of the bed, attempting to think. He had heard a voice he hadn't heard in 80 years, reciting what she said in his mind. After processing the message fully, Uzrus got up from his bed and started to prepare for this journey to end the worst evil of them all. He grabbed his handy staff and began to scrounge his messy desk for a map as he didn't know where exactly Irith Forest was. After looking for a while, he found the map. The map wasn't very detailed as Uzrus never ventured far from the Dragon's nest since it was what he called home. The map provided him with enough information to at least have a general idea where it should be. It was good enough for him.

Now all ready to go, Uzrus set out of the palace to be greeted by a dozen fire golems that protects his palace. Very loyal and misunderstood beings they were, that's why he kept them close. Uzrus approached the largest one out of the dozen, the one he trusted the most. "Kerk, I have to go travel to settle some business, make sure to keep the palace and the domain safe and if anybody does venture here, make sure they wished they've never set foot here." Uzrus said to the fire golem."As you wish." Kerk responded with a strangely inoffensive voice and went about with his business. Uzrus really didn't have to worry much since his domain was the least visited because of the environment and the beings that lived within it. Uzrus then began walking down a path that led out of the Dragon's nest into a foreign landscape.

Uzrus gave one last look back to his palace, getting paranoid as to if it will be fine or not but he trusted the creatures within the Dragon's nest to protect it. He continued down the path, past unstable pools of lava. Living in a climate like this is hard but having great heat resistance goes long ways. As he traveled along the path, the terrain slowly changed from lava, volcanoes, and volcanic rock to a grassy, hilly region. He was still far from where he was heading but at least he knew that he was out of the borders of the Dragon's nest. He started becoming paranoid again, hoping he was heading in the right direction and that the map was correct. He wouldn't really know til he reaches the forest.

Interactions: None

 

[Shibe]

The siren was quite thankful that their destination wasn’t a dreadfully harsh one, and that Irith Forest contained small pools of water he could at least soak his gills in once he arrived.

As his journey proceeded, his eyes slowly traced across the land. The soft rolling hills were once a gentle green and hosted a variety of wildflowers, now the vegetation was a charred grey. Wilted and brittle from the various fires the imperial army of Ishnok set upon the land. A shudder ran through him, silently thanking the Goddess that his former friend’s terror had not spread to the Sea of Lune quite yet. Ristalu wouldn’t be surprised though if she attempted to poison his people’s waters. Part of his mind wanted to drift back to the golden days, when they were all young and studying together. Things were so much simpler back then, but he knew that one could never return back to a portion of time once it passed.

Irith Forest’s faint outline slowly entered his vision after a couple of hours trekking, the land slowly merging from a plain into a dense labyrinth of trees. Ristalu couldn’t recall the last time he had visited, it had been around at least over a hundred years since he had taken the journey there. After the uprising of Ishnok, his visitations slowed to an absolute halt.

A knot formed deep in his stomach, the thought of seeing his companions after so long drove a spike of ice through him.

Interactions: (None yet)
Location: (Outskirts of Irith Forest)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Centuries ago, the loathed Ishnok hadn’t quite earned the reputation she had of today’s time.

The young woman once went by the name of Aryad, a priestess who bore the power of ‘Ishnok’, or extreme intelligence. During her training she appeared to fall behind her fellow priests and priestesses, not due to her power but lack of motivation to serve the Goddess.

But now she sat alone in her throne, one that she had stolen from a human ruler. One that would be horribly missed because of the kindness they gave throughout their rule. But did she care? No, the innate hunger for domination and control had rotted the very fabric of her mind years ago. Now that was left was a couple of frayed threads, littered with paranoia and forbidden knowledge. Of course, she had come to know of the Goddess’s plan of eliminating her. Through darker means of course, her ancient texts had taught the cruel woman long ago how to slip into the minds of other’s with ease. And she certainly wasn’t happy with the news it brought.



Interactions: (None)
​

 

[AI10100]

Eliana Fausters
Interacting with: S Shibe
Location: Outskirts of the Irith Forest
Summoned: ​

Eliana purposefully passed through a great many places before reaching the designated meeting place. She passed through a portion of her domain that had been ravaged by her army. She had employed the help of many dryads and fairies in an attempt to return it to what it once was - but the battlefield has made its marks and the risk was too high to continue its restoration. Eliana thought that she would either see the Priestess of Ishnok's demise first or the new priest or priestess of the Irith Forest will come before these portions would be recovered. And still, Eliana did not know which option she would like.

One magpie came back and she tilted her head before extending her hand to it. It landed and bowed its head - disappearing in a mass of small ball of lights. She took in a deep breath as the short lived memories of the magpie came to her mind. They were vivid, fresh - a man idling outside her domain as if afraid. Familiarity filled her and she knew what she would feel before it could appear in her heart and she promptly locked it away. This was not like their old days where she could just walk up to them and smile and hug and talk - they weren't students anymore. Could they even be considered friends, still, after so many decades - scores - where they haven't seen each other.

Garuda whined and Eliana placed a hand on top of his head to placate the worries that the dire wolf felt. "Come." She breathed out. "It seems like an old friend has come." Still, the word stirred her heart in an unpleasant manner. Nevertheless, it would be impolite of her to not accompany him when he is close and she knew about it. She climbed on top of Garuda's back and they quickly set forth. It only took her a few minutes - knowing which paths to take and which shortcuts existed among the entire domain as well as dryads allowing her passage through their respective areas. Garuda slowed down at the treeline and she hopped off.

Once he came closer, Eliana dropped from Garuda. Eliana grinned and quickly ran forward. She called out to him with cheer in her voice and enveloped him in a wide hug. "Ristalu." She said - the familiar yet unfamiliar name rolling off of her tongue easily. Her body wanted to react as if she was thrown back to her younger days. "It is good to see you again. Though I wished it was in... different conditions." Her voice was devoid of any tone, any inclination of what she felt. No inclination of the turmoil inside that she refused to recognize to be real.