Arora - the Smoking Jungle, 212
Arora cursed the fact that Sraker had still not mastered the art of teleportation, forcing them fly side by side to the Mu moving as fast as physically possible rather than instantaneously. This was still very fast, of course. They'd broken the sound barrier just outside Guran, much to the shock of the nearby locals.
Please, don't let him attack now... Arora prayed to the unknowable god of gods. Don't let him destroy it... Not now... It can't all be for nothing!
The Heartfire hadn't expected anything to happen.
But to her absolute astonishment, the goddess was wrong.
Something did happen, though it seemed a vast extrapolation on the request she had made.
The muscles in Arora's phoenix wings went limp. In an instant her aerodynamic, supersonic body became a dead weight tumbling through the air. For a few seconds her momentum carried her on in Sraker's slipstream, the demi-god so intent on his travel that he didn't notice Arora's seizure, then she began to plummet.
The world spun about the goddess as jungle canopy rushed up to meet her. Splintering wood crashed around her, and only a split second later she met with the earth in a mighty impact, debris scattering far and wide into the trees. When finally the phoenix came to rest, she lay at the end of a long scar in the vegetation, smoke rising feebly from a splayed out body, paralysed by the most freakish of coincidental divine interventions.
And so she remained for quite some time...
Arora - Utanokogen, 213-412
She could hear hoofbeats in the distance; at first faint but growing louder. She could see two riders in the distance, Nirn dressed in furs and leather and armed with two bows each. One of the riders spotted her and called his companion to follow and in a minute the riders were before her. They dismounted from their horses and started looking at her. They grabbed her wings and moved them around, and then rolled her to her back.
"No arrow wounds." She could hear one of the Nirn say. "Nice bird though."
"I see no hunters." The other Nirn spoke up. "No warriors either. Air is horrid here, but there's no blood."
"Can they feel Him in these lands?"
"They should."
"... What about the bird?"
"We take it with us. This might be a good gift to the Huli-Xia."
"Should that god decide we return."
"You mean should our Ming-an decide we return."
"He is too taken by that god and his words. He forgets Him."
The Nirn reacied a skin and placed her in it, her head peeking out of the opening. Then she was thrown over one of the rider's shoulder and in a second the riders were off with her in tow.
The skies grew cloudier as the forest lands crawled away from her. The two riders rode nonstop barely stopping to hunt for food. They checked her over from time to time, but still let her stay in the bag. It would be a full four days before the riders stopped in earnest. They got off their steeds and walked with her in tow. A moderate encampment had been erected on top of a hill. More Nirn garbed in leather were bundled around the fire with an iron shield serving as a skillet for meats and poultry. But among those Nirn was someone who looked out of place among these fierce-eyed hunters. A timid and weary Fey was kneeling closer to the fire than the others, draping himself in a familiar white-furred cloak. He noticed the two riders before noticing your bird head sticking out of the sack. His eyes grew wide.
"Where did you find her?" He asked.
"Found the bird before the tree lands. May have died from old age." was the rider's reply.
Ajax tugged one Nirn who wore a robe over the leathers. "That's her. That's who I'm looking for."
With only a glare the robed Nirn ordered the two riders to take her bird form out of the sack and give her to the demigod. Ajax discarded his cloak and laid her out on it.
"Arora? Are you all right?" He places his hand gently on top of her head. Worry plastered his face whil the other Nirn watch in quiet curiosity.
The hand that was on her head moved lower to the side, watching her for any movement. Seconds of waiting turned into minutes, and Ajax turned to the robed Nirn.
"Can the Huli-Xia house her for a while?" He asked.
"You must ask the Huli-Xia yourself. We will make our return to Utanokogen by tomorrow." The Nirn answered.
More days of riding passed, with Ajax taking watch of her form as she was placed in a sack again. "Please be fine." was something that he said time an again as his eyes went to her. Days turned into nights and into days again, rarely stopping for food or rest, and the Fey could barely stay awake. Two weeks had passed before all riding could stop. She had been presented to a gathering of Nirn in a large tent, each one armed to the teeth. AJax was nowhere to be seen. But who stood out was a young armored Nirn who said nothing but had a wide grin. He made no movement, said nothing, but his eyes traveled across her being. He gave nods to the left and right and the tent was clear. Silence, and then he spoke.
His voice was high and calm as he called her a god, calling her love and a mother of earth. He named himself Iesugei, explaining who he is, and his grieveances against the pureblooded who wronged him and his ilk fore being 'cursed.' He spoke of how he must change the land so no one could be wronged because of their bloodline; make the cursed strong and the pure weak so all could be equal under Him as 'He' wanted. Finally he prayed to her for a strong and clever child to be born to his wife.
He bowed his head to the floor ten times before Iesugei left.
A minute passed and Ajax entered the tent, and the demigod spent the days tending to her, keeping her close to make sure that there was life in her. He stayed with her for hours, even when Nirn had entered and told him that Iesugei needed him, and even then he left with the greatest of reluctance on his face.
The day grew dark in the tent when Ajax returned with a sad look on his face and carrying a grave burden. He took to the ground and focused squarely on her bird form.
"I'm sorry for not leaving you. I didn't mean to be swept up in things. Nirn found me and were trying to make me swear to their leader. Things got complicated when I told them that I was a demigod..." He paused and looked away in slight anger. "I wish I found you sooner. Things are going to be alright, I hope."
Day in and day out Ajax came to her as he told her of things that had happened. How Iesugei had died in battle and a wary peace came. He expressed his guilt on how he told great things about some of the Nirn here, and how others had twisted his stories into farces that mocked what the demigod wanted to impart. He would express sometimes about how people had made enemies of one another and could not live in true peace. Other times he would expres how the Nirn believe every thing around them as living gods with the more revered came from the sky, and end with a chuckle on how delightfully strange it sounded. Other times still the sound of battle could be heard in the tent as the lights fluctuated between bright and dim.
The days of resting in the test came to an end when a robed She-Nirn entered the tent. She wore a leather garment over a white fur robe like the one Ajax wore, but this robe was more tailored to her form than the demigods. Her skin was pale with a blue tinge and sharp grey eyes. Like the other Nirn her she carried two bows and a quiver of arrows. The Nirn's gaze went to Arora's bird form but said nothing; her face lightly torn in reaching out to Arora.
"Why did He send you and your protector so long ago?" At last she spoke up. "My uncle had found the two of you and while your friend is out in the world, while you suffer some disease. What could possibly cause a god of your station harm? And, why is it a sickness that no shaman can understand? What is the Nameless One wanting?"
Arora would be visited by both her and Ajax though not together; the demigod spoke of how war came again and he wished that the Nirn could make peace, while the Robed Nirn - Araqai - spoke well of the fighting, and regrets only that her kinfolk could not listen. In particular Ajax would sometimes embrace her form with pleas that Arora would stir. The concern the demigod had for her grew.
She would me moved from the tent by a garthering of Nirn in woad garments who carried her to a large palace on a litter. Nirn would gather to see her bird form and try to touch her, while Ajax shuddered when he looks away from you. The goddess would be deposited in a large courtyard with an open view of the sky with a few towers rising up. Days and nights would pass as both Ajax and Araqai visited. She could see Araqai grow older and more distinguished until she had passed, expressing that it would be possible to be at Iesugei's side.
Her daughter Kreika would visit her but said very little, seeing not what Ajax and Araqai saw long ago. Sraker eventually came as well, a strange elderly Thaloc accompanying him. The news was bound to reach her godson eventually, even as far away as the Mu. She learned from him that day, as he stood uncomfortably holding his hat, that Katya had died a few years before word reached them of Arora's condition.
Of all the things Arora experienced during her paralysis, it was this she found most difficult to endure.
And so, in this way she spent over a century watching the cycles of day and night, spring and winter, joy and melancholy. Unable to move, and eternally grateful to Ajax for the company he gave.
Arora cursed the fact that Sraker had still not mastered the art of teleportation, forcing them fly side by side to the Mu moving as fast as physically possible rather than instantaneously. This was still very fast, of course. They'd broken the sound barrier just outside Guran, much to the shock of the nearby locals.
Please, don't let him attack now... Arora prayed to the unknowable god of gods. Don't let him destroy it... Not now... It can't all be for nothing!
The Heartfire hadn't expected anything to happen.
But to her absolute astonishment, the goddess was wrong.
Something did happen, though it seemed a vast extrapolation on the request she had made.
The muscles in Arora's phoenix wings went limp. In an instant her aerodynamic, supersonic body became a dead weight tumbling through the air. For a few seconds her momentum carried her on in Sraker's slipstream, the demi-god so intent on his travel that he didn't notice Arora's seizure, then she began to plummet.
The world spun about the goddess as jungle canopy rushed up to meet her. Splintering wood crashed around her, and only a split second later she met with the earth in a mighty impact, debris scattering far and wide into the trees. When finally the phoenix came to rest, she lay at the end of a long scar in the vegetation, smoke rising feebly from a splayed out body, paralysed by the most freakish of coincidental divine interventions.
And so she remained for quite some time...
Arora - Utanokogen, 213-412
She could hear hoofbeats in the distance; at first faint but growing louder. She could see two riders in the distance, Nirn dressed in furs and leather and armed with two bows each. One of the riders spotted her and called his companion to follow and in a minute the riders were before her. They dismounted from their horses and started looking at her. They grabbed her wings and moved them around, and then rolled her to her back.
"No arrow wounds." She could hear one of the Nirn say. "Nice bird though."
"I see no hunters." The other Nirn spoke up. "No warriors either. Air is horrid here, but there's no blood."
"Can they feel Him in these lands?"
"They should."
"... What about the bird?"
"We take it with us. This might be a good gift to the Huli-Xia."
"Should that god decide we return."
"You mean should our Ming-an decide we return."
"He is too taken by that god and his words. He forgets Him."
The Nirn reacied a skin and placed her in it, her head peeking out of the opening. Then she was thrown over one of the rider's shoulder and in a second the riders were off with her in tow.
The skies grew cloudier as the forest lands crawled away from her. The two riders rode nonstop barely stopping to hunt for food. They checked her over from time to time, but still let her stay in the bag. It would be a full four days before the riders stopped in earnest. They got off their steeds and walked with her in tow. A moderate encampment had been erected on top of a hill. More Nirn garbed in leather were bundled around the fire with an iron shield serving as a skillet for meats and poultry. But among those Nirn was someone who looked out of place among these fierce-eyed hunters. A timid and weary Fey was kneeling closer to the fire than the others, draping himself in a familiar white-furred cloak. He noticed the two riders before noticing your bird head sticking out of the sack. His eyes grew wide.
"Where did you find her?" He asked.
"Found the bird before the tree lands. May have died from old age." was the rider's reply.
Ajax tugged one Nirn who wore a robe over the leathers. "That's her. That's who I'm looking for."
With only a glare the robed Nirn ordered the two riders to take her bird form out of the sack and give her to the demigod. Ajax discarded his cloak and laid her out on it.
"Arora? Are you all right?" He places his hand gently on top of her head. Worry plastered his face whil the other Nirn watch in quiet curiosity.
The hand that was on her head moved lower to the side, watching her for any movement. Seconds of waiting turned into minutes, and Ajax turned to the robed Nirn.
"Can the Huli-Xia house her for a while?" He asked.
"You must ask the Huli-Xia yourself. We will make our return to Utanokogen by tomorrow." The Nirn answered.
More days of riding passed, with Ajax taking watch of her form as she was placed in a sack again. "Please be fine." was something that he said time an again as his eyes went to her. Days turned into nights and into days again, rarely stopping for food or rest, and the Fey could barely stay awake. Two weeks had passed before all riding could stop. She had been presented to a gathering of Nirn in a large tent, each one armed to the teeth. AJax was nowhere to be seen. But who stood out was a young armored Nirn who said nothing but had a wide grin. He made no movement, said nothing, but his eyes traveled across her being. He gave nods to the left and right and the tent was clear. Silence, and then he spoke.
His voice was high and calm as he called her a god, calling her love and a mother of earth. He named himself Iesugei, explaining who he is, and his grieveances against the pureblooded who wronged him and his ilk fore being 'cursed.' He spoke of how he must change the land so no one could be wronged because of their bloodline; make the cursed strong and the pure weak so all could be equal under Him as 'He' wanted. Finally he prayed to her for a strong and clever child to be born to his wife.
He bowed his head to the floor ten times before Iesugei left.
A minute passed and Ajax entered the tent, and the demigod spent the days tending to her, keeping her close to make sure that there was life in her. He stayed with her for hours, even when Nirn had entered and told him that Iesugei needed him, and even then he left with the greatest of reluctance on his face.
The day grew dark in the tent when Ajax returned with a sad look on his face and carrying a grave burden. He took to the ground and focused squarely on her bird form.
"I'm sorry for not leaving you. I didn't mean to be swept up in things. Nirn found me and were trying to make me swear to their leader. Things got complicated when I told them that I was a demigod..." He paused and looked away in slight anger. "I wish I found you sooner. Things are going to be alright, I hope."
Day in and day out Ajax came to her as he told her of things that had happened. How Iesugei had died in battle and a wary peace came. He expressed his guilt on how he told great things about some of the Nirn here, and how others had twisted his stories into farces that mocked what the demigod wanted to impart. He would express sometimes about how people had made enemies of one another and could not live in true peace. Other times he would expres how the Nirn believe every thing around them as living gods with the more revered came from the sky, and end with a chuckle on how delightfully strange it sounded. Other times still the sound of battle could be heard in the tent as the lights fluctuated between bright and dim.
The days of resting in the test came to an end when a robed She-Nirn entered the tent. She wore a leather garment over a white fur robe like the one Ajax wore, but this robe was more tailored to her form than the demigods. Her skin was pale with a blue tinge and sharp grey eyes. Like the other Nirn her she carried two bows and a quiver of arrows. The Nirn's gaze went to Arora's bird form but said nothing; her face lightly torn in reaching out to Arora.
"Why did He send you and your protector so long ago?" At last she spoke up. "My uncle had found the two of you and while your friend is out in the world, while you suffer some disease. What could possibly cause a god of your station harm? And, why is it a sickness that no shaman can understand? What is the Nameless One wanting?"
Arora would be visited by both her and Ajax though not together; the demigod spoke of how war came again and he wished that the Nirn could make peace, while the Robed Nirn - Araqai - spoke well of the fighting, and regrets only that her kinfolk could not listen. In particular Ajax would sometimes embrace her form with pleas that Arora would stir. The concern the demigod had for her grew.
She would me moved from the tent by a garthering of Nirn in woad garments who carried her to a large palace on a litter. Nirn would gather to see her bird form and try to touch her, while Ajax shuddered when he looks away from you. The goddess would be deposited in a large courtyard with an open view of the sky with a few towers rising up. Days and nights would pass as both Ajax and Araqai visited. She could see Araqai grow older and more distinguished until she had passed, expressing that it would be possible to be at Iesugei's side.
Her daughter Kreika would visit her but said very little, seeing not what Ajax and Araqai saw long ago. Sraker eventually came as well, a strange elderly Thaloc accompanying him. The news was bound to reach her godson eventually, even as far away as the Mu. She learned from him that day, as he stood uncomfortably holding his hat, that Katya had died a few years before word reached them of Arora's condition.
Of all the things Arora experienced during her paralysis, it was this she found most difficult to endure.
And so, in this way she spent over a century watching the cycles of day and night, spring and winter, joy and melancholy. Unable to move, and eternally grateful to Ajax for the company he gave.