HE MOTIONED ME TO THE SKY,
She’d never thought about how well a bright crimson would contrast against her pale coat, the single stripe of a new recruit standing out starkly. She wears it with pride, her head held high as she slowly makes her way along the winding path that leads towards the very peak of Ruris -- a place for worship, she had been told, and very recently, a place of upheaval and confusion. The Summit had occured only days before her arrival in Novus, the Gods themselves coming alive from their previously-still statues and beginning to walk amongst mortals.
She had never been particularly devout -- she was the renounced child of a god, so she knew they existed, but none had ever drawn her loyalty -- but now she found herself sworn to the service of Vespera. Everything she had heard, so far, had only drawn her interest all the more -- the Goddess seemed a far cry from the sort she could remember hanging around Thyterios, and she thinks maybe her service can be true.
First, though, she feels the need to connect to her chosen Goddess, to offer her a sacrifice in return for a prayer possibly answered.
Her hooves are quiet against the worn path beneath her, pressing lightly into dew-damp dirt and leaving the lightest of prints behind to mark her travels. Around her, the fog of an early morning swirls about, obscuring her vision beyond the next turn, but she finds herself in no rush -- she wasn’t due to meet Marisol in the Steppes until noon or later, and so she has the proper time to devote to her worship. Occasionally, her thoughts wander to the scheduled spar with the commander, a knot of anticipation tight in her stomach -- she knows that she can fight, but can she fight well enough to impress Marisol, to truly earn her way into the ranks of the Halcyon?
Before her, weathered columns appear out of the fog as though carved from the mountain itself. The air here is hushed and reverent, her footfalls slowing as though a rogue step or kicked stone could ruin the moment -- and perhaps it could, but her attention isn’t on where her feet are being placed.
“Vespera,” The name slips from her lips in hushed tones as she enters the worship grounds, folding her forelegs so that she could touch her muzzle to the soft moss that blanketed the peak. “I know that I’m not one of your children, that you have little reason to listen to my prayer, but I hope that you do. I don’t know very much about you, I’ll admit that, but from everything that I’ve heard so far…. I think I’m doing the right thing, pledging to serve you and to defend Terrastella.” She pauses for a moment, her eyes closing and a soft sigh slipping from her lips.
“I’m asking for your blessing, Vespera, to become part of your Court. I’ll serve you to the last of my strength, until my wings can no longer carry me, and my voice can no longer speak your praises -- this, I promise.”
I HEARD HEAVEN & THE THUNDER CRY.
