Skies Grace

We had finished building our temple to our Goddess, in the Capitol. Our faith ran deep, we knew in our hearts that we would please her with this offering of our sweat and hard work. We never expected that she would grace us with her presence in reality. We never expected to hear the truth from her own lips. We were overjoyed we she told us that we were her children and she was proud.   From that day, we enjoyed her constant presence. She told us that she wanted to see us grow, She wanted to grow with us. She wanted to grow with us! She wanted to stay here in the company of mere mortals! The entire country filled with our kin rejoiced for weeks as she traveled the entire width of our beautiful home. She spoke to each of us as a personal friend. She spoke to us with a tenderness that only she could give, she understood all of our plights and conflicts. She offered her wisdom and guidance through it all.   She then told us that our world was unfinished, and that she would be joining our world with that of others filled with three other gods' children. She told us those other gods were her family in divinity, and that we should welcome all newcomers with open arms, for she would walk among us. We accepted her words, embraced them, when the worlds melded together, we were lost for words.   Nothing could have prepared us for the beauty the gods had created, just for us. The newcomers we welcomed as distant family, as our goddess embraced the others. Overjoyed she was to sit again with her siblings. So we welcomed our cousins with the same enthusiasm, and they returned the favor.   In my old age, I look back with fond memories. I watched as The Great Mother continued to work with the others, to continue our new home. I watched as our nations grew, I watched as our cultures grew with vigor. We never wanted for resources, fore after all, the gods were not finished with our home.

Vilorlith, as time went on became a great source of knowledge for our fledgling people. She became more than just our Goddess, she became our Mother. She treated us as her children, and to seek our ambitions as we saw fit. As long as our ambitions did not involve conflict with her Siblings children, we could do as we pleased.   She taught us that our voices were a reflection of hers. She wanted us to have the same freedom as she had, the ability to commune with the world, to enjoy creation, change and growth. She showed us that the Ephemeral Wind, as we called it, was something that she had created in the very beginning. She told us that the wind she was still making with her voice even now, that wind was what allowed the gift of creation to the other gods. As such, she wanted our voices to be like hers, she taught us how to manipulate it to affect the reality around us.   She also taught us that the stars were not as distant as we thought. While she did tell us, trying to get there by moving through their creation would take countless lifetimes, she built a way for us to explore the worlds. She taught us how to tap into the magic that binded everything together and to travel the cosmos in mere seconds. We found some hospitable, some with strange creatures, some we could not stay for more than the time it took to open the portals.   She was delighted to see our curiosity about this bloom as time went on. It was at this point she told us that Syn, her sister, had created the light in which we see by. She told us that the Quartet worked in collaboration for all this to work. She told us to venerate the others as we venerated her.   Syn had described how she wanted the universe to be a beautiful thing for us to explore. She wanted us to know the joy of discovery as we journeyed on. She also told us that they were still building so that we may never run out of space or discoveries to make. Vilorlith had confirmed when we asked, she had also told us she had made the night sky as it is. She wanted to show us the vastness of what they had made, and how much we had to learn.   We enjoyed wandering around as we saw fit, we took the Fae and Fairies and the Giants with us as we went. We figured they would also want to see what we saw. After a time, we grew to love the world in which we came from, and decided our homes would be there. Where the worlds the gods had melded together for us.   We smiled as we watched our Goddess’ joy at our actions. This was the time we named her the Great Mother, as she smile down on us as a mother to child.

The Cathedral was taken. The Forge Room was taken. The Great Mother has fallen. That thing, that beast of a Shadow, ripped its way through our defenses. It sent a proverbial wave of spawn and shadow touched against the walls like a grotesque pantomime of fury.   Those half rotten, deformed souls overwhelmed our guard. Fifty to one, we never stood a chance. We heard the Great Mother’s voice ring out bathing the citadel in power. We felt our blood boil, we felt a sadness and rage we had never experienced. We focused on the spawn, not wanting to kill our brethren though changed. For everyone of us they took, we took a hundred more.   Those they grabbed of us, they changed. That Shadow corrupting the souls in front of us, laughing as he called himself the Great Father. That his children would fight beside him in death, and forever after.   As the last of us retreated to make our stand around the defenses of the Cathedral, The Great Mother Told us to flee. We refused to abandon her, she commanded us to leave. Still we refused, and she told us she was proud of us. She opened some lord's forsaken portal and teleported us to the Queen of the Fae, and her army.   All the news we got afterward was from a grief stricken Queen, that the Great Mother had leveled the Citadel fighting the Shadow. But, the Shadow still prevailed. For the next few days an endless meteor show filled our skies, Syn had explained it, but I don’t remember what she told us. I couldn’t understand what had happened, where was my Goddess… We have lost, we have no recourse, I only see darkness on the horizon…

“And no amount of love can bring back the innocence. No amount of hellfire and fury will bring you back. Our self sought anger, could not change the tides of war. Our strength was born of the gods themselves, and we failed. I feel my mind changing as I write. I know now what that Shadow who called himself the Great Father Bhal, wanted. He wanted to fashion himself a mirror of our Mother.   A mirror cracked and glorious. A reflection, a false image in true scenery. A glorious sun to bring day to our graceful night. I feel my skin crawl as the Great Father grants me the strength to take what is mine to own. My bronze skin, the scaled mail with which my Mother gave me, the coppered green of rust. My ears hurt, and my head is heavy.   Our dear Mother, graceful in the Ide’s of her march, lost to us. I can no longer feel her wind breeze through the world. My mind is foggy, my ears are heavy. Her power cast away in her blood now stone, Bhal cannot touch her in this form. Our final form of revenge as he takes the citadel. I find myself struggle… to write… now. I can only bring myself to finish this final task as I become one of the Shadow Touched.   To whatever long distant ancestor… finds my writings. I beg you,... do not trust the Shadows. Do not trust the words they say. Do not trust …what your instincts tell you. For I know I am a child of… VILORLITH, and I want to burn everything around me. If you find my writings, please, for the love and grace of the Great Mother, destroy them, break the Shadows. Bring her back… The sky is broken, the tree sprouted from the Queen’s scream. The world asunder, the rivers flow with boiling blood, and darkness all around. Trust not… the Shadow… Bhal.   Our gracious Father, giver of life and form. To live as you see fit, to battle by your side in infinite. To see ourselves as your children of war, your couriers of ambition and wrath. So I beg thee, Great Father, Grant us yet another day…

Her voice cracked, dry and strained. Reaching up with weak hands, she cupped Ilgor’s cheek. Relishing the warmth of her skin, the steady flow of power from her to her soul. “I know I am losing ground, child.” She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.   Hours later she awoke again, seeing Ilgor by her side again. Holding her hand, gentle, waiting. “Sing not for me, sing for the future. Wipe away your tears, lament not to me, but rejoice in the memory you have of me.” Her breath was haggard as she spoke.   “I think back to all I have done, I am content with the life I have lived.” She turned, seeing now the rest of the family behind Ilgor. A vigil of the family, she was only happy to see all the squabbling between her troublesome clan abated, even for but a moment.   She still felt Ilgor pouring power into her, that warmth and calm was welcome. Though she knew her tired old bones were only lent to the world. They were never hers to keep forever. “You look tired, Ilgor. Rest.” She rasped out.   “I’m alright, Mother.” Her voice lied, her eyes lied. She was such a good girl, such a kind heart for her family. She smiled up at her, remembering how she used to play with the other children when she was younger. She was always so quick to help, never thinking about herself.   “Let all the fear inside you drown, child. I look to the stained glass skies, and think about the peace behind them.” She saw the confusion on her face, she was sorry she wouldn’t be able to explain more to her. She always felt like there was more to teach, never enough time.   “It’s going to be alright, Mother. I am here for you.” Ilgor smiled sweetly, but the sadness behind it said more.   She coughed out a soft laugh. “I will treasure your optimism! Just one final lesson, darling.”   Ilgor’s ears perked up, she saw a few of the closer members of the clan lean closer to listen. “Everything has its final days, there is no amount of love, hate, or pride that can change that. So sing the songs of life as we walk down our paths, let not the fear of those truths keep you from walking. Think only back to the memories you made along the way, learn from them, live them.” She gripped her hand with what little strength she had left.   “I am proud of you. I am proud of you all, you will make the clan strong. You will make Bhal proud, and lead us to greatest heights… I love you.” She closed her tired eyes, a smile on her thin face.   Ilgor felt her grip go limp, the power she was pouring into her backing up with nothing to heal. The moss and grass around her grew with the cloud of magic emanating from her body. She heard the family behind her murmur, soft and low. She didn’t register it, it only passed vapidly through her ears. She watched tears fall on her Mother’s still smiling face, not recognizing they were hers.   Someone had placed their hand on her shoulder, saying her name. She let go of her hand, turning to face her clan. To see them looking back at her, their faces the same as hers. Yorm’s deep voice, “You needn’t say anything, they know. We all do.”