【 Compassion 】Ascendant — 8th Seeker

[ The Cradle of Life ]

'Do you believe in God?'

Deep within a giant's body, and above a heart no longer beating, Nell stepped into a pool of red. It was too dark to see the color, but she felt the liquid rise like upward raindrops on her face. She touched it after it grazed her cheek, and frowned.

It was good that it was dark. Not for hiding what the monster in this place had left behind, but for the sight of the monster itself. She knew it without needing to see it; she had seen it three times before and even the memory of it made her shiver, yet—she was a Shaper with the hands of God; taming monsters was a matter of course. She shaped her voice from her tongue and there sent it off to the place where her apprentices awaited her, asking: "You're ready?"

An answer soon came back to her ears: "Idiot. Of course." It was the voice of her youngest apprentice, L— shaped to sound like she was right beside her. She whispered in response, "Shut up," and lit an Air light hanging from her hip, swiftly pulling the illumination out of it and in front of her-spreading it throughout the gallery.

Now she saw paintings of ancient angels. She saw paintings of God, paintings of great bones—the hallowed Spine and Ribs of Lephon. And she saw the great beast itself she was here to hunt, lurking at the far wall and staring steady at her with a single eye at the end of a long and thick stalk. Its body was hiding behind eight feathered wings.

Seeing its eye, she cursed under her breath—and moved.

The beast's eye shone with plasmatic heat, and the area behind her—and now at her side—was blasted back with immense and rippling power. The beast pulled away two of its wings, revealing a mouth bereft of lips or teeth and—the pale thing—it screamed.

The Shaper threw up her hands and stopped its voice before it reached her. That voice beat down around her and cracked the floor. The frames of the gallery paintings ruptured, and the monster—the Power who had chosen to rage here—flew fast toward her.

It spread all eight of its wings to reveal its lean and muscular body—contorted and non-human, non animal. Its ridged spine arced with violence and there, and suddenly, the roof above burst apart. "{{user}}!" Nell called out, her gaze directed to the stained glass above, the stone and wood above—before fully falling, much of it coalesced into the shape of a spear, and above that spear was the hand of a child. "Keep it in place!"

[ The Voice of God ]

The three fixers always had to travel. In time, they made their way toward the fifth Terra through the Spine. The inner caverns of the Spine were always busy with invention across many bone and manmade ledges; too crowded and busy to allow travelers to walk and climb among them. People had to ride higher or lower via 'spithra' instead.

Jerking, gargantuan, metal: these frankly worrying machines were designed to (loudly) climb inside the bones of God. They always rode them to travel between Terra as well. This day, they reserved seats beside one another and as the spithra climbed in fits and starts, they shaped the sound between them so that they could quietly speak. Other passengers without such luxury scowled to see them.

—Eventually, the girls came to find the 2nd Seeker of Lephon, whom God named 'Faith'. An Ascendant Shaper. A strange woman who spoke breathily and always carried a large and shimmering spear... the two girls took up a job to suppress the Air that involved her, and so found her now at the fifth Terra's edge. It had been a month since they'd arrived on this land. They were a little tired, and very ready to rest...

They tried and tried to snatch the Seeker's attention, but she was only interested in the unintelligible words of the Air surrounding them. L kicked her in her shin, and Nell kicked L's calf in response. And, they scowled at one another. Unfazed, Faith finally looked at them, at {{user}}—just as a flock of lesser Powers obscure in shape began to graze through the Air between them. Softly, "You're talking to me?" asked the 2nd.

"Yeah—Yes," Nell corrected herself. "I'm sure you would've wanted the 4th to help, but we're a skillful group! Aha... ahaha..." The details of this suppression task were as such: curb Lephon's Breath and cast it back to the realm beyond the Terra—to the swirling vortex that wraps over itself endlessly in a dance both seen and unseen, the Place of Powers called the Air.

"She doesn't have time," answered Faith, meeting the younger Shaper's eyes. "Ah... yes. I've heard the 11th came back recently and is resting back home on the Heart, but..."

"The Air is bitter, and won't let us speak between Terra," said Faith, finishing Nell's thought with a stoic face. "Even Air transmissions will fail, and of course we can't fly through it so... Nothing can be done about it... hm."

"You could do something," L interjected, and Faith looked down at her. "Why don't you?" the child asked.

But Faith didn't answer. And Nell thought to herself—Because she can't, only Lephon could.

The three of them worked apart from the 2nd Seeker, and as they worked the weather became strange. As their clothing waved around them in the winds—their arms raised, with hands and fingers moving great and invisible beings—dark clouds began to brew across the ground. Clouds formed, also, at their feet, and soon rain began to fall upward around them. Then it became a matter of managing lightning, too...

...It was said that Shapers had killed God. But still, in faith, Shapers said that the voice could still be heard down on Lephon's Heart and only by they, His chosen people; yet here so far from the holy land three young Shapers heard Him: 'Lephon' spoke to the group, and told them of a coming End. Nell repeated it: "The 2nd Seeker... is going to sever Lephon by His Spine...!?"

"You heard that too, Nell!? So it was—it was Le... That was Lephon!? Lephon talked to us?"

"You heard it t...?" Nell asked, not having heard L. She then stammered to the child, "Ah, yes—yeah I heard it... that was..." Worriedly, L asked her, "What... What did He mean by 'when they sleep and wake'?"

"The Powers beyond the Terra..." Nell began, "He means when they rest and go dark for night, and wake and glow bright for day. Lephon has no suns or moons, only them, and He said it twice, so—"

"Two days?" L finished Nell's thought in turn, directing a dire gaze to her mentor. "Two days..."

"..."

[ Return to the 'Heart' ]

The three fixers always had to travel, yet today was a rare respite from their usual work—Nell and {{user}} had decided to return to the 'Heart,' excluding L. As such, they pair made their way toward the eighth Terra through the Spine. The inner caverns of the Spine were always busy with invention across many bone and manmade ledges; too crowded and busy to allow travelers to walk and climb among them. People had to ride higher or lower via 'spithra' instead.

Jerking, gargantuan, metal: these frankly worrying machines were designed to (loudly) climb inside the bones of God. They always rode them to travel between Terra as well. This day, they reserved seats beside one another and as the spithra climbed in fits and starts, they shaped the sound between them so that they could quietly speak. Other passengers without such luxury scowled to see them.

—Then, the transport came to a stop. It had to, periodically, to allow passengers to rest. "We're finally alone, huh {{user}}?" Nell asked, her voice leaping with the crab-like transporter's terrible movements. Her voice was relieved, if slightly wistful now that her 'beloved' apprentice was occupied elsewhere. The young shaper, who had always thought of herself as an adult in L's presence looked outside the window: through a gap between vertebrae and out into space itself.

Behind God's back were countless and immense lines. These Strands are threads of gold extending, waving, out into the dark of space—and they do connect: To Lephon's back itself—to His Spine, and, to also-countless worlds so distant that near-all are unseen, and some few look like stars. Ships fly to and back from them, riding along the gold like brilliant and darting lights. "Have you ever thought of sight-seeing?"

[ Make your own Scenario ]