The Terminus was so very angry and bitter that day.
Sometime in the middle of Year 506's Summer season, what was once The Island and its entrances mysteriously snapped shut. All those who had begun to explore the rugged hills and confront the peculiar statues that dotted them, were forcefully ejected - through unfamiliar and wild rifts - back to their homes in Novus. Their travel was a mind-numbing blur and the nausea that followed was thankfully brief.
Inhabitants could still see the Island from the continental shelf at the Southern borders of Novus, but no one knew how to access it anymore. That day, the statues turned faceless and their eyes drifted shut.
But the sea... it was not nearly as forgiving. It did not, would not, forget the day it first allowed the Island to escape its depths and rise back to its former glory — then open to all the Novians to explore its magical, mystifying landscape. The sea knew the Island was on borrowed time, its magic too wild, too raw, too hungry.
And so in the blink of an eye, the violent waves' maws yawned wide and the Terminus swallowed it whole.
In its place, a rift... pulsing and churning, at the south of Novus near the circular isthmus pass between Dusk and Night, over the Terminus. Its edges are frayed and tattered, and its existence alone draws the gods to it.
First Vespera arrives — for she is the only one that had not been called forth first by her Court — and her mouth is set in a thin, stern line. Solis appeared by her side shortly. Oriens is next, his brow furrowed. And Caligo last, for she felt a greater duty to remain among her people than meddle with her siblings... until she felt the pulsating pull as the rift tugged at its seams and ripped its stitches.
The gods stand at the circular isthmus pass, staring out towards the rift. They murmur between themselves.
This is the formal, in-character demise of the Island and the subsequent (initial) introduction of its successor. Surely, the majesty that was once the Island cannot be reduced to a simple, feral rift... right?
Stay tuned to see what happens next ♥ The next installment in the coming days will allow interaction and be a special February event bundled into one!
02-11-2021, 03:14 AM - This post was last modified: 02-11-2021, 03:18 AM by inkbone
The beginning of Fall found Aska roaming around once more, an energy coursing through her tired body she had not felt for a long time. Something was about to happen, something big. It was written in the way the clouds formed, in the way the sounds of nature surrounding her behaved differently, much like the other wildlife. The earth seemed to thrum with unease beneath its essence, a warning? Perhaps.
The thrum beneath her feet only became more apparent the closer she got to the Terminus Sea. She kept a safe distance away, but from her viewpoint she could only shake her head and smile softly. “Ah.. She is angry..” Aska muttered to herself.
From a young age, Aska had been teached about the Sun, the Sea, the Earth and everything in between. Those valuable lessons came in handy - especially now as shocked faces were apparent in the distance. The entity of the Sea was a powerful one, one that actively sought vengeance for all that wronged Her - while She was unforgiving during Her best days, when Her mood turned this foul, all they could do was pray they would not be swept up in Her tirade.
So that was what she did. With a respectful lowering of her head and the closing of her golden eyes - Aska began to pray. For safety, forgiveness, to live another day - but most of all, for Her to calm down once more and return to a better state of mind. Finishing her prayer, Aska looked up once more, sighing as the land that was once there, was no more the moment She swallowed it whole, creating a rift.
“I hope You can find rest soon..” she whispered before turning back, resuming her wandering through the land.
During her time in Novus, she had looked out at the island more than once, watching it float among the rough waves of the terminus sea, but she had never taken the chance to set foot on its shores. She was not there when it was swallowed, but she could feel the shudder, all the way from her bed in the night court.
It was with curiosity that she awoke, wondering what could have changed so suddenly to send such a ripple through the world. There was a sort of pull that came with it, some empty feeling that tugged her along, until she found herself stood on the cliffs of the terminus sea once more. Already stood for figures, one she recognized from the sovereign choosing, the others she recognized only from their statues atop the veneror peak.
Another mare had come too, though she seemed to leave just as quickly, after whispering something Luvena couldn’t hear towards the seas. She watched the gods and demi-goddess in silence for a few minutes, watching as they murmured quietly together before the gaping hole that seemed to be torn into the very fabric of the land.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, the way the rift before them had torn edges reminded her of Elysiums downfall and for a moment she feared that some infection had spread through the earth, and now was taking Novus with it. But quickly she stemmed that fear, remembering how quickly Elysium had fallen apart, how the firstborns had been nowhere to be seen. “What is this?” she asked quietly, not to anyone in particular.
Would you crumble if I whispered to you like the wind
There is a sudden, great rumble that tears through hear as she traverses the beach that will lead her to the island. An island she has spent her life admiring from afar, and only recently found the courage to visit. Meira peers at the sea as it begins to churn and shake violently. Massive waves swept into the sky and crashed down upon the island, flinging debris across the surface. The sea, her beloved sea, reached out with its vengeance and began to sink the island before their very eyes. Her heart began to thrum in time, partially out of excitement and partially out of fear for what was to come. Down, down into the depths, the island sinks until there is no doubt that it has been claimed by the sea. Even the gods cannot ignore the violence for they appear at the isthmus where the rift has formed. Meira is disappointed when she does not see Solis appear with his siblings. She sees the familiar form of Caligo, and Oriens. The two deities are who she recognizes the most given her time in Denocte and Delumine.
Meira approaches the Isthmus near the gods. The rift tears and tears and tears at the seams of their world. Violent winds whip her tresses about. The sea calls to her, as it always does. She is tempted, so tempted to dive into the vortex left behind. There is another who speaks up, Meira does not know how she has missed their presence before. The question what is happening, and what this is. Meira casts her gaze upon the gathering gods who hover over the isthmus like a terrible storm. As if there is not already a terrible storm ravaging their sea. "When the sea reaches out with arms open wide, she is sure to claim all she sees with a violent tide." Meira quotes the omen whispered unto her as a youth. "She has come to claim what no longer belongs to us," Meira speaks again because this is her belief. She believes in this more than she does her gods.
Meira then casts her gaze upon her new patron god, Oriens. She does not want to speak to Caligo for all the suffering she has endured within her very court. For the blind eye that so many continually turn to the Vogelstein family. "Oriens.. will this tear and devour all of Novus? What will we do?" She asks her deity for guidance. Meira is prepared to thrust herself into the vortex to fight even the sea she loves.
Has it been quiet, or have they merely been walking among the clouds and stars once more?
Cicatrix feels as if they've been wandering in the cosmos, high above and not hearing any of the words spoken to them. It's time to come down, they know. To gently touch back down onto the earth and breathe slowly once more.
It's why their wings carefully tip, bringing them down from the frigidity of the sky, lazily circling, only to land with grace on thin limbs and tucking their wings against their body. Here, something calls to them. Something they cannot quite place, and even as they walk forward, they realize they are coming upon bright beings, and their head lifts a moment, the breath stolen from their lungs. Caligo is here, the very goddess they want to learn so much more about.
Uncharacteristically, they step forward, unwilling to shy back. Unwilling to hide away. As they step forward, ready to spill their heart, they see past her, and her siblings. They see the great yawning void of a portal, seams ragged, and they realize this is what they felt. Some sensation that had felt off, not right, and their body comes up to the deities, standing beside them with their gaze fixed ahead.
"What does this mean?" They have no fear of it, but there is a twinge of worry for what could potentially come through.
Their head turns a little, looking upon their goddess with a more solemn tone to their words. "What can we do?" As a Champion of Wisdom, they should be able to help in some way, shouldn't they? Alert the Court, maybe, or bring back knowledge that could be given to them from Caligo, if she or any of her siblings know what is happening.
I don't care what they're going to say, let the storm rage on the cold never bothered me anyway
Bel shook, her entire body freezing as she stared at the angry sea, seeing the way the water crashed angrily against the sand, the rock, spray flying in a cascading hue of ivory. Bel couldn't move, feeling something was wrong in her bones. At her back, Yukime had wrapped her arms around Bel's neck, her own head lifted up and braced atop Bel's own, sniffing in alarm at what the due were watching.
And then, Bel's gaze turned towards the Island, and suddenly Bel ran, ran as far as she could as close to the Island that she'd explored daily, that she'd loved with all her heart, that she'd felt a connection too. She froze however when suddenly, suddenly the island was swallowed. Bel nearly stumbled over her hooves, as she slid to a stop so fast, eyes wide, breath leaving her in a startled gasp. There was a giant whirlpool of anger then, a violent swirl of action and reaction, pulsing and churning with everything that she could imagine. Bel was solid in her stance, muzzle snapping shut as she stared down the churning rift, the pulsing energy of something called back to where it came from. On her back, her bonded quivered, as if afraid she would be cast back to a dead planet she'd escaped from if she got to close. Bel herself felt that same concern, but sent back to where the pod circled the waters of the arctic.
And then, others arrived, Bel doesn't notice until she feels that Yukime's attention has turned. For the first time since her time in Novus, Bel's eyes lay on the gods, all four gathered. She doesn't approach the beings that she doesn't pay patronage too, her own goddess locked away on a dead or dying planet, and unable to not give her love to the Sea Empress despite the distance. But that doesn't mean she doesn't give respect to the four who rule this land, head bowing to each in turn, before her gaze returns to the angry sea, her gaze soft, sad for it, for the rift that could mean anything.
Yukime's gaze returns to the rift as well, "The sea knew the island had stayed too long, in a place it didn't belong. May the sea never cast me out, least I forget the home I pay patronage too." She whispered quietly to the bonded on her back. She felt Yukime nod along, before the two silent stood still to watch.
Visions of your pretty face send me into hyper space
Caught up in a palentary world
Veil didn't notice anything was off about the sea until the island was sunk. The mare had simply been relaxing in the sun, soaking in the solar radiation that had been leaking through the atmosphere, her wings tucked against her side, galaxy dust leaking onto the ground around her, reflecting the same nebula hues as the colors stamped across her side, a remnant from what she looked like before she had died the first time and reshaped into this form. Veil's eyes watched the scene in wide confusion, the entire island disappearing quickly, like the sea had swallowed it whole. Confusion. Surprise. !!!!! Confusion. Alarm. She didn't understand what she had scene, but as others began to arrive, began to take note, something told her it couldn't be normal, a silent understanding that this was odd. The first four who arrived seemed to be watching, and the unknown Nebula didn't recognize them as anything to separate from the other odd creatures of this land, those that looked like her but where not like her.
She dismissed them as a star would dismiss an asteroid, her attention on the angry rift, and suddenly she was less relaxed. Swirling angry vortex of ebony, so dark the light couldn't pentrate appeared from nowhere. Slowly pulling things in. Pulling her in. The pain, the suffocation, the fear that she couldn't quite place then but was sharper in her memory, in this form - sharper now after crashing to the ground. Swirling, darkness swirling. Constantly swirling, sucking in everything, killing every light, every star, everything. So tight. So compressed. Blackness. Blackness. Veil stumbled as she jerked away from the swirling rift, aligning it with her memories of the black hole that had killed her such a short time ago (short compared to how long she had been alive before). Her gaze moved, dancing away to see anything but what struck fear in her heart as only a nebula who had been killed by a similar rift could feel.
Others had arrived, some unfamiliar to her, others looking like the others she'd seen in this area - and another who shone much like she did, of stars and galaxies. She pauses, glancing over the blue stallion, before her gaze turned away, not sensing the energies of a star with in him, the same star that sat in the center of her chest instead of a heart. Her gaze turned back to the swirling rift, the nervousness increasing, and the star turned away, unwilling to star upon the black hole in the ocean, needing to get away. Let the others figure this out, right now her fear was too great, and she still understood way to little about this world anyway to know what was going on. She made it safely to the edge of the beach for laying down with her back to the black hole, close enough to still see if things go south and if she should be alarmed by other's reactions, but far enough away that if the rift decides to pull in the light, she won't be taken again.
FROM THE MOUTH INSIDE THE MIND
Notes:: Veil doesn't like the black hole of an ocean.
Breathin' in you give me air, I'm living on your solar flare
Could you be my super nova girl?
His world was refreshed, his return to the realm a breath of fresh air. He wasnt sure what had called him to the sea, to where the island had been when he was last here in Novus... But he was not expecting the chaos that was remaining. His cyan eyes danced over those that had found themselves staring at the place where the island had once been. So many figures that he didnt recognize, then one that he did. Tilting his head, he stalked forward until he was beside Bel.
"What happened?" He murmured beside her, his ebony and green muzzle reaching toward her shoulder. He wasnt expecting an answer, nor was he expecting any response from those around him. A part of him was excited at the sight of the mare, one that he called friend. While he had been away from the realm, he had thought a lot about his friends. Since returning, he had been wandering the realm and seeing if he could find familiar faces.
Bright eyes danced over the gods that were assembled, though he still hadnt found one that he aligned with fully. What a change to come back to. What an upheaval to behold. It made him wonder as he stood patiently.
@Below Zero - If you want to reply, no push <3 "Coy Sass"
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