If a tree falls in an empty wood, does it make a sound?

If a mountain cracks when no one is around to hear it did she ever really cry out in her agony?

It came after a storm, when the lightning sought the highest point and split the angles of her jagged peak. Rocks burst forth and Veneror was weakened. Then came the winds that howled and the hail that rained as bullets down upon the mountain. 

For hours that storm ravaged the mountain’s peak. For hours the gods did not come to save their sacred mountain - was it ever sacred at all or was it only the mortals below who gave the mountain her importance? 

Does it matter anyway? No one was there to hear her cry of shock as her body split in two. Veneror kept herself together until the storm abated, disappointed it could not bring the mountain to her knees, disappointed she did not buckle at its violence. 

The storm blew on and the mountain stood and she might have believed she could heal, were she made of flesh and blood, were her joints not seized and her face forever stuck watching the sky. No gods came to save her and the only one who came was a Delumine mare.

All the way up Veneror whispered I am broken. She sent rocks tumbling and they laughed as they skitted by the mare She is broken! She is broken! Nothing seemed to work and then the mare stepped out upon the part of her that was broken. The mountain groaned and the loosened part of her trembled. 

This was worse than the howling winds and wild storm. Veneror is breaking slowly and she groans again, her body responds and boulders rip from their places - made loose by her deep split. The top of the mountain begins to crumble. Oh, Emersyn did not take heed of the mountain’s whispers. All the way up it had been demanding she turn back. Can anyone hear the cry for help from up here? The mountain worries for the mare’s safety, it does not know if there is magic in that armour that clings to her body like a second skin. It is enough to save?

Rocks tumble down and crash behind Emersyn. The path that she took up here is gone, hidden by the crumbling mountain. Veneror would apologise, but she is breaking, half of her face sliding away. There is no way left to Emersyn but up and even that is crumbling now. Even the onward path is crumbling away into nothing. The world below beckons, it promises safety, but it cannot promise life for any who fall from up here. Slowly the platform that holds the mare up, up above the cloud begins to tip, tip, down, down. Oh, for dear Emersyn it is time to jump… is she brave enough? Will her armour save her? Does Emersyn have faith in her creation and the magic forged into it? Veneror cries that she is sorry as finally she succumbs to the violence of the storm.

A storm is brewing around Veneror Peak, but perhaps it is not the only storm @Emersyn must face. She must climb to the peak of the mountain, even while the wind and rain threatens to throw her from its stone pathways. But, perhaps she is prepared for that, too?

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This Enchantment quest was written by the lovely @Obsidian. <3

Enjoy!