Aurora

Can you feel it? 

The power here?

The fire thundering through this page in the guise of word?

arcs of runic lightning leap from the page

echoing infinitely throughout the depths of your soul;
 in a tornado of word more than word; 

song more than song;
a space-time inferno of

Eldritch whispers 

that carry
you...

~To another world~

******* 

you awaken amid a tangent plane; a vast world of alien flora.

 The world seems to ebb and flow with a tranquil beauty;
as though,
in the air,
 you can feel the Eldritch, beating heart
of the Gaea itself. 
  
You sense a presence.

And in turning lay eyes upon an enchanting creature,
 of a noble and animalistic aspect the likes of which you have never known before.
Humanoid and clearly feminine,
but features that speak of bestial origin;
bordering on feline:

Claws. Sharp canine fangs.
Burning cat-like eyes.

"What are you?"
Her voice, strange but far from unpleasant.

You search for an answer you know should be there,


but find yourself coming up blank,


"I-I don't know."

 "I feel like I've existed here, 
in this now. 
This moment.
 Forever until you came just now."

 For what feels like the longest time.
She considers your words.

"Well... I should probably show you to the others,
before I decide what I do with you."
she concludes, lowering her guard a little.
"Others?"

"The settlement of Aurora isn't far from here.
Will you accompany me?"

You nod your ascent, extending a hand,
"Sounds good to me."
You give her your name,
"Nice to meet you."

 She stares confusedly at your hand until you are forced to drop it awkwardly by your side. 

"Likewise... I'm Rose.
But before we go,
what are you doing with your face?
Are you in pain?"

"Smiling?"

She turns gesturing for you to follow, shaking her head,
 "Strange creature!"
She says amid huffing-mewing noises.

You can't be certain,
but you think she might be laughing at you. 
*******  

You follow Rose through her world; Drudaic woods filled with wonders.

Woods alive with flora that gave of something transcendent of all human understanding to conceptualize.
but what can only be described as,
an emanation of Drudaic thought;
reverberating through you in waves of something akin to music.

A song that comes to life within you,
an awakening of a forgotten childhood friend:

painting the world around you in
a child's enraptured excitement,

After a time you feel your path begin to incline, 
and, cresting a great hilltop,
 You find yourself looking down,
 upon the most beautiful thing you have ever seen:  

Cast in the glow of the Ever-flow; That heavenly celestial 
movement of Stars, dancing eternal dance around the moon;  
Lay the settlement of Aurora.


Great wooden structures built about a mountainous tree.

 a tree that glows with an inner luminescence;
a presence that fills you with an awe you never thought one could know.
You stand, 
enthralled and enraptured in a moment of pure and powerful wonder at its mysteries.


 "Welcome to Aurora."
Rose whispers proudly beside you,
before descending the slope,

"You coming?" 
********

Rose leads you through the settlement, toward an ornately carved building at the epicenter,
built into the wood of one of the great tree's colossal roots. 
The structure seems to glow with a kind of bio-luminescence.

You see no-one as you follow Rose through the sprawl of finely carved buildings, but you feel wary eyes upon you from windows and doorways.

The large hall carved into the root is spacious but contains few Aurorans,
A couple spar with the same kind of carved stick that Rose carries with her,
 displaying a strength and acrobatic dexterity of a like you can hardly believe.

Another sits in the center of the room,
cross legged upon the floor.

Coat of sky blue; curvy and petite.

It is only as you approach and Rose calls out that you realize she's blind.

She looks up as you near, not quite looking at you,
but through you. 

As though those pale orbs could discern at a glance the very depths of your soul.

"Page-walker,"
Her voice is like nothing you have ever heard; a pure and graceful emanation beyond word or prose to describe.

You sit utterly enraptured beside Rose,
hardly able to believe one could ever perceive such beauty.

"I knew you would be arriving shortly."

Noting the confusion on your face,
Rose explains, 

"Ceylan here is our storyteller,
she connects us to the 'Deus'
and the other gods of this world."

"Although,
 'story-teller' means something completely different in your world,"
add's the one you now know as Ceylan.
"I saw your approach through my Dreamspeaks with the Gaea world;
there is no wood or forest of this world he cannot see.
when many minor souls come together,
like the flora here, they form a single sentience:

That is 'Gaea'.
That is 'Tree God'."

"But I am getting sidetracked.

The Deus is a firm believer in the power of stories and words.
They carry the souls of the ones who weave them. 

So perhaps you would know us better than any introduction that way.

As such,
Deus World-Weaver has asked I tell you the tale of 'Beginnings' "

"Will you hear our story, page-walker?"

You nod your ascent eagerly; any excuse to listen to her voice just a little longer.

The moment you do,
 her tone to ceases to carry the weight of but one soul,

as though it suddenly held a thousand voices. 

A legion storytellers telling one powerful story.

as though her voice 
suddenly held within it

the voice of a god
**********
I spent the day, creating their world: 

The castle, the settlement, the great shrine of the Phoenix,
The bodies that my children would inhabit.

 Bodies part human, part bestial.
 
Bodies so beautiful...
 
My children.
 So fierce. So noble. 

 the moment I wove them into being,
I knew,
I loved them with all my heart.
My Feilan of Aurora.


 Evening over the shrine;
finally complete.

 I kissed each of them once upon the forehead, 

Lily, pure of heart, white as snow;
Ebon, strong and dark and fierce;
Cyan, like the bluest sky you ever did see;
Blaze, young and fiery and crimson;
Roan, tall, strong and chocolate colored;
And lastly, Rose:
 
The Hero.
 
And in that moment,

never forgotten

I brought them to life.

***********
the story comes to an end,
Leaving a hollow, palpable silence.

You turn to Rose,
"But if that's you in the story than that must mean..."

"Ours is but a new world. That was about 20 years ago now," she explains, 
"And time has always run differently between our worlds. 20 years here is but 6 months in your world."

You hear someone entering the room and turn in time to see three Feilan enter,
"I called them here," Ceylan explain's as they approach your trio, introducing them as Blaze, Lily and Roan.
You ask about Ebon,
but aside from sad looks that are swiftly hidden,
its like you never said anything.

The subject is quickly changed.

"The World-Weaver wants you to stay and learn our ways,
but only Rose can truly have the final say on that even if you agree."

All eyes on rose.

Rose approaches, clapping an arm around you,
"Tonight we celebrate a new settler! She announces amid cheers 
and what you are now quite certain is laughter of the others.
"If you're up for it?"
********

drums woven of reeds and wicker, lay a quick and enticing rhythm; reverberating throughout the soul in wild animalistic beats,

You drink. 
You eat. You even dance. 

The distilled sap of the great tree,
causing a warm drunken decent into wild, animalistic merriment;
eventually throwing the settlement into a great wild thrusting orgy;
All falling asleep together in the clearing,
a great pile of warmth and fur as the wee hours descend.
****
We arrive in the skies over a beautiful new world.
Soaring upon winged inventions of clockwork and bronze.

I take point after Chronosis.
Our bodies slowly phasing back into the physical dimension.

Three Princeling Air-Lords of the Empire are we.
Saviors of our people.

Warrior pride and religious Chosen of the Clock-work Empire

'This is it!'
Signed Jak-hid to his two brothers using military hand-signing
 
***
Morning arrives over the clearing,
 accompanied by the screams of chaos and war.

Night 2:
Click bellow for chapter 2
~Rose the Hero~