Smoke, fire, it's all going up
Don't you know I ain't afraid to shed a little blood
Smoke, fire, flares are going up, flares are going up
Don't you know I ain't afraid to shed a little blood
Smoke, fire, flares are going up, flares are going up
A single parchment lays upon a work desk covered in herb dust in a small clinic within Denocte, a single red feather from a Phoenix resting upon the page like a marker.
’Lu,
Sorry I had to dip. There was something I needed to take care of. Don’t panic. I’ll be home as quickly as I’m able to. Don’t forget to feed the dogs, and more importantly, don’t forget to feed yourself. Solaris should be there for a little while and she’ll tell me if you aren’t taking care of yourself.
See you soon.
Isra.’
The trip to Veneror was uneventful, the mid-summer weather providing a mild, beneficial atmosphere to travel. With the heat from the sun on her back and her wings sturdy and strong, she made the trip from Denocte to the tallest peak in Novus in record time.
It was just as she remembered from her last visit.
Breathless, her cheeks flushed from the chill that came with flying at great speeds and such high altitude, the Sun Daughter stretched her wings and spread her feathers before folding each appendage close to her back. Ducking into the shaded entrance of this holy place, gilded steps moving confidently at a casual sashay through the lingering, flickering shadows cast by the perpetually lit torches, the Sun Daughter’s keen, piercing ruby red eyes focused on the reason for her visit.
The dais of the patron deities of Novus remained, their statues back to where they belonged. Isra recalled a time, years ago, where these holy divots sat empty and abandoned, their respective patrons walking the very soil of the world. Times had changed. Novus had changed. The Courts had changed. She had changed.
In the end, it was all about change.
Coming to a stop in front of Caligo’s statue, keen eyes peering sternly at the demi-Goddess’ likeness carved from rich marble, Isra spoke.
“I’m going to do something stupid, probably,” came her way of greeting, teeth grit and brows furrowed as she mulled over the implications of what she might be attempting here in the next few days, “And I can’t really say that you’ll agree with what it is, but I’m doing it anyway. Things have gone quiet all across Novus. I’m sure you’re aware of it. At least I hope you are.” She frowned, pensive and troubled, before rolling a slender, strong shoulder in a lackluster shrug. Rose-kissed lips twisted upwards in a grin, wry and dangerous, ruby-red eyes glinting wickedly in the flickering torchlight.
“You have always been about proving yourself. I can understand that. I do understand that. Surrounded by people who think that they’re better than you, who try to push you out or crush you down, who aim to make you feel less than you are, less deserving, you bend reality to your will until you’re known. Until you’re respected.” Israfel hesitated, breathless and pondering, shifting her weight as gilded hooves scraped the stone floor beneath her. “... I don’t want to be feared. I don’t care if I have respect. But I do want to instill change.”
Almost wistfully she went on, her tone yearning despite its stern timbre. “I have seen kingdoms rise and fall. I have seen worlds swallowed and destroyed. Stagnancy is the cancer that will destroy what we love… And I am so tired, Caligo, of losing what I love. Surely you can understand that.”
Surely she could. If anyone could, it would be Caligo. Or so she hoped.
Growing quiet, Israfel allowed the silence of the chasm to surround her, enveloping her like a cold, emotionless lover, caressing her dips and curves and surrounding her. Something kicked within her breast, and Israfel grit her teeth, fighting against it, pale ears tipped back as a spark ignited where her hoof touched stone.
“I am tired of losing what I love, and that is why I am challenging your Sovereign. I won’t allow his inaction to be the cancer that rips everything from me, not again, not now that I’ve found…” Found...
Found what?
An image comes unbidden to her mind, flashing and hot, of kind, passionate, gentle, understanding turquoise eyes pressed intimately close to her own, of a wistful, gentle smile, of a calm laugh like flower petals on a spring breeze. She thinks of Luvena, still in Denocte, surely having found the letter that Israfel had left by now, in a clinic that had come to feel like home.
The spark becomes a flame, and the flame burns hot and passionately along her body, kissing against wings and legs and horn. Piercing, keen, merciless vermilion eyes shine like rubies amidst a firestorm as Israfel grits her teeth and finally, finally, admits the truth. It falls from her lips like a prayer, and perhaps that it is fitting, that the first time such a thing is spoken aloud is in this holy place of worship.
“Not now. Not now that I’ve found love.”
Love.
What a funny word.
Somewhere, distantly, in a small medical clinic nestled in a quiet alley amidst streets of raucous sound and perpetual celebration where she is watching a slender woman work, Solaris chuckles. ’Perhaps that is why it is fitting.’
Israfel grins, and then laughs, letting the flames that surround her slowly dissipate and fade until the only shifting shadows are the ones caused by torchlight.
When Israfel leaves, it is when a single Phoenix feather in her wake, a wide, red plume left behind upon the altar dedicated to Caligo.
