Legend of Ransera

Kala listened, in part because she was a captive audience, but also because she listened attentively to anything any deity said. She took it all with a grain of salt, of course; the younger or less powerful gods might seek advantage by using her—divine politics. Even from those who seemed to speak in good faith, she considered their words as she had been taught by her tutors and at the Academy: everyone held biases based on who they were and what they had experienced.

'The Truth' was a tiny kernel in the middle of the fruit, or a mote of light in the darkness. What seemed to be white light was actually a rainbow depending on one's perspective. She needed perspective more than she needed power, but here perhaps He was offering both.

Her eyes were distracted for a moment as he released the little light, but they were drawn back to him. She was aware that he had become more powerful in comparison to his lightborn brother; why and how, she did not know. It made sense to her, though. Light was merely a mote like this, a wave and a particle, though she hadn't the words to explain it thus. Everything that wasn't one of these wave-particles, then, was dark. There was more darkness than light in the world, but together, they did make quite a show.

Some of what He said certainly resonated. She was not Nazam. She did not have Nazam's memories, nor soul. But one of the domains Nazam had occupied was now hers, and so perhaps parts of Nazam remained within that domain, hers because she had claimed it.

Wraedan had given her a key to the tower, but she had yet to figure out how to use it. The same would likely be true of the orb with its many names. Shaeoth offered to teach her how to use one of these tools that was, apparently, hers by right of her domain.

Finally, she reached out to take His offered hand.

"Teach me, Umbral Lord," she said.

The learning He offered would allow her to return to those mortals she was so fond of, and on her own terms and power. Likely, she would be changed. Some knowledge did that.

When the God held her by both hands, she felt strangely held. Her mortal mind recalled her father, dead nearly two decades now. Shaeoth might next ask her to step on His feet so He could teach her the steps of this dance.

With her hands in His, she felt strangely aroused, as well. Perhaps that was the mortal mind, too, not knowing how to read the polar reaction of her light to His darkness, the resonance of her darkness with His darkness.

"You understand," she sighed, almost sobbed. Here, she could sense more clearly what she sensed from the terra firma of Ransera, the cosmic motions that dwarfed Ransera's star, let alone the world itself. Her soul still had one foot in her diminutive body while also reaching for these things on a scale to make even the worst catastrophes of her world infinitesimal by comparison.

Perhaps this was what was offered if she persevered, grew in wisdom and power. She could transcend that world, delve into the nature of reality itself.

But Eikaen and Naori in their wisdom had decreed a certain importance to Ransera, and that was the crèche from which she must grow to wisdom and power, where her responsibilities lay. The stars, both light and dark, would continue their dance without her hand to guide them.

He understood, and so she felt seen there in the darkness.

She listened to His instructions and tried to follow them as if this were but a guided meditation with one of the monks in the Temple of the Fallen Skies.

For a moment before the last, she hesitated, searching the abyss of His gaze for something. There was so much she wanted to know, to ask, to say, but she had learned that the greater gods only gave what They intended to give in any given moment.

"Thank you, Lord of the Void," she said, voice strangely bell-like and singing. She was in alignment with this thing, resonating with it. She had but to follow His last instruction. "Until the next time I dream of Darkness."

She stepped forward and into the stream. Her head fell back and light spewed forth from her mouth, her eyes. When Shaeoth released her hands, beams of light sprayed forth from wither her fingers pointed. She was crucified by light, annihilated. But her pattern joined the flow, remembered, and she knew she would be reconstituted when she stepped back out of the flow, stepping without feet. She almost laughed without any of the physical apparatus to do so, and so the dark star laughed instead, attuned to her.

She moved, swimming among the photons like a school of playful fish. Then she moved faster than any particle or wave could, homing in on a light—nay, a cluster of lights, tightly packed. To her, Kaus' soul blazed brighter than Ransera's star, and her other boys were close too. As she approached, they grew more distinct again, though there were lines of connection between them. She had created a sort of Unity among them and it called her back to where Naori's holy quest required her to be.

She stepped out of the stream.

Kaus caught her.

“Always in the shadows, I watch and wait.” Shaeoth released her, a small smile on his lips as he let her go.

As Kala's form became one with her stars, the infinity of Time and Space became open to her. There was nowhere she could not be in this universe. There was nowhere the light—bright or dark---of the stars did not reach. But the beacon of those most dear to her shone brighter than any point among the endless expanse of the void of space. Her form sped faster than the speeds of any mortal device and in the distance, the echo of the stars memories played on the edges of her mind.

A glittering city in an ancient world. An elven man with hair blacker than midnight and eyes that shone like stars. With power that sang to Her and Her children, he opened a door that bridged the Rift between worlds for the first time. Gates that would make the borders of that ancient kingdom truly Endless.

----

Kala's eyes would snap open as Kaus caught her. She had never left the physical island. It had never dissolved. No hole had swallowed it up. But though her physical body had not moved, something in her had shifted. The fullness of the Aetherium's glory seemed open to her, for as much as her demigod form could handle. Aito was on the ground, panting, breathless, but intact. The satin cloth had burned away from the gem. It floated just high enough to be at waist level for Kala. The mist within it glittered with what Kala would now know as the cosmic dust that served as the firmament of all creation, swirling around a singularity. The entire exchange between Kala and Shaeoth had been no longer than a mere breath.

Behind her, the doors to the Tower stood open.

Venetia remained still, eyes watching calmly.

“Did you see everything you needed to see?”

Kaus caught her, and so she relaxed. While only mortal, he was the one she trusted above all others, even with things beyond his ken. It took her a moment to recover from her swoon. She had to remind herself that Kaus' embrace was not Shaeoth's touch. And Kaus felt that immense change that had taken a mere instant. The others as well, albeit to a lesser extent.

Aito panted at her feet. Ceran and Indric leaned into each other lest they lose their own footing. Asallon gasped.

Only Venetia seemed unchanged by the change. The stars sang above them, and Kala could hear the modulation into a new harmony. Accepting her power changed certain things fundamentally, and yet Venetia stood still. An ant crawled across Kala's hand, unaware even that stars existed. Macrocosm versus microcosm, she thought to herself.

Her nimbus, more powerful now, broke from her self-control. She looked up to Kaus, straightening herself. Divine energy—her divine energy—flowed out of her and the eyes she turned on Venetia were inky black fields scattered with stars.

For now.

She reached out and the Solcanum Calastre floated to hover over her hand. She was its mistress now, though it would take time and patience to unlock its full potential, she surmised. She put it away, though even she wasn't sure if she slipped it into a pocket, a pouch, or Somewhere Else. The boundaries of divinity were still a thing she was exploring, and what she knew was up in the air once more as she felt her new domain sinking in.

I am Sovereignty.

At this, Asallon knelt, Ceran and Indric following suit. Most of the time, they treated her as a liege lady who allowed for a great deal of familiarity. They were friends. Sometimes, however, the impact of her divinity upon them was stark and clear.

To Venetia, Your discretion in this would be appreciated. Unless you seek my favor?

She didn't truly believe that Venetia would become one of her faithful, but the new rush of power, the new expansion of her self and her awareness made her feel more prepared to carry the weight of other people's faith. When she returned to Starfall, she might feel lighter under the worshipful gazes of the people who had known her as a skinned-kneed tomboy.

In any case, she would accept Venetia if only because she was curious what lay in the dark of her soul and because she would prove an ally of great potential. After Venetia made her desires known, Kala managed to pull Herself back into herself. She could pass as merely mortal once more.

"Rise, my friends. The Tower awaits."

Emotion played across Venetia's features. Relief. Joy. Uncertainty. A well of tears pressed against the borders of her eyes before she blinked and they were gone. Her calm detachment fell back into place. Holding up a hand she withdrew a dagger from within the folds of her gown. A dagger of silver encrusted with rubies that were not rubies, a cursory glance of sembling revealing they were pure sanguinyte. Filled with blood and power. The sorceress seemed to have no end of them. With palm facing the skies, she extended her index finger and ran the edge of the blade lightly across the flesh of her finger. Blood welled up immediately. It rose from the wound, spiraling before Venetia leaned forward giving it a light puff of air.

The blood scattered into scarlet mist that wound its way through the air, finding the entourage. First it found Aito and with his intake of breath, the blood mist flowed into his lungs then spread through his body. The fatigue of the ordeal abated. The shaking in his limbs would lessen. The tension in his muscles would wane. The same would be true for the others who breathed in her mist. Venetia then placed the dagger back into her robes, the wound on her finger sealing.

“One secret deserves another, my Lady.” Grasping her skirts, she gave Kala a curtsy and a bow of her head. The sorceress retrieved her staff, turned and entered the tower. She walked into the main hall, eyes scanning every surface until they fell upon what awaited them.

The circular chamber was easily large enough to contain at least ten full grown Avialae, wing-tip to wing-tip. At the edges of the chamber there were staircases that wound around the walls leading to the upper floors. The ceiling, the walls, and the floors of the entry chamber appeared to be made of a solid black stone polished to mirror-like shine. But it was what rest at the very center of the chamber that would capture everyone's gaze.

A blazing star, burning at the center of the chamber, surrounded by other spheres that floated slowly around it in orbit. Rocks, stones, all manner of objects floated around the star. Inlaid into the polished black stone of the floor were arcane sigils that were clearly an elaborate work of Scrivening.

“So it does exist…” Venetia's voice was soft. Reverential.

Kala didn't even realize she had grown tense until she was certain that the dagger decorated with blood gems wasn't meant to spill and collect divine blood for some nefarious purpose. When she knew the thaumaturgy hadn't hurt her people, she turned to enter the tower. Venetia on one side and Kaus on the other, they proceeded.

It was an impressive sight, but her eyes locked upon the star floating in the center of it all. She could sense the runes etched into the walls by the way they made the aether flow around her. A part of her wanted to claim this place and make it her own just as Talon had with Dawnhold. Her family would want her Place to be in Starfall, but even now, mere minutes since Shaeoth took her by the hand and helped her climb to a new level of apotheosis, she felt herself detaching more from feeling her mortal responsibilities.

Other impressions filtered into her through her bonds with everyone here present save Venetia, and it almost felt as though her mind held greater mass, was bending the fabric of reality so that their impressions poured into her as though drawn from her new gravity. She would know more now, and going forward. She sensed that information was also something that could not escape a black hole, and so she could draw information to herself. That didn't mean she would understand it, but that would come in time.

Wraedan had given her the key to this place, and Shaeoth had turned it in the lock.

They had passed through the Elliador Gate and into the Tower. Still, she didn't know what it was, who had created it, and it was frustrating that a vampiric witch seemed to have more context for these new discoveries than she did. If her understanding did not grow with her power, then it was all just more potential for destruction. She had to wonder if that was what she would become.

There was no help for it.

She asked, "What is this place, Venetia? Who created it? Who locked it?"

If she knew these things, perhaps she might intuit why the key had been given to her. As of now, all she had were endless questions.

Kala considered Venetia's words even as she sembled her surroundings.

"Please carry my regards to your Mistress, then," she said. It cost her nothing to be polite, especially to the Gods more ancient than she.

Now she wondered at Wraedan's interest in her path. Of her domain, only Stars aligned with dead Nazam's. But Saedene had answered her mourning prayers, and black dragons had aided her even before the Grimlord Himself had unveiled His face to her. She didn't feel like Nazam reborn as Talon was a return of Arcas' divine soul, but if this tower and its contents were a gift, then perhaps He saw some of His son in her.

That might prove interesting. Her own father rested under His care if he had not been reincarnated or bound himself to some other God's protection without her knowledge.

"Perhaps not," she allowed, "though I will take my time. The Rift Gates caused enough damage the last time they were fully active. I do not know that we are ready for them to return."

Zalkyriax had activated a Rift Gate within Mount Sorokyn to take her to his home star, but the Crownwyrm's power was nigh unto a God's and the special magic of his dragonflight seemed to be the stability they drew from Eikaen Himself.

At her silent direction, her winged boys cast themselves aloft, exploring the upper reaches of the tower for her. Asallon and Aito held back until Indric indicated there was a library on the third floor; that pulled Asallon away, while Aito remained behind. There was something feral about him, even in Kala's calming presence. Since the confrontation with the other demon, however, he seemed more like an animal prepared to protect his pack.

Her hand found the back of his neck, though, and some of the tension went out of his shoulders. He didn't seem to be plotting violence, but his eyes did tend to stray back to Venetia as if awaiting betrayal from her.

"May you live interesting times," Kala murmured. Then she looked to Venetia. "An apt curse, no?"