Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


(Nala gains 766 corruption.)

"We sleep... When it's needed. We agreed that keeping a night's watch was preferable to rest this day, however, and we took as much rest each as was needed," Esmerala replied, grinning. None of the three would pull away from her morning kiss, though the two knights both seemed surprised by it.

Magic, for all its wonders, would never be able to conjure food all on its own, at least not in any edible form, but Nala's skills in natural magic by necessity covered a great deal more than that. Knowing how to discern from the wilds what was edible among flora and fauna was an essential element of the education in her arts, and a bit of simple arcane magic aided her in scrounging them up a simple meal. The demons would join in on breakfast, but only take a few mouthfuls while the far more exhausted members of their group would be allowed the lion's share of her findings.

Once they were fed and Nala had cleaned herself up with some help from Violet in a nearby stream, Nala would be allowed to lead the way, her ultimate destination unknown by all but her. When told that they would have to be left behind, Esmerala and her cronies would simply nod in acceptance, while Grabbik frowned but ultimately nodded, submitting as he always did to his mistress's wishes.

With the demons left behind, Nala would be able to take Violet through a spell to the gates of Ch'Hiesol. The temple lay atop a small plateau, and was built in an ascending fashion to give it a facade of being larger than it really was, though by no means was it small. At the top, she knew, sat the tree containing the shattered essence of a dead god, its power immense but all the same nearly impossible to detect, the magic infused into it not the metaphysical eyesore that mortal sorcery often created. The temple was quiet, its front as usual guarded by the statuary and a single pair of living figures. Magical teleportation of all kinds was blocked by powerful wards, at least if one wanted to go directly into or out of the complex itself, but the very tree that she and Violet had stepped from was dedicated to bring travelers with druidic powers to the front entrance.

The lone guard was not one that Nala had met, and was younger than most she had seen in such a position, barely past his twentieth year by the look of him. They were among an order separate from that of her mother that also inhabited the place, the guardians of the shrine rather than its caretakers. They had been quiet and stern figures, always celibate and often silent, and the bronze-clad night elven man standing some hundred feet across from them was no different, seemingly as still as the stone bears on either side of him. She knew that those statues were as much a part of Ch'Hiesol's defense as the man standing between them, for on a word from him they would animate to defend the ancient temple, though members of Nala's mother's order had not been privy to their secrets. They had been made, in fact, to keep others with skills like hers from taking control of them, in case a dark druid should try to claim Janis' power for their own. Much like she was doing now, really.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

Taking Violet's hand in her own, Nala rounded the natural bend in the jungle path and with a hand on the tree, her way finding spell moved them with a blur through the rain forest. Each step would take them leagues, until within the expanse of a long breath, the two women stood side by side, looking upon the temple complex of Ch'Hiesol. Built on a small plateau, overlooking a jungle valley, the ascending complex was a sight to behold.

"Two years. The last time I was here." Nala explained to Violet, sweeping her gaze across the familiar edifice. "This is Ch'Hiesol, the temple complex dedicated to the order of druids who worship nature itself at the foot of the Janis tree."

She paused to give Violet's hand a squeeze.

"Their arch druidess is a woman named Kalevi. She is strong, powerful, experienced, and doesn't approve much of 'corruptive' practices." Nala pouted a bit at that last bit, then continued.

"She's also my mother, and the grandmother of our future child. So despite any other misgivings, remember that she's family."

The witch elf took a moment to collect herself, and then approached the front gate. If Violet had any questions about this sudden revelation of where they were, she would try to answer them as best as she could, but usually her lover was so sparse with her words that it would surprise Nala if she chose to ask more now.

"These walls are fortified with spiritual wards. They're spell proof, at least, they are to anything short of a god or a godslayer, so we're not going to get around them easily. For a few minutes, Matthias let me bypass them to talk with my mother, just after the battle against the overlords. She and I left on relatively good terms - at least better than what they had previously been. I hope that will be enough to grant me an audience at least. Let's avoid picking a fight. The guardians of this place are skilled, and the temple itself can fight back." She pointed out the two statues on either side of the main gate.

Nala approached the gates directly, staff in hand, used as a walking stick. She wanted to avoid any sort of violence if possible. These were good people, holy people, despite the efforts of her youth. But she also knew that some of them could be closed minded to a fault. And she also had to wonder how the past two years had affected this place.

She hailed the lone, bronze clad warrior as she neared him.

"Hail, young guardian. I seek word with Arch Druidess Kalevi of the Caretakers. I am her daughter, Nala."

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"She sounds lovely," Violet quipped in the midst of Nala's explanation, just before she revealed that the head priestess was, in fact, the night elf's own mother. "Oh... Is this going to get complicated?" she asked, her voice flattened as she looked over the face of Ch'Hiesol. It was beautiful, as it ever was. Above the enchanted marble statues and the gateway leading into the jungle sanctuary stood an extended terrace, layers of stone chiseled by skilled hands and powerful magic carved with ancient inscriptions, frescoes, and reliefs. Power had been worked into those walls over the centuries, much of it courtesy of her own family and those who had served under them in the hierarchy of the temple. Enchanted markings kept the elements at bay, preserving the stone by guiding the flow of energies around it. The temple ascended a small mountain at the top of which she knew sat the sacred shrine, where the tree containing a shard of Janis sat. Its roots dug deep into the ground, stretching far beyond the temple itself despite how small the seemingly small tree was.

Even from here she could feel its power, but for now she could not touch it. "Of course he did," Violet said dryly as she followed Nala to face the temple guard, who looked on impassively as the night elf and her human companion approached the door that he guarded.

"You are known to me, Nala of Kyederon," the young man responded solemnly. "Your mother knows of your presence here," he continued, "and your intentions are known. You are not to be permitted entrance, save alone, and with all magic denied to you. And under guard." He stood before her, impassive and disciplined despite his youth, awaiting her reaction to the requirements placed upon her.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

"Complicated?" Nala sighed. "Probably. Let's hope that it's not prolonged."

She observed the elaborately frescoed and rune-worked stone walls and terrace foundations with a sudden surge of nostalgia. She may have disagreed with the overly stuffy culture of this temple, but it was where she had learned the druidic arts, where she had grown up a happy girl, laughing and playing and climbing and teasing the other children. She'd been a darling of the temple at that point, loved by the inhabitants and the pride and joy of her mother, who had had such hopes for her. Whatever madness had occurred when her sexual identity came to the fore had corrupted and shattered those happy memories, but flashes of them still lingered on in her, and the sight of the temple brought them flooding back to her. She thought of the last time her mother had picked her up and held her as a child, laughing in the the sight of a twin rainbow that had blessed their happy games on the summit grounds.

Nala closed her eyes and breathed deep. So many horrible memories now intervened those times. The rocking and shattering of the world itself was a dark mirror of her personal turmoil, and she feared that in both cases, there would not truly be a way back. She could only forge a happy future through force of will. That had to be the way of things.

Yet still. She loved her mother.

"Please don't make this difficult," she whispered to the wind as she approached the guardian and hailed him.

When the young man responded, she drew herself up, considering the possibilities that this line of expectations allowed her. How many spies had her mother had? Looking at her. Following her. Watching her fall to demons and seeing her people broken and saddled under the yoke of would-be infernal masters. Had she seen all this and refused to help?

Her mood darkened, but she tried to reel it in.

"You know my name and reputation, gelding," she intoned, the nickname referring to her long held opinion that becoming a guardian was an effective castration and a numbing of natural personality. The process of becoming a guardian was one of the things she hated about this place, but she had to admit, it was an effective precaution against the powers of a succubus. However, all it meant would be that they would die in battle, or be tortured or consumed through other methods.

"But you do not know my intentions. As always, assumptions about me have been made." Her voice raised, so that whatever spy bird or clairvoyant effect was in use would hear her more easily. Addressing a guardian with specific orders was pointless.

"Mother, if you're listening. I've come to speak to you. I wonder how much you've been watching me. How much you think you know. Know this as well. My companion does not leave my side. No matter what. I care not if you have us guarded. And I will agree to not cast magics so long as I am treated as a guest. Let that be enough for you. Show a modicum of trust, and treat me as your daughter."

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


Though the warriors who guarded Nala's sanctuary home were well disciplined, this one was apparently not quite old enough to take her insult without some reaction. His lips thinned and his brow furrowed, a slight bit of color appearing on his cheeks while his fingers tightened on the grip of the halberd he had planted on the ground in front of him. "We know more than you suspect," he responded coldly, before Nala's shouting into the sky went briefly unanswered. Silence fell, and after a few long moments of it the guardian solemnly said; "She is not listening, or if she is it matters not. Your word is worth as little as the honor you have tossed away, and a Celesian assassin is unworthy to step foot beyond these gates. You cannot be given guest accords because such would suggest that you are welcome. You are not. You will never again enter these grounds freely without your magic cut off."

Violet was scowling beside Nala, but for now remained silent and simply crossed her arms and scowled back at the once more impassive young man. Her appeal to her mother, whatever its reactions that she could not see, resulted in nothing that might allow Nala to pass through the gates.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"Oh please. I grew up here. Ran through these halls as a child, and studied at the foot of the tree for more hours than I care to remember. I've more than a notion of the druids' powers AND their limitations. None of you can truly claim to know my mind."

She sighed as her raised appeal to a faceless listener went dutifully unanswered. The young guardian chose this as his opportunity to get a shot in at her and for good measure had aimed an insult at Violet. She rolled her eyes and shifted her weight onto her other foot and placed her staff at an angle away from her, keeping her shoulders back and her chest front and center facing him.

"That's rich. A guardian of Ch'Hiesol talking to me of honor. The world around this tiny escarpment is in chaos and ruin, in dire need of any and all aid that could be mustered, yet here you and yours bravely sit, behind your wall, comforting yourself beneath the shade of a dead goddess' grave and nursing your brittle pride with the notion that doing as you're told and hiding for another day is a righteous way to live. "

She raised her off hand languidly and spoke into her curled fingers, now musing aloud.

"It's highly doubtful that the pristine and the pure will be the ones who save this world from the evils that beset it. You have to understand demons... think like them, fuck like them, and be willing to fight dirty like them, if you're going to defeat them. You all think I'm a dark druid and therefore an enemy, end of story. But there's more to it than that, even if you refuse to see. I'm going to change this world for the better. I am no longer content to merely survive, to sit back and let some far-fetched notion of 'nature' take its course with me."

Her eyes drifted back to the guardian's.

"There is no honor or worth in that."

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"Many who come here to take what they have no right to have said that," the young man replied to Nala's rebuttle, a set of words that she knew were memorized. It was the first part of a command, not an activation necessarily but a warning, and she could feel subtle magics beginning to thrum in the guardians around her.

The night elf's unsubtle insults towards his order did not roll off of the temple guard like they might have one of the more experienced members of his order, nor did his face simply darken as might be expected of those who had let their hot blood turn to embers. His face flushed, anger flaring just below the surface, but discipline kicked in. She could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he forced himself to settle, to not snap back at her jabs, and she was allowed to say her piece in the meantime.

It was obvious enough that it didn't reach him, that her words went in one ear and out the other just by watching his expression, but when he replied it was with a cold but calm tone; "The world is as it ever was. The world spins on, and the-" It was about then that Violet, who had been perfectly still beside Nala up until that point, had seemingly had enough. One moment she was standing with her arms folded and a soft frown on her face, and the very next she was bent to the side, her whole body moving in a snap kick that slammed the heel of her foot into the guardian's chin.

He went down like a sack of potatoes, collapsing onto the stone in a heap, but she hadn't seemingly killed him. His neck was unbroken despite the force of the blow, and he was still breathing soundly. "Sorry... That was going nowhere of interest," she said in a tone even cooler than any that the young man had used while addressing them, "shall we go inside now?" Her hand gave Nala's bottom a playful swat, as if ushering her forward, but Nala well knew that the temple guardians didn't simply station one man outside the door and leave the whole defense of Ch'Hiesol up to them. What they might have to deal with now, however, had never been revealed to her, or indeed to any of the druids in case one should seek to do as she intended and take the power of the sacred tree solely for themselves.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

Nala blinked. Violet's snap kick had loosened the young guardian's jaw from its natural hinges and his eyes had rolled back into his skull. He would live, but he'd be smarting for a good long while without magical healing.

As for themselves, they had now officially poked the proverbial hornet's nest. She pursed her lips in consideration of their new approach. And determined that it was now time to summon her magics.

"Violet, my lover dear, I do so adore you." She said in response to the pat on her bum as the assassin ushered her forward. "But you do realize he was not the only guard. And we're going to have to beat up a lot of fussy people now..."

She cast a spell of nature's power to increase her mental faculties to their maximum potential.

"A dark druid versus a place designed to stop dark druids," she mused to herself aloud. Then, as if she were deciding to indulge herself with a sweet treat, she shrugged and said: "Well, why not?"

She then cast the arcane spell of Haste and the druidic spell of Oakenform on herself, providing her the speed, protection, and magical might she would need to sling spells while preparing to be assaulted by whatever unknown defenses her old home had in store for her.

She then, as an after thought, cast an entropic drain spell on the unconscious night elf guard to steal away his spirit energy, leaving him just enough so as to not permanently damage him, but hopefully revitalizing her own energies after having just cast a bevy of impressive magical spells.

Now she faced the gate, observing its size and method of opening. If she knew that magic would work on it, she would force it open that way, but if her knowledge of the mystical protections would make her think better of such an approach, she would ask Violet to give the doorway a good 'knock.'

"If you could get the door, my pet?" She inclined her head sweetly to Violet.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"Yeah well... It was bound to happen sooner or later, might as well just have it out and get through this without so much insult trading," Violet replied with a roll of her eyes. Nala's magic was easy to work, her enhancements going off without a hitch while Violet activated a lesser form of her aura. They weren't exactly subtle, the two of them, but at least they were prepared, and after draining the energy from the guardian she was back up to nearly full strength.

"Why not indeed," Violet agreed belatedly, before simply pushing the door open. Ch'Hiesol was ever open to strangers, the locks on its great doors rarely used but ever maintained. Whoever was watching, they hadn't locked the door, and Nala and Violet entered the opening courtyard. It was an oft used place for resting and meditation, the carved stone columns holding up the partial canopy circling the edges of the square area and the well tended and colorful gardens pleasant to the eye, and the sound of running water coming from the six stone fountains that formed an inner perimeter pleasant to the ear.

It was also where guests were met, where refreshments were taken, and where certain ceremonies of both orders were held, such as the rite of combat that all would-be guardians needed to pass in order to be fully accepted as a temple guard. The normally populated courtyard was all but deserted, the last few stragglers among the scholars and junior druids clearing out through the archway that led up to a set of stone steps and deeper into the compound. No teleportation would work here, not even moving through the plants, at least not for her. Even the living portions of Ch'Hiesol protected it, denying access to those without the mark of one who lived there, a special band normally worn around the left wrist. Nala's had been stripped from her when she'd been exiled, and even though she had once known them she could feel the hostility of the flora against such unwelcome intrusions reverberating around her. If she could get one of those bands though...

"Our first dance partners have arrived," Violet remarked dryly as a troop of temple guard began to file in, coming in ones and twos from each of the countless entrances into the courtyard and leaving Nala surrounded, but only distantly so. The yard was expansive, and while she could not rely on the plants or spirits of the place to aid her here the very air itself thrummed with living magic, making the maintenance of her spells less taxing and the usage of further power even easier. Twenty men circled them, but none yet drew blades, and a face that she recognized stepped forward from slightly to the left.

"Nala... Of course it'd be you... You can still end this without further harm," captain Obryd intoned in a deep, solemn voice. He was a handsome figure, older even for an elf but still physically able to stand against much younger men by sheer skill and tenacity. He sported the loose off duty uniform of the guard, bright green and orange robes that still offered ample freedom of movement, and through it Nala could see his the movements of his well toned muscles as he stepped in front of the advancing group, causing them to pause momentarily. Only once had she ever managed to break his oft stoic facade, with a sudden and very direct advance, and he had only let the crack last for a moment before rebuffing her, though even then she had managed to see the hint of eager hunger that she had caused to flare within him, the unfed beast that was his libido rattling its cage at the chance to sate itself for once.

The group surrounding them was half robed and half armored, though no one had yet drawn a weapon as humans and night elves alike stood assembled around the intruding pair, awaiting orders from their square jawed commander. "Just turn back... Depart and do not return, leave what lies beyond where it belongs," he continued, a pleading note creeping into his voice.

"Will they break if I bring him down?" Violet asked in a mumble, so still and calm beside Nala to untrained eyes but already poised to strike. Outwardly, she joked; "You know, it's odd, but... I think I've come to prefer being surrounded by goblins or mercenaries when no clothes are involved to situations like this." The lewd comment, hinting at the sort of debauchery that she and her guardian had indulged in when free of the temple's conservative mindset, had no outward effect on the gathered warriors, leaving Nala to respond to the temple guard captain however she preferred. The longer she waited, however, the more men she would have to deal with as more guardians kept on trickling into the courtyard.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

The druidess looked about her, trying to perceive where the druids or anyone with a grove band would be hiding or lurking. She knew that they would be seeking to make the battle against the guardians even more lopsided. The sooner she could get her hands on a band that would allow her to summon creatures within the temple, the sooner she would be able to more easily subdue them. She did not want to kill these people if she could help it, but she did feel that they weren't intent on giving her much choice. With nature spells, she could distract them at least.

Nala held off on her response to Obryd until Violet had had her say. She shook her head ever so slightly to the assassin's mumbled question.

"Dishearten perhaps, but not break," she murmured softly before raising her voice too answer her companion for the benefit of all their onlookers. "It's not all that odd, my sweet Violet. Twenty-five strong, handsome, well-groomed men stand before us, and yet none of them would have his way with us if we were stripped bare and bent over a barrel in front of them. It's an odd form of hypocrisy, that they should dedicate their lives to protect nature, and yet deny their own utterly and completely."

She sighed.

"It's the saddest thing in the world, for I do truly admire them otherwise. Especially you, my handsome Captain Obryd... You remember me as a child, laughing and skipping through these halls. It was watching you train with the other guardians - working up a sweat in the jungle heat with your bare chest and graceful, toned movements - that first stirred the longings of a grown woman inside me. Ever since I have left this place, I have dreamed of coming back here and letting myself fall into your strong, skilled arms. I long to free you from your self-imposed tyranny. The offer I gave to you remains, my body is yours, you need but ask for it, and I will give you the release you need.~ "

Nala knew that her passive succubus powers had enhanced the aura of beauty she radiated. Despite all their training, the guardians who entered the courtyard could not help but look on her with a pent up desire. But when she spoke to Obryd, she focused that natural aura and attempted to charm him and beckon to him to come to her. If she could appear to convince him, rather than simply defeat him, then that would have a much more devastating effect on the guardians' morale. Perhaps enough to split them, or to make them think.

"I did not come here to harm any of you. Despite my banishment, I still wish you only pleasure and your hearts' desires. But demons and outsiders walk our world, using powers that you refuse to understand. The power that lies dormant here could be used to save the free folk of this world from enslavement and torture. There is a higher duty to freedom and the natural order that I serve. I know you are noble souls, I wish I could convince you to join with me."

If her charm worked on Obryd, or if her words had any impact whatsoever on the guardians, she might try to use her magics to further charm them to her side, but her priority would be to locate a druidic band. If any of the guardians moved to attack, she would defend with entropic magic, casting a Mass Wrack spell to stun them and keep them at bay for a short while.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


Rolls

Nala's answer about her proposed strategy drew the slightest of nods, and it seemed to make her frown even more genuine. The assassin's skills were decidedly directed towards eliminating single targets, and having a pack of opponents bearing down on her in what would essentially be a straight up fight put her at as great a disadvantage as she could be in. "Oh, how disappointing!" Violet retorted outwardly in a tone of tragic humor, "not even if we asked really really nice? We could call in some references for how persuasive we can be~"

The elven witch's playful remarks towards Obryd didn't draw as much of a response as she might have liked. His brow furrowed a little bit farther at her admission, be it true or false, that watching him had stirred her lusts when she was young, but other than that he offered no physical response to her lewd words. "There is a distinction between discipline and tyranny, just as there is a difference between obeying your nature and following it. Those are things that you never understood, Nala, and though your brazenness has only increased it will not avail you. Those energies are not abandoned, merely re-channeled elsewhere."

Despite his words, however, it was not merely words and her own finely shaped physique that she had as a weapon to use against him. His will was like iron, finely crafted to resist exactly the sort of power that she sent against him, but her own power had evolved greatly since she had been exiled from this place. Like time and nature itself her power slipped around his iron will and began not to try and overcome it by force, but to corrode it, to slip small portions in so that she could take a hold on his mind. The currents of power revealed to her by her sorcerous enhancements showed her exactly where to strike, where the metaphyiscal vines she sent forth could plant themselves and grow inwards, ultimately pushing through his defenses to coil about his heart. It wasn't mind control, not even as intense as her own invented skills, but it made his outlook more favorable to her own, weakened his resolve to face her and even to resist her. The urges she had only once managed to bring to the surface flared, and she saw the same spark that suggested he might be a bit more amicable to the idea of taking her up on her offer... Under different circumstances perhaps.

Still, her did not bend to her pleading words, even as he seemed to consider them more than he had previously. "No... You did not come here to harm us. You came here to destroy us. Dark as the goings on of our world might be, we have a higher duty to protect this place, to see that the power embedded in this place is never abused... Or delivered into the wrong hands. I beg of you, let it be!" he replied imploringly, even taking a step closer that made Violet give a subtle shift, ready to intercept if he got too close. "We know your intent! It was forseen! What you intend to take will not avail you, and the consequences of taking it will be catastrophic!"

More men joined the ranks of the defenders, but those arrayed against them already seemed less certain now. Nervousness began to creep into a few faces, uncertainty in a few others, but still they were ready for a fight. There were as yet no druids among their ranks, however, and thus no opportunities for Nala to acquire the band of passage that would unlock her full potential here. Those who had been in the courtyard had been novices, people at leisure, and when outsiders threatened the temple they had all been taught to retreat, throwing what magics they could to weaken the invaders for the temple guards who were to hold them as long as they could. The druids themselves were thus given time to prepare, summoning the powerful spirits inhabiting Ch'Hiesol and then either pressing in to help the fighting men push back the raiders or preparing the second line if it became clear that the guards could not hold them in the courtyard. They would come, but when they came it would likely by in force, though thankfully not for several moments at least. The druids were not a fighting order, and lacked the martial organization that had rallied the temple guard so quickly. There would be chaos at first, the least experienced evacuated to protected areas while only a handful of the most powerful druids, her mother quite possibly among them, prepared the defenses in case the invaders broke through too quickly.

"You have a seer? Then you've already seen how this will go if you try to fight us," Violet replied coolly, "we did not come this far to stop now, even if we did not come seeking bloodshed." That rattled the ranks considerably, the temple guards looking fearful for the first time, and the younger ones even taking a step back from them. "Nothing is ever fully certain," Obryd countered, but Violet seized on that before he could continue and spoke over him; "Then you know that no prophecy is ever guaranteed! You know not what you seek to prevent with any certainty, and would die to avert a disaster that is at best a maybe! That is folly!" Her words silenced Obryd, at least for a moment, and another wave of discomfort slipped over the ranks even as a few more warriors trickled into the courtyard, joining the back ranks.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

Nala concentrated her learned and adapted sexual magics to seep inside and corrode the iron will of the noble, if misguided Captain Obryd. She sensed the conflict within him, even if he hid it well enough behind the stern decorum of his station. She could not hope to bash through his sense of duty with a straight on assault, but neither could she ignore it if she hoped to coax him to her side - or at the very least put him into a neutral state of mind where he could at least hear her out.

She needed to convince him that he could maintain his duty to this temple and his creed while still partaking of her philosophy. It was a difficult task she had set for herself, but it would be what was required of her if she were to succeed without bloodshed - something she still hoped to attain. All of Ch'Hiesol would need to come around to the idea that she was not coming here as a destroyer, but rather an agent of change, and that the result would be radically different from what they feared.

Nala noted the way he grew more impassioned in his plea, once her charm had worked its way past his defenses. She knew he would not strike the first blow now, and that if she could plant the seed of doubt inside of him, then between the two of them, they could avert this needless confrontation. He spoke of visions, and of the fact that she would not be able to contain the power that awaited her inside the tree. She was no fool. She understood that her mortal frame, even warped, would be an imperfect vessel. She intended to change all that, but to know where to start she needed to commune with the tree itself. Matthias had buried the spirit of the dead goddess there. The magic that the tree radiated was proof that something had remained, not consumed by the daemons that waited on the other side of the veil. That was what Nala had come to seek. A ritual of her own devising had been pre-planned. She just needed the opportunity to enact it without disruption.

As Violet said her piece, Nala watched her with a softened expression. Truly, she was as brilliant as she was beautiful. The way Violet spoke so intensely in her favor flamed a passion inside the night elf. She wanted to kiss the mother of her child, to lay her down and take her right then and there, but the time wasn't right. She needed to redirect that desire now, and pour it into the captain of the guardians.

"Obryd. My companion speaks sense. Prophecies rarely if ever show the whole truth. I will not destroy you, I will lead you. Lead you into that place where you fear to look. The power you protect will still exist. It will be as you yourself have said: not abandoned, merely re-channeled elsewhere."

The witch elf took a step towards Obryd as well, her hand held out, her palm up in a gesture of reason.

"You think you are the only ones who have sought a higher power to determine your course of action? I have held council with slain gods whom I have brought back into the world! I have crossed the veil of death, seen what lies beyond, and have returned. I have battled with demons and overlords and have overcome them at great cost. The Godslayer himself, the one who conquered Janis and placed her in the grave you safeguard, I have wandered the dark expanse of his spirit, have embraced him, advised him, and been set on a course that will change this world for the better by him. I am going to bring the power of Janis back into this world, no longer looking on as a mute observer as the world of mortals surrenders another civilization, and another, and another to the immortal invaders. The world needs gods again! Living gods who will fight and arm their followers against the horrors that would consume and enslave us. Will you not put your weapons away and walk with me? Guardians of Ch'Hiesol? Guardians of the power of nature. Guardians of our very world! Become the warriors that this world needs. Adapt, as nature demands. Bend as the willow, move your roots around the rocks, regrow from the ashes of the wildfire! Change, entropy, death, and destruction.... they lead to rebirth. Your prophecy is clouded and unknowable. You taint the vision with your own fears. Do not let them control you, Obryd! Be the hero I know you to be, know when to follow your heart. I do not ask you to abandon your duty. I ask you to acknowledge that it now goes beyond what other captains before you have known. Unite with me. Follow me. I must protect this world, even if I sacrifice myself in the process. I cannot alter my course. Do not throw your lives away when I want you to stand with me."

Nala did not know what else she could say as she implored him to back down just as he was doing to her. As she spoke her words, she would attempt to make contact with Obryd, placing her hand in his at first, then caressing him gently, moving within range of his arms. It was a risk. She was pitting her charm and her appeals to his understanding and doubt against his adherence to tradition and this apparent prophecy of destruction. Hopefully she and Violet had debunked that. Prophecy was never absolute.

She put herself in his arms, if he allowed it, and brushed her bare thigh against his leg, her glowing emerald eyes gazing into his own. Would the old elf give her a chance? Her warm, soft body pressed against him, reminding him of his carnal desire as well, tantalizing him with the prospect of her being welcome to stay in Ch'Hiesol without blood being shed.

"I have made my decision and I cannot abandon it." She said this to him quietly, so as to ensure he knew that she was speaking entirely to him, and that this was a personal appeal. "Not after all the roads I have trod. You must understand, I am not the woman you think I am. I am not the end - I am the beginning. Be with me Obryd. Join me. Be here for me at a time when I will need a strong hand to hold me. Strong as I am, I know I am stronger with someone like you by my side."

Then, if any of this was getting through and he still allowed her freedom of movement, she would bring her lips within a hair of his own, and then pass to the side and kiss him gently on the cheek, whispering to him a promise of 'later' in his ear if his desire was flaring to the fore. Her knee would rise slowly between his legs and purposely graze against his erection, if he had one, only for a moment, and then she would back away half a step. She truly hoped that he would bend for her. The alternative was to fight, and it would only end in the death of those she wanted to be her followers.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"None here would follow an exile," Obryd responded, a look mirrored on the faces of many of the guardians surrounding him. "Not one who has destroyed all that your actions will leave lifeless and broken." Her appeal to reason fell somewhat flat as her claims, true though they might be, grew increasingly far fetched, but some - Obryd included - seemed less certain by the word.

He allowed her to embrace him, and though he only hesitantly returned it Nala could feel the hunger stirring beneath, denied but waiting patiently now. She felt his urge, his need to take her to the ground, to hammer out the decades of pent up sexual energy out into her, to slam down into her until she was a mewling mass of willing flesh and ultimately, to sow his seed deep despite her infertility.

His discipline in this moment did not break, however. "I do follow my heart," he ultimately said, "and my mind, and my vows. They align, and are unswayed by your persuasion. Are we to believe your promises, those of one who has never shown anything but slavery to selfish whims, and abandon our sworn duties to safeguard this place? You know not the consequences of what you plan today. The power of a god is not for mortals to wield, only to safeguard until the right time. It will consume you, destroy you, and when it does this place will die as well."

His plea was no less personal than her own, and he continued as she leaned up, unflinching despite her closeness, promising gestures, and the powerful flare of her magic. "Your road will not lead where you think," he continued, "you are strong, yes, stronger than most here might credit you, but not strong enough! Please, Nala, stop this madness! No one needs to die today! We do not need to do battle!"

The prospect of not fighting her seemed to be growing increasingly popular among the masses, and Obryd most of all seemed to wish not to battle her at all. Even so, her efforts did not have the same effect on him as they might on most, her whispered promise and the slight rise of her knee to caress his half heard length would have reduced most men to their most primal desires, but not Obryd. Even with her magic thrumming through him, however, the guard captain was not so easy to sway, his long watch having taught him great discipline even if her continued efforts seemed to be wearing at him slightly.

Violet began to scowl more darkly as he and Nala parted, falling into readiness, but after a moment Obryd cleared his throat and called; "Stand down! Stand down!" Amazement swept through the ranks, in some disbelief, others relief, and even others betrayal as he ordered them down. "We cannot stop her here.... And this may not be solved by bloodshed if only we allow it. Let her meet with the druids, they will dissuade her one way or another!" he continued, and finally most of the temple guard stood down and pulled back, leaving Nala to advance, if not with their blessing than at least without their blood on her hands.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

"We are all a part of the same world, the same cycle of life and death, Obryd. I am only an exile to an artificial construct - an imposed order of the druid's creation. Life comes renewed from death. What you perceive as an ending would in truth be a new beginning. You recoil from the unknown, but refuse to see that the old way is not going to save this world. I will show you."

It was in saying this that she embraced him, rubbed herself lightly against his frame, let him feel the curves of her nudity behind the sheer fabric of her dress. She could feel his erection. She was not bothered by it. She took such things as her due.

"As opposed to slavery to the whims of the druidic order? Oh we shall have to find better uses for that tongue of yours, sweet Obryd - trying to talk me out of my path is a waste of your efforts." She patted his chest, as if pitying him for even trying to dissuade her.

"As for wielding the power of the gods, I wonder if a humble guard captain who lived thousands of years ago thought much the same, before he became something more and slew the heavens, Janis included. Tell me, did the world end after the Godslayer's deeds were done? Did the demons who threatened the world at that time get driven back? History itself refutes your claims, Obryd. Why do you need a girl half your age to explain these things to you?"

She listened to him renew his efforts, calling her mad. Telling her she was not strong enough. She bristled at this. His obstinance and nay-saying rankled her.

"Spiritual strength is a matter of will, Obryd. A burning, focused desire channeled into a clear vision. I know what I am. I know what I will be. Maybe not now. Maybe not even after today, should everything I want come to pass. But these are steps on the path I must take. No one need die, but I must commune with the power here. You know that if we do battle, I will be forced to draw upon my deadliest spells. Nature's power is denied to me, but the forces of entropy are at my beckoned call. I know you care for the lives of your men. Do not cast them aside when I tell you I would prefer to see them live!"

For a long moment after they parted, she stared at Obryd. She was worried that he wouldn't budge and she would be forced to unleash blightning around her in a storm of amethyst mist and dark power.

But it didn't happen. Like a reprieve from the heavens, he backed down. She was certain that her charm on him had something to do with it. But how much could she depend upon that? Did she have any other choice? Her sexual allure was her chief diplomatic weapon. The alternative was to kill innocent people as a means to an end. An odd justification. What did this make her?

Something other than a mere night elf, that was for certain. She nodded to Violet. The assassin's presence made her feel better about her decision in coming here. Violet was no stranger to death. A means to an end. All things died. Even the gods. Even the Godslayer, too, would pass eventually. This was just the next step in the cycle.

Nala stepped past Obryd as the temple guard parted way for her. She gave him only the barest of nods, though a trailing finger did stretch out and brush his skin. Inwardly she blessed him. He had made this easier. No blood on her hands yet.

She approached the next area, eyes searching, looking for signs of the druids and of their bracelets that she might take and become connected once again to the grove's power.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


"It is not only death that you would bring," Obryd warned insistently, but at that point they had reached an impasse, and the man seemingly realized that. How deeply her words after that sunk in... It was hard to say. Given how quick his reactions were one might assume he was dismissing her off hand, but the captain had achieved his position by being sharp and quick to act. He was oft insightful in the few situations in which he had asserted his authority in Nala's presence, getting quickly to the root of a matter and processing information far more quickly than most. Such was as clear an indicator as she could hope for that he was troubled by what she said, given how long he took to ponder some of her points, but even though he ultimately allowed her to pass it was hard to say if she had won him over or simply pushed him to the point where he didn't want to fight.

He only seemed confused as she delivered her example, the drop of Matthias' history something obvious unfamiliar to him. That probably wasn't surprising, however, given that the greater daemon had only ever told any portion of his story to a select few. It certainly wasn't general knowledge, the godslayer's full history a mystery even to the druids, who had studied a portion of his aftermath for multiple elven lifespans now. "I can only warn again that you will not receive what you hope," he said, hints of pleading once more creeping into his voice.

Then she was free, Obryd pulling his man back and causing them to part away from her and Violet, who still seemed shocked that they'd made it through that without a fight. The assassin maintained her aura but followed confidently at Nala's side, and though she offered the elven witch a reassuring smile it was a very brief gesture, and she turned her concentration back to their path quickly. It was clear that she expected an ambush, a sudden assault from multiple angles at once, but Nala would know that such was unlikely at best. The druids were not the sort to lay such an ambush, not against someone they knew was possessed of magic akin to their own, and though it certainly wasn't impossible she didn't sense anything waiting for her as she ascended the steps and entered the corridor leading to the main yard.

She and Violet emerged a few moments later, leaving the initial group of temple guard behind, into a garden unlike any other in the world. Ch'Hiesol was a place ripe with natural magic, the only sort that could preserve rather than corrupt, and it showed. Plants of every size, shape, and color filled the wide courtyard, the stonework that had marked the entry area missing in this natural grove. Flowers long extinct in the rest of the world sat at the feet of trees whose age numbered more years than any living elf, ferns from primordial Donevrion that had been driven extinct everywhere else thrived beside more recent additions that were cultivated for their medicinal purposes.

The junior members of the druidic order were the ones who did much of the tending to it, guiding the ancient growths and ensuring that they coexisted together in harmony without fully negating the natural cycles of competition and change. Those younger, less experienced members of the order were not present now, nor were the fully trained ones who normally monitored and mentored them. Perhaps surprisingly, only four stood to block Nala's path, but as she found herself facing them she might be given a bit more pause.

Four of the five elders of Ch'Hiesol stood in front of her, the council who decided how things were run. Her family had been a part of it for years, but the one woman she might have expected was conspicuously absent. Nala's mother was not present as the four other members of the council blocked her path, wizened staves in aging but strong hands. Trowan, the oldest but never the head of the council as he always refused advancements, the aging night elf content in his position and aware that he was a better teacher than he was a leader, the wrinkles of his years finally starting to show but his grip on the oaken staff he carried as firm as ever if the whiteness of his knuckles was any indication. Chairon, the former mutant woman who had purified herself in order to regain her connection to nature, the changes forced upon her by cruel demons undone by great effort, stood with a scowl as she leaned heavily on the simple but ancient shaft of wood. Oddly present was Idilos, the human shaman of a local tribe who had never been a member of the druids despite sharing many of their skills, though now it seemed the kindly old man had changed his mind on that ticket. Finally, there was Vreyan, the thin whisp of a woman who had been the head of the council before her own mother had taken that position, and the most disdainful of Nala among the lot.

It was less surprising perhaps that she looked on Nala with a dark scowl. "Hope, it seems, is but the first step on the road to disappointment. Hello Nala," she said bitterly, "I suppose you are expecting to talk your way past us now? That we might let you to the sacred tree to take its power?"

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

"What I seek cannot be received. It must be taken." Nala said solemnly as she passed the pleading Obryd.

She knew very well what he thought and what the druids would think as well. She had considered that her mortal frame would not be enough to handle the power of the dead goddess, but just as the sexual power of the demons had transformed her into a creature better suited to those designs, so too could the power of a god transform her into a more ideal form. Given time, she could remake herself, and with a burning purpose she could and would become the sensual force of nature that would calm and temper this storm of chaos that threatened her world.

Having made their way into the corridor that lead to the inner sanctum of Ch'hiesol, Nala was struck by the beauty of the inner garden. It seemed like it had been so long since she had beheld the wonder of it. This was what her mother and the other druids worried over, she knew. Plants that could grow only with the help of a goddess' memory. But what good were these plants doing here? Were these balms available on Kyederon when the demons had had their wicked way with her people? This was as much a museum of relics as it was a garden. The power of Janis could revive such plants, whether in a tree or within a night-elf-come-daemon. For that was what she realized she must become if she were to hold such power.

Four of the members of the Council of Five stood before her. Trowan, the wisest in her eyes, stood wrinkled and tense, waiting to do what must be done. Chairon, a survivor of demonic torments, who had purified herself of their taint at great cost, stood beside him, and Nala knew that there would be no convincing her. Nala had embraced what she had scourged. Idilos, a human shaman who had only recently joined with the druids, waited next to the first two. He was a mystery to Nala, for they had rarely spoken. She knew him to be a kind man, and it was sad that he should be ready to kill her.

Then at the last, there was Vreyan, a rival to Nala's mother for head of the council. She had probably used Nala's actions as an excuse to show that Kalevi was not fit to be the arch druidess, forcing her mother to choose between her position and her daughter.

"Fortunate that it is purpose, not hope, that drives me. Hello Vreyan... Idilos, Chairon, Trowan."

The young night-elf witch inclined her head to the four opponents who barred her way.

"If talking would allow some of you to stand aside, then I will take the chance. The world has changed outside these walls. The battle against the demons and the invaders is being lost. I am come to this place to change myself, just as we all must change, if we are to survive and prevail in this new world."

She had no delusion about her speech changing the minds of these four. Perhaps the more wise or kind of them would speak up and council her to turn course, as Obryd had. She would do no such thing.

She prepared to cast a draining spell, but considered what she knew of these four druids. Who among them was the strongest and therefore needed to be blunted straight away?

Nala considered Violet's positioning as well. Whoever she was closest to would go down first, and quickly, so there was no need to target them with a spell either.

It was the witch elf's hope that this fight could be won without any of the council members dying, but hope was a thing of empty promises, as Vreyan had suggested.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


The four councilors stood in a line in front of Nala, Vreyan directly across from the younger night elf and flanked on Nala's left by Chairon and on her right by Trowan. Idilos stood slightly apart, to the right, and he alone seemed most pensive compared to the stern looks from the others. Violet branched off as she slowly stalked aside, closest to the shaman, the outsider, and away from Nala in case the two groups should start trading spells. If things really came to a magic battle, Nala would be on her own where defense was concerned, but the assassin could both protect herself and remove targets. She was less adept at fighting multiple dangerous opponents at once, however, and any one of the four surely had methods of neutralizing her if they could focus.

From what she knew, Trowan was the most dangerous in a fight. The druid elder had once been a warrior, an officer and court mage in a city far to the South long ago. He had become disillusioned with military service after a war that happened decades before Nala's birth, and had sought a more peaceful existence that he had ultimately found in Ch'Hiesol. Despite his position as mentor, he most of all had been the one to rise to fight and defend the shrine in those rare instances that it had been threatened, often left to be the one to deal the finishing blows to dangerous creatures who were mutated beyond reason or that simply could not be relocated when such a distasteful act was necessary, though never had he ever seemed to enjoy that responsibility. He was the one most comfortable close in, the one most likely to be a real threat to Violet despite that he was old even for an elf untouched by corruption. He was also the one possessed of the most linear thinking when it came to combat, potent but predictable efforts to disable - or to kill if it were necessary - quickly and efficiently before an opponent could respond. He would be a storm, a burst of explosive power meant to simply overwhelm her, but if she could weather the first blow and deal with him his defenses might be weak, though she could sense some measure of defensive magic already at play on him.

Chairon was a of a craftier nature, one used to performing unusual acts to solve problems in ways that others had not come up with, and though she was getting late in life and only human she was still quite wily from what Nala remembered. She was also a kind soul, however, resorting to over violence only in the most extreme circumstances. She would try to disable without harming, to counter Nala's magic or to bind her, and perhaps to call on Ch'Hiesol's spirits to rise against Nala. Violet could deal with her easily if it came to that, the older woman the sort that the assassin was most capable of eliminating, but Chairon was a gentle soul and least likely to make that necessary under normal circumstances. She still stood in Nala's way, however, and seemed as resolute as any in stopping her.

An outsider whom Nala barely knew, Idilos was an unknown element here. Some of the man's tribe had been among the guardians that Nala had passed earlier, but had obviously naturalized into the guard despite their formerly primitive, nomadic lifestyle. Moving from place to place in the jungle had always been a dangerous proposition, and the old man had retained his traditional tribal garb rather than adopt more "civilized" trappings. He had never struck her as a violent man, but how he would defend himself was largely a mystery to Nala, who had never even seen him perform any magic.

That left Vreyan, her mother's longtime rival, a woman of stern stuff. A traditionalist through and through, it was hard to say what had sparked the tension between her and Kalevi, for neither woman could be called truly ambitious. Both sought to lead Ch'Hiesol along its stated course, to maintain but not to expand save as nature allowed and to protect the tree, and the methods that they employed hadn't even varied much save in terms of short term sorcery. Where her mother was a summoner first and foremost, a master of spirits, Vreyan was something of a generalist and a supporter, one who used their power most of all to protect others. She was a supporter, one who strengthened others to aid them in battle rather than an evoker of destructive magics or a conjurer of creatures, and eliminating her would potentially make the rest fold more easily.

The elder woman would snort derisively in response to Nala's pleading retort. "You came here to empower yourself, to gain power with which to dominate and destroy, consequences be damned. You are one to speak of demons and invaders, when you are little different from them now and would become something worse," Vreyan replied coldly, her stance only growing more firm and her scowl as determined as ever.

"We don't want to harm you child... That is the last thing we want!" Chairon said imploringly after shooting a knowing glare sideways at Vreyan, "please... Just give up on this! You don't know what you're going to cause! Even if you get past us and do as you intend, the devastation you are going to cause... It isn't worth it! Whatever good you think you will do, it isn't worth it!"

"Don't waste your breath," Vreyan cautioned, "she will not turn her course aside on our counsel. She is as stubborn as her mother, and a hundred times as foolish. We should just have done with this!"

Vreyan's statement earned another glare from Chairon, but despite his own apparent reservations Trowan would let out an acknowledging sigh. "We are all in danger from dark forces, yes, but we are not driven to desperation yet Nala. We should not fight, not here, but if you refuse to turn aside and are set on reaching the peak of this temple, we have no other course that will prevent disaster save to try and stop you here. I am truly sorry that it has come to this, and will do all that I can to keep you and your associate from permanent harm, but know that I cannot allow you to reach the grave tree."

Idilos, in the meantime, was staring at Nala thoughtfully with his arms folded. "Now now... We all know how important this is, but we shouldn't be so quick to come to this... No one here wants blood spilled, but with the power likely to be swung around someone is quite likely to die," he said calmly. "I am not eager to kill a child, human or elven, just because they think themselves without a choice and come to do a thing without knowing the consequences of it."

Vreyan would sigh, nodding, but her tone was no less dark than before as she replied; "None of us are eager for this, and not a one of us wants to kill anyone. It is not our way. But to let her pass is to invite a worse fate." She slammed her staff into the floor once, twice, and continued; "Enough, Nala... Fight us or leave. We will not allow you to pass. Prove your convictions and take what you want, as is your way, or surprise me and show reason for once!"

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

It would have to be Vreyan first, then Trowan. Nala could see no other way around it. A fight would occur here. These four would not be swayed. Vreyan was too powerful a supporter to be allowed to stand long and Trowan would have strong spells as well.

It needed to be quick. Outnumbered two to one, and in the heart of their power source. Her magics must be swift and final.

"Choice? Choice? The King of Abaddon delights in such irony, and the Outsiders abolish it. To remain and be a slave or to change and fight the enemy - it is no choice that we are given! Choice. I deny the word. As I deny the will of others, all inhibitions, and you."

Casting out her darkwood staff, Nala's eyes crackled with amethyst energies as she unleashed a Mass Wrack spell, centered to hopefully stun as many of the druids at once as she could, but at the very least Trowan and Vreyan. She knew the spell would hurt them, but it would not be lethal and the pain would pass. If successful, it would allow her time to drain them while Violet sped in and evened the odds.

With her hasted magic allowing her increased casting time, Nala would follow up her wrack spell with a Drain spell targeting anyone who remained standing, prioritizing Vreyan and then Trowan.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)


Rolls

A retort was half formed on Vreyan's face when Nala suddenly lashed out, calling on her darker powers, the force of chaos. With a resounding crash and a flash the world seemed to crackle around the four mages. A bubble, invisible to the naked eye but plainly perceptible to everyone left in that glade, formed around the elders blocking the witch elf's path to the sacred tree. Formed of pure chaos but left targeting the nervous system of every living thing inside, Nala felt the power she had unleashed crackling through her for a single heartbeat, a ghost of untold agony that the mind couldn't even process flashing through her long enough to be remembered but not long enough to disrupt her concentration.

The other mages were not so lucky.

Vreyan screamed first, her voice unleashed as the chaotic energies wrapped around her, smashing through her magical defenses in an instant and leaving her in indescribable agony that even her tortured expression could not convey. Chairon was right behind her, the attempt to burst the bubble before it could close around them failing completely, not even disrupting the spell significantly enough to slow or reduce it before the entropic power washed over her. Trowan was most dignified only in that he did not scream, his teeth gritted to the point that it looked like they might crack as his body spasmed.

All three elders collapsed, unconscious, as the bubble released them, and it would have seemed that the fight was over... But Idilos simply stepped out of it, the power washing around him like a stone somehow. He opened his mouth to speak, but the second spell that Nala had prepared was already aimed upon him, and no second miraculous escape preserved him as a more direct application of chaos magic targeted not his body, but his very soul. The very energies of his being were rent apart and drawn together again, leaving only a shattered shell - or perhaps nothing at all if Nala wished - and the shaman's essence was used to restore her own, leaving Nala to stand alone save Violet as her last opposition before the gates leading to the steps ascending the mountain fell to the ground.

The four would live, possibly save Idilos if Nala had chosen to destroy and consume his soul. They might be changed by the agony she had inflicted and the dark magics she had unleashed, but they would survive. Whether or not she wanted to change that, however, the area around them had not been so fortunate under Nala's spell. Even in the heart of the sacred tree's power, her spell had killed every plant in its area of effect, leaving a spread of wilted, blackened plants in a circle around the four fallen elders. No amount of magic would restore the damage she had done, and even though tendrils of life began to creep back in where she had left a void the wound would last for as long as this temple stood.

"Wow... That was... I'm almost disappointed," Violet said, shifting back into a more relaxed pose and turning back to Nala with a smirk. "I guess it certainly could have gone worse," she added, glancing over their fallen foes once more and looking back to Nala. "Shall we be on our way then?"

When Nala did opt to move on, it would be a straight path with no further opposition for some time. There was a stairway with no railings winding around the mountain, ascending upwards with carved reliefs carved regularly into the rock. Ancient spells of warding, the same that prevented her from simply teleporting to the summit, were inscribed into the living rock alongside pictures of ancient tales, some long forgotten and some told daily in the circle of stories held every day in the sanctuary temple's gardens. Flowering vines that were older than any work of art on the mount climbed alongside them, roots buried deep into the stone and their delicacy and beautiful collection of colorful flowers belying their tenacity and durability. No one had ever fallen from these narrow stone steps, for the vines broke any fall, and the magic guided every step.

As they climbed the half thousand steps to the summit where the sacred tree awaited them, Violet and Nala could watch the legion of bees, wasps, butterflies and birds dancing among the flowers. The vines sported more than a dozen different colors for its flowers despite being all a single organism, and the pollinators looking for sap added a hundred more. Few but the most crass or the most taciturn could go unswayed by that sight, even when it had been seen countless times before, and the pulsing beat of the power that they approached seemed to add a new vibrance to the beautiful display. Violet was looking on in awe, often distracted by the beauty of the mount and forcing Nala to give her the occasional poke to keep her moving along.

Eventually, however, they would come up the last steps, and pass the last artificial gate before entering the great glade.

It was, after the vines climbing the mountain, always something of a disappointment at a glance. A shroud of trees surrounded the glade itself, ancient ones that had long weathered the jungle's wrath and stood defiant against all natural forces. A pathway formed of twisting roots led deeper in, and no wards or guardians lay here. This was a sacred place, a place that the druids would have died defending from one such as Nala. Only her connection to this place had let them put their guard down enough to have not thrown themselves at her until every last one of them was dead or she, the invader, had fallen, but now she was here.

Before her stood a willow, its long hair-like leaves flowing in the wind, and though some who had first looked upon the smallest tree in this ancient grove were initially unimpressed, it never took more than a second looking at it to recognize this tree for what it was. Immense but impossibly gentle power wafted from it in a constant flow, like a gentle river of raw magic that poured down the mountainsides and into veins that fed the land itself. Pale bark covered the small tree, and its leaves were a soft golden color, and a patch of bare earth ringed its ancient but unscarred trunk, inviting one to sit beneath it and rest out of the sun's gaze. No one ever made that journey garbed; it was a tradition to disrobe before approaching for the ceremony that initiated one into the druidic order, when one would first touch the tree itself, and the elders always followed that guideline when joining new initiates for the completion of that ritual.

Her mother stood between her and that tree, her staff laid in her lap as she sat cross legged on the only path that would bring her here. Violet frowned, but a look at her and another at Nala caused her to step aside, leaving Nala to face Kalevi as her eyes slowly flitted open. "My daughter... You have returned," she said faintly, false surprise and joy masking her despair, but as she unfolded from her cross legged position and climbed to her feet, her more conservative dress clashing with Nala's revealing garb despite that the two could almost have been sisters.

Her mother was a hair taller, and where Nala was a woman just truly come into her figure her mother had a bit more of a matronly shape, her hips wider and her breasts slightly bigger, the barest hint of cleavage visible as she stood facing Nala telling of that fact. In facial structure they were almost identical, and they could have switched eyes and no one would have been the wiser. Their garb and their staves were the only are where they truly differed in physical appearance, but more dramatic than that was in their carriage. Kalevi stood straight backed, her eyes tight on Nala, but she had known her mother for many long years, and the daughter could see through the cracks in that facade. Her mother was tired, despondent, depressed, but seemingly resigned to something that she had known was coming but dreaded.

It was as Kalevi clicked her staff against the ground, finally assuming her full stance, that Nala realized that one other was in that glade. Standing off to the side, hands clasped behind his back in a relaxed pose, stood a being whom Nala had never encountered before. An angel walked in the grove of Ch'Hiesol. He was clothed only in a sleeveless white robe, pale skinned and tall, dark hair curling lightly, toned muscle plainly visible through his spare clothing but the man's relaxed posture exhibiting no violence. It was hard to sense magic in this glade, the power emanating from the tree so immense that it easily drowned out even powerful beings like Nala, Violet, and Kalevi. If they were fish in the stream, however, this angel was a stubborn rock, standing out among the currents as a source of power all its own, separate and distinct even if it wasn't equal. He stood at ease, making no effort to come between Nala and her mother or Nala and the tree, but Violet looked at him uncertainly before glancing at Nala with a similar expression.

Re: Chasing Godhood (Blueslime)

The crackles of entropic energy died down around Nala as her draining spell ended. Idilos fell down before her, unconscious, his soul energies drained, but his core spirit still intact and regenerating dimly inside him. He would recover. All four of them would recover.

"You gave me no time and pain is quick," she murmured as she stepped over the bodies. She stooped daintily over Vreyan, unclasped the druidic band, and attached it to her own wrist. Hopefully, this would allow the glade to recognize her as a fellow druid, and she would not have to inflict more entropic magics on anyone else for the time being.

The witch elf nodded to Violet as they continued up through the vale towards their final destination. Nala did frown at the scar her magics had wrought upon the garden, but Nature had a way of rebounding. There would be new miracles to replace the old, she told herself.

"Disappointing? A quick fight is a good fight, Violet dear. Leaves more energy for more exciting pursuits."

Nala and Violet ascended the stairway to the very top, where the Janis Tree sprouted tall and proud, dominating everything with its majesty and power. In its presence, the elf and human were caught up in the magical currents, its power immense and unyielding. Immediately, Nala spied her mother, the beautiful Kalevi, who was so alike in appearance to Nala that they might have been sisters to the untrained eye.

Where Nala had a sinuous, effortless sashay to her approach, her mother was rigid, strained, her posture drawn back to its full height. It was plain to see the forlorn and exhausted spirit behind her mother's eyes, and Nala discovered that she felt no joy in seeing Kalevi that way. In her dreams, the impetuous daughter had always pictured her mother defiant and stubborn to the end, cocooned as she always was in self-righteousness. Nala still sensed that she would face resistance, but in some fashion, her mother appeared already defeated - and this bred a disquiet in Nala that threatened to gnaw at her thoughts.

As she did with all troublesome emotions, Nala shunted it off to one side. She compartmentalized it, packing it away next to the tortures of Kyederon, the betrayal and shame of her defeat to demonic temptation, her various angers and petty jealousies... all of it thrown aside somewhere else, where it could not harm her, nor interfere with her great work.

Kalevi's staff clacked against the ground, and it was then that Nala noticed the angel, observing the scene placidly from the side. The witch elf did not know what to make of him. Why was he here? Had he been the one to set her mother against her even now? Would he fight to protect this grove from Nala's powers? These questions rushed through Nala's mind, but they couldn't keep her distracted from Kalevi for long.

"Mother. I had hoped for a better reception than this. Mocked. Shamed. Threatened. Admonished. And finally forced to fight within the sacred glade... all just to talk to you. Did you value your pride so much that you would not see me at the gate? Did you fear what I might say to you in front of the others? You cast me out into an unforgiving world. Did you think I would crawl back to this sheltered place? You are a druid. You must have known I would either die or grow into something you would fear far worse. Are you sad because I still draw breath?

"First the demons came. Then the Outsiders. The dark jungle grew new horrors. But I tried... mother. Oh how I tried to do as you all have done. To live, tending my own garden, protecting my own people, to weather this storm of devilry as a willow bends with the wind. Despite our differences, I almost turned out just like you, mother. Believe me. I can see why you act the way you do. I can understand the appeal to cling to what you know. To clutch desperately to what you care about. To hope that if you're just diligent enough, clever enough, and passive enough, the world will continue to spin and life will struggle on and you can continue to find some joy."

Nala clacked the butt of her own staff against the rocks and stood with her shapely leg rubbing slowly against it, as if she were teasing the wooden rod. Even so, Nala's eyes focused back on her mother's as she spoke.

"But it doesn't work like that. Not with these otherworldly forces. The supernatural entities that do not bow to Nature's rules. They arrive on our doorstep, like thieves in the night, and they take, wantonly and completely. There is no renewal. There is only death and that which is worse than death. There is no passive resistance. There is only a slow, pointless retreat. And you know what really makes me angry? That there is power enough in this world for us to fight back. Enough to change the rules in our favor. But we don't use it. We don't channel it. We keep it hidden away, behind a wall, within a tree, to preserve luxuries that will not save us... Am I really such a villain, for wanting to take a stand? For wanting to bring the power of Janis back onto the field of battle?"

Nala finally took a look at the angel and raised her chin to acknowledge him.

"Does this angel side with you? Is it the heavenly host that has convinced you of the need to fight me?"