V e i l N e b u l a

It had taken time to get the knowledge, the information together.

She had heard the naming-sounds used, the ones that seemed to fill with power, a sense of familiarity to her. Tempus. Caligo. Vespera. Solis. Oriens. It had taken time to be able to understand these naming-sounds seemed to refer to something not as normal as those she had interacted with. A part of her had been hopeful they'd be names of others like her - stars trapped onto this rock. But, as she heard those naming-sounds more and more; the feeling she got from them was bigger. It brought back memories of her creation. Of the powerful being that painstakingly put her back together. That had whispered her name through the pain, to remind her of who she was, had put her back together rather than let her fade as her molecules had been pulled apart by that black hole.

Whoever these beings were, they were more.

And so she'd been hunting for information, to the best of her ability, and it all led her back to this horrible location. Just staring up at the snow-ladded mountain, she could remember the heat as she free-fell. The pain of crashing into the mountain. From here, she could still see the burnt trees, the indentation of where she'd crashed like a meteor against mountain face. Her own mark on history, unintentionally made. She tried to ignore those memories, however, shaking off the memory of the pain, and fear; to instead look back at the mountain, at the path someone had indicated to her through awkward, jerky movements. 

And so she stretched her winds, ruffling her feathers to dislodge any lingering, clingy stardust.

Taking a deep breath, she flipped her wings skyward, letting them arch above her, before bringing them down, repeating the powerful downward lifting-thrust movements to build up power before she lept from a standstill on a particular strong downward thrust. The star was once more airborne. Her path followed the curving trail, not wanting to get lost, even as she practically floated to the top, her flight more mystical, and graceful from the wafting stardust that trailed in her wake, bleeding off her flight feathers, mane and tail, and body in general. Her galactic eyes kept her focused ahead, a dark mark against the otherwise ivory-capped mountain, hues of bright neon pink, purple and blue standing out even brighter with the stark contrast of darkness against light. 

She reached the mountain top faster than had she walked it.

But upon reaching the top she landed slowly. Her galactic gaze looked around slowly, her body practically humming with the power of this place. Senses were on hyper-drive as her magic filled her in on what she could already see. Power. Strength. Age. Wisdom. So many emotions, thoughts, implications filling her gaps of knowledge in, delivered from a universal mind-wave she still hadn't realized she was in the process of reconnecting with. That divining knowledge was still heavily based on giving her information and context for situations and locations she found herself in, and in this case, it was filling her up with the understanding that she had stepped onto the sacred ground of some very powerful beings.

She could feel nervous energy building up inside her.

In an effort to dispel it, the star began to move deeper into the oddly inspiring sight, feeling guided towards the different monuments to the five beings. She didn't have too much knowledge on who the names belonged to, but as she came across the first site, she felt her magic flare again. Images of the night sky, of the mysteriousness she felt settle over her senses when she entered Denocte's lands. That alone was enough to make her understand. This was the one, those spoke whispers of. Caligo. She pauses before the goddess's monument, before briefly lifting a wing. She's guided by instinct, plucking one of her long, glittering flight feathers, stardust wafting from the feather, even when it's plucked from her form, clear evidence she herself was made of the stars, not just borrowing from them. She set the piece of herself at the base of the monument, not aware the need she felt was a need to give an offering, and having little else to offer, little else to her person than what she herself was made up of. 

She moved to the next, a being that seemed to spark with energy.

The monument seemed to fill her with energy as she stood before it. Hot to the touch, reminding her of the deserts she currently called home. The taste of spices on her tongue, the activity, and hustle and bustle of a boisterous nation. She didn't need any filling in. She had heard the whispers of Solis from the very day Jane had taken her in. She plucked another feather, being careful not to make it any smaller, nor larger than the previous one, not wanting to show any discrimination. Not wanting to show favoritism. Not wanting to entice anger from any of them. She moves on again, the next monument making her pause up. The senses she gets mean little to her, and but it fills her with scents that she'd remembered from a previous meeting, one with a stallion of land she'd not been to yet, Terrastella. With the image of the sun setting into Dusk, it helps fill in enough pieces to supply the next name of Vespera, the one she'd figured after she researched was associated with the end of the day, beginning of the night.

Like the other monuments before her, another feather was pulled, carefully laid out.

The next monument was the opposite, and she knew enough to not need the senses to fill in the blanks, this being would be the last of the quad, Oriens. The feather plucked, same quality, size, and length as the others; was laid out before she came upon the final monument. As she stepped forward, she could feel a shift in the feeling. Of power older than the other four. A sense, a distortion, as if time was slowing as if time had become meaningless . . . no, not meaningless, but subjective. She's silent and still before the vastly powerful being, before her knees crumbled, dropping the star to the ground. Time had passed since she'd last felt a power like this was over her. When a very similar power had crafted her back into something, when she'd been nothing. Whether this was the being who had halted her demise, and restarted her own time clock, she wouldn't know, but the familiarity wasn't something she could ignore. It wasn't something to dismiss. This time, the feather pulled wasn't a mere flight feather, but one of her primary, followed by a smaller, secondary feather that was concentrated with the star dust of the individual elements that crafter her nebula's colors. The large, dark feather was set down before the one she instinctively knew was Tempus, before the smaller feathers that shimmered with purple, blue or pink stardust joined it.

Slowly climbing back to her feet, the mare made her way back, until she stood between the monuments.

Equal distance, equal respect; she glanced from one monument to the next, each having been given a gift, and offering that she'd ripped from her own flesh and dust, all removed from the same wing, a noticeable hole now in the feathering that meant flight would be prohibited until it grew back, even if it preserved her ability to glide. She felt like she should say something, anything. Instead, she lay back down, her head bowing, words failing her, but emotions, her mind not. She might not be able to communicate with these beings verbally, or even in a means of traditional communication, but it didn't mean she didn't have thoughts, wishes, hopes. Hopes to find herself settling into this world. To be able to understand the others she found herself living alongside. To understand more about this land she'd come into. More about the beings that made this holy place so filled with power. Her eyes remained closed, the thoughts, hopes, dreams silently fading as she soon found herself entering a state of peace, a state of quiet contemplation.

It was the first steps the star would make to a life of a monk.

It was the first steps on her journey to devote herself, not to one of the gods; but to all of them. 

FROM THE MOUTH
INSIDE THE MIND
@Random Events
Notes:: And now, Miss Veil can begin her life in devotion to the gods; now that she's finally understood what the names she hears are about <3 <3