Music for today:
Jo Wandrini - Sciophobia (Royalty Free Music)
syoutu.be/MGANKNc6g7g
Late Evening - Late Sumr - Year 24 : Aerakis | Holy Kingdom
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- Astren Ravenna ~
Wyverns: so of the strongest unintelligent monsters known to exist, and beings perceived to be in a bracket almost entirely to their own.
Calling the western Holy Kingdom their ho, they were considered pests akin to natural disasters, only stoppable by so of the strongest adventurers thanks to their tendencies to roam in groups, and accepted as a risk akin to the tornados on the plains to the east or hurricanes on the seas to the west.
However, that view was flipped on its head the mont The Church said that I was going to be riding one.
At the ti, taming wyverns was considered a joke to most everyone, myself included. It had been attempted a number of tis in the ancient past, but wyverns were simply too feral and unpredictable to ta, even if imprinted on as hatchlings—the few daring adventurers to attempt to pull off the feat were nearly all laughed at, while the more unlucky few were killed.
So when I was told I was going to ride one several thousand kiloters on the simple mission to escort a letter, I was rightfully taken aback.
My objective was simple: fly to the south with a ssenger on wyvern-back, grab a letter, and return. No special objectives, no expected combat, just a trip to ensure safe delivery to the capital.
I should have known sothing was off from the start, but I honestly too enraptured by the view of the Holy Kingdom from the sky to care.
It was beautiful... Being able to see everything—all at once—was one of the most surreal experiences I had ever had, even rivaling the first ti I saw a true dragon.
But nothing.. and I do an nothing could have prepared for the sight I was t with when we landed.
The city was Aerakis: A seaside city known for its steady, cool breeze, the hunger-inducing scent of mouthwatering seafood, and the audible noises of exchanging gold.
The city was small, but bustling with the activity of thousands, day and night. Being the place many young rchants ca to get their feet under themselves, the city was so active it was said to be hard to hear soone standing right next to you at tis.
*Clunk... Skiiiid... Crunch...* However, in that mont, as the sounds of crashing waves blended with the scraping of my tal leggings against wyvern scales as I slid off its side, the scent of rotting flesh made those stories nothing more than distant fairy tales.
"Huek..." Covering my mouth to hold back the vomit boiling up from the eye-watering stench, I looked over a cobblestone street—once bustling with life—littered with barely recognizable debris; the blackened iron plates from the reinforced docks, the splintered wood from the carvings of ships keels, and the deford, broken and lted gold and silver treasures brought to be sold.
It honestly looked like the debris field from a ship carrying compound black powder exploding.
However, I knew that couldn't be the case, not because of the assumption that the Church made travel there because of it.. but because among the rubble, raw, rotting chunks of flesh and organs were everywhere...
Nothing.. was burned...
As if an impossibly massive cannon ball smashed through everything, the debris field looked like the doing of a deep-ocean thumper or sea serpent. -W..what the hell happened here..?-
*Woooosh* "Urk..." Getting hit with another whiff of rot as the breeze shifted, I pulled a silvery handkerchief out of my pocket, using it to cover my nose and mouth in a rush hoping the tal threads would ease the sll.
But just as I did, ocean mist reached my cheek. -H..huh..?-
It was a sensation that made my mind stutter.. not because I had forgotten where I was.. but because I thought I knew.
Quickly turning around, finding the wyverns tar, and older, slender man in all black tending to the blueish-scaled monster, I forced my voice through my cloth. "T-This church... Are we not a kiloter from the ocean?"
Not expecting such a question, the man turned to with an idle glance, unbothered by the worrying sight and horrific stench. "Ah, you didn't notice from the air?" His voice was eerily steady; the look in his eyes almost stale. "Run down toward the port."
Following his hands motion across the road passing the church's courtyard, I felt my stomach churn again before I got moving, taking careful steps through the field of debris before hopping on and passing over rooftops.
But.. it didn't last long...
After travelling hardly a few hundred ters, I was standing on the edge of the last standing rooftop before a field of rubble that led down beneath the ocean's surface, overlooking an unbelievably huge.. terrifyingly circular expanse of ocean that had taken the place of a city. -What.. the...-
"Weird looking, isn't it?"
Not feeling any presence near as a deep, sultry man's voice t my ears, I nearly jumped out of my skin—my gaze snapping to the figure next to only to find a tattered, old, white-bearded man looking over the new bay.
He was old, almost ancient looking, wearing tattered leather gear as weathered as his body, and donning a thick cloth over his eyes.
He was a man I had never t- no, never seen before.
But I still recognized him in an instant. "Serokin..." My voice slipped out like a shift in the wind.
He was Serokin, the Apostle of Höðr, the god of darkness and winter. "It's a pleasure to et you, Lady Astren." He was the oldest of the apostles I knew of, and a famously powerful man even dragons were rumored to be cautious of.
He was blind, but it didnt matter... Having so of the deepest ties in the church, the man knew everything, not just in what the light reached beneath the clouds, but in the darkness above the sky.
Yet in that mont.. even he spoke with an uneasiness that made my mind stutter. "You must be quite trustworthy for The Church to have sent you here."
Feeling a chill pass my spine as I noticed the slight quiver in his tone, I watched him look back out of the water, hunched as if having finally given in.. after being defeated...
"The public will know of this disaster as a subterranean volcanic eruption..." Falling silent, his gaze seed to drift toward a splatter of organs and bones on the rooftop next to us. "It's an almost laughable excuse, isn't it?" He was quiet, but sohow his voice seed to silence everything else.
Even .
But the silence hardly lasted. After looking over the wood-littered water for a mont, he continued with an almost remorseful tone. "I suppose The Church has decided to leave you in the dark.. a pure soul adamant with faith..." Pausing, he turned to , "I miss the days I was like you, Lady Astren..."
-H..Huh..?- Turning back to him, confusion covered my face like a fresh coat of paint.
And in a mont of thought and understanding, Serokin turned away, grabbing his hands behind his back before lowering his head.
He was bracing himself to speak...
But just the unease that action made feel wasn't enough to prepare for the question that was about to land in my lap.
And he knew it too. Softening his tone to that of a grandfather, he turned as if to look in the eyes. "Why do you think dragons bow their heads to the Church, Astren?"
It was a question I never could have braced for... Simple, yet rhetorical. "It's.. because of faith..."
"Hah..." He scoffed instantly, his posture falling with his drifting gaze. "I wish that were true... I really do..." Looking back out over the water, glistening in the moonlight, his hands clenched, his knuckles whitening. "Unfortunately.. faith only convinces the weak..."
My eyes shot open in an instant.
His words were honest.. coming from a depth of wisdom akin to widest stretch of ocean... But to my ears, they were akin to heresy...
And he knew.. yet spoke anyway... "Dragons aren't creatures known to pray, Astren... Instead of praying for a miracle, they simply make it happen... They find a solution rather than hoping so entity above will fulfill their wish."
"S..So..." Barely managing to get my mouth open, I spoke so quietly I wasn't certain the words even left my throat. "If they don't follow faith.. why do any follow The Church..?"
"Because The Church has the solution they seek." Looking into the water, his body visibly stiffened. "Dragons gather around the strong, yes, but more than that, they seek sothing only we can provide..."
Afraid to ask what it was, I never let the words escape my mouth, leaving the thoughts to rest and simr.
But as if hearing my brain's neurons fire, he answered anyway. "They want certainty that they'll survive the storm behind the clouds on the horizon... A solution to their fear..."
I shivered—a cold chill snaking down my spine despite the warmth of sumr. "Fear..?" The image of the nearly eighty ter dragon reducing my ho town to cinders instantly rippled through my mind. "What could possibly scare those monsters?"
He hesitated once more, his voice lowering to a whisper burdened by shadows. "A storm that even gives Odin chills..."
Suddenly, the reality of my mission—a simple letter retrieval—felt terrifyingly insignificant. I'd been thrust into a realization of fate I was wholly unprepared for, swirling toward revelations I was too afraid to desire.
But fear couldn't protect . "You still have ti, Lady Astren. Your holiness clearly shelters innocence and I don't wish to question that, but innocence cannot protect you forever." He paused aningfully, his gaze steady behind the fold of cloth. "Odin has made his choice, and the destruction that will result because of it is already starting..."
My breath hitched, my heart pounding furiously. Looking into the water, my mind raced with realization.. with the recollection of a single, fenririan being...
A storm was coming, one the human mind couldn't fathom.
But I was nothing more than a pawn on the chessboard of gods. I had no way to escape it.
All I could do was pray that I was in the eye of the storm.
Eventually turning away after an eternity of silence, Serokin pressed a scroll into my chest.. wanting to speak, yet never opening his mouth.. at least with what he truly wished to say. "Travel safely, young apostle. I apologize for exposing things against your god's will, but I hope you can convince her to forgive ..." His voice trailed into darkness as his figure seed to fade. "I don't wish for you to change your faith.. but I can't deny my wish for Eir to change hers..."
With those words, he faded into shadow, leaving only echoes and questions in his wake.
Standing atop the ruin of Aerakis, gazing at the ocean reclaiming a shattered city, my innocence began to fracture—the bottom of the crater before sitting evidence of a much deeper.. darker truth.
For the first ti ever, I found myself doubting—not the Aesir, The Church, or the dragons—but myself... The very foundation of what I believed was faith...
In that mont, I felt like I was standing beneath a dragon.. it wanted to protect , but not even it could save from the wave of flas roaring toward us... I couldn't even be sure it could save itself...
And while I felt her watching through my eyes.. listening to my mind.. she never said a word...
She simply listened in a complete.. gut-wrenching.. confirming silence...
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