The stars always seemed to speak to the elf, twinkling out a code, a message from the universe and the other worlds out there. The elf had seen many different stars in her lifetime - the different constellations that shifted like puzzle pieces from the different planets they were viewed from. She had once owned maps, plotting the Alfheim sky, but they, like her other possessions there, were gone and fading from memory. The elf decided to plot these skies that she saw before her someday... and how easy it would be, from above the clouds on a clear night. The evening air was crisp, and never humid, so it would be easy to bring parchment up and write notes. The elf smiled, dangling her legs off the sturdy stone platform she sat upon.
Reaching into the stars...
Up here, she always felt closer to the almighty powers she had witnessed. Lady Freyjia, the protector of Asgard and the Vanir who had bestowed Cryptite with the powers by which he now protected the Lokans. But the war she had spoken of... the Unbound ones fighting the Vanir, and other higher beings... Lady Freyjia's words still sent shivers across the elf's flesh, her very being and soul repulsed by it:
"They are Unbound, free from both life and death, gaining power from the moment of their crossing and challenging even the gods..."
She shuddered. For a being like her, overflowing with a force of life energy that the Artifact had only strengthened, to consider such a monstrosity just felt wrong. Absolutely. Even with the bravery she had learned from the other Lokans, she was unsure if she would be able to face them when the time came - if it indeed did come. She had faith in Lady Freyjia and Lord Freyr to defeat them, but elves were Freyr's fighters. Her kin would surely be marching into the battle, maybe even dying. And maybe the elf felt sadness for her kin, and a sorrow that she would not be there by their sides when they perished. The elf had a strong sense of belonging for Alfheim, her lost home.
But the elf had other kin too, that she had met since losing her way. Little humans, were-cats, automatons, endrakyn, pigmen. Pigs and pigmen always made the elf smile, a reminder of her new home and the path she had chosen. The Great Pig, who had found a group of homeless wanderers and taking them under his protection. The ones who had been transformed into pigmen were even considered the children of Antioch, suddenly taking on their new forms when the Pig first reached out to them. The elf could still remember that moment in the small church, laying down her sword to Antioch and vowing to be kind to all pigs and never eat pork again. The elf herself could remember the tugging sensation as the Pig reached out to her... but elf blood was strong, and she remained her own tall, red-haired pale-skinned self. Not that the elf would have been angry at turning into a pigwoman, but she was grateful that she would still have fingers and thumbs instead of trotters.
I am still close to the Pig, said the elf to herself. Even if I can't share porcine blood, I know my faith stays true. With those words, she stood. Morning was breaking over the horizon - from the tower, she could see its golden rays glistening on the snow, far below. A feeble dawn chorus sped across the city, the handful of winter birds singing to the sun. The elf resumed building the giant tower, the monument to all the deities that had ever smiled on the elf and her fellow Computernites.
And Leasaur Istalri sang a song to the sun as she worked, an ancient song which she had once heard a princess sing:
I am a tree, an insane tree...
Reaching into the stars...
Up here, she always felt closer to the almighty powers she had witnessed. Lady Freyjia, the protector of Asgard and the Vanir who had bestowed Cryptite with the powers by which he now protected the Lokans. But the war she had spoken of... the Unbound ones fighting the Vanir, and other higher beings... Lady Freyjia's words still sent shivers across the elf's flesh, her very being and soul repulsed by it:
"They are Unbound, free from both life and death, gaining power from the moment of their crossing and challenging even the gods..."
She shuddered. For a being like her, overflowing with a force of life energy that the Artifact had only strengthened, to consider such a monstrosity just felt wrong. Absolutely. Even with the bravery she had learned from the other Lokans, she was unsure if she would be able to face them when the time came - if it indeed did come. She had faith in Lady Freyjia and Lord Freyr to defeat them, but elves were Freyr's fighters. Her kin would surely be marching into the battle, maybe even dying. And maybe the elf felt sadness for her kin, and a sorrow that she would not be there by their sides when they perished. The elf had a strong sense of belonging for Alfheim, her lost home.
But the elf had other kin too, that she had met since losing her way. Little humans, were-cats, automatons, endrakyn, pigmen. Pigs and pigmen always made the elf smile, a reminder of her new home and the path she had chosen. The Great Pig, who had found a group of homeless wanderers and taking them under his protection. The ones who had been transformed into pigmen were even considered the children of Antioch, suddenly taking on their new forms when the Pig first reached out to them. The elf could still remember that moment in the small church, laying down her sword to Antioch and vowing to be kind to all pigs and never eat pork again. The elf herself could remember the tugging sensation as the Pig reached out to her... but elf blood was strong, and she remained her own tall, red-haired pale-skinned self. Not that the elf would have been angry at turning into a pigwoman, but she was grateful that she would still have fingers and thumbs instead of trotters.
I am still close to the Pig, said the elf to herself. Even if I can't share porcine blood, I know my faith stays true. With those words, she stood. Morning was breaking over the horizon - from the tower, she could see its golden rays glistening on the snow, far below. A feeble dawn chorus sped across the city, the handful of winter birds singing to the sun. The elf resumed building the giant tower, the monument to all the deities that had ever smiled on the elf and her fellow Computernites.
And Leasaur Istalri sang a song to the sun as she worked, an ancient song which she had once heard a princess sing:
I am a tree, an insane tree...
