Legend of Ransera

From Cintamani Pavilion to Pantheon
40th of Ash, Year 123 of Steel

It was odd to her mind: she could shift herself from the material plane to Pantheon without a Rune or any divine magic taught to her by the Masked Queen or other; Indric, her Silver Wing, was a skilled traverser, and could not vault here even if she mapped the slipspace for him and poured it into his mind via Avialae bond and her sembling. But if she had learned anything in this process of apotheosis, it was that mortal understandings of the way of things were limited at best. Her understanding of magic had always seemed to intuit how the ancient Hytori mages hadn't separated things out into Cardinal Runes, how magic was just a matter of imposing one's will upon the aether, upon reality, and yet the divine reality of that was still such an ineffable concept that it was still trickling into her mind.

Kala warned all her bonded souls what she was attempting. Even Marda Ahtivan, with that slender, tenuous resonance between them, was informed. The Great Lady had kept faith with her since she had revealed her divinity to her in order to assure her support when she revealed her wings to the Kalzasern council.

None of them would panic when she was gone, when their bonds grew terribly quiet, stretched between planes. Of course, they would all worry; that was inevitable. She would worry about them, as well, and try to convince herself that she was merely looking out for her people as she had been trained to be as a noblewoman, not in some maternalistic, condescending way, even if she knew that eventually, her humanity would largely fall away.

From her bower in the courtyard gardens, Kala meditated, reached for that place Eikaen had created for her kind, and then she was in that place - out of space, out of time. Or, at least, space and time worked differently there. She was different there, as well. She was more herself, and more of what she would become. Here, she could see herself from the outside as well, as if consciousness and perception were spread through every atom of this existence. She remained in her posture of meditation, straight-backed and rising out of her crossed legs like some creature born of a lotus blossom on a bottomless reflecting pool.

She wondered if Talon would recognize her as Kala, or if Arcas would only recognize her as the goddess who wore the mantle of dead Nazam. But he had been a Draegir, and she was a Moritasi. Perhaps that was why she was a Dark Star, clothed as if in nebulae, haloed by changing patterns of stars, her third eye a black hole limned with a coruscating event horizon. A part of her was embarrassed, as if this were arrogance and presumption, but the rest of her was content - this was her destiny.

Attend, Avatar. I request your assistance.

She rose with all the grace her dance training afforded her, although she wasn't absolutely certain she had a true form here. It was entirely possible she was merely an idea of herself, a concept, and the minds and senses of those in Pantheon could sense her in their own manner. Curious.

Kala smiled. Her right arm extended, right hand unfolding in an unconscious mudra. The Cardinal Rune of the Elements was writ there upon her wrist.

In my mortal life, I mastered the primary elements of the material plane. In order to master the others, I must travel to those planes to attune myself. Light, perforce, elides with my domain. Darkness, too, as I have become aware of what happens when certain stars collapse in upon themselves at the end of their lives. Strange metals exist in the hearts of stars, crafted in the furnace of stellar creation. Of them all, Wood seems the least of my worries, but life does exist among the stars, and I wish to be able to unite the elements into a cohesive whole, which elides with another of my domains. Aether, as well, is the essence of all, the Unity of all.

I do not ken the protocols, and I do not wish to give offense. If you could educate me in these matters, I would appreciate it. My thought was to send messages through you to seek passage. Arcas for Light, Shaeoth for Darkness, Aedrin for Wood. And there my knowledge fails me again. Perhaps Fyraea rules Metal as well as Fire? And Aether, I know not Who rules that lofty plane.

Would your divine directive allow you to aid me in this manner?

The young goddess was hopeful in this. She knew she could likely seek audience with Lord Talon in Kalzasi, and he would not balk at ferrying her to his bright realm. And yet, she hoped to unify these elements within herself before she revealed her mortal self. Perhaps that would be impossible. Perhaps his sembling eye would pierce through her when she set foot in that fabled place, and she would be unable to remain hidden as was her wont.

It didn't hurt to ask.

Even if Avatar had been condescending and chastising, Kala would not have ceased to listen hungrily. She had always had both a scholarly and an esoteric bent; to be allowed to ask questions about the nature of Creation from the mouthpiece of Eikaen Himself was an oppotunity not to be missed. If he wasn't careful, he would have her here more frequently, kneeling before the Throne and seeking whatever enlightenment was his to confer.

Ahh! Her head canted to the side as she listened, observed. This creature was beyond any artificed being, no matter how sentient.

Then I might as easily be Light's steward inasmuch as the stars are divine torches an I but have the Green King's blessing, she mused. But she didn't quarrel; she didn't want to claim a mantle that Arcas held. Then, prithee, tell me how I can attune to the other elements without such planar travel, and how I might best thank Lord Aedrin for His gifts? She didn't imagine Avatar was meant to be a divine postal service, but she supposed it would be an easy enough thing for him. He had to be empowered to contact all the children of the Dragon King and the Masked Queen should Their presence be required here, or commands given.

Eikaen had so much riding upon His shoulders, she was often amazed that Naori had spent so much time on her. For all Talon's desire to know his Holy Father, it seemed to her as though the Great God and Goddess had left them here to learn and to grow on their own, the better to rise to such wisdom and might. Or, to hear Kaus translate her thoughts back at her, "They gave the younger gods enough rope to hang themselves."

A faint smile touched her lips at the thought of her brother's sense of humor. Here, she could hear echoes of his conversation with Aværys, her own with Varvara. Everything was different here, and she hoped whatever wisdom she accrued would come back with her, back to where she was more mortal.

The ascended Kala nodded thoughtfully. Starlight's steward.

"You are a poet, Avatar," she said quietly, "like my brother."

She did cogitate, a terse shake of her head, an indiciation that she did not seek a confrontation with Arcas. When he was finished, she took a moment, and then responded.

"I do not seek conflict with my divine family at this time," she assured him, "but I will bear in mind that you may act as the Dragon King's arbiter if it will prevent violence on a cosmic scale. I appreciate your clarifications; I do not seek to push you beyond the limits the All-Father has set upon you." Though his existence was not entirely new to her, she had found the material plane all too time-consuming. His purpose wasn't her education in all things divine, but if he would at least field her questions, she might also learn what was hers to know for the asking and what the greater Gods expected her to find out on her own.

The nascent goddess had many questions, but she schooled her errant mind to single-pointed focus. She had come here to unify her elemental powers, to better understand how through some quirk of her domain, she seemed to have a different understanding of them than others.

"So, might the Pantheon itself be a proper place to attune to elemental aether?" she posited. Already, she was planning other points of interest: the permanently frozen northern wastes in Frost when darkness ruled the sky; the ancient forests in the taiga, which would be en route the pole; mines for metal; perhaps Re'hyæx for starlight.

But for aether, this seemed a likely place, else she might have to venture back to Atoria and ask her friend Nessena for a ride out into the Aetherial Sea. That would be an adventure in itself, but of course, she was here in the Pantheon now.

Avatar's manner was strange to her, as was his manner of thinking. But he was polite, and she understood etiquette. She could work with this. She was working with this. He was responding to her thoughts, which were mere patterns of aether, and offering some guidance.

For a moment, Kala was elated - Aether had seemed like it would be the most difficult element to isolate. Her brow furrowed, though, as she wasn't aware of extraplanar attunement or whether that meant an attunement here present would avail her or not when she returned to her material plane.

"The cold never bothers me anyway," she averred. "Not since the Necromancer gave me my wings." She was largely immune to the cold anymore, like all those of her race who exhibited wings. There was a secret to it, but she hadn't sussed it out yet, largely because much of Garel's grimoire was in draconic script, which was still quite opaque to her. But if he elaborated and assisted her in attuning with Aether here, then she at least had an idea about Light.

She imagined for a moment arraying herself in full plate mail and meditating in a lightless cave, whether she could focus on the metal that encased her, whether she could open her eyes and, seeing only darkness, see Darkness.

Then her thoughts caught on another matter: "Is this the sort of attunement that one can derive on the material plane? For example, attuning to water while swimming in the middle of the sea, which one would have to release in the arid desert lest the lack of Water drain the mage? Pardon, I was educated as a mortal and learning the ways of the divine is proving a challenge."